The Parable of the Sower / Matthew 13:1-23
Introduction: A New Way of Teaching
It is so good to be with you here this week. If you have your Bibles, we are in Matthew chapter 13. We’ve turned a corner a little bit in our series. We have been in a mini-series on the Kingdom for several weeks, and now we are going to spend the next three weeks dealing with parables.
To the guests who are with us, my name is Brad. I get the privilege of handling the Word of God here this week, and I’m so glad you chose to hang out with us. At every one of our campuses, including those watching via video this weekend, we have baptismal pools available. The reason we have those available is that right here, right now in this gathering, we are going to invite you—if you have never been baptized—to trust Christ and then demonstrate your faith publicly. As we share the Gospel and talk about Jesus’s call for us to respond to His invitation, if you’ve never been baptized, a little fair warning: maybe today’s the day you go home with wet clothes.
Matthew chapter 13 begins with Jesus sitting by the sea. A large crowd gathered, so He got into a boat, sat down, and the whole crowd stood on the beach listening to Him. In this section, Jesus begins to teach in parables. In fact, seven are covered in this chapter alone: the parable of the sower, the weeds, the mustard seed, the leaven, the hidden treasure, the pearl of great value, and the dragnet.
Matthew 13:1-3 (NASB)
That day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea. And large crowds gathered to Him, so He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach. And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, ’Behold, the sower went out to sow;
This section eventually ends with Jesus going back to His hometown, where He condemns them for their unbelief. Jesus is shifting gears here and doing something He has not done before: speaking in parables. These parables are going to expose the hardness of heart that the religious leaders have been struggling with. It’s a theme we’ve been talking about for weeks, and it gets a little more dicey as He heads into this teaching.
What is a Parable?
We need to start by asking a simple question: What is a parable? The word para means “alongside,” and balo means “to throw.” So, a parable is a truth “thrown alongside.” Another way to say it is that something familiar is used to illustrate something unfamiliar. There are three primary movements to every parable. First, there is the familiar thing that every listener would immediately understand—like a sower sowing seed, a lost sheep, or a vineyard. Second, that familiar thing is used to explain the unfamiliar, which is almost always Jesus’s presentation of the Kingdom of God.
But the third part of the parable is the surprise—the unsuspecting shock. There is a “dagger in the side,” a rub in each of them that is meant to cause offense or expose something in someone’s heart. Over a third of Jesus’s teaching is in parables. He is presenting Himself as the King and offering His Kingdom.
If you remember all the way back to Matthew 4, Jesus’s ministry began with a simple message: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” That Kingdom had been offered to the Jewish people from chapter one through chapter 12. But they chose to reject both the King and His Kingdom. They even went so far as to say His miracles were done by the power of Satan. Because of that rejection, Jesus officially moves toward the Gentiles in chapter 13 and begins to speak in parables.
Matthew 4:17 (NASB)
From that time Jesus began to preach and say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
The Parable of the Sower
The first of these is the Parable of the Sower. Jesus describes a sower going out to sow seed, and the seeds land in four distinct locations: the road, the rocky places, the thorns, and the good soil.
Matthew 13:3-9 (NASB)
And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, ’Behold, the sower went out to sow; and as he sowed, some [seeds] fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. ’Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. ’But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. ’Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. ’And others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. ‘He who has ears, let him hear.’
Each of these four locations has a distinct consequence. Those on the road were eaten by birds. Those in the rocky places sprang up quickly but withered because they had no roots. Those among the thorns were choked out. But those on the good soil yielded a crop—some a hundred, some sixty, and some thirtyfold. It’s worth noting that the phrase “yielding a crop” is in the imperfect tense, meaning it is continually, constantly doing its thing. If the seed bears fruit, it keeps bearing fruit.
Jesus finishes with an imperative command: “He who has ears, let him hear.” A better translation might be: “He who has an ear, he had better listen!” It is a strong command to understand what is being taught.
The Shock: Why Use Parables?
Then comes the shock. The disciples pulled Him aside and asked, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” Jesus’s answer makes a sharp distinction between “you” and “them.”
