Answers Bible Curriculum Year 3 Quarter 2 Lesson 9
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Harold’s now what is a parable yes it is a story but it has a purpose to it can we describe more about this story yeah Roy right it’s a story used to teach spiritual truth we could go even further and call it an extended metaphor or an allegory that’s basically what a parable is I remember the definition I learned growing up in Sunday School was an earthly story with a heavenly meaning that’s not a bad definition but we’re familiar with parables right they appear in the Bible they’re very much well known and Jesus teaching but do we actually know Jesus parables plenty people in the world would say that they know the parables but do we know them art is there meaning clear and Jesus’s parables are parables simple to understand easy to understand probably all think so to a certain extent that’s true but let me test that assertion at the beginning of our class today I’d like us to do a little activity regarding parables I’m gonna present to you a parable that you probably haven’t heard of or you’re not that familiar with it comes from the Bible but I won’t tell you where and we’re gonna examine this parable and then extract some principles for interpreting parables after looking at this one so I’m going to display the text of the parable on the PowerPoint screen listen to it and then see if you understand what it means the parable goes like this a great ego with great wings long opinions and full plumage of many colors came to Lebanon and took away the top of decedent he plucked off the top most of its young branches I was young twigs and brought it to a land of merchants he set it in the city of traders he also took some of the sea to the land and planted it in fertile soil he placed it beside abundant waters he said it like a willow then it sprouted and became a low spreading vine with his branches turned toward him but its roots remained under it so it became a bi and yielded shoots and sent out branches but there was another gray Diego with great wings and much plumage and behold this vine bent its roots toward him and set out its branches toward him from the beds where it was planted that he might water it it was planted in good soil beside abundant waters then it might yield branches and bear fruit and become a splendid vine will it thrive will he not pull up its roots and come off its fruit so that it Withers so that all its sprouting leaves wither and neither by great strength nor by many people can it be raised from its roots again behold though it is planted will it thrive will it not completely wither as soon as the east wind strikes it wither on the beds where it grew ok what does this mean unless you are familiar with this parable you probably don’t know what it means and that’s totally honest that stoat aliy expected because by itself we can’t understand this parable we can come up with speculative ideas like oh is there something about God here if there’s something about Lebanon here tyre inside in the the cities in Lebanon what is it that we need to understand this parable yeah we need context and what would be really helpful in the context is an explanation of what this parable actually actually means you see this is an important principle first for us when it comes to interpreting parables parables are great teaching tools when they are explained but without explanation parables are basically an impenetrable puzzle they’re interesting but we can’t know what they mean now open your Bibles to Ezekiel chapter Ezekiel 17 is actually where this parable comes from and once we see the context the parable will be way clearer but the context is not the only thing for us to know so with the zekiel 17 1 to 10 I like us to look at five principles for understanding parables if you use the student guides the student workbooks in the background section for this week’s lesson you actually see the principles I’m going to talk about he read them beforehand or if you glance there there are five principles that come from Answers in Genesis adapted from Robert plumber who’s a seminary professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary professor of New Testament reputation he gives these principles cancers and Genesis adapts them we’re gonna use them to here’s an important for helping us to interpret parables correctly now understand what I’m presenting to you is not a different hermeneutic or a different system of interpretation for parables as opposed to the rest of the scriptures we really do the same method of interpretation for all the Bible we have to if we’re going to be consistent but there are nuances to the genre that we know as parables and so we just want to layer these principles on top of what we normally do with all the scripture we’re going to illustrate these principles with ezekiel 17 but we’ll also mention some things about parables in the New Testament principle number one very important for understatement already seen is that you’ve got to pay attention to the literary and historical context of the parable this is the most important as it is with interpreting any Jean or any part of scripture if we just look at the immediate literary context of the parable that I presented to you we can look at verses 1 to 2 and see that this parable is given from God to the house of Israel okay just knowing that bit of information helps us to interpret the parts the parable much more but even greater and fortunate for us when it comes to this parable is that if we just look after this parable and verses 11 to 21 we see God explains exactly what this parable is about so just looking at the context helped us immensely and understanding this parable oh I’ll mention more back to explanation in just a moment well we don’t just want to consider the immediate context of literary context that is where it appears in the text what became before and after what came before and after but also the larger literary context what is the Book of Ezekiel about well much of it is a prophetic condemnation of the kingdom of Judah which was acting like a spiritual adulterous toward God it was whoring after other gods there’s many prophecies of judgment against Judah in this book but there’s also promise of restoration