LISTEN! - part 7
022 LISTEN! – part 7
Mark 4:1-34 (26-28)
March 1, 2026
You are aware that we are in this 4th chapter of Mark
Where listening is certainly the theme.
When Jesus started preaching this sermon He was incredibly clear:
· In Mark 4:3 He started the sermon by saying, “Listen!”
And then Jesus preached a sermon the crowd could not understand.
It was an act of judgment on that crowd for their failure to listen
To all of the sermons which Jesus had clearly spoken.
So we started talking about truth and the importance of listening to it.
#1 THE PROBLEM WITH TRUTH
Mark 4:1-9
· That if you don’t listen to it, you may lose the opportunity to hear it.
· That had certainly happened to this crowd.
#2 THE PRIVILEGE OF TRUTH
Mark 4:10-20
· Since not everyone is granted understanding, it is certainly a privilege to be able to understand Jesus’ sermon.
· And we heard the explanation of the parable of the sower.
#3 THE PURPOSE OF TRUTH
Mark 4:21-23
· Namely that truth is meant to be proclaimed.
· Just as a light is meant to be shined, truth is meant to be shared.
· Even that which has been hidden should be proclaimed freely to the masses.
#4 THE PROPORTION OF TRUTH
Mark 4:24-25
· We learned that our ability to understand the truth comes from our willingness to seek it.
· We also learned that our ability to share truth comes from our willingness to share it.
Jesus said, “By your standard of measure it will be measured to you; and more will be given you besides.”
This is where we’ve come so far in the sermon of Jesus.
And I hope that by now
THE REAL THRUST OF THE SERMON IS STARTING TO SINK IN.
When Jesus gave that emphatic command to “Listen!”
It was a command given
Primarily to those who could and those who would.
Even when the explanation of the parable of the sower was given,
We saw that it wasn’t really an evangelistic sermon.
Sure we learned some explanations of unbelief which should be convicting,
BUT THE THRUST OF THE SERMON WAS TO BELIEVERS.
Jesus was explaining to His followers
· Why people reject the gospel.
· Their duty to preach the gospel anyway.
· That their ability to grasp and proclaim the truth would directly proportional to their acceptance of truth.
While we certainly tell a lost man to listen to the gospel,
Here we find that the command to “LISTEN!” was for His followers.
WE are to listen to the direction of Jesus here.
· We are to hear the word.
· We are to seek out understanding of the word.
· We are to value the word.
· We are to preach the word.
That is the mission.
That is the duty of all those who follow Jesus.
We are entrusted with the truth
And the responsibility of disseminating it falls upon us.
SO THE QUESTION THUS FAR IS THIS:
Church, are we listening to what Jesus is saying regarding our obligation to proclaim the truth that we have been privileged to understand?
THAT HAS BEEN THE POINT.
And this morning Jesus continues.
We see that statement to begin verse 26, “And He was saying…”
· We’re not finished with the sermon yet.
· Jesus is still instructing His followers.
· There is still more we are commanded to listen to.
And this morning let’s examine the 5th point of this sermon of Jesus.
#5 THE PROPAGATION OF TRUTH
Mark 4:26-29
Propagation is simply the spreading of truth.
It’s actually a farming term that refers to the act of spreading, multiplying, or reproducing something.
That is what Jesus is discussing in this parable.
This parable is all about
The spreading, multiplying, and growth of the kingdom.
How does it happen?
How does the kingdom grow?
I would remind you of what Jesus said up in verse 11,
When first approached by His followers for an explanation.
Mark 4:11 “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,”
These parables are about “the kingdom of God”. (they all have been)
1. Why it is rejected.
2. The duty of those within it.
3. And here, how it grows.
It is very important truth for those who follow Jesus to know.
Listen to this.
What we see here is yet another farming illustration.
Mark is the only writer who includes this specific parable.
Once again we are confronted with a man who is sowing seed.
· In verse 26 he goes out and he sows seed.
· In verse 27 he goes home and goes to bed.
· In verse 28 the seed germinates, sprouts, grows, and matures.
· In verse 29 he harvests the crop.
It is yet again a basic description of farming.
But we know it is about much more than that.
For Jesus began the parable by saying, “The kingdom of God is like…”
This parable, like the others, is about the kingdom.
Jesus is teaching kingdom truth here.
What we learn by watching a farmer sow and eventually reap
Is good insight regarding how the kingdom of God grows too.
LET’S BREAK THIS PARABLE DOWN INTO 3 POINTS.