Matthew 13:10-13 (NASB)
And the disciples came and said to Him, ‘Why do You speak to them in parables?’ Jesus answered them, ’To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. ’For whoever has, to him [more] shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. ’Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
The “you” refers to the disciples who had hearts to receive Him. The “them” refers to the religious leaders who had rejected Him. Jesus is saying that to the disciples, it has been granted to know the mysteries of the Kingdom, but to the others, it has not. He’s exposing a heart issue. Their lack of ability to believe wasn’t because they couldn’t, but because they wouldn’t. They were unwilling.
The Heart of the Matter: Isaiah’s Prophecy
Jesus then quotes a fascinating passage from Isaiah 6. If you’ve ever read Isaiah 6, you know it’s where the prophet sees a vision of the throne room of God. His response to that holiness is, “Woe is me, for I am a dead man!” After God purifies him, God asks, “Who will go for us?” and Isaiah says, “Here am I, send me.”
But then God gives Isaiah a very difficult commission, which Jesus quotes here. He tells the disciples that these people are fulfilling that prophecy: they keep hearing but don’t understand; they keep seeing but don’t perceive.
Matthew 13:14-15 (NASB)
’In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND; YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE; FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL, WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR, AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES, OTHERWISE THEY WOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES, HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN, AND I WOULD HEAL THEM.’
Their hearts had become dull. If they would simply repent, He would heal them, but their hearts were hard. By contrast, Jesus tells the disciples how blessed they are.
Matthew 13:16-17 (NASB)
’But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. ’For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see [it], and to hear what you hear, and did not hear [it].
Think about what these disciples witnessed. They saw Jesus come on the scene. Many of them were fishermen who left their nets the moment He called. I’ve always wondered about that—if I left the job site while working with my pops, that wouldn’t go over well! But their fathers let them go because they suspected Jesus might be the one. These disciples were seeing the miracles and hearing the truth firsthand. They had receptive hearts.
Breaking Down the Soils: The Road and the Rocks
In Mark’s account of this story, Jesus gives the disciples a bit of a loving “punk.” He basically says, “If you don’t understand this parable, how will you understand any of them?” This is entry-level stuff! So, He breaks it down for them.
Matthew 13:18-23 (NASB)
’Hear then the parable of the sower. ’When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil [one] comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road. ’The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no [firm] root in himself, but is [only] temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away. ’And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. ‘And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.’
The first soil is the road. This is the person who hears the Word but doesn’t receive it in their heart. The issue isn’t cognitive knowledge; it’s heart reception. When someone says, “I don’t need God, I’m my own higher power,” the Word hits that hard heart, bounces off, and the evil one snatches it away.
The second soil is the rocky place. This person receives the Word immediately with joy. You see this at summer camps all the time. A kid goes up the hill, gets on fire for God, and then comes back down, life hits them, and they get crushed. They have no firm root.
Now, we live in Fresno. Geologically, Fresno has a phenomenon called “hard pan.” When I tried to plant fruit trees in my backyard, I hit a layer about 18 inches down that was like concrete. My pickaxe was literally sparking. I learned that if you want a tree to bear fruit going up, you have to do the hard work going down. I had to get a giant auger and dig five-foot-deep holes to break through that hard pan.
This second person hasn’t broken through the hard pan. They have an emotional response but no root. When affliction or persecution comes, they immediately fall away. This begs a question: Can an authentic believer fall away? The Bible says no.
John 6:39 (NASB)
’This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.
John 10:29 (NASB)
’My Father, who has given [them] to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch [them] out of the Father’s hand.
A genuine believer is safe in the Father’s hands. If someone “falls away,” they likely were never saved to begin with. Jesus doesn’t just change your behavior; He renovates your heart. I call it being “immunized with the Gospel”—getting just enough of it that you never catch the real thing. In the “Bible Belt of California” here in Fresno, we have many people who think they are saved but have no fruit.
The Thorns: The Danger of a Double Life
The third soil is the thorns. This is the person who hears the Word, but the worries of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it out. Luke’s account says they are choked by “pleasures of this life.”
