SPEAKER_00: Well, I've been told that I'm not always a very good listener.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if I agree with that.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if that's fully true.
SPEAKER_00: And I hesitate to reveal the source of that accusation this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Um You see, there's a person in my life.
SPEAKER_00: Uh I don't want to throw anybody under the bus.
SPEAKER_00: That's really why.
SPEAKER_00: There's a person in my life who's very close to me.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and they periodically will tell me that I'm not always the best listener.
SPEAKER_00: Uh let's let's just call this person A Birkabine, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Um that's probably too obvious.
SPEAKER_00: Let's just call this person Ali B, okay?
SPEAKER_00: So, anyways, this person has informed me that sometimes uh when they have conversation with me, I'm not always listening.
SPEAKER_00: Now they'll say that I'm physically present in the moment.
SPEAKER_00: I'm there.
SPEAKER_00: This person, she talks to me, she's she's having a conversation, I'm engaged, there's eye contact, I may even respond, but at the end of the conversation, I'm not always actually listening.
SPEAKER_00: Now, whether that's true or not, you can be the judge of that.
SPEAKER_00: It probably is.
SPEAKER_00: But either way, let's be honest.
SPEAKER_00: Listening is not always easy.
SPEAKER_00: Listening is a difficult task.
SPEAKER_00: There are times for all of us when we're engaged in conversation, when someone is talking to us, and maybe we're distracted, or maybe our mind is preoccupied with other things, or maybe, you know, just in that moment, we're just not fully paying attention, we're not dialed in the way that we should be.
SPEAKER_00: Listening is not always easy, and some people tend to struggle with this more than others.
SPEAKER_00: However, this morning, I want to suggest to you that Jesus is going to give us a very strong warning about the importance of listening to his words.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, what I would tell you this morning is that this warning is something that each and every person vitally should hear today.
SPEAKER_00: Because if we neglect to listen, if we neglect to truly listen to these words, to the words of God, well, the consequences of that decision could be absolutely devastating.
SPEAKER_00: So this morning, if you have ears to hear and if you have eyes to see, I would encourage you to open your Bibles with me to Matthew chapter 13 so we can look and listen to the words of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew chapter 13 is where we're at this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew 13, if you came and brought a Bible, that's a good thing that you did that because we open the Bible every Sunday here.
SPEAKER_00: If you didn't bring your Bible, it's all good.
SPEAKER_00: We got you covered.
SPEAKER_00: There should be a Bible in front.
SPEAKER_00: You're welcome to use that.
SPEAKER_00: And if you don't own a Bible, take the Bible home in front of you today.
SPEAKER_00: We'd love for you to have a Bible of your own.
SPEAKER_00: Uh we are in Matthew.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't know where Matthew is, it's three-quarters of the way into your Bible.
SPEAKER_00: This is the first book of the New Testament.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, Matthew 13 is where we're at.
SPEAKER_00: And as you're turning there, I just want to remind you that we kicked off a series a few weeks back.
SPEAKER_00: It's called Once Upon a Time.
SPEAKER_00: It's on the parables of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And so Pastor Mark, he kicked off the series for us.
SPEAKER_00: And if you remember, uh we we looked at the Gospel of Luke for the first three of these parables so far.
SPEAKER_00: We looked at the story, the parable of the lost sons.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Pastor Mark preached on.
SPEAKER_00: And then two weeks ago, we looked at the parable of the Good Samaritan.
SPEAKER_00: Last week we looked at the parable of the rich fool.
SPEAKER_00: And today we're going to look at a brand new parable.
SPEAKER_00: This is the parable of the sower from Matthew's Gospel, the parable of the sower.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and this parable is actually found in three of the four gospels.
SPEAKER_00: It's found in all the synoptic gospels.
SPEAKER_00: So when I say synoptic gospels, I mean Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
SPEAKER_00: So we have four gospel accounts that tell the story of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew, Mark, and Luke are very similar in nature.
SPEAKER_00: They share similar material, uh, not always, but here, this parable of the soils, uh, it's found in all three.
SPEAKER_00: All three.
SPEAKER_00: And so just a reminder: this parable is a short story.
SPEAKER_00: Um, like all parables, it's a short story that's derived from typically an everyday situation.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus would love to tell these stories, and he would do it to highlight something deep and significant about the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: And it's a powerful teaching tool that Jesus often employed.
SPEAKER_00: And one of the ways that it kind of helps us understand what a parable is, is if you just take the word parable and you break it apart, uh, in Greek, the prefix para means alongside or adjacent.
SPEAKER_00: The suffix bale means to throw or to cast something.
SPEAKER_00: And so the image in our head should be that when there's something significant about life or the kingdom of God, if you throw alongside this story, this parable, it's adjacent to real life.
SPEAKER_00: It helps you understand something deeper about uh the mysteries of God and his kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: And so that's really what a parable is all about.
SPEAKER_00: And as I mentioned last week, interestingly, with the parables, is they have a twofold nature.
SPEAKER_00: So for some people, parables further explain and reveal deep truths and mysteries about God.
