All right, let's take our Bibles
and turn with me to the book of Matthew chapter 13. Matthew
chapter 13. I'd like to deal with verses
53 through the end of this chapter, verse 58. Now the Lord, in our
last study, asked his disciples a striking question. When he
finished teaching these seven parables in this particular chapter
that we dealt with, he asked him this, verse 51. Have you
understood all these things? You know, understanding what
we're hearing is vital, to understand it. Back in the book of Nehemiah,
I'll just read this for you. Chapter 8, Ezra the priest with
some other preachers were teaching the people. And it says in Nehemiah
8.8, So they read in the book of the law of God distinctly. That is, they read faithfully. They read exactly what God said
and gave the sense cause them to understand the reading. You
know, it does people no good if they hear, merely hear, the
word of God being preached or read without understanding the
meaning. I mean, you can hear something,
and you know it's scriptural, you know it's a biblical word,
you know it's a biblical phrase, and you just You hear it and
you say, I know that's out of the Bible, but you don't understand
what's being said. J.C. Ryle said this, he said,
a sermon without understanding and application is like a letter
stamped, but it doesn't have a destination written on it. He said, it may be well written,
rightly dated, and duly signed, But it's useless because it has
no destination on it. Nobody knows where to send it.
It's just, he said, that's a letter of no understanding. Whoever
the writer wanted to get to, they're not going to get it.
They don't get it. My mother told me that when she was growing
up in South Louisiana, She grew up going to a church and all
the services that she heard was performed in Latin. And she didn't
understand Latin. Everything that she was hearing
she probably heard before and didn't understand it then either.
But you know there's thousands and thousands today who hear
just like this. with absolutely no understanding.
I mean, they're hearing, first of all, they may be hearing a
false message in their native tongue that's being read, scriptures
that are being read out of their native tongue. And because the
one doing the preaching is giving no understanding, no understanding
concerning man in his natural state, no understanding or knowledge
of God in His holiness, no knowledge concerning Christ, no knowledge
concerning salvation, which is by God's sovereign grace, they're
hearing the words read. How many times has men sat in
a false church, and they can read, they read the Word of God,
read it. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. They
heard it, but they didn't get it. They did not understand it. How many are sitting in true
churches, where the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is being
preached, and they also hear exactly what's being said, but
with no understanding. The Spirit of God must bless
our hearing for us to have a heart of understanding. They must be
made to understand. So the Lord asked His disciples,
do you understand what I'm saying? And they said, yes Lord. And then the Lord exhorted them. He told them, He said, then I
want you, and this is found in that 51st verse also, I'm sorry,
52. Then said He unto them, Therefore,
since you understand, every scribe which is instructed unto the
kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a householder,
which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.
He said, I want you, since you understand and are stewards of
what you've been taught, I want you to bring forth those things
to those that you are teaching the treasure of the gospel, things
that are not only familiar to you and to them, but also that
which the Lord has been pleased to reveal lately unto you. Anybody that thinks that they
know everything right now is deceived. We don't know everything.
We're ever learning, ever coming to a knowledge. So now in Matthew
13, let's look, let's start in verse 53. He's gotten done. He's taught these disciples,
these hearers, He taught them these parables. He asked his
disciples, do you understand what you've heard? Yes. He said,
then go teach them. Then verse 53, 54. And it came
to pass, when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence.
And when he was coming to his own country, he taught them in
their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished and said,
whence hath this man this wisdom? and these mighty works. Now, in the book of Mark, chapter
6, verses 1 and 2, it tells us what day. Same event. Mark said it was on the Sabbath
day that the Lord had gone into the synagogue. Sabbath day. And
the Lord did what He normally did. He talked in the synagogue. He was in, now, Nazareth. says he came to pass, he was
gone into his own country, now he's in Nazareth, he's in the
town that he grew up in, and coming home, now he's met with
some opposition. The people, as he taught them,
the people were amazed with bewildered wonder, and they said, Where
did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? In blind unbelief. They're looking at him, they're
seeing and they don't see. They're hearing and they don't
hear. And they're completely ignoring
the obvious. He had told them who He was. And they're listening to Him
preach, and they've been beholding His miracles. And He comes to
His own townsfolk, comes to His own family, where His own family
is, people that He grew up with. And they were amazed at Him,
bewildered at Him. The gospel of Luke declares how
quickly his teaching caused them to turn on him. Turn to the book
of Luke chapter 4. Luke 4. Luke 4. I want to read verses 16 to 32. This is the same account, same
instance. Luke 4 starting in verse 16. And he came to Nazareth where
he had been brought up as his custom was. into the synagogue
on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. And there was delivered
unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened
the book, he found the place where it was written, the Spirit
of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach
the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight
to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. to preach
the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book. He gave
it again to the minister and sat down. The eyes of all of
them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he
began to say unto them, this day is this scripture fulfilled
in your ears. And they all bear him witness
and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of
his mouth. And they said, is not this Joseph's
son? And he said unto them, ye will
surely say unto me, this proverb, physician, heal thyself. Whatsoever we've heard done in
Capernaum, do also here in thy country. And he said, verily
I say unto you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.
