A Story for the Hard of Listening, Part 2

In the aftermath of a very busy day of ministry, Jesus sat down and began to tell the story's intention was to teach a life lesson using a simple metaphor that would ignite the imagination of those who stood by today on Insight for living Chuck Swindoll will re-create this dramatic scene book of Matthew. Doing so will help us understand the cultural implications parable told by Jesus and its application for you and me today. Teaching from Matthew chapter 13, Chuck titled today's message a story for the hardened list.

Just as there were those in years past, who gave their lives that we might know freedom so that was one who live and died for every one of us, promising us not only the hope of forgiveness and eternal life. But true freedom. Freedom from others expectations freedom from the grinding binding demands of the Mosaic law, freedom from one's own habits and the domination of sin as it runs through our lives all of our lives. If you don't know that freedom if you don't know that one who died.

What a perfect perfect moment for you to pause and receive him. He waits and like the other comment I made. Only you know, only you know if you have trusted in Jesus for eternal life. If you have not do that now that now please bell with me as we pray briefly in a world it is on fire and filled with panic, unrest, fear and depression. Her father, we who know your son.

Thank you for the peace that passes all understanding.

Thank you for his life and his sacrifice on our behalf.

Thank you that nothing was left for us to pay for but all was paid for at the cross.

For many of us first saw the light, the burden of our heart rolled away, but some still have not. We pray that on this weekend given for the purpose of reflecting on freedom and liberty in the sacrifice. It took two provided that those without Christ will come to him and we pray that you will upon their coming give them healing and hope in the reassurance. Nothing else can provide that they might know what we who know Christ. No, what it means to be still in our souls realize that God is God ministry we pray through your word today in a very special way. Give us ears not only to hear but combined with open hearts. May we listen admit make a difference in the way we live our father. We are grateful for our occupations the way we make our living. But we realize that you own it all you even give us breath in our lungs and give us a pulse beat in our hearts because you own it all, we pause to realize that whatever we give is already yours. I pray Lord that that might prompt us to be people with not only open hearts but open hand find favor with praying the gifts that are released today and the motive behind the giving and use these gifts in significant ways here and beyond the familiar world in which we live. These things we ask in the name of Christ because of him we give to him in his work through Jesus we pray.

Everyone said to study the book of Matthew with Chuck Swindoll. Be sure to download his searching the Scriptures.

Studies by going to Insight world.or/study another message from Chuck titled a story for the hard of listening. Jesus had one of those nonstop kind of days when I look back through chapter 12 beginning at verse two of chapter 12. They are eating grain and these confronted by the Pharisees, the same group of critics called the secret meeting in verse 14 of chapter 12 and the meeting was about finding a way to kill it.

Knowing about meeting Jesus escaped and kept right on healing as the crowds followed and is there anything more draining than the constancy of crowd that's in verse 15 of chapter 12 and when you know it with the time you get to verse 46 to 50 his own family shows up from Nazareth and they want to remove him and rescue him from himself because some of them believe he's lost it when you face a day like that. Look at verse one of chapter 13, it makes sense that Jesus would leave the house and sit beside the lake. Sounds like a great place for a little R&R will not last long because as soon as he is there the crowd locates him verse two and then they gather around and he has to get into a boat which becomes a perfect theater setting for there's no there's no public address system so his voice would carry easily over the shoreline and as they are sitting as they are standing. He is sitting in and he decides verse two that he would he would teach them and he told him many stories in the form of a parable. Always remember when you're reading your Bible to pay attention to unusual words.

One of them emerges in verse three he told many stories in the form of parable.

Parable interesting word. Actually, it's a combination of two Greek words power which means beside you play something par something you do it, beside it and Buffalo, which is the verb for to throw or to cast some time to place placing something alongside something else for the purpose of comparison to teach a particular truth. Furthermore, the truth, they teach is immediate either you immediately get it or you do not there designed to be like that. In other words, Jesus used these parables, these comparisons first of all to reveal truth to those who desired to get it and then to conceal truth from those who rejected it, denied sort of separated the listeners from those who had no interest what is the one truth that Jesus wanted to convey so he begins with the familiar parable start like that.

