["Dio e Zingaro", by La Municipale Balcanica, plays in bright rhythm, with a
bright rhythm, with a bright rhythm, with a
bright rhythm.
Alright, good evening everyone, welcome to First
Works Baptist Church. Let's all find our seats and
grab a song book, open that song book to song
number 90,
Jesus, lover of my soul, song number 90.
90. If you are able, let's all stand together for this first song. Song number 90, Jesus
Lover of My Soul. Everyone, all together, nice and strong on that first verse. Jesus
Lover of My Soul, let me to thy bosom fly, while the nearer waters roll, while the tempest still
is high. Hide me, O my Savior, hide, till the storm of life is past. Safe into the haven guide,
O receive my soul at last. Other refuge have I none, hangs my helpless soul on thee.
Leave, O leave me not alone, still support and comfort me. O my trust on thee is stayed,
O my help from thee I bring. Cover my defenseless head with the shadow of thy wing. Thou, O Christ,
art all I want, more than all in thee I find. Raise the fallen, cheer the fain, heal the sick,
and lead the blind. Just and holy is thy name, I am all on righteousness. Vile and full of sin I am,
thou art full of truth and grace. Plant his grace with the astound, grace to cover all my sin. Let
the healing streams abound, make and keep me pure within. Thou of life, the fountain art,
freely let me take of thee. Spring thou up within my heart, rise to all eternity.
Amen. Let's open our service with the word of prayer. Father, thank you, God, Lord, for allowing
us, God, to be here tonight, Lord, and hear your word preached unto us, God. I pray, Lord, that you
would bless the service, Lord, every aspect of it, Lord. Bless the singing, Lord. May prepare our
hearts and minds to receive your word, Lord, and I pray, God, that you would fill past me here with
your Holy Spirit, Lord, as he preaches to us, God, and be with us, Lord, in the congregation, that we
would apply that which we hear to our lives, Lord, be edified and leave here differently
than when we came in, God. We love you, Lord, and it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
You may be seated. Song number 187, Jesus Loves Me. Song 187, Jesus Loves Me.
Everyone all together nice and strong. Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to him belong. They are weak, but he is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so. Jesus loves me, he who died. Heaven's gate to open wide.
He will wash away my sin. Let his little child come in. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so. Jesus loves me, he will stay close beside me all the way.
Thou hast bled and died for me. I will henceforth live for thee. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so.
All right, great singing. Thank you for being here this evening. Just a few announcements here before
we sing our next song, which will be song number five, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross. If you
want to get that ready in your songbook, song number five. If you did not get a bulletin, go
ahead and raise your hand. One of the ushers can get one for you. Important information on there,
as well as our prayer bulletin that we're going to go over briefly in just a bit. Our Sunday
morning service is at 10 30 Sunday evening at 5 p.m. And then we have our Thursday night Bible
study at seven o'clock. We are currently going through the book of Matthew. And so I want to
encourage you to be here on Thursday evenings for that. You see the First Works family nights,
summer schedule. This past Sunday night was the carnival night. Man, we had a great time.
I think the highlight of the carnival wasn't necessarily the games for the kids. It wasn't the
cotton candy. It wasn't the, you know, a pine geo in the face. Although I didn't get to do that.
It wasn't, you know, what else did we have? Popcorn. It wasn't the jumper even. Let's just
be honest. It was Mark riding that bull. Okay. Now the bull riding was great. We had a lot of fun.
I didn't have much fun doing it. I had more fun watching people do it. And more particularly,
of course, brother Mark is good. Now, uh, brother Adrian is the one who won the contest, but really
the most aesthetic bull rider is Mark. Let's be honest. So I had a great time for the carnival.
I know the kids had a great time and, uh, the adults also had a great time. And so,
uh, this coming Sunday is the ice cream social and that'll be after the Sunday evening service.
And so I want to encourage you to be here for that. Of course, we're going through a family
night, uh, sermon series on Sunday nights. And so, uh, along with that, we'll just have ice
cream thereafter and fellowship. Then it's the kids Olympics on the 30th, as well as the men's
preaching night. And then we conclude it with the church bonfire on Friday, August 4th. We'll give
you more info as we approach that. And so, uh, so far so good on the, on the family nights,
we've been having a good time. I want to encourage you to be there for, for the rest of the events.
And then you see there on the right hand side, the different announcements I've already announced
ice cream social. And then on Monday, July 24th is the Samaria zoning.
Pastor Anderson will be preaching for us on Thursday, July 27th. And so that next week,
of course, is the red hot preaching conference that will go from Thursday to Sunday. And then
that following Thursday is when he's going to come preach. He's on his, um, uh, road trip to all the
new IFP churches. And so I want to encourage you to be here for that and bring a family,
bring a friend on that day. If they never heard him preach in person, that's now's the perfect
time to do so. And then the lady's prayer breakfast is on Saturday, August 12th. Apparently
they're going to have champurrado and like, uh, it looks like a croissant there with some cinnamon
sticks. I don't know who's the one who came up with that, but Hey, sounds good. And then, uh,
no food or drink allowed in the main auditorium, except for water and coffee. Please make sure
you're not loitering in the foyer fellowship hall during the preaching service. And then you see
their quiet time on Sundays from 3 PM to 4 15. Please make sure you silence your phones during
the preaching so as to not be a distraction during the service. Let's go ahead and go over
our prayer sheet, uh, at this moment. And then brother Cody's gonna come up and pray over these
needs here. Of course, continue to pray for our church corporately, pray for God's favor on our
church, for the sowing, the missions, pray for the family nights as a prayed that, um, just our
church would grow in that area and that they would, uh, apply much of the sermons of what's
being preached on Sunday evenings in regards to the family, that it would be effective and that
we would have a fruitful, uh, summer in that regard. And then, uh, I want to highlight one
specific prayer request, uh, at the bottom. It's not a regarding our church family per se, but it
is, uh, regarding some brothers and sisters in Christ, uh, family from Verity Shaw and Eva. Uh,
if you can pray for them, for their family, their newborn John was diagnosed with leukemia.
And so if you can pray for healing treatments and strength, and please keep them in prayer,
obviously it's a, it's a heartbreaking situation. And so if you can, uh, remember to pray for them.
And of course, we'll, uh, brother Cody will spend a significant time, uh, tonight, uh,
praying over those needs there. And then if you have any additional prayer requests you need to,
you'd like to be mentioned, you can put that at the bottom. We'll put, uh, tear that off,
put into the offering plate and we'll make sure that it gets on there for the following week.
Right at this time, brother Cody's gonna come up and pray over these needs.
Let's bow our heads in word of prayer. Uh, dear Lord God, thank you for, uh,
every soul here at this church, Lord. And, uh, just thank you, uh, for everything you
bless our church with, Lord, and, and, uh, each and every one of us, Lord, just thank you for
salvation for the King James Bible, Lord. And Lord, we just pray for your favor upon our church,
Lord, and you continue to bless us and bless our church and every member in it, Lord,
and, uh, continue to help us to, uh, grow closer to you and to be stronger, uh, in you, uh, day by
day, Lord, and just increase our faith, Lord. So we just pray and ask for your favor, Lord, and,
uh, just continue to pray for the soul winning, Lord. I just pray that the soul winning is
fruitful and that we continue to see more people saved, Lord, and that there'd be more
people willing to go out, more laborers willing to go out and preach the gospel to the lost Lord.
