Well, good morning to everyone.
If you would care to turn your Bibles to Matthew chapter 13.
That's where our lesson will be from this morning. Matthew
chapter 13. Before we begin, let's bow together
in prayer. Our great, holy, sovereign, and
merciful Heavenly Father, for we bow in your presence. daring
only come before your throne in the person of our Lord Jesus
Christ, pleading him as all of our righteousness before thee,
pleading his blood as the only payment that would cleanse us
from all of our sin. And we bow, Father, with a grateful
and thankful heart, how we thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ,
how we thank you for a savior who fully and completely saves
his people from their sins. How we thank you for your mercy
and grace to sinful men and women like us who are gathered here
this morning. Father, how we thank you for your grace, undeserved
mercy and grace. How we thank you for the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for giving it to us
here in our town, and Father, for giving us faith to believe
it. Father, I pray you bless your word. Bless your gospel
as it's preached Today, here and in other places, bless your
word where it's preached to your glory and for the good of your
people. Father, we pray that we'd see your glory in our land,
in our day. Father, reveal your glory, saving,
keeping and blessing your people amidst all the darkness of this
life. All these things we ask and we
give thanks in that name which is above every name, the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ. I've titled our lesson this morning,
Lessons from the Tares and the Wheat. I know this is a very
familiar parable, everybody here knows it, but I trust and pray
that the Lord will make it fresh and a blessing to us. Let's look
at the beginning of verse 24 of Matthew chapter 13. And 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.
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, dost not thou sow good seed in
thy field? For whence then hath it tares? He said unto them,
An enemy hath done this. The servant said unto him, Wilt
thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay, lest
while ye gather up the tares, He 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." If you look over verse 36, here is the Lord's explanation
of the parable, beginning in 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 one. The enemy
that sowed 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 then which do iniquity and shall cast them
into the furnace of fire. There should be wailing and gnashing
of teeth. Then to the righteous shine forth as the sun and the
kingdom of their father who had the ears to hear, let him hear. Now the doctrine being taught
in this parable is a salvation is the giving of a new nature.
The new man has a different nature than the nature of the flesh
because the new man is born from different seed. Just like the
wheat and the tares have different natures because they come from
different seeds, the wheat or the spirit and the flesh have
different natures because they come from different seeds. And
you can't tell the difference between a believer and an unbeliever
just by looking at them. On the outside, and that's all
we can see, you know, on the outside, in the flesh, The believer
and the unbeliever often look the same. They often act the
same. They often sound the same. To our shame, that's true. Salvation
is in the heart. That's where it's at. Salvation
is a heart work and you cannot look on the heart of a person.
Only God can do that. You can't look at someone and
tell whether or not they're saved, whether or not they trust the
Lord by what they do or what they don't do. Salvation is not
in our deeds, is it? Salvation is in the doing and
dying of our Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is a heart work that
God does in a person. It's not the changing of the
flesh. It's not giving any light or life to the flesh. The flesh
is dead flesh, sinful flesh, and that's all it'll ever be.
You just can't take a snapshot of a person and say, aha, I know
now whether they're a believer or an unbeliever. Now I'll tell
you this, the general tenor of a person's life ought to be a
mighty good indicator of faith and whether or not they're following
Christ. It's a mighty good indicator, but it's not infallible. There
will be people in glory we did not expect to see there. And
there will be people not in glory we did expect to see there. Only
God knows His people. Only God knows the difference
between the wheat and the tares. And believers will not use this
teaching as an excuse to sin, saying, well, it doesn't matter,
you know, how I act or what I do. No, a believer never wants to
sin. But our sinful acts in this flesh
are a fact of life as long as we are in this flesh. And that
leaves us totally dependent on the Lord. I always want to preach
a message in such a way that it leaves us totally dependent
upon the Lord. And I want to give you this morning
four lessons from this parable I hope we can take with us in
our everyday life. Number one, there's no perfect
local church assembly in this world. Every local assembly,
no matter where you find them, is made up of people in the flesh.
Whether they're a believer or an unbeliever, they come here
in the flesh, don't they? Some, the believers, the wheat,
they have two natures, flesh and spirit. Some, the unbelievers,
the tares, only have one nature, the nature of the flesh. But
the common denominator is the flesh. We all brought flesh in
here with us this morning, and that's always gonna cause trouble.
Our sinful flesh causes trouble everywhere it goes. And what
we hope as believers, what we hope as being God's weed is this,
that the Lord will give us a little bit of grace to overlook those
things. They'll give us a little bit
of spiritual maturity not to give into the flesh and not to
pout and cause trouble. But the Lord will give us a little
bit of grace so we got some sense that what is going on here is
more important than me. The gospel being preached. People
being able to hear of Christ, learn of Him, and believe Him
is so much more important than somebody acknowledges me and
my little petty opinions and the way I want to do things.
