Matthew (Session 9) Chapter 13

well we're in session nine of the gospel of matthew and we're going to explore chapter 13. and again i want to keep the the broad view in front of us the design of the gospels matthew mark luke and john presenting respectively the messiah the servant of god the son of man and the son of god and their genealogies reflecting those themes the style of the gospel reflecting that matthew what jesus said mark what jesus did luke what he felt and john who he actually was and they spoke they had different addresses in mind matthew to the jew of course mark and luke to the roman and the greek respectively and john of course the church and the first miracle leper cleansed a very jewish kind of thing leprosy denoting sin like leaven what have you both mark and luke speaking of gentiles the first thing is a demon expelled and john is the mystic the water to wine and there's much behind that that we won't get into here but the end of each one reflects that same theme matthew the resurrection mark the ascension luke the promise of the holy spirit which of course sets up his sequel the book of acts or luke chapter two in luke volume two and john sets up his sequel the book of revelation and uh all of these are reflected by the faces of the cherubim around the throne of god or the ensigns that surround the tabernacle in the camp of israel the lion of the tribe of judah the ox is the symbol of service the son of man and the eagle but uh so we're going going through this perspective or the gospel of matthew and we went through section one which had four chapters the genealogy the birth and the baptism temptation of jesus christ and then climaxed with the manifesto of jesus christ the sermon on the mount that was the first major section of the book section two we had the coming of the storm the demonic the call of matthew and then we had these two incidences that were linked strangely jairus daughter and the woman of the issue of blood then the 12 were sent out we had a john the baptist issue in chapter 11 and then we finished last time with chapter 12 the sabbath issues and the unpardonable sin but chapter 12 closes off section 2 the major section of the book and it's the end of an important section it ended with the presentation of the presentation of the kingdom of israel and the rejection of jesus christ did not begin at the cross it started in chapter 12 when they ascribed his miracles to satan and one will note that jesus from this point on will shift gears very dramatically it's a very strange ways he will only speak publicly in parables for some very surprising reasons that may surprise you so we're at this turning point the kingdom parables as they're often called in matthew 13. we're going to take a look at the structure of the chapter because we're going to take a few pieces of out of order and be a little simpler the first few verses are going to talk about the sower and four soils a very familiar passage to most of us then jesus is going to talk a little bit about why does he speak in parables he's going to counsel his disciples about on that matter then he's going to explain that first parable the sower in the four soils he'll explain that one he's also going to give him another one tares and the wheat and then he's going to give one about the mustard seed and the woman in leaven the you'll notice that the parables the first second third fourth so are given in public the explanation of the parables are given to disciples in private and we'll see why in a minute because he continues when after the woman 11 verses 34 35 again he continues his discussion of why is he speaking in parables then he gives and then he also explains the tares and the wheat the second parable see he's given him four parables by then but he will he holds the tares and wheat to the end then he gives them a few more treasure in the field the pearl of great price and the dragnet now what i want to do here is you notice that the sower and the four soils and the explanations are are separate we're going to put them together and we're going to start by looking at these explanations he inserts as to why does he speak in parables in the first place that's in two segments if you will tears in the wheat we're going to take the tares and the wheat and the explanation of it together do you follow me so you can read the chapter in sequence but we're going to we're going to explore it in a in a what may be a more useful way to get it across another way to look at this you see that the parables uh we're going to take that right up front and um the sower and the four soils we're going to take that right after the show are the four soils and the explanation of the tears in the wheat right with the tares of the wheat do you get you follow me so we're going to just take them and we're going to take all the verses but we're going to take them in a different order so we'll start looking at matthew 13 starting we're going to take verses 10 through 17 and 34 through 35 which is a little side discourse to the disciples which explains why is he speaking in parables that's our first topical segment here okay the disciples came and said to them why speakest thou one of them in parables now they're saying this in verse 10 but we want to look at it first so we can understand what's all going on here he answered and said to them because it is given to unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven but to them it is not given gee i thought parables were little ways to teach i thought parables were was to a way of getting you to understand no it's just the opposite the parables are so that they unless they have the holy spirit won't understand they said chuck that's pretty weird wait a minute i just said he said that because it's given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven but unto them it is not given for whoever whosoever hath to him shall be given and he shall have more abundance but whosoever hath not from him shall be taken away even that which he has wow what on earth what is that double talking you'll discover from several