Lakes Region Reformed Resources

“understanding the Parables” Series

Introduction

Inspired by a chapter entitled “Are All the Parables Gracious” by Dr. Peter Masters (pastor of Spurgeon’s Metropolitan Tabernacle in London), this series attempts to recover the earlier understanding of the parables, which saw them not as a disconnected series of lessons for the moral improvement of Christians, but as veiled gospel presentations to sinners, particularly those who “trust in themselves that they are righteous.” In the modern professing church where salvation appeals are seldom, if ever, made to regular attenders, the parables of Jesus are a presentation of Christ and His heavenly kingdom, requiring us to confess Christ’s lordship over us; to acknowledge our own unworthiness and His all-sufficient work in the salvation of sinners; and to examine in ourselves as to whether that powerful work of God has been done.

Parables Sermons in Order

The entire Parables series is available in audio format by clicking the links to Sermon Audio. The following presents the sermons in the order in which they were given. Clicking on the title will take you to the Sermon Audio website where the sermons may be listened to or downloaded, and for many of the messages, study sheets may also be viewed and/or downloaded in .pdf format.

1. BEHOLD, A SOWER WENT OUT TO SOW (Mark 4:1-20). SUMMARY: The parable of the sower is a visual picture of how God and His servants sow the seed of the gospel and how the human heart responds. Its intention is to confront his hearers with the desperate condition of their heart, and with God’s plan to change it. It does not represent, as is often suggested, a picture of various Christian responses to the preaching of the Word; only one of the four is a true believer, for only one has good soil and bears fruit.

2. MANY THINGS BY PARABLES (Mark 4:1-34). SUMMARY: The passage introduces a new phase of the Savior’s ministry, which would be be characterized by three things or considered in this message: (1) a new disposition towards national Israel, who were nearing the end of their status as the one favored nation; (2) a new intimacy with His disciples, for only disciples of the Master were true children of Abraham and would be a part of the new Israel; and (3) a new method of teaching them, the parable, which would aid the receiving of truth to the hungry heart, but veil it to those who had no heart for it.

3. THE WORD OF THE KINGDOM, PART 1 (Matthew 13:19 & Selected Scriptures). SUMMARY: The parables of Jesus must be understood in the context of the prophecies of the kingdom that had been revealed to the Jews throughout the Old Testament, or their message will be largely missed. In Matthew’s account of the Parable of the Sower, Jesus refers to His preaching as “the word of the kingdom.” This sermon introduces the idea that Jesus’ message, and the message of the parables, was the same promise of a coming kingdom of God which was announced by the Old Testament prophets, and which He had come to fulfill. This message is primarily a reading, with running commentary, of the kingdom prophecies found in Isa. 9:1-16, Isa. 51:1-11, Isa. 51:1-11, Isa. 55:1-13, Isa. 59:1 – 60:6, Isa. 62:1-12, Isa. 65:1-17, Amos 9: 8-17, and Micah 4:1-27.

4. THE WORD OF THE KINGDOM, PART 2 (Selected passages). SUMMARY: The parables of Jesus must be understood in the context of the prophecies of the kingdom that had been revealed to the Jews throughout the Old Testament, or their message will be largely missed. Continuing the theme of the previous message, several other Old Testament prophecies of the coming kingdom, including Jeremiah 33:1-22, Daniel 2:31-45, and Daniel 7:1-14, are examined. Then, with all the Old Testament kingdom prophecies in view, the features of the kingdom are listed and considered in the light of the message Jesus had come to proclaim, and the parabolic method He would employ.

5. THE WORD OF THE KINGDOM, PART 3 (Mark 4:9-13 & Selected passages). SUMMARY: The parables of Jesus must be understood in the context of the prophecies of the kingdom that had been revealed to the Jews throughout the Old Testament, or their message will be largely missed. This message shows how Jesus fulfills the prophecy of Psalm 78, “I will open my mouth in a parable,” and then highlights Jesus’s intention, though parables, to preach the gospel, provoke national Israel to jealousy, and prophesy of His death and victorious kingdom to follow.

