WEBVTT 00:00.200 --> 00:08.200 the mysteries of the kingdom the mysteries of the kingdom Matthew chapter 13 is a very interesting chapter in that 00:08.200 --> 00:10.200 It is the chapter that has the most 00:10.640 --> 00:17.600 concentrated amount of parables out of all of the chapters of the Gospels as the most in fact it has about 00:18.080 --> 00:23.720 Seven to eight parables eight if you consider the last portion a parable doesn't necessarily say that it is 00:24.200 --> 00:28.200 But it kind of functions as one he's still using it as an illustration 00:28.200 --> 00:34.520 But for the sake of the sermon, we're going to go over at least the first six. 00:34.520 --> 00:37.920 And I've already preached through the first parable, which is the parable of the seed 00:37.920 --> 00:38.920 and the sower. 00:38.920 --> 00:43.120 It's a very interesting parable that essentially demonstrates that the Word of God, which is 00:43.120 --> 00:45.680 the seed, is sown into various hearts. 00:45.680 --> 00:50.640 We see four types of hearts that the seed is sown, and this essentially represents the 00:50.640 --> 00:53.040 way people receive the Word of God. 00:53.040 --> 00:56.200 of those four, three actually get saved, but at... 00:56.200 --> 00:59.480 of those three, only one actually bears fruit. 00:59.480 --> 01:00.520 And so that is the first parable. 01:00.520 --> 01:01.520 Look at verse 24. 01:01.520 --> 01:06.000 Now, let me give you some introductory statements before we get into the actual parables themselves. 01:06.000 --> 01:08.080 First and foremost, what is a parable? 01:08.080 --> 01:14.240 Well, in other portions of the gospels, we have it being spoken of as a dark saying, 01:14.240 --> 01:16.840 meaning that it is obscure, okay? 01:16.840 --> 01:21.360 Meaning that it's somewhat enigmatic, meaning that the Lord Jesus Christ is illustrating 01:21.360 --> 01:24.160 a spiritual truth through a story and he's... 01:24.200 --> 01:28.360 They're not necessarily divulging all the information or the interpretation thereof 01:28.360 --> 01:29.520 to the multitudes. 01:29.520 --> 01:30.520 Why? 01:30.520 --> 01:34.760 Because there's instances where people who are listening to the parable are not really 01:34.760 --> 01:36.280 interested in hearing the word of God. 01:36.280 --> 01:41.720 They're not really interested in obeying the word, so God gives them a parable, a dark 01:41.720 --> 01:43.500 and keeps them in obscurity. 01:43.600 --> 01:45.600 He keeps them in confusion. 01:45.600 --> 01:48.600 And He gives the interpretation to His disciples. 01:48.600 --> 01:50.600 And in fact, you're in verse 24. 01:50.600 --> 01:53.600 Look at verse number 35, if you would. 01:54.400 --> 01:58.640 Verse 34, excuse me, says, All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables, 01:58.640 --> 02:03.040 and without a parable spake he not unto them. Then it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the 02:03.040 --> 02:09.040 prophets, saying, I will open my mouth in parables. I will utter things which have been kept secret 02:09.040 --> 02:14.640 from the foundation of the world. And so sometimes he just preaching to them in parables, 02:14.640 --> 02:19.600 given these illustrations. Later on, his disciples would come and say, Hey, what exactly does that 02:19.600 --> 02:22.400 mean and he would open that interpretation. 02:22.400 --> 02:25.340 Now this is showing us that if we really want the truth, 02:25.340 --> 02:26.300 we'll get the truth. 02:26.500 --> 02:30.820 Because quite frankly, what's stopping the multitude from coming to Jesus and saying, 02:30.820 --> 02:34.020 hey, you gave this illustration, I don't really understand it. 02:34.020 --> 02:37.220 Can you divulge the info to me, the truth to me? 02:37.220 --> 02:39.300 Can you give me the interpretation thereof? 02:39.300 --> 02:41.300 But obviously, many of them didn't. 02:41.300 --> 02:45.860 The only people who actually came to Jesus after he preached the parables 02:45.860 --> 02:47.300 were the disciples themselves. 02:47.300 --> 02:50.340 So this shows us that if we really want the truth, 02:50.340 --> 02:54.500 if we really want the interpretation of the Bible, God will give it. 02:54.500 --> 02:55.380 to us if you really want it. 02:56.600 --> 02:57.760 I don't understand the Bible. 02:57.760 --> 02:59.480 It's because you don't want to understand the Bible. 02:59.480 --> 03:00.820 Now, obviously, there's instances 03:00.820 --> 03:04.440 where it takes years of studying the Word of God 03:04.440 --> 03:07.280 and getting these deep meanings of the Bible 03:07.280 --> 03:09.360 in order to understand the interpretation thereof. 03:09.360 --> 03:12.600 But in general, if you hunger for truth, 03:12.600 --> 03:16.280 if you want the truth, if you have an appetite for the truth, 03:16.280 --> 03:19.800 if you seek after it, if you pray for it, 03:19.800 --> 03:21.760 you knock on the door for it, you ask for it, 03:21.760 --> 03:22.600 God will give it to you. 03:23.000 --> 03:25.000 Because he wants you to have the truth. 03:25.000 --> 03:27.500 And so he kind of puts out the parable 03:27.500 --> 03:29.900 just to kind of whet the appetite of the multitude 03:29.900 --> 03:31.500 and whoever wants the truth can have it. 03:31.500 --> 03:34.200 But they just have to come through Jesus 03:34.200 --> 03:35.900 and get the interpretation through him. 03:36.100 --> 03:40.320 Another thing I want to mention here is that when we talk about the kingdom of God, what 03:40.320 --> 03:41.320 is that referring to? 03:41.320 --> 03:44.580 Well, the kingdom of God is synonymous with the kingdom of heaven. 03:44.580 --> 03:47.020 These are not mutually exclusive. 03:47.020 --> 03:51.220 They're basically used interchangeably in the gospels. 03:51.220 --> 03:54.780 And really, it could be referring to a variety of things. 03:54.780 --> 03:57.260 It can talk about, for example, salvation. 03:57.260 --> 03:59.700 It could be talking about the gospel. 03:59.700 --> 04:04.100 it can simply be talking about God's economy on how the spiritual 04:04.100 --> 04:09.860 world works for the believer. It can be referring to the rewards we get when we get to heaven. 04:09.860 --> 04:14.580 Okay? This is essentially what the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven is referring to, 04:14.580 --> 04:18.020 and this is something we're going to see in this particular sermon. Look at verse 26 if you would. 04:19.460 --> 04:23.700 I'm sorry, verse 24. It says, another parable put he forth unto them. 04:24.300 --> 04:30.020 Saying the kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field 04:30.140 --> 04:36.260 But while men slept his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way 04:36.260 --> 04:42.960 So this is the parable of the tares among the wheat another way of saying hair is essentially a weed 04:43.100 --> 04:48.060 Okay, and the problem with weeds is that it looks exactly like a wheat 04:48.700 --> 04:51.540 Okay, and this is the problem we're actually seeing here in the parable. 04:51.540 --> 04:54.040 Look at verse 26, it says, 04:54.400 --> 05:00.560 But when the blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. 05:00.560 --> 05:05.760 So the servant of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy 05:05.760 --> 05:12.720 field? From whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants 05:12.720 --> 05:17.040 said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Name. 05:17.700 --> 05:22.700 less why you gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them." 05:22.700 --> 05:28.180 So the parable that we're seeing here is that a man, a farmer, is sowing seeds in order 05:28.180 --> 05:34.740 to produce wheat, but while it is produced, tares come up also, weeds come up also, and 05:34.740 --> 05:35.980 it's mixed in with the wheat. 05:36.400 --> 05:39.760 So the servants come and they're kind of shocked at this. They're just like, Hey, I thought you 05:39.760 --> 05:45.120 sowed good seed. He says, I did, but the enemy must have sown bad seed. And now look at the solution 05:45.120 --> 05:50.800 here. He says in verse 30, let both grow together until the harvest. And at the time of harvest, 05:50.800 --> 05:55.200 I will say to the reapers, gather you together first, the tears, bind them in bundles to burn 05:55.200 --> 06:01.680 them, but gather the wheat into my barn. Skip down to verse 36, where we have the interpretation 06:01.680 --> 06:03.420 of the parable. 