both of Judah and Jerusalem in the future it’s not just the literary context loss of the historical context this comes from Ezekiel the prophet Ezekiel who is in exile he was in exile after the second wave of judyann’s was taken away by the king of Babylon by this time by this parable the Northern Kingdom of Israel is gone it’s been destroyed by the Empire of Assyria but Assyria was then in turn destroyed by Babylon Babylon is the world power at the time of this parable is given now Babylon had put Judah in subjection but the king of Judah jehoiachin rebelled against Babylon Babylon came and invaded jehoiachin was taken captive along with the elite and all the skilled soldiers and laborers and artisans of Jerusalem are up of Judea in Jerusalem they were taken to Babylon instead Babylon the king of Babylon installed Zedekiah as a client King in Jerusalem and he received an oath of subjection from Zedekiah saying Zedekiah says I’m gonna serve you you’re gonna be my Lord I’ll give you the tribute whatever you need and Judah was to serve Babylon as a client kingdom but if you read through the accounts of kings and chronicles if you remember our Sunday School lessons on those instances Judah does not remain faithful to Babylon it explores alliances with other nations especially Egypt and it’s actually this looking for an alliance so that Judah can rebel against Babylon that ultimately brings Babylon down a third time on Jerusalem and Judah and he destroys utterly with that literary in historical context that details of this parable suddenly make total sense who or what are the two Eagles mentioned in the parable the two Eagles represent two kingdoms and two kings we have Babylon on the one hand and Egypt on the other what is the cut cedar of Lebanon it is the king of Judah who was cut down because of his rebellion against Babylon and taken away along with the the the young twigs along with the best of the land they were taken to Babylon what is the vine planted by this first Eagle is the kingdom of Judah what is the vine then doing when it grows toward the second Eagle it is Judah seeking an alliance with Egypt in order that it might rebel against Babylon now what is the withering of the vine the withering of the vine is judgment on Judah devastation of Judah we want to use the context to interpret this parable and really any of the parables of the Bible and we must beware of seeking to interpret something apart from its context which is usually what happens with in the New Testament the parable of the Good Samaritan you’re familiar with that parable but what is the context in which that parable is given does anyone remember yes tea that’s right Jesus was challenged by a lawyer as to what command is needed to be fulfilled in order to get into the kingdom of God and Jesus said you got to love the Lord with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself and then the man replied who is my neighbor and the narrator tells us the man said this because he was seeking to justify himself now that’s really important for informing how you interpret the parable the good samaritan many people just see it as oh wow this is a a moral example of how to live you’ve got to bring the context into it because that’s gonna inform the intended meaning of the parable so that’s principle number one pay attention to the literary in a historical context principle number two recognize standard imagery that’s used in parables there are certain phrases or words that appear throughout the Bible or even are common among the parables that usually mean the same thing example in our parabola zico 17 we see the phrase cedar of Lebanon that’s a phrase that you see a lot in the Old Testament because the trees of Lebanon the Cedars were famous for being large and being strong and they are often used as a metaphor for a mighty person or a king that standard phrase is jusnow parable and we see it has that same meaning it refers to a mighty person the king of Judah or even the idea of a vine throughout the Old Testament you often see a vine used as a metaphor for Israel or Judah God talks about how he planned to this vine but it will be judged even in the New Testament the vine is used at times as an illustration of Israel if we consider other repeated ideas and their new Testament parables often there’s a the motif of a king a master or a landowner but in each parable this person is symbolic of the same thing who is the king the master of the landowner and most the New Testament parables there’s got so we want to recognize the standard imagery that we see in here that’s principle number 2 number 3 note striking our unexpected details in parables many parables feature some unexpected or intriguing twist and there’s a twist here even in the parable in ezekiel 17 if you look at verses 4 to 6 and also verse 8 or if you just remember the parable as I was reading it to you what is the first Eagles initial attitude toward Judah he plants it by abundant waters he makes it fertile what’s this attitude of this first eagle toward the vine being very gracious and being generous towards this fun I mean he’s uprooted or he’s cut off the cedar and the twigs but he’s been very ok I just can’t think of any words besides generous and gracious he’s provided a lot for this vine but then what does the vine do it turns from that eagle and bends itself towards another eagle now as I say that as I said the Eagle this first Eagle is the king of Babylon and his kingdom how much Judas seemed to him if he’s provided for it abundantly and it’s turned to another that’d be pretty annoying that’d be pretty outrageous he’s giving Judah what it hasn’t deserved I mean after all Judah rebelled and he did not devastate the people he did not Massacre them the instead was very gracious and made sure that they had nice provisions he was it’s the was trying to do the positive reinforcement look at all the good things that I’ve done for you don’t rebel anymore but Judah does and so what will never can either do well will the king of Babylon do exactly or verses 9 and 10 set you’ve destroyed the people he will wither the vine and that’s what happens when Babylon invades for the third time it’s the same thing with New Testament parables this is there’s this twist you have this