6. EARS THAT HEAR, EYES THAT SEE (Matthew 13:30-50; Mark 4:26-29 & Selected passages). SUMMARY: The parables accompany the announcement of Christ’s kingdom by addressing the various attitudes of the human heart that are revealed in response to it. In particular, this message points to the attitudes of neglect, presumption and direct opposition, both inside and outside of the congregation of God’s professing people, that Jesus would encounter as He preached the gospel of the kingdom.

7. APPLIED PRINCIPLES AND A PARABLE (Matthew 22:1-14). SUMMARY: This message highlights the decline of the biblical gospel in the churches of today, and how Jesus’ parables address not only religious conditions in His day but in ours as well. In light of this, the parable of the wedding feast is considered, with particular emphasis on the sobering final verse: “Many are called, but few are chosen.”

8. EFFECTUAL CALLING IN THREE PARABLES (Mark 4:21-34). SUMMARY: In this message, the term “effectual calling” as used in the reformed confessions and catechisms is defined and supported by the three parables that follow the seed and the sower, namely, the parabolic illustrations of the lamp on the lampstand, the growing seed and the mustard seed. In these parables, Jesus illustrates the mystery of salvation both in the individual and in the world.

9. A TIME FOR FIGS (Luke 13:6-9; Matthew 21:17-22). SUMMARY: Using the parabolic illustration, on more than one occasion, of Israel’s most appealing fruit-bearing tree, Jesus foretells the removal of His blessing from Old Testament Israel, a fruitless nation, and the giving of it to others of His choosing, namely, the New Testament church. This is not, as the Reformed position is often misunderstood, to say that the church replaces Old Testament Israel, but rather, that she is the spiritual remnant of it, or, as Reformed theology understands it, the church IS Israel. The spiritual fruit of the modern church is also soberly considered. [The question of how the modern nation of Israel, whose existence seems to be a modern-day miracle, might fit into God’s plan for the future is not discussed here, but it is treated somewhat at length in our Revelation sermons on Armageddon, the Final Battle.]

10. LORD OF THE VINEYARD, PART 1: THE VINEYARD PRINCIPLE (Isaiah 5:1-7). SUMMARY: In three vineyard parables in Matthew 20-21, Jesus reminds His hearers that Israel (the church) is God’s vineyard, and that He has a right to do with it, and expect from it, as He pleases. This message looks at the Old Testament vineyard parable in Isaiah chapter 5, which Jesus clearly was alluding to, and considers the symbols used: God as the vineyard Owner or Keeper, and the vineyard as the church, or the congregation of those who profess His name and claim to be His servants. The principle of fruit-bearing is then discussed, both in relation to the Old Testament nation and the New Testament church.

11. LORD OF THE VINEYARD, PART 2: LABORERS IN THE VINEYARD (Matthew 20:1-16). SUMMARY: In three vineyard parables in Matthew 20-21, Jesus reminds His hearers that Israel (the church) is God’s vineyard, and that He has a right to do with it, and expect from it, as He pleases. Having established the meaning of the symbols in Isaiah 5, this message considers the parable of the laborers in the vineyard in Mt. 20:1-16, in which the Lord of the vineyard is referred to as oikodespotes, the “Master of the house,” a term which Jesus implied was a reference to Himself. The parable is then examined in terms of the meaning of saving faith, both in relation to the religious conditions in Jesus’s day as well as our own.

12. LORD OF THE VINEYARD, PART 3: TWO SONS. (Matthew 21:23-32). SUMMARY: In three vineyard parables in Matthew 20-21, Jesus reminds His hearers that Israel (the church) is God’s vineyard, and that He has a right to do with it, and expect from it, as He pleases. In this passage, Jesus responds in the form of a parable to a challenge to His authority by the religious leaders. The parable of Two Sons has application for today’s church as it did in the church of Jesus’ day.

13. LORD OF THE VINEYARD, PART 4: THE WICKED TENANTS (Matthew 21:23-32; Rev. 11:15-19; 1 Cor.
15:19-26). SUMMARY: In three vineyard parables in Matthew 20-21, Jesus reminds His hearers that Israel (the church) is God’s vineyard, and that He has a right to do with it, and expect from it, as He pleases. This message examines the parable of the tenants in Mt. 21:33-46 as a prophecy of the past attempt of the Jews of Jesus’ day to keep Him from establishing His kingdom. This kingdom being now set up (though not in its final form), two other biblical passages are considered: Revelation 11:15-19 which is a picture of present attempt by the kings of the earth to usurp His throne, and 1 Corinthians 15:19-26, which speaks of the future delivering of the kingdom in its final glory, to Jesus Christ who will reign over it forever.

14. CHRIST THE GOOD SAMARITAN, PART 1. (Luke 10:25-37). SUMMARY: In the story of the Good Samaritan, which was given in response to a lawyer’s challenge regarding how he might attain eternal life, Jesus presents essential gospel truths in relation to Himself. This message attempts to recover the older interpretation of the Good Samaritan parable as not merely an exhortation to love others, but as a picture of Christ who was the Samaritan, as he was accused of being by the Pharisees in Jn. 8:48.

15. CHRIST THE GOOD SAMARITAN, PART 2. (Luke 10:25-37). SUMMARY: In the story of the Good Samaritan, which was given in response to a lawyer’s challenge regarding how he might attain eternal life, Jesus presents essential gospel truths in relation to Himself. Having shown in the previous message that Jesus was Himself the Good Samaritan, this message shows how, in regards to God’s command to love one’s neighbor, Jesus himself kept it perfectly; provided a perfect model for us; established the church as a place for us to live it; and through the power of redemption, gave us the spiritual power to do it.

16. LOST BUT FOUND, PART 1: THE LOST SHEEP & COIN (Luke 15:1-10; Ezekiel 34:1-24). SUMMARY: Jesus’ parable of the Lost Sheep, and its companion parable, the Lost Coin, in addition to presenting the love of Christ in pictorial form, point to the fulfillment of the Great Shepherd prophecies of the Old Testament, expressed so powerfully in Ezekiel 34. This message considers the similarities in the meaning between the two parables, as well as the possible distinction intended between the two, the first having to do with the work of God Himself, and the second having to do with the ministry of the church on earth.

17. LOST BUT FOUND, PART 2: THE PRODIGAL SON (Luke 15:11-32). SUMMARY: This passage, understood in the context of the two parables that come before it, presents by two contrasting portraits the proper disposition of those who would be reconciled to God. In the first portrait, the younger brother is seen as a picture of lost humanity, and his return to the Father as God reconciling sinners to Himself. In the second portrait, the older brother is one making a self-righteous claim to religion, but not having the humility to understand his proper place before the father.

18. TREASURED THINGS NEW AND OLD (Matthew 13:44-52). SUMMARY: In the “treasure” parables of Matthew 13, Jesus not only exhorts His hearers to forsake worthless things and seek the true riches; He implies that the kingdom of heaven is made up of such who
have done so.

19. THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS LIKE (Selected texts from Matthew 13, 18, 20, 22, & 25). Summary: Parables are best understood not in isolation, but as part of a body of teaching on the nature and priority of the kingdom of God.

20. A DEBT TOO GREAT, PART 1: THE UNFORGIVING SERVANT (Matthew 18:21-35). SUMMARY: Much more than being merely an appeal for compassion and forgiveness among believers, the parable of the unforgiving servant requires all who claim to be forgiven to examine their own heart, and thus genuineness of their profesion.

21. A DEBT TOO GREAT, PART 2: UN PROFITABLE SERVANT (Luke 17:1-10). SUMMARY: The parable of the unprofitable servant, like the parable of the unforgiving (or unmerciful) servant, is accompanied by an exhortation about forgiveness towards others, and carries the theme that our indebtedness to God is so great it can never be satisfied by anything we have to offer Him.

22. A DEBT TOO GREAT, PART 3: THE PHARISEE & THE PUBLICAN (Luke 18:9-14). SUMMARY: The parable of the Pharisee and the publican, in declaring the seriousness of man’s sin debt and his inability to pay without God’s mercy, presents two men in dramatic contrast in order to challenge the heart regarding sin, righteousness and judgment.

23. A DEBT TOO GREAT, PART 4: THE PHARISEE & THE PUBLICAN, PART 2 (Luke 18:9-14). SUMMARY: The parable of the Pharisee and the publican, in declaring the seriousness of man’s sin debt and his inability to pay without God’s mercy, presents two men in dramatic contrast in order to challenge the heart regarding sin, righteousness and judgment.

