018 LISTEN! – part 3

Mark 4:1-34 (13-15)

February 15, 2026

Our theme for this segment in Mark’s gospel is clear.

It is that when God speaks, we should LISTEN!

We heard Jesus warning in Mark 3

Mark 3:28-30 “Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”

· Those where people who rejected Jesus’ message.

· They hated His message but could not deny His power.

· They attributed His power to Satan that they might also ignore His message.

Their eternal sin was to ignore and reject the evidence

That Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of men.

Jesus said that those who are in that sin cannot be forgiven.

To further drive that point home Jesus then preached a sermon

That none of them could understand.

That is what we SAW LAST WEEK.

· Jesus returned to the sea, got into a boat, pulled a little way out from the crowd, and said, “Listen!”

· And then He gave the crowd a sermon on the threats your seed faces when you are farming.

True? Yes

Beneficial? Yes

But it hardly seemed eternal.

Except for this one little haunting statement

Jesus made when He was finished.

Mark 4:9 “And He was saying, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Something told us that the parable was more important than we realized,

But none could understand it.

As we discussed that reality we talked about our first point:

#1 THE PROBLEM WITH TRUTH

Mark 4:1-9

The problem with truth is that you are accountable for it.

· Truth is not passive.

· Truth is active.

Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

God’s word is not some old dead text, it is alive.

· It speaks to you and expects a response.

· It speaks and watches to see if you are listening.

And if the Spirit who speaks the Word

Sees that you are not listening,

You run the risk of never being able to hear again.

This sermon of Jesus to the crowd illustrated that sobering point.

Jesus spoke spiritual truth to them

In a form in which they could not understand it.

That led us to our second point, which we began last Sunday night.

#2 THE PRIVILEGE OF TRUTH

Mark 4:10-20

We only discussed verses 10-12 Sunday night.

But it stands to reason that if God purposely hides the truth from some

Then we must consider it a privilege when He reveals it to us.

That is what Jesus told His followers.

After the sermon we find that His followers and the twelve

Were not content with the farming story.

· They dug deeper.

· They asked Him what it meant.

· That is what it means to have “ears to hear”.

They were not ok with confusion. They wanted to know the meaning

They sought Jesus out to find it.

But before Jesus explained the meaning of the parable,

(Which we will begin to look at this morning,)

He first reminded them how privileged they were

To be able to receive an explanation.

Mark 4:11-12 “And He was saying to them, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables, so that while seeing, they may see and not perceive, and while hearing, they may hear and not understand, otherwise they might return and be forgiven.”

· God had granted the mystery to the followers of Jesus, but not to everyone.

· Some are outside the kingdom, and all they are getting is parables.

WHY?

So that they might see but not perceive and hear but not understand

And not return and not be forgiven.

The crowd was under the judgment of God

For having rejected the truth when it was clearly articulated

They had lost the privilege of truth.

But these followers who did listen and who desired to know the meaning

Were blessed to be given an explanation of the story.

It is that explanation that we begin to look at this morning.

We want to pick up in verse 13.

(13) “And He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How will understand all the parables?”

Don’t read that verse like Jesus is rebuking them.

· No one could understand that parable without an explanation.

What Jesus is doing here is reiterating to His followers that

What they are doing here, they must continue to do.

They could not understand this parable without seeking Him

And that will be true for all the parables.

The things Jesus preaches in parables are mysteries of the kingdom

And they are not discernable by human intellect.

Paul taught us about the nature of God’s truth.

1 Corinthians 2:9-12 “but just as it is written, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who love Him.” For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God,”

The truths of these parables fall into that category of

Things which never enter the heart of man.

You will never just figure it out by your own intellect and reason.

The only way to understand is to receive an explanation from the Author.

Listen to Peter:

2 Peter 1:19-21 “So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”

“No prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation”

Truth is not interpreted by human reason,

It is revealed by the Author of Scripture.

If you want to know what Scripture means.

