The Value of the Kingdom of God!
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And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For 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 he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. Another parable put he 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:
Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him, Yea, Lord.
In verses 1-3 Jesus went out of the house to sit by the lake and when he does so, a great multitude gathered to him, causing Jesus to get into a ship as he then sat down and spake many things in parables. Verses 4-9 deals with the Parable of the Sower in which Jesus talks about the 4 types of ground in which the sower sowed seed to. We will revisit this parable at a latter date because there are other ones in this chapter that we want to focus on this morning. After Jesus finished his discourse with the multitude:
The disciples asked Jesus “Why do you speak to them in parables?”
Why don’t you use language that the people can understand.
They can benefit and receive your teaching better if you talk to them like you talk to us.
We really think they would probably appreciate what a great teacher you are.
Then Jesus’ reply is “Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.”
Jesus in a way reveals the blessedness of which they were chosen by God.
It is a blessing, for God to reveal the secrets of the kingdom to those whom He deem worthy. Make no mistake that you are not counted worthy because of something you done, but you are counted worthy because of the blood/death of Jesus Christ, you are counted worthy because you believed on Jesus, you believed in His word, you believed that he died for your sins and rose again on the third day, that is what makes you worthy to receive the teachings of the kingdom of God.
From this point Jesus goes on to explain why it is meant for the believer to understand the principles of the kingdom and for the unbelievers to not understand.
For the believer, when the secrets of the kingdom of God is shared, Jesus says something specifically happens:
“For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance:”
For whoever listens (not hear) and has spiritual knowledge.
When they listen and when they apply; will gain more spiritual knowledge. “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled.”
Not just “have ”spiritual knowledge” but an abundance of spiritual knowledge.
You have to seek the LORD, seek his will, seek his word, seek the knowledge of the LORD and as a result, He’ll give you more.
But for the unbeliever, for those who hear but they aren’t really listening:
“but whosever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.”
If you don’t listen, because there is a difference between hearing and listening.
When you hear you hear noise but you may not know what the noise is or where the noise is originating from. However when you listen, you listen intently you are able to recognize the sound, you are able to respond to the sound, you are able to tell where the sound is originating from. When God speaks to us, he doesn’t just want us to hear a noise He wants us to listen and respond to His voice!
When you hear but don’t listen, Jesus said what little bit of knowledge you have, what little bit of scripture you think you know, it will be taken away from you.
So now we have to ask ourselves a personal question: which one am I?
Am I the one who hears, listens, and obeys the voice of the LORD: the word of God or am I the other person who hears, God’s word but I don’t listen, I don’t obey it, I read it, but I don’t seek to understand it, I listen to it on Sunday but come Monday I forgot or I don’t understand what is said.
Because if I’m the one who listens to it, understands it, and then applies it, then it should cause me to grow spiritually, and when I grow spiritually I’ll find myself in spiritual abundance in the things of God.
But if I’m the one who hears it, don’t understand it, makes no effort to understand it, makes no effort to apply what I’ve heard, make no effort to read or study, makes no effort to be fed the word of God, then what little bit I do know, the LORD said it would disappear. You won’t be able to quote scriptures anymore, the devil will start rooting the word out of you!
WHICH PERSON AM I!?
When you hear you hear noise but you may not know what the noise is or where the noise is originating from. However when you listen, you listen intently you are able to recognize the sound, you are able to respond to the sound, you are able to tell where the sound is originating from. When God speaks to us, he doesn’t just want us to hear a noise He wants us to listen and respond to His voice!
So Jesus tells them, this is why I speak to them in parables, in a sense Jesus is telling them I’m not going to waste my breath, my valuable words on individuals who will let my word go in one ear and out the other.....but “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says”.
“Because they seeing see not” They look but they really don’t see.
“and hearing, they hear not neither do they understand” They hear my words but they are not listening to my words”.
