Thru the Bible

Narrator: Do you live where the wheat waves in the wind? Where corn stretches tall under an open sky? Maybe it's cotton fields, or rows of bright red strawberries ready for harvest. Well, on Thru the Bible, we're stepping into one of the most powerful stories that Jesus ever told. The parable of the sower and the seed. Dr. J. Vernon McGee calls Matthew 13 one of the most important chapters in all of scripture. Why? Well, because it shows what really is happening in the human heart when God's Word is sown. Before we open our Bibles though, let's reach into the Bible bus mail bag for a couple of letters. Jim in North Carolina writes this, "I've just gotten on board the Bible bus within the last year. It has been my daily devotion. I am 72, and I am so thankful for your ministry that takes God's Word worldwide. I share Dr. McGee's messages with my family and friends, often praying that God's Word speaks to the heart and the Holy Spirit gives us the truth and knowledge of our need for a Savior. We know His love, grace and mercy are there for all who accept with simple childlike faith. Praise God, He is Lord."

Narrator: Well, Jim, welcome aboard. We're grateful that you're riding along with us and sharing with others. And if you'd like to help maybe scatter a little seed yourself, just call us at 1-800-65 Bible and ask for a pack of Bible bus passes to share with those who God has placed in your life. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for planting your living Word in us. Break up the hard soil of our hearts, Lord, and pull the weeds deep in the roots and give us ears to hear and hearts ready to receive in Jesus' name. Amen.

Narrator: Here's Dr. J. Vernon McGee with our study of Matthew 13 on Thru the Bible.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Our study at this time takes us into the 13th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. And follow along because we have come to one of the high points of the Gospel of Matthew. This is one of the great chapters. Now, I know that I've said that before, and I'm sure I'll be saying it again.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: But actually, this is one of the three major discourses. We've had already the sermon on the mount, Matthew 5, 6, and 7. And now we have the mystery parable discourse and later on, Matthew 24 and 25. Let me put it like this. We have said that the Gospel of Matthew is probably the key gospel to the Bible. It's the open door to both the Old and New Testaments. And if that's true, then the 13th chapter of Matthew is the key to the Gospel of Matthew.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: So that makes this chapter very important. In fact, all important. I believe that we'll find here a better understanding of what the kingdom of heaven is than we will in any other place. You'll recall that our Lord came and following John the Baptist, who preached, "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." And our Lord enunciated the law of that kingdom. The Sermon on the Mount, the manifesto of the King.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Then he demonstrated that He had the dynamic, the power, and then he sent his disciples out. He was rejected. Then we find him in conflict. And then he hands down a judgment as we saw last time, against these religious rulers and the cities where his mighty works had been done. And when they asked for a sign, he said no sign would be given, but that of Jonah. Jonah was a sign, a resurrection sign, and they were to have that one shortly after this.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Do you remember that very personal invitation? "Come unto me all ye that labor and heavy laden, I'll rest you." Now, the question is what happens to the kingdom of heaven? Apparently now, he'll not establish it on the earth at this time, at his first coming. Now, what will happen to the kingdom of heaven? Well, we have these mystery parable discourses, and they set before us the kingdom of heaven condition. Now, let me say some very definite and I want to say them as dogmatic statements. I hope that I give that impression.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: He gave here seven parables, and some think that he gave eight parables. And in these parables, he set before us the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. That is, the condition of the kingdom of heaven. Now, the kingdom of heaven is not synonymous with the church. And the church is not synonymous with the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is Christendom. And the church is in Christendom today, but it's not all of it by any means.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: I'm sure that the wildest interpreter of the scripture would not say that in the kingdom of heaven that they'd be sowing tares. This is the form it's taken during the days of His rejection. Now, he covers the entire period with these parables here. These parables, I consider them very important indeed. First is the sower. Second is the tares and the wheat. The third the mustard seed. Fourth is the woman hiding leaven in bread. The fifth is hid treasure in a field. The sixth is the pearl of great price bought by the merchant man. And then the drag net that went out into the world and brought in all kinds of fish. And then things new and old, if you want an eighth one, that the household brings forth things new and old.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: I think you can consider that a parable, but I certainly wouldn't want to dwell on that to any great length. Now, let me come back and begin reading at verse 3. "And He spake many things under them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow." Now, this is very important to see. I hope that you won't miss it, because it's all important. "Behold, a sower went forth to sow." And this parable is really the key to the other parables.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And what I mean by that is, our Lord interpreted this parable, and he interpreted the parable of the tares and wheat. And you will find that he gave interpretation to certain things in these two parables. Now, you'll find that it'll carry over in the other parables. I do not think that we have a right to interpret one of the other parables and contradict something that He's given. For instance, He mentions the birds here, the evil one, in this parable of the sower, representing Satan.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Well, I don't think birds are going to be something good later on in another parable. I think that we have to be consistent and follow his interpretation. Now, you will notice "Behold, a sower went forth to sow." And he'll interpret that later on, and I'll just run ahead and give his interpretation. The sower is the Son of Man. What's he going to do now in the world? What is the Lord Jesus doing today in the world?

