All of us here this morning have two eyes in our head and two
ears, one on each side, and I trust we can both see and hear.
I don't think there's anybody here who's physically blind or
deaf. Now, some of us wear glasses to
help us see better, and some of us were hearing aids to help us
hear better, and some of us have both.
I've titled our sermon this morning, Eyes to see and Ears to
Hear. It is hard for a person who
physically cannot see and cannot hear.
We may know of people who are blind, physically blind, or
deaf, maybe even both. That's a serious limitation.
If you can't see, everything is dark, and if you can't hear,
everything is quiet. Jesus used the analogy of seeing
and hearing a lot of times, and especially when he referred to
the Pharisees, the religious leaders of his time, because he
called him blind. He called him blind leaders of
the blind. We do well to ask ourselves, do
we see with our hearts and minds?
Do we hear with our hearts and minds?
It is possible to be both blind and deaf in the heart.
That's possible. Wrong information, lack of
knowledge, and false teaching causes blindness and deafness of
the heart and mind. The decisions we make are an
indicator. They reveal how well we see and
how well we hear. If we have a wrong understanding
of God, we won't see properly with our mind and our heart and
we won't listen properly. This is old stuff.
In Hosea chapter 4 verse 6, the prophet right wrote, My people
are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
And then God is speaking here. He says because you have
rejected knowledge, I also will reject you.
I will reject you've rejected knowledge.
I will reject you from being priest for me.
Why did God's people lack knowledge?
It was the leader's fault. They had rejected God.
They turned their backs on him. They couldn't see well anymore.
I want to ask us this morning, do we live in a time where
knowledge is rejected? And I have to say, yes, we live
in a time of the rejection of knowledge.
We know better than we do as a society and as a culture.
People who have a warped view of God's Word will have a warped
view of a lot of other things. When Jesus walked this earth, he
taught the crowds about God and God's will for their lives.
But the way Jesus taught that was different.
He taught them primarily in parables.
A parable is a story that's not a real story or a true story
necessarily, but it's a story told for the purpose of
illustrating a principle or transferring a lesson.
The parable is simply a conveyance, a some a tool to
illustrate a deeper truth. It's like a light that shines
with a purpose, to illuminate a reality.
When you shine a flashlight in a dark room, you're not thinking
about I'm shining a flashlight. You're saying, OK, what?
I need to illuminate that object, I need to find that
object. So the parable is to illuminate,
to illustrate. When it comes to biblical truth,
it's alarming how many people who claim to be Christian, how
many people know so very little about the Bible.
They can read it but not hear it, study it but not see it.
And there's a lot of people like that.
And I have to say, we live in a time of spiritual blindness and
deafness. It's not that people don't live
by some kind of principle or some kind of value.
They do, whether it's a faith focused on God or faith, faith
focused on self or temporal things, whatever it may be.
But we all have some form of orientation.
The psalmist mentions in Psalm chapter 119, verse 105, he says
your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
So if God's word is light, it means it reveals, it
illuminates. So how well can you and I see
with our hearts this morning? What kind of spiritual vision do
we have? Do you have 2020?
I don't, I do know I don't because of how often I have to
go back and then, oh, I saw this wrong or I've, I've now grown in
this area. I don't think anybody has 2020
spiritual vision. I don't believe that we have
better vision. The more we study and can see
better, the more the more life goes on, but it's something that
grows and that develops. We're continuing our sermon
series in the Gospel of Mark and this morning we will be looking
in Mark how Jesus began to teach the people in parables.
When commentator I read pointed out that in Mark 4, there's a
transition that happens. Jesus began to teach with
parables. He had not done that up to this
point. The first parable we find in the
Gospel of Mark is the parable of the sower and the seed.
The parable is a word picture. And in this this case it's a
it's a we'll read it shortly, but just a few comments here.
In this this case, it's a parable of a farmer who's sowing
seed in this field and some of the seed falls on the, on the
road, on the pathway, it's hard path.
It's nothing grows there and, and it's gone and then nothing
happens. The some seed falls in the Stony
soil, some in the thorny soil and some of the good soil.
