The Mystery of the Kingdom of God

There was a painter, a tradesman by the name of Jack, who was very interested in making a dollar where he could. So he often would thin down his paint to make it go a wee bit further. As it happened, he got away with it for some time. Eventually, the local church decided to do a big restoration project. Jack put in the painting bid, and because his price was so competitive, he got the job.

And so he started erecting the trestles and putting up the planks, and buying the paint and thinning it down with turpentine. Jack was up on the scaffolding, painting away the job nearly done, when suddenly there was a thunderous clap of thunder. The sky opened and the rain poured down, washing the thin paint down from all over the church, and knocking Jack off of the scaffold to land on the lawn. Jack was no fool. He knew this was a judgment from the Almighty.

So he fell on his knees and cried, Oh God, forgive me, what should I do? And from the thunder, a mighty voice spoke, Repaint, repaint, and thin no more. I’m glad we’re able to stand in a beautiful church this morning, where there was no such delusion that was done, and we’re able to enjoy the benefits of people of God giving, and in a beautiful church that has been completely looking different as I speak to you this morning. We’re starting a new sermon series this morning, unveiled, revealing the mysteries found in God’s word.

And so the question immediately comes, what is a mystery? And this is something that is difficult to understand and for us to know. But that’s not really what God’s word mean by mystery. Mystery is defined to us in Colossians 1:26. And there he talks about a mystery and it tells us what it is. The mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generation, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people.

Colossians 1:26 tells us the definition of mystery as it is given to us in God’s word, especially the New Testament. It is something that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to Lord’s people. There are two things that are necessary for something to be defined as a mystery in God’s word. And it is this, it is hidden or unveiled not fully in the Old Testament, but is revealed in the New Testament in the fuller revelation of God, especially through the coming of his son.

Something that is hidden or hinted in the Old Testament, but now fully revealed in the New Testament. So with the help of the Lord, the Holy Spirit, we will go through the next few weeks, going through mysteries that are revealed to us in the New Testament that were hidden in the Old Testament. What we’re focusing on today and next week is this first mystery, the mystery of the kingdom of God. The Old Testament talks quite a bit about the kingdom of God, but the Old Testament prophecies mainly focus on the millennial reign of our Lord, when he will come and reign by sitting on the throne of David, ruling over the kingdoms of this world.

The Old Testament has a lot to say about it, but the Old Testament is largely silent on this mystery of the kingdom of God that’s introduced to us by the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the reign of our Lord that is already happening between his first coming and his second coming. And we are living in the age of the kingdom of God. We are living in a kingdom age today, where God, Jesus has not established his physical kingdom in this world, but he has established his spiritual kingdom already in this world.

And that spiritual kingdom is in the hearts of the people who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ has his kingdom already in the world, and he reigns in the hearts of his believers through his kingdom. And that’s what we are focusing on as we talk about the mystery of the kingdom of God. The Old Testament kind of hinted towards it in some passages, but not clearly. But it is our Lord who clearly taught about the coming kingdom through his coming in his first coming.

And we see that being starting off in Matthew 13:1 onwards. Matthew chapter 13 is an important division, is an important chapter in God’s word, especially the writing of Matthew. Matthew chapter 13 is kind of the dividing point of the ministry of our Lord. In Matthew chapter 1, Matthew proved to us that the Lord Jesus Christ is the rightful honor to sit on the throne of David that promised the Messiah through his genealogy that traces back to David and even to Abraham as well.

Then in chapter 2, by the coming of the wise men from a faraway land to bring his gifts to us, shows to us again his kingship and the fact that he is the rightful ruler that has come into this world. As we go through the book of Matthew, we see in Matthew chapters 2 and 3, not only the coming of the wise men, but the proclamation by John the Baptist about the kingdom that is about to come to the king that is coming.

Then starting in chapters 5 through 7 on the Sermon on the Mount, what we read about are the principles of the kingdom of God. How the people in the kingdom are expected to behave and act by the king who is telling them the principles of the kingdom of God. Continuing on in chapters 8 through 10, we see the miracles of the king being performed in Matthew chapters 8 through 10. That shows to us again a further validity of the king by the miracles that he would perform that are listed to us in Matthew chapters 8 through 10.

