Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / A World Full of Wheat and Weeds Msg 1820 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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A World Full of Wheat and Weeds Msg 1820 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: We come today from every walk of life, and all
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Speaker 1: of us represent a story. Even in the days of
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Speaker 1: the Bible, there were those who lived out their story.
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Speaker 1: It's important that we see God's hand in our story.
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Speaker 1: Moses said to the people of the Hebrews, just before
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Speaker 1: he was taken in death. You shall remember all the
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Speaker 1: way which the Lord your God led you these forty
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Speaker 1: years in the wilderness, to humble you, to prove you,
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Speaker 1: and to know what was in your heart, whether you
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Speaker 1: would keep his word or not. No experience lived under
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Speaker 1: the God of our lives is ever wasted, or is
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Speaker 1: ever unnecessary, painful, though it may be, it provides us
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Speaker 1: with a part of our story that unfolds from one
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Speaker 1: year to the next. As we turn to Matthew chapter thirteen,
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Speaker 1: we come to a chapter that is full of stories.
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Speaker 1: They're called parables, and they're based on something very familiar
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Speaker 1: to the people who lived in Jesus' day, though they
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Speaker 1: may not be all that familiar to us who live
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Speaker 1: in this twenty first century. But with a little help,
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Speaker 1: we're able to see the value and how it comes
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Speaker 1: from the print on the page into a part of
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Speaker 1: our life. And today's parable is no exception it's Matthew
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Speaker 1: chapter thirteen, beginning at verse twenty four down through thirty.
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Speaker 1: Then a few verses later Jesus explains meaning. He gives
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Speaker 1: the meaning of what these simple parts of the story represent.
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Speaker 1: When you find your way to Matthew thirteen, verse twenty four,
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Speaker 1: please stand with one another for the reading of God's Word.
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Speaker 1: I'm reading from the New Living Translation Matthew thirteen twenty four.
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Speaker 1: Here is another story, Jesus told the Kingdom of Heaven
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Speaker 1: is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field.
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Speaker 1: But that night, as the workers slipped, his enemy came
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Speaker 1: and planted weeds among the wheat, then slipped away. When
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Speaker 1: the crop began to grow and produce grain, the weeds
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Speaker 1: also grew. The farmer's workers went to him and said, Sir,
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Speaker 1: the field where you planted that good seed is full
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Speaker 1: of weeds. Where did they come from? An enemy has
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Speaker 1: done this, The farmer exclaimed, Should we pull out the weeds?
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Speaker 1: They asked no, He replied, you'll uproot the wheat. If
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Speaker 1: you do. Let both grow together until the harvest. Then
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Speaker 1: I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds,
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Speaker 1: tie them into bundles, and burn them and to put
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Speaker 1: the wheat in the barn verse thirty six. They're leaving
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Speaker 1: the crowds outside, Jesus went into the house. His disciples said,
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Speaker 1: please explain to us the story of the weeds in
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Speaker 1: the field. Jesus replied, the son of Man is the
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Speaker 1: farmer who plants the good seed. The field is the world,
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Speaker 1: and the good seed represents the people of the kingdom.
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Speaker 1: The weeds are the people who belong to the evil one.
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Speaker 1: The enemy who planted the weeds among the wheat is
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Speaker 1: the devil. The harvest is the end of the world,
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Speaker 1: and the harvesters are the angels. Just as the weeds
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Speaker 1: are sorted out and burn in the fire, so it
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Speaker 1: will be at the end of the world. The Son
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Speaker 1: of Man will send his angels, and they will remove
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Speaker 1: from his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who
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Speaker 1: do evil, and the angels will throw them into the
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Speaker 1: fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
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Speaker 1: Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their
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Speaker 1: father's kingdom. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.
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Speaker 1: Our desire is to not only understand the story, but
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Speaker 1: to see the significance of it. In light of the
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Speaker 1: day in which we live. Please be seated. It's always
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Speaker 1: a privilege to come before the Father's throne. You come
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Speaker 1: with your needs before his throne, and I come to
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Speaker 1: represent all of us in prayer. Let's join together in
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Speaker 1: these moments of quietness, petition, and intercession praise. May all
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Speaker 1: glory rise to you, our Father, as we have heard sung.
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Speaker 1: May all pleasure and laughter, all sorrow and trials rise
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Speaker 1: to you. May our hearts be turned to you, our Father,
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Speaker 1: And may your voice become the single most significant voice
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Speaker 1: we hear deep within our souls. Were grateful Lord, in
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Speaker 1: this world that is so far away from where you
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Speaker 1: would want us to be, you are there. You have
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Speaker 1: not left us, You will never abandon us. In fact,
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Speaker 1: you hold us in your hands. It's there we find
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Speaker 1: comfort and security, peace and protection, hope and a reason
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Speaker 1: to go on. I remember those today who sit in
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Speaker 1: this gathering afraid, uneasy, struggling within over some issue, some heartache,
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Speaker 1: some decision, some path they have taken that has led
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Speaker 1: them in the wrong direction. I pray that you will
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Speaker 1: use your word today in each of our lives to
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Speaker 1: shine a light on the course we are to take
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Speaker 1: and the decisions we must make. Make it clear to us,
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Speaker 1: our Father, what it is you want from us, and
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Speaker 1: then find within us hearts of obedience and willingness to follow.
