The Seed and the Heart – The Parable of the Sower Explained

1 Peter 3:4 – But let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God. Praise the Lord, brother. Now then, I want you to tell me, according to this passage of Scripture, would you read it again? But let it be the hidden person of the heart. There’s a hidden person…somebody hidden in the heart, okay? With the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God. Does anyone have another translation besides this one? …let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit…in the sight of God.

Here, then, is a heart with a hidden man in it. Who’s the hidden man? Jesus Christ is hidden inside the heart. Where does He dwell? He’s hidden in the heart. Where does He dwell? In our spirit. Wow. In Colossians, it says, letting Jesus Christ be where? Dwelling in you, where? Dwelling in your heart, that you might be what? That you might be rooted and grounded in love.

Now, brothers, all I want to say is that Paul admonishes that Jesus Christ get out of your spirit, grow into your heart, and that there be some rooting and some grounding. I want to say to you that Christ is in the spirit that is in you. He’s there as a seed, and he wishes to grow into the heart. He wants to grow into your heart. He’s a seed. Where has he been planted? In your spirit. Now, why is the heart so important? Because it is the nearest thing to your spirit. The seed can only grow as the heart makes room. Only as the heart makes room can the spirit grow.

Ephesians 3:17 – That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, and that you being rooted and grounded in love. That Christ may make home in your heart; that you might be rooted and grounded in love. Christ wants to make a home in your heart; He can’t do it if you have an impure heart. So, first of all, I would say you’ve got to have an empty spirit. Empty your spirit of everything except the Lord, and then purify your heart. Let the heart be pure. How can you purify the heart? That’s what we’re here for tonight. We’re here to learn that the heart has to be pure of everything. The Lord has to purge our hearts.

Brothers, when we got saved, we did not have a pure heart. We got Christ in our spirit, but we did not get a pure heart. The Lord’s going to have to work in us some to get a pure heart. But anyhow, you’ve got to empty your spirit; you’ve got to purify your heart right now so that the Lord Jesus Christ may make a home in your heart.

Would you all turn with me to Matthew 6?

Matthew 6:20-21- But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Now, where should your treasure be? Where is your treasure? Where should your heart be? The heart has to be in heaven. Now you ask, how do you get your heart through? Take it to heaven. Get it to where the heavenlies are, so that we have nothing to do with the earth. Our hearts were made for heaven and heavenly things, and we ought to have no interest in earthly things.

Matthew 11:29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you shall find rest for your souls. The Lord Jesus Christ has a humble and gentle heart. If you have a haughty heart, the heart is improper, and the spirit is damaged in its effort to put Christ into your heart. Do you see this? You must turn from a haughty heart, but can you recognize it? Can you recognize a haughty heart? It’s so simple: just arrogance, tough-mindedness. I can handle this. Just stand back. Just watch me. John Wayne. Tough. Strong. Brothers and sisters…but a humble heart. A humble heart. I’m not sure I’ll make it. Very meek. Very tender. The Lord has got to have a tender heart in us. The heart’s got to get tenderized.

I know we are so…I’ve said this before…in this country we are so proud of the man who’s strong. That is a badge in this country. We really look up to the strong man. We don’t like the weak man. We really don’t like the weak man, and quite frankly, neither one of them is worth a toot. The strong man and the weak man come from the same tree. They come from the same seed, and that seed produces after its kind. The weak man and the strong man come from the same source, but a strong man broken – wow, the world can’t deal with him. A strong man broken.

Well, who is the strongest man who ever lived? The Lord Jesus Christ. He could have done anything. He did one day; He grew a fig tree, and He said, “I don’t like that fig tree.” And it withered. In other cases where he could have done so much, he was just… He gave in. He lost. He gave up. You deal with Him, and sometimes you have to encourage Him along. He’s just very humble about the whole thing. The Lord has got to have such a humble heart in us—a really humble heart.

We’re going to get a little clearer as we go along. Matthew 12: 34 – Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Now, all of that brings us to the most important chapter that we have to consider. Here is where we’re going to look. I’m going to read you something, brothers. This is where it’s at.

Matthew 13:1-9 – On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea, and a great multitude gathered about Him, so that He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole multitude stood on the beach. And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, ‘The sower went forth to sow, and He sowed. Some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and devoured them. Others fell upon the rocky places where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, because there was no depth of soil. And when the sun was risen, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered away. Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. And others fell on the good soil, and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. He who has the Bible to read, let him read this. No. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.