When you come to Matthew chapter 11, it is the pronouncement of judgment against the cities in which those miracles were performed as now they are rejecting the king, the Messiah. And Jesus is telling them, if the miracles that happened in you were done in places like Sodom and Gomorrah, they repented a long time ago. And Jesus is pronouncing condemnation and judgment upon the cities that are rejecting the king and the rightful king that has come into their midst.

In chapter 12, the climaxing of the rejecting of the king happens where the Pharisees are not only rejecting Jesus, the Messiah, but attributing his work to the work of the devil. So we see the progression of the rebellion of the people as we go from Matthew chapters 1 through chapter 12. Progressively, Jesus has been trying to reveal to them that he is the Messiah, that he is the king who has come to establish his throne and he is trying to communicate through his birth, through his life, through his miracles, all about the king that has been prophesied in the Old Testament.

But progressively, the people are increasing in their rebellion against him. So much so that they’re not only rejecting him, by the time you come to Matthew chapter 12, they’re saying that he is doing all this by the help of the devil himself. And so they have gone completely opposite against him in the rejection of him.

In the context of that, we come to Matthew 13:1. That same day, Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. The Bible doesn’t say which house this is, but we know from God’s word that Jesus did not own his own house. So this is thought to be probably the house of Peter, which was in Capernaum and the Sea of Galilee was right by it. So he was now leaving the house of Peter and he is sitting by the lake or by the Sea of Galilee.

Verse 2, such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it while all the people stood on the shore. The Bible doesn’t say how many were gathered over here, but Matthew tells us it was a large crowd of people who were there. And Jesus, in order to be able to communicate properly to them, withdraws himself from the shore and he gets on a boat. While everyone is standing around him, he himself being the teacher is sitting almost in a circular way, right there on the boat, surrounded by the people on the shore.

There is no amplifier. There is no modern equipment to be able to communicate. And how Jesus communicated to maybe hundreds, thousands of people like this is somewhat of a mystery, but we get a little bit of a hint behind this in the way people used to speak at that time. For example, in the ministry of George Whitefield, who would come and preach the gospel here in America, he said that sometimes he spoke to a crowd of 20,000 people without any kind of an amplification system.

It was the way the place was set up, the way the people gathered around, where one person was able to stand and speak at such a thunderous voice that everyone was able to properly hear what was spoken. So it is not unimaginable to think that Jesus would be able to speak to large crowds of people, maybe even numbering in the thousands just by using his human voice. Verse three, Then he told them many things in parables, saying, A farmer went out to sow his seed.

There are seven parables that are listed in Matthew chapter 13. Out of those seven parables, three are found in the gospels of Mark and Luke. A fourth one is found in the gospel of Luke as, I’m sorry, a fourth one is found in the gospel of Luke as well. But there are all these seven parables are only found in the gospel of Matthew. And this is the first time the word parable is used in the gospel of Matthew.

Until this time, when Jesus was teaching, especially as we read about in Matthew chapter 5, Matthew chapter 6, Matthew chapter 7, continuing on when he performs the miracles, he is speaking to them in plain language, easy for them to understand. For the first time, Jesus starts speaking to them in parables. There’s a purpose behind the use of parables.

Oftentimes, we think of parables as stories that are used and they’re correctly said to illustrate something spiritual, to make it easier for us to understand. But we see here in a moment that Jesus used parables, not only to make it easy for the people to understand what he was teaching them, but also difficult for others to understand. So don’t ever think of parables as always being simple stories that are easy to understand.

Parables have a dual purpose in the ministry of the Lord Jesus. Reveal the truth to those who already received it and more of it, but conceal it from others who already have rejected him and their hearts have been hardened to the truth of God’s word. A parable, probably the right definition is this. It is a story that is laid alongside a great truth.

