Lucas 8
John Phillips · Citado em PreceptAustin
Lucas 8
Phillips comments that "High pressure evangelism often produces this kind of shallow "conversion." Professions of faith are unsubstantial and worthless. People who respond to the gospel on this level have awakened souls, but they are not regenerated in spirit." (See Exploring the Gospel of Matthew)
Lucas 8
Phillips - Again the Lord's challenge rings forth. He has used these very words before (16 times in the NT). It is a phrase often repeated. In writing from glory to the seven churches of Asia, the Lord uses the expression over and over again (Rev. 2-3). Shakespeare borrowed the expression and used it in a different form when recounting Mark Anthony's speech to the Romans attending Caesar's funeral: "Friends, Romans and countrymen, lend me your ears." The words are a challenge to us to pay attention to what is being said. That is important when listening to any communication. When the speaker is God, it is vital! Avery Willis - The simplest way to receive the Word is to hear it. Even a child or a person who cannot read can hear the Bible. "If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear" (Mark 4:23). "Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ" (Rom. 10:17). Matthew 13:3-23 lists four kinds of hearers of the Word: the apathetic hearer who hears the Word but is not prepared to receive and understand it (v. 19); the superficial hearer who receives the Word temporarily but does not let it take root in the heart (vv. 20, 21); the preoccupied hearer who receives the Word but lets the worries of this world and the desire for other things choke it out (v. 22); and the reproducing hearer who receives the Word, understands it, bears fruit, and brings forth results (v. 23). (Master Life) Fausset writes that "“Every man ‘hath an ear’ naturally, but he alone will be able to hear spiritually to whom God has given ‘the hearing ear’; whose ‘ear God hath wakened’ and ‘opened." THOUGHT - The picture of "open ears" (and I would add an "open heart") reminds us of Lk 24:45+ where Jesus "opened (dianoigo) their minds to understand (suniemi) the Scriptures!" Truth be told, if the Spirit of Jesus does not open our minds when we open His book, it will be like reading just another book! Pray Ps 119:18+ "Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law." A T Robertson on He who has an ear - An individualizing note calling on each of the hearers (cf Rev 1:3+ = "Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy") to listen and a reminiscence of the words of Jesus in the Synoptics (ED: This challenge to heed Christ's words appears eight times in the gospels and eight times in Revelation. Mt. 11:15+; Mt 13:9, 43+; Mark 4:9+ = He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”, Mk 4:23+; Mk 7:16+; Lk 8:8+; Lk 14:35+ also Rev. 2:7; Rev. 2:11; Rev. 2:17; Rev. 2:29; Rev. 3:6; Rev. 3:13; Rev. 3:22; Rev. 13:9), but not in John’s Gospel. Call out (638)(phoneo from phone = voice) means to utter in a loud voice (with considerable volume) - cry out, shout, call out, speak loudly (human, angelic, animal, or demonic “speaking, calling,” or “crying.”) (Mk 10:49; 15:35; Lk 8:8, 54; 16:24; 23:46; Acts 10:18; Rev. 14:18; Lxx = 1 Chr 15:16; Da 4:11). To crow as a rooster related to Peter's thrice denial (Mt. 26:34, 74, 75; Mk 14:30, 68, 72; Lk 22:34, 60, 61; Jn 13:38; 18:27); of other birds (Lxx = Isa. 38:14; Jer 17:11); of beasts, to cry (Zeph 2:14); of a trumpet (Lxx = Amos 3:6). Transitive to call, call for, speak to or to address (Mt. 20:32; Mark 3:31; 9:35; 10:49; Luke 16:2; 19:15; Jn 1:48; 4:16; 9:18, 24; 11:28; 18:33; Acts 9:41; 10:7). To call to, speak to with a loud voice, or simply to speak to (John 2:9; Acts 16:28). To call with an invitation (Luke 14:12). To call, name, denominate (Jn 13:13). Call out of the tomb (John 12:17 [cf. Jn 11:43]). Of Jesus calling for Elijah” (Mt. 27:47; Mk 15:35). Rev 14:18 an angel "called with a loud voice." Friberg on phoneo = (1) as producing a sound or noise in ordered sequence, so that it conveys significance, translated according to the context: of a cock crow (Mt 26.34 ); of a person call or cry out, speak loudly (Lk 8.8); of an angel call, speak ( Rev 14.18); of a demon in a person scream, shriek, cry out (Mk 1.26); (2) call, address someone as, name (Jn 13.13); (3) summon to oneself, call into one's presence (Mt 20.32; Acts 10.7); (4) invite, as to a feast (Lk 14.12 ) (Analytical Lexicon) In Greek usage and in the LXX phoneo was used only rarely of musical instruments