Jesus used a scriptural reference in Isaiah 6:9:10
And He said, Go and tell this people, Hear and hear continually, but understand not; and see and see continually, but do not apprehend with your mind.
Make the heart of this people fat; and make their ears heavy and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and turn again and be healed.
See when you truly see the way God wants you to see (not the way you want to see) and when you hear the way God wants you to hear (not the way you hear it) it should result in conversion and healing. But the problem is that when you are spiritually dead, you will reject all that God has for you! We ought to pray this prayer right now: Lord don’t let me be spiritual dead! I want all that God has for me, when God speaks I want to respond!
Church in these end-times, in these last days God is calling us out of a place of stagnation, out of a place of routine religious observances, to a place where he desires true fellowship with us, where we become true disciples of Jesus Christ so that we can share the good news of the gospel to a dying world, God is calling us higher, it is time for us to go higher!
I. Parable of the Good Seed (Verses 13:24-29)
Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.
We will come back to this in a moment because Jesus himself gives explanation to this parable.
II. Parable of the Mustard Seed (Verses 13:31-32)
Another parable put he 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 is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.
The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed (it starts small).
Jesus was telling his disciples that this kingdom would start out to be very small.
I would like to use a theoretical example for us to understand what Jesus is saying here:
There is a system used in the U.K. called the “Settlement Hierarchy” which uses different levels of hierarchy to label human settlement within a geographical area.
Level 1: Minuscule Density
Roadhouse/Bed and Breakfast- usually in a remote place off of the road that usually houses a single family that caters to the occasional traveling guest that comes by in which the occupants fed and house other transit families.
The area then grows from one family to 2-5 families which become a homestead.
Next in growth is what is called a Hamlet or a Band which consist of a population of less than a 100 people.
As the community continues to grow it now morphs into what is called a village or a tribe which consists of roughly 150 up to hundreds of individuals.
Level 2: Low Density
Growth in the Low Density goes from suburb (Melrose, SW, NE, NW) or locality to township ranging from 1,000 to 10,000.
Then from township comes town or shire which is 10,000 to 100,000.
Level 3: Medium Density
after 100,000 the town becomes a borough (Greensboro).
which becomes a county between 100,000-300,000.
which becomes a city with a population between 300,000-1,000,000 people.
Level 4: High Density
As growth continues, the city becomes a metropolis which is a city with many surrounding borughs (NYC: Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, Harlem, Bronx, Long Island). Population between 1 mil to 3 mil.
As growth continues it reaches the stage (leaving one out) of Megalopolis which is a super-city of more than 10 million people. Think Gulf Coast cites, Northern California, Southern California, Nile Delta Region in Egypt.
Level 5: Extreme Density
The final stage which is called Ecumenopolis is where the entire area of the earth is taken up and made as one global city.
What does all that have to do with anything biblical or what Jesus’ parable is about? WELL!!! Let’s see, Jesus started out just like the road house! He was on the road going from town to town, telling people to “repent for the kingdom of God was at hand”. On his way, he met four individuals (Peter, James, John, Andrew) and became a homestead. He added 8 more people making the count 12, from 12 I grew to 70 and then from 70 to what the Apostle Paul says in his letter to 500 people whom Jesus showed himself alive to after his resurrection (Tribe) in the Upper Room we had 120 that were filled with the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost but then Peter who was always the outspoken one got up and started preaching Jesus to all of the spectators looking on, it grew from 120 to 3,000 souls (Town). Let’s see, Peter and John heal a man one day and preached Jesus while they were at the temple, they get arrested and threatened but when they go back to the church and pray about it, God blesses them and the church grows to 5,000. People are getting saved by hearing the preaching of the gospel and it spreads to Samaria, It spreads North to Asia Minor, it spreads to Africa, it spreads to Persia, it spreads to Europe, then it started spreading to Russia, it spread to North America, it spread to South America Now, 1,987 years latter (subtract 33 A.D. from 2020 A.D.) millions of people have been saved and given entrance into the kingdom of God!
This is what Jesus was referring to as the mustard seed growing into one of the largest trees where birds would come and make nests in its branches! I need for the world to know, I need for you my brothers and sisters to know that this growth is not going to stop until the kingdom of God reaches the Ecumenopolis stage where God where the kingdom of God will physically reside in a New Heaven and a New Earth and the only way that you can become a citizen of this kingdom is that you must REPENT for the KINGDOM OF GOD IS AT HAND!!!!
III. Explanation of the Good Seed (Verses 13:34-43)
Jesus always used stories and illustrations like these when speaking to the crowds. In fact, he never spoke to them without using such parables. This fulfilled what God had spoken through the prophet:
“I will speak to you in parables.
I will explain things hidden since the creation of the world.”
Then, leaving the crowds outside, Jesus went into the house. His disciples said, “Please explain to us the story of the weeds in the field.”
Jesus replied, “The Son of Man is the farmer who plants the good seed. The field is the world, and the good seed represents the people of the Kingdom. The weeds are the people who belong to the evil one. The enemy who planted the weeds among the wheat is the devil. The harvest is the end of the world, and the harvesters are the angels.
“Just as the weeds are sorted out and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the world. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will remove from his Kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. And the angels will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s Kingdom. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!
I know that most churches today want to paint Jesus one-way. Yes, Jesus was a loving and caring person, He was compassionate, he healed the sick and he raised the dead, had compassion on those who were possessed of devils, forgave people of their sins. But the same one who is a loving, caring, and a compassionate God is the same one who will judge the world and take vengence! He’s the same one that will have the angels pluck you out of the earth and cast you into the eternal furnace of the Lake of Fire!
Jesus is the farmer, his seed is the good seed that represents the people of the Kingdom of God (those in whom God resides and those who listen and obey Him). But the bad seed are the ones who belong to Satan, those who obey the devil, those who are evil, those who live carnally, those who practice sin and unrighteousness, and for those who are found in that category, the angels will throw them in the fiery furnace.......but the good news is......YOU DON’T HAVE TO GO TO THE FURNACE.......JUST REPENT AND TURN TO JESUS, REPENT AND CALL ON THE NAME OF JESUS, BELIEVE THE GOSPEL, REPENT OF YOUR SINS, BE BAPTIZED IN JESUS’ NAME, AND RECEIVE THE BLESSED GIFT OF THE HOLY GHOST! It is the only way to get into the kingdom of God! Jesus said I AM the way, the truth, the life, no man cometh to the father but by me!
IV. Parable of the Field Treasure & Costly Pearl (13:44-46)
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
Jesus gives another parable/illustration about the kingdom of God/Heaven.
A man finds a hidden treasure treasure in a field, it was buried, it was in the open and wasn’t obvious to the naked eye. But he happens to stumble upon it and when he does he is delighted and so overjoyed that he takes the treasure and buries it, turns around sells everything that he has and buys the whole field.
Now why does he do that? Because there were no banks back then that you could deposit your money and it be kept safely. There were no alarm systems and no dead-bolts to keep your house secure, your best bet was to take and bury the treasure like an old pirate, maybe draw a map so that you could remember where you put it. The moral of this store is that this man SOLD ALL HE HAD so that he could gain something more valuable that what he already owned.
The kingdom of God/Heaven is like a merchant looking for rare valuable pearls and when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and brought it!
The purpose of these two parables is to show the enormous wealth and value of the kingdom of God and that in order to posses it, one should willingly and joyfully inclined to pay any price to obtain entrance into the kingdom. You may have to suffer but are you willing to do it for the kingdom’s sake? You may lose friends and love ones but are you willing to do it for the kingdom’s sake. Are you willing to lay down your life to enter into the Kingdom of God because for some people, it may result in you losing your life. This is one of the reasons why the rich young ruler was unable to gain entrance into the kingdom of Heaven because he loved his riches so much that he wasn’t willing to let it go to receive all that God had for him.