WEBVTT 00:00:00.540 --> 00:00:04.830 I invite you to turn in your Bibles to the gospel of Mark, chapter 4. 00:00:05.429 --> 00:00:08.039 If you're visiting with us, glad to have you with us this morning. 00:00:08.041 --> 00:00:14.519 We're going through a verse-by-verse, somewhat section-by-section, study of the gospel of Mark. 00:00:15.660 --> 00:00:27.030 Even before I get there, although it is certainly related to why we're in Mark, I want you to think for a minute about the reality of this season that we're in. 00:00:27.719 --> 00:00:29.460 There's much to rejoice in. 00:00:29.519 --> 00:00:34.859 I mean, if you come tonight, you're going to certainly experience the rejoicing of Christmas. 00:00:34.860 --> 00:00:38.219 It's going to be quite a worshipful production. 00:00:38.810 --> 00:00:47.909 There's much to enjoy in terms of, if you're together with family at holidays, of course, there's gift-giving and there's good eating. 00:00:48.750 --> 00:00:57.689 But in the midst of this, you know, I think we're well aware as we go on in life, that this is also a season that is difficult for many people. 00:00:58.289 --> 00:01:16.409 Maybe some of you, maybe many of you, that in the midst of all of this, the sense that that Christmas should be about rejoicing, that Christmas should be about closeness and family, there is the reality that many people go through the Christmas season with great burdens on their shoulders. 00:01:16.829 --> 00:01:23.219 And maybe those are very practical burdens like financial difficulties or employment challenges. 00:01:23.670 --> 00:01:34.260 Maybe those are relational challenges and difficulties, like a marital conflict or family tension or congregational tension. 00:01:34.469 --> 00:01:44.069 Maybe it is simply a burden from the past and from all that we bring as we come into a Christmas season. 00:01:44.069 --> 00:01:58.290 And so, if that describes you this morning, and you have these conflicting feelings about this Christmas season that we are in, let me just orient us, maybe give us some perspective on why we're even in Mark. 00:01:58.290 --> 00:02:05.430 I just want to simply use the words of an old hymn that came to me this week, even as I was praying. 00:02:06.359 --> 00:02:09.750 It's by this very humble hymn writer. 00:02:09.810 --> 00:02:11.639 Her name is Helen Lemmel. 00:02:11.879 --> 00:02:14.069 She wrote this in 1922. 00:02:14.070 --> 00:02:15.419 Just listen to these words. 00:02:15.420 --> 00:02:17.219 See if they speak to you this morning. 00:02:18.210 --> 00:02:21.629 "Oh, so are you weary and troubled? 00:02:22.409 --> 00:02:25.379 No light in the darkness you see. 00:02:26.280 --> 00:02:35.400 There's light for a look at the Savior(...)," that's what we're doing this morning,"(...) and life more abundant and free. 00:02:35.401 --> 00:02:53.250 Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace." And so we desire to do this morning. 00:02:53.250 --> 00:02:54.360 We come to the Gospel. 00:02:54.360 --> 00:03:04.270 We come to this revelation of Jesus and who he is and what he said and what he's done, because that is the answer. 00:03:04.270 --> 00:03:13.719 That is what gives perspectives to whatever you're going through this morning and whatever burdens that you come this morning with, that is the answer. 00:03:13.721 --> 00:03:20.050 That is what gives shape and illumination or whatever it is that weighs you down as you go through this holiday season. 00:03:21.879 --> 00:03:33.860 Well we are in Mark chapter 4, as we've worked our way up until that, and Mark 4, I'm just going to read the first 12 verses this morning, for reasons that will become clear in just a moment here. 00:03:33.870 --> 00:03:45.849 Hear the word of the Lord:"Again, he--", and that's Jesus,"--again, he began to teach beside the sea." That's the Sea of Galilee; they're still in the region of Galilee. 00:03:45.850 --> 00:03:57.370 "And a very large crowd gathered about him so that he got into a boat, and he sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea, on the land. 00:03:57.371 --> 00:04:04.419 And he was teaching them many things in parables." Let me just pause there. 00:04:04.420 --> 00:04:16.600 We enter into a section as we begin chapter 4 of almost parable after parable after parable, and as we read Mark, as well as other gospels, we get this distinct impression. 00:04:17.170 --> 00:04:18.730 Jesus liked parables. 00:04:19.269 --> 00:04:27.550 In fact, parables are Jesus's preferred method of teaching, but parables confound us. 00:04:28.060 --> 00:04:30.160 I mean we're not used to parables. 00:04:30.490 --> 00:04:40.410 We sit in class like, say, we're in high school or college, or we sit in class on a Sunday morning, and we're used to propositional teaching. 00:04:40.509 --> 00:04:43.180 Even in sermons,"give it to me straight. 00:04:43.180 --> 00:04:46.810 Just give me the main points as plainly as possible. 00:04:46.810 --> 00:04:53.259 Throw in a few humorous anecdotes, maybe a few key phrases that I can walk away with. 00:04:53.261 --> 00:04:59.290 That's the kind of teaching that I want." But that's not the kind of teaching Jesus does. 00:04:59.290 --> 00:05:02.290 He teaches in parables. 