Parables Pt 3

bibles to the book of matthew chapter 13 matthew chapter 13 this morning as we return to our study in matthew we look at parables part three matthew 13 has been full of the parables of the kingdom and we've seen that those parables are earthly stories with heavenly meanings and so as we come to this uh this last section of this matthew chapter 13 there's really three last parables that jesus is going to give and then after he gives those parables we'll kind of do a little catching up on where he's going and so we pick up in verse 44 of chapter 13 and this is what it says the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field which a man found and hit again and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field

again the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls and upon finding one pearl of great value he went and sold all that he had and bought it again the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea and gathering fish of every kind and when it was filled they drew it up on the beach and they sat down and they gathered the good fish into containers but the bad they threw away so it will be at the end of the age of the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of heaven angels will come forth and will take out the wicked from among the righteous and will throw them into the furnace of fire in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth

so we come now to this last section there's three parables the first two are very similar in nature but the first two are very different than some of the other parables that jesus has told and even the last parable that he tells seemingly the other parables that jesus has told have had to do with the kingdom but have had to do with the fact that within the kingdom of heaven there is a kingdom of god as it exists here on this earth right now there is corruption that will take place we saw that with the parables of the wheat and the tares we saw that with the parable of the mustard seed and we saw that with the parable of the leaven but as we come to these next two

parables they kind of go together and they really have to do with how much the king values the members of the kingdom and so this first parable is this parable of the hidden treasure and this parable of the hidden treasure goes like this it says a man who is a man of the hidden treasure and the kingdom of heaven is like this it's like a treasure that's hidden in a field now if you are a worker in a field at that point in time and the field didn't belong to you there was one rule that applied if something valuable was found in the field and you removed that from the field then that treasure belonged to the land owner because that possession was a part of the law and so this

is kind of an interesting parable that jesus tells you might ask yourself why on earth would they have had treasures hidden in a field well to understand this we remember that in the history of the nation of israel they had been ravaged by wars as a matter of fact in what we would call the intertestamental period that 400 years between the book of malachi and the book of matthew there was a great deal of wars that took place between the ptolemies and the seleucids and during those wars when the people of israel had something valuable they would hide it so that it would not be taken by these two warring factions and so to find a treasure in a field of war is a very important part of the

history of the nation of israel and it's a very important part of the history of the nation of israel because as jay vernon mcgee says i don't think there's any parable that jesus told that wasn't actually a true story that didn't actually take place in real life and so probably in real life people did go and find treasures in fields and so this man that jesus tells the story about finds a treasure in a field but as he finds the treasure in a field he just leaves it alone and covers it back up but then did you notice the next thing that the man does the next thing that the man does is he finds the treasure in a field and he just leaves it alone and covers it back up

man does is he sees this treasure and as he does so he goes and sells all that he has so that he can go and buy the field now if he found a treasure and he buys the field why does he buy the field not because he needs another field but because he wants the treasure now there's one word in this verse 44 that i think is really important perhaps a phrase and it's at the end of verse 44 and it means the treasure he goes and sells all that he has and buys the field now i was never aware of the fact that there was more than one interpretation of this parable because i'd always heard the second interpretation but apparently there's a another interpretation besides the one i'm

going to give you about this parable and it goes kind of like this the treasure is the gospel of jesus christ and the man is you and i and we realize how valuable the gospel is to us and we and so we go and sell everything that we we have in order to pursue or attain the kingdom the problem with that is the kingdom of god isn't for sale the problem is you and i can never have enough money or enough anything to go and purchase the kingdom of god which is why i've always heard the second interpretation of this the second interpretation of this which i feel like is the correct interpretation goes like this the man is christ and the field is the world and christ because of his great love for the field or the the great love for the

treasure which by the way is you and me because of his great love for the treasure purchased the field in order to have the treasure now this gets into a little bit of a theological thought because we think wait a second i remember that old hymn this is my father's world so why did jesus have to go and buy the world well we need to have a little bit of an understanding of what took place in the very beginning of time you see when god put adam and eve in the garden you ever noticed how many things go back to the beginning when god put adam and eve in the garden and gave them that one rule and they broke that one rule not only did sin enter the world but they sold the world into

slavery to sin and they sold the world into slavery to the enemy you may remember when we went through that chapter on the temptation and more in matthew chapter four that satan had taken jesus up to a pinnacle and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and said i will give you all of these if you will simply bow down and worship me did you notice that jesus never said you can't give me those they're already mine instead what did he say you shall worship the lord your god and serve him only why because right now the world sits under the sway of the evil one he is called the god of this age or the god of this world and he is called the god of this age and he is called the god of this

