Who Is on the Lord's Side?
The Gospel of Matthew
Matthew 13:1-23
Sermon by Rick Crandall
(Prepared April 25, 2022)
BACKGROUND:
*Please open your Bibles to Matthew 13. Today in vs. 1-23, we will begin to take a look at one of the Lord's parables. Remember that parables are simply earthly stories with a heavenly meaning. And based on the Scriptures you include, 40 to 50 are given to us in the New Testament.
*Next time, Lord willing, we will look at the story of this parable. But today we will focus on the setting, and this will help us see how to be on the Lord's side in life. Nothing is more important, so please listen to God's Word as we read vs. 1-23.
MESSAGE:
*"Who is on the Lord's side?" This is the famous question Moses asked in Exodus 32:26, and it is one way to ask life's most important question. Being on the Lord's side will give you the best possible life both now and forever! Proverbs 18:24 talks about "a friend who sticks closer than a brother," and that's the kind of friend Jesus is for us when we are on the Lord's side. In John 15:13 Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends." That's how much Jesus loves us, and that's what Jesus did when He died on the cross for our sins.
*When you are on the Lord's side, you will also have a Heavenly Father who watches over you, loves you, gives you the discipline you need, and provides for every other need you will have in life. Through the Holy Spirit, you will also have God's constant presence to guide you, inspire you, and comfort you in the hard times of life.
*The infinite blessings of God belong to us if we are on the Lord's side, and today's Scripture can help us live there.
1. FIRST: WE MUST AVOID THE DANGER OF DISBELIEF.
*Many people there when Jesus told this parable were not on the Lord's side. In fact, they were as far away from God as you can be. Some of them had even committed the unpardonable sin by blaspheming the Holy Spirit of God. And Jesus told this parable on that same day.
*The report of this day started back in Matthew 12:22 when "one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw."
*Because of that miraculous healing, the multitudes began to wonder if Jesus was truly the promised Messiah. But that sparked the Christ-hating Pharisees to commit the unforgivable sin. In Matthew 12:24 they said, "This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons."
*Jesus then warned the people about this unforgivable blasphemy. In Matthew 12:30-32 Jesus said, "He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad. Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come."
*By that time, Jesus had already worked countless miracles, but in Matthew 12:38, the scribes and Pharisees asked for another sign, and in Matthew 12:39-40 Jesus replied, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."
*This was the situation in Matthew 13:1-3, where Matthew wrote:
1. On the same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea.
2. And great multitudes were gathered together to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.
3. Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: "Behold, a sower went out to sow. . ."
*Christians love these short, symbolic stories, because they give us rich insight into God's truth, and we have already seen ten parables in Matthew's Gospel. But today's Scripture is the first time the word "parable" is actually used in the New Testament. And we find out that Jesus told parables not just to reveal the truth, but also to conceal the truth from people who refused to believe in Him.
*Why did Jesus begin to speak in parables this way? -- Because so many people had hardened their hearts against His teaching. Jesus confirmed this fact in vs. 10-15. Here:
10. . . the disciples came and said to Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables?''
11. He answered and said to them, "Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.
12. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.
13. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
14. 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;
15. for the heart of this people has grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their heart and turn, so that I should heal them.'"
*Verses 14-15 are a quote from Isaiah 6:9-10, and they are a fulfillment of the prophecy God gave to Isaiah when he saw the Lord high and lifted up in glory.
*This prophecy might lead you to think that these Christ-rejecters never had the possibility of trusting in the Lord. But we must remember that God is bigger than time. The Lord God has always seen the end from the beginning, so in Isaiah 46:9-10 He could say, "Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.'"
*God sees the end from the beginning, and from that point of view, these Christ-rejecters "could not believe." But as they moved through life, at least for a while, God's "whosoever" was still available for them, for in John 3:16, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that WHOSOEVER believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
*At the same time though, hard hearts tend to get more hardened. John Phillips called this "God's judicial hardening." And Phillips explained that unbridled unbelief breeds on itself. He gave the Old Testament example of Pharaoh "who continued to harden his heart until there came a time when God hardened it for him. The Pharisees in Matthew 13 were now guilty of similar behavior. And a time comes in the lives of those who will not repent when at last they cannot repent." (1)
*What a terrible disaster! Rejecting Jesus Christ leads to an empty life without hope. One of the most famous trials in American history was the Scopes Monkey trial in 1925. A teacher in Tennessee was on trial for the crime of teaching evolution. And the trial drew national attention, in part because the teacher was defended by famous attorney, Clarence Darrow.