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: If you'd ask me, I'd say that he's a sower. He's sowing seed in the world today. The Word of God, by the way, is the seed. And that also is interpreted for us. You'll find that the interpretation is given to us here. Now, let's move on down in this, and let me read the parable, and then we'll look for the interpretation of it. "And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside, and the fowls came and devoured them up. Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth; and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth. And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them. But others fell unto good ground, and brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, this is the parable that is given to us. Now, we want to look at this parable, because it's very important to the understanding of the other parables. "Behold, a sower went forth to sow." Now, that was a familiar sight in Palestine. They would just sort of scratch the surface of the ground with a very crude plow. Sometimes they didn't even do that. And the sower would go out and fling the seed. That was a very familiar sight. Well, even today in our land, in the springtime, all the way from Pocatello, Idaho, to Pensacola, Florida, and all the way from Chicago, Illinois, to Cucamonga, California, and from Minnesota, to Muleshoe, Texas, you'll see them sowing wheat, and corn, and cotton.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And it's a very familiar sight. The thing today is, they use a machine to sow the seed, however. It was very crude in that day. Now, the sower, we're told very definitely, over in verse 37, he answered and said unto them, "He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man." Now, that's in the parable of the tares and the wheat. Now, the one who sows the seed here is the Son of Man. The Lord Jesus, that is what he's doing. That defines the work of Christ in reference to the world. He was the king. He laid aside his regal robes. He's a farmer today sowing seed, but he's still a king.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, you'll note what the seed. The seed in verse 19, we're told, "When anyone heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not." The seed is the Word of God. That's made also clear to us here. Now, the field, we are told, verse 38, we're told that the field is the world. It's not the church, you see. We're talking about a world situation. It's Christendom. And I think the picture would be something like this. Here is the church in the world, and outside, there are these multitudes of people that have not accepted Christ, and the word is given to this one, and the word is given to that one, and the word is given to someone else. And this one accepts, that one does not accept.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Our business is to sow seed. Not everybody that we give the word to accept it. But we give it out here on the radio. We just fling it out here. I don't know where it's going. But I find out later on that it goes into good ground. Let me just give you, and I've saved my letter for today for this particular place and for this purpose. And this one comes from right here in Los Angeles. And the listener writes, "I just received all the notes and outlines. I was so thrilled and happy to receive them. I just had to write to thank you. Two and a half years ago, I wasn't even a Christian, but for the last 20 months, Christ has been in my heart, ruling my life, and I've had a real hunger from the Word."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, to me that's an example of what I'm called to do today. The Lord Jesus has charge of this great program of sowing seed. But he's given me a little corner, and my business is to sow seed. I interpret that to be the important thing. And I'd like to be rather specific here. This is the day for sowing seed. And I don't want to quibble or split hairs. But the harvest is not the picture for today.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: But somebody says, didn't Christ say, "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest"? We've already seen that. Well, remember, I call your attention that I'd have something further to say about that. Now, will you notice verse 36 of chapter 9, and I'll have to go back to pick this up. "But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith He unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth laborers into his harvest." Now, that was right before he sent out his apostles to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And that is the end of this age. The age of law was coming to an end. Now, harvest time comes after seed had been sown. And for 1500 years, approximately, under law, the seed had been sown. Now the harvest has come. A new age, a new dispensation is coming in. And the end of one is a harvest. The beginning of the other is the sowing of the seed. Let us, I want to emphasize that the end of the age means judgment, and you'll find that in some of the parables that we have here. When he says, "Let both grow together." And at the time of the harvest, when is the time of the harvest, and of the age, that's judgment, friends.