“The Sower Went Forth to Sow”
29
In Good Ground
The sower is not always to meet with disappointment. Of the seed
that fell into good ground the Saviour said, This “is he that heareth
the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth
forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.” “That on the
good ground are they, which, in an honest and good heart, having
heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.”
The “honest and good heart” of which the parable speaks, is not a
heart without sin; for the gospel is to be preached to the lost. Christ
said, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Mark
2:17
. He has an honest heart who yields to the conviction of the Holy
Spirit. He confesses his guilt, and feels his need of the mercy and love
of God. He has a sincere desire to know the truth, that he may obey
it. The good heart is a believing heart, one that has faith in the word
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of God. Without faith it is impossible to receive the word. “He that
cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of
them that diligently seek Him.”
Hebrews 11:6
.
This “is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it.” The Phar-
isees of Christ’s day closed their eyes lest they should see, and their
ears lest they should hear; therefore the truth could not reach their
hearts. They were to suffer retribution for their willful ignorance and
self-imposed blindness. But Christ taught His disciples that they were
to open their minds to instruction, and be ready to believe. He pro-
nounced a blessing upon them because they saw and heard with eyes
and ears that believed.
The good-ground hearer receives the word “not as the word of men,
but as it is in truth, the word of God.”
1 Thessalonians 2:13
. Only he
who receives the Scriptures as the voice of God speaking to himself is
a true learner. He trembles at the word; for to him it is a living reality.
He opens his understanding and his heart to receive it. Such hearers
were Cornelius and his friends, who said to the apostle Peter, “Now
therefore are we all here present before God, to hear all things that are
commanded thee of God.”
Acts 10:33
.
A knowledge of the truth depends not so much upon strength of
intellect as upon pureness of purpose, the simplicity of an earnest,
dependent faith. To those who in humility of heart seek for divine