*Years later Dr. John Herman met the famous lawyer. Both men were old by then. And during their conversation, Dr. Herman asked Clarence Darrow this question: "Now that you've come this far in life and you're not doing much lecturing or writing any more. How would you sum up your life?"
*Clarence Darrow immediately picked up a Bible. This surprised Dr. Herman, because Mr. Darrow spent most of his life publicly ridiculing the Word of God. The lawyer opened the Bible to Luke 5. It's the place where Jesus preached from Peter's boat, then told Peter to "launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch."
*Simon Peter answered the Lord in Luke 5:5 by saying, "Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net." That was the verse Clarence Darrow had found, and he said, "This verse in the Bible describes my life: 'I have toiled all the night and have caught nothing.'"
*Clarence Darrow put the Bible back, and sadly said, "I have lived a life without purpose, without meaning, without direction. I don't know where I came from. And I don't know what I'm doing here. And worst of all, I don't know what's going to happen to me when I punch out of here." (2)
*What a disaster to get to the end of your life and find yourself in that shape! And what a difference it makes when we know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior!
*But those hard-hearted, Pharisees were so filled with hatred and rage toward Jesus that back in Matthew 12:14, they had begun plotting to murder Him. And they did succeed in sending Jesus to the cross. Little did they know that the cross was God's plan for salvation from the beginning! And three days later Jesus rose again from the dead!
*Those lost men have been in hell for two thousand years now, with no hope of escape. But it's not too late for you! Avoid the great danger of disbelief. Put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ! That's how to get on the Lord's side.
2. BUT IF WE REALLY WANT TO BE ON THE LORD'S SIDE, WE WILL ALSO ALLOW THE LORD TO TEACH US.
*Jesus wants to teach us His ways and His will, but we must be willing to open our hearts, and receive what the Lord wants us to know. That's why in vs. 9 Jesus urgently cried out, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!'' It's the same thing Jesus said in Matthew 11:15: "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"
*Jesus was talking about us really hearing Him, not just in our heads but in our hearts. He was talking about us paying close attention and letting His Word transform our lives.
*We must understand how important it is for us to listen to the Lord. Eight times in the Gospels, Jesus cried out: "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." Then seven times in the Book of Revelation, Jesus said, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."
*Will God speak to us? -- Of course He will! God will surely speak to us through His Word. But are we willing to listen? Vse Lytkin had a great desire to hear from God. When I saw his story, Vse was serving Jesus as a pastor in Siberia, but he was raised in the home of atheists.
*Vse's parents were Communist professors at a university in the old Soviet Union. During his teen years, Vse began to struggle with many spiritual questions. When the Communists told him there was no God, he began to doubt them, so he began to search for reading material where he might find the answers.
*The only books on religion at his local library were atheistic. But they often quoted verses from the Bible to mock or contradict them. Vse's greatest discovery was a set of encyclopedias on atheism. It was filled with Bible verses, and he copied every single one of them by hand! God spoke to Vse through those Scriptures, and before long, Vse got saved! He put his trust in Jesus Christ, and asked God to forgive his sins. (3)
*The same God who spoke to Vse will surely speak to us. But we must be willing to listen to the Lord and keep growing in spiritual knowledge. We know this because in 1 Peter 2:1-3 the Apostle said, "Therefore, laying aside all malice, all guile, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious."
*Later in 2 Peter 3:18, Peter closed his second letter by telling us to: "Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen." Church: If we really want to be on the Lord's side, we will allow Him to keep teaching us.
3. WE WILL ALSO APPRECIATE THE TRUTH GOD HAS REVEALED TO US.
*In vs. 10-17, Jesus explained why He began to speak in parables with hidden truth. And He reminded His disciples of the great privilege God gave them to understand His Word:
10. . . The disciples came and said to Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables?''
11. He answered and said to them, "Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.
12. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.
13. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
14. 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;
15. for the heart of this people has grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their heart and turn, so that I should heal them.'
16. But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear;
17. for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it."
*How happy they must have been to hear these words from the Lord! And we need to appreciate the abundant access God has given us to the truth of His Word. This access comes to us by God's amazing grace, and there is no way to overstate how valuable it is! We must never take God's Word for granted! In the United States we are privileged beyond measure to have open access to the Word of God!