world and so when satan said that he meant it and he was correct because the world was sold into slavery to sin it was sold into slavery to the enemy to satan when adam and eve sinned that's why all of the things that we see happen in the world are happening that's why so much of the evil that we see in the world is happening people say how can a good god allow evil in the world well because a good god is good enough that he gives us our own free will and when he gave us our own free will, we chose not God. And in order for us to truly have free will, then God has to give us our complete free will, which means we can take sin as far as we want it to until we decide to

start following Jesus. And so as we look at this, we have the distinct understanding that you and I are the treasure. We are this treasure that Christ found in the world. And so what did Christ do? He sold everything that he had so that he could buy the world. He laid aside all of his glory. He laid aside all of the things that he had in heaven so that he could come down and live on

the earth and purchase the earth back to himself. And how did he do so? He did so with his own precious blood. You see, this tells us of what great value you and I are. Matter of fact, there's a couple of verses that I would like for you to go to, if you would, please, first of all, turn over to Hebrews chapter 12, verse 2. Hebrews chapter 12, verse 2.

And I think you already know what I'm going to say. Let's start in verse 1 for context. Hebrews chapter 12, verses 1 and 2 says this, Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and sin which so easily entangles us, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus. And this is the part where I want us to pay attention, the author and the finisher of our faith. But now the

writer to the Hebrews goes on to describe this Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame. And he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Did a word stick out in there to you? I hope that it did, because it says that Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the, that's the word I want you to pay attention to, who for the...

joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame. If we were to go back now to the book of Matthew, we would see that this man who found a treasure in a field, hid it again, and went and for the joy of what he had found, sold everything that he owned so that he could go and buy the field. And now here in Hebrews chapter 12, we see that this Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame. It's almost like Jesus told this parable to say exactly what he was about to do. That for the joy that was set before him, which by the way, I don't think we can overstate

this enough, is you and me. We are the joy that was set before him. We are the treasure that he found in the earth. And in order to have us, the only thing he could do is purchase the entire world. Did he need to buy the world? Did he need another world? No, he could have created it, any other one that he wanted to. He could have created a whole new set of subjects if he'd

wanted to, but he didn't because he loved you and I so much that he was willing to lay aside his glory and pay the steepest price anyone has ever paid for our souls because he found so much worth and so much value in us. As a matter of fact, you and I are worth so much that money couldn't even purchase us. There's one other place I'd like for you to go. Actually, before we get to that, there's one other thing I'd like to point out to you.

Look at the book of Ephesians chapter one. And I want you to look at verses 15 through 19. Ephesians chapter one, verses 15 through 19. I got ahead of myself on cross references there. We'll talk about how much Jesus paid for us in just a little bit when we get to the pearl of great price. But in Ephesians chapter one, verses 15 through 19, Paul begins to pray for

these Ephesian churchgoers. Now, I think sometimes it's hard for you and I to realize something. I think sometimes it's hard for you and I to realize just how much Jesus loves us and the great value that he finds in us. As a matter of fact, again, I saw the headline of an article that I briefly started to look at but didn't have time to read all of the other day. And the article said

this, why are our teens so sad today? Now, I didn't need to read the article to know what the real answer is. My guess is the answer was something I probably disagreed with or maybe mildly agreed with, but they kind of missed the point because that's kind of what we do. We're really good in our world of giving like, you know, trying to give band-aids to amputations because we don't want to deal with the real issue. But as I read that, I thought, I know exactly why

our teens are so sad in the world today. Our teens are so sad in the world today for the same reason that our adults are so sad in the world today. And the reason why we're all so sad in the world today is because we've been told our life no longer has value. We've been told life doesn't anymore. Now, maybe nobody's actually come out and said life has no value anymore, but it's been

shown in our actions. It's been shown in the actions of the fact that we have allowed the wholesale genocide of a generation to take place through abortion. We've been told life has no value anymore because we've taught our kids you are not fearfully and wonderfully made by a divine being who made you specifically for the purpose that only you can fulfill. And he crafted you by hand for a specific purpose. We've told them instead,

you happened over millions of years. You just happened to show up. And because we teach people that, our world is very sad. Why? Because we have stripped away the intrinsic value of life. And then we've taken away the fact that there is a creator who loves you and values you more than you can imagine. So when Jesus tells this parable and he says, a man found a treasure in a field

and for the joy over the treasure that he'd found, goes and sells everything that he can have acquire the treasure. We start to realize something. You and I have intrinsic value in the eyes of God. You and I are important to him. You and I are a treasure in his eyes, but see our human mind has a hard time taking that in not only because of our flesh, but because of all of

the lies that the enemies tell us all of the lies that the enemy wants us to believe. And Paul knew that that was our tendency to have a hard time believing just how much God values me as an individual. And so this is what he began to pray for. He began to pray for us. He began to pray for us. He began to pray for us. He began to pray for us. He began to pray for us. He began to pray for

