Eyes to See And Ears To Hear

All of us here this morning have two eyes in our head and two

ears, one on each side, and I trust we can both see and hear.

I don't think there's anybody here who's physically blind or

deaf. Now, some of us wear glasses to

help us see better, and some of us were hearing aids to help us

hear better, and some of us have both.

I've titled our sermon this morning, Eyes to see and Ears to

Hear. It is hard for a person who

physically cannot see and cannot hear.

We may know of people who are blind, physically blind, or

deaf, maybe even both. That's a serious limitation.

If you can't see, everything is dark, and if you can't hear,

everything is quiet. Jesus used the analogy of seeing

and hearing a lot of times, and especially when he referred to

the Pharisees, the religious leaders of his time, because he

called him blind. He called him blind leaders of

the blind. We do well to ask ourselves, do

we see with our hearts and minds?

Do we hear with our hearts and minds?

It is possible to be both blind and deaf in the heart.

That's possible. Wrong information, lack of

knowledge, and false teaching causes blindness and deafness of

the heart and mind. The decisions we make are an

indicator. They reveal how well we see and

how well we hear. If we have a wrong understanding

of God, we won't see properly with our mind and our heart and

we won't listen properly. This is old stuff.

In Hosea chapter 4 verse 6, the prophet right wrote, My people

Hosea 4:6

are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

And then God is speaking here. He says because you have

rejected knowledge, I also will reject you.

I will reject you've rejected knowledge.

I will reject you from being priest for me.

Why did God's people lack knowledge?

It was the leader's fault. They had rejected God.

They turned their backs on him. They couldn't see well anymore.

I want to ask us this morning, do we live in a time where

knowledge is rejected? And I have to say, yes, we live

in a time of the rejection of knowledge.

We know better than we do as a society and as a culture.

People who have a warped view of God's Word will have a warped

view of a lot of other things. When Jesus walked this earth, he

taught the crowds about God and God's will for their lives.

But the way Jesus taught that was different.

He taught them primarily in parables.

A parable is a story that's not a real story or a true story

necessarily, but it's a story told for the purpose of

illustrating a principle or transferring a lesson.

The parable is simply a conveyance, a some a tool to

illustrate a deeper truth. It's like a light that shines

with a purpose, to illuminate a reality.

When you shine a flashlight in a dark room, you're not thinking

about I'm shining a flashlight. You're saying, OK, what?

I need to illuminate that object, I need to find that

object. So the parable is to illuminate,

to illustrate. When it comes to biblical truth,

it's alarming how many people who claim to be Christian, how

many people know so very little about the Bible.

They can read it but not hear it, study it but not see it.

And there's a lot of people like that.

And I have to say, we live in a time of spiritual blindness and

deafness. It's not that people don't live

by some kind of principle or some kind of value.

They do, whether it's a faith focused on God or faith, faith

focused on self or temporal things, whatever it may be.

But we all have some form of orientation.

The psalmist mentions in Psalm chapter 119, verse 105, he says

Psalms 119:105

your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

So if God's word is light, it means it reveals, it

illuminates. So how well can you and I see

with our hearts this morning? What kind of spiritual vision do

we have? Do you have 2020?

I don't, I do know I don't because of how often I have to

go back and then, oh, I saw this wrong or I've, I've now grown in

this area. I don't think anybody has 2020

spiritual vision. I don't believe that we have

better vision. The more we study and can see

better, the more the more life goes on, but it's something that

grows and that develops. We're continuing our sermon

series in the Gospel of Mark and this morning we will be looking

in Mark how Jesus began to teach the people in parables.

When commentator I read pointed out that in Mark 4, there's a

transition that happens. Jesus began to teach with

parables. He had not done that up to this

point. The first parable we find in the

Gospel of Mark is the parable of the sower and the seed.

The parable is a word picture. And in this this case it's a

it's a we'll read it shortly, but just a few comments here.

In this this case, it's a parable of a farmer who's sowing

seed in this field and some of the seed falls on the, on the

road, on the pathway, it's hard path.

It's nothing grows there and, and it's gone and then nothing

happens. The some seed falls in the Stony

soil, some in the thorny soil and some of the good soil.

