The Purpose of the Parables

Introduction: The Sobering Reality of God's Judicial Hardening

0:00 This was preached on Sunday morning, January 6th, 1985, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:11 Now let us turn together to the fourth chapter of Mark's Gospel, Mark chapter 4.

0:22 And I would ask you to follow as I read verses 10 through 12. Mark 4, verses 10 through 12. And when he was alone, speaking of our Lord Jesus, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parables. And he said unto them, Unto you is given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but unto them that are without, all things are done in parables, in order that seeing, they may see.

1:07 And hearing, they may hear and not understand, lest happily they should turn again, and it should be forgiven them. Now let us again pray and ask God the Holy Spirit to give us understanding in this portion of his word. Holy Father, as we stand on the threshold of examining this portion of your word, we would corporately cry that you would send your Holy Spirit in copious measures as the spirit of wisdom and illumination, the spirit of insight and understanding, that we may properly understand this passage, that we may feel the weight of its truth upon our hearts, that we may be given up to its mercy. That we may have a molding influence upon thought and upon conduct. O God, we have not come simply to engage in a mental exercise tinged with spiritual words and concepts, but we long to have dealings with you in the preaching of your word.

2:35 Come to us then, O Lord, and hear our cry and meet us, we plead, through Christ our Lord. Amen. The exposition and application of some portions and themes of the word of God is an exercise which brings unmingled joy to a true servant of God. A preacher will approach his task when handling such themes and portions with tremendous eagerness and a sense of holy anticipation of the joy that will distill upon his own spirit. As he opens those portions and expands upon those themes. However, there are other portions and other themes in scripture equally inspired of God, equally necessary for the well-being of men, the exposition and application of which brings very little, if any, delight to the heart of a true servant of Christ. Amen.

3:50 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

3:51 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

3:51 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

3:52 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

3:53 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

3:54 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

3:54 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

3:55 Amen. Amen. Amen. His emotions are tinged with heaviness and his will is battered with reluctance.

4:02 He would not preach the passage. If he could find some way to justify passing over it. Now, the discipline of preaching through the gospel of Mark has brought its share of both kinds of subjects to this preacher. However, the passage before us this morning contains, contains some of the most sobering, and I wrestled with this next word and I've chosen to leave it, some of the most sobering and horrible spiritual realities to be found anywhere in all of Scripture.

4:38 The passage read in your hearing contains a statement of a frightening activity of God in the spiritual government of mankind, the activity of judicial hardening of men's minds and hearts. Therefore, as we approach the passage, may we approach it praying that we may not be insensitive nor indifferent to its sobering message. Those of you who are with us week by week will know that for a number of Lord's Days past, we have examined the parable of the sower and the soils, the parable as given to us in verses 1 to 9, and the interpretation that our Lord gave to that parable as recorded in verses 13 through 20. And I had to make a homiletical judgment in terms of the best way to handle this section, and I judged that it would be in the best interest of our edification to give you the parable of the sower and the soils. The facts of the parable in each of its parts, and then our Lord's interpretation. But if you have listened carefully both to the reading and the exposition, you are very conscious that no mention was made of the truth contained in verses 10 through 12 of Mark chapter 4.

The Disciples' Question: Why Parables?

6:07 And it is that particular passage that we will seek to lay hold of this morning. Now, as we attempt to understand and grasp its content, and message, first of all, note with me what I am calling the question raised, or the inquiry made, in verse 10. The question raised in verse 10. And three details are given to us about that question.

6:37 Where it was asked, who asked it, and the substance of the question itself. So under the heading of the question raised, verse 10, first of all, our attention is directed to where the question was asked. The text says, and when he was alone. Now, it cannot mean that our Lord was in absolute or complete aloneness.

7:06 It is not speaking of an aloneness in an absolute sense, but in a relative sense. If he was completely alone, then the only way he could be made aware, of the question of the disciples, would be by means of a note or a messenger. But it is speaking in the context of the contrast between the circumstance that we have tried to envision week after week in our study of the parable of the soils, namely the circumstance described in verse 1 of chapter 4. A vast multitude is gathered upon the shore of the lake or sea of Galilee, and the Lord Jesus is pushed out in a boat, a boat a bit from the shore, and while sitting in the boat, having that boat as his pulpit, he has been preaching to the vast multitudes upon the shore. But now in this situation, he is relatively alone. He has withdrawn from the vast multitudes, and it could well be that the situation described in the parallel passage in Matthew 13 is what Mark has in mind. We read in Matthew 13 and verse 32, Then he left the multitudes, and went into the house.

