Ryle on Mark 4:1-20

Imported boundary: J. C. Ryle's Expository Thoughts on Mark from the Internet Archive DjVu OCR for the 1858 Robert Carter St. Mark volume. Title pages, preface, contents, running heads, page numbers, OCR boilerplate, and indexes are not mirrored. The source includes Ryle's printed Scripture text and exposition; this scan-derived text remains needs-verification.

Primary passage: Mark 4:1-20.

Source Text

1 And lie began again to teach by the sea side : and there was gathered unto him a great multitude, so that he entered into a ship, and sat in the sea ; and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land. 2 And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine, 3 Hearken ; Behold, there went out a sower to sow : 4 And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up. 5 And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth ; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth : 6 But when the sun was up, it was scorched ; and because it had no root, it withered away. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. 8 And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased ; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred. ■ ',i And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. 10 And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable. 11 And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery bf the kingdom of God : but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables : 12 That seeing they may see, and not perceive ; and hearing they may hear, and not understand ; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them. 13 And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable ? and how then will ye know all parables ? 14 'The sower soweth the word. 15 And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and takcth away the word that was sown in their hearts. 16 And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground ; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness ; 17 And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time : after- ward, when affliction or persecution ariscth for the word's sake, immedi- ately they are offended. 18 And these are they which are sown among thorns ; such as hear the word, 19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh un- fruitful. 20 And these are they which are sown on good ground ; such as hear the word, and received, and bring forth fruit, some thirty-fold, some sixty, and some an hundred. 63 These verses contain the parable of the sower. Of all the parables spoken by our Lord, none is probably so well-known as this. There is none which is so easily understood by all, from the gracious familiarity of the figures which it contains.''' There is none which is of such universal and perpetual application. So long as there is a Church of Christ and a congregation of Chris- tians, so long there will be employment for this parable. The language of the parable requires no explanation. To use the words of an ancient writer, " it needs appli- cation, not exposition." Let us now see what it teaches.

We are taught, in the first place, that there are some hearers of the Gospel, whose hearts are like the way-side in a field. These are they who hear sermons, but pay no atten- tion to them. They go to a place of worship, for form or fashion, or to appear respectable before men. But they take no interest whatever in the preaching. It seems to them a mere matter of words and names, and * " Our Saviour borroweth his comparisons from easy and familiar things, such as the sower, the seed, the ground, the growth, the with- ering, the answering or failing of the sower's expectations, all of them things well-known, and by all these would teach us some spiritual in- struction. For there is no earthly thing which is not fitted to put us in mind of some heavenly. Christ cannot look upon the sun, the wind, the fire, water, a hen, a little grain of mustard seed - nor upon ordinary occasions, as the penny given for the day's work, the wed- ding garment and ceremonies of the Jews about it, nor the waiting of servants at their master's table, or children asking bread and fish at their father's table, but he applies all to some special use of edifi- cation in grace. " Earthly things must remind us of heavenly.

We must translate the book of nature into the book of grace." - Tlwmas Taylor on the Pa rable of th e So wer. 1 634. unintelligible talk. It is neither money, nor meat, nor drink, nor clothes, nor company ; and as they sit under the sound of it, they are taken up with thinking of other things. It matters nothing whether it is Law or Gospel. It produces no more effect on them than water on a stone. And at the end they go away, knowing no more than when they came in. There are myriads of professing Christians in this state of soul. There is hardly a church or chapel, where scores of them are not to be found. Sunday after Sun- day they allow the devil to catch away the good seed that is sown on the face of their hearts. Week after week they live on, without faith, or fear, or knowledge, or grace - feeling nothing, caring nothing, taking no more interest in religion, than if Christ had never died on the cross at. all. And in this state they often die and are buried, and are lost for ever in hell. This is a mourn- ful picture, but only too true.