places in scripture but just cut through it here the lord will give you some truth and you'll see what you do with that truth if you deal with it he will give you some more if you reject it he'll even take away that which he's given you in other words it's it's a courtship it's a courtship but just goes on but of the times in the seasons brethren oh excuse me uh let's take a snapshot from paul's comment in a similar vein in first thessalonians 5. paul is in his thessalonian letter chapter 5 says but of the times and the seasons brethren you have no need that i write unto you remember remember he'd been there for three weeks and taught them what they knew and went on and wrote them letters later first and second thessalonians says ye have no need that i write unto you for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the lord so cometh as a thief in the night hold that thought because most people misunderstand what he's saying for yourselves for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the lord so cometh as a thief in the night for when they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction cometh on them as a travel upon a woman with child and they shall not escape but ye brethren are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief what you realize when you read the whole passage is what paul is saying back there in verse 2 for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the lord so cometh as a thief in the night to those who are in darkness not you guys because you're in the light you follow me he's creating a contrast here for those that are in darkness those are in light you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the lord so cometh as a thief in the night to those who are in darkness that's really what he's implying here for when they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction cometh on them as a travel upon a woman with child and they shall not escape but ye brethren are not in darkness that that or that day should overtake you as a thief you realize what paul is saying that if you're a believer you will not be caught by surprise don't misunderstand me we're not setting dates here but the real believer will meet the lord in an atmosphere of expectation that's what he expects us to do he continues ye are all children of light and shirt of the day we are not of the night nor of darkness therefore let us not sleep as to others but let us watch and be sober for they that sleep sleep in the night and they that be drunken are drunken in the night but let us who are of the day be sober putting on the breastplate of faith and love and foreign helmet the hope of salvation for god hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our lord jesus christ this is a precious promise verse 9 is a very key promise the church has promised not to experience the wrath of god the people in the tribulation will experience the wrath of god but proof of that is revelation chapter 6 where they fear the wrath of the lamb who is able to stand and so on okay let's get back to matthew jesus says therefore speak i to them in parables because they seeing see not and hearing they hear not neither do they understand and in them is fulfilled the prophecy of isaiah but saith by hearing he shall hear and shall not understand and seeing he shall see and shall not perceive he's quoting from isaiah 42 hear ye deaf and look ye blind that ye may see who is blind but my servant or deaf as my messenger that i sent who is blind is he that is complete or perfect and blind as the lord's servant seeing many things but thou observe us not opening ears but he heareth not he said go and tell his people hear ye indeed but i understand not and see indeed but perceive not make the heart of this people fat make their ears heavy shut their eyes unless they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and convert and be healed boy heavy stuff heavy stuff this is echoes in a sense this whole idea of casting pearls before the swine but though he had done so many miracles before them yet they believed not on him that the saying of isaiah the prophet excuse me this is i'm taking the thought here from john i usually try to mark that where i've shifted for a moment from matthew 12 to john 12. it says very interesting passage here that echoes the same thing we just read but it has another little surprise for you but though he had done so many miracles before them yet they believed not on him that the saying of isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled which he spake saying lord whoeve believed our report to whom hath the arm of the lord be revealed those words may be familiar to you because they come from the opening stanzas of isaiah 53 right lord who hath relieved our report whom is the arm of the lord revealed where she'll grow up perform as a tender plant and so on the next verse says therefore they could not believe because isaiah said again he hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart that they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their heart and be converted and i should heal them these things said isaiah when he saw his glory and spake of him well i think you recognize that this verse here is echoes the same thought we've just expressed that jesus just expressed but here he's quoting from isaiah chapter 6. now it happens that's the reason i wanted to extract this but when i extracted this to put in here i wanted to include another little surprise i one of my favorite verses is verse 40. it says they could not believe because see he's quoting isaiah 6 here because that isaiah said again the verse before this one verse 38 is quoting from isaiah 53. it verse 40 he's quoting from isaiah 6 right you're with me so far i want you to notice verse 40 says that isaiah said again jesus here has just saved you hours of boring library research chasing down this idea that there were two isaiahs the common thing taught in seminars well there's really two isaiahs isaiah 1 and isaiah 2 and so forth and i won't go down that path it's superficially appealing only to