For a further day we meditate on the reason why the divine Word (Christ) had to become flesh and dwell among us. Suppose God had decided against an incarnation and instead had given us a book similar to the Bible as His highest revelation –what would be the result? We would attempt to read into those words our highest interpretation or meaning but nevertheless we would be greatly limited if not out of context. Take, for example, the word ‘purity’. If I read into that word my highest experience of purity, which, because of sin and human failure, must be partial and incomplete, I would still emerge with an impoverished understanding of the word. But what if I can see that word exemplified in a divine illustration? Now the word ‘purity’ is elucidated (make (something) clear; explain) by a Person who shares my temptations, minus my failures, and the word takes on a new and precise meaning. The same would happen with other words. Take the word ‘God’. Were it not for the incarnation I would interpret the word in the light of my imagination saying that God is just what you imagine, but now, because Christ has come and lived with men and they touched and ate with Him you can no longer say that God is an imagination, rather I look up through Lord Jesus, the Son of God, and I know without any shadow of doubt what God is like because Lord Jesus said anyone that has seen Me has seen the Father. The apostle Paul reminds us Who Lord Jesus is ‘[Now] He is the [a]exact likeness of the unseen God [the visible representation of the invisible]; He is the Firstborn of all creation.’ (Col. I:15) ‘Lord Jesus, said a little boy, ‘is the best photograph God ever took.’ He is. A lecturer in the Bible College I attended used to say something which startled me every time I heard it, until I pondered it and came to see that it was true. He said, ‘If God isn’t like Lord Jesus I am interested in Him.’ But we need not worry –God is like Lord Jesus. Our Savior has confirmed it. “Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say then, Show us the Father?” (John 14:9)

Now let us read Matthew 13:1-17; That same day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting beside the sea. 2 But such great crowds gathered about Him that He got into a boat and remained sitting there, while all the throng stood on the shore. 3 And He told them many things in parables (stories by way of illustration and comparison), saying, A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell by the roadside, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they had not much soil; and at once they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. 6 But when the sun rose, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they dried up and withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them out. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil, and yielded grain—some a hundred times as much as was sown, some sixty times as much, and some thirty. 9 He who has ears [to hear], let him be listening and let him [a]consider and [b]perceive and comprehend by hearing. 10 Then the disciples came to Him and said, Why do You speak to them in parables? 11 And He replied to them, To you it has been given to know the secrets and mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For whoever has [spiritual knowledge], to him will more be given and he will [c]be furnished richly so that he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 13 This is the reason that I speak to them in parables: because [d]having the power of seeing, they do not see; and [e]having the power of hearing, they do not hear, nor do they grasp and understand. 14 In them indeed is [f]the process of fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah, which says: You shall indeed hear and hear but never grasp and understand; and you shall indeed look and look but never see and perceive. 15 For this nation’s heart has grown gross (fat and dull), and their ears heavy and difficult of hearing, and their eyes they have tightly closed, lest they see and perceive with their eyes, and hear and comprehend the sense with their ears, and grasp and understand with their heart, and turn and I should heal them. 16 But blessed (happy, fortunate, and [g]to be envied) are your eyes because they do see, and your ears because they do hear. 17 Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous men [men who were upright and in right standing with God] yearned to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