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Speaker 1: We realize, our Father, in this world in which we live,
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Speaker 1: that good and evil grow together, and often we cannot
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Speaker 1: tell the difference by looking, or even by hearing and seeing.
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Speaker 1: So we need the discernment you can give as you
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Speaker 1: hold us in your hands, and as you direct our steps. Now, Father,
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Speaker 1: I pray that you will use our gifts for the
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Speaker 1: single purpose us of spreading the message of hope to
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Speaker 1: those who were hopeless, providing light for those who live
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Speaker 1: in darkness, and direction for those who are confused. Give
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Speaker 1: us joy, our Father, in giving, remembering that it is
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Speaker 1: more blessed to give than to receive. Encourage those who
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Speaker 1: represent us in places that are difficult, serving miles away,
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Speaker 1: many of them in dark and dangerous places. Watch over
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Speaker 1: them carefully, remind them that they too are held in
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Speaker 1: your hands. We give our gifts as we offer this
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Speaker 1: prayer with confidence in the name of Jesus, our Savior
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Speaker 1: and Lord, and everyone's amen. Jesus was the consummate storyteller.
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Speaker 1: He loved to tell stories. They are woven all the
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Speaker 1: way through his earthly ministry. Thirty of them are recorded
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Speaker 1: in the gospel accounts. They're called parables. Fourteen of them
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Speaker 1: appear in Matthew's Gospel, fifteen in Luke's account, one in Mark,
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Speaker 1: none in John. But there must have been many others
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Speaker 1: as well, because Jesus knew what all of us realize.
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Speaker 1: There's nothing like a story to capture attention. Not only
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Speaker 1: does it seize our attention, it holds our interest as
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Speaker 1: it bills ultimately through its plot into a climax, an event,
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Speaker 1: or several events that bring it to a head. I
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Speaker 1: remember child saying to my mother, can you tell me
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Speaker 1: a story? My dad could tell great stories. I remember
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Speaker 1: the teachers that connected with me the best as I
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Speaker 1: was growing up were those who could turn the lesson
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Speaker 1: into stories, often stories that had comparisons, analogies that made
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Speaker 1: something clear that would otherwise not be all that clear.
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Speaker 1: A parable is obviously a story based on a comparison.
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Speaker 1: The word itself means to place or cast beside. Something
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Speaker 1: familiar is the beginning point, and it's set forth alongside
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Speaker 1: something not familiar, with a spiritual lesson that we are
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Speaker 1: to grasp as we understand the comparison. We understand these
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Speaker 1: stories by listening, carefully, thinking deeply. They're not to be
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Speaker 1: written down. They're not to be over analyzed, though that
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Speaker 1: is often a tendency on our part. The main reason
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Speaker 1: Jesus told them was really actually two things. To reveal
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Speaker 1: truth to those whose hearts were open, and to conceal
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Speaker 1: truth from those whose hearts were closed. And that's why
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Speaker 1: he invites often either at the beginning or ending, or both,
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Speaker 1: that we listen to what he's saying. I will say
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Speaker 1: candidly that it is a pleasure to preach at this
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Speaker 1: particular church of ours because you are such good listeners.
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Speaker 1: At least you look like you're really interested, and I
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Speaker 1: think you are. I think you care about what this
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Speaker 1: means and how it relates to where you live and
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Speaker 1: to the things that we have that we all are facing.
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Speaker 1: This story is familiar in its beginning to people who
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Speaker 1: lived in an agricultural culture. We don't, but they did
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Speaker 1: so parts of it from time to time, even though
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Speaker 1: it's the beginning of the parable or the part of
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Speaker 1: it that is to be known, has to be explained
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Speaker 1: because it's not clear to the rest of us, and
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Speaker 1: the main part of it that isn't clear would be
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Speaker 1: the weeds. We understand wheat and a crop of wheat.
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Speaker 1: We've seen crops like this, but we don't get the
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Speaker 1: part that refers to the weeds. Remember what he's said said,
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Speaker 1: the Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who planted
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Speaker 1: good seed in his field verse twenty five. But that night,
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Speaker 1: as the worker slept, looked closely and listened carefully, his
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Speaker 1: enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat. Let's stop there.
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Speaker 1: What are the weeds in this story? You may know
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Speaker 1: this story as the wheat and the tears, but we
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Speaker 1: don't know what tears are either. Let me help explain this.
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Speaker 1: One authority writes it was a kind of darnel weed,
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Speaker 1: which is a weedy rye grass with poisonous seeds which
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Speaker 1: in early stages of growth. Don't miss. This looks just
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Speaker 1: like wheat, but can be distinguished easily at harvest. Another
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Speaker 1: picks up this explanation and goes further. This bearded darnell
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Speaker 1: is common in Palestine and resembles wheat, except that the
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Speaker 1: grains of the weed are black. In its early stages,
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Speaker 1: it is indistinguishable from wheat, so you must wait until
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Speaker 1: harvest to determine which is wit. You see, not until
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Speaker 1: both come to a head could the difference be determined.