people who don't understand how the book of isaiah is organized they don't really understand the style and a bunch of other things saving you all that trouble jesus told you the same isaiah wrote isaiah 1 and isaiah 2. the guy that wrote isaiah 53 is the guy that wrote isaiah 6. that little verse verse 40 is a treasure when i was a a very very enthusiastic teenager studying my bible falling in love with it i encountered the documentary hypothesis of graph wellhausen the jepq you know the different authors that really wrote the book of torah and all that stuff also got in this whole these papers about how isaiah is really written by two different guys who call themselves isaiah and i didn't really buy it but that still it plants a doubt that becomes like a weed that grows in your in your background and i'm so so grateful for being able to shred that garbage with coats like this it's just very very very pleasant let's move on uh he's continuing the quote but for this people's heart is waxed gross and their eyes are dull of hearing their eyes that they we closed lest anything they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and should understand with their heart and should be converted i should heal him so he's finishing the quote from isaiah and he says but blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they hear jesus is talking to his disciples here in private i hope he's also talking to you i hope it is i hope your eyes are blessed that they see and that your ears for they hear if you do let me tell you it's not an intellectual thing it's not because you're smart it's not because i'm an effective presenter any kind of nonsense the only reason you'll be blessed with your eyes and see or with your ears here because the holy spirit makes it possible it's the holy spirit makes it possible let's never forget that i always get nervous when we go on these trips especially people come up to me and and express their gratitude for our ministry and this that and the other thing and i try to receive that as welcome encouragement but um i do so with great risk um because i don't ever want to take myself seriously i'm surrounded by some loyal staff members that have sworn that if i ever start taking myself seriously they will plant their boot where it belongs right anyway jesus continues matthew 13 for verily i say unto you when jesus wanted to to emphasize something say i say unto you such and so when he really want to emphasize it he would say verily i say to you said for verily i say to you that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see and have not seen them and to hear those things which he hear and have not heard them all these things spake jesus unto them unto the multitude in parables and without a parable spake he not unto them he didn't just speak in parables publicly that's the only way he spoke publicly from chapter 12 or chapter 13 and a typical matthew he always fill he always laces this with a quotes from the old testament that it might be fulfilled which is spoken by the prophet saying i will open my mouth in parables i will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world this phrase foundation of the world how many times does it show up in the new testament anyone will make a guess seven exactly that's right turns out you can check it out with your concordance very interesting but i want you to notice there's a statement here that is extremely profound it says jesus says i will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world the subject of these 13 parables are not to be found in the old testament these aren't colorful little illustrations of truths that were in the old testament these are things they deal with things that have been kept secret from the foundation of the world that means these topics are not in the old testament that's a key uh perception it's it's what i call an architectural phrase it's a clue to how this thing's how the whole bible's organized there's a chunk coming here that is fresh new not in the old testament we find this same thing claimed by paul in ephesians chapter 3 that's your cross-reference for this paul had the unspeakable privilege of revealing something or lord revealed through him something that most people still to this day do not understand paul says whereby when you read you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of christ which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of man as is now revealed unto us holy apostles and prophets by the spirit so what what is this thing that is so what are we talking about here that the gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of his promise in christ by the gospel don't assume what he's saying is that the the mystery here is that gentiles can be saved because that's all through the book of isaiah we read that a few verses ago there's something deeper going on here that the gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of his promise in christ by the gospel this opens the door to a field of study called ecclesiology study of this church in its mystical sense when people argue about does the church go through the tribulation that's a common topic among eschatological discussion groups and so forth when those discussions occur it will reveal two shortcomings a lack of understanding of eschatology is not the biggest one the lack of ecclesiology if you understand what the church is and if you understand what the tribulation is from the scripture you'll realize they are mutually exclusive for lots of reasons i challenge you with that to do your own study but that's that that's an excerpt chapters 10 through 17 verses 10 through 17 and 34 to 35. with that background now let's go now in and see these parables is giving them we're going to take the first one which is sower and four soils which show up verses three to nine and then we'll skip down to verses 18 through 23 where he explains that particular passage and there's no surprises here it's been well preached on by many i'm sure you've heard it many many times matthew 13 starting about verse three and he spake