Matthew 12:43-13:17 - Skip Heitzig

[Music] welcome to expound our weekly worship and verse by verse study of the Bible our goal is to expand your knowledge of the truth of God by explaining the Word of God in a way that is interactive enjoyable and congregational we call this a textual community let's rejoice and learn God's Word in an interactive and enjoyable new way let's pray father thank you in Jesus name for the word of God that doesn't return void we thank you Lord for so many different people in the body of Christ that do different things some that have written music years ago some that are writing music still today after years some that are just getting started in a music ministry some who are digging up artifacts on the other side of the world some who are teaching Bible studies some who are serving in the children's ministry all of us together make the body of Christ no one is more important than anyone else we're little people that serve a great God and we're thankful for that we prayed that in our time together tonight you'd encourage us and you teach us as we study and as we read as we consider it as we apply these truths to our lives we ask it in Jesus name Amen there was a Christian lady who lived next door to an atheist and she prayed about everything and she prayed often out loud about things so that the atheists who again lived next door to the Christian lady could hear her pray in the summer when their windows were open and he of course thought this is crazy and there is no God why does she carry on it's not going to do her any good and one evening this atheist heard the Christian lady praying for groceries because she had run out and she said Lord I trust you you can do anything and I know that you're gonna provide my every need and she just listed the groceries that she needed and said in Jesus name and the Atheist overheard this and he thought I'm gonna fix her he went out and bought all of the groceries that she mentioned in her prayer list put him in bags knocked on the door and then hid behind a bush that lady opened the door saw the grocery said praise the Lord I knew he would provide the atheist jumps out of the bushes and it goes you crazy Christian lady God didn't get you those groceries I bought them for you you nut when she heard that she got even more excited jump up in the air praise the Lord praise the Lord praise the Lord he didn't get it he said I don't get this how come you're so excited she smiled and she said I knew God was gonna provide the groceries I just didn't know he was gonna make the devil pay for it I like the way she thinks well that could be a little tagline for how everything's going to shake out eventually in eternity in the end God is going to get the glory and the devil is gonna pay until then that same devil seems to have quite a bit of freedom you might say he's on a leash we wonder why the leash is so long and we are caught in the crossfire of the activity between heaven and hell the Gallup Organization noted that 70 percent of Americans believe in Hell and believe in a devil but only half believe the devil's a literal being the other half say he's imaginary a figment of one's imagination or simply an analogy of evil a metaphor of evil but then we turn to the scriptures and we see how Jesus spoke about the devil and we get something very different from galip's findings of what Americans opinions are Jesus seemed to speak of the devil as a literal being in Luke chapter and he said I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning I was there when it happened in Luke chapter 22 2 Peter jesus said Peter Satan has desired that he might sift you like wheat boy I wouldn't want to hear those words especially from Jesus yeah Satan's been coming around lately talking to me about you whoa would you tell him then Jesus says but Peter I prayed for you we touched a little bit on that last week in the week before about some of the people that came to Jesus those who are demonized and how Jesus dealt with them and what that meant and the idea of possession versus oppression but we didn't quite finish the chapter last week so we're gonna pick it up at verse 23 and again I believe it's speaking of spiritual warfare you've heard of Dwight Lyman moody dl moody dl moody and his kind of simple country style said i believe in the devil and i believe in him for two reasons number one because the bible says he's real number two because i've done business with them and if you've ever done business with them there's no question in your mind that he's out to try to kill to steal and to destroy but i think we make a couple of mistakes when it comes to satan even as christians we sometimes make this mistake and that is almost a denial of his activity we forget that we're in a spiritual battle we become so cloistered in our christian camp and our christian activities that we forget the very real battle between spiritual forces that is taking place and i think that that is what on one hand satan would want he would want you to deny he would want you to forget he would want you to fall asleep somebody once said the devil is never too busy to rock the cradle of a sleeping Saint wake up don't sleep you're in a very real battle the outcome has already been determined you win in the end but in the meantime there could be a lot of collateral damage a second mistake Christians sometimes make is to obsess over the double being over interested an unhealthy preoccupation with him getting