Law & Grace - Matthew 13:1-58 "Parables of the Kingdom", Part I
Matthew 13:1, 18-23 · Vern Peterman · Jan 1, 2012
Law & Grace, No. 49
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926256581536

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

So I'd like to ask Mike to come up and talk about the Identification Truths Plus elective that will be offered downstairs starting next week. He said, there are vast numbers who profess to believe in the atoning virtue of the death of the Lord Jesus, but who do not see aught therein beyond the forgiveness of their sins. They do not as yet see the crucifixion, death, and burial of the sinner. the entire displacement of the old system of things belonging to their first Adam position. In a word, their perfect identification with their risen and ascended Lord.

That's what we're going to teach next year, this year. So anybody who wants to learn about that, come to our class. Okay, thank you. And we'll invite Roger to come up and talk about the Philippians elective. Well, as I mentioned the last time we talked about Philippians here a couple of weeks ago, Philippians is one of the prison epistles.

And it's really, it's kind of a tremendous book as all of Paul's epistles are. It talks about the earthly walk of a heavenly people. So it shows the Christian life from the right perspective. We're seated with Christ in the heavenlies, but we live this life out in this earth. Some of the main things are joy. Joy is mentioned, J-O-Y, joy in the Lord, is mentioned 19 times, joy in Christ.

He also talks about things like humility of mind. What's humility of mind? Does that mean I go around and I'm really humble? It's not that. He talks about this wonderful passage, that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His suffering. He also talks about being in harmony. You're walking this earthly life, and you're a heavenly person, but you live in harmony with your brothers and sisters, which I think is very important. We may have all this wonderful knowledge, but it needs to play out in our relationship. So if that excites you, please come.

And in here, we'll be offering Bible backgrounds for the first six months, and then church history for the next six months. The Bible backgrounds class will be designed to offer cultural and historical background for Bible study. Additionally, we're going to include what I'll call defense of the faith, sometimes called apologetics, although we won't apologize for very much. So we will include that.

And church history, I think, will help explain all sorts of things that a lot of us either don't question or perhaps we do question and never get answers to. You know, why is it, for example, we've got this group called Presbyterians, and then we've got Episcopal, and why those words? And isn't that a strange set of terms? There are 30,000 Christian denominations. We won't talk about all of them, but we'll at least have some understanding of why there would be so many. At any rate, those three are being offered starting next week, if you haven't signed up. Feel free to do so. There's sign-up sheets in the hall. We'll have today be the last day. All right, now to your handout and the message on the passage here.

We're going to be looking today, taking a starting look at Matthew chapter 13. For most of the chapter, it is a chapter full of parables. And one of the things we've shown in some weeks past is what we call a chiasm, and that is this pattern that you see in front of you here. The one thing that we're doing differently, and I'll just explain, a chiasm is like a mirror image in written form. It's an outline that kind of orbits and turns around the middle of the outline.

And what we'll say that's different from what we've had in the past is from the beginning of Christ's ministry, in other words, after the first couple of chapters talking about Christ coming as an infant and as king, from the beginning of Christ's ministry until the time when he tells this parable is about two years in time. And then in contrast to that, though this parable stands in the middle of the book of Matthew, the set of parables, it's about one year until the end of Christ's ministry. So while it is in the middle, it's not in the middle of time.

We're now about two-thirds of the way through Christ's ministry as we begin this chapter here. Just in summary, and there at the bottom, we're talking about going from the gospel of the kingdom to the gospel of substitution from ministry to Israel under principle of law and ministry to the church under grace. So this is the transition where we're in the middle in terms of the series of topics in this book. Now, We are in the middle in chapter 13.

There is also an interesting pattern. You have this on your handout as well on the first smaller slide. Matthew 13 within it is also a chiasm. That is, there's this pattern of starting and then having a turning point in the middle and then working towards a conclusion that also has a kind of a mirror image pattern. It's a pivotal chapter. Here is a chiasm in the middle of the chiasm.

And we could ask the question, why parables? There's a parables. And in keeping with the introduction of the moose today, there's a parables, right? But that's not what we're talking about, is it? No. Prior to this, Jesus used word pictures and illustrations But he had not used parables. And we'll talk about what's the distinction here.