many things that are there in parables saying behold a sower went forth to sow and when he sowed some seeds fell by the wayside and the fowls came and devoured them up pay attention to these birds they're going to show up later on and you're going to in a surprising way some fell upon stony places where they had not much earth and forthwith they sprung up because they had no deepness of earth and when the sun was up and they were scorched because they had no root they withered away that's the second of the four right some fell among thorns and the thorns sprung up and choked them that's the third one the fourth one is the other fell under good ground and brought forth fruit some a hundredfold some sixtyfold and some thirtyfold he who hath ears to hear let him hear now does that phrase evoke any memories in you do you realize that peculiar phrase obviously occurs seven times in revelation two and three it closes each of the seven letters seven churches right how many other times does it appear in the new testament first guest does the only one counts seven it fascinates me that you'll find this phrase seven times in the gospels separate from the seven times the book of revelation you can make a big thing of that if you like or not it's up to you i'll leave that too to uh to you now we're going to skip down to verse 18 where jesus is now going they're now in private and he's going to explain that first parable right it says hear you therefore the parable of the sower when anyone heareth the word of the kingdom and understands it not then cometh the wicked one and catches the way that which was sown in his heart this is he which received seed by the wayside got the picture the first situation was seed by the wayside and the fowls came and caught it away right what were those fouls representing metaphorically when one heareth the word of the kingdom and understand that not then cometh the wicked one and catches the way that which was sown in his heart see that's your adversary you you may hear the word of god but if you don't grasp it you grab it satan will find a way to snatch it away from you this is he which received seed by the wayside that's loser number one but he that received the seed in the stony places the same is he that heareth the word and anon with joy received it and yet he hath no root in himself but deareth for a while and when the tribulation or persecution arises because of the word by and by he is offended these are people that have a superficial surface enthusiasm but no real depth of study these are people that may be in a denominational context that think that going to church frequently on sunday morning is all you need to do they don't engage the word of god with a zest and an appetite a hunger to have set down deep roots many christians have very shallow roots they don't dig into the bible certainly not the old testament they got this notion that it was superseded by the new they don't understand it's a package deal he that received the seed among the thorns is that he that heareth the word and the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and becomes unfruitful this someone who's received it but he's too entangled in the word word excuse me in the world the care of the world the deceitfulness of riches there's nothing wrong with being rich as long as it doesn't become the god you worship we've had the privilege of knowing some very very wealthy people that are you would not find people more in love with the lord god there's nothing wrong with riches it's the deceitfulness of riches when they become your your goal and and your master they choke the word that is a squeeze it out of your schedule and they of course then become unfruitful if they if they don't know he that received the seed in the good ground is he that heareth the word and understandeth it which also bear fruit and bring it forth some 100 fold some 60 some 30. i've always been intrigued by that sequence 100 60 30. you get the impression that the yield is going to decline to apostasy eventually that's what laodicea is all about i think so we had wayside without understanding the birds steal the seed away stony places without root they fail under pressure those among thorns are too entangled in the cares of this world these are the three losers the winner is the good ground that hear it and understand it and do it bear fruit okay so much this one is not full of many surprises because it's been preached on by is very popular sermon material and it's pretty hard to go wrong with that particular thing um let's go to the so that one's explained grateful for that let's move on to the next one tares and the wheat that'll be verses 24 through 30 and we'll pick up the explanation from verse 36 to 43 where jesus will ex jesus will explain these first two another parable put he forth unto them saying the kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which soweth good seed in his field but while men slept his enemy came and sowed tares among the weed and went his way and when the blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit then appeared the tares also and zenzania is what we're talking about here this is a seed in palestine today that looks just like wheat except it's black and if you mix it with wheat it's poisonous and so uh it gets if you make bread try to if you make bread with it and some of those seeds get into the bread it turns out to be toxic you got to separate them out okay that's what we're dealing with here well the service of the householder came and said unto him sir this is not now this not thou sow good seed in thy field from whence then hath it tears the first presumption is he had a quality control problem and the seed that he bought no no he said he said to them an enemy hath done this sermon said well thou then that we go up and gather them up he said nay lest while you gather up the tares you rule up also the wheat with them let both grow together until the harvest and in the time of harvest i will say the reapers gather ye first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them but gather