behavior that brings about an expected result on one hand but it doesn’t it brings about a different result a New Testament parable do the same thing what’s the twist that’s central in the parable of the Good Samaritan you got this man waylaid this Israelite this Jew who’s been waylaid by robbers is left for dead but no one will care for him except tune a hated enemy a Samaritan that’s the twist that’s what it seems so odd to his listeners that was part of Jesus main point or if we look at the parable of the prodigal son what’s the twist the fact that the father accepts and rejoices over the son when he returns that’s totally unexpected the Jews would have expected this father whose son it’s so dishonored him to penalize the son or to even reject the son that’s not how the parable goats the son is accepted and he’s rejoiced over to a lavish extent again that goes towards the main meaning of the parable so be on the lookout for a striking or unexpected detail of parables because it’s part often of a twist a central twist in the parable principle number 4 determine the main point that’s what we always want to do with Scripture but parables are all about communicating one main idea and we get this main idea by paying close attention to the details the parable and paying close attention to the context what is the main idea of this parable in Ezekiel 17 it’s that total wrath is coming upon ungrateful Judah and it’s wicked king from Babylon what is the main point of the parable of the prodigal son in the New Testament we look at the details pay attention to context it’s in the same same context as the parable the lost sheep and the parable the lost coin where someone is rejoicing over something that was lost and Jesus actually purposes as parables by saying I tell you there’s more joy in heaven over one man who repents than ninety-nine who don’t need repentance and that it forms us in the main point of the prodigal son story God rejoices over a repentant sinners even the most wicked ones whenever they turn but we have to be aware of straying from the main point and start looking at things that are actually side details in parable and not take to heart principle number five it’s really the corollary to all of this number five do not press every detail in a parable for meaning the details are given there to inform the main point but not everything has symbolic significance for example if we go to Ezekiel 17 again we consider the phrase full plumage and many colors hmm what does it mean that this Eagle has full plumage so the feathers represent something what if the colors represent does that represent different languages different peoples different gods what are the abundant waters represent by which the vine is planted by this Eagle what is the symbolic significance well many of the details given to this parable are simply for vividness and in forming the main idea they don’t have a special signal symbolic significance full plumage and many colors just means a glorious root learn and kina abundant waters just refers to gracious and abundant provision there’s nothing extra symbolic about those things it’s the same thing with a parable the Good Samaritan we could ask what do the robbers represent on this parable these represent sinful temptations that these represent religious persecution no they’re just robbers we don’t want to look for things to be symbolic that actually aren’t symbolic yes parables are an allegory they aren’t extended metaphor but not everything in them has symbolic significance how do we know what’s significant the context and the clues given in the text as well as explanations that often accompany text it will show us and clarify what are the important symbols because if we treat everything as symbolic and in a parable and symbolically significant we will probably make the parable inconsistent with itself what it’s trying to say we’ll say oh that doesn’t quite fit every analogy breaks down if you examine every part of it but we also will become involved in allegorical interpretation allegories are in the scriptures and they’re fine but allegorical interpretation is not good allegorical interpretation which basically you look for everything in the text to be symbolic it leads to eisegesis you’ve heard me say that rapport it leads to reading meaning into the text rather than letting the text speak for itself we don’t want to I sujeet any part of Scripture but also we don’t want to do that with the parables so we have these principles we lay them on top of what we normally do with every passage of Scripture and this helps us understand the parables in a more accurate and a more helpful way but we could ask about all of this why use a parable in the first place after all God explains the parable in verses 11 to 21 in Ezekiel 17 so why use a parable at all what do you think every what you’re thinking already with some of the things we’ll be talking about later parables do conceal in some instances but they also reveal what you might say well God revealed without the parable why use the parable yeah yeah parables are memorable parables are clear when they give it an explanation and parables are vivid I mean the reason that Jesus’s parables are well known is because they’re so vivid they they’re very relatable they they’re very interesting if we simply if God simply explained spiritual truths without parables yeah we would get them but we wouldn’t appreciate them for their appreciate those truths in their all their vivid quality this is what we say about illustrations in general right when someone is explaining a theological truth and then he uses the concrete illustration you suddenly get it a lot better because it becomes more vivid too becomes clearer that’s the advantage of parables they communicate truth vividly and often more clearly when explained now not surprisingly Jesus used parables but as Roy was already beginning to say Jesus used parables in a slightly different way than some other people use parables in the Bible but do we understand Jesus parables turning your Bibles to Matthew 13 now Matthew chapter 13 this section features a whole bunch of hair bows from Jesus we can’t look at all of them we’re gonna focus on just one initially I was going to do two different parables in the New