Hidden in Plain Sight

Introduction:

Have you ever looked at those 3D puzzles called magic eye? They used to be popular and everyone would go cross-eyed staring at them.

They are made from a pattern that then has another image hidden behind it.

I want to show you a few optical illusions this morning and see if you can spot them.

Here are a few.

Sometimes the obvious is hidden in plain sight - like these illusions or your lost keys that are lying on the table where you left them.

Jesus taught plainly and yet much of what He had to say was hidden in plain sight. That might be the way it is for you this morning with much of what is in the Bible.

I hope that by the end of the message, we can decode some of the mystery for you and help you see better this morning.

Matthew 13:1–17 ESV

1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, 6 but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears, let him hear.” 10 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” 11 And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: “ ‘ “You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.” 15 For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’ 16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. 17 For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

Pray.

1. The Responsibility of Hearing (vv. 10-15)

Matthew 13:10–11 ESV

10 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” 11 And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.

It may sound like Jesus is playing games with the people - like perhaps Jesus doesn’t want them to understand what He is teaching. We are going to see that this is not the case at all.

If we go back to verse 1, notice what Jesus is doing.

Matthew 13:1–2 ESV

1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach.

Jesus leaves the house that has limited capacity in order to go to where the crowds will be.

Jesus goes to the seashore in order that he can be found.

Jesus gets in the boat and goes out a ways. This place is known as parable cove and it was a natural amphitheater. His voice would reverberate off the water and up to the shore where people could actually hear him even better.

Jesus makes His words known, much like the description of wisdom in the Book of Proverbs.

Proverbs 1:20–23 ESV

20 Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice; 21 at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks: 22 “How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge? 23 If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you.

In the Book of Psalms, we are told that God makes His presence known in creation.

Psalm 19:1–4 ESV

1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. 2 Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. 3 There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. 4 Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun,

Illustration

Have you ever seen those skywriter planes? We don’t see them as much anymore, but I know you’ve probably seen the planes at the beach that carry the huge banners behind them advertising a store’s sales or a restaurant’s specials. They do that so you will see it and take notice and come visit them.

But have you ever noticed how we can become so immune from the obvious? We overlook some things that are hidden in plain sight.

I was at a funeral yesterday and someone came up to me and asked me if I had grown my beard out for a Christmas special. I have had a beard now for over a year!

I’ve done the same thing myself when someone shaves and I haven’t paid attention. This is how we can be as humans. We can become dull of hearing and blind to the obvious.

Application

What about you? Do you listen to God? I’m not talking about a subjective voice in your head. I’m speaking about the clear, revealed Word of God in the Bible.

Think about how many Bibles you have lying around. Most of us have just a few. I’m a Bible collector, so I’m really bad about this. I have more than one within arms reach at just about any given time. But then again, we all do if we consider our phones a Bible as well.

There are places still in the world that do not have access to a Bible in their native tongue. They have to either learn the language of another people that has the Bible translated into their language or they have to have heard it audibly from someone and remember it. Some have never heard.

When we consider the blessing we have of having heard the Word and having a Bible, it should cause us to hear the warning that is given in this passage.

The Warning of Dull Ears

Jesus explains the warning in vv. 12-15.

Matthew 13:12–13 ESV

12 For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

Notice that everyone has something. We looked at Psalm 19 earlier and noticed that God has given His general revelation in two ways. One is illustrated in the psalm. It is in the declaration of creation. Romans 2 tells us another way.

Romans 2:12–16 ESV

12 For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. 14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them 16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

Paul is teaching us that not only do we have general revelation in nature, which he has also spoken of in Romans 1, but we also have a moral compass that God has given that shows God’s law is written on our heart.

To be clear, our moral compass is broken, but it is still somewhat accurate. You’ve head the expression that a broken clock is accurate twice a day. Well, we know what is right and wrong whether we want to follow that knowledge and whether or not we want to admit it.

I am of the mindset that the Bible teaches there are no such things as true atheists. People suppress the truth to live the life they want to, but they tell on themselves when something tragic happens and they cry out for help.

Illustration:

“GOD, please don’t let me die.”

Private Dillon Beatson had been an atheist up until the moment the helicopter he was riding in crashed during a training exercise near Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates in September 2013.

“In that crash, I called out for God; I asked him, ‘God, please don’t let me die’, and that just sort of confused me because I was like, ‘Why would I call out to God, I don’t think he’s real’,” Private Beatson said.

He had been baptised in the Church and even went to Catholic school at St Monica’s in Richmond, New South Wales, but had been a “staunch atheist” through his teenage and adult years.

“Anti-theist would be a better description of how I was,” he said.

He had thought belief in God was “rubbish” and “everyone who believes in Him is believing in fairytales”.

But, even so, Private Beatson had cried out to God in the 10 seconds it took for the helicopter to go down.

story source: Joe Higgins, “Former Atheist Who Cried out to God during Helicopter Crash Says Faith Changed Him,” The Catholic Leader, October 7, 2020, accessed January 5, 2025, https://catholicleader.com.au/news/dillon-beatson-cried-out-to-god-for-help-when-his-helicopter-crashed-and-it-began-his-path-of-conversion/.

