Matthew 13:1-3;10-17

This morning we returned to our study in Matthew.

We took a few weeks break. We had Palm Sunday

and then Easter Sunday. So it's been about three

weeks. So what I decided to do today, I'm reading

verses 1 to 3 and I'm going to skip down to verses

10 to 17 and Lord willing, next Sunday, I'll

go back and I'll preach 1 through 9. And I think

it will make sense. I hope it does. Because we're

going to understand something today. It's a question

that the disciples posed to Jesus. Jesus, why

are you only speaking in parables to these people

and you don't give them the instruction? You're

not giving them the interpretation. Why are you

doing that? So there's a lot of parables in chapter

13. There's seven of them. So I thought it would

be interesting to see what Jesus said. And then

we'll go back and start looking at the parables.

So let's look at verses 1 to 3, sets up the text,

verses 10 to 17. On the same day, Jesus went

out of the house, and he sat by the sea, he had

been teaching, and great multitudes were gathered

together to him, so that he got in a boat and

sat, and the whole multitude stood on the shore.

Then he spoke many things to them in parables.

There are seven, as I said. And the disciples

came and said to him, Why do you speak to them

in parables? 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. 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. Therefore I speak to

them in parables, because seeing they don't see,

and hearing They don't understand. Or hearing

they do not hear. Nor do they understand. And

in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled.

But what prophecy? The one that says hearing

you will hear and shall not understand. And seeing

you will see and not perceive. For the hearts

of this people have 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 hearts in turn, so that I should heal

them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see,

and your ears, for they hear. 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.

Let's ask God for his help this morning. Father,

we understand the weakness of our own flesh,

Lord, the inability that we have to understand

rightly the spiritual things that are only revealed.

So this morning, Lord, I'm asking, God, that

you would help me to be clear that, Lord, I would

be not only arrogant but foolish to think that

I could come in here, Lord, and affect change

in the lives of your people. God, I'm asking,

Lord, for the help of the Holy Spirit of God

that you promised to give when we ask. And Father,

I'm asking for you to do what only you can do.

There are some, perhaps, who've grown dull of

hearing. They see, but they don't really see,

and they hear, but they don't understand. Lord,

there are some whose heart is cold and indifferent.

Lord, I pray that you'd wake them up. God, do

effect change in their hearts. And then, Father,

I pray for your saints this morning, Lord, those

whose eyes have been opened and ears have been

opened to understand the glorious gospel. Father,

I pray that they would glory in your grace and

exalt your Son. And it's in his name we pray.

Amen. Our text this morning raises a very profound

question. It's one that throughout history theologians

have debated and spoken about. Why do some people

respond to God, others don't? The Apostle Paul

said this, he said, that for some, there's the

fragrance of the gospel. The gospel has a smell,

if you will. He's using that analogy. And he

said, for some, the gospel is compelling. It's

attractive. And yet for others, they find that

same smell repugnant. It's obnoxious. It's off

-putting. He said that in 2 Corinthians 2. He

said, for we are to God, speaking of the apostles,

the fragrance of Christ. And among those who

are being saved and among those who are perishing.

To the one where the aroma of death, leading

to death. But to the other, the aroma of life,

leading to life. Who is sufficient for these

things? Paul said the gospel is like a fragrance,

a perfume. And it smells wonderful to some. For

to them it smells like life. Yet it's repulsive

to others. For some, to them, it smells like

the stench of death, like an old rotting corpse.

They would never want to go toward it. But the

question we are asking, why do some love the

fragrance and others find that very same fragrance

repulsive? Well, in verse 11 of Matthew 13, he

says, because it's been given to you to know

the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to

them it's not been given. To some, the mystery

of the kingdom is revealed, and to others it

remains concealed. Now on the surface, some think,

well this sounds harsh, as though God is being

arbitrary and capricious. I mean, is God purposely

trying to keep people in the dark and away from

the light? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. In

1 Timothy chapter 2, Paul writing to Timothy,

1 Timothy 2 · chapter mention

he said, For this is good and acceptable in the

sight of God our Savior, who desires all men

to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the

truth. Now some will try to explain away. We

don't need to. God desires men to be saved. He

is light. He wants people to come to the truth.

