The Lord Jesus leaves the house in which He was staying and, seated in a boat by the seashore, He begins to preach a special message to a great crowd of people who had gathered there. He tells them parables (stories which illustrate a point) about the kingdom of heaven. Those who were His disciples would understand, and those who were not would not understand.
Sad to say, many of the people who were listening to Jesus with their ears were hardening their hearts against Him. The Lord Jesus likened Himself to a sower who planted good seed and those who heard His words to different kinds of ground that the seed was planted in. Most of the ground was not good and did not allow the seeds to grow and bring forth fruit.
After explaining the parable of the sower to His disciples, the Lord Jesus told more parables. Each of these stories was an example of the kingdom of heaven. He was the true king who should have reigned in the world, but He was rejected and so His kingdom was set up in heaven. Each one who believed by faith in Him was part of that kingdom, but there were those who also were part of it who did not really believe in Him. The time would come when He would set up His kingdom in this world, and then these false professors would be cast into a furnace of fire. Sadly, many of the people were full of unbelief. Until that time, the Lord Jesus carefully explained to His disciples what the kingdom of heaven would be like and how they were to act until He came back.
1. Those who were not Jesus’ disciples would not see, hear and __________ the parables. Matthew 13:___
2. The seed was good, but some became unfruitful because of the __________ of this world. Matthew 13:___
3. What kind of ground produced fruit? __________ Matthew 13:___
4. When the Son of Man comes, those who do iniquity will be cast into a furnace of __________. Matthew 13:___
5. Why did Jesus, at that time, not do mighty works there? __________ Matthew 13:___