8:24 And his disciples came unto him, saying, Explain unto us the parable of the tares of the field. As we have seen again and again, the gospel writers are not wooden in their account of the various events and ministries of the Lord Jesus, and we have these differing dimensions and perspective, and it could well be that the very thing that Matthew is describing is what Mark is setting before us in this passage. So we must change the mental picture that I have been trying to create for you and help you to create week after week for eight or nine weeks. We've got to get rid of the image now of the horseshoe in that little cove in some part of the sea of Galilee and the vast multitudes forming a natural amphitheater, filled with hungry and eager listeners and the Lord Jesus in a boat. We must scrub that from our minds, and we must now envision the Lord Jesus in a relatively secluded situation, most likely in a house, possibly the very house in which we found him in the latter part of chapter 3, when there were gathered around him more than just the twelve, these other eager disciples whom he identifies as his spiritual family.

9:48 So when we turn to the passage and note the question raised, Mark draws our attention, first of all, to the place in which the question was raised, and it was a question raised not in the midst of the vast, thronging, mixed, and fickle multitude, but in the more intimate context of our Lord's aloneness. Now in the second place, with reference to the question, notice who asked or raised the question. Mark says, Now this is a detail that we find only in Mark. In the parallel passage in Matthew 13 and Luke 8, we are told that the disciples asked a certain question of our Lord. And the word disciples is like an accordion. Sometimes it is used in the gospel records to refer to the twelve. It is a synonym for the apostles.

10:49 Sometimes it means the apostles and also those who were beginning to form the nucleus of the new community of God's people. Those whom the Lord identified in the end of chapter 3 when looking round about him, he said, verse 34, Behold my mother and my brethren, whosoever shall do the will of God the same, is my brother. He is my brother, my sister, and my mother. But here, Mark is more precise, reflecting the influence of Peter as an eyewitness, and he is careful to note that along with the twelve who were called into special fellowship with the Lord Jesus and marked out for special ministry, there was also that growing number of those who saw something more than a mighty miracle worker. Those you remember of whom it is said, they began to whisper, Could it be that this is indeed the Messiah? Those in whom spiritual understanding is beginning to grow more and more into a full-blown illumination of the true identity of Jesus Christ. They had enough concern to be attached to him and to understand what he taught, that when the multitudes dispersed, they didn't go back to their homes and back to their business, and back to their fun and games, or back to whatever.

12:17 But they joined that more intimate circle of those who had attached themselves to Jesus. In fact, this phrase, those that were about him, exactly parallels chapter 3, verses 32 and 34. It is the same linguistic structure.

12:37 A multitude was sitting about him. Verse 34, Looking round on them, that sat round about him. And so when we read in chapter 4, they that were about him, Mark is linking up this group with those whom our Lord previously identified as his true family, true disciples, those in whose hearts sufficient revelation of the identity of Jesus has occurred, that they are attached to him in bonds of faith and love and obedience, and he is glad to own them as his true spiritual family. Now, the third thing about this question is what was the substance of it. We've noticed that Mark directs our attention to where it was asked, who asked it, and now thirdly, what was the substance of the question. The text says, when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parables. Now, Mark's account of this is very indefinite.

13:48 All we know is that they raised questions about the parables, and the tense of the verb is that they were asking questions concerning the parables, or they asked of him the parables. Now, what did they ask about the parables? Well, Mark doesn't tell us. But when we turn to the parallel passages in Matthew and in Luke, we see that their question, or questions, focused on two concerns.

14:16 Matthew 13 and verse 10 gives us one of them. Matthew 13 and verse 10. And the disciples came and said unto him, Why do you speak unto them in parables? And then you notice the answer, very similar to what will follow in our study of Mark.

14:37 And he answered and said unto them, Unto you is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. So when Mark tells us they asked of him the parables, their question had as its first prong why the Lord Jesus was now using the parabolic method as his predominant teaching medium. Go back to chapter 4 and verse 2. And he taught them, Mark 4, 2, he taught them many things in parables.

15:14 Now our Lord had used parables before, particularly in his teaching of his own. We find some of them right here in the Gospel of Mark. We have the parable of the wine and the wineskins. But now there's a transition in his ministry in which his public ministry is predominantly marked by the parabolic method.

15:38 Notice the repetition of this later on in chapter 4, verse 33. And with many such parables spake he the word unto them as they were able to hear it, and without a parable spoke he not unto them, but privately to his own disciples he expounded all things. Now do you see this emphasis upon the dominance of parables? And the disciples who'd been following him, they noticed this.

16:09 So after the Lord has spoken, probably at least the four parables mentioned, in Matthew's Gospel, they come into the home and the disciples ask of him, Mark says, concerning the parables. They ask of him the parables. And the first prong of their question is, Lord, why is it that when the multitudes were sitting there on the shore and you were sitting in the boat teaching, why was it that all of your teaching was in parabolic form? There's a new wrinkle in your method of communication.

16:45 You're communicating to the multitudes. Now, Lord, why are you doing that? That was part of their question. Why have parables become the predominant teaching method?

16:55 Do you see that in the text? You say, Pastor, I'm not stupid. You're laboring the...