SPEAKER_00: And for others, they further confuse and conceal those deep truths and mysteries about God.
SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna actually focus on that.
SPEAKER_00: That's a central part of what we're gonna talk about today.
SPEAKER_00: We'll see that in our text.
SPEAKER_00: But with those kind of introductory statements, let's get ready to jump in.
SPEAKER_00: Our first section this morning is simply what I'm calling the illustration.
SPEAKER_00: It's the illustration.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, the illustration.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what Jesus is going to do is he's going to tell the parable.
SPEAKER_00: Again, this will illustrate something for us.
SPEAKER_00: We're just going to listen to the parable in a moment, and then we're going to kind of think about and unpack it.
SPEAKER_00: But before we do that, there's just a few introductory statements that Matthew records for us in the beginning of the chapter.
SPEAKER_00: So here's where Matthew begins.
SPEAKER_00: He says, That same day, Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea, and great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood on the beach, and he told them many things in parables.
SPEAKER_00: Now, as our text begins, I want you to notice how Matthew just simply says that Jesus went out of the house and he sat beside the sea.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't say what sea it is, but we know, based on context and based on what we see in the gospel accounts, this is the Sea of Galilee.
SPEAKER_00: This is the place where Jesus spent the majority of his ministry teaching and preaching and performing miracles.
SPEAKER_00: It was in this region of Galilee.
SPEAKER_00: Now, at this point in the ministry of Jesus, he has large crowds following him.
SPEAKER_00: We've seen this so far in some of the other parables.
SPEAKER_00: There are times where Jesus is only surrounded by his twelve disciples who he traveled with.
SPEAKER_00: There are times where maybe there's slightly larger crowds, and there are times where the crowds are massive.
SPEAKER_00: This is a moment in Matthew's gospel where a large number of people have been around Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He's by the sea, he's there sitting down, and all of a sudden he decides to get out on a boat, go out a little ways, sit down, and to begin to speak to the crowds.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you were to go to Israel today and you were to go to the region of Galilee, and you were to go to the north where Jesus did the bulk of his ministry, you would find there, near the area where they say traditionally Jesus gave the Beatitudes, the Sermon on the Mount, you would find there a cove.
SPEAKER_00: This is known as the Cove of the Parables.
SPEAKER_00: Some people more commonly call it the Cove of the Sower.
SPEAKER_00: This is the site where tradition has it, Jesus actually gave this teaching.
SPEAKER_00: Now we don't know for sure, but if you were to go there today, you would see this cove, and just up the way a little bit beyond the shore, you would have a hill that would rise up.
SPEAKER_00: It kind of boxes in that cove.
SPEAKER_00: And so if even today, if you were to stand near the shore of the water or just go out a little ways into the water and you were to speak, your voice would naturally reverberate around that whole cove.
SPEAKER_00: It would bounce off the water, it would reverberate all around the cove, and you could hear very clearly someone trying to teach there, right?
SPEAKER_00: It's like a natural amphitheater.
SPEAKER_00: And so we don't know for sure if Jesus went here, but traditionally, if he did, it's the perfect place to teach a massive group of people.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus is there, he's in the water, he begins to speak, and parables were told.
SPEAKER_00: And the first parable he shares is what I mentioned.
SPEAKER_00: It's the parable of the soils or the parable of the sower, sometimes people call it.
SPEAKER_00: So let's do this.
SPEAKER_00: We'll listen, I won't put it on the screen, just simply listen to the story, and then we'll take a moment to respond to it.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: All right, here's the story.
SPEAKER_00: A sower went out to sow.
SPEAKER_00: And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them.
SPEAKER_00: Other seeds fell on rocky ground where they did not have much soil.
SPEAKER_00: And immediately they sprang up since they had no depth of soil.
SPEAKER_00: But when the sun rose, they were scorched, and since they had no root, they withered away.
SPEAKER_00: Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.
SPEAKER_00: Other seeds fell on good soil and produced rain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
SPEAKER_00: And then Jesus ends by saying this He who has ears, let him hear.
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's our parable today.
SPEAKER_00: That's our story.
SPEAKER_00: So let me begin just by asking, what do you think?
SPEAKER_00: What do you think of the story?
SPEAKER_00: Do you do you have ears this morning?
SPEAKER_00: If you have ears, what do you think about what Jesus said here?
SPEAKER_00: Well, we do have ears.
SPEAKER_00: But see, here's the thing.
SPEAKER_00: When Jesus ends by saying, if you have ears, let him who has ears let him hear.
SPEAKER_00: What Jesus is saying by that is that you might hear what I'm saying, but do you understand it?
SPEAKER_00: Now, this story that Jesus tells, it's a pretty simple story to understand the basic meaning of what he's literally telling us.
SPEAKER_00: There's a deeper meaning we'll get to later.
SPEAKER_00: But let me just unpack the story for a moment.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus introduces us to a guy who is trying to plant seeds into the ground to yield a harvest, right?