06:03.800 --> 06:10.720 It says here in verse 36, Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house, and his disciples 06:10.720 --> 06:14.520 came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. 06:14.520 --> 06:18.520 He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man. 06:18.900 --> 06:25.300 The field is the world, the good seed are the children of the kingdom, but the tares are the children of the wicked one." 06:25.300 --> 06:30.600 Now what's interesting about this is the parable previous to this one is the parable of the seed and the sower. 06:30.600 --> 06:33.100 And the seed represents the word of God. 06:33.100 --> 06:37.300 Whereas in this parable, the seed actually represents saved people. 06:37.300 --> 06:39.100 Children of God. 06:39.100 --> 06:39.600 Okay? 06:40.000 --> 06:44.200 And it specifically says here that God is the one who planted them. 06:44.200 --> 06:46.080 He's the one that sowed these seeds. 06:46.080 --> 06:47.600 He's the one that planted them. 06:47.600 --> 06:50.000 And of course, the tares, as it says here, 06:50.000 --> 06:51.840 are the children of the wicked one. 06:51.840 --> 06:53.560 Now, what does that refer to exactly? 06:53.560 --> 06:57.280 What does it mean to be a child of the wicked one? 06:57.280 --> 07:01.560 This isn't just referring to just unsafe people in general. 07:01.560 --> 07:03.800 And in fact, when you study the New Testament, 07:03.800 --> 07:04.100 our program. 07:04.400 --> 07:09.400 This is also found in the Old, but more specifically and in depth in the New. 07:09.400 --> 07:13.000 You actually find a variety of labels for unsafe people. 07:13.000 --> 07:17.720 Obviously, we know that safe people are referred to as the children of God, the children of 07:17.720 --> 07:19.080 the kingdom. 07:19.080 --> 07:23.880 But when it comes to unsafe people, they're often referred to as children of disobedience. 07:24.300 --> 07:27.260 Children of wrath, the Bible says, right? 07:27.260 --> 07:28.980 We see this in Ephesians chapter 2. 07:28.980 --> 07:31.700 You hath be quickened who were dead in trespasses and sin, 07:31.700 --> 07:33.260 wherein in time past you walked according 07:33.260 --> 07:34.900 to the course of this world, according 07:34.900 --> 07:36.180 to the prince of power of the air, 07:36.180 --> 07:40.100 the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. 07:40.100 --> 07:42.220 Now, why does it call unsafe people children 07:42.220 --> 07:43.580 of disobedience? 07:43.580 --> 07:46.620 Well, because of the fact that we disobey God's laws. 07:46.620 --> 07:47.120 OK? 07:47.500 --> 07:51.580 You know, the carnal mind is not subject to God, neither indeed, or is not subject to 07:51.580 --> 07:56.140 the law of God, neither indeed can be, according to Romans chapter number 8. 07:56.140 --> 07:57.140 Okay? 07:57.140 --> 08:01.900 But the Bible also calls unsafe people children of wrath. 08:01.900 --> 08:02.900 Why? 08:02.900 --> 08:05.380 Because an unsafe person is under the wrath of God. 08:05.800 --> 08:10.280 John 3.36 says, He that believeth on the sun hath everlasting life. 08:10.280 --> 08:12.840 He that believeth not the sun shall not see life. 08:12.840 --> 08:16.560 Listen to this, but the wrath of God abideth on him. 08:16.560 --> 08:21.820 So there are essentially people, we were that people, that were under God's wrath because 08:21.820 --> 08:22.960 of our disobedience to God. 08:23.400 --> 08:25.360 This doesn't mean we're without hope, right? 08:25.360 --> 08:26.720 God is not willing that any should perish, 08:26.720 --> 08:28.440 but that all should come to repentance. 08:28.440 --> 08:31.240 And God commands all men everywhere to repent. 08:31.240 --> 08:33.160 And what that means is that he wants people 08:33.160 --> 08:36.160 to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. 08:36.160 --> 08:39.400 He wants them to stop placing their faith in their works, 08:39.400 --> 08:41.880 their dead works, and place their faith in Jesus Christ 08:41.880 --> 08:44.680 exclusively for salvation, at which point 08:44.680 --> 08:45.880 you become a child of God. 08:45.880 --> 08:46.100 you 08:46.300 --> 08:52.420 You know the Bible says in John 1 12 but as many as received him to them gave you power to become the sons of God 08:52.740 --> 08:54.740 Even unto them that believe on his name 08:55.300 --> 08:57.060 1st John chapter 3 verse 1 says, 08:57.060 --> 08:58.660 Behold what banner of love the Father 08:58.660 --> 09:00.220 hath bestowed upon us, that we should 09:00.220 --> 09:02.380 be called the sons of God. 09:02.380 --> 09:05.540 So in the New Testament, we find safe people 09:05.540 --> 09:07.300 being referred to as the children of God 09:07.300 --> 09:08.660 through faith in Christ. 09:08.660 --> 09:12.240 Unsafe people are referred to as children of disobedience, 09:12.240 --> 09:16.420 children of wrath, or simply this, the natural man. 09:16.420 --> 09:16.920 Right? 09:16.920 --> 09:17.000 you 09:17.000 --> 09:21.440 1st Corinthians chapter 2 says, but the natural man, listen to this, 09:21.440 --> 09:26.000 receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for there are foolishness unto him. 09:26.000 --> 09:29.480 Neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 09:29.480 --> 09:33.160 Now why does the Bible call the unsaved person a natural man? 09:33.160 --> 09:36.100 Well because he is absent of the supernatural. 09:36.500 --> 09:39.140 He doesn't have the new man abiding within him. 09:39.140 --> 09:41.220 He doesn't have the spirit of God abiding within him. 09:41.220 --> 09:44.000 Therefore, according to biblical standards, 09:44.000 --> 09:47.540 he is a natural man without God. 09:47.540 --> 09:49.980 He's without God, without Christ in the world. 09:49.980 --> 09:52.820 He is alien from the Commonwealth of Israel, 09:52.820 --> 09:54.580 and so forth. 09:54.580 --> 09:57.140 And so, by the way, side note here, 09:57.140 --> 09:59.220 this is why we should never go to unsaved people 09:59.220 --> 10:00.060 to learn the Bible. 10:00.800 --> 10:06.520 Should never listen to unsafe preachers, unsafe people who try to interpret the Bible. 10:06.520 --> 10:09.360 Why? Because the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. 10:09.360 --> 10:10.880 They can't understand it. 10:10.880 --> 10:14.120 And look folks, and I'm talking about people who claim to be Christians. 10:14.120 --> 10:17.360 I'm talking about people who claim to be saved. 10:17.360 --> 10:19.560 We got to know what they believe about salvation. 10:20.500 --> 10:25.620 Just because they talk about Jesus, they talk about the Bible, they claim to teach doctrine, 10:25.620 --> 10:29.920 they went to a seminary, they went to a Bible college, doesn't mean they're saved. 10:29.920 --> 10:31.280 You say, well how do you know they're saved? 10:31.280 --> 10:37.240 If they believe in the right gospel, which is salvation by grace through faith alone. 10:37.240 --> 10:39.420 Plus nothing minus nothing. 10:39.420 --> 10:44.980 If there's a pastor out there that does not hold to the biblical doctrine of justification 10:44.980 --> 10:48.020 according to biblical standards, that person's not saved. 10:49.200 --> 10:51.280 How can you just say that people are not saved? 10:51.280 --> 10:52.960 The Bible does it all the time. 10:52.960 --> 10:56.080 It literally holds the standard, gives us 10:56.080 --> 10:58.800 the standard of what it means to be saved. 10:58.800 --> 11:00.800 If a person does not meet that standard, 11:00.800 --> 11:03.680 it automatically means they're not saved in God's eyes. 11:03.680 --> 11:07.440 And we should not consider them saved as well. 11:07.440 --> 11:09.040 And so there's children of wrath. 11:09.040 --> 11:11.680 There's children of disobedience. 11:11.680 --> 11:14.400 But then you have a separate category known 11:14.400 --> 11:16.040 as the children of the devil. 11:16.800 --> 11:20.080 the children of the wicked one. 11:20.080 --> 11:23.040 Now you think, well, I've heard of the children of the devil. 11:23.040 --> 11:25.000 That sounds familiar. 11:25.000 --> 11:28.600 Obviously, we often associate that with John 8, 44. 11:28.600 --> 11:31.500 Ye are of your father the devil, the less of your father 11:31.500 --> 11:35.160 will you do, when Jesus Christ was preaching against the Jews. 11:35.160 --> 11:37.000 And it's very much accurate to say 11:37.000 --> 11:38.360 that that's who it applies to. 11:38.360 --> 11:41.200 But in its primary context, who is he saying this to? 11:41.200 --> 11:42.640 He's saying this to false teachers. 