We are taught, in the second place, that there are some hearers of the Gospel whose hearts are like the stony ground in a field. These are they on whom preaching produces tem- porary impressions, but no deep, lasting, and abiding effect. They take pleasure in hearing sermons in which the truth is faithfully set forth. They can speak with apparent joy and enthusiasm about the sweetness of the Gospel, and the happiness which they experience in lis- tening to it. They can be moved to tears by the appeals of preachers, and talk with apparent earnestness of their own inward conflicts, hopes, struggles, desires, and fears. But unhappily there is no stability about their religion. u They have no root in themselves, and so endure but for 65 a, time." There is no real work of the Holy Ghost with- in their hearts. Their impressions are like Jonah's gourd, which came up in a night and perished in a night. They fade as rapidly as they grow. No sooner does " affliction and persecution arise for the word's sake/' than they fall away. Their goodness proves as " the morning cloud, and the early dew." (Hosea vi. 4.) Their religion has no more life in it than the cut flower. It has no root, and soon withers away. There are many in every congregation which hears the Gospel, who are just in this state of soul. They are not careless and inattentive hearers, like many around them, and are therefore tempted to think well of their own con- dition. They feel a pleasure in the preaching to which they listen, and therefore flatter themselves they must have grace in their hearts. And yet they are thoroughly deceived. Old things have not yet passed away. There is no real work of conversion in their inward man. With all their feelings, affections, joys, hopes, and desires, they are actually on the high road to destruction."

We are taught, in the third place, that there are some hearers of the Gospel, whose hearts are like the thorny ground in afield. These are they who attend to the preaching of Christ's truth, and to a certain extent obey it. Their under- standing assents to it. Their judgment approves of it.

* All who wish to understand the character of the " stony ground hearers," should study the treatise of Jonathan Edwards, on the Re- ligious Affections. Few Christians, who have not looked into the subject, have any idea of the lengths to which a person may go in religious feelings, while he is at the same time utterly destitute of the grace of God. Their conscience is affected by it. Their affections are in favor of it. They acknowledge that it is all right, and good, and worthy of all reception. They even abstain from many things which the Gospel condemns, and adopt many habits which the Gospel requires. But here unhappily they stop short. Something appears to chain them fast, and they never get beyond a certain point in their religion. And the grand secret of their condi- tion is the world. " The cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things/' prevent the word having its full effect on their souls. With everything apparently that is promising and favor- able in their spiritual state, they stand still. They never come up to the full standard of New Testament Chris- tianity. They bring no fruit to perfection. There are few faithful ministers of Christ who could not point to cases like these. Of all cases they are the most melancholy. To go so far and yet go no further - to see so much and yet not see all - to approve so much and yet not give Christ the heart, this is indeed most deplorable ! And there is but one verdict that can be given about such people. Without a decided change they will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Christ will have all our hearts. " If any man will be a friend of the world} he is the enemy of God." (James iv. 4.)

We are taught, in the last place, that there are some hearers of the Gospel, whose hearts are like the good ground in afield. These are they who really receive Christ's truth into the bottom of their hearts, believe it implicitly, and obey it thoroughly. In these the fruits of that truth will be seen - -uniform, plain, and unmistakeable results in heart and life. Sin will be truly hated, mourned over, resisted, and renounced. Christ will be truly loved, trusted in, followed, loved, and obeyed. Holiness will show itself in all their conversation, in humility, spiritual-minded- ness, patience, meekness, and charity. There will be something that can be seen. The true work of the Holy Ghost cannot be hid. There will always be some persons in this state of soul, where the Gospel is faithfully preached. Their numbers may very likely be few, compared to the worldly around them. Their experience and degree of spiritual attainment may differ widely, some bringing forth thirty, some sixty, and some a hundred- fold. But the fruit of the seed falling into good ground will always be of the same kind. There will always be visible repentance, visible faith in Christ, and visible holiness of life. With- out these things, there is no saving religion. And now let us ask ourselves, What are we ? Under which class of hearers ought we to be ranked ? With what kind of hearts do we hear the word ? - Never, never may we forget, that there are three ways of hear- ing without profit, and only one way of hearing aright ! Never, never may we forget that there is only one in- fallible mark of being a right-hearted hearer ! That mark is to bear fruit. To be without fruit, is to be in the way to hell.