us. He began to pray for us. He began to pray for us. He began to pray for us. He began to pray for the Ephesians starting in verse 15 of chapter one. It says this for this reason, I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, which exists among you and your love for all the saints do not cease giving thanks for you while making mention of you in my prayers

that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you will know what is the hope of his calling. And this is where I want you to really pay attention. And what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints? And what is the surpassing greatness of his power toward us who believe

these are in accordance with the working of the strength of his might. If you're an underlining person, that little spot right there in verse 18 would be a really good one to underline. What are the riches of the glory of his inheritance? In the saints. Now, I bet maybe you're like me. And when you read that, you started thinking, oh, I have such a great inheritance that's waiting for me in heaven. And while that's true,

that's not what that verse says. What that verse says is that you are his precious inheritance. But see, it's hard for us to understand that about ourselves, right? It's hard for us to realize that God values me so much that my life is so important to him that he sold everything that he had. He laid aside everything of who he is so that he could have a great inheritance.

He could come down and purchase us with his own precious blood. It's hard for us to take that in. Therefore, Paul began to pray for the Ephesians that the eyes of their understanding would be enlightened, that they would know the glorious riches of God's inheritance in the saints. In other words, that God views us as the saints, as his precious treasure, as his precious inheritance. Brothers and sisters, I don't think it's completely wrong for us to start viewing

ourselves as being precious in the eyes of God and as his inheritance that he's waiting for. Brothers and sisters, our life has distinctly great value. And all of the people that are in the world today that have never come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior, people that you probably disagree with, people that you probably don't like their politics, people that you don't like the gender decisions that they've made, people that you don't like that they've decided to be a homosexual, they were also created in the image of God. And you know what?

They too are God's treasure that he purchased with his own precious blood. But they just haven't realized it yet. They just haven't come to the place of saying, my life has value and I need to find that value in Christ. You know why I think so much of this, so much of the issues that we're seeing with transgenderism and homosexuality and all those kinds of things, you know why I think so much of that's taking place right now?

Because people have been told they have no identity and no value. It's just like we talked about before. Maybe nobody's actually said it out loud. Maybe somebody has. And because of that, they found somebody that would welcome them. They said, I don't even know who I am anymore. I must not be right. I must be wrong. God must have made me wrong. I know. I bet I'm supposed to be a different gender.

I bet I'm supposed to be a different person. They're seeking for their identity. They're seeking for their worth. They're seeking for their value. And they can't find it in anything else. So they start finding it in their sexuality. Brothers and sisters, the only way we'll solve this problem is not by hating people that look different than me. It's not by hating people

that view things differently than me. It's by telling them that they are God's precious inheritance. And the only way that they can realize who they truly are is by coming to Jesus for salvation. Because that's what we need right now. We need for an entire world to know that they have great value in the eyes of the Lord. It reminds me of that great verse. And I remember my wife loves this verse so much

that she actually, she bought one of those message boards and she, she spelled it out on our wall. It was great. It was a great reminder every day. It says, you are more valuable to God than many sparrows. Your life has value. And people around us need to know their life has value. Well, he goes on to tell one more very similar parable. Go back to Matthew chapter 13.

In verse 45, it says, again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls. And upon finding it, finding one of the pearls of great value, he went and sold all that he had and he bought it. Again, we see this parable. We see that there's this merchant and this merchant's job is to go out and seek these pearls of great value, to seek a jewel that is so valuable.

He's spent his entire life. He spent his entire time looking for this pearl because all he wants is for this one pearl to show up and his life will be complete if he just finds it. And finally, he sees this pearl that's of great value and of great price. And he's so excited when he finds it because he says, this, this is what I've been searching for. And so once again, he sells everything

that he has in order to buy it. He sells all that he has in order to buy it. The interpretation is very similar to that of the one previous. We see that Christ is that merchant. Christ is, he is the merchant that is out seeking that pearl of great value. You and I, we're that pearl of great price. We're that pearl of such great value. And so what did he do?

He went out and sold all that he had in order to purchase the pearl. But again, as we look at this price that Jesus paid for us, this is what I was starting to allude to earlier because I jumped ahead of myself because I got excited. That's what I do. When we think about the price that Jesus paid for us, the price that Jesus paid for us, we realize just how much he paid for us.

Go over with me to 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter one, right after James. If you hit 1 John, you've gone too far.

1 Peter chapter one, and I want you to look at verse 18.

And it says this, 1 Peter 1, 18 says, knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with the precious blood as of a lamb, unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. You see, you and I were worth more than all of the gold and silver in the world. After all, what do they pave the streets of heaven with? Gold.

