Matthew - The Soils

In today's study from Matthew 13:1-9 and 18-22, we continue to look at the Parable fo the Sower and the four soils.

The First Soil: the Wayside (v.4)

This soil represents the one who "hears but does not understand” (Matt. 13:19). These have hardened their hearts prior to hearing the Word (Matt. 13:15). Again, the fowls in v.4 represent the “wicked one” (v.19) who is the Devil.

Luke 8:12 “Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.”

Again, the Devil is able to do this because of the hardness of their hearts which has led to spiritual blindness. Paul spoke of this in 2 Cor. 4:3-4 “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:  In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not.” However, even though the Devil contributes to the blindness, he is ultimately not the cause of it!

The Second Soil: the Stony Places (v.5)

This soil represents the one who “hears the word and immediately receives it with joy (Matt. 3:20). Yet, he has no root and only endures for a short while (Matt. 13:21a). Because, when the tribulation and persecution comes, he immediately stumbles (Matt. 13:21b). They stumble because they are not grounded in the word. There must be a foundation that is built upon the Word of God!

The Third Soil: Among Thorns (v.7)

This soil represents those who hear the Word, but whose ability to bear fruit is chocked by three things: “the cares of this world (v.22b); “the deceitfulness of riches (v.22c); the pleasures of this life (Luke 8:14).

Luke 8:14 adds “and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.” These three thorns can cause us to be unfruitful for us as well.

The Cares of This World

The cares of this world cause us to be unprepared.

Luk 21:34-36 "But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly.  (35)  For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth.  (36)  Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man."

Carousing means to “overfeed or drink in such a way as to derange the functions”.

The Deceitfulness of Riches

Paul mentions the danger to young Timothy.

1Ti 6:9-10 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.  (10)  For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Again, the evil in “riches” is that they can divert our attention away from God. They tend to cause self-sufficiency!

1 Tim. 6:17 “Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.”

The Pleasures of this Life

Pleasures are fleshly and divert our minds from Spiritual things.

Gal. 5:17 “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.”

As a matter of fact, sowing to the flesh makes it impossible to reap of the Spirit (Gal. 6:7-9).

Humor: Sir Robert Watson Watt, the inventor of the radar gun was arrested himself for speeding. He had been caught in a radar trap. Shortly after this irony, he wrote this poem:

Pity Sir Robert Watson Watt
Strange target of his radar plot,

And this, with others I could mention,

A victim of his own invention.

We reap what we sow! The Bible says that in the last days mean will seek pleasure more than God. Paul when speaking of the widows warned of those who seek pleasure more than God.

1 Timothy 5:6 “But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.”