Oh, I hope God will teach us that. But there's going to be
problems. And as a rule, I'm so thankful
for this. That is the spirit of this congregation. I'm thankful for it. Thank God
for it. But it doesn't mean we're immune
to problems. They're just going to be problems because this flesh
and our constant prayer is that the Lord will give us grace to
put those things down. So ignore what's not important
and pay attention to who is. That's our constant prayer. In
every local assembly, there's three kinds of people. There's
one kind of wheat. There's only ever one kind of
wheat. There's two kinds of tares. First, there are believers. They
know and they love Christ. They trust Christ. They have
a need to hear him preached. They have a need to hear his
word open to them and taught. They had to have a need to gather
together with God's people and worship him. That's the week.
The second kind of people in every assembly are unbelievers.
They have absolutely no interest in Christ whatsoever. Now, I'll
grant you, they probably have some interest in being saved
because they don't want to go to hell. I mean, I've never met
anybody who wants to go to hell, but they don't know Christ. They
don't love him and they don't trust him. If they did, they'd
come to him and beg him for mercy, wouldn't they? These people,
they come to the assembly, I reckon because they have to, for whatever
reason. Maybe they're children of a believing parents or they're
a spouse of a believer. I don't know what, whatever reason
they have to come, but they have no interest, no interest in Christ.
And third, this is a second kind of tear, they're mere professors. And I want to read to you what
Don Fortner said in his commentary about this. He said, these are
people who merely profess, but they don't profess Christ. They
profess to be a Christian. They profess to be a Calvinist. They profess a doctrinal position. They profess orthodoxy. That's so important to them.
But they don't profess to be a sinner. who needs a savior.
Everybody else needs to hear that because everybody else,
you know, is so ignorant and so sinful. Everybody else needs
to hear that. They can profess how bad everybody
else is, but they don't profess that they're a sinner who needs
a savior. They're mighty impressed with the preacher. They're mighty
impressed with the doctrine. They're mighty impressed with
the religion, but they're not impressed with Christ. See, they
profess the doctrine. but they don't profess to need
Christ themselves. I won't go through the whole
five points of Calvinism, none of this before, but just take
the first one, total depravity. It's one thing to believe in
total depravity. It's another thing to believe
I'm totally depraved and I need Christ. It used to apply that
to every point of doctrine. They profess this doctrine, but
they don't need Christ. They don't trust Christ to be
their salvation. And I tell you what, sometimes,
For a long time, they'll fool folks. They're mere professors.
And one way I just, off topic a little bit, but we know that
Satan, from reading the parable, sows the tares. But I tell you
one way we get tares is when we try to get results. That's
when we get tares. We try to get somebody converted.
We try to get somebody to make a decision instead of leaving
them alone with the Lord. And you can make a professor
out of somebody like that, but they'll be our convert, not God's
convert. and all we've done is produced a tare. All we've done
is produced a tare in God's wheat field. But the wheat and the
tares spring up together in every congregation, and often they
look like the very same thing, but they're not. They don't have
the same nature, because they're born from different seeds. One's
flesh, the other's spirit. One's been born from Adam's seed,
one's been born from the seed of the word of God. But they
all grow together, so no local church can ever possibly be a
perfect church. You just can't find one. I'll
quote Brother Fortner again. He said, I remember him saying
one time, if you ever find a perfect church, don't go there because
you'll ruin it. Pretty good advice. All right.
Number two, second lesson. It is not our job to separate
the weak and the tares. It's not our job to separate
the believers and the unbelievers. Look at verse 28 in our text.
He said unto them, an enemy hath done this. And the servant said
unto him, Wilt thou then that we go gather them up? But he
said, Nay, lest while you gather up the tares, you root up also
the wheat with them. Now, there are a couple of reasons
that we are not to try to pull up the tares that are in among
the wheat and pull them out and cast them out, right? To try
to figure out, you know, who in our midst is an unbeliever
and cast them out. Wouldn't that be just horrible?
Wouldn't that be just horrible to take the person that needs
to hear the gospel the most, cast them out. Well, that tells
you something about our nature, doesn't it? I heard a man say one time, I
wish all the unbelievers had just stayed away. I said, I don't.
I don't. Well, I get off the point. I
promise I keep this to 30 minutes. First, it's not our job to cast
out the unbelievers. That's just not the job of God's
servant. God's not authorized us to do that. You go through
the word of God and you know what God's authorized us to do?
He's authorized us to sow into water of the sea. You never see
the Lord telling us to go weed his fields. Sow and water. That's what we're to do. We're
to comfort God's sheep. We're not trying to pull up the
weeds and destroy them. We're to comfort God's sheep.
