Kingdom Parables, Part 1 B

As you look at the kingdom on earth as it is defined biblically, you must understand several things, and the first is this. That it is a kingdom composed of the true and the false. If you don't understand it, you get very confused biblically. That the kingdom is a term that encompasses all those who externally identify with the people of God. Welcome to Grace To You with John MacArthur.

I'm your host, Phil Johnson. Why did God put parables in the Bible? Did he simply want to break up long blocks of teaching with short illustrations?

Why not teach the truth in some other way, a more sophisticated way? Consider that today on Grace To You as John MacArthur continues his study called The Parables of the Kingdom. Now, speaking of the kingdom, John, you have in your hands a letter from one of our listeners that tells an encouraging story about how God is using this ministry to draw people into his kingdom.

So share that with our listeners. Yeah, this is a wonderful letter that comes from Tracy. She writes, My husband left the Navy in 2019 because of a disability, and we moved back to our home state of Michigan.

The transition from military life to civilian life was a big one for our family, and things were strained between my husband and me. My sister-in-law invited me to a ladies' Bible study not long after the move to Michigan. We've gone through your books on fundamentals of the faith and God's high calling for women. And I've been listening regularly to your sermons on the Grace To You app over the past year. It's amazing how relevant your sermons from the 1970s are for today, because the Bible is relevant. I'm so thankful for your preaching the word faithfully and for offending me with the truth. Last fall I realized how sinful I really was, and you pointed me to the Savior.

I came crawling to the cross. I have now found a church that teaches sound doctrine, and I am looking forward to my believer's baptism in a couple of weeks. I pray for the salvation of my husband and children continually.

Your voice is well recognized in our home and in the car. I'm encouraged continually by your teaching to be salt and light and to count persecution as a blessing. Thanks for being a faithful instrument of righteousness in this decaying world. And she signs her name, Tracy.

It's a sweet letter. We thank the Lord for the role He has allowed Grace To You to play in Tracy's life, and Tracy is one of many. Lots of people like Tracy have benefited from the Word of God because the Word of God never returns void. It always accomplishes what God intends it to do. And that's what's so wonderful about supporting Grace To You. You're supporting the word of the living God, which never returns void.

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And I will pass along the rest of our contact information right after the lesson. But for now, stay here as John MacArthur continues his look at the parables of the kingdom. There are two basic aspects of God's kingdom, and you need to understand these at the very beginning. First is God's universal kingdom, and that's very simple to understand. That means God rules everything and everyone forever. He rules everything and everyone forever. He is the sovereign. He is the creator. He is the sustainer. He is the beginning and the end of all things. He dominates all things. He rules over everything and everyone forever. But then there's a second aspect of God's kingdom. And I suppose that Alva McLean has given it a title that's as good as any.

I've searched my own mind for a better one and haven't found one. Let me use his term. He calls it the mediatorial kingdom. That is, it is mediated. It is not the direct rule of God.

It is mediated through some other agency, through some other individual or individuals. And it refers to God's rule on earth. It is directly referring to God's rule on earth. Now it is this kingdom that is in view in Matthew chapter 6 when the Lord says this, Pray this way. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done.

What's the next phrase? On earth as it is in heaven. The as it is in heaven perceives the universal kingdom of God. The on earth perceives the earthly mediated kingdom of God. And the prayer says, God, rule on the earth the way you rule everywhere else. So that the earth somehow is isolated in the midst of God's universal kingdom as a point of rebellion.

And it is the only point really where the rebellion is focused in the universe. And here is the prayer, God, rule on earth as you rule everywhere else in your universe. And this brings us to the perspective of the mediated kingdom. In God's great glorious universal kingdom there is a little tiny stage of rebellion. Now when God created the world, He designed to rule on the earth through human instruments. Now keep that in mind.

That's the key. He designed to rule on the earth through human instruments. Now let me talk for a moment about this mediatorial kingdom. This kingdom which on earth is mediated through the instruments God chooses. As you look at the kingdom on earth as it is defined biblically, you must understand several things. And the first is this, that it is a kingdom composed of the true and the false. If you don't understand it, you get very confused biblically. That the kingdom is a term that encompasses all those who externally identify with the people of God. So you're looking at it from the earthly view. As we look at the kingdom of God on the earth, the mediatorial kingdom, we see outward profession and inward possession. And the fact of the matter is we really sometimes can't tell which is which, right?

