“Whoever Has Ears, Let Them Hear” | Matthew 13:1-23

You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a

couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in

practical ways. Hey, everybody, welcome to the Bible Guys.

It's good to be here. Chris.

Yeah, my name is Chris, This is Jeff. We are

the Bible Guys, and we're thanking you for tuning in today. Man.

So if you're a new listener with us today, you're

in for a treat.

Yes.

For our longtime listeners, you know how committed we are

to bringing only the finest news from the best resources.

And so we scour the Internet and we keep coming

back to the same source, and that is the Babylon b.

It's the only thing you can trust in the whold Internet.

Yeah. Well, with all the news today, is probably the

most reliable, right.

So, if you don't know, the Babylon b is a

satire website, but we think it's the most trustful, trustworthy resource.

So here's the title for today. This is just a

special interest about celebs. People like celebrity guys. Sure, so

here you go, Jeff Bezos. Is we funded by your

wife's Amazon purchases?

Ain't that the truth?

Tucson, Arizona local man Jeremy Briggs sadly discovered this week

that his wife's Amazon purchases single handedly funded billionaire Jeff

Bezos's elaborate Italian wedding. I wasn't surprised, just disappointed, said Briggs.

Man.

That wedding sure looks nice. Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez

wed this week in lavish Italian ceremony attended by political

and Hollywood royalty. Guests included Oprah Winfrey, Evanka Trump, Leonardo DiCaprio,

and Usher. Jeremy Briggs said he was a little offended

not to receive an invitation. I know it was our

money that pretty much funded that entire thing, he told reporters.

We have Amazon packages shown up every single day at

our house. Yesterday I saw Laura had ordered two hundred

dollars worth of light bulbs, just quote so we don't

run out. That probably paid for a few of the napkins.

At publishing time, fifteen new packages had appeared on the

Briggs front porch, none of which included a thank you

note from Bezos. Much to Jeremy Briggs dismay.

Dismay, that is so funny.

So have you thought about that? I wonder how much

of the wedding you your family fund.

Oh my word, are you kidding me? I'm telling you

what we we should we should be We should own

stock and Amazon, which by the way, might be a

good thing. I should I should look into that. But

but yeah, it's just terrible how we we We probably

get without exaggeration, seriously, I bet you. But by the way,

let me just say this because I know my wife's lessening.

I'm anticipating her reaction.

Speak.

Yeah, she doesn't order extravagant things. She orders like paper towels, right,

because it's cheaper. And she orders like you know, uh,

you know, just basic items. Uh. But but she'll she'll

do that if it's cheaper, right, and she gets the

free delivery and all that, just like most of us do.

And uh and so yeah, it's it's not as if

she extravagantly spends. She doesn't. She just does most of

it through swipe. So so I would say, without exaggeration,

we get three packages is a day? Well, yeah, what.

Do you guys get, oh, between my family, Yeah, probably

a package a day? Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,

although lately it seems like they're just rolling in Yeah.

So I just looked it up and it says that

the wedding costs somewhere between forty six and a half

and fifty five and a half million dollars. Oh yeah,

for the wedding. So you got at least be about

a third of that.

Yeah.

I don't think we faced over your family's entire Amazon career.

Uh no, I don't know, so, but yeah, I mean, well,

come on, I mean, the average person only earns a

million dollars in their lifetime.

Yeah, well so I know. But you're a preacher.

That's oh yeah, yeah, yeah, so you find this hanky.

I thought I thought it was funny you talked about

money a few weeks ago when I was out right

as you wrapped up yeah with with Wesley, Yeah, with Wesley,

as you wrapped with the book on Malachi, trying to

me to tell you there's a lot of Christians on

the internet who hate tithing. Man, they hate it. They're

so mad at you about that one. It's hysterical.

Yeah.

So money is uh, God's not against your money. God's

just against the when we let money get a hold

of us, right right, And uh, it's so funny, man,

I mean so funny. To be honest, there's a part

they accused you of being rich, that you're just you're

just in this to make it, make money. Sure, sure, yeah, right, yeah,

come look at come look at everything I own? Right, Well,

I think it's the new Porsch.

You're driving people, right, extravagant Italy vacations, Italian vacations. But

I will say this, I will say, uh, I understand

how people can be jaded or burnt in the past, right,

but that's not but that, But that's no reason to

there's no reason to accuse somebody that you don't really know, right,

you know what I mean. So it's like it's like, yeah,

we've all seen like you know, I mean, didn't Jimmy

Swagger just pass away yesterday?

