Matthew 13 part II

Before we get started, I would like to know who here has ever read Mark ch17? I’m not going to ask any questions I just wanted to know with a show of hands.

Interactive Sermons

A minister told his congregation, "Next week I plan to preach about the sin of lying. To help you understand my sermon, I want you all to read Mark 17."

The following Sunday, as he prepared to deliver his sermon, the minister asked for a show of hands. He wanted to know how many had read Mark 17. Every hand went up.

The minister smiled and said, "Mark has only 16 chapters. I will now proceed with my sermon on the sin of lying."

Ok now that was funny, I don’t care who you are, that’s funny! Anyway last week we were in Matthew 13 and went over the 1st 2 parables. I hope we left with a better understanding of what Jesus was saying and why He spoke that way.

As most of you know the Bible is very symbolic in just about everything it says and that’s why I’m pushing you to read the Bible in a deeper way. To pray when you read and to form a relationship with the author, so He can speak to you on a personal and spiritual level. So last Sunday we read 1-9 in this chapter today we are going to read verses 7-17 so turn with me please to Matthew 13 and read along with me start with v7 where we left off.

An Explanation

Matthew 13:7-17

7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.

8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.

9 He who has ears, let him hear.”

10 And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”

11 Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted.

12 “For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.

13 “Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

14 “In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,

‘You will keep on hearing, but will not understand;

You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive;

15 For the heart of this people has become dull,

With their ears they scarcely hear,

And they have closed their eyes,

Otherwise they would see with their eyes,

Hear with their ears,

And understand with their heart and return,

And I would heal them.’

16 “But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear.

17 “For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

PRAY

Ok v7 says7 “Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants”

More literally into the thorns, Jesus is talking about the thorns of this world ---worries and wealth. It refers to the ordinary everyday concerns of daily life which are part of us all. These concerns in themselves are not evil but when you let them consume or dominate your life they become bigger than God and when something becomes bigger than God it chokes His word right out of you

Thorns sprang up and choked them, or strangled it. In other words the thorns suffocated the growing plant. Now what did the plant come from? –a seed—the word of God ---who is the sower?—Christ Jesus. See where I’m going here. The plant is a young Christian and he grew because he has the word of God given to him by the sower.

Now enters the villain satan, as the thief of sermons, He comes and robs us of Gods word.

God’s word is a precious treasure and when we hear it; we need to Covent it, put it in our hearts and keep it there. If we do not take care of Gods word, satan will steal it from us.

Like those who fell on rocky ground, often start out on fire but quickly that fire burns out when it becomes to hard or they face the world face to face. The problem with most we do not know what Gods word says. When Jesus was tempted by the devil, He used Gods word to defeat him. But we seem to think we can handle our trials on our own and when we can’t we give up.

Here is something to think about, many people love to hear a good sermon, {and I can see on your faces some of you are still waiting}. But do you profit from it. I mean to learn from it, even go home and meditate on Gods word. Have you even called up a friend to tell them what you heard at church and discussed it with them or do you just go home and forget about it.

What type of soil did it fall on? See when I sit down to write a sermon I know God has someone in mind, because a sermon takes awhile to come up with and it is a God thing not a me thing. But always remember God plans these sermons in advance for someone to hear or even for you to tell someone. Every Sunday in churches all over this country, we are told of the free gift of Salvation, of the privileges that are given to all the believers, and the joy of heaven and then we leave like we never heard anything, some without any conviction of our need for a Savior.

{Personal} We need as a nation to take Gods word and treasure it because that is the only thing that will save this country from Gods wrath to come. We are to busy trying to find a quick fix system instead of letting Gods word transform us. So when we see the thorns of sin start to entangle us and start to choke Gods word right out of us we need come together as a church and pray harder for His will and his direction and more of His word.

We all want Good ground and fruitful soil, but Christ never says that His good ground is without stones and thorns in it. Better yet He even allows thorns to grow. God puts thorns in our path look at Genesis 3:18

18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,

and you will eat the plants of the field.