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Speaker 1: And obviously by then one has a black seed. The
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Speaker 1: top of the weed is black, is poisonous, obviously different
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Speaker 1: from the result of the wheat stalk that bears wheat,
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Speaker 1: that is that color. Now, the great tendency on the
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Speaker 1: part of the workers would be to tear out the
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Speaker 1: weeds during the growth, so that only wheat would grow.
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Speaker 1: And this is where the story gets interesting. But before
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Speaker 1: we get there, observe in verse twenty five who plants
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Speaker 1: the weeds. He is called his enemy. Jesus later identifies him.
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Speaker 1: We'll get to that in a moment. But the workers
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Speaker 1: come and they ask, since they were asleep that night
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Speaker 1: when the crop began to grow verse twenty seven, they say, sir,
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Speaker 1: the field where you planted the good seed is full
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Speaker 1: of weeds. Where did they come from? It's interesting that
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Speaker 1: Jesus never explains the reason he and the Father allow
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Speaker 1: evil and good to grow together. That's not explained here
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Speaker 1: or in fact elsewhere. It's all part of the mystery
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Speaker 1: of lawlessness that continues to grow. That there is always
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Speaker 1: good and there is always evil, and they grow together.
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Speaker 1: And what's interesting is that we cannot tell them apart
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Speaker 1: until later on. And so they asked the natural question,
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Speaker 1: should we pull out the weeds? And he quickly answers no.
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Speaker 1: And that's significant because most of us, when we see
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Speaker 1: or hear that there is weeds along with we, we
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Speaker 1: want to get rid of it. We want to get
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Speaker 1: rid of the evil, get rid of the wrong, get
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Speaker 1: rid of every bit of it as quickly as we can.
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Speaker 1: But he deliberately says in the story, no, no, let
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Speaker 1: it be. In fact, thirty says, let both grow together
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Speaker 1: until the harvest. Then look at who takes over, Not you,
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Speaker 1: but the master. The farmer, says, I will tell the
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Speaker 1: harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them into bundles,
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Speaker 1: burn them, and to put the wheat in the barn.
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Speaker 1: So there is a time of planting, there is a
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Speaker 1: period of waiting, and then there is the ultimate climax
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Speaker 1: for the crop, and that is the harvesting of the crop.
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Speaker 1: It's interesting. Before Jesus takes the time to explain the
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Speaker 1: parable which happens in verses thirty six through forty three,
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Speaker 1: he inserts a couple of other stories. One is the
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Speaker 1: familiar story of the mustard seed. You've heard if you
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Speaker 1: were in church growing up. You've heard since you were
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Speaker 1: a child. The smallest of the seed is the mustard seed,
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Speaker 1: and this little brief parable it's another illustration is used
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Speaker 1: where the mustard seed is planted and it becomes the
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Speaker 1: largest of all the plants. It grows into a tree.
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Speaker 1: Birds come and make nests in its branches. Seems to
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Speaker 1: be saying, while we are on the subject of the
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Speaker 1: growing of wheat or the growing of a crop, that
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Speaker 1: there is the enlargement of that which is good. There
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Speaker 1: is the growth of good ministries. There are the righteous
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Speaker 1: who grow in number. There are those who do good.
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Speaker 1: There are those who are involved in this process of
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Speaker 1: enlargement of that which is growing and becoming significant. At
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Speaker 1: the same time, he adds another brief story in verse thirteen,
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Speaker 1: verse thirty three down just that single verse where he
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Speaker 1: talks about leven or yeast, he says, the kingdom of
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Speaker 1: Heaven is like the yeast of woman use in making bread.
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Speaker 1: Even though she puts only a little yeast in three
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Speaker 1: measures of flour, it permeates every part throughout the scriptures,
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Speaker 1: almost without exception, yeast or leven is an illustration of evil.
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Speaker 1: So we have the growth of good I suggest in
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Speaker 1: the mustard seed illustration, but the presence of evil in
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Speaker 1: the leven that appears in this brief single verse statement
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Speaker 1: of Jesus before he tells the meaning of the parable.
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Speaker 1: Before we get to that meaning, observe in verse thirty four.
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Speaker 1: Jesus always used stories and illustrations like these when speaking
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Speaker 1: to the crowds. In fact, he never spoke to them
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Speaker 1: without using such parables. Just to decide, it's a good
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Speaker 1: thing to remember as a teacher, if you are involved
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Speaker 1: in that, to fall back on stories, to use illustrations,
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Speaker 1: to rely on analogies to get the point across. You
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Speaker 1: begin with the familiar, and you go taking the group
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Speaker 1: you're teaching to the unfamiliar. He says, that's what Jesus did.
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Speaker 1: In fact, he says, I will speak to you in parables.