11:42.640 --> 11:42.900 you 11:43.300 --> 11:46.180 He's saying this to the Pharisees who were Jews, right? 11:46.180 --> 11:49.520 And he's saying that they're the children of the devil. 11:49.520 --> 11:52.140 This is referring to a person who 11:52.140 --> 11:54.580 has been exposed to the truth. 11:54.580 --> 11:57.100 They've been exposed to the right gospel, 11:57.100 --> 11:58.200 and they still refuse it. 11:58.600 --> 12:03.040 Okay, there's various names for these types of people as we see here 12:03.040 --> 12:07.560 They're called the children of the wicked one and John 8 44 children of the devil in the Old Testament 12:07.940 --> 12:11.040 The common label is sons of Belial 12:11.640 --> 12:14.200 daughters of Belial men of Belial 12:14.760 --> 12:20.360 Bible also uses the term reprobate in order to describe these individuals and what does reprobate mean? 12:20.360 --> 12:22.600 It means someone who is beyond the hope of salvation 12:24.700 --> 12:27.460 You say, are you saying that there's people that can no longer be saved? 12:27.460 --> 12:30.180 That's exactly what I'm saying. 12:30.180 --> 12:32.060 And it's not the majority of the population. 12:32.060 --> 12:35.020 This is referring to individuals who've been exposed. 12:35.020 --> 12:37.820 They've been in close proximity to the truth. 12:37.820 --> 12:41.780 They've rejected it and become aggressively antagonistic towards the truth 12:41.780 --> 12:42.700 and towards Christ. 12:42.700 --> 12:45.200 Therefore, God makes them a reprobate. 12:45.400 --> 12:48.520 And the Bible even says, we see it in Matthew 13, 12:48.520 --> 12:50.720 that they close their eyes. 12:50.720 --> 12:54.600 They close their ears, lest they should be converted. 12:54.600 --> 12:56.040 And then in John chapter 12, it says 12:56.040 --> 12:57.880 that God is the one who closes their eyes. 12:57.880 --> 13:00.080 God is the one who closes their ears. 13:00.080 --> 13:00.580 Why? 13:00.580 --> 13:04.840 Because their rejection of the truth is so severe, 13:04.840 --> 13:08.080 is so brazen, that God ends up aiding them 13:08.080 --> 13:09.960 in their rejection of the truth as well, 13:09.960 --> 13:12.760 by giving them a reprobate mind according to Romans chapter 1. 13:13.500 --> 13:15.500 So it's important for us to make the distinction 13:15.500 --> 13:16.660 between these groups. 13:16.660 --> 13:19.220 What we're looking at here in Matthew 13, 13:19.220 --> 13:23.860 when it says that Satan sowed the children of the wicked, 13:23.860 --> 13:27.380 these tares, is not referring to just unsafe people. 13:27.380 --> 13:30.540 It's referring to godless, reprobates children 13:30.540 --> 13:31.860 of the devil. 13:32.800 --> 13:34.440 And you're like, man, that's crazy. 13:34.440 --> 13:35.720 You said some people can't get saved. 13:35.720 --> 13:37.160 Well, obviously, we believe that a lot of people 13:37.160 --> 13:40.200 can get saved, because we're an evangelistic church that 13:40.200 --> 13:43.200 does our due diligence to go out and preach the gospel. 13:43.200 --> 13:45.080 We're just saying that the Bible explicitly teaches 13:45.080 --> 13:46.160 that there are a certain group of people that 13:46.160 --> 13:49.520 cannot be saved, not because they were born that way, 13:49.520 --> 13:52.520 because no one is born not being able to be saved. 13:52.520 --> 13:54.320 Salvation is made available to all. 13:54.320 --> 13:54.500 you 13:54.700 --> 14:01.640 Okay, but they are made reprobate later on if they choose to reject the truth to such an extent that they become 14:01.900 --> 14:05.220 Enemies of the cross of Christ as the Bible puts it okay 14:05.780 --> 14:10.260 So when he says here the field is the world the good seed are the children of the kingdom 14:10.260 --> 14:16.120 But the tears are the children of the wicked one we have a major contrast here between righteous safe people 14:16.700 --> 14:20.140 and then the wicked one, which are reprobates. 14:20.140 --> 14:23.600 Very extreme sides of the pendulum here. 14:24.000 --> 14:25.080 of the spectrum. 14:25.080 --> 14:29.320 He says in verse 39, the enemy that sowed them is the devil. 14:29.320 --> 14:31.760 The harvest is the end of the world, 14:31.760 --> 14:33.720 and the reapers are the angels. 14:33.720 --> 14:35.520 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned 14:35.520 --> 14:38.720 into the fire, so shall it be in the end of the world. 14:38.720 --> 14:40.680 So let me give you the primary interpretation 14:40.680 --> 14:42.180 of this parable, and then we're going 14:42.180 --> 14:44.680 to get into some secondary applications to it. 14:44.680 --> 14:45.000 OK? 14:45.300 --> 14:48.380 Now, in general, I've often interpreted this parable 14:48.380 --> 14:51.600 to simply mean that Satan comes and he sows 14:51.600 --> 14:55.580 tears in churches and different Christian organizations. 14:55.580 --> 14:59.100 And that's very much a reliable interpretation, 14:59.100 --> 15:00.940 a secondary reliable interpretation. 15:00.940 --> 15:03.100 But let me give you the primary application of this, 15:03.100 --> 15:06.180 because it specifically tells us when this happens. 15:06.180 --> 15:07.860 It says that it takes place when? 15:07.860 --> 15:09.700 In the end of the world. 15:09.700 --> 15:10.200 OK? 15:10.200 --> 15:10.300 you 15:11.300 --> 15:16.460 And it says here that the reapers, who are the angels, 15:16.460 --> 15:19.140 gather the children of the wicked. 15:19.140 --> 15:21.820 And then they are cast into the furnace to be burned. 15:21.820 --> 15:24.740 The furnace is obviously referring to hell. 15:24.740 --> 15:27.940 Now, if you know anything about end times Bible prophecy, 15:27.940 --> 15:31.460 you know that this specifically takes place 15:31.460 --> 15:33.540 after the millennial reign of Jesus Christ. 15:34.200 --> 15:38.580 after the battle of Gog and Magog at the White Throne 15:38.580 --> 15:40.440 judgment. 15:40.440 --> 15:44.820 So I submit to you that this parable of the teresone 15:44.820 --> 15:47.000 among the weak is actually referring 15:47.000 --> 15:50.460 to the millennial reign of Jesus Christ, 15:50.460 --> 15:53.020 because you have the children of the kingdom 15:53.020 --> 15:54.540 in the millennial reign. 15:54.540 --> 15:56.780 But then you also have children of the wicked 15:56.780 --> 15:58.140 in the millennial reign as well. 15:58.500 --> 15:59.500 So how do you know? 15:59.500 --> 16:02.020 Because at the end of those thousand years, 16:02.020 --> 16:07.060 you have Satan being released from the bottomless pit. 16:07.060 --> 16:09.380 And then he goes to deceive the nations. 16:09.380 --> 16:11.580 He gathers them together in order 16:11.580 --> 16:14.660 to fight against Christ and against his people. 16:14.660 --> 16:15.780 And what happens to them? 16:15.780 --> 16:18.140 Well, obviously, they lose really bad. 16:19.400 --> 16:21.840 It's like Conor McGregor trying to kick. 16:21.840 --> 16:25.160 It was one of those. 16:25.160 --> 16:31.680 It's an embarrassing moment for the devil and his children. 16:31.680 --> 16:35.040 Basically, they go and they surround the holy city, 16:35.040 --> 16:38.280 and fire comes down and consumes them and destroys them. 16:38.280 --> 16:39.440 And what happens thereafter? 16:39.440 --> 16:41.120 You have the white-thrown judgment, 16:41.120 --> 16:44.440 where the reapers, who are the angels, gather them, 16:44.440 --> 16:47.120 and then they're cast into the lake of fire. 16:48.000 --> 16:52.320 Look what it goes on to say in verse number 42 again. 16:52.320 --> 16:54.720 It says, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire. 16:54.720 --> 16:56.160 There shall be weeping. 16:56.160 --> 16:58.800 Excuse me, there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 16:58.800 --> 17:01.180 That is a phrase that's commonly used to describe 17:01.180 --> 17:02.240 the lake of fire, right? 17:02.240 --> 17:03.200 Hell. 17:03.200 --> 17:04.880 But I want you to notice verse 43. 17:04.880 --> 17:08.240 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun. 17:08.240 --> 17:08.920 Where? 17:08.920 --> 17:10.800 In the kingdom of their father. 17:12.100 --> 17:16.660 You see, the millennial reign is the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, but after the 17:16.660 --> 17:19.740 millennial reign, he gives the kingdom unto who? 17:19.740 --> 17:21.460 The Father. 