16:59 You've got to get that. If you don't get that, the passage will go flying right by your head and you'll go out and say, I didn't get it. This is crucial. But then there was a second prong to their question.

17:10 And Luke tells us what that is. Luke 8 and verse 9. Luke 8 and verse 9. After Luke records our Lord's utterance of the parable of the sower and the soils, we read in verse 9, his disciples asked him what this parable might be.

17:32 So you see, the question was not only with respect to the parabolic method when our Lord was before the multitudes, but the precise meaning of the parable of the sower and the soils. And then in Matthew 13, 36, it is recorded that they also asked him the precise meaning of the parable of the tares, the wheat and the tares. Now put it all together and what do you have? Well, you have again what so often we find as we study the Gospel records, particularly what are called the synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

18:06 We have these varying insights given by the Gospel writers. And when we put them together, the picture becomes more clear and accurate. When the Lord Jesus was alone after speaking probably not just the parable of the sower, but at least the four parables mentioned in Matthew 13, he retires with the twelve, and with this band of his newly identified spiritual family, the ones to whom he is pointed as they are gathered about him in the house and says, these are my brother, sister, mother, the ones who hear and do the Word of God, they come aside with him and they raise the question, why have you changed your method? Why are you speaking primarily in parables? And then they say, Lord, what is the meaning of the parable of the sower and the soils? What is the meaning of the parable of the tares? Now that is the substance of their question.

19:08 Their question was not, Lord, what are the general functions of parables? And many interpretations of this passage fall flat because that is what they assume the question is. Lord, why do you speak in parables? In other words, what is the function and purpose of the parabolic method of teaching in general?

19:31 That is not their question. Parables have many functions. But our Lord is not concerned to give a lesson in pedagogy, that is, methods of the science of teaching. He is concerned to answer this question, why are you speaking to them in parables?

19:50 Uninterpreted, unexplained parables. Lord, you are doing something different. Why are you doing it? That was their question.

19:59 As well as, explain to us the meaning of the parable of the soils and of the tares. And we have already seen our Lord's response to that second question and expounded it. But now, in the verses before us this morning, we address that former part of the question, why do you teach them in parables? Now that is the question.

Jesus's Response: Two Categories of Men and Two Activities of God

20:27 Now we come, in the next two verses, to consider our Lord's response to their question. And His response has two major units of thought. Number one, the identification of two distinct categories of men, verse 11. And then secondly, the description of two diverse activities of God.

20:52 Now, have you got it? It is there in the text. Our Lord's response to their question, first of all, comes in the way of the identification of two distinct categories of men. Look at the language of verse 11.

21:08 And He said unto them, that is, the twelve and those that were gathered about Him with the twelve. Unto you is given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but unto them that are without all things are done in parables. Now, do you see this identification of two groups? Unto you, unto them.

21:34 Unto you, unto them that are without. Lord, why are you speaking to them in parables? Parables, uninterpreted, unexplained, simply saying the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven is like, and then you get out of the boat and you come home and you spend time explaining to us, but Lord, unexplained parables. Lord, why to them?

22:01 And Jesus says, in essence, the distinction you're beginning to see is a valid one. I am delighted that you've picked up on the fact that I'm beginning to manifest a different method in my dealings with you, and my dealings with them. What our Lord is doing is simply carrying on that identification that began more formally and explicitly and dramatically in the latter part of chapter 3. That distinction between men, based not upon bloodlines, external religious identification and activity, but based upon vital, inward spiritual union with God.

22:45 And it's clearly evident in the way that Jesus has presented himself. He had already stated at the end of chapter 3, who is my mother and my brethren? You tell me my mother and my brothers are without seeking me? Who really is bound to me in the deepest of ties?

23:04 Not the one whose womb I shared in my prenatal state? Not those who shared the same womb with me in their prenatal state, but those whose heart is filled with love and faith and commitment to me and to my Father's Word. Here are my brothers and sisters and mother. Here is my family.

23:26 And now the Lord underscores in response to their question that identification of these two distinct categories of men. And there is introduced in Mark terminology that becomes very precise terminology folding of the New Testament. Notice verse 11. Unto you is given the mystery of the kingdom, but unto them that are without. Two words in the Greek. Those without. And that was the very terminology the Jews used to use to describe the Gentiles. They didn't care what kind of a Gentile you were. Rich, poor, from a nation that was infamous, or a nation that was cultured. If you were a non-Jew, you were labeled, you're one of those without ones. You're without the pale of God's special people, God's special covenantal commitments.