Luke 8:14 (NASB)
’The [seed] which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of [this] life, and bring no fruit to maturity.
This is the person who wants to give Jesus part of their life but not all of it. They have one hand in the godly camp and one hand in the cookie jar of the world. The problem with a double life is that neither side is satisfying. You feel guilty at church because of what you did Saturday night, and you feel guilty Saturday night because you know you’re going to church.
Jesus doesn’t want to be a “sometime” Savior. Following Him isn’t a part-time gig. Paul says in Galatians that he has been crucified with Christ and it is no longer he who lives.
Galatians 2:20 (NASB)
’I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the [life] which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
Romans 12:1-2 (NASB)
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, [which is] your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Now, a quick word about “seasons” and “struggles.” Fruit doesn’t grow full-bore all year round. My peach trees have a season where they produce, and then they go dormant. If you haven’t felt the love of Christ or seen the fruit of the Spirit in years, that’s not dormancy—that’s a connection issue. Jesus says, “I am the vine, you are the branches.”
John 15:5 (NASB)
’I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
However, there is also the beauty of the struggle. Paul describes this in Romans 7—wanting to do good but finding himself doing the very thing he hates.
Romans 7:18 (NASB)
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good [is] not.
If you are wrestling with sin and grinding it out in community, that struggle is actually a good sign! It means you have a new nature fighting the old one. I’m worried about the person who doesn’t struggle, the one who just indulges without conviction. That is evidence of an unregenerate heart. But if you’re fighting? Welcome to the journey. We won’t be perfect until we flatline and meet Jesus.
The Good Soil: Permission to be You
Finally, there is the good soil. This is the person who hears, understands, and yields. They say, “God, You are in charge. I lay down my rights and my pride. Just use me at my workplace, in my neighborhood, even at Home Depot.”
What I love about this is that there isn’t one single standard for fruit-bearing. Some produce a hundred, some sixty, some thirty. That is permission to be you. Don’t worry if that person over there seems to have more fruit; you just worry about being faithful with what God has given you.
Walking in the Light
Fruit-bearing believers aren’t perfect. In 1 John, we are told that God is light.
1 John 1:5-7 (NASB)
This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and [yet] walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
Walking in the light means being vulnerable. It means saying, “Hey, I have an anger problem,” or “I have a tendency to manipulate because I’m afraid of getting hurt.” That vulnerability is where real relationship happens. If we claim we have no sin, we’re just kidding ourselves.
1 John 1:8-9 (NASB)
If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
God isn’t surprised when you do something foolish; He’s just disappointed when you don’t tell Him about it. We need each other for this. James says that if someone strays, we should turn them back.
James 5:19-20 (NASB)
My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
That’s body life. That’s what we do. Jesus is exposing the religious heart that refuses to confess or own anything. He is inviting you into a relationship with a Savior whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light.
Conclusion: Soften Our Hearts
God is the only one who can change your heart. You can’t till the soil of your own heart. If you find your heart is hard, don’t just go get a self-help book. Those can be fine, but they won’t change your heart. Only the Gospel can do that.
Which soil are you? Are you the road? The rocky pan? The thorns? Or the good soil? Regardless of where you are, bring your heart to the Lord.
I’ll finish by quoting an old Keith Green song from the seventies called “My Eyes Are Dry.” The lyrics go like this:
My eyes are dry, my faith is old. My heart is hard, and my prayers are cold. And I know how I ought to be, alive to You and dead to me. Oh, what can be done for an old heart like mine? Soften it up with oil and wine. The oil is You, Your Spirit of love. Please wash me anew in the wine of Your blood.
Let’s pray.
Father, as we have heard the Parable of the Sower, may our hearts be drawn back to the Gospel of grace. As we examine our hearts, would You make us anew? Wash us afresh with the beauty of the Gospel. We thank You that You have not abandoned us. If we are living unfruitful lives, help us to see what source we are attached to. We pray for Your grace. In Jesus’ name, Amen.