 It is an immense joy to be back with you all, to be able to tell of the work in Guatemala and it is a particular joy for me to be able to open the word of God to you once more. So let's worship the Lord together in Mark chapter four. We're gonna focus particularly on verses 10 to 12. There's an outline in your bulletin in order to help you follow along. And what really helps in ministry is the ministry of serving to God, whether you're in your home or on the street or in the church, ministry of serving God wherever. What really helps is to understand the purposes of God in the things that he has planned, the things that he's doing. For example, if I remember my first car was a 1987 Buick Century. It was a white car and if it's like the typical car that you get in your matchbox set, that's very square, you know, with big seats and I would commute to Daytona Beach for college from here, Juliota to Daytona Beach every week in order to go to school. And I remember I would have this piece of metal that I would prop open the hood with and I remember breaking down at a toll booth and remember you look into the engine and I remember looking at all the parts and saying, man, I wish I understood the purpose for everything in here. I wonder what all this does and why and I bet you it could help me be able to get this thing working again. I don't know if you've ever, I'm sure a lot of you have had a similar experience popping the hood of your car and wishing you know the purpose of everything that's in there. It's the same with ministry, it's the same with ministry. When you pop the hood of ministry, whether you're trying to shepherd teenage children, start a church in another country or maintain to be faithful in the church that you're in to understand the purposes of God changes the way you look at things and helps you understand how to live out and persevere and apply. So today I wanna be able to point out what God, what Christ says here about purposes for what he's doing so that it would be an encouragement to you and perseverance in the ministry. So we'll see in verses one to two of Mark chapter four that Jesus began to teach in parables. Verses three to nine, we'll see the introduction to his first parable. It won't get into the explanation of it much. And then we'll spend our focus in verses 10 to 12 on what is the purpose of the parables. So let's set up the context first. When we look and see in Mark chapter four, understanding the timeline, Jesus is in about a year and a half into his ministry, year half into his three year ministry and things are going fantastic by man's viewpoint. He has huge crowds. He has so many people that are packed out that he can't eat. If you look back in chapter three, verse 20, the multitudes come together again so that they could not so much as eat bread. So he's likely in Peter's house at this point and there are so many people around him. He's not getting a chance to eat. His disciples aren't getting a chance to eat. He has some of the largest crowds of his ministry. Thousands and thousands of people are pursuing him. But also in context in chapters two and three of Mark, there's great controversy happening as his ministry grows. So the controversy with the religious leaders grows and those who are hypocrites are having their hypocrisy exposed and Christ is preaching the gospel. Confrontation is growing. The numbers are growing. People who are following are growing. Jesus appoints the apostles in this context. They just recently been appointed and now this sort of chaos is happening in Peter's home where the disciples are there, the Pharisees are there, the crowds are there and a very key point happens where his own family comes to deliver him from this chaos and Jesus in verses 22 to 30 begins to warn of the blasphemy of the spirit. The blasphemy of the spirit as in those who understand the truth but reject it. Though the Pharisees understood Jesus was from God, they understood the truth but then they turned from that truth. They apostatized. They were committed the unforgivable sin because it's the unforgivable sin because they're cutting off all their only hope, Christ. They're cutting off their hope of Christ. And so in this context where Jesus is then saying, going back to his family and saying, who's my real family? Who's my real family but the ones who follow and follow his commandments? And so in light of this, in light of this controversy, in light of these people who are religious leaders who are turning to apostasy, in light of the many crowds, we come to chapter four, verse one, and one to two, Jesus begins to teach in parables. If you look in your Bible in chapter four, verse one, it says, and he began to teach them by the sea. So instead of being in the town, he's now, he's out by the sea and it allows for the thousands of people to be able to gather. He gets in a boat. The great multitude was gathered to him in verse one so he got into a boat and sat in the sea. He, in chapter three, he had told the disciples to prepare a boat for them in case the crowds get so big that they would begin to press upon him. Now he's describing, he's actually getting in the boat and applying this. He is using the Sea of Galilee as a natural amphitheater so that he would be able to preach the thousands without amplification. And he's using the boat because in the boat then your voice is able to go farther