24:25 Whatever else you may be, if you are without one, you're a Gentile dog. Now that very terminology Jesus picks up and now he introduces to redefine who the people of God are. And he says, to you, that is, my spiritual family, who hear the word of God. And he says, to you, that is, my spiritual family, who hear the word of God. And he says, to you, that is, my spiritual family, who hear the word of God. And do it. To you is given to know, but to them that are without. And he identifies Jews, even religious Jews, knowledgeable Jews, scribes and Pharisees, faithful temple worshippers. He says they are the without ones. They are the ones outside the community of the people of God. And then as the New Testament unfolds, you'll notice how that terminology, and it's precisely the same structure in the original Bible, comes out in a passage like 1 Corinthians chapter 5. Let me just give you a couple of references to demonstrate that my assertion is not just taken out of thin air. 1 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 12, in this section on church discipline, for what have I to do with judging them that are without? You see how he describes the worldlings? He puts them all in one category,

25:41 rich, poor, high, low. Educated, uneducated, openly profligate, immoral, religious, refined, but unconverted. He puts them all in one category. He calls them them that are without. Do not you judge them that are within, but them that are without. God judges. And then you find the same terminology used in Colossians 4 and verse 5. Colossians chapter 4 and verse 5. Walk in wisdom toward them that are without. In other words, before the unconverted, godless world, whatever may be their distinguishing traits, this they have in common, they are the without ones. So in answer to their question, Lord, will you tell us, please, why are you now taking this new tack in your teaching? Everything's in parables. Simply given, unexplained, unexpounded, Lord.

26:46 Why are you teaching in parables? And our Lord's answer is, first of all, this identification of two distinct categories. And you see, that distinction was necessary if he is going to constitute the new Israel, the new people of God, in the face of the growing opposition from the highest echelons of the old Israel. For you'll remember in our studies in Mark, we saw throughout chapter 2 and on into chapter 3, we saw that the new people of God were three and verse 6, this growing opposition to the Lord Jesus until finally the religious leaders say he's casting out demons by the very power of the prince of the demons himself, that is, by Beelzebub. So our Lord wants to instruct his true disciples, those about him, that they will never understand his answer to the question unless they are able to begin to think in a new way about who is within and who is without. Amen. Amen.

27:45 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

27:45 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

27:45 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

27:45 Amen. It is given, but to them that are without our Lord's response to the question begins with this identification of two distinct categories of men. Then secondly, and this is the horrible, sobering part of the passage, our Lord gives a description of two diverse activities of God, two diverse activities of God. One is directed to disciples, and one is directed to those that are without.

God's Gracious Giving of Spiritual Perception

28:24 First of all, we have in 11a, the gracious giving of spiritual perception. This is the first activity of God upon which our Lord focuses. Verse 11, and he said unto them, Do you want your question answered? Why am I speaking in parables unexpounded and unexplained to those that are without?

28:47 All right, here's my answer. There is an activity of God, a gracious activity of God, and it's directed to you, my spiritual family, unto you is given the mystery of the kingdom of God. Now in the parallel passages, the verb to know is inserted. Unto you is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God.

29:17 Now what's he talking about? Well, the word mystery to us speaks of something either spooky or a detective story that's got all kinds of strands and plots in it, and you can't unravel it till you read the last page of your Agatha Christie novel. But in Scripture, a mystery is basically this, a truth that can only be known if God reveals it and his time to reveal it has come. So the mystery is the unfolding of that mystery.

29:47 That person or reality which can only be known by the self-disclosure of God. One has defined it this way, something formerly hidden but now revealed and imparted to those spiritually qualified to receive it. Something formerly hidden but now revealed and imparted to those spiritually qualified to receive it. Another has defined the mystery this way.

30:17 A truth known only by divine revelation which, though once hidden, is now revealed. Now the particular mystery that Jesus says is given to his own, his spiritual family, is this. Unto you is given the mystery of the kingdom of God, the nature of the kingdom of grace now being established by the Lord Jesus himself. And this is why the parables in Matthew 13 are often called the kingdom parables.

30:52 We have studied one of them. How will the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God be established? Not in the way that the Jews had conceived, not under the imagery of a mighty warrior coming on a charger and swaying his enemies, but a defenseless, unarmed sower going out with a sheet bag, throwing salt. And much of it being wasted.

31:20 But out of that activity grows up a mighty kingdom of those whose hearts have been made good soil for the word of God. And as we continue to study Mark chapter 4 and confront several other of the parables, the manner of the growth and development of the kingdom of God was completely contrary to all of the Jewish carnal expectations. That was their great stumbling block. Why the carnal expectations?

31:46 Why the kingdom of God must come in the form of a rival military political power and will replace Rome? And Messiah will take over in Caesar's place. And as you study those parables in Matthew 13, everything about the kingdom is just the opposite. It's like a little bit of yeast hidden in a loaf of bread.

32:07 And it works silently and gradually and imperceptibly. He was teaching the mystery of the kingdom of God. But he said, He says to those about them, there is an activity of God on your behalf exclusive to you. To you it is given as the donation of grace.

