Now let's open our Bibles back
to Matthew chapter 13, a passage that our brother just read. I've entitled this message this
morning, Blessed Ears and Eyes. Blessed Ears and Eyes. Just saying that hymn, open my
eyes that I may see. Open my ears that I may hear. And the scripture here speaks
of that very subject, the blessedness of hearing, the blessedness of
seeing. Now, obviously, we're not talking
about physical hearing or physical sight. If we were, we'd all be
in trouble eventually. You'd certainly look at me and
say, well, your eyes aren't blessed. You've got to wear a pair of
glasses. And it's probably going to get worse. And some of you
may be noticing that as days wear on, you have to keep saying,
huh? What? What's that? Some of you
have to wear hearing aids. So we're not talking about physical
hearing, physical sight. We're talking about spiritual
hearing, spiritual sight. And here in Matthew 13, this
is a real interesting chapter. Because it's full of proverbs.
You all have heard of proverbs and parables. You say, well,
it says parables. Well, proverbs and parables are
just about the same thing. You know, when we think of a
proverb, there's a whole book in the Bible called Proverbs.
In fact, let's turn over to Proverbs chapter 1. I'm going to show
you this. Proverbs chapter 1. When you
think of a proverb, you think of a wise saying. And usually
that's what they are. short sayings of wisdom and knowledge,
advice, warnings, encouragements. And that's what a proverb is.
And then when you think of a parable, you think of something longer,
a story. And that's what a parable is.
Sometimes in the New Testament, though, the parables are called
proverbs. So the words can sometimes be used interchangeably. A parable,
for example, is a story. that's designed to teach a lesson
by comparison, comparing things. Like, for example, using earthly
things, like water. The Bible speaks of water many
times as being the word of life, the word of God. Christ spoke
to an adulterous Samaritan woman, and he spoke of himself as the
water of life. And he said, he that believeth
on me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of water, living
water. He used bread. We eat bread,
physical bread. He used bread to refer to himself
as the nourishment and sustenance of a believer. And he spoke of
drinking his blood and eating him as the bread of life. He wasn't talking about cannibalism
there, obviously. He was talking about having faith,
God-given faith. in Christ. That's what that means. You drink His blood when you
believe in Him. You eat the bread of life when
you believe in Him and live upon Him and rest in Him. That's what
that means. And that's what a parable is.
It's using those earthly things to teach spiritual truth. Truth
within it, the truth within the parable is far greater than the
parable itself. And let me tell you something
now. I had a man tell me one time, they said, He said, you
know, that people will remember a good illustration, but they
don't remember the verse of Scripture. Something wrong with that. Now,
let me tell you, I like a good story as much as any man, but
God's preachers are not illustrators and storytellers. We're to preach
the word. And if all you remember is the
story and not the truth behind it, where does that leave you?
You see what I'm saying? These parables that the Lord
preached were given as, the word parable actually means to set
alongside of. Here's the truth. Now let's set
a parable alongside of it to make it, seal it in our minds. But here in Proverbs chapter
1, listen to this. It says, verse 1, the Proverbs
of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, to what? To know wisdom. and instruction. That's what the parables are
for. He said to perceive the words
of understanding, to know what this is about, the meaning behind
these things, the spiritual truth that's trying to be communicated
here. To receive the instruction of
wisdom and justice and judgment and equity, that which is right. To give subtlety to the simple. That means really to give wisdom
To the simple. To the young man, knowledge and
discretion. You young men and women. That's
what these Proverbs are for. It's what the parables are for.
To give you knowledge and discretion. Discretion means that you can
make good decisions when the time comes. In a wise way. In verse 5, a wise man will hear
and increase learning. And a man of understanding shall
attain unto wise counsels. Now how does he do that? Now
look at verse 6. Now this is what our Lord is going to tell
the disciples concerning these parables. To understand a proverb. I don't want to just hear a good
story that makes me feel good when I walk out. I want to understand
it. What's he trying to teach me?
