This is the pure and the free.
Please do this because we are here.
Our beautiful heaven must be.
Speak of the happy and free.
In the name of the blessed Lord, hear me.
Our beautiful heaven must be.
In the name of the drunk and the bright.
No place for us to be.
God's light forever shining.
Our beautiful heaven must be.
Speak of the happy and free.
In the name of the blessed Lord, hear me.
Our beautiful heaven must be.
No place for us to be.
Our beautiful heaven must be.
Speak of the happy and free.
In the name of the blessed Lord, hear me.
Our beautiful heaven must be.
The angels all speak we are singing.
Come there by the beautiful sea.
Speak all our true and full hearts for we.
Our beautiful heaven must be.
Speak of the happy and free.
In the name of the blessed Lord, hear me.
Our beautiful heaven must be.
Amen.
Hallelujah.
Let's pray for us.
Thank you, Heavenly Father, for this morning's service.
Thank you for our church.
We thank you for everyone who is here.
Bless everyone who is here.
Bless our deacons today.
And if you're out there preaching,
we thank you.
Jesus, might we make it?
Amen.
Thank you, brother.
Let's turn our head over to song number 10.
That's song number 10, Knee to the Cross.
Here's song number 10.
Here's the speed we hear the choirs.
There the wretches howl turn.
Weave to all the living stream.
Close the towering fountain.
In the cross, in the cross, we find glory ever.
Till our wretched soul shall cry.
Let's be on the river.
Hear the voice of heaven say.
Hark!
At mercy county.
Hail the white and working sun.
Shake their feet about thee.
In the cross, in the cross, we find glory ever.
Till thy wretched soul shall cry.
Let's be on the river.
Hear the cross, O Lamb of God.
We can sing before thee.
Everyone will pray to him.
We may shout for him.
In the cross, in the cross, we find glory ever.
Till thy wretched soul shall cry.
Let's be on the river.
We will cross no arch in peace.
We trust thee ever.
Till thy beast of colors shine.
Trust me on the river.
In the cross, in the cross, we find glory ever.
Till thy wretched soul shall cry.
Let's be on the river.
Amen.
Great to see you, everyone.
It's time we go to the announcements.
Immediately following, we'll be singing song number 404.
All right.
Well, good morning, everybody.
Welcome to Faith and Word.
If you'd like a bulletin, just go ahead
and slip up your hand.
One will be brought to you.
Of course, we have our service times
in the upper left-hand side there.
We'll be back this week tonight at 5.30
and then again on Thursday at 7 going
through the book of Genesis.
And we'll be in chapter number 11 this Thursday.
You have the soul winning times below that,
as well as a couple of notes regarding the church.
If you need them, over on the right-hand side,
a couple of births to mention there.
Of course, these are folks up in Tempe,
but we've been praying for these ladies.
And if you know Brother Thornton,
you can congratulate him next time you see him,
Brother Jake Thornton.
They just had Elizabeth Vivian Zebedee on March 5th at 627,
weighing 5 pounds, 5 ounces, measuring 18 inches.
Also, Brother Thomas and his wife, the Coletto family,
had Stephen Thomas on March 8th at 812,
weighing 7 pounds, 14 ounces, and measuring 21 inches.
Sounds like everybody in both instances is doing great.
So those prayers work.
And speaking of which, continue to pray for the expectant
ladies in our church.
And of course, we have some people from Tempe
and some folks from Tucson as well.
Speaking of babies, on the back,
all ladies are invited to a baby shower in honor of Mrs. Lamb
on Saturday, March 30th at 1 p.m.
We'll have a catered lunch provided.
And then if you'd like to just RSVP, please do so.
And please do RSVP.
It's not like if you feel like it.
It would really help us a lot to make sure we get
the right amount of food, don't overspend,
and certainly not have enough.
That would be the real tragedy, right?
But if you would RSVP with my wife,
that would be much appreciated.
And then just so we're all, just to kind of take the opportunity
to let everyone know what the policy is regarding baby showers,
when a church member is having their first baby,
the church will provide the meal for that
and other expenses that might come along.
But that's just for the first child.
Anything after that, of course, the facilities are always open.
To folks to use if they want to host one here for somebody,
they're welcome to do that.
But then the policy is that it would be on the host,
whoever's hosting that after the first baby.
So this is a first for the Lamb, so congratulate them.
Continue to pray for them that they have a safe
and healthy pregnancy and delivery.
And ladies, come on out and help Mrs. Lamb
prepare for that arrival.
Also below that, just a couple of Tempe events.
Just the small town soloing that's taking place.
You've got the Dripping Springs, Arizona has been knocked.
You have a soloing trip to York, Arizona.
It's an overnight Friday and Saturday this week.
It's a visit to the Coolidge Dam
and also a couple more soloing times below that.
That's going to do it for announcements.
We'll go ahead and sing one more song
before we get into the pregame this morning.
Song number four, number four, when the battle's over.
And by a soul we'll run
Across the parlor of the land
Which shall I hear to all
Whose wilder blood should speak with thee?
And with the battle over
We shall wear a crown
Yes, we shall wear a crown
When the battle's over
We shall wear a crown
Get to lose your old soul
And wear a crown, wear a crown
Wear a bright and shining crown
And when the battle's over
We shall wear a crown
Get to lose our world
And when the battle's over, we shall wear a crown, yes, we shall wear a crown, yes,
we shall wear a crown.
And when the battle's over, we shall wear a crown, yes, we shall wear a crown.
Wear a crown, wear a crown, wear a crown, yes, we shall wear a crown.
And when the battle's over, we shall wear a crown, yes, we shall wear a crown, yes, we shall wear a crown.
And when the battle's over, we shall wear a crown, yes, we shall wear a crown.
Wear a crown, wear a crown, wear a crown, yes, we shall wear a crown.
And when the battle's over, we shall wear a crown, yes, we shall wear a crown.
Mark 4, the Bible reads beginning of verse 1.
It began to teach by the seaside, and there was gathered unto him a great multitude, so that he entered into
to a ship, and sat in the sea, and the whole multitude was by the sea on land, and he taught
them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine, Heart can behold there
went a sower to sow, and it came to pass as he sowed.
Some fell by the wayside, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up, and some
fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth, and immediately it sprang up, because
it had no depth of earth.
But when the sun was up, it was scorched, and because it had no root, it withered away,
and some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no
fruit.
And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up, and increased, and brought
forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred.
And then he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
And when he was alone, they that were about him, with the twelve, asked of him the parable.
