Latest / Reformed Thinking / The King’s Concealed Revelation: The Judicial and Prophetic Necessity of the Parabolic Method (Matthew 13:34–35)

Transcript

The King’s Concealed Revelation: The Judicial and Prophetic Necessity of the Parabolic Method (Matthew 13:34–35) · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome back to another session, Reform Thinking.
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  I'm really glad you're here with us.
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  Good to be here. We have a a stack of documents
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  on the desk today that I think are going to challenge some
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  very, very comfortable ideas most of us have.
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  We're looking at a collection of theological articles, set it on
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  the Gospel of Matthew, specifically chapter 13, and
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  we're bringing in some heavy commentary for the Westminster
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  Confession of Faith as well, Right.
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  The goal, as always, is to take these sources and really get to
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  the bottom of what's happening in the text.
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  And you're right about challenging, comfortable ideas.
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  The material we're covering today?
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  It isn't the kind of thing you usually hear in a standard
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  Sunday morning message. It's sharper.
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  It has edges. Yeah, it does.
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  I mean, if you asked most people, and I would have said
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  this for years, why Jesus spoke in parables, you'd get a pretty
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  standard answer. Oh, yeah, they'd say, well,
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  Jesus was a master storyteller. He wanted to make sure everyone
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  could understand him. So he used simple illustrations
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  like, you know, farming, fishing, baking bread to put the
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  cookies on the bottom shelf. That's the common view.
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  We tend to think of the parables as these helpful little windows.
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  The idea is that the theology is too thick or too difficult, so
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  Jesus just breaks down into a story to lower the barrier to
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  entry. Right?
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  It paints Jesus as a kind of pragmatist who's mostly
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  concerned with being liked and understood by the masses.
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  It almost assumes he's trying to be seeker sensitive.
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  It does, but the sources we're looking at today argue the
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  complete opposite. They make a really compelling
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  case that Jesus did not use parables to make things clear to
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  the crowds. He used them to hide the truth.
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  He used them to conceal the message from the masses while
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  revealing it only to a specific group of disciples.
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  That is a massive shift in perspective.
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  It almost sounds conspiratorial when you first hear it, but the
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  text itself just seems to support it so strongly.
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  It does. And if this is true, it means
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  parables aren't teaching aids for the slow learner.
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  Yeah, they're judicial instruments.
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  They are judgment. Yeah.
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  The sources describe them as an Iron Curtain for the rebels and
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  a window only for the elect. It's a well, it's a terrifying
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  and glorious theological reality.
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  When you really grapple with Matthew 13.3435, you realize
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  that Jesus isn't just a teacher in this moment.
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  He's a judge. So our mission for this deep
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  dive is to untack that. We need to look at why Jesus
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  stopped speaking clearly. We have to understand what
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  triggered this shift. And we need to see what this
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  tells us about the nature of the Bible itself, and maybe most of
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  all, the sovereignty of God. Because if God is actively
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  hiding truth, that changes how we have to approach Him.
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  It forces us to deal with the God who reveals and the God who
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  conceals. It is not a safe topic, but it's
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  a necessary one. OK, let's start with the text
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  itself. We're looking at Matthew 13,
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  verses 34 and 35. I just want to read it so we
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  have the evidence right in front of us.
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  Good idea. Matthew writes all these things.
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  Jesus spoke to the crowds and parables.
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  Indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable.
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  This was to fulfill what was spoken by the Prophet.
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  I will open my mouth in parables.
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  I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.
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  That phrase indeed. He said nothing to them without
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  a parable. It's incredibly strong.
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  It's an absolute statement. It implies a total blackout of
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  plain speech for a specific audience.
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  The articles we're reviewing treat this verse as a major
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  pivot point in redemptive history.
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  It's a marker that something has fundamentally changed in the
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  ministry of Jesus. So let's look at that first
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  part. All these things.
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  The sources point out that this isn't just some throwaway
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  editorial note from Matthew. Not at all.
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  It's very specific. It captures a particular cluster
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  of parables that Jesus has just delivered.
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  Right, the Kingdom parables. It refers to the Seven Kingdom
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  parables. Right there in Matthew 13.
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  You have the sower, the weeds, the mustard seed, the leaven,
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  the hidden treasure, the Pearl in the dragnet.
