The Parable of the Four Soils

Mark 4:1-20
P. G. Mathew | Sunday, February 19, 2017
Copyright © 2017, P. G. Mathew
Language [Japanese]

The parable of the sower is found in three places in the New Testament: Matthew 13:1-23, Mark 4:1-20, and Luke 8:1-15. It can also be called the parable of the four soils. As we examine it, we must give careful thought to what type of soil we are.

Pathway Soil People

Jesus began, “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up” (vv. 3–4). The pathway soil represents people in the visible church who refuse to understand the gospel. They do not care. They have no interest in the Scriptures. They are not interested in what God says about heaven and hell, about the human condition of sin, about Jesus Christ, and about why God’s Son became man. They do not want to know anything about these things. They do not have devotions and they have no interest in training their children in the word of God. Why? Because, even though they are in the church, they are pagans. They do, however, eagerly partake of the various pleasures of life in this world.

Rocky Soil People

Then Jesus said, “Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root” (vv. 5–6). Rocky soil people are emotional. They hate the troubles of life. They find in Jesus a pacifier or some other means to give them comfort. But when real troubles come, they fall away, rejecting the gospel and Jesus. They are allergic to the troubles of this life.

Thorny Soil People

Jesus continued, “Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain” (v. 7). Thorny soil people are double-minded. They say they love Jesus, but they love money more. Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money” (Matt. 6:24).

Because thorny soil people are double-minded, they are unstable, and their feet will slip in due time. They are always worrying (v. 19). They are always seeking health, wealth, power, and fame. And there are churches that thrive on preaching a health and wealth gospel. Such churches are synagogues of Satan. They have nothing to do with God’s true church. So when you go to a church, you must be intelligent enough to find out whether they preach the word of God. If they do not, it is a fake church. It is a synagogue of Satan.

Thorny soil people are deceived by wealth—the deceitfulness of wealth (v. 19). They are driven by desires of this world. They are continually seeking new pleasures. John warned about such seeking of the pleasures of this world: “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever” (1 John 2:15–17).

The whole world is under the control of the evil one. Every unbeliever is governed by the devil. They do not understand what Jesus taught in Matthew 16:26, “What does it profit if a man gains the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? What can a man give in exchange for his soul?” The biggest fools are those who worship money and are always going after another dollar. In due time, they will fall away, rejecting Jesus and the gospel and the true saints. They will turn their backs on the true holy church where the gospel is preached.

All three soils represent people who are non-elect and unregenerate. They are fruitless. They are fake Christians. They are antinomians. They are children of the devil. Jesus said, “By their fruits ye shall know them” (Matt. 7:20, KJV). They are bad trees producing bad fruits. They are thorns and thistles in the church. They do not understand the gospel. They do not believe the gospel. They are enemies of Jesus Christ. In due time, they will leave Christ’s holy church where the gospel is preached regularly. And as they leave Christ and his church, they will speak against the ministers who preach the true gospel. The apostle John wrote about such people: “They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us” (1 John 2:19).

All three soils represent fake Christians. Yet they will go from church to church to get some benefits. We are saying this so that you can recognize them.

Good Soil People

Then Jesus said, “Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times” (v. 8). Fourth soil people are God’s elect. We glory in the word “elect,” and you should also glory in it, if you believe in Jesus Christ. Why? You believed in Jesus because God chose you from eternity, before creation.

Fourth soil people are regenerate. They are not pagans. About them, Paul says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Cor. 5:17). Fourth soil people are God’s elect. They experience conversion. Concerning them, the parable says that they have noble and good hearts (Luke 8:15).

Such people hear the gospel and understand it by the power of the Holy Spirit. They believe the gospel. They believe in Jesus Christ. They hold fast to the gospel, persevering and suffering for the gospel. Jesus told his disciples to deny themselves, take up the cross, and follow him to death. We will do so if we are born of God. We cannot live the Christian life without the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will help us to suffer for the gospel and persevere to the end.

