The Sower: Four Soils, the State of Your Heart

Introduction

Jesus told many simple stories to talk about the things of heaven. The parable of the sower, in Matthew 13:1-9, is one of them. A sower goes out, scatters his seed, and that seed falls on four different kinds of soil. Only one will bear fruit.

Jean-Marc Botteron explained it on September 28, 2025, in Marseille: the seed is the word of God. The soils are our hearts. And through this parable, Jesus asks you a direct question: which soil does the word fall into when you hear it? Take the time to let yourself be searched by that question. Your answer matters a great deal for the eternity you will spend.

Outline of the message

1. Along the path: a trampled heart

The first soil is the hard ground beside the path, the kind everyone walks on. The seed can't get in. It stays on the surface, and the birds come and eat it before it can sprout.

That hard ground is the heart of someone who hears the gospel but doesn't let it in. Their life has been trampled by everything that rejects God. Jean-Marc Botteron gives several examples: Albania, which declared itself the "first atheist state in the world" in 1967 and banned religion for 23 years; North Korea, where leaders are worshiped; schooling that keeps repeating that man descended from apes and that God doesn't exist; media and cartoons full of occultism and magic that normalize darkness from childhood on.

Every time the word is sown, a spiritual battle is underway. The birds in the parable are the demons (Satan himself), who come and take the seed away so the person "won't believe and be saved" (see Luke 8:12). The devil is in a hurry, because he knows how powerful the blood of Jesus is. He knows that if you believe, you are forgiven instantly.

That's why Jesus insists: "Allow the little children to come to me, and don't hinder them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these" (Luke 18:16). A child's heart believes, trusts, and follows. Is yours still capable of that kind of simplicity?

2. The rocky places: a faith without roots

The second soil is a little better. There's a thin layer of soil over the rock. The seed sprouts quickly, it even brings joy. But as soon as the sun beats down, the plant scorches. The roots never had room to go down.

This represents someone who receives the word emotionally, the way a person is moved by a film. The surface has been stirred, but true repentance hasn't happened. So their conversion doesn't last.

Jesus describes two outcomes. First, the person "believes for a while": a month, six months, a year, then they walk away. Their faith was never rooted in Christ, it was too shallow, and it eventually shipwrecks. Second, they fall away when tested. Jean-Marc Botteron points out that the word "tribulation" originally meant threshing wheat, as under a harrow. Pressure comes from family, friends, temptation. The devil plants doubt in the mind: "Stop praying, it's pointless. Stop reading the Bible. Stop going to church."

Jesus doesn't hide the reality. The road that leads to life is narrow and constricted, and few find it. In the image shown during the sermon, only one figure takes the road toward Jesus while nineteen choose the other one. But the other road, wide as it may be, leads to eternal death. You need to know where your road leads. And without deep roots, you won't hold up over time.

3. Among the thorns: a smothered heart

The third soil is better still. The soil is there, the roots go down, the plant grows. But thorns grow up all around it at the same time and end up choking it.

The thorns, Jesus says, are three things: the cares of this age, the deceitfulness of riches, and the pleasures of life. We worry about today, about tomorrow, about retirement, about war, about everything. We chase after more and more money. We let ourselves be swept along by the desires the world keeps putting in front of us.

Jean-Marc Botteron sums it up this way: when the devil can't get you to give up through persecution, he uses seduction instead. If you love the world more than God, it's like dragging a ball and chain. You've accepted Jesus, but a chain keeps holding you back. The only solution is to repent and come back to him. "If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed" (see John 8:36). Those chains don't fall off through medication or specialists. They fall off in prayer, in the name of Jesus.

The consequences are serious. The plant suffocates and eventually dies spiritually. Even in Christ, that life bears no fruit. One foot in the world, one foot in the church: it's impossible to serve with joy. People complain about God, complain about the church, complain about others, and eventually stop coming altogether.

4. The good soil: a heart that bears fruit

The fourth soil is the only one that succeeds. An honest and good heart receives the word, understands it through faith, and holds on to it. One seed yields thirty, another sixty, another a hundred.

Getting there requires a heart plowed by God, a heart as simple as a child's. You can't understand the word with your intellect alone. Paul writes: "For seeing that in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom didn't know God, it was God's good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save those who believe" (1 Corinthians 1:21). Every library in the world is full of human wisdom, and yet the world never came to know God through it. It takes faith.

Feed yourself on this word. "Nourished in the words of the faith, and of the good doctrine which you have followed" (1 Timothy 4:6). Persevere: it's not about believing for a while, but until the Lord returns. God gives you that determination when you're in the good soil. Your part is to pray and read the Bible; his part is to watch over you.

And Jesus asks you to take a stand: "Everyone therefore who confesses me before men, him I will also confess before my Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, him I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven" (see Matthew 10:32-33). Believing, accepting him as Lord and Savior, committing through baptism by immersion in water. Some have walked with God, been baptized, gotten involved in ministry, then let it all go. That's a sign they were never in the good soil. Peter speaks of the sow that, once washed, goes back to wallowing in the mud because she still loves it (2 Peter 2:22). If you love sin more than you love God, you'll always go back to it.

Key takeaways

• The seed is the word of God; the four soils are our hearts. Each of us can recognize ourselves in one of the four.
• The devil is in a hurry, because the word saves. He snatches the seed away, pushes you to quit, or smothers you with the world's seduction.
• Without deep roots, you won't hold up. A passing emotion is not the same thing as conversion.
• The most effective thorns are worries, wealth, and pleasure. They don't kill all at once, they choke slowly.
• Only the good soil bears fruit. A simple, honest heart that receives the word through faith and perseveres.

Personal application

• Which of the four soils would you say your heart is in today? Be honest before God.
• What "thorns" are choking your Christian life right now: worries, money, pleasures, something else?
• Does your faith run only on emotion, or is it rooted in regularly reading the Bible and praying?
• When you started reading the Bible this week, what came along to interrupt you? Do you recognize a spiritual battle in that?
• Have you publicly taken your stand for Jesus: through baptism, through your testimony, through commitment in your church?

Scriptures cited

• Matthew 13:1-9 · the parable of the sower
• Luke 8:4-15 · parallel account and explanation
• Mark 4:1-20 · parallel account and explanation
• Luke 18:16 · "Allow the little children to come to me"
• 1 Timothy 4:6 · nourished in the words of the faith
• 1 Corinthians 1:21 · the foolishness of preaching
• Matthew 10:32-33 · publicly declaring yourself for Jesus
• 2 Peter 2:22 · the sow that returns to wallowing in the mud

Frequently asked questions

Can someone move from one soil to another?

Yes. No one is stuck beside the path, among the rocks, or among the thorns forever. The point of the parable is precisely a call to examine your heart and come to Jesus. If you recognize that your heart is hard, shallow, or smothered, you can repent today, ask forgiveness for your sins, and accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. He's the one who plows the ground to make it good soil.

How do I know if my faith is solid or just a passing emotion?

Look at what happens when the test comes: pressure from family, or temptation. If you hold on over the long haul, if you keep praying and reading the Bible even without feeling anything, if you come back to Jesus after a fall instead of walking away for good, that's a sign real roots exist. A rooted faith feeds every day on the word of God, not just on one powerful moment felt during a service.

Am I really saved if I haven't been baptized by immersion yet?

Salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ, not through baptism itself. If you believe in Jesus with all your heart, you are saved, even today. Baptism by immersion in water is then the way you take a public stand for him. If you've accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior but haven't been baptized yet, talk to your pastor about it: it's a step of obedience that bears witness to your belonging to Christ.