And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God,
but unto them that are without, all things are done in parables, that seeing they may
see, and not perceive, and hearing they may hear, and not understand, lest at any time
they should be converted, and their sin should be forgiven them.
And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable?
How then will you know all parables, the sower, so with the word?
And these are they by the wayside, where the word is sown, but when they have heard, Satan
cometh immediately, and take away the word that was sown in their hearts.
And these are they likewise, which are sown on stony ground, who when they have heard
the word, immediately receive it with gladness, and have no root in themselves, but so endure
for a time.
And afterward, when affliction or persecution arises for the word's sake, immediately they
are offended.
And these are they which are sown among thorns, such as hear the word, and the cares of this
world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke
the word, and it becometh unfruitful.
And these are they which are sown on good ground, such as hear the word, and receive
it, and bring forth some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundred.
And he said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed,
and not to be set on a candlestick?
For there is nothing hid which shall not be manifested, neither was anything kept secret,
but that it should come abroad.
If any man had ears to hear, let him hear.
And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear, with what measure ye meet it shall be measured
to you, and unto you that hear shall more be given.
For he that hath to him shall be given, and he that hath not from him shall be taken away
even that which he hath.
And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground,
and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he
knoweth not how.
For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself, first the blade, then the ear, after the full
corn in the ear.
But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest
is come.
And he said unto them, Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God, or with what comparison
shall we compare it?
It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than
all the seeds that be in the earth.
But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great
branches, so that the fowls of the air may lodge unto the shadow of it.
And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, and as they were able to hear it
without a parable he spake none unto them.
And when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples.
And the same day when he was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other
side.
And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship,
and they were also with him other little ships.
And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ships, so that it
was now full.
And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow.
And they waketh him, and saith unto them, Master, carest thou not that we perish?
And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace be still.
And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful?
And how is it that ye have no faith?
And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that
even the wind and the sea obey him?
Let's go ahead now.
Brother Adam, would you pray for us?
As you might have already guessed, I'm continuing you on in Mark 4 this morning, and of course
last week we looked up quite a large section of scripture, and we're going to do the same
thing this morning as well.
Last week we looked at the parable of the sower, the different types of ground, and
this morning we'll be looking at verses 24 through 34, where Jesus then expounds the
parables of the kingdom.
And these are obviously related parables, and I believe there is a theme that runs through
this, and these two sets of parables, these two passages, and I'll get into that this
morning.
But let's look again at verse 24, where the Bible reads, and he said unto them, Take heed
what ye hear, with what measure ye meet, it shall be measured to you, and unto you that
shall hear shall more be given.
For he that hath, to him shall be given, and he that hath not, from him shall be taken
away, even that which he hath.
So right out of the gate he's warning us in the midst of these two parables to take heed
how we hear, right?
You have these two parables about the ground, you have the parable about the kingdom, and
they are related, okay?
There's a relation there, there's the idea of sowing that's taking place in both of these
two parables, and before he transitions from one to the other, he takes these couple of
verses and warns us and reminds us that we ought to take heed how we hear or what we
hear.
And he goes on further and says, with what measure ye meet, it shall be measured unto
you.
And that's a phrase that Christ often used throughout his preaching, what measure ye
meet, it shall be measured unto you again, okay?
And we'll look at a couple of passages where he uses that same phrase, but in this context
what I believe he's getting at is we need to be careful how we hear, we have to be careful
how we apply what he's teaching in our lives.
This is a very important topic.
This is a parable, these parables are brought up multiple times in scripture, this phrase
is used often when Christ is telling us, he that hath ears, let him hear, when he's saying,
take heed what you hear, and with what measure ye meet, it shall be measured unto you, we
ought to take heed.
If Christ is telling us, hey, take heed, listen to what I'm saying, you know, then we need
to perk up and listen to what he's teaching us, because there's a great eternal truth
that he's expressing through this parable, okay?
This parable obviously is just an earthly truth expressed, a heavenly truth, okay?
But we as God's people need to make sure that we are giving it its due respect, that we're
actually listening to what he's saying and being careful that we measure appropriately,
okay?
That we take this and apply it to our lives because it shall be measured unto us again,
we will be judged based upon what he's saying here, there's something that's going to affect
us in our lives, and more importantly, in eternity, and one of the great truths I believe
that he's expressing here is that there is a certainty of gain or loss for its service
or the lack thereof.
Your service or lack thereof will have consequences, if you hear these parables, if you understand
what's being taught, and then you say, well, I'm just, I'm not gonna apply that to my life,
that shall be measured unto you again.
If you hear these parables and what's being taught and take heed as you ought to and apply
them to your life and act accordingly, that also will be measured unto you again.
I believe that's what he's expressing there in verse 24, that however we hear, if we hear
and understand how we react, what our response is, how we measure that, how that, apply that
to our lives, shall be measured unto us again, it shall be needed unto us, even ourselves,
okay?
There shall be, there should be a correspondence there or a parallel rather.
We are going to receive what we put in to the Christian life.
There's a certainty of gain or loss for service or the lack thereof.
I believe that's the truth that he's trying to get across.
If you would go over to Luke chapter eight, of course, keep something in Mark chapter
number four, but go over to Luke chapter number eight.
When you get to Luke, go ahead and keep a bookmark there.
We'll come back to Luke again later in the sermon, but go to Luke chapter number eight.
Again, this is a principle and even some of these same words are things that Jesus has
taught repeatedly in parallel passages and elsewhere throughout the gospels.
He said in Luke chapter six, verse 38, give and it shall be given unto you.
Good measure, pressed down and shaken together and running over shall man given to your bosom
for with the same measure you meet with all, it shall be measured unto you again.
What he's saying is you get out of the Christian life what you put into it.
Whatever you put into the Christian life is what you're going to get out of it.
If you are somebody that gives, it shall be given unto you.
God will take care of that.
Whatever you measure, that's going to be measured unto you again.
Again, the warning here is that we will receive our due reward or we will not receive reward.
I'm going to make this point is that passivity is not optional.
If we're passive, then we're not doing the work.
There isn't this gray area.
There isn't a middle ground here.
We're either doing the work of God or we're not.
We're either serving as we ought to or not.
That's really it.
Again, this is something that Christ warned us of or tried to draw our attention to several
times.
He says in Matthew chapter 13, verse 12, whosoever hath to him shall be given and he shall have
more abundance but whosoever hath not from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
So it's a parallel passage.
Matthew 25, verse 29 fronting everyone that hath shall be given and shall have abundance
from him which hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.
So this is a truth that Christ taught multiple times, not just in parallel passages.