And so just please, uh, and those who already know how to preach the gospel, Lord, I just pray that,
uh, you continue to stir, uh, a love for the lost inside of us all, Lord,
so that we go out and, and, uh, uh, reach people, uh, uh, and, uh, get them saved, Lord. And so we
just pray for our soul winning efforts. And Lord, I pray for family nights. I pray first for every
family, uh, in this church, Lord. I just pray that you, um, uh, strengthen the husband's Lord and
help them to become strong leaders, Lord. And I pray that you, um, encourage the wives to, uh,
obey and submit and love their husbands, Lord, and, uh, for the children to obey their parents,
Lord. I just pray for our families, Lord. I just pray that, uh, family nights is edifying for our
church, Lord, and that, uh, we get reminded of, of, of simple principles in life, Lord,
and from your word, Lord. And I just pray that, uh, each and every, uh, person in this church,
Lord, would take heed to, uh, the messages being preached throughout this time of family nights,
Lord. And so just please pray for the, I pray for the families, Lord, and I pray that family nights
are edifying for our church, Lord. And Lord, uh, I pray for, uh, all the requests here, Lord.
Obviously, you know everyone's needs and, and, and desires, Lord, and I just pray that you could
answer those, uh, requests, Lord, all the general requests, all the family and friends' salvations,
Lord. Uh, just pray upon all of those, Lord, that, uh, you would answer those, uh, according to your
will, Lord. And Lord, I pray for, um, uh, uh, brother Sean, Miss Eva, Lord, at, um, the Verde
Baptist Church, Lord, uh, for their, their, uh, child, Lord, with leukemia, Lord. I just pray
that, um, that you're amongst them, Lord, and that you have a hand of healing upon, uh, that child,
Lord, and that you could, uh, give them strength, Lord, and, uh, give them comfort at this time,
Lord. And I just pray that you're over all of that, Lord, and that, uh, you could help out
that situation, Lord. And Lord, we just pray unto you that, uh, you would heal that, that, uh, that
sickness, Lord. And I just pray that, uh, you give brother Sean and Miss Eva, uh, more strength,
Lord, and more comfort, Lord, and, uh, just help them to show the love that you have for them,
Lord, and, uh, help them to see the love, uh, that other people have, uh, for them, Lord. And so I
just pray over that, Lord. I pray for healing, Lord, and I pray for just comfort and strength
at this time, Lord. And so I just pray for that family, Lord, and that, uh, they'll, uh, it, it's
just, uh, uh, a trial, Lord, that they will draw close unto you, Lord, and, and, uh, seek after you,
Lord. And I just pray that you answer them, Lord, and hear their prayers, Lord, and, uh,
heal their, uh, child, Lord. And Lord, I pray that you bless this service, Lord. I pray, uh,
for the singing and for the preaching, Lord. I pray that you fill Pastor Mejia with the Holy
Spirit, Lord, as he preaches your word. And just bless this service, and we pray this all in Jesus'
name. Amen. All right, song number three for, uh, I'm sorry, song number five for our third song,
When I Survey the Wondrous Cross. Song number five, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.
Everyone, all together, nice and strong. When I survey the wondrous cross on which the prince
of glory died, my richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride.
Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, save in the death of Christ my God.
All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood.
See from His head, His hands, His feet,
sorrow and love flow mingled down. Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,
or thorns composed so rich a crown, were the whole realm of nature mine,
that were a present far too small?
Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.
Amen. This time the ushers will collect the offering. Time will be in Matthew chapter 13.
So
so
good evening tonight we're in matthew 13 matthew chapter 13 and the bible reads the same day
when jesus out of the house and sat by the seaside and gray multitudes were gathered together unto
him so that he went into a ship and sat and the whole multitude stood on the shore and he
spake many things unto them in parables saying behold a sower went forth to sow and when he sowed
some seeds fell by the wayside and the fowls came and devoured them up some fell upon stony places
where they had not much earth and forthwith they sprung up because they had no deepness of earth
and when the sun was up they were scorched and because they had no root they withered away
and some fell among thorns and the thorns sprung up and choked them but other fell into good ground
and brought forth fruit some 100 fold some 60 fold some 30 fold who hath ears to hear let him hear
and the disciples came and said unto him why speakest thou unto them in parables he answered
and said unto them because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven
but to them it is not given for 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 therefore speak
i to them in parables because they seen not and hearing they hear not neither do they understand
and in them is fulfilled the prophecy of isaias which saith by hearing you shall hear and shall
not understand and seeing you shall see and shall not perceive for this people's hearts is wax gross
and their ears are dull of hearing and their eyes they have closed lest at any time they should see
with their eyes and hear with their ears and should understand with their heart and should
be converted and i should heal them but blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they
hear for verily i say unto you that many prophets and righteous men have a desire to see those things
which you see and have not seen them and to hear those things which you hear and have not heard
them he therefore the parable of the sower when anyone heareth the word of the kingdom and
understandeth it not then cometh the wicked one and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart
this is he which received seed by the wayside but he that received the seed into stony places
the same as he that heareth the word and anon with joy receive it receiveth it yet yet hath
he not rooted himself but doeth for a while for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because
of the word by and by he is offended he also that receiveth seed among the thorns is he that heareth
the word and the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and he
becometh unfruitful but he that received seed into the good ground see that heareth the word
and understandeth it which also beareth fruit and bringeth forth some 100 fold some 60 some 30
another parable put he forth unto them saying the kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which
sowed good seed in his field but while men slept his enemy came and so tears among the wheat and
went his way but when the blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit then appeared the tares also
so the servants of the householder came and said unto him sir didst not thou so good seed in thy
field from whence then hath it tears and he said unto them an enemy hath done this the servant said
unto him wilt thou then that we go and gather them up but he said nay lest while you gather up the
tears you root up also the wheat with them let both grow together until the harvest and at the
time of harvest i will say to the reapers gather ye together first the tears and bind them in
bundles to burn them but gather the wheat into my barn another parable put he forth
unto them saying the kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed which a man took and
sowed in his field which indeed is the least of all seeds but when it is grown it is the greatest
among herbs and become at the tree so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches
thereof another parable spake he unto them the kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven
which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till the hole was leaven all these things
spake jesus unto the multitudes and parables without a parable spake he not unto them that
it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet saying i will open my mouth in parables
i will utter things which i have been kept secret from the foundation of the world then jesus sent
the multitude away and went into the house and his disciples came unto him saying declare unto
us the parable of the tears of the field and he answered and said to them he that so with the good
seed is the son of man the field is the word the good seed are the children of the kingdom but the
tears are the children of the wicked one the enemy that sowed them is the devil the harvest
is the end of the world and the reapers are the angels as therefore the tears are gathered and
burned in the fire so shall it be in the end of the world the son of man shall send forth his
angels and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity
and shall cast them into a furnace of fire there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth
then shall the righteous shine forth as the son in the kingdom of their father who hath ears to
hear let him hear again the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field the which when
a man hath found he hideth and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth
that field again the kingdom of heaven is likened unto a merchant man seeking goodly pearls who when
he had found one pearl of great price went and sold all that he had and brought and bought it
again the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea and gathered of every
kind which when it was full they drew to shore and sat down and gathered the good into vessels
but cast the bad away so shall it be at the end of the world the angels shall come forth
and sever the wicked from among the just and shall cast them into a furnace of fire there
shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth jesus saith unto them have you understood all these things
they say unto him yay lord then said he unto them therefore every scribe which is instructed