So that's kind of that parable. There's another parable he
talks. There's four of them actually.
It's the parable of the light lights, not intended to be
hidden under a bed or under basket.
It's to be meant to put in a lampstand so it illuminates
what's around it. And then the third parable, the
growing seed. A man sows the seed and it's
beyond his control. It produces fruit and the
harvest happens, but he's not the one actually bringing the
the results. He just sows the seed.
And the fourth one is the mustard seed parable.
We'll go into these parables as we go along here, but I want us
to start by reading the chapter. Mark chapter 4.
Mark writes this and read with
me in your device your Bibles. And again he began to teach by
the sea, and a great multitude was gathered to him, so that he
got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole multitude
was on the land facing the sea. Then he taught them many things
by parables, and said to them in his teaching, Listen, Behold, A
sower went out to soul. And it happened as he sowed,
that some seed fell by the wayside, and the birds of the
air came and devoured it. Some fell on Stony ground where
it did not have much earth. And immediately it sprang up,
because it had no depth of earth.
But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no
root it withered away. And some seed fell among thorns,
and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no
crop. But other seed fell on good
ground and yielded A crop that sprang up, increased, and
produced some thirtyfold, some 60 and some 100.
And he said to them, He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
But when he was alone, those around him with the 12 asked him
about the parable. And he said to them, To you it
has been given to know the mystery of the Kingdom of God.
But to those who are outside, all things come in parables, so
that seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may
hear and not understand, lest they should turn and their sins
be forgiven them. And he said to them, Do you not
understand this parable? How then will you understand all
the parables? The sower sews the Word, and
these are the ones by the wayside where the Word is sown.
When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the
word that was sown in their hearts.
These likewise are the ones sown on the Stony ground who, when
they hear the word, immediately receive with gladness.
But they have no root in themselves, and so endure only
for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or
persecution arises for the word's sake, immediately they
stumble. Now these are the ones sown
among thorns. They're the ones who hear the
Word and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of
riches and the desires for other things entering in.
Choke the word and it becomes unfruitful.
But these are the ones sown on good ground.
Those who hear the word accept it and bear fruit.
Some thirtyfold, some 60, and some 100.
And he said to them, Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket
or under a bed? Is it not to be set on a lamp
stand? For there's nothing hidden which
will not be revealed, nor is anything being kept secret that
it should not become, should not come, should come to light.
If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.
Then he said to them, Take heed what you hear.
With the same measure he used, it will be measured to you.
And to you who hear more will be given.
For whoever has to him more will be given.
But whoever does not have even that, what he has will be taken
away from him. And he said, the Kingdom of God
is a, is a, is as if a man should scatter seed on the
ground and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed
should sprout and grow. He himself does not know why,
for the earth yields crops by itself, first the blade, then
the head, after that the full grain in the head, but when the
grain ripens, immediately puts in the sickle, because the
harvest has come. Then he said, To what shall we
like in the Kingdom of God, or with what parable shall we
picture it? It is like a mustard seed, which
when it is sown in the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on
the earth, but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater
than all herbs and shoots out large branches so that the birds
of the air may nest under its shade.
And with many such parables, he spoke to them as they were able
to hear, but without a parable, he did not speak to them.
But when he was alone, he explained all things to his
disciples. Let's stop there.
We won't read all of it. Read up to verse 34.
Let's go into this text and unpack what happened here, why
Jesus did what he did, and what it means for us.
Today is first we have the parable of the sower, the seed,
and the soil. Let's review this a bit.
Jesus is now well into his ministry.
He's well known, he's performing miracles.
He's had some encounters with the religious leaders and that
haven't has not gone so well up to this point.
Jesus has not let anything interfere with his mission or
his focus. Jesus is staying on track, but
now he's taking a different approach.
He's not going to stop what he's doing, but he's changing how
he's doing it. He's using a different approach.
It tells us, see that Mark says here, Jesus began to teach by
the sea again, began to teach. So he's been doing that.
