Exposition of Matthew (Matthew 13:1-23 KJV)

April 27

 Jesus last days of ministry on earth

Questions to be answered in this study

1. What was the primary duty that Jesus began teaching His disciples in Matthew chapter 13?
2. What were the top two priorities Jesus gave to the church? (Matthew 28:19)
3. When was the church first established?
4. When was the church consummated, completed, or made perfect?
5. How many of the books of the New Testament canon did the Apostle Paul write?
6. Why was it typical for Jesus to get into a boat to teach the multitude?
7. What is a parable?
8. How many parables are in Matthew?
9. Why did Jesus conceal the truth from some?
10. What was the purpose of parables?
11. What is the only way we will ever understand the Bible?
12. What is the secret to gaining an abundance of knowledge of the Word of God?
13. What is the key to understanding the parables of Jesus?
14. What are the four conditions on how people respond to the gospel of Christ in the parable of the Sower?
15. Of the four conditions mentioned in the parable of the Sower, on which did Jesus place the most significant emphasis?

Introduction

In chapter 13, Jesus begins teaching His disciples to be leaders in the foundation and continuity of His Church, which also includes the written canon of Scripture. Jesus gave the top two priorities of the church in the great commission in Matthew 28:19, which are Evangelism and teaching the Word of God. I’m afraid that the church today is more concerned with various programs than prioritizing those two commands of our Lord.

Establishing and caring on the New Testament church, which is responsible for sharing the good news of salvation to the world, was the emphasis of Jesus’ teaching going forth in the gospel of Matthew. Jesus and His disciples became the church’s foundation, and we are to build on that and nothing else. On the day of Pentecost, the church was completed with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The disciples, along with others, and later the Apostle Paul, would write the New Testament canon. Paul, himself, wrote nearly half of the New Testament books, 14 in all 29.

We don’t grow the church through our own means; God grows His church. God does use people to reach others with the gospel, but it is the Holy Spirit who gives the invitation to the kingdom. When people oppose you when you witness, don’t feel rejected. The enemies of God will always oppose God’s work, and some of those enemies are within the church. They don’t care for sharing the faith and don’t like Bible teaching. Your witness is words of life to them that believe and a pronouncement of death on those who reject it: “To the one we are the savior of death unto death; and to the other the savior of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?” (2 Corinthians 2:16)

The parables that we are entering into, in chapter 13, teach some aspect of God’s kingdom program. So, first, notice the setting in which Jesus begins to teach His parables:

Matthew 13:1 – “That day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea. 2And large crowds gathered to Him, so He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach.”

It was typical of Jesus to get into a boat, separating Himself from the multitude; this provided Jesus with a barrier between Himself and the people. Those people wanted something from Jesus other than to be taught; they were seeking healing, but Jesus had His priority, which was spiritual, even though He did heal many.

Healing of the body is essential, but our spiritual needs are of far greater importance. Today we need Spiritual healing that only the Word of God can bring. Teaching the Bible should be a top priority in any church, and if it isn’t, the church is missing the mark. Ironically, the Bible is revered by the majority of Americans but only read by a few.

Now in verses 3-9, Jesus begins to teach His first parable:

Matthew 13:3-9 – “And he spoke many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; 4And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside, and the fowls came and devoured them up: 5Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: 6And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. 7And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: 8But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. 9Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.”

Verse 3 says. “And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, “Behold, the Sower went out to sow.” After His rejection by Israel, the shift in Jesus’ methodology is evident as we enter Chapter 13. In verse 34, Matthew says that Jesus only used parables from this time forth to teach the crowds instead of teaching openly; there are 15 parables all together in the Gospel of Matthew. We first need to understand how parables relate to the teaching of the kingdom. In definition, a parable uses ordinary circumstances from everyday life to represent more complex spiritual truths. By using a familiar story, Jesus was able to express more profound meanings.