We’ll stick with the farming analogy of sowing seed,
· For surely you know by now that the seed is the word of God.
· And entrance into the kingdom certainly depends on how one accepts it.
1) THE FAITHFULNESS OF SOWING (26)
“And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil;”
The parable opens with a familiar action.
There is “a man who casts seed upon the soil;”
I know in our day there are actual machine planters
That can make the operation of planting quite technical,
But it certainly wasn’t in Jesus’ day.
· You carried a bag of seed around your shoulder.
· You reached your hand into the bag and took a handful.
· You scattered that seed out along the ground.
· That explains why it landed on those 4 different types of soils.
This is not a man who is being technical or precise,
This is a man who is sowing seed everywhere.
There is no judgment coming from him as he looks at the soil.
· He doesn’t look at hard soil or weedy soil or rocky soil and judge it unworthy of the seed,
· He just lets it fly.
· Every type of soil gets a shot at it.
AND THE POINT we make here is simply of
THE FAITHFULNESS OF THE FARMER TO CAST THE SEED.
Sowing was my grandfather’s favorite part of farming.
· He had a little John Deere tractor with small grain drill he pulled behind it.
· His favorite thing to do was to sow oats or sow wheat.
· He said he liked the way the ground looked after the drill went over it.
And I suppose there is satisfaction in a job completed.
I suppose there is satisfaction in a well-groomed field.
But the reality with sowing seed is that it is NOT instantly gratifying.
There will be no harvest that day.
When Paul talks about faithfulness of ministry,
He uses a sowing farmer and says:
1 Corinthians 9:10 “Or is He speaking altogether for our sake? Yes, for our sake it was written, because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing the crops.”
And hope is the proper word for one who sows
When a man plows and then sows a field hope is all he has.
Today he plants, it will be some time before he enjoys the harvest.
He will not receive instant gratification.
And yet, one thing is absolutely true.
IF HE DOES NOT SOW TODAY, HE WILL NOT REAP TOMORROW.
Farmers have taught us for years that while harvest is an act of joy,
Planting is responsibility of faithfulness.
· Sowing is all cost.
· Sowing is all labor.
· It’s all done for a future that won’t come for a while.
In some sense it is done for an uncertain future,
· For some of that seed will land on the road, some on the rocks, and some in
the weeds.
But the farmer does it anyway, faithfully,
Because if he doesn’t sow he won’t reap.
So we see “a man who casts deed upon the soil;”
And we make the comparison to a follower of Jesus
Who does the same with the word of God.
God’s word does not often immediately bring a return.
It is sown one day, but harvested on another day.
· It is like a slow working medicine.
· It takes its time penetrating soul and spirit; joints and marrow.
· It slowly permeates the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Elijah learned that lesson after his famous battle at Mt. Carmel.
When things didn’t go as he had expected he ran to Mt. Sinai to take it up with God.
You remember the story.
· There was a fire
· There was a violent wind
· There was a quaking of the ground
None of those things was the LORD.
Then there was a gentle blowing and that was God.
And that was indicative of how God often works.
· Very rarely is it a fire-fall.
· Very rarely is it a mountain moving earthquake and wind.
God’s word most commonly works
Slowly and surely like a seed planted in the ground.
And that means that like a farmer,
Followers of Jesus must choose faithfulness in sowing the seed.
· They must preach it even though there is often times not an immediate return.
· They must do it again and again knowing that they may not see any fruit of it today.
But they must do it.
2 Timothy 4:1-5 “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”
1 Timothy 4:13-16 “Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery. Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.”
That is the call.
· We heard God tell Ezekiel “whether they listen or not”.
There were indeed many prophets who preached for years
Without ever seeing the fruits of their labors.
They did not preach because they saw their success.
They preached out of faithfulness.
They believed what God had said:
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.”
Jeremiah 23:29 “Is not My word like fire?” declares the Lord, “and like a hammer which shatters a rock?”
Certainly we saw this faithfulness in Jesus.
We already know the crowds were not listening, but that didn’t stop Him.
Mark’s gospel alone is testimony to His faithfulness.
Mark 1:21 “They went into Capernaum; and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and began to teach.”
Mark 1:38-39 “He said to them, “Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for.” And He went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out the demons.”
Mark 2:1-2 “When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them.”
Mark 2:13 “And He went out again by the seashore; and all the people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them.”
Mark 3:14 “And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach,”
Mark 4:1 “He began to teach again by the sea…”
Jesus was a sower who faithfully sowed seed.
