Introduction to the Parables

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Welcome...
Introduce self...
Pray...
Heavenly Father, thank you for this morning and thank you for your church. You are our good shepherd, the perfect protector and for that we worship you this morning. With you as our shepherd and God we lack nothing; we confess that in you we have everything we need. You are my rest, Lord. Because of your work Jesus, I have ceased from rest. You give me true and living water to drink. You restore my entire person, even my deepest parts. I pray for those in our church and in our community who are not finding rest; for those who are facing the consequences of a broken world and are struggling to survive. I pray that you would comfort them by your Holy Spirit and lead them to your perfect peace. Lead us Lord to live righteous lives that are worthy of the gospel, not for our glory but for your fame and glory through all the earth.
Be with me as I teach your word and be with the congregation as they hear from not only me, but the master teacher.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen
Starting a series on the parables.
Special because we are going to see lots of preachers come through, not just me.
My heart in wanting to go through the parables is to hear the teaching of Jesus as directly as possible. That we would be his disciples.
Misconception:
Parables are stories, people connect with stories, Jesus used parables to connect with people.
FALSE.

Purpose of the parables

The purpose of the parables was to execute judgement on hard hearts while still revealing truth to soft hearts.

Matthew 13:10–13 ESV
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 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.
Why has it not been given? Because God is mean?
To the soft heart (the one who has) more (understanding, revelation) will be given
The the hard heart ( the one who has not), what revelation of God they had will be taken away (Think Pharisees)

God “grants”

2 Timothy 2:24–26 ESV
And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.
Our actions matter, even though God is decisive in his work.
God grants, our heart changes as well as our will.
Philippians 1:27–29 ESV
Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake,
Granted to believe
Granted to suffer
We can have a tendency to “prickle” at these sorts of statements as if they invade the human will. They do not.
The problem is that human wills are inherently broken and bent against God.
Matthew 13:1–3 (ESV)
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 sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying...
That same day...
What day?
This was a turning point for the entire ministry of Jesus.
From this day on, whenever Jesus spoke in public, he spoke in parables.
Up to this point, Jesus has preached from the old testament, has taught expositionally, theologically.
Background:
Jesus had a contentious relationship with the religious leaders of the day, particularly surrounding the sabbath.
The sabbath was intended to be a ceasing from work. Plain and simple.
More than that, the sabbath was intended to bring freedom and rest and delight.
The religious leaders took the sabbath and did the exact opposite.
They added so many rules and regulations surrounding the sabbath (that God never commanded) that it was no longer freeing and restful, but burdensome and enslaving.
[[SLIDE]]
“By Jesus’ time, the Sabbath is the most dreaded day of the week. Every way you could cut it, it is a pain. It is not a day off, but rather a day of all kinds of ridiculous encumbrances and burdens… In fact, the whole Judaistic self-righteous legalistic system found its symbol in the sabbath.”
John MacArthur
Jesus made it a habit to break their version of the sabbath.
We see an instance of this if we turn back one chapter to Matthew 12.
This is the beginning of “THAT DAY”
Matthew 12:1–2 ESV
At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.”
“Sabbath Day’s Walk” = 2000 cubits, which was a little over 1/2 mile
“Pluck heads of grain” = harvest, this was forbidden according to the Pharisees
“Not lawful” = according to their law, not God’s law
Jesus goes on to tell the story of David eating the bread of the Presence out of the temple, that David’s huger was given more priority over the strict interpretation of the rule.
Then verse 7:
Matthew 12:7–8 ESV
And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”
This really makes them angry.
Matthew 12:9–10 ESV
He went on from there and entered their synagogue. And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse him.
Looking for more accusations...
Matthew 12:11–14 ESV
He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other. But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.
They wanted to destroy him. Get rid of him. Kill him. They were mad that Jesus kept poking holes in their sabbath rules.
Same day, this story goes on:
Matthew 12:22–24 ESV
Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?” But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.”
We are 2 years into the ministry of Jesus and the conclusion of the Pharisees is that Jesus is operating by the power of Satan..
If that’s your conclusion after having such a clear and present revelation of the Son of God, you’re hopeless.
This is why verse 31 says:
Matthew 12:31–32 ESV
Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
[[SLIDE]]
“When you blaspheme the Holy Spirit by saying that which He has done through the Son of God is from hell, you’re beyond the point of salvation.”
John MacArthur
We’ve got this amazing day with glorious displays of God’s power, and the Pharisees conclude that this is all done under the authority of Satan. Why? Because only Satan would make such an attack on our righteousness, on our rules.
Mark 4:33–34 ESV
With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.
We return to Matthew 13.
Matthew 13:10–13 ESV
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 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.
Then he quotes Isaiah:
Matthew 13:14–15 ESV
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, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’
Matthew 13:16–17 ESV
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 longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
If you believe in Jesus, it has been granted to you. You are blessed. You see the truth and you are set free.
God’s people throughout history greatly desired to know and see what you see church.
An element of mercy here.
Even in this execution of judgement, God showed mercy by cutting them off due to their hardness of heart.
The Bible gives clear evidence that there will be varying degrees of eternal reward and varying degrees of eternal punishment.

The Parable of the Sower

Matthew 13:1–2 ESV
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 sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach.
That same day… we now have the context for this parable.
Matthew 13:3–9 ESV
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.”
Matthew 13:18–19 ESV
“Hear then the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path.
The seed is the gospel.
The path is hard hearts that are not receptive to the seed.
It is not the fault of the seed or the sower.
Matthew 13:20–21 ESV
As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.
The seed draws a person in, it even starts to grow, but there is no depth to that growth, so as soon as things get hard this person falls away and proves they were never united to Christ.
Matthew 13:22 ESV
As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.
Matthew 13:23 ESV
As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”
The difference in these results was not in the seed but in the soil on which the seed fell.
True believers, true disciples, true followers of Christ, will produce fruit. (See John 15)
James 1:22 NIV84
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

Closing thoughts on the parables

They’re not stories for stories sake.
They are intentionally designed to withhold truth from some and reveal truth to others.
We study them because we are among those who truth is revealed.
All the stories are about the Jesus and the gospel.
The prodigal son is not about “parenting”
The good samaritan is not about being nice to people who are different than you.
My instruction to those who will come after me and teach through the parables is to lean into the gospel. Don’t moralize the parables.
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