Matthew 13, obviously a parallel passage, Matthew 25, not a parallel passage.
And yet the same truth is being expressed repeatedly by Christ that everyone that hath
shall be given and shall have abundance but those of us that have not even that which
we seem it to have shall be taken away, meaning that we cannot be passive.
That is not an option in the Christian life.
We're either going to serve God or we are not.
And whatever we measure, how we reply that to our lives, it shall be measured unto us
again.
Luke 19, verse 26, for I say unto you that everyone which hath shall be given and from
him that hath not even that he hath shall be taken away from him.
So there is going to be a recompense made unto the people of God for their service or
the lack thereof.
You're there in Luke chapter 8, look at verse 18, take heed therefore how ye hear.
So again, Christ is trying to get our attention.
He wants us to pay attention.
He wants us to understand and get this.
This is important.
And not just because, not for himself, it's important for us.
It's important for us to understand this truth and to apply it to our lives to make sure
that we measure it appropriately in our lives.
He says take heed therefore how ye hear for whosoever hath to him shall be given and whosoever
shall not hath not from him shall be taken away even that which he seemeth to have.
You say boy you sound like a broken record up there turning to all these passages.
Well I'm not the broken record this morning.
You know I'm not the one that's repeating himself.
This is what Christ said repeatedly.
This is something that the Gospels is trying to express over and over as we read through
Matthew, as we read through Mark, as we read through Luke, Christ is trying to get us to
understand that there are, that the certainty of our reward or certainty of lack of reward
is there.
It's something that we can count on.
It's something that is going to happen whether we understand that or not.
And I like how he says how ye hear.
Take heed therefore how ye hear.
You know when we're reading the Gospels, when we're hearing and preaching the Word of God,
we need to be active listeners.
We need to be tuning into the sermon, tuning into the scripture, and making sure that we're
paying attention to what's being said and not be like somebody who's beholding their
natural face in a glass and then walking away and forgetting what manner of man he
was.
We need to apply these things to our lives.
The Word of God ought to change us.
You know the preaching of the Word of God ought to mold us, ought to change us, ought
to direct our course.
And it will do that if we take heed how we hear.
And I'm here to say if we get a hold of this truth this morning, that there is a reward,
that there is a harvest, that it is our job to sow, if we get a hold of that, if we're
active listeners, if we pay attention to how we hear, then we will be transformed.
Something in our life will change.
If we're not serving, maybe we'll understand the importance of serving and begin to do
so.
If we're not preaching the Gospel, maybe we'll understand, hey, this is important.
There is a harvest that's coming.
Let me get involved.
And that's what really these parables of the kingdom are about.
If you want to keep against something there in Luke, but go back to where we were in Mark
chapter number four, Mark chapter number four.
So verses 24 and 25 are just kind of this break from the parables before he goes from
one parable about the ground, before the parable of the sower, and then he moves into the parable
of the kingdom.
He takes this little break here and gives a warning.
Take heed how you hear.
And however you apply this to your life, it's going to have an outcome.
He said in Luke chapter 11, you're going back to Mark four, yea, rather blessed are they
that hear the word of God and keep it.
It's not enough to just hear the word of God.
We have to be active listeners.
We have to be people that actually apply the word of God in our lives.
He said in verse 26, and he said unto them, so is the kingdom of God.
So after giving the warning, we begin to move into these parables.
And he said, so is the kingdom of God if a man should cast seed into the ground and should
sleep and rise day and night and the seed should spring and grow up.
And he knoweth not how.
For the earth bringeth forth the fruit of herself, first the blade, then the ear.
After that, the full corn in the ear.
But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he put it in the sickle because the harvest
is come.
So this is a parable about the kingdom of God, and I believe what he's describing here
is the timeline of the kingdom of God.
This is something that's going to happen over many millennia, OK, because he talks about
how the kingdom of God is as if one should cast seed in the ground.
They're sleeping, rising day and night.
So time is passing by.
Eventually that seed begins to grow, it germinates, it grows up, and it's just doing this of its
own accord.
Right.
And that's really a great picture of the gospel.
You know, of course, that's what builds the kingdom of God, isn't it?
The kingdom of God is built of those that are saved.
There is obviously the literal kingdom of God, the New Jerusalem, which one day will
descend from heaven.
OK.
But in the meantime, that kingdom is sort of here on earth, kind of an invisible kingdom,
so to speak.
You know, its members are consistent are consistent of those that are saved.
Right.
And that's a great picture, again, of the gospel.
As we preach the gospel, we're not just getting people saved, but we're actually building
the kingdom of God.
We're actually helping to, you know, to make that kingdom fuller.
Right.
We're bringing forth fruit.
So that's the picture here that we are going out and we are sowing.
And over time, generation after generation, people continue to go out and preach the gospel
that continues to bring forth fruit.
And then eventually, one day that kingdom for that kingdom, there is a harvest.
After all that seed has been sown, eventually the sickle is put in and the harvest is come.
OK.
And I believe what he's alluding to here is the return of Christ.
OK.
And I want to talk a little bit about that this morning.
And really what I want to point out here is that Christ is sowing, right?
A man is as if a man cast seed in the ground.
He's the one that got that started, really.
But one day, Christ also will reap.
OK, there will be a reaping of the earth.
And reaping, when you think about it, is a violent process.
OK, if, you know, if some crop could talk, you know, it probably wouldn't say it enjoys
being cut down and harvested, you know, not that the plants feel pain, people, I understand.
OK, but, you know, when you think about it is kind of a violent process.
You're going down and you're destroying basically that which you have sown and so that you can
glean from it, so that you can profit from it, so that you could do something useful
with that plant.
But it is a violent process.
And it's the same in in when it comes to the kingdom of God, when the kingdom of God comes
to this world, when Christ returns, that is going to be a violent process.
And that's not going to be, you know, it's not going to be a pleasant experience for
a lot of people, OK?
If you would keep something there again in Mark chapter 4 all morning, but go over to
Revelation chapter 14, Revelation chapter number 14.
What we see in the scripture is that reaping is often associated with judgment.
OK, that's part of that process.
For example, in Joel 3, it says, Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.
Come get you down, for the press is full.
The fats overflow, for their wickedness is great.
So the reaping is associated with judgment, right?
The wickedness is great.
And God is putting in a sickle and he's harvesting, OK?
Let's get a little more particular here in Revelation chapter 14, verse 14.
And I looked and behold, a white cloud and one upon the cloud, excuse me, one upon the
cloud sat like unto the Son of Man, having on his head a golden crown and in his hand
a sharp sickle.