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Speaker 1: I will explain things hidden since the creation of the world,
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Speaker 1: as he quotes from a prophet of the Old Testament.
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Speaker 1: Now the explanation, it's it's simple. Really. I've given you
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Speaker 1: a place in your outline for you to fill it
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Speaker 1: in if you wish, and here you can have your penhandy.
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Speaker 1: As Jesus identifies the various parts of the story, we
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Speaker 1: just read and look for yourself, and again listen carefully,
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Speaker 1: think deeply, leaving the crowds outside, Verse thirty six begins,
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Speaker 1: Jesus went into the house. Probably this is in Capernium,
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Speaker 1: and it is a house perhaps where he has often
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Speaker 1: gone for rest and relief. And his disciples are in
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Speaker 1: there with him, and there they say, please explain to
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Speaker 1: us the story of the weeds in the field. Notice
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Speaker 1: they're not asking about the wheat. It's the weed that
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Speaker 1: concerned them, the good crop. We understand why the weeds?
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Speaker 1: What do they represent? What is this about? So Jesus
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Speaker 1: takes them through the story, one point after another. To
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Speaker 1: begin with, the farmer is identified as the son of Man.
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Speaker 1: So whatever else the story is representing, the main character
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Speaker 1: is Jesus. He is the one in charge of the crop.
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Speaker 1: He's the one watching over the harvest. He's the one
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Speaker 1: who knows the plan for the growth and ultimately what
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Speaker 1: to do with both weed and wheat. The son of
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Speaker 1: Man is the farmer. Now I want to pause at
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Speaker 1: this next one because it becomes extremely more complicated. The
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Speaker 1: field is the world you and I tend to think
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Speaker 1: at that moment of the globe made up of one
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Speaker 1: hundred and ninety five nations around this world. But it's
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Speaker 1: not about nations. It's not about the globe. This is
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Speaker 1: the cosmos. Koss. We got our word cosmetics from it.
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Speaker 1: Cosmopolitan comes from the term the field is the cosmos?
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Speaker 1: What is the cosmos? Well, I want you to know
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Speaker 1: ahead of time before I read a twenty minute definition
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Speaker 1: of what I came across. I mean it could be
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Speaker 1: I just took just a little part of it. I've
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Speaker 1: never seen such thorough, careful explanation, so this will require
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Speaker 1: real concentration. One man writes, the cosmos is the sum
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Speaker 1: total of human life in the ordered world, alienated from
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Speaker 1: and hostile to God, and of the earthly things which
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Speaker 1: seduce us from God. Pause. Right there, Much of what
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Speaker 1: comprises the world is unseen. It is intangible. It has
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Speaker 1: to do with dark powers that are at work, evil
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Speaker 1: influence that seduces, that attracts, but looks so much like
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Speaker 1: the goody, the best part of our world. But the
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Speaker 1: definition goes on to describe this which seduces us from God.
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Speaker 1: It is the ordered system of which Satan is the head.
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Speaker 1: His fallen angels and demons are his emissaries in the cosmos,
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Speaker 1: and the unsaved of the human race are his subjects.
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Speaker 1: Much of this world's system, don't miss this. Much of
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Speaker 1: the world's system is a religious be cultured see refined
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Speaker 1: the intellectual. But it is anti God, and it is
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Speaker 1: anti Christ. Before I go further, what we have which
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Speaker 1: makes it complicated is the unseen forces of evil at
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Speaker 1: work in the midst of the world. We know that's
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Speaker 1: familiar to us. But we can touch what we can
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Speaker 1: see the material world around us. But behind the scenes
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Speaker 1: there are these influences represented in the weeds that are
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Speaker 1: in the field which is the cosmos. I go a
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Speaker 1: little further and again ask you to listen carefully. Another
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Speaker 1: man writes, the cosmos is all that floating mass of thoughts, opinions, maxims, speculations, hopes, impulses, aims, aspirations.
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Speaker 1: At any time current in the world, which it may
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Speaker 1: be impossible to seize and accurately define, but which constitutes
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Speaker 1: a most real and effective power, being the moral or
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Speaker 1: immoral atmosphere, which at every moment of our lives we
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Speaker 1: inhale again inevitably exhale. This is the world system. I
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Speaker 1: pause so that you can let the picture emerge in
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Speaker 1: your mind. It is a full on system of thinking
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Speaker 1: that has at its root that which is evil. But
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Speaker 1: you don't know when you are around it, inhaling it
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Speaker 1: and exhaling it, because it seems just like that which
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Speaker 1: is good and necessary, just a part of life. Since,
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Speaker 1: as we read, the wheat and the weeds grow together,
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Speaker 1: looking alike, but they are nothing at all alike. The
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Speaker 1: cosmos stands at odds with the Lord, our God and
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Speaker 1: his righteous purposes and plans. I say again, he does
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Speaker 1: not explain why he is pleased that they dwell together.
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Speaker 1: He simply permits it to go on together. And we
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Speaker 1: must be, as we mature, discerning so as to realize
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Speaker 1: the difference between the two, detecting that which is anti
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Speaker 1: God and Antichrist. Let me show you a perfect example.
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Speaker 1: Turn to First John, chapter two, not the Gospel of John,
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Speaker 1: but way over toward the end of your Bible, in
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Speaker 1: the Letters of John. There are three of them before
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Speaker 1: Jude and Revelation. Go to the first Letter, chapter two.
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Speaker 1: We're still on the subject of the field, the world
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Speaker 1: the cosmos One John two, verse fifteen. Do not love
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Speaker 1: the cosmos. There it is nor the things it offers you.
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Speaker 1: For when you love the cosmos, you do not have
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Speaker 1: the love of the Father in you. And now he
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Speaker 1: amplifies it. The world offers only a craving for physical pleasure,
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Speaker 1: a craving for everything we see and pride in our
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Speaker 1: achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but
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Speaker 1: are from the cosmos. One more verse, and this cosmos
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Speaker 1: is fading away along with everything that people crave. But
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Speaker 1: anyone who does what pleases God will live forever. The
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Speaker 1: realm of the cosmos is the realm in which we live,
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Speaker 1: the unseen world of evil. It is not politically correct
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Speaker 1: even to refer to good and evil in our day
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Speaker 1: of political correctness. By the way, I heard doctor Ben
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Speaker 1: Carson on a radio interview. You are aware of doctor
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Speaker 1: Carson and his commitment to Christ, and he was being
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Speaker 1: asked about our times, and while on the subject, he
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Speaker 1: got into the subject of political correctness because someone brought
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Speaker 1: it up, and he said, I want to pause right here.
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Speaker 1: This is not an exact quote, but as I recall,
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Speaker 1: this is the general meaning of what he had in mind.
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Speaker 1: We must steer clear of political correctness. As he put it,
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Speaker 1: it's all part of the system that gets us to
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Speaker 1: thinking like those moving in the wrong direction or something
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Speaker 1: of that nature. And I thought, perfect example of what
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Speaker 1: is described in a definition of the field or the world.
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Speaker 1: This is the cosmos. We are surrounded by it, Motives
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Speaker 1: are drawn from it, decisions are made in it. And
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Speaker 1: without the discernment that the Spirit of God gives us,
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Speaker 1: we can easily find ourselves at the mercy of evil
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Speaker 1: thinking it is good. Now back to Matthew thirteen. I
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Speaker 1: know there's more you'd like to be set on that,
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Speaker 1: and I'd like to say on it, but stay with
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Speaker 1: the story. Jesus says, the field is the cosmos. Next
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Speaker 1: we read the good seed represents the people of the kingdom.
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Speaker 1: This would be righteousness, those who represent the righteous cause,
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Speaker 1: those who know the Lord Jesus, those who walk with God,
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Speaker 1: those who represent him privately and in public. These are
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Speaker 1: the people who love God walk with him. The weeds
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Speaker 1: are the people who belong own to the evil one.
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Speaker 1: The enemy who planted the weeds among the wheat is
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Speaker 1: the devil. Not surprisingly, one of the common beliefs of
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Speaker 1: our day, especially among intelligentsia, is the thought that all
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Speaker 1: thoughts of a literal devil are stupid, foolish, ignorant. Jesus
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Speaker 1: teaches here that the devil is very real, in fact,
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Speaker 1: is the one who plants the weeds among the wheat.
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Speaker 1: You see, here's an example of where you will allow
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Speaker 1: the scripture to guide your decisions, your thinking, the opinions
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Speaker 1: you form, or the system in which you live. And
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Speaker 1: the longer we live in the system, the greater will
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Speaker 1: be the influence and the magnet to draw us in.
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Speaker 1: I'm not saying everything in the world around us is evil,
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Speaker 1: but I'm saying the world itself is saturated with evil influence.
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Speaker 1: Perfectly illustration of that, I take you back to First John,
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Speaker 1: but this time chapter five. If you don't mind turning,
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Speaker 1: look at verse nineteen. Then we'll go back and stay
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Speaker 1: in Matthew thirteen. Look at First John five nineteen. We
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Speaker 1: know that we are children of God, and that the
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Speaker 1: world around us there is a word. Again, the world
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Speaker 1: around us is under the control of the evil One.
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Speaker 1: Under the control of the evil one, one of my mentors,
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Speaker 1: now dead, under whom I learn much and serve for
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Speaker 1: a number of years. Jade White Pentecost used to translate
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Speaker 1: that used to paraphrase this, the world lies in the
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Speaker 1: lap of the evil one. It's a pretty good description.
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Speaker 1: The cosmos is his thing. He permeates it, he works
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Speaker 1: through it. He has his representatives, some of whom, back
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Speaker 1: to our definition, are religious, some of whom are cultured,
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Speaker 1: some are refined, and some are intellectual. One more, I said,
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Speaker 1: I wasn't going to go anywhere else, but you have
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Speaker 1: to take you to Second Corinthians eleven. I want you
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Speaker 1: to see this as an example of the enemy and
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Speaker 1: what he is able to do, and how he is
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Speaker 1: able to appear. Second Corinthians eleven thirteen. These people are
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Speaker 1: false prophets. Notice they're false, I should say false apostles.