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  A whole series of them. Exactly.
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  Matthew groups them together to show us a unified mode of
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  proclamation, and you absolutely have to contrast this with what
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  came before. Just think about the Sermon on
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  the Mount in Matthew 5-6 and. 70 That was crystal clear teaching.
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  Blessed are the poor in spirit, you have heard it said.
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  But I say to you, I mean, those were direct ethical imperatives.
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  You do exactly what he was demanding, he.
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  Stood on a mountain and spoke plainly.
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  Now here in Matthew 13, notice the geography.
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  He's by the sea, and the source is not the symbolism there.
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  In Jewish thought, the sea often represents the boundary between
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  the earth and the abyss, or the realm of chaos and the Gentiles.
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  So he literally moves from the Mountain of Revelation to the
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  Sea of Chaos. And he switches his method.
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  He moves from clear imperatives to riddles.
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  He isn't giving direct commands anymore.
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  He is giving stories that require a key to unlock.
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  It's a deliberate shift in method which.
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  Brings up the obvious question, why?
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  I mean, why parables and why now?
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  Why not start with parables back in chapter 5?
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  And the sources are unanimous on this.
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  They point to the context immediately preceding this
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  chapter. We have to look at Matthew 12.
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  You can't understand chapter 13 without chapter 12.
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  You really can't. It's the catalyst in Matthew 12.
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  The religious leaders, the Pharisees, commit the
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  unpardonable sin. OK, let's break that down for a
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  minute. What actually happened there?
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  What did they do? They witnessed just a clear,
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  undeniable miracle. Jesus cast out a demon from a
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  man who was both blind and mute. The power of the Holy Spirit was
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  just undeniable. It was staring them in the face.
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  The evidence was irrefutable. It was, but instead of
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  submitting to the king, they attributed the work of the
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  spirit to Beelzebul, the Prince of demons.
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  They looked at pure light and called it absolute darkness.
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  They did, and that right there, that is the line in the sand.
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  The king pivots to what the sources call a judicial embargo
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  on truth. A judicial embargo?
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  I like that phrasing. He's no longer casting pearls
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  before swine. God is under no obligation to
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  continue offering clear revelation to those who've so
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  decisively rejected it. So Jesus starts speaking in a
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  way that conceals the truth from the hostile crowds while
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  preserving it for his disciples. The sources bring up the Greek
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  construction here to emphasize just how total this shift was.
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  The phrase is UDA turis. Not without.
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  It's a double negative construction in the Greek that
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  really presses the point home. It implies that for the crowds
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  this was an absolute blockade, and the imperfect tense of the
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  verb spoke implies A customary unbroken practice during the
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  specific period of his ministry. Whenever he addressed the crowds
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  from this point on, the plain speech of the Kingdom was
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  entirely suspended. So if I'm in that crowd and I'm
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  not a disciple, I'm hearing words, I'm hearing sentences, I
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  can follow the story. You're hearing acoustic waves.
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  You're hearing a story about a farmer sowing seeds or a woman
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  putting leaven in dough. You understand the agriculture.
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  You understand the domestic life.
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  But I'm not hearing the gospel. You miss the spiritual reality
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  entirely. The meaning is veiled from you.
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  That is just heavy. It completely destroys that
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  modern democratic assumption that Jesus is just trying to
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  reach the lowest common denominator, making things easy
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  for everybody. It does destroy it, and that
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  means we have to define what a parable actually is.
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  In this biblical context, the Greek word paraboli corresponds
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  to the Hebrew mashal mashal, and these aren't helpful
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  illustrations. A mashal is a dark saying.
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  It's a Riddle. It's a cipher.
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  A cipher that implies it needs to be decoded.
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  Precisely. Think of it like a military
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  transmission that's encrypted. Anyone with a radio can hear the
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  static or the noise, but only the person with the decryption
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  key can actually understand the message.
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  And that decryption key is Christ himself.
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  Yes, and access to him. Which brings us to the key
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  analogy, the sources use of the window versus the curtain.
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  This is a great way to picture it for the for the disciples.
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  The parable eventually becomes a window light comes in.
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  But notice even for them it's not automatic.
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  They have to come to Jesus privately and ask explain this
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  to us so. They have the key, which is that
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  access to Christ. Yes, and the humility to ask.
