NOTE.—In the preparation of these lessons all Scripture references, and the pages of “Christ’s Object Lessons,” should be thoroughly studied first, then the questions. The questions are not the lessons. They are only for the purpose of finding out what we have observed while studying. More of the preciousness of these lessons will be obtained if the lesson is studied each day throughout the week. In the parables of Jesus there is salvation from sin for every type of sinner—from the Pharisee to the prodigal. The notes are wholly selected from such portions of “Christ’s Object Lessons” as apply to each lesson.
1 “On that day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the 2 seaside. And there were gathered unto Him great multitudes, so that He entered into a boat, and sat; and all the 3 multitude stood on the beach. And He spake to them many things in parables, saying, Behold, the sower went forth to sow; and as he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside, and 4 the birds came and devoured them: and others fell upon the 5 rocky places, where they had not much earth: and straightway 6 they sprang up, because they had no deepness of earth; and when the sun was risen, they were scorched; and because 7 they had no root, they withered away. And others fell upon 8 the thorns; and the thorns grew up, and choked them: and others fell upon the good ground, and yielded fruit, some a 9 hundred-fold, some sixty, some thirty. He that hath ears, let him hear.”
11 “Now the parable is this: The seed is the Word of God.”
SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.
1. When Jesus gave the parable of the sower, what were the surroundings? Matt. 13:1, 2.
2. What did He say? Verse 3.
3. Was a sower in sight when He said this? What is the meaning of the word “behold”? In the application of the parable, who is the sower? Verse 37. What does He sow? What kind of seed? What is the seed? Luke 8:11.
4. What causes growth?—Life. Who quickeneth, or gives life to all things? Ans.—“God, who quickeneth all things.” See 1 Tim. 6:13.
5. Is that past merely, or present also? By whose life does the Creator make things live and grow?
6. If there were another source of life than God Himself, what would be necessary?—Another God besides the Lord. What, then, is the life of every seed and plant and tree?
7. What is a “fountain”? With whom is the “fountain of life”? Ans.—“With Thee [God] is the fountain of life.” See Ps. 36:7–9.
8. By what means are people created? Ans.—“The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty giveth me life.” Job 33:4.
9. How are they kept alive? Ans.—“He Himself giveth to all life, and breath, and all things.” Acts 17:25.
10. What relation is there between God’s Word and His life? Ans.—“It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I have spoken unto you are Spirit, and are life.” John 6:63.
11. Then, since all things are now caused to be, and made to grow, by the “life” of God, does that mean by the “word” of God?
12. How are men born again? 1 Peter 1:23; John 3:6. Ans.—Born again by the “word;” born by the “Spirit.” “The words that I have spoken unto you, are Spirit, and are life.” John 6:63.
13. Are written signs and characters the real Word of God? Ans.—“For the Word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Heb. 4:12.
14. Since it is the same life in what we call “natural” things as that which is found in spiritual things, what ought we to see in all natural objects?
15. In the parable what did the sower sow?
NOTES.
THEY expected the Messiah to prove His claims by mighty deeds of conquest, to establish His empire on the ruins of earthly kingdoms. This expectation Christ answered in the parable of the sower. Not by force of arms, not by violent interpositions, was the kingdom of God to prevail, but by the implanting of a new principle in the hearts of men.
THE Word of God is the seed. Every seed has, in itself, a germinating principle. In it the life of the plant is enfolded. So there is life in God’s Word. In every command and in every promise of the Word of God is the power, the very life of God, by which the command may be fulfilled, and the promise realized. He who by faith receives the Word, is receiving the very life and character of God.
BUT the teacher of sacred truth can impart only that which he himself knows by experience. “The sower sowed his seed.”
