Download ,mp3

Sermon Notes.

September 28, 2008

The Sower, The Seed, The Soils and Salvation (or and Inside Out or an Upside Down Kingdom Gospel).

Matthew 13: 3 – 23

In verse 3 with the word “behold”, and in verse 9 with the admonition that “He who has ears let him hear” and in verse 18 with Jesus’ command to “Hear the parable of the sower,” the Lord is cautioning us to “Take care how you listen.”

How are you listening to the Holy Spirit speaking through the words in the Bible?

There are four distinct things that happened to the seed of the Gospel sown by God in this parable:

1. Birds devour them (ate them up) before they have a chance to sprout. (See Luke 8:12 that says that this seed will not penetrate the hard heart “so that they will not believe and be saved.”)
2. Seed produce withered plants that shrivel up before they produce fruit. (See Luke 8:13 that says that this seed sprouts “with joy” and “believe for a while, but  “fall away” because they have “no firm root.”
3. Seed produce sprouts that are eventually “choked” because of the “worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth” and “become unfruitful.” (See Luke 8:14 that says that this seed produces plants that are “choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity.”
4. Seeds produce a plant that “bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.” (See Luke 8: 15 that says that this seed produces a plant that “have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance.”

In the case of the first three soils there are conditions of the heart that:

1. Have no understanding of the Kingdom.
2. Receives with joy and endures for a while but gives up because of affliction.
3. Sprouts are choked by cares for the world’s worries and striving for wealth.

In Mark 1: 14 – 15 Jesus talks about the Kingdom and something that changes people from the inside out instead of like the Law which was just on the surface.

In Ezekiel 36: 22 – 27 God says why He redeems us.

Can you see the answer here?

What example of an INSIDE OUT kingdom is in verse 26 – 27?

In Matthew 20: 25 – 28 Jesus tells his disciples that the Kingdom He is bringing is Upside Down compared to what the world has.

What makes it backwards from what the world advocates?

In Matthew 13: 11 Jesus says that “To you has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.” What is this mystery?

            Heavenly Secrets:

                        The secret of the parable of the soils is that

                        The kingdom is here, now but has not come with irresistible force:

                        Men can reject it, men can receive it and men can renege on it.

For further study go to:

            Romans 1: 17

            Colossians 1: 22 – 23

            1 Corinthians 15: 1 – 2

            Romans 11: 21 – 23

            Luke 8: 15

            Luke 13: 22