00:05:02.290 --> 00:05:07.689 And parables communicate truth, but they do so indirectly. 00:05:07.839 --> 00:05:11.079 Parables have to be mulled over. 00:05:11.110 --> 00:05:15.639 Parables, you have to hear from the one who gives the parable the interpretation of the parable. 00:05:15.641 --> 00:05:30.639 You can't figure it out on your own, so I think it should strike us as we go through chapter 4 and beyond that Jesus is doing something very intentional in how he teaches us. 00:05:30.641 --> 00:05:35.529 He was teaching them, and us, many things in parables. 00:05:35.531 --> 00:05:39.850 And in his teaching, he said to them(here's the first parable). 00:05:39.970 --> 00:05:50.350 "'Listen, behold, a sower went out to sow, and as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 00:05:50.350 --> 00:05:59.629 Other seed fell on rocky ground where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. 00:05:59.630 --> 00:06:05.269 And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. 00:06:06.879 --> 00:06:14.500 "'Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 00:06:14.500 --> 00:07:23.639 And other seed fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding 30-fold and 60-fold and 100-fold.'"And he said,'He who has ears to hear, let him hear.' When he was alone, those around him(or the 12), asked him about the parables, and he said to them,'To you has been given the mystery of the Kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything is in parables.'"There's a clue there, why he taught so much in parables:"so that they may indeed see, but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.'" And that last statement in verse 12, if your Bible does not already record it, that's a direct quote from the Old Testament, from Isaiah chapter 6, verses 9 and 10, and that'll become more significant in a few minutes. 00:07:23.641 --> 00:07:38.519 Now, my original plan this morning was to launch into this first parable, which is a key parable, I think even, to understanding all the rest of the parables, and I was going to split that out over two weeks and look at two of the kinds of soil. 00:07:38.910 --> 00:07:39.540 But you know what? 00:07:39.550 --> 00:07:55.139 I got struck by, and really couldn't get past, what Jesus said after he gives the parable, and he's alone with his disciples and a few more, in verses 11 and 12, when they asked him about the parables. 00:07:55.141 --> 00:08:01.410 And I imagine they asked him what I'd want to ask him:"Jesus, why do you teach in parables? 00:08:01.411 --> 00:08:02.129 We don't get it. 00:08:02.130 --> 00:08:05.790 Why don't you just come straight out and say what you want to teach? 00:08:06.180 --> 00:08:08.220 And Jesus, what did that parable mean? 00:08:08.221 --> 00:08:19.370 You didn't explain it when you taught it there by the Sea of Galilee." I think there's two significant questions, and I think honestly, at least I need to wrestle through these questions. 00:08:19.370 --> 00:08:31.879 I think maybe you do as well, if we're going to be able to be receptive to what's in these parables, both this parable of the sower and the soils and the parables that follow. 00:08:31.880 --> 00:08:39.080 The first question comes from Jesus's reference, in verse 11, to those outside. 00:08:39.081 --> 00:08:39.980 Look at it again. 00:08:39.980 --> 00:09:00.809 Verse 11:"To you has been given the mystery of the Kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything is in parables." Now, the clear sense of what Jesus is saying there is that he sees all people, the people then and people now, you and me, as falling into one of two groups. 00:09:00.820 --> 00:09:04.289 You and I, we fall into either one group or the other. 00:09:04.440 --> 00:09:16.110 The first group, he doesn't use the word"insiders", but it's kind of implied when he says,"To you has been given the mystery." The first group are, you may be an insider. 00:09:16.110 --> 00:09:20.429 Insiders are those who have been given the mystery of the Kingdom of God. 00:09:21.090 --> 00:09:30.360 We'll unpack that in a few minutes and see a little bit what that means, but we've heard this term"Kingdom of God" all through the first three chapters. 00:09:30.360 --> 00:09:39.120 So maybe you're an insider here this morning, but if you're not an insider, Jesus says, there's no other option than that you are an outsider. 00:09:39.750 --> 00:09:41.100 What's an outsider? 00:09:41.730 --> 00:09:49.200 An outsider is someone who may even hear about the Kingdom of God, Jesus says, but they don't perceive it. 00:09:49.909 --> 00:09:51.809 They can't make out what it's about. 00:09:51.811 --> 00:09:54.120 They don't understand it. 00:09:54.629 --> 00:09:57.659 So all of us fall into one of two groups. 00:09:57.660 --> 00:10:00.960 Now I've got to tell you: humanly, I don't like this. 00:10:01.529 --> 00:10:05.039 I mean,"outsiders" has a pejorative sense to it, doesn't it? 00:10:05.041 --> 00:10:14.700 I mean, think politically, whether you like or dislike our current President, what was it that was said about him when he went to Washington? 00:10:14.940 --> 00:10:18.629 "He's an outsider." What does that imply? 