Jesus Wants To Help Us Understand The Kingdom Of Heaven - Part 1 Series

Jesus Wants to Help Us Understand the Kingdom of Heaven - Part 1

The Gospel of Matthew

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Sermon by Rick Crandall

(Prepared May 10, 2022)

BACKGROUND:

*Please open your Bibles to Matthew 13 to focus on another of the Lord's parables. Jesus used these simple, earthly stories to help us understand eternal truth. And we have already seen 11 in Matthew's Gospel, but some scholars don't start counting until they get to this chapter. That's because this is the first time the word "parable" is seen, and it's the first time Jesus told parables not only to reveal truth to His followers, but also to conceal spiritual truth from people who hatefully rejected the Lord. Back in Matthew 12 some of the Pharisees began plotting how to kill Jesus, and some even committed the unpardonable sin by blaspheming the Holy Spirit.

*That's why Jesus began to speak parables in a new way, and there are 8 parables in this chapter. All of them can help us understand the Kingdom of Heaven. But what is the Kingdom of Heaven? I've seen some very different answers to this question, but basically, the Kingdom of Heaven is the rule of Almighty God over all of the universe.

*Many Scriptures proclaim that the God of the Bible is the ultimate King of all creation. Psalm 22:28 declares that "the kingdom is the LORD'S, and He rules over the nations." Psalm 103:19 says, "The LORD has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all." And speaking of earthly rulers, Proverbs 21:1 says, "The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes."

*But in Isaiah 14:12-17, the angel Lucifer became so lifted up with pride that he rebelled against God and became Satan. Revelation 12:3-4 tells us that he also persuaded one third of the angels to follow him. Since that time there has been a terrible civil war in the universe as the forces of evil defy God. (1)

*Jesus Christ already won this war when He died on the cross for our sins and rose again from the dead! His final victory is absolutely sure, and it always has been! The devil has already been cast out of Heaven. We know this because in Luke 10:18 Jesus said, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. And Revelation 20:10 tells us that one day the devil will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where he will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

*But battles will rage on as God patiently waits for more people to be saved. So, for now Ephesians 2:2 tells us that the devil is the "prince of the power of the air," and Ephesians 6:12 tells Christians that we wrestle "against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."

*Because this spiritual civil war is still going on, the Kingdom of Heaven is now physically invisible to us. But the Kingdom is spiritually visible to everyone who has been born again by receiving Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. This is why in Luke 17:20-21 Jesus said, ''The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, 'See here!' or 'See there!' For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.'' This is also why Hebrews 2:9 tells Christians that "we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone."

*Praise the Lord for the Kingdom of Heaven! And know that it's important for us to understand. That's why Matthew mentioned it 32 times in his Gospel, and Jesus gave us these Kingdom Parables.

*Last time in vs. 1-23 we studied the parable of the seed and four soils. Verse 19 tells us that the seed is the "word of the Kingdom," and there is nothing wrong with the seed! But three of the four soils were bad and produced no fruit.

*Only one soil was good, and in vs. 23 Jesus explained that "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, some thirty.'' In Luke 8:15, Jesus said the seeds "that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience."

*A good heart: That was the issue. And that is the problem. The ground of our heart may be hard or stony or thorny, but there is nothing we can do about this on our own. Charles Spurgeon explained, "Nothing can be done with it by man. The only thing that can be done is for God to come in. There must be a work of the Holy Spirit through the cross of Jesus Christ to change our hearts into the good soil of grace. Then the wheat will grow, but not until then." (2)