So that's kind of that parable. There's another parable he

talks. There's four of them actually.

It's the parable of the light lights, not intended to be

hidden under a bed or under basket.

It's to be meant to put in a lampstand so it illuminates

what's around it. And then the third parable, the

growing seed. A man sows the seed and it's

beyond his control. It produces fruit and the

harvest happens, but he's not the one actually bringing the

the results. He just sows the seed.

And the fourth one is the mustard seed parable.

We'll go into these parables as we go along here, but I want us

to start by reading the chapter. Mark chapter 4.

Mark 4 · chapter mention

Mark chapter 4. Mark writes this and read with

Mark 4 · chapter mention

me in your device your Bibles. And again he began to teach by

the sea, and a great multitude was gathered to him, so that he

got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole multitude

was on the land facing the sea. Then he taught them many things

by parables, and said to them in his teaching, Listen, Behold, A

sower went out to soul. And it happened as he sowed,

that some seed fell by the wayside, and the birds of the

air came and devoured it. Some fell on Stony ground where

it did not have much earth. And immediately it sprang up,

because it had no depth of earth.

But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no

root it withered away. And some seed fell among thorns,

and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no

crop. But other seed fell on good

ground and yielded A crop that sprang up, increased, and

produced some thirtyfold, some 60 and some 100.

And he said to them, He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

But when he was alone, those around him with the 12 asked him

about the parable. And he said to them, To you it

has been given to know the mystery of the Kingdom of God.

But to those who are outside, all things come in parables, so

that seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may

hear and not understand, lest they should turn and their sins

be forgiven them. And he said to them, Do you not

understand this parable? How then will you understand all

the parables? The sower sews the Word, and

these are the ones by the wayside where the Word is sown.

When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the

word that was sown in their hearts.

These likewise are the ones sown on the Stony ground who, when

they hear the word, immediately receive with gladness.

But they have no root in themselves, and so endure only

for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or

persecution arises for the word's sake, immediately they

stumble. Now these are the ones sown

among thorns. They're the ones who hear the

Word and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of

riches and the desires for other things entering in.

Choke the word and it becomes unfruitful.

But these are the ones sown on good ground.

Those who hear the word accept it and bear fruit.

Some thirtyfold, some 60, and some 100.

And he said to them, Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket

or under a bed? Is it not to be set on a lamp

stand? For there's nothing hidden which

will not be revealed, nor is anything being kept secret that

it should not become, should not come, should come to light.

If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.

Then he said to them, Take heed what you hear.

With the same measure he used, it will be measured to you.

And to you who hear more will be given.

For whoever has to him more will be given.

But whoever does not have even that, what he has will be taken

away from him. And he said, the Kingdom of God

is a, is a, is as if a man should scatter seed on the

ground and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed

should sprout and grow. He himself does not know why,

for the earth yields crops by itself, first the blade, then

the head, after that the full grain in the head, but when the

grain ripens, immediately puts in the sickle, because the

harvest has come. Then he said, To what shall we

like in the Kingdom of God, or with what parable shall we

picture it? It is like a mustard seed, which

when it is sown in the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on

the earth, but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater

than all herbs and shoots out large branches so that the birds

of the air may nest under its shade.

And with many such parables, he spoke to them as they were able

to hear, but without a parable, he did not speak to them.

But when he was alone, he explained all things to his

disciples. Let's stop there.

We won't read all of it. Read up to verse 34.

Let's go into this text and unpack what happened here, why

Jesus did what he did, and what it means for us.

Today is first we have the parable of the sower, the seed,

and the soil. Let's review this a bit.

Jesus is now well into his ministry.

He's well known, he's performing miracles.

He's had some encounters with the religious leaders and that

haven't has not gone so well up to this point.

Jesus has not let anything interfere with his mission or

his focus. Jesus is staying on track, but

now he's taking a different approach.

He's not going to stop what he's doing, but he's changing how

he's doing it. He's using a different approach.

It tells us, see that Mark says here, Jesus began to teach by

the sea again, began to teach. So he's been doing that.