Sure?

Right, And so it's like we all, you know, for

those of us who are our age, remember the eighties,

we remember the scandals, right, So so it's like that's

all that guy will mostly be known for across the world,

you know, poor guy, right, even though he did a

lot of good. And so I definitely think, I definitely

think people have a right to be jaded or to

be you know, when somebody talks about money, who's a preacher, like,

there's a guardedness that I do understand. Actually, so I'm

giving them grace, right, But if you don't know me personally,

and you don't know heritage, then keep your comments to yourself.

That's so funny. Well, if you want to give any

more thoughts about Chris is just recent messages, just Chris

at the Bible guys dot com.

I mean, isn't by the way, isn't that? Isn't that

just the same as like profiling somebody absolutely who's a

different race, who walks into your store as a store owner, right,

and you're like, hey, if somebody else in your race

behaves badly, I'm gonna assume you're gonna behave badly. So

that's that's called profiling. Right, So it's religious preacher profiling.

So you could get up and question the virgin birth.

Probably get fewer people angry at you online than you

talking about time. Oh that's probably good, right, that's it.

So it's it's people's favorite thing to be mad about

his money. He isn't mad about money.

Well, they you know what they say. People are funny

about it.

It just you know, it just shows where your heart is.

Let's just say that's why Jesus went after it all

the time. So anyways, uh hey Matthew thirteen one through

twenty three talking about Jesus going after it.

Yeah, Jesus went after it with the parable of the shower. Yeah,

that is going after it.

But Jesus said, whoever has ears.

We're talking about seeds and soil and ears. He went

for it.

Yeah, that's right, he said, I used to see and

ears to hear it.

Yeah he did, he did. That's so funny.

Okay. So in Matthew chapter thirteen one through twenty three,

it says this. Later that same day, Jesus left the

house and sat beside the lake, and a large crowd

soon gathered around him. So he got into a boat.

Then he sat there and taught as the people stood

on the shore. He told many stories in the form

of parables, such as this one. Listen, a farmer went

out to plant some seeds. As he scattered them across

the fields, some seeds fell on a footpath and the

birds came and ate them. Other seeds fell on shallow

soil with underlying rock. The seeds sprouted quickly because the

soil was shallow, but the plants soon wilted under the

hot sun, and since they didn't have deep roots, they died.

Other seeds fell among thorns that grew up and choked

out the tender plants. Still, other seeds fell on fertile soil,

and they produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, even

a hundred times as much as had been planted. Anyone

with ears to hear should listen and understand. His disciples

came and asked him, wy do you use parables when

you talk to the people. He replied, you are permitted

to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but

others are not. To those who listen to my teaching,

more understanding you will be given, and they'll have an

abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening,

even what little understanding they have will be taken away

from them. That is why I use these parables, For

they look, but they don't really see. They hear, but

they don't really listen or understand. This fulfills the prophecy

of Isaiah that says, when you hear what I say,

you will understand. When you see what I do, you

will not comprehend. For the ears of these people are hardened,

and their ears cannot hear. They have closed their eyes,

so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear,

and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to

me and let me heal them. But blessed are your eyes,

because you see your ears because they hear. I tell

you the truth. Many prophets and righteous people long to

see what you see, but they didn't see it. And

they long to hear what you hear, but they didn't

hear it. Now listen to the explanation of the parable

about the farmer planting seeds. The seed that fell on

the footpath represents those who hear the message about the

kingdom and don't understand it. Then the evil one comes

and snatches away the seed that was planted in their hearts.

The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear

the message and immediately receive it with joy, But since

they don't have deep roots, they don't last long. They

fall away as soon as they have problems or are

persecuted for believing God's word. The seed that fell among

the thorns represents those who hear God's word, but all

too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries

of this life, the lure of wealth, so no fruit

is produced, and the seed that fell on good soil

represents those who truly here and understand God's word and

produce a harvest of thirty sixty or even one hundred

times as much as had been planted. There you go,

explained it, he did.

And so if Jesus had a podcast, what would he do?

He would probably talk about his most famous sayings and

famous teachings, and this certainly ranks among them.

Sure right, let me tell you about a farmer.