00:10:18.909 --> 00:10:31.980 There's this political elite, this group of insiders, and they have the influence, and they have the power, and they're not really open and receptive to somebody who is an outsider, and we don't like that. 00:10:31.980 --> 00:10:38.610 Regardless of what you think about our president, we don't like that that division exists. 00:10:38.610 --> 00:10:44.309 Or socially, we get that sense of insiders and outsiders. 00:10:44.759 --> 00:10:46.169 In 1967, S.E. 00:10:46.200 --> 00:11:06.899 Hinton wrote a book called The Outsiders, and maybe you read it in high school, because it was big in the'70s and the'80s, and maybe it's still used, but what it was, it was a picture of a location of Oklahoma, where there were two groups of young adults, and there were the groups that were in, the"soches". 00:11:06.960 --> 00:11:13.139 Those who were socially acceptable, the insiders, and there were the group that didn't fit into that. 00:11:13.350 --> 00:11:23.190 They came from the wrong side of the tracks, the outsiders, the"greasers", in that particular book, and why does that resonate with so many? 00:11:23.191 --> 00:11:32.190 Because we feel a natural sense of unfairness when there are insiders and there are outsiders. 00:11:32.519 --> 00:11:41.039 So humanly, we bring this, I think, somewhat to the text, and we really need to understand: what is Jesus saying and what is an outsider? 00:11:41.041 --> 00:11:42.600 What's an insider? 00:11:43.409 --> 00:11:48.090 Can outsiders become insiders? 00:11:49.110 --> 00:11:51.299 Well, what are outsiders? 00:11:51.301 --> 00:11:53.710 Who are those that Jesus warns about here? 00:11:53.711 --> 00:12:04.750 If we put together what Jesus says in verses 11 and 12, here's my understanding of what an outsider is, both then and now. 00:12:04.809 --> 00:12:13.070 Outsiders are people who do not perceive and who do not understand the mystery of the Kingdom of God. 00:12:13.090 --> 00:12:21.610 They can hear the word spoken, they can hear the word taught, they can hear the words of Jesus, but it doesn't sink in. 00:12:21.610 --> 00:12:22.870 It doesn't penetrate. 00:12:23.019 --> 00:12:29.379 They don't understand it, and as a result, therefore, they do not turn, and they are not forgiven. 00:12:30.850 --> 00:12:37.600 Now, the Kingdom of God that's talked about here, again, we'll unpack that a little bit more in a minute, but it's said it's a"mystery". 00:12:37.600 --> 00:12:57.490 It's a mystery, not because it's vague, not because you have to have a high IQ to be an insider and understand the mystery of the Kingdom of God; it's a mystery because, as the Bible uses the term"mystery", most of the people in the world do not perceive it and do not understand it. 00:12:57.490 --> 00:13:08.830 The Bible uses that word"mystery", in Old Testament and New Testament, to mean"a heavenly truth that we can't humanly discover by ourselves". 00:13:08.831 --> 00:13:25.330 You know, we like to think of ourselves, generally in our culture, as intelligent people, as learned people, and we go to school, maybe we go on to college or university or graduate school, and we learn more and we become more and more intelligent. 00:13:27.039 --> 00:13:36.370 We don't like to hear that there is truth that we can't figure out on our own using our own intelligence, but that's what a mystery is. 00:13:36.759 --> 00:13:56.440 A mystery is a heavenly truth that we can't discover by ourselves, that God has to reveal to us, that the Holy Spirit has to illuminate, that he needs to shine the light on in order for us to understand, and Jesus is saying here that outsiders are those who have not yet received this revelation. 00:13:57.000 --> 00:14:05.289 They have not yet received this illumination of these heavenly truths, and so as a result, they don't turn. 00:14:06.009 --> 00:14:10.809 They don't turn from trying to live life their own way, without Jesus. 00:14:11.230 --> 00:14:24.490 They're on their own, trying to plow their way, trying to determine the shape and course of their life, and they don't turn to Jesus as their savior and as their lord and their king, and as a result, they're not forgiven. 00:14:25.149 --> 00:14:30.490 They don't know the forgiveness that comes by grace through Christ and his work on the cross. 00:14:30.490 --> 00:14:32.590 They are still under the wrath of God. 00:14:32.591 --> 00:14:35.200 They are still subject to judgment. 00:14:35.201 --> 00:14:37.570 We don't want to be outsiders. 00:14:37.870 --> 00:14:41.620 Those you love, you don't want to be outsiders. 00:14:42.519 --> 00:14:51.710 Outsiders are people who, in Jesus's day, are like the scribes and Pharisees who reject Jesus, at least reject who he claims to be. 00:14:51.711 --> 00:14:56.600 That was clear about the scribes and the Pharisees, and you know people like that today. 00:14:56.600 --> 00:15:08.600 There are people of other faiths who outright reject that Jesus is the son of God, that what he did on the cross is the only way to peace with God and entrance into Heaven. 00:15:08.600 --> 00:15:12.769 There are people who vehemently reject Jesus. 