In the parable of the sower, in Matthew 13, Christ depicts four types of individuals who hear the gospel and how they respond. There is the soil along the path, the rocky soil, the thorny soil, and the good soil. It is important to evaluate the condition of our own soil because we can go through phases in life where it may vary--we are not always apparently good soil, even if we are saved. We may identify with these kinds of soils at some time in our spiritual journey, but to enter the kingdom of God we have to be good soil--we may just backslide or revert to our old nature at seasons of our life though. But it is erroneous to conclude that there is a whole new category of a believer called a believer with a thorny soil; he must have been good soil at one time or he never would've been saved in the first place.
It has been shown that the average person rejects the gospel 7.6 times before accepting it--that is an average and one person may reject it 8 times and another 7 times, and so forth. That is proof that we are not always receptive to the message of truth and aren't usually ready for it as given or sown the first time. But God prepares our hearts over time and when we are prepared soil we do respond affirmatively. "Salvation is of the Lord," says Jonah 2:9 and we do not cooperate in it as Rome teaches but simply accepts it by faith with God doing all the work, even giving us faith as a gift--it is not something we conjure up by our efforts. All of us can relate to once being thorny soil that had other things on our mind or even rocky soil that doesn't want to pay the price of persecution or tribulation and hasn't counted the cost--Jesus warned His followers to "count the cost."
In this parable, the sower is the same, the seed is the same, and the soil is the same; what is different is the condition of the soil and this is the responsibility of the recipient. The sower sows wherever he has the opportunity or sees an open door. Only in so-called "good soil" does the seed germinate and take root to go on and bear fruit. Why is fruit important? John the Baptist said, "Bear fruits in keeping with repentance..." (Luke 3:8). "By their fruits, you shall know them." Jesus "appointed [us] that [we] should go and bear fruit and that [our] fruit should abide..." (John 15:16). We should "bear much fruit and prove to be [His] disciples." (This fruit is the outcome of our lives for Christ, doing good deeds foreordained for us and not the fruit of the Spirit since the listeners of Jesus knew nothing of this and the Spirit was not yet given!)
I am of the persuasion that faith without works is dead and without fruit there is no faith--true faith produces fruit and this fruit is good works (though converts is a good work, it is not the only one); we are not saved by good works, but we are not saved without them either-without works our faith is suspect. There may be Christians who don't amount to much and may end up with no reward according to 1 Cor. 3:15 where they are saved, as if by fire, but they do produce some fruit and end up losing or forfeiting their reward. The condition of the soil is up to us and we are culpable for soil that is unresponsive to the gospel and has no place for the Word in our lives.
Lots of people are superficial and initially believe the Word of Christ, but don't have genuine saving faith, having good intentions, but poor follow-through. The purpose of this parable is to show three types of recipients to the general call of the gospel when we preach or evangelize and why they don't accept our message. It is meant to encourage us to sow a seed and that some will inevitably fall on good or tilled soil. Hearing the Word is not sufficient, one must be obedient to the gospel and go on to follow the Lord as His disciple. Soli Deo Gloria!
It has been shown that the average person rejects the gospel 7.6 times before accepting it--that is an average and one person may reject it 8 times and another 7 times, and so forth. That is proof that we are not always receptive to the message of truth and aren't usually ready for it as given or sown the first time. But God prepares our hearts over time and when we are prepared soil we do respond affirmatively. "Salvation is of the Lord," says Jonah 2:9 and we do not cooperate in it as Rome teaches but simply accepts it by faith with God doing all the work, even giving us faith as a gift--it is not something we conjure up by our efforts. All of us can relate to once being thorny soil that had other things on our mind or even rocky soil that doesn't want to pay the price of persecution or tribulation and hasn't counted the cost--Jesus warned His followers to "count the cost."
In this parable, the sower is the same, the seed is the same, and the soil is the same; what is different is the condition of the soil and this is the responsibility of the recipient. The sower sows wherever he has the opportunity or sees an open door. Only in so-called "good soil" does the seed germinate and take root to go on and bear fruit. Why is fruit important? John the Baptist said, "Bear fruits in keeping with repentance..." (Luke 3:8). "By their fruits, you shall know them." Jesus "appointed [us] that [we] should go and bear fruit and that [our] fruit should abide..." (John 15:16). We should "bear much fruit and prove to be [His] disciples." (This fruit is the outcome of our lives for Christ, doing good deeds foreordained for us and not the fruit of the Spirit since the listeners of Jesus knew nothing of this and the Spirit was not yet given!)
I am of the persuasion that faith without works is dead and without fruit there is no faith--true faith produces fruit and this fruit is good works (though converts is a good work, it is not the only one); we are not saved by good works, but we are not saved without them either-without works our faith is suspect. There may be Christians who don't amount to much and may end up with no reward according to 1 Cor. 3:15 where they are saved, as if by fire, but they do produce some fruit and end up losing or forfeiting their reward. The condition of the soil is up to us and we are culpable for soil that is unresponsive to the gospel and has no place for the Word in our lives.
Lots of people are superficial and initially believe the Word of Christ, but don't have genuine saving faith, having good intentions, but poor follow-through. The purpose of this parable is to show three types of recipients to the general call of the gospel when we preach or evangelize and why they don't accept our message. It is meant to encourage us to sow a seed and that some will inevitably fall on good or tilled soil. Hearing the Word is not sufficient, one must be obedient to the gospel and go on to follow the Lord as His disciple. Soli Deo Gloria!