So John is seeing the Son of God with a golden crown on his head, sitting in a cloud, and
he's holding a sickle.
And we probably all know what the sickle is, right?
That's what the grim reaper carries, right?
That long staff with the great big, you know, curved blade on the end of it, right?
That's what I imagine he's holding, something similar to that, that he's going to go and
he's going to begin to reap, OK?
But again, where is this taking place?
Obviously, this is taking place, you know, after the seventh seal, OK?
After the 144,000 have been sealed, if you go back to the beginning of the chapter, you'll
see that.
And you have to remember, you know, just kind of a subpoint here, that the book of Revelation
is divided into two parts.
You have Revelation 1 through 11 and then 12 through 22.
And in 12, it kind of resets and it kind of repeats itself again and gives us some different
details.
So, you know, then you have kind of clues to kind of figure out where you are in that
timeline through those two halves of the book of Revelation, OK?
The 144,000 is also mentioned in Revelation chapter 7, OK, so it's being mentioned again
here.
So that's giving us the timeline, you know, after that seventh seal is being broken before
God begins to pour out his wrath, this is talking about the rapture, OK?
That is the harvesting that Christ is going to do.
He is going to harvest his saints.
He's going to come and collect the saints that remain on the earth, they that are alive
that is coming, right?
So that's what I believe the reaping that's taking place there.
The son of man in his hand a sharp sickle, look at verse 15, and another angel came out
of the temple crying with a loud voice to him that sat on throne, thrust in thy sickle
and reaped for the time has come for thee to reap and the harvest is ripe and he that
sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle and the earth was reaped, OK?
So Christ's harvest is when he's collecting the saints, when he's harvesting those to
himself into the kingdom of God, the rapture proceeds, but this is, I believe, a reference
to the rapture, OK?
But notice this is, this precedes another reaping in the text, OK, because in verse
17 it says, and another angel came out of the temple, which is in heaven, he also having
a sharp sickle.
So this is a, this isn't Christ, Christ is on the cloud with his crown and his sickle,
the angel comes out and says, hey harvest, go ahead and reap, the harvest is ripe.
He does so and then John sees another angel come out of the temple also with the sickle
and another angel came out of the altar which had power over fire and cried with a loud
voice to him that had the sharp sickle saying thrust in thy sharp sickle and gather the
cluster to the vine of the earth where the grapes are fully ripe, OK?
So this other angel's coming out with the sharp sickle and he's crying to him that had
the sharp sickle, right?
So there's two angels here in verse 18.
Another angel came out of the altar, verse 17, an angel came out with the sharp sickle,
verse 18, another angel came out of the altar having power over fire and he cried unto him
that had the sharp sickle, the other angel, reap, right, for her grapes are fully ripe.
Verse 19, and the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the
earth and cast it into the great wine press of the wrath of God.
So that's what the angel is doing.
The angel is gathering those grapes and casting them into the wine press of the wrath of God.
This is describing the events that take place, Revelation 7 and onward up to Revelation 12
where he's describing the vials, the bowls being poured out, the wrath of God being poured
out upon the earth.
That's the harvest that's taking place there.
God is gathering, the angel rather is gathering, you know, those that are going to face the
wrath of God after Christ has harvested, you know, his crop as it were.
The angel thrust the sickle of the earth, gathered the vine of the earth, cast in the
wine press of God, of the wrath of God, verse 20, and the wine press, excuse me, was trodden
without the city and the blood came out of the wine press even on the horses bridles
by the space of 1,600 furlongs.
So basically he's describing when the wrath of God being poured out there's going to be
a bloodbath.
It's a lot of people are going to die, right?
Thankfully those that are saved and remain in the coming of the Lord, they won't experience
that.
They will have gone through tribulation, right?
Revelation 6 is when that six seals opened up and we see that great multitude appear
in heaven that was without number of every nation kindred to tongue.
It's a perfect picture of the rapture.
But that's the six seal, meaning they went through the others, right?
And that's why Paul said we through much tribulation must enter into the King of God.
That's where a lot of pre-tribbers get it wrong, where they confuse the tribulation
with wrath.
Those are two separate things.
All that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution, which is another word
for tribulation, right?
We will go through tribulation.
We will not suffer the wrath of God.
That's reserved for this other harvest, right?
This other reaping.
So this angel is reaping and this is the wrath of God.
Now I'm going to make an application here, but I wanted to make that clear in our minds
because I believe that's what Christ is referring to in Matthew chapter number, excuse me, Mark
chapter number four.
Go to Matthew 13, Matthew 13, a parallel passage of Mark four.
When he says that, when he's giving us this parable about a man's sowing, sleeping day
and night, the seed coming up bearing fruit, and then he's putting forth this sickle because
the harvest has come, I believe he's referring to his own harvest, right?
Now Matthew 13 gives us a little bit more detail into this parable, okay?
If you look at Matthew 13 verse 24, another parable put forth unto them saying, the kingdom
of heaven is like unto man, which sowed seed, good seed in his field.
But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.
So again, in this parallel passage about this parable, we get a more detail.
The seed that was sown was good seed, right?
It's the saved.
And you can see how it's beginning to line up with Revelation.
Christ comes out with his sickle, harvests the good seed.
Then the angels come and gather the tares, as we're going to see here in a minute, or
the grapes in Revelation 14, and cast them into the winepress of God.
So he gathers the good seed in the field, verse 25, but while men slept, his enemies
came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.
Again, this is a parallel about the kingdom of God, okay?
And the parallel is this, is that it begins on earth.
The harvest is when that kingdom comes to fruition, when Christ's kingdom is on earth,
the millennial reign, okay?
But what's being described in verses 24 and 25 of Matthew 13 is what's taking place leading
up to Christ's kingdom, right?
And what we see is that while Christ's kingdom is still coming, while it is being sown, before
it is harvested, is that men sleep and his enemies come and sow tares among the wheat.
This is a reality about what we're going to experience leading up to the kingdom of
God in the millennial reign, okay?
We actually learn a couple things here, okay?
One, let's just break down this parallel a little bit.
Verse 25, while men slept.
Is this because they're lazy?
No, sleep is necessary.
You gotta sleep, right?
Just as much as you gotta breathe and eat, you gotta sleep, okay?
So it's not that these guys are not being vigilant, it's not that they're slacking,
it's not that they're not doing the work, right?
They sowed good seed in the field, right?
They're doing the work, they're servants.
So that's one thing that we see is that men are sleeping, then the enemy came and sowed
tares among the wheat.
This means this, what I'm trying to get at is that enemies are real, okay?
Because the enemies came, they're real, they're there.
And tares are inevitable, okay?
And this is a truth that we have to understand as a church, okay?
Is that we have enemies, they are real, and they are inevitable.
We will be in conflict, okay?
With them.
And it's not, again, it's not because people are not being vigilant, it's not because,
I believe why he's bringing up the part about men sleeping is just because men have to sleep.
Enemies are real.
It's inevitable, it's unavoidable, it's bound to happen.
We're going to have to deal with the tares in the meantime.
And keep that in mind.
If you're going to continue to come to church and serve God, you're going to see this firsthand.
That there will be men that creep in unawares, that there will be, even of your own selves,
men that rise up to draw away disciples after them.
This is something I've seen over the years, this is something probably several other people
in the church have seen, and if you stick around long enough, it's something inevitably
that we will all see, okay, more than once, is that the enemy will come and so tares among
the wheat.
This is something that's just bound to happen, okay?
And I'm emphasizing that because that's what this passage is teaching, right?
This parable is trying to get across, because he's talking about the kingdom of God.
Where unto shall I liken the kingdom of God, okay?
There's going to be a harvest one day when Christ comes out with his sickle and gathers
his elect unto himself, that's going to be a great day.
But in the meantime, while men sleep, as day and night, as time goes by, enemies are going
to come and so tares among the wheat.
This is a great truth that we have to understand.
Look at verse 26, but when the blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit, then appeared
the tares also.
Say, I don't know if I really believe that.
You're really telling me that people are going to try to creep into a church, bring false
doctrine or worse, that people are going to oppose the preaching of the gospel, that
people are going to try to corrupt sound doctrine.
I'm not sure if I believe that.
Well, give it time.
Give it time and tares will spring up and they will be made manifest, right?
It will happen.
And when it happens, you'll go, oh, I guess the Bible is true.
I guess the Bible is right again, okay?
The tares will be made manifest, okay?
So that's the great truth here that I'm trying to get across when it comes to this parable
because that's the one Christ is trying to get across in this parallel passage.
It's inevitable.
It's going to happen.
The question is, the way we apply this to our lives is what should our reaction be?
Well, let's just start grilling everybody that walks through the door, right?
Let's just set up a room in the back.
We'll get a heat lamp, lie detector.
We'll do some enhanced interrogations.
I'm just kidding.
Right?
Maybe some waterboarding.
We'll have a list of questions that we'll just rapid fire hit people with.
Where were you next Tuesday?
That kind of stuff.
We're just starting, just trying to grill people when they walk through the door.
Is that our attitude?
No.
Well, wait a minute.
You said tares are inevitable.
You said that enemy is going to come and so tares among the wheat.
Shouldn't we do something about it?
And that might be our initial reaction.
And while that might even be coming from a noble and good place, that's not how we ought
to be.
Okay?
It says in verse 27, so the servants of the household came unto him and said unto him,
sir, did not thou sow good seed in thy field?
He's like, you sent us out with that bag of seed.
And I remember looking at it and saying, oh, this is good seed.
Isn't that what we sowed?
From whence then hath it tares?
Where are these tares coming from?
He said unto them, an enemy hath done this.
The servants said unto him, wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
Right?
And again, when the tares are, you know, it's the idea when these things begin to spring
up, the blade in the grass is given.
It's not that they're fully grown.
Like from the very beginning, they're seeing when that plant is, those plants are still
young and tender, they're being able to discern between the tares and the wheat.
Right?
I'm pretty sure you can make that distinction, especially when this is what you do for a
living.
Right?
You don't have to wait for something to come to full maturity before you can see it for
what it is.
Right?
So the way I read this is that they're looking out in that field as these things begin to
spring up and they're saying, wait a minute, some of this is not right.
Some of this is tares.
Some of this is not what we've sown.
How did this happen?
And then the master says, well, an enemy did it.
You know, he came and he sowed tares while we slept because we had to sleep.
We can't, you know, we can't be out here.
It's inevitable.
An enemy is out there and he's corrupting our field.
Right?
And they're saying, well, let's go out there.
They suggest maybe we should just go out there and tear up the tares.
Right?
But again, they're tender.
They're growing up.
And he said, nay, lest while you gather up the tares, you root up the wheat with them,
let both grow.
So they still have growing to do.
That's how you can get the idea that they're young.
Okay?
Let both grow until the harvest.
Give it time.
Let them come to full maturity together.
Right?
They're saying, well, let's go gather them up.
You know, let's just go tear up the tares.
Get them out of there.
Make more room for the good seed so they don't get crowded out.
Right?
By these other bad plants.
But the warning is, don't do that lest you tear up also the wheat with them.
Okay?
And that's why we want to be vigilant, but we do not want to be belligerent in our vigilance.
Okay?
It's good to be vigilant.
We ought to do that.
We ought to make sure that we understand that we have an enemy, that it's real, that there
really are going to be tares, but they have to be made manifest in themselves.
It's not our job to go around and grill everybody.
Okay?
And again, this is about the kingdom of God, right?
You know, you're in church this morning.
You're saved.
You're part of that kingdom.
Now what if some member, you know, some person comes to our church, they're visiting, you
know, and we're just so vigilant about tares that we want to go and just grill them on
all the doctrine, you know, and just make sure they're not a tare, they're not an infiltrator
and all these things.
You know, if that's a tender plant, if that's wheat, you might tear that up.
You might scare them off.
You might say, you know, these guys are crazy.
You know?
They took me in the back.
They hooked up a bunch of electrodes.
They turned on a lamp.
You know, they started just asking me a bunch of questions.
I'm never going back there, right?
And what you've essentially done is just torn up the wheat, right?
You say, yeah, but at least there's no tare showing up.
Yeah, but there's no wheat either.
You know, if we just start tramping through the field, going after all the tares, there's
a good chance we're going to trample some wheat and the harvest won't be as full.
We'll scare people off.
You know, we'll trample down that wheat.
It'll bring no fruit unto perfection.
Remember, there's another parable in this passage, right, about the good ground, bringing
forth fruit unto perfection.
You know, maybe if it's good ground, it doesn't have stone, but we're too busy stomping it
all out because we're just so vigilant about getting tares out.
Jesus said, let them both grow, right?
Let them both grow.
Let them both grow until the harvest, verse 30, and at the time of the harvest, I will
say to the reapers, gather ye the first of the tares and bind them in bundles to burn
them, but gather the wheat into my barn, which is what we just read in Revelation 14, right?
He said, I will say to the reapers, gather first the tares, okay?