So if you think of the word parallel, parable goes along with it. Something of a great truth needs to be communicated. In order to communicate that great truth, a story is placed parallel to it so that when you understand the story, you understand the truth as well. It is a earthly story that is stated to communicate a heavenly truth to the mind of the hearers. That is what a parable is.

And so Jesus tells us the first parable in Matthew 13:4 onwards. A man went out to sow the seed. One thing that is common in this story is this. The one who is sowing the seed and the seed itself. What is different in the different instances is a soil upon which the seed is flowing.

The preacher is the same, the word of God is the same, but the one that is receiving the word is different. Just like we have, you know, hundreds of people sitting here listening to me this morning. I can probably divide you up also into these four groups. This morning as well. The preacher is the same, the word of God is the same, but the soil in every single one of you is different.

And the question that should be asked this morning is, what kind of soil is receiving the word this morning? And one of the important things as an encouragement to preachers that we find in God’s word is that even in Jesus’ preaching, probably the greatest preacher that ever walked on the face of the earth, some people sat there with hearts that were not prepared to receive it.

So if we have people here that are sleeping this morning, if we have people here that are listening to certain words, but not really grasping it, not internalizing it, we should not get very discouraged in our hearts because even Jesus had receptive soils just like that. So as he was scattering the seed, so in this instance, this man is going into a field and he has a bunch of seeds in his hand and he is scattering the seed in different places.

Some fell along the path and the birds came and ate it up. We don’t know, this is probably not intentional, these seeds falling on the path, but the path is not the place to sow the seeds. And immediately the birds who seem to have eyes and a different kind of a sense to sense these things when they happen. If you really want to know how good these birds are, just put some breadcrumbs on the side of the street and see how long it takes for a bird to come and snatch it up. It doesn’t take very long at all. The birds came and ate it up.

Verse five, some fell on rocky places where they did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow. So now the second place is not the beaten path, but a rocky place, somewhere along the place where it should be. It has some soil in it. Because of the fact that it has some soil in it, it sprang up quickly.

It almost has kind of a heating effect where the rocky place is a little bit elevated above has some soil. Immediately the seed produced some fruit, but because the soil was so shallow, it was not able to withstand the heat of the sun and it quickly withered away. Verse six, but when the sun came up, the plants were scorched and they withered because they had no root.

So some soil that caused the plant to grow very quickly, but not enough soil for the root to take place. So it could be like you hear God’s word in this instance, but if I were to ask you at 1.30 in the afternoon, what you heard, it is not there anymore. Not much soil, little bit of a soil, little bit of entertainment, little bit of inspiration, little bit of a way to change, but not enough soil to produce lasting fruits. And quickly the soil, the seed is wasted.

Verse seven, other seed fell among the thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Even while sitting here, worry about kids, worry anxiety about the future, thinking about the next shift, thinking about the night shift, thinking about tomorrow, thinking about money problems, all these worries, there is not enough room for the proper seed to grow. There is a competition that is happening between the truth of God’s word and the worry and the anxiety of your life.

We all have limited capacities and capabilities in our heart. The heart is not properly cultivated and ready to receive God’s word. We’ll talk more about this next week. Verse eight, still other seed fell on good soil, but it produced a crop 160 or 30 times what was sown. So in comparison to the beaten path, the rocky place, the place filled with all kinds of thorns along with the good soil, here is a good soil that is ready to receive what is sown.

And look at the harvest that is being produced, 160 or 30 times what was sown. This number is actually phenomenal. In Palestine in that day, you know what the average crop produced? Eight times. Eight times what was sown, what was the average harvest in Palestine at that time. A good and outstanding crop was considered to be 10 times the seeds that were harvested.

But what is Jesus saying here? What is the lowest number Jesus has? 30. Three times the outstanding crop in Palestine at that time is what is produced when it is a good soil and the seed falls on the good soil. See, what Jesus is trying to illustrate to them is that beyond anything that is naturally possible, beyond anything that is naturally expected by the common man, when you receive God’s word the right way, it can produce fruit that is even three times the most outstanding fruit that is available in the nature.

