So I rode my bicycle for a year in 2010 from Canada to Columbia. And as part of that journey, I discovered that basically a billion people in the world didn't have access to clean drinking water. So I began this journey and did some higher level education and then on a series of trips with my friends in the last six years. That's all led us to this spot now we've become very interested in small scale decentralized desalinization projects. It's really the future.
Hi everyone and welcome to today's beach talk. I'm so cute you could be with us. It's my passion to help us understand every word of God that's in the word of God. God has so many amazing things that he wants to say to us every day. If we'll just take the time to read and listen, try to apply it to our lives. My objective is always the same. It's disciples making disciples who plant churches that plant churches.
So in this way we can see Jesus, his ideas be a grassroots movement that can go anywhere and everywhere. Today we're in Matthew 13. He says on the same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea, like the ocean behind me, multitudes are gathered to him. So that they got into the boat and sat and the whole multitude stood on the shore. Then he spoke many things to them in parables, stories. So sometimes Jesus used a boat as his pulpit.
It gave him a place to speak away from the press of the crowds. It provided good acoustics and probably a really nice backdrop. Just like here where I am in California. Now when Jesus taught from a boat, surely that was a new thing. We can imagine a critic saying, well, you can't do that. It hasn't been done before. Teachings belong in the synagogue or in some other appropriate place. It would have been easy to come up with objections.
The damp air might make people sick or there's a lot of mosquitoes down by the shore. Someone might drown. But Jesus knew that teaching from a boat suited his purposes for exactly what he wanted to accomplish. Now the idea behind the word parable is to throw alongside of it. It is a story thrown alongside the truth to teach something. Parables have been called earthly stories with a heavenly meaning. Now the Greek parable is wider than our parable. It translates like a proverb or a wise saying.
Now Matthew uses it for instance in Jesus' saying about defilement. In Matthew 15 and 24, it indicates a comparison. So they generally teach one main point or principle. We can get into trouble by expecting that they're intricate systems of theology with the smallest detail trying to reveal something. That's not what they're trying to do. William Barclay said a parable is not an allegory. It's a story with every possible detail trying to communicate a greater truth.
We must be very careful not to make allegories out of parables. So verse 3 says, through 9 says, behold a sower went out to sow and when he sowed some seed fell by the wayside and the birds came and devoured them. Some fell on stony places where they didn't have much earth and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched and because they had no root they withered away.
And some fell among thorns and the thorns sprang up and choked the others but others fell on good ground and yielded a crop some a hundredfold, some sixty and some thirty. Him who has ears let him hear. What's Jesus saying here? Well he spoke according to the agricultural customs of the day. In those days seed was scattered first and then it was plowed into the ground. So before one can become a sower he must be an eater and a receiver.
This one came out of the granary or the place where the seed is stored and from this the Bible sower brought forth seed. So as he sowed some seed fell by the wayside on stony places among thorns, on good ground. Now in this parable the seed fell on four different types of soil. Now the wayside was the path where the people walked and nothing could grow because the ground was too hard. Stony places where the soil was thin lying upon a rocky shelf.
On this ground the seed sprang up quickly because of the warmth of the soil but the seed was unable to take root because it was on a rocky shelf. Now the thorns describe soil that was fertile, perhaps too fertile because thorns grow there as well as grain. And then there's the good ground and this describes soil that is both fertile and weed free, a good productive crop grows in the good ground.
Now this was not all foreign to the listener rather it was a call for those who were spiritually sensitive to take special note. This was especially true in light of the next few verses in which Jesus explained the purpose of the parables. Now verse 10 through 17, And the disciples came and said to him, Why do you speak to them in parables? And he answered, And he said to them, Because it has been given for you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.
For whoever has to him will be given more and to him who will be given, he will be having abundance for whoever does not have even what he has will be taken away from him. So therefore I speak to them in parables because seeing they do not see and hearing they do not hear nor do they understand. And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled which says, Hearing you will hear and shall not understand and seeing you will see and not perceive for the hearts of this people have grown dull.
Their ears are hard of hearing and their eyes have closed lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears. Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn so that I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes when they see and your ears when they hear for assuredly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desire to see what you see but did not see it and to hear what you hear but did not hear it. Now what is happening here?
Well the way Jesus used parables prompted the disciples to ask this. Apparently Jesus' use of parables wasn't as easy as simply illustrations of spiritual truth. Jesus explained that he used parables so that the hearts of those rejecting would not be hardened even further.