Testament today but I think we’re just gonna focus on one the parable of the soils beginning in Matthew 13 but see it in the context of the rest of parables and seeing what came before it’s very helpful for us understanding this one parable from Jesus what has come before well remember in the Gospel of Matthew Mathi reports to us with Jesus central men is in his ministry he says repents because what is near the kingdom is near the kingdom of God with the kingdom heaven repent because the kingdom of heaven is at hand it’s about to arrive this is the message of John the Baptist in Matthew 3 this is Jesus own message starting in Matthew chapter 4 and when Jesus sends out disciples on his behalf in Matthew chapter 10 he tells them to declare this same thing repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand but after you after Matthew 10 net message disappears from the Gospel of Matthew that’s no longer what Jesus or his disciples say is this a shift there are some other significant changes that begin in Matthew 11 and 12 in Matthew 11 Jesus condemns the whole generation of Israel for being unrighteous and for being unrepentant he even highlights various cities saying look at all the miracles that happen in you O Bethsaida or corazon or o Capernaum but you didn’t repent I tell you it’ll be worse for you in the judgement and it was even for sodom and gomorrah Jesus condemns the generation for their lack of repentance and then in Matthew 12 we see opposition to Jesus from the scribes and Pharisees culminating in a significant way they pick a fight with him over the Sabbath they say your disciples are picking green on the Sabbath that’s not lawful or you’re you’re trying to heal somebody on the Sabbath that’s not lawful and when Jesus cast out a demon from a certain man they make a claim that scribes and Pharisees make a claim that they never made before they said he cast out demons by Beelzebub by the Lord of the Flies that is the Prince of demons I see and Jesus then mentions the unforgivable sin and then they demand a sign from Jesus and he says no sign will be given to this adulterous generation except the sign of the prophet Jonah you can see there’s the sweeping condemnation of the generation and their leaders in these two chat and that brings us right into Matthew chapter 13 let’s read verses 1 to 23 of Matthew 13 now how long with me as I read that day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea and large crowds gathered to him that he got into a boat and sat down and the whole crowd was standing on the beach he spoke many thinks to them in parables saying behold the sower went out to sow nezzie sowed some seeds fell beside the road and the birds came and ate them up others fell in the rocky places they did not have much soil and immediately they sprang up because they had no depth of soil but when the Sun had risen they were scorched and because they had no root they withered away others fell among the thorns and the thorns came up and choked them out and others fell on a good soil and yielded a crop some a hundredfold some sixty and some thirty he who has ears let him hear and the disciples came and said to him why do you speak to them in parables jesus answered them to you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven but to them it has not been granted for whoever has to him more shall be given and he will have an abundance but whoever does not have even what he has shall be taken from taken away from there for I speak to them in parables because while seeing they do not see and while hearing they do not hear nor do they understand in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled which says you will keep on hearing but will not understand it will keep on seeing but will not proceed for the heart of this people has become dull with their ears they scarcely hear and they have closed their eyes otherwise they would see with their eyes here are their ears and understand with their heart and return and I would heal it but blessed are your eyes because they see and your ears because they hear for truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see and did not see it and to hear with your year and did here then the parable of the seller what anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it the evil one comes and snatches away but it’s been sown in his heart this is the one whom on whom seed was sown beside the road the one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy yet he has no firm root in himself that is only temporary Oh an affliction or persecution arises because of the word immediately he falls away and the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns this is the man who hears the word and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word and it becomes unfruitful and the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil this is the man who hears the word and understands it who indeed bears fruit and brings forth some one hundredfold some sixty and some thirty okay we looked at this whole parable let’s follow our method of interpretation what we want to do with all scriptures and observe interpret and apply first the observe Jesus is speaking to a large crowd on the beach from a boat based on making a natural amphitheater and it begins speaking a series of parables this is the first time a parable that we’re parable is mentioned in Matthew there are some commonalities between the parable we just read and the parables that follow verses the phrase the kingdom of heaven notice in verse 11 Jesus says to you the mystery of the kingdom of heaven has been granted to know the mystery of the kingdom of heaven what is the kingdom of heaven well we’ve already talked about this a little bit in matthew kingdom heaven is God’s coming glorious eternal righteous Kingdom we would often equate this phrase the kingdom of heaven with salvation remember there’s a nuance from the Old Testaments that phrase they were actually expecting a literal Kingdom to come from God to Israel part of God restoring Israel making is really this is a kingdom of righteousness the kingdom that God Himself rules and that has dominion over the whole earth the Jews were looking forward to this kingdom they want to be in this kingdom Jesus says the mysteries of