WEBVTT 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:12.800 This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota. 00:00:18.480 --> 00:00:29.359 Charles Dickens' novel, A Tale of Two Cities, begins with the famous line that you can likely quote. 00:00:30.640 --> 00:00:36.640 It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:48.799 The story sets its focus on the cities of London and Paris, just before and during the French Revolution, the end of the 1700s. 00:00:49.039 --> 00:00:55.439 The book's opening line is famous, but it is well worth reading more. 00:00:57.119 --> 00:01:00.960 Consider, as an example, just the first sentence. 00:01:01.119 --> 00:01:06.640 And I'm convinced that Charles Dickens borrowed from the Apostle Paul, because it's a long run-on sentence. 00:01:09.439 --> 00:01:11.359 It was the best of times. 00:01:11.760 --> 00:01:13.519 It was the worst of times. 00:01:14.560 --> 00:01:16.560 It was the age of wisdom. 00:01:16.959 --> 00:01:20.000 It was the age of foolishness. 00:01:20.640 --> 00:01:22.719 It was the epoch of belief. 00:01:23.519 --> 00:01:26.159 It was the epoch of incredulity. 00:01:27.359 --> 00:01:29.439 It was the season of light. 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:32.319 It was the season of darkness. 00:01:33.040 --> 00:01:35.120 It was a spring of hope. 00:01:35.599 --> 00:01:37.760 It was the winter of despair. 00:01:38.319 --> 00:01:40.719 We had everything before us. 00:01:41.840 --> 00:01:44.480 We had nothing before us. 00:01:45.599 --> 00:01:48.640 We were all going direct to heaven. 00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:53.040 We were all going direct the other way. 00:01:54.480 --> 00:02:09.360 In short, the period was so far like the present period that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received for good or evil in a superlative degree of comparison only. 00:02:12.159 --> 00:02:20.639 One of the enduring qualities of Dickens' novel is that it is eerily reminiscent of nearly any period of human history. 00:02:21.520 --> 00:02:32.400 And if you listened closely to that sentence I just read, you likely felt at some level as though Dickens was describing our times. 00:02:33.599 --> 00:02:35.919 We live in an era of superlatives. 00:02:36.080 --> 00:02:41.840 There's no acceptance of a middle position, no middle ground, no mediating place. 00:02:43.280 --> 00:02:46.000 It's all in or it's all out. 00:02:47.520 --> 00:02:51.919 And we observe regularly people switching extremes. 00:02:54.240 --> 00:03:02.479 Well-known people who have claimed Christ and lived as Christians are jumping ship. 00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:08.479 People who grew up in the church are realizing they don't hold to those beliefs. 00:03:09.680 --> 00:03:19.360 And yet others are finding that the only place for hope in a dark and hopeless world is in Christ alone. 00:03:21.360 --> 00:03:26.240 We're in a world of extremes, and there are many similarities in the New Testament world as well. 00:03:26.560 --> 00:03:34.639 It was the best of times because Jesus the Messiah was present, and faith in him brought hope and healing. 00:03:35.919 --> 00:03:37.919 But it was the worst of times. 00:03:38.400 --> 00:03:43.199 Full of darkness and foolishness and despair. 00:04:37.600 --> 00:04:42.639 And Jesus told them many things in parables, saying, A sower went out to sow. 00:04:42.959 --> 00:04:48.240 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 00:04:48.639 --> 00:04:56.079 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil. 00:04:56.240 --> 00:05:01.519 But when the sun rose they were scorched, since they had no root, they withered away. 00:05:01.839 --> 00:05:05.920 Other seeds fell among thorns, and thorns grew up and choked them. 00:05:06.399 --> 00:05:13.360 Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:16.879 He who has ears, let him hear. 00:05:17.519 --> 00:05:22.720 Then the disciples came to Jesus and said, Why do you speak to them in parables? 00:05:23.199 --> 00:05:30.560 And he answered, To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 00:05:30.959 --> 00:05:39.120 For to the one who has more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 00:05:39.759 --> 00:05:42.560 This is why I speak to them in parables. 00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:48.800 Because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 00:05:49.360 --> 00:06:01.759 Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, that says, You will indeed hear, but never understand, and you will indeed see, but never perceive. 