Mark 4:1-20. In the Parable of the Soils Jesus identifies four different soil types and teaches a lesson on the condition of our hearts and how receptive we are to the Word of God.
The Seed = The Word of God
The Sower = Servant of God who shared the Word with others
The Soil = The human heart
The Hard Heart
- Resists the Word of God
- Easy for Satan to snatch away biblical truth before it takes root
- Must be plowed up before it can receive seed
- Represents a heart that is completely closed to the Word of God
- The enemy of the hard heart is Satan
The Shallow Heart
- Thin Soil with bedrock underneath
- What ever is planted has no root and will not last
- Receives the Word with “joy” representing an emotional response
- The emotional response ends when the pressure of this life crash back in
- The enemy of the shallow Heart is emotions that don’t lead to a changed life. Being “moved” but not “changed”
The Crowded Heart
- Seed is sown among the weeds and the weeds choke out the Word’s work
- “But the worries of this life, deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.” v19
- This is a person that hears about the “narrow way” but remains on the “broad way.” Matthew 7: 13-14
- The enemy of the crowded heart is the things of the world
The Fruitful Heart
- The True Believer and the person that has a soft heart before God and His Word
- The only fruit bearing plant demonstrating true conversion and true change
- Produces a crop well beyond the plants normal capacity
- God causes the increase EXPLODING into a rich harvest