that kingdom I will tell you about he not only says in a verse 11 but in the preceding parables every parable begins with the phrase the kingdom of heaven is like now all about the king of heaven and then there’s another facet to these parables that is common all the way down to verse 53 each parable features the concepts of hiddenness passing time and ultimate revelation a lot of time to go through each parable to explain that but if you just glance the other parables parable the wheat and the tares parable the treasure hidden in the field parable the mustard seed etc now the idea of something being hidden time passing and then at the end of time a revelation so yes yes I am you do not see the the notes on Matthew 13 okay yeah if you just go to Matthew 13 verses 1 to 23 to parable the soils and just list the bullet points not sure why that phrase but yeah I still have them displaying a mic here alright so another thing to note about these parables in this passage some of them are directly explained some of them are not and we simply have to use the context for those other ones but thankfully our parable the soils is directly explained no why why farming parables parable the soils involves farming other parables do why would Jesus use that why would he use farming as a parable exactly they’re very familiar with farming it was an agrarian society our society is largely not agrarian and that causes us to misunderstand parable sometimes but they would have related to what Jesus was talking about being very familiar with farm life now the disciples asked Jesus why he speaks in parables why he’s thinking in parables and he gives a curious tour plot Jesus says to some it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven but to others has not been granted Jesus says the crowds get the parables so that they will not understand but the cycles get the parables with explanations this is that they will understand they will understand more Jesus invokes a principle in verse 12 he says whoever has him more shall be given but whoever does not have even what he has will be taken away from him by implication the disciples have something that the people in the crowd do not with this realization this observation the end of verse 9 becomes more more poignant Jesus says he who has ears to hear let him hear it’s not just a phrase to conclude a speech this is a showing that not everyone has an everyone has ears to hear and in explanation of this principle he who has an ear does not have Jesus quotes Isaiah chapter 6 now Isaiah 6 is kind of a famous passage in the Old Testament why is that chapter famous that’s right that’s where Isaiah has a vision of God and God’s holy temple in heaven and it’s an overwhelming vision the Angels that the cherubim are saying holy holy holy the whole earth is full of the Lord’s glory Isaiah says I’m a man of unclean lips woe is me God cleanses Isaiah’s lips but then the Lord says he has a message to bring and Isaiah volunteers to bring it but then the Lord clarifies what that message will be Isaiah is a prophet to Judah what is God’s message to Judah it’s what Jesus quotes here keep on hearing but don’t understand keep on seeing but don’t pursue and what follows do you remember the prophet Isaiah what was Judas state what was Judas spiritual state during Isaiah’s time if you just guess you could probably get it right Israel’s never faithful to the Lord not for long and that was the way it was in Isaiah’s time Judah was not faithful largely under the different Kings they were idolatrous they were claiming to serve God when they were really looking to serve other gods they were hypocritical in their worship and there was righteous Hezekiah during Isaiah’s day but the people as a holy were so hard-hearted they would not listen to the word of the Lord and God decided as he explains in the Book of Isaiah that Isaiah is going to be not as an Judah is going to be judged Babylon will come the people will be devastated but then in the future God will restore and transform his people and even forgive their sins of course many Messianic prophecies tied up in that so Jesus quotes those words from God to Isaiah that were meant for Judah and he says they’re fulfilled by the crowd and Jesus Sunday and then Jesus contrasts the crowd with the disciples by saying how blessed are your eyes and your ears because you can see you can hear then we have the actual pair this parable sometimes known as the parable of the sower but I think parable the soils is a better title because the focus is more on the soil in this parable we have a farmer scattering seed in this field he’s called us over here but he’s essentially a farmer he scatters the seed widely this makes sense because he can’t be precise he’s got a lot of seed to broadcast we got a large area not a whole lot of time and not a lot of energy so he’s not going to be super precise and where you cast the seed and the seed ends up in four places you’re familiar this there’s seed beside the road that is the edge of the field or seed next to the paths that are within the field this is hard and dirt and the seed remains in the surface there’s seed that falls into rocky soil slow without much depth because there are rocks underneath the topsoil farmer cannot necessarily know about these rocks or see these rocks we just cast seed in that direction then there’s seed falling in thorny ground this is a weedy patch they’re competing plants in the area even though a farmer is diligent to get rid of weeds sometimes they come back he’s not aware some of the roots still underneath or some other weeds their seeds drift into the field so there’s this weedy patch the stony ground and then finally there’s the good soil which is nutritious it’s prepared and there are no hindrance no hindrances to the crops growth and that’s what and each of these soils the seed becomes hidden in them and then their results over time the seat on the road it’s immediately eaten by birds seed in the rocks there’s great growth initially in fact the shallowness seems to contribute to the great growth because there was no depth it grew up quickly but then the plant withers and the light of the Sun and in the sun’s heat and with the whinny patched the seed germinates but is choked out by the weeds