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  But for the crowds, the curtain. For the crowds who are
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  identified here as rebels against the king, the parable is
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  an Iron Curtain. They give the shell, but not the
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  kernel. They are entertained by the
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  story, but they're not saved by the truth.
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  The sources connect this directly back to Isaiah chapter
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  6, and that is a frightening passage of scripture.
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  It is the classic text on judicial hardening.
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  It's where God commissions Isaiah and he tells him, go to
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  this people and say keep on hearing but do not understand,
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  keep on seeing but do not perceive.
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  So God is the one telling him to preach in a way they won't get.
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  Yes, and he says the word of God itself will serve to make the
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  heart of this people fat. Make the heart fat.
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  That just sounds grotesque. It means calloused, unfeeling,
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  insensitive to spiritual truth. The preaching itself is what
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  hardens them by giving them truth in a form they can easily
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  reject or dismiss as just God is confirming them in their
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  judgement. So the parable isn't neutral
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  ground. It's not a take it or leave it
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  proposition. It's doing something to you, one
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  way or the other. Absolutely.
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  It's either softening your heart or hardening it.
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  This leads us right into what the source is called, the dual
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  function of the parables. Revelation on one hand and
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  judgement on the other. And this is grounded right in
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  the text Matthew 13 verse 11. To you it has been given, to
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  them it has not been given. That's the theology of divine
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  giving. It's so clear.
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  It's the bedrock of reformed soteriology.
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  To you it has been given. To know the mysteries of the
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  Kingdom of Heaven. Notice it's a gift it has been
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  given. It's not about natural
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  intelligence. It's not about education.
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  It's not that the disciples were just smarter than the Pharisees.
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  Not at all. The Pharisees were the scholars.
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  They knew the text inside and out better than anyone, right?
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  But they didn't have the gift of understanding.
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  It's about sovereign mercy. God grants the ability to see.
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  There's a key analogy the sources used that I found really
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  helpful. The same sun that melts the wax
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  hardens the clay. It's a perfect illustration of
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  how the Word of God functions. The content of the message is
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  the same, That's the sun, but the condition of the heart
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  determines the outcome. So for the soft heart, the wax,
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  the sun melts it and makes it pliable.
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  But for the clay, the hard heart, that very same sun bakes
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  it into a brick, more resistant than it was before.
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  But this is where people get stuck.
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  They ask, is that fair? Is God just arbitrarily
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  hardening people? And that's a fair question to
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  ask, but it's not arbitrary. It's a righteous judgement.
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  The sources argue this very strongly.
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  The parables don't create hardness out of thin air.
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  They unmask the hardness that's already there.
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  The crowd can enjoy the story. They can say, oh what a lovely
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  story about a mustard seed and then go home completely
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  unchanged. Whereas if Jesus spoke plainly,
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  they would have to react differently.
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  If he stood up and said, I'm Yahweh in the flesh, bow down or
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  perish, they would have to either submit or kill him right
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  then and there, and his time had not yet come.
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  So the obscurity of the parables actually judges their dull
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  hearts. They reject the truth standing
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  right in front of them because, frankly, they prefer the Riddle
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  to the reality. This connects directly to the
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  Reformed doctrine of the call. The Westminster Confession deals
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  with this in detail. It does.
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  Westminster Confession. Chapter 10 speaks of the
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  effectual call and to understand that we have to distinguish
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  between the external call and the internal or effectual call.
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  OK. Can you break that down for us?
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  The external call is the audible sound of the gospel.
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  The crowds hear the parable of the sower.
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  They hear the words. That's the external summons.
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  It goes out to everyone indiscriminately.
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  But without the work of the Holy Spirit, that call just falls on
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  deaf ears. Spiritually speaking, it doesn't
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  penetrate the heart. And the effectual call.
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  That's what the disciples receive.
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  It's the internal illumination of the Spirit to perceive the
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  reality behind the words. It's when God sovereignly takes
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  out the heart of stone and gives a heart of flesh.
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  It's a divine work. The sources use that image of
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  the husk in the kernel. Which is another great picture.
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  The crowds get the husk, the agricultural shell of the story.
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  It looks interesting, but it has no nutritional value for the
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  soul. The disciples get the kernel,
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  the spiritual life inside, but you can't get to the kernel
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  unless God opens the husk for you.