Yes, yeah, the Kingdom of Heaven is like yep, that's

often the way it starts, right, And in this particular case,

we are given the privilege of hearing the explanation because

a lot of times he'll give a parable and then

you know, you're you know, you're like, I can understand

that well, or sometimes you're like, I think it means this.

I'm pretty certain it means this, And that's why Jesus

has this unbelievable saying. He has ears to hear let

him hear. So you know, sometimes you have to pray, Okay, God,

what do you mean? And you know it's so cool.

God's word is. Sometimes God will just even even when

you're reading in your quiet time and your devotion time,

sometimes the Holy Spirit will just whisper and say, this

is how this means. This is what this means to you, right,

and and we have to determine whether or not that's God.

But that's a whole nother sermon altogether. But when we

when we hear from God and we determined God, that

was the Holy Spirit's voice, and it was it was

in line with what God's word says. Uh, it's It's

some of the most beautiful moments, isn't that? Yeah?

Absolutely?

Yeah.

And then you know, I always I used to have

young people, especially I had a young adult guy one

time when I was running a college ministry back in

the day, who had this distinctly mystical view of Christianity,

like he was just waiting for that miraculous moment when

an angel would stand at the foot of his bed

and tell him what he's supposed to do with his life.

And I said, and he's like, I just want God

to talk to me. I want him to speak to me.

And I couldn't understand what he was saying. And then

finally He says, Jeff, what I'm saying is I want

God to speak to me like he speaks to you.

And I said, oh, well, you've got to qualify for it.

He goes, what do you mean, I saill you you

have to be as good of a Christian as I am.

He's like, that's what I want. I'm like, dude, that's

not how it works. He so, what do you mean?

And I said, God already miraculously spoke to you in

this book, right here in this book. So if you

can't figure it all out, just go to Matthew twenty two.

Jesus said, love God with all your heart, soul, mind

and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. Start there.

He clearly spoke on those two things. So today everything

you do just do for love, out of love for

other people and for good Do that. That's it. It

doesn't have to be some mystical thing that you're waiting

to hear, right, it's just And so Jesus is saying,

either you hear these words of mine or you don't.

And his words are pretty plain most of the time.

Love God, love people kind of stuff, and then don't

hang out with the religious people who are always judging

everybody else but not living that same lifestyle themselves, right

that they're trying to earn their way to heave it

and said, it's a great thing. He unpacks thos. In

this situation, he's telling a story that's not super clear

to the listeners unless they've been listening. And that's why

he says, so, if you've been listening to me, you

totally get what I'm talking about. And here's the reason

why he's always talked in metaphors. So he you know,

yesterday we talked about how he says, Hey, the Kingdom

of Heaven is kind of like a shepherd who loses

the sheep, and people go, oh, yeah, the shepherd's always God, right,

So the main character is almost always God, and then

the sheep is God's mission and that's the one that

he loves or whatever. The Kingdom of Heaven is like

a woman who loses a coin. Oh okay, so God

probably is the one and where the one that's lost

and she goes and looks right. The Kingdom Heaven is

like a man who has a son and his son

runs away from him and he loves him so much.

When his son finally comes home, then he runs out

to him and brings him back into the family. Okay,

that father is our father, and I'm probably that son.

So people who've been listening to Jesus can hear Jesus

tell this story too, right, right? But if you haven't

been paying attention, and you're just showing up because he

keeps making lunch out of us, out of happy meals,

and just because he touches people and heals them, if

that's all you're showing up for, you're just there for

the benefits of what he might give to you. He said,

you're probably not gonna be able to hear me. And

so this is that he has because people always ask

all the time, what does he mean? He has? Years

of here. If you've been paying attention, you're going to

understand this one too, That's what he's saying. But then

even as disciples go, how come you always talking parables?

Right? Right? Just tell us plainly right? Why does that

have to be complicated? Come on?

Man?

Yeah?

Okay, So he sits down and he says, let me,

let me explain to you, and he basically unpacks it

that you know, when he when he starts off with

the the the farmer who's the farmer? Then, guys, remember

how this works? So who's the always the key figure

in all of my stories. It's God, the father, He's

the farmer, and now he's throwing seed around. What do

you think the seed might be? Oh, it might be

the gospel, right, the good news, you know, the whole

mission we're on. I think it's so funny. It's not

that hard to understand. If these guys had listened to

any of jesus other stories, they should be able to

figure this one out too. His stories are the same

every time, they're the same, and so the seed is

going to be the mission we're on.