SPEAKER_00: So this guy is a farmer and he's going out and he's sowing seeds.
SPEAKER_00: And so what he does is he takes the seeds and he scatters them on the ground, and there are various places that he scatters these seeds, and many of the places he scatters the seeds, they're very unproductive, right?
SPEAKER_00: So the seeds don't actually produce any harvest, but there is one place where it does.
SPEAKER_00: And so what he begins to do is he first scatters it on the path.
SPEAKER_00: And so, as you know, a path is somewhere that's worn down, and so when he scatters it on the path, the seeds don't sink into the ground.
SPEAKER_00: They simply bounce off the ground and the birds come and they snatch it away.
SPEAKER_00: Well, then the sower he ends up spreading some seeds and it falls onto the rocky soil.
SPEAKER_00: So there's a soil where uh there's not a whole lot of space there for anything to actually grow, and so the seed goes down, it starts to spring up, but there's no space for roots to grow, and so pretty soon the sun comes out and it withers, it dies.
SPEAKER_00: Well, then the sower he casts some seed into areas where it falls into places where there are thorns, and so the thorns and thistles are there, but these things are competing right with the plant, and so even though it begins to sprout up, before you know it, right, as it's fighting for uh sunlight and nutrients and water, pretty soon these things grow up and they choke it out, and before it could ever really do anything, it dies.
SPEAKER_00: But then finally, this sower he spreads the seed on good soil, fertile ground.
SPEAKER_00: This soil is the perfect condition for the seed to go into the ground and begin to germinate and take root.
SPEAKER_00: And pretty quickly uh this plant begins to grow, right?
SPEAKER_00: It's strong roots, it's strong and stable, the plant begins to grow, and this soil, the last soil, it produces an abundant harvest that yields quite a bit of crop.
SPEAKER_00: So, this is the story, this is the parable.
SPEAKER_00: The question for us is what does this mean?
SPEAKER_00: That's number one.
SPEAKER_00: But number two, why is Jesus telling us this?
SPEAKER_00: Why is Jesus even choosing to speak in parables?
SPEAKER_00: Those are the questions we would naturally ask.
SPEAKER_00: Well, thankfully, this morning, as we keep going through the text, those are the questions that are answered.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, that that second question is what Jesus is gonna cover first, and then he's gonna give us the meaning of that specific parable later.
SPEAKER_00: So, with that, let's continue.
SPEAKER_00: We started with the illustration.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus tells us the story first, and then he just leaves it for a while.
SPEAKER_00: But now let's go to the moment where there's gonna be the inquiry.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples are gonna ask Jesus why he's doing this, why he's speaking in parables.
SPEAKER_00: So notice what it says in verse 10.
SPEAKER_00: It says, Then the disciples came to him and said, Why do you speak to them in parables?
SPEAKER_00: No, this is a good question.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, this is the perfect question for us to unpack this morning as we go through a series on parables, because Jesus gives a very interesting response to this.
SPEAKER_00: Notice what Jesus says, it's somewhat unexpected.
SPEAKER_00: He says, This.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance.
SPEAKER_00: But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what is Jesus saying here?
SPEAKER_00: This feels somewhat cryptic, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Well, first of all, notice how Jesus is talking about the secrets of the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: The secrets of the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: If you were to read Matthew's gospel all the way through, you would hear that phrase, the kingdom of heaven, mentioned over and over and over again.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, when Jesus launched into his public ministry, the first thing he started doing was proclaiming the kingdom of heaven and talking about the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Now, we don't have time to walk through this and point this out for you, but I want to suggest to you that the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven are interchangeable expressions.
SPEAKER_00: So the other gospels tend to use the phrase kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew, his preferred choice is to talk about the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if I were to mention the kingdom of heaven to you right now, what would you think about?
SPEAKER_00: What images would come in your mind?
SPEAKER_00: Well, if you're to think about the kingdom of heaven, you probably think, that's the place we go when we die.
SPEAKER_00: And we leave here, we go to heaven, the kingdom of heaven, and maybe we float around on the clouds and someone's playing the harp, there's angels around us, right?
SPEAKER_00: We're singing hymns all the time.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe that's what the kingdom of heaven is.
SPEAKER_00: Well, interestingly, when Jesus talks about this, that's not always what he's talking about.
SPEAKER_00: I do believe that the kingdom of heaven is a future reality.
SPEAKER_00: I believe that that's something that is true.
SPEAKER_00: However, that's not all it is because there are times where Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is near, or the kingdom of heaven is in your midst.
SPEAKER_00: So it can't just be a future reality for us.
SPEAKER_00: There's also something present taking place.
SPEAKER_00: You see, I think very clearly the Bible teaches us that the kingdom of heaven is the place where God rules and God reigns.
SPEAKER_00: Now we know that God reigns in heaven, right?
SPEAKER_00: He always has.
SPEAKER_00: However, when Jesus arrived on the scene and he started saying, Hey, the kingdom is in your midst, and the kingdom is near, I believe the kingdom of heaven was made manifest right here on the earth because Jesus began it.