Ezekiel, the old covenant, we see the same thing.

As I live, says the Lord God, Yahweh speaking,

I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked.

But what do you take pleasure in? That the wicked

turn from his way and live. Turn. Turn from your

evil ways. For why should you die, O house of

Israel? The Lord desires that people be saved.

And he says he does not take pleasure in those

who perish. We all know John 3 .16, but I think

John 3 .17 is equally as glorious. For God did

not send his son. Into the world to condemn the

world. It's not why he came. But rather that

the world through him might be saved. So God

has sent his son on a mission. But the mission

was not one of condemnation. His son was sent

on a rescue mission. He's come to seek and to

save the lost. So now as we go back to our text

in Matthew 13. Jesus is revealing a spiritual

principle. Those whose hearts were open to the

truth. received more truth but those whose hearts

were hardened to the truth lost what little bit

they even had so the takeaway this is if we don't

want to over diagnose anything but the takeaway

is this you must respond to the truth while the

light is shining here's what jesus would say

to us do not harden your heart it is possible

to hear the truth to see the light and harden

your heart against them. Look at Israel. It always

amazes me as we look back at Old Covenant Israel.

They had the light of God's revelation, but they

didn't act upon it. In Hebrews chapter 3, this

Hebrews 3 · chapter mention

is incredible. The writer says, therefore, as

the Holy Spirit says, today if you will hear

his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the

rebellion. So it must be possible for you to

harden your heart. In the day of trial in the

wilderness, where your fathers tested me, they

tried me, they saw my works forty years. Therefore

I was angry with that generation. Why was God

angry? Keep reading. And I said, they always

go astray in their heart, and they have not known

my ways. So I swore in my wrath, they shall not

enter into my rest. We skip down to verse 19.

So the bottom line, here's why God was angry.

They could not enter in because of unbelief.

Every time I read that, I think it is incredible

to me to think how that generation who came out

of Egypt died in unbelief. That's what the Bible

says. Very clear. That generation. They died

in unbelief. How is that possible? I mean, think

of all that they witnessed firsthand. First of

all, the great deliverance out of Egypt itself

with the death of the firstborn. The crossing

of the Red Sea. Then daily they had manna given

to them from heaven. They're wandering in a wilderness,

a desert wilderness. For 40 years, their shoes

and their clothes never wore out. They saw Moses

bring, God through Moses, bring water from a

rock. They had the cloud by day leading them,

the pillar of fire by night. And the Bible says

that generation hardened their hearts. But it

is equally incredible to me to think about the

generation who heard Jesus teach firsthand, saw

his miracles firsthand, and remained in unbelief.

With their very own eyes, they saw his miracles.

And the Bible says they hardened their hearts.

Now, it's been a few weeks since we've been in

Matthew, so let's look at the context. So starting

in chapter 12, the Lord began to have conflicts

with the religious leaders, particularly the

Pharisees. It all began one day in a grain field

with a dispute over what was appropriate to do

on the Sabbath day. Well, that conflict continued

that day where Jesus goes into the synagogue

and he heals a man who had a deformed hand that

says withered hand. And he healed him. He made

the man whole, but it was on the Sabbath day.

Now at that point, the Pharisees who had just

seen this great miracle, they assembled, they

convened an assembly. and they determined to

have Jesus put to death formally. That's chapter

12. Their minds were made up. There's no way

that Jesus could be the Messiah in their minds

because he was a Sabbath breaker. Later, in the

same context, Jesus heals another man. It's a

demon -possessed man, but this man was both blind

and mute. The Pharisees saw it. They didn't dispute

that the man was healed, but they said that Jesus

did this miracle by the power of Beelzebub, by

the power of Satan. Their hearts were already

hardened. No amount of evidence was going to

change their minds. Now chapter 12 continues

in the words teaching the people and he enters

into a house. Large crowds are there. Many inside

but many outside had gathered to hear and teach.