He's doing it again. A large crowd follows him, gets
into a boat. So he has some kind of, it's a
bit of distance from the crowd. And so he can see the crowd on
the shore. He's kind of in this, in the
center stage here at the crowds on the banks of the sea.
And he's he's teaching them. Imagine the scene in your mind,
the whole crowd on the shore, the people on the shore, a
little bit like a movie theater. It says he taught them many
things in verse 2. Some this.
The first one's about the seed. Some seed fell by the wayside,
no fruit. Some fell on Stony ground, no
fruit. Some seed fell among thorns, no
fruit. Other seed fell on on good soil
and good fruit. When Jesus finished telling the
story of the sore in the seed, it was just a story, a farmer's
story. He didn't even explain it.
We can assume there were farmers who heard him.
OK, What's that all about? And no doubt there were some who
were not farmers who understood the meaning of farming and they
understood the parable. OK, that makes sense.
Yeah. I see.
That falls in the ground, of course.
But they didn't pay for their attention.
He doesn't tell the story. What it explains what the
spiritual state of it. He he tells them nothing, just
the story. I believe what Jesus did was
brilliant because Jesus knew those with whom who were on the
inside are going to look in a minute here.
Those were on the inside. It would resonate with them.
They would seek further. They wouldn't.
It would not just pass them by. He was speaking to different
types of people in this crowd. That's what he was doing.
Someone once said this years ago, that there's three types of
people in this world and I'm not saying right or wrong about it,
but I thought it was interesting comment.
He said they're those who are the movers and shakers of
society and culture in the world.
They're the ones who make things happen.
Not a lot of those people. There are those who watch what's
happening. They're observed, they're
attentive, they pay attention. They want to know more than
there are those who just know something happened.
OK, they know something happened, but what happened?
When I read that, I thought I'd like to add a fourth to that,
and that's that. That's this one.
There are those who don't know anything happened.
They just sleep right through the whole thing.
I think the fourth group there are those on the hard path
doesn't matter. Life just passes them by.
The seed is sown and they just are not aware.
It doesn't. They're totally engrossed in
something else. They're just totally on their
own. It never occurs to them.
This could actually apply to them.
Then of course, the other groups here.
But what's interesting here in all this, in this whole story of
the parable in Mark chapter 4 verse 9, it says he said to
them, he who has ears to hear, let him hear.
And he didn't mean this physical ear or the eye gate.
Of course, that's how the message entered their mind.
That's how the message entered their their body.
That's true, but it needs to do more than that.
Jesus meant ears of the mind and ears of the heart.
We don't know how many of them had ears to hear.
We know some did. Even the disciples didn't get
the story. They knew something's up with
this. What does that mean?
What's he trying to teach? He's trying to teach something.
It's not a farmer's story. He they knew that.
What is he trying to say? What's he trying to convey with
this story? The majority of the crowd
probably just walked away. What was that all about?
But here's Jesus being he was he explained something.
This is the the the story of the the sword and the seed is a much
more intricate involved story than we would give it credit on
the outside. Listen, verse 9, verse 11 here
it says to you, it has been given speaking to the disciples
and those were around him. To you it has been given to know
the mystery of the Kingdom of God.
But to those who are outside, all things come in parables and
then this one, so that seeing they may see and not perceive,
and hearing they may hear and not understand, lest they should
turn and their sins be forgiven them.
That's hard. I know it's a hard passage.
Who are the outsiders? Who are they?
This speaks of a distinction, a dividing line.
You see, not all are inside, obviously, and not all are
outside, obviously. And depending on where a person
is on the inside or outside, that influences how that person
will perceive what that person will do with what they've
received, what they will grasp, and so on.
I'll go a little bit on a tangent here and this may be a
question in some people's minds. Maybe it's not.
It wasn't mine. In my mind, who's at fault where
they are? Do they decide to be in the
inside? Do they decide to be in the
outside? I believe they have a choice to
make. There's a decision we all make,
how we, how we process, how we use what we've been given.
Romans chapter 1 talks about it won't go into that, but Romans
one talks about that. An insider person will know
something happened. They're aware, they're curious,
they want to know more. There of course, are some Bible
teachers that have this idea that no, it's all God, nothing
but God. But that doesn't work either,
because that's not how God created you and I in the world.