Pretty non-valuable, really, in the big scheme of things. No, we were of such great value to Jesus that he didn't redeem us with corruptible things like silver and gold. He redeemed us with his own precious blood. He redeemed us at a price that cost him his life. And because of that, we can know that we are of such great value, that we are of such intrinsic value

that it cost Jesus his very life. And it was, as we said, for the joy that was set before him. I will never not be moved by that scene in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus won the battle of the cross. Because at any point in time, if Jesus had wanted to pull the plug on the whole thing, he could have, and he would have still been God. And he would have still been good.

Because there's no reason why God needed to redeem us. You see, if we were God, we would have wiped us all out a long time ago. Because we don't understand the value that we have. But God loved us so much. And as Jesus was there in that Garden of Gethsemane, knowing in his humanity what he was about to face, not only in the physical struggle, but the spiritual struggle for our redemption,

he prayed as those great drops of blood were coming down because the stress was so intense in his life. And he prayed, Father, if there's any other way, if there's any other way, then let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done. There's a great scene from a movie. It's called Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves. It was the really good Robin Hood,

the one with Kevin Costner in it, right? It was a great movie. And when Robin Hood is about to storm the castle to go save the girl, the only way that he can get in, because of course the drawbridge is pulled up, and he can't get through it, the only way that he can get in is to get catapulted over the wall, right? It's a great scene in the movie, like the climax of the movie.

And my favorite line in that entire scene is when he's just about to pull the rope to have the thing catapult him over to then face potentially certain death in order to save the girl. One of his men looks at him, I think it was little John, looked at him and said, is she really worth it? And he said, yeah, she's worth it. Right? And that's what takes place.

Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? Right? I remember watching that as I got a little bit older and I knew more about Jesus and I understood greater the message of the gospel. That scene, I think, is kind of what plays out there in the Garden of Gethsemane, right? Are they worth it? Yeah. They're worth it.

Because you and I are that pearl of great price. And he laid aside all of his glory, like it tells us there in the book of Philippians. Laid aside all of his glory so that he could come down, live a life among us, and then purchase us with his own precious blood. Brothers and sisters, you and I are of great value to the king. You and I are of great value in the kingdom.

Back to Matthew chapter 13.

One third parable that Jesus is going to tell is what we call the parable of the dragnet. It says this, again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, gathering fish of every kind. And when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach, they sat down and gathered the fish into containers, or gathered, excuse me, the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. Now, apparently there were two different types of nets that fishermen would use at that point in time.

One was a drop net, the other was a dragnet. The drop net would have weights so that it would drop all the way down. They would hold on to the ropes, which hopefully they kept in the boat with them. Went fishing one time and we had an anchor with us and we got out to the middle of the pond and we dropped the anchor. And went, hoops, rope wasn't tied to the boat.

So we stopped fishing. Anyway, held on to the ropes probably and then they pull it back up because that's what you do with the net. That's a drop net. But this is a dragnet. And the dragnet, if the wind was blowing really good, kind of like it's been this year, they would hold the net behind them and as the boat was being moved by the wind, they would literally drag the net

and would collect just about anything. And so Jesus, speaking to fishermen and people, but understood a fishing society because remember, a lot of these parables, Jesus told from a boat. He said, a dragnet. The kingdom of heaven is kind of like a dragnet, right? It would have been right there with him. That gathers all kinds of fish together and when it's filled,

that gathers fish of, an important word there is, important phrase is every kind. As it gathers fish of every kind, they collect it and they bring it up on the beach and then when they bring it up on the beach, they open it up and they begin to sort it out. The good fish they throw into a container to hold onto, the bad fish they cast out, never to be seen again. And then Jesus gives us the interpretation of what this is talking about.

In verse 49 he says, so it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth and they will take out the wicked from among the righteous and will throw them into the furnace of fire. And in that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Jesus gives us the interpretation of what's to take place. We live in a fallen world and we are surrounded by both believers and unbelievers.

And right now, all of us dwell together. And may I say, while most interpret that this is only speaking of the world, I think that this could also be speaking of the church because we know that within every church, as we gather on a Sunday morning, there are both believers and unbelievers. There are both true converts, and false converts. Maybe I could put it this way.

There are those who are genuine and those who play the game. And we know that they all dwell together and will dwell together until the end of time because we can't escape the fact that we live in the world, that we live amongst those as fish of every kind, right? Some of us are swimming towards the Savior. Some of us are swimming away from the Savior, but we're all being gathered together.

And then we see that there's going to come a time, it calls it the end of the age, when the angels will begin to separate. And they will begin to separate out the fish. The good fish they will keep in a container and the bad fish will be thrown away. But notice what Jesus says about them being thrown away in verse 50. And they will throw them into the furnace of fire.