17:21.460 --> 17:25.380 And therefore, after the millennial reign, after the white-throne judgment, the children 17:25.380 --> 17:29.540 of the kingdom go into the kingdom of the Father, referring to what? 17:29.540 --> 17:34.380 The new heaven and the new earth. 17:34.380 --> 17:39.500 So what the Bible is telling us here is that even in the millennial reign... 17:40.200 --> 17:43.360 where politics is on our side. 17:43.360 --> 17:46.800 We have Jesus Christ as the king, right? 17:46.800 --> 17:49.920 We have the most righteous individual 17:49.920 --> 17:52.960 that could ever exist on this world, 17:52.960 --> 17:57.920 ruling with a rod of iron, executing great policies, 17:57.920 --> 17:59.280 great laws. 17:59.280 --> 18:01.000 Everything is just awesome. 18:01.000 --> 18:03.400 It's a utopian society for Christians. 18:03.400 --> 18:06.360 Even then, you have the children of the wicked one. 18:06.360 --> 18:06.600 you 18:08.600 --> 18:11.000 You see, the principle here is that it's not 18:11.100 --> 18:14.040 until sin is just completely removed out of the picture 18:14.140 --> 18:16.000 is everything fine and dandy. 18:16.900 --> 18:21.180 It doesn't matter who you get into the White House, 18:21.180 --> 18:24.420 who you get into the government, who you get as a mayor, 18:24.420 --> 18:26.020 who you get as a politician. 18:26.020 --> 18:27.860 The society is always going to be corrupt. 18:27.860 --> 18:28.360 Why? 18:28.360 --> 18:29.580 Because sin is always present. 18:29.580 --> 18:32.580 Because the problem is not politics. 18:32.580 --> 18:34.540 Actually, that is a major problem. 18:34.540 --> 18:38.500 The major problem, the main problem is sin. 18:38.500 --> 18:39.900 We live in a corruptible world. 18:42.000 --> 18:47.500 And to prove that, you have Jesus Christ ruling for a thousand years. 18:47.500 --> 18:52.000 And yet after those thousand years, you still have idiots that are going to think like, 18:52.000 --> 18:55.000 yeah, I think we can take Jesus. 18:55.000 --> 18:58.000 I think we can, I think we got a chance. 18:58.000 --> 19:01.000 Even though a thousand years prior, my friends, listen to me, 19:01.000 --> 19:05.500 a thousand years prior to that, you have what? The Battle of Armageddon. 19:06.100 --> 19:15.300 Where the Antichrist and his false prophet and their armies fight against Jesus Christ and his armies coming from the clouds and they get smoked 19:16.220 --> 19:19.460 And it's not even like it's not even close 19:20.380 --> 19:26.320 Like the Lord just comes down and snatches their souls and he just throws them into hell and then he just he just murks everyone 19:26.320 --> 19:27.780 I 19:27.780 --> 19:33.020 Mean the Bible literally says that the blood was to the bridle of the horses. How about that? I mean, it's a major slaughter 19:33.900 --> 19:36.940 There's just no chance. 19:36.940 --> 19:39.620 But yet 1,000 years later, the descendants 19:39.620 --> 19:43.220 of these individuals, the children of the wicked one, 19:43.220 --> 19:47.620 think that they can actually handle Christ and destroy them. 19:47.620 --> 19:50.700 They're under such a strong delusion, which, by the way, 19:50.700 --> 19:52.740 a strong delusion is a characteristic 19:52.740 --> 19:54.220 of the wicked one. 19:54.220 --> 19:56.420 God gives them strong delusions. 19:56.420 --> 19:59.220 He gives them that they should believe a lie and be damned, 19:59.220 --> 19:59.900 the Bible says. 20:00.700 --> 20:07.060 So we have here a parable that's really demonstrating what's going to take place in the end of the world 20:07.620 --> 20:11.860 This is what it's referring to now go back to verse 25 if you would 20:13.620 --> 20:17.780 Now how do we apply this like well, I'm not even I mean I'm gonna be there pastor 20:17.780 --> 20:22.340 But how is that applicable to me like you were gonna be the millennial already saved 20:23.000 --> 20:27.360 Well, this is how we can apply it, because this really applies throughout all ages, 20:27.560 --> 20:33.080 because tears are being sown in this world throughout all generations. 20:33.080 --> 20:33.760 Right. 20:33.960 --> 20:35.720 And we can apply to our church. 20:35.720 --> 20:37.280 We can apply to churches in general. 20:37.480 --> 20:39.760 We can apply to the world that Satan is 20:39.960 --> 20:45.520 constantly sowing the wicked amongst the righteous. 20:45.720 --> 20:50.200 He says in verse 26, and here's why that's dangerous. 20:50.400 --> 20:52.820 But when the blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit, 20:52.820 --> 20:55.280 then appeared the tares also. 20:55.280 --> 20:56.920 Now, what's the problem with tares? 20:56.920 --> 20:59.000 You're like, well, just remove the tares. 20:59.000 --> 21:00.360 If there's false prophets, just remove it. 21:00.360 --> 21:01.360 Well, here's the problem. 21:01.360 --> 21:04.120 They look like the wheat, though. 21:04.120 --> 21:06.200 I mean, the Bible says in Matthew chapter 7 21:06.200 --> 21:08.920 that false prophets are like sheep, 21:08.920 --> 21:11.960 are like wolves with sheep's clothing. 21:11.960 --> 21:13.520 You know, 2 Timothy chapter 3 says 21:13.520 --> 21:15.220 that they have a form of godliness, 21:15.220 --> 21:16.600 but they deny the power thereof. 21:16.800 --> 21:17.720 OK? 21:17.720 --> 21:23.140 Meaning that they look like, talk like, act like a believer. 21:23.140 --> 21:26.000 The weed looks like the wheat. 21:26.000 --> 21:28.020 OK? 21:28.020 --> 21:29.840 And when it brings, I mean, when it springs up, 21:29.840 --> 21:35.000 even the blade that it has looks like a blade of a wheat. 21:35.200 --> 21:42.560 Meaning that you know Satan plants these people to look exactly like Christians to look exactly like believers 21:42.560 --> 21:47.040 Now the first thing we need to take away from that is that we need to make sure we don't live in La La Land 21:47.120 --> 21:49.760 And in this fantasy world where this is not a reality 21:51.040 --> 21:56.440 Okay, you need to understand folks that we live in such a godless and wicked world 21:56.440 --> 21:59.420 And there are children of the wicked one in this world 22:00.300 --> 22:01.180 And you know what? 22:01.180 --> 22:02.660 They want to infiltrate churches. 22:02.660 --> 22:04.560 They do infiltrate churches. 22:04.560 --> 22:06.660 They take advantage of the innocent. 22:06.660 --> 22:09.020 They destroy righteous people. 22:09.020 --> 22:11.380 They seek to destroy righteous churches. 22:11.380 --> 22:13.380 They seek to destroy organizations. 22:13.380 --> 22:15.660 And you can't just turn a blind eye and say, well, 22:15.660 --> 22:17.580 I just don't think that will happen in our time. 22:17.580 --> 22:18.420 Then you know what? 22:18.420 --> 22:20.500 You're an absolute idiot. 22:22.600 --> 22:26.160 I'm trying to be nice to you. 22:26.160 --> 22:27.800 Because the Bible specifically tells us 22:27.800 --> 22:30.160 that tares are sown among the wheat. 22:30.160 --> 22:32.640 And we can't just say, well, that's not here, though. 22:32.640 --> 22:33.400 Well, you know what? 22:33.400 --> 22:35.880 As much as I preach the Bible, as much as I preach 22:35.880 --> 22:37.800 against false prophets, I guarantee you 22:37.800 --> 22:41.160 we will have tares in the wheat here in this congregation 22:41.160 --> 22:44.640 one day, if not already. 22:44.640 --> 22:47.600 Look, folks, Judas was among the 12. 22:47.600 --> 22:48.920 He's a child of the wicked one. 22:51.200 --> 22:52.200 Look at verse 27 again. 22:52.200 --> 22:54.600 It says, so the servant of the household that came and said, 22:54.600 --> 22:56.840 sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? 22:56.840 --> 22:58.640 From whence then hath it tears? 22:58.640 --> 22:59.160 So it's funny. 22:59.160 --> 23:00.680 He's like, well, maybe the servant comes and is like, 23:00.680 --> 23:01.880 hey, how can this be? 23:01.880 --> 23:03.920 Didn't you sow good seed? 23:03.920 --> 23:07.240 It's almost like he's giving this backhanded comment here. 23:07.240 --> 23:10.000 And it's not like the seed was bad. 23:10.000 --> 23:11.600 The Lord is sowing good seed. 23:11.800 --> 23:13.800 But there's two reasons why the wicked are 23:13.800 --> 23:14.920 sown amongst the tares. 23:14.920 --> 23:17.000 Number one is that, I'll be honest with you, 23:17.000 --> 23:21.000 sometimes good seed produces the children of the wicked. 23:21.000 --> 23:22.800 Yes, that's true. 23:22.800 --> 23:24.480 How so? 23:24.480 --> 23:26.200 The reason people become reprobates 23:26.200 --> 23:27.700 is because they're exposed to the truth 23:27.700 --> 23:29.520 and they reject the truth. 