24. STRIVING FOR THE KINGDOM, PART 1: THE NARROW GATE (Luke 13:22-30). SUMMARY: Jesus’s warning regarding the narrow gate is a fitting introduction to a series of parables that address the necessity of striving for the kingdom of God.

25. STRIVING FOR THE KINGDOM, PART 2: THE GREAT SUPPER (Luke 14:16-24). SUMMARY: The Parable of the Great Supper, perhaps one of the most easily grasped yet theologically profound of all the parables, is for all ages a gospel challenge, not only to the godless, but also to those whose walk does not reflect their Christian calling.

26. STRIVING FOR THE KINGDOM, PART 3: THE TEN VIRGINS (Matthew 25:1-13). SUMMARY: The parable of the Ten Virgins, given primarily to the professing church, follows the prophetic Olivet Discourse as one of several parables illustrating that true wisdom will manifest itself in a continuing readiness for Christ’s return.

27. STRIVING FOR THE KINGDOM, PART 4: THE RICH FOOL (Luke 12:13-21; 1 Timothy 6:6-12). SUMMARY: In two parables dealing with worldly wealth, Jesus brings to light the sins and eternal dangers associated with an improper attitude towards one’s earthly possessions.

28. STRIVING FOR THE KINGDOM, PART 5: THE RICH MAN & LAZARUS (Luke 16:19-31). SUMMARY: In two parables dealing with worldly wealth, Jesus brings to light the sins and eternal dangers associated with an improper attitude towards one’s earthly possessions.

29. STRIVING FOR THE KINGDOM, PART 6: THE SERVANTS & THE POUNDS (Luke 19:11-27). SUMMARY: The parables of the pounds (or minas) and of the talents emphasize the necessity of investing and using God’s gifts for the advancement of the kingdom of God.

30. STRIVING FOR THE KINGDOM, PART 7: THE ENTRUSTED TALENTS (Matthew 25:14-30). SUMMARY: The parables of the minas and of the talents emphasize the necessity of investing and using God’s gifts for the advancement of the kingdom of God.

31. STRIVING FOR THE KINGDOM, PART 8: THE UNJUST STEWARD (Luke 16:1-13). SUMMARY: This parable lays out, with particular application to those who profess to be “stewards of the manifold grace of God,” the terms of our stewardship, of our service, and of our salvation.

32. STRIVING FOR THE KINGDOM, PART 8b: THE UNJUST STEWARD, PART 2 (Luke 16:1-13). SUMMARY: This parable lays out, with particular application to those who profess to be “stewards of the manifold grace of God,” the terms of our stewardship, of our service, and of our salvation.

33. A PRAYER, A PARABLE, AND A PROMISE: THE FRIEND AT MIDNIGHT (Luke 11:1-13). SUMMARY: The parable of the Friend at Midnight, along with the four verses preceding it and the five following it, form one connected lesson on the necessity and the promises of prevailing in prayer.

34. THE WOMAN, THE ADVERSARY, AND THE JUDGE, PART 1 (Luke 18:1-8). SUMMARY: Much more than merely a lesson on the necessity of prayer, this parable is a picture of the Lord’s beloved church on earth and its need for heavenly help against a relentless spiritual adversary.

35. THE WOMAN, THE ADVERSARY, AND THE JUDGE, PART 2 (Luke 18:1-8; Revelation 12:1-17). SUMMARY: Much more than merely a lesson on the necessity of prayer, this parable is a picture of the Lord’s beloved church on earth and its need for heavenly help against a relentless spiritual adversary.

36. PRESSING IN OR PASSING BY, PART 1 (Matthew 11:1-19). SUMMARY: As the message of the gospel is preached to the world and attended by the power of God, many will believe God’s messengers and press into the kingdom, while others will disbelieve and pass by.

37. PRESSING IN OR PASSING BY, PART 2 (Matthew 11:1-19). SUMMARY: As the message of the gospel is preached to the world and attended by the power of God, many will believe God’s messengers and press into the kingdom, while others will disbelieve and pass by.