He used word pictures and illustrations to convey a meaning. And he intended that people understand, everyone listening, understand what he was talking about with the illustration. He used, for example, in what's called the Sermon on the Mount, he talked about a wide gate and a narrow gate. And he intended people to understand what that meant. And he used the word picture, the illustration, to convey a point, to get a point across, didn't he? He used, for example, take the beam out of your own eyes so that you can deal with your brother's speck in his eye, right? That's a word picture, an illustration.

It's not intended to conceal anything. It's intended to convey truth and to get a point across. When Jesus was along the seashore inviting those to be disciples, what did he say to them? Follow me and I will make you fishers of men, right? He used a word picture to get a point across. It wasn't to conceal anything, but it was rather to get a point across and to communicate and convey.

He was intending to be understood. Jesus did use parables to reveal things to his disciples. So here's the characteristic of a parable as Jesus used them. He used the parable to reveal things to his disciples, but to conceal things from the Pharisees and the Sadducees and others who were opposed to him. By the way, though he didn't use parables, that also included his brothers.

That's why we read here in Matthew 13.3 that Jesus began to speak in parables. As a matter of fact, he actually says began in the Gospel of Mark in a parallel passage.

And in Matthew 13.10-13, Jesus spoke in parables as he said to conceal the meaning from those who would not truly listen. So parables are very interesting, different in character.

Why? They're to convey a truth to those who are indeed listening and wanting to make use of the information, but to conceal the truth, to hide it from those who are of bad intent. Because after all, what the Pharisees wanted to do was find something they could accuse him with. If they couldn't understand what he was saying, it would be hard to accuse him, right?

Now, Jesus didn't begin teaching in parables, and we've seen this in Matthew, he didn't begin teaching in parables until the opposition to his ministry was clear and substantial. And the two previous chapters to chapter 13 here, the opposition was clear. We're going to see after this chapter is over, the opposition returns. More of it. It will be abundantly clear, and he continues using parables with that.

What's interesting though is that the disciples, as they wrote the New Testament letters, didn't continue teaching in parables. Why? Oh, OK, I guess I'll answer that. The disciples didn't continue writing with parables because they were writing to people that they wanted to understand. They wanted them all to understand, here's what I'm telling you, right? There was no need to conceal it from some other group. And so they didn't use parables as a continuous means of communicating. When Jesus was only with his own disciples, he didn't teach them consistently in parables. Did he sometimes use them?

Yes. But typically it was part of this larger pattern of, I want you guys to understand, I don't want them to understand. Because they're going to use it for no good purpose. Right? I'm going to communicate to you, my disciples, I'm going to conceal it from those who would be our enemies.

In general, we can say that parables in the Bible are used if there's resistance to the message. What we have there is a picture of the Good Samaritan. The Good Samaritan is another parable out of the Gospel of Luke. And why did Jesus use that illustration?

He was talking to a man who was an expert on the Jewish law. And he wanted to get a point across to the man that the man would not get if Jesus told him directly. So he used the parable not to conceal the truth but to pass a truth by that a direct statement would not be the same. Okay, in addition to that, Nathan the prophet confronted King David when King David sinned with Bathsheba and sinned with Uriah the Hittite Nathan, rather than coming to David and saying, David, you're doing this and this and this wrong, and that's sin. Nathan instead comes to King David and he tells him a parable. And King David looks at the parable and says, oh, that man is wrong.

That man's certainly in error. And Nathan says, you are the man. A parable will allow concealment, but it will also allow us to see things that we're perhaps too close to. But in either case, there's resistance on the part of somebody listening. Now, verses 10 through 13, I'll go ahead and read it here. You have it on the slide here from Matthew chapter 13.

The disciples came to him 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. They have not been granted to know the mysteries. They're not supposed to understand.

So we speak in parables deliberately. Verse 12, For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance. But to whoever does not have, or he who has little, even what he has will be taken away from him. This is the case with the Pharisees. They don't have any understanding, but because they're resistant to more understanding, we'll make sure that they don't get any more. We tell them parables where they won't understand what's happening. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand." Sounds like Congress to me.