· You must run to Christ, who will, by His Holy Spirit reveal truth to you.

John 16:13 “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.”

We are even taught how to seek

Proverbs 2:1-5 “My son, if you will receive my words And treasure my commandments within you, Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding; For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding; If you seek her as silver And search for her as for hidden treasures; Then you will discern the fear of the Lord And discover the knowledge of God.”

That type of seeking what Jesus is referring to here.

Whereas the crowd was content to remain in darkness,

These followers made the correct decision to seek further

And approach Jesus for understanding.

THE SAME GOES FOR YOU AND I.

Understanding truth is a privilege, and it must be treated like a privilege.

Psalms 19:7-11 “The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them Your servant is warned; In keeping them there is great reward.”

The very problem with the crowd is that truth had no value to them.

To the crowd Jesus’ preaching was simply what they had to endure

Until they could get Him to work some miracles.

Understanding truth is a privilege, and it must be treated like a privilege.

AND THEN COMES THE UNDERSTANDING.

Jesus begins with the key which unlocks the entire parable,

But which also gives the entire point.

(14) “The sower sows the word.”

That one simple phrase completely illuminates

The parable’s imagery and emphasis.

Jesus changed one word and the entire parable comes to light.

He changed the word “seed” to “word”.

· This sower is not a sower of seed; he’s not a literal farmer.

· This sower is a preacher.

If the sower is a preacher and the seed is the word, then the dirt can’t be dirt.

· The dirt has to be the people to whom the preacher gives the word.

So now, we’re not dealing with 4 different types of soil.

We are dealing with 4 different types of hearts.

We aren’t talking about threats that keep seed from growing,

We’re talking about threats that keep men from receiving the truth.

THIS IS A SERMON regarding

Why not everyone who hears the gospel obtains salvation.

BUT AS WE SAID,

This simple verse is more than just the key to understanding the parable,

This simple verse is also the entire emphasis of the parable.

I want you to see that before we move into the finer points of the parable.

If someone comes up to you this week and asks you,

“What is the point of the parable of the sower?”

Here is your answer: “The sower sows the word.”

The point of the parable is:

· Preachers preach

· Teachers teach

· Evangelists evangelize

So who are you in this parable? “The sower”

What does the sower do? “sows the word”

This is a parable meant to remind you of your duty

Regardless of the outcome.

And let me show you that before we move further.

When Jesus gave this parable to the crowd,

· He spoke of the 4 types of soil

· The threats the seed faced

· Then He ended with this statement:

Mark 4:9 “And He was saying, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Well here, as Jesus gives the explanation of the parable,

We know He is finished because

He will once again give the same closing statement.

(23) “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”

But there is one difference that must be noted.

In addition to explaining the parable to His followers,

Jesus included one more piece of instruction to those who are listening.

Will look at it more later, but I want to make sure you see it now.

(21-22) “And He was saying to them, “A lamp is not brought to be put under a basket, is it, or under a bed? Is it not brought to be put on the lampstand? “For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light.”

This is added information from that original parable,

But it is essential to understanding the point of the parable for His followers.

The simple point to be gleaned here is this:

“LIGHT IS MEANT TO BE SHINED.”

· You don’t hide a light under a basket.

· You don’t put a light under a bed.

· You put a lamp on a lampstand so it’s light can shine everywhere.

And Jesus says, “For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light.”

This is added instruction meant especially for His followers.

And it is IMPORTANT that you and I UNDERSTAND it.

· We just saw Jesus give a parable that no one understood.

· We then heard Jesus explain that truth had been intentionally hidden from the

crowd.

But it is important that we as Jesus’ followers understand that

HIDING TRUTH IS NOT OUR MISSION.

I realize God used Isaiah in this way.

I realize that Jesus purposely hid truth from this crowd.

And it may be that God might at times use us in that way.

But that is never our goal or intention.

We don’t go out into the world trying to hide truth from men.

