13. The title. Of the message. Is to you. It is given. To you, it is given to know the
mysteries. Of the kingdom of God. To know
the gospel. To know God in Christ to you,
it's given. Now there were many who were
following Christ. At that time, he had gotten some attention. A multitude
just has followed him. Some to hearing, some to see
the miracles. They were impressed with the
miracles that he was able to do. Some because they were fed
with fishes and loaves. The Lord fed 5,000. There's many
reasons why many followed him, but most of the ones who followed
him at that time didn't believe. They didn't believe. Because
when he said, except you eat my flesh and drink my blood,
you have no life in you, and it says many of his disciples
went back and walked no more with him. They said, this is
a hard saying. Who can hear this? They followed him for a while
until they heard the message. And then when they heard what
he was saying, they said, we didn't sign up for this. And
they left, they walked no more with him. And so here in this
chapter, the Lord leaves the house. Now this is the same day,
back in chapter 12, we looked at him casting out. cast out
a man possessed with the devil and the Pharisees came and they
challenged him. This is the same day. Our Lord worked tirelessly,
tirelessly in redeeming sinners. He worked tirelessly. And because
of this crowd that had gathered, he left that place and went to
the seaside on the shore there and he got into a ship. where
he, the people could, he can get away from the people and
they wouldn't throw on him and he could actually speak to the
multitude. And when he spoke to them, he
spoke to them in parables. A parable is an earthly story
with a heavenly truth. It's conveying a heavenly truth.
And he speaks to them about a farmer who goes out and he sows his
field. Takes seed out and he sows the
field. It's a simple story, yet it has
profound truth. Profound truth in it, but it's
just a simple story. But that's the way our Lord,
remember this, the Lord Jesus Christ is God. He's the God of
heaven and earth. He is infinite in wisdom. He
is infinite in knowledge. There's nothing he doesn't know.
And when he comes into this world and he speaks to us, He doesn't
speak to us in these great theological terms. He takes just a simple
earthly story and conveys a profound truth with it. And he's gonna
tell the story there of the sower. You see there in verse three,
he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, behold,
a sower went forth to sow. When he sowed, some of those
seeds fell by the wayside as they do, you know, when you're
out there sowing. And the fowls came and he fired them up and
some fell upon stony places where they had not much earth and forthwith
they sprung up because they had no deepness of earth. And when
the sun was up, they were scorched and because they had no root,
they withered away. Some fell among thorns and the
thorns sprung up, choked them. He uses this story here. Some
fell on good ground and brought forth a hundredfold, sixtyfold.
And the disciples were puzzled. They were puzzled. Why are you
speaking to them in parable? Here is an opportunity to clear
up a lot of things. There's a great multitude standing
here and here's an opportunity to reveal yourself, to make yourself
known. But he gives this answer in verse
11. And this ought to be very humbling
to everyone here who believes the gospel. To you, it is given. It's given. To them, he said,
it's not given. It's not given. The answer is
that simple. What is given? What's he talking
about here? He said, it's given to you to know savingly the mystery
of the gospel. It's given to you to know spiritual
truth. You know, spiritual truth is
a mystery. God is a mystery. Christ is a
mystery. How God can save me and be a
just God, how God can save a wretch like me and still be God is a
mystery. Until he makes it known through
the preaching of the gospel by the Holy Spirit. Spiritual truth
is a mystery to lost men and women. They cannot understand
how... First of all, they don't care
how God can be just. I was thinking this this morning.
I was looking at this and I was thinking, they don't understand
how God can be a just God and a Savior. They don't care how
God can be a just God and a Savior. As long as I don't go to hell,
it doesn't matter how it happens. As long as I don't have to go
there. That's the attitude of the lost.
They don't care that God be God. Do you want God to be a just
God? I do. You want God to be a just God.