or thunder (see Betz 301f.). , the noise of an animal, or Gilbrant - (Classic Greek use) As the verbal action of phōnē , “sound, voice,” phōneō fundamentally means “to produce a sound or a tone.” In classical Greek literature phōneō occurs as early as in Homer’s (Eighth Century B.C.) and Aristotle’s writings. The verb is used primarily of living beings with vocal organs. Animals, therefore, make sounds, as in Aesop’s fable; and of human beings it can be said they “lift up the voice” or “cause the voice to sound forth,” as in Homer’s Iliad (cf. Betz, “phōneō,” Kittel, 9:302). Phōneō can also carry the meaning of invoking a deity in prayer or “to call to” when used with the dative of person. Phōneō is rarely used in the Septuagint. It may denote the sounding of an instrument, such as a trumpet (Amos 3:6), or the sounds made by animals (Isaiah 38:14; Zephaniah 2:14). Spirits of the dead are also ascribed the ability to speak or, more descriptively, to “mutter” (Isaiah 8:19; cf. Isa 29:4). Liddell - Scott - a sound, tone, properly the sound of the voice, mostly of men, Lat. vox, Hom., etc.; of a battle cry, Xen., Virgil's rumpere vocem, to utter an articulate sound, Hdt., Ar.;, Lat. vocem edere, Hdt., etc.: pl. ai` f. the tones of the voice, Plat.:-proverb., of a blind man, Soph. 2. the voice or cry of animals, Od., Hdt., etc. 3. any articulate sound, as opp. to inarticulate, Soph., etc. 4. of sounds from inanimate objects II. the faculty of speech, discourse, Lat. sermo, Soph. 2. language, Lat. lingua, Hdt. 3. a kind of language, dialect, Aesch., Thuc., etc. Phoneo - 43x in 39v (No uses in the epistles and most in Gospels) Usage: call(4), called(13), calling(6), calls(1), cried(3), crow(2), crowed(5), crows(5), crying(1), invite(1), summoned(2). Matt. 20:32; Matt. 26:34; Matt. 26:74; Mt. 26:75; Mt. 27:47; Mk. 1:26; Mk. 9:35; Mk. 10:49; Mk. 14:30; Mk. 14:68; Mk. 14:72; Mk. 15:35; Lk. 8:8; Lk. 8:54; Lk. 14:12; Lk. 16:2; Lk. 16:24; Lk. 19:15; Lk. 22:34; Lk. 22:60; Lk. 22:61; Lk. 23:46; Jn. 1:48; Jn. 2:9; Jn. 4:16; Jn. 9:18; Jn. 9:24; Jn. 10:3; Jn. 11:28; Jn. 12:17; Jn. 13:13; Jn. 13:38; Jn. 18:27; Jn. 18:33; Acts 9:41; Acts 10:7; Acts 10:18; Acts 16:28; Rev. 14:18 Phoneo - 13x in 12v - 1 Chr. 15:16; Ps. 115:7; Ps. 135:17; Isa. 8:19; Isa. 19:3; Isa. 29:4; Isa. 38:14; Jer. 17:11; Dan. 4:14; Dan. 5:7; Amos 3:6; Zeph. 2:14 Vance Havner - Are You Listening? Speak; for thy servant heareth. I Samuel 3:10. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Matthew 11:15. He that hath an ear, let him hear. Revelation 2:7. It is an oft-recurring word from our Lord, found throughout the Gospels—"He that hath ears to hear..." Some have ears—period! Samuel was listening—and God spoke. God has much to say today, but we have "ears to hear, and hear not" (Ezek. 12:2). Some stop their ears (Acts 7:57). Some turn their ears from the truth (2Ti 4:4). Some have itching ears (2Ti 4:3). Are you tuned in on God? It is said that John Burroughs, the naturalist, could walk along a noisy street and overhear a cricket in the hedge. His ear was tuned to the little voices of nature. You can make your way through the hubbub and still keep in touch with heaven. Samuel was listening. The boy who listens for God to speak will hear Him, for God is looking for such boys. God's men have been men of a double resolve: "I will hear what God the Lord will speak" (Ps. 85:8); and then, "What the Lord saith unto me, that will I speak" (1Ki 22:14). Related Resource: ARE YOU LISTENING? What are some Bible verses about listening? | GotQuestions.org Vance Havner - A lot of Sunday-morning Christians, who want to sit with folded hands and listen to a mild discourse on the Teacher of Galilee, need to be aroused from their stupor by a vision of the flaming Christ of the Candlesticks. Eight times in these messages to the churches He says, "He that hath an ear, let him hear." Eight times in the Gospels He says, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." Some of us have ears ... period. "Hearing we hear not." We sit at church looking but not listening. God grant us ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches! And eyes to behold the Lord of the Lampstands bidding us "Repent ... or else!" Vance Havner - Learn How to Listen We spend much time and money learning how to speak when we need to learn how to listen. "... hearing they hear not" (Matt. 13:13). "... if any man hear my words" (John 12:47). "He that hath ears, let him hear" (Mark 4:9). After all, we have two ears to hear with and only one mouth