PT-5 Intro to “Receptivity to the Gospel: The Parable of the Soils” (Luke 8:4-15)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/9/2026 5:35 PM

My Worship Time     Focus:  PT-5 Intro to “Receptivity to the Gospel: The Parable of the Soils”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                               Reference:  “Luke 8:4-15”

            Message of the verses:  “4 Now when a large crowd was coming together, and those from the various cities were journeying to Him, He spoke by way of a parable: 5 “The sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell beside the road, and it was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the sky ate it up. 6 Other seed fell on rocky soil, and when it came up, it withered away because it had no moisture. 7 Other seed fell among the thorns; and the thorns grew up with it and choked it out. 8 And yet other seed fell into the good soil, and grew up, and produced a crop a hundred times as much.” As He said these things, He would call out, “The one who has ears to hear, let him hear.” 9 Now His disciples began asking Him what this parable meant. 10 And He said, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest they are told in parables, so that while seeing they may not see, and while hearing they may not understand. 11 “Now this is the parable: the seed is the word of God. 12 And those beside the road are the ones who have heard, then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, so that they will not believe and be saved. 13 Those on the rocky soil are the ones who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and yet these do not have a firm root; they believe for a while, and in a time of temptation they fall away. 14 And the seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked by worries, riches, and pleasures of this life, and they bring no fruit to maturity. 15 But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word with a good and virtuous heart, and hold it firmly, and produce fruit with perseverance.

            I will continue to quote John MacArthur’s introduction to the above section of Scripture.

            The first thing I want to say is that you please be in prayer for my family as my grandson was in a very sever motorcycle accident and has lost one leg and one arm, but the Lord has spared his life and no vital parts of his body, like organs and head injury’s did not happen, but it will be a very long road to recovery, and so prayer is needed.

            “Though Jesus made up such analogies all through His minis try, this parable marked a major turning point.  From this time on Jesus spoke to crowds only in parables (Matt. 13:34).  Now let me add something here that I hope will be helpful, and that is that the incident where the scribes and other rulers accused Jesus of doing his miracles in the power of Satan was the time when Jesus began to speak in parables, for this was the time when they blasphemed the Holy Spirit, and Jesus said that this was the unpardonable sin.  Now I will quote Matt. 13:34.

(Matt. 13:34)

“34  All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable.”

“That was a deliberate act of judgment on His part.  Those who would not believe now could not; the fools who hated knowledge (Prov. 1:22) were deprived of it.”

(Prov. 1:22)

“22  "How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?”

By presenting His teaching in parables, Jesus hid the truth from rejecting unbelievers and revealed it only to His faithful followers.  Without an explanation, a parable can mean anything or nothing; it is little more than a riddle.  The Lord’s veiling of the truth means that judgment had fallen on Israel so that they could not longer understand the teaching of their own Messiah.  Those who had rejected Him were fixed in the darkness they loved (John 3:19).

(John 3:19)

19  And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.”

“Only the Lord’s disciples understood the parables, because only they received His explanation of them.  Mark’s account of this incident records that Jesus ‘was saying to [His disciples]. ‘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 them might return and be forgiven’’ (Mark 4:11-12).

            “In this passage the Lord told the parable to the crowds, and then interpreted it in private to His disciples.”

9/9/2026 5:54 PM