Matthew chapter 13. I grew up in a church, or a church that I grew up in, at least I told someone a few days ago that it was 20 years, but it's probably more like 15 years they had no baptisms. Sometimes you would have new people come to the church here and there, but you would have no baptisms. But baptisms does show the health of a church. It does show that what's being taught is indeed piercing the heart. And so when we see churches, when we see baptisms, we should be encouraged. As Christians, we should be reminded of our profession of faith. There are unbelievers. You should see the reality of what it means to come to faith in Christ. You heard that four times just now, four times of what it means to be a Christian. Praise God for that. And praise God for those four people who have made that profession, and as far as we can tell, indeed profess or possess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew chapter 13, let's read the first 17 verses. 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 set down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. 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. 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. But when the sun rose, they were scorched, and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear. Then the disciples came and said to him, why do you speak to them in parables? And he answered them, to you it has been granted or given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 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. This is why I speak to them in parables. Because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. Indeed, in their case, the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says, you will indeed hear, but never understand. You will indeed see, but never perceive. 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 in turn, and I would heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. 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. Let's pray. Father, as we have sang, so we ask that you will speak and that we will hear, that you will speak this evening, that we will know our Savior better, that we may know you better, We look forward to the day when the whole earth is filled with your glory, when Christ comes to reign. But while we wait, we seek growth, growth in the things of your word, that we would see spiritual growth in our lives, that sin would be conquered, that sin would be put to death in our lives. that we would look more like Christ. So we ask this now, in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. When we sing a song like Speak, O Lord, we sing it differently. Different people sing the song differently. Not just in their pitch and their tone. Obviously, some people sing it speak oh lord because i want to hear because i want to grow because i want to i want to learn i want to be more like christ they sing that song with the reality that i need to hear from god and others sing that song because well that was the next song because they said stand and sing with us and so we we sing In the same way, we approach the Bible in different ways as well. Some people approach the Bible and they say, Lord, show me what's in here from you. I need you to open up my eyes, to open up your word to me that I can receive it and that I can be something more than what I am, something that you have to make me. But I can only get there as you show me what's in your word, as you reveal more of me of who you are and who Christ is. Other people open the Bible and it's no different from them opening Beowulf or the Republic or the Emancipation Proclamation or any other book on there. on their shelf. I was talking to Adam a few days ago and he was saying that when he works, the work he does, he goes into people's houses and he says he always looks at their bookshelf. He finds out a lot about them by their bookshelf. And he said he went into one house and he saw a Christian book. He didn't tell me the title of it, but it was a Christian book. And he was somewhat encouraged, so he looked at every other book on the shelf that was not Christian books. They were things against God's Word. And so he was for a moment encouraged, but then he realized that he wasn't just because he saw someone who had an interest in God's Word, he didn't have someone who had a necessity for God's Word. When we come to chapter 13, we come to a transition in the ministry of Jesus. He has been teaching. Even before him, John the Baptist, they have been teaching, saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God, is at hand. It is here. It is at your doorstep. respond in repentance to this. The only way to respond to the message of the kingdom, to the gospel of the kingdom, it is called, is through repentance. And he preaches this. John the Baptist preaches this. John the Baptist is put in prison. In chapter 4 of Matthew, it says Jesus picks up exactly where he leaves off. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And he preaches this over and over to the crowds, to the multitudes. He teaches on it, he preaches on it, he demonstrates it in his miracles. And we get all the way to chapter 11, and what we find out is that the people are rejecting it. John the Baptist, the greatest Old Covenant prophet who had lived, this great man who had demonstrated in his life that indeed he was the Elijah who was to come, that had been prophesied in the Old Testament. He had come in the way that it was said he would come. He had preached the message that the king is here. And they say he's crazy. He has a demon. Jesus comes, and he comes among the crowd, and he eats what they eat, and they invite him into his house, and he goes into their house, and he goes where they are, and they say that he is a glutton and a drunkard. And so Jesus says that, Woe is you, for you will not repent. The message is that the kingdom is here, and the response is repentance. That is the response, the logical response, to the reality of the gospel. And yet, they would not repent. Now, it wasn't that they just didn't repent, but it's that they resisted. They resisted, and we know in chapter 12 of Matthew that they even were willing to say that what Jesus was doing in his miracles and his healings, showing the power of the Holy Spirit in his life, that they said, indeed, this is the work of Satan himself. That was their response to Jesus' work. And Jesus called this the unpardonable sin. The unpardonable sin. A sin that would not be forgiven. They would not repent of it, and they would not be forgiven of it. So we get to chapter 13, and as we look at chapter 13, we find Jesus once again going out to teach the crowds. He's teaching the crowds as he has done through his ministry. He's continuing to talk to them about the kingdom. We see in chapter 13, verse 1, that same day connecting it with the day before where they had blasphemed the Holy Spirit And even to the end of chapter 12 where he is in a house and he is teaching and his own family comes to him and they want to speak with him. We know from the Gospel of Mark that they thought he was crazy because he was going without food and without water just so he could speak to people and minister to people the gospel of the kingdom. But Jesus confronts that and he makes a separation then and says there's only two types of people. No longer is it my family and everyone else, but now everything will be divided by those who do the will of the Father and those who do not. That is how everyone will be divided and still is divided in the eyes of Jesus Christ himself. that same day when they have rejected him at a large scale, when he has warned them of the reality of that rejection and what it will mean for them in the future, when he has drawn a clear line that only those who embrace him and do the will of his father are truly his family, that same day, chapter 13, begins with. That same day, Jesus went out of the house. What house? Probably a house in Capernaum. Possibly Peter's house, maybe, or maybe not. Maybe just a house that he had made a home base for himself. But he went out of this house. He went, once again, knowing that the multitudes would come to him to hear from him. And he went and sat beside the sea. And the crowds did exactly what they often did. And great crowds, many crowds, multitudes of crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and set down. Pushed himself a little ways off the water, sits down in the boat. That was common of rabbis, of teachers in that day. to sit while the congregation stood. And he takes that seat and says, the whole crowd stood on the beach. What is he going to teach us today? What is Jesus going to say to us today? And he does teach them. He begins to teach them as he has in the past. But notice verse 3 that he doesn't teach them the same way. Verse 3, and he told them many things in parables. Saying a sower went out to sow. Who was the sower? We don't know. If you put yourself back there, you can imagine them hearing this. If I got up today and said, I want to tell you a story, and I told you the story, and I said, well, that's our sermon for today, you would be quite shocked and maybe even confused. But Jesus begins with a parable. A sower went out to sow. They would have understood this imagery. They would have understood sowing and planting seed and all these types of things that would have been common in their culture. A sower went out to sow, and as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Where is this? We don't know. How did the seed get on the path? Was it carelessness of the sower? We don't know. It doesn't really even matter to the story. And other seeds, verse 5, fell on rocky ground where they did not have much soil 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. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, he must, literally, he must hear." Well, you can imagine hearing that and thinking, it sounds like a good story. Sounds interesting. What in the world is he talking about? Why do we need to hear the story? There are no questions, there are no comments, there are no interruptions. You wonder if they made their own application to the story. Maybe someone's sitting there and they're saying, oh, that's interesting. Yeah, you know what? I should check my garden because I probably do have some weeds I need to pull up. Someone else is saying, yeah, you know what? I shouldn't be wasting seed. That's not a good thing. I'm wasting profit. They make it up what they want to, but they don't ask any questions. They make no comments. Whatever they are thinking, they have no real interest in really understanding what Jesus is getting at. for most of them. What we see in verse 10 is that the disciples are interested. Beyond just a general level of interest, they are trying to figure out what is going on. Verse 10, the disciples came and