WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.280 So, we're going to... It was quite a long reading today if you're following it in the 00:00:04.280 --> 00:00:08.240 church's Bible on page 8, 3, 9. If you have that, there's Bibles at the side. You're very 00:00:08.240 --> 00:00:15.439 welcome to take one and follow it through. We looked at... well, Anne Redford is chapter 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:23.839 4, right through to the end of that section, verse 34. But it's really all one section. 00:00:23.839 --> 00:00:28.320 And so, I'm going to do an overview. I'm not going to go into any great detail, but it's 00:00:28.320 --> 00:00:33.240 meant to be one section. And so, we'll take it as one of the different panabals within 00:00:33.240 --> 00:00:37.480 it and there's different things that happen. And if you look to the bulletin sheet, or 00:00:37.480 --> 00:00:43.560 if you ever look at the bulletin sheet or the Wednesday email, you'll notice the sermon 00:00:43.560 --> 00:00:49.719 title that comes up. And the sermon title this week is, Listen with an exclamation mark. 00:00:49.719 --> 00:00:55.159 And you may look at that and think, oh my goodness, there's a sermon title of a weary 00:00:55.159 --> 00:01:03.039 preacher who's frustratingly calling his congregants to attention and say, for goodness' sake, 00:01:03.039 --> 00:01:09.719 listen. It's not like that at all. But it does remind me of... sometimes ministers give 00:01:09.719 --> 00:01:14.840 poor responses or think weirdly about things. When someone at the end of the service came 00:01:14.840 --> 00:01:21.159 up to them at the end and thanked them very heartily for what a great sermon that was. 00:01:21.159 --> 00:01:24.679 And as the way ministers are, they don't really know how to react and they get all, you know, 00:01:24.680 --> 00:01:29.680 false, kind of piety. And they're, well, that's not really me, it was the Lord. And the response 00:01:29.680 --> 00:01:35.840 from the person was, well, it wasn't that good. So, you know, you have to recognise sometimes 00:01:35.840 --> 00:01:43.520 that when I say the title is, listen, it's not coming from me and it's not me demanding 00:01:43.520 --> 00:01:52.560 that you hear what I'm saying. But it's actually a good principle that God often uses in the 00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:59.040 Bible, which we often talk about here as repetition. And in this passage, he uses the concept of 00:01:59.040 --> 00:02:05.920 listening a lot. And he begins by saying, you know, listen, it's important as he starts 00:02:05.920 --> 00:02:13.080 teaching them. Verse 3, listen, he says, as he introduces the parable. And then in verse 00:02:13.080 --> 00:02:20.159 9, if you follow with me, he says, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. And he repeats 00:02:20.159 --> 00:02:26.599 that in verse 23, where he says, pay attention to what you hear. And if anyone has ears to 00:02:26.599 --> 00:02:32.479 hear, he says again, let him hear. And then in verse 33, he says, with many such parables, 00:02:32.479 --> 00:02:36.319 he spoke the word to them, as they're able to hear it. So we've seen that quite a lot, 00:02:36.319 --> 00:02:41.199 haven't we, in the Scripture, that when God repeats something, when the authors repeat 00:02:41.199 --> 00:02:46.800 something, it's because it's important and it's worth repeating. And that is really 00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:52.400 both what God and what Mark is wanting to get across, even in the whole emphasis of what 00:02:52.400 --> 00:02:57.960 the parables are about. They're all about listening to God and listening to His words. 00:02:57.960 --> 00:03:03.120 And the focus of these parables is having the right kind of ears. It's all about having 00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:09.600 the right kind of ears, not physically, obviously, but having listening ears or having hearing 00:03:09.600 --> 00:03:15.200 ears. Now, I'm going to kind of slightly, to help get across, I'm trying to say, I'm 00:03:15.199 --> 00:03:18.879 trying to say there's a slight difference between listening and hearing. Jesus doesn't 00:03:18.879 --> 00:03:23.319 make the difference between the two words. But just for sake of emphasis, I'm going to 00:03:23.319 --> 00:03:28.479 say there's, we can listen or we can hear. And there's a difference between how we listen 00:03:28.479 --> 00:03:34.479 to God's word. I think there's a visual hearing of God's words or a physical hearing of God's 00:03:34.479 --> 00:03:42.560 word where we see the truth, we visualize and understand it, and then we act on it. 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:47.400 And that's tremendously important because that's the kind of listening that Jesus wants 00:03:47.400 --> 00:03:54.960 from us, listening that is attentive with a view to change and transformation. So there's 00:03:54.960 --> 00:04:00.319 two questions that a passage like this brings up for us in our own, your own mind and my 00:04:00.319 --> 00:04:04.960 own mind as we come to God's word, either reading it or we come to church and hear sermons 00:04:04.960 --> 00:04:08.159 or podcasts or whatever it might be in God's word. 