But I tell you of a truth. Many widows were in Israel in
the days of Elijah when the heaven was shut up three years, six
months, when great famine was throughout all the land. But
unto none of them was Elias sent save unto Sarepta, a city of
Sidon, a Gentile place, unto a woman that was a widow. And
many lepers were in Israel at the time of Elias, Elijah, the
prophet. And none of them was cleansed,
saying, Naaman the Syrian. And all they in the synagogue,
when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose
up and thrust him out of the city, and led him under the brow
of the hill, on their city was built that they might cast him
down headlong. But passing through the midst of them went his way. He came down to Capernaum, a
city of Galilee, and taught them on the Sabbath days, and they
were astonished at his doctrine. For his word was with power. Here the Lord came to his hometown,
and he He was preaching, he was reading the scriptures and they
were astonished at what they heard and what they saw him do
and they were offended at him even beholding his power. The incarnate God stood in their
presence and they heard God speak and they saw God performed miracles,
and he was offensive to them. He was a stumbling block to them.
The cornerstone himself was a stumbling block. And things never change. Now, men today stand up, preachers
of the gospel, and they proclaim the gospel of God's free grace.
Now, if you're listening to a gospel preacher, you're going to hear
a preacher of the gospel say exactly what the Lord says. This
is the only thing, this is all I'm doing. All I'm doing is I'm
reading exactly what the Spirit of God wrote down through a writer. But these words are the words
of God. These are not the words of men.
And when a preacher stands up, he takes the scriptures and he
says exactly what God says. No deviation. If he does, by
mistake, make a deviation. He'll be the first one to immediately
correct himself, admit his foolishness, his mistake, and he'll go right
on because he doesn't want to say anything but what God says.
That's all he wants to say. So therefore, when a preacher
of the gospel stands up to preach the gospel, what he's doing is
he's saying exactly what the Lord said. He's saying exactly
what God says. And so today, men actually hear
the voice of the Savior. My sheep Hear my voice. They hear the Word of God being
read and the Spirit of God bears witness to their spirit. That's
me speaking. And they hear it. They believe
it. They see it read in the Scriptures themselves and they hear the
voice of the Savior as the Spirit of God bears witness to them.
And they hear men repeating exactly what God says just like the Lord
did that day. And the amazing thing is They're
astonished. That's what they did when they
heard the Lord preaching. It said they were astonished. Well, I looked up the word astonished
to find out what does that mean. I'm like you. I read these words
and I think I know what that word means, but it might not.
It might not mean exactly what I think it means. So I looked
it up and the word astonished is from a word that means inflicted
with calamity. with calamity. The Word of God is directly in
opposition to the carnal heart, or vice versa. Let me say it
like that. The carnal heart is in direct opposition to God's
Word. God's Word is truth. Men are liars. And so when the
natural mind, natural man, hears the Word of God being preached, it's astonished. It's angered. They mock. Man by nature mocks God in their
heart. I'm not going to have that man
rule over me. He's not the boss of me. I've
got a free will. I know my rights. That's man
by nature. They mock because of unbelief. They mock his glory. as the God-man
mediator was treated then with irreverence. Look at verse 55
and 56. Here's what they said. Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary,
his brethren James, Joseph, Simon, Judas, and his sisters? Are they
not all with us? Whence then hath this man all
these things. You know the old saying familiarity
breeds contempt. It is usually found to be the
most true when it comes to our neighbors or kin's folk beholding
a change you wrought within us. Look how they treated the Lord
of Glory. They grew up with Him. A lot of them, brothers and sisters,
neighbors, neighbor's kids. They grew up. They saw him, saw
his family. They thought him to be nothing
more than just one of the neighborhood kids. I know that kid. That's
Joseph's boy. You know, the carpenter. You
know, he made stuff for me. He worked in that shop. I know
who that is. So they were irreverent to him. They treated him with disrespect. They grew up around him. I told
you about my buddy I went to college with, which is not a
real prime time in my history, but nonetheless I grew up with
a friend. We ran around together and drank
beer together and did all kinds of stuff together. We called
ourselves having fun and sat in the other and got out of school
and the Lord was pleased to reveal Christ to me. He showed me of
the wickedness of my ways and revealed to me my need of Christ.