00:15:12.830 --> 00:15:15.529 Turn on the cable news. 00:15:15.530 --> 00:15:19.159 You watch what's going on socially in the culture around us. 00:15:19.160 --> 00:15:31.909 You see many, many people-- in fact, it seems as if the majority of people reject Jesus, at least the Jesus as he claims to be in his word, but outsiders aren't just people who reject Jesus. 00:15:33.710 --> 00:15:44.960 Outsiders are also people who, like the majority of the crowds, they might be sympathetic toward Jesus, but they don't follow Jesus. 00:15:44.961 --> 00:15:51.230 What have we seen so far in the first three chapters of Mark, and we're going to continue to see it. 00:15:51.230 --> 00:15:53.690 Crowds come whenever Jesus teaches. 00:15:53.691 --> 00:15:57.889 Crowds come when Jesus feeds the 5,000 and the 4,000. 00:15:57.890 --> 00:16:09.980 Crowds come when Jesus heals people and does his miracles, but the majority of those crowds, even if they would say that they like Jesus, they don't hang around if he's not feeding them. 00:16:10.639 --> 00:16:12.169 They don't hang around if there's no more miracles. 00:16:12.171 --> 00:16:19.009 They're not going to stay if they can't find healing and what they feel that they need. 00:16:19.010 --> 00:16:32.600 The majority of the people who came out of curiosity to hear Jesus, they faded away when his teaching became uncomfortable for them personally, when it challenged the way that they were living their lives. 00:16:34.190 --> 00:16:35.480 It's the same way today. 00:16:35.870 --> 00:16:42.860 There are many people in our culture who probably would even identify themselves, in some sense, using the word"Christian". 00:16:42.860 --> 00:16:47.179 They would say they like Jesus, but it's a Jesus of their own definition. 00:16:47.181 --> 00:16:51.320 It's not a Jesus as he defines himself in his word. 00:16:51.769 --> 00:17:03.649 It is a Jesus that they fade away from when they begin to see what he teaches, that that doesn't match up with their life, and it means that it's going to challenge the way that they live with their life. 00:17:04.700 --> 00:17:05.869 Are you an outsider? 00:17:06.529 --> 00:17:12.349 I doubt you're here if you outright reject Jesus this morning, but are you like one of the crowd? 00:17:12.349 --> 00:17:30.049 That you're here, maybe, because it's a socially acceptable thing to do, or you're here out of curiosity, or you're here because you came with someone, but you haven't really met Jesus as who he claims to be, and you haven't really begun to follow Jesus. 00:17:32.299 --> 00:17:46.910 That puts you in the camp of outsiders, and as much as that makes you bristle, Jesus teaches this way because he wants you to become an insider, and that's what his parables will attempt to do as we go forward. 00:17:47.119 --> 00:17:48.200 Those are outsiders. 00:17:48.201 --> 00:17:49.710 Who are the insiders? 00:17:50.759 --> 00:18:07.230 Well, again, putting together what Jesus said in verse 11, insiders are people who have been given the mystery of the Kingdom of God, and because they've been given the mystery of the Kingdom of God, they have turned, and they are forgiven. 00:18:08.369 --> 00:18:13.829 Now, notice this is one of those places were tense, verb tense, is very important. 00:18:14.190 --> 00:18:19.289 "They have been given": that is a divine passive. 00:18:19.290 --> 00:18:22.769 They don't gain it on themselves, for themselves. 00:18:22.770 --> 00:18:24.660 They don't achieve it. 00:18:24.661 --> 00:18:26.160 They have been given. 00:18:26.161 --> 00:18:37.680 It is God who gives them the mystery of the Kingdom of God, and because God has done this gracious work in their life, they've begun to perceive a little bit of this mystery. 00:18:38.759 --> 00:18:49.019 They've begun to understand that the Kingdom of God has come in the person and the words and the works of Jesus. 00:18:49.319 --> 00:18:57.630 It doesn't mean they have full perception or full understanding, far from it, but God has begun a work in their lives. 00:18:58.380 --> 00:19:17.549 One of the blessings of being home the last couple of weeks is I got to spend time with not just my wife, but a young woman that she is discipling, and I can't say a lot, just to preserve her anonymity, but this is a woman who comes from another very non-Christian faith. 00:19:17.819 --> 00:19:19.349 And that's what she grew up in. 00:19:19.920 --> 00:19:30.450 And through my wife and others who are at work and her life, she has begun to attend a church where she's heard the gospel preached, and she's begun to take steps toward that. 00:19:30.451 --> 00:19:42.539 And she meets regularly with my wife, and she has taken steps to embrace Jesus for who he claims to be, even though that is very contrary and very foreign to the way she grew up. 00:19:43.079 --> 00:19:54.950 And because she's responded to as much as she understands of Jesus, with as much as she can, of herself, God has blessed that, and God is drawing her in and drawing her to Jesus. 00:19:54.990 --> 00:19:56.759 She understands very little. 00:19:56.760 --> 00:20:07.490 In fact, she's somewhat frustrated by the fact that she understands very little, but that's not the test, of whether she has a robust theology of the Christian faith. 