We don't know always who's real and who isn't. Now this has been true in God's kingdom. You go all the way back when God began to mediate His kingdom after the fall. And there were people for example in the nation Israel through whom God was mediating His kingdom. There were people in the nation Israel who weren't really true to God, right? Remember what it says in Romans 9? Paul said this, All Israel is not Israel. All Israel is not Israel. He also said, A Jew is not a Jew who is one outwardly, Romans 2, but is one what?

Inwardly. So there will always be identified with the quote-unquote kingdom of God, both the true and the false. If you don't understand that, you get very confused. Let me give you an illustration of that right here in Matthew, back to chapter 8. It says in verse 12, an interesting word, But the sons of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Now if you know anything about the New Testament and anything about the gospels, you know that that is a description of what place? Hell. Eternal hell. Now it seems to me that believers do not go to hell. Is that true?

That is true. Believers do not go to hell. Unbelievers go to hell.

But would you notice the title of the people who are sent to hell here? What is their title? Sons of the what? Sons of the kingdom. Or we can conclude that not all sons of the kingdom are what?

Believers. And that is the whole point the Lord is making. So you must see within the framework of the kingdom, the true and the false. And we'll see that in Matthew 13 because growing together in the field is the wheat and the... Tares.

And we'll see that. Now if you want to see it from an... And by the way, this is consistent all through the scripture. If you look at John 15, I think you see another illustration of the very same principle. And people get confused about John 15 because they don't understand this concept. John 15 does not use kingdom terms. It uses the terms of vine and branches, which is an agricultural metaphor rather than a kingdom metaphor.

But nonetheless, the idea is the same. Jesus says, I am the true vine and you are the branches. Now, who are the branches? Who are the branches? Look at verse 2. Every branch in me.

Alright, the branches are people in Christ. Somehow. I'm not sure all that means yet in reading this. We have to go on. But every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away.

Did you hear that? You want to see what he does with it? Verse 6 tells you. Men gather them, cast them into a fire and they are burned. What do you think that describes?

Take a wild guess. Hell. It describes hell. Now it says a branch in me that doesn't bear fruit is going to be thrown into hell.

And you say, wait a minute. Does this mean you can lose your salvation? No, no, you see, go back to the kingdom principle. That you can be in the kingdom and not of the king.

You understand? You can be superficially attached. I think he's talking about a Judas branch at this point. Where the outward attachment is there but the obvious lack of life is manifest in the fact that there's no fruit.

There's no fruit. And this is the principle that you have to keep in mind as you get into Matthew 13. That the kingdom of God mediated today as we're living in this interim period, this time of the mystery kingdom, as at other times in the kingdom, will encompass the true and the false. And some of the sons of the kingdom and some of the branches that attach themselves are going to go to hell.

Because there was no real life there. There was no real subjection there to the king. Now then, you understand some very basic things about the kingdom. And this is what is in Matthew's mind as we come to chapter 13. He will show us the character of the kingdom as it will exist in this interim period in which we live. Now let me give you another thought about it. God's universal kingdom has no conditions for entrance.

Did you get that? God's universal kingdom has no conditions for entrance. If you are, you are in it. It's everybody and everything forever. But God's mediatorial kingdom has a condition. You're not in his mediated kingdom unless, according to Mark 1.15, you repent and believe the gospel.

That's what it says. Unless you repent and believe the gospel. If you do not do that, you are not in God's mediated kingdom. While you are in his universal kingdom, you will suffer under his universal rule over hell, but know not the blessing of heaven. And so the universal kingdom has no condition for entrance. The mediatorial kingdom does. And when Jesus was coming then and saying, repent and believe the kingdom is at hand, what was he asking men to come into?

The mediatorial aspect of his kingdom. The redeemed community. And there's no room for neutrality at this point. Over and again, the Lord was saying, you either receive me or you don't.

You're either for me or you're not. You're either accepting the king or rejecting the king, therefore either entering the kingdom or being kept out. And that was the thing that John the Baptist asked the Jews to decide, and that was the thing that Jesus asked them to decide. And tragically they decided the wrong thing, didn't they? They refused the king and therefore refused his kingdom.

Refused it. And so he pronounced judgment on them. And at that point, listen carefully, the full fulfillment of the kingdom was postponed. You say, does that mean there's no kingdom now? No, the kingdom now exists, but its primary definition is internal. Internal. In its full fulfillment, it'll be both internal and what?

External. And as you read the Scripture, you see Jesus Christ sitting on the throne of David in the literal city of Jerusalem raining with a rod of iron and the nations being brought to Jerusalem to see Him there and so forth, and that's the real kingdom of Jesus Christ. When I say real, I mean that external, objective, touchable reign of Christ on this literal earth that will come. And if you have any fears that that isn't going to come to pass, read Revelation 20. It says it'll come to pass on earth for a thousand years.

That's the millennial kingdom. It'll be preceded, as I said earlier, by the internal response to Christ on a worldwide basis and particularly by Israel, and then the kingdom will come and through them to reach the world. But for now, that external element of it, in its fullness, awaits the belief of Israel. And in the meantime, the kingdom is internal and God is reaching out across the world and bringing people into His kingdom through salvation.

I want to make one other statement of importance, I think, at this introductory level. In verse 11, would you notice a phrase there? Jesus says, It is given to you to know the mysteries. Now, that's why we call this the mystery form.

He called it that. The mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. Now, may I suggest to you that the term the kingdom of heaven is a very important term. It is used in verse 11. It is used in verse 24. It is used in verse 31.

It is used in verse 33, verse 44, verse 47, and then in verse 52. The phrase the kingdom of heaven is used then at least eight times. Now, some people have tried to suggest that the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God are different terms.

That is not true. It is simply another way of saying the kingdom of God, God being synonymous with heaven. The reason we know that is because in the parallel passage to this in Luke, the term the kingdom of God is used to refer to the same things.

So two titles used to refer to the same thing mean the same thing. And so we accept the fact that the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven are the same. That's not important to most of you.

It might be important to some of you. Now, just another note to try to help you define this period. The period in which we live is also called the church age. It is synonymous with the church age.

We are the unique mystery of this period. And that is defined for us rather explicitly by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 3. He says, This is the mystery which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men as now revealed to the holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit that the Gentiles would be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of the promise in Christ by the gospel. In other words, the mystery of this age is that you and Gentile would constitute a new body, a new identity, unknown. And that is the church. The church is the body of Christ, isn't it?

Made up of Jew and Gentile. That was not seen in the Old Testament. That was hidden from them. So is the sense in which this is the mystery age. This is the kingdom, but it is also the church age. Now, having said that, we must say that the kingdom is not the same as the church, and the church is not the same as the kingdom in this sense. The kingdom was before the church, and the kingdom concept goes beyond the church, but for this period of time they are one and the same. But the kingdom, you must see, is sweeping beyond those things. And I might add as well that in all of that sweep you will have within the kingdom both the true and the false. You had it in the Old Testament, didn't you?

With the nation Israel. You have it now in the church, and listen to this, you'll have it even in the millennium where right on the earth in the kingdom of Jesus Christ there will be believers and unbelievers as witnessed by the fact that at the end of that millennial time when Satan is loosed from the pit and goes about the earth, he gathers a multitude of people, doesn't he, and makes an army and fights against Jesus Christ. So whenever you're looking at the mediated kingdom on earth, whether you're looking Old Testament or millennium or any time in between, you always see the true and the false side by side. So we're not surprised today to find it, are we? We're not surprised today to find the church populated by unbelieving people.

It may not be that they admit it, but if the truth were known we would see that that is the case. Let's look at verses 1 and 2, and at least we'll get a very small start. Now, there are four things I want you to see. The place is, first of all, the place. And it's just a small little point, but I think it's an interesting kind of way to remember things. And then the plan, and then the purpose, and then the promise.

First, let's look at the place. Verse 1. The same day, what does that mean? What day? Well, the same day with whatever's been going on.

What's been going on? Well, Jesus is in a house, tells us at the end of chapter 12. And His mother and brothers and all came to Him. Prior to that, He was letting the Pharisees have it.

Prior to that, they had accused Him of blasphemy. Prior to that, He had, chapter 12, verse 22, healed a man possessed with a demon who was blind and dumb, perhaps deaf. It's been some day.

In fact, it may have been even that there have been other healings. It may have been a whole day full of healings, then He heals a demoniac, then He is blasphemed, then He pronounces judgment, then His parents come, then He gives an invitation at the end. And on the same day, well, what a day. What a day.

On the same day, He went out of the house and He sat by the seaside. Now, I know that that's just a geographical footnote. And I know that it doesn't convey any profound spiritual truth. And I suppose I stopped at that point and said to myself, why is all that there? Why does it even bother to say that?

It doesn't even really matter. It could have started in verse 3. He spoke many things unto them in parables.

