LESSON THREE
PARABLES (Continued)

•	SOME PARABLES TAUGHT TRUTHS CONCERNING PRAYER:
•	Some of our Lord's Parables taught truths concerning prayer. 
•	In these parables we are taught that God answers prayer. 
•	We should expect to receive from Him because He loves us and has promised to answer. 
•	However, the emphasis is placed upon the importance of importunity. 
•	By importunity we mean to request and beg urgently with persistency until the answer comes. 
•	We should never be discouraged nor let our faith waver until the answer comes.
•	PARABLES CONCERNING PRAYER:
•	THE FRIEND WHO LENDS AT MIDNIGHT:
•	Scriptural Reference: Luke 11:5-13.
•	The Story: A man had a visitor arrive at midnight from a far journey. 
•	He had nothing in the house to give him to eat so he went to a friend to borrow three loaves of bread. 
•	The friend did not want to be disturbed. 
•	He and his family had already gone to bed.
•	He refused to rise just because he was a friend but finally he did get up and gave his friend the bread because of his friend's importunity.
•	Truth Taught by the Parable: Through importunity God will answer our prayers. 
•	Special attention should be given to verse 10: "For every one who asks and keeps on asking receives, and he who seeks and keeps on seeking finds, and to him who knocks and keeps on knocking the door shall be opened" (Amplified New Testament).
•	There is a special promise for anyone who importunes for the Holy Ghost. 
•	If parents do not deny their children when they ask for "good gifts," HOW MUCH MORE will God give the Holy Ghost to him who importunes. 
•	The emphasis is one "how much more."
•	THE UNJUST JUDGE AND THE IMPORTUNATE WIDOW:
•	Scriptural Reference: Luke 18:1-8.
•	The Story: A certain judge had no fear for God or man. 
•	A widow kept coming to him for justice in a certain grievance. 
•	The judge finally decided to grant her request not because he feared God but because he was weary of her continual coming to him.
•	Truth Taught by the Parable: If an unjust judge can be moved to action by the importuning of a widow, importunity can also cause God to take action. 
•	However, He associates faith with importunity. 
•	Apparently the inference is that if a man does not believe God, he will not importune. 
•	Jesus asks the question, "When the Son of man comes will he find persistence in the faith on the earth?" (Amplified). 
•	The conclusion that we reach is when the Lord returns there will be a real scarcity of faith, which brings about importuning prayer.
•	SOME PARABLES TAUGHT TRUTHS CONCERNING THE KINGDOM:
•	The kingdom parables teach many truths regarding the value of salvation, which places us into the kingdom of God. 
•	Here are a few of the truths brought out:
•	Jesus had to pay a great price to purchase the church;
•	The sinner must surrender all in order to be saved;
•	Jesus is the one pearl of great price;
•	In the kingdom there will be many false members who will remain there until the judgment day;
•	The church will have a small beginning but will enjoy a tremendous growth.
•	PARABLES CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF GOD:
•	THE WHEAT AND THE TARES:
•	Scriptural References: Matthew 13:24-30 & Matthew 13:36-43.
•	The Story: A man sowed good wheat in his field. 
•	During the night while he was asleep, his enemy came and sowed weeds in his field. 
•	When the seed sprouted and the plants grew, there were many weeds among the wheat. 
•	His servants desired to pull up the weeds but the master said that if they did this they would also pull up the wheat. 
•	Both will grow together until harvest and the weeds will be gathered first and burned, and then the wheat will be harvested.
•	Truth Taught by the Parable: This is one of the few parables for which Jesus gave the meaning. He gave the interpretation as follows:
•	The field is the world;
•	The good seed is the children of the kingdom;
•	The tares are the children of the devil;
•	The harvest is the end of the world;
•	The reapers are the angels.
•	From this parable we are taught that we should always be careful in pulling up the tares in case we pull up some wheat also. 
•	Another truth is brought in the fact that every thing is given meaning except "fire" which is literal.
•	THE MUSTARD SEED:
•	Scriptural Reference: Matthew 13:31-32.
•	The Story: One of the smallest of seeds is the mustard seed. 
•	A man sowed a mustard seed in his field, which grew into a tree so large that the birds were able to nest and roost in its branches.
•	Truth Taught by the Parable: The church has a very small beginning but has such a tremendous growth that all that need protection and security may find it here.
•	THE LEAVEN HIDDEN IN THE MEAL: a. Scriptural Reference: Matthew 13:33.
•	b. The Story: A woman placed leaven in three measures of until meal the whole was leavened.
•	c. Truth Taught by the Parable: Leaven is a type of false doctrine. 
•	The Passover was to be kept with unleavened bread. 
•	Leaven works through all the dough. 
•	"Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?" 
•	For this reason we must keep out all false doctrine.
•	The woman here is undoubtedly the Roman Catholic Church, which leavened the entire church with false doctrine (The Trinitarian Tradition - three measures of meal).
•	THE BURIED TREASURE:
•	Scriptural Reference: Matthew 13:44.
•	The Story: A man found a treasure in a field. 
•	He sold everything he had and cashed in on all his assets in order to buy the field, which he did with great joy.
•	Truth Taught in the Parable: There is a THREE-FOLD interpretation to the parable:
•	The field is the world. 
•	The treasure is the church. 
•	The man who sold all in order to get the treasure out of the field is Jesus Christ. 
•	He paid all when He went to Calvary and gave His life for the church.
•	The treasure is salvation. 
•	The sinner who comes to Jesus must surrender all and place all on the altar before he can have the treasure of salvation.
•	The field is the world. 
•	The treasure hid in the field is the souls of men and women. 
•	The man who pays all in order to be able to get the treasure out of the field is the evangelist, the soul winner. 
•	In order to go into the world to win souls, the soul winner must place all upon the altar. 
•	There is a great price to be paid if one is going to be a soul winner.
•	THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE:
•	Scriptural Reference: Matthew 13:45-46.
•	The Story: A merchantman found a pearl so valuable that it was worth all that he had. He sold everything and bought this one pearl of great price.
•	Truth Taught by the Parable: The Pearl of Great Price is our Lord Jesus Christ. 
•	In order to have Jesus a man must lay all upon the altar and surrender all to Him.
•	THE NET:
•	Scriptural Reference: Matthew 13:47-48.
•	The Story: A net is let down in the sea and when it was pulled in, it had all kinds of fish in it, good and bad. 
•	The good fish was thrown into the boat, but the bad fish was thrown away.
•	Truth Taught by the Parable: This parable taught that when the gospel is preached there would be all kinds of people respond. 
•	However, many of them will never genuinely repent and only be there because of an empty profession. 
•	At the judgment day there will be a distinct separation.

LESSON THREE
SELF HELP TEST

A. State FIVE truths that the Parables concerning the Kingdom teach.

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B. What is meant by the "Leaven in the three measures of meal?" (Matthew 13:33).

C. Give the THREE-FOLD interpretation of Matthew 13:44.

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D. Define "Importunity."

E. Write out in full Luke 11:10 as given in the Amplified New Testament.