to speak with—thank the Lord! QUESTION - What did Jesus mean when He said, “He who has ears to hear”? ANSWER - In the Gospels, Jesus speaks of those who have “ears to hear” at the end of a difficult saying or parable (e.g., Matthew 11:15; Mark 4:9, 23). Who is “he who has ears to hear”? Better yet, who is “he who has ears”? Ears are a feature shared by all of humanity—to not have ears would be an unnatural occurrence. Therefore, when Jesus addresses those who have ears, He refers to all who have been given His words—no matter their age, ethnicity, language, or status. But there is a difference between having ears and having “ears to hear.” Jesus’ parable of the sower and the seed contrasts types of hearers: those who let the Word of God pass straight through their ears and those who truly listen and seek understanding (Mark 4:13–20). Some hear the Word, yet they do not allow it to take root because the seduction of worldly pleasures and comfort overcomes them. Others end up rejecting the Word because of persecution or trials. Others hear the Word and open themselves to understand and accept it so that it transforms them. Those who have “ears to hear” allow the Word to bear fruit to the glory of God. It is up to the hearer to decide whether to take the Word seriously and pursue understanding; only a few are willing—the rest have ears, but they do not have “ears to hear” (Matthew 7:13–14, 24–27). Whenever Jesus says, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear,” He is calling for people to pay careful heed. It’s another way of saying, “Listen up! Pay close attention!” Speaking in parables was one way in which Jesus sought to gain the attention of the crowds —people love stories, and the parables depicted events and characters with which they could readily relate. But unless they were willing to tune out other distractions and come to Jesus to understand the meaning of His preaching, His words would be only empty stories. They needed more than ears, however keen they were; they needed ears to hear. When asked by His disciples why He was speaking to the crowds in parables, Jesus refers to Isaiah 6, which speaks of people who have eyes and ears, yet who have hardened their hearts and chosen to ignore the Word of the Lord (Matthew 13:10–15; cf. Isaiah 6:8–10). Part of the judgment on those who refuse to believe is that they will eventually lose their opportunity to believe: “Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them” (Matthew 13:12; cf. Romans 1:18–32). A similar phrase is found in Revelation in each of the seven letters to the churches: “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22). And in Revelation 13:9, immediately following a description of the Antichrist, we read, “Whoever has ears, let them hear.” The readers of Revelation are called upon to pay close attention and seek God’s wisdom concerning what’s written. Who is “he who has ears”? The simple answer: all people who have been or are being given the words of God. Like the parables’ original audience, we must also “Listen up! Pay close attention!” Jesus’ simple request is that we use our God-given faculties (eyes to see, ears to hear) to tune in to His words (John 10:27 –28; Mark 4:24; Revelation 3:20). “For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open” (Mark 4:22). Seeking God’s truth takes energy and focus; it takes a willingness to be challenged and changed. While the way of God’s truth is not the most convenient or fun path to take, we can be assured that it is the best one (John 1:4; 10:9; 14:6). And so He bids us, “Come” (Matthew 11:28 –30). Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David. (Isaiah 55:1–3) GotQuestions.org Vance Havner - The Deaf Generation In Caesarea we saw an outdoor theatre, not an amphitheatre, but a semicircular stone auditorium. From the back row we could hear our leader speak in conversational tones from the platform. Moreover, he told us that a larger theatre in Ephesus that could hold twenty-four thousand was constructed centuries ago with the same marvelous acoustics. All this in a day when in my travels all over America I have had congregations of a hundred or so complain that they could not hear in a tiny church! Larger edifices wrestle continually with the problem. All our experts somehow cannot come up with the acoustics of antiquity! How many times have listeners in little auditoriums lamented that hearing was bad only a few yards from the pulpit! Could it be that we slaves of our own devices have become so accustomed