SPEAKER_00: He inaugurated it.
SPEAKER_00: It started through his life and his ministry and his miracles and his death and his burial and his resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of heaven began to break into this world and it's continuing to do so today.
SPEAKER_00: Through the advancement of the gospel, through the ministry of the church, the kingdom is still advancing.
SPEAKER_00: And one day when Jesus returns, he will come to consummate or complete that kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: It will come and reach its full and final form, not just in the clouds, but right here on the earth.
SPEAKER_00: This is why Jesus in his prayer, he says at the very end, right?
SPEAKER_00: That he says, His will shall be done, his kingdom shall come, and his will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: And so let me just summarize all that by saying this the kingdom of heaven is the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: God reigns in heaven today.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Here in the church, God reigns in this place.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus should rule and reign in the church.
SPEAKER_00: When you are part of the church, you are a citizen of God's kingdom, and we are his loyal subjects.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus reigns in the church, and Jesus reigns in my heart.
SPEAKER_00: I certainly hope he reigns in your heart today as well.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to talk more about that later.
SPEAKER_00: But one day we know that the fullness of God's rule and reign, it will fill the earth as the waters cover the sea.
SPEAKER_00: That is a promise that we can cling to.
SPEAKER_00: That's something that I hope for.
SPEAKER_00: And so this kingdom of heaven, what we read here is the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, right?
SPEAKER_00: The mysteries, these truths that God is revealing now.
SPEAKER_00: He reveals it by his grace, and he reveals it to his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: This is why we see that Jesus says, To you, it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Who is he talking to here?
SPEAKER_00: His disciples.
SPEAKER_00: We know there are massive crowds that day, but who is the one who asked the question?
SPEAKER_00: Well, the disciples are the ones who said, Jesus, why is it that you speak in parables?
SPEAKER_00: And he responds to them by saying, To you, it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: If you are a genuine disciple today, if you're a follower of Jesus, then God has opened your eyes and he's opened your ears to the truth of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: This is the point.
SPEAKER_00: He's illuminated you.
SPEAKER_00: That's the technical term for it.
SPEAKER_00: The reality is for all of us, at one point we were lost, at one point we were dead in our sins and transgressions.
SPEAKER_00: At one point we were totally in the dark.
SPEAKER_00: But now, by God's grace, you've been found, you've been raised from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: God has opened, if you're a follower of Jesus, he's opened your eyes and he's opened your ears to see and hear the truth of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: You've now been brought into the light, and he's revealed this incredible truth to you.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus says in this text here that if you've been given the truth of the gospel, if you've received this good news, then you've been given an abundance, but you will have more and more.
SPEAKER_00: You'll continue to grow in your knowledge and understanding of who God is and what his plans are and purposes are, not only for your life, but for the world.
SPEAKER_00: You see, the truth is, as Christians, we can search and search and search and dig and dig and dig to know more and more of God.
SPEAKER_00: And we're never gonna reach the bottom of who he is on this side of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: We'll continue to grow in our understanding and knowledge of him.
SPEAKER_00: That's a gift that's been given to us, but we're not gonna exhaust our understanding of who God is because he's far too big and far too vast.
SPEAKER_00: And so that's something we're gonna continue to grow in.
SPEAKER_00: He's given to us this amazing truth, and we're gonna grow in our knowledge.
SPEAKER_00: He's given us a gift, he's illuminated us so we can hear and receive this.
SPEAKER_00: But notice how what he says also.
SPEAKER_00: He says, But to them it has not been given.
SPEAKER_00: Well, what does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: Well, remember, he's talking to his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: He says, To you, it's been given this understanding.
SPEAKER_00: The secrets of the kingdom, they've been they've been revealed to you, but to them, it's almost certain here that Jesus is talking about some of the people in the crowds.
SPEAKER_00: You see, some of the people in the crowds probably were believers.
SPEAKER_00: They probably trusted in Christ, but many of them were probably unbelieving.
SPEAKER_00: They weren't truly listening to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: They may have heard his words when he was preaching and teaching and telling parables, but they didn't truly hear or listen.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't truly understand.
SPEAKER_00: Let me illustrate this.
SPEAKER_00: When I was in college, I took some time, quite a bit of time, to try to learn Mandarin Chinese for a while there.
SPEAKER_00: Um, I was interested in missions, so I started to try to learn Mandarin because that was kind of a cool place and location.
SPEAKER_00: Uh I studied for a while, I did not do very good.
SPEAKER_00: I only can say a few things here.
SPEAKER_00: I can say, well, I can say, Wa schwada buhao.
SPEAKER_00: I don't speak very good, right?
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, if you're a native speaker, you can tell me later that I butchered that.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's fine.
SPEAKER_00: So I tried to learn some Mandarin Chinese.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the thing it's very complex, it's a tonal language.
SPEAKER_00: So there are various tones.
SPEAKER_00: So there are words that are said, and depending on the tone, that's how you understand it, right?
SPEAKER_00: So for example, the word ma, it can mean a number of things.