And in that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. You see, you and I have lives that are of great value to God. And he paid a very steep price for us. But if we are not willing to accept the price that he pays for us, then we have to be willing to accept the judgment that he took for us. Someone asked me the other day, they said, how can you reconcile

a good God who also punishes sin? A God who loves us, but also a God who punishes sin. So I kind of thought about it, prayed about it for a minute. And I said, look at it like this. Jesus will be one of two things for you. He will either be your savior or he will be your judge. One or the other is going to take place because if he paid so steep a price for you

and you refuse to accept the price that he paid for you, then there's no other way of salvation. Can you imagine? You, let's say, owe money on a credit card. Let's say you owe 50, 60, $100,000 on a credit card. I don't know what kind of credit cards you found, but maybe you combined a bunch of them together and you owe a huge debt on your credit card. And somebody says, hey, listen,

I see that this debt that you owe on your credit card and an exorbitant interest rate, because that's what credit cards do. You'll never get it paid off in your lifetime and you're always going to be saddled with this debt and it's going to cause you major problems. I would like to do something for you. I would like to pay off your credit card. Not only that, but I would like to pay off your credit card.

Not only would I like to pay off your credit card, but I'd also like to pay off your house and I'd like to pay off your car. I'd like to pay off every bit of debt that you owe. Even though what's really important is the credit card, I want to pay it all off so that you can live in a life of absolute peace. And they start to write a check for all of your debts and you go, no thank you, I'll do it myself.

Well, at that point in time, you go, well, then there's nothing else I can do for you. If you're not willing to accept the payment that I've made, then you're going to have to deal with it yourself. That's what it is with this dragnet, right? You're going to have a bunch of fish that are really good because they've come to Jesus and they've said, thank you for paying my debt.

Thank you for paying my debt and covering all of my sins because I know that my life is of great value to you. What a blessing to know that. But for those who said, but I'm going to do it myself, they're going to have to face Jesus as their judge because they wouldn't accept the payment that he made as their savior. And so Jesus said, Jesus tells us this parable and he tells us this parable of this dragnet where he says, they'll all dwell together until the end of the age.

And at the end of the age, the separation will begin to take place and the good will be separated from the bad. And the good we know from the parable of the wheat and tares will go on to live a wonderful life and eternity with their savior. And the bad will go on to live an eternal life, separation from God, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. I was given the opportunity a couple of weeks ago to teach at one of the Holy Week services and the section that I was assigned to teach on, which by the way, if I'm going to teach at one of those again, I hope they always assign me a set of scripture because then I don't have to think, gosh, and all of the vast things that there are to teach about Holy Week, I wonder which one I'm going to teach on.

So I was given the assignment of teaching on the Last Supper with Jesus and his disciples and we were talking about love and I was praying, Lord, what would you like me to teach about love? Because I think love is one of the more misunderstood words. In the Bible, because it's been applied very wrong. And I thought, you know what love does? Love always tells the truth.

We're told that in scripture. We're told that in 1 Corinthians 13, that love always tells the truth. And I thought, isn't that kind of what Jesus did with us? Jesus was continually telling his disciples the truth and I was thinking about all the ways that Jesus told the truth. And I thought, you know, hell's a pretty, what do you want to call it? Unpopular thing to talk about.

I don't like to talk about it. It doesn't preach very well unless you're a fire and damnation preacher and I'm really not one of. It doesn't really preach very well. I'd rather preach on the love of God. But you realize that the love of God is not important if the wrath of God does not exist. And Jesus always told us the truth about the coming wrath. And he always combined the great love that he has for us

with the understanding of the great wrath that comes from rejecting him. And so as he tells the parable of this dragnet, he makes them understand, while you are a virgin, you're of great value, you also have a great responsibility to put your faith in the fact that you're of great value. And so he tells them this parable of the dragnet. And so as we finish up these parables, he looks at his disciples.

And so this next section that we look at is Jesus speaking to his disciples. And he asks them a question. Notice what it says in verse 51. He says, have you understood all these things? And they said to him, yes. And Jesus said to them, therefore, every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household who brings out of his treasure things new and old.

I love this question that Jesus asks the disciples. Every now and then when I'm talking either to my girls or I'm talking to my kids in school, I'll look at them and they'll sort of have this kind of look on their face, right? Like they get that sort of a thing going on. I love you all, but sometimes I'm like, sometimes you give me the same look and that's okay.

And so I think to myself, have you understood what I've said? And so sometimes I'll ask that and they'll say, yeah, I'm just thinking about what you've said. Okay, very good. And sometimes I'll ask that and they'll go, right? And so then I'll go on to explain a little bit further. Well, remember, there's been a few times that the disciples have come to Jesus and they've said,

can you explain these parables to us? And then Jesus very kindly and very gently goes on to explain what the parable means. This time, as Jesus is talking to his disciples, I think they had that contemplative look on their face. And as they're thinking about these things and taking them all in, Jesus asked them a question. He says, have you understood what these things mean?