Good soil people will produce a crop of good works—thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold for God’s glory. Such people are not self-centered. If there are brothers or sisters with needs, they will provide for them. A church cannot tolerate someone going without food because we are a family, we are God’s people.  For example, I remember many years ago, during a revival in South India, my father sat down one night to eat supper. As he did so, the Holy Spirit told him that a brother in the church had no food. So my father refused to eat. Instead, he took his food and walked to the house of that brother and gave his dinner to him. My father was very happy because he was able to give his food to that person.

The fourth soil represents serious Christianity. Fourth soil people are foreloved, chosen before the creation of the world, and regenerated. They are the ones for whom Christ died. Christ did not die for everyone; he died for the elect. The theological phrase to describe this is “limited atonement.” That means Christ’s atonement is limited to the elect alone. In other words, Jesus Christ did not die for every human being in the world. Jesus himself said so in John 17: “I am not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours” (John 17:9).

How do we know Christ died for us? We will believe in Jesus Christ alone for our eternal salvation. Let us consider some scriptures:

Romans 8:28–30. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew [foreloved[1]] he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.”

It all begins by foreknowledge. God loved us before the creation of the world; the Son agreed to become incarnate, to live a perfect life, and to die on the cross in our place for our sins; and the Holy Spirit agreed to apply that redemption to every elect person in time. So when the gospel came to you, you believed because God regenerated you and gave you repentance and saving faith as a gift.

The one thing we need to know is, has God foreloved us? The truth is, yes, because God made us to trust in him. Therefore, we are secure. That is why we can say, “Do not worry or be anxious about anything. Our heavenly Father is caring for us.”

Romans 9:13–14. Paul begins, “Just as it is written: ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.’”  Some people say the word “hated” means “loved less.” No, hated means hated; loved means loved. Paul continues, “What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all!” This is the infralapsarianism perspective, which means God chooses whom he wants to save from the fallen world and leaves the rest to be condemned because all the rest are sinners. If you are in a Bible-preaching church where you heard the gospel and came to put your faith in Christ alone for your eternal salvation, thanks be to God! You are blessed people.

Romans 9:22–23. Paul begins, “What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?” God has the right to show his wrath to sinners. He continues, “What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared for glory—even us.” We deserved to be condemned, but God showed us mercy. So we can sing,

Mercy there was great and grace was free,

pardon there was multiplied to me.

There my burdened heart found liberty,

on Calvary.

Why do we worship, praise, and serve God? Because he showed us mercy. We are vessels of mercy prepared for the glory that is awaiting us. Paul concludes, “whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?” Most of us were not Jewish; we were Gentiles. Yet God called us too.

John 17:2. Jesus prayed, “For you granted [the Son] authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.” This is speaking about the elect. In eternity, before creation, God gave his Son a certain number of people. The Son agreed to come and become incarnate, and to die on the cross for the sins of those people whom the Father gave him.

I was reading a tribute I wrote for my mother when she died.[2] I read one line and stopped, because I had to cry. I am not crying for her, but because of God’s great mercy to me and to you. He loved us before the creation of the world and granted us individually to the Son, who died for us. He has given us eternal life, and we shall never perish (John 10:28).

John 17:6. Again, Jesus prayed, “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me, and they have obeyed your word.” If someone does not like the gospel, if that person does not like to obey Jesus Christ, that person does not belong to him. Here we are told, “They have obeyed your word.” If we do not obey Jesus Christ, our confession that Jesus is Lord is false. Antinomians talk about “one-way love.” They never talk about obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me say it again: If you do not obey Jesus Christ, you do not belong to him. It is that simple. You can believe any lie you want, but you will not go to heaven.

Matthew 13:11. “[Jesus] replied, ‘The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.’” This is the key to this parable. (PGM) God’s special people will understand the word of God by the operation of the Holy Spirit. Others will never understand it.