the wheat into my barn the presumption i think we can make is that when they're grown they're more distinguishable and it's easy to take a pass through the field and get the bad stuff out of there before you harvest and that's the the concept here so we get to verse 36 then jesus sent the multitude away notice these explanations are in private not to public jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house and his disciples came unto him saying declare unto us the parable of the tears of the field he answered and said to them he that soweth good seed is what the son of man you notice something else i want you to notice here it's called among scholars that the principle of expositional constancy that's just a fancy word for saying the idioms by the holy spirit tend to be consistent the field in all of these is the world the sower is the son of man the seed is the word of god that's true in the first parable it's also true in the second you follow me okay and the field is the world there it is the good seed are the children of the kingdom but the tares are the children of the wicked one boy the enemy that sowed them is the devil the harvest is the end of the world and the reapers are the angels that's pretty straightforward and therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire so shall it be in the end of the world the son of man shall send forth his angels and shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity and shall cast them into the furnace of fire oh boy there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of the father who hath hears to hear let him hear there's that phrase again don't assume that this is talking about the rapture that's not gathering the evil ones this is talking about the second coming in power to understand the jews had two views of they couldn't reconcile two messiahs the mashiach ben joseph and the bashir ben david the suffering servant and the reigning king there were going to be two many they still talked today of two messiahs they didn't realize it's the same guy coming back twice all right we make the same mistake as christians some of us christ is coming back twice wants to gather his church and another to fulfill the commitments to israel and when he sets up his kingdom that's what he's talking about here okay so okay we had that one explained let's move on to the next one this one is not explained a simple little parable another parable putting forth unto them saying the kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field which indeed is the least of all seeds but when it has grown it is the greatest among herbs and becometh the trees who the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof i've heard people preach this that the the word of god is is like a very small seed but planted that will grow to take over the whole world that's a problem here because if you've ever been to israel you see especially this time of year you see the the uh the hills covered they're very green this time of year but they're covered with these yellow flowers with bushes that are about what one two three feet high max the that's the wild mustard and it's a very small seed and of course it's a great herb it grows wild there but this one that he's talking about here becomes a tree so the birds of the air come to lodge the branches of well that's a problem because have you ever seen a bird make a nest in a bush that's three feet high not very often no what the implication here is that this is a monstrosity it's grown to become a tree so comfortable so to speak that the birds of the air lodge in its branches now who are the birds of the air do you remember from the ministers of satan yes that gives this thing a very different complexion if you're going to preach on this it's not going to be a very popular topic it implies that the the church is going to grow into a monstrosity and if you're looking for the ministers of satan don't overlook its pulpits boy well we'll make some cross checks on this before we go let's take let's go to the next one jesus didn't explain number three let's take number four the woman in the leaven another parable speaking unto them the kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till the hole was leavened now you and i as gentiles can't relate to that it sounds okay you hear you've probably heard a minister speak king of heaven is again like like it put a little in there and pretty soon the whole thing everything's gonna be wonderful the problem with that is that leaven is always used in the old and new testament as a idiom of sin hypocrisy deceitfulness beware the leaven of the pharisees jesus says several occasions 11 is bad news anybody has celebrated passover knows the ritual they go through to get the leaven out of the house they hide a little let the kids find it and give a prize you know they make a whole thing of getting the leaven out of the house oh i meant to bring a a package of matzah last year celebrating a passover the the the at our little fellowship they passed out little boxed packages of matzah and i took this home and i looked at the label and i called the rabbi and said i can't use this he says wow what's the matter what what it's from new york and so it's official stuff you know i says because i looked at the label there's a big label on he says packed with pride for 35 years and he caught immediately it cracked him up you never noticed that he said he's going to have fun with that with his other rabbinical friends now 11 11 is idiomatically used as sin because it corrupts by puffing up it was through pride that sin first entered in leaven is a elegant metaphor for sin right a little bit corrupts the whole bunch and so forth you follow see so but here now three measures of meal in the jewish community is suggestive of the fellowship offering it echoes from isaiah 19 where the three where the lord and two angels visit abraham and he hurriedly has sarah put together three measures of meal for the for that visitation the lord and two angels three measures of meal so it becomes in the arabic as well as jewish