Are you interested in understanding the proverb? Understanding the
parable? And it goes on, and the interpretation. Some of you may have in your
concordance there an eloquent speech. It doesn't mean that
it just sounds good. It means that you want to understand
what it means. And the words of the wise and
their dark sayings. Dark to the world. In verse 7
he says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Now go back to Matthew
13. Now that's what's going on here. It says here in verse 3,
And Christ spake many things unto them in parables. And it begins with a parable,
the parable of the sower and the seed. And then Matthew 13
has several other parables in it. And you know our Lord was
known for speaking in parables. Speaking to his people in parables.
And the disciples asking this question, look down at verse
10. says, And the disciples came and said unto him, Why speakest
thou unto them in parables?" Preaching to the multitude. Why
are you talking in parables? Well, let me give you these issues
here concerning why he spoke in parables. And he answers his
question. But you know, there's so many
misconceptions here. Most people think that the Lord
spoke in parables because the doctrine of truth, the doctrine
of scripture was just too highfalutin and hard and difficult to understand. And therefore, he came down on
people's levels to speak to easier words, simpler. But that's not
why he spoke in parables, not according to his word. And as
I said, you know, God's preachers are not storytellers and illustrators.
We, you know, nothing wrong with a good story, nothing wrong with
a good illustration, but that's not what you characterize. I'll
tell you this much. Whatever story or illustration
we use, it should never eclipse the bare word of God. This is the inspired word of
God. And some say people who cannot
understand doctrine, they can understand a story or a parable. That is not so. That is absolutely
not so, according to our Lord. The disciples didn't even understand
why the Lord spoke in parables, and they didn't even understand
the parables until he told them the meaning. And look over at
John chapter 16. Look here. Here he's speaking
to them in verse 25 of John 16. Listen to this. He says, these things have I
spoken unto you in Proverbs. That's the same word as parables.
So, like I said, these words are used interchangeably. But
the time cometh when I shall no more speak unto you in Proverbs,
but I shall show you plainly of the Father. At that day you
shall ask in my name and I shall not and I shall I say not unto
you that I will pray the Father for you, for the Father himself
loveth you because you have loved me and have believed that I came
out from God. I came forth from the Father. and him come into
the world, and again I leave the world and go to the Father.
And his disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly,
and speakest no proverb." You know what they're saying? Quit
speaking in proverbs and parables and just tell us plainly. Well,
they were wrong. You don't tell the Lord of glory
how to preach. But what you see there is this. These parables
These proverbs were not given as children's stories to make
truth simpler. That's not what they were given.
Let me tell you something. In the scriptures, there is no
replacement for doctrinal, verse-by-verse preaching. Did you know that? There's no replacement for it.
And the gospel message is simple. It's a simple message. It's not
hard for a sinner to understand the gospel message. Now, it's
impossible for the sinner to receive it and believe it, apart
from the Spirit of God. I'll tell you what, even unbelievers
understand what gospel preachers are saying. What's the problem?
They don't believe it. They don't love it. When Stephen
stood in Jerusalem and preached in Acts chapter 7, that great
message, they understood exactly what Stephen was saying. How
did they react? They picked up stones to kill
him, and did. They understood Stephen to be
saying that the only way of salvation for a sinner is Christ and Him
crucified, and your works And your efforts and your heritage
and your circumcision and your ceremonies are to be totally
excluded as self-righteous religious refuse." And they got mad. That's how they reacted. And
then, later on, you see Philip, the evangelist, going out on
the desert. And there's a man out there searching,
reading the Bible. The Bible they had back then.
He was reading a chapter in the book of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter
53. He was a eunuch, an Ethiopian, a treasurer for the queen who
had come to Jerusalem during their high holy days to worship. But he didn't get fed. He left
empty. You see, religious ceremony and
ornaments will not feed the spiritually hungry. Oh, they'll lift up the
Pharisee and the self-righteous and make him feel good. But he
will not feed and quench the thirst of the spiritually thirsty
and hungry. And God sent Philip the Evangelist
out there to preach to this man the same thing basically that
Stephen preached in Jerusalem. Christ and Him crucified. Salvation
by free sovereign grace. And when Philip preached to that
eunuch, that eunuch submitted and he bowed. And he thanked
God. He said, where's water that I
may be baptized? Which is the first act of obedience
of a sinner saved by the grace of God. I want to be baptized. I want to confess that. Philip
said, there's only one requirement. I said, what? Do you believe?
Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? That's the difference. What was the difference between
the crowd in Jerusalem that stoned Stephen? They didn't have ears
to hear. and eyes to see. What about the
Ethiopian Union? He had spiritual ears. The gift
of God. The gospel is simple. But I want
you to look back here in Matthew 13. Look at this now. I want
you to see first our responsibility of hearing. Now, hearing the
gospel is a responsibility. It's not an option. You've got
no other hope, no other way. And as I said, he's not talking
about physical hearing here. He's talking about spiritual
hearing. Look at verse nine. Christ says, Who hath ears to
hear? Let him hear. That's a common
expression in the New Testament. In the revelation of Christ to
the Apostle John on the Isle of Patmos, he has a message to
seven churches in Revelation two and three. And at the end
of his message to each church, he makes this statement. Whosoever
hath ears to hear, let him hear. Let him hear. Repeated seven
times. Over in the book of Romans, let
me read you this over in chapter 10. It says here in verse 13,
now listen to this. It says, For whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. That means any
person It doesn't matter who they are, where they come from,
what they've done in their past. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. That's a sure salvation for any
sinner who calls on his name. His name is who he is. His name
is what he accomplished. His name is everything about
him. It's the glory of God revealed in Christ. A sinner like that
old publican begging for mercy, that's calling upon him. That's
coming to him, believing in him, resting. I've got no other hope.
Got no other way to go. He is the way, the truth and
the lie. But now look at verse 14 of Romans 10. How then shall
they call on him? In him, in whom on him, in whom
they have not believed. You see, you're not going to
call this calling upon him means believing him. And it says, and
how shall they believe in him of whom they have not what heard? You see, this hearing here is
connected with believing. This is the spiritual ear. Whosoever
hath ears to hear, let him hear. Now, you can hear it and not
believe it. That's right, you can hear it. I gave you the example
of Acts chapter 7, Stephen. They heard it, but they didn't
believe it. And then, Brother Don read that parable. The parable
of the sower and the seed. Four kinds of hearers there.
There's only one kind of hearer that heard it and believed. The
good ground hearer. The rest of them didn't. They
heard it. Some of them even acted for a little while like they
really believed it. But then they left it. You see, this is
not just a fleeting moment for a believer. Preaching the gospel,
meeting together to worship God, it's not just something you do
on Sunday. It's not just a fleeting moment. It's His life. It's your
very life. You can't exist without hearing
of the glory of your Lord and your Savior. It's your life. And it says, and how shall they
hear without a preacher? God has purpose to use means. The means look so foolish and
so weak and so pitiful, but here we are. You know, take me as
I am. That's what you got to say. Let's
take each other as we are. How about that? Somebody said,
well, I like Paul better. Somebody said, I like Apollos
better. It don't matter. How shall they hear without a
preacher? You see, you're not to look to me and I'm not to
point to me. I must decrease, he must increase. That's the issue. In fact, I'll
tell you how every gospel preacher ought to think. Now, we don't
think like this because of the flesh. Pride. Here's how we ought
to think. It doesn't matter to me when
you walk out that door today if you forget my name, but you
just remember Christ and Him crucified. That's the way it
ought to be. You say, well, who are you? I'm a nobody from nowhere,
going nowhere except where the Lord puts me. Christ is everything. And if that's not enough, then
your ears aren't blessed. You've got to have more than
him and what he accomplished on Calvary to save your soul
from sin. And your ears aren't blessed.
Look at verse 15. It says, How shall they preach except they
be sent as it is written? How beautiful are the feet of
them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings
of good things. I'm talking about a preacher's
feet there, talking about his message. I meant the message. He's walking. He's coming to
preach Christ. He's coming to tell me about
my Savior. He's coming here to tell me how
God saves sinners and I'm a sinner and I need salvation. And that's
a beautiful thing. Whether I like him or love him
or whatever, that message of grace for a sinner, Christ and
him crucified. Then verse 16, but they they
have not all obeyed the gospel. Now there's there's the physical
here and there's the natural man. They have not all obeyed
the gospel. Verse 16. He says, Isaiah, that's
Isaiah. Say it, Lord who hath believed
our report. That's from Isaiah 53. One of
the most beautiful passages of scripture relating the substitutionary
work of the Lamb of God. And he starts off that passage,
he says, Lord, who hath believed our report that literally means
in the Old Testament doctrine, who hath believed our doctrine.