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Speaker 1: They are deceitful workers. They're apostles, but they're false apostles.
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Speaker 1: They're workers, but they're deceitful workers. They disguise themselves as
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Speaker 1: apostles of Christ. But I'm not surprised. Even Satan disguises
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Speaker 1: himself as an angel of light, so it is no
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Speaker 1: wonder that his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.
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Speaker 1: Every time I read that, it puts a chill down
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Speaker 1: my back. Right now it's happening, there are those who
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Speaker 1: come across as workers for good, but in fact they
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Speaker 1: are representatives of evil, and you cannot tell the difference
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Speaker 1: by looking. It takes time. That's why they grow together.
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Speaker 1: In the growing together, we learn, we discern, we realize.
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Speaker 1: We form opinions based on what the scripture teaches, not
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Speaker 1: what comes naturally to us, or we learn from those
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Speaker 1: of the world's system. Now back to Matthew thirteen, and
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Speaker 1: then a few words of application. The enemy who plants
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Speaker 1: the seed as the devil. The harvest represents the end
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Speaker 1: of the world, the world as we know it, the
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Speaker 1: world which would be at the end of the tribulation
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Speaker 1: before Jesus comes and plants his feet back on this
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Speaker 1: earth to establish his kingdom. And the harvesters are the angels.
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Speaker 1: Now watch closely. Just as the weeds are sorted out
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Speaker 1: and burned in the fire, so it will be. This
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Speaker 1: is future. At the end of the world, the son
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Speaker 1: of Man will send his angels. They will remove from
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Speaker 1: his kingdom everything that causes sin. Note carefully, the Greek says,
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Speaker 1: scandalized this. It's the idea of harassing, deceiving all those
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Speaker 1: that are everything that causes sin, and all who do
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Speaker 1: evil and the angel will throw them into the fiery furnace,
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Speaker 1: where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. That's
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Speaker 1: one side of the story. That's the ultimate result of evil,
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Speaker 1: and the righteous will shine like the sun in their
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Speaker 1: father's kingdom. I think is a reference to those who
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Speaker 1: enter into the kingdom age, where Christ will reign as
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Speaker 1: king over all, who call themselves king and Lord over
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Speaker 1: all who called themselves lord. And then he invites anyone
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Speaker 1: who has ears to hear, to listen and to understand.
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Speaker 1: I've read this over and over more times than I
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Speaker 1: can count, and I've come up with four statements that
40:17
Speaker 1: I think will help put it into perspective, and perhaps
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Speaker 1: for I have confused, will help clarify this now. Number one,
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Speaker 1: Hostile powers are always at work in our world. Hostile
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Speaker 1: powers are always at work in our world. They play
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Speaker 1: various roles. Remember we read in verse forty one, there
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Speaker 1: are those who cause sin. They harass, they scandalize. They
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Speaker 1: are stumbling blocks. They throw up barriers, They cause conflicts,
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Speaker 1: they bring confusion. They represent resistance to truth and righteousness.
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Speaker 1: There will always be hostile powers at work in the
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Speaker 1: world as we know it. Remember, the whole world lies
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Speaker 1: in the lap of the wicked one. Here's the second.
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Speaker 1: It is hard to distinguish the good from the evil.
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Speaker 1: That's obvious, from the wheat and the weeds growing together
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Speaker 1: looking just alike. It's interesting. You may follow a certain teacher.
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Speaker 1: I want to be careful how I say this. You
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Speaker 1: may follow the teaching of an individual that may be
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Speaker 1: very persuasive, may have a large following, may even use
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Speaker 1: Bible verses in the teaching. But the more you follow
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Speaker 1: that individual and study that life and watch that kind
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Speaker 1: of individual at work, the more you become aware, as
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Speaker 1: a child of God, of things that concern you. You
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Speaker 1: begin to question the approach to subjects, the motives that
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Speaker 1: seem to be at work behind the scenes. Or it
42:30
Speaker 1: may be a spirit of narcissism that grows. It's all
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Speaker 1: about the teacher. The emphasis in the spotlight falls on
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Speaker 1: him or on her. Be careful, Be careful, because you
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Speaker 1: have heard what you've heard regarding the wheat and the weeds.
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Speaker 1: You know that good and evil grow together. Be discerning.
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Speaker 1: Don't let the visible and the impressive cause you, by
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Speaker 1: that alone, to follow what you are hearing, or the
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Speaker 1: one who appears to be effective, they're often very effective teachers.
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Speaker 1: They are often very popular individuals. As your discernment grows,
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Speaker 1: the more you will feel the pushback within you. Pay
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Speaker 1: attention to that. The spirit of God is at work
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Speaker 1: showing you this is not something you should follow or support.
43:43
Speaker 1: It's hard to distinguish the good from the evil. Takes time.