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  It really just drives home the point that understanding
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  spiritual truth is a gift, not an achievement.
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  You can't just study your way into the Kingdom.
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  That's right. The natural man does not accept
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  the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him.
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  He's not able to understand them because they are spiritually
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  discerned. That's Paul in First
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  Corinthians, and it's exactly what is happening on the shores
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  of Galilee in Matthew 13. OK, let's move to the
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  second-half of our key text, verse 35.
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  This is where the history gets really dense and fascinating.
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  Matthew says this was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet,
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  and then he quotes Psalm 78 verse 2.
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  This is a fascinating citation. Matthew attributes the quote to
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  the prophet, but if you go look up Psalm 78, it's written by a
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  man named Asaph. Asaph, he was a worship leader
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  in David's time, wasn't. He he was a Levite, a seer and a
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  songwriter. And Matthew calling him a
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  prophet here is significant. It validates the writings the
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  Psalms as prophetic scripture. It shows the prophecy isn't just
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  predicting the future. Exactly.
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  It's also about interpreting history from God's perspective,
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  and the context of Psalm 78 is absolutely vital here.
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  The sources point out that Psalm 78 isn't exactly a happy, clappy
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  praise song. Not at all.
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  It's a Masco, which means it's a didactic teaching poem, and the
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  subject matter is Israel's long, stubborn history of rebellion.
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  Right, it goes through the whole story.
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  It recounts God's wonders, the Red Sea parting the manna from
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  heaven, the water from the rock, and it explicitly pairs every
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  miracle with Israel's immediate unbelief.
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  They grumbled. They tested God.
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  They limited the Holy One of Israel.
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  So why does Jesus, or Matthew by the Spirit's inspiration quote
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  this specific Psalm right here? Because Jesus is the Greater
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  Asaph. Just as Asaph stood up and
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  indicted the stubborn and rebellious generation of his
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  ancestors, Jesus is standing up and indicting the current
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  generation. He is interpreting the history
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  of God's people right in front of them.
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  So it's a direct parallel. Azaph recalled that their father
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  saw incredible miracles and still rebelled in the desert.
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  And Jesus is looking at the Pharisees who saw him perform
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  incredible miracles, and they're still rebelling right there in
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  Galilee. It's history repeating itself,
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  but with greater light comes greater judgement.
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  The dark sayings of Asaph showed that human hearts are so
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  deceitful they can witness the Red Sea parting and still wish
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  they were back in Egypt making bricks.
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  And Jesus's parables expose that same hard soil.
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  In the hearts of the Pharisees and the crowds, they see demons
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  cast out, and their response is to say Beelzebel.
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  The sources refer to this as covenantal logic.
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  Yes, the parables are covenant instruments.
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  They function like a mirror. They reveal if the listener
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  remembers God's mighty works and submits to his King, or if
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  they're content with just religious proximity while
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  remaining resistant in their hearts.
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  You can be close to the covenant, you can be an
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  Israelite or modern church member and still be hostile to
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  the God of the covenant. And the parable sift those two
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  groups. They determine who is the true
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  remnant and who is the rebel. That's the prophetic
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  fulfillment. Jesus is doing exactly what the
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  Spirit it spoke through Asaph, but on a much grander messianic
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  scale. OK, let's get into the actual
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  content of what Jesus is saying. The verse says I will utter
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  things hidden from the foundation of the world.
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  The source has spent some time on that Greek verb for utter.
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  This is one of the most vivid details in the study.
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  The Greek word is. Erugumai, Erugumai.
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  It sounds, I don't know, guttural.
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  It is. It literally translates to belch
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  forth, vomit or roar. In the Septuagint, the Greek Old
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  Testament, it's used of a lion roaring.
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  So I will roar things hidden. That changes the tone
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  completely. It really does.
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  It's not a gentle whisper. It implies that this isn't some
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  tentative suggestion. This is the infinite pressure of
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  the divine mind being released. Like a dam breaking.
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  Exactly. It's a gushing forth of wisdom
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  that has been held back for ages.
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  That's the force behind Jesus's revelation here.
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  And what are these hidden things?
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  The word is Kikrimina. The sources are very specific.
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  This isn't just general Bible knowledge.