How would you teach a crowd? The popularity of Lord Jesus has continued to grow. We are told in Matthew 13:1 that Lord Jesus is sitting by the sea and great crowds gathered around Him. In fact, the crowds become so massive that Lord Jesus gets into a boat that is nearby and sits in it. The whole crowd drew near and stood on the beach. This is your moment. You have a large crowd. You have your moment to teach the people. What are you going to tell them? What will be the teaching you will focus on? What should be said to the masses who have come? I want you to notice some of the things that Lord Jesus may have taught about as He sat in the boat looking at the people. Matthew 13:3 says that Lord Jesus told the crowds many parables. Lord Jesus told them spiritual stories. But I want you to consider that Lord Jesus did not preach simple parables with easy explanations, meaning and understanding. You might have noticed this when you studied the parables in the past. The parables are not always easy to understand. To illustrate this, Matthew records a parable about a sower in verses 3-9. This message of Matthew 13:1-17 can be divided into the following: • The Parable of the Sower (13:3-9) • Why Parables? (13:10-13) • Proving the Problem (13:14-15) • Why Disciples Understand (13:16-17) • So What About You? Why did you not understand whereas the disciples do? The Parable of the Sower (13:3-9) So listen to the parable of the sower. Lord Jesus says that a sower is casting seed. Some of the seeds fell on the road and birds ate those seeds. Some of the seeds fell on ground that was full of rocks and not much soil. So the seed sprouted, but since there was no depth of soil, the plant was scorched by the sun heat and withered away. Some of the seeds fell among thorns and the thorns grew around the plant and choked life out it and they died. Some seeds fell on good soil and produced grain. Some of the grain produced 100 times what was sown, some produced 60, and some 30. Then Lord Jesus ends the parable with these words. “He who has ears [to hear], let him be listening and let him [a]consider and [b]perceive and comprehend by hearing.” (13:9). That is it. That is the end of the teaching, no more no less! That is all Lord Jesus says. It is a strange story when left at this. There is a sower and he casts seeds that end up in different places bringing about different results. But then Lord Jesus ends by telling the people that they need to pay attention to what He just said. Why Parables? (13:10-13): Is this the way you would teach a crowd? Is this how you think you would capitalize on your teaching moment? It is not the way the disciples would teach the crowd. They are confused. They do not understand what Lord Jesus is doing. Notice in verse 10 that Lord Jesus’ disciples come to Him and ask, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” Why do you teach this way? Why are you telling parables to the crowds? Lord can’t You make the teaching simple so that the people would understand? Lord Jesus has a good reason for why He is teaching in this way. Verses 11-13 reveal what Lord Jesus is doing. First, Lord Jesus points out that His disciples already have an understanding that the crowds do not have. It has been given to them to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven. They have, and more will be given to them (13:12). More will be given to those who have and less will be given to those who do not have anything. What does Lord Jesus mean by this? We can better understand what Lord Jesus is saying here after we look at the rest of Lord Jesus’ answer. We do not want to misunderstand what Lord Jesus is proclaiming about the knowledge of His disciples. So we will come back to these verses shortly. Let’s look at the rest of Lord Jesus’ answer in verse 13. Lord Jesus says that the reason He is speaking to the crowds in parables is because they see but they do not see. They hear but they do not really hear or understand. Let me illustrate what this means. There are times when I am looking for a particular food in the pantry or the refrigerator. I am looking around and looking around and I can’t find what I am looking for. My wife will ask me what I am looking for and will in a moment find what I have spent so much time seeking but not finding. Why is she able to find what I am looking for and why was I unable to find what I was looking for? I was looking, right? Sure, but I was not really looking. I was not looking hard enough for it. If I really wanted it, then I would have started unloading the refrigerator until I found what I was looking for. But I was unwilling to do the unloading. In short, I was being lazy in my looking. It was not a careful looking. But my wife took her time to unload until she saw it! This is what Lord Jesus is saying about the people. They all think that they are looking, but they are not really looking. They all think that they are hearing, but they are not really hearing. They think they understand, but they really do not understand. Now that is quite an indictment. If my wife said that I was not really looking, then I would argue back that I was. I think that I am looking. But in truth, I was not looking in such a way to find what I was looking for. Lord Jesus is using this in a spiritual way. You really think you are looking but you really are not. You really think you are hearing but you really are not. You really think that you are understanding but you really are not. This is exactly the point with God’s people especially those with dwarf content of Christ, as compared with those who have active spirit whether good or bad because their active spirit aids/helps them in perceiving the things of the spiritual realms, making them to be at an added advantage to others. This is why God’s people should take this indictment of our Lord Jesus Christ very seriously!