He's doing it again. A large crowd follows him, gets

into a boat. So he has some kind of, it's a

bit of distance from the crowd. And so he can see the crowd on

the shore. He's kind of in this, in the

center stage here at the crowds on the banks of the sea.

And he's he's teaching them. Imagine the scene in your mind,

the whole crowd on the shore, the people on the shore, a

little bit like a movie theater. It says he taught them many

things in verse 2. Some this.

The first one's about the seed. Some seed fell by the wayside,

no fruit. Some fell on Stony ground, no

fruit. Some seed fell among thorns, no

fruit. Other seed fell on on good soil

and good fruit. When Jesus finished telling the

story of the sore in the seed, it was just a story, a farmer's

story. He didn't even explain it.

We can assume there were farmers who heard him.

OK, What's that all about? And no doubt there were some who

were not farmers who understood the meaning of farming and they

understood the parable. OK, that makes sense.

Yeah. I see.

That falls in the ground, of course.

But they didn't pay for their attention.

He doesn't tell the story. What it explains what the

spiritual state of it. He he tells them nothing, just

the story. I believe what Jesus did was

brilliant because Jesus knew those with whom who were on the

inside are going to look in a minute here.

Those were on the inside. It would resonate with them.

They would seek further. They wouldn't.

It would not just pass them by. He was speaking to different

types of people in this crowd. That's what he was doing.

Someone once said this years ago, that there's three types of

people in this world and I'm not saying right or wrong about it,

but I thought it was interesting comment.

He said they're those who are the movers and shakers of

society and culture in the world.

They're the ones who make things happen.

Not a lot of those people. There are those who watch what's

happening. They're observed, they're

attentive, they pay attention. They want to know more than

there are those who just know something happened.

OK, they know something happened, but what happened?

When I read that, I thought I'd like to add a fourth to that,

and that's that. That's this one.

There are those who don't know anything happened.

They just sleep right through the whole thing.

I think the fourth group there are those on the hard path

doesn't matter. Life just passes them by.

The seed is sown and they just are not aware.

It doesn't. They're totally engrossed in

something else. They're just totally on their

own. It never occurs to them.

This could actually apply to them.

Then of course, the other groups here.

But what's interesting here in all this, in this whole story of

the parable in Mark chapter 4 verse 9, it says he said to

Mark 4:9

them, he who has ears to hear, let him hear.

And he didn't mean this physical ear or the eye gate.

Of course, that's how the message entered their mind.

That's how the message entered their their body.

That's true, but it needs to do more than that.

Jesus meant ears of the mind and ears of the heart.

We don't know how many of them had ears to hear.

We know some did. Even the disciples didn't get

the story. They knew something's up with

this. What does that mean?

What's he trying to teach? He's trying to teach something.

It's not a farmer's story. He they knew that.

What is he trying to say? What's he trying to convey with

this story? The majority of the crowd

probably just walked away. What was that all about?

But here's Jesus being he was he explained something.

This is the the the story of the the sword and the seed is a much

more intricate involved story than we would give it credit on

the outside. Listen, verse 9, verse 11 here

it says to you, it has been given speaking to the disciples

and those were around him. To you it has been given to know

the mystery of the Kingdom of God.

But to those who are outside, all things come in parables and

then this one, so that seeing they may see and not perceive,

and hearing they may hear and not understand, lest they should

turn and their sins be forgiven them.

That's hard. I know it's a hard passage.

Who are the outsiders? Who are they?

This speaks of a distinction, a dividing line.

You see, not all are inside, obviously, and not all are

outside, obviously. And depending on where a person

is on the inside or outside, that influences how that person

will perceive what that person will do with what they've

received, what they will grasp, and so on.

I'll go a little bit on a tangent here and this may be a

question in some people's minds. Maybe it's not.

It wasn't mine. In my mind, who's at fault where

they are? Do they decide to be in the

inside? Do they decide to be in the

outside? I believe they have a choice to

make. There's a decision we all make,

how we, how we process, how we use what we've been given.

