Matthew 13:11-17
13:11 He replied,
“You have been given
the opportunity to know
the secrets
of the kingdom of heaven, but they have not.
13:12 For whoever has will be given more, and will have an abundance. But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.
13:13 For this reason I speak to them in parables: Although they see they do not see, and although they hear they do not hear nor do they understand.
13:14 And concerning them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:
‘You will listen carefully yet will never understand,
you will look closely yet will never comprehend.
13:15 For the heart of this people has become dull;
they are hard of hearing,
and they have shut their eyes,
so that they would not see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’
13:16 “But your eyes are blessed because they see, and your ears because they hear.
13:17 For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
Matthew 16:23
16:23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, because you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but on man’s.”
John 3:3-6
3:3 Jesus replied,
“I tell you the solemn truth,
unless a person is born from above,
he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
3:4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter his mother’s womb and be born a second time, can he?”
3:5 Jesus answered, “I tell you the solemn truth, unless a person is born of water and spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
3:6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.
John 8:43
8:43 Why don’t you understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot accept
my teaching.
John 10:26-27
10:26 But you refuse to believe because you are not my sheep.
10:27 My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
John 12:37
The Outcome of Jesus’ Public Ministry Foretold
12:37 Although Jesus had performed so many miraculous signs before them, they still refused to believe in him,
Romans 8:5-8
8:5 For those who live according to the flesh have their outlook shaped by
the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their outlook shaped by the things of the Spirit.
8:6 For the outlook
of the flesh is death, but the outlook of the Spirit is life and peace,
8:7 because the outlook of the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to the law of God, nor is it able to do so.
8:8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.