23:29.520 --> 23:32.120 This is what's commonly referred to as an apostate. 23:32.120 --> 23:32.400 you 23:33.000 --> 23:39.900 Someone who you know goes to a Bible-believing church, they're exposed to the truth of God's Word, 23:40.180 --> 23:45.820 they're exposed to the gospel, they even claim to make a profession of faith, but in here, they don't really believe it. 23:46.800 --> 23:50.300 They go along to get along, they play along, 23:50.300 --> 23:54.720 and they will remain in that congregation for years on end, 23:54.720 --> 23:57.540 just completely rejecting the preaching of God's word, 23:57.540 --> 23:59.900 acting like they believe it, but they actually don't. 23:59.900 --> 24:00.500 You know what God does? 24:00.500 --> 24:02.980 He makes them an apostate, is what He does. 24:02.980 --> 24:04.100 Go to Hebrews chapter 6. 24:04.100 --> 24:06.860 Let's go to Hebrews chapter 6. 24:06.860 --> 24:09.900 So again, when we talk about the children of the wicked, 24:09.900 --> 24:11.420 we are referring to. 24:11.420 --> 24:11.600 you 24:12.300 --> 24:13.460 False prophets. 24:13.460 --> 24:16.860 We are referring to children of the devil. 24:16.860 --> 24:18.180 We're referring to sons of Belial, 24:18.180 --> 24:19.860 as it says in the Old Testament. 24:19.860 --> 24:22.820 But we're also referring to reprobates. 24:22.820 --> 24:27.020 Hebrews chapter 6 is a fantastic chapter 24:27.020 --> 24:31.500 to teach this biblical doctrine of apostasy. 24:31.500 --> 24:33.940 And this is a chapter, ironically, 24:33.940 --> 24:35.660 that apostates will use to teach you 24:35.660 --> 24:38.380 you can lose your salvation. 24:38.380 --> 24:39.780 Define irony. 24:39.780 --> 24:40.000 Thanks for watching! 24:40.900 --> 24:42.340 But let's see what it actually teaches. 24:42.340 --> 24:44.500 Verse 1 of Hebrews 6, it says, therefore, 24:44.500 --> 24:46.840 leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, 24:46.840 --> 24:49.180 let us go on into perfection, not laying again 24:49.180 --> 24:50.980 the foundation of repentance from dead works 24:50.980 --> 24:54.520 and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms 24:54.520 --> 24:57.020 and of the laying on of hands and of resurrection of the dead 24:57.020 --> 24:57.980 and of eternal judgment. 24:57.980 --> 24:59.100 So let me stop real quick and give you 24:59.100 --> 25:00.540 a synopsis of what we just read. 25:01.000 --> 25:05.320 The apostle Paul states here that eventually we 25:05.320 --> 25:07.760 have to leave the principles of the doctrines of Christ. 25:07.760 --> 25:10.120 This doesn't mean like leave them indefinitely. 25:10.120 --> 25:12.840 It means we need to grow from that. 25:12.840 --> 25:14.560 The principles of the doctrines of Christ 25:14.560 --> 25:16.960 are the foundational fundamental beliefs 25:16.960 --> 25:19.040 of the Christian faith. 25:19.040 --> 25:21.120 Salvation is a fundamental doctrine 25:21.120 --> 25:22.280 of the Christian faith. 25:22.280 --> 25:24.120 But eventually we've got to move on from that 25:24.120 --> 25:27.880 and learn other stuff in the Bible, the deeper things of God. 25:28.200 --> 25:32.200 And he lays a lot of foundational doctrines here in verses one and two. 25:32.200 --> 25:34.920 And he says, you know, let us go on into perfection. 25:34.920 --> 25:35.960 What does perfection mean? 25:35.960 --> 25:38.880 Means completeness, maturity. 25:38.880 --> 25:45.280 Let's leave these fundamental doctrines and let's go ahead and learn other deep things of the Word of God. 25:45.280 --> 25:47.120 This is what it means to grow in grace. 25:47.120 --> 25:47.840 Listen to this. 25:47.840 --> 25:50.640 And in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 25:51.100 --> 25:56.620 It should be your goal that you don't just learn about salvation, baptism, eternal damnation, 25:56.620 --> 25:57.620 and judgment. 25:57.620 --> 26:01.660 You should seek to move beyond that and learn the deeper things of God's word. 26:01.660 --> 26:02.660 All right. 26:02.660 --> 26:04.940 And the Bible tells us that the spirit searches all things. 26:04.940 --> 26:05.940 Listen to this. 26:05.940 --> 26:09.300 They the deep things of God. 26:09.300 --> 26:13.500 So he says, leave in the principles, let us go on into perfection. 26:13.500 --> 26:16.300 But look what it says in verse three, in this we will do. 26:17.000 --> 26:18.720 We will move on to perfection. 26:18.720 --> 26:19.520 Listen to this. 26:19.520 --> 26:22.160 If God permit. 26:22.160 --> 26:24.760 Meaning that there is a possibility with some people 26:24.760 --> 26:28.600 that God will not allow them to go on to perfection. 26:28.600 --> 26:29.240 Why? 26:29.240 --> 26:31.360 Because they're apostates. 26:31.360 --> 26:35.600 Because if a person is in church learning about salvation 26:35.600 --> 26:38.160 and they don't believe salvation, then guess what? 26:38.160 --> 26:39.500 They can't learn anything else. 26:40.300 --> 26:47.900 They've rejected the fundamentals of the Christian faith, and therefore God will not allow them to proceed any further. 26:47.900 --> 26:53.100 And look, make no mistake about it, you know, false prophets and apostates, they can learn information. 26:53.100 --> 26:55.600 They know how to repeat information. 26:56.100 --> 27:03.100 They can repeat and memorize Bible characters and timelines and chronologies of the Word of God. 27:03.100 --> 27:05.100 That's very much a thing. Of course you can. 27:05.100 --> 27:09.100 But as far as the deep things of God, the things that the Spirit can only reveal, 27:09.100 --> 27:11.100 they can't get that because they're not saved. 27:11.100 --> 27:15.100 Because the Bible says that the natural man received it not the things of the Spirit of God. 27:15.100 --> 27:18.100 So he says this is what we do if God permit. 27:18.100 --> 27:19.100 Look at verse 4. 27:19.100 --> 27:23.060 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened 27:23.800 --> 27:26.360 and have tasted of the heavenly gift, 27:26.360 --> 27:28.440 were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 27:28.440 --> 27:31.280 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world 27:31.280 --> 27:33.880 to come, if they shall fall away." 27:33.880 --> 27:36.200 Now, fall away is a very important phrase there, 27:36.200 --> 27:39.600 two words, that means apostasy. 27:39.600 --> 27:42.040 That's literally where we get our word apostasy 27:42.040 --> 27:43.520 from, from the original language. 27:43.900 --> 27:49.900 To fall away means if they apostatize, if they go apostate, it's impossible. 27:49.900 --> 27:53.900 Look what it says, to renew them again unto repentance, 27:53.900 --> 27:57.900 seeing they crucified to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame. 27:58.300 --> 28:01.140 So it says, if a person just deviates 28:01.140 --> 28:05.620 from the doctrines of Christ, if he deviates from salvation, 28:05.620 --> 28:07.700 from the divinity of Jesus Christ, 28:07.700 --> 28:12.540 from the authority of the Bible, if he deviates and transgresses 28:12.540 --> 28:15.980 the doctrines of Christ, it's impossible to get 28:15.980 --> 28:18.380 this person saved. 28:18.380 --> 28:19.140 You say, why? 28:19.140 --> 28:20.260 I thought everyone had a chance. 28:20.260 --> 28:20.980 I'll tell you why. 28:20.980 --> 28:23.340 Because the reason they're in that situation to begin with 28:23.340 --> 28:24.780 is that they're rejected. 28:24.780 --> 28:25.000 Thanks for watching! 28:26.100 --> 28:29.100 the first principles of the doctrines of Christ. 28:29.100 --> 28:31.320 How can you get this person saved 28:31.320 --> 28:33.780 if the reason they're in that situation to begin with 28:33.780 --> 28:36.840 is because they rejected those doctrines? 28:36.840 --> 28:39.340 That's called an apostate. 28:39.340 --> 28:43.660 And look, obviously, all of us to a certain degree, 28:43.660 --> 28:45.180 maybe we fought against the truth, 28:45.180 --> 28:49.820 or we didn't have a full understanding of the truth. 28:49.820 --> 28:51.740 Like it was just kind of going over our heads. 28:51.740 --> 28:51.900 you 28:52.000 --> 28:55.600 I mean, folks, I remember before I was saved hearing the gospel. 28:56.300 --> 28:58.560 I remember people giving me the gospel. 28:58.560 --> 29:03.140 I remember saying things that were in, you know, in lockstep with the gospel. 