unto the kingdom of heaven is likened to a man that is an householder which bringeth forth out
of his treasure things new and old and it came to pass that when jesus had finished these parables
he departed thence and when he was coming to his own country he taught them in the synagogue
insomuch that they were astonished and said once at this man this wisdom and these mighty works
is not this the carpenter's son is not this his mother called mary and his brother and james and
joseph and simon and judas and his sisters are they not all with us once then hath this man
all these things and they were offended in him but jesus said unto him a prophet is not without
honor saving his own country and in his own house and he did not many mighty works there because of
their unbelief let's pray dear lord god thank you for uh this church lord i just pray that you fill
pastor with the holy spirit lord as he preaches your word and that us in the congregation uh
would have ears to hear and uh would be attentive to the preaching lord we pray this all in jesus
name amen amen okay we're in matthew chapter 13 tonight and tonight we begin with the parables
and here in chapter 13 there's about eight parables that jesus christ gives out and let me
give you a little bit of a background here what's taking place we understand why he's giving out
these parables uh here in chapter 13 he's actually speaking to a broad group of people
and we know that obviously he's preaching to israel as a whole but when you think about it
when he's addressing israel there's two groups that he's talking to right you have saved israel
people who have believed on the lord people who want the truth and then there's a group that are
israelites according to the flesh that are not saved all right that have rejected the truth
and essentially this is a mixed multitude that he's talking to here and it's really important
to understand that and to know that in order for us to understand why he's putting forth these
parables and as i was studying this particular passage because we're only going to go over about
two parables here in the sermon but as i was looking through these it really kind of jumps
out at you as to why he's addressing these particular people and what the parables have to do
with the group that he's talking to here look at verse number one it says the same day
went jesus out of the house and sat by the seaside and great multitudes were gathered together unto
him so that he went into a ship and sat and the whole multitude stood on the shore and he spake
many things unto them in parables saying behold a soul went forth to so let me stop right there
of course just let me just briefly explain this is that when the bible talks about parables it's
obviously a short story it's a simple story that is meant to illustrate a spiritual truth right
and one thing you'll notice is that when he's when he's talking or he's preaching about these
parables there's always a group of people that understand the parable and there's other people
who are just left in complete darkness right and so when you think about parables it's a dark saying
but it's not necessarily a story you could never understand it really depends on the person who's
listening okay which is why he frequently says he that hath an ear let him hear now this isn't
saying like if you have actual ears you know what i mean you're in good you're you're on good terms
here you're able to listen he's obviously referring to people who actually want the truth
so when the bible says he that hath an ear it's referring to a person who wants to understand the
spiritual truth okay and the first parable that he goes over is the parable of the seed and the
sower it's a very familiar and popular parable and really we could extrapolate all types of
applications in regards to sowing and it's very much applicable to sowing and i'm going to give
some of those applications tonight but more so we're going to spend time on the literal
interpretation of this particular parable so let's read it here verse four it says
and he sowed and some seeds fell by the wayside and the fowls came and devoured them up
some fell upon so many places where they had not much earth and for with they sprung up because
they had no deepness of earth and when the sun was up they were scorched because they had no root
they withered away and some fell among thorns and the thorns sprung up and choked them but other
fell into good ground and brought forth fruit some 100 fold some 60 fold some 30 fold who have ears
to hear let him hear now skip down to verse number 18 if you would so this is the ironic
thing about this particular parable is that he's given this forth and he's actually talking about
the people who he's preaching to so as he's preaching to this group of people he's given
a parable about the people that he's speaking to now how do we know that well look at verse number
18 is where he expounds upon the parable he gives the explanation and he's not giving it to the
entire multitude he's giving it to his disciples right because of the fact that his disciples want
to know what this parable means and it says here in verse 18 hear ye therefore the parable of the
sower when anyone heareth the word of the kingdom and understandeth it not then cometh the wicked
one and catcheth the way that which was sown in his heart this is he which received seed by the
wayside so it goes over four particular places that the seed falls upon the seed of course is
the word of god the sower is jesus christ and it falls upon four places now when we talk about
sowing we can say that when we preach the gospel the seed of the gospel falls upon four particular
locations one being the wayside another being stony places another being among thorns and then
the last of course being good ground and if we're to break that down we would say four seeds are
sown out of those four seeds three people get saved and out of those three people one person
actually gets involved produces fruit is a soul winner and is successful in the christian life
right and i think that's a really good way to quantify our work for the lord when we're actually
serving god and preaching the gospel so that you don't become disillusioned with soul winning right
and think why isn't the the multitudes why aren't they getting saved and every single door i knock
on to get saved well really realistically speaking you know the world kind of operates
under this economy right here where if you sow four seeds you're gonna have people that reject
the gospel because they're upon the wayside you're gonna have people who get saved which are those
three but even out of those three you might get one who actually begins to serve the lord they
get into church they learn how to soul win they preach the gospel and they begin to produce fruit
in their lives and that's a great way to illustrate the importance of sowing seeds and not
becoming disillusioned with the service of god right so that's the interpretation that i've
essentially always taken and or excuse me the application that i've always given because of
the fact that that's very applicable to us as a church we're a sowing church very much involved
in the ministry of sowing and that's very much important for us to learn but let me give you the
the literal interpretation of this parable okay because the first group that the seed falls on it
falls upon the wayside and it says this they understand if it not and then the wicked one
referring to the devil right comes and he steals the seed out of their hearts now i've always
thought to myself or should i say i've always misinterpreted this particular verse to mean that
when a person doesn't understand the gospel when we give them the gospel it's an indicator that
satan has come and taken the seed out of their heart but that's actually not what the verse is
saying the verse says there that they understand that the not then cometh the wicked one and removes
the seed out of their heart and obviously we can make the application to say hey when we go out
there and preach the gospel you got to be thorough got to explain what the bible says and make sure
they understand the word of god and do a good job going through the different references of
scripture and giving them the right illustrations and just kind of fine tuning your gospel
presentation so that people understand right and that's a great application but this is not what
that's referring to you're like well what's going on you know what does it mean well this first
group of people is actually referring to israelites who have rejected the truth let me say that again
it's referring to a group of people who have rejected the truth now let me explain to you
why and why is it that god is allowing the wicked one to come and remove the seed out of their heart
you see at the end of the day when someone wants the truth they're going to get the truth
and so if someone actually wants to understand biblical truth god's not going to leave them in
the dark because there's a principle in the bible that teaches us that when you respond to the light
that god gives you he gives you more light and so you say well what about here it says that
they understand it not you know isn't this someone who just has a hard time understanding
the gospel they have a hard time understanding biblical truth then why is god allowing the wicked
one to come and snatch the seed out of the heart of the person i thought that when the word of god
goes forth it accomplishes that thing where to he sent it you know never returns back void but what
people have to understand is that yes the word of god is powerful it's powerful enough to save
anybody but it requires a recipient who is actually receptive to the gospel we're not
calvinists here right it's not like the word of god goes forth and it's just going to save every
single person who comes into contact with no it requires a recipient to be receptive to the message
for them to actually get saved and go forward and and understand the word of god right
he said well then i understand what you're saying there but how do you know that this group of
people is referring to an individual or a group of people who have rejected the truth
well let's let's go back a couple verses here and let's go to verse number nine okay because
he actually explains it to us it says in verse number nine who hath the ears to hear let him hear
and the disciples came and said unto him why speak his style unto them in parables he answered and
said unto them because it has given them to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven
but unto them is not given for whosoever listen to this hath to him shall be given and he shall have
more abundance listen to this but whosoever hath not from him shall be taken away even that he hath
now let me ask you who's the one who's taking it away well according to the passage the context
the wicked one and it goes on to say therefore speak i to them in parables because they seen see
not and hearing they hear not neither do they what understand and in them is fulfilled the prophecy
of his eyes which saith by hearing you shall hear and shall not understand and seeing you shall see
and shall not perceive so when the bible says that the seed falls upon the wayside it's falling upon
a group of people who are dull of hearing and it's not because they it's not like they're not
understanding because they don't they can't understand it's because they don't want to
understand and so therefore when the israelites who have the word of god in the flesh they're
preaching to them giving them the truth but they don't want the truth then what does god do he
allows the wicked one who pick who's pictured by the foul of the air to come and snatch the word
of god out of their heart you see this is the only instance where god is a socialist say what
in the world what do you mean you know he he doesn't take from the rich to give to the poor
he gives more to the rich because it says he which hath more shall be given and to him that
hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath so a rich person spiritually speaking
according to this passage is referring to a person who wants the truth and because they want the
truth god says okay i'll give you more truth but the person who doesn't have understanding because
they don't want it okay then he's going to allow the wicked one known as the devil to come and
snatch the seed out of their heart you're not even going to get the most basic of truth okay
say well that's kind of mean why would he do something like that why would he take away the
seed out of their heart because they don't understand well because not understanding
is synonymous with not wanting to understand okay look what it says in verse 15 for this people's
heart is waxed gross and their ears are dull of hearing and their eyes they have they have closed
less than any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and should understand
with their heart and should be converted and i should heal them so he's saying look the reason
they don't understand is because they have purposely closed their spiritual eyes they
have purposely closed their spiritual ears because they don't want to be converted they don't want to
understand now here's the interesting thing about this verse is it's reiterated in john chapter 12
the difference being that here in matthew chapter 13 it says they close their ears they close their
eyes lest they should understand and be converted in john chapter 12 it says i'm sorry in john
chapter 12 it says i have closed their ears i have shut their eyes lest i should heal them and they
should be converted so what's the difference the difference is these people here in matthew 13
purposely close their ears and their eyes because they don't want to understand and what does god
do he says okay i'll assist you in closing your eyes and shutting your ears so that you don't
understand and you can be converted and i should heal you this is what the process is known as what
reparation and so when he says this people's heart is waxed gross he's referring to israel
when he says this people is referring to the israelites because the israelites have had the
word of god for thousands of years they've known of the prophecies and its climax to this particular
event here where jesus christ the word of god is in the flesh preaching to them and they don't
understand not because they can but because they don't want to understand and essentially they are
the people who they are the people whose hearts are on the wayside okay now let me let me further
approve this okay go to luke chapter 8 if you would luke chapter 8 hold your place here in
matthew chapter 13 luke chapter 8 we find the parallel passage of the parable of the seed and
the sower and it words things a little differently and it's great that it does because it gives us
just a broader understanding of this particular parable
look what it says in luke chapter 8 in verse 11 it says now the parable is this the seed is the
word of god listen to this those by the wayside are they that hear then cometh the devil and
taketh away the word out of their hearts listen to this lest they should believe and be saved so
keep in mind if we were to compare that with matthew 13 matthew 13 is talking about a people
who have purposely closed their ears in their in their eyes because they don't want to understand
therefore god gives permission to satan to come and remove the seed out of their heart
and then luke chapter 8 explains why lest they should believe and be saved further proving that
this is referring to the fact that israel is becoming a reprobate nation who is rejected
the truth does everyone understand that i know a lot of deep doctrine on thursday evening but
we came for a bible study amen and so go back to matthew 13
you know i can i can i can hoot and holler up here and to try to keep you awake but sometimes
you just need some discipline to have an appetite for doctrine here amen and i don't know when's the
next time i'm preaching on matthew 13 so you better listen up amen and so the wayside is
referring to people who have heard the truth they don't want to understand and therefore god
essentially gives permission to satan to remove that seed out of their hearts you know kind of
like giving them a reprobate mind let you know unless they should believe and be saved okay
and obviously people who are out there in the world they wouldn't necessarily fall under this
category or should i say of the vast majority of the population wouldn't fall under this category
this is meant for a specific group of people who really just hate the truth okay and it says there
uh in verse uh let me see verse number 19 so the wicked one comes now here's what's interesting
about this particular parable as well because the wicked one is is pictured by satan of course satan
is the wicked one who comes and removes the seed and i feel like there's a connection here between
this parable and the parable we're going to look at in just a bit with the wheat and the tares
because the parable of the wheat and the tares god is the one jesus is the one who's sowing the
good seed he's sowing the the children of god and then you have the wicked one sowing the children
of the devil so you see him involved in this particular instance where he's taking the seed
out of their hearts but then he's also sowing tares among the wheat and we obviously understand
the way a person is made reprobate is by the word of god okay is by having a heart that is just
dense and gross with the word of god but they've rejected the bible it blinds them and essentially
that's what happens there so i don't want to get too much into that because i don't want to steal
my thunder for the next parable but we see how that is working here he says in uh verse 19 again
when anyone here at the word of the kingdom so he's talking to the israelites you know there's
people in the group who are like what does this mean he's like what is he talking about well he's
talking about you which is why you don't understand and the main thing that you can get from this
particular verse here folks is the fact that if you want to understand something spiritual
you will understand it if you want to understand it now obviously this is this is in the main
interpretation is regarding people who are beyond the hope of salvation and the fact that he's
removing that ability to believe but you know we could also apply this to christians because
christians can also become dull of hearing not for salvation but for truth thereafter right where
they get saved and they don't really want to grow in their faith anymore they're kind of lazy in
their bible reading they're lazy in their doctrine they don't really want to learn anymore and
therefore it's like their hearts are becoming gross they essentially begin to lose knowledge
of the bible and this is definitely true i mean i can point to pastors that i personally known not
in the movement but pastors that i've known in the old ife who essentially stop growing it's like
they don't they stop they stop learning they lose information they lose knowledge it's almost
as if they look they know less today than they did 10 years ago and why is that because of the
fact that it's been knowledge is being taken from them because they don't want to understand
the word of god anymore these are the same people who rather go to devotionals and commentaries
and uh biblical encyclopedias to understand the bible instead of actually going to the bible
itself they're depending on outside sources made by unsaved people to understand the bible okay
you know we need to go to the word of god and submit ourselves under the ministry of the holy
spirit so that he can teach us what the bible actually says and help us to interpret it now
that's harder than going to some commentary and it requires prayer and meditation of god's word
it requires you turning off your social media and turning off you know whatever noise is in
the background and dedicate some time to actually studying god's word and meditating upon it
but it yields dividends of spiritual knowledge and wisdom okay not this fake knowledge that's
given by charles spurgeon okay who doesn't really know the bible and so that is the seed that is