One day I was talking to my buddy who had moved down to Atlanta
and I tried to tell him what the Lord had done for me. He cussed me for everything he
was worth. I was worth whatever somebody was worth. He called
me everything but a milk cow. That's what he told me. He said,
Marvin, I know you. Don't try that religious stuff
on me. He said, I know you. You've done
the same things I've done. I said, buddy, you're right. Yes, sir, you're right. I guarantee
you familiarity breeds contempt. We know who this is. That's Joseph's
boy. My kids went to school with him.
He went to church with us all the time. We know. These folks
went everywhere that he went and now he said he's God. I know that boy. Fine boy. But he said he's God. He read that Scripture. And then he said, this day is
this Scripture fulfilled. They knew what that meant. That
meant that he said that that Scripture was talking about him. And then he told them, of God's
sovereign, electing, distinguishing grace. There was a lot of lepers
here in Israel, but God didn't heal any lepers except this one
over here. There were a lot of widows over
here in Israel, but God sent a prophet to this widow over
here, this Gentile woman. And buddy, when he said that
God was sovereign and distinguishing and He showed mercy to Gentiles
and stuff, they were going to throw him off the cliff. And
he left. Verse 57, they were offended
in him. But Jesus said unto them, a prophet
is not without honor save in his own country and in his own
house. They were offended at him. Is it any wonder why man by nature
is offended at the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace?
It's because they're offended at the Christ of that gospel. They hate God's right to do as
He will with His own. They hate God's right to be sovereign. They hate God's right to be God. Man hates the message that gives
all the honor, glory, and praise to God because man desires what
God demands. The Lord Himself declared the
true blessing and proof of regeneration and salvation in Christ when
men are not offended at Him. Look at Matthew, just turn a
few pages back, Matthew 11. Matthew 11, verse 2 to 6. Listen to what
the Lord says. This is true blessing. Oh, how
right this is. How thankful. Matthew 11, verse
2. And when John had heard in the
prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and
said unto them, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for
another? And Jesus answered and said unto
them, Go and show John again those things which you do here
and see. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers
are cleansed, the deaf hear. the dead are raised up, the poor
have the gospel preached to them, and blessed is he whosoever shall
not be offended in me." Oh, what a blessing. Those who are not
offended at Christ are those who trust Him alone as their
Savior. Those who look not to themselves for any confidence
of life and they are continually coming to Him for mercy. They've
got true peace in their soul even while beholding the struggling
It is within their flesh always remembering the word of the Lord,
Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Oh, how revealing were the words
of our Lord concerning the disrespect that men have because of being
familiar with another one. A prophet is not without honor,
saving his own country, his own house. Verse 58, last verse. And he did not many mighty works
there because of their unbelief. What an amazing truth. He did
not many works. He did some that they might be
without excuse. He did some. But it said he did
not many mighty works there because of his unbelief. I want you to
look at this same event, time here spoken of in the book of
Mark chapter 6. Look how the Spirit of God moved on Mark to
write this. Mark 6 verse 4 to 6. Mark 6 verse 4, But Jesus said
unto them, A prophet is not without honor, but in his own country,
and among his own kin, and in his own house, And he could there
do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few
sick folk and healed them. And he marveled because of their
unbelief. And he went round about the villages
teaching. Now did you notice verse 5, he
could there do no mighty work. Let me tell you what I know in
closing. It was not their unbelief that caused him to not be able
to perform many miracles. It wasn't that he lacked the
power to do them. But obviously, he as wisdom himself
and in obedience as the submissive servant to Jehovah knew that
which was best and therefore right. I think of that scripture
when he said, I do always, only, those things
that please the Father. Now who said that? I'll tell
you who said that. God in human flesh said that. The one in whom the father was
well pleased. The one who never deviated in
word, thought, or deed that which pleased the father. And when
it said he could do no mighty works there because of their
unbelief. I tell you what, it wasn't because of a lack of power,
but it was in total submission to his father's will. He couldn't
do them because he did only always those things that pleased the
father. You know, this side of glory, we'll never know the horrible
effect of unbelief. God is never hindered in anything
that He purposes to do. But if Almighty God is pleased
to withhold the blessing of His Word, the blessing of the revelation
of His Word in accordance with the purpose of God the Father,
you remember when the Lord said, I thank you, I thank you, Father. that you've hid these things
from the wise and prudent and you've revealed them unto babes?
This is what I know. God Almighty does whatever He
wants to in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth. And if today any of us believe, do you know why we
believe? It's because God was pleased
to reveal Christ to us. and no other reason. It wasn't
because we were smarter, more capable, more able to understand
the scriptures. We are what we are by the grace
of God. And I pray that the Spirit of God bless this afresh to our
hearts, give us some understanding into the marvelous grace of God
in salvation for His honor and our good. Amen.