to hearing aids of all sorts that we imagine we cannot hear without them? We limp on our crutches and if the amplifier does not work "hearing we hear not" (Matthew 13:13). Once I listened to the veteran evangelist, Gipsy Smith. He was a preacher of the old days and abhorred all new devices. I thought I could not hear him and when he asked if any of us were having trouble about it, I raised my hand. "You're not listening!" was his reply. Could it be that, conditioned as we are to mechanical aids, we just think we cannot hear the preacher? And of course those dear souls who come to church early to get a back seat could move up closer and fill that empty lumberyard of ten rows of seats right in front of the pulpit. But they never do, yet still insist that they cannot hear! "Ears that hear not." "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear" (Mark 4:9). Ears to hear! All of us are equipped with ears but hearing is another matter. We hear and we do not hear. Our ears catch vocal sounds emanating from the pulpit, but the message escapes us. We hear (after a fashion) what the minister says but our Lord said, "Let him hear what the Spirit saith..." (Revelation 2:7). Of course sometimes the preacher is not saying what the Spirit says and if we listened ever so well there would be no word from God. Or the trouble, may be not with the transmitter but with our receiver! There is a preparation to hear the sermon as well as a preparation to deliver the sermon. We live now in an ear-splitting age of amplified dissonance and some think the next generation will have to be equipped with hearing aids. The more our eardrums are bombarded with demonic waves of music (which is not music but only an excuse for not being able to make music), the deafer our souls will be. Something has gone wrong with our hearing—both physically and spiritually. We are not going to correct it by clever devices. We must get at the cause. We need to do something about how we hear as well as what we hear. There is famine of the hearing of the Word of God—a famine because in some quarters it is not being preached and in others because our ears are not tuned and trained to hear it. God grant us more Samuels who can say, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth" (1 Samuel 3:9)! ILLUSTRATION OF EARS TO HEAR - The Battle of Britain was at its height. Night and day the enemy bombers flew in across the English Channel to unload their cargoes of death and destruction on the cities and villages below. The Royal Air Force had put up a magnificent fight. Sir Winston Churchill, in recounting later what the world owed to that valiant group of men who flew their battered Hurricanes and Spitfires against incalculable odds, declared, "Never before in the field of human conflict have so many owed so much to so few." In one lonely RAF outpost, a group of fighter pilots was gathered in the mess hall. It was a scene often repeated in those days. The men were worn out with fatigue, they were dirty and disheveled, their eyes were bleary, and beards sprouted on their chins. They were snatching a moment's relaxation before climbing the skies again to fight off more of the Nazi airwolves. Suddenly a buzzer sounded, and a voice came over the intercom from the operations room. "Bandits at fifteen thousand feet over P25. Over!" At once the pilots were on their feet and racing for the runways. Pausing on his way, the squadron leader barked back into the intercom one short reply: "Message received and understood." Joseph Parker - "If any man have ears." - This is a common expression in the Scriptures. "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." The text says, "If any man have ears." All men have ears, but that is not the meaning of this particular text. He must not only have ears, he must have ears to hear, ears that can hear, and that do hear. It is not enough to have the sense of hearing, it must be put into exercise, and it must be kept at the highest point of attention. Many persons have ears who never hear anything worth hearing. You cannot hear unless you listen. If you were in earnest you would listen—are you? Do not leave all the work upon the preacher: meet him half-way, give him your attention, and he cannot fail; his message is such as to protect him from failure, but he cannot do many mighty works among you if you shut the door of your ear. Take a thousand men listening to a sermon; probably not one in ten hears the sermon as the preacher meant it to be heard. Every man hears a voice, a