The Lesson "ears To Hear" Teaches Us

I am going to open the message with the first part of John 16:13 from the Amplified Bible. “But when He, the Spirit of Truth (the Truth-giving spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the Truth (the whole, full Truth).”

During the Last Supper, which is recorded in John chapters 13 through 17, Jesus tells the disciples that after He is gone, the Holy Spirit will become their Teacher. Turn to John 14:26.

“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”

So, we see that the primary role of the Holy Spirit in our lives is as Teacher, with a capital T. Too often we depend on man or commentaries to help us understand the Bible. But Jesus says He’s already given us THE person to help us understand the Bible. The Comforter. The Holy Ghost. The Spirit of Truth.

As I was reading Mark 4 and the three “seed” parables that Jesus taught, I read two verses that seemed to imply that Jesus was using parables because He didn’t want some of the hearers to have their sin forgiven and receive salvation. Let’s read the verses.

(10) And when He was alone, they that were about Him with the twelve asked of Him the parable.

(11) And He said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables:

(12) That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them. (Mark 4:10-12)

The phrase “unto them that are without” means “those outside our circle.” In other words, they were not currently following Jesus. Was Jesus, then, deliberately hiding the truth from those who were not part of their circle? Was He purposefully condemning them to the lake of fire by withholding the life-changing message of the gospel?

No, He was not.

Jesus was teaching a kingdom truth about how some people will respond to His teachings and how some people will respond to His teachings today. And the first key in understanding this truth is found in verse 9 – “And He said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”

We will come back to that in a moment.

Now, why did I say verses 11 and 12 “seemed to say” Jesus was using parables to keep people from being saved? It’s because there are too many clear scriptures that do not support this explanation. For example –

John 10:10 says, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and have it more abundantly.”

In First Timothy 2, let’s see what verses 3 and 4 say. “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.”

And now turn to John 3:16, the verse that pronounces why Jesus came to earth in the first place.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

These verses disagree with the notion that Jesus withholds the opportunity for salvation from anyone. So, what is the truth that Jesus is teaching in Mark 4? Let’s look at the same record in Matthew 13 to help us answer that question.

(10) And the disciples came, and said unto Him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?

(11) He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

Uh, Bro. Barry, it still sounds like Jesus is saying “I want you to know, but I don’t want them to know.” Let’s keep reading.

(12) For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.

(13) Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.

The Holy Spirit drew my attention to two words that, once I understood their meaning in the Greek, helped me understand what verse 13 is saying about the reason Jesus why taught in parables

One is “ou”, for not, and the other is “oude”, for neither. “Ou” is the root word of “oude”. Both words carry the same meaning – “an absolute negation.” There is another word in the Greek for not. It’s the word “me”, which means “a negation based on circumstances.”