said to him, Why do you speak to them in parables? That is the question. Why do you speak to them in parables? Why not teach them clearly like you have before? We heard the Sermon on the Mount, right? The Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are those who are poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Those who mourn, who are meek, and on and on. There were no riddles, there were no stories of this type. Now the question is not this that they ask. The question is not, why do you speak or why are you using parables in your teaching? We know that Jesus has already used parables. Back in chapter 7, he gets to the end of the Sermon on the Mount and he says this in verse 24, everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock." He goes on to give the rest of that, what we could call a parable. Or chapter 9, when he's asked about fasting, verse 15, "...and Jesus said to them, Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them." And then they will not fast. He goes on to talk about an unstrung cloth and an old garment, using parabolic language. Or 1225, when he talks about the parable of the kingdom, a kingdom or a city or a house divided against itself. Jesus has taught this way before. So that's not the issue. It's not, why are you using parables? The issue is this, is why are you using parables exclusively? Exclusively. Once again, verse 3. There's no context, there's no teaching. He begins his sermon, a sore went out to sow. And he ends it, he who has ears, he must hear. Jesus, this is a little confusing for us. The issue is not using parables. The issue is that there's no context in which to understand why the parables are being used. Parables are used and they were used in that time to give understanding of teaching. But there is no other teaching. The only teaching they receive is the parables themselves. Without any context, he's not answering a question. He is simply giving parables. No basis on which the crowds can, therefore, interpret what he is saying, what he is trying to communicate. Once again, the point of parables is to some teaching that you are engaging in is to put a story alongside of it in order to shed light on the truth that you're trying to communicate. That shouldn't surprise us. We do the same thing oftentimes with illustrations. We tell stories and stories that will help us understand the truth that someone is trying to tell us. We all do this. We all like this. We like to hear stories, as long as we get the point of them. But what is the point here? What is the point? Well, what is a parable? What is a parable? Let me answer that. Let me give you a definition. I would tell you who I stole it from, but I don't remember. Here's the definition. Parables are stories that are based on principles of reality. Now, let me break this down for you, principles of reality. In other words, Jesus didn't say, a sower went out to jump on a unicorn, right? Or a sower looked up and saw aliens, right? He would never use that kind of language. He uses principles of reality, things that could happen. But it's not a real scenario, it's a fictional scenario. So it never actually happened, it's just a scenario created out of something that could happen. out of principles of reality, in order to communicate a truth. That's what they do. That's what they do, to communicate one truth, or one main truth. They only have one meaning, not several meanings, we'll talk about that more next week, but that's what they do. But note this, parables put the responsibility on the people who are listening to understand. Parables are a way to engage the people you're speaking and saying, okay, come with me. You make the connection from one to the other. Not in some subjective way that I'll do that however it feels good to me or however it relates in my life. I think of before I really heard clear teaching on the prodigal son. The prodigal son was all kinds of things. I mean, he was a wayward believer. He was an unbeliever. He was a good believer. He's all kinds of things. I even heard, well, I didn't hear, I heard about a sermon that someone preached on the prodigal mother. Have you heard of the prodigal mother? I hope not. And if you do, just leave. Just leave. It's not the place you want to be. People do all kinds of things with parables, but they only have one meaning, and that meaning is connected or comes from the one who is communicating it to us, and for us this is Jesus himself. But the responsibility to follow him falls on us. That's why he says in verse 9, he who has ears, he must hear. You must make the connection that I am drawing out. Not the one you want to be there, not the one that fits your life, but the one that he is drawing out. So if you don't understand, Then you do one of two things. You go back and look at the teaching he's giving and saying, okay, what am I missing in the context? Or you do what the disciples do in verse 10 and you go ask the one who gave the parable, what do you mean? Why are you speaking in parables? And later on in verse 36, then he left the crowds and went into the house and the disciples came to him saying, explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field. In other words, we don't understand this, help us. Help us follow your thought process here. But the responsibility is on the people who hear. That's why when you get to verse 10, the problem is that more people are not there. Who was there? The