Faithfulness is required here,
Even if instant gratification is lacking.
WHY?
Because sowing is the only way reaping will happen.
Have you ever seen a farmer
· Go out to his field and play music for his fields?
· Maybe get some fancy lights and fog machines going?
· Maybe have pizzas delivered?
· Or just go around telling his fields how much he loved them?
Farmers are more realistic than that.
They know that you can do all of those things,
But none of those things will cause that field to produce a harvest.
The only way you will get a harvest from the ground
Is if you put a seed in the ground.
God has ordained the same for the harvest in His kingdom.
There is only one method
That God has ordained for the salvation of sinners
It is the preaching of the word.
Romans 10:13-17 “for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!” However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”
This is why Paul said:
Romans 1:14-16 “I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. 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.”
The problem is that
It is really easy to abandon this method because it does not bring immediate results.
Ministers are far less patient than farmers.
They have learned that emotion or even fleshly indulgence
Are much more effective ways to solicit responses out of people.
I heard it during my brief stint in seminary,
“The message doesn’t change, but the methods do change.”
If you’ll think about it, that’s a stupid statement.
When is the last time you had a message for your wife or a message for you husband?
Let’s say you wanted to tell your spouse
“That the house was on fire and they needed to leave.”
What method do you plan on using to relay that message?
· Maybe an interpretative dance?
· Maybe a movie about a house burning and hoping they’ll figure it out?
· Maybe order a pizza and watch the superbowl?
Of course not. You tell them, “The house is on fire, leave!”
There has only ever been one method for delivering a message.
We preach it.
And yet followers of Christ often abandon that one method
Because it doesn’t seem to work.
They want something that works faster, even if it doesn’t work effectively.
But we are told to stick to the foolishness of preaching.
Stick to the method God ordained.
· “preach the word”
· “speak My words to them whether they listen or not”
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.”
IT WAS JUST PREACHING.
And that is the point Jesus makes here.
If you want a harvest then you’ve got to sow seed.
Any other action or method will not work.
You can sing to a field until you are blue in the face,
But the only way you’ll ever get a harvest is if you sow seed in it.
That’s the farmer’s job.
That’s the follower of Jesus’ job.
ARE YOU LISTENING?
The growth of the kingdom requires men to cast seed upon the soil.
So we see the faithfulness of sowing
2) THE WONDER OF GROWING (27-28)
“and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know. “The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head.”
So now we return to our farmer who takes his seed, puts it in the ground,
AND THEN DOES THE STRANGEST THING.
He leaves it, goes home, and goes to bed.
· He doesn’t squeeze each individual seed.
· He doesn’t position each individual seed.
· He plants it and he leaves it.
WHY?
Because what happens next is totally beyond his control,
Even beyond his understanding.
“the seed sprouts and grows – how, he himself does not know. The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head.”
In his famous movie “Shenandoah”
Jimmy Stewart offers that famous heretical farming prayer:
“Lord, we cleared this land. We plowed it, sowed it, and harvested it. We cooked the harvest. It wouldn’t be here and we wouldn’t be eatin’ it if we hadn’t done it all ourselves. We worked dog-boned hard for every crumb and morsel. But we thank You just the same anyway Lord for this food we’re about to eat. Amen.”
One thing Jimmy Steward failed to discuss was who made the seed grow.
Jesus said, “the seed sprouts and grows”
And He even said that the farmer has no clue how.
NOW, TODAY you can google the stages of germination and learn about:
· IMBIBITION – where the seed takes on water, swells, and breaks the seed coat.
· ACTIVATION – where enzymes are activated to start the metabolic process.
· GROWTH – where the embryonic root emerges and grows downward and upward.
· MORPHOGENESIS – Where the first leaves appear.
· ESTABLISHMENT – where the plant establishes roots and starts depending on the soil for nutrients.
You can draw a diagram of all that happening.
You can explain it with fancy words.
And still you do not know how it happens.
Life and growth is a miracle beyond human explanation.
It happens only because God commands it to happen.
If you put a rock in the soil and water it, nothing will happen.
But God put life in the seed.
(just as He did in His word)
You may know the steps which God has ordained
To cause a seed to grow,
But no one knows how it happens.
No one can duplicate it on their own.
It is a work of God alone.
It is totally beyond the intelligence or effort of the farmer to produce.
All the farmer knows is that it happens, he doesn’t know how.
If he goes out and fills his field with seed,
He can come back in a few days
And he’ll see little leaves sticking up out of the ground.