Romans chapter 1 talks about it won't go into that, but Romans

Romans 1 · chapter mention

one talks about that. An insider person will know

something happened. They're aware, they're curious,

they want to know more. There of course, are some Bible

teachers that have this idea that no, it's all God, nothing

but God. But that doesn't work either,

because that's not how God created you and I in the world.

In fact, it's not all just predestined, determined,

preordained, pre decreed. We have responsibilities, We

have choices to make. That's the story of Jesus all

through the Gospels. God created you and me and his

image to reflect him. We have a we are, we are his

reflection, and we have a choice to make.

And so these people on the inside are outside.

Do they have ears to hear? Don't they?

And where they are will determine that.

If you go back to the book of Genesis, Genesis chapter 4, you

Genesis 4 · chapter mention

find the story of two men, Cain and Abel. 1 wasn't the outside

one wasn't the inside. Cain was the outsider, Abel was

on the inside. Both brought sacrifices to God.

Both wanted God's approval. Both wanted attention from God.

Both wanted to be accepted by God.

God accepts Abel but not Cain, and Cain gets angry at God not

accepting him. He too has offered a sacrifice

as well. But then Jesus said God says to

Cain and Genesis 47, if you do well, will you not be accepted?

If you do not do well, sin lies at the door and its desire is

for you, but you should rule over.

God is holding Cain responsible for where he's at.

The question becomes what would Cain do?

We know the answer. He got mad at God, killed his

brother and tried to squash the whole thing and God held him

responsible. God held Cain responsible.

We see this principle, this pattern, woven throughout every

part of Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation.

We have a responsibility. So which type of soil we are,

whether we're hard soil, rocky soil, Stony soil, or good soil,

we need help. We do need that.

But the responsibility is on us to respond to Christ, to become

the soil that He wants us to be. In Mark chapter 4, we read Jesus

Mark 4 · chapter mention

teaching in parables and he says it has been given to them, the

disciples, to know the mysteries, but not to the ones

in the outside. You see again verse 12, seeing

them, they see and not perceive and hearing they may hear, not

understand this they should be returned and their sins be

forgiven them. You see it doesn't work both

ways. People cannot have their cake

and eat it too. People can't be on both on the

inside and the outside. Not all people were physically

present are there. Not all people who were there

were there for the reason Jesus wanted them there.

Jesus did want them to come and listen, but the reason they came

to this was not the reason Jesus wanted them to listen.

The people's reason for being there and Jesus reason for

wanting them there was not the same.

And the story of Cain and Abel. God wanted both of them to

sacrifice both of them to offer him.

God wanted to accept both of them, but Cain came with a

different purpose. Cain was blind and deaf toward

God and his mind. God was the issue, God was the

problem. He wanted to be accepted, but on

his terms, not God's. There are many people in the

world who want enough religion just to get by, but it doesn't

work that way. They want enough of God in their

life just to be OK. Doesn't work that way.

They want to make it work for them, not for God.

Our definitions are not what matters, it's God's definitions

what matter. Eugene Peterson and his

paraphrase of the Bible and Luke chapter 4, verse 12.

Luke 4:12

He words this way. He says these are people whose

eyes are open but don't see a thing, whose ears are open but

don't understand a word, who avoid making an about face and

getting forgiven. The new Living Translation

translates this way, verse 12, so that the Scriptures might be

fulfilled. When they see what I do, they

will learn nothing. When they hear what I said, they

will not understand. Otherwise they will turn to me

and be forgiven. The disciples, they knew

something's up with the story. They got that part.

They were in the inner circle. They were had a relationship

with Jesus, but they needed to grow and they wanted more.

And Jesus challenges them and says, do you not understand this

parable? Then how then will you

understand all the parables? They knew they were on the

inside. They needed to grow.

And I think I would like to say this fits us today.

Then Jesus explained this, those hearing ears and the seeing eyes

and the meaning of the story and it goes into a lot of detail

about the Stony ground and and all those things.

And all of we fit in one of these 4 categories.

There's there's the the Stony ground, there's the hard soil,

the Stony soil, the thorny soil, and there's the soft soil.

And in the end, only one of these three of these four

groups, only one of these four groups actually produces any

fruit. It's the one that have good

soil. It's a plentiful fruit.