Parables also had a paradoxical purpose. They obscured the truth while also simplifying complicated ideas to those who had ears to hear spiritual matters. Why did Jesus conceal the truth from some? Perhaps the reason was, Jesus knew that some had hardened their hearts to the gospel; so, He refused even to let them hear and understand it any further.

These verses highlight the divine purpose of God to reveal the truth to some and conceal it from others for whatever His reason was. Part of Jesus’ purpose for hiding the truth resulted from Israel’s rejection of Him as their Messiah.

The disciples ask Jesus why He spoke in terms of a parable, and Jesus answers in Mark 4:12: “That seeing they may see, and not perceive, and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them; this is difficult to understand, but the explanation for this approach is, it may have been temporary. Many of these same Jews could have been saved after the resurrection of Jesus.

We don’t fully understand this; it could have to do with election, but election, though taught in Scripture, is not necessary for us to understand; what we should do is rejoice that we are chosen by His grace to be part of His kingdom; this is what Jesus encourages us to do, verses 16-17. The doctrine of election is something to be accepted in amazement and not argued over. When we genuinely understand the sinfulness and rebellion of human nature, our question will not be, “Why does God not reveal himself to some?” but “Why, oh why, has God revealed himself to me?” So, the answer to the question did Jesus teach in parables to reveal the truth to some and conceal the truth from others is, yes, He did.

Jesus’ purpose in teaching parables was to clarify abstract spiritual truths with physical illustrations to help some identity with fact. The farmer who sows the seed does it in a haphazard way. He seems to have no concern as to where the seeds land. He only plants the seed and does not prepare the ground, watering the seed or pruning the weeds. Therefore, it is not the Sower who is the parable’s objective but the ground that receives the seed. The seed is the same in every instance, but the soil which receives the seed is different.

Even Jesus’ disciples did not fully understand the parables, and it became necessary for them to ask Jesus for further explanation. Jesus responds to His disciple by saying, they were granted to know the mysteries of the Kingdom Program but not the crowd that was following Him as we see in the following verses as Jesus give further explanation of parables:

Matthew 13:10-17 – “And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? 11He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. 12For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. 13Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. 14And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: 15For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. 16But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. 17For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.”

Jesus gives the secret to gaining more knowledge of the Word of God in verse 12: When we are willing to receive more understanding of the Word of God, He will give us an abundance of knowledge. The crowd lacked spiritual insight because they had refused to accept Jesus as their Messiah, which would have devastating results in the future of Israel. Not only would they lose access to Jesus’ miracles and teaching after He ascended into heaven, but in the future, they would also lose the autonomy of their nation for 25 hundred years, and the temple would be destroyed.

Isaiah chapter 6 was a prewarning that Messiah would teach in parables to cloud some of the people’s understanding because Israel’s hearts were dull. They only were after what they could get from Jesus, His feeding them, and His healing. Had Israel received Jesus, according to Isaiah, they would have understood and accepted His teaching.

God knew in advance this would happen, and because of it, you and I and millions of other Gentile believers have come to Jesus over the past 2,000 years. God’s more extensive program included sharing the gospel to the entire world, but that does not mean that God has given up on Israel, for in the future, God will have mercy on Israel, and they shall be saved. In fact, according to Revelation, 144 thousand in one day.

Now Jesus further explains the parable to His disciples:

Matthew 13:18-23 – “Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. 19When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side. 20But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; 21Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. 22He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. 23But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”

Jesus gives us the key to understanding the parable in v.19. The soil and the word of the Kingdom picture the heart. Luke’s version of this parable is clear: “Now the parable is this: the seed is the word of God, Luke 8:11. Sowing seed is the evangelism of the gospel, which is planted in the heart of a man or the human Spirit. It is the tasting of the Holy Spirit mentioned in Hebrews chapter 6. You can taste the Holy Spirit when He reveals the truth of the gospel and decides if you want to receive His invitation to eternal life or reject it and at the same time reject the inviter, the Holy Spirit. To continue your rejection results in the unforgivable sin and dooms a person to everlasting torment.