00:20:07.500 --> 00:20:15.900 It is how is she responding to what she understands of Jesus with as much as she can of herself? 00:20:15.960 --> 00:20:22.740 That's an insider, however new they are in the faith or not. 00:20:22.740 --> 00:20:29.809 Insiders are people, like the disciples, who accept Jesus for who he claims to be. 00:20:29.880 --> 00:20:31.920 It's not the Jesus of culture. 00:20:32.039 --> 00:20:38.250 You know, our culture, our popular culture would put Jesus at the front of every politically correct cause. 00:20:38.250 --> 00:20:51.519 They would put Jesus on the front of the immigration cause, and they would put Jesus on the front of the same-sex marriage cause, and they would put Jesus on the front of the gender identity cause. 00:20:53.319 --> 00:21:10.180 True followers, true insiders, seek who Jesus claims to be and what he presents of himself and what he teaches, and that is the Jesus they accept, not the Jesus that they want, maybe, personally, or that our culture says. 00:21:10.181 --> 00:21:16.420 Insiders are people who, like the disciples, they follow Jesus. 00:21:16.421 --> 00:21:38.470 Jesus says in John 8:31,"If you abide in my word," in other words,"if you're reading and you're studying and you're mulling over what I have taught you, if you are obeying my teaching, then you are truly disciples, followers of mine." That's when the truth will set you free. 00:21:38.589 --> 00:21:46.569 That's an insider: one who doesn't just hear the truth but seeks to follow it, seeks to abide in it. 00:21:46.640 --> 00:21:54.039 So evaluate yourself, even as I give you these couple of statements, about whether you're an insider. 00:21:54.040 --> 00:21:58.480 Insiders are those who continually seek to learn what Jesus taught. 00:21:58.690 --> 00:22:01.480 They are abiding in the word, reading it, studying it. 00:22:01.480 --> 00:22:01.480 Why? 00:22:01.480 --> 00:22:05.450 Not because it's something to check off on their list of what good Christians do. 00:22:05.450 --> 00:22:08.859 No, it's because I want to know what Jesus teaches. 00:22:09.130 --> 00:22:11.950 I want to know what he presents as truth. 00:22:11.951 --> 00:22:22.029 And then, insiders are continually seeking to bring their lives into alignment with what they're learning about what Jesus teaches and what Jesus says is true. 00:22:22.420 --> 00:22:38.859 This young woman my wife is working with: she's got a lot that she's got to turn around in her life, but she has the beginning desire that, as she becomes aware of these things,"yeah, I want to change, and I want my life to be what Jesus wants it to be". 00:22:39.069 --> 00:22:40.779 That's an insider. 00:22:41.859 --> 00:22:53.319 Insiders follow the commands of Jesus even when it conflicts with the way we've been living, with what we want to do, with what we would do if we got to call the shots in our lives. 00:22:55.930 --> 00:22:58.529 Well, I told you at the beginning there were two significant questions. 00:22:58.530 --> 00:23:05.890 That first question is what do we do with this distinction of outsiders and insiders that Jesus seems to present here? 00:23:06.250 --> 00:23:12.190 But here's the second question, and it comes back to what I said at the beginning: why does Jesus teach in parables? 00:23:13.119 --> 00:23:16.839 Why doesn't he just give us the truth straight? 00:23:17.440 --> 00:23:20.230 What is the purpose of the parables? 00:23:20.230 --> 00:23:25.599 Because if we don't have a handle on that, these next weeks are going to be pretty rocky for us. 00:23:26.259 --> 00:23:28.210 What is the purpose of the parables? 00:23:28.211 --> 00:23:42.819 Jesus gives us at least a hint of this in, really, what he says in verse 12, and I'd put it like this: he teaches in parables because of how outsiders respond to parables. 00:23:43.660 --> 00:24:06.619 Verse 12 is, as I said earlier, a a quotation that Jesus makes from the Old Testament, specifically from Isaiah chapter 6, and I'm not going to give you a history lesson on Isaiah here, but that was a time in the history of the Kingdom of Judah, of which Jerusalem is the capital, where the people of Israel had turned away from God in a major, significant way. 00:24:07.130 --> 00:24:09.380 You know, you read the Old Testament, and what do you see? 00:24:09.529 --> 00:24:10.670 They're just like us. 00:24:10.910 --> 00:24:17.390 They have that propensity to turn away from God, to want to live life their own way, on their own terms, apart from God. 00:24:17.720 --> 00:24:34.609 But there were significant periods in Israel's history when so many of the people of Israel had turned away from God and for so long and in such profound ways that God brings his judgment upon them, and this is one of those times, in Isaiah chapter 6. 00:24:34.609 --> 00:24:49.700 And God, after giving them warning after warning, is about to allow them to be overrun and captured and brought into exile by the Assyrians, but he gives them this last one morning: he sends this prophet Isaiah. 00:24:49.701 --> 00:24:56.720 Isaiah is really the last voice, the last chance to repent, before he allows the Assyrians to take them into exile. 