That's the job God's given us to do. And that's job enough,
isn't it? Let's do that. Second, it's not our job to separate
the believer from the unbeliever, because we don't have the ability
to pull up the tares and leave the wheat, because we can only
look on the outward appearance. And like I said a minute ago,
salvation's not seen in the outward actions. Salvation's in the heart,
and only God can see there. You and I just don't have the
ability to know who is saved and who is lost, because we can't
look on the heart. And if we try to do it, you know
what we're gonna do? We're going to pull up the wheat
and leave the tears every time. That's exactly what we'll do.
When I was a teenager, my mother sent me out. She used to have
a pretty good-sized garden every year. She sent me out to weed
her pepper plants. And I took that home, and buddy, I was determined
to do a good job. I mean, and you know what I did?
I holed up them peppers real good. I mean, I mean, they were
obliterated. And I left the weeds because
I didn't know the difference. And that's what we do to God's
church if we try to do what God has not authorized us to do.
You can't tell a believer from an unbeliever by looking at the
flesh because what are we looking at? In both cases, we're looking
at sinful flesh. You can't tell if a person believes
Christ or not just by taking a snapshot in any moment in their
lives. How many snapshots would you
have taken of David, of Solomon, of Lot, of Peter, of Abraham,
the father of the faithful, had been wrong. Just wait. Just wait a while.
It'll probably become evident. But even then, just wait, because
we can be so easily fooled. And since that is true, just
don't be too quick to cut somebody off. It may be necessary for
a while. From time to time it is because
of an error in doctrine or an error in behavior. We're told
in God's word to shun somebody. The man at Corinth who was living
with his father's wife, Paul told him, shun that man, didn't
he? And they did for a time. And then he repented. He quit
his behavior and they welcomed him back with open arms. But
for a time that became necessary. In his seven letters to the churches
in the book of Revelation, The Lord warned two churches, the
church of Pergamos and the church of Thyatira that he's going to
judge them because they tolerated false doctrine in their midst.
You're not to tolerate that. We're to cut that out. We're
to shun that. This place is a place of true doctrine, the doctrine
of Christ. And we may have to separate ourselves
from somebody for a time. I don't know. We may have to,
and for good reason. But when that happens, tell you
what, just leave the door open. Always leave the door open. The
Lord might bring them back. He just might. And just because
they made a mistake does not necessarily mean they're a terror
or an unbeliever. You know, I strongly, strongly
believe in the death penalty because that's what scripture
teaches, not just a political opinion of mine. That's what
scripture teaches. And anytime we go against God's
word, we're asking for trouble. I strongly believe in the death
penalty. But remember this, every crime
is not a capital offense. Every crime does not deserve
the death. Just because we have the death penalty, you don't
apply it to every crime. See that? Leave the door open.
All right, number three. The existence of tares do not
stop the wheat from growing and being blessed. Verse 25. I'm sorry, that's the wrong verse.
Hang on a second. Well, look at verse 43. Then
shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of
their father, who hath ears to hear, let him hear. Now Satan
sows the tares among the weak. He's trying to hurt the church
of God. He's trying to, because that's
what the enemy does, tries to hurt the enemy. But Satan's going
to fail in this endeavor. You know why it won't work? God's
not going to let it. God's not going to let it harm
his weak. Now, it will cause heartache. It will cause problems,
but it will not stop the Lord from saving his people. It'll
not stop the Lord from keeping and blessing his people. There's
going to be a harvest. I don't care how many tares are
sown, in the end, God's going to harvest his people and they're
going to shine forth as the sun. He's going to reveal it. God's
wheat plants are all going to be gathered together into God's
barn. They're going to all, everyone
will be in glory and not one of them will be missing. and
the tares are gonna be in the fires of hell, well, they'll
never hurt anybody ever again. All right, number four. God will reveal who is the wheat
and who is the tares when he returns in the harvest. Verse
39. The enemy that sowed them is
the devil. The harvest is the end of the world and the reapers
are the angels. Now, none of God's wheat, none
of God's people can ever perish. He knows who they are. We don't,
but He does. And since He knows who they are,
He's gonna keep them. Look at 2 Timothy 2. 2 Timothy
2. I hope these last two points,
these last two lessons are a great comfort to your heart. The existence
of the tares, not gonna stop the wheat from being blessed.
Not gonna stop the wheat from growing. And God's gonna reveal
who is the wheat and who is the tares, because He knows the wheat.