32:31 To you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom. Grace is so worked in your heart that in me, the one who's come out of Nazareth, who hasn't come upon a charger, who hasn't come with an entourage, who comes in common guard, and who's been the best friend to me, My very commonness, a stumbling block to my own fellow neighbors, in my own blood, brothers and sisters, can any good come out of Nazareth? It's not this Joseph, son! Who in the world does he think he is?

32:59 They said, We know who he is. He is the Christ, the son of the living God. And we see in him the long-promised king, the Messiah, the anointed one. And they were beginning to perceive and have insight into the kingdom of God in the person of the king. And one writer suggests this may be why Mark omits the verb to know, that there is in it a wonderful suggestion that the kingdom is ultimately Christ himself. To you is given the mystery of the kingdom, and the mystery is Jesus himself. And he is given to you. I am given to you, and you are now a part of my spiritual family. But be that as it may, our Lord answers their question by not only discriminating between these two categories, you, my people, those who are without, but by focusing upon two diverse activities of God, the first one of which is this gracious activity of imparting spiritual understanding. Now, if you turn back to Matthew 11, in the chronology of our Lord's life, just a short time before, our Lord had returned from a preaching tour in which mighty works had been done in that whole area of Galilee. And yet vast multitudes were still held in the iron grip of unbelief and impenitence.

34:25 And Jesus pronounces those woes, Matthew 11, 20. He began to upbraid the cities. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! Woe unto thee! Woe, woe, woe! But then, verse 25 of Matthew 11, at that season Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord, for thou art the Lord of heaven and earth. You did hide these things from the wise in understanding and didst reveal them unto babes. Yea, Father, for so it was well-pleasing in your sight. All things have been delivered unto me of my Father. No one knoweth the Son, save the Father. Neither doth any know the Father, save the Son. And he to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal him. You see the connection? Our Lord says to that

35:18 spiritual family gathered about him, here's the activity of God towards you. It is an activity of grace. It is an activity that finds expression in spiritual perception of the mystery of God, which is my own person and work on behalf of sinners. To you it is given. Do you want to know why my dealings with you are different from my dealings than those that are without? Then you must understand. There is a discriminating ministry of my Father. He hides and he reveals. And to you it has been revealed. But then, this statement of this first gracious activity of God in giving spiritual perception is followed immediately by a description of another activity of God. The same God who gives spiritual insight into the mysteries of the kingdom is the one who does a second thing. Look at the text. But unto them that are without, all things

God's Righteous Cursing with Irreversible Spiritual Blindness

36:28 are done in parables. You want to know why I speak in parables now and in parables only? In parables unexpounded and unexplained? Here's my reason. In order that. You should see how the commentators, some of them, try to weaken the force of that little word hina, a clause of purpose. They try to weaken it. You find exceptions where the purpose element does not predominate. But unless the context makes it incongruous and ridiculous, we have no right to play loose with God's words. The text says, I speak unto them that are without in parables, in order that, seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand, lest haply they should turn again, and it should be forgiven. This is a description of the righteous cursing with irreversible spiritual blindness. Jesus said, if you want to understand why I teach in parables, then you must not only understand my Father's gracious activity of imparting spiritual insight, you must understand His

37:46 righteous activity of cursing others with irreversible spiritual blindness. In other words, He was speaking now in a concentration of parables, images unexplained and unexpounded as a divine judgment resulting in irreversible spiritual blindness. Now both Mark and Luke give just a summary synopsis, as it were, of the passage in the Old Testament from which this is extracted, this language. But in the parallel passage in Matthew, Matthew gives us a fuller account of what our Lord did on this occasion. In responding to this question, you will notice Matthew 13, verse 10, why do you speak unto them in parables? Our Lord speaks of the gracious activity of imparting knowledge unto you is given to know. But now verse 13, therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing

39:04 they see not, hearing they hear not, neither do they understand, and unto them is being brought to its complete fulfillment the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, and then he quotes from Isaiah 6, verses 9 and 10. And then if you notice in your Bible, it's set in poetry form to demonstrate, this is a direct quote from Isaiah 6, verses 9 and 10. Now, gird up the loins of your mind and listen carefully, listen carefully. If we are properly to understand our text in Mark, we must grasp the framework in which those thoughts were originally conveyed by God to the prophet Isaiah. For this passage in Isaiah is quoted in the Bible, and it is quoted in the Bible, and it is quoted in the Bible, and it is quoted in the Bible, and it is quoted in the Bible, and it is quoted in the Bible, and it is quoted in no fewer than five places in the New Testament with reference to the nation of Israel. Here in the parallel passages, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Matthew 13, Luke 8, Mark 4, but quoted again in John chapter 12, they could not believe, for Isaiah said, and then the passage is quoted, Acts chapter 28, and then possibly an allusion to it in Romans 11 and verse 8. It is a

40:27 pivotal passage in the New Testament usage of it, and so we must turn for a moment to Isaiah chapter 6 and try to understand the framework which forms, as it were, the prototype of what God is now doing in the ministry of His Son. The record of Isaiah's commission and call, or call and commission, is given, familiar to many of us, after this shattering vision of the exalted Lord, which completely undid the prophet. It left him utterly shattered. I'm undone. I've had it. God then speaks in grace and assures him of forgiveness and cleansing, and then he's given, as it were, to listen in on the counsels, inner Trinitarian counsels, as he hears the Godhead saying, whom shall we send and who will go for us? And after seeing this exalted God and feeling the sweetness of His forgiveness, who could do anything other than say, here am I, Lord, send me? You see, any reluctance to do the will of God is born of either ignorance or antipathy to His revealed glory, or ignorance of His forgiving grace. But you see God in His glory, His grace, and His sweetness, and your heart is bound to Him

41:52 in principled obedience. And that's what happened to Isaiah. He didn't need to hear a tear-jerking story from a missionary. He didn't need to see pictures of him. He didn't need to see pictures of him. He didn't need to see pictures of emaciated bodies and hear all kinds of... No, no. He saw God and he tasted grace. And he said, I'm not my own. I'm yours, Lord. Take me. I'll do whatever you want me to do. Now listen to what God says to him. All right, Isaiah, I'm going to send you. Verse 9. And he said, go and tell this people, hear indeed, but understand not. See indeed, but perceive not. Now look at this horrible commission. Make the heart of this people fat. Literally greasy. Make their ears heavy and shut their eyes, lest they should see with their eyes

42:38 and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn again and be healed. What a horrible commission to get. God says, all right, Isaiah, you've given yourself to me to go on my behalf as my mouthpiece. Now go. And in going to preach my word, you know what you'll be doing? You will be my instrument to bring my people to you. You will bring my people into a state of judicial hardness from which there will be no recovery until Isaiah, perceiving that, cries out verse 11. Then said I, Lord, how long? How long shall I go on preaching, knowing that my very ministry is going to be in your hands, a righteous instrument of judicial blindness? And the Lord says, until cities be wasted without inhabitant and houses

43:30 without inhabitants. Let man and the land become utterly wasted. Isaiah, you're going to preach men into a blindness until the judgment of God carries them into captivity. I've sent my prophets to them day and night, reminding them of my covenant love, my covenant faithfulness, reminding them of their covenantal vows, pointing out their sin, calling them to repentance. But the more I sent my servants, the more they stopped their ears, the more light I brought upon their spiritual eyeballs, the more they put their hands upon it. Now, Isaiah, your ministry will do this in my righteous judgment upon them. Your ministry will fill their ears up with grace. Your ministry will create scales over their eyes. They want darkness they shall have until judgment overtakes them.

44:32 Now, my friends, do you think Isaiah got up from such a commission and clapped his hands and danced in the spirit? You see why I said at the beginning there are some passages the preaching of which causes the will of a preacher to be battered with reluctance. Do you think I want to stand and preach that the God whom we worship is not only the God who graciously grants spiritual illumination, but he righteously pardons men? But I am not at liberty to alter my Lord's words. My dear family, he says.

45:14 Do you want to know why I speak to them in parables? Why I no longer preach in plain unadorned language? Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Why I no longer call out specific sins, but I speak of the kingdom under the veil of parables. And then alone with you I open up the mysteries. I'll tell you why. They have for so long loved their darkness that it is now in the Father's purpose to let them have their darkness. They have a darkness, a darkness that will grow with intensity until the frightening judgment of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., the total dismantling of the Mosaic system, the destruction of temple and priesthood and sacrifice, the scattering of the nations to the four winds of heaven or to the four corners of the earth. Now, dear people, that's the passage that our Lord is referring to. And that judgment of God in Isaiah. Isaiah's day was the prototype of the judgment of God upon the nation that would come through the Lord Jesus, who now seeing the rising tide of opposition, seeing that increasing antipathy to himself and to his ministry, he says, I am now beginning, as it were, to

46:38 play the overture of the judgment that will fall upon the nation. And do you know that he was conscious that that was one of his purposes, his incoming judgment? He was conscious that he was coming into the world. We often quote the text, and rightly so, I came not into the world to judge the world.

46:55 But there's another side of that. You turn to John chapter 9 and verse 39. Jesus was conscious that his ministry had a flip side. And Jesus said, John 9, 39, for judgment came I into this world. What kind of judgment? That they that see not may see. And they that see may become blind. Now, dear people, how can any preacher take delight in preaching that? But that's what he said. He said, one of my purposes in coming from the presence of my Father is that those who are in darkness and had no sight and were not in any way deceived that they did, that they might receive sight. Blessed are your eyes, in the parallel passage

47:49 in Matthew. Blessed are your eyes, they see, and they not only see, he says, but they see things that righteous men and prophets desired to see, but in the economy of God they were not given to see. They did not see Messiah before them as you see me. They did not see the mighty validation of my identity and my miracles. They did not see what you see. You are blessed having not once seen, you now see. But those who prided themselves, we are the enlightened ones. Everyone else is on the outside. We have the law. We have the prophets. We have the priesthood. We have the proper ritual in the proper place. We see, Jesus said, I have come for judgment that those who see may not see.

Application: The Exclusive and Unique Aspect of This Judgment

48:37 Now, as I understand the passage, that's what our Lord is saying. As we bring our study to a close this morning, it's vital that we ask, in closing, this question, what in the world does all of that say to us? Well, I want to underscore, first of all, there's an aspect in this passage which is exclusive, limited, and utterly unique. As Isaiah's ministry was exclusively his, it was utterly unique. To no other prophet did God say those words. You are my instrument, primarily, to bring judicial hardness upon a people who've said for so long, we want no light, we want no light, that God amends their request and says, no light you shall have. And the way I'll fulfill that request is, I'll shine more light on you. And your antipathy to light will make you develop such scales against it that they'll never be removed. That's how God does it. He removes the light by giving more light

49:37 until their blindness is irrecoverable. And in our Lord's day, he knew that the time was drawing near for judgment to fall upon the nation of Israel. And our Lord, and only he in that sense, has any right to say, I speak in parables that seeing them, I can see them and they may see and not see, and hearing they may hear and not hear, that they might be given over to judicial blindness. No preacher has any right whatsoever to say that that's his task. That was exclusive, unique, limited to Isaiah in his day, leading to the captivity of the nation in our Lord's day, and in the day of the apostles leading to the destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the Jews amongst the nations. However, however, I'm telling you, there are several principles that are as applicable to us as the air we breathe in this auditorium this morning. First of all, in this passage, there is a needed reminder, a needed reminder. As then, so now, there are only two classes of people. Jesus

Application: A Needed Reminder - Two Classes of People

50:49 delineated them. He said, unto you it is given, but to them that are without blindness. To you. To them. No middle ground. Those whom he identified as his spiritual family, and what was their unique and distinguishing mark of identity, it was not their background, it was not their bloodlines. According to Mark 335, here it is. Whosoever shall do the will of God, the same as my brother, my sister and mother, when all is said and done, this is the identifying mark of a true Christian. He has seen in Christ such glory. He has seen in the work of Christ such beauty, that

51:36 he is bound over to Jesus Christ, lock, stock and barrel, in faith and love, manifested in a life of careful obedience to the revealed will of God. Doesn't say anything about feelings, doesn't say anything about ecstasies, doesn't say anything about tongues, about visions. It says, here is my family, those who do the will of my heart. And they do it not out of a legalistic spirit, seeking to gain and earn merit and favor.

52:07 They do it out of the constraints of love. Love that has its tap roots in a spiritual sight of the mystery, who is Christ himself. There's those kind of people in all the rest. Now, which one are you? No middle ground. What a needed reminder comes from this passage.

Application: A Humbling Reality - Grace in Spiritual Sight

52:28 Them within, those without. My friend, which one are you in? There's no middle ground. No middle ground. But not only does the passage contain a needed reminder, it contains a humbling reality. If we see, we see in Christ, the one worthy of our trust, of our love and our homage and our obedience, and we see the true nature of the kingdom, that it's constituted not on bloodlines, not on national lines, but on grace lines alone. If we see that, and our only hope is in Christ, but a humbling reality to know it's been given for us to know the mystery. It's been given. It's been given. It's been given. Who makes

53:20 thee to differ? Lord, we sang this morning. Why was I made to hear thy voice? And enter while there's room when thousands make a wretched choice, and rather starve than come.

53:34 It was the same love that spread the feast, that sweetly drew us in. Else we had still refused to taste and perished in our sin. Oh, what a humbling reality. Are we, as it were, about our Lord this morning? We're not content to simply come this morning as the multitudes did, hear some God language and some Bible talk and go away. But we, as it were, are gathered with him alone, content with nothing less than spiritual illumination and the nourishment of our soul from the lips of our Savior. If we're found amongst his own, he says, unto you it is given. Unto you it is given. Unto you it is given. Oh, what a humbling reality. What have we that we did not receive? A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven. But then there is in the third

Application: A Frightening Warning - Greater Light, Greater Judgment

54:29 place a frightening warning. A frightening warning. Great light resulted in greater judgment. Listen to Matthew Henry. He stated it better than any of the twenty or so commentators I read. Listen to Matthew Henry. The saddest condition a man can be in this side of hell is to sit under the most lively ordinances with a dead, stupid, and untouched heart.

