Luke 8:4–8

People gather to Him out of every city around. In the middle of such a crowd, the Lord searches out the heart by the parable of the Sower — as He so often does where the crowds follow Him.

When large numbers gathered together, the Lord told the parable of the sower (vs.5-8). This parable carries a serious lesson. The interest among the crowds may look great, but not all of them hear with the conviction of vital faith in the Son of God.

The Saviour began to use that puzzling form of speech. It was clear enough to the devout minority, but completely obscure to the godless mass. In Moses' day a cloud stood between Israel and the Egyptians. The parables were like that cloud: light to the one and darkness to the other.

The very fact that Christ came as the sower proved that Israel was set aside. If Israel had still been His vineyard, He would have come seeking fruit from the vine He had long before planted. He had come to Israel before, looking for fruit and finding none. He now comes in the new character of the sower, which is quite another thing. He comes into a waste world, where there was nothing, and He begins a fresh work.

He had not come to be a king, though He was the King. He had come to sow, not to gather in and reap. This He will do later, at the end of the age. He had come to produce what cannot be found in man — to give a new life that should bear fruit for God. "A sower went out to sow his seed." It is the activity of grace.

Luke shows us the word of God scattered. For the time being it was in fact within the limits of Israel. Yet in its own nature it goes out to every city and village in the world… It is for man as such. The great mass of men outside Israel knew nothing of the kingdom, so it was a question of believing, not of understanding. It was not a word they already had… but a question of believing what God was sending.

The seed was pure; it was the word of God. There could be no doubt about its power to grow, for that Word is living and abiding (1 Peter 1:23). So wherever it fell, the only thing that could hinder a full crop was the condition of the ground — in other words, the heart of the person it reached. People might think of blaming the Word for the apparent failure of the work. The Lord would warn us against such thoughts.

The very fact that Christ came as the sower proved that Israel was set aside. If it had still been Israel as His vineyard, He must have come looking for fruit from the vine He had planted long before. He had come to Israel earlier, seeking fruit and finding none. He now comes in the new character of the sower, which is quite another thing. He comes into a waste world, where there was nothing, and He begins a fresh work.

He had not come to be a king, though He is the King. He had come to sow, not to gather in and reap. He will do that later, at the end of the age. He had come to produce what cannot be found in man — to give a new life that would bear fruit for God. "A sower went out to sow his seed." It is the activity of grace.

Mark calls the seed simply the word, with nothing added. Luke tells us more exactly: "The seed is the word of God." This phrase states the divine origin of the word. It is of God… The word of God has the germ of life within itself. It is living and active. It is incorruptible and eternal. It has life, and it gives life.

The first class is indifference. There was the path, and as the sower sowed, some of the seed fell along the path. The path here means the hard footpath worn through the cultivated field, packed hard by the constant pressure of feet. Some seed fell on that footpath, and the birds of the air came and devoured it. That is indifference, and that is what we see all the time.

There is one who believes in sudden conversions more firmly than anyone in the universe of God. Shall I tell you who that is? The most firm and thorough believer in sudden conversions is the devil!… The moment you hear the word of God, you stand in that first group — those by the path. Then what? Mark this. Then comes the devil, the moment they hear, so that they may not believe and be saved.

The seed was pure; it was the word of God. There could be no doubt about its power to grow, for that Word lives and remains. So the only hindrance to a full crop, wherever it fell, would come from the condition of the ground — in other words, from the heart of the man it came to. Men might think of blaming the Word for the apparent failure of the work. The Lord would warn us against such thoughts.

Do you think you have found the secret of that parable? It is to expose man. The seed was one and the same, but the dropping of the seed here and there was to expose the character of the soil. The seed makes the soil clear. There is not a heart that is not seen in one or other of these soils. The first character is the highway; that is where the devil prevails. The second is the rock; that is where nature prevails. The third is the thorny ground; that is where the world prevails. The fourth is the good ground; that is where the Holy Spirit prevails.

He had not come to be a king, though He is the King. He had come to sow, not to gather in and reap... He had come to produce what cannot be found in man — to give a new life that would bear fruit for God... It is striking that we do not have here, as in Matthew, "some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty." We have only the full result of grace, without the causes that would modify it. The other cases are not cases of good seed bearing fruit poorly. They show the moral hindrances to any fruit at all.

Of the seed falling on stony ground, he says that as soon as it sprouted it withered for lack of moisture. He does not mention the shallow soil, the heat of the sun, or the missing root.

Here it is the nature of the ground that is at fault. With the hearer by the path, someone might argue that circumstances had made him what he was: the traffic over it had made the ground hard. Here the fault was in the ground itself. The prophet — or rather, God speaking through him — speaks of a "heart of stone" (Ezekiel 36:26), and that is beyond question exactly the picture here. Yet there is earth too, a shallow readiness to respond, which promises much at the start... There has been no deep conviction and no true repentance. The feelings are touched, but not the conscience.

There was an appearance here. It sprang up, but it dried up, "because it had no moisture." These are the people who, when they hear, receive the word with joy, but having no root they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. There is apparent reception, but there is no root. They receive the word with joy — not with repentance, but only joy. There may be joy; but where there is no spiritual work in the conscience there is no root. This is very serious, especially where people may take up Christian truth on the faith of a parent or a teacher, and not on God's word. All these things may work on a person, but it is only nature... conscience is the real door. Without conscience the word of God has no lasting effect.