so superstitious that everything and anything is a demonic attack and some even go hunting for demons I've got a Ministry of deliverance what do you do well I go around the country and I look for demons oh you don't have to look very far so be careful that you don't fall into any one of those two extremes the devil is real Jesus speaks about him the Bible underscores and defines and describes his activity but you don't need to have an unhealthy preoccupation I remember this superstition being played out in a church I was a part of many years ago before I was married before I moved here I lived in California I was involved in a church in Carson California and it was after a service I was teaching the youth group at that time because I was like in the youth group at that time and these kids came to me afterwards and said you got to talk to our friend he's demon-possessed I said well how do you know that he goes he said he is I said okay so I went over to him he was acting really strange and trying to like froth and everything else and what's weird is I saw him come forward at an altar call recently and I knew that he had made a fresh commitment to Christ and yet he had this fascination with all things demon and I think he was trying to spook these girls that were with him I don't know why but he did a good job of it and he was trying to spook me and he started contorting his face and I said right now and he stopped and I said you are not demon-possessed and he looked at me and he said really and it was like enough to shake him out of a superstitious stupor that he was in I knew that he had given his life to Christ could he be oppressed yes could he be possessed absolutely not why because the Holy Spirit was living inside of him his body is the temple of the Spirit God doesn't share the apartment with the demon true story 1999 a newspaper in Scotland reported a Catholic priest from France being arrested for speeding that was the what the article said what was strange about the article is why he was arrested for speeding when the police pulled over the priest the priest said I was driving responsibly officer but some force took control of my car and he said it became demon-possessed and it went faster than I wanted it - well it didn't convince the officer the priest got a ticket I don't think the demon got a ticket but the priest got a ticket now we enter into as I mentioned verse 43 where Jesus said when an unclean spirit goes out of a man he goes through Dry places seeking rest and he finds none and then he says I will return to my house from which I came and when he comes he finds it empty swept and put in order then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself and they enter and dwell there and the last state of that man is worse than the first so shall it also be with this wicked generation so it seems that if Jesus is indeed speaking of a demon that this demon likes friends he has a gang the even demons like fellowship okay there's a couple of ways to look at this and they have been looked at by most mainline commentators that number one Jesus is speaking of actual demon possession then a man whose body is represented by the house just like Jesus has talked about going into a house and binding the strongman and last week's study that the body becomes the house the house has been vacated because the demon has been exorcised this man has been delivered of the demon so his condition immediately improves but in that improved state the vacuum isn't filled the spirit isn't replaced with God and because of that he brings seven other spirits or demons to inhabit this house and the last state is worse than the first so the application could be that social Reformation is certainly not enough but spiritual regeneration is the ticket it's more than just I'm going to give this up I'm going to turn from that there's all these bad demons so to speak that have been bugging me but I'm gonna push those out of my life and get my life on target I'm going to improve what a person really needs especially this person if indeed a demon has been exorcised from him is the presence of God in his life and it's the presence of God living in this house in this body that is the ticket that will be the deterrent to any other spirit in the future that's one way it's interpret but there is another way to look at it that Jesus is speaking a parable to the generation notice it says so it shall be also with this wicked generation jenos which could also be translated not just generation but race and some believe that this is actually a parable that Jesus is giving of the Jewish nation the John the Baptist came preaching repentance turned from this turned from that ceased doing that and he was the forerunner of Jesus Christ predicting the coming Messiah behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world but not everybody that followed her listened to John the Baptist embraced Jesus Christ so so it will be with this generation this interpretation goes like this nineteen well 2000 years ago Jesus came and he came to the Jewish nation what he called the house of Israel member he sent his disciples out to preach the gospel at first to the house of Israel that he came to the house of Israel but the house of Israel rejected him he came into his own and his own did not receive him and because they rejected him there is going to be further deception that comes along with that how in the future it talks about seven spirits 7 is in the