00:06:02.319 --> 00:06:14.959 For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them. 00:06:16.160 --> 00:06:21.759 But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. 00:06:22.319 --> 00:06:33.600 For truly I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see and did not see it, and to hear what you hear and did not hear it. 00:06:34.639 --> 00:06:36.959 Hear then the parable of the sower. 00:06:38.079 --> 00:06:47.680 When any one 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. 00:06:48.240 --> 00:06:51.600 This is what was sown along the path. 00:06:52.480 --> 00:07:07.040 As for what was sown on the rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet 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. 00:07:07.839 --> 00:07:18.560 As for what was sown among 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. 00:07:19.759 --> 00:07:26.160 As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. 00:07:26.560 --> 00:07:34.800 He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty. 00:07:35.120 --> 00:07:35.759 Amen. 00:07:36.240 --> 00:07:44.160 You can see that this is all one section, with the parable at the beginning and the explanation of the parable at the end. 00:07:45.279 --> 00:07:52.720 Verse 19 gives us the interpretive key to all that we've just read. 00:07:53.519 --> 00:08:00.480 Verse 19 says that the parable is about the word of Christ's kingdom. 00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:15.680 See, the word of the kingdom, Jesus said, is planted, is sown into the hearts and the souls of people, just as a farmer would take seed and sow it into the soil of his fields. 00:08:16.560 --> 00:08:20.399 Jesus gave a title himself to this parable in verse 18. 00:08:20.639 --> 00:08:23.279 He calls it the parable of the sower. 00:08:24.639 --> 00:08:32.559 So as much as we want to know about other details in the parable, we have to understand that Jesus tells us right off the bat, this is what it's about. 00:08:32.639 --> 00:08:35.120 It's about me, it's about Jesus. 00:08:35.840 --> 00:08:39.759 He is the sower, he says later in verse 37. 00:08:40.240 --> 00:08:42.720 He is the one who is putting out the seed. 00:08:42.879 --> 00:08:52.960 So, whatever takeaways we might have from this passage of Scripture, it's important to see that it's not about us, it's about Jesus. 00:08:53.759 --> 00:09:02.080 It's about the person and the work of Jesus, the king, proclaiming the good news about his kingdom. 00:09:02.480 --> 00:09:07.279 And it's about the result of that work of sowing the seed of his kingdom. 00:09:07.360 --> 00:09:09.360 Now, here's how we're going to approach this. 00:09:09.600 --> 00:09:16.159 It's been so long since we've been in Matthew that we're going to need to take a few moments and recount where we are. 00:09:16.559 --> 00:09:26.000 Then we're going to look at the proclaimed word, then at the planted word, and finally at the productive word. 00:09:27.279 --> 00:09:33.200 But I'm going to make you come back next week because we're only going to be able to cover the first point this morning. 00:09:34.080 --> 00:09:40.879 Going to be able to cover the proclaimed word, then we'll finish it next Sunday with the planted word and the productive word. 00:09:41.120 --> 00:09:46.639 Now think with me, where have we been so far in the Gospel of Matthew? 00:09:47.039 --> 00:09:54.559 Well, first, we need to understand that Matthew, like the other Gospels, is written kind of like a biography. 00:09:54.799 --> 00:10:00.240 It's someone writing a story about the life of somebody else. 00:10:01.120 --> 00:10:17.600 So the former tax collector ditched his financially lucrative employment with the foreign government occupying his people's land, all because he became personally convinced that Jesus was the promised Messiah. 00:10:18.639 --> 00:10:22.639 At some point in his life, he wrote all about it. 00:10:22.879 --> 00:10:27.679 Except it's not about Matthew, it's about Jesus. 00:10:28.559 --> 00:10:35.360 That's why Matthew took great pains in the first four chapters to tell us all about Jesus' background. 00:10:35.840 --> 00:10:38.559 We were shown first Jesus' royal lineage, right? 00:10:39.120 --> 00:10:48.960 In that list of names in the first chapter, Matthew showing by proof that this individual has the right to rule on the throne of David. 00:10:49.679 --> 00:10:54.159 We're shown his divine conception and birth. 