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SEED ON STONY GROUND In the parable of the sower, Jesus said that "Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth." (Mat. 13:5)A question was asked yesterday about this seed that "sprung up." Does that not indicate a sinner being saved? No, it doesn't. Please read the next verse and see the fulness of what Jesus is saying:"And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away." (13:6) Does that sound like a saved men? The springing UP of the seed in verse five is a seed that never took root DOWNWARD into soil (picturing the heart) as it should have. Jesus is making a CONTRAST: It sprung UP instead of growing DOWNWARD. It sprung up only because the seed itself was a living organism, but without being properly planted, it could not survive and grow into a plant. Instead, it withered away, picturing spiritual death and no real salvation. No root means no fruit, and it's BY THEIR FRUIT that we know them (Mat. 7:20). "And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward:" (Isa. 37:31) No root, no fruit. Any farmer whose crop amounted only to a field of withered sprouts would consider the whole thing a complete failure. Only in Laodicean fundamentalism are withered sprouts considered a success.