Which leads naturally into our text of chapter

13. On the same day, verse 1, Jesus went out

of the house. And he sat by the sea. He's going

to teach them. And it says great multitudes were

gathered to him, so much so that he got into

a boat and the whole multitude stood on the shore.

Okay, so get the picture here. The Lord leaves

the house where he'd been teaching. He heads

to the shore of the Sea of Galilee. But the massive

crowds who were there at the house, both inside

and outside, they keep following him. Because

of Jesus' miracles, wherever he went, large crowds.

He always attracted a large crowd. Now, it wasn't

conducive for Jesus to stay on the shore because

he had too many people around him and no one

could hear him or see him. So what does he do?

He gets into a boat with his disciples. They

go out a little bit and then everyone is standing

on the shore and Jesus is seated in the boat

teaching because that's how a rabbi would have

taught, seated. Verse 3, it says, and he spoke

many things to them in parables. Okay, many things.

There's seven of them in chapter 13. From this

point forward, you're going to notice something

in Matthew's gospel. Whenever Jesus is speaking

to the crowds, he will speak to them in parables.

Before chapters 1 through 12, when Jesus was

speaking to the crowds, he spoke to them in plain,

straightforward language. Look at the Sermon

on the Mount, Matthew 5, 6, and 7. But now, beginning

in verse 13, there's a break. He's going to use

veiled language. He's going to use parables.

Now the word parable, it's interesting, it's

a compound word and it literally means to throw

alongside or to place side by side. It's a juxtaposition.

So when we think about a parable, which the Lord

often used, it was a juxtaposition of an earthly

story with divine truth. Now Lord willing, we'll

look at this parable next week, but most are

familiar with the parable of the soil or the

sower, we call it. There are four types of soil

in the parable of the sower and the seed. But

what do those four soils represent? It's not

about agriculture. That's the earthly illustration

representing divine truth that the four soils

represent four different types of hearts and

their reception or response to the gospel. Now

today, Jesus is being asked a question. Why do

you only speak to them in parables? That confused

the disciples. I mean, what's going on? You're

speaking to them, but you're using cryptic speech.

Why don't you just speak plainly to the crowds?

Or, better yet, why don't you give them the interpretation

just like you give to us? Verse 10. The disciples

said to him, why? Why are you doing this? Now,

Jesus had just given a parable, right? Verses

1 through 9. The parable of the sower. But he

stopped. He never gave the explanation to them.

He never gives them any meanings. They don't

know what it means at that point. They know that

it's probably more than agriculture, but they

don't know what it means. And the disciples,

they're confused. They're bewildered. And they

say, well, Jesus, why are you doing that? Isn't

the point of communication so that you speak

so that your audience understands? I mean, don't

you want them to know? Well, that was a good

question. I mean, usually a speaker is not going

to use veiled language. He doesn't want to confuse

his audience. So why are you doing that? Well,

Jesus answered in verse 11. He said to them,

because it has been given, didomi, it's been

granted to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom.

But to them it's not been granted. He spoke to

the crowds in parables because it wasn't given

to them to understand the mystery. Why not? Well,

first of all, they were being judged for their

unbelief. Week after week, month after month,

Jesus had plainly taught these people about him

and the nature of his kingdom. But they rejected

the truth. They hardened it. They remained in

unbelief after so much revelation had been given

to them. You say, well, they were following him.

Yeah, that's absolutely true. They were following

him. But as John 6 tells us, they were following

him because of the miracles and how they may

personally benefit. They saw Jesus as a meal

ticket or they could ride on his coattails, if

you will. So yeah, Jesus had already spoken plainly

to these people about the nature of his kingdom

and he backed up his teaching with powerful signs

and miracles. These people had seen him with

their eyes, heal the sick, give sight to the

blind, hearing to the deaf, cleanse lepers. multiply

fish and bread, cast out demons, raise the dead.