00:10:54.720 --> 00:11:01.039 There were some stories about a handful of foreigners believing in his birth announcement. 00:11:02.480 --> 00:11:06.639 All while local royalty tried to have him killed. 00:11:08.240 --> 00:11:14.080 All because God sent his promised Messiah to save his people from their sins. 00:11:14.799 --> 00:11:16.639 And that's only the beginning. 00:11:16.960 --> 00:11:24.000 Matthew's biography then jumps near the time of Jesus being 30 years old. 00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:30.879 And it was then, Matthew wrote, that Jesus announced that the promised kingdom of the Messiah was present and that he was king. 00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:33.279 And he said, Repent, for the kingdom is here. 00:11:35.360 --> 00:11:42.159 Now, if you're Jewish, you would understand that an announcement like that comes with all kinds of qualifications. 00:11:43.039 --> 00:11:49.440 Hundreds of years had passed since God had finished detailing all that would be fulfilled in the Messiah. 00:11:49.759 --> 00:11:53.039 So his people had had some idea of what to expect. 00:11:53.200 --> 00:11:54.879 So what does Matthew do? 00:11:55.200 --> 00:12:05.919 Well, any good biographer, he gives us great detail about how Jesus fulfilled one prophetic expectation after another, after another, after another, and so on. 00:12:06.320 --> 00:12:09.600 But things started getting a little rocky along the way. 00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:16.720 Because over time people had started to develop their own ideas about what a Messiah should and should not look like. 00:12:17.519 --> 00:12:22.960 They started to have their own convictions about what a Messiah should do and what a Messiah should be. 00:12:24.320 --> 00:12:37.519 And Matthew shows us that the common perspective was that while Jesus did many, many great things, in the minds of most people, it just wasn't conclusive that Jesus was the Messiah. 00:12:38.480 --> 00:12:40.399 But many still wondered. 00:12:41.279 --> 00:12:48.159 And that began to lead to pushback, especially among the religious rulers, the religious elite of the Jewish people. 00:12:48.240 --> 00:12:57.679 And we have to understand that for them, that meant not just religious leaders in the sense of you go to the synagogue and you see your religious leaders there. 00:12:57.919 --> 00:13:01.679 But the religious leaders in the New Testament were also political leaders. 00:13:02.080 --> 00:13:03.679 They were judicial leaders. 00:13:03.840 --> 00:13:12.000 The scribes, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees functioned all across the spectrum from religious to judicial to political elements. 00:13:12.480 --> 00:13:20.480 So while King Herod tried to have Jesus killed, the combined Jewish leaders worked to debunk Jesus. 00:13:21.600 --> 00:13:24.159 And you thought fact-checkers were new. 00:13:26.799 --> 00:13:30.080 They were the biblical version of today's fact-checkers. 00:13:30.720 --> 00:13:35.759 But at every turn, Jesus outwitted them by pointing back to their scriptures. 00:13:35.919 --> 00:13:40.960 Again and again, Jesus said, Open up your Bible and let the scriptures decide. 00:13:42.799 --> 00:13:46.159 At one point, Jesus sent his disciples out on a training exercise. 00:13:46.320 --> 00:13:48.480 You can see that in chapter 10. 00:13:49.440 --> 00:14:01.360 He told them to go out and proclaim the good news of his kingdom, saying that the king is here, but he warned them that the reception that they would receive would be less than stellar. 00:14:03.039 --> 00:14:05.600 Maybe even worse than a one-star hotel. 00:14:13.679 --> 00:14:17.440 You're going to be dragged away, and you're going to be beaten. 00:14:18.960 --> 00:14:26.159 Jesus said that his ambassadors, his followers, his disciples should expect to receive the same kind of treatment that he received. 00:14:26.639 --> 00:14:34.639 Now, if we're paying attention in Matthew's biography along the way, we might begin to feel that increase of tension inside of us. 00:14:35.679 --> 00:14:47.200 That's especially apparent when we get to chapter 11 and verse 6, where Jesus says to his disciples, And blessed is anyone who is not offended by me. 00:14:47.440 --> 00:14:48.799 Now wait a minute. 00:14:49.200 --> 00:14:50.960 Offended by Jesus? 00:14:51.600 --> 00:14:55.279 This is the guy who feeds 5,000 people, just drop of a hat. 00:14:55.360 --> 00:14:57.440 How can anybody be offended by that? 00:14:58.480 --> 00:15:02.320 We might ask, why would anyone be offended by Jesus? 