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:15.199 First is, do you listen with your mind already made up? Because it's very easy for us to 00:04:15.199 --> 00:04:19.120 do that. And that's really what the majority of the crowd we're doing here, because that 00:04:19.120 --> 00:04:25.879 big crowd had come to listen to Jesus. We're told that in verse one, a large crowd gathered. 00:04:25.879 --> 00:04:32.159 And then after the parable was told that he was alone. So the majority, there's one or 00:04:32.160 --> 00:04:38.160 two people left, but the majority of people just went away. And there's something powerful 00:04:38.160 --> 00:04:43.840 in that whole message which comes through in the parable itself that many people in Jesus 00:04:43.840 --> 00:04:50.400 time were attracted to his, the drama of Jesus, what was happening. He was almost becoming 00:04:50.400 --> 00:04:55.520 a folk hero. They liked pursuing the idea of, you know, as we've seen before, as Jesus 00:04:55.520 --> 00:05:01.160 coming as the Messiah. And there was political and social undertones towards that. It was 00:05:01.160 --> 00:05:06.000 intriguing. And they joined the crowd. So when a crowd came, they followed the crowd 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:11.800 to hear Jesus. And they liked the stories. They were hearing these parables, these stories 00:05:11.800 --> 00:05:18.800 of Jesus. But they weren't really listening. They weren't interested in following up what 00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:23.440 these parables meant. They listened to them, said, well, that's a nice story. And then 00:05:23.440 --> 00:05:30.160 they went home. And they were unchanged by what they heard. They didn't really want to 00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:35.000 hear what Jesus was saying and what he was meaning through the parables and the challenge 00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:40.480 he was bringing them. And there's a history to that because they were God's people, primarily 00:05:40.480 --> 00:05:47.480 of the Old Testament, who were not listening to what God was revealing about the coming 00:05:47.480 --> 00:05:55.560 Messiah and who rebelled against God and turned against God and were idolaters. They 00:05:55.560 --> 00:06:00.720 missed out. We're looking at that in the evening in Isaiah. They came under God's judgment. 00:06:00.720 --> 00:06:08.680 In fact, Jesus here quotes Isaiah chapter 6 in verse 12. When he talks about the parables 00:06:08.680 --> 00:06:12.480 and he says, you know, I speak to them in parables so that they may indeed see but not 00:06:12.480 --> 00:06:16.720 perceive, may indeed hear but not understand, lest they turn and be forgiven. And we looked 00:06:16.720 --> 00:06:22.480 at that and what that meant in terms of God's judgment against their continual rejection 00:06:22.480 --> 00:06:29.879 of His message. The majority of the crowd, they were listening with their minds already 00:06:29.879 --> 00:06:36.960 made up about Jesus. And the danger is that we can listen and read about Jesus with the 00:06:36.960 --> 00:06:44.879 same mindset. We come to the Bible, they're just stories. We read a story. It can be enjoyable 00:06:44.879 --> 00:06:51.319 or otherwise. We come to church and listening in a kind of consumerist way to the nature 00:06:51.319 --> 00:06:59.519 of the sermon and whether it is enjoyable at 20, 25 minutes or a tremendous drag in 00:06:59.519 --> 00:07:05.680 our week. But the message and the Word has no real impact on our heart or our lives when 00:07:05.680 --> 00:07:10.159 we read it. We open the Bible in the morning, we do our Bible reading, we close it. And 00:07:10.159 --> 00:07:14.639 before we've taken three steps, we've forgotten what was in the Word and we've not allowed 00:07:14.639 --> 00:07:22.919 it to soak and it hasn't changed us because consciously or unconsciously, very often our 00:07:22.919 --> 00:07:29.800 mind is closed. Our mind is already made up that basically we're okay, we know what we're 00:07:29.800 --> 00:07:34.879 going to do and we're just going to carry on the way we are. It doesn't impact our life 00:07:34.879 --> 00:07:42.120 and impact our heart and revolutionize us from the inside. Do you listen? Do we listen 00:07:42.120 --> 00:07:48.439 with our mind already made up? Or are we listening or are we hearing, if I'll use a different 00:07:48.439 --> 00:07:56.399 word to mean the same thing, are we hearing in order to be transformed? Because that's 00:07:56.399 --> 00:08:02.879 what the disciples did in this story. Particularly the parable of the Saur seems to be critical 00:08:02.879 --> 00:08:09.959 in all of Jesus' teaching here that He's giving, the central parable. And the disciples stayed 00:08:09.959 --> 00:08:16.319 after He told the parable and they asked Him, what do they mean? Not