But in spite of all of the evidence, these people

remained in unbelief. And now they're being judged.

The light of the gospel had shone brightly. They

didn't receive it. So the light was taken away.

expects a response to the truth. Because regardless

of what preachers may tell you, the light does

not always shine. Now listen to the words of

Jesus in John 12. While you have the light, believe

in the light that you may become sons of light.

These things Jesus spoke and departed and was

hidden from them. But though he had done so many

signs before them, They didn't believe in him.

That's the parallel passage in John's Gospel

about Matthew 13, by the way. Wow. Friends, God

will not be trifled with. He is the Almighty.

You are to diligently seek after him as if you

were seeking for a hidden treasure. That ought

to be how diligent you're seeking after God.

Proverbs 2 speaks about this in the beginning

of verse 3. Yes, if you cry out for discernment

and lift up your voice for understanding, if

you seek her as silver and search for her as

hidden treasures, then you'll understand the

fear of the Lord. Then you'll find the knowledge

of God. Indifference toward the things of God

is a grave sin. Jesus, look down, we'll get there

in a few weeks, but in verse 44 of Matthew 13,

he tells another parable, and he says, the kingdom

of heaven is like, it's like a treasure that's

hidden in a field, which a man found, and he

hid it. And for joy over it, he goes and he sells

all that he has and buys that one field. When

you understand the value of God's kingdom and

the value of the king, you become willing to

give up everything and pursue it. The people

to whom Jesus had spoken, they were indifferent.

They closed their hearts. John 12 says they did

not believe. They were apathetic, apathos, no

feeling. So they're not searching, they're not

seeking, they're not responding. Instead, they're

indifferent, but they want Jesus, but they want

Jesus how they can personally benefit. That's

it. It's selfish. Chris Miller, in his commentary,

he says, Jesus speaks in parables concerning

revelation because they have squandered what

they've already received. He now refuses more

revelation to people. Who have ignored what he's

already taught. Jesus said, don't cast your pearls

before swine. They don't get it. So stop trying.

Now whose fault was this? It's their fault. They

brought this upon themselves. Verse 12. For whoever

has, has what? Faith. To him more will be given,

and he will have an abundance. You get the king

and the kingdom and the whole caboodle. But whoever

does not have, does not have what? Does not have

faith. Even what he has will be taken away from

him. So you look at the disciples. They were

committed to Jesus as Messiah. Faith. Now we

know Judas, handpicked by God for a purpose,

was not a faith. But this resulted in their receiving

more knowledge of the kingdom. So the secrets

or the mysteries, the mysterion, it's kind of

like secret here, that would be revealed, it

would be granted to them. But to the crowds,

they rejected Jesus as Messiah. And as a result,

no more knowledge is going to be given to them.

The truth is now hidden from them, which Jesus

said is why I'm speaking to them in parables

and not telling them the meaning. So the crowds

lost their opportunity to hear the truth of God

plainly taught, and that was God's judgment because

they should have believed already. And from this

point, Matthew 13 on, Jesus will speak to the

crowds in parables. Now let me just say, this

is incredible wisdom on the part of Jesus as

well. Because the parable is going to serve as

a test. What if there were someone in the crowd

who was open to the truth, and they hear this

parable, Well, they're going to seek and to search

for the meaning until they find it. But if anyone

was too lazy to seek for the meaning, well, that

showed they didn't have any real interest in

the truth. Just spoon -feeding. Parables reveal

truth to those who are seeking it sincerely,

but parables conceal truth to those who are lazy,

hostile, or indifferent to it. You don't get

to be indifferent toward God. St. John Chrysostom,

he said this, that parables were given so that

those who desire to learn may learn. But those

who are careless may remain ignorant. It's a

test. Because some people are like, no big deal.

So the crowds are being judged for their unbelief.

