The Parables

10-6-2024

Mark 4:10–13 (ESV)
¹⁰And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. ¹¹And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, ¹²so that “ ‘they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.’ ”¹³And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?

Isaiah 6:9–13 (ESV)
⁹And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “ ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ ¹⁰Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” ¹¹Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” And he said: “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste, ¹²and the Lord removes people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. ¹³And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains when it is felled.” The holy seed is its stump.

• This wisdom will only be understood by those whose hearts are

1 Corinthians 1:18–25 (ESV)
¹⁸For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” ²⁰Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. ²²For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, ²³but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, ²⁴but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

• A different method of learning

Greek Teaching Method focuses on CONTENT

Hebrew teaching method focuses on CONTEXT

Greek Method teaching seeks to shape a student’s

Hebrew method teaching seeks to shape a student’s

Students under the Greek method learn what the teacher KNOWS

Students under the Hebrew method pattern themselves after what their teacher IS

Greek Method teaching is driven

Hebrew Method teaching is driven

Psalm 78:1–4 (ESV)

¹Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth! ²I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, ³things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. ⁴We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.

• Allegory (Parable)
  noun: allegory; plural noun: allegories

a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.

• • Historical Narrative vs Helpful Story
    • The Biblical authors used different writing styles for different purposes / Historical Narrative / Poetry
      Legal / Allegorical / Prophetic
  • Hades/Hell
    • Matt 8: 10 – 12, 25:30, 22:13 (Outer Darkness)
    • Matt 5: 22, Matt 18: 9, Matt 13: 41 – 43 (Firey Torment)
    • Rev 20: 13 – 15, Matt 3:12, Rom 6: 21 – 23 (Annihilation)
  • Interaction across the divide

Luke 16:19–31 (ESV)

¹⁹“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. ²⁰And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, ²¹who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. ²²The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, ²³and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. ²⁴And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ ²⁵But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. ²⁶And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ ²⁷And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— ²⁸for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ ²⁹But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ ³⁰And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ ³¹He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ ”

• A parable is meant to be …
  • The Rich Man
    • Unnamed
    • A life of
    • Not accused of any specific sin
      • Pride, Lover of Money, Selfish, Conceited, no Personal Responsibility…
      • His condition is due to a

Ezekiel 18:30–32 (ESV)
³⁰“Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord God. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin. ³¹Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? ³²For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live.”

• • The Poor Man
    • Lazarus (El – Azar: God Helps)
    • A life of
    • Not elevated as someone of great deeds
    • Silent

Psalm 12:1–8 (ESV)
¹Save, O Lord, for the godly one is gone; for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man. ²Everyone utters lies to his neighbor; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak. ³May the Lord cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that makes great boasts, ⁴those who say, “With our tongue we will prevail, our lips are with us; who is master over us?” ⁵“Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan, I will now arise,” says the Lord; “I will place him in the safety for which he longs.” ⁶The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times. ⁷You, O Lord, will keep them; you will guard us from this generation forever. ⁸On every side the wicked prowl, as vileness is exalted among the children of man.

• • The Five Brothers
    • Acting just like the rich man
    • ‘’ – Need a Sign
    • If you can’t believe in what has already been done… then nothing is going to convince you

Ezekiel 3:4–7 (ESV)
⁴And he said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with my words to them. ⁵For you are not sent to a people of foreign speech and a hard language, but to the house of Israel— ⁶not to many peoples of foreign speech and a hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, if I sent you to such, they would listen to you. ⁷But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me: because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart.

Ephesians 4:17–20 (ESV)
¹⁷Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. ¹⁸They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. ¹⁹They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. ²⁰But that is not the way you learned Christ!—

• What can we learn?
  • The issue is not a lack of – Signs – Clever Words – Great Deeds
  • The issue is one of the – We seek a change of heart, not a change of
    • Motivations – Desires – Will

Genesis 3:4–5 (ESV)
⁴But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”