Lesson Three
Parables (Continued) 

Some 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. 
•	We should never be discouraged nor let our faith waver until the answer comes.
Parables Concerning Prayer:
1. The Friend Who Lends at Midnight:
a.	Luke 11:5-13.
b.	Truth Taught by the Parable: Through importunity God will answer our prayers. 
2. The Unjust Judge and The Importunate Widow:
a.	Luke 18:1-8.
b.	Truth Taught by the Parable: Importunity can also cause God to take action, but He associates faith with importunity.

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:
1.	Jesus had to pay a great price to purchase the church;
2.	The sinner must surrender all in order to be saved;
3.	Jesus is the one pearl of great price;
4.	In the kingdom there will be many false members who will remain there until the judgment day;
5.	The church will have a small beginning but will enjoy a tremendous growth.	
Parables Concerning the Kingdom of God:
1. The Wheat and The Tares:
•	Matthew 13:24-30 & Matthew 13:36-43.
•	Truth Taught by the Parable: This is one of the few parables for which Jesus gave the meaning. He gave the interpretation as follows:
a.	The field is the world;
b.	The good seed is the children of the kingdom;
c.	The tares are the children of the devil;
d.	The harvest is the end of the world;
e.	(5) The reapers are the angels.
2. The Mustard Seed:
•	Matthew 13:31-32.
•	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.

3. The Leaven Hidden in The Meal: 
•	Matthew 13:33
•	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).
4. The Buried Treasure:
•	Matthew 13:44
•	Truth Taught in the Parable: There is a THREE-FOLD interpretation to the parable:
a.	The field is the world, the treasure is the church.
b.	The treasure is salvation. 
c.	The field is the world. 

5. The Pearl of Great Price:
a.	Matthew 13:45-46.
b. 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.
6. The Net:
a.	Matthew 13:47-48.
b. 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.
1.	
2.	
3.		
4.	 5.

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.
1. 
2. 
3. 

D.	Define "Importunity."

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