29:03.200 --> 29:05.400 But in my heart, I didn't quite understand it. 29:06.400 --> 29:11.200 And it wasn't until years after that, you know, people were sowing the seed 29:11.200 --> 29:16.880 and watering the ground and praying for me and being exposed to a soul winner. 29:16.980 --> 29:18.640 That I was just like the light bulb went on. 29:18.640 --> 29:19.320 I was like, oh, I get it. 29:20.400 --> 29:23.100 Oh, it was right there all along. 29:23.100 --> 29:24.960 Like, it's just by faith. 29:24.960 --> 29:26.000 And then I got saved. 29:26.000 --> 29:27.280 And it was just like, can you lose yourself? 29:27.280 --> 29:28.500 You can't lose your salvation. 29:28.500 --> 29:31.040 It was just like, ding. 29:31.040 --> 29:33.160 I mean, I literally remember asking someone, 29:33.160 --> 29:35.000 like, what if you do something really bad? 29:35.000 --> 29:36.440 Can't you lose your salvation? 29:36.440 --> 29:38.840 And an assistant pastor said, no. 29:38.840 --> 29:40.560 He said, the Bible says, for by grace 29:40.560 --> 29:42.640 are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves, 29:42.640 --> 29:44.280 it is the gift of God, not of works 29:44.280 --> 29:45.400 that any man should boast. 29:45.400 --> 29:46.240 And he just walked away. 29:46.240 --> 29:47.000 And I was just like, 29:47.200 --> 29:50.040 Oh, yeah. 29:50.040 --> 29:52.680 That's true. 29:52.680 --> 29:54.080 The light bulb went on. 29:54.080 --> 29:55.680 I understood the gospel. 29:55.680 --> 29:57.280 That's not who we're talking about. 29:57.280 --> 29:59.960 We're talking about someone who understands that and says, 29:59.960 --> 30:01.680 nah. 30:01.680 --> 30:04.560 They're literally on the brink of salvation. 30:04.560 --> 30:06.840 They're in close proximity to the truth. 30:06.840 --> 30:10.120 And they choose not to step over and believe it. 30:10.120 --> 30:12.120 They just say, no, I'm just going to remain here. 30:12.120 --> 30:12.920 You say, well, 30:12.920 --> 30:13.100 you 30:13.600 --> 30:15.140 Do they really become apostate? 30:15.140 --> 30:17.980 Well, what if they stay there for years? 30:17.980 --> 30:19.500 Isn't that weird? 30:19.500 --> 30:21.180 What if they get themselves up, they 30:21.180 --> 30:25.120 get their hinder parts up every single Sunday morning 30:25.120 --> 30:26.960 to come to church and hear preaching 30:26.960 --> 30:29.460 that they don't believe? 30:29.460 --> 30:34.180 What if they actually go with the church to go evangelize 30:34.180 --> 30:36.300 and go preach things that they don't believe? 30:36.300 --> 30:36.600 Thanks for watching! 30:37.500 --> 30:38.780 Then you got yourself a problem. 30:38.780 --> 30:42.580 This is a person who makes a mockery of the truth, 30:42.580 --> 30:44.540 because they don't believe it. 30:44.540 --> 30:45.540 There's people like that? 30:45.540 --> 30:48.820 Well, Judas Iscariot literally was 30:48.820 --> 30:50.820 involved in the ministry of Jesus Christ 30:50.820 --> 30:52.940 for 3 and 1 half years. 30:52.940 --> 30:56.340 And I guarantee you he was preaching the gospel, 30:56.340 --> 30:58.100 all the while not believing it. 30:59.500 --> 31:00.740 What happens to that person? 31:00.740 --> 31:02.140 They become apostate. 31:02.140 --> 31:04.820 It's impossible to renew them again into repentance. 31:04.820 --> 31:06.700 They've crossed the line, and now they 31:06.700 --> 31:07.860 are children of the wicked one. 31:07.860 --> 31:08.540 So you know what? 31:08.540 --> 31:09.540 To a certain degree, yes. 31:09.540 --> 31:11.100 Go back to Matthew 13. 31:11.100 --> 31:12.940 To a certain degree, yes. 31:12.940 --> 31:15.300 The Word of God can do that. 31:15.300 --> 31:18.340 Because the Word of God illuminates, does it not? 31:18.340 --> 31:20.860 It illuminates us to the truth. 31:20.860 --> 31:24.140 It shines forth the truth in our hearts. 31:24.140 --> 31:26.100 It shines forth the truth of the gospel. 31:26.500 --> 31:31.500 But listen to me, if an unsafe person looks at that light a little too long without believing it, it can blind them. 31:32.500 --> 31:35.500 It can just completely sear their conscience and blind them. 31:35.500 --> 31:37.500 The Word of God is super powerful. 31:38.500 --> 31:40.500 It's so powerful that it can save your soul. 31:41.500 --> 31:45.500 But may I say this? It's so powerful that if you mock it, it'll damn your soul as well. 31:45.500 --> 31:47.500 Because of your rejection of the truth. 31:48.500 --> 31:52.500 And you think to yourself, man, I just can't see how someone can do that. I know you can't because you're saved. 31:54.200 --> 31:55.920 When we talk about salvation being a gift, 31:55.920 --> 31:58.120 it's like, why would you reject a gift? 31:58.120 --> 32:00.680 I don't know, bro. 32:00.680 --> 32:02.360 I don't know why people would do that. 32:02.360 --> 32:03.400 It's just beyond me. 32:03.400 --> 32:04.440 I don't understand that. 32:04.440 --> 32:07.680 But there are people in this world that do that. 32:07.680 --> 32:10.000 The Bible dedicates a lot of content 32:10.000 --> 32:12.040 talking about these individuals who do so. 32:12.040 --> 32:14.080 And you know what a proper label for them is? 32:14.080 --> 32:17.160 The children of the wicked. 32:17.160 --> 32:20.160 He says in verse, uh, 32:20.160 --> 32:20.200 you 32:20.900 --> 32:26.920 28 again an enemy has done this the servants sent into them without then do we go and gather them up 32:26.920 --> 32:30.680 So one way that you get children of the wicked is because the word of God 32:31.140 --> 32:37.360 Just makes people that way because they just reject it God's not God's not mocked for whatsoever man. So if that's how they also reap 32:38.500 --> 32:41.660 And look, folks, the Bible talks about in Proverbs chapter 1, 32:41.660 --> 32:44.420 there comes a time when people would just not be corrected, 32:44.420 --> 32:46.160 they would not be reproved, and then there's 32:46.160 --> 32:47.620 going to come a time when they call upon him, 32:47.620 --> 32:49.740 and he's like, I'm going to laugh at your calamity 32:49.740 --> 32:51.600 when your desolation comes as a whirlwind. 32:51.600 --> 32:53.620 That's what God said. 32:53.620 --> 32:57.220 He's speaking to the children of the wicked. 32:57.220 --> 32:59.740 So sometimes the wicked are produced in churches, 32:59.740 --> 33:02.660 but sometimes the wicked are just produced outside of church. 33:03.200 --> 33:04.800 where they just hate God. 33:04.800 --> 33:08.800 And then Satan uses them as agents of Satan 33:08.800 --> 33:12.480 amongst churches, organizations, political realms. 33:12.480 --> 33:14.960 And he sows the tears among the wheat 33:14.960 --> 33:18.200 in order to corrupt, in order to cause confusion, 33:18.200 --> 33:20.280 in order to cause strife, and all types of issues 33:20.280 --> 33:21.280 and problems. 33:21.280 --> 33:23.240 So the servant in verse 28 says, why don't we 33:23.240 --> 33:25.400 just go and gather them up? 33:25.400 --> 33:27.320 We'll just go and gather them up, 33:27.320 --> 33:28.820 and we'll just throw them in the fire. 33:29.200 --> 33:32.320 But I want you to notice what it says in verse 29. 33:32.320 --> 33:37.120 He said, nay, lest while ye gather up the tares, 33:37.120 --> 33:40.840 ye root up also the wheat with them. 33:40.840 --> 33:42.920 What does that mean exactly? 33:42.920 --> 33:47.560 Well, what this is referring to is the fact that the danger, 33:47.560 --> 33:49.840 for example, if we were to apply this to a church. 33:50.500 --> 33:52.340 and maybe there's tears in the church. 33:52.340 --> 33:53.380 What is the danger of this? 33:53.380 --> 33:54.420 Well, the danger is this. 33:54.420 --> 33:58.940 If you believe that there's tears in the church, 33:58.940 --> 34:02.780 and you have this paranoia that there's tears in the church, 34:02.780 --> 34:05.900 then everything looks like a nail because you have a hammer. 34:08.200 --> 34:10.480 Then you're going to start calling people reprobate that 34:10.480 --> 34:12.240 are not reprobate. 34:12.240 --> 34:17.640 And in doing so, with your intention to root up the tares, 34:17.640 --> 34:20.920 you end up taking some wheat with you as well. 34:20.920 --> 34:21.420 Why? 34:21.420 --> 34:23.600 Because they look exactly the same. 34:23.600 --> 34:26.280 The tares look like the wheat. 34:26.280 --> 34:26.920 And you know what? 34:26.920 --> 34:27.920 I'll be honest with you. 34:27.920 --> 34:30.560 Sometimes wheat, they're not apostates or anything like that. 34:30.560 --> 34:32.160 But if they're spiritually immature, 34:32.160 --> 34:33.400 they can act dumb sometimes. 