You don't even need one and two. Because one says He went out of the house and sat at the seaside. And two says great multitudes are gathered together unto Him so that He went into a boat and sat.

And the whole multitude stood on the shore. And it's also interesting, I think, to note that at the beginning of His ministry, He seemed to be in houses quite a lot. Whereas as you begin to see His ministry from here on toward the end of His ministry, He seems to be outdoors a lot. And you see Him teaching by the seaside. You see Him teaching on the highways and the byways, in the village streets. You see Him on the hillsides. You see Him in the countryside. It's almost as if there's some sort of a subtle statement being made, isn't it?

This is a new dimension. The Kingdom is preached to the nations. And I note, too, as I kind of thought this through and traced it, it seemed to me that early in the life of Jesus, He spent more time in the synagogue. Later in the life of Jesus, He spent less time in the synagogues. And the times in His synagogues later in His life were extremely hostile.

There's a real turning here. And it says in verse 2, He found a great multitude. And it's an indiscriminate multitude, isn't it? And that was going to be the major thrust. Now, public curiosity was still very high about Jesus. In spite of the leader's rejection, there were many people who were interested in Him. He fascinated people. And they just mobbed Him. And it says that He had so many people pushing Him, they pushed Him into the water.

And I mean, I can understand that kind of pressure on someone like Him. Can you imagine if you could heal all the diseases there were? If you could speak the words that He spoke? I mean, you would be the attraction of all attractions. And they're basically in those days were not available books and sources of entertainment.

I mean, this would be the most fascinating thing going by a long shot. And the massive crowds just pushed Him. And in those days, they would take their little fishing boats and they would beach them up on the sand. And He found one of those beached boats.

And I'm sure He got His twelve to help Him or some of them. And they pushed the little thing off shore. And He went out about waist deep and got in the boat. And He probably had them standing in the water up to their waist, holding the sides of the boat or else He would have been spinning around or being carried along by the tide. And as the water flopped and lapped on the shore, He sat off the shore in His boat.

And they stood on the shore. And He spoke many things unto them in parables. And what He says, they didn't understand.

At all! You want to know something? That was the whole point. That was the whole point. What are you saying, John?

This. You don't listen when He speaks clear. He'll speak so you can't understand it.

You want to know something? First, He spoke to them in simple terms. No parables. Up to this point, there's not one parable recorded.

There are some wonderful allusions, figures of speech, but no parables. Because a parable unexplained is a riddle that can't be understood. So He spoke very clearly. Then when they didn't listen, He spoke riddles.

Listen to this. When they still didn't listen, 1 Corinthians 14 says, He spoke in a language they couldn't understand. The depth deeper and deeper into darkness.

And so a turning point. But to those who believed, He explained every single detail. And you'll understand them too if you believe as we go through this chapter. Let's bow in prayer. Father, thank You for sending the King, offering us His Kingdom. Thank You that if we repent and believe the gospel, we can enter the Kingdom. And even though the King was rejected, and even though the full fulfillment of the Kingdom in its internal and external glory awaits His second coming, we thank You that the internal element of the Kingdom is here and now. And the Kingdom is in our midst. For the King reigns in the hearts of His redeemed people. Thank You that we can be a part of the Kingdom.

Our hearts are grieved that the world today is no more eager to receive the King and His Kingdom than was Israel of old. And yet we rejoice, Lord, that even after the announcement of judgment, there was always the message of grace. Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavily laden, and I'll give you rest. He that doeth the will of my Father, the same is my brother and sister and mother. Always the message of grace. And so, Lord, to this rejecting world, we must preach the message of judgment because they too have rejected the King.

But for some, their hearts are opened to do Your will to come for rest. We would ask, Lord, today that if there are any in this place gathered who do not know Jesus Christ, that today they might open their hearts to Him. That they might be translated, as Paul put it, to the Colossians from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son. May they believe the gospel and repent, turning from their sin in sorrow and brokenness. And may they enter the kingdom to walk forever with the King. Father, I ask You to do Your work in every heart.

Bring those that You would have to come and bring us all to the place of confession, repentance, of a deeper commitment to You. Take this day, Lord, and make it Your own. Blessed abundantly in every person who turns to You. May they know the fullness of blessing beyond their greatest expectation. For Christ's sake we pray.

Amen. That's John MacArthur, Chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary. His current study on Grace To You is looking at the parables of the kingdom. Well, friend, before the lesson, John read a letter from a woman named Tracy who has benefited from our verse-by-verse teaching. God used Grace To You to draw her to Christ.

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