Now Lord Jesus is going to prove what He is saying about the people by quoting from a prophecy from Prophet Isaiah. Isaiah spoke over 700 years earlier which said the same thing. Look at verses 14-15. Isaiah said that the people would see and hear but never really understand. Now Isaiah was not speaking about the first century in the days of Lord Jesus. Isaiah was speaking about his our own day and time. But Lord Jesus is showing that nothing has changed with the hearts of the people even since Isaiah’s time. These people, both those of Isaiah’s and those of Lord Jesus time even down to this our own time are acting in the same way. So why are they seeing and hearing but never understanding? Look at verse 15. The hearts of the people were dull. They had hard hearts. Further, their ears were hard of hearing too. They have deliberately closed their eyes. If this was not the case, then their eyes would see, their ears would hear, and their hearts would understand which would make it possible for Lord Jesus to heal them. This is exactly our problem and our case today, because we have deliberately dulled our hearts and ears and closed our eyes to the entry of God’s Word, then clear understanding becomes impossible and the Word--Christ that Heals cannot and no longer penetrate or permeate our being! Notice that Lord Jesus does not say that they cannot look. Rather, their hearts are dull, their ears are shut, and their eyes are closed. They are not looking and that is why they cannot be healed. If they would truly and deliberately open their eyes, open their ears, and open their hearts, then they would be able to see, hear, and understand and be healed. So we can now know why divine healing this day is very slow! So how does this explain why Lord Jesus is teaching in parables? Why would you use parables to talk to the crowds? Lord Jesus spoke in parables to see who would want to look deeper, who will put up more effort of attention to what He is saying. Lord Jesus spoke in parables to see who would want to try to understand what Lord Jesus is saying. Lord Jesus tells a spiritual story but ends it by asking, “Whoever has ears, let them hear.” In other words, who wants to understand what I just said? Who wants to figure out the important things I am teaching? Who wants to go beyond a surface level seeing and hearing? Remember that gold are only got when you dig deeper! What, Lord Jesus is not dumping down the gospel for the crowds. Rather, He is doing the opposite. Lord Jesus is telling God’s truths in such a way to see who will be dismissive (feeling or showing that something is unworthy of consideration) and who will want to try to understand. This is an important truth. Our mission is not to merely preach and teach the easy parts of God’s word. We must teach all of God’s word, even the hard parts. But what if the crowds don’t understand? What if people do not understand the harder books of the Bible or the harder teachings in the Bible? Do we see what Lord Jesus is saying? Lord Jesus is telling us that those who are really looking are going to try to understand and they are going to be serious in seeking. Those who are not truly looking are going to be dismissive and not seek to understand, they will want to walk away. Lord Jesus is using His complex parables to strain or sieve out the true seekers from those who think they are looking but are not really looking. Lord Jesus is sifting out who has dull hearts and closed eyes from those who really want to know. In what group do you think that you belong? Why Disciples Understand (13:16-17): Now look at what Lord Jesus says to His disciples in verses 16-17. They are blessed because their eyes truly see and their ears truly hear. These are the things that many prophets and righteous people were so desirous to see and understand. But the disciples are able to see and understand. Why? Because the disciples of Lord Jesus are the ones who go beyond a surface level seeking. The disciples of Lord Jesus are those who hear hard things and want to understand, not walk away. The disciples of Lord Jesus are those who are not turned off by depth of teaching but are patient enough in seeking to reach those depths in their spiritual understanding. Let me bring you back to verses 11-12. Why was it given to the disciples to understand the secrets of the kingdom? It was not because they had a special revelation or special insight or right. It was given to them to understand because they were truly seeking. They are the ones asking questions. They ask Lord Jesus why He is speaking in parables. They are the ones in verse 36 who come to Lord Jesus after telling a complex parable, asking for His explanation. They seek and, when teachings are hard, they ask. They really wanted to know more. Now verse 12 makes sense. Those who have been truly seeking and understand, more will be given. There is even more to grasp and God is going to give that to you when you are seeking for more. But to those who do not have, that is, who do not understand because they are not truly seeking, then even what you have will be taken away. You are never going to see, hear, or understand because you do not have the heart and patience to look harder and look deeper. The dismissive will miss out and lose even more. The challenged will seek and prove themselves to be His disciples. So What About You? So what about you? Lord Jesus did not make His teachings easy. There are concepts and teachings that require more than a minute of reflection. But Lord Jesus did this to see who is just surface level looking in the pantry and who is willing to unload the pantry to find understanding. In short, Lord Jesus is asking us to consider our hearts today. If we find Bible studies hard, then this is God challenging us to see if we have a heart that wants to know or if we are not really wanting to know. If we find sermons complex, not because the speaker is unclear, but because the concepts are difficult to grasp, then God is challenging us to see if we have a seeking heart or if just think we want to look and hear. God gave us hard books of the Bible, hard teachings, hard concepts, and amazing depth to His word so that we would know who we really are. Do we want to know about what God has to say about Himself in hard prophetic books like Ezekiel and Revelation? Or will we walk away because it is hard and we are not willing to unload the pantry to find His great truths inside? What about you? There are many people who think they are looking, but they are not really looking. Many people think they hear, but they are not really listening nor are they hearing. Many people think they understand, but they really are not understanding. When confronted with the complexity of God and His word, they are just going to walk away. Lord Jesus is looking for sincere seekers. Is that you? Can we help you learn more about Lord Jesus and His word? Can we help you truly see, truly hear, and truly understand? True disciples truly seek. God is not keeping you from understanding. Only you are. What about you?