Bible often used as a number of completion seven days and a week seven notes on a scale etc so it's speaking about idolatry fully developed now that's interesting because when we get to the future writings Matthew 24 Book of Daniel revelation there's something called the abomination of desolation or the abomination that causes desolation that this world leader in the future that we dubbed the Antichrist is going to set up an image in Jerusalem and command the world to worship Him and it's that abomination of desolation that is set up that defiles the temple but many Jewish people as well as the rest of the world will follow hard after that and perhaps this is even indicated in the words of Jesus himself who said I came in my father's name and you did not receive me another will come in his own name him you will receive that's the thought and you can choose which one you choose to look at one or the other or all of the above while he was still talking to the multitudes behold his mother and his brother stood outside seeking to speak with him that were not told why they were seeking to speak with him or what they wanted to talk about if you compare some of the other gospel accounts at least on one account they thought Jesus was crazy beside himself as the word that is used in my version because he wasn't eating much wasn't taking care of himself much was always on the go so they thought he was nuts and we know that Jesus brothers didn't believe in him until after the resurrection so it could be that they said mom come on we got to go rescue Yeshua he's just crazy that I understand I got some of that from my parents and my brothers skip has flipped his lid he's always quoting the Bible he's always saying praise the Lord this guy's nuts we don't know why they're there but they're there and then one said to him look your mother and your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak with you but he answered and he said to the one who told him who is my mother and who are my brothers Wow that doesn't sound like Jesus is pushing Mary worship all that much now does it your mother's here who she what who are my mother who is my who are my brothers and he stretched out his hand toward his disciples and he said here are my mother and my brothers for whoever does the will of the Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother we noticed that Joseph is not there with Mary and the boys why is that we're not told probably my guess is he has already died by this time he could still be a nazareth working at the shop not wanting to leave work for this little journey or errand thereon we don't know but probably he has died by this time now this teaches us this little cameo of the family of Jesus coming around teaches us a couple of lessons number one there's no such thing as the doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary I grew up hearing that thus believing that I was shocked honestly when I came to faith when I was saved and I started reading what the Bible says and I found out that Jesus had siblings those would be half-brothers that are mentioned that after Jesus was born as a virgin birth from Mary not because of the union of Mary and Joseph but the virgin born son of God once he was born Joseph and Mary had normal physical relationships the Bible says Mary didn't touch Joseph and Joseph didn't touch Mary physically until after Jesus was born after Jesus was born they were a married couple and they raised a family and had children between themselves so these would be half-brothers of Jesus so forget the perpetual virginity it's not even important it was made up and you can trace when it was introduced as a false doctrine into Christian belief the second thing and even more important than that is the emphasis on a spiritual family even over and above a physical family now Jesus is not dissing or denouncing your physical family he is simply saying that a spiritual bond is often deeper more significant and more important than a filial bond than a family bond I found that to be true I loved my mother and my father and my brothers the two that are alive still have a relationship it's it's it's a good relationship love them but I also noticed when I became a believer and was attached to Christian brothers and sisters that there was a depth of experience and bond that nothing that I had ever experienced even as a family member of commitment or of as brother and sister or brother and father or brother mother could ever come close to now it's even cooler when your brothers and your mother are believers because then they're physically and spiritually United and that's an unshakable bond but Jesus is emphasizing the spiritual over the physical okay now we do get into chapter 13 and again my intention last week was to finish chapter 12 I thought there's no way there's no way I'm not gonna finish it it's easy I'm gonna nail it all but I've had many such nights of good intentions that I've fallen short of but now we're in chapter 13 now you can see it's a long chapter let me let me prophesy right now I'm not gonna finish chapter 13 tonight that's for the record chapter 13 is a section known as the kingdom parables the kingdom parables there are seven of them all together one of Jesus favorite subjects was to talk about the kingdom repent the kingdom of heaven is at hand the Sermon on the Mount behold the kingdom of God he spoke about the ethics the ethos the standards of the kingdom Matthew 24 the future