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: But our business is sowing seed. You see, in the Battle of Armageddon, is considered a great time of harvest. It even is a time of treading the wine press for him. Now, we today are therefore to sow seed. And I rejoice when I read a letter where somebody, they listen for, well, I don't know how long. They listen for over a year. The sowing of the seed, and finally began to germinate and fructify, and now it's bringing forth fruit. This party has a hunger for the Word of God. This illustrates in a very real way the thing that we're talking about, and I consider that our business today.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: But now notice where the seed falls. It falls in all kinds of ground. And we really have some seed here. There are really four types of ground, and three fourths of the seed does not grow. It dies. Nothing wrong with the seed, but there's a great difficulty with the soil. You can argue election all you want to, but there's sure is a whole lot of free will here. It's the condition of the soil that is all important as far as the seed is concerned.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, let's move on down and we have read, "When he sowed, some fell by the wayside, and the fowls came and devoured them. Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth; and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth. And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them. But other fell into good ground, brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, we have first of all the wayside hearers. What about these wayside hearers? Well, verse 19, "When anyone heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which receives seed by the wayside." Now, we're told that these birds here are the evil one. The devil takes away that which is sown by the wayside. This is something that ought to cause every church member to examine his own heart. Don't apply this to the other fellow. What about you?

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Someone has written this very clever little poem. It says, "When you get to heaven, you'll likely view many folk there will be a shock to you. But don't act surprised or even show a care, for they might be a little shocked to see you there." Well, we have no right to sit in judgment. But apparently these are church members, professing Christians. They heard the word, but it was not the hearing of faith. The word was not mixed with faith. Or if it was, it was a formal intellectual faith that just nodded the head and did nothing. In other words, to them Christianity is a sideline. Belonging to the church is like belonging to a lodge or a club, only they are not even as devoted to the church as they are to a lodge or to a club. Sort of a side show. And these folk are in deep freeze. You see them not only in our churches today, they're in cults and isms today. Fell by the wayside.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And now, we have another group here and those were the ones that on stony places. It was rocky ground. What about them? Verse 20, "But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it. Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by, he's offended." Now, these rocky ground ones, they're the opposite, by the way, of the wayside ones. The devil took it away from the wayside. This is the flesh here gets in the way.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: These people are not in deep freeze as the one by the wayside. These people are in the oven. They're warm. They're emotional. They shed tears. They're greatly moved. They have feeling. These are what I call Alka-Seltzer Christians. The others were in deep freeze, these are fizzing. And there's a lot of fizz and frizz to them. And they make as much fuss during a meeting as a rocket on a launching pad, but they never get into orbit. They are what I call the Southern California type, and I've been out here since 1940. They have a great zeal and energy, but they're just like a burnt out Roman candle after the meeting is over.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: I stood on the back end of a train years ago, the Santa Fe going to Chicago, and I'd left Fort Worth, Texas. And late that evening, we were going through Kansas. And there was a paper there on the railroad track, somebody had thrown it out. And when that train went by, right afterward, my, that paper just fluttered up in the air and it just went every direction. But just as soon as the train got by, it just began to settle down and finally it got dead still on the track. And as I looked way back at that paper as it was just lying there, I thought that's just like a lot of Christians. You have a meeting, something sensational. Oh, my, how they get into gear. But it's not real with them. It's just an emotional splurge. They are the rocky ground.