00:15:02.639 --> 00:15:12.879 Sure, some didn't like him, some didn't think he met the expectations that they wanted, and many didn't think he acted like a Messiah or did what Messiah should do. 00:15:14.960 --> 00:15:25.840 But still, Jesus says that the ones who are not offended, the ones who are not stumbling because of him, receive a blessing. 00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:33.200 And those who who are offended do not receive a blessing. 00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:39.759 Just a little later, after that, Jesus made an astounding statement in chapter 11, verse 27. 00:15:40.960 --> 00:15:44.080 Actually, beginning back further than that in verse 25. 00:15:44.480 --> 00:15:54.720 At that time Jesus declared, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children. 00:15:55.759 --> 00:15:58.000 So he's flipping the script, right? 00:15:58.960 --> 00:16:02.159 Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 00:16:02.320 --> 00:16:04.879 Literally, this was well pleasing to you. 00:16:05.919 --> 00:16:17.679 All things have been handed over to me, Jesus says, by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and to anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 00:16:18.960 --> 00:16:22.799 Jesus is the Son of God, not a mere human Messiah. 00:16:23.039 --> 00:16:32.320 Jesus possesses all authority, such that the only ones who are not offended by him are those to whom he chooses to reveal the Father. 00:16:34.879 --> 00:16:38.080 And then Jesus says, Come to me. 00:16:38.320 --> 00:16:39.200 That's a command. 00:16:39.360 --> 00:16:40.399 Come to me. 00:16:41.120 --> 00:16:45.440 All who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 00:16:46.480 --> 00:16:49.200 Another command, take my yoke upon you. 00:16:49.759 --> 00:16:51.919 And a third command, and learn from me. 00:16:52.159 --> 00:16:58.399 Be my disciple, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 00:16:58.720 --> 00:17:00.799 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. 00:17:00.879 --> 00:17:02.399 Who would be offended by that? 00:17:03.759 --> 00:17:05.759 Why would you take offense at that? 00:17:06.240 --> 00:17:20.559 But when we put it with verse 27, we begin to see that those to whom Jesus reveals the Father are the ones who hear the commands to come, to take his yoke, and to learn. 00:17:20.880 --> 00:17:27.759 These are the ones who experience his gentleness and his lowliness, the heart of Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God. 00:17:27.920 --> 00:17:29.119 Isn't that wonderful? 00:17:29.359 --> 00:17:30.480 It is wonderful. 00:17:30.640 --> 00:17:33.279 That's the grace of God in action. 00:17:33.920 --> 00:17:44.240 Because the grace of God steps into a Romans chapter 1 world where everyone is trouncing on the truth, the revelation of God, and he says, I'm not going to let all of you do that. 00:17:47.039 --> 00:17:49.039 Well, most of you are offended by me. 00:17:49.119 --> 00:17:53.200 I'm going to rescue some of you, but the reality is that many still stumble. 00:17:54.480 --> 00:18:02.079 Jesus revealed himself as the Son of God and the Lord of the Sabbath in chapter 12, but the reaction of the leadership was to seek to destroy him. 00:18:03.039 --> 00:18:05.039 Chapter 12, verse 41. 00:18:08.880 --> 00:18:10.400 Sorry, verse 14. 00:18:10.640 --> 00:18:12.079 Flipped it around there. 00:18:13.759 --> 00:18:16.960 Pharisees went out and conspired against Jesus. 00:18:17.279 --> 00:18:18.640 How to destroy him. 00:18:19.920 --> 00:18:29.359 But Matthew's biographical response to that is to say, wait a minute, but Scripture says this, this, this, and this from Isaiah chapter 42. 00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:33.519 That's chapter 12 of Matthew, verse 18 and following. 00:18:33.759 --> 00:18:39.200 Matthew shows from Isaiah how Jesus is the one that Isaiah said to expect. 00:18:39.519 --> 00:18:43.599 The one in whom even non-Jewish people would find their hope. 00:18:43.839 --> 00:18:46.319 So how do the people respond to that? 00:18:46.559 --> 00:18:51.279 Verse 23 of chapter 12, can this be the Son of David? 00:18:52.400 --> 00:18:55.359 Is this really the one we've been waiting for? 00:18:56.880 --> 00:18:59.119 Is this Jesus the Messiah? 00:18:59.279 --> 00:19:02.559 But but the Pharisees come along and say, ha, hardly. 00:19:03.519 --> 00:19:05.519 He's colluding with Satan. 