Jesus goes on to explain to the disciples how the response of the people is consistent with what Isaiah prophesied about his own generation.

The text Jesus pulls from is from Isaiah 6 where Isaiah is given his commission. God has asked who will go and Isaiah has answered. God said that he would go but the people would not listen.

Matthew 13:14–15 ESV

14 Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: “ ‘ “You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.” 15 For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’

Now, I want you to notice a few things about what Jesus is saying. He is not saying it is a lost cause. He is saying that the people have chosen not to listen. This is why they are not given more revelation.

Notice he says they will see and hear, but they will not perceive or understand.

We talk about the difference between seeing and noticing things or between hearing and listening all the time.

I like to study with background noise to help me stay awake and not fall asleep. When I read for long periods of time, I have to take breaks or move while I read or I will get drowsy. That’s why I like to listen to things or actively read with a highlighter and a pen.

These people were hearing Jesus’ words, but they were not taking them to heart.

Because of this, they would not get any more explanation than the simple parable provided.

But notice that the people themselves had closed their eyes. It is true that God can choose to harden a person’s heart to make them an object of His wrath. They become a demonstration of the holiness and justice of God. It is not that God would not have saved them, but they openly and repeatedly refused to be saved. God gives them over to their debased minds, as Paul says in Romans 1, and He hardens their heart to make them examples as vessels of wrath to those God has saved who are vessels of His mercy.

These people have “grown dull.” To grow means progress over time, only in this case it is progress in the wrong direction.

But even still they can “barely see.” There is still hope for them if they will respond to what has been given to them.

Cornelius in Acts 10 is an example of this. He was a god-fearer but he was lost. God sent Peter to him and his family to show them that Jesus is the Messiah so that they could be saved. Because Cornelius responded positively to what he knew already, God gave him more revelation.

Application

We have to do the same and in this country it is hard to argue that we have not heard and seen. We have churches on every street corner and easy access to the gospel.

However, we have a responsibility as believers as well to not assume that people have heard and just leave it up to them and God for them to be saved.

Sure! God could send an angel to tell them the gospel, but since so many of you want to believe we become angels in heaven, why not be an angel and share the gospel with someone now!

We are commissioned to go and we must obey.

2. The Blessing of Understanding (vv. 11, 16-17)

If you are a believer, you stand in a long line of the blessed. You have been given something priceless. The opportunity and the ability to hear the gospel and respond. This is not something you get on your own. It is grace given to you by God himself.

Jesus says,

Matthew 13:11 ESV

11 And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.

Jesus would teach in parables for a couple of reasons.

We’ve already seen the fact that the message was “hidden” in parables.

That is also a little bit of a misleading expression because parable were stories that the people could relate to. So, while the message was hidden, it was hidden in plain sight.

The parables actually helped people understand what Jesus was talking about if they had ears to hear. It’s the same thing when people love to hear sermons full of illustrations and stories, rather than the exposition of a biblical text.

Parables and illustrations are good ways of helping us understand what we are hearing and it bridges understanding with application to our lives.

We won’t get into all the mechanics of interpreting parables this morning, but hopefully over the course of looking at these parables of Jesus, you will learn some things about how to interpret them and not over allegorize them. Everything in a parable does not have a meaningful point.

Jesus would teach the crowds in the parable and then explain the parable privately to His disciples.

This would have been true of anyone who came seeking the answers from Jesus. The problem is there are no true seekers. There are only those God draws to Himself.

We so often think we don’t need anyone to explain something to us. We can figure it out on our own. That’s not true when it comes to God’s word. We need the Holy Spirit to help us.

God’s word is spiritually discerned. We can understand some of it, but many things we cannot understand without the aid of the Holy Spirit. That’s why you should pray before you read.

Jesus then goes on to pronounce the blessing on the disciples. He says,

Matthew 13:16–17 ESV

16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. 17 For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

This word “blessed” is the same word in the Greek that we looked at last week in Psalm 1. It is the equivalent of the Hebrew word there. Remember that word means for God’s grace and favor to rest on someone so as to produce joy in their heart.

The disciples are not just blessed because they get the parables explained to them. They are blessed in who it is who is explaining it to them.

The prophets who declared the Word of God all pointed to Jesus. Jesus is the fulfilment of their prophecies and they saw Him from afar.

The disciples get to sit at the feet and learn from the One that all of Scripture points to. They were blessed.

Conclusion

But you and I are even more blessed. The disciples did not have the Holy Spirit yet. We do.

The disciples did not have the completed Bible yet. We do.

The disciples could not see the whole story from start to finish. We can.

We have the full revelation of God and get to see it from a bird’s eye view while being a part of this story at the same time.

We get to see Jesus as the one who came to live, die, and rise again for our sins.

We get to see Him as the one who is coming again to take His bride, the church, to be with Him in heaven. We get to see Him judge the nations and reward those who have believed on His name.

We get to see and hear what He says to the churches.

Jesus said in Revelation 22:16-17

Revelation 22:16–17 ESV

16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” 17 The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.

The only question for us this morning is if we will open our eyes and see and listen with our ears to what Jesus is saying to us this morning.