And they replied to him and they said, yes. Now, depending on who you read again, there's some different thoughts on this. Some say they probably were just trying to save face and hide the fact that they didn't really understand what was going on, but they didn't want to tell Jesus they didn't understand what was going on. And so they said, yes. I don't agree with that interpretation

because we all know that if Peter didn't understand, he was going to go, oh, get it, right? Because they've asked lots of questions up to this point in time. But you see, Jesus kind of kept explaining things. Have you noticed the story was almost the exact same story told in about five different ways? Did you notice that? Barring the two about the pearl of great price

and the hidden treasure, the rest of them were all very similar parables talking about the fact that there would be corruption in the kingdom, that we would be mixed with unbelievers, but that would not be fully dealt with. Until the end of the age and the most important thing for us to do is to take God's word in, to have the soil of our heart be good enough to take God's word in, put it into action in our lives and begin to apply it because we're the people of great price because he loved us so much that he gave himself for us. Basically, all the parables told that story over and over again. And so it's almost like by the fifth or sixth, seventh parable, he says, do you guys understand what I'm saying?

And they looked at him and they said, yes. You see, I actually think they really did because their hearts were slowly but surely getting tuned into the spiritual truths that Jesus was teaching them. So that's a fun place we all come to in our lives, isn't it? I was having a conversation with a young man the other day who's just now getting into the word of God.

I said, do you understand the things that you're reading? And he goes, a little bit. And I was like, I remember feeling that way. It was yesterday. I remember feeling that way about some things, right? I told him, I said, when I first started walking with Jesus, when I was 17 years old, really committed my heart to Jesus and I was walking with him, I read the book of Romans

and I didn't understand anything that I read. I'm reading through it and I'm like, sin's really bad. Looks like salvation's really good. And then I came to Romans chapter eight where no one could separate me from the love of Christ. And I was like, I get that because I was an idiot and I was a sinner and I was a loser and he still loved me anyway because nothing can separate me from the love of Christ.

And then I read the rest of the book of Romans and I was like, I don't get that. I don't think I, I don't think I understand that. And now 20, more than 25 years later, I'm going, hey, I think I get some of that. And it's like God says, do you understand what I'm saying? I'm like, on that part I do. I get that. There's still a lot of things that the jury's still out for me.

But it's fun when you can sit back and go, hey, I think I understand that. And I think that's what Jesus does with his disciples. But then he sort of commissions them to go deeper. Notice what it says. Jesus said to them, therefore, every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household who brings out of his treasure things new and old.

Jesus then sort of commissions them with a little bit of responsibility. And the responsibility that he commissions them with, he tells them about by telling them a story about a scribe. He says every scribe that becomes a disciple is like someone. Now, when you and I think scribe, we think of somebody that just copies them. And one of the things that the scribes did

at that point in time is they would copy down the law. They would be the ones that were tasked with copying the law. But scribes did more than that. Scribes also taught the law. They were the teachers of the nation of Israel along with the Pharisees. They were the ones who really did a lot of the teaching of the nation of Israel. And so he tells them something.

He says every scribe who becomes a disciple of Jesus Christ or a disciple of the kingdom, I think is what he calls it. Every scribe who becomes a disciple of the kingdom is kind of like a householder. Now, you and I don't know what a householder is because we don't live in that culture. But a householder would be literally the person who's in charge of a house, the head servant of the house.

A householder who brings forth out of his treasury things new and things that are old. If you will, Jesus tells them that this is what a scribe does when he becomes a believer. It's like he goes, whoa, everything just became real to me. And now I can not only see the truth of all of the old things, but I can also see the truth of all of the old, but I'm starting to see the truth of this new covenant because all of the things of the Old Testament are very much explained and made clear in the New Testament.

I think if we were to give a perfect example of this, it would be Paul the Apostle, right? Because Paul the Apostle was so studied in the Old Testament that when he got saved, it's like a light bulb went off. And all of those things that he knew of the Old Testament, he was like, oh my gosh, they were all talking about Jesus. Jesus in his first coming, Jesus in his second coming, in his second coming, the whole thing talked about Jesus.

And so he said, now that you're starting to understand these spiritual things, you are kind of like a scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom. And you should now out of the storehouse bring forth treasures that are both new and old. Now, with this, he tells them of the great joy. He says, you're starting to understand the old. You're starting to understand all of the old covenant

and how it applies to Jesus. And now you can bring out the truth of the new covenant because of it. And so there is this responsibility, first of all, to continue to grow in our knowledge, to continue to grow in our knowledge of the old and to continue to grow in our knowledge of the new. You see, there's this thing that happens to us when we start to learn something new, we can kind of cast off the things that are old, right?

