Alright, this morning we're going
to look at the parable of the wheat and the tares. Matthew
chapter 13. Matthew chapter 13, verse 24. Another parable put he forth
unto them. The Lord Jesus Christ, He's speaking
to the multitude. His disciples are there as well.
And he said, the kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed
good seed in his field. But while men slept, his enemy
came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when
the blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit, then appeared the
tares also. So the servants of the householder
came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed
in thy field? From whence then hath it tears?
He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said
unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But
he said, Nay. lest while you gather up the
tares, you root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together
until the harvest. And in the time of harvest, I
will say to the reapers, gather ye together first the tares and
bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into
my barn. Look at verse 36. Then Jesus sent the multitude
away and went into the house. And his disciples came unto him
saying, declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. He
answered and said unto them, he that soweth the good seed
is the son of man. The field is the world. The good
seed are the children of the kingdom, but the tares are the
children of the wicked, the wicked one. The enemy that sold them
is the devil. The harvest is the end of the
world, and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares
are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end
of this world. The son of man shall send forth
his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things
that offend and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them
into a furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing
of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine
forth as the sun in the kingdom of their father. Who hath ears
to hear, let him hear. Now the Lord says this phrase
repeatedly. Who hath ears to hear, let him
hear. Not only in the Gospels, but
in other places. The revelation of Jesus Christ,
he said it. And the word means, he that hath
ears to hear. Let him give his full attention. Let him attend to the preaching. Give highest esteem to hearing
the gospel of Christ. He said in Mark, he said, with
what measure you meet it, it shall be measured unto you. with
what measure, with what esteem, with what regard, with what due
diligence you give yourself to hear the Gospel of Christ, so
Christ will give in abundance. And there's a flip side to that.
He said here in verse 12, Whosoever hath to Him shall be given, and
he shall have more abundance, but whosoever hath not. Who doesn't
have and here to hear this, and a desire to hear this gospel,
and a longing to hear this gospel, He said, from Him shall be taken
away that He hath. I want you to notice two things
here. He makes good on this in two places in this chapter. I want you to see this first.
Verse 9, He said, Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. Let him
give himself to hear. And the disciples came and said
unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? They came and
gave themselves to the Word, to God, to Christ, to hear Him.
And what happened? Verse 11 says, He answered them. Now look again here in this passage,
in our text, in verse 36. Then Jesus sent the multitude
away and went into the house. Why did the multitude go away?
Because they could. That's why. Because they could. He asked, one time the multitude
went away and he turned to his disciples and he said, will you
go away also? And Simon spoke up for the disciples. He said, Lord, to whom shall
we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life and we believe you're the Son of God, Christ Jesus, our
life. You're our life. You notice here,
He went into the house, and they went to the house where the Lord
was to hear Him. They gave themselves to go there
and hear Him. It doesn't mean you don't study the Word when
you're at home or other places, but where He's gathered His saints
in His house, go there and hear the Word preached. And look what
He did. Look what He did. Verse 37 says, He answered them. He gave them more, didn't He?
He makes good on that promise to us. If we give ourselves to
hear this Word, He'll give to us. He made good on it two times
right here before us, didn't He? Now, do you regard this Gospel
to be life or death? It is. Whether you regard it
to be or not, it is. It is. It is. If you do, as he told Peter,
blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, flesh and blood hath not revealed
this unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. Give yourself
to hear this gospel. Now, in this parable, the Lord
is teaching us, let's hearken to that word, let's give ourselves
to hear what he says. And he's teaching us in this
parable, that in his kingdom, in his church, in this world,
there are good seed, good children, wheat, and there are tares, children
of the devil, children of the wicked one. And he's teaching
us here not to try to separate the tares from the wheat. Don't
try to separate them. Everything that he teaches us
here in this parable gives us good reason to be content, not
to worry, Not try to separate the tares from the wheat, but
let them grow together. Everything he tells us here.
I want to show you four or five things, very simply. First of
all, Christ Jesus sowed the good seed. Look here, and he tells
us there's two kinds of seed. Good seed, wicked seed. Good seed, evil seed. Good children,
children of the wicked one. Now it says, verse 37, He that
soweth the good seed is the Son of Man. Now turn over to Genesis,
hold your place here, turn to Genesis 3.15. Now this is what
I want you to get here. I want you to enter into the
fullness that He that soweth the good seed is the Son of Man. Christ Jesus is the good seed. He is the Son of Man, the good
seed. And He sowed Himself in the field. And it's by His doing, His sowing,
that these children can be said to be good seed. Alright, look
here, Genesis 3.15. Note this, this is a familiar
passage, but note here, there are only two seeds spoken of
here. One is the children of the wicked
one, called thy seed. But the only other seed here
is the one seed of woman. And that's the Son of Man, that's
Christ. Genesis 3.15, I will put enmity
between thee, he's speaking to the serpent, the devil, between
thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It. He's talking about that one
seed. That one seed of woman. It shall
bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel. See this seed is one. It's one
seed, the son of man. Now look over to Galatians 3.16.