It's a 30 fold it says. But those on the on the goods

ground, those are the ones who hear the word verse that's verse

20. Accept the word bear fruit some

thirtyfold, some 60 and some 100.

Jesus explained this disciples to the to the Jesus explained to

the disciples what this what this meant.

But then he continues on and tells more parables on these

parables. We don't find they were spoken

by the sea necessarily. The one who was separate by the

with the disciples Mark was on and he gives another

illustration, another parable, the lamp on the lamp stand.

Jesus goes on explain and gives him another one.

He says in verse 21, is a lamp brought to be put under a basket

or a bed? Is it not to be set in a

lampstand? Verse 22 For there's nothing

hidden which will not be revealed, nor is anything be

kept secret, but that it should come to light.

Then he has again those words in 23 If anyone has ears to hear,

let him hear Jesus teach us. There will one day be no

secrets. Everything will be revealed.

Everything will be public, everything will be be

transparent. Nothing will be will be hidden.

And he says in verse 24, take heed what you hear with the same

measure you use, it will measure to you and to you who hear more

will be given for whoever has to him will be given.

More will be given. But whoever does not have even

that what he has, even what he has will be taken away from him.

You and I are responsible to pay attention.

We're responsible to respond, to do something with what we have.

When we reject truth, it's like cutting off the branch on which

we're sitting. We're responsible.

Think of it. What is our devotion to God

characterized by? Are we like a lamp on a

lampstand that shines, reveals the grace of God in our

community that reveals and shines light?

Or are we hidden? And then there's another

parable, the one about the the growing seed.

It's again a reference to farming.

But now Jesus used the same principle, land, seed and

growth, but with a different meaning, a different purpose.

The farmers in that they had far less control over the farming

than farmers do today. Farmers in that day would just

had no control over the weather. Now, not that our farmers have

control over the weather, but I'm thinking about greenhouse

farming or fertilizer on different processes with the

crops. So we have some control, which

they didn't, but basically talks about the farmer can only sow

the seed and he can harvest between what happens there he's

not responsible for. Let's read verse 26 again.

He says, and the Kingdom of God is if a man should scatter seed

on the ground and should sleep by night and rise by day, and

the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how for

the earth yields crops by itself.

First the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the

head. But when the grain ripens,

immediately puts in the sickle because the harvest has come.

God's Kingdom is a spiritual Kingdom in which God's people

play a role, but God is the one who directs and guides the

process and how this develops, how it grows and how the harvest

comes in, how people turn to him as people.

God uses people, you and I, to scatter the seed.

We do it with our interactions, by our connections with people.

We sow good deeds, we sow the word and also sometimes the not

so good word and it influences people and somewhere it sprouts.

We may not be in control of what happens, but we do influence

people. And Mark continues with one more

parable in chapter chapter 4, verse 30, he says it talks about

the parable of the mustard seed and he says in verse 30, then he

said Jesus, to what shall we like in the Kingdom of God or

with what parable shall we picture it?

It is like a mustard seed, which one is sown on the ground is

smaller than all the seeds on earth, but when it is sown, it

grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out

large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under

its shade. God's Kingdom may look small.

Jesus saying, but look at what blessing the gospel brings, not

just that the fullness of the church is yet to come.

The gospel should not be judged by its temporary effect in

society. The end result will be great.

Simply because something is small does not mean it hasn't.

It can't have a big impact. Jesus telling his audience do

not mistake smallness for meaning less or little.

God's Kingdom in the end will outlast everything.

In the end. It's his Kingdom that will rule.

Jesus predicted it and we do believe it.

Jesus conquered death and one day he will rule over everything

with Jesus. Size is not the issue.

Size is not the problem. Oh, in our world it is.

Go big or go home. Loud is important, big is

important, Strength is important, power is important.

None of these things matter to God.

Silent, quiet, small, doesn't matter.

The end result will still be big.

Mark continues on and writes in verse 33 says with many such

parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to hear

it, but without a parable he did not speak to them.

And when they were alone, he explained all things to his

disciples. I believe it's safe to say we're

not given nearly all the parables.