34:33.900 --> 34:36.300 And then another spiritually immature person 34:36.300 --> 34:38.120 who just wants to get rid of the tears 34:38.120 --> 34:40.900 might root up the wheat also. 34:40.900 --> 34:42.020 What is the principle here? 34:42.020 --> 34:45.260 We can't just blatantly call everyone a reprobate. 34:45.260 --> 34:46.700 Everyone is wicked. 34:46.700 --> 34:48.500 Everyone's a child of the devil. 34:48.500 --> 34:50.900 You don't know that. 34:50.900 --> 34:54.180 And God specifically said, hey, don't root them up 34:54.180 --> 34:55.500 lest you take the wheat also. 34:56.300 --> 35:02.300 Unless someone who's actually a wheat ends up getting offended because you claim that that person is a reprobate. 35:04.800 --> 35:05.920 What are we supposed to do? 35:05.920 --> 35:09.720 Well, number one, there are promises in God's word 35:09.720 --> 35:13.160 that specifically tell us that apostates will eventually 35:13.160 --> 35:15.360 reveal themselves. 35:15.360 --> 35:19.320 And this is referring to false teachers, false prophets, 35:19.320 --> 35:21.800 who are actually proclaiming the word, 35:21.800 --> 35:24.160 masquerading as men of God. 35:24.160 --> 35:26.320 The Bible says in 2 Timothy chapter 3, 35:26.600 --> 35:29.880 It tells us, now as Janice in Jambri's withstood Moses, 35:29.880 --> 35:31.600 so do these also resist the truth. 35:31.600 --> 35:33.840 Men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith. 35:33.840 --> 35:38.200 But then it says, and these shall proceed no further. 35:38.200 --> 35:40.200 Meaning that there comes a time where it's just like, 35:40.200 --> 35:43.840 God doesn't allow them to exceed a certain presence 35:43.840 --> 35:47.620 in an organization, in a church, before he exposes them 35:47.620 --> 35:51.560 for being the wicked people that they are. 35:51.560 --> 35:53.920 But let me just be honest with you, sometimes. 35:53.920 --> 35:54.100 you 35:54.400 --> 35:56.800 It doesn't happen. 35:56.800 --> 36:00.600 There's tears in this world that will literally just live and die 36:00.600 --> 36:03.320 in a normal lifespan, and nothing will happen to them 36:03.320 --> 36:05.320 this side of eternity. 36:05.320 --> 36:06.520 That's the way it works. 36:06.520 --> 36:07.280 Say why? 36:07.280 --> 36:08.200 Well, look at verse. 36:08.500 --> 36:17.220 30. Let both grow together until the harvest. And in the time of harvest, I will say to the reapers, 36:17.220 --> 36:22.100 gather ye together first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the 36:22.100 --> 36:26.300 weed into my barn. You know why? Because God says at the end they will be cast 36:26.300 --> 36:27.300 into the furnace. 36:28.700 --> 36:31.420 You and I have a level of discernment. 36:31.420 --> 36:34.140 I have to have a level of discernment as a pastor 36:34.140 --> 36:37.260 to determine who's wheat and who are tares. 36:37.260 --> 36:39.580 But at the end of the day, my understanding 36:39.580 --> 36:42.140 is very finite in comparison to God. 36:43.200 --> 36:45.160 God knows the hearts of men. 36:45.160 --> 36:49.400 He knows who is someone who is twice dead, plucked up 36:49.400 --> 36:52.000 by the roots, as it says in the book of Jude. 36:52.000 --> 36:54.200 He knows who are the saved children of God. 36:54.200 --> 36:54.960 And you know what? 36:54.960 --> 36:57.600 He's the only one who knows these things. 36:57.600 --> 36:59.360 Therefore, when the time comes, he's 36:59.360 --> 37:00.680 going to send forth his reapers, and he's 37:00.680 --> 37:03.340 going to say, tear, tear, tear, tear, tear, we, tear, tear, 37:03.340 --> 37:05.240 tear, we, we, we, tear, tear, tear. 37:06.000 --> 37:07.200 He knows who's who. 37:07.200 --> 37:08.500 He's got everyone's number. 37:08.500 --> 37:09.200 And you know what? 37:09.200 --> 37:14.000 Sometimes we just have to wait until the end before that's 37:14.000 --> 37:15.300 revealed. 37:15.300 --> 37:18.400 Oh man, but just to live in a place, in a world, 37:18.400 --> 37:19.600 and just be worried about that. 37:19.600 --> 37:21.200 Why worry? 37:21.200 --> 37:24.800 No weapon formed against us shall prosper. 37:24.800 --> 37:26.600 You know, the Bible tells us that God 37:26.600 --> 37:28.000 is the one who protects us. 37:28.000 --> 37:30.600 You know, though 10,000 shall fall at thy right side, 37:30.600 --> 37:33.200 10,000 at thy left, and it shall not come nigh unto thee. 37:34.000 --> 37:37.600 You know, God protects us from the devices of the wicked. 37:37.600 --> 37:41.680 We just need to make sure that we're serving God, we're pleasing the Lord, 37:41.680 --> 37:44.480 that we're being delivered from the clutches of the enemy, 37:45.440 --> 37:48.560 and have faith that God will punish these people when the time comes. 37:49.840 --> 37:52.640 You know, going back a couple months with the whole Epstein thing. 37:54.000 --> 37:58.640 You know, a lot of people losing their minds online just like, I can't believe no justice is going to come. 37:58.640 --> 38:02.080 Yeah, that sucks for sure. But you know what? Justice will come. 38:04.080 --> 38:11.120 Justice will come. And the amount of time that these people will spend burning in eternal damnation 38:11.120 --> 38:16.000 is like compared to their life here. Their life here is a draw. It's not even a drop in a bucket. 38:16.880 --> 38:20.480 It's like less than a drop in the bucket compared to eternal damnation. 38:21.400 --> 38:23.280 You're like, I just want to see justice. 38:23.280 --> 38:26.240 We all want to see justice. 38:26.240 --> 38:30.480 But the Lord, the master says, let both grow together. 38:30.480 --> 38:34.160 Don't try to root up the tears, because you might take up 38:34.160 --> 38:35.480 some wheat as well. 38:35.480 --> 38:38.380 You might end up falsely accusing someone. 38:38.380 --> 38:40.200 You might end up passing judgment 38:40.200 --> 38:43.880 on someone who's actually not a reprobate. 38:43.880 --> 38:45.680 And look, I'm for sure guilty of this. 38:45.680 --> 38:46.800 I'll right here. 38:46.800 --> 38:47.000 you 38:47.300 --> 38:48.660 I'm guilty. 38:48.660 --> 38:49.940 I've called people reprobate. 38:49.940 --> 38:53.620 And sometimes I'm fully convinced. 38:53.620 --> 38:56.120 And obviously, I'm not going to carelessly throw that label 38:56.120 --> 38:56.620 out there. 38:56.620 --> 39:00.860 I'll base it off of substantial evidence. 39:00.860 --> 39:03.400 And then there's other people who are just wicked people 39:03.400 --> 39:05.100 that I'm tempted to say they're reprobates. 39:05.100 --> 39:08.620 I'm like, well, until I know for a fact 39:08.620 --> 39:11.460 that this person is an apostate, I'm 39:11.460 --> 39:12.600 not going to say that right now. 39:12.800 --> 39:15.240 And look, don't become so prideful and arrogant, 39:15.240 --> 39:17.980 and be like, oh, I just knew before anybody else has ever 39:17.980 --> 39:19.980 known that this person is an absolute reprobate. 39:19.980 --> 39:22.380 Well, you're not following the biblical standard then. 39:22.380 --> 39:24.640 You're answering the matter before you hear it. 39:24.640 --> 39:26.980 And the biblical standard here is that we're to wait, 39:26.980 --> 39:28.540 according to the Bible. 39:28.540 --> 39:29.420 OK? 39:29.420 --> 39:31.700 Let nothing be judged before the time, the Bible says. 39:32.700 --> 39:33.700 And here's a safe way. 39:33.700 --> 39:35.620 If you have that opinion, you say, you know what? 39:35.620 --> 39:37.180 I think this person's a reprobate. 39:37.180 --> 39:40.940 But I don't know for sure until there's iron clad evidence 39:40.940 --> 39:43.020 that this person is an apostate. 39:43.020 --> 39:43.940 That's just my opinion. 39:43.940 --> 39:45.500 But it's possible that they might be safe. 39:45.500 --> 39:47.060 Now look, folks, there's instances 39:47.060 --> 39:50.220 where there's no doubt. 39:50.220 --> 39:51.220 Right? 39:51.220 --> 39:55.660 If you have some dyke pastor at a Lutheran Presbyterian church, 39:55.660 --> 39:56.780 reprobate. 39:56.780 --> 39:58.700 Reprobate. 39:58.700 --> 39:59.200 Reprobate. 39:59.200 --> 39:59.300 you 40:00.900 --> 40:02.900 Reprobate. 40:02.900 --> 40:05.340 Child of the wicked one, for sure. 40:05.340 --> 40:08.500 Where they're promoting perversion and sodomy 40:08.500 --> 40:11.620 and all types of abominations, reprobate. 40:11.620 --> 40:14.060 We don't even need to wait for this one. 40:14.060 --> 40:15.780 It's not even a wolf in sheep's clothing. 