disciples. Who was not there? The rest of the crowds. If they were confused on why he was speaking in parables, and no doubt they were, or they should have been, if they didn't understand the point of the parable and we'll find out that they didn't, then why didn't they come to the teacher? Why didn't they come to find out more about what he is communicating? Why weren't they seeking the truth? Why didn't someone raise their hand when he was in the boat and say, help us understand what you're saying? Give us understanding. Because they weren't seeking the same thing that the disciples were seeking. They didn't have the same interests. So Jesus responds. Verses 11 through 17. Jesus responds to the disciples as they asked a good question. Why this change in your ministry? Why from clear teaching to now speaking in parables? They understood the problem here. They understood that this would keep truth from other people or from them even if they didn't follow along with what he was saying. But Jesus responds to this. Why are you not giving everyone directly the truth? Why are you not doing that? And that's the answer that Jesus will give in verses 11 through 17. Why parables or the purpose of parables Well, here we go. What is Jesus doing here? Well, he's recognizing, verse 11, God's prerogative to give revelation or to reveal truth. Verse 11, 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. In other words, some people are giving truth and some people are not. And the fact that they say it is given means that it's not ultimately up to them. So Jesus separates them into two categories, those who will receive and those who will not receive, those who it is given and those who it's not given to them. This shouldn't surprise us because a few chapters ago, Jesus had said something very similar back in chapter 11, verse 25. 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." He is thanking the Father that he has hidden some things to some people and revealed them to others. Verse 26, Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him. So the Father trusts Jesus to reveal what He wants revealed to the people He wants it revealed to. It is God's prerogative, it is God's choice, it is God's choosing of who He will reveal truth to. It is up to him. When Peter has this great confession in chapter 16, Jesus will respond, flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my father who is in heaven. He revealed it to you. It wasn't Peter's intellect. It wasn't because Peter was smarter than someone else. It was because of God's choosing to reveal what he wants revealed to who he wants revealed to. Jesus says, to you it has been given, to them it has not. Who is you as disciples, who are them as the crowds, those who were interested in a good teacher, but were not interested in repenting, finding themselves poor in spirit to receive the kingdom of heaven. Well, what is it that he is revealing specifically here to you? It has been granted to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven. This word secret doesn't mean something mysterious or something obscure. It doesn't mean something that just can't be known altogether or that is subjective. It means something that just hasn't been made known by God in the Bible. In other words, there's something that God has not said, and the only way man will find out is if God tells him. Those things that we find out in the epistles of Paul are those things that were hidden under the old covenant that were now revealed in the new covenant in Christ. They are divine secrets that he reveals to whom he chooses. Paul uses this word to refer to the partial hardening of Israel. and the salvation of Gentiles. It's the things that unbelievers cannot comprehend. It is the reality that Gentiles would be able to participate in the promises of the gospel. and will be included in the church. The mysteries, many mysteries, many multifaceted, and that's why we have a chapter full of parables here, because there are many facets of what God has to reveal to his people. The mysteries of the kingdom, and it's God's choice, it's God's prerogative to reveal truth to whoever he wills, and will do so through Christ. We've been talking about this now in the last few Sundays, the last few weeks, that God doesn't owe us revelation. God doesn't owe us truth. God doesn't owe us even any knowledge of Himself. He has given it to that, and there's a general knowledge. We know this, that if we just look up in the sky, every man should realize that, I didn't make that, and nobody I know did. We can't reach that high. It's amazing. We get to the moon and we're like, can you imagine we went to the moon? And then we keep looking and realize, well, that was actually pretty close. It goes a lot further than that. Things we could never reach. And so everyone has a general knowledge of God. A knowledge of him, that he is powerful, that he has wisdom, that he likes order. These types of things. But he's revealed even more to man, hasn't he? He revealed the truth of the gospel, as Jesus has to this point, telling man to repent, and that's the way you be made right with God. That is all man. He has given this to them. He has shown it to them. He has shined it in their eyes. He has pointed them this way. He has told them about it, to receive this truth. But there's some things that not everyone will receive. In God's choosing, who will and will not receive, He's not