00:24:59.119 --> 00:25:17.299 God is speaking to Isaiah before he sends him, or as he sends him, in Isaiah 6, and he tells Isaiah,"I am sending you to be that last voice of'repent and turn back to God', but Isaiah, even as I send you, I'm telling you, it's going to be, really, a futile errand. 00:25:17.300 --> 00:25:31.279 You need to do it, but you need to know, even as faithfully as you preach, the people you preach to, they are going to be--" Isaiah 6:9 and 10:"ever hearing but never understanding. 00:25:31.280 --> 00:25:36.140 They are going to be ever seeing but never perceiving. 00:25:36.230 --> 00:25:47.960 They're going to be people who can't hear what you say, Isaiah, because they have calloused hearts, and they have dull ears, and they have closed eyes. 00:25:47.961 --> 00:25:56.089 There are people who read this part of Isaiah and even read this part of Mark chapter 4 and think,"Well, God has already made up his mind. 00:25:56.089 --> 00:25:58.130 "These people are going to be outsiders. 00:25:58.131 --> 00:25:59.509 They will never get it. 00:25:59.779 --> 00:26:34.160 They will never be able to see the truth, and these people are going to get it, that he is predetermining that." I don't see that that's what this is saying at all; instead, I see the same pattern in the people of Israel and the people of Jesus' day and us today: that when we reject God's truth, when we hear his truth and we reject it, it has this way over time, as we reject it, as we ignore it, of building up a callus around our heart, the spiritual nerve center of our lives. 00:26:34.519 --> 00:26:40.279 And the more we reject it over time, the thicker that callus becomes. 00:26:40.280 --> 00:26:50.670 And the thicker that callus becomes, the less we have the ability to perceive and understand the truth that God wants us to hear. 00:26:50.671 --> 00:26:55.410 And at some point, and I don't know when that point is, no man knows or no woman knows when that point is. 00:26:55.829 --> 00:27:03.029 At some point of rejection after rejection after rejection, God says,"Fine. 00:27:03.059 --> 00:27:08.339 As my judgment, I am releasing you to the consequences of your rejection. 00:27:08.340 --> 00:27:21.329 And because you've rejected me over and over again, and you've built up that callus around your heart, here's what I'm going to allow to happen: I'm going to allow you to be permanently washed away in that hardness. 00:27:21.630 --> 00:27:24.839 You will lose your ability to perceive my truth. 00:27:24.840 --> 00:27:43.829 You will lose your ability to understand my message to you and make sense out of my truth." And that's what Jesus says is going on in his day with the scribes and the Pharisees and many in the crowds: that Isaiah's prophecy is being fulfilled on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. 00:27:43.830 --> 00:27:52.349 The scribes and the Pharisees and most of the crowds, they can't hear the truth about the Kingdom of God because it's not what they wanted to hear. 00:27:53.190 --> 00:27:55.259 And they reject it over and over again. 00:27:55.260 --> 00:27:59.940 And so he abandons them to that hardness. 00:27:59.941 --> 00:28:03.210 That's a truth that happens to many of us. 00:28:03.240 --> 00:28:10.740 You know, in some ways-- maybe this is a poor illustration, but it's kind of like me sitting on a plane, waiting for the plane to take off. 00:28:10.740 --> 00:28:14.250 Maybe you can relate if you fly a lot. 00:28:14.250 --> 00:28:19.859 You know, before the plane takes off, what is the FAA's mandate that has to happen? 00:28:19.861 --> 00:28:37.589 The flight attendant has to get on the loudspeaker, and they give that little speech about the safety features of the plane and what's going to happen if you have a midair disaster and what's going to happen if you have a water landing and all those terrible things that you really don't want to think about. 00:28:37.590 --> 00:28:40.319 And why does the FAA mandate that? 00:28:40.320 --> 00:28:42.059 It's to save lives. 00:28:42.660 --> 00:28:44.579 It's for our good, but what do most of us do? 00:28:44.580 --> 00:28:46.079 Or at least you know, being honest here. 00:28:46.079 --> 00:28:47.099 What do I do? 00:28:47.799 --> 00:28:51.480 I've heard that so many times that I tune that out. 00:28:51.900 --> 00:29:01.680 I start a book or I put on headphones and I start listening to something or I talk to the person beside me or I just stare out the window. 00:29:02.220 --> 00:29:11.519 And I have ignored that so many times, on so many flights, that I'm afraid someday, they're actually going to change that message, and there's going to be something really important in there. 00:29:11.710 --> 00:29:17.640 I'm going to totally miss it, because I just go into this natural habit of tuning it out. 00:29:19.359 --> 00:29:20.519 That's you and me spiritually. 00:29:21.450 --> 00:29:21.960 All right? 00:29:22.380 --> 00:29:25.589 What we hear, what is in God's truth? 00:29:25.920 --> 00:29:46.180 The truth about the Kingdom of God and what it means to be an insider and the frightful reality of what it means to be an outsider is to save our souls, but when we tune it out over and over again, when we push it off because it's uncomfortable, we don't want to hear it. 00:29:46.180 --> 00:29:48.460 It doesn't fit with what our culture is saying. 