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  Right. These are not the moral laws.
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  Those were known in the Old Testament.
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  Do not. Murder was not hidden.
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  No, it's not even the general promise of a Messiah.
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  The Prophet spoke of that all the time.
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  So what is it that was hidden? The sources explain this from a
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  redemptive, historical, and you could even say a dispensational
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  perspective. The hidden things refer to the
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  Mystery Kingdom, or what we might call the Church Age.
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  The Church age explain the valley concept, the sources
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  mentioned. That was a helpful picture.
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  It's a great visual. Imagine the Old Testament
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  prophets standing on a hill, looking at a mountain range in
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  the distance. From their vantage point, they
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  see two distinct peaks. One peak is the first coming of
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  Christ, the suffering Servant of Isaiah 53.
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  The other peak appearing to be right behind it is the Second
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  Coming, the conquering king of Zechariah 14.
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  So they see the tops of the mountains and they look like
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  they're right next to each other.
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  Yes, but what they miss because of their angle of vision is the
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  massive sprawling valley in between those two peaks.
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  And that valley is us. That valley is the interim
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  period where we live now. It's the age where the Kingdom
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  grows silently, invisibly, like Levin and Doe amidst A hostile
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  world. It's this long period between
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  the already and the not yet. So the prophets didn't see the
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  church as it exists today. Not in its distinct form as a
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  mixed body of Jew and Gentile, growing slowly over for
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  thousands of years before the final consummation.
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  That was the mystery that was hidden from the foundation of
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  the world, right? It's the constitution of the new
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  dispensation. And Jesus, the King Himself is
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  now roaring or unveiling the secret for the very first time.
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  That helps explain why the parables are all about growth.
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  Mustard Seeds 11 It's a long process, not an instant event.
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  Precisely. The Jews of his day expected the
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  Messiah to show up and boom, Rome is gone, Israel reigns.
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  End of story. They expected the second peak
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  immediately after the first. Yeah, Jesus is using these
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  parables to explain. No, there's going to be a long
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  growing season. First, there will be wheat and
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  tares growing together in the field.
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  It's going to look small and insignificant, like a mustard
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  seed before it becomes a great tree.
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  That was the mystery. And this brings us right to the
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  Christological center of the text.
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  Jesus isn't just a teacher commenting on the Word.
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  No, he is the word. He's the authoritative revealer.
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  Notice the authority in the phrase I will open my mouth.
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  He's doing what only God can do, dividing humanity by his speech.
• 19:06
  He's the mediator of this disclosure.
• 19:09
  That's a great way to put it. God decreed these things in
• 19:11
  eternity from the foundation of the world, and now Jesus the Son
• 19:16
  discloses them in history. It's just a stunningly high view
• 19:20
  of sovereignty and revelation. Jesus controls the flow of
• 19:24
  information. He's the gatekeeper.
• 19:25
  He holds the keys. He opens and no one can shut.
• 19:28
  He shuts and no one can open. OK, so let's take all of this
• 19:30
  and discuss the theological implications, especially looking
• 19:33
  through the lens of the Reformed and Westminster Standards.
• 19:37
  First, the doctrine of Scripture.
• 19:39
  Well, Matthew 13 teaches a very high view of inspiration.
• 19:43
  It shows us that the Old Testament, even a historical
• 19:45
  Psalm like Psalm 78, finds its ultimate goal in Christ.
• 19:49
  We often call this pattern fulfillment.
• 19:51
  Pattern fulfillment, meaning it's not just a simple case of
• 19:54
  prediction A happened in event B.
• 19:56
  It's more than just checking a box on a prophecy checklist.
• 19:59
  It means that the patterns got established in Israel's history.
• 20:03
  Revelation. Rebellion.
• 20:04
  Judgment. Remnant.
• 20:06
  Are types and shadows that find their final substance and
• 20:09
  meaning in Jesus. So Jesus completes the story
• 20:13
  that Asaph started. He is the culmination of it.
• 20:16
  And the sources also mention how this high view of scripture
• 20:19
  stands against both liberalism and mysticism.
• 20:22
  Well, against liberalism, which often treats the Bible as a
• 20:25
  collection of nice moral fables or curely human wisdom.