00:19:06.079 --> 00:19:12.160 Sure, he casts out demons, but he but he doesn't do it our way, which shows that he's working with Satan. 00:19:14.319 --> 00:19:14.960 Really? 00:19:16.559 --> 00:19:17.680 How does that make sense? 00:19:18.400 --> 00:19:19.359 You see the polarization? 00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:20.960 We're in extremes here. 00:19:22.000 --> 00:19:28.559 Jesus then shows his authority with some condemning statements beginning in verse 34 You brood of vipers. 00:19:28.640 --> 00:19:30.960 How can you speak good when you are evil? 00:19:32.640 --> 00:19:39.680 Notice it's the one who has all authority from the Father, who possesses all authority, who makes a declaration, you are evil. 00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:42.559 To these people. 00:19:45.200 --> 00:19:55.839 And then as if it couldn't get any worse, Jesus calls those who refuse to believe in him in verse 39 an evil, an adulterous generation. 00:19:59.440 --> 00:20:04.880 If they were listening, that would have been a stab. 00:20:05.839 --> 00:20:11.279 See that phrase, evil and adulterous generation, is taken directly from the Old Testament book of Hosea. 00:20:12.400 --> 00:20:16.559 Jesus quotes the Greek translation of God's words to Hosea. 00:20:17.519 --> 00:20:18.319 Exactly. 00:20:18.960 --> 00:20:22.079 Do you remember the story of Hosea's life and ministry? 00:20:23.279 --> 00:20:25.200 Hosea was a prophet. 00:20:25.759 --> 00:20:30.400 And he was given a command by God to go out and to marry a prostitute. 00:20:31.359 --> 00:20:38.480 And God told Hosea, this woman that you're going to marry will not be faithful to you or to your marriage. 00:20:39.680 --> 00:20:46.400 She would not be faithful, Hosea was told, because she loved evil and adultery. 00:20:46.799 --> 00:20:52.480 So that woman, her name was Gomer, pictured Israel at the time. 00:20:53.119 --> 00:20:57.440 God's relationship to the nation of Israel was pictured like a marriage. 00:20:57.599 --> 00:21:03.519 And Israel was not faithful to her husband, to God, because she loved evil more than God. 00:21:03.680 --> 00:21:08.480 She loved prostituting herself to false gods more than she loved God Himself. 00:21:08.799 --> 00:21:15.920 So Jesus deliberately quotes that phrase from Hosea as a picture of those who refused to believe in him. 00:21:16.640 --> 00:21:24.799 They refused him because they loved evil and spiritual adultery more than they loved the God who sent his Son to save them from their sin. 00:21:26.799 --> 00:21:30.960 They chose their sin over Jesus. 00:21:31.519 --> 00:21:33.920 Now it's important to see the whole picture here. 00:21:34.640 --> 00:21:38.319 So we put this in the context of our whole Bible. 00:21:39.119 --> 00:21:43.920 This is the point towards which all of earth history has been moving. 00:21:44.960 --> 00:21:52.240 This is the time of which God spoke when he told Eve that one would come who would crush the head of the serpent. 00:21:53.119 --> 00:21:59.680 This is the one of whom Moses spoke when he said that a scepter, an item of rule would rise out of Judah. 00:22:00.559 --> 00:22:02.720 One to rule over Israel. 00:22:03.039 --> 00:22:04.880 One who would be a prophet like Moses. 00:22:05.200 --> 00:22:07.680 This is the son of God of whom David sang. 00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:11.599 This is the one of whom Solomon opined in his wisdom. 00:22:11.759 --> 00:22:13.200 This is Isaiah's servant. 00:22:13.359 --> 00:22:16.720 This is Jeremiah's shepherd, come to redeem his people. 00:22:17.039 --> 00:22:21.839 This is the greater Hosea come to take his people home for good. 00:22:22.160 --> 00:22:30.400 God sent his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law of sin and death. 00:22:31.119 --> 00:22:34.319 And they said, You've got to be crazy. 00:22:36.000 --> 00:22:39.440 No, we want our evil and adulterous lifestyle. 00:22:39.759 --> 00:22:41.920 You must be working with Satan. 00:22:46.640 --> 00:22:54.079 You might think that the cross and the crucifixion is the low point of the gospel account. 00:22:55.279 --> 00:22:56.319 But it's not. 00:22:58.640 --> 00:23:02.319 The cross is divine victory. 00:23:03.440 --> 00:23:05.759 It's the payment of the sin debt. 00:23:06.480 --> 00:23:13.200 It's the releasing of the chains of slavery to sin and death because Christ rose from the dead. 00:23:14.160 --> 00:23:17.440 No, that's not the low point of the gospel account. 00:23:18.559 --> 00:23:22.960 This is the low point of the gospel account. 00:23:25.519 --> 00:23:28.880 Israel is Gomer. 00:23:31.519 --> 00:23:38.400 Her husband had come to forgive her sins and take her home and give her a new heart that would love him. 00:23:40.640 --> 00:23:42.079 And she said no. 00:23:43.839 --> 00:23:46.240 Horace, John puts it in his gospel. 00:23:47.359 --> 00:23:51.680 Jesus came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 00:23:53.839 --> 00:23:56.319 But that's not the end of the story, is it? 00:23:57.759 --> 00:24:06.960 The biography continues, and John himself would say in the very next sentence in John chapter 1, but to all who did receive him. 00:24:07.440 --> 00:24:08.720 What does it mean to receive him? 00:24:08.960 --> 00:24:10.799 Who believed in his name. 00:24:11.119 --> 00:24:12.559 He gave authority. 00:24:12.720 --> 00:24:14.000 How can he give authority? 00:24:14.079 --> 00:24:15.920 Because all authority has been given to him. 00:24:16.240 --> 00:24:23.680 He gives the authority to all who believe in him to become, to be, in reality, children of God. 00:24:24.079 --> 00:24:27.039 And that's what the end of Matthew chapter 12 shows us. 00:24:27.279 --> 00:24:34.559 Jesus says forever, whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother. 00:24:34.720 --> 00:24:37.359 The will of God is to believe in Jesus. 00:24:37.839 --> 00:24:47.680 The will of God is to hear the command of Jesus to come, to take up his yoke, and to follow him and to be his disciple, to learn from him. 00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:53.039 But the picture in the biography is bleak. 00:24:55.200 --> 00:24:57.200 Few are believing. 00:24:57.519 --> 00:24:59.759 Most are rejecting. 00:25:02.319 --> 00:25:04.240 It was the best of times. 00:25:05.039 --> 00:25:06.880 It was the worst of times. 00:25:08.240 --> 00:25:12.960 It was the age of wisdom and the age of foolishness. 00:25:14.960 --> 00:25:28.319 So Jesus takes a seat in a boat, anchored just a few feet out from shore, while the beach fills up with people eager to see what this miracle machine would put out next. 00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:32.640 And Jesus preaches. 00:25:34.400 --> 00:25:41.839 He tells stories called parables about the Word of God, the Word of the Kingdom, the good news of Jesus, the King. 00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:47.519 And as these parables come from the lips of the King, it separates people. 00:25:47.599 --> 00:25:49.440 It causes division. 00:25:50.400 --> 00:25:53.440 It's like a truth that splits friends and families. 00:25:53.680 --> 00:25:57.359 Some people have a sense of interest that leads them closer. 00:25:58.000 --> 00:26:00.480 They hear what Jesus says and they want to know more. 00:26:00.640 --> 00:26:01.759 They want to understand more. 00:26:01.920 --> 00:26:05.599 It's like being drawn in by the reel of a fisherman. 00:26:06.640 --> 00:26:11.519 And eventually they are led to faith in Jesus, to believe in him, to become a child of God. 00:26:11.680 --> 00:26:21.119 Others have a sense of interest that draws them closer until the miracle machine stops producing and then they go home. 00:26:22.160 --> 00:26:31.759 Others have a sense of interest that leads them closer to Jesus until they conclude that he's just a madman, claiming to be the Son of God, and then they leave. 00:26:33.039 --> 00:26:37.039 Then there are those who think that he's delusional from the very beginning. 00:26:39.279 --> 00:26:58.079 And those who leave him all return to their evil and adulterous lives, saying no to the husband who would forgive their sins, relieve their bonds, give them new hearts to love him, and take them home forever. 00:26:59.519 --> 00:27:17.279 You see, the parables confirm, on the one hand, the hard-heartedness of those who refuse to believe, those who choose their evil and adulterous lives, and the parables also confirm those to whom the Son has revealed the Father. 00:27:20.079 --> 00:27:29.599 And he told them many things in parables, saying, A sower went out to sow, and as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 00:27:29.759 --> 00:27:33.200 Other seeds fell on rocky ground where they did not have much soil. 00:27:33.519 --> 00:27:41.920 And immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched, and since they had no root, they withered away. 00:27:42.319 --> 00:27:46.079 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 00:27:47.039 --> 00:27:54.559 Other seeds fell on good soil and produced fruit, grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 00:27:55.039 --> 00:27:59.039 See, the word of God is sown by the sower. 00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:09.200 But as the harvest nears and the plants grow, the farmer is interested only in the plants that produce fruit. 00:28:10.799 --> 00:28:18.319 As a farmer, as as a sower, your livelihood is in the fruit and the produce. 00:28:18.799 --> 00:28:25.039 You needed the produce from that seed to live, to have seed for next year's planting. 00:28:25.279 --> 00:28:29.839 Your life depended on the output of the seed that you planted. 00:28:31.119 --> 00:28:39.839 And in that situation and in those circumstances that Jesus is describing, which set or sets of sown seed are what the farmer is looking for? 00:28:41.839 --> 00:28:43.680 Only the last one, right? 00:28:44.079 --> 00:28:47.920 Only the one that actually produces fruit. 00:28:48.559 --> 00:28:53.599 The farmer isn't interested in the seed that sprouts up and dies without producing grain. 00:28:53.839 --> 00:28:58.319 And we're not talking here about the process of growing, we're talking about just the end result. 00:28:59.839 --> 00:29:04.240 He's not interested in the stock in the midst of the thorns if it has no head of grain. 00:29:04.720 --> 00:29:07.440 All he cares about is the seed that produces more grain. 00:29:07.599 --> 00:29:13.039 If that's not what he cares about, then he's not going to be a farmer for very long, nor will he be alive for very long. 00:29:15.839 --> 00:29:19.279 In the parable, there are two general types of soil. 00:29:19.599 --> 00:29:27.119 There's soil that produces fruitful grain and soil that does not, and all that matters to the farmer is the soil that produces more grain. 00:29:27.440 --> 00:29:29.920 He who has ears to hear. 00:29:31.119 --> 00:29:32.160 Let him hear. 00:29:34.319 --> 00:29:36.480 Now that's a motivating response. 00:29:38.640 --> 00:29:42.880 The four gospels detail mostly negative responses to Jesus. 00:29:43.119 --> 00:29:48.559 Many hear the word of the kingdom that comes into their ears, and the end result is they want to kill the Son of God. 00:29:48.720 --> 00:29:49.759 They want him destroyed. 00:29:49.839 --> 00:29:54.480 They want him gone because he interrupts their evil and adulterous lifestyle. 00:29:54.640 --> 00:29:57.759 But those who do hear and are interested pursue more. 00:29:57.920 --> 00:29:58.640 They want more. 00:29:58.799 --> 00:30:00.240 They seek the kingdom of heaven. 00:30:00.400 --> 00:30:07.200 They seek to know more, beginning to believe that these things are true, and they begin to understand, and so the word divides. 00:30:08.160 --> 00:30:14.799 That's why Jesus says in verse 14, some will indeed hear, but never understand. 00:30:15.599 --> 00:30:20.160 And some will be blessed because they hear and understand it. 00:30:20.319 --> 00:30:25.759 The good soil, then, in verse 23, is the person who hears the word of God and understands it. 00:30:25.920 --> 00:30:26.960 That's very clear. 00:30:27.119 --> 00:30:29.440 But what does it mean to understand it? 00:30:31.599 --> 00:30:39.920 It means to see Jesus in Matthew's biography as the fulfillment of all that God promised. 00:30:41.599 --> 00:30:48.640 And to come, and to take his yoke upon you and to learn from him. 00:30:49.759 --> 00:30:51.119 What does that mean? 00:30:51.440 --> 00:31:03.359 It means to let the proclaimed word of God, that seed that Jesus puts out, to lead you to know and understand Jesus. 00:31:04.000 --> 00:31:21.599 He is the one who was not content to let you wallow in your evil and adulterous hearts, but who came to seek you out, to call you to himself, to reveal the Father to you, so that you might believe in him, receive forgiveness in his name, and follow him home where there is rest forever. 00:31:22.480 --> 00:31:26.799 That is what the sown seed of the Word of God is empowered to do. 00:31:27.119 --> 00:31:35.039 It divides because it confirms some in unbelief and it leads others into further fruitfulness and knowledge of Jesus. 00:31:38.000 --> 00:31:44.720 Now, before we conclude, I'd like to spend just a moment considering the significance for us. 00:31:47.599 --> 00:31:57.359 If you haven't jettisoned your sinful life to follow Jesus, do so right now. 00:31:59.920 --> 00:32:01.279 Believe in him. 00:32:02.079 --> 00:32:04.960 Confess him as your Lord and Savior. 00:32:06.720 --> 00:32:07.359 Come. 00:32:08.240 --> 00:32:11.359 Take his yoke upon you and learn from him. 00:32:12.640 --> 00:32:15.119 Because he's gentle and lowly in heart. 