Anyway, okay. Now, we have this slide that says Mystery Moose on side two, right? And so now, In Matthew 13 11 Jesus referred to mysteries, singular in Mark there, but the idea is there's this word mystery that is presented there and in each of those passages and in other passages the Greek word there is Mysterion. It's a truth that wasn't revealed before but is now revealed, previously unknown, now made clear and revealed. That's the meaning throughout the New Testament. That is also the meaning where that word is used in the Greek Old Testament, such as in Daniel and the book of Job. So it means consistently throughout the Bible, when we think of a mystery, we think of something that's really mysterious and we really can't figure it out.

The biblical use of the term, Old Testament and New, the biblical use of the term, and it's illustrated by Colossians 1.26, is that there was a truth that was not previously revealed and understood, but is now revealed and made clear. This word mystery has been seen by some as a mystery form of the earthly kingdom remaining throughout the church age. That is, the idea that there is a mysterious form of the kingdom right now, here during the church time.

And that's been taught by teachers that we have regard for. But what I will say here is there are good reasons for us to believe that Jesus was referring only to the people of Israel and not something that was here during the time of the church. Here are some of those good reasons. One, the church is a separate program of God. in a new and separate spiritual body has not yet been introduced in Matthew. As a matter of fact, we've got about five chapters to go before the concept of the church first shows up. So that would be one reason.

Chapter 18 is actually where that's first brought up, the idea that there is the church. The word mystery is not said here to really be in a mystery form, but simply a mystery. That is, it has the same meaning in the Old Testament on into the New Testament.

Colossians 1.26 is where Paul uses the word mystery and then defines it. So that makes it clear. The mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but now has been manifested to his saints. So that's the biblical idea of mystery. Is that mysterious? Okay. All right.

The meaning of kingdom remains the same. Now, the word kingdom in the church has often drifted towards the idea that the church is the kingdom. The meaning of the idea of the kingdom being the church, has also tended to have people call Christ the church's king. But that is not the biblical teaching, that's a teaching that came into prominence a few centuries after the New Testament era.

Here is a timeline which I think will help us see it. Christ's first coming. We just, this last week, celebrated Christ's birth and his first coming. and his death, burial, and resurrection, his ascension and seeding, those would surround his first coming. That's what we are studying as we go through the Gospel of Matthew. Then at his second coming, which is a time still yet future for us, it could be as soon as seven years from today, but a time still yet future for us, Christ will come again.

At that time, we will come here, having all been raptured, taken up to be with the Lord. We will come back with Him. Now, as He comes back, He will do judging. There isn't any indication that we're going to say, OK, Ben, I'd like for you to take the left flank out here and attack the people over there in Syria. And we'd like for Bob to take the right flank here and have him come in and lead a group. No. It'll be the Lord Himself doing all the battle. But we will come with Him and rule and reign with Him as the Bride of Christ here on planet Earth, but all of us, all of us here in the Church in resurrected bodies.

The Kingdom will be centered in Jerusalem, in the land of Israel, with the people of Israel being Christ's subjects. He is the King of Israel as the wise men came to Herod. He says, where is he who has been born king of the Jews? He was born king of the Jews.

That's their relationship with him. After this present heavens and earth is all wrapped up and rolled up and gone, there will be the new Jerusalem and a new heavens and new earth. We will be there with the Lord too. As Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, Forever we will be with the Lord.

Now, you're about here. At least I think so. We're really close. You're about here in this timeline here. The church is the time between this first coming of Christ and the second coming in the big picture. That's the time we live in now. The kingdom is that time when Christ comes again. And it is an earthly kingdom. By the way, we as a church live under grace as the reigning principle. What will be the reigning principle when Christ comes to rule over the earth? Law. That's right. Law will be the reigning principle. So we live under a different reigning principle than will then be the case.

Some people have asked, well, what will we be doing here? We will be the bride of Christ, which will be unique, and we will be an island of grace, pure grace, on a globe ruled under principle of law. Isn't that interesting? We will stand apart as, wow, who are these people? Because we will be an island of God's most amazing grace during this time when everything is ruled by law.

