July 19, 2009
Some who thought that Jesus came to establish an earthly kingdom found great difficulty in understanding the parables He told. Unlike a physical kingdom, Christ’s kingdom is directly tied to His rule and reign in the hearts of His people. Alistair Begg teaches that only the Spirit can create authentic faith, enabling men and women to submit to Christ as their eternal King.
1Again vhe began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, wso that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. 2And xhe was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: 3“Listen! Behold, ya sower went out to sow. 4And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 5Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. 6And zwhen the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, ait withered away. 7Other seed fell among bthorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and ca hundredfold.” 9And he said, d“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
10And ewhen he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. 11And he said to them, f“To you has been given gthe secret of the kingdom of God, but for hthose outside everything is in parables, 12iso that
“‘they jmay indeed see but not perceive,
and may indeed hear but not understand,
lest they kshould turn and be forgiven.’”
Copyright © 2024, Alistair Begg. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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