Mexico Missouri message., 1912-07-11

ness the implanted word which Is able to-
SAW your souls" James i:2L
Jesus tells us plainly why he taught
SO much by means of PARALLELS Matt.
13:1913) viz. to teach the truth to
those who sought It. and to hide It
from those who refused 10 receive Il.
The truth had to be taught hence tho
parable, that those to whom II was
given to know tho mysteries of the
kingdom might know and understand
but that to the others II might be hid
den mark 4:11-12). We have In this
lesson one of the best known of the
masters many parallels. Like all tho
rest Jesus draws his picture from the
common experiences of life. Jesus
uses tho fields, the home, etc. while
Paul In his preaching and teaching
draws from the city, the army, the
markets, etc. We have In this pic
ture the seed, the sower and the soil.
We must turn to the parable accounts
IL Luke and Matthew to get the full
and the complete picture.
What IS the seed? Luke records
that Jesus told the disciples that the
eeed is the word of God Uuke SID.
Mark also tells us practically tho same
thing in V. II OF the lesson. A great
deal Is being made today of seed Sc
lection and some wonderful results
have been obtained How much more
important for us who deal with immor-
tai souls that we select the best, viz.
the word of God
Sought Not Aduation.
Next the sower ". ~. Notice he
went forth not to SOAR nor is 1t
recorded that he was SORE. He did
not have a. crouch nor did he enter
! into his work that he might receive
the adulatlon of men Matt. 6:2).
II is however the soil that seems to
be most emphasized in this lesson.
both in the direct teaching and also
In the explanation of the parable.
There are four kinds of soil and 1t is
also very significant the manner by
which the seed came into contact with
each kind of soil. "Some fell by the
wayside," The path was we'll trod-
den. the ground was preoccupied, e. g..
used for other purposes rather than
to yield a harvest. II was hard to be
broken and hence It was an easy mat
ter for the birdsnsA the air Csatan v.
15) soon to plunne away We need
to remember Z Ouin zen receive with
meekness the ed word there
will be of couf nice UGH opportunity
for the evil orlesdaye trouble is that
In this case the Sr,,i was not implant.
ed. Thus 1t Is that one-fourth of the
seed Is lost That the result Is a de-
! plorable one is shown in Heb. 2:1-4.
The seed in this case fell by" the
wayside, in the next It fell ION" the
rocky ground The first is the picture
of the needless, this is picture of
the superficial ones. Oh for a time
they did run well. they even received
! tho word with gladness ". 16) but
they had no stability; they lacked the
element of persistence; their surround.
ings were superficial, there was no
chance for the seed to get a real grip
upon their lives
Three Fourths Lost.
In the third place Jesus speaks OF
Geed that fell among" the thorns.
Here in this worldly soil It is not so
much the character of the soil as the
character OF that which already occu-
pied tho soil ere the sower sowed the
seed. The cares Of this world, the
deceitfulness OF riches and "other
things" ". 1877 had 30 entered In that
the good seed never had real chance
In the soil Of that human heart, hence
1t was choked and yielded no fruit.
Grin nf a W
whole-hearted surrender. How often
these thorns, 'the cares Of life" keep
the housewife, or the business man
away from the word. How often the
"deceitfulness Of riches" snare men so
as to choke tho word that at one time
gave such promise in their lives. And
then the '1usts and other things"
which the evil one SO well knows how
to use that he may keep us from the
word, for he knows that by 1t we may
be saved duke SID.
We have thus seen threefourths of
the word lost OF the remaining
fourth which fell into" Or. W the
good soil, not all yielded the same re-
turn. II all brought forth ". y 1t all
yielded. 1t all sprang up but not all
in the same ratio. We ought TO re-
member at this point that this parable
plainly teaches us that We who receive
the implanted seed, wo who receive
and obey shall in turn become the seed
of the kingdom.
There arc three distinguishing feat
ures of this last class Of hearers %
They hear" the word. These arc
the ones who appreciate its value and
give good heed to its precepts. (2)
They accept" It, o. g.. they under
stand its teachings, they take it into
good and honest hearts, and 90 they
hold it fast" duke S:15 X. W, These
are the ones of which martyrs are
made. Thus we see four differ
ent soils and four different ways Of
receiving 1t. ~ Some by" the way
side; (2) Some ION" the stony soil;
(S) Some "among" the thorns; and a.
Some into" THE good ground.