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And then there are those that are like the thorns. What about those? Well, he says, "He also that receiveth seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word, and the care of this world, and the deceitful of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful." Now, the ones where the seed fall in thorny ground, they represent the ones that the world crowds out the Word of God. You see, the devil got the wayside. The flesh took care of the rocky ground. But the world takes care of those in the thorny ground. The cares of the world. Sometimes it's poverty. And the other time it's the deceitful of riches.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: This is something that is quite interesting that the two groups, one that are in abject poverty on one side of the spectrum of the social spectrum and the other at the other extreme, prosperity, they're rich. Those are the two folks that are the most difficult to reach outside of the church today. I find that a great many people have let the world crowd out the Word of God. Now, these are not just different types of believers. They're not believers at all. They are those that have heard the word. They profess to receive it. Actually, right now, I'm confident that listening to me all over this land, there are those that are in all three classes.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: It's well for all of us to examine ourselves and see whether we're in the faith or not. Thank God, though, some of the seed falls in good ground. And in verse 23, that's interpreted for us. "But he that receiveth seed into the good ground, is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, bringeth forth some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty." These are the hearers and they've received it. Now, some may be not bring forth very much fruit, but they bring forth thirtyfold. And some will bring forth sixtyfold and some will bring forth a hundredfold. This is the picture that's given to us here. And you see, they must understand it.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: The Ethiopian eunuch, you remember, was reading, he didn't understand, but he wanted to. And the Spirit of God put Philip there as a hitchhiker, and he got on and took a ride. And he gave the Ethiopian eunuch a ticket to heaven. He told him that the one that was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquity, was the Lord Jesus Christ. And then this man accepted and received him. Now, we're sowing seed. That's our business. I interpret that as being our business today. This is a Kingdom of the Heaven situation.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, the Lord does something quite interesting here. He says, "Who hath ears to hear, let him hear." Well, if you've got these things on the side of your head called ears, can't you hear him? Yes, but notice. The disciples came and said unto him, "Why speakest thou unto them in parables?" Now, parable, someone has interpreted as an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. That's very good. But the word parabole, we get our word ball for that. You throw something down by the side of something. It's like putting a ruler down by the side of a table or a wall, and you measure it. Now that ruler is a parable. It's put down to measure it. Now, he gave these parables to measure heavenly truth to set that before us.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, why did he do it? He answered and said unto them, "Because it's given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it's not given." Now, this is the illustration of that. If a man wants to know the word, he can know it. He that wants to know the truth can know the truth. But if you'll shut your ears to it, and there are multitudes of broad-minded people, so-called, that shut their ears to the Word of God. And if you don't want to hear it, well, you won't hear it, my friend. Not only will you not hear it, you wouldn't understand it even if you did. You must have that inner ear that wants to hear the Word of God. For he says, "Whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance. And if you want to know the truth and know a little, he'll add to it. But whosoever hath not, you don't want to know it." Well, from him shall be taken away even that he had. God will see to it that you don't get it. You see, he never shuts the door to one who wants to hear. It's those who do not want to hear. And that's exactly what he's saying here. And he says, "That's the reason that I'm speaking to them in parables." Well, we're going to hear the next parable that he also interprets, and that'll be the key to the other parables. We'll take that next time. Until then, may God richly bless you.

Narrator: We got great resources to help you grow in God's Word, including the notes and outlines Dr. McGee mentioned. Just visit TTB.org or call 1-800-65 Bible for more information. I'm Steve Schwetz, and I'll meet you back here as the Bible bus rolls along. Well, ride the Bible bus for five years and you'll be amazed at what God teaches you from his Word, about what it means to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. It's a blessing that keeps on going. That's what we believe at Thru the Bible.