7-30-23 Sermon

Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

This morning I'll be reading Matthew chapter 13 verses 31 through 33,,, then verses 44-52. And I'll be reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible. Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52 Jesus is giving the people parables about the "Kingdom of heaven". The disciples have questioned Jesus about this and Jesus has replied in verse 11,,, 11 He answered them, “Because the secrets of the kingdom of heaven have been given for you to know, but it has not been given to them. So because of this,,, we must study these parables and do our best to understand what Jesus says about them. Matthew 13:31–33 (HCSB) 31 He presented another parable to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It’s the smallest of all the seeds, but when grown, it’s taller than the vegetables and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the sky come and nest in its branches.” 33 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into 50 pounds of flour until it spread through all of it.” Matthew 13:44–52 (HCSB) — 44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure, buried in a field, that a man found and reburied. Then in his joy he goes and sells everything he has and buys that field. 45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls. 46 When he found one priceless pearl, he went and sold everything he had, and bought it. 47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a large net thrown into the sea. It collected every kind of fish, 48 and when it was full, they dragged it ashore, sat down, and gathered the good fish into containers, but threw out the worthless ones. 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out, separate the evil people from the righteous, 50 and throw them into the blazing furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 51 “Have you understood all these things?” “Yes,” they told Him. 52 “Therefore,” He said to them, “every student of Scripture instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who brings out of his storeroom what is new and what is old.” The word of God for the people of God,,, thanks be to God! God bless the reading and the hearing of your word this morning. Let us pray: Dear Lord,,, as we begin this morning,,, with everyone here today and all that are listening and watching by video,,, we ask that you open our ears to hear and our hearts and minds to receive the message that you have for us today,,, In Jesus' name I pray,,, Amen. ___________________________________ Last week we looked at Genesis 28:10-19,,, and we learned that Jacob had his blessing confirmed by God.

He was told that God would be his constant companion,,, from this moment on,,, never leaving him,,, until He had accomplished everything that God had promised him.

But even though God was with him,,, Jacob still had many trials to face,,, God's presence didn't make them go away!

But,,, God's presence did mean that he didn't go through them alone,,, and God would guide him and take care of him no matter what he went through.

And we have that same assurance today,,, that God will be with us,,, help us,,, and guide us,,, no matter what we go through as well!

Because as Jacob learned,,, God's way,,, and God's timing,,, are always,,, "The Best Way"!

This morning we will look at these verses in Matthew,,, and see how they will help us in our walk with God this week.

___________________________________ Verses 31-33 said: 31 He presented another parable to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It’s the smallest of all the seeds, but when grown, it’s taller than the vegetables and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the sky come and nest in its branches.” 33 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into 50 pounds of flour until it spread through all of it.” The kingdom of heaven is compared to the mustard seed,,, that is the smallest seed known to them at that time,,, possibly,,, since we know now that there are smaller seeds out there.

But regardless,,, the small seed becomes great,,, or very large as it grows,,, resulting in tremendous growth early on.

As the mustard seed grows into a large bush,,, the birds of the air come and roost in it.

Here birds is used as satan,,, because the same word is used in Matthew 13:4 that says: “As he was sowing, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and ate them up.”

And Jesus explains that the birds mean the evil one also,,, as we see from Matthew 13:19 that says: “When anyone hears the word about the kingdom and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the one sown along the path.”

So Jesus is warning the disciples,,, and us today,,, that though the church will experience phenomenal growth,,, it will also become a dwelling place,,, as my commentary says,,, of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird”

As you can also see in Revelation 18:2.

Leaven is always a type of evil in the Bible.

When God commanded His people to rid their houses of leaven as seen in Exodus 12:15,,, they understood this.

If anyone ate what was leavened,,, from the first till the seventh day of this Feast of Unleavened Bread,,, he would be cut off from Israel.

Jesus warned against the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees as seen in Matthew 16:6, 12,,, and the leaven of Herod as seen in Mark 8:15.

In 1 Corinthians 5:6–8,,, leaven is defined as malice and evil,,, and the context of Galatians 5:9,,, shows that there it means false teaching.

In general,,, leaven means either evil doctrine or evil behavior.

So in this parable,,, Jesus warns against the spreading or mixing,,, of the power of evil working in the kingdom of heaven.

The parable of the mustard seed shows evil in the external character of the kingdom; this parable of “leaven” shows the inward corruption that would take place.

Sounds familiar today doesn’t it?

___________________________________ Verse 44 said: 44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure, buried in a field, that a man found and reburied. Then in his joy he goes and sells everything he has and buys that field.