I think maybe only a small number of the parables that

Jesus actually told. But we've been given enough to

know what we need to do. We've been given enough truth

that we have the basis on which to follow God.

But just selfishly thinking, I sometimes wonder, would it be

nice to know some more of them? There's there are other parables

and other gospels, but here we have these.

And in private, Jesus explained it to his disciples, what they

meant. And these are recorded for us

today. What does all this mean for us

today? There were those who wanted God,

but for different reason than God wanted them to want him.

They were seeking him for selfish purposes.

And so very early on, there were those who were drawn to Jesus

with the wrong motives and Jesus didn't fully give himself to

them. There were those who didn't, who

didn't have ears to hear, didn't have eyes to see.

Their physical eyes were there. Their physical ears were there,

but mentally in, in, in spiritually, they were not

getting it. They were not tuned into God.

Then of course there were those who just didn't hear, just not

aware. They just actually had no use.

They were just like like dead to, to, to Jesus completely.

But Jesus did come for everyone, but never everyone came for him.

In fact only a few. But the question for you and I

today is what about us? Do we have eyes to see?

Do we have ears to hear? And how are we in our hearing

and our listening and our and our seeing?

How selective are we in our obedience to the Gospel of

Jesus? Because Jesus does say here, He

does say that those who have more will be given, those who

don't have what they have will be taken.

I understand the simply to mean that when we miss the

opportunities, we reject the opportunities.

Those opportunities may disappear, won't have them, even

even them anymore. We must ask ourselves where do

we fit in the story? Thinking back to the different

types of soils, we must ask ourselves, how are we

responding? Like the hard path, the Stony

soil, the thorny soil, or like the good soil?

There's only one, and this is a journey.

It's a progress, it's a journey, and it comes and it's for

everybody, even for the most difficult and ungodly people.

In 1725, a man named John Newton was born in England to a

Christian mother. When he grew up, he had no use

for his mother's faith. He went into the slave trade,

went to see sailing ships, buying slaves in Africa and

sailing West to the Caribbean and selling them.

He was widely known for his ungodly character.

One day in 1748, as a young man and a fierce storm was off the

coast of Ireland, his ship nearly sank.

He cried out to God for mercy because he knew better.

He knew, but he's always rejected it.

That cry for mercy did not go unheeded.

There was a turning point that happened in his life.

The seed was starting to grow it He started to change, but it was

it would still be years until he finally gave up his work, gave

up being a slave trader. He had convictions about it.

He finally gave it up, but God's word kept working on him and he

surrendered completely and gave up the slave trade.

And he actually went into he was he influenced government leaders

who went about later on abolishing the slave trade.

He was influential in bringing an end to this evil practice and

eventually became a minister of the gospel and he wrote the song

that's called Amazing Grace. You all know the song Amazing

Grace. How sweet the sound that saved a

Wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm

found was blind, but now I see. He had ears to hear.

He had eyes to see. He cried for mercy and God

granted it to him. When he heard, he listened.

When he saw, he followed, he obeyed.

So much is determined by how we hear and how we see.

The choice is yours and mine to make.

You and I decide that. The story of Cain and Abel.

Cain decided I'm going to kill my brother.

That's how he dealt with his relationship with God.

We don't have to be like Cain and refuse to listen.

The difference God's word will make in my life and your life

will depend on how we respond. The kind of person I choose to

be. If we follow Jesus, our heart

will be good soil bringing good fruit.

If you follow Jesus, our life will be like a lamp on a tree,

on a lampstand. It'll produce light.

It'll illuminate truth, and if we follow Jesus, we'll be

engaged in Kingdom work, sowing seeds for eternity, and there'll

be growth. May God give us ears to hear,

eyes to see, and then strength to follow and obey.

Let us pray. Lord Jesus, thank you for your

grace. You offer us what we do not

deserve. You offer us grace.

Thank you for your mercy. The punishment we do deserve,

You spared us from. That is mercy, Lord, may our

hearts, our minds be tuned to you this week.

May we see with our heart and hear with our mind and may be

put into practice what we know as we go through this week.

Maybe experience you, maybe listen to you, maybe obey you.

Thank you Jesus.