Familiar to people in the first century, though not familiar to 21st century people some of whom have never been on a farm, most of whom have never sewn seed in a field because were not of an agricultural typesetting in our lives a little explanation is helpful. A farmer would have the field plowed or you would plow it and then would attach a bag of seed to the waist or would hang shoulder bag strap of shoulder bag and he would reach inside and is he walked along he would randomly broadcast the scene tossing it here and there, and the seed would fall randomly on the soil. That's the picture could have been that there was a farmer on a hillside. Jesus is just like that farmer you've all seen it. You're all familiar. There was this farmer that so see he was planting scattering seed now want you to do something you don't normally do unless your among those that like to take notes I like you to take out a pen or pencil because I want you to mark or thing that I want to point out that they're important for us to understand this parable won't analyze it too much, but I do want you to see the various parts with your pen handy. I want you to verse four to mark the footpath or beside the road. It reads as he scattered the seed across the field.

Some fell on the footpath mark that is the first kind of soil that he uses to illustrate his point was the footpath well between rows.

There would often be provided a place for people to walk so they didn't crush the plants as they walked across the field and the everyman.

Something happened years ago. I just thought of it of we were driving from from San Francisco to Houston. I just got my orders cut is not to go overseas and we had a month off before 11 said and I got the brilliant idea to drive without stopping from San Francisco to Houston you do dumb things when you're early married and this was one of our dumber things and one of us said we would we would fix it up where one would sleep in the backseat and the other would drive. Hopefully would drive and one would sleep in the other project so we swapped all and we would break the other when upset you're turning get up, so one time we are outside take us Texas to pick us. Don't go but but anyway it it it's flatland and it's way out there and Cynthia woke up as the car was doing this. She's in the back sleep and I'm on the at the wheel and she said what in the world is going.

Isaiah is a rough road and I cannot. You know what I'd slept for about 7 miles from outside take us through three traffic lights into a cotton field. We were in the field going through this and she said I'm never going to trust you again. She said other things. I'm not going to get into, but but I remember thinking probably would be good idea to come all away. But anyway, we were not on the footpath. We work in the field where we should not abandon. Thankfully the farmer did not see us going knocking all the crops down the pathway keeps you from doing that kind of thing is your place to walk, but imagine everybody walking pathway. It gets as hard as a pavement.

If you drop seed on the pavement like on this desk here.

You just lie there and blow away, which is his point will get to it.

The moment to put my guts.

Ready. Look at verse five.

Other seed fell on your Bible may read Rocky Plaisance or rocky soil mind reads on shallow soil.

The reason is it's more shallow than Rocky will relate a rocky soil with a couple stones and rocks mingled in the in the soil, but it's not that this is a small shelf almost like a skin of of of dirt that lays on top of limestone, big slabs of limestone found all over Israel and in the shallow soil and obviously if seed lands. There it begins to germinate, but there's no place for the root to grow and the sun comes in pounds on it and the weather beats on it finally withers and and it and it doesn't grow it dies says that the University now get ready.

Here's 1/3 other seed fell among four not sound like they resist throwing seed ensemble actually in the plowing had not gotten all of the roots of boards out of there and hear these fibrous roots that are really foreign and thistles that as soon as the ground begins to be watered in the sunshine's thorns grow up along with the grain and the thorns overgrow the grain and choke out the grain so that it cannot produce in the new sprouts are are hindered from producing and we read the being. These tender plants that they were, or choked out, and of of no use, then the fourth is market fertile soil or your Bible may read good soil, nice clean soft, well cultivated or will plowed soil at the roots can go into and then the plant grows and is healthy and becomes productive. Verse 10. Naturally, his disciples are hearing this, and it unaware is going with it. They know all about soils, but they know what an agricultural class something more to this is configured out so they said, why do you use parables when you talk to the people.

His answer is significant. You're permitted to understand the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, and others are not to those who listen to my teaching at the keyword to those who listen to my teaching more understanding will be given they'll have an abundance of knowledge, but but for those who are not listening up circle not in my Bible for those who are not listening even what little understanding that will be taken from them. That's why I use parables.

Interesting isn't it all for soils receive the seed just as we'll see in a moment, all who have the seed planted in their lives.