The hardest part is to figure out what do the

path and the rock means? Right? Like that that might

be like, oh what does that represent? Right? But definitely soil, seed, farmer? Right?

Yeah, plants they grow up, plans it disappeared. And what

do you think a crow would represent? Crows always represent

bad news, they always represent right. It's not that it's

not rocket science.

And and and it's easy to figure out the last

one because the good soil produces a bunch of fruit. Yeah,

well so that's easy.

Well, so as soon as you realize the whole the

celebrated part of the story is the good soil. Then

you realize all the bad ones are. Hey, there's lots

of people who never put down roots. There's lots of

people who never produce anything. The goal is production. So

the father plants to seed. If you're one who puts

down roots, the whole goal for you is to produce.

That's it. For the for for the farmer, that's the

whole goal. It's it's it's hysterical to me that they

struggle with it, but I get it so also tired.

I remember, I remember one time I did a study

on what these are called in the Bible. So this

and I have the NIV version right here, and it

says that it calls it the parable of the sower.

What does yours say?

The parable of the four soils?

Right? So the parable of the four soils? And then uh,

and then there's like there's a there's all these different

types of labels based on the versions of the Bible, right,

but but it's you know, most of them, most of them,

the majority of them actually focus on the sower. Right there,

there's also like the parable of the sower and the seed, right,

but the actual heading that yours is the parable of

the soil. That's actually more accurate. Right. The reason why

it's more accurate is because it's it's actually all about

the condition of the soil. Right. So it's like it's

like we have to have hearts that are ready to receive,

you know, God's word. And so the point of the

story is to be you know, in a position to

receive God's word and and uh and to you know,

to let it grow in our lives. So the point

is the soil is your is your heart like the

condition of a hardened path right where it's not tender,

right where the where the ground is like fallow right,

or is your heart like a you know, uh, thorny

And it's it's not it's not rid of all of

the garbage that you have to clear out in order

to grow fruit. You know. It's like there's there's all

these different kinds of conditions of the heart. But that's

really what it's about. So I think that the heading

the parable of the four soils that you have is

actually the most accurate.

Yeah, and then the whole the whole goal is to

produce a harvest, right, right, That's why he was planting

the seed the reason the gospel came to you. So

if the seed represents a gospel, and if you are

one who the roots of the gospel grew deep, and

now you're growing up as a follower of Jesus. The

goal of God for you is that you produce fruit.

Jesus said, herein is my Father glorified that you produce

much fruit. That's what he says. He says, I'm the

vine and you are the branches. So does the vine

produce the fruit? No, the branches produced the fruit. R Right,

he says. Apart from me, you can do nothing. The

reason why we need Jesus in our life isn't just

to make all our wildest dreams come true. Now he

does answer prayers, he does do the things. But man,

if your primary motion motivation in your faith is to

just have Jesus answer all your prayers and be your

good luck charm, I think you're always going to be

frustrated in your life because Jesus said, a double minded

man and is unstable in all his ways. Well, it's

the Book of James says a double minded man is

unstable in all these ways. If we're looking at man,

my goal is faith is important to me. But faith

is important to me because I believe faith is the

source of me getting everything I want. Now, all of

a sudden, you have your eyes on the world, trying

to use your faith to give you the world right,

rather than God saying, let me use you in the

world right. And we're in the world but not of it.

And so a lot of Christians live with this tension

and frustration, like sometimes their faith isn't fulfilling, or they

feel like God doesn't answer their prayers or whatever. But

when we begin to realize, okay, God's goal is for

us to bear fruit. The fruit of the righteous is

a tree of life. He that win his souls is wives.

One of the fruits that we're supposed to be producing

is new believers. New we're supposed to be disciple makers.

We're supposed to make new disciples. This the last command

Jesus gives. And then the fruit of the spirit, love

and joy and peace and gentleness, kindness, you know, And

so that kind of fruit should be being produced. And

so the little bit God puts in us to turn

into thirty, sixty, even one hundred times more than was planted,

that's just a normal thing. If you understand God's goal

for you on this earth is to produce for him,

you will find so much more satisfaction, and you will

see way more of your prayers answered, and you will

find your purpose and your mission in life. It's a

totally different things. It's one of my favorite illustrations he

uses is this idea is if you really put your

roots down in Jesus, you will produce for him.

