1. Many of us wonder how is it that certain people can come to church week after week and not get genuinely converted. Notice I said "genuinely converted." Some make professions of faith in Christ but their behaviour indicates that they were never genuinely saved.
2. Some people make professions, and we see evidence in their lives that they are truly born again. On the other hand, there are others who show little or no evidence.
3. I believe these parables in Matthew 13 help us to understand the difference between those who are truly saved and those who are not.
4. Today we will look at the parable of the sower.
5. The sower is the Lord Jesus Christ (13:37). During His absence we are to go into all the world and preach the Gospel. This is God’s program for this age (cf. Matt.28:18-20).
6. So the Sower is the Lord. The seed is the Word of God (Luke 8:4-11). In Matthew 13:19, our Lord refers to it as "the word of the kingdom."
7. The soil represents four types of hearers:

1. The Way Side (Matt.13:4,19).
2. The Stony Places (Matt.13:5,6,21).
3. The Thorns (Matt.13:7,22).
4. The Good Ground (Matt.13:8,23).

I. TO GET TRULY SAVED YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THE GOSPEL (Matt. 13:18,19).

1. Notice what our Lord says in Matt.13:19, "When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not…" The problem here is that many people do not understand the Gospel.
2. For example, "works-salvation" has been so drilled into peoples’ minds by the RCC, by the Jews, by the liberal churches, by the Masons, by the cults, and so on, that most people do not understand the Gospel.
3. Years ago, a number of people called WFME to complain because I preached against those who preach a false gospel. I have to wonder if these people truly understand the Gospel and if they are genuinely saved.
4. Many people are confused over weird teachings that they have picked up over the years. For example, I know a man who was involved in a strange cult for many years. He started attending our church but apparently did not get saved. He moved down south and occasionally comes back for a visit. During one visit, he told me that he had no assurance of salvation. I gave him two probable reasons:

1. He never made a complete break with the cult he was associated with. Repentance is essential for genuine conversion.
2. By his own admission, he seldom attends church. Therefore he is not exposed to the preaching of God’s Word. And because of the many years he was involved in this cult, his mind is confused. He really does not understand what it means to be saved. Our Lord said, they "understandeth it not" (Matt.13:19).

5. What is happening today is very similar to brainwashing and I use this word cautiously. I can think of no other term to describe what is going on through the media, the public schools, and yes – most churches. The true Gospel is not being preached.
6. Let us never forget that the devil does not want people to get saved. The devil will do everything he can to hinder God’s work. Our Lord said, "..then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart" (Matt.13:19; cf. Luke 8:12).
7. I’ll never forget the time we were out in a park in Flushing handing out Gospel tracts. A group of teenagers were quite interested as we preached the Gospel to them. After about a half hour we moved on, and one of my friends turned around and said, "Oh no, look!" A group of JWs had moved in on the teenagers – "then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved" (Luke 8:12).

II. TO GET GENUINELY SAVED YOU HAVE TO GET GROUNDED IN GOD’S WORD.

1. This is what our Lord means when He says in Matthew 13:21, "Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while…"
2. There are those with a shallow, superficial understanding of the things of God who seem to be saved at first but were never genuinely born again. There is "no deepness" (13:5) and so they eventually "wither away" (13:6).
3. Please do not misunderstand me. I am not saying that a person has to understand all the deep things of God in order to be saved. But he must understand and accept the basic principles of the Bible – repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ; the deity of Christ, His substitutionary death on the cross, and resurrection from the dead, etc.
4. Our Lord said they withered away because they "lacked moisture" (Luke 8:6). What an apt description of most churches today – dry as toast! They "lacked moisture." I remember Sister Beryl. She was saved in a Methodist church in St. Vincent many years ago. She moved to Queens and started attending a Methodist church close to home. She left it and started attending services with us. I asked her about the Methodist church and she said: "It was so dry I nearly choked!" "It lacked moisture" (Luke 8:6).
5. As a church, we need to get people into the Word of God. And people need to throw out all of the false doctrine they were taught before they heard the true Gospel.
6. Our Lord said, "But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it" (Matt.13:20). But after a while, these "converts" fall away (13:21).
7. Why? Perhaps it is because of "persecution" from unsaved friends and relatives (13:21). They cannot take the pressure and so they give in. I do not think that a true Christian will cave into pressure from unsaved friends and family. He may temporarily but if he or she is saved they will take their stand for the Lord.
8. Perhaps it is because of temptation that they fall away (Luke 8:13).
9. Notice that our Lord said, "And when the sun was up, they were scorched…" (Matt.13:6). The hot sun represents troubles and tribulations (13:21). When things get too hot for them, they bail out.
10. Those that are truly saved grow through tribulation (cf. Rom.5:3-5; James 1:2-8). Those that are not truly saved fall away.
11. Jesus said: "Pick up your cross and follow me." But most people are not willing to pay the price. They want the benefits of Christianity but do not want to be inconvenienced in any way.
12. I have seen many people come and go through our church. And I think the #1 reason many of them do not stay is because they are looking for an easy-going, no-commitment type of Christianity.