It's kind of like when you get a new, you name it, and you have an old one too, and you spend all your time with the new and not the old one. We can do that as we learn, learn new things. And we can say, oh, we don't need the Old Testament anymore because we've got this New Testament. And Jesus says, no, every wise scribe takes the responsibility of holding on to both and learning from both.

But you see, there's another aspect of the responsibility that's presented to us here because this could also be translated or with the idea that not only does he bring it out for his own personal knowledge, but he brings out of his treasury, both new and old, to share with the people that are around him, to share with the rest of the world. Jesus is, if you will, commissioning his disciples that their role now is going to be to share with the rest of the world this truth that they're learning because they'll have this treasure now in an earthen vessel that's supposed to go out to the rest of the world. And may I say, as we continue to glean this knowledge, I hope that you too are starting to understand. And as you understand both things new and old,

that you not only continue to commit yourself to the study of both the new and the old, but that you commit yourself to the sharing with the people that are around you, both the new and the old. Because we now have this great responsibility because we have this great treasure. And so he says, now take this and share this knowledge with others. Take this and share this knowledge with the people that are around you.

So let's wrap up chapter 13, shall we? Chapter 13 wraps up with what I would call a transitional story, a transitional story that kind of actually ties together a lot of things that have taken place. Remember, the whole reason Jesus started telling parables? The whole reason Jesus started telling parables is because he had been being rejected by the religious community.

Remember, they had said he's casting out demons by Beelzebub, different things like that. They had been rejecting him. Well, in this last portion of chapter 13, it sort of ties up really a grouping of chapters that have to do with the rejection of Jesus as he is rejected in his own hometown. Notice what it says in verse 53. It says, when Jesus had finished these parables,

he departed from there and he came to his hometown and he began teaching in the synagogue so that they were astonished and said, where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things?

And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, a prophet is not without honor except in his own hometown and in his own household. And he did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief. Now we see that Jesus returns at this point in time to his hometown. And again, this story is important because it sort of links us with what's been taking place up to this point in time,

the rejection of Jesus with what's going to continue to take place in his starting to march towards Jerusalem. And so as it links together this understanding of the rejection, we see that there's this very real story of him showing up in his hometown. And I don't know if you always think about this, but Jesus was very much a human. While he was fully God, he was also fully human.

That means he deals with all of the emotions that you and I deal with. I think sometimes we forget the emotional toll that this rejection would have taken upon Jesus. And so probably returns to his hometown seeking a little bit of shelter and a little bit of comfort from what has been a very difficult time. And as he does so, he's in the synagogue and he's a teacher, so he teaches.

And he gets up and speaks in their synagogue. And as he gets up and speaks in their synagogue, he does so just like he always does with great knowledge, with great wisdom, and with great authority. But as he's teaching in this synagogue, remember maybe a couple of years removed from being a young man that lived right there in Nazareth. As he's teaching in this synagogue, they all begin to say to themselves, where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?

It says they were astonished at him. Now, at first when I read that, I think, hey, they're pretty amazed. Old Jesus has got him some good stuff going on right now. He's gained him a great deal of knowledge. This leads us to another kind of important point that needs to be made a little bit of a historical understanding point. You and I say the name Jesus and we know that it holds with it

a great deal of value, right? I have all kinds of shirts that say Jesus saves, Jesus is better, things like that because there's just something about the name Jesus, right? It means Yahweh is salvation. What we forget sometimes is that Jesus is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew word Joshua. So if you will, when Jesus shows up among all of his friends,

he's not there as what you and I would call Jesus. There's just something about that name. He's there with them as Yahshua, Joshua, if you will, Josh, just showed up in the synagogue and he's speaking like this. So the commonness, the common nature of Jesus begins to come out because as they're listening to him, as they're listening to Josh teach, as they're listening to him share these things, as they're watching his miraculous powers and they see his wisdom and his authority and the way that he speaks, they kind of go, isn't this Josh?

Isn't this the guy that grew up here? Isn't this the guy that I changed his diapers when he was a little kid? Isn't this the same guy? I know his brothers and sisters, which by the way, I think it's an important point to be made one more time. Jesus had a lot of brothers, brothers and sisters. I'll let you do with that what you will. Don't we know his brothers and sisters?

I mean, Judas and Joseph and James and all these different ones. Don't we know all of them? You see, it kind of becomes a, who does he think he is? Who does he think he is speaking with this kind of authority? Because as it moves on, it says, and his sisters, verse 56, are they not all with us? Where then, where then did this man get all these things? And notice what it says.