We go out into the world doing everything we can to reveal truth to men.

· We preach it as often as we can.

· We preach it as clear as we can.

· We preach it as loud as we can.

· We preach it as long as we can.

While it is true that God, in His sovereign prerogative,

Does sometimes hide truth from men,

That is outside of our discernment.

· We don’t know the hearts of men.

· We don’t know if they’ve blasphemed or not.

· We don’t know God’s sovereign plan for their life.

As far as we are concerned truth has one purpose; to be revealed.

“The sower sows the word.”

And I want to reinforce that a little at the start.

TURN TO: EZEKIEL 2

· Ezekiel is one of my favorite prophets.

· He’s a bit excentric.

· He is quite an actor.

· Ezekiel was a priest who was part of the exile to Babylon.

· He preached to the refugees on foreign soil.

But it is the commissioning of Ezekiel that I want you to pay attention to

Because it helps us understand our role in the dissemination of truth.

READ EZEKIEL 2:1-7

· In chapter 1 Ezekiel saw the glory of God and that is why he is on his face.

· Here God tells him to get up and get going.

And we notice that he is called to go

To a stubborn and obstinate people who will not listen,

BUT THE COMMAND TO EZEKIEL IS CLEAR.

(7) “But you shall speak My words to them whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious.”

Next, God gives Ezekiel a scroll to eat.

· It is God’s message of judgment.

· Eating it symbolized internalizing God’s message.

· And the message was sweet to the taste for Ezekiel.

And then look at what God says next:

READ: EZEKIEL 3:4-11

· They are stubborn and hard-headed.

· But God is making his forehead as hard as their forehead.

And again you see it in verse 11, “Go to the exiles, to the sons of your people, and speak to them and tell them, whether they listen or not, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD.’”

God knew they were stubborn.

God knew they wouldn’t listen.

God knew they would end up in judgment.

But God was the judge, not Ezekiel.

Ezekiel was the messenger.

“The sower sows the word.”

And we even find that EZEKIEL’S RESPONSE to this mandate

WAS VERY IMPORTANT TO GOD.

READ: EZEKIEL 3:16-21

· You see that the results were not in Ezekiel’s job description.

· He was not to be disheartened if they listened or didn’t listen.

· All of that was in God’s doing.

He was merely to be faithful.

He was to warn them whether they listen or not.

“The sower sows the word.”

That’s all he does.

AND THAT IS GOING TO BE JESUS’ POINT

Now as He explains this parable to His followers.

He is going to reveal why

Not everyone who hears the gospel obtains salvation.

This is helpful for us as followers.

· If you shared the gospel and the person you talked to wasn’t saved,

· You may have been tempted to think you just aren’t very good at it

· And you may have decided to quit.

THAT IS EXACTLY THE WRONG THING TO DO.

As we find here.

· A sower may sow seed and not get a crop.

· Birds, the sun, or thorns may limit his crop.

BUT I CAN PROMISE YOU THIS,

If you don’t sow any seed you won’t get any crop.

It is not for you or me

To determine who gets to hear the gospel.

If God has determined to harden a heart to the truth, that is His doing.

Our job is merely to preach.

“The sower sows the word.”

But here, maybe Jesus can calm your anxiety a little

By letting you know that THEIR REJECTION WAS NOT YOUR FAULT.

Let’s look at the first one this morning: HARDENED HEART

(15) “These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them.”

There are two main problems in this first analogy and they are linked.

· One is the hardness of the soil, or the harness of the heart.

· The other is the work of Satan to remove the truth from a hardened heart.

You all know what the soil on a road is like.

It’s hard, it’s packed, it does not accept seed.

This is the condition of some hearts you will speak to.

It’s not that you are bad at evangelism,

It’s that they have a hardened heart that refuses to hear.

There are people who have hardened their own heart.

Ephesians 4:18 “being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;”

· In their stubbornness they refuse to listen or hear the truth.

· They won’t consider the seed.