But now we have the disciples. Verse 11. He said,

to you it's been given. Now the crowds, think

of all they've seen, all they've heard, they

should have fallen down on their faces before

Jesus, acknowledging him as their Messiah, their

King, their Lord. But they didn't. And they're

going to bear consequences. But, so they're responsible.

On the other hand, Jesus gives a gift. He gives

a gift to the disciples. He granted them, gifted

them. Again, dido me in Greek. He granted them

the privilege of knowing the mysteries or secrets

of the kingdom. To understand the mysteries of

the kingdom of God is a gift from heaven. Jesus

clearly said so. He said, to you it has been

given, to you it has been granted. Now let me

just say this, because sometimes I get asked

these questions often. There is a lot, much I

can't understand and I can't explain. The Bible

teaches twin truths, and you have to understand

this. God is absolutely free and sovereign, and

man is absolutely responsible for his decisions

and not believing. Clearly, the crowds are being

judged because they didn't believe when they

should have believed. That's why they're getting

judged. They should, with all the overwhelming

evidence, they should have repented and placed

their faith in Christ. But the evidence was overwhelming.

There was massive evidence for that. None of

those people on that day will ever stand before

the judgment of God and say, Lord, I didn't believe

because you didn't reveal it. That will not hold

water. The text is clear. They're responsible.

They're responsible to believe and they will

be judged for not doing so. But at the very same

time, Jesus said the disciples understand some

things because God granted them the knowledge

to understand some things. See, the disciples

were not particularly clever or insightful. They

were blessed. They were given a gift. I know,

I know with all that I have that the only reason

any of us are here today sitting in this church

on this Lord's Day worshiping Jesus Christ is

because the truth, Was revealed to us by the

spirit of God. Absolutely that's true. The ability

to see Jesus. As the all glorious king. Sent

from God. That's a gift from heaven. You're like

proven. Three chapters later. Jesus will ask

the disciples. Who do men say that I am? And

they start answering. But Peter makes that great

confession in Matthew 16. Verse 16. Simon Peter.

He answered and said, You are the Christ, the

Son of the living God. Now it looks like Peter

is perceptive. I mean, is it really surprising

that Peter understood who Jesus was? I mean,

after all, Peter had spent considerable time

with Jesus. Peter had witnessed the miracles

of Jesus up close and personal. And in fact,

Peter was granted by Jesus the ability to perform

miracles themselves when they went out on their

first preaching journey. So I'm thinking, or

we think, of course Peter knew Jesus was the

Christ, the son of the living God. How could

he not have known? But that's not what Jesus

said. Notice what Jesus said in verse 17. Jesus

answered and said to him, Blessed are you, Simon,

son of Bar -Jonah, for flesh and blood has not

revealed this to you, but my Father who is in

heaven. Good answer, Peter. You answered well.

But you didn't figure that out. Well, how does

Peter know? You've been blessed, Peter. Because

you understand who I am. Because my Father revealed

that truth to you. Now you say, how did the Father

do it? God did not whisper into Peter's ear the

truth of Jesus' identity. No. Rather... In indiscernible,

inscrutable ways, the Spirit of God worked in

the heart of Peter to reveal that truth to him.

And that's a saying that happens to us today.

God took away the blindness that was over Peter's

heart and granted him knowledge of Christ. And

had he not done so, Peter would have stayed in

the dark. Look at Judas. It's the same thing.

And this is the way that any of us, the only

way that any of us ever come to understand who

Jesus is, is the truth must be revealed to us.

Now, yes, I can teach my children who Jesus is,

and they can answer in an orthodox manner, Jesus

is the son of the living God, he's the Christ,

he's the Messiah, but that won't resonate with

truth in their hearts unless the spirit of God

works in their heart. We are followers of Christ.

Because God in his grace opened the hearts that

were once dark and hard, and he showed us the

truth. So man is responsible. These people should

have believed. That's why they're being judged.