cultures the fellowship offering but here it's like this he this is now with that background see if you're jewish and you're reading this kingdom of heaven is like until 11 which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal until the whole you gasp in horror you're supposed to be unleavened do you follow me it was done in haste see so here again we have that same sort of there's a there's a gloomy cloud over there what is he really saying here let's move on to the next one treasure in the field well this one's pretty straight forward again the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hid in the field in the which when a man hath found he hideth and for the joy thereof goeth and self all that he hath and buy at that field for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son right that everybody in the world is going to be saved no that whosoever believeth on him shall be saved the treasure of those that believe in him is enough for him to have paid for the whole world get the picture pretty elegant who's doing the buying here you and me no no this is your sermon speech that we don't know the man that sells everything gives every gives everything he has for that field is who jesus christ jesus christ he emptied himself and then we get to this one really fascinates me the pearl of great price sounds like the same thing but it's not again the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man seeking goodly pearls when he had found one pearl of great price he went and sold all that he had and bought now this is kind of interesting because here's a rabbi talking to jewish listeners oysters are not kosher they're prohibited in the torah so what are they doing here talking about pearls the jews did not prize pearls because they were not kosher they may have traded in them with gentiles to make money yes but they didn't they it was a commercial thing it wasn't a devotional thing and but here is a pearl why would jesus use a pearl as an idiom here well it's the only jewel that grows from an irritation and it is removed from its place of growth to become an item of adornment oh what an elegant metaphor for the church the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church when he found the pearl of great price he went and sold all the head and butt he's using it this is this is not only a idiom of the church a gentile jewel but one that grows by accretion a little grain of sand that the oyster then keeps growing make a pearl out of it and then you when you find it you take it out of its place of growth to become an item of adornment elegant elegant model okay now preaching a jewish sermon from this one is a tough one because it's not it's gentile and then we got the last one which is pretty straightforward in fact i'm going to check it as explained because he explains it when he gives it again the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net where it was cast into the sea and gathered of every kind and when it was full they drew to shore and sat down and gathered the good into vessels but the cast he be cast the bat away so shall i be at the end of the world the angel shall come forth sever the wicked from among the just shall cast them in the furnace of fire and there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth boy boy now this is the one place one of the several times that i really get frustrated with the disciples you said on him have you understood all these things and i suspect they lied to him yay lord yeah we understood i wish i wish they'd had the character to say gee could you explain the other you know four we've got three of them pretty well because you've explained those there are four lord don't you understand the library is going to be filled with speculations would you please explain those four and say no oh yeah we understood them all yeah thanks a lot right then said he unto them therefore every scribe which is instructed in the kingdom of heaven is likened to a man that is a householder which bringeth forth of his treasure things new and old well let's talk a little bit about something else if you've been through revelation two and three you know that there are seven churches that lord selected to be representative all churches and they have a local there were actual churches in those days that had problems and they had a local application they also had a admonitory application to all churches to understand the theme of each one of these and the good news and the bad news because there are seven report cards and uh then there's a third level personally he that hath here let him hear what the spirit says to the church says all churches were to get all letters and everybody in those churches are to to learn from those lessons so we got three levels there local admonitory homiletic there's a fourth level prophetic it turns out that these seven churches lay out a history of the church if they were in any other order it wouldn't be true and uh so if you study each one of these letters you'll discover the name of the letter the title that jesus selects of himself from chapter one to use as an identity is is fits the letter there's a there's a it's a report card some good news some bad news some exhortation and then a promise to the overcomer and then the strange closing phrase he that have an ear now i won't try to recap the whole study of revelation two and three i encourage you to go through that but it turns out that the first one is generally recognized most commentators as expressive of the apostolic church very very diligent on doctrine they tried them who were say the apostles or not found them liars but they failed in that they lost their first love they were long on doctrine but short on devotion and that was the way jesus christ what's interesting about all seven is every one of the seven churches apparently was surprised by the report card two of them had nothing good said about them two of them had nothing bad said about them and that's worth understanding as you go through smyrna the word smyrna means myrrh it speaks of persecution and death it's the