sound, a noise—he hears one sentence following another; but that inner music which seeks the soul in its loneliness, to heal it with the love and hope of God, who hears in its ineffable meaning and its sweet benediction! Nor is this much to be wondered at. Consider how the ear has been treated all the week. Do not condemn the ear unheard. Let it plead its own cause, and it will mitigate the harshness of our judgment. "All the week long," says the ear, "I have heard nothing throughout the day but the clang of money, the tumult of bargaining, the uproar of commerce, the clamour of selfish controversy; and at night I have heard nothing but gossip, and twaddle, and childish remarks on childish topics—I cannot easily liberate myself from these degradations, and listen to words most ghostly and to gospels that seem to come from other worlds. Have patience with me, for I need awakening first out of an entangled and troubled dream." Verily there is sense in that fair speech; then it should have due weight. But the sense of the speech imposes a corresponding responsibility upon the speaker. We should prepare ourselves to hear the Divine voice. The reader of an immortal play asks, and asks in reason, that the audience should be seated ten minutes before the reading begins. It is a sensible stipulation. Shall I be unjust if I ask that my friends should be an hour with God before coming to hear the public proclamation of his word? Is it decent that we should wait on Shakespeare and leave the Eternal to wait on us? The ear should have a little prayer all its own. I will teach it one: "Lord, still the waves that are heaving and foaming in me, or I shall miss all that is tenderest in the music of thy voice. Quiet the mean noises which fill me with a worldly din, and let me hear the words, every one of them, which will bless the life. Circumcise me: yea, put thy sharp knife upon me, thou God of the circumcision, and make me hear. Then speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth." There would be no poor sermons if we came thus; we should be all ATTENTION. As a matter of fact, how does the case stand? What was the last word you spoke at the door? Some mean word about the cold wind, some poor little narrow word of criticism upon a neighbour's reputation, some childish remark upon a puerile topic, chaffer and chatter, and hollowness, and nothing, and then rushing in you sing, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts." It cannot be done; such miracles are beyond your power. Can you be draggling your wings in the mud this moment, and in the flash of an eye spreading them out in the sun? Then say not that the age of miracles is past! I cannot do it. I must have time. I must think and pray, and then the banquet is always more than enough, abundant to redundance, the lavish generosity of God! That I am not speaking unjustly of the ear, I may refer to your own proverb, "Believe nothing you hear." Why? Because you do not hear it. The first man did not hear it: he twisted it; in passing through his corkscrew hearing, the straight line got a twist, and he never can straighten it out. So it has come down to him a marvellous story, a wondrous narrative of self-contradiction, utter and palpable absurdity. Then men say, "I thought he said so and so; I understood him to mean thus and thus; O, I beg pardon, I did not catch then what he said." And out of such foul springs do the streams of conversation rise, carrying their mud with them all through the acreage of our social economy. Thus we tell lies without lying; we are carriers of falsehood, though we never mean to be untrue. How is this? Because we do not hear. The ear is preoccupied; invisible speakers are addressing it, lovers unseen are soliciting its attention, or it is asleep or on a journey, or under a spell. Hardly a man in this congregation can listen. It takes a Judge to listen. How the Judges do listen! We are buying and selling all the time the man is preaching; yea, we are doing a little business in the middle of his prayer! To listen—who can do it? God knew this, and therefore again and again he says, "He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." "If any man have ears to hear, let him hear." Who would attempt to deliver a message to a man asleep, or propose to speak to a man a mile off? There are men in this house who are just now three thousand miles away! Many a message has been lost because the speaker has not first roused the attention of his hearers. There is a man standing a little averted from you—his back is partly towards you—he is engaged in doing something, and you say, "Bring me three volumes of the 'Family Magazine,' John." He hears his own name at last, and says, "Sir?" Poor rhetorician thou! That was beginning at the wrong end. You should have said, "JOHN! Bring me three volumes of the 'Family Magazine' out of the library." "Yes, sir." See? Is that in the Bible? Every word of it—as to purpose and philosophy. How does God speak? First, attention. "Moses, Moses," and he said, "Here am I." "Samuel, Samuel." "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth." "O earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord." There is a science herein; study it, speaker and hearer. The first thing to be done is to compel the ear to listen for the right thing. When I enter the house of God, it is to hear the word of God. If I went to hear a professional elocutionist I should go to judge of the balance of his voice; I should look out for the colouring of his tones; I should measure the velocity and the weight of his articulation; I should make an elocutionary study of the man. But in going to hear God's preacher, I go to hear God's word, how I may be saved, redeemed, purified, and fitted for Divine uses in this world. I want to hear how I may get home again after many weary wanderings in stony places; I want to hear what Christ said about sin, and pain, and woe, and want, and pardon; I want to hear about those who have gone up, who cares for them, what do they, how near are they; I want to hear about the secret place where the light is pure and the rest is without shock, or pain, or dream. My soul being alive with expectation and aflame with hope, God will not disappoint it, or he will expunge from his own book the sweet promise 'Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled." It is said that the manner of the speaker has a good deal to do with the attention of the hearer. That is true, but an earnest hearer will care very little about the manner if he is deeply interested in the matter itself. Just look at that company of men, and listen to that person with a long paper standing at the head of the table. He seems to have chronic bronchitis. How he chammers his words, how hoarsely he utters his sentences, how poor his enunciation! he calls a bush a bash, and a foot a fut. Listen to him and see how the people are all on the qui vive. What is the matter? He is reading a WILL, and every man in the company expects to get something. How choice they are about the elocution! They say to one another, "Rather a bad manner, don't you think? His manner is much against him, don't you think?" No, no. "What is there for me? and how much for me?" and they would go twenty times a day to hear that wheezy, asthmatic, non-elocutionist read a WILL, if they had any hope of getting anything out of it. Now I have a will; hear it:—"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." That is your portion. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." That is yours. "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." Claim your inheritance and enjoy it! "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." Take it all. Have you heard the will? Claim your property! You say that manner has a good deal to do with speaking. So it has. Let me remind you that manner has a good deal to do with hearing. Our Saviour is reported in the Gospel of Luke to have said, "Take heed, therefore, how ye hear." There is an art of hearing; attention is not without a science of its own. Hear for eternity, hear for your soul's good. Do you want to hear the gospel now? Then you shall. "This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." You hear that? "The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth from all sin." "Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come." Hear ye these words, or do they fall upon the cold ears of a dead soul? If you have heard these words you never can say again, long as you live, that you never heard the gospel! Yes, there is a manner of hearing. Some persons listen captiously—they go for the purpose, express, of finding fault and showing their own cleverness in pointing out the fault which they suppose they have found. "These are spots in your feasts of charity." Some listen critically. They will make a man an offender for a word. They will dwell upon non-essential points: they prefer the pleasure-ground of art to the entangled forests of nature, out of which you cut the navies of the world. "These are