literally choked but they’re our competition for nutrients the competition for space their roots competing with each other on the ground makes us know that this planet this crop does not reduce any fruit and then there’s the good soil not only produces fruit but does so remarkably it’s the only plant among the four that produces fruit and the results are fantastic though with variation how fantastic well one commentary I read said the average seal in Palestine at this time would yield a seven and a half to ten fold return on the seed that was planted I remember it grain seeds we’re not told exactly what kind of grain this is it could be wheat rain that we use for food is the same thing that you plant in the ground so for every grain you plant every seed you plant you’re gonna get more green on average if you’ll gave you seven and a half to ten times as much as you plant it that’s not a great return now is average but Jesus says these plants are producing 160 and 34 if the whole field we’re producing that that would be amazing on a plate by a plant basis though maybe this isn’t quite as amazing as it first appears but still it’s amazing a wheat plant has one it has a stalk or a head and that head contains on average today at least according to my research about 50 seats so you plant one steeped in the ground and the wheat plant grows up healthy it will produce on average about 50 seeds that’s what Jesus is referring to in this parable then 100 is double the average that is an extremely good return 60 that’s slightly above average that’s pretty good 30 that’s below average but it’s still that’s still fruit that’s way better than any plant that produces zero and if the whole field produced just 30 fold that one to that an amazing crop but the reason that fields don’t do that is because so many of the plants fail to produce seed or fail to produce much seed due to different hindrances so this good soil produces a wonderful crop for the farmer by the way and perhaps this is obvious now with my explanation if you are a farmer what kind of plants are you looking for at harvest time and not looking for what simply germinated but what something that’s ready to be harvested that is it’s produced a harvest it’s produced seed it’s produced green how much value does a non fruit bearing plant have to a farmer at harvest time no value in fact it has negative value why negative because the farmer has wasted his time and effort on it that space on soil could have been used for other plants these plants are an annoyance to the farmer they’re worse than a dead plant it’s like if you like flowers it’s like planting a flower that never produces any blossoms this just leaves that’s a worthless flower and if you spend time on it try and care for it and it never produces anything it’s less than worthless it’s like the tree that Jesus mentions in another parable that never produces any fruit the owner of that tree says why does this tree even use up the ground cut it down and throw it into the fire it’s a useless plants they don’t produce any fruit less than useless but what is this parable mean thankfully get a direct explanation from Jesus but we should know without the explanation will the crowd understand this parable there’s no way they could speculate about it but there’s so many different ways that you could take the symbols in this town without an explanation of Jesus you can’t know what he means Jesus does explain to his disciples he says the seed is the word of the king and is this the message of salvation and entrance into God’s kingdom it’s the gospel the soil are different kinds of people reacting to this word of the kingdom see it on the path Jesus says is the one who hears the word it doesn’t understand it and we’re just taken away by the evil one I seen in the rocks is the one who receives the word with joy but any falls away in hard times and persecution seed among thorns is the one who receives the word but life’s worry and life’s wealth it chokes out the word and then the seat on the good soil is the person who hears the word he understands it and he bears fruit in the different amounts Jesus explanation is extremely helpful we need to turn it over in our minds a little bit to make sure we fully understand so let’s now proceed to our second step we’ve made observations let’s interpret why doesn’t Jesus let the crowds understand a parable quotes Isaiah essentially sings about whoever has why won’t he give the meaning to the crap yeah boy it happened but why it’s about their their hard hearts this is an active judgment coming aboard with the people of his own day it’s the same situation as occurred in Isaiah 6 when God sent a prophet Isaiah to Judah he didn’t say go give the message so that they’ll all repent but there is some aspect of that he says given the message so that they won’t understand and so that my judgment will come upon them they didn’t want the word people in Isaiah’s day didn’t want the word it’s the same in Jesus day they don’t want it so now it’s gonna be withheld from it’s an active judgment especially a judgment of God against these people you could say it’s also an act of mercy we’re familiar with the concept of the scriptures that the more you know the more you’re accountable for what you know if you don’t turn to the Lord after receiving its truth it’s even worse and if you would never have the truth so you could say this is also an act of mercy even in judgment certainly it’s a illustration of Jesus proud of Jesus principle from Matthew 7 and his Sermon on the Mount do not cast your pearls before swine refuse to give more than the parable to the crowd this isn’t to say that a crowd was therefore cut off from understanding Jesus truth if someone in the crowd wouldn’t understand Jesus parable what could that person do they could come to Jesus and ask him about it they could come and be part of his group of disciples but the fact that the people most the people didn’t do that means that they were content not to know that was a sign of their heart hearts they didn’t want to know and therefore they couldn’t know and we can see then what is it that the disciples had that the people did not faith in Jesus he believed in him and therefore they were given explanation of God’s truth yet even their fate