III. TO BE GENUINELY SAVED, YOU MUST MAKE A CLEAN BREAK WITH THE WORLD (13:22).

1. I have already stated that there are those who do not cut their ties with cults and other false religions. They keep reading their literature, they keep associating with cult members, they keep lighting candles and praying to statues, and so on.
2. Another problem: they do not want to give up worldly pleasures. They love the world more than Jesus Christ and so they cannot be saved.
3. One of my favorite hymns goes like this:

Worldly pleasures all forsaken
Take me, Jesus, take me now.
I surrender all, I surrender all.
All to Thee, my blessed Saviour, I surrender all.

4. But many are not willing to forsake their worldly pleasures. They do not really want to surrender all. If they were honest they would sing, "I Surrender Some."
5. A couple of years ago someone sent me a list of hymns that most churches should sing if they really want to be honest.

• There Shall Be Sprinkles of Blessings
• Fill My Spoon, Lord
• Oh, How I Like Jesus
• He’s Quite a Bit to Me
• I Love to Talk About Telling the Story
• Take My Life And Let Me Be
• It is My Secret What God Can Do
• Thee is Scattered Cloudiness in My Soul Today
• Onward, Christian Reserves
• Where He Leads Me, I Will Consider Following
• Just As I Pretend To Be
• I Have Decided to Follow Jesus (for a while)
• I Shall Not Be Moved (at the invitation)
• I Would Be True…sometimes
• Sweet Minute of Prayer
• Let the Redeemed of the Lord say "no," say "no"
• Have My Own Way Lord
• Turn Your Eyes Upon Money
• Jesus Saviour Pilot Someone Else
• Jesus Keep Me Near Me Near the Back Pew
• Jesus Calls Us, We Don’t Answer
• I’ll Live For Him…if it suits me
• Tis So Sweet to Trust in Myself
• Count Your Problems
• King of My Life I Crown Me Now
• My Faith Looks Up to Me
• I’ll Tell the World That I’m a Good Guy
• Stand Up, Stand Up, For Dismissal
• My Jesus I Love Me
• Seek Ye First the Kingdom of Self

6. People prefer their parties, their sports, their TV, their worldly friends, their money and possessions – "the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches" (Matt.13:22).
7. The saddest thing about many of these worldly church people is that oftentimes they do not realize they are lost.
8. I heard a story about a mother who attended a meeting in a large and crowded auditorium, accompanied by her little daughter. Somehow they were separated and the mother could not find her. She asked the usher to send a notice up to the platform and he did. Soon the songleader read the announcement: "There is a little girl named Mary Jones who is lost. Mary, please raise your hand so your mother can find you."
9. No one raised their hand so Mary’s mother went out and got a policeman to help search for her. When the meeting was over, Mary’s mother stood by the front doors and watched the crowd leave the building. Finally, she saw little Mary.
10. Mrs. Jones ran over to her daughter and picked her up in her arms and said, "Where were you?" Mary replied: "In the front row." "Didn’t you hear the announcement? The man said for the little girl who is lost to raise her hand."
11. "Yes, Mother. I heard that announcement but I did not think he was talking about me because I wasn’t lost."
12. That’s the way many people are – lost but they don’t realize it. They are like the Indian who was found running around the woods. Someone asked him, "Are you lost?" He said, "No, I’m not lost! My teepee is lost."

CONCLUSION:

1. Here in this parable of the sower, our Lord explained why some accepted and many rejected His ministry. The effect of the seed is dependent upon the state of the soil (i.e. the hearer), not on the Sower (our Lord) or the seed (the Word of God).
2. The Sower sows seed to "any one" who will hear (Matt.13:19a), i.e. "whosoever will." And the seed is always good and life-giving. But some soil is hard. The fault lies with the hearers, not with the Sower or the seed. Our Lord Himself said so (Matt.13:13-15).
3. Maybe there is one here today whose heart has been cold and hard toward the things of God. Why don’t you get things right with God today?