The stony ground hearers are easily impressed but shallow people. They respond to the word at once with gladness, but they have no sense of what it really means. Scripture says of true converts that they "received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit" (1 Thessalonians 1:6). That affliction came before their gladness. It was the result of the word convicting them and waking them up to their sin. The stony ground hearer skips the affliction, because he has no sense of his real need. He lands in a shallow gladness that fades when testing comes — and he fades with it.

There was plenty of green stalk and leaf on show, but no matching root growth. So at the crucial moment, when they needed it most, they "had no moisture" (Luke 8:6), and they withered away. They had no underground connection with springs or streams of water, like the tree of the first Psalm.

To bear fruit you must have your own private and unseen link with the rivers of water — Christ, as revealed in His word. Love Him, and live on Him daily. Then, just as a tree grows and bears fruit quietly and without noticing it, you will bear fruit for the Vinedresser (John 15). But do note how necessary secret communion is for bearing fruit.

The thorns speak of the cares, riches and pleasures of this life which many people allow to dominate their very existence. They would like the Word too, and accept it in a general way. But it does not mean as much to them as empty material things. Those are only thorns, and they cause trouble in the end. There is no real room for both, and one who wants both will find that it is the Word that is choked out.

What are these other things? "Other" is here contrasted with everything the word testifies of. It means everything but the word, all that is not the word — to be plainer, all that is not Christ. To reveal Christ, to bring us into fellowship with Him, to form Him within us, is God's purpose when He plants in us the seed of divine truth. So I say again, the desires for other things mean anything and everything but Christ. No matter what it is, if the natural heart loves it, desires it, finds pleasure in it, it is a desire that chokes the seed.

Before the good seed fell into the hearts of these hearers, roots of thorns already filled the ground. Those roots are the desires for the things of this life, for riches and pleasures. They sprang up and choked the word. Although the roots were already in the heart, they did not spring up until the good seed was sown there. Present things may grip the heart hard, and no one sees or feels how hard until the word of God tests it. Then the word exposes the true state of the heart.

The thorns show what harm present things can do to eternal things. That harm can drive eternal things out of the heart altogether. This influence is not openly hostile, like the affliction and persecution in the case before. It is just as deadly. It is far more dangerous, because it works unnoticed. The thorns were growing too near the seed; a mile away it would not have mattered. So they robbed the good seed of the light, air, moisture and food it needed from the soil, and no one saw it happen. In the same way, the cares, riches and pleasures of this life choke the good seed if the heart lets them rule. The result is no fruit.

Thorns stand for the world outside of Eden. The thorns brought in through the fall of the first Adam became the badge his children awarded to the last Adam.

The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear. As they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. Here the Word is not received, for one reason or another. Luke, as always, brings out the moral roots, both of what hinders the Word and of what receives it.

The thorny-ground hearers are serious people who weigh everything in anxious scales. They carry the scales in their pocket and test the importance of everything. But the trouble is that as they weigh, they make the world as heavy as Christ... It is very necessary today to insist that the plow must come before the seed-basket. What makes the heart good? He who has gone out to plow the fallow ground and sow the seed.

The very fact that Christ came as the sower proved that Israel was set aside. If Israel were still His vineyard, He would have come looking for fruit from the vine He planted long ago. He had come to Israel before, looking for fruit and finding none. He now comes in the new character of the sower, which is quite another thing. He comes into a waste world, where there was nothing, and He begins a fresh work.

The good ground speaks of those who in genuine faith receive and keep the Word of God. The plowshare of the Spirit of God has prepared this ground, working repentance in the heart. The seed falls into the ground, and its roots can go deep. The cultivating keeps down the weeds and thorns. The plant, strong and vigorous, brings forth abundant fruit.

Along with the Word of God, there is the operation of the Spirit. It is these that produce this honest and good heart. So faith purifies the heart, and it works through our feeling and confessing our sinfulness.

In Luke the point is neither dispensation nor responsibility in service, but sovereign grace. The parable of the Sower shows the natural result of grace. For when nothing hinders it, grace always produces a hundredfold. If all were constantly true to the grace of God, not one would fail of a full result. There is enough grace for it. The God of grace delights to look on the brightest side, and looks here at the full effect of what He has bestowed.

Luke speaks only of a "hundredfold" increase. This stresses the great moral contrast between true faith and the shallowness of merely claiming to believe. Matthew 13 and Mark 4 both speak of differences in the amount of fruit, showing that even true believers do not bear an identical amount.

To the world they may look like bright and blessed fruit, but if people do not have Christ they tire. There will be no endurance unless Christ has possession of the soul. But if He has, there is a lasting motive, and people will go on, and "bring forth fruit with patience." Trouble may come into the church. Disappointment may arise, even from fellow believers. But they go on just the same, because they have Christ before them.

The call to hear assumes the use of spiritual understanding, which is different from the natural hearing common to everyone.

It was a summons to the individual to free himself from the careless crowd. The Lord repeated the same cry to each of the seven churches in Asia. Amid the general decline in the church, He requires faithfulness from each individual in paying attention to His word and His warning.