of the kingdom loved speaking about the kingdom when Jesus rose from the dead you know what he talked about their Kingdom Acts chapter 1 he showed himself alive with many infallible proofs and spoke pertaining the things of the king of God for 40 days with his decided to talk about the kingdom that's why he had come he was the king he was setting up the kingship in his in people's hearts and lives right now but speaking of the future when he will come and set things straight and there will be a literal Kingdom I believe a millennial kingdom for a thousand years upon the earth forty eight times in the new testament is the word parable or parables either singular or plural that are mentioned comes from the greek parable a and it means to place or to cast alongside of to place or cast alongside of so what Jesus does or what rabbis would do is cast alongside of something that was unknown something that was known or to take something physical and lay it alongside something spiritual so that in understanding the physical and making application to the spiritual placing one thing alongside of the other it makes sense so look at it this way parables are earthly stories with heavenly meanings an earthly example that has a heavenly meaning and as I mentioned it's 48 times the word is mentioned in the New Testament Jesus loved to teach in parables one-third of all of the teaching that we have recorded is Jesus speaking in story form the rabbi's love to speak in these kind of stories in fact in the ancient world storytelling and orality were huge when you have communities that were illiterate it was all about the story you tell the story you give the history you give the genealogy and you tell God's story and how the family fits into that from generation to generation and people would sit around in the evenings this is way before television way before iPads or iPhones or any kind of modern technology and entertainment the entertainment the ancient TV was the story and a better the storyteller the longer a person will walk on and not change the channel and Jesus was a master at it and so to take a earthly story and cast it alongside or place it alongside of something that has heavenly meaning is the whole idea of these things and they're powerful you remember in the Old Testament how David sinned with Bathsheba and he thought he had gotten away with it until the day Nathan came and told him a parable hey David I want to tell you a story oh cool I like stories well good there was a rich man he had a lots of flocks and herds and sheep and there was one poor guy who had a single little female land that was like a pet like a daughter to him he cuddled it in his bosom and take it home at night the kids loved it it's a family pet and he just took a liking to it was the only one he had the rich man had a friend coming into town and rather than taking one of his many sheep he took that one poor man's little pet slaughtered it and they ate it David heard that he became so angry that story got to him the story line man he didn't change the channel he's locked in david says okay find the guy who got that little Lamech Killam Nathan said you are the man and he used the parable the story cast alongside of something David had done in sinning with another man's wife and pointed God's finger at him in a very powerful way so on the same day Jesus went out of the house I love that for some reason that Jesus was in a house he liked home Bible studies the house is always packed inside and outside in the courtyard around the house leaning in the windows on the same day Jesus went out of the house and he sat by the sea I love that about Jesus who wouldn't want to go out of the house and sit by the sea but he had a problem when he went outside and sat by the sea people said hey Jesus just left the house he's sitting by the sea look at the next verse and great multitudes were gathered together to him so that he got into a boat and he sat and the whole multitude stood on the shore oh let's let's maybe try that sometime shall we I'm all set and you stand during the whole Bible study that was an ancient method no on a practical note Jesus was practical he's sitting by the sea there's a lot of people they want to hear from him some of them maybe want to just see something that he would do a miracle so the best way to manage the crowd because you're confined at a seashore and if you turn around there's still people right there right on you so using sort of the natural amphitheater that a shore would provide and wanting to get a little bit of a distance he just sat in a boat pushed it out just a little bit so we could have a commanding view of the crowd that had gathered and he taught them and he spoke many things to them verse 3 in parable a in parables saying behold a sower went out to sow and as he sowed some seed fell by the wayside that is the path and birds came and devoured them some fell on stony places where they did not have much earth and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth but when the Sun was up they were scorched and because they had no root they withered away and some fell among thorns and the thorns sprang up and choked them but others fell on good ground and yielded a crop some a hundredfold some sixty and some thirty the parable that we just read as I see it is the key to all of the rest of the kingdom parables I tell you that because in Luke's Gospel when the same parable is given and the disciples are asking about it