I sometimes wonder how some people can be so insensitive to sin, without a bit of guilt or remorse. I’m thinking about those who do sin for a living and think nothing of it. They seem to thrive in it, and the gospel has no effect on them.

I’ve been reading The Gospel According to Jesus, by John MacArthur. He has some very good incites on the parable of the soils from Matthew 13:3-9.

And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow; 4 and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 “And others fell upon the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. 6 “But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. 7 “And others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. 8 “And others fell on the good soil, and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. 9 “He who has ears, let him hear.”

First we need to explain that the seed represents the Word of God and the gospel; the sower is one who presents the gospel to the unbeliever; the soil is the human heart—or the people; and the birds that ate the seed is Satan.

The purpose of sowing the seed is to build the kingdom of God—to save souls for His kingdom. In the parable, Jesus describes four kinds of soils (or four kinds of people) that the seed falls on. The first three described (vs. 4-7) is soil that is not prepared correctly for the seed of the gospel to germinate. These people will not be saved. Only the fourth kind of soil—good, fertile soil—will respond to the gospel and be saved.   

In this blog we will focus on the first soil mentioned (v. 4). The sower went out to sow; and as he sowed, some of the seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up.

This first soil is soil that is hard-packed. It is soil that is on a path that has been packed down by people constantly walking on it. The seed that lands on this path, as you can imagine, has no chance of taking root. The hard-packed soil represents people with a hard heart. Like the hard-packed soil, their heart is hard. It has been hardened by repeated sin and abuse. The Old Testament called these people “stiff-necked.” Their repeated sins and rebellion against God has made them what they are: unresponsive to the gospel (and the Word of God), unconcerned, indifferent, even hostile to the gospel. These are definitely unsaved people; because a believer will commit sins and even be rebellious, but he will not stay that way. The Holy Spirit will cause him to repent and he will be delivered.

Hence, this parable is directed to unsaved people. They need a heart change. The soil of their heart needs conditioning. The hard-hearted person has no chance of being saved unless his heart is softened. How?

By prayer and by the Word of God and by love from a kind friend.

It is a sad thing to see this person; they have no understanding of the gospel and no sorrow over their sin, because the devil has plucked all the seeds of the gospel away. They seem to be so oblivious to sin, to living a sinful life. These are the ones who march for Pride month; these are the ones who fight for abortion rights; these are the ones who sell themselves to pornography and also the ones who love viewing it; these are the ones who have no understanding of the truth and the Word of God and will call Christians and conservatives extremists. They fight for global government and for the climate change movement. Most of them will not repent and be saved. Much prayer is needed for the few who will be saved.