The God of sovereign. Now remember the original

question. They're like, why are you speaking

in parables? And Jesus said, well, first, it's

not given to them. It's a sign of judgment. But

he said, secondly, it's also a fulfillment of

prophecy. And this is incredible here. He said,

the reason I'm speaking to these people in parables

is to fulfill Isaiah 6. Now, Isaiah, look at

verses 13 to 15. He said, and he quotes Isaiah

6 here. I'm not going to take the time to read

it. So he's quoting Isaiah chapter 6, verses

Isaiah 6:9

9 and 10. Now, Isaiah 6 ought to be going ding,

ding, ding in your mind right now because that's

probably the most famous chapter in Isaiah outside

of 53. In Isaiah 6, that's when the prophet Isaiah,

he sees the Lord high and lifted up. We sang

about it with holy, holy, holy. So let's turn

to Isaiah 6. This is what Jesus is referencing.

In the year that King Uzziah died, I, Isaiah,

saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted

up, and the train of his robe filled the temple.

Above it stood seraphim, seraphim. Each one had

six wings. With two he covered his face, and

with two his feet, and with two he flew. And

one cried to another and said, Holy, holy, holy

is the Lord, is Yahweh of hosts. The whole earth

is full of his glory. And the post of the door

was shaken by the voice of him who cried out,

and the house was filled with smoke. So now in

the blazing light of God's glory, Isaiah understood

something about himself. He understood that he

was unclean. He understood that he was defiled.

And he was unraveling at the seams is the picture.

And he pronounces a woe upon himself. Look at

verse 5. So I said, woe is me. I'm undone. Because

I am a man of unclean lips. And I dwell in the

midst of a people of unclean lips. For mine eyes

have seen the king, the Lord Yahweh of hosts.

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in

his hand a live coal, which he had taken with

tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth.

And he said, behold, this has touched your lips.

Your iniquity has taken away. Your sin, Isaiah,

is purged. Isaiah's a new man. He's forgiven.

He's cleansed of his sin. And he wants to give

himself completely to the Lord. Look at verse

8. So I also heard the voice of the Lord saying,

Whom shall I send and who will go for us? That's

that famous missionary verse that we have at

mission conferences. And I said, Here am I. Send

me. I mean, it's great ingratitude. Isaiah wants

to dedicate himself, consecrate himself to the

Lord's use. So when God asks for someone, go.

preach to the people. Isaiah said, I'll go. Now

we come to the text. Great, Isaiah. I'm going

to send you. What am I going to preach, Lord?

Look at verses 9 and 10. Go and tell this people.

Keep on hearing, but don't understand. Keep on

seeing, but don't perceive. Make the heart of

this people dull and their ears heavy and shut

their eyes. So that they don't see with their

eyes and hear with their ears and understand

with their heart and return and be healed. What?

Go preach a message that they're not going to

understand that they won't have any interest

in whatsoever. Why? This is a judgment on the

people of Isaiah's time. Their hearts had grown

hard toward the Lord. And he said, Isaiah, I

want you to go preach to them and make their

hearts even harder. He said, go preach a message,

but make sure it's dull enough. So that their

hearts will become more hard, their eyes will

become so heavy, and their ears will not hear.

Well, why don't you want them to see or hear?

Why don't you want them to understand, Lord?

So they don't return and get healed. So they

don't repent. Look at the text. And Jesus said

that prophecy is fulfilled in him. John 12, I

quoted earlier, but notice the full context.

This is the parallel passage, and I hope this

makes sense to you. But although he had done

so many signs before him, before them, excuse

me, they didn't believe in him. Therefore, get

this, they could not believe because Isaiah said

again, verse 40, He has blinded their eyes and

hardened their hearts, lest they should see with

their eyes, lest they should understand with

their hearts and turn, so that I should heal

them. They couldn't believe. God decided to bring

judgment upon the people, and he hardened their

hearts to the truth. So now, God in human form,

Jesus, the God incarnate, he will only speak

in parables because he's fulfilling the prophecy

of Isaiah 6, 9, and 10. And he said, but the

people had already hardened their hearts. Yeah,

and this is your judgment. They won't believe.