was a grace Jesus says blessed are your eyes who see in your ears that year cycles did not earn this favor it was granted undeservedly from God and really that’s true for all of us today do your eyes see your eyes here thank the Lord because you didn’t deserve that he you open your eyes allowed you to understand its truth who is the sower in Jesus parable yeah I think it’s a good answer rob anybody get preaches the word the sower is not specifically identified in this parable by Jesus Jesus certainly fits the description of the sower he’s preaching a word but then so did his disciples and so do those who come after the disciples anyone who preaches the word of the kingdom it’s the description of the sower I think all of them could all of them are hard to be understood there now why is it that the first soil does not understand the word when it comes to it that is the seed on the path why don’t they understand the word is it a matter of intellectual capability no we’ve already seen it in the context why didn’t the crowd understand a word they didn’t want to because of their hardness of heart it’s the same thing with the people on the road the parable is very vivid of them right the road is packed it’s hard thus you can’t get in that’s the hard heart of a person the it’s not that intellectually it cannot comprehend the word but their their hearts are hardened so that they won’t understand the world and therefore the devil is only too glad to take away the words now of the four soils which one or ones represent true followers of Christ it’s only a fourth it’s only the first support soil and isn’t this evident from how the farmers would have understood this growth is not enough the fact that a plant germinated is not enough that plant is useless to the farmer or less than useless if it doesn’t predict produce fruits and many scriptures talk about the need for faith that produces fruit on one’s life Matthew chapter 7 what did Jesus say on the surf at the end of his Sermon on the Mount he who hears these words and acts on them he’ll be like a man who has a house with a strong foundation in Matthew chapter 3 John the Baptist when he was preaching his message of repentance he says do not tell me you are sons of Abraham bear fruit worthy of repentance we see the difference in your life I see how your life is conformed to God’s holy character first John the Apostle makes so clear if you claim to walk with the Lord and yet your life manifests darkness you are a liar and the truth is not in you and you know what James says faith without works is dead being by itself not that works produce salvation but if your faith doesn’t result and it good works in your life it is an empty thing so it is with these soils the only the only soil that produced fruit is the good soil and therefore it is the only one that represents a true follower of Jesus we’d like to cover backsliding Christians with this parable there was growth but it doesn’t mean that they were actually a true follower or that they were saying for someone who professes Christ and then falls away in hardship he’s not a true Christian there’s someone who professes Christ but he continues to pursue the things of the world lived for his life in the world he’s not a true Christian that’s the characteristic of such a person if he remains in that state he is not getting into the kingdom we can’t cover black backsliding fundamentally backsliding Christians is terrible only one of the soils now understand I’m not saying that Christians can’t backslide for a time this parable is about alternate characterizations says this is a man who was characterized by falling away in trial or characterized by loving the world even though he he heard the word by man who refuses to understand the word at all or a man who hears it understands and produces truth this is about what the person ultimately does in his life not just what he does for a time the profession of faith is not enough a period of faith even a period of zealous fate like the second soil right it grew up quickly and with with joy the person they received the word that’s not enough it’s not whether that person persevere persevere and bearing truth this is what happens when God’s divine word goes into a person it produces an amazing result why is Jesus telling his disciples about all this these different reactions to the message of the kingdom I believe especially in the context the other parables and where we are in the Gospel of Matthew it’s because Jesus is explaining it there is a shift in God’s plan for the kingdom I mean this in a temporal way Jesus was saying repent for the kingdom is at hand then the people visual rejected Jesus sent his message they rejected their Messiah that meant that there’s gonna be a delay and God’s coming Kingdom it will still come but now Jesus will have to go away and come back before the kingdom arrives the disciples needed to be trained in the meantime because the kingdom was not going to arrive immediately now this of course was always in God’s mind in one sense this is a change of plans in another sense it’s not he always knew that his people would reject him when his Messiah came but in another sense if you could have received the Kingdom at that time if they were only willing that’s what Jesus says when he goes to Jerusalem right I long to gather you as a hen gathers her chicks but you’re not willing therefore what you don’t get the kingdom what do you get Judea you get judgment your house is left to you desolate until until you’re transformed and you say blessed is he who comes the name of the Lord the kingdom would still come but his disciples Jesus disciples would need to know how to act in the meantime they were to be his gospel declare words Jesus was no longer gonna be on the earth they were to declare the message of the kingdom they need to be prepared for what they would face they were to cast a message widely they were not to look on the appearances of the soil you don’t know what’s underneath cast that message tell everybody about the word of the kingdom but know you’re gonna get different responses some are gonna immediately reject it they won’t understand it they won’t care for it some will believe for a time but they’ll leave the faith when it gets hard for when they