There are people whom God has hardened their heart.

Exodus 9:12 “And the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had spoken to Moses.”

2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 “For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.”

Romans 1:28 “And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,”

We read Isaiah 6 last week.

And there other examples.

Whether you’re dealing with one who’s hardened their own heart,

Or one who is under the judicial hardening of God,

Rest assured either way, their failure to listen is not on you.

Their heart is too hard to accept the seed.

That’s their problem.

And their hardness of heart actually leads to A SECOND PROBLEM.

Jesus actually goes further to tell us what happens to the word

When you present it to someone with a hardened heart.

“when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them.”

If you preached the gospel and the person you preached to

Did not believe and follow Jesus,

It may simply be that Satan came and stole the word from them.

It had nothing to do with your preaching ability.

It had nothing to do with your gospel clarity.

It had nothing to do with your charisma.

Their hard heart and Satan are to blame.

I don’t know if you understand this reality, but you need to.

FIRST OF ALL, that the gospel is self-sufficient

It saves men in spite of our communication skills, not because of them.

We get it in our heads that the preacher who is a fine orator

With witty illustrations and great energy

Is way more effective at saving souls than I could ever be.

AND THAT SIMPLY IS NOT TRUE.

· There is no power in the preacher.

· There is no power in his smooth voice.

· There is no power in his witty approach.

· There is no power in his clever communication style.

NONE

You will never find a verse in Scripture that says that

God ever honors or blesses or uses any of those things.

What does God promise to honor?

Only His word.

Isaiah 55:11 “So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.”

THAT IS THE POWER, NOT THE PREACHER.

Do you remember who God sent into Egypt to confront Pharaoh and rescue His people? Moses

· Do you remember Moses’ problem? He stuttered.

Do you remember what they said about the apostle Paul?

2 Corinthians 10:10 “For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible.”

But that didn’t bother Paul, for he knew the power was not in his voice.

1 Corinthians 2:1-5 “And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.”

Consider Jeremiah who also felt inadequate:

Jeremiah 1:6 “Then I said, “Alas, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, Because I am a youth.”

But God assured him:

Jeremiah 1:12 “Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over My word to perform it.”

All of that to remind you that the power is not you, it’s the message.

Your speaking ability is a mute point.

Your charisma is of no value.

Oh you may inspire men, you may amuse men,

You may gain quite a reputation,

But we are talking about moving men from death to life.

That power is all in the message, not the messenger.

Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

You certainly need to know that.

So you don’t blame your ability as to why someone doesn’t believe.

BUT SECONDLY

You need to know that there are powers at work here that you cannot see.

Satan loves to take truth from hardened hearts.

2 Corinthians 4:3-4 “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

That is quite insightful:

1. So not only can your sinful flesh harden your heart.

2. Not only may God judicially harden a heart.

3. But here we learn that Satan is also at work to blind eyes.

AS A SOWER OF SEED YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS:

There is a spiritual war going on every time you preach.

It is much more than you just being persuasive or good at debate.

SATAN IS AT WORK TO STEAL THE WORD.

SO HOW DOES SATAN DO THAT?

How does he steal the seed?

Well let’s take some examples from Scripture that we know.

Genesis 3:1-5 “Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’” The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Do you see how Satan immediately attacked what God said?

“has God said…”

Then he deliberately misrepresented what God actually said.

· God said not to eat from the tree in the middle of the garden, Satan twisted that to say they couldn’t eat from any tree.

· That’s one of the ways he steals truth – BY DISTORTION

Then when Eve corrected him in that regard

And told Satan that if they ate from that tree or touched it they would die,

Satan attacked the word again.

“You surely will not die!”

· Satan accused God of being stingy and selfish.

· Satan said that God’s commands were too severe.

· Satan said that God had no right to demand such a thing.

· Satan said that God was trying to ruin Eve’s life.

· That’s another way he steals it – BY UNDERMINING IT

He was at work to steal the word from Eve.