But he's saying, don't go out there and just try to tear out all the tares.
You're going to trample the wheat.
Let them both grow together, okay?
Now obviously, look, I'm not suggesting that we just tolerate, you know, people that are
obviously enemies.
You know, people are found out to be, you know, false prophets or just teaching false
doctrines, and look, I'm not saying they have to, everyone has to check the box in every
single doctrine, okay?
But obviously there's certain doctrines that if you're going to come here, you have to
believe, you know, because, you know, salvation is kind of a big one, eternal security, right?
The King James Bible, you know, that's really it.
The Trinity, you know, I'm sure there's several others, right?
You know, the Trinity is a bit, we've had to, you wouldn't think that's a thing, but
it is.
You know, that's something we've had to deal with in the past.
You have to believe, you have to be orthodox in the faith, basically.
You know, the virgin birth, you know, the miracles of Christ, that this is literally
the word of God, that kind of thing.
We all know that.
But you know, if somebody has a different, look, if somebody's pre-trib, that's fine.
You know, you could come here and believe in a pre-trib rapture.
You don't have to, you don't have to, you know, go to a pre-trib church, right?
And boy, I wish that they felt the same way.
I can't believe how many people I've heard over the years that got granted out of a church
because they didn't believe in a pre-trib rapture.
It's like, really?
What does that matter?
Like, how, is it really that, you know, you could come here and believe that the so-called
nation of Israel over there is God's chosen people, and you could still come to church
here.
You're probably going to hear some preaching you don't like.
Some biblical preaching, by the way, and it's going to, you know, try to expose that
false doctrine for what it is, but you can come here and be a full-fledged Zionist and
still come to church.
At this, you know, that's not a, that's not something we need to go, I don't consider
that person a terror.
They're just, in my opinion, they're just off on doctrine, right?
But that's like a tertiary doctrine.
That's not like a primary doctrine, okay?
Obviously, there's certain things, you know, that we have to, we have to get out.
The Bible says to mark them which cause divisions contrary to the doctrine which you have heard
and mark them and avoid them.
A man that is an heretic at the first and second admonition, reject, okay?
You know, that's doctrine.
Obviously, there's even sins, you know, even when it comes to people that are believers.
There aren't any necessarily tares, you know, in 1 Corinthians 5, you have that list.
There's times to kick people out of church so they can get it right and come back, okay?
Especially if somebody is a reprobate and found out to be some kind of a pervert, child
molester, homo, whatever it is, they're not allowed here, you know, and I'm saying that
publicly so that if any of them hear it, not anybody in this room, right?
But if any of them out there on internet land want to tune in and think about coming and
creeping into this church or want to see what we're about, you know, and see how easily
of an access they'd have to children, let me just tell you right now, you're not going
to make it very far.
We protect the kids in this church from predators, okay?
You know, I don't want to go off on that, but I'm making the point this morning is that
I'm not saying we're going to tolerate anything and everything because, well, we've got to
let them all grow together, but what we don't want to be is just people that want to go
out into the field and find the tares ourselves and tear them up.
They will grow.
They will be made manifest, and obviously, this parable is about the broader scope of
the kingdom of God and not necessarily an individual church, okay?
And what he's saying here in this parable is that the kingdom of God as a whole, there's
going to be tares that rise up within it.
There's going to be corrupt plants that bring forth evil fruit, and it's not, there's really
nothing we can do about it, and in fact, if we try to do something about it, we might
do more harm than good.
We need to preach doctrine.
We need to be vigilant and all that, but ultimately, we can't stop all the false doctrines.
It's being preached.
I mean, think about this parable this morning.
How many tares are out there in the so-called kingdom of God today?
Like doesn't the Catholic church claim like a billion, a billion members?
Look, they do not preach the gospel.
They preach salvation by works.
You have to be baptized.
You have to be catechized.
You have to be homogenized.
You have to be pasteurized.
You got to keep the seven sacraments.
You got to go through all these steps.
You got to go through all this rigmarole to work your way to heaven.
That's not the gospel.
The gospel is salvation by grace through faith, not of works, lest any man should boast.
It's through Christ alone, right?
That's a big one in this city.
That's a big tare that's grown up in Tucson and elsewhere.
The Mormon church, that's another one.
You know, there's only two religions in the world, folks.
Salvation by grace and works.
That's it.
Everybody else who's trying to work their way to heaven and those are going to go to
heaven by the righteousness of Christ alone.
So should we just make it our life's mission to go out and to just try to tear down all
these institutions?
Good luck.
Especially with an institution that has more wealth than several countries in the world.
Good luck with that.
That's not our primary focus.
But here's the good news.
God will take care of it.
There's going to be a reaping one day.
There's going to be some angels that are told, hey, go thrust in thy sickle and harvest
and cast that into my wrath, into the wine vat of my wrath.
And we'll tread it out together and we'll make the blood go.
We'll make it rise up to the horses bridles.
Our job is just to keep laboring in the harvest.
Keep sowing the seed, OK?
The servants need to concentrate on sowing because you have the Lord in this parable.
You have the enemy.
He's inevitable.
You have the reapers, but then you have the servants, and they're different.
Servants are not enemies and servants are not the reapers either.
The reapers are Christ himself, Revelation 14, and the angels, Revelation 14, what we
looked at.
That's why we turn there.
Go to Luke chapter number 10, Luke chapter number 10.
What we should be concerned about in this life when it comes to the kingdom of God is
laborers, servants, people that are going to sow, OK?
Servants should be concentrating on sowing, and as you saw last week, they should be concentrating
on recruiting more laborers.
The fruit of righteousness is a tree of life, and he that winneth souls is wise.
We should be trying to not only get people saved, but also make soul winners too.
Make more laborers because there's a great need for that, huge need.
Why?
Because the harvest is coming.
There is going to be a reaping on the earth one day.
Luke 10 verse 1, after these things, the Lord appointed others 70 also, and sent them two
and two before his face into every city and place, whether he himself would come.
Verse 2, therefore said he unto them, the harvest is great, truly is great, but the
laborers are few.
This is what Christ said.
The harvest truly is great, and I like how he puts that word in there, truly.
No, it really is.
There really is a great harvest out there that can be had, right?
Truly it's great.
Not great in the sense of quality, but quantity, right?
It's great.
It's huge.
There's this great harvest out there that's ready to be taken in, truly.
And look, this is still true today, and we should never get this despondent, despairing,
dejected point of view that we're just preaching the gospel because we have to, and it doesn't
really have any effect.
People that go out soul winning consistently, they see people get saved consistently.
The gospel still has power today.
The word of God is still the precious scene that we can still go out there and sow it.
If we sow it, it will fall on ground where it can take root and germinate.
Is it all going to produce another independent, fundamental, soul-willing, King James only
Baptist?
No, but it's going to get people saved.
The harvest truly is great.
You say, well, why aren't there more people in church, or why aren't there more people
going to heaven?
Because the laborers are few.
That's the problem.
That's the problem in the equation when it comes to the harvest.
The harvest is great.
There's no lack of sinners.
There's no lack of souls to save today.
The problem that we have today is that there's so few people that are willing to go out and
labor in that field.
You know, that's why, and I'm not saying this to lift us up or be puffed up in some
way and hope it's not taken that way, but that's why churches like this are so important.
They are.
Churches like this are important.
You say, why is this church important?
Because it's a church that is endeavoring to go out into the field and reap the harvest.
It's a church that is concerned with preaching the gospel.
It's its sole focus.
Everything else, we're all for that too.
Preaching the word of God, raising godly families, everything else that comes along with the
Christian life.
But as far as the work that we're here to do, our mission statement, our purpose to
go into all the world to preach the gospel to every creature, it's the great commission.
That's what we're here to do.
And there's so many churches today that's not their focus at all.
Or they have some backwards way of trying to accomplish the great commission.
I mean, verse one is so great because he kind of shows you the method by which you're going
to go and reap.
He sent them two by two before his face where he himself would come into every city and
place, right?
He's going to every town, every village, and he's talking to every person he can, right?
He didn't say, let's all just stay right where we are, and let's try to build some
giant magnificent building, and then let's gear our church program to just bring in people
here.
And then once we get people to come to church, then we'll preach the gospel to them.
That's completely backwards.
But that's how a lot, the vast majority of churches try to do that today.
Most of your evangelical churches today, that's their approach, being seeker sensitive.
And that's why they have the rock bands and the purple lights and the fog machines and
the glass pulpits and the little flesh colored mics and the graphic tees and the holy jeans.
And I don't mean holy that way.
I mean, they have holes in them.
And the pastor's all tatted up and just trying to be hip and cool, right?
That's why they're doing that.
Because they might even have a sincere desire to see people get saved, but they're not doing
it the right way.
It's a lot easier to just kind of show up at church and hope people show up so somebody
can preach them down an aisle.
And look, I'm not saying people don't get saved in some of these churches.
They do.
But I wonder if they're getting 200 people saved a year.
I wonder if they're getting 1,000 people saved a year.
I wonder if they're bringing forth 30, 60, or even 100, like other churches.
And it's not that there's something just inherently special about those churches, those people
that are there.
It's because those people that are there that are winning that many souls in churches like
this is because they're doing it God's way.
They're going out into the field.
They're going into the harvest to harvest.
They're going out there to reap.
They're going out there to sow the seed.
They're going before his face, right?
I love Luke 10, verse 1.
I think about it all the time, especially when I'm sowing him.
We go out two by two before his face.
God sees us when we're out there two by two knocking these doors, whether he himself would
come.
This is obviously very literal in Jesus's day when he was on this earth.
He literally showed up.
But when you're out there, two by two, in the field, the Holy Spirit shows up.
Christ is there.
Whether two or three are gathered, there I am in the midst of them.
That's not talking about church.
You know, if we're out there two by two knocking these doors, Christ is with us.
He's showing up.
The Holy Spirit is there.
He works.
And people have great testimonies of Christ working, of God working in their midst as
they're out there in the field.
And I'm kind of ranting right now, but the point he's making here is that the harvest
is great, but the laborers are few.
Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth laborers into his harvest.
We should not be overly concerned with the tares.
And people that want to make their whole mission in life to combat something that they'll never
defeat.
Well, you know, I'm going to leave soul wedding to these other guys.
I'm going to leave that harvest because I'm going to go, you know, I'm going to go take
on evolution.
I'm going to make my whole ministry about battling the evils of evolution.
That's my main focus or focusing in on just one particular, you know, cult that's out
there.
You know, I'm just going to look, I understand that we need to preach the word to be instant
in season, out of season, to reprove, rebuke with all long suffering and doctrine that
we need to tear down the strongholds that Satan has in this world, you know, and we'll
do that.
But, you know, the main way you're going to best accomplish that is by getting the Holy
Spirit into people, by getting them saved, getting them sealed with the spirit so that
they can actually understand, they can have spiritual eyes to see and understand what
the word of God is teaching.
Okay.
But people want to just, you know, leave soul wedding to somebody else, leave the harvest
to somebody else and just make ministries all about debunking evolution or something
like that.
And look, evolution is wicked, it's evil.
You know, or we're going to work, my whole ministry is going to be geared toward trying
to convert atheists.
And look, I'm sure there's people out there that have done that, that have gotten atheists
saved and they could probably count them all on one hand and maybe over the lifetime they'll
have to take off their shoes to count them all.
You know, but we'd have to do that in a month of getting people saved, right?
Why not do the most efficient thing?
Why not do the most effective thing?
Now, look at verse three there of Luke chapter 10, he said, go your ways, behold, I send
you forth as lands among wolves.
Right?
What's he saying?
I'm sending you out there amongst the tares.
I'm sending you out into the harvest amongst the enemies.
And he said, take this rifle.
No.
He's saying you're a lamb, you're going to go out there and there's a chance that you
might even get bit, you might get chewed up a little bit.
You know, you're going to come up in the, in the kingdom of God, you're going to come
up, you know, there's going to be enemies from time to time, but what we need to learn
to do is to concentrate on what we can control, concentrate on the harvest, leave the wolves
to God.
Okay.
Leave the wool.
And obviously we have shepherds, we have pastors, people that guard the flock, so on and so
forth.
And we as laborers need to focus on laboring, preaching the gospel, getting people saved.
Go back to Mark chapter number four.
I mean, that's kind of the theme that's running through this whole chapter and some of the
other passages we looked at.
Just be concerned, just concern yourself with the harvest, concern yourself with sowing
and reaping, just concern yourself going out there and preaching the gospel.
There's going to be tares.
There's going to be wolves.
There's going to be enemies.
Don't get overly concerned.
Be aware.
That's reality.
It's going to happen, but don't let that, don't get distracted by it.
Okay.
Verse 30, and he said, where unto shall we liken the kingdom of God or with what comparison
shall we compare it?
So he gives another parable about the kingdom of God.
It is like a grain of mustard seed, which would sown the earth is less than all the
seeds that be in the earth, but when it is sown, it groweth up and become a greater than
all herbs and shooteth out great branches so that the fowls of the air may lodge under
the shadow of it.