43:49
Speaker 1: The Lord says, let them grow together. Now. The third
43:55
Speaker 1: brings up a practical point. I'm going to give it
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Speaker 1: to you. The tendency on our part is to rush
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Speaker 1: to extremes when dealing with wrong. Our favorite reaction is
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Speaker 1: a knee jerk reaction. This is wrong, get rid of it,
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Speaker 1: stand against it. But you will notice the farmer restrained
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Speaker 1: his workers from rushing to judgment. Patience is needed. By
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Speaker 1: the way, during that period of waiting, you may be
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Speaker 1: able to win the one who is caught up in
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Speaker 1: the cosmos over a period of time because you didn't
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Speaker 1: jump in and act in a rash manner. There might
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Speaker 1: be the Remember that Jesus sat with sinners and publicans
44:47
Speaker 1: in those meals he had together with them. They weren't
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Speaker 1: saved people. They were part of the weeds. As time passes,
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Speaker 1: I'm sure he won of them over. So it can
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Speaker 1: happen in our case. A big part of wisdom is
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Speaker 1: knowing when to act and when to wait. And will
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Speaker 1: you forever get out of your mind that Satan is
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Speaker 1: this little creature with horns and a pitchfork. I've talked
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Speaker 1: about this before. He doesn't have a red epidermis. Okay,
45:27
Speaker 1: he isn't shouting curse words and representing obvious evil. That's
45:35
Speaker 1: not how he operates. He is, at least originally was
45:40
Speaker 1: the most magnificent creature among the angels before he fell. Remember,
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Speaker 1: he masks himself as an angel of light. Here's the
45:54
Speaker 1: fourth and it's of the great relief. Our God is just.
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Speaker 1: He will ultimately judge. But let me add that his
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Speaker 1: wheels grind slowly but exceedingly fine. Have you discovered, as
46:12
Speaker 1: I have, being impatient as I am, how slow God
46:17
Speaker 1: seems to be, And when you want him to work,
46:24
Speaker 1: he is not in a hurry. He doesn't settle all
46:28
Speaker 1: of his accounts at the end of every month. He
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Speaker 1: lets it be in the passing of time. The mystery
46:37
Speaker 1: of iniquity continues to work, and it is indeed a mystery.
46:44
Speaker 1: And you know what happens during this time? I will
46:47
Speaker 1: tell you because judgment does not fall immediately, evil tends
46:53
Speaker 1: to think, well, there's room for getting worse because evil,
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Speaker 1: because judgment against an evil work is not executed speedily,
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Speaker 1: the heart of the sons of men and women is
47:08
Speaker 1: fully set in them to do evil Ecclesiastes eight eleven.
47:14
Speaker 1: Because the thief isn't caught, he robs more. Because the
47:19
Speaker 1: deceiver isn't exposed, he increases his deception, thinking that lack
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Speaker 1: of judgment means the light is green keep going. All
47:33
Speaker 1: of this brings me to two questions that you have
47:37
Speaker 1: to answer. Number one, have you really been listening? This
47:45
Speaker 1: is the one place where you can look at the
47:50
Speaker 1: source of truth and determine for yourself the way you
47:56
Speaker 1: should think and how you should live. This is the place.
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Speaker 1: This is not a politically correct arena or gathering. We
48:08
Speaker 1: speak of right and wrong, truth and error, good and
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Speaker 1: evil because those are all blurred in our age now
48:20
Speaker 1: that we are in this cosmos which lies in the
48:24
Speaker 1: lap of the evil one. Now, the second question is this,
48:31
Speaker 1: have you found yourself in the story you see where
48:36
Speaker 1: you are? Are you a part of the growing wheat crop,
48:42
Speaker 1: serving Christ, loving Christ, believing in Christ, standing for Christ,
48:49
Speaker 1: or have you bought into the system and found yourself
48:53
Speaker 1: drawn to that and even promoting that which which is
49:00
Speaker 1: not set forth in scripture. You know what my great
49:06
Speaker 1: tendency is simply to have prayer and send everybody on
49:10
Speaker 1: their way. But I'm not going to do that today.
49:15
Speaker 1: I'm going to end with another story, and you'll understand
49:18
Speaker 1: why I end with it when I finished. On Sunday night,
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Speaker 1: October eighth, eighteen seventy one, the well known evangelist Dwight L.
49:31
Speaker 1: Moody preached to the largest congregation he had ever addressed
49:37
Speaker 1: in the city of Chicago. His text that evening was
49:45
Speaker 1: what shall I do then with Jesus who is called Christ?
49:50
Speaker 1: Taken from Matthew twenty seven, verse twenty two, And at
49:56
Speaker 1: the conclusion of the sermon, Dwight el mut he said,
50:02
Speaker 1: I wish you would take this text home with you,
50:07
Speaker 1: turn it over in your minds during the week, and
50:11
Speaker 1: next Sunday we will come to Calvary and the Cross,
50:15
Speaker 1: and we will decide what to do with Jesus. Nasalith.
50:21
Speaker 1: Then his song evangelist Iras Sanki, whose hymns are sprinkled
50:27
Speaker 1: throughout most evangelical hymn books, began to lead in the
50:33
Speaker 1: singing of the hymn. Today the Savior calls for refuge, fly,
50:42
Speaker 1: the storm of justice falls, and death is nigh. But
50:49
Speaker 1: Sankie never finished the him, for while he was singing,
50:55
Speaker 1: the rush and the roar of the fire engines whistled
50:59
Speaker 1: by the church on the street outside, and before morning
51:04
Speaker 1: much of the city of Chicago lay in ashes. To
51:09
Speaker 1: his dying day, mister Moody deeply regretted that he had
51:16
Speaker 1: told the congregation to come next Sunday and decide what
51:21
Speaker 1: to do with Jesus. He said, I have never since
51:26
Speaker 1: dared to give an audience a week to think of
51:30
Speaker 1: their salvation. If they were lost, they might rise up
51:35
Speaker 1: in judgment against me. I have never seen that congregation
51:40
Speaker 1: since that night. I will never meet those people until
51:45
Speaker 1: I meet them in another world. But I want to
51:48
Speaker 1: tell you one lesson that I learned that night, which
51:52
Speaker 1: I've never forgotten, and that is when I preach to
51:58
Speaker 1: press Christ upon the peace people then and there and
52:03
Speaker 1: try to bring them to a decision on the spot.
52:08
Speaker 1: I would rather have that right hand cut off than
52:12
Speaker 1: to give an audience a week now to decide what
52:16
Speaker 1: to do with Jesus. That is a great story, isn't it.
52:21
Speaker 1: So I'm going to take mister Moody's advice and I'm
52:25
Speaker 1: going to say to you, you don't dare wait until
52:29
Speaker 1: next Sunday for a decision regarding Christ. What you have
52:33
Speaker 1: read is the truth. Good and evil are at work,
52:38
Speaker 1: and you are a part of one or the other.
52:42
Speaker 1: Your roots are deeply in Christ or they are poisonous
52:47
Speaker 1: roots that are yielding a poisonous life. And when you
52:53
Speaker 1: see it in light of the black and white of
52:55
Speaker 1: the scriptures, it's clear and you must turn what you
53:00
Speaker 1: will do with Christ. Let's do that now. Please bow,
53:06
Speaker 1: Please sit very quietly as we come to terms with
53:10
Speaker 1: the gospel. This is a moment of decision for some
53:17
Speaker 1: of you. Before this time, you have not trusted in
53:21
Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus. You know that you cannot look back
53:26
Speaker 1: to any moment in your life when you turn your
53:29
Speaker 1: life over to Christ. You may have heard this news before,
53:34
Speaker 1: but you've never truly acted on it. This is the
53:39
Speaker 1: moment God so loved the world he gave his one
53:45
Speaker 1: and only son that whoever believes in him you hear
53:50
Speaker 1: the word. Whoever that's you, whoever believes in Him, will
53:56
Speaker 1: never perish, but have everlasting life. Believe in him. Now,
54:07
Speaker 1: think of Jesus as the gift of God, for he
54:10
Speaker 1: is that not something you must earn, pay penance for,
54:20
Speaker 1: spend money to achieve. He is the gift of God,
54:28
Speaker 1: and he is offered to you now. When he died
54:32
Speaker 1: on that cross, he paid the complete penalty for your sins.
54:38
Speaker 1: Until you trust in him, you remain a part of
54:44
Speaker 1: the weeds, and you may even look like you're a
54:48
Speaker 1: part of the wheat. But down within, if you do
54:52
Speaker 1: not know Christ, you are not trust him. Now do
54:57
Speaker 1: not wait, and if you have done that, today is
55:03
Speaker 1: the day for you to let us help you move
55:06
Speaker 1: toward a life that is a life of change and
55:10
Speaker 1: redirection for you. We're here for that reason. There are
55:16
Speaker 1: those at the door as you leave, and there will
55:18
Speaker 1: be us, those of us who stand down front, who
55:23
Speaker 1: are here to help you come to terms if you
55:26
Speaker 1: have not done so on your own with the Lord
55:28
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. Trust him now. Thank you, Father for the
55:37
Speaker 1: truth of your word, and thank you for Jesus who
55:42
Speaker 1: spoke it so clearly. We pray that you will use
55:46
Speaker 1: these moments, serious as they are, to arrest our attention,
55:52
Speaker 1: making certain that every person who leads this building knows
55:56
Speaker 1: exactly where she or he stands. Thank you for Christ,
56:02
Speaker 1: who loved us and gave himself for us. I pray
56:07
Speaker 1: that all who have heard this message will come to
56:10
Speaker 1: know him personally. In his name. I pray this and
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Speaker 1: for his sake alone. And everyone said amen.
56:24
Speaker 2: The preceding message, A World Full of Wheat and Weeds,
56:28
Speaker 2: was copyrighted in twenty sixteen and twenty twenty one, and
56:32
Speaker 2: the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty twenty one by
56:35
Speaker 2: Charles R. Swindall, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication
56:40
Speaker 2: of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited