If people know anything about Jesus, it is that he was an excellent storyteller. Jesus’s parables have the amazing ability of engaging our imaginations and challenging our assumptions. Jesus did not teach in parables to provide blanket affirmation for the way we understand God, ourselves, and other people. He taught in parables to invite us to reconsider some of our most beloved convictions about matters of eternal importance. For this reason, Jesus’s parables often unsettle rather than reassure. “For many are called, but FEW ARE CHOSEN.” (Matt. 22:14) Few will respond because they are the ones WHO ARE TRULY HEARING! Jesus said at least 10 times, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear”
Many are called or invited into the kingdom, but none are able to come on their own. God must draw the hearts of those who come; otherwise they will not come. The Jews complained about Jesus, because He said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” And they said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Jesus therefore answered and said to them, “No one can come to Me unless THE FATHER WHO SENT ME DRAWS HIM; and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:41-44) “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, HE IS A NEW CREATION; old things have passed away; behold, ALL THINGS HAVE BECOME NEW.” (2 Corin. 5:17) God creates life, grants repentance and gives faith. Man is totally UNABLE BY HIMSELF to do these things which are necessary to enter the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with EVERY SPIRITUAL BLESSING in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He CHOSE US IN HIM before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which HE MADE US ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED.” (Eph. 1:3-6) So, all of God’s “chosen” will be saved without exception; they will hear and respond because they have spiritual ears to hear the truth. God’s power makes this certain. “…we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” (Rom. 8:28)
Your Personal Pastor -Bill Stockham