clouds without water." Some listen indifferently: they care not what is said, or who says it: the preacher sheds his blood in vain for them—they see not nor heed the living sacrifice; they know not what the passion costs. "These are trees twice dead," and will be "plucked up by the roots." When I was at Niagara I could not get a drink of water out of the cascade, not because there was so little water, but because there was so much. It is the worst place in the world to go for a glass of water, is the torrent of Niagara; it will drown both you and your glass! If there had been less, I could have got more. It is even so with some discourses. You do not get the benefit of them at the time, but down the river of the week, as far as about Wednesday, you can stoop and drink the quiet stream; the water that was shattered into foam by its infinite plunge is now healed and calmed like a redeemed life, and a mile down you may see your face reflected in the water that was snow a day since, silver foam making rainbows round the rocks—now it falls and quiets itself into a stream which makes glad the city of your life. The torrents of Chalmers are even now settling into quiet streams which many people are drinking with thankful gladness. Even as far down the Time-river as this, the torrents of puritan eloquence and theology are only just flowing at pace enough to be caught and used for the soul's drinking. Wondrous is this. Jesus Christ's speeches dazed the people at the time; they said, "He is mad;" and now these speeches, having taken their plunge like the Niagara cascade, are streams that make glad the city of God. "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." "If any man have ears to hear, let him hear." "Take heed how ye hear." "Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man." Have you heard these things? If you say, "Yes, every word," then "Be ye DOERS of the word, and not hearers only." Luke 8:9 His disciples began questioning Him as to what this parable meant. KJV And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be? What Hosea 6:3; Matthew 13:10,18,36; 15:15; Mark 4:10,34; 7:17,18; John 15:15 Luke 8:4-15 Receptivity to the Gospel, Part 1 - John MacArthur Luke 8:4-15 - Steven Cole Luke 8 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Parallel Passages: Mark 4:10+ As soon as He was alone, His followers, along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables. Matthew 13:10+ And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” DISCIPLES NEED DECIPHERING From Mark's version, the disciple's questioning occurs after the crowds have dispersed, for only Mark records the detail "as soon as He was alone." Mark also has the unique phrase "His followers, along with the twelve which indicates that at this time the inner circle of followers consisted of more than just the twelve disciples. Mark 4:34+ adds that "He did not speak to them without a parable; but He was explaining everything privately to His own disciples." His disciples began questioning Him - Began questioning is in the imperfect tense depicting the disciples asking Jesus over and over. Their repetitive questioning indicated they were eager to know the answer. Some writers may be correct in surmising that the disciples were too embarrassed to ask questions in public. Darrell Bock explains "After Jesus tells the story, the disciples ask why he is resorting to parables. They know him well enough to recognize that this is not a lesson in agriculture for a 4H class or a polytechnic school." (The Parable of the Seed and the Importance of the Word Lk 8:4-21) Disciples (3101)(mathetes from manthano = to learn which Vine says is "from a root math, indicating thought accompanied by endeavor". Gives us our English = "mathematics") describes a person who learns from another by instruction, whether formal or informal. Discipleship includes the idea of one who intentionally learns by inquiry and observation (cf inductive Bible study) and thus mathetes is more than a mere pupil. A mathetes describes an adherent of a teacher. As discussed below mathetes itself has no spiritual connotation, and it is used of superficial followers of Jesus as well as of genuine believers. Understanding the Word by Dr. Paul Chappell “And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be? And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.” Luke 8:9–10 One of the most important archaeological discoveries in history was made in 1799 by a soldier in Napoleon’s army fighting in Egypt. The French troops were tasked with building a fort when the man found a stone with written inscriptions in three different languages. Dating to some two hundred years before the birth of Christ, the Rosetta Stone unlocked secrets of the past. The discovery proved crucial to understanding ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics because it contained the same decree written in Greek. By first translating the known language, historians were able to then develop an understanding of the Egyptian language that had not been possible before. The Bible is not a normal book. While it was penned by men, it is not their thoughts and impressions. 