just the parable, not 00:08:16.319 --> 00:08:21.079 just the disciples, but one or two also stayed from the crowd. We're told in verse 10, who 00:08:21.079 --> 00:08:26.759 was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parables. So they knew 00:08:26.759 --> 00:08:31.839 that Jesus had something to say to them, something important, and they were frustrated 00:08:31.839 --> 00:08:38.000 by the parables because they didn't understand them. They were looking for the King and for 00:08:38.000 --> 00:08:41.600 the message of the kingdom, and they were His followers. We've seen that already. They'd 00:08:41.600 --> 00:08:46.759 given up everything to follow Jesus and to be His disciples. They didn't want to go home 00:08:46.759 --> 00:08:54.480 unchanged under God and under His word. They knew that Jesus wasn't a sideshow. He wasn't 00:08:54.480 --> 00:09:01.399 just telling them pretty stories to send them on their way. They knew that they had things 00:09:01.399 --> 00:09:07.759 to learn, even though like me and like probably all of us, they're slow to learn. They did 00:09:07.759 --> 00:09:13.319 want to know. The secret of the kingdom was revealed to them because they were hungry. 00:09:13.319 --> 00:09:18.600 They asked Jesus, well, what does it mean? What's the importance of this? For them it 00:09:18.600 --> 00:09:25.679 was spiritual, in other words, life and death issues for them. And that really is the background 00:09:25.679 --> 00:09:31.039 and the foundation of this whole passage. It's all about listening, the kind of way 00:09:31.039 --> 00:09:38.639 we listen to God and His word and how God uses that. Now there's a very clear Bible illustration 00:09:38.639 --> 00:09:44.719 about that in James chapter 1 where James says, you know, we want to be not just hearers 00:09:44.719 --> 00:09:48.799 of the word but doers of the word. So we're not to be, use the illustration of not going 00:09:48.799 --> 00:09:54.480 to a mirror and looking at yourself in the mirror and then forgetting what you look like. 00:09:54.480 --> 00:10:00.240 I'm not sure exactly what, if you're meant to, if that image is supposed to be, you see 00:10:00.240 --> 00:10:05.279 something really gruesome about yourself in the mirror and you know, God wants you to 00:10:05.279 --> 00:10:09.840 change that. I'm not sure. But it's just making that point that you don't just immediately 00:10:09.840 --> 00:10:17.440 forget what you've seen. If something is needing to be done, like, you know, well, I don't shave 00:10:17.440 --> 00:10:20.960 but if any of the guys here are shaving, you go in the mirror and there's a big, you've 00:10:20.960 --> 00:10:25.519 missed out a big bit. It'd be crazy to go back, go into the workplace with just that 00:10:25.519 --> 00:10:30.399 big lump of hairy mess without changing it, shaving. You know, you don't forget what you 00:10:30.399 --> 00:10:37.000 see. You act on it is what James is saying. And that's exactly what Jesus is saying about 00:10:37.000 --> 00:10:44.079 how we listen. The scripture is like a mirror into our hearts and it challenges us to change 00:10:44.079 --> 00:10:50.480 and be transformed by His grace. Now my illustration is slightly different from that but it's the 00:10:50.480 --> 00:10:55.920 difference between how we listen, say you're in a classroom for whatever reason or in a 00:10:55.920 --> 00:11:03.080 lecture hall and someone is explaining how an incendiary device is made and they're talking 00:11:03.080 --> 00:11:08.159 about the colors and the wires and how it's put together and you're kind of half listening 00:11:08.159 --> 00:11:12.360 and you're doodling and it might be or might not be of interest to you. You're kind of 00:11:12.360 --> 00:11:16.399 hearing it in the background. It's the difference between listening to someone explaining that 00:11:16.399 --> 00:11:25.879 and as opposed to hearing the remote instructions of a bomb disposal expert who is telling you 00:11:25.879 --> 00:11:33.159 about this ticking bomb that is right in front of you about the right wire to cut so that 00:11:33.159 --> 00:11:38.120 it doesn't explode. You see the difference the way you'd listen in that situation? You 00:11:38.120 --> 00:11:45.159 listen intently to what you say, what color? Where? When do I do it? You want to listen 00:11:45.159 --> 00:11:50.240 because it's a life and death matter and you might be blown up by that incendiary device 00:11:50.240 --> 00:11:55.919 but if you're just listening in a classroom, eh, take or leave it, it's not that important. 