Our preaching. But look at verse 70, so then
faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. You see,
you need to be where the Word of God is preached. That's where
you're going to be fed spiritually. How shall they hear? This here
means to believe it, means to obey it, to love it, to love
the truth, hearing and knowing what's being said. But it involves
a love of the truth, a willing mind. Paul spoke of the last
days in 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2, talking about those who would
be condemned when the Lord comes back because, he said, they receive
not the love of the truth. And he's talking about people
there who claim to believe the truth, but they didn't love it.
They didn't love it. But he went on to say, but we're
bound to give thanks to God, brethren, for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth, whereinto he called you by our gospel. It's your life, you see. That's
the difference. Look back at Matthew 13. Look at verse 10
there. Now, here's the gift of hearing. Now, we have a responsibility
to hear. You have a responsibility to
seek the Lord. You say, well, what if the Lord
hadn't chosen me? That's none of your business. Do you know
that? Your business is to seek the
Lord. The secret things belong to God,
the revealed things belong to you and me. That's right. Seek the Lord. Get where the
gospel is preached, where the scriptures are taught. And don't
ever get away from it, no matter who comes along or what they
say or how they say it or who they are. Stay right there where
the gospels preach, where men are preaching the truth as it
is in the Word of God. But now look at the gift of hearing.
Now look at verse 10. He says, The disciples came and
said unto him, Why speakest thou in parables? And he answered. Now listen to his answer to this
question. It's several things here that he brings out. He answered
and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the
mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. But to them it's not given. Now,
what I want to know is who are the you and who are the them.
It's given to you, but it's not given to them. I want to be part
of the you. I don't want to be part of the
them. How about you? It's given to you. It's not given
to them. Now, what does that tell you
right off? It says this hearing, this spiritual ear, these spiritual
eyes are the gift of God. You see, the whole church is
one conglomerate gifted program. I used to teach school and we
had a gifted program. We put gifted students in that
gifted program. Well, you who know the gospel,
you're in the gifted program. Why? Because it's being given
to you. You didn't earn it. You didn't buy it. You weren't
worthy of it. None of us were. If left to ourselves,
what would we have done with it? We'd have walked out and
never heard it again. Isn't that right? In fact, the Bible says,
by nature, we really hate it. You say, well, I never hated
it. Well, you don't know yourself well enough yet. Some of you have been raised
in it. Some of you children. You've been raised in under the
preaching of the gospel here at this church. Well, let me
tell you something, the moment you turn a deaf ear to it, and
I'm not talking about just getting sidetracked, you know, we all
chase rabbits and all that. We all dream. We have to fight
to hear it, don't we, even now? We have to make ourselves listen. I don't care if the man's eloquent
or not, or if he's the most boring person to ever come down the
pipe. You have to make yourself, you have to keep, you have to,
Force yourself to keep your mind on it. That's part of the struggle,
the flesh and the spirit. But you see, you're gifted if
you believe this truth, if you hear it with the hearing ear,
the obedient, believing, loving ear. It's the gift of God. And
he says in verse 12, he says, for whosoever hath, or verse,
yeah, whosoever hath to him shall be given, And he shall have more
abundance." Where God has given it to you, there will be more.
And you'll see more and you'll hear more. And you'll go deeper
into the Scripture. Some say, I don't want to go
that deep into the Scripture. Well, you don't have the gifted
ear. You're going to be given more abundance. That doesn't
mean you're going to get real theological and intellectual.
It just means you're going to see what the Scriptures say about
Christ and Him crucified. Are you interested? Is that what
you want to hear? He says, in verse 12, he says,
but whosoever hath not from him shall be taken away, even that
he hath. Now, here's the gift of hearing.