Here but they don't all listen hard of hearing their part of listening. That's what he has in mind.

In fact he says in verse 13. They will they look but they don't really see and they hear, but that they don't really listen or understand. Then he quotes from Isaiah in verse 15 is significant because that's where the problem lies not in the auditory nerve not in the optical nerve but down deep in the hearts of these people hardened in their ears cannot hear in their eyes cannot see what I just interrupt here and in that make a statement so they will see the relevance of all of this. That explains why some of you as you sit and endure a message. Keep checking your watch, wondering how much longer and the answer is longer than you wish. And, and you're not your your your board. It is not of interest to you. You you want to yawn you really want to get up and scoot get out but others of you would say we should going on 30, 45 more minutes. I wish we had time to really dig even deeper than that because I love this. This explains why you know people who went with whom you're able to share God's truth and there they say to you in so many were just tell me more.

I just can't get enough of this, I will tell you all confess to you when I got seminary. I was in that category. I couldn't get enough. I clamored for a front row seat.

I want to be distracted by anything you I want to learn from everyone that was teaching the truth, I do. This was my one and only moment to glean as much as I could, I'd I wasn't that bright. I there were others far more bright than I but I had a hunger I like my heart was like a spline and I listened.

I listened I interacted.

I would often stay until the prop would check his watch to see how much longer this guys can ask questions I wanted more. I wanted not bragging, I'm just saying. My heart was opened but not everyone in the class and open hearts summer board seven fact dropped out of school after one year or two. Or they went through but it did mean that much. This is the picture here like some of you you believe about the time you finish lunch if your life depended on it. You could not repeat what you heard because you didn't listen what you heard it, but you have a heart problem, and as he puts it, the hearts of these people hardened just getting started with this fascinating word picture presented by Jesus, Chuck Swindoll titled today's message a story for the heart of listening and please stay with us because he is in the studio. Does your closing comment and to learn more about this ministry. Please visit us online@insightworld.org and Insight for living one of our major goals is to help you understand the Bible in new and fresh ways so you can integrate the truth of God's word into your life. It's not enough to simply hear Bible teaching and needs to sink into the fertile soil of a heart that's truly listening and if this approach is motivated you to spend more time in personal Bible study.

I remind you that Insight for living offers. The Swindoll study Bible. It's intentionally designed to help you grasp the meaning of God's word and to see how it applies to every aspect of your life with the Swindoll study Bible, opening your lab you have access to decades of Chuck's personal study and insight laid side-by-side with the Scriptures and its presented. Of course, in the approachable style.

You come to expect from Chuck to purchase a copy of the Swindoll study Bible go to Insight.org/offer or call us if you're listening in the United States dial 1-800-772-8888 Chuck you're devoting the entire year of 20, 21 to this first book in the New Testament, and already it's been eye-opening. Our current study through the gospel of Matthew has been absolutely delightful. How refreshing to read this eyewitness account from a man who actually walked alongside Jesus and one of our recent studies we saw Jesus teaching in the public square to a weary audience. He offered these comforting words when he said come to me all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear in the burden I give you his light all we never tire of hearing this column an invitation from Jesus. Do we his soothing words spill over us like a refreshing waterfall of hope, washing away our fatigue and replacing it with confidence. After all, the last year has been riddled with unwanted surprises has been during this season of hardship our nation and back, our entire world has been bombarded with emotional bombshells. The kind of rattler spirit and make us feel well exhausted to his listeners and again to us today, Jesus opens his arms and says come to me and I will give you rest, my friend, this is our mission at Insight for living ministries and it's my promise to you today. As long as God gives me breath I will declare these promises from God as accurately and enthusiastically as I know how but I cannot walk this journey all alone.

As we approach 30 June deadline that we face. I need people like you to come along with me now why you may ask because you and I hold the key to liberating people from their spiritual and emotional exhaustion together. We are stewards of the good news. So my question to you when you come alongside Insight for living ministries right now with a generous financial gift. When you do your gift will be used to reach battle weary listeners real people who crave real soul rest from Jesus that you and I have come to rely on every day. Thank you for listening to my heart.

And thanks for responding today and let me explain how you can respond to Chuck Swindoll.

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