Now, so the kingdom, this is another slide on side two of your handout there. In Matthew 13, the kingdom is variously called the kingdom, no other words of explanation. The kingdom of their father, but mostly the kingdom of heaven. We've shown that that's a synonym for the kingdom of God. And there's a supplement on that, which we'll have some copies available, but also on the Holly Hills website, just two pages that explains the fact that the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven are synonyms.

One of the ways we explain that is, interestingly enough, the Jews would avoid, not absolutely, but as a tendency, they would avoid saying the name God for fear of using it accidentally in vain. Because after all, that's fatal, right? So in order to avoid using God's name in vain, they would use the substitute, heaven. In fact, we have carried over that tradition 2,000 years later in our Gentile culture. Why? We have carried on, instead of saying, oh my God, we'll say, oh my heavens. And instead of saying, God knows, we'll say, heaven knows, right? So we have expressions that reflect the same kind of a pattern. It's a euphemism. It's a way of saying God without using the name of God.

The kingdom that both John in the book of Revelation and Jesus referred to is the kingdom which Christ will reign as the King of Israel. That's what he was born to. over the land and people of Israel, and of king of kings and lord of lords over the Gentiles throughout the earth. So actually, king simply is the king of Israel, and that's over the Jews. King of kings and lord of lords.

So was it Maddie that was holding up that sign? Did such a great job. King of kings and lord of lords is his title as he rules over the Gentiles. And by the way, that's also the title that the Gentile rulers of the empires also used and took for themselves. So he will reign as king of kings and lord of lords over the entire earth, including Colorado. All right. Now, what's our approach to Matthew 13? By the way, that's the approach to DIA. I think the white roof is off to the side there. Oh, you can't see where I'm pointing. I'm sorry. Okay. Anyway, what's our approach to Matthew chapter 13?

There's no actual distinction between the terms kingdom of God and kingdom of heaven. And sometimes, as we'll see in the chapter, it just says the kingdom, right? The kingdom is the kingdom of God is the kingdom of heaven. Secondly, there is no mystery form of the kingdom during this present church age, the age of grace.

Grace is the reigning principle now and will be even when we come back with Christ for us Grace will remain the reigning principle as we reign and rule with Christ. The whole world will actually be under principle of law, but not us. We will be an island of pure grace when we come back with the Lord, as soon as seven years from now. The word mystery means what it does throughout the Bible. It's a truth not revealed before, but is now being revealed. The kingdom is Christ reigning as king over Israel that is the land and the people of Israel. Now, here's one. It's not on your handout. If you'd like a copy of this, I'd be glad to print it for you, email it to you, whatever. This is a map. of what the kingdom will be like.

Currently Israel is this little country that's kind of divided up because of the Palestinian area there. A little country that is west of the Jordan River. West of the Jordan River and east of the Mediterranean and this little area in here. That's Israel now.

Israel will be all this area up to what is Syria and Lebanon all the way down to this what's called the River of Egypt down here. Each tribe will have a horizontal swath that goes all the way to the Euphrates River. So Israel will at that time encompass Israel, what the Palestinians now have, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq and Kuwait. Wow! Right? And of course, right now, if you were to tell them the Jews are going to rule that, you would have a World War III right away! Right?

This is an amazing thing, but the Bible is clear on it. Genesis 15, 18 through 21, you can look up that passage. And the other one is Ezekiel 48. That's where it spells out the land by tribe. So it's amazing to think that this could be as soon as seven years from now. That is astounding.

I think we'd get rid of all our Middle East headaches, right? OK. Matter of fact, I think that may be the only solution. Probably is, right? Okay. So anyway, if you're interested in that, let me know. I'll be glad to get that to you. All right. So what applies to us? How do we figure out what of this applies to us? We'll examine Matthew 13 as we do with the rest of Matthew by comparison and contrast, just like these guys in the picture, right? There are some things to compare and some things to contrast. In comparison, we'll look at the things that are the same or similar. between Israel and the church.

