The Parable of the Sower: The Road Base text: Matthew 13:3-9, 18-23 I. The Parable A. Parable: "true-to-life" story expressing spiritual truths B. An extended metaphor C. Discussion of sower and seed and soil (Matthew 13:3-9) 1. Sower refers to one preaching 2. Seed is the Word, the Gospel 3. Soils represent different persons hearing the Gospel D. Interpretation is sure-- Jesus Himself explains it (Matthew 13:18-23) E. Let us spend some time investigating the parable, focusing for some time on the seed that fell on the road (vv. 4, 19) II. General Matters A. Let us first consider some realities about the parable B. Expectation that a sower goes out to sow (Matthew 13:3) 1. Christians are to go out and preach the Gospel (Matthew 28:18-20)! 2. We do not gain the idea from this image that the sower stayed in his house, or expected the earth to come to him! 3. Likewise, the Christian is not to simply expect to stay home and do evangelism, or expect people to come to him to learn of the truth-- he must go out to sow! 4. Parallel image of harvesters reaping (Matthew 9:37-38): if you're not in the field, you can't reap! C. Expectation that the seed is sown and is dispersed everywhere (Matthew 13:3-8) 1. The sower does not go into the world and hold onto the seed indefinitely; his purpose is to sow the field, and so he releases the seed! 2. While we are out in the world, we ought not hold the Gospel close to us; we need to let it shine and let it out into all the world (cf. Matthew 5:13-16) 3. We must not be ashamed of it (Romans 1:16) 4. Likewise, the sower in this image is not targeting a specific area; he casts the seed everywhere 5. He does not try to predict what will be good soil versus the path or the rocky soil or thorny soil-- he simply casts the seed! 6. This is because while a sower can see where the seed is going, as we preach the Gospel, we cannot know the condition of the "soil"-- the heart of the hearer! 7. We do a disservice to the Gospel to judge beforehand who should hear and who we think won't listen (Romans 2:11) D. All the sower is responsible for is casting the seed 1. While we cannot put too much stock into the silence of the metaphor, it is interesting to see that all we hear about is the sowing of the seed and then the results 2. With the Gospel, there is preaching and some nurturing, but the increase is on account of God (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:6) 3. While we may have a hand in leading someone to Christ, the conversion and growth is because of God's work, not ours III. The Seed on the Road A. Having seen these general truths about the parable, let us look at the first type of soil B. Not really a "soil" per se, but a road (Matthew 13:3) C. Birds of the air come and devour the seed; it has no chance to take root (ibid) D. This is explained as one who does not understand the Gospel and Satan snatches the Gospel out of the heart before it can manifest itself (v. 19) E. Let us look into this in more detail IV. Those Who Do Not Believe A. In reality, Jesus describes all those who do not believe at all or who do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus (cf. 2 Thessalonians 1:6-9) 1. The rest of the soils, as we will see, presuppose one at least converting at one point 2. Only the "road" people do not convert at all! B. Consider a person described in terms of the road 1. What do we think of when we think of a road? 2. Hard or hardened surface 3. Not very porous 4. So it is with persons described as a road 5. Such persons are either hard-hearted or hardened by previous experience 6. Consider Israel (cf. Matthew 19:8, Romans 10:21) C. Not Understanding the Gospel 1. How is it that one would not understand the Gospel? 2. It could be that one has heard a different gospel, and is unable or unwilling to reconcile himself with the true Gospel (Galatians 1:6-9) 3. It could be that the Gospel is veiled to him because he is perishing (2 Corinthians 4:3) 4. It could be that the Gospel, being a spiritual message, is incomprehensible to worldly people (1 Corinthians 2:14) D. The Result of Not Understanding: Seed is Exposed 1. Since the person cannot understand the Gospel, the Gospel cannot enter his heart 2. The "seed" is thus left exposed! 3. We see, then, how critical understanding and recognizing the value of the Gospel is for us and/or others to be saved! 4. What one does not understand one has no use for, and it is cast off! E. Seed Consumed By Birds-- Satan 1. The seed thus exposed, he who is a roaring lion makes sure to devour it (1 Peter 5:8) 2. The soul remains in his hand, and the person continues to be a slave to sin (Romans 6:16-23) 3. A sad end, one coming to far too many (Matthew 7:13-14)! V. Responses to the Gospel A. We can see from the idea of person as road that the reaction to hearing the Gospel is not going to be the desired response 1. As the road is hard or hardened, so seed cast upon it will not penetrate, and may cause disturbance! 2. Likewise, we should not be surprised when people not only do not accept the Gospel and convert, but also present many negative responses! B. Different people have different reactions C. Many will try to dispute 1. People in denominations, other religions, or even atheists may attempt to dispute with you 2. We must be able to make our defense of the faith (1 Peter 3:15) 3. We should not be surprised, however, if the person does not accept our defense, or will continue to hold his position no matter how discredited it may become 4. Stephen's presentation of the Gospel could not be withstood; nevertheless, most did not believe, but brought charges against him (Acts 6:8-14) 5. People not responding do not discredit the message; it discredits the one not obeying! D. Many will mock 1. What cannot be defeated may be derided 2. Such was the response of many Athenians to the Gospel (Acts 17:32) 3. Likewise, many mock because the end is not here (2 Peter 3:3-7) 4. By deriding the Gospel, they can perhaps think to themselves that it is somehow less important or less pressing 5. They will answer for their mocking (Matthew 12:36-37) E. Many will relativize 1. In our modern age, many will try to blunt the message by relativizing truth 2. "Well, that belief is good for you, my belief is good for me" 3. Yet with God there is no partiality, and He will judge all by the same standard (Romans 2:11, Acts 17:30-31) 4. Perhaps one will try to establish that any church is good enough; God, however, has but one church and Christ one Body, and it holds to His truth and Gospel (Ephesians 5:22-33, Colossians 1:18, Galatians 1:6-9) 5. All that matters, in the end, is what is good to God (cf. Matthew 19:17)! F. Many may try to tempt you to return to the world 1. The one thing that sin cannot stand is exposure! 2. Those in sin only are satisfied when the righteous return to their sins (cf. 1 Peter 4:4) 3. Let us not allow light to turn to darkness, but blind the darkness with light (Matthew 5:13-16)! G. Failing this, some will try to do harm somehow 1. Many have engaged in violent opposition to the Gospel 2. Consider Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9:1-2) 3. Alexander the coppersmith (2 Timothy 4:14) 4. This should not surprise us in the least; God expects it (cf. 1 Peter 2:15, 18-20; 1 Peter 4:4-5) 5. We need to be patient and willing to suffer physically, mentally, and emotionally for the sake of our Lord, knowing that God will judge them for their deeds and they will pay (cf. 2 Timothy 4:14, 1 Peter 4:5, 2 Thessalonians 1:6-9)! H. Nevertheless, we must continue to preach the Gospel! 1. It can be discouraging when we come across many who are like the road 2. On the other hand, we have done our part; our hands are clean (cf. Ezekiel 3:17-21) 3. They have been given the opportunity to share in eternal life, and on the day of judgment they will have none to blame but themselves 4. While it is not much comfort, we can at least know that we did what we could! VI. Conclusion A. We have begun to examine the parable of the sower with the seed on the road B. We have seen that the road represents those who do not believe C. We have seen that for various reasons they do not understand the Gospel and any hope of their salvation is captured by Satan D. We have seen that such persons may react in different ways, and we must not be discouraged E. Let us continue to sow seed in our world so that God may receive the glory F. Invitation/songbook