00:11:55.919 --> 00:12:01.079 And so Jesus is trying to get across the difference between how we listen and how we hear His 00:12:01.079 --> 00:12:07.959 word. And as we've seen already in Mark's gospel, there are two major themes that run 00:12:07.960 --> 00:12:17.200 through the gospel of Mark. His emphasis is Jesus, revealing Jesus and allowing Jesus 00:12:17.200 --> 00:12:22.440 to reveal Himself. So there's, the emphasis is very much on immediacy and learning all 00:12:22.440 --> 00:12:28.600 about Jesus towards the cross and also discipleship. He's teaching these two things, teaching about 00:12:28.600 --> 00:12:32.920 Jesus and He's teaching about what it means to be a follower of Jesus. You know, follow 00:12:32.920 --> 00:12:37.200 me, He says, and then He goes on to explain discipleship through the gospel. And that's 00:12:37.200 --> 00:12:41.440 briefly how we're going to look at this section for a few minutes. As Jesus teaches about 00:12:41.440 --> 00:12:47.560 Him, He asks us to listen as He teaches about Himself and also as He teaches about discipleship 00:12:47.560 --> 00:12:50.840 and through these parables and through this section. 00:12:50.840 --> 00:12:54.480 And so I'm going to, I'm not going to go through them in detail but I'm going to try 00:12:54.480 --> 00:12:59.240 and pull out the major themes that Jesus is teaching about Himself and about being His 00:12:59.240 --> 00:13:06.280 followers. And when He teaches about Himself, He's reminding us that He is the one that 00:13:06.279 --> 00:13:11.600 alone gives understanding and discernment. So when the disciples don't understand the 00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:17.600 parable, it's to Jesus they must go. It's not kind of some intellectual knowledge that 00:13:17.600 --> 00:13:23.879 will enable them to unpack or unlock the meaning of the parables. It's Jesus who gives understanding 00:13:23.879 --> 00:13:30.199 and discernment. He's the one who reveals the secret of the kingdom of God. And we see 00:13:30.199 --> 00:13:36.000 that in our lives and in the gift of the Holy Spirit, He gives us to understand and open 00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:41.759 up Scripture. So when we read Scripture, when we come to seek to know more about Jesus, 00:13:41.759 --> 00:13:47.600 we can't just do it on our own. It's not simply an intellectual exercise. It's not just about 00:13:47.600 --> 00:13:52.840 theological knowledge. We need the Holy Spirit and we need Jesus Himself. We need to ask 00:13:52.840 --> 00:14:00.200 Him. It's His kingdom. It's His harvest. He's the judge. And He's well aware, as we see 00:14:00.200 --> 00:14:04.960 in the parable of the Saur that there's an enemy, spiritual enemy, who is willing to snatch 00:14:04.960 --> 00:14:10.639 away the truth and the knowledge from us. And so there's a spiritual unseen element every 00:14:10.639 --> 00:14:15.440 time you open Scripture, every time you do whatever you call your quiet time or your 00:14:15.440 --> 00:14:23.600 time with God. It's never just an exercise. It's a spiritual war each time. And we need 00:14:23.600 --> 00:14:28.480 the King of Kings. And we need to recognize there's someone willing to snatch that word 00:14:28.480 --> 00:14:36.720 away from us. And we will see it, won't we, again and again. I'll read something and 00:14:36.720 --> 00:14:46.639 I can, before I've reached the door, I'll say, what did I just read? Completely gone. Because 00:14:46.639 --> 00:14:54.120 unaware, unalert, not dependent on Jesus. He alone gives spiritual understanding. But 00:14:54.120 --> 00:15:01.039 we recognize also in the parable of the Saur and the parable of the seed growing and the 00:15:01.039 --> 00:15:07.039 mustard seed. Actually, particularly in the parable of the Saur, we're told that the word, 00:15:07.039 --> 00:15:14.639 the seed is the word, that Jesus is the word. So He is the seed. And that is also hugely 00:15:14.639 --> 00:15:22.080 important that when we come to the word, we don't look at it like it's a moral code. We 00:15:22.080 --> 00:15:30.120 don't look at it like it's just a set of kind of independent commands that teach us 00:15:30.120 --> 00:15:37.440 how to live. Primarily, the word is not a moral code for us to accept. It's good news, 00:15:37.440 --> 00:15:43.840 moral code to obey. It's good news to accept. It is a Savior to embrace. So when we come 00:15:43.840 --> 00:15:49.520 to listening to the word, we're listening to a person, we're listening to a Savior, 00:15:49.519 --> 00:15:55.840 we're listening to a Redeemer. We're not primarily simply learning a set of rules by 00:15:55.840 --> 00:16:02.559 which to live or lies because it's impossible for us to do that. The laws are there to convict 00:16:02.559 --> 00:16:10.439 us of our need of a Savior. Jesus is the word, He's the seed in all of these parables. But 00:16:10.439 --> 00:16:17.159 Jesus is also the secret in verses 11 to 13. He speaks about the interpretation of the 00:16:17.159 --> 00:16:23.600 parables, and he says he talks about the kingdom of God for those outside will not understand, 00:16:23.600 --> 00:16:30.839 but for those on the inside, they will receive the secret of the kingdom of God. And Jesus 00:16:30.839 --> 00:16:36.879 Himself is the secret. We often think and wonder about what the secret is. The parables 00:16:36.879 --> 00:16:43.039 were hidden to the listeners because they didn't really want to know. They were walking 00:16:43.039 --> 00:16:48.599 away. They were going home for their tea. They didn't wait to find out what the message 