The Bible says, for by grace are you saved through faith and
that faith not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. Hearing is the gift of God, it's
the sovereign work of the Spirit. Look over at John chapter 3,
that's why our Lord said to Nicodemus, now here's a man who was studying
the scriptures, who was of the Sanhedrin, that's the high Jewish
council, religious, John chapter 3, and he says unto Nicodemus
in verse 3, Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily,
I say unto thee, except a man be born again, that means literally
born from above, that's the new birth, that's the work of the
Spirit, to impart life and knowledge and love. He's the one who gives
us the spiritual ears. You see, when Christ, listen
to me now, by nature we're all dead spiritually, dead in sin. We died in Adam. In the day that
ye eat thereof, Adam, that day you shall surely die, or die
and thou shalt die. We died in Adam. Scripture teaches
that. When Adam fell, we fell. And then, when Christ died on
the cross, all of God's people died in Him and were buried and
rose again the third day. Our sins were imputed to Him.
His righteousness was imputed to us, justified before God,
even before we were born again, even before we were born physically. And I'll tell you a good illustration
of that. It's like this. When Christ died on that cross,
If you're in Him, if you believe in Him, that proves He represented
you. He died for your sins, for those
who believe in Him. But the actual time that He died
and His righteousness was imputed to you, you were still dead.
Just like Lazarus in the tomb. Your sins were already imputed
to Christ before you ever committed the first one. That's amazing,
isn't it? And His righteousness imputed
to you. And when we were born into this world physically, you
were still spiritually dead, just like Lazarus in the tomb.
Your sins were still imputed to Christ and his righteousness
to you. But one day he came along, and in the preaching of the gospel
by the power of the Spirit, he looked up just like he stood
outside of Lazarus' tomb, and he said, Lazarus, come forth. Now that's impartation right
there. That's where life was given to
the sinner for whom Christ died. That's when the ears, you see
Lazarus laying there, he couldn't hear a thing. He couldn't see
a thing. Couldn't smell a thing. His heart
wasn't beating. Had no understanding. He was
dead. But then Christ said, Lazarus come forth. And the power of
life went into Lazarus. And that's just exactly what
happens when the Spirit of God gets his, brings his people under
the preaching of the gospel and gives them life. And you know
what that life is? It's the fruit and the effect
and the issue of what Christ had already accomplished 2,000
years ago for us. That's it. And that's what this
is, you see. Except a man be born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of heaven. He can't understand it. He can't
grasp it as far as believing it. Nicodemus, verse 4, said
unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter
into the second time into his mother's womb and be born? And
Christ said, No, I'm not talking about that kind of birth, Nicodemus.
Look at verse 5. Jesus answered, Verily, verily,
I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit. That water there is emblematic
of the Word. Born again by the Word of God
and of the Spirit. It takes the power of the Spirit
to give life through the Word. He cannot enter into the kingdom
of God. That which is born of flesh is
flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Human
flesh, works, efforts cannot bring about spiritual life. You must be born again. You must
be born again. Salvation is of the Lord. To
you it is given, he said in Matthew 13. Unto you it is given. And
the Holy Spirit is sin of the Father and the Son to give life.
And that life includes spiritual ears, spiritual eyes, a heart. Open mine eyes that I may see.
Open my ears that I may hear. And he says in here, he said
in Matthew 13, he says, because in verse 11, because it is given
unto you to know. To know, you know, that's what
the Bible describes spiritual life as, spiritual knowledge.
And it's just not an awareness of things. I mean, it's not like
just adding up 2 plus 2. I mean, it's an intimate knowledge.
It's a knowledge that is life itself. This is life eternal
that they might know thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent. The Spirit of God, Peter wrote
in 2 Peter chapter 1, the Spirit of God gives us all things that
pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him
who died for our sins. And he says he's given unto you
to know the mysteries of the kingdom there. What are those
mysteries? Well, I told you before, you
know, mystery in the Bible is not just something that you have
to figure out by getting enough clues. Mystery in the Bible is
something that God has to reveal. You can't know it by human effort,
human wisdom, human logic. It's God's revelation. The Bible
speaks of the mystery of God, who God is, his holiness. Isaiah said it in Isaiah, chapter
six, he said, I saw the Lord high and lifted up. Holy, holy,
holy. God is a just God as well as
a merciful God. He's a righteous judge as well
as a loving, gracious heavenly father. He must be both. The
Bible speaks of the mystery of godliness. That's Christ and
Him crucified. Great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh. The only way to God is through
Christ. The only way of forgiveness of sins is through His blood.