withholding all things from them. But we find out He does withhold some things from some people. Well, you say, well, what does He withhold from some people? Well, we keep going and we find that out in verse 12. that not only is it God's prerogative in revealing truth, but it is an underlying principle, a principle, a divine principle, we could even say, of receiving truth. And here's the principle, here's the principle by which God is operating on, that he has established. In verse 12, for 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. If you have not only knowledge, but understanding, if you have faith, if you are believing it, if you are receptive, then you will receive more. If you reject it, if you push away from that which God reveals, then he will take away what you have. That's the principle. That's the principle. For those who have heard Jesus' teaching, who have followed his ministry, who have believed in him, who have responded to him, who have become his disciples, they will receive more of the teaching of the kingdom. They will receive more of who God is and what he is doing. Not only more, but notice what he says there, and he will have an abundance. God will give them more truths than they would ever imagine. more and more truth of what he is doing in this world, more and more truth of who he is, as they believe, as they receive, as they are receptive to the truth, he will give them more truth. He will open up their eyes to more. How much more? An abundance more. An abundance more. So much so that we're still reading and studying the Bible after many, many years, and there's still more to study. God will give them an overflow of truth. Those who hunger and thirst for the truth that is known of Christ and of God, God will give them more and He will continue to do so. They will have the treasures of knowledge of God given to them. But the opposite is true. That if you are told, if you hear and you will not receive it, you will not be receptive, then God will withhold. There are consequences to rejecting truth. We're not just talking about 2 plus 2 equals 4, even though there's consequences to that. Or rejecting the truth of gravity, there can be consequences to that. But rejecting the truth concerning who Christ is and the kingdom that he will be back to establish. Whoever does not have The one who doesn't have what? Who doesn't have faith. Who will not receive it. Who will not hear what they are hearing. Who will not see what they are seeing. What will happen to them, even what he has, will be taken away. Even what he has will be taken away. They think they have, and even the little they think they know, or they may even know, They will not keep. Luke 8, 18, Jesus says it this way, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away. He thinks he understands some of it, but when you reject truth, none of it will be kept. It can't be kept, because it can't be understood. He doesn't even have what he thinks he knows. He thinks he knows truth, he thinks he understands things, and he does not. So as people believe the truth, that they've received, God gives them more, and they will know more of Himself. And God gives as much truth as someone is willing to receive. So if someone rejects truth, then they'll have it pulled away from them. They'll have it pulled away from them. That's the principle. That's the principle that God is working under. that there's a responsibility of every person when they hear the gospel, when they hear the truth of the Bible, to respond in obedience and faith in Christ. And as we hear, if we don't keep, if we don't respond, then our hearts are hardened to the truth. And this is why they're spoken to the disciples and not to the rest of the crowd. This is why he speaks to them in parables, but he speaks to his disciples particularly. He gives them understanding of that which may be confusing to them. You can receive it, they can't, because you are receiving it and they are not. That is the principle that God is working under. It is God's prerogative. He has set a principle in place that if someone receives truth, more truth will be given. If they will not receive truth, He will take it away from them. That should cause us to pause there and think about that. What am I doing with the truth I have received? What am I doing with it? Am I living it out? Do I truly believe it? Or am I here because, well, this is where other people are. I'm used to going, but I'm really not responding in faith. I'm really not responding in obedience. Sometimes I wonder if this is why people find their daily devotions of reading dry. They're like, I read this book, but I don't get anything out of it. Maybe because you haven't done anything with what you've already known about this book. So there's nothing else that God's going to open up your eyes to. Also, verses 13 through 15, not only is this God's prerogative, not only is there an underlying principle, but there's a devastating peril to rejecting truth. Look at verse 13. This is why I speak to them in parables. We see the negative side here. We'll see the positive side a little bit later on in verses 34 and 35. But here's more of the negative focus here. This is why I speak to them in parables. Because seeing they do not see. Because in hearing they do not hear. Nor do they understand. 