About some time ago, several of the religious group went to the Jonathan Edwards conference in Minneapolis. When John Piper preached on Sunday morning, he described how God initiates salvation and shines into the heart of a believer "to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ," (2 Cor. 4:6). He told of how our eyes were blinded to the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ (2 Cor. 4:4). But, then, God breaks through the darkness, taking the blindness away, so that now we see! It is a sovereign work of grace that initiates our salvation, removes our blindness, and draws us to love the glory of God in the face of Lord Jesus Christ. After explaining this, John Piper said, "That's how you became a Christian. You didn't have to know that. I hope now that you know that you will give Christ more glory; you'll give your Father more honor; you'll give the Spirit His due." (John Piper, "A Divine and Supernatural Light Immediately Imparted to the Soul by the Spirit of God" delivered on 10/12/2003). Charles Spurgeon warns those who would reject this notion. Spurgeon said, "If thou has chosen Christ, depend upon it He has chosen thee. ... I believe the man who is not willing to submit to the electing love and sovereign grace of God, has great reason to question whether he is a Christian at all, for the spirit that kicks against that is the spirit of the unhumbled, unrenewed heart" (Spurgeon’s sermons, Vol. 7, p. 226, "The Blood of the Covenant."). What do you think the source of your salvation is? Do you think it is that you chose God? Or, do you think that God initiated everything? Do you recognize that God grants you repentance, that God grants you faith, that God made you alive, that God loved you first, and that God was responsible for unblinding your eyes? God does it all. From salvation through sanctification, our lives are a work of God. I remember overhearing a conversation that one man had with another very zealous Christian. He said, "I just want to tell you that I appreciate your zeal for Lord Jesus Christ. It is an encouragement to me and I know that it is an encouragement to others." This man replied, "Well then, give praise to God, because He gave me and continues to give me any zeal that I have." This is how we ought to respond to God’s working in our lives: God has done it all! Why did Lord Jesus speak in parables? So that people can be blessed. Look at verses 16 and 17, ...” 16 But blessed (happy, fortunate, and [g]to be envied) are your eyes because they do see, and your ears because they do hear. 17 Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous men [men who were upright and in right standing with God] yearned to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” (Matt.13:16-17) If you see, it is because God has chosen to bless you! You have seen what many longed to see. Look at this narrative, last night there was a lunar eclipse. Several of our kids were at Rockford Christian High School helping to setup the facility for Sunday. But Hanna was at home. She was inside enjoying a Disney video, when I said, "Hanna, you need to come outside and look at the moon. You don’t get to see this too often." She didn’t want to because she was in shorts and it was near freezing last night. But I forced her to, because I wanted her eyes to see the eclipse. I carried her outside and said, "Look. Isn't that neat?" She was completely unimpressed by the sight. So in similar manner I fear that many in the Church are unimpressed with the privilege that they have been able to experience. If you are here today and have come to understand the message of the gospel of grace, your ears and eyes are blessed. Many righteous people down through the centuries desired to know what you know. I am speaking of men like Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah, and Jeremiah. Since they lived before Lord Jesus Christ, they didn’t fully see the life of Messiah. They didn’t fully grasp Lord Jesus and His atoning death, but you have. Your heart ought to be filled with joy. Your heart ought to overflow. The message of grace is one of great joy. My prayer for all of you is that your heart would overflow in the things that you hear.