It is something even beyond what human beings can ever construct, is the work that God can do when the soil is right. The best farmer out there can only produce 10 times the harvest, but even the one who receives God’s word the right way, the least benefit that you get from it is three times the best harvest that is out there. Some look at, are able to produce 60 times and 100 times because the soil is right.

And then Jesus says to them in verse nine, whoever has ears, let him hear. This almost seems like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? Anybody here without ears? It means everybody should be hearing. What Jesus is saying is that you can hear and still not hear. In fact, everybody sitting here this morning is hearing me, but not everybody is hearing me. Everybody has ears, but not everybody is hearing properly.

See, the sound of what I’m saying can fall on the drum of your ear, but it can fail to fall on the tablet of your heart. There’s a big difference between the words falling in the ear and the words falling on the heart. Our Lord will repeat this phrase over and over and over again. Eight times in the Gospels, our Lord would say this word, whoever has ears, let him hear what I have to say.

Then from glory, he would utter these words eight times in the book of Revelation. While speaking to the churches, he would say, whoever has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. So 16 times in the New Testament, the Bible repeats over and over again, whoever has ears, let him hear what the Spirit has to say. You know why? Because the Lord knew, the Holy Spirit knows that not everyone who has ears is hearing it properly, nor internalizing what God wants to speak to them.

And just like that day, we are also living in a generation who is not receiving the word of God as it should be received in their life as well. Are you sensitive to God’s word? Even this morning, as you’re sitting here, are you able to hear what God’s word is telling to you? The half-brother of Jesus would write a few years later in James 1:22. Do not merely listen to the word and deceive yourself. Do what it says.

You know who is able to produce the fruit that the word intensifies? The one who not only receives the word, but also does what the word is saying. But if you just hear the word and walk away, you are deceiving yourself. And you’re deceiving yourself. You’re not deceiving God. God already knows you. You are deceiving yourself. And it says, do what the word says.

As a Psalmist would cry out in Psalm 85:8, I will listen to what God the Lord says. And this should be the attitude of our heart as we come to receive God’s word. That I want to listen not only to what I’m hearing, I want to internalize into my heart. I want it to make a difference in my heart. I want it to impress upon my heart so that whatever I’m hearing on a Sunday morning, whatever I’m hearing on a Friday morning, whatever I’m hearing on a Saturday night is not just words to me, but these are words that is able to bring forth the fruit that is intended for in my life.

So the question comes, what kind of a soil that I have in my life? There are many people who have the ears, but they don’t listen to them. In Ezekiel 12:2, the prophet says they have ears to hear, but they hear not. In Acts 7:57, they were stopping their ears as they raged against Stephen because they did not want to hear anything he was saying. All they were interested in was taking the life of Stephen.

Some in 2 Timothy 4:4 says, some turned their ears to hear from the truth. Some in 2 Timothy 4:3 says, some have itching ears. You know what itching ears are? Only hearing what you want to hear. In fact, I could be speaking the truth and you could just hear what you want to hear. Those are itching ears. Stopped up ears, itching ears. It has nothing to do with allergies, by the way. It has to do with the condition of your heart.

Ears, all these terminology are asking how our heart is as we sit in the presence of God. It is said that John Burroughs, who is a naturalist, could walk along a noisy street and overhear a cricket in the hedge. His ear was so tuned to the little voices of nature so that he could walk the street like a busy street, like New York City, and still hear a cricket in the hedge. The question this morning is that, how tuned up your ear and my ear is to hear God’s word.

Are we deaf? Have we become calloused? Have we become so controlled by the worries of this world that the word of God is not able to take deep root in our hearts? And God’s word says, don’t be like that. Be like Samuel that says, oh Lord, speak to me, here is your servant. I’m willing to listen. And God would speak to him. That’s what God wants us to have.

Every single time we come together, the attitude of our heart should be the heart of Samuel, the little boy who would say, Lord, here am I. Speak to me today. I want to hear what you have to say to me. That’s what God wants us to have. Jesus says, whoever has ears, let him hear.