Did Jesus Christ come as a Jew to the land of Israel, to the people of Israel? Yes. Is it that same Jesus Christ who is our Lord and Savior in Bridegroom? Yes. So there is a similarity, a comparison. Is the role to each group different? Yes, but there's also similarity. So we recognize what is similar, right? In contrast, we'll look at the things that differ between Israel and the church.

Israel was then and will be under principle of law. And you know what? They'll be happy with it. The New Covenant says that Israel will have the Holy Spirit in every single Jew all the time, not just to live out the law completely, but to know it without any rabbis. Can you imagine? It could be as soon as seven years from now, there's no more rabbis. Why?

It's not because we don't like them. Maybe they're really nice guys. It is because they will have the Holy Spirit to teach them and to know the law from the heart. It will be written on their heart. They will be happy to live it out. Just as we are to be happy to live completely under grace. Entirely pure and utter grace. Mountains of grace. Fountains of grace. Radically different. Same Lord.

The problems of interpretation arise when we try to apply everything said to Israel to us, or nothing. That's the problem, right? We'll see what's similar, and what's confirmed, and what is different. You know, Jesus referred to the Israelites as sheep, just like they were referred to in the Old Testament. We also, likewise, are referred to as sheep, aren't we? So is there a similarity? Yes. Right? There certainly is.

Okay, questions about parables. Now, of course, you know I'm very questionable, but let's take a look here. What's the point of the parable? As we look at it, Jesus tells, it's actually often counted as seven, but I'll show you there's actually eight parables in here. There are eight parables, and we ask, what's the point of the parable? What's Jesus trying to get across? What is the parable illustrating? Each parable is an illustration, but it's similar, what's the point? What's he trying to communicate with the illustration, and what isn't relevant? What is the cultural context of the parables? A few of the parables that we'll find in this chapter refer to things that are looked upon as valuable, treasure, pearls, right?

So one of the things to look at culturally, were most people well off, not even close? Most people were really scratching to make ends meet and really struggling with it. So when you talk about a treasure or even a pearl, to us we say, well, okay, that's nice. To them, it was just mind-boggling that you might have a treasure or a pearl, something of value. To them, it was of such immense value, it was almost like just a dream.

Now, what are the key insights from our understanding of the culture? When we look at each one of these things, one of them, for example, the first one that Courtney read for us was the parable of the sower. Well, in our culture, we've got something like 2% of our society is involved in agriculture. In biblical times, it was 90% or more of society is involved in agriculture. So the idea of a sower was something that most people could relate to. And I'm not talking about sewing with needle and thread, right? It's not a sewer either. That's really awful. OK.

Why would Jesus select that specific illustration? Why is that a good illustration to get across this point? Finally, where would the parable aspect end so that we draw out only the intended meaning? Is Jesus telling the parable of the sower to tell you that you really need to use the right brand of seeds? No. He's not telling you the sower really needs to be not so sloppy. No, that's not his point, is it? So what's the end of what the parable is trying to illustrate?

And let's get that and understand that. In some cases, and we're going to see that in this chapter, Jesus will explain the meaning of the parable only to his own disciples. Why? He wants the disciples to understand because to them it has been granted. He does not want the Pharisees and the Sadducees to understand because to them it's not been granted. He intends that the meaning of the parable be concealed. So when he explains the meaning to his own disciples, can we learn from what he explains about some parables to help us understand what he means by the parables he doesn't explain? And I think the answer is yes. So how will we know what aspect of the parable applies directly to us in the church and what aspect does not?

We will compare and contrast. The mistakes that could be made are one, oh that's all about the Jews and so we don't need to even pay any attention to that. That would be mistake one. Mistake two is to try to apply it all to ourselves. So we want to compare and contrast. By the way, one of the reasons that the Jews were put under law and we were put under grace is we would learn from the contrast. Learn from the contrast.

So let's step through the parables. The first one is the parable of the sower. You can imagine, as Jesus was telling us, it's possible that there was even a sower right there. throwing the seed out. Even if that's not the case, that they had all seen it done many times, and maybe even some of them had been once casting seed. The parable of the sower, of course, includes the four kinds of soils.