Matthew 11:25–27. “At that time Jesus said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.  All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.’” Jesus does not have to reveal himself to anyone, but he reveals himself to some people, who are his people, and we are those people.

Matthew 16:15–17. “‘But what about you?’ [Jesus] asked. ‘Who do you say I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus replied, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.’”

John 6:37. “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” Have you gone to Jesus Christ? If you have not, you do not belong to him. His people will go to him.

John 6:39. “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.”

John 6:65. “[Jesus] went on to say, ‘This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him.’” We came to him because the Father enabled us, and that is because we belong to God. We are God’s people.

Why do some people not understand the word of God? Paul writes, “God has revealed it to us by his Spirit” (1 Cor. 2:10). We cannot understand the word of God unless the Holy Spirit opens our minds. Paul also says, “We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us” (1 Cor. 2:12). The Holy Spirit must give us understanding. He must enlighten our minds so that we can understand the word of God. When we do so, all of a sudden we will rejoice in it and thrive in it. We will be filled with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

Paul says, “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:14). Anyone who will not believe in Jesus Christ is a fool. He is a man without the Spirit. Jude writes about such people: “These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit” (Jude 19). Every unbeliever is without the Holy Spirit. They go around groping in darkness. The vast majority of people in the world do not have the Holy Spirit. But if you have confessed Jesus Christ as Lord, one thing is certain: you have the Holy Spirit.

In John 17:23 Jesus prayed, “I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” Think about this. God the Father loves us even as he loves his own Son. That is why we must not be anxious about anything. Even when death approaches, do not be anxious about it. Through death, we enter into the very presence of God.

Let us consider two more verses. In Ephesians 1:4 Paul says, “For he chose us in him,” that is, in Jesus Christ, “before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight,” so that we can have eternal fellowship with God. And in 2 Timothy 1:9 he writes, “[God] has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.” As we study these verses, all our anxieties will evaporate. Think about this: there was no period in which God did not love us. Even before creation he loved us. And he loves us now, and he will love us. There will be no end to God’s love for us.

It is true that we may die for our faith in Jesus. Jesus himself spoke of this: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me,’” following him to death (Matt. 16:24). He told the truth. Even today, true believers are being killed throughout the world because of their faith in Christ.

How, then, do we know if we are foreloved, chosen, and predestinated to glory? The answer is, if we live by repentance and faith and produce the fruit of good works. Paul writes, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has foreordained that we should do them” (Eph. 2:10). This is how we make our calling and election sure.

The greatest blessing believers can have is to realize that we are chosen by God to be saved in eternity in Christ, and so we live by obedience of faith. That is why Peter said, “Make your calling and election sure” (2 Pet. 1:10). He wrote this before he was crucified. He knew he was going to God’s presence, and he made sure of his election.

True people of God will not leave Christ’s holy church. They will persevere to the end and produce fruit for God’s glory. Those who leave Christ’s holy church belong to the fruitless people characterized by the first three soils. They are non-elect, unregenerate, unconverted, and fruitless. They never obey God. They are not God’s foreloved, predestinated, called, justified, adopted children of God whose destiny is glorification.

Think about these things. The one thing we must do is to make our calling and election sure. Ask yourself: Do I live by the obedience of faith? Do I obey Jesus Christ, whom I confessed as Lord? If the answer is yes, then you can draw the conclusion that you are elect, and everything will be all right.

We must live by repentance and faith. It is true that we will sin in this life. There are sins of commission and sins of omission. For example, we are to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves. Can we honestly say we have done these things? We cannot. Thus, when we sin, what can we do? We must repent of our sins and trust in Christ. And, thank God, he will forgive our sins. When Christ died on the cross, he died for all our sins—past, present, and future sins. May we, therefore, rejoice in our glorious salvation!

[1] According to Professor John Murray, the word can mean “foreloved.”

[2] “Tribute to a Godly Mother” (http://www.gracevalley.org/sermon/tribute-to-a-godly-mother/)