Mat 13:18-19: God’s Seeds Need to Take Root.Sunday March 16, 2025 Intro: Textual variants.
Mat 13:18-19
Therefore you hear …
The evil (one) - devil or Satan.
Mar 4:15 immediately Satan comes
Luk 8:12 then the devil comes
The devil either has already sown his lies in that heart or is in process.
2Co 4:4 the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ
While we are born sinners due to the fall, none of us originate evil. Our issue is not creating something that we can call original, evil or good. The issue for us is faith. We are all followers.
The person that you are dealing with who has a hard heart has been already been planted with lies.
Snatched away from the heart / road = the heart is hard.
False doctrines enter the mind and harden the heart: Jesus is not God; God is a distant, unknowable being and there is no salvation; there is no afterlife; evolution (rejection of God’s authority as Creator). When the seed (word of the kingdom) comes it is rejected as if they barely heard it, like a stranger saying a fast hello as they pass you by on the street.
Is only the unbeliever in mind?
Word of the kingdom (singular, but like Word of God) includes many truths, most of which can only be understood by the believer.
Kingdom: basileia = the dignity of a king expressed in the territory ruled by him.
It comes down to who has dignity and power. Luk 19:14 - the parable of the minas: “We do not want this man to rule over us.” and in vs. 27 they are executed.
Where have kingdoms come from? Gen 6:5 Gen 9:6 (Noahic Covenant) Gen 10:5 (not chronological – Eastern, not Western) Gen 11:6-9.
The ones who understand each other are going to form groups and move.
God is the creator of government and nations, not man (Gen 9-11).
Kingdom of Israel: Abraham, Moses, David, David’s son.
Kingdom of Israel (of David) Mark 11:10; Act 1:6. The one theocracy in history. Designed to be a kingdom of priests (Exo 19:5-6).
`None of these men were good enough - Isa 9:6-7.
His kingdom will be eternal and righteous.
It comes down to who has dignity and power. Luke 19:14 - the parable of the minas: “We do not want this man to rule over us.” and in vs. 27 they are executed.
The church: a mystery age, unknown to OT prophets. A unique age in which kingdom members live in the world’s kingdoms. The church is a very different time than all others.
Members of the kingdom of heaven live amongst the kingdoms of the earth in the midst of worldlings.
The parable of the sower, the key to them all, depicts four kinds of hearts that will live within every person during the mystery age, or the church. I initially stated that it was four kinds of people, but I have since been considering that any person, unbeliever or believer can at some time manifest the patterns of the first three types of soil. Only the believer is the fourth.
1Pe 1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens,
We live for the kingdom of God, invite all others in through the gospel, we live in the way of the kingdom of God and know that all the good that could be will not happen until that kingdom is put on this earth by Christ when He returns.
In no way are we making it or contributing to it or taking away from it.
Word of the kingdom - the true King and His domain.
Only one way in and received by grace:
The fact that we do not make the kingdom of God, nor hasten or delay it. It is and comes by God’s S will.
The word of the kingdom is the gospel since the only way in is through salvation.
Only one way in - R through Christ 1Co 6:9; Gal 5:21; Eph 5:5.
Man can only enter and receive as a gift.
God gives His kingdom: (Luke 12:32). Jesus Christ promises the confessing Peter: (Matt 16:19). The kingdom is taken from the obdurate Jews and given to believers: (Matt 21:43). Christ makes over the kingdom as the Father has made it over to Him: (Luke 22:29). God calls Christians into His kingdom and glory: (1 Thess 2:12). God has set us in the kingdom of the Son of His love: (Col 1:13). Believers are made worthy of the kingdom of God: (2 Thess 1:5). The Lord will deliver believers into His heavenly kingdom ... (2 Tim 4:18). God has promised His kingdom: (James 2:5). God does not act like the Pharisees who presume to close the kingdom to men: (Matt 23:13; cf. Luke 11:52).
The truths of the gospel do not lose application and the need for deeper understanding after faith in Christ as your Savior. Now they apply to the Christian life in many ways.
The fact that whosoever may come must erase our prejudice (that truth can hit a hard heart).
That God has made us worthy of the kingdom means that we have to live holy [no excuses about sin natures and upbringing and environment work against this] (2Th 1:5, Corinthians heard with hard heart).
The kingdom is something more than this world (Rom 14:17)
It is not of this earth 1Co 15:24.
It is a way of righteousness to be lived today (1Th 2:12) Which will be persecuted by worldlings (2Th 1:5).
There is only one King (Heb 1:8; Psa 22:28; Isa 9:6-7. Heirs are rich in faith and poor in the world (Jam 2:5). Not romanticism - rich in faith eliminates that.
The kingdom of the beast will be judged (Rev 16:10; 5th bowl judgment). Rev 17:12, 17
Psa 110:6 He will judge among the nations, He will fill them with corpses,
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