The only way of not being on a right standing with a holy
and just God is through the imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ, period. Don't add anything to it. Somebody
said, well, you need life. Yes, sir. Or you won't see it.
And you won't enter it. That's right. But you see, our
life is the fruit of His life and His death and His living
again. You see the difference? Except
the corn of wheat fall on the ground and die. No fruit. But Christ, He lived. He obeyed
the law. He died for our sins and paid
the debt in full. He was buried and He rose again
the third day. And because He lives, We live. Somebody says, well, which is
more important? That's a foolish question. Do you know that? He's the vine, we're the branches.
He's the root, we're the fruit. That's right. He is our life. He's our all in all. He is our
wisdom. What's more important, his wisdom
or mine? He is my wisdom. What's more important, his righteousness
or mine? He is my righteousness. What's
more important, his holiness or mine? He is my holiness. What's
more important, his redemption or mine? He is my redemption.
You see that? The mystery of godliness. Everything
that I am that is godly is in him and from him. And then it
speaks of the mystery of faith and the mystery of Christ and
the mystery of the gospel. The mystery of Christ and His
church. These are all things that those who are born again,
who have ears to hear and eyes to see, have been given. The
Bible even speaks of the mystery of iniquity. Did you know that?
What is that? That's the sin that deceives
all of us by nature. What is that? The sin of trying
to work our way into God's favor. Men by nature think that's right.
And it's iniquity. You try to work your way into
God's favor, into God's acceptance, into God's heaven. That's wicked
in God's sight. Why? Because he sent his Son
to do that. And you trying to do it is a
denial of his Son and his glory. And then he says there in verse
12, he said, For whosoever hath to him shall be given, and he
shall have more abundance, growth, and grace, and knowledge. Look
here, look at verse 12 again of Matthew 13. Here's the judgment
of not hearing. He says at the end of verse 12
there, he says, But whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken
away, even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in
parables. Now listen to this carefully.
Don't let this get by you. Now remember they asked, why
do you speak in parables to them? And he said, because they seeing,
see not, and hearing, they hear not, neither do they understand.
And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith,
By hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand, and seeing
you shall see, and shall not perceive." Now here, the reason
Christ spoke in parables, he's saying is this, to hide the truth,
listen to it, to conceal the truth from those with hard hearts. To conceal and hide the truth
from those who refused to believe and rejected the plain, simple
preaching of the gospel. That's why he spoke in parables
to them. You look at his preaching up to this point. How many times
he just laid it right out there on the line. Here's who God is. Here's who you are, sinner. Repent, believe the gospel. Here's
who I am. That's what he would tell. Just
plain, simple, doctrinal truth preaching. Preaching of Christ
and Him crucified. And they rejected it and they
refused it. And therefore, he spoke in parables
to conceal the truth from those who rejected it. Now, there's
two things here we need to understand. There is man's inability to hear,
natural inability. No man can come to me, the Bible
says in John 6, verse 44, except the Father which has sent me
draw him. Man has no spiritual ability to hear and receive it. But then we also got to come
face to face in the scripture with man's unwillingness to hear.
In John chapter 5 and verse 39, Christ told the Pharisees, you
search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal
life and you will not come to me that you might have life. So we're faced there with two
truths, man's utter inability, his total depravity and his utter
unwillingness, which is his total depravity. Israel had the law. He said here,
whosoever hath not from him shall be taken away, even that he hath.