00:32:16.799 --> 00:32:21.359 Now most here this morning are likely already followers of Jesus. 00:32:21.599 --> 00:32:25.599 And you've been so for many years, some of you for multiple decades. 00:32:27.839 --> 00:32:38.640 The most direct significance of this text to you is the significance of the Lord's grace. 00:32:41.519 --> 00:32:45.039 Like Hosea with Gomer. 00:32:46.240 --> 00:32:52.880 Christ came to to seek us out and to save us from our wretchedness. 00:32:54.480 --> 00:32:56.240 He called our names. 00:32:58.400 --> 00:33:00.160 He gave us life. 00:33:01.519 --> 00:33:03.440 He forgave our sins. 00:33:04.319 --> 00:33:08.880 And he renewed our hearts to love him and to know him. 00:33:10.160 --> 00:33:11.599 And to walk with him. 00:33:13.440 --> 00:33:14.720 What grace. 00:33:15.839 --> 00:33:16.960 What grace. 00:33:17.759 --> 00:33:21.519 You will never know that grace fully. 00:33:22.799 --> 00:33:24.720 Just let it pour over you. 00:33:27.039 --> 00:33:33.039 Yet at the same time, our hearts can still mirror the kinds of soils that are listed here, can't they? 00:33:34.559 --> 00:33:35.920 Yes, we are. 00:33:36.160 --> 00:33:37.039 We are forgiven. 00:33:37.119 --> 00:33:41.119 We stand before Him in faith, forgiven, cleansed. 00:33:41.279 --> 00:33:43.920 There is therefore now no condemnation. 00:33:46.640 --> 00:33:53.680 But even though our faith rests firmly in Jesus, our hearts can still be hard to the Word of God, can't they? 00:33:56.240 --> 00:33:58.079 Oh, preacher, now you're meddling. 00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:02.480 We start to squirm, don't we? 00:34:04.720 --> 00:34:15.199 Maybe we let the cares of the world creep in and steal away the effectiveness of the Word of God in the soil of our souls. 00:34:17.119 --> 00:34:19.440 We squirm a little bit more, don't we? 00:34:20.880 --> 00:34:43.679 Maybe we're letting Satan speak lies to our souls that like those weeds that grow up around the stock of wheat and leach away the nutrients, Satan's lies begin to leach the power of the word so that we hear it, but there's not effectiveness left for us. 00:34:44.480 --> 00:34:50.719 Maybe we're holding back some secret area of pleasure or sin from the Lord's work. 00:34:54.880 --> 00:34:57.360 See, this is why we need the Lord to come back. 00:34:58.639 --> 00:35:01.519 Because he's not done with his redeeming work yet. 00:35:03.440 --> 00:35:04.719 The kingdom has begun. 00:35:04.880 --> 00:35:06.800 It's started, he's doing his work. 00:35:07.199 --> 00:35:09.599 The fact that you're here is evidence of that. 00:35:10.480 --> 00:35:12.880 But he's still working in us, isn't he? 00:35:13.840 --> 00:35:31.760 And this is why we need to gather together to hear the word of God preached, because it's when the word of God is proclaimed that Christ takes that seed and he puts it in the soil, and he brings out effective fruit from it. 00:35:33.440 --> 00:35:35.360 So glad you're here today. 00:35:36.079 --> 00:35:49.199 To participate in that, to grow together in the Lord's grace as we seek to know him more, as we seek to understand him more clearly. 00:35:50.159 --> 00:35:54.639 Because that is evidence that we hear the word of God. 00:35:55.199 --> 00:36:00.559 And as we hear and we understand, that grows and begins to produce fruit. 00:36:00.880 --> 00:36:06.079 May our prayer be that the sower of the seed gives us ears to hear. 00:36:06.320 --> 00:36:11.599 Lord Jesus, we come and we bow before you, seeking your grace and your mercy. 00:36:12.000 --> 00:36:13.280 So thankful. 00:36:14.400 --> 00:36:38.480 So thankful that you did not consider the glories of heaven something to be held on to at all costs, but you you set it aside to take on the form of a human being, to die a death on a cross, to be a condemned person, so that we may be made right before you. 00:36:39.119 --> 00:36:41.039 What grace, what mercy. 00:36:41.679 --> 00:37:01.360 We come before you seeking to know you more, asking that your spirit would, through our fellowship, through our opening of your word, to cause us to grow, to fruitfulness from the implanted word that saves our souls. 00:37:01.679 --> 00:37:02.320 Amen. 00:37:03.280 --> 00:37:06.960 That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church. 00:37:07.199 --> 00:37:14.079 Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus. 00:37:14.320 --> 00:37:18.400 You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.