on the water and he's not gonna be crushed. So he uses it as a floating pulpit. He's not a seeker pastor, but he's using whatever means he can not to attract crowds, but to be practical. And he's preaching the gospel. He's preaching the gospel to these people. He's in a large boat in 1986 in an archeological find. They were able to find a boat that was a fishing boat that would be used in Jesus' era. And this boat was about 26 feet in length, seven and a half feet wide and four and a half feet deep. So this is a boat that would be like Jesus would get in with the disciples. It would easily hold 12 guys, 13 guys. And Jesus is using a boat like this. And if you look in the parallel accounts in Matthew 13.1, this is the same day as the controversies with the Pharisees, with his family. In the same day, he's moved out to the sea and he's preaching to them. And as you go through the gospels, when you read them, you see Jesus uses whatever opportunity he can to preach the gospel. If it's in a house, he'll do it. If it's on a boat, he'll do it. If it's in a temple, he'll do it. If it's with one lady by a well, he'll do it. If it's by thousands of the thousands, he'll do it. He'll use whatever opportunity he can to do that. And you know that when the Pharisees saw the disciples in the book of Acts, they saw the unlearned men preaching the gospel boldly, biblically in the street. What did they say? They said, these men have been with Jesus. There are many ministers that could not be said of them. Many ministers who will sit in a study and then come to a church and preach this small group and then they won't go out and use whatever means that they can to preach the gospel and it can't be said of them that they've been with Jesus. So we see Jesus here preaching to the crowds, preaching to these multitudes and perhaps the largest multitude in Jesus' ministry at this time. In verse two, something different happens. Then he taught them many things by parables and he said to them in his teaching. So here's something different. Here's something where Jesus is changing. He is teaching in parables. And so we remember that from Psalm 78 too, this is a fulfillment of prophecy that Jesus would teach in parables. And Matthew 13 verse 35 points back to that prophecy in the Psalms to say that this is a fulfillment. When you look at the gospels as a whole, Jesus teaches in parables in 35% of his public teaching ministry. Now you all have been in the book of John for a very long time and you maybe continue to be in the book of John for a long time. John doesn't focus in on those parables, but Luke does, Mark does, Matthew does. And when you look at his teaching as a whole, much of his teaching is in parables. So let's pause for a moment, remember what some parables are and what they're not. Okay, parables, you know, it's been commonly said, many preachers like to say it's an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. Earthly story with a heavenly meaning. That's true. There's a central truth to that, but let's put some more on that. Let's, it's a little inadequate. Try this definition. This is gonna be like a Pastor Rick definition so you might have to pay attention. I'll say it twice. It's a figurative story that's true to life. Used to convey a specific truth, usually about the kingdom of God. So a parable is a figurative story, true to life, that's used to convey a truth, usually about the kingdom of God. I'm using convey instead of teach on purpose because it's comparing truths. In this world, you got this kind of truth. It's just like in the spiritual world. So it's kind of like my analogy with a car, right? Understanding the purpose of the parts of the engine helps you understand what to do with an engine. Understanding the purpose of ministry helps you understand what to do in ministry. So in the same way, Jesus used parables. Parables are different than allegory. Remember some of this is review for you. Some of you, some of this is old so I'm just gonna lay a little bit of foundation to remember some important points. A parable is different than allegory. A parable focuses on a story that's true to life. The details in it are true, regular, normal story. An allegory can be fantasy. It can have flying unicorns. It can have all sorts of things that are not true in life, right? So an allegory is not necessarily true to life. For example, like in Ezekiel 17 where eagles plant trees. That doesn't normally happen. I haven't seen any eagles planting any trees in Guatemala or in the US. So that helps you distinguish the difference between a parable and an allegory. Another detail would be not in a parable, not every detail needs to have meaning. But in allegory, every detail can have meaning. In parables, there's one central point that's a focus. And you're gonna look for that point and identify that point. Typically, very often, generally, is one central theme. But in an allegory, there's a string of metaphors and a string of meanings. In parables, the interpretation is given afterward. But in allegory, the interpretation is given throughout it. So there's some basic reminders about a parable and an allegory so that you don't end up trying to make the parable say something that they're not meant to say. So you don't look for a meaning under every rock. You look for the one central meaning. So how do you do that? You determine the specific problem, occasion, situation that's happening, then you look for the answer in the parable to that particular answer, to the need or problem, situation that's being addressed. You understand the cultural setting. You use appropriate context and cross-reference and then you interpret the details properly. So once more, you determine the specific issue. Let's do that here. What's the specific issue? Ministry is happening, people are rejecting, people are accepting. There's crowds that look like they're following. Much of this is going on. That's the setting for our parable. In our parable answers all the rejection and acceptance, crowds, it addresses all of the context that's been happening. So let's look briefly now. We've seen Jesus begins to teach in parables. We've had a brief introduction to parables, a reminder to parables. Now let's go to focus on Jesus's first parable in verses three to nine, a brief introduction to it. Parables are kind of like political cartoons. Like when you open up a paper and nobody does it anymore, they get it online, right? What are you looking at online when you find a political cartoon? What's the purpose of a political cartoon? Is it just to laugh at? No, it's supposed to be to try and go for a good message, right? It's supposed to say something about politics in order to try and teach some lesson. The artist, the one who originates, makes up the cartoon, is trying to do something what he or she believes to be good and to communicate some truth. That's what a parable is for. A parable is for application. A parable is for commuting something, some truth for life. And let's see our story here and we'll walk through it. Verses three to eight. And then an exhortation in verse nine. Jesus stands up, he says, listen, behold, he uses a double declaration to get their attention. A sower went out to sow. And it happened as he sowed that some seed fell by the wayside and the birds of the air came and devoured it. Some seed fell on stony ground where it did not have much earth and immediately sprang up because it had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up, it was scorched and because it had no root, it withered away. And some seed fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked it and it yielded no crop. But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced some 30 fold, some 60 and some 100. And he said to them, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. So in our story, true to life, very easy for the people to understand. Many of you understand it very well. Many of you have heard it very well. Very many times. It's a typical agrarian society. It's a farmer, a farmer who goes out with a bag of seed. The farmer goes out with a bag of seed and he begins to throw the seed throughout the field, the different land and it lands in four different places. The sower first, he throws it on the wayside. The wayside would be like a trail that's walked, many people walk on and it's beaten down hard and the seed lands on it and it can't germinate because the ground's too hard. So a bird comes up, eats it. The next seed falls on the ground, that's among stones. In other words, it has a limestone bedrock. It looks like there's soil there but it's actually very, very, very shallow. Underneath is a bed of rock. It goes in, germinates quick, grows up quick, looks all green, healthy, but when the sun comes out, it dies away. The third seed, it falls among the thorns and as any gardener knows, that what do you gotta do in a garden? You gotta pull out weeds. If you don't pull out weeds, then no fruit's gonna come. The seed falls in with the thorns, it begins to grow but it can't produce any fruit. The other weeds, the thorns, they choke it out and so then the last falls on good ground. Soft, rich, soil, germinates, grows up the plant and what does it produce? It produces what every farmer's looking for. Is a farmer looking for just flowers, leaves? No, what does a farmer want? Fruit, give me the bottom line. He needs food. He needs food to eat, he needs food to sell. Fruit is what to look for. Very briefly, remember the meaning that Jesus gets into. Jesus gets into, as Albert Martin says, the point of this parable is that the state of the soil determines the fate of the seed. The state of the soil determines the fate of the seed. Jesus, when he explains it, explains the sower, is there someone who's telling the word of God? Certainly Jesus is the one who's a prime example but anyone who gives the word of God is the sower and the seed is the word, he tells us. The seed is the word and so the one that comes on the wayside is like when most people hear the gospel, they reject it right away. Either they reject it because of their religion, they reject it because they don't have ears to hear, they're prideful, Satan uses many ways. They think, oh, I've heard this before, for some reason they reject it right away. All the rest of the soils are people who say, I'll follow, I'll follow, I'll follow. The stony one is the one who never says that. He never hears the word of God and says, I'll follow, I'll do it, I'll apply it. There are many people in churches who are stony ground. They sit in church, they're religious, and they listen to the sermon but they don't ever think I will follow, I will do what it says, I will follow Christ in action, in faith, in repentance. So these stony ground, whether in church or not, they don't follow. So then the one who has a shallow one is the one who follows for a while, the rocket Christian. They come up for a while, like a story from Sunday school, the person who says, I declare, I declare that I'm a Christian now, a true Christian. And then because of persecution, because of difficulty, because of the word, then they don't follow. We have seen and known people like that. The third one, the one who has the cares of this world, the cares of this world, the desire to be rich, those who want other things in this world and they desire them more than God. They can't love money and God. Something out there, they end up desiring it more than they desire God and to follow him. You can't love both. And so they start for a while and then they fall away. And the last is the one who produces true fruit for God. Not everyone produces the same amount of fruit, but a true Christian produces fruit. So Jesus tells this parable, right? And later on he tells the meaning of the parable, which I'm filling in. He tells this parable, and we briefly just remind you of the details, because Jesus is preaching. Jesus is preaching the gospel. And I would be, I recall to your memories the things that Jesus would preach. Jesus would preach about the holiness of God. Jesus would tell the people, and I tell you now, that God is holy, righteous, and good. He has never sinned. He has never had an impure thought. Every commandment that he has given has be given as a revelation of his true and lasting character. He does not lie. He is faithful to the end. He's not an adulterer. He is one who deserves all of your worship. He has made you. You exist because he has made you. He owns you. You do not own yourself. You do not own your time. You do not own your money. It is all God's. This holy God has made you, and you are alive for a time. And he has given you time, given you breath, and what have you done? In your own, on your own, you have defied his loss. You have not loved him as you should. You have not obeyed him like you should. Every good representation, every good thing about him in your life, on your own, you have not been that way. In the ways that he's been holy, you have been sinful. In the ways that he's been pure and truthful, you've been a liar. You've been a coward, he's been bold. You wanna see the contrast, you wanna see your sin, you look at his holiness and who he is. But this good God, this good God, he loved, you had become his enemy, but he loves his enemies. His goodness and his love is not made known by just loving those who are good. But his goodness and his greatness is known by sending his son into the world to go and minister to his enemies, to go and preach reconciliation, to preach peace to his enemies. The Jesus Christ leaves the glory of heaven and becomes the God-man, and he walked this earth. He looked at the same moon, he breathed the same air, he walked under the same sun, and he brought the good news. He was the good news. And he died, died to take the judgment that you deserve. He died and rose again the third day. Jesus is coming, preaching this message in the context and calling all the people. If you can understand this, you need to repent and believe. You need to repent and believe and the same is true for you today. And so when Jesus preaches this good news, there's all sorts of reactions. Many crowds saying, yes, amen, amen, hallelujah. The Savior's here. Many saying, I'll follow, I'll follow, I'll follow. Some stony ground. And Jesus changes his tactic. Jesus, after preaching like that, clear, simple, straightforward, simple message, God's holy, you're not. You need atonement, you need a Savior. Repent and believe. Simple, plain message of Jesus Christ. He changes. He changes, and now he's being a parable, and he doesn't say the meaning. Thousands of people, he tells a story. Imagine if next Sunday, one of the carousels of pastors comes up. He walks up, tells a story. Once there was a man who went to Publix, he bought iced tea and chicken, because that's what you do at Publix. And he bought a bag of M&M's. He said, hi, the cashier. He walked home, ate the chicken. And then the pastor walks, sits down, sits in the seat. What would you think about that sermon? Well, that's what Jesus did. That's what Jesus did. What a strange thing. What a strange thing to have thousands of people, and you think this is the time. This is the time, the largest crowd, perhaps the largest crowd that Jesus will ever have. Now is the time. Now is the time to preach. And the disciples are asking, what in the world was he doing? What in the world was he doing? That's our focus in verses 10 to 12. So we've gone over how Jesus began to teach in parables and how his first parable, and the context for it, now we'll focus in on what's the purpose of the parables. There once was a group of very talented musicians, and they were playing a very complicated piece of music. They had a large crowd, and they picked out a random person in the crowd. They said, you come on up and play with us. A random person came up, they began to play, and the person from the audience played the piece of music perfectly, together with all of the crowd, or with all the other musicians. And somebody from the crowd asked him, how are you able to do that? Have you heard this song before? No. The person said, no, I've never heard it before, first time. Said, how are you able to do that? In time, in all those details? He said, well, some of you know how he was able to do it. Well, I read music. I had the piece of music in front of me. I was able to read it and play along. When I look at those cymbals, whatever those swiggly things, that means nothing to me. It might as well be Chinese cymbals. Even if it meant something to me, I wouldn't be able to play with it. What's the point? To understand the purpose of the cymbals gives you a great application, gives you, you're able to apply it. If you understand what the disciples wanna know, they wanna know what's the purpose behind these cymbals? What's the purpose behind this story, Jesus? So we can understand why you're doing that. That's their question. And then it makes sense what he was doing and why he was doing it. Let's see that in verses 10 to 12. But when he was alone, in verse 10, it's okay, so the setting has changed. There's not thousands of crowds. There's not thousands of people. Now, there's something separate. When he was alone, those around him with the 12, so those who are true believers are coming to him. They're wanting to know. They're wanting to know why did you tell this story and what was the purpose behind just telling a story? And they ask him about it. They're doing the right thing. You see what they're asking? They're asking him why and what did it mean? Why did you do it that way? And then tell us what did the story mean? We wanna know. We wanna know. These are the good questions. These are the same questions you should be asking. Why did you tell it in a parable, Jesus? And then what does it mean? The Lord has changed his strategy. He's doing something different that he's not done for a year and a half. And he's going to continue to do it. He's going to continue to do it. Well, in verses 11 to 12 is the heart of our sermon. It is what will encourage you to perseverance in the ministry and whatever kind of ministry you have. Jesus' answer. I love Jesus' answers. And when questions are asked, they just shed so much light on these. And so he says in verse 12, and he said to them, to you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, but to those who are outside, all things come in parables. So that seeing, they may not see, they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and understand, lest they should turn and their sins be forgiven them. So first Jesus says, there's a difference, there's a contrast. Two different crowds here. Jesus sees the true believers amongst the thousands. Jesus sees the stony ground, the hard ground, the those who are with thorns, those who are good ground. Jesus can see all that behind what's physical and obvious. He knows what's going on. He knows there's two crowds here. He knows there's a crowd of good fruit and there's a crowd of those who are not gonna produce any fruit. The disciples can't see that. They can't see that. We can't see, like Sean said, with the E on the chest, but God can. And so Jesus is telling us his purpose here. To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God. So first, among the two groups, first we focus in on those who are the believers here, those who are wanting to know. He explains to them something has been given to them. A mystery has been revealed to them. And God has two distinct activities with these two different groups that he's doing, sovereignly. So first when we see the word mystery, he says a mystery has been given to them. When we have the word in English, mystery, you know, like murder-she-row or something like that, like, sorry, I'm dating myself, I guess. Murder-she-row, CSI, where's the mystery show? Colombo, maybe that's real old. But some of you know what I'm talking about. That's not what Jesus is talking about. When the term in the Bible is often used with mystery, it's not something that's like a murder mystery. It's something that God has had hidden, but has now revealed. And he's revealed it. It took him to reveal it. He had to reveal it. Something that's been hidden, but it's now revealed by God. It's not mystery, it's not about a crime, it's not a magic, it's revelation from God. Remember when Peter made the declaration? Jesus asked, Peter, who do people say that I am? What do the people say? You're a lied to the prophet. Your John the Baptist, come back again. And then Jesus asked, but Peter, who do you say that I am? What did he say? Yes, he's a Christ, the son of the living God. Then what does Jesus say to him? You have flesh and blood, I hadn't revealed this to you. This is something that's been revealed to you by God. That's what we're talking about here. That's what we're talking about. Jesus in Matthew 13, he says, but blessed are your eyes because they see and your ears because they hear. For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see and did not see it and to hear what you hear and did not hear it. Noah wanted to see what you see. Elijah wanted to hear what you have heard, disciples. Jeremiah wanted to see and longed and cried for that day. But you get to see it. Many of you have the blessing of opening the Bible and seeing greater clarity than even the disciples saw in this time than what Noah saw, Elijah saw. Blessed are your eyes if they see and your ears if they hear. Jesus prays the Father in Matthew 11 for hiding truth from the wise and revealing it to babes. God is the one who reveals truth. He's the one who says to a dark heart, let there be light and creates spiritual life in them. It's by his sovereign hand, 2 Corinthians 4 tells us that the light of the knowledge of the glory of Christ in the gospels may known. Ephesians 2 tells us that even your faith is not your own. Even your faith is not your own. What we're talking about is grace in its purest form. Grace and sweet grace that you would have the ability to see and the ears to hear has been given to you. Election is the purest representation of grace. Because there was nothing in you. There was nothing good in you, for God to choose you. You know this when you look at some of your family members, right? They look like you, they sound like you, they like the same food, they talk like you, they do the same mannerisms and yet they're not saved. And you can see, why do I have eyes to see when they don't? It's not because I'm smarter, it's not because I'm wiser, it's only because of grace. Grace, grace, sweet grace that your eyes would see and your ears would hear. If God operated by what was fair, then he would save no one. He would not give grace to any, he would give justice, he would give you hell, what you deserve. If God gave you just what you deserved to be fair, if God was fair to all, he would not have saved you. He would not have saved me. He would have sent us all to hell and he would have been perfectly righteous and good and just and deserved all praise. But he is a worthy of praise to the glory of his grace. He's worthy of praise and that's what the disciples have received and then to go beyond that, he's saying, you also, the purpose of the parable is to reveal more truth to you. It is to reveal more truth to you that you would have not have seen and you would have heard. But you wanted to come and you wanted to ask, you wanted to know, they're working out their faith, they're working out their saving faith by coming to him and wanting more. What's been given to them, they want more. And they're manifesting, revealing the good fruit even in their coming to him and wanting. And Jesus is revealing a purpose of the parable that this is gonna reveal to you great truth for serving me, great truth for ministry. Jesus is not some sort of Gnostic. He's not got some sort of secret knowledge here that only you can come if you get the secret handshake or you look in the secret box. No, he's willing to tell anyone but who really wants to know? Who really wants to know? He's separated those who really wanna know and those who don't. And he's done that by means of the parable. It's not our job to try and figure out who the, whether the person is good soil, we just throw the seed out to all, right? God's the one who knows that. God's the one who does those things. We trust him, we trust him. But notice that this purpose described here now is a focus on ministry. There's a focus here for the disciples who have been given grace, who have been given the gospel and then now he explains them and he explained this parable to them and the purpose is for them to go out and serve. And so that's why I preach this message to you. So to go out and serve. So then now he changes from turning and talking to them now to the other group. There's another purpose that Jesus has in the parable. Let's see what it is in verse 11. The other group. To them, it's been to the good group. To those who are saved by grace, they have this parable so that they might know more of the mysteries of the kingdom of God. But to those who are outside, all things come in parables. There's a great contrast here. Those who are outside is used consistently throughout the New Testament to describe those who are not Christians. In 1 Corinthians five, when there's a description of church discipline, then he says Paul describes that those who are outside, those who are not in the church are not, church discipline doesn't apply to them. It's a, he used the same word outside to describe those who are not Christians. We're instructed to walk and wisdom towards those who are outside in Colossians four. Many times, continually throughout the New Testament, this description of those who are outside refers to those who are not Christians. And so Jesus describes that these things are coming in parables for what purpose? For what purpose in verse 12? So that, seeing they may see and not perceive. And hearing they may hear and not understand lest they turn and their sins be forgiven them. When you look at your English Bible and you see the word, the description, so that, so that, that is describing the Greek word Hina. And that is a purpose word. Jesus is describing the purpose here, as he has a purpose of judgment. He has a purpose of mercy to some, but then he also has a purpose of judgment. For those who are like the Pharisees, those who are committing the blasphemy of the spirit, those who are apostatizing, those who would know that it's the truth and yet they're not gonna follow. They've received as much light as they would ever receive and they believe it to be from God, but they reject it. They reject it. The purpose is a judicial hardening. In God's sovereign purposes, now he's using the means of the parables to no longer give them mercy, but instead he's speaking that way so that they would hear the story and think, oh, what a fool. Oh, what a fool. I don't even need to address that one. I don't even need to attack that one. And they walk off, not caring to know the meaning, not caring to know the message. But Jesus is quoting from a passage. What passage is he quoting from? Let's see in Isaiah 6. In Isaiah chapter 6. Isaiah chapter 6 is one of the glorious passage of the Old Testament. The vision that Isaiah has of the Lord sitting on his throne and Isaiah's commission. Let's read it together. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up in the train of his robe, filled the temple. Above it stood Seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face and with two he covered his feet and with two he flew. And one cried to another, saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out and the house was filled with smoke. So I said, woe is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Then one of the Seraphim flew to me and having his hand in his hand a live coal which he had taken from the tongs of the altar and he touched my mouth with it and said, behold, this has touched your lips. Your iniquity has taken away and your sin purged. Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us? And then I said, here I am, send me. And he said, go and tell this people, keep on hearing but do not understand. Keep on seeing but do not perceive. Make the heart of this people dull and their ears heavy and shut their eyes lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and return and be healed. Then I said, Lord, how long? And he answered until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant. The houses are without a man. The land is utterly desolate. The Lord has removed men far away and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. But yet a tenth will be in it and will return and be for consuming as a terribent tree or as an oak whose stump remains when it's cut down so the holy seed shall be its stump. Many people in evangelicalism know the vision of the Lord. But not many people understand the commission of Isaiah that goes along with it. Understand both parts. Though Isaiah comes to the temple in the time that King Uzziah dies and King Uzziah was a righteous king in many aspects and did much for the kingdom of God. And at the time when a good king dies then it's a time of questioning, a time of worry about the future and what king will arise next. And the time when the king died Isaiah sees the real king. On his throne high and lifted up in this vision of the Lord of hosts, Jehovah Yahweh on his throne in his temple, the train of his Rome representing his majesty, filling the temple and Seraphim are above him, around him, they are crying out as they fly. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts and the whole earth is full of his glory. You remember that his holiness is expressing his otherness, that he is not like anything. He is not made. Everything you have ever known has been made. He has his assayate that he has no beginning. He was not made makes you fear and tremble that he's unlike anything in the universe. The angels themselves recognize his holiness in his purity and his sinlessness but beyond that that he is needs to be feared because he's like nothing else. The angels recognize that they're closer to the worm than they are to Yahweh. Because the worm was created, they were created. And so the angels have a fear and a trembling and they declare that God is other. He is unlike any and he is pure and we are to fear him. And the entire temple is shaken to the core. And as Isaiah sees this, he recognizes the angels cry out, holy, holy and I can't stand before an angel. How could I stand before the Lord of hosts? And so Isaiah recognizes his sin. The man with the cleanest mouth, the preacher says, his cleanest part that his mouth is filthy. He has no part that is clean. The seraphim flies to him with a live coal, puts it on his most tender part in his lips and says, symbolizing your sin has been taken away. When someone understands the holiness of God, their sinfulness and atonement, what do they wanna do? Yahweh says, who will go for us? Isaiah says, send me, send me. And that's where we close it, right? That's where we close it and that's where we typically end as evangelicals and say, and then he went. And it was a glorious ministry. But that's not what it says. There's more here. He says go, he does say go, but what kind of ministry does he have? Jesus is pointing to this very point. Jesus is pointing to this very parable. This is where Jesus is quoting. To say why he's telling parables, the purpose. What's the purpose behind what he's doing? Keep on hearing, go and tell those people, keep on hearing, but you don't understand. Keep on seeing, but you don't really see. You are to preach and preach and preach those people and it's gonna make them dull, it's gonna make their ears heavy, it's gonna make their, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears. He's saying, you're gonna go and you're gonna preach to this country and you know what the purpose is gonna be? Purpose is gonna be, I'm gonna use you to judge them. I'm gonna use you to judgment them. And Isaiah is thinking, this is not exactly the ministry that he would have hoped for. He's saying how long does it have to be for judgment in this way? And the Lord answers basically until it's a wasteland. It's until it's a wasteland, but I will save a remnant. I do have my elect. I do have my small group that will be saved, there will be few, but to many, you're supposed to go. You're supposed to go. If you've seen the Lord high and lifted up and he tells you to go, what kind of ministry will you have? What kind of ministry will you have with your teenager? What kind of ministry will you have with your coworker, your sister, your mother? Who is the person that you cry over that they would see and they would hear? You agonize over. Here is the purpose behind the parables and what perseveres you in ministry when you understand the sovereign purposes of God. When you understand the holy God, who is saying this now and back in Mark four? Connect the dots here in Mark four. Jesus is saying in Mark four, 12, so that seeing they may see and not perceive and hearing they may hear, not understand. Let's say should turn and their sins be forgiven them. He's saying not only is there a purpose of grace behind these parables, but there's also a purpose of judgment behind these parables and who's speaking? The same one who is high and lifted up with his train of his robe filling the temple. The same one with the angels said, holy, holy, holy. The same one in John 12 is Jesus Christ, the Lord. The same one who said it in the vision of the temple high and lifted up is now here telling to the disciples on this earth, telling them the same words. The same one who said the same words to Isaiah and commissioned him now says to the disciples, the same thing. And he's saying to them the purpose behind it because it'll help them persevere. It'll help them be like Isaiah to say, God, you're holy. You know the end of this ministry. You know what will happen with my child, with my mother, with the person on the street, with my co-worker, whoever you shed tears for. Someone in the church who's gone away, drifted away, not persevering anymore, who do you shed tears over? Well here, the holy God high and lifted up, holy, holy, holy tells you he has a purpose and it will not return void. Every time, every time you preach the gospel, every time you serve and minister to every person, Christian, God has a purpose in it. If God is the one who is sovereign over it. I am not advocating of your responsibility. There are people who do horrendous sins and their children or other are destroyed because of their sins. And I'm not saying that oh just trust the sovereign God and then you can live whatever your way you want and still look back and say, see the person you destroyed their life because of your own sin. Like the person who commits adultery and then their teenager doesn't wanna hear the gospel. Well big surprise, right? I'm not saying you're not responsible for that. You are responsible. What I'm saying is when you have fulfilled your responsibility, not perfectly, but when you have a clear conscience before God and the person you cry over, you recognize God has his purposes and God has his purposes every time, every single time. His word will not return void. I have preached the gospel to you today one more time and calling you to remember the holiness of God, your sinfulness, your need for atonement on the cross and that you should repent in belief. And today some of you will hear and rejoice but others of you will not. Some of you are stoning ground. For some reason you didn't hear me. Some of you will hear and say I'll do it but money will come in or trials will come in. But know that God will fulfill his purposes in every single time, in every single person in this room and you can know that too for when you go to serve the Lord. I wanted to come to you and talk to you about God. And I have today, I've talked to you about a sovereign God who is holy. He could be trusted, who's called you to a commission to serve and you should trust him. How are you to apply this? Apply it. Like I said, with your family, with your coworker, every time you minister, every time you serve the Lord and you wonder, what are the results of what I've done? It seems so fruitless. It seems so fruitless. Know that our sovereign God who the angels cry, holy, holy, holy, has commissioned you and he has planned out the results of it. That was the purpose behind the parables. I want you to see when you pop the hood of ministry and you look at all those strange parts and all those things, you don't know why it happens. Remember that Jesus began to teach them in parables. Remember the parable of the soils and the purpose for why he did it. His good sovereign grace, sweet grace and fear, his judgment. I trust him that this message won't return void. You need to trust him as well. Let's persevere in serving him, let's pray. Dear Lord God, we recognize we are dust. We are dust, we are a leaf that falls from a tree and will soon be dried up, crinkled up, cracked and gone. We only last a season. We recognize that, we recognize your word is what lasts, we recognize your purpose is what lasts. And so we pray Lord that you would help us to trust you, to persevere in serving you in whatever area of our lives. It's hard to trust you when we see people we love die without the gospel or destroy their lives. It's hard to see whether in the church or in our families, it's hard. Help us Lord to remember and recognize your purposes behind all these things. It's so good Lord to be able to trust you. Help us to do that in a balanced, faithful way. Amen.