SPEAKER_00: It can mean mother, horse, to school, like all these different things, and it depends on the tone.
SPEAKER_00: So if you go do a high tone, right, it means one thing.
SPEAKER_00: If you do like a rising tone when you say it, ma, or if you do a falling tone, or if you do like a rising, falling, or just a neutral tone, like it means different things.
SPEAKER_00: Are you confused?
SPEAKER_00: That's hard, right?
SPEAKER_00: Hard to learn.
SPEAKER_00: So let me do this.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna put up on the screen.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: So you can see that beautiful language, right?
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you if you're not able to read Mandarin, you can still see the words, okay?
SPEAKER_00: And if someone were to speak this and to say this, and by the way, I'm pretty sure this is verse 9 of our text, okay?
SPEAKER_00: But if someone were to read this, you could hear the words they're saying.
SPEAKER_00: And if they're reading it in Chinese, you could hear and you could see it, but you wouldn't understand it, right?
SPEAKER_00: You could see, you can you can hear, but you don't know.
SPEAKER_00: This is what Jesus is saying.
SPEAKER_00: Notice exactly what he says in verse 13.
SPEAKER_00: He says this.
SPEAKER_00: He says, This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they don't see, and hearing they don't hear, nor do they understand.
SPEAKER_00: You see, Jesus spoke in parables to both further reveal truths about the kingdom to believers and to further conceal truths about the kingdom to unbelievers.
SPEAKER_00: Donald Hagner, in his commentary on the book of Matthew, says it this way: He says, Parables function in a dual manner.
SPEAKER_00: For those who have responded positively to Jesus' proclamation of the kingdom, the parables convey further insight and knowledge.
SPEAKER_00: While those who have rejected Jesus and his message, the parables have the effect of only darkening the subject further.
SPEAKER_00: He goes on to say, Thus belief and commitment lead to further knowledge, and unbelief leads to further ignorance.
SPEAKER_00: I think that's exactly the point here.
SPEAKER_00: According to Jesus, this is actually all part of God's plan.
SPEAKER_00: We we see this as we keep working through the text.
SPEAKER_00: Notice verse 14, and we'll work our way through.
SPEAKER_00: I won't put it on the screen, but you can follow along in your Bibles.
SPEAKER_00: Notice what Jesus says.
SPEAKER_00: Indeed, in their case, the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says, You will indeed hear, but never understand, and you'll indeed see, but never perceive.
SPEAKER_00: It's the same idea there.
SPEAKER_00: That's from the book of Isaiah.
SPEAKER_00: He says, For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and with 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.
SPEAKER_00: But then he speaks to the disciples, and he says, But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears for they hear.
SPEAKER_00: For truly I say to you, many prophets and righteous people long to see what you see and did not see it, and to hear what you hear and did not hear it.
SPEAKER_00: Now we don't have time to unpack all this, but I want to make something clear here.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew, very subtly, but intentionally, he presents this material to us in a way that affirms two truths.
SPEAKER_00: It's a really cool way that Matthew does this.
SPEAKER_00: He's affirming both the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of humans, the culpability of humans, and he affirms both of these.
SPEAKER_00: And so this is what I mean by that.
SPEAKER_00: If you've come to the place where you've heard the gospel, let me can I remind you what the gospel is?
SPEAKER_00: It is the good news.
SPEAKER_00: That's all it means is good news.
SPEAKER_00: What is the good news?
SPEAKER_00: Well, the good news is this that you're a sinner and I'm a sinner.
SPEAKER_00: We've all fallen short of God's standard.
SPEAKER_00: We've all missed the mark.
SPEAKER_00: And because of that, because of our rebellion, we live in a fallen, broken world that's corrupted.
SPEAKER_00: The good news for us is that God sent his one and only Son, Jesus, who took on flesh, he became one of us.
SPEAKER_00: He lived perfectly, fully kept the law of God, and then he paid the penalty for our failures, for our sin.
SPEAKER_00: He took it upon himself on the cross, he was crucified in our place, he was buried, but then he was raised, raised for our salvation.
SPEAKER_00: And now by God's grace and through faith, through trusting in Jesus, we can be reconciled to a holy God.
SPEAKER_00: We can be brought into fellowship with him, enter into a relationship with him, and now we become the children of God, and we become citizens of his kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: That's the good news.
SPEAKER_00: And so this morning, if you've come to a place where you understand and believe that good news, if you've received Jesus Christ and have placed your faith in him, you've heard the gospel and responded in faith, if your eyes have been opened and your ears have been opened and you're trusting in Christ, I want you to know that is grace.
SPEAKER_00: That is grace to you.
SPEAKER_00: You didn't earn that, you don't deserve that.
SPEAKER_00: That's something that was given to you by grace.
SPEAKER_00: God receives the credit if you're in Christ today.
SPEAKER_00: That's the point.
SPEAKER_00: At the same time, while God is certainly sovereign, that does not diminish our responsibility or culpability to believe.