persecuted church indeed and uh it's the one that has nothing bad said the lord just says hey hang in there you're doing fine and the next one is the married church bigamy is married to two married to one pergamos is married pervert perversely pergamos is the married church married to the world under constantine and his successors the church not only was christianity made legal illegally legal but the second leader after constantine theodosis made it the state religion and suddenly the church was a political uh entity filled with unregenerates and that was what satan could not accomplish by persecuting the church he accomplished by getting it entangled with the world something they've haven't yet to recover from and from this of course comes the medieval church with a woman jezebel the queen of heaven and all that emphasis and uh and uh and if that's the vatican then the next one is the reformation sardis i'll i'll call the denomination you have you have a name but you're dead and if uh the protestant commentators have had a field day with thyatira tying it to the vatican by a number of different ways with some legitimacy well if that's the case sardis is the reformation church and sardis is one of the two letters that has nothing good said about it you have a name but you are dead that's the indictment of sardis after sardis comes a missionary church this is the one that's promised to be delivered from the the uh the tribulation and uh it's the one that has nothing bad said about it and then we have laodicea the final apostate church if you understand these seven letters you can profile every church has elements of all seven in each of them in different proportions if you understand the seven you can profile any church and you'll also have a profile of the history of the church and its challenges in each era well having said all that let's take a look at these seven churches that were letters dictated by the lord jesus and let's compare that with the kingdom parables which i submit to you are somehow profiling the church also some of these are pretty obvious some take a little study let's take the simple ones the word program notice that they line up this is the each these order they're both presented in pergamus is the church that married the world right the mustard seed outgrows just being a bush and becomes a tree so the ministers of satan lodge in its branches is that descriptive of the era that is characterized by pergamos where the church marries the world and fills its uh pulpits with hirelings from the state of the state and so on and so forth that's kind of interesting thiatira is the one that has the woman jezebel and the false doctrine and so forth and the fourth kingdom parable is the woman in the leaven putting her leaven in that soon leaveneth the whole lot you see the parallels there are pretty conspicuous let's take another one that's pretty easy to look at philadelphia is the church that's promised that it will be raptured taken out of the will not see the hour of a trial that's coming up on the earth the pearl is a gem that grows by accretion but then is removed from its place of growth to become an item of adornment i think the perils are rather provocative i'll leave it to you to examine carefully each of the seven letters and each of the seven parables and decide for yourself whether it's a fit or not some of them take a little bit of study but if that's the case let me i was very fascinated by that peril because i personally think the fingerprints of the holy spirit are in both of those in in spades so to speak but paul's epistles are pretty interesting we've got romans 1st corinthians galatians ephesians philippians colossians right on through where i'm gonna ignore hebrews because paul did not sign it for some very good reasons but these are the epistles that are typically attributed to clearly signed by paul it's interesting that three of them are written to pastors or should say written to three pastors there's four epistles written in three pastors first and second timothy titus the philemon were pastors that means out of ten addresses there are seven churches oh now that's interesting paul wrote seven churches a couple of them he wrote double letters too that's okay let's let's explore this a little bit is there a uh let's take let's go look at the the the seven letters seven churches the first one is ephesus that was pretty straightforward paul wrote a letter to ephesus smyrna is there a letter that paul wrote that speaks of joy through suffering anyone philippians sure the kenosis and all of that bergamos is there a letter that is written to the worldly church sure there was a figure of speech on the street of an adulterer it was called a corinthian that was that was synonymous with the fornicator the corinthians thyatira it's originally inside tyre was semaramas is there a letter that is written to that and i'm going to suggest to you that's galatians sardis i'm going to suggest is romans philadelphia is the rapture church and there the thessalonian letters first and second are two of the most important eschatological epistles in the new testament and that leaves one left laodicea there are phrases in the greek that occur only in laodicean colossians figures of speech but also colossians was was one mile from laodicea they were virtually suburbs of one another and they were instructed to exchange letters so now this fascinates me because i wouldn't call paul a mystic he was a practical guy writing practical letters trying to put out fires to the church to the practical problems that churches were facing in that era but if there is a parallel between these two as i think there is then that's a fingerprint of the holy spirit i submit to you okay so we've gone through a quick summary of revelation of revelation 2 and 3 but also chapter 13. for your next session i'd like you to read chapters 14 and 15. for the next time let's stand for a closing word of prayer

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Length: 47min 50sec (2870 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 18 2020