The same sun that softens the wax hardens the clay and so the very same gospel message that humbles the honest heart and the humble heart leads to repentance may also harden the heart of a dishonest listener and confirm that they're on the path of disobedience. Now D.A. Carson said the parables spoke to the crowds do not simply convey information nor mask it but challenge the people who heard it.
The idea is that those who are open and sensitive to spiritual truth more will be given through the parables yet to those who are not open who do not have these ones will end up in an even worse condition. So William Barclay said life is always a process of gaining more and losing more for weakness like strength is an increasing thing. In this sense the parables of Jesus were not illustrations making difficult things clear to all.
They presented God's message to the spiritually sensitive could understand but the hardened would merely hear a story without keeping up additional condemnation by rejecting God's word. So parables are an example of God's mercy towards the hardened. The parables were given in the context of Jesus' Jewish leaders building rejection of Jesus and his work. In this sense they were examples of mercy given to the undeserving.
But speaking in parables Jesus also fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah speaking in a way that the hardened would hear but not hear and see but not see. Now the heart of this people has grown dull is more literally fat instead of dull. Now in light of this those who do understand the parables of Jesus are genuinely blessed. Not only do they gain the benefit of the spiritual truth illustrated but they also display some measure of responsiveness to the Holy Spirit.
Now verse 18 through 23 therefore hear the parable of the sower when anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside but he who received the seed on stony places this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy.
Yet he has no root in himself but endures only for a while for when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word immediately he stumbles. Now he who received the seed among the thorns is the one who hears the word and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of the riches choke the word out and he becomes unfruitful.
But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it who indeed bears fruit and produces some a hundredfold some sixty and some thirty. Now as the birds devour the seed on the wayside so some receive the word with hardened hearts and the wicked one quickly snatches away the sown word the word has no known effect because it never penetrates into their hearts. Now the wayside soil represents those who never really hear the word with understanding.
The word of God must be understood before it can truly bear fruit. Now one of Satan's works is to keep people in darkness regarding their understanding of the Bible. As seed falling on the thin soil on top of the stony places quickly springs up and then quickly withers and dies so some respond to the word and immediately are enthusiastic yet soon wither away. What happens here?
Well the soil represents those who receive the word with a lot of excitement but their life is short lived because they're not willing to endure persecution and tribulation. Charles Spurgeon made a good point he said I want you clearly to understand that the fault did not lie in the suddenness of their supposed conversion. Many sudden conversions have been among the best that have ever happened. The problem was not their sudden growth but their lack of depth.
Now as seed falling among thorns grows the stalks of the green were choked out so some respond to the word and grow for a while but are choked and stopped in their spiritual growth by competition from unspiritual things. Now the soil represents fertile ground for the word but their soil is too fertile because it also grows all sorts of other things that choke out the word of God. Namely it is the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches that choke out the word.
Now as seed falling on the good ground brings a good crop of grain so some respond rightly to the word of God and then they bear fruit in their life. Now the soil represents those who receive the word and it bears fruit in their soil in differing proportions some a hundredfold some sixty and some thirty though each has a generous harvest.
We benefit from seeing bits of ourselves in all four soils like the wayside sometimes we allow the word of God room in all of our lives like the stony places we sometimes have flashes of enthusiasm in receiving God's word but then we burn out like the soil among the thorns the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches are constantly threatening to choke out God's word and our fruitfulness like the good ground the word bears fruit in our lives.
Now we notice that the difference in each category was with the soil itself the same seed was cast by the same sower you cannot blame the differences in the results on the sower or on the seed but only on the soil. Now the parable was also an encouragement to disciples even though it might seem that if you respond God is in control and the harvest will certainly come.
This was especially meaningful in light of the rising opposition to Jesus even more than describing the mixed progress of the gospel message the parable of the sower compels the listener to ask what kind of soil am I how can I prepare my heart and mine to be the right kind of soil. This parable invites action so that we would receive the word of God to our full benefit.
Now verse twenty four through thirty another parable he put forth to them saying the kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field but while men slept the enemy came and sowed tears among the wheat and went his way and when the grain and sprouted and produced a crop then the tears also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him sir did you not know good seed in your field how then does it have tears.