All the parables so far have taught that there will be good and evil in the kingdom,,, righteous and unrighteous subjects.

The next two parables show that there will be two classes of the righteous subjects: (1) believing Jews during the periods before and after the Church Age; (2) believing Jews and Gentiles during the present age.

In the parable of the treasure,,, Jesus compares the kingdom to treasure hidden in a field.

A man finds it,,, covers it up,,, then gladly sells all he has and buys that field.

The commentary believes that the man is Jesus Christ,,, especially since He was the man in the parable of the wheat and tares,,, as seen in verse 37.

The treasure represents a godly remnant of believing Jews that existed during Jesus’ earthly ministry,,, and those that still exist today.

They are hidden in the field,,, means that they are dispersed throughout the world,,, where they are today,,, and in a real sense,,, unknown to any but God.

Jesus is pictured as discovering this treasure,,, then going to the cross and giving all that He had in order to buy the world,,, where the treasure was hidden.

We can see that Jesus gave His all for the world from these verses,,, 2 Corinthians 5:19,,, and,,, 1 John 2:2.

Redeemed Israel will be brought out of hiding when her Deliverer comes out of Zion and sets up the long-awaited Messianic Kingdom.

___________________________________ Verses 45-46 said: 45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls. 46 When he found one priceless pearl, he went and sold everything

he had, and bought it.

My commentary says that it believes that the merchant is Jesus.

The priceless pearl,,, is the church.

At Calvary,,, Jesus sold all that He had to buy this pearl.

Just as a pearl is formed inside an oyster through suffering caused by irritation,,, so the church was formed,,, through the piercing and wounding of the body of our Savior,,, Jesus Christ.

___________________________________ Verses 47-50 said: 47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a large net thrown into the sea. It collected every kind of fish, 48 and when it was full, they dragged it ashore, sat down, and gathered the good fish into containers, but threw out the worthless ones. 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out, separate the evil people from the righteous, 50 and throw them into the blazing furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The final parable in the series compares the kingdom to a sieve or dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered fish of every kind.

The fishermen sorted out the fish,,, keeping the good in containers and discarding the bad.

Then Jesus interprets the parable.

The time is the end of the age.; in other words,,, this will be when Christ comes to set up His earthly kingdom!

The fishermen are the angels.

The good fish are the righteous; that is,,, those that are saved,,, and includes both Jews and Gentiles.

The bad fish are the unrighteous; namely,,, unbelieving people of all races.

A separation takes place,,, as we also saw in the parable of the wheat and tares,,, from verses 30,,, and verses 39–43 of this same chapter.

The righteous enter the kingdom of their Father,,, but the unrighteous are thrown into,,, the blazing furnace.,,, where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth.

___________________________________ Verses 51-52 said: 51 “Have you understood all these things?” “Yes,” they told Him. 52 “Therefore,” He said to them, “every student of Scripture instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who brings out of his storeroom what is new and what is old.”

My Bible commentary says,,, that because of their exposure to Jesus’ teaching,,, which disclosed what had previously been hidden,,, as we seen from verses 34-35,,, Jesus’ disciples were better qualified than the scribes and Pharisees to serve as teachers of the law.

In their storeroom of instruction,,, they had old treasures,,, that came from the Old Testament,,, and new treasures,,, that came from the teachings of Jesus.

And,,, as every student of Scripture,,, those of us that are Christians,,, are given the warning that we must spread this news to all that we meet!

___________________________________ We as Christians today,,, are given the job of dealing with the warnings from Jesus recorded here in these verses.

We can see that while the church will grow very big and very quickly,,, which we know that it did after Jesus ascended back to heaven,,, we must continuously be on the lookout for those that try to lead us in the wrong direction.

And they can come from inside the church at any time.

We know that we were bought for a price,,, the precious blood of Jesus Christ,,, and because of that we hopefully can understand that we are very valuable to God,,, just as it says in Psalm 116:15 that says: 15 The death of His faithful ones is valuable in the Lord’s sight.

We must also be prepared for the separation of good from evil as God judges everyone during the last days.

That day is coming and we must be ready before that day,,, there will not be a chance when that time appears.

Then we must understand that we are given the instructions that we must let everyone know about these things,,, especially those of us that spend the time learning the scriptures as we are all supposed to do.

"Warnings and Instructions",,, words from Jesus to His disciples,,, and us today,,, that we need to understand,,, so that we can remain,,, on the path,,, that He has set for us,,, as we continue,,, down the road,,, towards our heavenly,,, home! ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Hymn: 337 - Oakdale Hymn: 337 - Seminary Benediction -----------------------------------------------------------