2 Timothy 2 verse 16, but shun profane and vain babblings
for they, they will increase unto more ungodliness and their
word will eat as doth a canker of whom is Hymenas and Philetus
who concerning the truth have erred saying that the resurrection
has passed already and have overthrown the faith of some. Now are Hymenas
and Philetus, are they tares? Or are they believers who just
have made a mistake for a time? One way or another, they're causing
a lot of problems, aren't they? Causing a lot of heartaches.
Well, is that gonna destroy God's church? Is that gonna stop God's
people from being saved? Is that gonna stop God's people
from being blessed? No, sir. Verse 19, oh, there's
all these problems these fellows are causing. Nevertheless, the
foundation of God stands assured. Having this seal, the Lord knoweth
them that are his. and let everyone that nameth
the name of Christ depart from iniquity. The Lord knows them
that are his, and he's gonna keep them. The Lord knows who
is the wheat, because he planted the wheat. The Lord knows who's
wheat, because he made them to be wheat. He caused them to be
born in a new nature, in the new birth with a new nature.
The Lord knows who's the wheat, and he knows when it's time to
harvest the wheat too, doesn't he? He knows just right when
it's time, And he's going to do it. He's going to do it. The
Lord will put all of his wheat exactly where it belongs. God's going to give the wheat
exactly what they deserve. Exactly. They're going to receive
exact justice. They're going to receive everything
Christ earned. They're going to receive everything that Christ
purchased for them with his precious blood. And the tares, they're
going to be gathered up. And they're going to be put right
where they belong to. They're going to receive justice, too.
Oh, they were religious, weren't they? Oh, they professed orthodoxy. They professed a doctrine. They
were religious. But what they professed offended
God. It was iniquity to him. That's
right. Look at verse 41. The son of man shall send forth
his angels and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things
that offend. What they did was offensive to
God and them which do iniquity. It wasn't good. It was iniquity.
And the Lord's gonna put the tares in hell where they belong. They'll never be able to harm
anybody again. And it's the Lord that does the separating. Now
let's just wait. Let's just wait. And I'm saying
this to me more than anybody else. Let's just wait. Let's
wait. The Lord will do the separating.
And it'll be the right time when he does it. Right now, we just
can't tell the wheat from the tare. We can't tell a believer
from a mere religious professor. But in the end, in the harvest,
the Lord is going to make it obvious. See, the Lord's always
known the difference. And in the end of the world,
the Lord's gonna make that difference known to all of creation. He
says in verse 43, then the righteous shall shine forth as the sun
in the kingdom of their father. Then the Lord's gonna make the
nature of his people to be seen by everybody. Because that nature,
it's in their soul, now it's going to match their body. Body
and soul, they're going to be perfect and righteous. And their
righteous nature is going to shine forth because they're going
to be dressed in the righteousness of Christ, inwardly and outwardly. And they're going to shine forth
in God's kingdom. They're going to shine forth
in the kingdom of the son of righteousness. God's going to
make it obvious. He's going to make it obvious
what he's done for his people. You know, we talk about them
shining forth as the sun. Don't mistake that and thinking
they're getting glory for this thing. No, they shine forth as the sun,
as the trophies of God's grace. This is what I've done for my
people. Now, the Lord closes with this,
and I think this is an important thing for us to hear. The Lord
says, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. The Lord means
let him hear and believe. Now I don't know about you, but
as I studied this week, this parable, the tares and the wheat, it concerned me. I'll just be
completely honest with you. It concerned me. I don't want
to be a mere professor. I don't want to fool myself.
I mean, those mere professors fool other people. I don't want
to fool myself. I don't want to be a mere professor. I want to be a believer. I want
to be one of God's wheat plants. More than anything, I want to
know Christ. I want to trust Christ. I want
that more than anything for myself. And that's what I want for you,
too. I want you to know Christ. I want you to trust Him. I want
you to believe Him. And this is my prayer. If I'm a tare,
Lord, show me today. So be gracious to me. today. If we have tears here in our
congregation, and we must, because every congregation does, my prayer
is, Lord, show us today. Show that person today and reveal
Christ to them. Reveal Christ to them. Lord,
show me Christ today and make me seek him today, right now. And when I say today, I mean
right now. I don't mean when I go home this
afternoon and after I take a nap and watch a little bit of the
Masters, then, you know, there's a little bit of downtime I can
seek the Lord. I mean right now. If I don't know Him, I want the
Father to reveal His Son to me so that I'll seek Him. In seeking
Him, I'll find Him and believe on Him. You know, I don't want
to just know who the Lord is. I don't want to just seek Him.
I want to believe Him. I want to believe Him with all
my heart. Now, where does that leave us?
Right back where we started, doesn't it? Completely depended. Lord, save us. Lord, feed us. Lord, cause us to grow. Don't
let us be a tear, but cause us to grow by your mercy and by
your grace. All right, Lord bless you.