⁹He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

13:9

He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

The word “hear” occurs 19 times in Matthew 13. This is a word of positive volition. If people understand the principle of the parable of the sower, then they need to apply it to their lives. The thrust of the parable of the sower is that the effect of the Word depends on the state of the heart (13:18-23).

Jesus presented three kinds of negative volition and one kind of positive volition. The three negative volitions are (1) hardness towards God’s Word where Satan takes away revelation, ( 2) a shallow attitude towards God, and (3) allowing things of the world to choke out God’s revelation. Jesus challenged His followers to be like the fourth kind of soil, a soil receptive to the seed of the Word. Seed produces a crop when sown in ground prepared for fertilization.

PRINCIPLE:

There are different ways to receive the Word of God.

APPLICATION:

Different types of reception to God’s will depend on positive or negative volition towards God Himself. The nature of receptivity towards Jesus ranges from superficial reception to full embrace of Christ as Savior.

If a believer is not teachable, he has a serious problem with God. The Bible will “effectively work” in the Christian who embraces the Bible as God’s Word.

For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe. 1 Th 2:13