*When I first went to Ukraine in 1994, the Communists had only been out of power for 3 years. We spoke at a community center one night. After the service, a lady came up to me, and through an interpreter she said, "The things you said here tonight, if you had said them here ten years ago, we ALL would have been arrested."
*On that same trip we went to a small house church that was packed with people. We started passing out Bibles at the end of the service. And some dear, elderly Christian ladies were so hungry to have a Bible that they rushed the front of the church twice. The pastor had to make them sit down, as he assured them that we had enough Bibles for everyone to have a copy.
*We must never take God's Word for granted! It allows us to understand the greatest mysteries of all time. Paul summed up these mysteries in 1 Timothy 3:16 when he said, "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory."
*Here are some of God's great mysteries to appreciate and embrace: The grace of God, the Virgin birth of Jesus Christ, His sacrificial death on the cross for all of our sins, the redeeming power of His blood, the power of His resurrection, the forgiveness of sins, a life worth living in this world, and a perfect home forever in Heaven, all through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
*If we really want to be on the Lord's side, we will appreciate the truth God has revealed to us.
4. BUT WE WILL ALSO APPLY HIS TRUTH IN OUR LIVES.
*Jesus explained the parable to His disciples in vs. 18-23, and Lord willing, we will get into the details next time. But listen to the Lord again in vs. 9. There Jesus said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!'' And in vs. 18 Jesus told His disciples to "hear the parable of the sower."
*Yes, the Lord wants us to carefully hear His Holy Word. But it is also crucial for us to apply His truth in our lives. We must be doers of the Word. James 1:21-22 clearly tells us to "lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves."
*Why did Jesus open His Word to His followers? -- Because of His sovereign grace, because they were willing to hear it, and because they were willing to apply His words in their lives. That's exactly what God wants us to do today: Listen to His Word, trust in His Word, and act on His Word.
*Pastor and evangelist Ron Dunn gave a great example from his own life. It centered around Luke 6:38, where Jesus said: "Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you."
*Ron told about the time that verse came alive to him. God applied it to his heart. And Ron said, "God was speaking to me. That verse had my name written on it, and I had to embrace it."
*It happened during a time of financial difficulty for Ron. One Wednesday he had been given $50 for preaching a funeral service. That night they had a missionary speaker at church. And after the service God spoke to Ron's heart and said, "Give that $50 to the missionary."
*With a twinkle in his eye, Ron said, "I knew that was the devil!" But anyway, he prayed, "Lord, I want to do your will. If that man is still out there when I go outside, I will give him the $50."
*Then Ron waited, and waited, and waited. Then he went outside. Everyone else was gone but that missionary. Ron said he looked like he was waiting on something, so Ron went up to him and said, "Here, Brother -- The Lord told me to give this to you." (4)
*And Ron didn't like it at first, but remember what he said: "God was speaking to me. That verse had my name written on it, and I had to embrace it." That's what we need to do more and more every day.
CONCLUSION:
*Who is on the Lord's side? Many of us can confidently say that we are. But if you are not sure right now, please know that God wants you to be on His side. I Timothy 2:3-4 tells us that "God our Savior. . . desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth!" Our Risen Savior died on the cross for your sins too! And now the living Lord will forgive you and give you everlasting life, if you will trust Him enough to receive Him as your Lord and Savior.
*Don't be deceived by disbelief. Put your trust in Jesus today! That's how to get on the Lord's side. Then listen to the Lord every day, appreciate Him more every day, and keep applying His truth in your life.
(1) Sources:
-EXPLORING ROMANS by John Phillips, Kregal Publications, Grand Rapids - "He Cites History as an Example" - Romans 11:2-10
-Adapted from EXPLORING THE GOSPELS: JOHN by John Phillips, Kregal Publications, Grand Rapids - "Some Explanations of His Rejection" - John 12:37-50
(2) Adapted from "Following Christ" by Joseph M. Stowell - Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1996, pp. 29-30 - Cited in "Great Stories in American History" by Rebecca Price Janney, Horizon Books, Camp Hill, PA, 1998
(3) SermonCentral illustration Contributed by Clark Frailey
(4) I heard Ron Dunn give this testimony in a class at New Orleans Baptist Theological seminary