SPEAKER_00: What I mean by that is this unbelief, hearing the gospel and not seeing and not believing, that's not something that's God's fault biblically.
SPEAKER_00: That's on us.
SPEAKER_00: We're responsible to believe.
SPEAKER_00: We're commanded to believe, we're culpable for our response to the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: We're accountable to the way that we respond to this gospel message.
SPEAKER_00: Donald Hagner, again, he says it like this the understanding of the disciple, the believer, is due to the grace of God.
SPEAKER_00: God receives the glory and credit for that.
SPEAKER_00: The failure to understand of the non-disciple is due to that person's rejection of the message.
SPEAKER_00: Once again, I think that's exactly it.
SPEAKER_00: It's paradoxical in nature, right?
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes these things are here, but let me remind you: when we encounter a paradox like this, something that seems to not quite fit together, what we always want to do is affirm what is true.
SPEAKER_00: We know that God is sovereign, we know that our choices really matter.
SPEAKER_00: We affirm both of those, we uphold them like the text does, and then we just trust God for the rest.
SPEAKER_00: His mind is far greater than ours, his understanding is far greater.
SPEAKER_00: We believe that God is sovereign, but we are also responsible.
SPEAKER_00: So the point here is this our response to this message, it really matters.
SPEAKER_00: God has spoken.
SPEAKER_00: He has given us this message, he's spoken definitively to us through his son.
SPEAKER_00: My question is, are we listening to the message?
SPEAKER_00: Do we have ears to hear this morning?
SPEAKER_00: How will we respond to that gospel message, to that good news?
SPEAKER_00: Well, that leads to our final section.
SPEAKER_00: It's actually what this is all about.
SPEAKER_00: So now that we've seen number one, this illustration, Jesus tells this story about a guy who goes out and spreads seed, and it sounds a little bit strange.
SPEAKER_00: Like, great, we get it.
SPEAKER_00: What's that all about?
SPEAKER_00: Well, then now that we've seen the inquiry, the disciples say, Hey, why are you speaking in such mysterious ways, Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Well, he tells them, it's because if you're my disciple, I want to reveal these deeper truths.
SPEAKER_00: But if you're not, you're gonna be concealed.
SPEAKER_00: The truth will be concealed to you.
SPEAKER_00: Now he finally begins to give the interpretation.
SPEAKER_00: Now he's gonna unpack for us what this what this parable is all about.
SPEAKER_00: And I love the fact that Jesus, he makes it so plain for us.
SPEAKER_00: We don't have to question what this parable is about because he makes it clear.
SPEAKER_00: Let me read through it slowly and then we'll just walk through it.
SPEAKER_00: He says this, picking up in verse 18.
SPEAKER_00: Hear then the parable of the sower.
SPEAKER_00: He says, When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart.
SPEAKER_00: This is what was sown along the path.
SPEAKER_00: He then goes on to describe the other soil, the next soil.
SPEAKER_00: As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy.
SPEAKER_00: Yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.
SPEAKER_00: As for what is sown among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.
SPEAKER_00: As for what is sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it.
SPEAKER_00: He indeed bears fruit and yields in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.
SPEAKER_00: Now, as we can see, Jesus is taking this parable, which was cryptic.
SPEAKER_00: He makes it clear, he gives us the interpretation.
SPEAKER_00: I want to suggest to you that what Jesus is revealing to us here is that there are three wrong ways to respond to the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Three wrong ways to respond to God's word that's been given to us, and there's one right way to respond to the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: The first three soils represent a response to the gospel that, as we see, does not yield any fruit.
SPEAKER_00: Only the fourth and final one is a response that yields fruit.
SPEAKER_00: That's a genuine response from a genuine believer.
SPEAKER_00: I think this is what Jesus is showing us.
SPEAKER_00: And just one quick, quick more note to know this.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, the the seed that's being spread, that's the good news.
SPEAKER_00: That's the gospel, that's the word of God, this message of salvation, that's what's being spread.
SPEAKER_00: And the soils uh represent the hearts, the posture of the heart, the responses here.
SPEAKER_00: So let's walk through this.
SPEAKER_00: The first one, number one, I think it's describing the hard-hearted person.
SPEAKER_00: The hard-hearted person.
SPEAKER_00: This is the person who is the soil that's described along the path.
SPEAKER_00: Now think about it this way: if you're walking along a path, you got a dirt road, and you're trampling the ground, you are compacting the ground.
SPEAKER_00: It's hardening.
SPEAKER_00: So if you were to spread seed on there, it would just bounce off and get snatched away by the birds.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Jesus describes.
SPEAKER_00: The same is true with a hard-hearted person.
SPEAKER_00: This is someone who is callous to the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: They hear the words of Jesus audibly, but they don't receive it, and probably they don't care about it because their hearts have been hardened.
SPEAKER_00: This is somebody who would reject Christ.
SPEAKER_00: When they hear the gospel, there's no impact by the gospel, it's just snatched away.