00:16:48.599 --> 00:16:54.959 meant. They wanted an easy Savior. They wanted their kind of Savior. There was no cost, no 00:16:54.959 --> 00:17:02.599 mystery, no learning, no change. But the secret of the kingdom that Jesus held was being revealed 00:17:02.599 --> 00:17:09.879 as He was living His public ministry, revealed towards the cross, towards His resurrection, 00:17:09.880 --> 00:17:16.320 and towards the ascension. And the secret was being unfolded before the mephoenaly they 00:17:16.320 --> 00:17:21.120 would see it. He talks about that in the parable of the lamp and the basket. A lamp brought 00:17:21.120 --> 00:17:26.800 in verse 21 to be put under a basket or under a bed, but on a stand, for nothing is hidden 00:17:26.800 --> 00:17:32.280 except to be made manifest, not as anything secret except what's come to light. And He 00:17:32.280 --> 00:17:38.120 is bringing to light. He is revealing to those who will listen the secret of the kingdom, 00:17:38.119 --> 00:17:46.239 which is that He is the Savior and He is the Redeemer. And He is open and available to 00:17:46.239 --> 00:17:55.199 any who honestly seek Him, who look for Him, who cry out to Him. And maybe you're in that 00:17:55.199 --> 00:18:01.239 place today. Maybe you're in a place where, eh, I'm not sure about Jesus. I'm not sure 00:18:01.239 --> 00:18:07.559 about the gospel. Maybe you've professed Jesus for many years and you're saying, eh, 00:18:07.559 --> 00:18:15.000 I'm not sure about Jesus anymore. He's the secret. We keep going back to Him. He is the 00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:22.599 Word. And what we really made clear in these parables is He alone empowers life and growth. 00:18:22.599 --> 00:18:29.519 You've got that little parable of the seed growing, where the farmer's seed throws out 00:18:29.519 --> 00:18:34.679 the seed and he sleeps and rises and night and day and the seed sprouts and grows. He 00:18:34.680 --> 00:18:39.660 knows not how the earth produces by itself first the blade, then the ear, then the full 00:18:39.660 --> 00:18:47.000 grain and then the harvest. And Jesus is saying that He's the one that empowers spiritual 00:18:47.000 --> 00:18:52.799 growth and life in our lives. It's the mystery, isn't it? That maybe there may be two people 00:18:52.799 --> 00:18:56.440 sitting together here in the front seat. Well, there's nobody sitting in the front seats 00:18:56.440 --> 00:19:00.400 because I don't want to highlight anyone. But you can imagine if there was two people 00:19:00.400 --> 00:19:07.440 sitting in the front seats and the Word is preached well or indifferently from the front. 00:19:07.440 --> 00:19:12.840 And one person might fall on their knees weeping at the end of it. And one person might go 00:19:12.840 --> 00:19:20.640 completely unchanged, unmoved, because there's mystery to the way the Word is received because 00:19:20.640 --> 00:19:27.759 God is at work and we recognize that God is at work. And so what might seem flat and dead 00:19:27.759 --> 00:19:35.400 like a seed in our hands, might seem there's not much life in a seed. As we sow the seed, 00:19:35.400 --> 00:19:42.119 as we live our lives, as we reflect Christ, as we share His Word, then we can leave the 00:19:42.119 --> 00:19:48.879 growth and the harvest to Him. And even in our own hearts and lives, we need to recognize 00:19:48.879 --> 00:19:55.039 that He is working in us and through us and transforming us, transforming us by His grace. 00:19:55.039 --> 00:20:00.279 Say a little bit more about that just as we close. So He's teaching us that He's the 00:20:00.279 --> 00:20:05.200 one who gives discernment, He's the Word, He's the secret. He empowers life and growth. 00:20:05.200 --> 00:20:13.039 And also, He's teaching us here that spiritual life comes through death. It comes through 00:20:13.039 --> 00:20:20.599 primarily His death, obviously, but there's a parallel in our own lives as Christians. 00:20:20.599 --> 00:20:26.279 And that's the third parable He speaks about here, the parable of the mustard seed. Again, 00:20:26.279 --> 00:20:33.759 worry. Well, it's not mentioned in this actually, but all three parables which talk about the 00:20:33.759 --> 00:20:40.359 seed remind us of John 12, 24, which is implied in all these parables, where Jesus says, The 00:20:40.359 --> 00:20:45.119 hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Verily, I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat 00:20:45.119 --> 00:20:50.519 falls in the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed, but if it dies, it produces 00:20:50.519 --> 00:20:59.919 many seeds. So all that Jesus is teaching here is kind of summarized in that image that 00:20:59.919 --> 00:21:05.079 He gives about the seed dying, speaking about His own death and His own resurrection. And 00:21:05.079 --> 00:21:10.119 that's tremendously important because remember, Mark is moving us quickly towards the cross 00:21:10.119 --> 00:21:15.679 immediately, immediately, immediately. So often we hear that in Mark's gospel, taking 00:21:15.679 --> 