In fact, it's not all just predestined, determined,
preordained, pre decreed. We have responsibilities, We
have choices to make. That's the story of Jesus all
through the Gospels. God created you and me and his
image to reflect him. We have a we are, we are his
reflection, and we have a choice to make.
And so these people on the inside are outside.
Do they have ears to hear? Don't they?
And where they are will determine that.
If you go back to the book of Genesis, Genesis chapter 4, you
find the story of two men, Cain and Abel. 1 wasn't the outside
one wasn't the inside. Cain was the outsider, Abel was
on the inside. Both brought sacrifices to God.
Both wanted God's approval. Both wanted attention from God.
Both wanted to be accepted by God.
God accepts Abel but not Cain, and Cain gets angry at God not
accepting him. He too has offered a sacrifice
as well. But then Jesus said God says to
Cain and Genesis 47, if you do well, will you not be accepted?
If you do not do well, sin lies at the door and its desire is
for you, but you should rule over.
God is holding Cain responsible for where he's at.
The question becomes what would Cain do?
We know the answer. He got mad at God, killed his
brother and tried to squash the whole thing and God held him
responsible. God held Cain responsible.
We see this principle, this pattern, woven throughout every
part of Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation.
We have a responsibility. So which type of soil we are,
whether we're hard soil, rocky soil, Stony soil, or good soil,
we need help. We do need that.
But the responsibility is on us to respond to Christ, to become
the soil that He wants us to be. In Mark chapter 4, we read Jesus
teaching in parables and he says it has been given to them, the
disciples, to know the mysteries, but not to the ones
in the outside. You see again verse 12, seeing
them, they see and not perceive and hearing they may hear, not
understand this they should be returned and their sins be
forgiven them. You see it doesn't work both
ways. People cannot have their cake
and eat it too. People can't be on both on the
inside and the outside. Not all people were physically
present are there. Not all people who were there
were there for the reason Jesus wanted them there.
Jesus did want them to come and listen, but the reason they came
to this was not the reason Jesus wanted them to listen.
The people's reason for being there and Jesus reason for
wanting them there was not the same.
And the story of Cain and Abel. God wanted both of them to
sacrifice both of them to offer him.
God wanted to accept both of them, but Cain came with a
different purpose. Cain was blind and deaf toward
God and his mind. God was the issue, God was the
problem. He wanted to be accepted, but on
his terms, not God's. There are many people in the
world who want enough religion just to get by, but it doesn't
work that way. They want enough of God in their
life just to be OK. Doesn't work that way.
They want to make it work for them, not for God.
Our definitions are not what matters, it's God's definitions
what matter. Eugene Peterson and his
paraphrase of the Bible and Luke chapter 4, verse 12.
He words this way. He says these are people whose
eyes are open but don't see a thing, whose ears are open but
don't understand a word, who avoid making an about face and
getting forgiven. The new Living Translation
translates this way, verse 12, so that the Scriptures might be
fulfilled. When they see what I do, they
will learn nothing. When they hear what I said, they
will not understand. Otherwise they will turn to me
and be forgiven. The disciples, they knew
something's up with the story. They got that part.
They were in the inner circle. They were had a relationship
with Jesus, but they needed to grow and they wanted more.
And Jesus challenges them and says, do you not understand this
parable? Then how then will you
understand all the parables? They knew they were on the
inside. They needed to grow.
And I think I would like to say this fits us today.
Then Jesus explained this, those hearing ears and the seeing eyes
and the meaning of the story and it goes into a lot of detail
about the Stony ground and and all those things.
And all of we fit in one of these 4 categories.
There's there's the the Stony ground, there's the hard soil,
the Stony soil, the thorny soil, and there's the soft soil.
And in the end, only one of these three of these four
groups, only one of these four groups actually produces any
fruit. It's the one that have good
soil. It's a plentiful fruit.
It's a 30 fold it says. But those on the on the goods
ground, those are the ones who hear the word verse that's verse
20. Accept the word bear fruit some
thirtyfold, some 60 and some 100.