Matthew 13:10. The disciples came to him and asked, why do you speak to the people in parables? So remember, this is the first time Jesus at least recorded in the Bible that he is speaking to them in parables. And the disciples are confused. Why? Why? You who spoke so plainly, why are you telling us a story now and telling us in parables the way you are teaching?

In Mark’s gospel, this actually happens much later on in the day. The Bible says, after all the people had gone away, as he was left alone with the 12 disciples and other disciples of the Lord, they came to him and said, why are you speaking to us in parables? Jesus answered to them and give us the first principle of the mystery of the kingdom of God.

Verse 11, he replied, because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Here is the reason why I am speaking to them in parables. The secrets about the kingdom that I am about to establish in this world are not for them, but it is for you. You know why? They’ve already rejected me as the Messiah. I am not going to continue to throw truths about my kingdom to them, because there are rebellious people whose heart is already hardened by the disobedience of their heart. And I is unwilling to dispense truth into their life.

Why? 13:12, whoever has will be given more. They will have an abundance. Whoever does not have even what they have will be taken from them. You are my disciples. You’ve already believed in me. You believe the truth, and guess what I’m going to do? I’m going to give you more of that truth. But these people out there, they’ve already rejected me. And so you know what I’m going to do? Even the little they have, I’m going to take it away from them. When I was teaching plainly to them, they were understanding little things about me. But you know what? Even that was not enough for them. They started blaspheming the name of the Lord. They started rejecting me as the Messiah. So even the little they have, I am going to take it away from them. But to you, I am going to give it to you in abundance.

13:13, this is why I speak to them in parables. Though, that he starts quoting from the book of Isaiah. Though seeing, they do not see. Though hearing, they do not hear or understand. Isaiah talked about this. And in the immediate context, he was talking about the people of Israel, how they were seeing and hearing different things, but they were not really seeing or hearing or understanding. So God will give them into the hands of judgment that will come upon them. But this was also a prophecy about the coming Messiah coming, speaking words of life to them. The one they’ve been waiting for standing in front of them, yet they do not understand him. They don’t hear him properly. They don’t see him properly.

And so in 13:14, it says, in them, in these people is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah. You will be ever hearing, never understanding, ever seeing, but never perceiving. It is my prayer that this will not be told of anyone that is sitting here this morning. Ever hearing, never understanding, ever seeing, but never perceiving. The tragedy of our lives will be, if the Holy Spirit looks at our lives and say, you’re ever hearing God’s word, but you are not understanding it. You are ever seeing the words of God, but you are not perceiving the truths of God. So he says to them, 13:15, for this people’s heart has become calloused.

The problem is not a hearing problem. The problem is not an eye problem. This is not something that can be fixed by going to ENT or an ophthalmologist or optometrist. This is a heart problem. The problem of the heart, the heart of the problem is what? Is the problem of the heart. That’s exactly what it is. It’s not a hearing problem. It is not a lack of God’s word. It is a heart problem. I’ve often said this before. We’re living in a generation that has access to God’s word more readily than any generation in the history of the world. But yet the hearts of the people have become so calloused. They’re ever hearing, but not understanding, ever seeing, and not perceiving.

They hardly hear with their ears. They have closed their eyes. Even when their eyes are open, they’re still closed. Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them. Look at the heart of God. He wants to heal them. He wants to restore them. He wants to bring them back. But because of the calloused hearts and their eyes, ears, and their hearts that are shut off to the truth of God’s word, God is unable to heal them because they are not turning back to the living God and receiving the healing and restoration He alone can give. It is the problem of the heart.

God is not at fault. It is a problem with our heart. You know why we are broken? You know why we are not healed? I’m not talking about physical healing here. God’s word is talking about spiritual healing. You know why we don’t receive the restoration we need to have in our life? The problem is not with the one who is willing. The problem is with the one who is unwilling to yield himself to the word of God and obey it in their heart. So God says to us, 13:16, blessed are your eyes because they see and blessed are your ears because they hear.

