Some experience a momentary emotional joy and
believe that they are saved. It could be a false salvation experience.
Scripture teaches us to test ourselves to see if we are in the faith.
Matthew 13 explains the seed that fell on rocky ground. He had
experienced a momentary joy, but that joy burned up.
Jesus Teaches in Parables
1 That
day Jesus went out of athe
house and was sitting bby
the sea.
2 And 1large
crowds gathered to Him, so aHe
got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach.
3 And He spoke
many things to them in aparables,
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 “Others fell on 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 “Others fell 1among
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 ahundredfold,
some sixty, and some thirty.
9 “aHe
who has ears, 1let
him hear.”
An Explanation
10 And the
disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”
11 1Jesus
answered them, “aTo
you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but
to them it has not been granted.
12 “aFor
whoever has, to him more
shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but
whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.
13 “Therefore I speak
to them in parables; because while aseeing
they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
14 “1In
their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,
‘2aYou
will keep on hearing, 3but
will not understand;
4You
will keep on seeing, but will
not perceive;
15 aFor
the heart of this people has
become dull,
With their ears they
scarcely
hear,
And they have closed
their eyes,
Otherwise they would
see with their eyes,
Hear with their ears,
And understand with
their heart and return,
And
I would heal them.’
16 “aBut
blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear.
17 “For truly I say to
you that amany
prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see
it, and to hear
what you hear, and did not hear it.
The Sower Explained
18 “aHear
then the parable of the sower.
19 “When anyone hears
athe
1word
of the kingdom and does not understand it, bthe
evil one comes
and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom
seed was sown beside the road.
20 “The one on whom
seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and
immediately receives it with joy;
21 yet he has no
firm root in
himself, but is only
temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises
because of the 1word,
immediately he 2afalls
away.
22 “And the one on
whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and
the worry of athe
1world
and the bdeceitfulness
of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
23 “And the one on
whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and
understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some aa
hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.”
b
Matt 13:1–15:
Mark 4:1–12; Luke 8:4–10;
Mark 2:13
a
Matt 13:10ff; Mark 4:2ff
*
A star
(*) is used to mark verbs that are historical presents in the Greek
which have been translated with an English past tense in order to
conform to modern usage. The translators recognized that in some
contexts the present tense seems more unexpected and unjustified to
the English reader than a past tense would have been. But Greek
authors frequently used the present tense for the sake of heightened
vividness, thereby transporting their readers in imagination to the
actual scene at the time of occurence. However, the translators felt
that it would be wise to change these historical presents to English
past tenses.
a
Matt 11:15; Rev 2:7, 11, 17, 29;
3:6, 13, 22
a
Matt 19:11; 20:23; John 6:65; 1
Cor 2:10; Col 1:27; 1 John 2:20, 27
a
Matt 25:29; Mark 4:25; Luke
8:18; 19:26
a
Deut 29:4; Is 42:19, 20; Jer
5:21; Ezek 12:2
2
Lit
With a hearing you will hear
a
Is 6:9; Mark 4:12; Luke 8:10;
John 12:40; Acts 28:26, 27; Rom 10:16; 11:8
4
Lit
Seeing you will see
a
Is 6:10; Ps 119:70; Zech 7:11;
Luke 19:42; John 8:43, 44; 2 Tim 4:4; Heb 5:11
a
Matt 13:16, 17:
Luke 10:23, 24;
Matt 16:17; John 20:29
a
John 8:56; Heb 11:13; 1 Pet
1:10–12
a
Matt 13:18–23:
Mark 4:13–20; Luke 8:11–15
2
Lit
is caused to stumble
a
Matt 12:32; 13:39; Mark 4:19;
Rom 12:2; 1 Cor 1:20; 2:6, 8; 3:18; 2 Cor 4:4; Gal 1:4; Eph 2:2
b
Matt 19:23; 1 Tim 6:9, 10, 17
New American Standard Bible : 1995
Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995, S. Mt
13:1-23