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. For this people's heart has grown dull. with their ears they can barely hear and their eyes they have noticed us, not just seen but they have closed. They have closed less, they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn and I would heal them." The issue, verse 13, is that they see but they really don't see, they hear but they really don't understand. They hear, but it doesn't challenge their thinking. They don't let it affect what they do. It doesn't challenge their practice, how they live their lives. They haven't done anything in response to what they have heard. What is true hearing? True hearing, and we'll see this very much in this chapter, true hearing is responding in obedience. True hearing bears fruit. True hearing embraces the gospel with joy and doesn't turn back. But they do not respond that way. Why don't they? Well, because they're like their forefathers, verse 14 and 15. Indeed, in their case, the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says, you will indeed hear, but never understand. You will indeed see, but never perceive. They're just like their forefathers. That comes from Isaiah 6, 9 and 10. And Jeremiah says the same thing. I mean, Isaiah's writing a while before Jeremiah comes on the scene. But here, Jeremiah's words, it uses the same general language. Jeremiah 5, 20, declared this in the house of Jacob, proclaiming in Judah, hear this, O foolish and senseless people who have eyes but see not, who have ears but hear not. Do you not fear me, declares the Lord? Do you not tremble before me? I place the sand as the boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass. Though the waves toss, they cannot prevail. Though they roar, they cannot pass over it. But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart. They have turned aside and gone astray. That's the people. That's a description of the people that Jesus is talking about. And Jesus' generation was just like those before him who would not hear, who would not see, who would not take advantage of the opportunity that they had to embrace the truths that God had given them. You know Isaiah 6, don't you? If you've been in church, you know Isaiah 6. What happens in Isaiah 6 is Isaiah's call to the ministry, isn't it? The year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, what, high and lifted up? This image of the sovereign Lord on His throne? He saw. And then He heard, didn't He? He heard those who were saying, holy, holy, holy. He understood. How do we know he saw? That he didn't just see, but he actually saw, and he didn't just hear, but he understood? Because of his response. I am a man of unclean lips. He saw, he heard, he understood, and he responded. We could say in repentance. Lord, this is who I am. I am wretched before you. I am filthy before you. That is what he saw. And Israel's problem, and any person's problem, who does not receive the gospel, is that they do not see what Isaiah saw. It wasn't that Israel was to see this vision that Isaiah saw. They should have looked at the way God had dealt with them and their history, and they should have seen his glory in that. They should have understood that he was holy. He told them he was holy. He acted in a way that proved he was holy, and they should have known that about them. But they did not respond that way. They see but don't see. And people in Jesus' day, they saw but they didn't see. They saw a man. They saw a good teacher. They saw someone who may even be a prophet. But they didn't see the Son of God. Or the Son of Man. Or their Savior. Or their King. They saw a good guy. who was a good teacher. They saw someone they would be willing to get up and listen to, but they didn't see someone that they were willing to give their life to. They heard his message, they heard him speak as one who has authority, but they didn't understand that he is who he says he is, what he says is indeed true. They heard, they saw, but they did not respond in faith. Because their hearts were hard. Notice at the end of verse 15, and understand with their heart and turn. It's a word that basically means repent. They didn't change their mind, they didn't change their direction, so that God could deal favorably with them. You say, well wait, is it that Jesus spoke in parables because they rejected Him, or because they wouldn't hear Him, or did they not hear Him because He spoke in parables because they couldn't understand? And the answer is yes, both sides. They wouldn't hear, he spoke in parables so that they wouldn't hear anymore. They wouldn't understand, they wouldn't embrace what he was saying, so he spoke in parables so that they wouldn't understand anymore. They kept it, or he kept it from them. Mark says it this way, Mark 4, And notice this, Mark 4, 11. And he said to them, to you has been given the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything is in parables, so that, or in order that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven. Their willful rejection was Jesus' willful rejection of them. They could have been healed, they could have received the blessings of the kingdom, but they would not because their hearts have been hardened towards Christ. Their hearts have been hardened towards Christ, so they saw a man, they heard a message, but they didn't see glory. They didn't see the glory that came from this man. Whose fault was it? It was their fault. It was their fault. They rejected. So their judgment is that they get no more. They get no more. Well, he