Galatians 3.16. The promises that God made to
Abraham were only made to one seed, and that seed's Christ. Before
he ever made those promises to Abraham, God made this promise
to that one seed, and that seed is Christ. Look here, Galatians
3.16. Now to Abraham and his seed were
the promises made. He saith not, and to seeds as
of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. You see, truly, Christ is the
one good seed sown in the earth. He that sowed the good seed is
the Son of Man, and He is that seed. He is the seed, the Son
of Man, the only man who is as righteous as God requires. He is the seed, the son of man,
the one man who is as holy as God requires. He is the seed,
the son of man, the only man who is as faithful to the triune
God as God requires. He is the seed, the son of man,
the only man who fulfilled the very spirit of the law of God. Not just the bare precept of
the law, though he did do that, but the very spirit of the law. He is the only seed, the only
son of man who ever loved God and loved his neighbor as himself. The only one. The only one. And because he is the seed, the
son of God, everything he did as the son of man, the seed of
woman, is eternal and everlasting. He is everlasting righteousness. And it's by the seed. Before we saw that the ground,
the hearer is good ground. He makes the good ground. The children for whom He died,
whom He represented, the children of the Father, the children of
the King, He makes them good ground. And all the good ground
does is receive the seed. When's the last time when you
planted your garden, Christine? The seed, the ground didn't come
up and do something. It just received the seed you
put into it. Well, Christ is the seed, the
incorruptible Word, and He not only is the seed that He sowed
in this earth Himself, but He makes The good ground makes the
good ground receive the seed and from that he brings forth
these good seed, these good children that are his children. And he
did this all willingly himself. This is what he said on his way
to the cross. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn
of wheat fall into the ground and die. He is that seed. He is that corn of wheat. that
willingly fell into the ground and died. He said, except it
do that, it abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit. He's that seed. He's the life
by whom we live, by the new birth, by the Spirit of God. And so
the children of the kingdom, the good seed, are so thoroughly
one in Christ, the seed, the Son of Man, that we don't have
to worry about the tares growing up in this field beside the good
children, the good seed. We don't have to worry about
it, do we? Because they're that one with Him. Alright? Let's look at the second thing.
The second reason, and we won't spend quite as much time here,
because it's very simple. The field is His. The field is
His. Look at verse 38. He said, the
field is the world. Now look back up at verse 24. The kingdom of heaven is likened
unto a man which sowed good seed in His field. It's His field. It's His field. The world belongs
to the Son of Man. Christ Jesus purchased this field
with His own blood. He bought it. He bought the rights
to the field. In another parable right after
this about the treasure hidden in the field. The man goes and
he buys that field. We're going to focus on nothing
but this very glorious truth. He bought the field. He bought
the field. It's His field. He's the king
of His kingdom. He's the head of His church.
The work is His work given Him of the Father and He shall through
His gospel. There's some servants mentioned
here. that were with him. We saw last time, they're those
that he uses to sow the seed. But he's the one that sows the
seed as they sow the seed. But he'll do this through, he'll
give life, and he'll grow each of his children, and he'll use
even the tares for their good. Why? Why has it been given to
him to do that? He said in Isaiah 61.3, that
they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that
he might be glorified. He gets all the glory. So we
don't have to worry about the tares, the devil, the children
of the devil, because the fields he is. Here's the third thing. He didn't say he sleeps. Look
at verse 24. He says, Another parable put
he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened
unto a man which sowed good seed in his field. But while men slept,
his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his
way. The psalmist said, He will not suffer thy foot to be moved. He that keepeth thee will not
slumber. You think he was surprised when
the devil snuck in while it was dark and everybody was asleep
and the devil sold these tares and this wicked seed? You think
he was surprised by that? No. Satan entered the garden
when Adam was in the garden by the divine permission of God
Almighty alone. Evil that has ever taken place
in this world has happened by the divine permission of God
Almighty, the Son of Man, Christ who owns the field Himself. He
said, has evil happened in a city and have I not done it? That
doesn't mean He does the evil, it means it doesn't happen without
His permission. That is a great, great, glorious
assurance for the believer to know nothing, absolutely nothing
in his field. He's out of his control. But
he that keeps you will not slumber. Will not slumber. Here's the
fourth thing. The evil one and his tares in
no way hindered the Son of Man from planting or growing the
seed. Look at verse 26. But when the
blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit. He sowed the seed,
it sprang up, it grew, and it brought forth fruit. And then
appeared the tares also. But the tares didn't stop Him
from sowing the seed. The wicked one didn't stop Him
from sowing His seed. The wicked one didn't stop Him
from giving it the increase and making His children to grow and
to bear fruit. They just appeared there with
Him. because the wicked ones sold
them. They didn't hinder Him whatsoever, did they? Alright,
here's the next thing. The Son of Man, the Lord Jesus
Christ clearly says we're never to attempt to do what only He
can do. Look at verse 28. The servants said unto Him, Wilt thou then that we go and
gather them up? Christ our Lord has not authorized
His servants, His preachers, those that teach His Word, and
those who are His servants and His children. He hasn't authorized
us to attempt to separate the tares from the wheat. He said
here, verse 29, but He said no. No. No. Be careful. If not, we've done
many wonderful works. If not, we cast out devils in
your name. He expressly said, it's not my
job and your job to cast out the devil in his sea. That's
not a good work. It's not a good work. That's
his job. All right, look here. The danger
in us attempting to do so is because the wheat and the tares
look alike. Verse 29, he says, lest while
ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.
There's a field on the way over here, and me and Linda's been
looking at two or three of them on the way over here. We've been
looking at them. I don't know what this is planted in this
field. I'll have to get some of y'all that might know to tell
me what it is. One of them is right here between
here and Hopewell, right here on the left right there. But
when it started coming up, I thought it was corn. But it's not corn. I don't know what it is. It's
only about that tall. Any of y'all know what that is? But
when you look at that field, There's some that is bearing
fruit. You can see it starting to bear
some kind of grain. But there's some in there that
doesn't. But they look just alike. They look just alike. There's
some, most all of it's about this tall, but there's some shot
up two or three feet higher than the rest of it. Now, here's the problem. The child of the devil, who's
not really a child of God, who's not really the good seed, can
do works which appear the very same as the child of God. He can come hear the word preached,
he can read the word of God, he can go through the motions
of prayer, he can give everything He's got. He can show kindness
to others. He can do everything God commands
the believer to do. He can do that. He can do that. It says here, verse 26, The blade
was sprung up, and it brought forth fruit, and then appeared
the tares also. Look at verse 41. It speaks of The Son of Man shall send forth
His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things
that offend and them which do iniquity." What's the offense
and what's the iniquity in those children of the devil who appear
to do all the same works as the believer? What's the iniquity? It's the defilement of the heart.
They're not born of the incorruptible seed. He didn't sow them. And their fruits, those fruits
that they bear, are not by Jesus Christ Himself. Now, that's exactly
the whole point, the chief point of Paul's letter to Titus. He's teaching him to teach the
people, the brethren, to maintain good works. Look at Titus 1.
Let me show you that. What makes the difference in
those works? What makes them not even a good
work? Even though they, you know, naturally
speaking, it's kindness just the same as your kindness is.
It's benevolence just the same as your benevolence is. It's
hearing the Word of God just like yours is. It's praying,
going through the mechanics of prayer just like you are. What
is it that makes the works to differ? Titus 115, unto the pure. You know what that is? It's those
who are born of the seed and who are made completely, totally
pure and righteous in Christ the seed. And unto the pure,
all things are pure. But unto them that are defiled
and unbelieving is nothing pure, but even their mind and conscience
is defiled. That's the heart, not born of
the incorruptible seed. And look at here, they profess
that they know God, but in works, and he tells us what kind of
works they are. They're good works. Naturally speaking, they're
good works. But in those works, they deny
Him. being abominable and disobedient
and unto every good work reprobate, void of discernment, void of
spiritual life. You see that? So, here's the
point I want you to get. We'll look at this more next
time in another passage. The believer does not shine in
this world. The Lord said, let your light
so shine before men that they may see that light. Let me finish. The believer does not shine in
this world like the tears of the wicked ones shine in this
world. The believer says, he must increase,
I must decrease. The believer wants the spotlight
to be on Christ His light. But, look at this word, verse
43, but after the Lord has gathered together and separated everything
that offends and gathered His people, then, verse 43, shall
the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their
Father. Why is that? Because then we're
going to be just like him. Because then we're going to be
with him right there with the light, made one perfectly conformed
to the light. Then we'll shine like the unbeliever
thinks he shines now in this world. Does that make sense to
you? We'll look at that more next
time. But here's the point. The tear looks far too much like
the wheat for us to attempt to separate them in this life. That's
right. And here's another thing on this
point. Also, the Lord may choose those tares to provide that which
is needful for his wheat. He let the devil sow them in
his field. He did it for a reason. I'll
give you an example. Judas was the planting of the
wicked one all along. But the Lord chose him and used
him and let him grow right alongside his true disciples. And he served
God's purpose the entire time. He said that. He said, Jesus
asked them, have not I chosen you twelve, but one of you is
a devil? There's been a whole lot of tares
of the wicked one who were mothers and fathers of wheat. That God, that Christ the Son
allowed to grow in His field, to bring forth His child, to
give birth to His child, and to nurture and provide all natural
things for that child, to grow Him. And the same in His church,
to provide for His true children in His church. So see, He's using
them even though they don't know or want to be used of Him. So
he says, leave him alone, let him grow. The apostles never
would have imagined Judas was the devil. They never would have,
he looked just like the rest of them, did the works the rest
of them did, didn't he? All right, here's the last thing.
This is why we don't have to do a thing. In the end of the
world, the Son of Man shall send his angels and he shall gather
out all things that offend. And then his children shall shine. Look at, read it out, verse 39. The enemy that sold them is the
devil. The harvest is the end of the world. The reapers are
the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered
and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world.
The son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather
out of his kingdom all things that offend and them which do
iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire. There
shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous
shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their father. Now,
who hath ears to hear? Heed this word. Take heed to
give due diligence to it and walk in this light. Heed it. He said, I'll give you more in
abundance. All right, amen.