So this is a very simple parable, isn't it?
That he takes this tiny little scene, which is the smallest of all seeds that be in the
earth, and he sows it.
And then eventually over time it grows and becomes very tall and great and strong so
much so that even the fowls of the air can lodge in the branches of it.
Now people have different interpretations about this, about what exactly it means.
And obviously we don't want to read too much into the passage.
At just first glance you could just say, hey, what's the meaning here is that the kingdom
of God is able to support life, that you find shelter there, that the fowls of the air can
come and lodge and find shade in it.
There's rest in the kingdom of God.
It's being sown a very small seed.
Christ, his 12 disciples, his 70 apostles, the 120, the 3,000, I mean, then it just grows.
I mean, just in a century it just explodes in the earth, the kingdom of God, right?
Christianity just takes off and grows and becomes very big and very large.
And it's the kingdom of God continuing to grow over time.
Look, the kingdom of God just keeps getting bigger, doesn't it?
It just keeps growing and growing and growing.
I mean, think about all the people that have gotten saved down through the years, down
through the centuries, down through the millennia.
It's just astronomical.
We can't even put a number on it.
That's why when John saw that great multitude in Revelation 6, he saw of every kindred,
tribe, and nation and tongue, it was a multitude that he couldn't number.
That's why I believe the kingdom of God, the new Jerusalem, is so big.
If every person gets a mansion, that's going to take up, that's quite the footprint,
right?
That's quite a bit of real estate, right, because there's just, you say, how many?
Billions.
It's got to be in the billions, just people getting saved.
So don't feel like, you know, just because you're a small part of a smaller church
right now that you're not part of something that's much bigger, much greater, much grander
in scope, much more magnificent when you think about it, because we are, because we're
all part of the kingdom of God, and yes, there's work to do.
We need to go out into that field and labor to grow the kingdom of God, to help with that
harvest, to sow that seed, and not get distracted by the wolves and distracted by the tares
and trying to root them up and destroy them.
We need to do that hard work and maybe even suffer some things along the way, but ultimately,
we're like the foul of the air.
You know, we're going to find shade in the kingdom of God.
We're going to find rest.
You know, one day we're going to be able to stop flapping our wings and just have a
nice perch, right?
Maybe chew on some worms.
I don't know, not to see who's awake this morning, right?
But that's a great, that's another picture of the kingdom of God.
Look, there's labor and there's rest.
You know, there's working, there's danger, there's toil, but there's also something,
we have to understand we're a part of something that's much bigger than us, much bigger than
this church, much bigger than, you know, any movement that we associate with, okay?
It's much bigger than that.
Verse 33, and with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to
hear.
But without a parable spake he none of them, and they were alone, he expounded all things
to his disciples.
So again, the privilege of being a disciple, I kind of preached about that last week.
If you would, I want to make one last application.
Go to John chapter number four, and we'll end.
The last point I want to make is that the kingdom of God, you know, grows on without
us, right?
Kind of a play on words there.
It grows on, right?
Not goes on, it grows on.
Look, if we as God's people, if we as the servants decide to just kind of, you know,
just pass on the whole, you know, laboring thing, if we hear what Christ is saying, if
we don't take heed and measure these things as we ought to, it will be measured unto us
again.
With whatever measure we measure, it shall be meted unto us, right?
That was the warning going into this parable.
Take heed how you hear, okay?
Whatever you put into this is what you're going to get out of it.
There is a reward to them that labor for God, and there is a lack of reward for those that
refuse to labor or fail to labor, okay?
Passivity is non-optional.
Passivity of gain or loss is reality, okay?
The kingdom of God, that's kind of what I want to wrap this up, okay?
There's a great harvest that needs to take place.
We need to pray that God send labors into his harvest, but don't pray that prayer if
you're not willing to go be a laborer yourself, right?
Isn't that what he said in Luke 10?
Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth labors into his harvest.
You know, how hypocritical it would be for us to get down on our knees and pray, Lord,
I know there's a lot of lost souls that would get saved if someone would bring in the gospel
today, and there's people even in this city that are ready, willing, and able to receive
the gospel of Christ, and I pray that you would send somebody to them, that you would
go and you would reach them, that you would raise up soul winners, and even people in
my church, that you would make great soul winners out of them, and just bless the efforts
of Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tucson and elsewhere, and then get up after praying
that prayer and not doing the work ourselves, and just saying, well, let me just put on
everybody else.
You know, we need to be laborers, too, because the kingdom of God, like that mustard seed,
is going to grow into something great with or without us.
It's going to continue to grow, because not everyone's going to be, you know, a lazy servant.
I don't want us to put it, right?
Some people are going to be fervent, hardworking laborers, and that's going to cause the kingdom
of God to continue to grow.
We can either elect to be a part of that or not, okay?
Look at John 4, verse 35, say not ye, there are four months, then cometh the harvest.
I've got plenty of time.
You know, the harvest isn't until four months from now.
Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are white
all ready to harvest.
He's saying, look, the work's there.
There's all that, you know, you can go out and reap right now.
And they, he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal, that
he that both soweth, and he that reapeth may rejoice together.
He's saying, the work is ready to be done.
The laborers are what's lacking.
And if you would just lift up our eyes and not procrastinate and not just say, someday
I'll get around to it, if we would wake up and actually understand that we need to take
heed to what we're hearing this morning when it comes to these parables about the kingdom
of God, that we have a part to play on it that it will grow on without us.
Or we can actually go out there and reap as well.
That's what's being expressed here.
So the question is, will we sow?
Because again, chapter four is there's two series of parables, right?
The parables of the sower and the parables of the kingdom, and they're interrelated.
The kingdom of God is dependent upon the sowers, isn't it?
We need people to sow to grow the kingdom of God.
Will we sow?
Will we bring fruit to perfection?
Will we be a part of that harvest?
Will we take heed to what we've heard in the word of God this morning?
Let's go ahead and close the word of prayer.
Dear Lord, again, thank you for the great opportunity we have to play a dynamic and
significant part in the kingdom of God itself.
Thank you, Lord, that we're not just taking up space here, Lord, that there's actually
a role for us to play and that we can, as it says, Lord, receive wages for our labors.
Lord, I pray you help us to see how white the fields truly are this morning and how
desperate the need is that we would go into that harvest and we would reap.
We ask these things in Christ's name.
Amen.
All right.
Let's go ahead and sing one more song before we go.
Let's sing one more song before we go.
Let's sing one more song.