Who Is On The Lord's Side? Series

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: