Matthew 13 – Hearing they do not understand
Introduction
A. After the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5-7
B. After the miracles that showed The Divine power and authority of Jesus. Matthew 8-12
C. After the sending of the twelve Apostles to preach the Gospel to the Jews. Matthew 10
D. The persecution of Christ and his disciples began. Jesus scolded the cities that rejected the divine message.
E. The unbelievers had already begun to call Jesus a follower of Satan, or Beelzebub.
F. They had already begun to call Jesus a sinner for healing on the Sabbath day.
G. After so many signs, wonders, and mighty miracles, they asked for a sign from heaven. Again Jesus scolded them for their unbelief. Thus began the context of chapter 13 and the beginning of the parables of the Kingdom of heaven.
I. Matthew 13:1-23: The Parable of the Sower – the four soils.
A. Jesus is sitting on a boat by the Sea of Galilee, and the public is seated on the beach.
1. He spoke many things to them by parables.
2. The first one is in verses 3-9.
3. It speaks of the fruit that produces four lands, which are each different from the Of more.
4. He ends by saying, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
B. The disciples asked him, "Why do you speak to them by parables?" He answers them in V. 11-17.
1. Jesus explains that the purpose of the parable was to let the disciples know the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven, but at the same time conceal that knowledge from those who did not want to understand. V 11-13
2. In Matthew 11:25, Jesus praised the Heavenly Father for having hidden the teachings of John, Jesus, and his disciples "from the wise and understand, and revealed them to little children."
3. In 1 Corinthians 1:18-31, Paul says, “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
4. Therefore, Jesus said at the beginning, (Matthew 5:3) "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "
5. Paul brought to light what had been hidden from the great and might, and it was the church that made such riches known the riches of Christ to the powers of the heavenly realm. Ephesians 3:1-11, “To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, 10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.”
C. Jesus refers his disciples to the prophecy of Isaiah 6:9, 10, “Keep on hearing, but do not understand.”
-- “And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ 10 Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
1. Isaiah was called by God to serve Him as a prophet. These verses describe the effect of God's message when the prophet preached to the Jews who did not want to hear his message.
2. Jesus also quoted from Moses about the source of life, both physical and spiritual. Careful obedience to all of God’s words is what gives us life. Deuteronomy 8:1-3. “The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live. … 3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
3. God’s laws and counsels were for the well-being of His people. Deut. 10:12-13, “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good?”
4. God gave Moses a prophesy of the Christ and demanded that God’s people listen to Him. Deut. 18:18, “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. 19 And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.
--Jesus often said that He spoke only the words that the Father commanded Him. John 7:16-18, “So Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. 17 If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. 18 The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.”
-- See also John 5:22-24, 45-47; 6:31-38, 47-59, 68-69; 8:31-32 See Acts 3:23 refers to Jesus Christ.
II. The Prophecy of Moses
A. Deuteronomy 31:20-21, 27 “For when I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to give to their fathers, and they have eaten and are full and grown fat, they will turn to other gods and serve them, and despise me and break my covenant. 21 And when many evils and troubles have come upon them, this song shall confront them as a witness (for it will live unforgotten in the mouths of their offspring). For I know what they are inclined to do even today, before I have brought them into the land that I swore to give.”
B. The Song of Moses, Deut. 32:15, 28-29 “But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked; you grew fat, stout, and sleek; then he forsook God who made him and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.” V. 28-29 “For they are a nation void of counsel, and there is no understanding in them. 29 If they were wise, they would understand this; they would discern their latter end!”
C. Seven centuries later the prophecy of Moses was fulfilled in Hosea 4:1, “Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel, for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land;”
1. 13:6 “but when they had grazed, they became full, they were filled, and their heart was lifted up; therefore they forgot me.”
2. 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.”
3. 4:10-11 “They shall eat, but not be satisfied; they shall play the whore, but not multiply, because they have forsaken the Lord to cherish 11 whoredom, wine, and new wine, which take away the understanding.”
4. 4:14 “I will not punish your daughters when they play the whore, nor your brides when they commit adultery; for the men themselves go aside with prostitutes and sacrifice with cult prostitutes,
and a people without understanding shall come to ruin.”
5. 5:4 “Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. For the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they know not the Lord.”
6. 6:5-7 “Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth, and my judgment goes forth as the light. 6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. 7 But like Adam they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me.”
7. 8:12 “Were I to write for him my laws by the ten thousands, they would be regarded as a strange thing.”
8. 9:17 “My God will reject them because they have not listened to him; they shall be wanderers among the nations.”
9. 10:13 “You have plowed iniquity; you have reaped injustice; you have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your own way and in the multitude of your warriors,”
III. Isaiah speaks of the work of Jesus Christ, the Messiah.
To. Isa. 42:10-20 “Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the end of the earth, …”
--V16 “And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground.” Jesus is the light of the world. He gives sight to the blind, ignorant men who walk in sin.
--V18-20 “Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see! 19 Who is blind but my servant, or deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is blind as my dedicated one, or blind as the servant of the Lord? 20 He sees many things, but does not observe them; his ears are open, but he does not hear.”
B. Isa. 55:1-3, 6-11, 12-13 Isaiah announces the blessings of hearing the Word of Christ.
--V1-3 “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. 3 Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.”
--V6-11: v. 6 “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near;”
V8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
V10-11 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”
V12-13 “For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. 13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
Conclusion
A. How do you hear the word of God that corrects you? It demands profound change in our character. Demands repentance and the new life, the new man, renewed by the Holy Spirit, that is to say, to hear the teachings of Christ who by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit were recorded in the New Testament.
B. If we continue in the carnality of the old sinful and ignorant man, we do not know God. We don't know the son of God either.