Yeah. And I love the fact that the disciples went

to Jesus and wanted to know more. You know, have

you ever? You know? You and I are in the

business of you know, church, and so we'll give, for instance,

like a message, and in the message everything's rooted obviously

in God's word, so you know, sort of deliver either

a passage or several verses and some ideas based out

of scripture. And then there are people who, you know,

there's all sorts of people in the audience. There's there's

the thorny paths, right, there's there's the hardened path, there's

the you know, the good soil, and then there are

people who you know, the good soil are people who

actually receive it and say, oh, I want to I

want to understand this. So here's here's what I love

about this parable is that here are these disciples. And

and by the way, in another gospel version we learn

who the disciples are who go to Jesus. It's Peter, James, John,

and Andrew. It's those four. So they they're the ones

that go.

I think it's the one in yeah made himself.

Yeah, But anyway, they're the ones that go to Jesus,

and they're the ones that say, hey, can you tell

us more about the parable? Because been understand it. And

here's what's ironic. By actually going to Jesus, they're actually

demonstrating the point of the parable. I was I was

going to go in that same accident, yeah yeah yeah,

so so so ironically they're going, could you please tell

us more becaus been understand and Jesus is like, bingo,

there it is. There it is. You're you're you're wanting

to receive God's word and you're wanting to understand it,

and you're wanting it to produce fruit. You wanted to

make a difference, and you're seeking to learn more, which

is exactly what the good soil is. And so he

goes down and it's just it's just so funny to me.

How uh you know, they're demonstrating good soiled hearts, and

that's really the point of the parable.

Well teachability, I think is a big part of demonstrating

whether or not the heart is good soil. So I

was going to reference that same thing. So I started

off kind of poking front of the fact they couldn't

figure this out. Yeah, because Jesus goes, if you have

ears here, right, what he's saying is if you've ever

heard me talk before, you know what this one means too, right,

It's one of the things he's saying there. So but

so I poked fun on the front end. And the

reality is, if we would just spend time in God's word,

we would understand God's word. The more you spend time

in God's word, the more you understand God's words. It's

astounding how the Holy Spirit begins to cross reference in

your mind as you read a thing and you're like,

what does that mean? And then he reminds you of

something else you've read in the past that sheds light

on it. The Bible is its own best commentary. I

say that all the time. So when they didn't understand

James tells us, if anybody lacks wisdom, let them ask

of God, who gives to everybody without judgment. Right, everybody

who asks can have wisdom. So he says, go ask.

And so what did they do. They went to the word.

Jesus is the word John w went in the beginning

was the word. The word is with God. The word

was God, and he became a man who dwelt among us. Right,

So they went to the source. They went to the

word to find out what the word meant. And this

is one of the reasons I always say the Bible's

its own best commentary. The more time you spend in

God's word, the more you're going to understand God's word.

The more time you spent in God's word yesterday, the

easier it'll be to understand God's word tomorrow. It just

I can't even explain that. It feels like a supernatural

thing to me, just a little bit. And this is

why he over and over and over says, if you

have the word, ears to hear here. Part of it

is if you spend spending time with me, you know

what I'm talking about. Part of it is the Holy

Spirit's the one who teaches you what you're hearing, right, Yeah, yeah.

That's big. Yeah, well that is a great place to

wrap up. And what a great passage that Jesus taught.

And so can you say one more thing?

No, wait a minute, let me think. Yes, I was

also going to say I will allow it. You know,

we also have the mission of spreading the seed. Yeah right,

And our job is not to determine who gets the seed.

We spread it everywhere and it's God's job to produce

the harvest. So that Paul says that he said I planted,

somebody else watered, right, But God's the one who gives

the increase. And so you might look at it and go, oh,

I'm not going to share the gospel with him. He's

too hard hearted. You don't know, you don't know what's

on the inside.

Right.

You just keep planting the seed with everybody that you're around,

and some are going to be able to receive it

and some aren't. But that's okay. Your job isn't to

determine the harvest. Your job is to spread the seed.

Let's spread the good news.

That's what Paul says, right, Yeah, plants, and he says, hey,

we plant, we water me and paul Us all of us,

but God gives the increases. That's right, So let God

do what God's going to do.

Yeah, that's good, that's great.

Okay, we'll hopefully we'll see tomorrow on the Bible. Guys,