Jesus explained this disciples to the to the Jesus explained to
the disciples what this what this meant.
But then he continues on and tells more parables on these
parables. We don't find they were spoken
by the sea necessarily. The one who was separate by the
with the disciples Mark was on and he gives another
illustration, another parable, the lamp on the lamp stand.
Jesus goes on explain and gives him another one.
He says in verse 21, is a lamp brought to be put under a basket
or a bed? Is it not to be set in a
lampstand? Verse 22 For there's nothing
hidden which will not be revealed, nor is anything be
kept secret, but that it should come to light.
Then he has again those words in 23 If anyone has ears to hear,
let him hear Jesus teach us. There will one day be no
secrets. Everything will be revealed.
Everything will be public, everything will be be
transparent. Nothing will be will be hidden.
And he says in verse 24, take heed what you hear with the same
measure you use, it will measure to you and to you who hear more
will be given for whoever has to him will be given.
More will be given. But whoever does not have even
that what he has, even what he has will be taken away from him.
You and I are responsible to pay attention.
We're responsible to respond, to do something with what we have.
When we reject truth, it's like cutting off the branch on which
we're sitting. We're responsible.
Think of it. What is our devotion to God
characterized by? Are we like a lamp on a
lampstand that shines, reveals the grace of God in our
community that reveals and shines light?
Or are we hidden? And then there's another
parable, the one about the the growing seed.
It's again a reference to farming.
But now Jesus used the same principle, land, seed and
growth, but with a different meaning, a different purpose.
The farmers in that they had far less control over the farming
than farmers do today. Farmers in that day would just
had no control over the weather. Now, not that our farmers have
control over the weather, but I'm thinking about greenhouse
farming or fertilizer on different processes with the
crops. So we have some control, which
they didn't, but basically talks about the farmer can only sow
the seed and he can harvest between what happens there he's
not responsible for. Let's read verse 26 again.
He says, and the Kingdom of God is if a man should scatter seed
on the ground and should sleep by night and rise by day, and
the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how for
the earth yields crops by itself.
First the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the
head. But when the grain ripens,
immediately puts in the sickle because the harvest has come.
God's Kingdom is a spiritual Kingdom in which God's people
play a role, but God is the one who directs and guides the
process and how this develops, how it grows and how the harvest
comes in, how people turn to him as people.
God uses people, you and I, to scatter the seed.
We do it with our interactions, by our connections with people.
We sow good deeds, we sow the word and also sometimes the not
so good word and it influences people and somewhere it sprouts.
We may not be in control of what happens, but we do influence
people. And Mark continues with one more
parable in chapter chapter 4, verse 30, he says it talks about
the parable of the mustard seed and he says in verse 30, then he
said Jesus, to what shall we like in the Kingdom of God or
with what parable shall we picture it?
It is like a mustard seed, which one is sown on the ground is
smaller than all the seeds on earth, but when it is sown, it
grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out
large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under
its shade. God's Kingdom may look small.
Jesus saying, but look at what blessing the gospel brings, not
just that the fullness of the church is yet to come.
The gospel should not be judged by its temporary effect in
society. The end result will be great.
Simply because something is small does not mean it hasn't.
It can't have a big impact. Jesus telling his audience do
not mistake smallness for meaning less or little.
God's Kingdom in the end will outlast everything.
In the end. It's his Kingdom that will rule.
Jesus predicted it and we do believe it.
Jesus conquered death and one day he will rule over everything
with Jesus. Size is not the issue.
Size is not the problem. Oh, in our world it is.
Go big or go home. Loud is important, big is
important, Strength is important, power is important.
None of these things matter to God.
Silent, quiet, small, doesn't matter.
The end result will still be big.
Mark continues on and writes in verse 33 says with many such
parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to hear
it, but without a parable he did not speak to them.
And when they were alone, he explained all things to his
disciples. I believe it's safe to say we're
not given nearly all the parables.
I think maybe only a small number of the parables that
Jesus actually told. But we've been given enough to
know what we need to do. We've been given enough truth
that we have the basis on which to follow God.