00:21:22.679 us to the greatest act of love that has ever been seen in the universe, in heaven or in 00:21:22.679 --> 00:21:34.959 hell, anything that we could ever imagine. Where the infinite God becomes flesh, lives, 00:21:34.960 --> 00:21:43.400 kills Himself and then is nailed to the cross and does so for His enemies, taking God's 00:21:43.400 --> 00:21:52.160 wrath upon Himself. And through His death, obviously we know, comes spiritual life because 00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:59.640 He took God's wrath and God's punishment in our place. And He's reminding us of Himself 00:21:59.640 --> 00:22:05.360 that spiritual life comes through death. And that's not only as we accept our need of a 00:22:05.360 --> 00:22:12.880 Savior and that it's my sins that nailed Him to the tree, but also that we have to crucify 00:22:12.880 --> 00:22:23.080 our sinful natures and repent of our sins in order to know His life in our hearts. And 00:22:23.079 --> 00:22:30.799 it's hard for us to do that. We want, I want the victory without the battle. I want the 00:22:30.799 --> 00:22:38.839 glory without the cross. And the people didn't want a crucified Savior. They wanted a singing 00:22:38.839 --> 00:22:47.319 and dancing Savior. It was an abomination to think about a cursed, crucified Redeemer. 00:22:47.319 --> 00:22:55.720 And often we implicitly recoil from the idea of life coming from death, that we need to 00:22:55.720 --> 00:23:03.399 die to ourselves and our sinful, selfish, proud, arrogant natures before God and fall 00:23:03.399 --> 00:23:10.119 in our knees for Him to receive His love and to receive His grace. We want the blessings 00:23:10.119 --> 00:23:15.879 but not the battle, the trouble, the persecution and the worries. 00:23:15.880 --> 00:23:20.040 So I think Jesus is teaching us very much about Himself here and about the nature of 00:23:20.040 --> 00:23:29.640 His ministry and of His salvation and of the counterintuitive way in which we are redeemed. 00:23:29.640 --> 00:23:34.160 And the mystery, let's not lose sight of the mystery. Let's not have it all wrapped up 00:23:34.160 --> 00:23:41.160 in A to Z. Let's remember that there is mystery when we share our lives in the gospel with 00:23:41.160 --> 00:23:49.400 people. And there's mystery in God redeeming and His work and how He transforms. There's 00:23:49.400 --> 00:23:56.840 great mystery and these parables speak of that, speak of our impotence, our inability to really... 00:23:56.840 --> 00:24:01.759 You can't, you can't by the greatest act of the will, you can't throw a seed into the 00:24:01.759 --> 00:24:08.640 ground and say, come on, grow. Nothing. No amount of science and knowledge and insight 00:24:08.640 --> 00:24:16.440 and wisdom can enable you to make something that's dead grow. And Jesus is reminding us 00:24:16.440 --> 00:24:21.280 that there's a spiritual lesson for our own lives that we're not self-service Christians 00:24:21.280 --> 00:24:26.120 in His sight. So, teaches about... And I've kind of strayed there into discipleship. 00:24:26.120 --> 00:24:30.920 Finish with Jesus teaching about Himself, finish with Jesus teaching about discipleship, 00:24:30.920 --> 00:24:38.360 what it means to be a follower of Jesus and kind of in a little sense repeating what we've 00:24:38.359 --> 00:24:47.159 looked at. He reminds us that discipleship, that some people will struggle with discipleship 00:24:47.159 --> 00:24:54.719 because they're not really listening to Jesus. They'll listen for a while. The parable of 00:24:54.719 --> 00:24:59.839 the sower reminds us of the different kind of seeds, one that there's no growth at all. 00:24:59.839 --> 00:25:03.959 Satan takes the word away, right away. But the others, there's some kind of growth, but 00:25:03.960 --> 00:25:09.519 only one where there's fruitfulness. And he's saying, some people listen to Jesus and like 00:25:09.519 --> 00:25:19.160 Jesus until they hear something better. So, wealth or other desires are more important 00:25:19.160 --> 00:25:23.000 and they listen to them. And so, it chokes out Jesus and there's no fruitfulness, there's 00:25:23.000 --> 00:25:30.640 no growth. So, he's saying that if we're listening to something better than Jesus, then Jesus 00:25:30.640 --> 00:25:39.680 becomes insignificant and unimportant and is relegated and we can't bear fruit. So, 00:25:39.680 --> 00:25:47.040 if we're listening and find something better than Jesus, we'll reject Him. But also, if 00:25:47.040 --> 00:25:54.120 we're listening and then something worse comes along, then we'll blame God. So, the parable 00:25:54.120 --> 00:26:00.320 speaks about that as well, whether it's opposition or rejection or trouble or life itself. All 00:26:00.319 --> 00:26:04.159 these things that come in and Jesus says they're all going to be there. You're not going to 00:26:04.159 --> 00:26:08.519 come in Jesus and it's going to be just a garden. There's trouble and persecution and 00:26:08.519 --> 00:26:12.759 difficulty and opposition and illness. And it all comes into our lives and he says, if 00:26:12.759 --> 00:26:21.200 these things sound worse than Jesus and are stronger than Jesus and more overwhelming 00:26:21.200 --> 00:26:25.679 than Jesus, then we'll also not listen to Him. We'll reject His promises. We'll walk 00:26:25.680 --> 00:26:31.120 away from Him and say, well, He doesn't really care. He's not really interested. And I'm 00:26:31.120 --> 00:26:36.840 not... I don't care about what He says about growth in my life through these things because 00:26:36.840 --> 00:26:41.960 it's either something worse coming along that we listen to and we'll listen to Satan saying, 00:26:41.960 --> 00:26:46.960 Jesus doesn't really love you. He would never let this happen if He loved you. Or something 00:26:46.960 --> 00:26:53.440 better comes along and saying, hey, you don't need Jesus anymore because now yourself, yeah, 00:26:53.440 --> 00:26:57.039 you're independent. You've got all the wealth you need. You've got a great house. You've 00:26:57.039 --> 00:27:05.320 got a lovely family. All these things may come in, other desires or difficulties. Either 00:27:05.320 --> 00:27:12.200 end of the spectrum. Are we listening to Jesus? Jesus is saying there'll be no fruit if you 00:27:12.200 --> 00:27:19.039 respond negatively in either of these situations to what Jesus is saying. The danger is that 00:27:19.039 --> 00:27:24.159 we become fruitless because we're choked. We're choking Jesus. We're not listening to 00:27:24.159 --> 00:27:30.559 Him. We're not responding by faith because the point of the parables is saying that as 00:27:30.559 --> 00:27:40.399 we respond to Jesus, think of the incendiary example and the importance for our lives of 00:27:40.399 --> 00:27:47.759 responding. When we listen to Jesus, we bear fruit for Jesus because we recognize Him as 00:27:47.759 --> 00:27:58.359 Christ and as Lord. And we bring forth an amazing, overabundant, unexpected fruitfulness 00:27:58.359 --> 00:28:03.799 because the commentators do seem to think that the idea of, in the ancient Near East, 00:28:03.799 --> 00:28:09.640 of fruit that was 30-fold, 60-fold and 100-fold is really unusual, really blessed. At best, 00:28:09.640 --> 00:28:14.839 it would be maybe 10-fold in a really good context. So Jesus is saying, He's talking 00:28:14.839 --> 00:28:20.079 about the importance of fruitfulness and also the miraculous nature of being fruitful when 00:28:20.079 --> 00:28:26.119 we look to Jesus, when we trust in Jesus. And He's saying that therefore when we do 00:28:26.119 --> 00:28:33.399 this in our own weakness and come to Him and listen and respond, we experience that fruit 00:28:33.399 --> 00:28:38.799 of the Spirit, which of course the Bible goes on to use as illustrative, love and joy and 00:28:38.799 --> 00:28:45.119 peace and patience and goodness and faithfulness and kindness and gentleness and self-control. 00:28:45.119 --> 00:28:51.839 What are all these things? These things are not gifts for a nice day. These are the gifts 00:28:51.839 --> 00:28:59.440 you'll need tomorrow when the kids are screaming or when your colleague at work cheats again 00:28:59.440 --> 00:29:05.960 or when you're bullied in school or whatever context you find yourself in. That's the fruit 00:29:05.960 --> 00:29:11.240 of the Spirit that deals with the battles and that keeps us from depending on the riches 00:29:11.240 --> 00:29:18.480 and the wealth or damning God when the bad times happen. Because we see primarily that 00:29:18.480 --> 00:29:22.920 the issue is with our hearts and that Jesus is speaking into our hearts and searches our 00:29:22.920 --> 00:29:31.960 hearts and wants us to enjoy the process of dying to sin. Well, maybe not enjoy the process, 00:29:31.960 --> 00:29:38.000 but He wants us to engage in the process of dying to sin because it's a healthy process. 00:29:38.000 --> 00:29:42.799 He's rooting out what damages the selfishness and the pride and that can be His light, you 00:29:42.799 --> 00:29:49.279 know, it talks about His light, that can be exposing. But it's great, you know. It's amazing 00:29:49.279 --> 00:29:54.480 because He replaces it with His fruit and with His blessedness and that's why it talks 00:29:54.480 --> 00:30:02.360 about Jesus offering life to the fool. But it's a work that He does in our hearts. It's 00:30:02.360 --> 00:30:07.160 a non-going work because the last thing I'm going to say is that fruitfulness takes time. 00:30:07.160 --> 00:30:12.519 That's what this passage is also speaking about in terms of discipleship. You know, 00:30:12.519 --> 00:30:16.839 he's saying that, you know, the farmer waits for the fruit. He doesn't just throw it and 00:30:16.839 --> 00:30:21.799 whoosh, come up immediately lighting the cartoons. Christian life isn't like that, we come to 00:30:21.799 --> 00:30:28.319 Jesus, whoosh, all of a sudden we're holy, hey. Because it takes time and it takes effort 00:30:28.319 --> 00:30:33.879 and it takes dependence and partnership with the Lord. Yes, we're redeemed from day one. 00:30:33.879 --> 00:30:39.200 Yes, we're counted legally righteous from day one. But the work of sanctification is 00:30:39.200 --> 00:30:47.359 lifelong and it takes patience and it takes the farmer has to wait for the fruit to be 00:30:47.359 --> 00:30:52.000 born and I think that's important for us in our lives. It's important for us to remember 00:30:52.000 --> 00:30:57.639 that fruit, patience is one of the fruit of the Spirit. And we pray a lot, don't you pray 00:30:57.639 --> 00:31:02.679 a lot? Are you giving up on prayer because, oh, I prayed for ages about something and nothing's 00:31:02.679 --> 00:31:10.799 happening. I want to harvest, I want the fruit, I want to change. Don't give up praying because 00:31:10.799 --> 00:31:20.000 we wait on God and we wait on God to remind us that much of His work involves patience. 00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:26.240 And I especially mentioned that with regard to evangelism, about sharing your faith, about 00:31:26.240 --> 00:31:32.359 telling other people about Jesus. We feel sometimes we need a killer sentence every time. Oh, 00:31:32.359 --> 00:31:36.639 man, he got a killer sentence in here. I need to tell him about the whole thing. I need 00:31:36.640 --> 00:31:41.240 to tell him about creation, redemption, follow, new creation, all in one. They'll never be 00:31:41.240 --> 00:31:52.640 saved. And we think we miss the opportunity and we forget that seed that bears fruit 00:31:52.640 --> 00:31:57.759 falls on ground, it's been plowed, that the stones have been taken out of, it's been 00:31:57.759 --> 00:32:04.000 worked, you know, time has been taken over it and it's been prepared and God prepares 00:32:04.000 --> 00:32:09.119 people's hearts. We don't see that. I'm not saying that sentence, he's not saying anything 00:32:09.119 --> 00:32:14.839 far from it, but don't give up, don't feel that evangelism is just one throw of the dice. 00:32:14.839 --> 00:32:20.920 It's one opportunity to get that text rammed down their throat and oh well, somehow mystically 00:32:20.920 --> 00:32:26.839 or magically, if we just say that, it's like a magic incantation and boom, people will be 00:32:26.839 --> 00:32:33.400 saved. It generally doesn't work like that, covenantally, and it doesn't work like that 00:32:33.400 --> 00:32:41.680 relationally. We break down barriers, we gain people's trust, we live out Christ, we example 00:32:41.680 --> 00:32:47.880 the message, then when we're asked we give a reason for the hope that's within us because 00:32:47.880 --> 00:32:51.880 people can see that our lives are being changed and that we're going to God's Word and it's 00:32:51.880 --> 00:32:57.400 transforming us. And they say, well, why do you follow Jesus? Why is it allowing it to 00:32:57.400 --> 00:33:02.320 change your morality and your life and your patience and the way you respond to your boss, 00:33:02.319 --> 00:33:11.399 the way you respond to whatever it might be? Fruitfulness takes time. And we spend a lifetime, 00:33:11.399 --> 00:33:18.639 and I'm sure anyone over 59 here, 58, I'll include myself, anyone over 58 here will say 00:33:18.639 --> 00:33:24.599 that that is absolutely the case, that to be able to pray, your will be done is the hardest 00:33:24.599 --> 00:33:32.000 prayer that we ever make because we spend our lives saying my will, Lord my will, and 00:33:32.000 --> 00:33:42.480 He's asking us to change the whole basis of who we are and what we do. So, are we spiritually, 00:33:42.480 --> 00:33:51.400 are we in the classroom listening casually to the words that may or may not change our 00:33:51.400 --> 00:33:58.799 lives or do we have an incendiary right in front of us that we need to respond to in 00:33:58.799 --> 00:34:07.039 the right way and listen with a fruitful hunger to be transformed? Are we going to walk away 00:34:07.039 --> 00:34:12.759 from God unchanged each time we come to Him or are we going to allow Him gently and gradually 00:34:12.759 --> 00:34:19.279 and patiently to mold us? It's a huge challenge. Let's pray. Father God, we ask and pray that 00:34:19.280 --> 00:34:28.920 you would help us to move our lives according to your, that great relationship we have with 00:34:28.920 --> 00:34:34.800 you by faith in Jesus as we trust you. We trust what you did 2,000 years ago on a cross. 00:34:34.800 --> 00:34:41.120 We name our own names there that Jesus died on the cross and took the wrath of God because 00:34:41.120 --> 00:34:48.000 I can't even make myself right with me, let alone make myself right with God. Maybe claim 00:34:48.000 --> 00:34:54.920 and know and understand what that means and may our lives be transformed by your loving, 00:34:54.920 --> 00:35:01.719 committed grace to transform us and to enable us to be fruit bearers bearing your image 00:35:01.719 --> 00:35:07.960 with our own unique individual lives. So, help us, give us patience and evangelism. 00:35:07.960 --> 00:35:13.519 Help us not to give up, help us to keep praying, living, sharing and making Jesus real to the 00:35:13.519 --> 00:35:18.039 people around us we ask for we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.