Matthew 13:1-53

THAT MANY PERSONS FIND THE BIBLE HARD to understand will not be denied by those acquainted with the facts. Testimony to the difficulties encountered in Bible reading is too full and too widespread to be dismissed lightly.

In human experience there is usually a complex of causes rather than but one cause for everything, and so it is with the difficulty we run into with the Bible. To the question, Why is the Bible hard to understand" no snap answer can be given; the pert answer is...

For Reading and Meditation:     John 1:1-14

We ended yesterday by saying that the first step toward mental and spiritual health is self-renunciation and receptivity. I must be willing to acknowledge my need of Christ, stop striving to find happiness and instead receive Him into my life then, like the disciples we talked about the other day, I have reached the shore...

For Reading and Meditation:     Proverbs 24:15-22

Today we look at another reason why God allows the ungodly to flourish - to illustrate by contrast the horror of an eternity without God. Spurgeon commented: "Eternal punishment will be all the more terrible in contrast with the former prosperity of those who are ripening for it." The seeming joy and splendour of...

"For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance." Matthew 13:12

When the LORD has given to a man much grace, He will give him more. A little faith is a nest egg; more faith will come to it. But then it must not be seeming faith, but real and true. What a necessity is laid upon us to make sure work in religion and not to profess much, and possess nothing! For one of these days the very profession will...

Matthew does not tell us much of the infancy of Jesus. There is something very beautiful, however, in the little we have in this first Gospel. It gives us a glimpse of the way the world, outside of His own country, received Him. There was no room for Him in the inn, and He was born in a stable; but Matthew shows the Far East waiting for Him and honoring Him. A little later, too, it shows Egypt sheltering Him. Jerusalem was the place where...

Matthew 13:1-9; Matthew 18-23

Jesus was always teaching. On this particular day His pulpit was a fishing boat, from which He spoke to the multitudes standing on the shore. Perhaps there was a sower somewhere in sight, walking on his field, carrying his bag of grain and slinging his seed broadcast. The sight may have suggested the parable.

Matthew 13:24-30 Matthew 13:36-43

The sower is Christ Himself. He always sows good seed in His field. When he was living here in this world, He went up and down the country, dropping the words of life wherever He found a bit of heart-soil that would receive them. It is wonderful to think of the blessings which have come to the world through the words of Christ....

Matthew 13:31-33 Matthew 13:44-52

The parables of Jesus are unforgettable pictures. They are stories laden with truth. Some preachers tell stories which thrill those who hear them, and yet they are tales with no lesson. The parables of Jesus are rustic and interesting, and yet they are vital with spiritual meaning.

The 

Matthew 19:1-2 Matthew 19:13-26

The words, "He departed from Galilee," have significance, when we consider the circumstances, which give them a peculiar sadness. This was our Lords' final departure from Galilee. He had been brought up there. Much of His public ministry had been wrought there. In that part of the country, He had met with the kindliest reception....

Matthew 13:1-9; Matthew 18-23

Jesus was always teaching. On this particular day His pulpit was a fishing boat, from which He spoke to the multitudes standing on the shore. Perhaps there was a sower somewhere in sight, walking on his field, carrying his bag of grain and slinging his seed broadcast. The sight may have suggested the parable.