Now he said to them an enemy has done this the servant said to him do you want us then to go and gather them up but he said no. Less while you gather up the tears you also uproot the wheat from them let both of them grow together until the harvest and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers first gather the tears and bind them in bundles to burn them but gather the wheat into my barn.
Now this parable describes the work of an enemy who tried to destroy the work of the man who sowed good seed in his field. The enemy's purpose in sowing tears among the wheat was to destroy the wheat but the wise farmer would not allow the enemy to succeed. Instead the farmer decided to sort it out at harvest time. Now we note that the parable clearly describes corruption among the people of God just as in the previous parable the wheat represents the people of God.
Some corrupting influence is brought and an influence that may look genuine even as tears resemble real wheat. France the Bible commentator said we weeds probably endured and they were virtually indistinguishable until the ears formed. It is an interest of preserving and protecting the wheat the wise farmer did not separate the tears from the wheat until the time of the harvest. Now the wise farmer recognized that the ultimate answer to tears among the wheat would only come at the final harvest.
Now knowing the explanation of this parable as explained in Matthew 13 we understand why Jesus said it was right after explaining the parable of the sower especially with the seed that grew up among the thorns. D.A. Carson said but one might ask whether the Messiah's people should immediately separate the crop from the weeds and this next parable answers the question negatively. There will be a delay in separation until the final harvest.
Now verse 31 and 32 another parable he put forth to them saying the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and sown in his field but indeed is the least of all the seeds but when it is grown is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches. Now what's going on here?
Well some or even most regard this as a description of the growth and eventual dominance of the church the kingdom community yet in light of both the parable itself and the context of the parables both before and after this should be regarded as another description of corruption in the kingdom community just as the previous parable of the wheat and the tares described in Matthew 13 24-30.
Adam Clark said it is a good example of the majority opinion on the meaning of this parable and the one following both these parables are prophetic and were intended to show principally how from very small beginnings the gospel of Christ should pervade all the nations of the world and fill them with righteousness and holiness.
Again many or even most regard this as a beautiful picture of the church growing so large that it provides refuge for everyone in the world but this mustard seed plant grew unnaturally large and it harbored birds which in the previous parable were emissaries of Satan. So the mustard seed customarily never grows beyond what one would call a bush and at the normal size would be an unlikely place for birds nests. The tree like growth from this mustard seed described something unnatural.
This was a tree not in nature but in size an excusable exaggeration in a popular discourse it serves admirably to express the thought of growth beyond expectation who would expect such a tiny seed to produce such a large herb or monster in the garden. Now this parable accurately describes what the kingdom community became in the decades and centuries after the Christianization of the Roman Empire.
In these centuries the church grew abnormally large in influence and dominion and was a nest for corruption. Think about that. So big it got corrupt. Now verse 33 another parable he spoke to them. The kingdom of heaven is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened. Now Jesus used a surprising picture here.
Many if not most regard this as a beautiful picture of the kingdom of God working its way through the whole world yet leaven is consistently used as a picture of sin and corruption especially in the Passover narrative of Exodus 12 and again both the content and the context point toward this being a description of corruption in the kingdom community. This was an unusually large amount of meal.
It was much more than any normal woman would prepare and again suggest the idea of massive or unnatural size. The Bible tater France points out that measures of meal would be about 40 liters which would make enough bread for a meal of 100 people a remarkable baking for an ordinary woman. Now the idea of hiding leaven in a tree measures of meal would have offended any observant Jew. This certainly isn't a picture of the church gradually influencing the whole world for good.
Rather in the context of increasing opposition to his work Jesus announced that his kingdom community would also be threatened by corruption and impurity. Campbell Morgan wrote that the leaven represents paganizing influences that are brought into the church. Now this wraps up our time together looking at Matthew today. I always like to end in prayer. Prayer is just talking to God. Maybe you need a fresh start. Maybe you need to start doing some things in your life.
Maybe you need to stop doing some things in your life. I love to pray because it's always a chance to reset. Would you pray with me right now and just say God would you give me a fresh start in my life. Help me to hit reset. Help me to stop some things and start others. I ask for your help in Jesus name and as always have a great day. Thank you for your time. We would love to partner with you. Water is a global problem. It's going to take as many partners as we can to help solve this problem.
We'd love for you to partner with us. You can go to our website at www.oceanwater.com. That's ocnwtr.com. We'd love that. Thanks a lot.