jesus said don't you understand this parable how then will you understand will you understand all parables if you don't understand this parable that I'm giving of the sower and the seed how are you going to understand all of the rest of them as if to say you can't understand the rest of them until you understand this one and if you understand this one you'll understand the rest of them there are certain key elements that are in this story that help unlock the meaning here as well as other parables here's an example we have first of all the seed as the first key element we know what the seed is Luke's Gospel said Jesus speaking said the seed is the word of God so you don't have to guess a sower sowing seed what is the seed that's truth man that's the gospel that's the Word of God that's the seed why would Jesus compare a seed to the word because both of them have life in themselves both are small but very powerful it's amazing how a single seed eventually can grow into something that takes some met a cement foundation or a sidewalk and sever it crack it burst and shove it up several inches so that if you're walking on that sidewalk in the dusk and you don't notice it you'll trip that's power both of them when dropped into something produce life you produce you drop a seed in the ground it has the capability of producing life you drop the word of God into a heart into a life it can produce spiritual life so the seed is the word the second key element is the sower the sower is the one who throws the seed the one who dispenses the truth the one who tells you the Word of God there was some person in your life who was the sower someone who cared enough to open his or her mouth and share the truth with you might have been a lunch conversation could have been a relative who just said I got to talk to you about heavenly things might have been a sermon could have been a tract or a book or a television program or a radio program but someone played the role of the sower in your life now here's what I'm wanna piggyback on to tell you they did it it's your turn the seed is germinated it's taken root there's fruit cool pass it along Acts chapter 1 verse 1 the former treatise that I wrote to you off the Ovilus of all here it is of all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken it what Jesus began Luke writes the Apostles in this book that I'm going to write kept doing what Jesus did you can do so it's your turn the baton has been passed you become the sower the third element is the soil the soil is the heart that receives the truth and there are four different kinds of hearts that listen to Bible studies like this all of you right now have one of these four hearts all of you are represented in this parable as am i the soil is the heart that receives the truth of the word of God soil has potential but not if you leave it to itself you have to tend the soil there are things that come up about this time of the year and the summer in my yard that I never planted do you have them they're called yeah I didn't plant that thing and why does that we grow like that tall and that shrub that I plant it takes like four years and gets like this tall I don't get this soil has potential but you can't leave it unattended the heart of a man or a woman has enormous potential but the soil is also to be tended so we have the seed we have the sower we have the soil verse for he who sowed or and and as he sowed some seed fell by the wayside and the birds came and devoured them the wayside is the path between rows of whatever you're planting it's where the sower would walk and if you walk on the same dirt over a long period of time what happens to it it gets hard in fact dirt can get so hard that a seed if you if it falls on that pathway it won't penetrate the soil or it would take very long and lots of other circumstances for that seed to get into the soil because if the guys just walking over it it's going to get kicked off it's not going to get irrigated the soil isn't gonna get till the it's not going to get enough moisture it's the wayside and because it's exposed the birds can get it birds always or typically followed somebody sowing the seed that was their food so if you have any seed out in the open the birds were going to come and get it I was with my family years ago in in Venice and there in the piazza arts I don't know how many pigeons just and I'm giving you the sneer because you can sound like that I'm not like stoked on pigeons I was thinking of ways to nuke them all as I was looking at them there's just like these rats with wings have come and and my son got this seed and he put it out and they would land on his arm and get it you throw it on the sidewalk they'll just you know it's like an act of terror that happens in the Piazza and so he was trying little things like he put a seed on his ear and the bird would land on his shoulder and put his little beacon is here and pick it out and indifferent I thought you're crazy the seed was exposed and so it says the birds came and devoured them now I'm just gonna kind of go through a little bit of this before we get to the explanation Jesus will give it but because there's other parables in-between and other things in between let me just tell you what this is this is the calloused heart this is the hardened heart this is the person who won't let truth penetrate as soon as he or she hears truth they immediately start marginalizing or rationalizing or thinking it applies to somebody