An unjust God you can't trust. You can have no confidence, no
trust in an unjust God, in an unjust judge. But a just God
will do right. Abraham said the judge of the
earth will do right. He'll do right. You understand the mysteries
of the gospel. You understand the new birth,
don't you? Nicodemus was the ruler of the Jews. He was a man
that studied the scriptures for years and years. He was a scholar. And when the
Lord spoke to him of being born again, he said, how can this
be? Am I gonna go back to my mother's womb and be born a second
time? But you understand it. You understand
how that God say, you understand that the Holy Spirit creates
within you a new nature that's born of God, created in righteousness
and true holiness. You understand that God is not
renovating the old man. He created a new man in you that's
born of God. You understand that. Because
to you, it is given. It is given. It is written in
2 Corinthians 4, if our gospel be hid, it's hid to them that
are lost. It's hid to them that are lost.
But to you who believe, it's given to you to know, is to know
God. God is not like I used to think
he was. I tell you what, God is who he
is. God is who he is. And it's given
to you to know the God that is. It's given to you to know the
Lord Jesus Christ, who is God, who is God manifested in the
flesh. You know who Jesus Christ is. And you know the way of salvation.
You know that Jesus Christ is the way of salvation. It's given
to you by grace. It's given to you by the Holy
Spirit. It's given to you by revelation. That's how you know. That's how you know. To you it is given to know the
mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. You know who God is. You know
God's a mystery until he reveals himself. He is. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifested in the flesh. Who by searching can find out
God? No one. Unless he reveals himself, you
can't know him. He has to reveal himself. How can God be a just
God and a savior? You know how. You know how through
the substitutionary work and person of Jesus Christ, God can
be a just God and save a wretch like me and you. You know that. He's a mystery to lost men and
women, but he's not a mystery. to those to whom it is given.
Turn over to 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter two. 1 Corinthians chapter two. In verse nine. But as it is written,
I hath not seen nor heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
But God hath revealed them unto us by his spirit. For the spirit
searches all things, yea, the deep things of God. But what
man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of a man which
is in him? Even so the things of God knows no man but the spirit
of God. Now we have, listen, now we have received not the
spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that
we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
It's not a mystery to you no more. Which things also we speak,
not in words, which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost
teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the
natural man, listen, the natural man receives not the things of
the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. It sounds
like foolishness. Salvation by Christ alone? By
grace alone? Through the substitutionary work
of another man? In my place? Taking my place?
Dying in my place? Me not having to do anything
for righteousness but receive one? That sounds like foolishness
to the natural man. Neither can he know them because
they're spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual, you
know these things. You judge all things. You understand
these things. Don't you? You understand. You
know how God can be a just God and a Savior. I'm not saying that we know all
there is to know of God. We will always be learning of
who God is. Always. God is infinite. He cannot be exhausted. But we
do know Him. We do know Him. It says in 1
John 5, 20, the Son of God has come and given us an understanding.
That is the one who's given you an understanding. That's why
you have an understanding of the gospel. God's given it to
you. He's given it to you. And those who have been given
light, in verse 12, shall receive more of it. More light, more
grace, more understanding. Walk in the light that you have
and God will give you more light. That's what the scripture says. This is the good ground that
bears more fruit. A mere profession will only lose
in the end. That which a person seems to
have, he said, will be taken away. It'll be taken away. And the Lord said in verse 13,
this is why I speak to them in parables. They profess to see
and they see not. He says, they have closed their
own eyes. You know, notice he says there,
they closed their own eyes. It's like my grandson one time
when he was just a little fellow, he was sick and was trying to
give him some medicine and he kept his mouth shut. He would not open his mouth.
It's like, you got to take this medicine, son. And he's just
like, mm-mm, mm-mm, not doing it. And that's their condition. They said, we see, we understand,
we know who God is. No, you don't. We know the way
of salvation. No, you don't. No, you don't. They profess to see and see not,
they profess to hear and they hear not. Our Lord says here in verse 14, He said, this is the fulfilling
of the scripture in Isaiah, and it's Isaiah chapter six, is where
it is. But here's verse 14, and in them
is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which says, by hearing
you shall hear and shall not understand, and seeing you shall
see and shall not perceive. If you see, if you hear, and
you understand, God gave it to you. God gave it to you. This book,
I tell you what, this book is a closed book until God opens
it up. Until God opens up the scriptures
to us. It's a closed book. It's a mysterious
book until God opens it up. He's saying here that way back
there when Isaiah was speaking and writing, he spoke of He said,
he spoke of your all's blindness and your hardness and your deadness. He said, you people will prophesy
that. Way back there in Isaiah. And they read the scriptures.