And so that'll be one we'll take in more detail next week. The parable of the wheat and the tares. Here is the wheat. which is allowed to be seeded and then somebody goes in and seeds it with something else that isn't wheat. So the question, do we go and start pulling out the tares early or do we wait till the end? Jesus answers that question. And not only does he give the parable, he explains it, which we'll also take a look at. There's the parable of the mustard seed. They're also included in this passage.

Now, the mustard seeds, as you can see, very tiny seeds. This little line drawn here, that's 20 millimeters, about 25 roughly is an inch. So, these are little tiny seeds. Now, a lot of mustard varieties that we're accustomed to are smaller and oftentimes just simply an annual crop. But some of the varieties, and especially if left over time, can grow fairly large. One of them, we have a man standing, and it's maybe a foot or two above his head. In another case, we have a mustard seed plant that's been allowed to grow, and of a particular variety, where it's much larger than the man.

So here is this parable of the mustard seed. We'll take a look at that as we look at this next week. The parable of the leaven. Now, leaven was something that the Jews paid particular attention to. They were allowed to eat leavened bread, that is bread that was not raised by yeast, except for certain seasons. And of course, the feast of unleavened bread was a particular time. They were not supposed to have bread with leavening or yeast in it. So we'll take a look at that. That's just one verse.

There's the parable of the hidden treasure. So here's this man, he finds a treasure out in the field and then comes back once he's bought the field to go and get the treasure out of the field. He gets himself a bargain. Only he is the only one who knows it.

The parable of the costly pearl is another one. Only a couple of verses long, but again, think of a culture where having the idea of something as valuable as a treasure or a pearl was just, it's like beyond your wildest dreams. So Jesus was using an illustration that to them would say extreme value. Extreme value. The parable of the dragnet. Interesting thing.

It shows here a net being used during the daytime. The reality is that the disciples did most of their fishing at night. Why? Because at the time they didn't have any invisible fish line. And so you had to fish at night. because otherwise the fish could see the net and they go, aha, I know what you're trying to do and they go the other way, right? And so we have an illustration here, but the reality is it would be a fish net made of visible material and most often used at nighttime.

But he has this parable of the drag net is the next one. And this is the one that's often missed. The parable of the scribe who becomes a disciple. That's an interesting one. And so we'll take a look at that. Verse 52. So those are the eight parables. And we'll examine each of those in more detail next week. Now, there will be a lot for us to take home as we study this. And let me give you a couple of for instances.

Though Jesus is talking about the coming kingdom on earth as ruled by principle of law, are you going to be ruled by principle of law? No. Christ died on the cross for multiple reasons. One of those reasons is so that you would die in relationship to the law. You're not under not just some small amount of law, not 10, not 9, not 11, none. Zip. Okay? You died with Christ so that you would die to the law.

The receptiveness of the soils to the gospel of grace will have parallels. It's a different gospel for them than for you because it's a gospel of grace. But the receptiveness has parallels. including the fourth kind of soil that has different levels of growth. Did you notice that? Do we in the church have a consideration of spiritual growth? Yeah, we certainly do.

So there will be parallels that we can draw from this, and they will indeed be valuable. You might have noticed that different people respond differently to the gospel. And this illustration brings those points across rather well, I think. We're going to see, for example, the hidden treasure and the pearl speak of what is of great value.

We in the body of Christ can learn from this. Why? We understand, especially from the New Testament, what is of great value. I quote here from 2 Corinthians chapter 4. We have this treasure in earthen vessels. That's telling us a similar message. What's a value? What is really a value here on this planet? It's the treasure in this earthen vessel. So there will be things for us to learn from this.

There will be things for us to draw from it that apply to us personally. So let's pray. Lord, we thank you that as we look at this passage, as we look at going through the details of it, we thank you that you have revealed valuable truth, made things clear. We thank you that you've revealed these things to the disciples and to us because you love us and you care about us so much. And in fact, you have designed it such that you want to fellowship with us and to bless us And you want to invest your glory and share your glory with us on into eternity so that you would be glorified. We thank you for the awesome privilege we have to step into your revealed word, the truth that goes heart deep. We thank you in Jesus name. Amen.