But just selfishly thinking, I sometimes wonder, would it be
nice to know some more of them? There's there are other parables
and other gospels, but here we have these.
And in private, Jesus explained it to his disciples, what they
meant. And these are recorded for us
today. What does all this mean for us
today? There were those who wanted God,
but for different reason than God wanted them to want him.
They were seeking him for selfish purposes.
And so very early on, there were those who were drawn to Jesus
with the wrong motives and Jesus didn't fully give himself to
them. There were those who didn't, who
didn't have ears to hear, didn't have eyes to see.
Their physical eyes were there. Their physical ears were there,
but mentally in, in, in spiritually, they were not
getting it. They were not tuned into God.
Then of course there were those who just didn't hear, just not
aware. They just actually had no use.
They were just like like dead to, to, to Jesus completely.
But Jesus did come for everyone, but never everyone came for him.
In fact only a few. But the question for you and I
today is what about us? Do we have eyes to see?
Do we have ears to hear? And how are we in our hearing
and our listening and our and our seeing?
How selective are we in our obedience to the Gospel of
Jesus? Because Jesus does say here, He
does say that those who have more will be given, those who
don't have what they have will be taken.
I understand the simply to mean that when we miss the
opportunities, we reject the opportunities.
Those opportunities may disappear, won't have them, even
even them anymore. We must ask ourselves where do
we fit in the story? Thinking back to the different
types of soils, we must ask ourselves, how are we
responding? Like the hard path, the Stony
soil, the thorny soil, or like the good soil?
There's only one, and this is a journey.
It's a progress, it's a journey, and it comes and it's for
everybody, even for the most difficult and ungodly people.
In 1725, a man named John Newton was born in England to a
Christian mother. When he grew up, he had no use
for his mother's faith. He went into the slave trade,
went to see sailing ships, buying slaves in Africa and
sailing West to the Caribbean and selling them.
He was widely known for his ungodly character.
One day in 1748, as a young man and a fierce storm was off the
coast of Ireland, his ship nearly sank.
He cried out to God for mercy because he knew better.
He knew, but he's always rejected it.
That cry for mercy did not go unheeded.
There was a turning point that happened in his life.
The seed was starting to grow it He started to change, but it was
it would still be years until he finally gave up his work, gave
up being a slave trader. He had convictions about it.
He finally gave it up, but God's word kept working on him and he
surrendered completely and gave up the slave trade.
And he actually went into he was he influenced government leaders
who went about later on abolishing the slave trade.
He was influential in bringing an end to this evil practice and
eventually became a minister of the gospel and he wrote the song
that's called Amazing Grace. You all know the song Amazing
Grace. How sweet the sound that saved a
Wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm
found was blind, but now I see. He had ears to hear.
He had eyes to see. He cried for mercy and God
granted it to him. When he heard, he listened.
When he saw, he followed, he obeyed.
So much is determined by how we hear and how we see.
The choice is yours and mine to make.
You and I decide that. The story of Cain and Abel.
Cain decided I'm going to kill my brother.
That's how he dealt with his relationship with God.
We don't have to be like Cain and refuse to listen.
The difference God's word will make in my life and your life
will depend on how we respond. The kind of person I choose to
be. If we follow Jesus, our heart
will be good soil bringing good fruit.
If you follow Jesus, our life will be like a lamp on a tree,
on a lampstand. It'll produce light.
It'll illuminate truth, and if we follow Jesus, we'll be
engaged in Kingdom work, sowing seeds for eternity, and there'll
be growth. May God give us ears to hear,
eyes to see, and then strength to follow and obey.
Let us pray. Lord Jesus, thank you for your
grace. You offer us what we do not
deserve. You offer us grace.
Thank you for your mercy. The punishment we do deserve,
You spared us from. That is mercy, Lord, may our
hearts, our minds be tuned to you this week.
May we see with our heart and hear with our mind and may be
put into practice what we know as we go through this week.
Maybe experience you, maybe listen to you, maybe obey you.
Thank you Jesus.