else or this isn't for me they they figure out a way to not listen to it not understand it not be open to it this is the calloused heart it's the personality that God described in the Old Testament of the children of Israel when he called them stiff necked do you know any hard-hearted people I do I have known many hard-hearted people I was one some of you were and I'm saying that because don't write off hard-hearted peoples now they're not gonna get say even let's go to the next person maybe not today but the Bible calls the Word of God the hammer that breaks the rocks and pieces so there's the seed on top of the ground or the rocks the Word of God can with the right skilled blow break the rocks and pieces so that thing can penetrate and perhaps germinate think of Nebuchadnezzar he had a hard heart God got ahold of his heart think of saul of tarsus hard heart God got ahold of his heart and there are many such examples the callous heart some verse five fell on stony places and they did not have much earth and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth but when the Sun was up they were scorched and because they had no root they withered away this is the shallow heart now allow me to describe a situation that is typical in the Middle East when you go to it the Land of Israel a lot of the passages you read come to life and one is this there are rocks everywhere everywhere it amazes people it's like the whole country is rock and so those that farm have to deal with the enormous amount of rocks there's usually shelves of rock underneath limestone typically and walks are removed and with those rocks they make a little walls so that a hillside is terrorist you see it everywhere especially in Judea miles of a terrorist so they're building up the earth removing the rock so that there's a deep enough swath of earth for things to grow in sometimes a patch looks like oh it's so soft and ready to receive the seed this is going to grow and you plant it in there but just a few inches down is a rock shelf you don't see it immediately so because it's shallow it's going to collect a lot of Sun it's going to have a concentration of nutrients to sustain it at first there's a quick termination a fast response but because it is shallow the roots can't go down very deep so it's going to be all top growth and it won't be able to sustain the elements like when the Sun gets super hot there because there's not a network underneath it to sustain it it's certain death that's what Jesus is speaking about this is the shallow heart this is the person who hears the truth and does respond and respond sometimes immediately and emotionally and says yes they're quick to respond what's unfortunate is they're quick to respond to just about anything any cause they see or hear Oh for issue they just yeah and it's quick in response but there's not a true depth change of heart real repentance so there's not lasting growth this is the shallow heart I call this the alka-seltzer Christian you go what what do you mean there's a lot of fish at first but then they fizzle out eventually that's the alka-seltzer Christian a lot of top growth no depth doesn't last you you you have people in your mind that are filling that description even as I speak and some verse seven fell among thorns and the thorns sprang up and choked them this is the crowded heart these are the weeds that grow when you leave the garden untended they grow naturally this is the person who is torn between two kingdoms the kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world they have they have too much of Jesus in them to be satisfied in this world but they have too much of the world in them to just be satisfied in Jesus their heart is crowded there's other things that are growing that they have tended and so there's always this conflict that goes on years ago when I was living in Huntington Beach California my neighbor had a lemon tree which I was very grateful for because state law said anything over on my side was mine so all those branches that got over I owned them and I would beat that tree it was my California law to take a little 2x4 out there a broomstick and I'd hit it and the lemons would fall down in my yard and I'd say thank you to my neighbor and he would beat the other side of the tree with his broomstick and he would call he didn't have to thank me he was his tree but he obviously owned them but I just thought that poor little tree is getting beat up from both sides he's beating him up I'm beating him up I'm beating him up he's beating him up there's some people that get beat up from both sides the world and the Spirit of God convicting them and the world beats them up and they're always in this conflict that's the crowded heart last one is the best one that's the fruitful heart but others fell on good ground and yielded a crop some a hundredfold some sixty that is sixty fold in some thirtyfold this is a receptive heart the seed the truth the message takes root bears fruit and continues to grow this is the man described in Psalm one and his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night and the fruit that comes because of that life is described here now look at the return of investment Jesus mentioned in this verse ten thousand percent more that's a hundredfold six thousand percent more that's sixty full three thousand percent that's thirty fold the typical return of investment of an ancient sower with the field was about eight to one or one day you