2 Peter 1:21+ says, “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” God has given us what we need to know in His Word. And He has given us the same Holy Spirit who inspired the writing of Scripture to help us understand what it says. Jesus said that one of the purposes of the Holy Spirit coming to live within us was so that he would guide us “into all truth” (John 16:13). Not everything in the Bible is simple and easy to understand, but if we are diligent students of the Word, we can know what God expects from us. Paul highlighted the vital importance of the Bible in his final letter to Timothy. “And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15+). Luke 8:10 And He said, "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is in parables, so that SEEING THEY MAY NOT SEE, AND HEARING THEY MAY NOT UNDERSTAND. KJV And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand. To you Lk 10:21-24; Ps 25:14; Matthew 11:25; 13:11,12; 16:17; Mark 4:11; Romans 16:25; 1 Corinthians 2:7-11; 12:11; Ephesians 3:3-9; Colossians 1:26-28; 2:2; 1 Timothy 3:16; 1 Peter 1:10-12 that seeing Deuteronomy 29:4; Isaiah 6:9-13; 29:14; 44:18; Jeremiah 5:21; Matthew 13:14-17; John 12:40; Acts 28:26,27; Romans 11:7-10 Luke 8:4-15 Receptivity to the Gospel, Part 1 - John MacArthur Luke 8:4-15 - Steven Cole Luke 8 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries JUDICIAL BLINDING OF UNBELIEVERS Mt 13:11+ Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. To you it has been granted - Light has been granted, illuminating the way to God and the great truths about God and His kingdom. This is an example of the "divine passive" with God being the "Granter." The perfect tense speaks of the enduring effect of this divine gift. The implication of course is that unless God had opened their eyes to see and ears to hear, they would not have been about to understand the parable. Notice that it is disciples who had been granted this privilege. Amazing grace indeed! Disciples is not a special class of believers as some have proposed. In fact the most common designation of the believers in the book of Acts is "disciples." All true believers are disciples!
Lucas 8
Phillips writes that "There was just enough soil to give promise but not enough to give performance. What is depicted for us here is mere profession of faith rather than true possession of Christ. People who exhibit this kind of response to the gospel often have only an emotional experience of some sort. Sometimes people give only an intellectual assent to the truth. In neither case is there more than a superficial stirring of the soul. The condition described is illustrated in the case of Orpah. Both Ruth and Orpah initially responded to Naomi's testimony. However, as soon as Orpah was confronted with the hard facts involved, she went back on her profession and returned to Moab (read Ru 1:14-15+). Ruth went all of the way. "Two walked the aisle," so to speak, "but there was only one wedding. (read Ru 1:16-17+)" (See Exploring the Gospel of Matthew)
Lucas 8
Phillips writes that "Worry, wealth, and worldliness are all enemies of the gospel. The Lord says of such that they give some place to the Word when they hear it, but then they "go forth," and it is choked. The word that the Lord used describes the bustle of an active life and the coming and going of people who are transacting business. In other words, they profess faith in Christ, but then it is "business as usual." This world remains the predominant factor in the equation of life. They love this world rather than the world to come." Robert Stein - Criticism is not directed to the quality or kind of faith these hearers possess. The problem is rather that they only hold this faith “for a while”; but as the rest of this text and the full canonical message suggest, this faith is not saving faith. (New American Commentary – Volume 24: Luke) Warren