Matthew 13: 10-15 (MSG)Why Tell Stories?10The disciples came up and asked, “Why do you tell stories?”11-15He replied, “You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom. You know how it works. Not everybody has this gift, this insight; it hasn’t been given to them. Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, the insights and understandings flow freely. But if there is no readiness, any trace of receptivity soon disappears. That’s why I tell stories: to create readiness, to nudge the people toward receptive insight. In their present state they can stare till doomsday and not see it, listen till they’re blue in the face and not get it. I don’t want Isaiah’s forecast repeated all over again:Your ears are open but you don’t hear a thing.Your eyes are awake but you don’t see a thing.The people are blockheads!They stick their fingers in their earsso they won’t have to listen;They screw their eyes shutso they won’t have to look,so they won’t have to deal with me face-to-faceand let me heal them.(Click here to listen to the KJV.)

Introduction

The message of the Kingdom of God is the most The message of the Kingdom of God is the most important news ever delivered to the human race. Why? If you do not understand the Kingdom, it is almost impossible for you to understand the Bible and the real message it brings.

The Kingdom of God constantly makes mention of the term “mystery” which means something formerly hidden, but now revealed, a secret known or revealed only to the initiated, which people cannot understand except by special or divine revelation. In the New Testament, the word mystery denotes something that people could never know by their own understanding and that demands a revelation from GOd. The secret thoughts, plans, and dispensations of God remain hidden from unregenerate mankind but are revealed to all believers. Christ uses the term parable as a means for delivering the word to His disciples. The word parable means “to cast alongside.” It is a story, or a comparison, that is put alongside something else to help make the lesson clear. However, these are not ordinary parables; Jesus called them “the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.” At this point in Jesus’ ministry He made significant change in His method of teaching. He began to speak in parables that were difficult to understand- especially when unbelievers were present. Why would He speak so that His audience could not understand what He was saying? It was through this study of God’s word we will explore this question.

1.The unbelieving crowds were deliberately shutting their eyes and ears to His claim and refusing to be converted and healed spiritually . (Matthew 13:13-15)

2. It was time to teach the “mysteries of the kingdom of heaven” to true disciples. The mysteries would be understood by true disciples, but they would be misunderstood by those who deliberately blinded their eyes and deafened their ears.

3.“The mysteries of the kingdom of heaven” cannot be understood without first recognizing Jesus as the Messiah and as the One would bring the Kingdom of Heaven to men. Jesus had always used illustrations and sometimes the illustrations had been parables, but the parables had always been clearly understood. Now the parables were different, totally different.