They had heard Jesus' teaching. They had heard

or seen the miracles that he had, but they didn't

believe. So God says, I'm going to speak to them

in language they won't understand. So you're

saying, well, what kept people from embracing

the truth? Was God keeping them at bay? Was God

stiff -arming them? No, not at all. These people

were blessed. They had tremendous light and tremendous

revelation. So what kept them from the truth?

Their cold, hard, unbelieving hearts. Don't miss

it. We're closing here in a minute. Man's deepest

problem lies within him. Where? In his heart.

Because of our sin nature, because of our sin,

our hearts, listen, are naturally unresponsive

to God's truth. So we need new hearts. Jesus

said in John 3, we need to be born again. Your

heart and mine are so hard that unless the Spirit

of God grants us understanding, we will just

stay in the dark. And like it that way, by the

way. And then lastly, our Lord reminded the disciples

of how blessed they really were. The final two

verses there, he said, But blessed are your eyes,

why, they do see, and your hearts, for they hear.

For I tell you, many prophets and righteous men

desired to see what you see and hear, but they

weren't able to do it. Man, these disciples enjoyed

an incredible position, incredible clarity and

understanding far beyond anything the Old Testament

prophets ever had. So the Old Testament prophets,

they foretold of Christ. They knew something

about it. But these 12 men, they walked with

Christ. They ate with Christ. And they worshipped

him. You have great patriarchs, men like Abraham

and Isaac and Jacob, Moses and David and Isaiah.

They all looked by faith to the future. When

are these promises going to be fulfilled? And

they all died in faith, never seeing them fulfilled.

But these 12 men were blessed because God privileged

them to learn from the promised one himself,

and they also saw the promises of God come to

fruition. Yes, they were blessed. They had seen

what many righteous men and prophets waited to

see for so long and were never able to see. So

now we close. Now what? I close as I begin. Two

people can smell the same fragrance and one will

find it intoxicating, the other will find it

revolting. Two people can hear the same message

on a Sunday morning. One will walk away changed,

the other will walk away the same as he came

in. Jesus said some people can see, but they

don't really perceive. He said they hear, but

they don't really understand. So the danger that

I feel today is there is danger that you can

be exposed to the truth and not be changed by

the truth. So I leave you with the words of Jesus

and not mine. Jesus said in John 12, verse 36,

John 12:36

while you have the light, believe in the light

that you may become sons of light. Today, if

you want the truth, you pray. Seek after God.

If you're serious, you'll do it. Ask him to open

your eyes. Ask him to open your heart to the

gospel. He who has ears to hear, Jesus said,

let him hear. Pray that you are numbered among

those who have ears to hear and understand the

mysteries of his kingdom. God is gracious and

he will save if you will repent of your sin and

place your faith in his son. Let's pray as we

prepare to go to the table of the Lord. Father,

I thank you for your word, Lord. I realize some

things that are said are hard. We don't understand

them. In our minds, we want to try to reason

everything out. It's impossible. We don't know

the mind of the Lord. Father, I know that we're

responsible. We're responsible for our actions.

We're responsible for our sin. We're responsible

to believe upon Christ. And Lord, I pray that

today, by your grace and through the working

of your spirit, you will do just that. Awaken

some who are in a stupor, Lord, who don't see.

Awaken those who are even hostile to your gospel.

Awaken them, Lord, to their dreadful condition

of judgment and wrath. And show them the sweet

Savior and salvation that belongs to all who

will come to him. Lord, I pray for your saints

today as we prepare to go to the table of the

Lord. Lord, we rejoice in your grace because

you have shown us the truth. You revealed Christ

to us. And Lord, we get to commune with each

other and with our risen Lord in the special

manner that you have prescribed. All glory, all

honor, all praise be to you, our gracious God

and King. And we pray all these things in Jesus'

name. Amen. Deacons, would you come and prepare

the table?