• 20:29
  This text says no. These are things hidden in the
• 20:32
  very mind of God. You can't just reduce them to be
• 20:34
  nice to your neighbor. Against mysticism.
• 20:37
  Mysticism always wants new revelation, some secret
• 20:40
  knowledge. People are always looking for
• 20:41
  the secret code. But the hidden things that Jesus
• 20:44
  reveals aren't secret codes for some elite Gnostic groups.
• 20:46
  They are public truths now recorded in the Word, but they
• 20:50
  require spiritual eyes to see. The mystery is now an open
• 20:54
  secret to the Church, not a hidden knowledge for a special
• 20:57
  cult. OK, then there's the doctrine of
• 20:59
  sin and total depravity. We've touched on this, but let's
• 21:02
  really drive it home. Why do people not understand?
• 21:05
  Because they are dead in trespasses and sins.
• 21:08
  It's that simple and that stark. The sources reference teachers
• 21:12
  like RC Sprole and John MacArthur on this point.
• 21:15
  The moral inability of the Sinner is total.
• 21:17
  The. Heart is dull, the eyes are
• 21:19
  closed. And man naturally suppresses the
• 21:21
  truth and unrighteousness. We don't want to see it.
• 21:24
  So if you the listener understand the parables, if you
• 21:28
  see Christ as King, it's not because you're clever, it's
• 21:33
  because you were spiritually resurrected.
• 21:35
  It's a monarchistic work of God. He turns on the light.
• 21:38
  If he doesn't, you can stare at the sun and see only darkness.
• 21:41
  And finally, the implication for the Church in the world.
• 21:44
  Well, it tells us that we live in the mystery Kingdom, and that
• 21:47
  means the Kingdom right now is a mixed bag.
• 21:49
  We have wheat and tares growing side by side.
• 21:51
  That's the reality of the visible church.
• 21:53
  And it's actually very comforting in a strange way.
• 21:56
  I mean, if we see hypocrites in the church or if things look
• 21:59
  messy, the plan hasn't failed. Not at all.
• 22:02
  Jesus predicted it, He said. The enemy will sow weeds among
• 22:06
  the wheat. But the hope is that the Kingdom
• 22:09
  grows. The tiny mustard seed becomes a
• 22:11
  great tree. The loving works its way through
• 22:14
  the whole lump of dough. We're living in a unique period
• 22:17
  of redemptive history that the prophets long to see.
• 22:20
  OK, let's pivot to pastoral application.
• 22:22
  What does all of this mean for the listener?
• 22:25
  For you? The first point the sources make
• 22:28
  is the real danger of familiarity.
• 22:31
  This is a warning that I think we all need to hear over and
• 22:35
  over again. You can know the parables
• 22:36
  intellectually. You can recite the story of the
• 22:38
  Prodigal Son or the Good Samaritan.
• 22:40
  You can have all the right answers on the Sunday School
• 22:42
  test. And you can still be the hard
• 22:44
  path, where the seed of the word never penetrates the soil of
• 22:47
  your heart. That is a scary thought.
• 22:49
  Yeah, He Who has ears to hear, Let Him Hear isn't just a catchy
• 22:54
  slogan. It's a summons.
• 22:56
  It's a command and to check your own heart.
• 22:58
  Are you content with just the story?
• 23:00
  Do you just like the aesthetic of Christianity or do you
• 23:03
  actually seek the king? The crowds were content with the
• 23:05
  story. They went home saying cool story
• 23:08
  about a farmer. They didn't fall at Jesus feet
• 23:11
  and say Lord I am that hard soil, plow me up.
• 23:15
  So the question for you to ask is, has the word broken you?
• 23:20
  Has it actually taken root? Repentance is the mark of
• 23:23
  genuine hearing. Now, on the flip side of that
• 23:26
  warning, there is immense comfort for the believer.
• 23:29
  This is the sweet side of the doctrine of election.
• 23:32
  If you understand who Jesus is, if you love him, if you trust
• 23:35
  Him, it's because it has been given to you.
• 23:38
  That just kills all spiritual pride.
• 23:40
  It destroys it. You can't look down on the
• 23:42
  unbeliever who doesn't get it. You can only look at them and
• 23:44
  say, but for the grace of God, there go I.
• 23:46
  It produces humility and overwhelming gratitude.