· If he waits longer he’ll see that plant get taller.
· Eventually it will put on a head.
· Then the head will mature with grain in it.
It is a miracle done only by the work of God.
The famer has no say over it and no input to it.
And of course this is true regarding the growth of the kingdom.
· God has put life in His word.
· It grows because God makes it grow.
1 Corinthians 3:5-9 “What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.”
GOD DOES IT.
That means that this is not your job.
For this phase of the process all we can do is pray.
We cry out to the Lord of the harvest.
· We ask Him to cause growth.
· We ask Him to produce life.
· We ask Him to perform the miracle.
It is our job to sow the seed, it is His job to cause it to sprout and grow.
Let me put it like this:
REGENERATION IS A MIRACLE
The process of what is dead coming to life
Is something only God can accomplish.
AND THAT SHOULD BE OBVIOUS.
· Even when Jesus spoke to the foremost teacher in Israel,
· A man named Nicodemus;
· And Jesus started speaking to him about regeneration or being “born again”.
Nicodemus was totally confused.
John 3:9-10 “Nicodemus said to Him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things?”
The truth is, that he did not.
How in the world can someone be born again?
WELL IF YOU’LL REMEMBER,
When Jesus spoke to Nicodemus that day,
Jesus was referencing a passage
That Nicodemus should have been familiar with.
John 3:5 “Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
Jesus was referencing Ezekiel’s announcement of the New Covenant and the New Birth.
Ezekiel 36:24-27 “For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”
It was a supernatural work that God was going to do for His people.
I hope you are familiar with that reality.
What I want you to see this morning is that after the announcement,
God gave Ezekiel sort of a confirming vision.
TURN TO: EZEKIEL 37
· You’ve probably heard the story before,
· Or at least sang the old song “Dem Bones!”
(READ 1-2)
It starts with God taking Ezekiel into a valley filled with dry bones.
· The implication here is the battlefield of slaughter after the Babylonians had defeated Judah.
But then comes the very intriguing question:
(READ 3)
· Is there anything that can be done about this valley of death?
· Is this a problem that any man can solve?
AND WE KNOW THE ANSWER.
There is nothing that can be done now.
If you see a valley of skeletons that have been there for 30 years
And you go get a doctor and bring him to the field,
He’s going to look at you like you’re crazy.
But Ezekiel understood that
If anyone could cause what was dead to come to life, it would be God.
So Ezekiel simply answered, “O Lord GOD, You know.”
And then we see the miracle:
(READ 4-10)
· God raised the dead.
· God brought what was dead to life.
Did you catch the method God used to resurrect the dead?
PREACHING
· Ezekiel was told to preach to the dead.
Did Ezekiel raise them? No, God did.
But God ordained to use preaching to do it.
AND YOU SAY,
“What a great story, what’s it about?”
(READ 11-14)
It was about Israel.
· They were spiritually dead and totally unresponsive.
· But God would raise them to life.
How?
Through preaching.
It’s pretty remarkable isn’t it
That you can have a bag full of seeds in your barn for years
That won’t do anything.
They don’t grow on their own unless you plant them.
When you plant them, then they grow.
Planting is God’s ordained method.
Preaching is God’s ordained method.
And when the gospel is preached,
God does the supernatural work of raising the dead to life.
We’re not finished on this point yet,
But we’re going to stop here this morning
With the simple reminder that
You and I are called to LISTEN to what Jesus is saying.
If we want the kingdom to grow.
If we want to be faithful followers.
THEN WE MUST SOW THE SEED.
THAT’S THE JOB.
Take the gospel and spread it out everywhere.
· Don’t worry if the soil looks too hard.
· Don’t worry if it looks too rocky.
· Don’t worry if it looks too weedy.
The fact is, that even if it is well-plowed you still can’t make it grow.
Only God makes it grow.
But preaching is the job He called us to do to bring that about.
There are plenty of other good deeds that can and should be done by the church.
There are plenty of other ministries that are even commanded to be accomplished.
But only one causes the growth of the kingdom, and that is preaching.
We are called to sow the seed.
We go and preach to those we know to be dead.
We preach the gospel to the valley of dry bones.
WHY?
· Because God can raise those bones.
· God can give life to that army.
· And God has ordained to do it through the preaching of the word to them.
So go and preach the gospel to all men.
Acts 1:8 “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
WE’LL TALK MORE ABOUT THIS TONIGHT.
But this morning, LISTEN to Jesus.
If the growth of the kingdom matters to you
Then preaching should matter to you.