音频：
视频：
•10无人的时候，跟随耶稣的人和十二个门徒问他这比喻的意思。11耶稣对他们说：“ 神国的奥秘只叫你们知道；若是对外人讲，凡事就用比喻，12叫他们
•看是看见，却不晓得；
•听是听见，却不明白。 恐怕他们回转过来，就得赦免。”
我曾经与同一个人进行了好几次长谈，这个人深信自己是靠自己的好行为得救的。他不愿听那些证明他错了的经文，虽然这些经文都十分清楚地向他显明了通往救赎的道路。他在结束谈话的时候对我说:“牧师，我不能让你拿走我的好行为。”我回答说:“我希望我能说服你，遵守这些好行为在得救方面是没有价值的，耶稣为你所做的就是你需要的一切。”
当我向他讲上帝的话语时，我是在试图触动他那刚硬的心，上帝也是如此，通过圣经话语来工作。当一个人刚硬、拒绝相信的时候，神的话语就在审判他，因为他不信。事实上，神的话语此时产生了与预期相反的效果，使他的心变得刚硬而不是使他的心改变。
在今天的经文里，耶稣对他的门徒解释比喻的目的时，也是这样说的。耶稣的比喻是为了进一步启发他的门徒关于上帝国度的奥秘。在一些故事中，比如浪子的比喻，福音被清楚的展现出来，神对罪人的爱和接纳。但这些比喻在那些拒绝耶稣和他教导的人心里所起的作用，却恰恰相反，是使他们的心在不信中变得更加刚硬。在先知以赛亚的时代，当他向不信的以色列人讲神的话语时，也是这样。
我今天的祈祷是，当我听到上帝的话语时，我永远不会把我先入为主的想法放在上帝的话语之上。我没有权利改变神的话语来适应我自己的想法，而是神的话语可以改变我的心来适应他的旨意。
祷告:主耶稣啊，你的话语是大有能力、大有功效的。求你打开我的耳朵去听，打开我的头脑去理解，打开我的心去相信。祷告奉你的名。阿们。
Mark 4:9-12: Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.” 10 When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. 11 He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables 12 so that, “‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding;
otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’” (NIV)
I once talked at length on several occasions to a man who was convinced that he was saved by his good works. He would not listen to the scripture passages that proved he was wrong, and that showed him the path of salvation clearly. He ended my conversations with him by saying, “Pastor, I just can’t let you take my good works away.” I responded, “I wish I could convince you they aren’t worth keeping, and that what Jesus did for you is all that you will ever need.”
When I spoke the word of God to him, I was trying to reach his stubborn heart, and so was God, working through that Word. When he stubbornly refused to believe, that same word of God stood in judgment against him, because he refused to believe it. In fact, it seemed as if it had the opposite effect than what was intended, that of hardening his heart instead of changing it.
This is what Jesus says about his parables, too. They were meant to further enlighten his disciples about the secrets of the kingdom of God. In some, like the parable of the lost son, the gospel is displayed so clearly. But the effect of those parables on the hearts of those who rejected Jesus and his teaching was to harden them in their unbelief. It was the same in Isaiah’s day when he spoke God’s word to unbelieving Israel.
My prayer today is that I will never bring my preconceived ideas to bear on God’s word when I hear it. It is not my right to change God’s word to suit my own purposes, but for God’s word to change my heart to suit his.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, your Word is powerful and effective. Open my ears to hear, my mind to understand, and my heart to believe it. I ask this in your name. Amen.