• 23:49
  Why me, Lord? Why did you choose to open my
• 23:51
  eyes? And the sources connect this to
• 23:54
  the third use of the law. Right.
• 23:57
  The parables also guide our obedience as believers.
• 24:00
  We labor in the field, evangelism, discipleship,
• 24:03
  knowing the harvest is absolutely sure because the King
• 24:06
  decreed it. We don't have to panic that the
• 24:07
  mustard seed looks so small right now.
• 24:09
  We know the end of the story. The tree will be huge.
• 24:13
  And finally, there's a really strong critique of pragmatism in
• 24:16
  this. We touched on it at the
• 24:17
  beginning, this whole seeker sensitive movement.
• 24:20
  The sources are quite critical here.
• 24:22
  The modern impulse in so much of the church is to tailor the
• 24:26
  message to be less offensive, to remove the riddles, to make
• 24:30
  everything instantly accessible and affirming.
• 24:33
  But Jesus did the exact opposite.
• 24:35
  He spoke truth that sifted the crowd.
• 24:38
  He wasn't afraid of people leaving confused.
• 24:40
  In fact, in John chapter 6, when he speaks some very hard truths
• 24:44
  about eating his flesh and drinking his blood, thousands
• 24:47
  leave and he turns to the 12 disciples and asks, do you want
• 24:51
  to go away as well? So faithful ministry isn't about
• 24:54
  numbers then? It's not about popularity.
• 24:56
  It's not about engineering outcomes or manufacturing
• 24:58
  excitement. It isn't about the light show or
• 25:00
  the coffee bar. It's about the faithful
• 25:03
  stewardship of the mysteries of God.
• 25:05
  And if we water down the message to the point where it no longer
• 25:08
  sifts the heart, we aren't preaching the Kingdom of Christ.
• 25:12
  We're preaching a comfortable moralism that saves no one.
• 25:15
  That is a challenging word for pastors and lay people alike.
• 25:19
  We all want to be liked, we want our church to be popular and
• 25:22
  growing. But Jesus was willing to be
• 25:24
  misunderstood by the masses to secure the hearts of the elect.
• 25:28
  So as we wrap up here, let's just summarize what we've
• 25:30
  uncovered in this deep dive. We've seen that Jesus is the
• 25:34
  great divider. His word is a sword that cuts
• 25:37
  both ways. The parables are windows for the
• 25:40
  elect, allowing them to see the Kingdom.
• 25:42
  But they are walls. But there are walls, iron
• 25:44
  curtains for the rebellious, confirming them in their
• 25:47
  judgement. And we've seen that Jesus is the
• 25:49
  greater Asaph. He is the prophet King who roars
• 25:53
  forth the hitting plans of God, the plans for this church age,
• 25:57
  fulfilling the patterns of old and calling a new people to
• 26:00
  himself from every nation. I want to leave our listeners
• 26:03
  with the final provocative thought that came to mind while
• 26:05
  reading these sources. It's a bit unsettling.
• 26:07
  OK? Suggests that if Jesus were
• 26:09
  preaching today in many of our modern evangelical churches, he
• 26:13
  might actually get fired. I think that's highly likely.
• 26:16
  Can you imagine the comment cards many modern churchgoers
• 26:20
  might leave confused or offended?
• 26:22
  They'd claim he wasn't clear enough or that he wasn't
• 26:24
  practical enough, right? He didn't give me 5 steps to a
• 26:27
  better marriage, he gave me a confusing Riddle about weeds and
• 26:31
  wheat. Exactly.
• 26:32
  People would say he's a poor communicator.
• 26:34
  And it forces the question back on us and on you listening.
• 26:38
  The question Matthew forces on us isn't.
• 26:40
  Did you like the story? The question is, has the King
• 26:44
  giving you eyes to see the reality behind it?
• 26:47
  Are you an insider who's been given the mystery, or an
• 26:49
  outsider who only hears a story? And that's a question only you
• 26:53
  and God can answer. Well, that's all the time we
• 26:56
  have for this deep dive. We really hope this has
• 26:58
  challenged you to read Matthew 13 with fresh eyes.
• 27:02
  Thanks for listening to Reformed Thinking.
• 27:04
  It's been a pleasure. Keep digging into the word.
• 27:06
  Until next time.