King James Bible Study – [Mark 8:34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.]
Date: Wednesday, October 13, 2021
Chapters: Matthew 13
Message: A Seed
Hello My Friend,
Last night I was at a ladies meeting at church, and I gave the devotional. I talked about trees, and how much God references them, speaking from this passage, [Psalms 1:1-3 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.]
We who are born again, and God’s faith truly are like trees planted by the rivers of water, and it is our Godly influence that leads other, or at least, plants the seed that will become fruitful. As I was praying this morning I thanked God for using me to plant some seeds, even though I may never see them water and grow until I see them in heaven. And here we are today reading about seeds. Let me tell you, God may not give us all the answers right away when we pray, but He sure knows how to let us know that He is listening. The question is, “Are you hearing God?” Well, Jesus does not ask the question, He flat out tells you, [Matthew 13:9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.].
God loves to quote in some form, [Who hath ears to hear,] all throughout the Bible. The Bible is set up like a foreign language, unless you know the language you are not going to hear what is being said. God actually designed it that way because He gave His Word to His people, anyone else who reads it that is not saved cannot understand a word that is written. As we continue in the reading of the Gospels, the crowds following Jesus are getting much bigger, so much that He literally had to go out into a ship sitting off the shore in order to speak to them. This is where He begins speaking in parables.
[Matthew 13:1-8 The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side. 2 And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. 3 And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; 4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: 5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: 6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. 7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: 8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.]
[And great multitudes were gathered together unto him,] You see, Jesus knew each and every heart in those multitudes, which were literally thousands of people. He knew exactly who believed in Him, who did not, and at what level, which is why He started speaking to them in parables. If they understood those, then it was not Him that would be convinced that they were believers, it would be the believers who would be convinced. Now, His disciples did not quite understand why Jesus was speaking in parables, so they asked Him why.
[Matthew 13:10-16 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? 11 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 is not given. 12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. 13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. 14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: 15 For this people’s heart is waxed 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 them. 16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.]
[Why speakest thou unto them in parables?] So, what exactly is a parable? [Parable; To throw forward or against, to compare to or against;] A parable is also defined as a narrative, a fictitious, but agreeable to the laws and usages of human life, particularly the nature and history of God’s kingdom are figuratively portrayed. In other words, it is a story that has nothing to do with a particular person, but has a true meaning behind it. The people may not have understood the parable, but they did know that Jesus was referring to them. The honest truth is that we hear what we want to hear, not always what is actually being said. In fact, a whole room of people can hear the same exact words and come up with a different interpretation. It all has to do with the heart, and what we actually hear when something is spoken to us, and if their ears are dull to the Word of God, then they are not going to understand the parable. Now, do not get too upset if you do read a parable and do not understand it. Remember, God reveals things to us as we grow in His Word, which is why Jesus explained the parable to His disciples. Of course, the seed is the Word of God and how each heart perceives it.
[Matthew 13:19-23 When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side. 20 But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; 21 Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. 22 He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. 23 But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.]
[and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart.] These are those who never understand the Word of God, they may have read through it, but the only thing they saw was God’s judgments and therefore, rejected it and God for that matter. When I first began my ministry I had this fool comment on every devotional, criticizing the Bible, and God, he even went as far as to say that God was evil because He created the devil.
[by and by he is offended.] These are those who a touched by God’s Word, may go to church, come to fellowships, get help from the church, but are not saved. They will remain content and happy, until they are asked to do something or denied help, then get offended and never step foot in any church again.
[and he becometh unfruitful.] These are those who get saved, and sadly, are a huge majority of Christians, become faithful for a little while, but get caught up in the world and do not have much to show for their faith. In fact, the people they are around would never even know they were saved.
[which also beareth fruit,] And these of course, are those who gladly get saved, and go on to dedicate their lives to Him, bearing much fruit, even though they do mess up a thousand times and constantly ask God why He bothers with them when they fail Him so much. And do you know why they become so fruitful? God sees how humble they are, [Matthew 23:12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.]
What is the saying, “It’s hard to be humble”? I just now learned that there is another part to that quote, ‘It’s hard to be humble, when you’re as great as I am.” That pretty much sums up why God only exalts us when we are humble. No one wants to be around someone who that is that stuck on themselves. At work, my supervisor asked us who we admire the most, one of my team mates said that the only person she admired was herself. I did not get to say it because she had used up the rest of our time talking about herself, but I was going to say Jesus. The reason she asked that question was that she wanted us to think of that person as our customer. Let me tell you, having Jesus for a customer I would make sure that I gave Him my very best service. Although I do not think that Jesus would be cussing me out or telling me that I was the worst agent ever because He did not get His package on time. Which makes a valid point that regardless of how they treat us, we should treat them all with the same respect. Christians are put in this world for a reason, and not to be a part of them, but to find other Christians who are not Christians yet. Jesus gives another parable to explain this.
[Matthew 13:24-30 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: 25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. 26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. 27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? 28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? 29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.]
[Let both grow together until the harvest:] This is actually the first mention of Jesus when He returns to judge the world. This does not take place at the time of the rapture, which will be when the bodies of the saints that died before His return would resurrect, then those who are alive will meet up with Him, [1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.].
[Gather ye together first the tares,] This is the final judgment after Jesus reigns the earth for a thousand years, and the devil gets released from prison, [Revelation 20:4-5 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.].
Remember, the disciples were really no different than we are, they walked and did not always understand the meaning of the parables, and they had not idea what He was talking about. After Jesus sent the multitude away, the disciples asked Him what He meant by that parable.
[Matthew 13:36-43 Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. 37 He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; 38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; 39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. 40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. 41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; 42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.]
[out of his kingdom all things that offend,] Now, these are the angels that are going to reap whoever it is that is left of the believers, once they do that, fire will literally come down from the heavens and destroy the entire earth, and everyone and thing left. These are the ones who were too offended to accept Christ when they had the opportunity to do so when they were alive in the flesh, [Revelation 20:11-15 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.]
A seed, when you look at it it does not look like much, often like some dried up old piece of food, good for nothing, but deep down there is something amazing inside of that seed, life. Once you plant it in the right soil, give it some love (water, food, light), roots will start to grow, and as long as you tend to it regularly, it will grow into a living thing, whether it be a plant, animal, or person. Now, a seed that never gets planted is dead, it cannot grow into anything, much like a soul that does not have Jesus. The second a person receives Christ as their Saviour is immediately given life as the Holy Spirit gets planted into that soul. Now, if we want the Holy Spirit to grow us to our full potential, then we must feed Him what He needs, and that is our own love, [1 John 5:1-3 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.]
Today’s Prayer: God, I love the amazing miracle that happens when a seed grows into something beautiful, but I also see the destruction that weeds do to that beauty. Lord, I want to live a life that produce good, sustainable fruit, not corruptible weeds. Give me Your power, wisdom, and guidance to be fruitful, give me an open and willing heart, and let me not be corrupted by the weeds that try to destroy every good fruit You produced in me. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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