experience the cost some will believe but they’ll never really give up their idols and they’ll show that their belief was fake and some will truly believe in bear fruit and he’ll persevere in that fruit bearing this is telling his disciples don’t be surprised when you see any and all of these and isn’t that exactly where the disciples saw they saw Judas turn against Jesus look at the Apostle Paul he was talking about in his different letters how useful of different people were in his ministry I never get towards the end of those end of his life what does he say all these people have left me the highlights Dimas specifically Adiemus who has loved this present world that’s departed but not everyone laughs not everybody turned to me Timothy Luke others he remains with the persecutor the possible so the Apostles experience exactly what Jesus said what happened and don’t we also with them as it is with us we won’t know upfront about the different people who claimed the name of Christ it’s the final judgment that will reveal all to bring this in summary form what is Jesus saying it is terrible it tells the disciples you will be spreading my word as you wait for the king Canaan will still come but it’s not gonna come right now continue to spread the word be ready for the different responses you will receive some will be receptive and they will persevere in their response and that is all by God’s grace so we’ve seen today principles for understanding parables and we’ve seen the meaning of the parable of the soils how does this word apply to you you mentioned some words an application can you go to the applications line just a couple of questions to get you thinking about what God’s Word is saying to you today number one which soil type seems to describe you in your life do you not understand God’s Word because really you don’t want to do you have a naive zeal for God which has never truly counted the cops your joyful because you think that God’s gonna make everything easy in your life but you don’t know the hardship that God might have it’s working do you claim the name of Christ where you actually still pursue the things of the world do you understand God’s Word believe it and bear fruit in your life if this last situation be grateful for not all eyes have been given the ability to see your eyes now I’m not saying that if you feel like you’re one of these soils that your destiny is already to determine ah I don’t know your ultimate state I pray that all of you in church today or anybody who’s listening to this are the good soil and then ultimately you will persevere in bearing fruit but Jesus doesn’t want us to be naive there will be plenty Christians that we meet maybe even that come to Calvary who are actually one of these first soils they name the name of Christ they fall away in hardship what they really love the things of the world I urge you don’t let that be your ultimate destiny don’t let that be your ultimate characteristic or state I believe it is in fearing being one of these first three soils that we actually will be the fourth the fourth soil of course it’s all God’s work and he who he who he who he truly saves will never be lost but we have a responsibility to persevere have you met these different soil types in your life you encounter these different Christians I have you probably have if you have it don’t be surprised when you do when that good friend who was zealous for a while falls away don’t be surprised either says that’s that’s a fundamental of the kingdom there will be these different soils but do persevere things or your brothers and sisters to persevere this parable is all about the word of the kingdom in broadcasting do you broadcast Christ seed the word of the king that’s what Jesus disciples or Commission’s do once what word what we are to do too we can’t afford to be prejudiced toward the soils can’t say oh I don’t think it’s gonna grow there you don’t know you don’t know what’s underneath broadcast to see lively God will make it grow if it is good soil and are you waiting faithfully for Jesus coming Kingdom all of this teaching is in light of Jesus Kingdom is still gonna come you could be in it if you’re willing to believe and follow Jesus are you waiting faithfully for Jesus King in the counter it’s your life order accordingly Christ’s kingdom will be established we’ve seen that in the Old Testament we’re seeing that again in the New Testament it’s a wonderful day for his own if you’re his own how rejoice in that but it’s a terrible day for his enemies especially for those who thought they belong to him but they were really enemies the whole time that’s it for this week if you have any questions on today’s lesson please email me if you my email is at def Kaposi a gmail.com many of you already know that next week I’m actually gonna be away I have a retreat a treat to go on with my fellowship group here at Grace Community Church so I won’t be with you but beloved brother Steve como will be teaching in my stead as graciously agreed to bring forth the word about Jesus I am statements I know that’s gonna be good I know he’s gonna encourage you and I know that you’ll be encouraging to him you come and get to hear the teaching late praise be close god this is a good word but a sobering word Lord you you were willing to establish your kingdom in Judah at that time the people were not willing so the kingdom was delete but for those who believed in you God they will enter your Kenan but it is a person being faith that is required well lord I pray that your people at Calvary would persevere I pray God that I would persevere and all your people Lord would persevere but God let us not be disheartened when we see some turn back let us exhort one another but not be surprised God we thank you for your gracious worked in us that has caused our eyes to see and that you’ve given us the ability to persevere without you God of course there’s no way we could heaven and as we fall along with you God you give us the assurance that you’ll keep us to the end we thank you for that truth let your kingdom come oh god it’s gonna be so wonderful and is established cause your people to spread that word the word of the kingdom and you Lord cause the growth in Jesus name Amen thank you all I’ll see you in two weeks