If you see the things of God, like God wants to see, you know what God’s word calls you? Blessed. If you hear God’s word, the way it should be heard, you know what God’s word calls you? Blessed. The Bible doesn’t call the rich blessed. The Bible doesn’t call the famous blessed. The Bible calls those who are blessed are those who hear the word of God and do what the word of God says them to do. Those are the ones that are blessed in the eyes of the Lord. It’s not the people of the world. It’s the people of God who belong in the kingdom who hear, receive the word of God as it should be received.

13:17, for truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people long to see what you see, but did not see it and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it. Jesus is telling them what you are seeing, the Messiah standing before you, thousands of years. In fact, 4,000 years, they long to see this. They long to hear these words. But when the word came, when the one they were waiting for came, your generation has refused to acknowledge him. But what you’re standing before you, the word that you’re hearing is the hope and the way that we’re waiting for for thousands and hundreds of thousands of years.

Look at 1 Peter 1:10-11. Concerning this salvation, the prophets who spoke of the grace that was come to you search intently and with great care. Every prophet in every generation asked the question, is this the generation where we will see the coming of the Messiah? Not only that, trying to find out the time and the circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when it predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. For 4,000 years, every generation was waiting and asking the question, is this the generation that would see the coming of the Messiah? The Bible even says, they even understood that the Messiah had to suffer.

They even understood that the Messiah would reign and they were waiting. But when he came, they did not recognize him because their hearts were not ready to receive his word. You know how much the Old Testament saint longed and knew about the coming Messiah is still a little bit of a mystery to us. But the Bible gives us some clues here and there that they were directed and guided by truths more than we realize. The Bible says, Abraham looked forward to this day with gladness in his heart. Longed to see that day. But nowhere in the Old Testament does it say that Abraham knew anything about the Lord Jesus Christ.

There was a revelation that was given to him about the coming Messiah that was not clearly made known to us until we came to the New Testament. Look at Hebrews 11:26. There’s not a single verse in the Old Testament that talks about Moses knowing anything about Christ. But look at what the Holy Spirit writes to us in Hebrews 11:26. He regarded disgrace for the sake of who? Christ. That tells me that he knew something about Christ. I don’t know how, but he says here, he actually became a person who was willing to suffer with the people of God because he thought about the sufferings of the coming Messiah.

This is beautiful when you think about it. That he was directed by a motivation that was greater than his present circumstances. That he looked forward to the coming Messiah and his suffering. Regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as a greater value than the treasures of Egypt because he was looking ahead to his reward. So Moses knew the Messiah would come. Moses knew the Messiah would suffer. Moses also knew that the Messiah would be glorified. Moses also knew that the Messiah would one day give a great reward to those who are faithful to him. That’s why he forsook the pleasures of Egypt and suffered with the people of God.

Jesus is saying, people like Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, many men like that look forward so intently for this day when the Messiah would stand before them and speak these words to them. But when he did it, majority of the people on that day rejected him because their hearts were not ready to receive him. But this shows to us the mystery of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is revealed to those who are willing to receive it. And I think about Moses on that day on the Mount of Transfiguration. Even long before that, Moses already knew about the glory of the Messiah, obviously being in heaven.

But can you imagine on that day when the Lord changed himself and became in all his glory? Moses would have thought in his heart, I’m so glad that many years ago, I rejected the treasures of Egypt and suffered with the people of God. Look at the glory of the one who is standing before me. How great is his glory? And he would have thought, I am so glad that I said no to Pharaoh. I’m so glad that I said no to the presence of Egypt because the one standing before me is so greater than any Pharaoh I have ever known or the presence of Egypt. And what he’s able to give to me is so much greater than anything in the world could ever give to me.

Moses would have rejoiced to see on that day when he saw the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me leave you with three things as I end. First one is this. Only those who accept the King can understand the teachings about his kingdom. Only those who know the King, who accepted the King, that is what we are. Only us can understand the teachings about his kingdom. This should not come as a surprise to you. The majority of the world rejects the Bible. Why? Only people in the kingdom can understand the teachings of the King. To the rest of the world, it is foolishness to them.