ends this with the glorious privilege of receiving truth. It says in verse 16, but blessed are your eyes, for they see, or because they see, and your ears, because they hear. Blessed, the same language he uses in the Sermon on the Mount, blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who meek, hunger and thirst for righteousness. Blessed are your eyes. They are favorable, they are fortunate, they are indeed can see those things that others cannot see. What is the blessing that they have? Verse 17, for truly I say to you that many prophets and many righteous people long to see what you see and did not see it and to hear what you hear and did not hear it. We read Hebrews chapter 11 and we hear over and over the story of people who looked forward to the time of the Messiah, who looked forward to the coming of the Kingdom, who couldn't wait for these things. They wrote these things, Isaiah and Ezekiel and Daniel, and over and over. We have these people who wrote these things, and they had an understanding of what they were writing, but they realized that they were writing something in the future. that they themselves were not going to see in this lifetime. They understood that. 1 Peter chapter 1, concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours, searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating. When he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the consequent glories, it was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preach the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. The Old Testament, for those who are true believers, are full of people who look forward to say, I want to see Jesus. Did they know his name was Jesus? No, but they knew he was a Messiah. They knew he would be the seed of a woman. They knew that he would be the son of man. They knew that he would be a suffering servant. They knew he would be a glorious king. And Jesus is saying, you are blessed because you see me. You don't just see me, but you see me. That you have received me and my teaching. That which many have longed to look for. I was thinking earlier, I was thinking maybe the best time to ever live would have been the time of Christ. to be one of his disciples and to walk around and to hear him teach. I mean, if we'd announced at the end of morning service, Jesus would be here teaching. I mean, yeah, he would have had to preach from up there because we would have filled the whole balcony and people outside like it was in his day. If he was truly here on earth now. They don't live in the best time. We do. We do. The time when Jesus was on the earth was not the greatest time in history, believe it or not. Being with him on this earth was no doubt a glorious thing. But just read John 13 through 16, or through 17, and Jesus himself said, no, there's something better. It's for you to receive the Spirit, so that he can go and prepare a place. And now we sit here, if you are a Christian, as someone who is filled with the Spirit, someone who awaits his coming, someone who is empowered to do the work that he has set out for you to do, if you truly see and hear and receive. Why did Jesus speak in parables? He spoke because he wanted to reveal more of the kingdom to his disciples, and he wanted to conceal it to those who would not receive what he has said up to this point. That's why he spoke in parables. And that is true. The principle is true today. that if people will not hear, God reveals or conceals truth from them. We should not take it for granted. If you're hearing, you're not a Christian, you shouldn't take it for granted that you're here and say, well, I'll be back next Sunday. We heard testimonies of people who, before they were saved, And they would go to church here and there, and then they would realize that, maybe not this Sunday, or that Sunday. And then a pattern of life of like, I really don't want to go back. Because there's nothing there for them, they think. And yet you might die tonight. And that's the reality we live with. that God will withhold truth from those who reject him. That should cause us to really think, am I receptive? Not just do I like it, but am I receiving this as truth? And I'm receiving this if I'm coming to receive more of it, that I may understand more, that I may live more. If I'm not doing that, I should in no way think that I am actually seeing. Maybe you're seeing what you're not really seeing. Maybe this has been going on for a long time in your life where you have been hearing but not really understanding who Christ is. That is the danger you live in. That is the peril you live in. Don't do that. Receive him. Receive him. And do that now. Do that now. Father, we pray that if there are those who have not seen the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ in your Word, that you will reveal that to them in a new way. That he is not just a man, but that he is God. That he came as a servant, but he is also a king. that he is left but that he is coming back, that he died but that he is risen. Thank you, Lord, that you've given many of us eyes to see and ears to hear. We don't take that for granted because we know that it's true that which was said to Peter that flesh and blood didn't reveal any of this to us. This is your grace to your people. You have done this for us. Nothing of ourselves, only to You and in our Savior do we boast. Thank You for these truths in Your Word. In Jesus' name, Amen.