SPEAKER_00: Now, let's be honest, there could be people here today in the room who have this response to the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: A hard-hearted person who rejects Christ or is indifferent to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: They either don't care or maybe they're even hostile.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you know people like this.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe there's a friend of yours that's like this, maybe there's a neighbor of yours that's like this.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're married to a person like this.
SPEAKER_00: This response to the gospel should grieve us.
SPEAKER_00: We should be broken by this, and we should pray for this person.
SPEAKER_00: If you know people like this who are hardened to the gospel, you should pray.
SPEAKER_00: Ask the Lord to soften their heart.
SPEAKER_00: You should love this person and try to engage with them and share the good news of Jesus with them.
SPEAKER_00: Our hearts should break for the person who's calloused to the gospel, who's hard-hearted toward the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: That's one response.
SPEAKER_00: Let's keep moving.
SPEAKER_00: The second response is what I would call the superficial person.
SPEAKER_00: What I mean by this is this is somebody who is described for us as the rocky soil.
SPEAKER_00: So this is a person who hears the word, they hear the gospel, and notice how it says they actually receive it with joy.
SPEAKER_00: Now that sounds great, right?
SPEAKER_00: Oh man, they received the good news with joy.
SPEAKER_00: But here's the thing: like the rocky soil, there's really no root that's able to develop.
SPEAKER_00: It's a superficial kind of response.
SPEAKER_00: And so what appears to be a good reception to the gospel, it doesn't last.
SPEAKER_00: You see, I think this is someone who has what's called like a spurious faith or a false faith.
SPEAKER_00: In the epistle that James writes, he makes this very clear.
SPEAKER_00: There are two kinds of faith: there's a living faith and there's a dead faith.
SPEAKER_00: Living faith produces good works, it produces good fruit, a dead faith doesn't.
SPEAKER_00: Living faith will save you, a dead faith won't.
SPEAKER_00: James makes that very clear.
SPEAKER_00: Now, we may know people like this.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe in our experience, we know people who, for a moment, they maybe were desperate, something was going on, they heard the good news, they responded to it positively, they were on fire for the Lord, and then that just fizzled out real quick.
SPEAKER_00: Once again, our hearts should break for people like this.
SPEAKER_00: The challenge with this second category of person is the first category of person, we kind of know what we're getting here.
SPEAKER_00: This is somebody who rejects the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: The second category, this can be deceptive.
SPEAKER_00: They could deceive themselves or others.
SPEAKER_00: Perhaps even they made a profession of faith, but it wasn't genuine.
SPEAKER_00: And so for this person, we should be grieved and we should engage with them.
SPEAKER_00: We should say, repent, turn to Jesus, trust in Jesus, place your faith in Christ, be rooted in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We should pursue these people and pray for these people, and this should grieve us.
SPEAKER_00: The third person is what I would call as the distracted person.
SPEAKER_00: So the gospel goes to them.
SPEAKER_00: They're described as the person where the seed is sown among the thorns.
SPEAKER_00: Or the seed that's sown among the thorns.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, it's competing, it's fighting for all the nutrients and for all the sunlight and that stuff, and so it gets choked out by the weeds, by the thorns.
SPEAKER_00: So this is a person who hears the good news and maybe they want to kind of engage with it, but they're so preoccupied with all these other pursuits in life, right?
SPEAKER_00: Climbing the corporate ladder, making a bunch of money, pursuing their dreams and visions.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel isn't really good news or not the best news, right?
SPEAKER_00: It's just it's just news.
SPEAKER_00: But there's other things that they're pursuing that are far greater, and so they idolize these other things and they don't truly respond.
SPEAKER_00: They're distracted, they have divided loyalties.
SPEAKER_00: We probably know people like this as well.
SPEAKER_00: Uh these people don't prioritize Christ in any way, and the gospel is not meaningful to them.
SPEAKER_00: They hear it, but they don't truly receive it.
SPEAKER_00: We should be grieved by these people, we should pray for these people, we should pursue them in love and try to share the gospel with these people.
SPEAKER_00: As I said, unbelief is a sin.
SPEAKER_00: And it's a sin that we're culpable for.
SPEAKER_00: But then notice the final response.
SPEAKER_00: I would call this the believing person.
SPEAKER_00: The believing person.
SPEAKER_00: According to Jesus, the believing person is the good soil.
SPEAKER_00: This is somebody whose heart is prepared and ready to receive the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: When the gospel is sown to this person, they truly believe it, they embrace it, they receive it, the gospel is embedded in their hearts, it takes root, and it bears the fruit of righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: I would suggest to you today that genuine faith is a faith that's rooted.
SPEAKER_00: It's a faith that's strong and stable and able to endure and weather the storms of life.
SPEAKER_00: Genuine faith, saving faith, not only takes root, but it also bears fruit.
SPEAKER_00: Again, James makes this abundantly clear.
SPEAKER_00: Genuine faith, authentic faith.
SPEAKER_00: It's the kind of faith that bears the fruit of righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: It's the kind of faith where good works now flow from it.
SPEAKER_00: Now, to be clear, I steal this from Warren Weirsby.