And it worked.

Did Satan not attempt the same thing during the temptation of Jesus?

· He undermined the word by trying to get Jesus to turn stones into bread.

· He undermined the word by trying to get Jesus to worship him.

· He distorted the word by trying to get Jesus to throw Himself off the temple.

It was all an attack on God’s character and even on God’s word.

OF COURSE JESUS OVERCAME.

SATAN LOVES TO STEAL THE WORD.

He still does today.

And his methods are not foreign to us.

PROCRASTINATION

· How often do we preach to someone

· All the while Satan is whispering in their ear that if they can just hold out a little longer that soon the conviction will stop?

It’s called NEGLECT.

Satan doesn’t always ask you to outright reject the gospel,

Just don’t do anything with it right now.

Matthew 22:1-5 “Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. “And he sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come. “Again he sent out other slaves saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened livestock are all butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast.” ’ “But they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own farm, another to his business,”

That word there, “they paid not attention”, it is AMALEO in the Greek.

You’ve seen it before.

Hebrews 2:3 “For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?”

There the same word is translated “neglect”.

That’s Satan at work, whispering in their ear,

“Later, later, some other time, not right now.”

RATIONALIZATION OF UNBELIEF

That is to say, he justifies their rejection of the gospel.

You preach about Christ, you call them to repentance and faith.

He fills their minds with justification for rejecting you.

· The church is full of hypocrites…

· Your good enough on your own…

· There’s lots of ways to God…

He whispers such arguments in their ears

To help them justify rejecting the word of God.

Sometimes he REINFORCES THE FALSE BELIEFS

Remember when Jesus preached in the temple and the Pharisees ordered the temple police to arrest Him?

John 7:45-52 “The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, “Why did you not bring Him?” The officers answered, “Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks.” The Pharisees then answered them, “You have not also been led astray, have you? “No one of the rulers or Pharisees has believed in Him, has he? “But this crowd which does not know the Law is accursed.” Nicodemus (he who came to Him before, being one of them) said to them, “Our Law does not judge a man unless it first hears from him and knows what he is doing, does it?” They answered him, “You are not also from Galilee, are you? Search, and see that no prophet arises out of Galilee.”

Notice how they stick to their false religion as justification for not believing Jesus?

Satan no doubt helped them do that.

Remember the man born blind?

John 9:24-34 “So a second time they called the man who had been blind, and said to him, “Give glory to God; we know that this man is a sinner.” He then answered, “Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” So they said to him, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?” He answered them, “I told you already and you did not listen; why do you want to hear it again? You do not want to become His disciples too, do you?” They reviled him and said, “You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. “We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where He is from.” The man answered and said to them, “Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes. “We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him. “Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. “If this man were not from God, He could do nothing.” They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?” So they put him out.”

There was Satan again helping them believe a lie they had long believed.

HOW ABOUT DISTRACTIONS?

You preach the gospel and are trying to call them to faith

And Satan just keeps helping them change the subject.

Remember that woman at the well?

· Jesus confronted her about her sin while offering her living water.

Do you remember her first response?

John 4:20 “Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.”

What did that have to do with anything?

Jesus pulled her back on point.

BUT YOU SEE WHAT I’M GETTING AT.

When you preach the gospel,

Not only are you dealing with a hardened heart,

You are also warring against Satan

Who is doing everything he can to steal the word from them.

· He distracts

· He encourages them to procrastinate

· He rationalizes their unbelief

· He fills them with fear

· He tells them it’s too costly

· He tells them they should be offended at the notion of repentance

· He gives them excuses

Jesus wanted you to know when you share the gospel,

You are in a war with the enemy and that’s why not everyone believes.

BUT DON’T STOP.

AND DON’T CHANGE THE METHOD

You keep preaching, some seed gets through!

“The sower sows the word”

We’ll talk more about this tonight,

But you be faithful to what Christ has called you to do.

LISTEN to Him.