Some Fell by the Wayside
Scripture: Matthew 13:4Devotional Series: The Integrity of God's Word
Teaching: The Integrity Of God's Word pt. 3 (SUN_AM 2021-06-20) by Pastor Star R Scott
You could go up and down Route 7 here to find churches and ninety percent of them would not dare use the term “sin.” You will not hear teachings on repentance. You surely won’t hear anything about divine order and women finding their biblical role in the home and in the workplace. You sure won’t hear teachings on training our children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and that when there is rebellion and disobedience, the rod and reproof will drive this far from them. Amen? This professed church that refuses to do the Word of God. All of those things, of course, that we’ve mentioned, as we all here know, are subjects that God speaks to specifically and emphatically. Society today is rising up with this gender nonsense. Can you believe it’s a whole month now that we have to put up with? Dear God, all of these people are getting their separate months.
The worship of the creature. That’s why, in the church, we have to guard our hearts. With all of this political and philosophical nonsense that’s going on in the world today, we can’t get caught up in it. Beloved, we are in the world, but we’re not of it. Stay out of the politics! Stay out of the philosophical arguments, whatever they might be. If you’re in the church, then let’s say what the Bible says; amen? The Bible says “that in the kingdom of God there’s not male or female, there’s no racial situation, there’s not Jew or Gentile.” Amen? Thank God we are all one; bought by the blood of Jesus Christ. We’re no longer our own. We’ve been bought with a price, praise God! Every person in this room that names Jesus Christ as Lord is a love slave to Jesus. We have no rights. We have no liberties but to submit, obey, and walk in harmony with the One who loves us and died for us, praise God!
That’s what our focus needs to be in this hour. If you don’t keep it there, you’re going to get yourself in trouble somewhere along the line, because you cannot serve God and this world. “You cannot serve God and mammon. You’ll love the one and hate the other,” the Scripture says. So, Jesus sets forth here in this fourth chapter of Mark these great principles of the need to prepare our hearts to receive the Word of God, so that we could walk in that truth. It’s one thing for the Word to be truth, and it’s another thing for us to hear and walk in truth. It’s one thing to memorize truth, and then it’s another thing when we hear the Scripture speak. To be a hearer, a memorizer of the Word, and not a doer, leads to self-deception. Amen? The more you memorize and refuse to do, the more deceived you are.
So, He gives this parable. This parable is spoken in Matthew 13 and also in Luke, Chapter 8. When you see these different teachings in all three of the synoptic gospels, pay attention. There’s some importance here. Verse 2 says, “And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine.” Doctrine is something that sets course for us. It’s a foundational principle and truth. So, He tells the story, “Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow:” And it came to pass, as he sowed…” As he threw this seed, of course, you remember that they would have this sack over their shoulders, and, by hand, they would just throw the seed out. It wasn’t done precisely. It was just done by feel and randomly throwing. He said in this that as the seed was sown, “…some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up. And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth: But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred. And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Mark 4:3-9).
Go over to Chapter 13, for just a moment, of Matthew. Just a quick reading. Chapter 13 of Matthew, verse 4, And the sower sowed. “And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, 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 not root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold” (verse 5-8). Now, go back to the beginning of this verse where we were reading.
On the wayside, the fowls came and devoured them up. In Chapter 13 of Matthew, when He begins to teach the parable to them, it says that those on the wayside received the Word, but they understood it not. Because they understood it not, the fowls were able to then take this out of their hearts. Now, remember, each and every one of these were in contact with and experienced some form of generating forth of life. The Bible tells us as we go into the parable, that the Word of God is perfect; amen? We know that the Word of God is called incorruptible seed in First Peter. “We are born again by an incorruptible seed, the Word of God,” is what Peter tells us. I think it’s important for us to grab a hold of that thought process.
The worship of the creature. That’s why, in the church, we have to guard our hearts. With all of this political and philosophical nonsense that’s going on in the world today, we can’t get caught up in it. Beloved, we are in the world, but we’re not of it. Stay out of the politics! Stay out of the philosophical arguments, whatever they might be. If you’re in the church, then let’s say what the Bible says; amen? The Bible says “that in the kingdom of God there’s not male or female, there’s no racial situation, there’s not Jew or Gentile.” Amen? Thank God we are all one; bought by the blood of Jesus Christ. We’re no longer our own. We’ve been bought with a price, praise God! Every person in this room that names Jesus Christ as Lord is a love slave to Jesus. We have no rights. We have no liberties but to submit, obey, and walk in harmony with the One who loves us and died for us, praise God!
That’s what our focus needs to be in this hour. If you don’t keep it there, you’re going to get yourself in trouble somewhere along the line, because you cannot serve God and this world. “You cannot serve God and mammon. You’ll love the one and hate the other,” the Scripture says. So, Jesus sets forth here in this fourth chapter of Mark these great principles of the need to prepare our hearts to receive the Word of God, so that we could walk in that truth. It’s one thing for the Word to be truth, and it’s another thing for us to hear and walk in truth. It’s one thing to memorize truth, and then it’s another thing when we hear the Scripture speak. To be a hearer, a memorizer of the Word, and not a doer, leads to self-deception. Amen? The more you memorize and refuse to do, the more deceived you are.
So, He gives this parable. This parable is spoken in Matthew 13 and also in Luke, Chapter 8. When you see these different teachings in all three of the synoptic gospels, pay attention. There’s some importance here. Verse 2 says, “And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine.” Doctrine is something that sets course for us. It’s a foundational principle and truth. So, He tells the story, “Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow:” And it came to pass, as he sowed…” As he threw this seed, of course, you remember that they would have this sack over their shoulders, and, by hand, they would just throw the seed out. It wasn’t done precisely. It was just done by feel and randomly throwing. He said in this that as the seed was sown, “…some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up. And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth: But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred. And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Mark 4:3-9).
Go over to Chapter 13, for just a moment, of Matthew. Just a quick reading. Chapter 13 of Matthew, verse 4, And the sower sowed. “And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, 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 not root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold” (verse 5-8). Now, go back to the beginning of this verse where we were reading.
On the wayside, the fowls came and devoured them up. In Chapter 13 of Matthew, when He begins to teach the parable to them, it says that those on the wayside received the Word, but they understood it not. Because they understood it not, the fowls were able to then take this out of their hearts. Now, remember, each and every one of these were in contact with and experienced some form of generating forth of life. The Bible tells us as we go into the parable, that the Word of God is perfect; amen? We know that the Word of God is called incorruptible seed in First Peter. “We are born again by an incorruptible seed, the Word of God,” is what Peter tells us. I think it’s important for us to grab a hold of that thought process.