00:29:48.461 --> 00:29:51.309 It doesn't fit with our personal desires. 00:29:51.549 --> 00:29:54.880 We have this way of becoming more and more callous to it. 00:29:54.881 --> 00:30:06.099 What was happening in Isaiah's day, what was happening in Jesus's day, happens in our day, and that brings me back to why Jesus taught in parables. 00:30:06.970 --> 00:30:13.539 Jesus teaches in parables because it reveals the state of our hearts. 00:30:13.540 --> 00:30:21.369 Jesus teaches in parables because, if you are an outsider, a parable is going to make that very apparent to you. 00:30:21.640 --> 00:30:24.460 Outsiders have no patience for parables. 00:30:24.789 --> 00:30:26.470 Oh, that was an interesting story. 00:30:26.529 --> 00:30:27.460 What's for lunch today? 00:30:27.609 --> 00:30:30.400 Where are we going for lunch after church today? 00:30:32.019 --> 00:30:43.380 Outsiders have no tolerance for something that is not easily explained and practical and they can quickly apply to their lives. 00:30:43.589 --> 00:30:49.960 Insiders hear a parable and they don't understand it, but they mull it over, and they want answers to it. 00:30:50.799 --> 00:30:59.710 Insiders are really-- what we see are those who, verse 9,"they have ears to hear." And so they want to hear. 00:30:59.711 --> 00:31:01.660 That doesn't mean they have perfect understanding. 00:31:01.759 --> 00:31:02.019 It doesn't. 00:31:02.049 --> 00:31:02.650 They don't. 00:31:02.799 --> 00:31:04.180 We don't. 00:31:04.180 --> 00:31:05.710 But it means,"Wait a minute, what was that? 00:31:05.711 --> 00:31:15.250 What did that mean?" Insiders are those, verse 10, like those with the 12 who asked him about the parables. 00:31:15.250 --> 00:31:20.589 And yes, he isn't physically here for us to ask him, but insiders want to pursue him. 00:31:20.590 --> 00:31:23.069 "Jesus, what did you mean by that? 00:31:23.109 --> 00:31:37.000 How do we understand through the Holy Spirit what that means?" Do you get the sense here that Jesus wasn't trying to make it easy and comfortable to follow him? 00:31:37.000 --> 00:31:58.420 I mean, Jesus is attractional in the sense that when he was on Earth, people wanted to come and see him, but he was not attractional in the sense of,"Hey, I'm going to speak in the most compelling way, and I'm going to tell good jokes, and I'm going to give funny anecdotes, and I'm going to give memorable one-liners, and I'm going to be that kind of speaker." No. 00:31:58.421 --> 00:32:07.660 Jesus taught in a way that exposed whether you are really serious about following him or not. 00:32:07.661 --> 00:32:20.829 If you're just curious, if you're just there for the show, for the bread and the fish and the feeding of the 5,000 and the 4,000, if you're just there for the miracles, you're going to walk away from Jesus's teaching. 00:32:20.830 --> 00:32:22.240 That's exactly what happened. 00:32:22.390 --> 00:32:23.230 What do we see? 00:32:23.259 --> 00:32:31.960 He gives, in those first nine verses, he gives the parable, but he doesn't give the explanation, and most of the people leave. 00:32:32.829 --> 00:32:40.319 It's not until verses 9 and 10 that a few, his disciples say,"Jesus, about these parables. 00:32:40.339 --> 00:32:49.549 What did you mean, and why are you teaching?" Jesus interprets the parables for us. 00:32:49.599 --> 00:32:59.240 We can't understand the parables without his interpretation, but here is the good news: Jesus enlightens all of us who seek him. 00:32:59.869 --> 00:33:05.990 Jesus gives us the interpretation as we seek him, and that's what we're going to see over the next couple of weeks. 00:33:06.710 --> 00:33:08.029 Let me close with this. 00:33:08.869 --> 00:33:23.900 If you're here this morning, and you have at least the inkling that you may not be an insider yet-- I wasn't an insider for many years in my life-- that you may be an outsider, and you want to be an insider. 00:33:24.049 --> 00:33:28.250 Here's the good news:"outsiders" is not a static category. 00:33:28.880 --> 00:33:32.210 Outsiders become insiders by the grace of God. 00:33:32.630 --> 00:33:36.529 You can become an insider even today. 00:33:37.339 --> 00:33:40.279 How do outsiders become insiders? 00:33:40.280 --> 00:33:42.200 Let me give you more good news. 00:33:42.440 --> 00:33:48.559 Outsiders don't become insiders by natural intelligence or goodness. 00:33:48.560 --> 00:33:48.710 All right? 00:33:48.711 --> 00:33:50.420 It's not a matter of IQ. 00:33:50.421 --> 00:33:52.609 It's not a matter of whether you went to Bible college or seminary. 00:33:53.359 --> 00:33:56.750 It's not a matter of whether you've read the right books. 00:33:56.750 --> 00:34:01.099 It's not a matter of whether you think of yourself as a naturally good person. 00:34:01.130 --> 00:34:07.130 The understanding of the mystery of the Kingdom of God is given to you. 00:34:07.970 --> 00:34:11.059 It is an act of grace by God. 00:34:11.659 --> 00:34:25.400 It is an act where Jesus unlocks the mystery of the Kingdom of God for you, not because of you, not in response to anything you have done, just by you being open to it. 00:34:25.849 --> 00:34:27.380 Here's more good news. 00:34:28.429 --> 00:34:33.230 Outsiders become insiders not by discovering secret information. 