They had Isaiah. They knew that what Isaiah chapter
six, verse nine and 10 meant. They knew it. And the Lord is
applying that prophecy to that people. And they found that upsetting. If you'll notice here, their
condition, he says, this people, verse 15, for this people's heart
is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their
eyes they have closed. Don't, I don't, you don't need
to tell me this. I know it all. You can't tell a know-it-all
anything. That was their attitude. They said, how knoweth this man
letters, having never learned? What's he doing trying to teach
us? This poor Nazarene, this one from Galilee, the carpenter's
son, who is he trying to teach us? And they wouldn't listen to him.
They wouldn't listen. And they shut their eyes and
their ears and they just had no interest in what was being
said. They just want to see some miracles. That's what the Pharisees
said. Show us a sign. Let me say this. God does not
owe anyone salvation. This matter of Jesus wants to
save you if you'll let him is a lie. You and I are in the hands
of Jesus Christ. It is not what am I going to
do with Jesus Christ. It is what is Jesus Christ going
to do with me. Jesus Christ is God. God has
put all flesh into his hands. He says in John 17, all power
over all flesh has been given to me. It's not what you and
I are gonna do with him, what's he gonna do with us? He's God,
I'm not. He's the creator, I'm not. God did not create this world
and then subject Himself to it. Leaving it up to us. This is so foolish. This is so
foolish to even think like this. That God Almighty would put His
Son on a cross, put Him through hell, put Him through torment,
put Him to death, and then leave the end result to a bunch of
God-hating rebels. You can't be serious. The dumbest
man on this earth knows better than that. It's never been turned over to
me and you. It's in the hands of Jesus Christ. God said, I'll have mercy on
whom I'll have mercy and whom I will I harm. What's he saying? He's saying this, I'm the sovereign,
you're not. Christ is the Savior, not us. The end result is not in my hands. The end result is in the hands
of Jesus Christ. It's in his hands. God does not owe any man salvation. That is why it is all of grace
and not of merit. At no time is salvation of any
merit on my part whatsoever. It's all of grace. It's God choosing
me, calling me, revealing himself to me, bringing me to him. It's all of grace. It's all of
grace. I was born and you were born
with the same wretched nature that everybody in this world
is born with. There's not an ounce of difference between me
and anybody out there in this world. Anyone, not an ounce of
difference. The only thing that makes a difference
is the grace of God. That's the only difference. God can leave a person alone
to harden in sin and rebellion, or he can show mercy. It's his,
as Charles Spurgeon called it, his royal prerogative. We're all in the hands of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And he says here, what a blessing,
and let's never let this blessing that we have here grow cold. Many prophets and righteous men
have desired to see the things you see, and they've not seen
them, and you see them. You see, they had shadows and
types and pictures, and you and I have the word of God, and the
son of God has come, the Messiah has come, he's going back to
glory. We have a clear picture. Now, we don't know it all because
Paul said we preach a part, we know a part. I know that. We're
limited in our understanding, but we see a much more clear, we see much more clearly than
what they were able to see because we have the word of God. I'm
reading it to you. Listen, I'm not standing here
this morning preaching to you in parables. I'm telling you
Jesus Christ is a living God. He's a savior of sinners and
we are in the hands of Jesus Christ. They were looking for
a Messiah to come. They were looking for a Messiah
to come. Well, I know his name. His name is Jesus Christ. We know his name. We know who
he is. We know he's God. We know who he is. As Paul said to the Galatians,
before whose eyes Jesus Christ had been evidently set forth. Clearly, the gospel had been
preached here for years, clearly. You understand who God is? You
understand how God could be a just God and save you? You understand
by whose righteousness you are saved? You understand by whose
blood that your sins are washed away? You understand that? You
know why you understand? Because it's given to you. To
you, it is given. To them, he said, it's not given.
That ought to be humbling, shouldn't it? That's humbling. To really
know and understand the gospel and believe it and love it is
a gift of God. It's a gift of God. All right.