Secondly, both the revealing and the concealing of the mystery of God’s kingdom is an act of mercy on the part of God. God reveals more of himself to us. Why? Because God is merciful towards us. In fact, you and I cannot understand anything about God and his purpose. Otherwise, the Holy Spirit opened our hearts to understand more about God. But you know what else God does? He conceals it from the rebellious. He conceals it from those who have already hardened their hearts. You know why? The more revelation that is given to them, the greater the judgment is going to be in their life as well.

So God says, enough is enough. I am going to stop revealing myself to them. Thirdly, we worship the Lord who has opened our eyes and ears to receive the King into our lives. This morning as you sit here, your understanding the world does not have is because God has graciously opened your hearts to understand the things of God. It is not for the unregenerate. It is not for the rebellious. It is not for the calloused. But to the one who come to him humbly, receiving him, he reveals himself more to him. Let me end with this.

The story is told of a college professor who asked this question. How many of you in this Bible class, this class believe the Bible is the word of God? He said it with such a sneer on his face that none would raise their hand except for one Christian young man there in that class. And he knew that he must be true to his Lord and Savior. So he lifted his hand and confessed that he believed that the Bible was the word of God and that he loved the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Savior. Then that professor began to cut this young man down.

Immediately at the beginning of the class, he ridiculed the Bible, ridiculed Christianity, ridiculed his superstition and as some kind of man-made stuff that was out of date and so forth. Then the professor sort of climaxed all that he had to say by saying, young man, I want you to know that the Bible is a bundle of blunders and a book of nonsense. I have read it and it makes no sense to me. And that young man not faced by any of this says, sir, may I say a word to you now? And the professor said, what is it? He said, sir, the Bible is God’s love letter to his children.

If you have read it and it does not make any sense to you, it is because you have been reading someone else’s mail. That letter, this letter would never make any sense to the world. It’s not a letter meant for them. It’s a letter meant for you and me. This word will never make any sense to the world. Don’t be puzzled by that. Don’t be fooled by the fact that your professors in college does not understand God’s word. They are not meant to understand God’s word because their hearts have never been open to the truth of God’s word.

Only those in the kingdom of God receive God’s word with gladness. Only they understand it. To the rest of the world, it is absolute foolishness. This is God’s communication to the redeemed. Only the redeemed will understand the mysteries and the wonders of God’s word. So you know what the redeemed do? They feed on it every day. They receive it with gladness. They allow the soil of their hearts to be prepared to receive God’s word. They constantly ask the question, is my heart ready to receive God’s word that is only given to me?

Understand the uniqueness of who you are in the world. Understand the preciousness of this word that has been given to you. Every single time you read it, this is God’s letter to you, to you, to you, and not revealed to anyone else. So always ask the question, is my heart calloused? Am I allowing the worry and anxieties of this world to crush the power of God’s word in my life? Am I allowing Satan to come and rob me of this precious gift that has been given to me? No, I want the heart of my soil to be so ready. Always saying, speak to me, oh God.

Speak to me, oh God. Change me, oh God. I want the seeds to fall on fresh ground, on beautiful ground, so that the fruit that my Heavenly Father intends for me to have will always flourish and come forth in my life. More than anything the world can produce, 30 fold, 60 fold, 100 fold. I want fruits to come out of my life because the soil of my heart is ready to receive God’s word as should be rightfully received. I pray that we will always ask this question. And remember, the mysteries of God’s kingdom are only for those who are already in the kingdom.

That’s the first principle that we find in the mystery of the kingdom of God. Let’s look to the Lord in prayer. Lord, we thank you for your word this morning, oh God. And as we have been reminded so clearly from your word, help us to have soil that is fit for the precious word. Help us to remove all the things that are standing as obstacles in way of it, oh God. Give us ears that truly hear. Give us eyes that truly see. Give us hearts that truly understand.

So that what has been said of them in the past will not happen to us. That our hearts will never become calloused. Always be ready to receive God’s word. Be with us as we go into your table. Give us a heart of contrition and humility before you, oh God. Thank you for hearing our prayer. For the name of the Lord Jesus that we pray, amen.