put in one and you get about eight eight times that so this is an enormous return that it's possible for the one who was a fruitful heart okay look at the whole parable for a moment notice that of all of the hearts into which the word is sown only twenty five percent is fruitful 25 percent won't hear at all it's callous it's hard don't hear it don't listen to it whatever fifty percent of the growth is minimal I would even say carnal growth and only twenty five percent is fruitful and not all of that fruit is enormous fruit some of it is a little bit dirty and then a little bit more sixty and then a little bit more like a lot a hundredfold and I think that is a picture of how truth works today not everybody's going to hear it first of all a lot enormous amount of people will just say no to it of the people that here at some will get all emotional and all excited and yes Jesus but they won't last persecution or whatever other people just so crowded they're so busy they got so many agendas in God as well mo he fits in and come to church like every two years and you know whatever they get crowded they get busy but there are some they're wide open and the word gets planted deep and the work is profound and it's life-changing and it blesses others around them now what does that leave us well there's a passage that comes to mind and Luke chapter 8 jesus said it this way take heed how you hear your hearing right now some people here like this or like this there's some people who hear like this what right because I see it and then there's some people who hear like this talking to the person next them or checking the emails or very distracted very crowded all of these hearts are represented here right now how do you respond to the truth take heed how you hear hearing truth is dangerous business because you can grow from it the dangerous part is if you listen to it but you're in the mode of non-response if further callouses your heart you get really good at turning it off and marginalizing it you become a professional listener that's the danger so Jesus says close it out verse 9 he who has ears to hear let him hear and the disciples came to him and said why do you speak to them in parables I love these guys I don't know what they wanted a theology course an exegesis on pneumatology and eschatology but they just said why a bunch of stories okay we have a text that we got and of course we say this is an interactive Bible study so we want to throw this up this is from a friend of ours who's a PhD in Virginia Oh some of us know where is there for it five percent of the people go through the narrow gate well I don't know what the percentage is Shaukat exactly of how many people go through the narrow gate but in the parable we have a few that are fruitful and Jesus said even more disparagingly perhaps but sobering li4 why does the gate that enters into destruction narrow is the gate that leads to life and few find it not most not many but few find it so I don't even know if it's 25 percent I don't know what the percentage is all I know is in that in that same wonderful passage in the Sermon on the Mount that you're referring to Jesus talked also about hearing and doing hearing and putting into practice so that when we hear something like we're hearing tonight our attitude our commitment as we walk in is - I'm gonna listen that I might apply Jesus said that's a wise person who builds her house on the rock a person who listens but doesn't do it they just come in and go another Bible so do whatever you know I got a go on move on check out and they don't put it into practices are like the foolish person who builds on the sand so that's the practical part but that's a good observation and a great question so the disciples come to him and ask him why do you speak to them in parables so he answers and he said to them because it has been given to you you who you his disciples you his followers you his commited ones you his learners math they taste learners disciples it has been great given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven but to them it has not been given for whoever has to him more will be given and he will have abundance but whoever does not have even what he has will be taken away from him therefore I speak to them in parables because seeing they do not see nor do they understand and in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled which says hearing you will hear and not understand seeing you will see and not perceive for the hearts of this people of grown dull and their ears are hard of hearing and their eyes they have closed lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears lest they should understand with their hearts and turn and I should heal them but blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they hear there's two reasons that Jesus gave parables for and he tells his disciples what they are it's been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven so number one parables were given to reveal the truth in a deeper fashion Jesus didn't tell stories to confuse the people but to pique their interest to motivate them to make them curious and just like that little parable that Nathan gave to David that really brought the truth of conviction home to his heart in a deeper way that's what a parable did it was meant to reveal the truth so Jesus uses the visible world to help people understand the invisible world by the way did you know that one of the reasons God designed the