sown upon the wayside referring to israel and he goes on to say in verse 18 here you are i'm
sorry verse 20 but he that receives seed in stone into stony places the same is he that heareth the
word and anon meaning immediately thereafter with joy receiveth it now i believe this is actually
referring to a person who gets saved okay they receive the word of god and they receive it with
joy and meaning they get saved they actually want to hear the truth and they believe on the lord you
can you can apply that they believe on the lord jesus christ for salvation it says in verse 21
yet hath he not root in himself but dureth another word for dureth is just a shorter way of saying
endureth okay but dureth for a while for when tribulation or persecution arises because of the
word by and by he is offended so this particular person is pictured by a stony place where the seed
comes he gets saved but he doesn't become rooted in the word of god he's not rooted in christ per
se he's not rooted and grounded in love and because of that his christ his christianity is very shallow
okay he hasn't really determined to be in this thing for the long haul you understand he saved
but they're not really determined they haven't really counted the cost per se and read the word
of god and taken up their cross daily to follow the lord and therefore when a trial or tribulation
comes into their life they're just easily knocked over okay now i had to turn back to matthew 13 but
go back to luke chapter 8 because luke chapter 8 uh also words this a different way and i think
it's a it's a good uh passage to address here because people will try to use this particular
passage to say you can stop believing in salvation okay now let me say this you can't stop believing
okay you know some people will tell you you'll run into people like this at the door i'm sure
people in here have had this experience or you ask them do you think you can do anything to
lose your salvation and they'll say well if you stop believing right now you shouldn't be surprised
when a person says that because they're unsaved and unsaved people come with come up with really
ridiculous uh theories you understand what i'm saying um like you know you have to do works to
be saved which is a ridiculous thing to think about like oh i have to repent of my sins it's
pretty ridiculous right well this is also a ridiculous example and often when people tell
me this they'll say you know oh if i stop believing i'll say like stop believing that
you're saved or stop believing in god they're like yeah i'll often tell them this well you know
do you have parents they say yes i'm like you live with your parents yeah i live with my parents
and i'll tell them can i ever convince you do you don't have parents and they're like no i'm like
yeah that's pretty ridiculous right like like yeah because it's just it's just like a no-brainer
i have parents right well like man when we get saved god becomes our heavenly father
and when we're saved the spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of god
it's pretty much impossible to get a saved person to believe that he's not saved and that's not to
say that people don't doubt their salvation uh at one point or another if they're backslidden they
get involved in the world often what can happen with a person like that is that they become so
involved and engrossed in sin they are very carnally minded and carnal minds can often lead
to unscriptural's way of thinking right and often when you deal with a person like that
you talk to a person like you know yeah i'm just kind of doubting because i'm so involved in sin
but then you know if you pin them against the wall not literally but you know you corner them
and you start giving them these truths they're like why i agree with you i just i'm just
backslidden right now right and so you know often when a person if a person ever approaches me
saying that they doubt their salvation because they're involved in some gross sin and they've
been out of church for a long time and they're just involved in the world you know i'll just
reaffirm them or reassure them of verses in the bible to talk about salvation to kind of get them
spiritually minded because then at that point the spirit that they're feeding with the word of god
can bear witness with their spirit that they are the children of god right and so this is very much
important to for us as christians that we constantly talk about salvation we talk about
salvation and not like okay i'm saved i'm saved i'm saying i'm saying like talk about the doctrines
of salvation the different facets of salvation because at that point we're keeping it on the
forefront of our minds and it's important to reiterate the doctrine of salvation because if
you don't it becomes convoluted it begins to lose its pizzazz in the church and then you get a
generation that rises up thereafter who can't really communicate salvation well and therefore
you have churches that don't really know what they're talking about when it comes to salvation
so these are things that constantly have to be stirred up in our minds so that we are reminded
of biblical truths such as salvation okay whereas this particular person is not referring to someone
who's just stopped believing in god now if a person came up to me and says you know i no
longer believe in salvation i don't believe in god we wouldn't say they lost their salvation that
person was just never safe to begin with i would say in first corinthian chapter 15 whereby you're
saved if you keep in memory the things which i have preached unto you lest he believed in vain
a person who believes in vain is a person who has an empty belief in salvation they just kind
of gave lip service to salvation but they're never really safe to begin with okay because the person
can't lose salvation and even the most backslidden of christians will eventually come around if you
talk to them about salvation and say well i know that i'm saved i'm just really backslidden i'm
really away from god i just you know i'm living a carnal worldly life okay now with that being
said look at verse number 12 i'm sorry verse 13 it says on luke chapter 8 excuse me luke 8 13
says they on the rock are they which when they hear receive the word with joy this is parallel
to the one we saw in matthew 18 and these have no root which for a while believe in a time of
temptation fall away now people have heretics have tried to use this verse to say oh see you
can stop believing you know and one particular person that we have to kick out of our church
had this belief that if a person becomes like a mormon or something like they they give they give
credence to the right salvation but then you know they just believe in a different god or they just
get so far away that they just stop worshiping they start worshiping false gods and they no
longer believe on jesus christ they become a mormon joel's witness that person is still saved
because you can't lose your salvation but you know they're just worshiping false gods or they become
a mormon or something like that and they're still saving it's just like wrong wrong if a person
certain worships a false god they're they're they're they've apostasized they were never
safe to begin with but they'll quote this verse right here but when it says which for a while
believe it has nothing to do with salvation and here's a mistake that a lot of people make
when interpreting scripture is they'll see a word believe and just all across the board associated
with salvation whereas there's other instances in the bible that the word believe is used
and it's not talking about salvation now believe on the lord jesus christ and thou shalt be saved
it's talking about salvation but there's even instances when the bible says believe on the lord
you know and thou shalt be delivered it's not even referring to salvation it's referring to the
deliverance of their flesh okay it's like instances when the bible talks about death
it could be referring to someone physically dying or it's referring to
hell right you all you got to get it in its context and then the context here when it says
which for a while believe and in time of temptation fall away it's obviously referring to the fact
that they've placed their faith in god for the necessities or the deliverances of this life
because if you compare this to matthew chapter 13 he says they don't have a root in themselves
but then when tribulation arises because of the word by and by they are offended okay this is a
person who doesn't get rooted in the word of god and then they get persecuted for the word of god
and they're just like well i'm just going to leave you know church all together you know because
they're offended they're afraid they think that god's not going to deliver them you know they get
out of church whatever it may be and you know it says for which for a while believe in the
time of temptation fall away it's referring to backsliding okay and so you don't have to get
rooted in the christian life to be saved because to get rooted in the christian life requires
obedience requires you know reading the word of god and abiding in the vine by abiding in his word
and making sure that you're reading god's word you're living out the christian life
and so if you're to say that that's what this is referring to then you're teaching a works-based
salvation what this is just saying is that a person who's not rooted when a trial comes into
their life they're just easily they backslide or you could even say a time of temptation temptation
could either be referring to a trial or temptation of the flesh they're not rooted in the christian
life a temptation of the flesh comes into their life and then they're easily taken away by some
girlfriend by some boyfriend by some relationship okay by whatever you know by drugs by alcohol
it just gets them out of church and then they you know they fall away they backslide
so the lesson that we can learn here hold your place there and go back to
matthew 13 the lesson that we can learn with the stony place is that get rooted now i'm preaching
to the choir because you're here on a thursday night which is you know proof that you're trying
to get rooted in god's word because it's a bible study you're taking time out of your week to be in
church to hear the word of god after work after you're taking care of responsibilities you're
super hungry you're thinking about mcdonald's and in and out right now can't wait the church is over
and all that you know but you're here because you want to be spiritually fed first right
we're taking an intercession of the week to hear god's word so that we become spiritually minded
this you know showing up to church on a thursday night is part of getting rooted
you know you say well how far do i get rooted how deep do you want to get rooted
it's up to you you know do you want to be a rooted christian or like a sunday morning only
rooted christian you know you want to risk that i'd rather just be sunday morning sunday night
thursday evenings okay you know three to thrive get as deep as you possibly can be and even aside
from that when you go home and wake up tomorrow morning you read the word of god so you can get
even more rooted okay then you go soul winning now you're getting more rooted and like the more
you serve god the more bible you read the more you take up your cross daily to follow the lord
the deeper the root goes so that when a trial comes you're just not easily knocked over
the reason a person is easily knocked out of the christian life is because their roots
they're not really deep into the ground they're not really deep into the christian life they're
just easily uprooted and fallen over and they're just easily offended and so the goal for us as
christians to be is week in week out we're just an inch deeper an inch deeper as i read god's word
as i memorize scripture as i serve god you know because the the day's gonna come my friends listen
to me when the trial will hit your life and here's the here's the attitude that sometimes new
christians get you know because sometimes new christians are just like they they see
they know everything of course they know everything i mean christians new christians
just know everything i'm joking they don't know it they don't know they don't squat okay but they
can have this attitude that they know everything they even know the kind of trials that they will
experience so they kind of prepare themselves like well i know if these things come into my life i
know how to deal with these particular things here i they think of the worst case scenarios
and it's just like gotta cover it but you know that's not the way the christian life works
you know you're acting like you're going to catch god off guard or something like that
god is going to hit you with something to mature you to prune you according to john chapter 15 amen
with some sort of trial that you've never experienced before and it's going to require
for you to dig deep today to be rooted deep today so that when that trial comes
you're not easily swayed you're not easily moved you understand i shall not be moved well that can
that only applies if you're deeply rooted in the christian life now i'm speaking to the adults here
and even some of the young people you know some of the the the if you have parents who are in church
you know it's easy to be rooted in the christian life because your mom and dad are plotting you
in the in the house of god they're making you come to church right they're making you be here
and you're getting rooted because mom and dad are kind of like those sticks that you know they
i don't know what they're called you guys know what i'm talking about i'm not a botanist here
but let me see if i can explain this because everyone's looking at me weird you know
if you want a tree to grow up upright you put like these two sticks and you kind of wrap them
you guys know what i'm talking about don't look at me like that you guys know what i'm talking about
nod your head and be like yeah you know yeah is that something you guys do some of you
former drug dealers out there you guys know what i'm talking about
you know they put the sticks or whatever and they wrap it so it grows upright well those sticks are
kind of like your parents they're kind of helping you grow upright you understand but let me say
this is there's going to come a time when those sticks are no longer available and you have to
root yourself in the christian life and if you've if you've only depended on your parents to keep
you upright then you're going to tip over the moment those sticks are taken away if you're not
serious about the christian life okay and that's a whole sermon in and of itself the point that i'm
trying to make here is the importance of getting rooted and grounded in the truth okay you know
to be strengthened with the inner man uh you know in the word of god according to the riches of his
glory to be strengthened with the with might in the inner man and so it requires you yes having
a personal relationship with the lord absolutely okay and not the shallow definition of that what
a lot of pastors out there talk about i'm legitimately reading the word of god not just
for inspiration but for information and making sure you build in convictions into your heart
and in your uh and in your reigns the inner man okay and so you know the the trial is only a test
to see how deeply rooted you are so don't blame me when a trial comes and you get out of church
oh you know you try to blame the pastor because he offended you or something there's people out
there like that we've had people in our church like that they left our church and it's just like
it's your fault they blame me they try to say like i'm teaching heresy or something like that
and it's just like you know oh it's his fault because of x y and z no it's your fault i have
not changed my ministry in any which way i i preached the same sermon to you that i preached
to everyone else if you fall away it's indicative of the fact that you are not deeply rooted so
here's your weekly reminder get rooted in the bible you know if you skip some bible reading
days this week tonight and tomorrow are the days to get started once again and don't bite off more
than you can chew and say well i'm going to catch up by reading 20 chapters tonight and tomorrow
why don't you just start with a few chapters tonight and a few chapters tomorrow okay and so
that is the the one who hears the word of god but then they don't get rooted and they fall away look
what it says in verse 22 he also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word
and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and he becometh unfruitful
now this is pretty interesting if i were to interpret this and kind of give a an application
of christians today i would say this person is in church this person is like determining to get
rooted in the christian life so they don't they don't get tossed but because of the fact that
they're not necessarily or i'm sorry that they're engrossed in the things of this world they're not
fruitful you see the goal of the christian life is not to just not be moved the goal is to become
fruitful the goal is to be a profitable christian yeah right someone who actually like i don't know
like does something for the lord you understand so it's one thing to actually be in church it's
another thing to actually be fruitful in church be fruitful in the christian life and you can be this
christian who you're reading the bible you're learning god's word you're preparing for the
trials to come but you're not being fruitful why well it says there the cares of this world news
podcasts conspiracies bills health issues work you know just common cares of this world biden
gas i mean everything you can think of anything right
the care and by the way we all have the cares of this world but apparently with this person
they're allowing the cares of this world to cause them to become unfruitful so it says the cares of
this world and the deceitfulness of riches now this is something that i know and i've seen in
christians as a pastor where you know they can become a covetous person they think that you know
missing church for work is justifiable and they begin to make excuses why not to come to church
because they rather work and earn money than to earn knowledge by listening to god's work
and it says there the deceitfulness of riches can get a person to become unfruitful now they're
they're in church they're listening but they're not necessarily being fruitful why because
they're serving mammon rather than god right says the deceitfulness of riches
choked the word and he become unfruitful and the parallel passage just says the lust of other
things entering in so what's the deal with this person okay how do we avoid being the person
who's receiving seed among thorns well the way we avoid is we got to make sure that we're not
entangled with the affairs of this life okay and we need to make sure that we keep the main thing
the main thing which is our christianity okay our communion with god and you know what obviously it's
easier for me than it is for you because of the fact that this is what i do full time but there's
also a temptation for me because i do this all the time to just burn out right so i'm constantly
talking about the bible you know church is what i do i mean this is what i'm always doing so it's
a temptation for both of us but in order for you to avoid this we need to just keep on the
forefront hey i'm still christian i need to make sure i get involved in the fight so a way you can
make sure that you don't become engrossed with the cares of this life engrossed with the riches the
deceitfulness of riches the lust of other things entering in this is the way you do it you have to
get into the fight because the bible says that no man that warreth entangled himself with the
affairs of this life that he may be a good soldier so if you are if you find yourself becoming
uh cold towards the things of god because of the cares of this life because of riches because of
the lust of other things entering in then let's fight go get in a fight not like literally
sorry man just go punch someone out or something i'm saying spiritually go fight some heresy
go fight for your christian life go uh fight the good fight of faith go fight against the devil go
fight against your flesh if you purposely get into the fight then you don't have time for the cares
of this life you don't have time for the deceitfulness of riches you really don't focus on the
lust of other things entering in because you're so focused on the fight you see what i'm saying
so if you're warring a good warfare you're not going to be choked the word of god is not going
to be choked in your life because of the fact that you're purposely uh serving the lord by fighting
and making sure that you are you know defending doctrine you're studying the word of god you're
fighting your flesh you're fighting the devil you're fighting the world okay and you're like
you mean to tell me that like i have to just constantly be fighting yes that's what we're
here for we're here to fight okay i'm not saying you have to be on fourth gear the entire time
but for the most part our christian life is characterized by fighting
and this is exactly one some of the reasons why churches stay unfruitful because yeah they're
in church sunday morning sunday night wednesday night they got their midweek service but they're
not fighting false prophets they're not fighting false doctrine they're not fighting the world
trying to keep the world out of their church they're not fighting to keep their families
together they're not fighting to keep themselves together they're not fighting anything they're
not fighting sin they're not fighting the devil they're just kind of cruise controlling the
christian life and that's why they're unfruitful and so don't be the christian who's receiving
seed among thorns don't be the heart that is among thorns that is entangled right with the
affairs of this life so you can please him so you can be a good soldier and be effective in the
christian life so again the first one is the person who's just done with the truth they don't
want the truth the second person is the individual that is not rooted in the christian life and so
therefore you know when the homos come and they break a window they're just like i can't go back
to that church because what if that rock would have hit me or something you know what if they
blew me up or something i could have been in that building at two o'clock in the morning and
something could have happened to me or something you know they're just they're just easily offended
and offended doesn't mean like like they got their little feelings hurt offended here means
that they're they're they stumbled okay they just they can't proceed further into christian life
because of the fact that they're scared and then of course those among thorns are essentially the
people who uh they are rooted but they're not doing well as far as bearing fruit is concerned
and folks we got to understand that the goal of the christian life obviously is to be faithful
from beginning to end amen but also to bear fruit because of the fact the bible says be not weary
in well doing for a due season we shall reap if we faint not and so we need to look we need to
keep that on the forefront of our minds like i want to earn a reward i want to serve the lord
because i love the lord it's the love of christ that constrains me to keep serving him because
of what he's done for me but at the same time the opportunity is also there to earn a paycheck okay
at the end of this and i want to earn a paycheck i want to earn a reward i want god to honor me
at the judgment seat of christ okay look at verse 23 but he that receives seed into good ground is
he that heareth the word and understandeth it which also beareth fruits and bringeth forth
some a hundredfold some sixty some thirty this is the ultimate goal the ultimate goal is to be
faithful to be rooted and to be fruitful so this is the person who they understand it they're in
church they've essentially made church a part of their life they're reading the bible every single
day they're in church they are learning how to soul in and they're bringing forth through it
says some 100 fold some 60 some 30. now obviously this could be referring to souls right in a year
span they're getting 100 people saved some of 60 some 30 but they're being fruitful for the lord
and that's where we want to be that's the sweet spot is the good ground okay so my encouragement
to you before i finish up the the the second parable here is be be a good ground christian
you better make sure that on a weekly basis you find yourself on good ground
monday comes around you're like am i on good ground today or is the word of god falling upon
deaf ears am i am i dull of hearing am i rooted in the word of god but am i also being fruitful
you know part of our prayers each week should be lord allow me to lead someone to the lord
this week help me to find someone to get someone saved this week you know give me the privilege
of running into someone who's receptive to the gospel who can hear because i don't want to be
an unfruitful christian and obviously this is not only referring to so we have to be fruitful in
other areas right fruitful at our jobs fruitful in our marriages fruitful with our child rearing
fruitful in everything that we do okay and so that is the parable of the seed and the sower
look at verse 24 it says another parable put he forth unto them saying the kingdom of heaven
is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field
but while men slept his enemy came and so tears among the wheat and went his way but when the
blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit then appeared the tears also so the servants of the
householder came and said unto him sir didst not thou sow good seeds into thy field from whence then
hath it tears he said unto them an enemy hath done this the servant said unto him wilt out then that
we go and gather them up but he said nay lest while you gather up the tears ye root up also
the wheat with them let both grow together until the harvest and in the time of harvest i will say
to the reapers gather you together first the tears and bind them in bundles to burn them but gather
the wheat into my barn now i'm going to skip verses 31 through 35 because i want to spend time on this
particular parable that is further explained in verse 36 now let me just say this regarding this
parable is that i'm going to explain some of the the cryptic terminology here because sometimes
people get confused with this parable because of the sequence because it talks about the end of the
world and how does this match up with the end of the world if the resurrection also what we would
call being the rapture is first but here we see that the master is is gathering the tears first
into bundles and burning them and then he gathers the wheat into his barn how does that is a massive
sequence of the resurrection right so sometimes people can get confused with this but i'm
explaining to you what it means this evening now first and foremost look at verse 36 it says then
jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house and uh his disciples came into him saying
declaring to us the parable of the tears of the field and he answered and said to them
he that soweth the good seed is the son of man the field is the word or excuse me the field is
the world the good seed are the children of the kingdom but the tears are the children of the
wicked one the enemy that sowed them is the devil the harvest is the end of the world and the reapers
are the angels now let me stop there so in when he's given the parable first in the first uh in
verse 25 i want you to notice it says while men slept now we can apply this to church even though
it's not necessarily referring to church because the platform that is being done on is just the
world right so the world is essentially you know the the field where the wheat and the tears are
being sown by god and by the devil but we can apply this to church because this happens in
churches as well where satan sows tears among wheat in a church referring to the fact that
infiltrators will come into a church people who are children of the devil now this should not be
very common but it does happen if it's too common and it happens like every week and there's just
false prophets in the church like every week infiltrators every week then there's an issue
and the issue is men are sleeping who are the men the pastors are sleeping on the job because
it's the pastor's job to weed out the tears from a local new testament church now again this isn't
mainly talking about a church because you know people can take that and say well you're not
supposed to kick people out of the church because it says there let them both grow together and then
the harvest comes or whatever but this isn't referring to a local church this is referring
to the world we could apply this to a church and we can see how it can happen in a church
where a pastor is so lenient with his members that he doesn't care what people believe or teach
it's just a smorgasbord of children of god and children of the devil coming into a church
where some dude is like a repent of your sins false prophet and i i've been in churches listen
to me i've been in churches where false prophets are permitted to be in the church where there's
guys in the church who openly reject the king james bible and will uh seek to get new members
and convince them against the king james to use the niv or nkjv or whatever and they'll go around
the church looking for like fresh meat to try to like sway them away from the bible and to teach
false doctrine and these people are just permitted to go unfettered in the church
why because men are sleeping okay now i'm not perfect my pastor friends are not perfect
and we don't have perfect discernment and so you know infiltrators will still come into our church
now i don't think there's any right now i mean if they are then they're just brazen about it
and eventually they will be found out because the bible says that they shall proceed no further
and so i mean there might be a judas around here somewhere i don't know no one look at me
cockeyed right now because i'm gonna start thinking it's probably you okay what are you
looking at no i'm just kidding but you know here at least that when we find out someone's a false
prophet they just immediately get the nine and a half shoe boot out of the church okay whereas
another church is just like well they're just a little off in this area you're wake up you're
asleep wake up stop being asleep at the wheel the guy's a false prophet teaches a false gospel he's
not a little off yeah and by the way he might be a little off but that little that he's off is going
to split hell it's going to cause him to split hell wide open and anybody else who he takes with
them okay who believes like him now what is this referring to because let me just take a few
moments of your time this beautiful thursday evening to explain what's taking place here okay
because people can get confused about this due to the the order of sequences of what's taking place
because in our minds based upon the eschatological sequence of the bible you know it's like the
rapture takes place first he gathers all believers together they go to heaven we go to heaven and
then later the wicked are cast into the lake of fire right so when you read this it's just like
well i don't know how this makes sense look at verse 40 as therefore the tears are gathered
and burned in the fire so shall be in the end of the world so the man shall send forth his angels
and they shall gather out of out of his kingdom all things that offend and then which do iniquity
and shall cast them into the furnace of fire there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth
then shall the righteous shine forth as a son in the kingdom of their father who has ears to hear
well since we have ears to hear you will have no problem understanding what i'm about to explain
okay because you want to understand right this is not referring to the resurrection or i'm sorry let
me back up this is not referring to the first resurrection this is actually referring to
the resurrection of the damned that takes place around the same time as the second resurrection
the first resurrection is the rapture okay when jesus christ comes in the clouds
three and a half years thereafter is the establishment of the millennial reign
a thousand years after that you have the battle of gog and magog and then the white throne judgment
or somewhere in that little time frame between the battle of gog and magog
and the white throne judgment you have the resurrection of the just and of the unjust
how do we know that well revelation 20 explicitly shows us that there's a resurrection of the dead
where the damned are taken out of their graves out of the oceans the the souls of the dammer
reunited with their physical bodies they're judged according to the books and the book of life
and then they're cast into the lake of fire now revelation 20 does not explicitly talk about the
resurrection of the just when it takes place but we know it's around that time
and thankfully because we have matthew 13 we know what happens after the angels gather the the
the children of the wicked one gather them into bundles and cast them into the fire and then you
have the resurrection of the just now who are the resurrection who are the just that are being
resurrected those who have died during the wrath of god those three and a half years of daniel
70th week the latter end of the three and a half years and those who have just lived and died in
the millennial reign who were saved how do we know that because revelation chapter 20 talks about
the blessing of being a part of the first resurrection implying that there is a second
resurrection so people who die after the rapture who are saved and during the millennial reign
they go to heaven i always get this question asked all the time
where do they go they go to heaven okay which is great but you know it's just better to be a part
of the first resurrection because you get to enjoy the millennial reign that's why it says
it's a blessing to be a part of the first resurrection and how do we know that this is
talking about that because when a person dies and goes to hell today they're not escorted there by
by angels angels don't come and escort people to hell they just lift up their eyes in hell
okay they just drop there you understand you know when someone dies you don't really need
to escort anybody to hell gravity just takes them there you know just they just drop into hell okay
however in the lake of fire though angels do gather people and cast them into the lake of fire
okay and obviously if he's talking about the children of the wicked one that is referring to
those who have died and gone to hell because at that point they're they're they're children of
hell you understand and so when he says in verse 40 is therefore the tares are gathered to be
burned in the fire so shall it be in the end of the world and people get confused because it says
well it says the end of the world yeah but you have to understand something folks when the bible
talks about the end of the world it's a very generic phrase that refers to like a lot of
different markers of end times because you could talk about the rapture as being the end of the
world and you know what you that's correct that's accurate because it's nearing the end of the world
but this end of the world is literally the end of the world
why is that because of the fact that it's the end of this world prior to the transfiguration
of the new world because when we talk about end times we're talking about the teachings of
the end of days the rapture you know the tribulation the wrath of god those events
those particular events well when the bible talks about the end of the world here it's literally
referring to the end of this known world prior to god glorifying the the uh the current world that
we have making it making it the new heaven and the new earth in revelation chapter 21 and 22
does that make sense to everyone does everyone have ears to hear okay and so yes he does gather
to get them together in bundles and cast them into the furnace there shall be wailing and gnashing of
teeth and then the smoking gun of the fact that this the uh the events that we're talking about
here is leading up to the new heaven new earth is verse 43 then shall the righteous shine forth as
the sun in the kingdom of their father who has ears to hear let them hear okay the kingdom of
the father the father descends into this world in revelation chapter 21 does that make sense
to everyone and so the father is not here on this earth during the millennial reign
jesus christ is here the son of god is here but the father at that time is in heaven but then he
it becomes you know his kingdom per se you know because jesus christ delivers up to the kingdom
to the father in revelation 21 and therefore the righteous shall shine forth in that kingdom okay
so that's what that parable is referring to and obviously the the general teaching here
that we can gather is the fact that there will always be wicked people in this world
even during the millennial reign okay wicked people will always exist which is why it says
let me look for it here
verse 41 says the son of man shall send forth his angels and shall gather out of what his kingdom
all things that offend well his kingdom is referring to that millennial reign
and you're like are there like wicked people during the millennial reign dude
the battle of gog and magog is just a bunch of wicked people who think they can like beat god
i mean how wicked delusion and delusional do you have to be and it's like a lot of people it's like
the biggest army there is i mean that's a lot of wicked people so he's he's gathering all those
people out of the kingdom to be tossed into the lake of fire that's it pretty good uh parables
here right hope that made sense hope you all have ears to hear and we'll finish this uh in two weeks
let's pray father we thank you so much for your word and thank you for the parables lord
there's so much deep meaning to them lord help us to continue to grow in our knowledge of the bible
and help us to continue to cultivate a heart that wants to learn the bible wants to learn the truth
may we never fall into the trap that we have grown beyond uh that we've already capped out on on
spiritual growth lord may we constantly have a hunger and thirst after righteousness to know what
the bible has to say lord and may we never reach a point where we feel like we know everything that
we've attained there's always more to learn even as a pastor and i've read the bible many times i
still have not attained i don't know everything and i want to continue to grow and i hope that
10 years 30 years down the road i know way more than that i know now and uh may the same testimony
be in our church lord and with our members bless us as we go on our way we love you we thank you
pray these things in jesus name amen all right we have one last song song 325 trust and over
obey song 325 trust and obey everyone all together nice and strong when we walk with the lord
in the light of his word what a glory he sheds on our way
while we do his good will he abides with us still and with all who will trust and obey
trust and obey for there's no other way to be happy in jesus but to trust and obey
not a shadow can rise not a cloud in the skies but his smile quickly drives it away
not a doubt or a fear not a sign or a tear can abide well we trust and obey trust and obey
obey for there's no other way to be happy in jesus but to trust and obey not a burden we bear
not a sorrow we share but our toll he doth richly repay
not a grief nor a loss not a frown nor a cross but is blessed if we trust and obey
trust and obey for there's no other way to be happy in jesus but to trust and obey but we never
can prove the delights of his love until all on the altar we lay
for the favor he shows and the joy he bestows are for them who will trust and obey
trust and obey for there's no other way to be happy in jesus
but to trust and obey then in fellowship sweep we will sit at his feet him and
or we'll walk by his side in the way
what he says we will do where he sends we will go never fear only trust and obey
trust and obey for there's no other way to be happy in jesus but to trust and obey