God wants us to keep our sights on Him so we can bring fourth good fruit.

God gave us ears to hear! Hear what? His word. But we need to look at our selves and find out what kind of hearers we are. Listen; even though we plow the field the weeds and thorns still keep coming up. But can not get discouraged God knows not all who hear will produce fruit. So stand stead fast in your mission and look up to Jesus for He will lead you through.

Now on with the parables; in v10 Jesus disciples are clueless!!!!!!

Imagine Jesus speaking to this huge crowd and His disciples leaning over to one another and saying what is he saying, He’s going crazy; all this heat finally got to him. So when was finished I bet they looked like me in a college algebra class. It does not say which one asked the question, I bet it was several of them at the same time. ( act like your shoving someone). But it says they asked Jesus “Why do You speak to them in parables?” Now listen to Jesus answer He says v11“To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted.” Jesus says you have been granted the mysteries or the some versions say knowledge of the Kingdom of Heaven. Now the word mystery comes from the Greek {mysteria} [moose-terd-ion] which means-- II) Some sacred thing hidden or secret which is naturally unknown to human reason and is only known by the revelation of God. We are all the Disciples of Christ and we have been given the knowledge and the mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven, but like the disciples we have no clue because it takes studying and meditating and we do not have time so the thorns choke us out.

The disciples were Blessed because they were privileged to see (understand) and hear these truths. V16 “But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear.

Jesus disciples heard the same truths as the national leaders, but their response was entirely different. The disciples saw and believed; the leaders saw and rejected. Since the leaders turned from the light, God gave them no more additional light.

John 3:20-21

20 “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.

21 “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

As I start to close I hope you understand these 4 parables now more than you did.

Those who do not have this gift will, as Is. 6:9–10 had so vividly predicted, never get beyond a superficial hearing of God’s message, and it will do them no good. But to belong to the group of Jesus’ disciples is a privilege greater than that enjoyed by the greatest of God’s people in the past (prophets and righteous men), who had a preliminary inkling of the kingdom of heaven, but did not yet know its reality.

Jesus is not here saying that parables are designed to hide truth, and thus to keep people out of the kingdom of heaven, but that as a matter of fact not everyone has the ability to understand their meaning. That ability is given to disciples, rather than being the result of human cleverness. But this passage does not address the question of how a person becomes a disciple. Presumably, the disciples to whom Jesus was speaking were themselves once unenlightened; if they could receive the secrets through Jesus’ ministry, so could others. But as long as the division exists between believers and non-believers and there are different soils for the seed to fall in, parables will continue to reveal that division.

Jesus says in John 20:29

John 20:29“Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”

It is not necessary to “see” Jesus Christ in order to believe. Yes, it was a blessing for the early Christians to see their Lord and know that He was alive; but that is not what saved them. They were saved, not by seeing, but by believing. The emphasis throughout the Gospel of John is on believing. There are nearly 100 references in this Gospel to believing on Jesus Christ.

You and I today cannot see Christ, nor can we see Him perform the miracles (signs) that John wrote about in this book. But the record is there, and that is all that we need. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17; and note 1 John 5:9–13). As you read John’s record, you come face to face with Jesus Christ, how He lived, what He said, and what He did. All of the evidence points to the conclusion that He is indeed God come in the flesh, the Savior of the world.

But we are not saved by believing in miracles; we are saved by believing on Jesus Christ.

So I ask you, do you believe? Is you faith so strong that you read and hear and just believe or do you need proof?

The proof is all around you and once you form a relationship with the author of this book Christ will open up more and more to you and that’s what Jesus wants is for us to seek after Him. Are you seeking after Christ? Because in the end that’s all that will matter. So don’t wait. If you want to recommit you life, (I mean you have been saved but just haven’t walked with Christ in a long time, He is calling you back to Him right now. If you do not know Him at all, He is calling you right now. If you just want to thank Him for saving you and giving you eternal life, He is calling you right now. He does not care of your age if Jesus is speaking to your heart. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by. You come up front today. As we stand, you come today.

---------------------------Amen------------------------