physical world was that people might understand the invisible world it says in the book of Romans chapter one that since the creation his invisible attributes have been clearly understood by things that are made so that we can look around the world and even the even even the lowest IQ person can figure out this didn't happen by accident there's too much design built into this system that I can't just say wow it's an amazing fortuitous occurrence of accidental circumstance no it's not design requires designer so in the very least you will understand the power of God Roman said and concur conclude that there's a creative mind to create or behind it and many brilliant minds have come to that conclusion so parables become both mirrors and windows mirrors to show us ourselves windows that show us the heart of God the visible makes plain the invisible gives us insight into it so it's been given to you to know the mysteries musterion not something that is you'll never figure out but something that has once been concealed in the in the past but now is being revealed and he's making it plain the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven but then look at verse 13 therefore I speak to them in parables not just for you guys to get a deeper grasp of the truth but to them in parables because seeing they do not see and hearing they do not hear nor do they understand that the prophecy of Isaiah might be fulfilled then Jesus quotes Isaiah chapter 6 what's that about Isaiah chapter 6 is an indictment of the people of Israel that have become spiritually dull hard-of-hearing don't want to listen to spiritual truth turned off God and Isaiah is gonna speak things that they won't understand as an indictment against them the same truth then that makes the seeking heart understand makes the hardened heart go huh I don't get it on one hand it reveals the truth on the other hand it conceals the truth the same truth that awakens one heart doesn't penetrate another heart and it's all about what's behind the motivation of the heart some don't want to hear some do want to hear it's like the Sun the same Sun that melts the ice hardens the clay same Sun the same rain that irrigates one field might flood another depending on the quality of the soil and so it is with the truth hearing they will hear and not understand and he quotes Isaiah chapter 6 the hearts of this people have grown dull so look at it this way parables are both the words of a master teacher and the sentence of a mighty judge and the people who I have no idea what that means indicates a condition of the heart now you and I we read through this we go I get it well that makes sense I get it it makes sense the condition of the heart is right look at verse 16 yeah that's about all we have left but blessed are your eyes don't you love that sometimes you'll say to somebody oh you have beautiful eyes your pretty eyes you have nice eyes I like that color I like that makeup those are nice eyes but to have blessed eyes blessed are your eyes for they see in your ears you my disciples they here for a shortly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see what you see and did not see it and to hear what you hear and did not hear it therefore hear the parable of the sower I'll just read that it's Jesus explanation and we're done when anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it the wicked one comes down and comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart this is he received the seed by the way side or the path but he who received the seed on stony places this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy yet he has no root in himself but indoors only for a while from when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word immediately he stumbles and he who receives the seed among the thorns is he who hears the word and the cares of this world the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and he becomes unfruitful but he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it who indeed bears fruit and produces some a hundredfold some sixty and some thirty so we finished that just in time and next week we're gonna finish the chance let's pray thank you for truth Lord we also understand the truth isn't ink on a page that first and foremost truth is a living person jesus said I am the truth he said to Pilate I have come to bear witness of the truth he said you will know the truth and the truth it will set you free thank you for truth that sets us free and Lord I pray our hearts would always remain open hungry blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness I pray that the seed always falling on our hearts would produce something a fruitful walk of fruitful life Father we pray for those who may not even know you tonight or might have a sketchy walk or who themselves are sort of on the edge as it were like that lemon tree they're feeling beat up by the world and yet they're feeling the conviction of your spirit I pray that they would move to word you tonight graciously responding to your desire to manipulate to mold you want to occupy that life we pray that you would in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Calvary Church with Skip Heitzig

Views: 3,829

Rating: 4.7931032 out of 5

Keywords: devil, parables, soils, seed, sower, truth, Calvary, Albuquerque, Skip, Heitzig, Sermon, Matthew, Calvary Church

Id: OBQIQLbFJ5s

Length: 56min 56sec (3416 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 11 2018