54:58 The saddest condition a man can be in this side of hell is not to be there with those poor, starving multitudes in Ethiopia. That's sad indeed, and enough to wrench the hearts of the poor. That's sad indeed, and enough to wrench the hearts of the most insensitive human being. But the saddest condition this side of hell is not to be in abject poverty, even dying of physical starvation. Matthew Henry said it is to sit under the most lively ordinances.

55:29 That is where there's true worship and biblical preaching and earnest entreaty, but to do so with a dead, stupid, and untouched heart. To hear God's word and to see his providences and yet not to understand. And then perceive his will is the greatest sin and the greatest judgment there can be. Think of it. Think of it. God incarnate is in their midst. Speaking is no more.

55:57 Raising the dead. Healing the sick. And they say, what do we see? Joseph's son. That's all we see. He's got some demon power working in him. You see, when you've shut your eyes to that much light, God says, all right, now I'll give you more light to make, as it were, your scales even grow thicker. You're determined not to hear?

56:17 I'll turn up the decimals and you'll have to put more grease in your ears. And I fear, though I have no grounds to say of any one in particular, that would be presumption. I tell you the warning is here that you better say it to yourself. Could it be that God's brought me under this ministry to give me judicial heart? Few things make me want to quit the ministry, but the fact that I have reason to believe that dimension of God's work is done even now in the ministry scares me. How do I know it's still done? Because Paul said, we are a saver of life unto life and of death. If I may state it in a way that I hope will sting and shock some of you, unless you amend your ways, the only thing is going to be to make hell worse. You don't get up

57:30 shouting happy when you think on that reality, that the only thing my ministry is accomplishing in some of you is to make hell more horrible. A frightening warning. You who reject light, you who stop your ears in God's name, desist. Don't go on! Because there comes a point where God says, my spirit shall not always strive with men. You precious children, some of you have had more light in your first five years than some of us had before we were thirty. You've heard more clear preaching, you've had more Bible, more truth, more examples of reality.

Application: An Encouraging Caution - Never Give Up Praying

58:17 As we speak to you of the loveliness of Jesus, and the desirability of a life of holiness, hear us, hear us, hear us. This is God's truth. And I warn you not to despise it. But then finally, the passage contains an encouraging caution. You see, though the nation is a whole, was previously the only thing that was going on in God's life. And I want you to hear that. And I want you to hear that. Reached into judgment, judicial blindness by the parables.

58:54 There was a remnant according to the election of grace. And what an encouragement it was to me to turn into the book of Acts and to read in Acts 5 and in Acts 15 and several other places. A great company of the priests were obedient to the faith. And then when they had the council of Jerusalem, it says, there was a number of the sect of the Pharisees who were believing.

59:18 Thank God. Even as in Isaiah's day, and you read Isaiah 6 ends with God saying, even though Isaiah, you're going to preach the nation into blindness and judgment, there will be a remnant. And there was a remnant then, and thank God. And you see, there's an encouraging caution.

59:42 Never to give up on someone who has light. Light that beams upon his spiritual eyeballs for years. The overtures of mercy and judgment that thunder in. Upon his ears for years.

59:56 Never give up. Because you and I do not know when God has given someone over to judicial blindness or when God allows someone to go a long time in his sin and hardness that he might make him all the more a trophy of his amazing grace. Now you who are impenitent, don't you cop out and say, well, I'll go on in impenitence and maybe I'll bring more glory to God if I get converted later. No, this is not for you.

60:26 The word of God to you is today is the day of salvation. Today, if you hear his voice, harden not your heart. But to us who pray for you, this is for us. This is our encouragement.

60:38 We're not going to give up on you. We're not going to decree that you have been given up to blindness. Forgive us, but we're going to continue to pray for you. We're going to continue to preach to you.

60:48 We're going to continue to witness to you. We're going to continue to plead and pray and preach. And we do it in the hope. We do it in the hope that God is yet able.

60:58 While you breathe his breath, he is yet able. Oh, dear man, woman with unconverted husband, wife, children, don't give up. Don't give up. Don't go out this morning and say, well, that explains my husband, my son, my daughter.

61:13 God's given. How do you know yet?

61:16 You'd have to have direct revelation, and God doesn't give that. I've warned those in that condition, but I'd encourage those of you who think someone may be in that condition. If anyone looked like he was in that condition, Saul the Tarsus did. God got him.

61:32 Pray on. Cry on. Witness on. Plead on.

61:37 Knowing that God, in any situation, can give the mystery of the kingdom. Let us pray. Our Father, we confess that there are portions of your word that sober us. We remember the prophet saying, I heard your voice, and I was afraid.

62:09 We do confess, O Lord, that your message fills us with fear, that men should trifle away their privileges, and thereby seal their own damnation. Have mercy upon any who may be perilously close to that point, for your spirit will no longer strive. Gracious God, take your word and make it effectual, not to men's increased damnation, but, O God, make it effectual to their salvation. Seal that word to everyone, every heart.

62:43 We ask for the sake of your Son. Amen.