They took offense at him. Why did they take offense at him? Because Jesus was just so common. I think we forget that. We forget just how common of a person Jesus was. We're told in the book of Isaiah that there was nothing about his appearance that would have made us desire him. In other words, he's just not the kind of guy you noticed. He wasn't the best looking guy on the face of the earth.

He wasn't the best looking guy on the face of the earth. He wasn't the ugliest guy on the face of the earth. He's just an incredibly average guy as far as the world was concerned. Why? Because what made Jesus special was not who he was physically, but the goal that he had spiritually, the mission that he had spiritually. That's what made him special. And so he shows up and he's teaching

and they're like, hey, can this really, come on man, we're not buying this whole thing. We know your family. We've watched you grow up. We just don't think you're all that great. And they were offended by him. And then Jesus, of course, says, a prophet's not without honor except in his own hometown. It reminds us of the fact that many people in the world today

are a little bit offended at the commonality of Jesus, at the very base nature of Jesus as far as him coming as a man and dwelling among us. I mean, there's just nothing special about it. There's nothing special really about the gospel message. It just feels so basic. And because of that, many people are offended at Jesus. And then as it closes, it says something really interesting.

Matthew gives us this little commentary in verse 58. He says, and he did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief. Now to me, that's a very interesting line and an interesting verse for us to pay attention to. Because if we were to take that to its fullest end and maybe misinterpret that a little bit, we would begin to think to ourselves, the work that Jesus does is fully dependent upon whether or not I believe.

That means that Jesus' power must not be that great. That means that the reason why good things aren't happening in your life is because you don't have enough faith. Why are you sick in your life? Well, you don't have enough faith. Why is your job not going very well? Because you don't have enough faith. Why don't you have enough money for that new house? Well, you just don't have enough faith.

You see, if you had enough faith, God could work miraculously in you and you would never be sick and you would have the nicest car and you would have the biggest house if only you had enough faith. But you see, that's not what that verse means. That's what we would call a perversion of scripture. So what does it mean when it says he did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief?

Is it because they didn't believe that he wouldn't work? Well, if that were the case, Jesus would never do anything because none of us have enough faith. We all struggle with unbelief. Remember the guy who brought his child to Jesus and he says, Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief, right? So what does it mean when it says he couldn't do many miracles there

because of their unbelief? You see, faith prompts action. If I know that Jesus is here and he is able to heal me, he is able to do the work, he is able to perform something in my life, then I take that step of faith by going to Jesus and saying, Lord, please do this work in my life. I may have, I may have a lot of unbelief. I may have a lot of doubt when I do it,

but you see, I've taken that step of faith. Faith takes that action. It's kind of like this. When you showed up in here this morning, you looked at a chair and you thought, I bet that chair will hold me. And then you sat down on the chair. You expressed faith in that chair. The reason why I know you express faith in that chair is because you're sitting on it right now, right?

Because you have enough faith in the chair that it's going to hold you up. It's the same way in our relationship with God. You see, when I believe that God's able to do things, to do something, I simply go to him and say, can you do this? And he works as he sees fit in my life in that particular area. But if I don't believe he can do anything, then I never take any of my issues to him.

I never come to him in prayer. I never seek him in his word. I never go to him. Why? Because I don't really believe. Therefore, his work is hindered in my life, not because his power isn't enough, but because I simply never go to him. Why did their unbelief hinder his work in the city of Nazareth? Because they just plain ignored him. They just plain rejected him.

So they never brought their sick to him. They never came to him to hear what he had to say. They just simply ignored the fact that he was who he said he was. And because of that, he couldn't do many things there among them. And so we, in this chapter 13, this chapter of parables, and the next time that we're together, we'll get to see Jesus do some really great work,

again, with the feeding of the flock. Let's all stand.

My prayer for us today is that we would truly understand that great value, that intrinsic value that our lives have in the eyes of God. Would you bow with me? Father, we come before you, and Lord, I thank you for your word and what it has to say. And Lord, I thank you for the truth of the great value that our lives have in you. And so, Lord, may we take that truth

and handle it responsibly by either putting our faith in you or by taking that truth and spreading it to the people that are around us. Lord, draw us near to you and continue to make us more like you, I pray. In Jesus' name, amen. Be blessed. We have only one life And it soon will pass And only what's done For Christ will last Jesus, you can use Riches and houses

And cars and lands Will all pass away But my life will stand Jesus, for your And it soon will pass And only what's done For Christ will last Jesus, you can use Riches and houses And cars and lands And cars and lands And cars and lands Will all pass away But my life will stand Jesus, we say And it soon will pass And only what's done For Christ will last Jesus, you can use me Amen? Yes. Father God, bless now our week. May we look to you.

and trust you, the author and finisher of our faith. In Jesus' name, amen. Have a great week, guys.