SPEAKER_00: I believe that we're saved by faith alone.
SPEAKER_00: I believe that.
SPEAKER_00: Warren Wearsby says, We are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone.
SPEAKER_00: It's always accompanied by good works, by fruit.
SPEAKER_00: Genuine faith produces good fruit.
SPEAKER_00: So where does this leave us this morning?
SPEAKER_00: Well, I've preached for a while.
SPEAKER_00: My time is actually technically up, although it's third service, so we can keep going for as long as I want, which is great.
SPEAKER_00: You remember I started this message by saying that there has been an accusation about me that I'm not always a good listener.
SPEAKER_00: Probably truth to that.
SPEAKER_00: Many of us are not great listeners.
SPEAKER_00: We struggle when it comes to actually listening.
SPEAKER_00: But when it comes to truly listening, when it's the gospel, when it comes to truly believing and receiving this news of a loving God who loved us so much that he sent his one and only Son, Jesus is King of kings and Lord of Lords.
SPEAKER_00: He is worthy of us bowing in submission, trusting in him, believing that he died for us, that he rose for our salvation.
SPEAKER_00: When it comes to that good news, I certainly hope that my ears and my eyes are open.
SPEAKER_00: I hope the same thing for you.
SPEAKER_00: I hope that we don't just hear it, but I hope that we truly receive it.
SPEAKER_00: At the end of 2 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul says these words.
SPEAKER_00: I think it's very applicable for today.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith.
SPEAKER_00: Test yourselves, he says.
SPEAKER_00: Or do you not realize this about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you?
SPEAKER_00: He says, unless indeed you fail to meet the test.
SPEAKER_00: You see, I think the focus, not only in this verse, but in our text, should really be on examining our hearts this morning.
SPEAKER_00: What is the posture of your heart as you hear this news proclaimed to you?
SPEAKER_00: How do you respond to it?
SPEAKER_00: That's the question.
SPEAKER_00: Do you have ears to hear this morning?
SPEAKER_00: Do you believe?
SPEAKER_00: Are you trusting in what Christ has done?
SPEAKER_00: Because at the end of the day, the big idea that we see from our text is this it's a fruitful life that begins with a receptive heart.
SPEAKER_00: God wants to work through our lives, but in order for Him to work through our lives, we have to be willing to receive this good news of a loving God who sent His Son to die for us.
SPEAKER_00: We have to embrace this truth.
SPEAKER_00: You see, God has spoken.
SPEAKER_00: He has spoken definitively through his word.
SPEAKER_00: He still speaks today through his word.
SPEAKER_00: This good news is traveling all around the world, this good news of the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: This is something we're called to believe and receive.
SPEAKER_00: So let me ask you: do you have ears to hear this morning?
SPEAKER_00: Examine your heart, examine your life.
SPEAKER_00: Are you the person in the room who's heard this and are like, no, I've just gotten rid of this.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not interested.
SPEAKER_00: Are you the person in the room who maybe you received it but you know it was superficial?
SPEAKER_00: Are you somebody who's so distracted by all the things that you're too busy and preoccupied to receive and embrace this?
SPEAKER_00: Are you somebody who's come to the place where you realize that you are desperate?
SPEAKER_00: You are desperate and you need the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: You need God's salvation, which has been accomplished for you through his Son Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Do you have ears to hear this morning?
SPEAKER_00: Do you truly hear?
SPEAKER_00: Have you truly received this message?
SPEAKER_00: Do you believe the gospel?
SPEAKER_00: Because our lives eternally they're hanging in the balance.
SPEAKER_00: We don't want to miss this.
SPEAKER_00: We don't want to be ignoring this message.
SPEAKER_00: We want to hear and respond through faith.
SPEAKER_00: Beloved, hear me, a fruitful life.
SPEAKER_00: It begins with a receptive heart.
SPEAKER_00: Do you have yours to hear?
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, thank you again for today.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for your word.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for the opportunity we have to engage in it.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we know that your word is powerful, that the gospel is the power of salvation for everyone who believes.
SPEAKER_00: We know that your word says that if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart this message, that we will be saved.
SPEAKER_00: So, Lord, I just pray for the hearts of those who are listening today.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I pray that you would draw them to yourself, that you would open blind eyes, that you would open deaf ears, that people would hear and see the light of the knowledge of the glory of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It would shine into their hearts, and Lord, that you would save them.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I pray that through the power of your spirit, that your word, your word would be productive in the room today, transforming hearts and lives for your glory, Lord, that it would achieve what you desire and accomplish the purpose for which you sent it.
SPEAKER_00: I ask and pray, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And for those of us who've truly received this, Lord, I pray that we would continue to grow, we would abound in our knowledge of you, which is inexhaustible, and that the fruit in our lives would be evident that as we test ourselves, we would pass that test because, Lord, we would see the transformation in our life which has been produced by you.
SPEAKER_00: So, Lord, thank you so much for this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for your word.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for your son Jesus for what he's done for us that we could never do for ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: It's in his name we pray all this.
unknown: Amen.