What did they have? They had the law of Moses. They
had the prophets. You remember in the parable of
the rich man and Lazarus, Lazarus, the poor man who was begging. And he was a son of God, a child
of God, the rich man who was rich in this world's good, didn't
even take notice of Lazarus, and this man rejected God, and
they both died. Lazarus went to Abraham's bosom,
that's heaven. The rich man went to hell, and
he lifted up his eyes in torment, and he said, sin Lazarus, just
to put a drop of water on the tip of his finger and touch my
tongue with it. That's how tormented he was.
And you remember what he said after that, the rich man. He
said, he said, Father Abraham, he said, send Lazarus back to
earth so that he can go tell my brothers of this and they'll
hear him if one rises from the dead. Remember what the answer
was? He said, they have Moses. They have the prophets. They
have the word of God. And though one come back from
the dead, they still won't believe it. Right here is what you have. Study to show thyself approved
unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed. These are
the scriptures that are able to make thee wise unto salvation.
Search the word. Lord, I've hid thy word in my
heart. This is the very word of God. But you refuse to hear
it, refuse to believe it, refuse to love it. Well, it'll be eventually
taken away. What is it that men don't want
in the scriptures? They don't want the plain preaching
of the gospel of grace, which exposes our false refuges and
hopes and leaves us with no hope but Christ. Look here, he says
in verse 15, he says, for this people's heart, their mind, their
affections, their will, their inner man, that's what the heart
is, their buried being, is waxed gross. Now, you read that and
say, what in the world does that mean? It's waxed gross. It's
just an old English way of saying they've grown hard. They've gotten
hard. In other words, instead of the
Word of God making them meek and pliable and submissive and
contrite and repentant, It just made them hard, like those who
threw stones at Stephen. They were harder than the rocks
they threw. You see, this same word, it's like the sun. You've
heard this illustration. This is a good one. The sun,
it shines, the heat of the sun, it shines on wax, like a candle,
and it melts it. The same heat from the same sun
shines on clay, and it hardens it into a rock. That's the difference. And what's the Word of God do
to me and do to you? Does it melt our hearts and make
us submissive to the Word of God, submitted to Christ? Or
does it harden us, make us angry? And he said, Their hearts wax
gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they
have closed, lest at any time they should see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears, and should understand with their
heart, and should be converted, and I should heal. They didn't
want the conversion. Why didn't they? Well, to be
converted means to admit that I'm nothing but a sinner in need
of grace. I have nothing. I am nothing.
I can do nothing. Less than nothing. Paul said
it this way. He said, those things that I
counted that were gained to me, those I count lost for Christ
and his finished work. It requires that the sinner,
a man, a woman who's been converted will have to admit that he has
nothing to recommend him unto God. He is nothing, his heritage,
his works, his religion, his church going, his baptism, nothing
but Christ and him crucified. That's all I got. But you know
what? That's all I need. It's more
than I need. And they didn't want that. They
wanted to talk about what they did. What they have accomplished,
what they've experienced, what they had, their own righteousness
rather than Christ. But now look at verse 16 and
17. Here's the blessedness of hearing, and I'll close. But
blessed are your eyes, for they see. Do you see it? If you do,
your eyes are blessed. Not your physical eyes. And your
ears, blessed are your ears, for they hear. Do you hear it?
Do you love it? Obey it? Believe it? And he says,
For verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous men
have desired to see those things which you see, and have not seen
them, and to hear those things which you hear, and have not
heard them. What is he talking about there? He's talking about
New Testament believers like us. The Old Testament prophets
and believers, they knew and they had blessed eyes and blessed
ears too. But they all looked forward.
by promise to the coming of Christ. And the book of Hebrews said
they didn't receive the actual fulfillment of the promise, they
looked forward to it. But we're living in this day
and age, and we're blessed even more than them. Because we're
living in the day that the Messiah has come and accomplished his
work, and we look back on that accomplished, finished work,
which they didn't see realized in their lifetime, and we're
blessed above all people. I've heard people say, boy, I
wish I could live back in the days of Moses, or back in the
days of Abraham, or back in the days of King David. You don't
know what you're saying. You don't know what you're talking
about. I know God had a people back then, and he gave them ears
to hear and eyes to see, just like he did us. But they desired
to see. what we have experienced in time. Blessed are your eyes. Blessed
are your ears.