The four conditions are how people respond to the gospel of Christ. The first condition, in v.19, shows how someone who has heard the word but does not have spiritual ears to understand, and so Satan removes it. The first condition of the soil is hard-packed as if it were a road driven over constantly.This condition forbids the seed from being embedded, and therefore it cannot germinate and grow and have life. It becomes easy prey for birds. The gospel of Luke puts it like this: “Those beside the road are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, so that they will not believe and be saved,” Luke 8:12. 

In last week’s review, I showed you a pie-shaped illustration that indicates at which age people are saved, and only 4% are saved after 30 years of age. That is the result of the heart growing harder in time. That is the problem here; the heart becomes hard like hardened soil, and a person’s attention to spiritual matters is dulled. And the enemy comes along afterward to remove it from the person’s attention to ensure that it doesn’t change. So, the result is, that person goes through the rest of their entire life unconcerned about their eternal destiny and eventually dies without hope.

The second condition, the second condition, the seeds are planted in rocky ground, and there is no substance for the roots to produce life, so it withers away. There are no roots; so, only death remains, and as the first trial, the seed dies. It is relative to only a mental assent to the gospel. It receives the truth of the gospel but not from the heart.

In the third condition, the word is planted, takes root in the heart, and grows. The seed falls on fertile soil capable of sustaining life and growth; however, the weeds and thorns choke the seed out; It does not die but does not bear fruit. That describes a lot of present-day Christians who are so involved with the world that they bear no fruit. Then the world’s distraction grows as riches drain away from the person’s faith, and they spend their time with the concerns of life rather than increasing spiritually.

Finally, in the fourth condition, the person hears the word, understands it, and begins to bear spiritual fruit, as is the everyday Christian life. In the Final condition, there is the ideal soil, which Jesus describes as the good soil, and as a result, the seed takes root and grows to produce a crop of fruit. Jesus says in verse 9, “He who has ears, let him hear.” Those who can hear will respond to the truth, while others who Satan has blinded will hear but not understand and respond.

So, the good soil is like those mentioned in 1 Corinthians 2:13 “which speak not in words taught in words, taught by human wisdom, but by the Spirit of God, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.” We read in 1Cor. 2:14, “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”

It is only by the indwelling Holy Spirit that we are to understand the things of God. We need to rely on the Holy Spirit to teach us the truth of God. Unbelievers cannot understand the things of God. According to 1 Corinthians, the natural man sees the things of God as foolishness. The unbelievers in the crowd Jesus addressed on that day could not understand the teachings of Jesus and weren’t interested but only sought physical healing.

A fourth condition is a person who is walking in the power of the Spirit and bearing Spiritual fruit, which includes sowing more seed as they go through life. In two examples, the seed winds up dead, and in two examples, the seed germinates and takes energy, and in the fourth example, it bears fruit and reproduces more disciples. Bearing fruit includes sharing the gospel; for a believer, not to share the gospel’s good news is abnormal, placing them in the category of the third condition.

You are a well of life to the unbeliever. Solomon puts it this way: “The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life: Proverb 10:11. Isn’t it strange that someone will share the good news of almost anything and ignore the most important news of all, the good news of salvation and eternal life?

Jesus completes the parable of the four conditions and then emphasizes condition #3. He says no one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket but lets it shine out to others. The third condition is an example of a nominal Christian who is part of the 20 percenters when it comes to their involvement, who let others do 80% of the kingdom work and give 80% of the financial support while contributing 20% or less. The church is low on its list of priorities. They are willing to let anything take precedence over their church involvement. Jesus says in Matthew 5:16, Let your light so shine before men, that they see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

What is your #1 priority in life? It is easy to become distracted with life’s events and lose your main focus of serving the Lord. Many are in danger of becoming Condition #3 Christian by letting other matters take precedence in their lives and ignoring church attendance, Bible study, and prayer. If that describes you, can this parable be a turning place in your life? You can find purpose, which is a crucial element for contentment, peace, and joy.