00:34:33.639 --> 00:34:40.639 There've been sects and cults all through the history of Christianity that claim to have found some special, secret information. 00:34:41.150 --> 00:34:43.670 In fact, there was a book out a while ago called The Secrets. 00:34:43.670 --> 00:34:48.829 You know, that if you read this, you know, you were enlightened about the way to succeed in life. 00:34:48.831 --> 00:34:50.329 It is nothing like this. 00:34:50.539 --> 00:34:52.519 It is not for a select few. 00:34:52.889 --> 00:34:55.639 All outsiders can become insiders. 00:34:55.840 --> 00:34:57.590 It is open to everyone. 00:34:58.099 --> 00:34:59.750 And here's more good news. 00:35:00.170 --> 00:35:03.679 It is not by resolving all questions and doubts. 00:35:03.681 --> 00:35:05.599 You don't have to have everything figured out. 00:35:05.630 --> 00:35:10.099 I don't have everything figured out and never will in this life. 00:35:10.550 --> 00:35:16.670 The disciples certainly didn't understand everything that Jesus was teaching, and they were with him 24/7. 00:35:16.670 --> 00:35:24.769 They were often baffled and confused by what Jesus taught them, but they continued to follow him. 00:35:24.771 --> 00:35:27.199 They continued to seek him. 00:35:27.201 --> 00:35:28.460 They continued to ask. 00:35:28.460 --> 00:35:32.210 They continued to listen, and that's what we do. 00:35:32.210 --> 00:35:33.849 We continue to follow him. 00:35:33.851 --> 00:35:34.969 We continue to seek him. 00:35:34.971 --> 00:35:35.719 We continue to ask. 00:35:35.721 --> 00:35:36.769 We continue to listen. 00:35:36.771 --> 00:35:40.760 Let me make it personal as we close. 00:35:41.480 --> 00:36:03.920 The next weeks and probably next couple months are going to be many, many parables, and as you come, if you come, and we get into the parables over the next few weeks, will you be like me, the bad airline passenger that sits during the flight attendant's announcement and tunes out and talks to your seat-mate and thinks about what's coming after the flight? 00:36:04.610 --> 00:36:06.170 You know, where am I going for lunch? 00:36:06.170 --> 00:36:09.829 What do I have to accomplish this afternoon or this week? 00:36:10.789 --> 00:36:13.159 Or will you heed Jesus's command? 00:36:13.161 --> 00:36:21.559 His command in verse 3, to"listen", his command in verse 9, to"have ears to hear". 00:36:21.561 --> 00:36:32.900 Will you open your mind and your heart to receive a greater understanding of the mystery of the Kingdom of God that Jesus wants to reveal to you? 00:36:32.900 --> 00:36:44.690 He wants you to respond to as much of him as you understand with as much of yourself as you can. 00:36:44.690 --> 00:36:49.039 Outsiders become insiders by God's grace. 00:36:49.041 --> 00:36:52.639 The mystery of the kingdom is given to you. 00:36:52.641 --> 00:36:57.320 You and I, we can't earn it, and we don't deserve it. 00:36:57.320 --> 00:37:04.820 God gives it to us out of his great mercy and his lovingkindness. 00:37:05.119 --> 00:37:11.809 Outsiders become insiders by seeking and listening and following after Jesus. 00:37:11.840 --> 00:37:18.500 "Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face. 00:37:18.500 --> 00:37:31.280 And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace." Let's pray. 00:37:32.099 --> 00:37:32.900 Jesus, you amaze us. 00:37:32.900 --> 00:37:32.900 I keep coming back 00:37:33.000 --> 00:37:36.710 to that word that Mark uses over and over again. 00:37:36.769 --> 00:37:48.170 As people heard you and saw you and experienced you, they were amazed, and once again, we are amazed. 00:37:48.170 --> 00:37:54.699 Lord, I pray for those this morning who may be here and have some inkling that they are outsiders. 00:37:54.710 --> 00:38:11.449 And I pray, Lord, that one, you'd encourage them, that that is not a static, frozen category, that maybe even one of the reasons they're here this morning is you are drawing them, like my wife Cindy's young friend. 00:38:11.451 --> 00:38:19.219 You are drawing them from whatever background they are at, from being an outsider to an insider. 00:38:19.849 --> 00:38:21.050 May they respond, Lord. 00:38:21.409 --> 00:38:28.639 May they respond to as much as they understand of you with as much of themselves as they can. 00:38:28.641 --> 00:38:35.440 And Lord, I pray for those of us who were once outsiders and only by your grace are now insiders. 00:38:35.440 --> 00:38:39.130 We are often like the disciples, Lord. 00:38:39.429 --> 00:38:42.190 We're often confused and befuddled. 00:38:42.190 --> 00:38:56.289 We often don't understand both what you teach and what you're allowing to happen in our lives, and I pray, Lord, you'd give us more and more grace to listen and give us ears to hear. 00:38:56.291 --> 00:38:59.530 Help us to see you more clearly. 00:38:59.530 --> 00:39:02.199 Help us to love you more dearly. 00:39:02.201 --> 00:39:05.469 Help us to follow you more nearly day by day. 00:39:05.469 --> 00:39:05.469 Amen.