40:15.780 --> 40:16.460 It's just a wolf. 40:16.460 --> 40:18.500 Wolf in wolf's clothing. 40:18.500 --> 40:20.620 That's what it is. 40:20.620 --> 40:25.460 And so don't become so careful that you 40:25.460 --> 40:28.020 can't discern when it's right in front of your eyes, too. 40:29.900 --> 40:31.460 It's important. 40:31.460 --> 40:32.500 What is the parable here? 40:32.500 --> 40:34.940 The parable are the tares among the wheat. 40:34.940 --> 40:37.220 And the reality that we need to accept 40:37.220 --> 40:40.300 is the fact that tares actually exist. 40:40.300 --> 40:44.500 And I hate to even say it, but it is true. 40:44.500 --> 40:46.200 Either we have them now, or one day we 40:46.200 --> 40:48.540 will have tares in the church. 40:48.540 --> 40:49.140 That's a fact. 40:49.140 --> 40:49.300 you 40:49.800 --> 40:50.300 Okay? 40:50.300 --> 40:51.960 And when they get exposed, you can be like, 40:51.960 --> 40:53.720 how did you not know? 40:53.720 --> 40:54.720 I can't believe. 40:54.720 --> 40:57.840 Well, you know, John is one of the most godliest disciples, 40:57.840 --> 41:00.040 and he didn't know either. 41:00.040 --> 41:01.400 So was Peter. 41:01.400 --> 41:06.280 All those guys were legit dudes, and none of them knew. 41:06.280 --> 41:09.640 So don't get on people like, how could you not know? 41:09.640 --> 41:11.160 I just can't believe. 41:11.160 --> 41:12.480 Because they look like wheat. 41:12.480 --> 41:13.280 That's why. 41:13.280 --> 41:13.500 Thanks for watching! 41:15.500 --> 41:19.700 They don't look like a poison ivy. 41:19.700 --> 41:21.140 It doesn't look bad. 41:21.140 --> 41:23.540 It looks like an actual wheat. 41:23.540 --> 41:24.220 And you know what? 41:24.220 --> 41:25.860 The default setting for all of us 41:25.860 --> 41:28.740 should be this person is going in the right direction, 41:28.740 --> 41:31.660 this person believes the right things, or at least claims to, 41:31.660 --> 41:33.940 and we need to accept that. 41:33.940 --> 41:34.740 But what if? 41:34.740 --> 41:36.900 Well, I guess we'll have to leave it in God's hands, huh? 41:37.400 --> 41:40.280 I guess we have to trust in the Lord with all our heart. 41:40.280 --> 41:44.360 Don't lead into our own understanding and all our ways acknowledge him and he will 41:44.360 --> 41:50.760 direct our paths and not worry and have all this anxiety and care and just like I don't know. 41:50.760 --> 41:55.320 I just I just think chill out calm down. 41:56.000 --> 42:00.000 Maybe don't drink too many energy drinks, get some sleep. 42:00.000 --> 42:04.400 You know, you're anxious, you're worried, you're full of care. 42:04.400 --> 42:07.320 Let the peace of God rule in your heart. 42:07.320 --> 42:08.240 Trust in God. 42:08.240 --> 42:09.200 And you know what? 42:09.200 --> 42:11.360 We are His laborers. 42:11.360 --> 42:13.680 We are His servants. 42:13.680 --> 42:16.880 At the end of the day, it's His program. 42:16.880 --> 42:19.880 So He knows if there's tears in the church. 42:19.880 --> 42:22.160 He knows if there's tears among the wheat. 42:22.160 --> 42:23.640 He knows that already. 42:23.640 --> 42:23.800 you 42:24.200 --> 42:27.640 And he's not going to allow us to fall into their devices, 42:27.640 --> 42:29.800 because if we're righteous people serving God, 42:29.800 --> 42:30.840 it's just not going to happen. 42:30.840 --> 42:34.040 We have to have faith in that. 42:34.040 --> 42:37.640 And again, sometimes the tears grow, 42:37.640 --> 42:40.880 and it's just like, this is a tear. 42:40.880 --> 42:42.440 You're a tear. 42:42.440 --> 42:43.680 You're like, how do you know? 42:43.680 --> 42:45.480 Because it's a dude dressed like a woman. 42:47.700 --> 42:49.420 It's like, this is a tear. 42:49.420 --> 42:50.860 Kind of pluck it out. 42:50.860 --> 42:51.980 Get it out. 42:51.980 --> 42:55.140 But there are other instances where it's not as obvious. 42:57.740 --> 43:01.220 The point being here is that eventually the wicked 43:01.220 --> 43:03.900 will receive their punishment. 43:03.900 --> 43:06.860 And sometimes, even with the whole controversy and all 43:06.860 --> 43:08.980 this stuff that's going on, people are like, man, 43:08.980 --> 43:10.500 how come these people aren't being punished? 43:10.500 --> 43:13.700 Yeah, but you don't really know what God has planned, though. 43:14.500 --> 43:15.200 And you know what? 43:15.200 --> 43:16.700 A lot of these wicked people, they'll 43:16.700 --> 43:20.320 even boast in the fact that they're not being punished. 43:20.320 --> 43:25.840 They will glory in the fact that God's not punishing them. 43:25.840 --> 43:27.800 They will. 43:27.800 --> 43:29.880 But all they're doing is, as the Bible says, 43:29.880 --> 43:33.880 treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath. 43:33.880 --> 43:36.880 They're just adding to their bank account of punishment 43:36.880 --> 43:37.720 and wrath. 43:37.720 --> 43:38.420 And you know what? 43:38.420 --> 43:39.360 Again, we may not see it. 43:40.500 --> 43:41.500 Actually, we will see it. 43:41.500 --> 43:44.220 It's just we won't see it this side of the turn. 43:44.220 --> 43:47.700 But when all these events take place in the end of the world, 43:47.700 --> 43:52.540 full justice will be served to the children of the wicked one. 43:52.540 --> 43:54.460 And so very important parable there. 43:54.460 --> 43:56.000 Let's go on to the next one here. 43:59.200 --> 44:04.320 Look at verse 31. It says, Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven 44:04.320 --> 44:10.400 is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in a field, which indeed is the 44:10.400 --> 44:16.400 least of all seeds. But when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs and become it the tree, 44:16.400 --> 44:20.640 so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. Now, in the first parable that 44:20.640 --> 44:21.200 we looked at, 44:21.900 --> 44:27.900 The kingdom of God is being described as a place where even tears exist. 44:27.900 --> 44:32.900 The kingdom of God is a righteous portrayal of God's economy. 44:32.900 --> 44:36.900 But yet even within that righteous realm, there's tears that exist there. 44:36.900 --> 44:37.900 There are wicked people. 44:37.900 --> 44:39.900 You know, this world is not perfect. 44:39.900 --> 44:42.900 It will never be perfect until it's completely terraformed 44:42.900 --> 44:45.900 and glorified into the new heaven and new earth. 44:45.900 --> 44:47.900 In this particular parable... 44:48.000 --> 44:51.160 that Jesus Christ is talking about, the Kingdom of Heaven, 44:51.160 --> 44:57.120 is being described as something that is very small, visibly, 44:57.120 --> 44:58.880 to the naked eye. 44:58.880 --> 45:03.040 But in a spiritual world, it's actually very large. 45:03.040 --> 45:05.960 He specifically says that it's like a grain of mustard seed. 45:05.960 --> 45:08.640 And I don't have a mustard seed, but it's just really tiny. 45:08.640 --> 45:09.900 I'm just going to have to trust me on that. 45:10.200 --> 45:11.400 It's really small. 45:11.400 --> 45:13.240 Now what's interesting about this parable 45:13.240 --> 45:16.840 is that he says that it's like a grain of mustard seed that's 45:16.840 --> 45:20.880 sown in a field, but when it germinates, 45:20.880 --> 45:26.100 it becomes the greatest among herbs and becomes a tree. 45:26.100 --> 45:27.680 And you say, why is that interesting? 45:27.680 --> 45:29.700 Well, because a mustard seed does not produce a tree. 45:30.800 --> 45:32.680 It produces like a shrub. 45:32.680 --> 45:34.880 It can produce a bush of sorts. 45:34.880 --> 45:36.920 But an actual tree? 45:36.920 --> 45:39.560 A mustard seed does not produce that. 45:39.560 --> 45:40.840 So what's the issue here? 45:40.840 --> 45:43.600 Well, what this is essentially telling us here, 45:43.600 --> 45:49.680 it's teaching us exactly what the resurrection does. 45:49.680 --> 45:51.840 Because what is the resurrection of all believers? 45:51.840 --> 45:54.560 What is the transfiguration of all creation? 45:54.560 --> 45:56.280 It's when something goes into the ground 45:56.280 --> 45:58.280 and comes out something completely different. 45:59.300 --> 46:01.300 Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 46:01.300 --> 46:03.300 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 46:07.500 --> 46:09.500 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 46:12.600 --> 46:16.280 Look down at verse number 35, if you would. 46:16.280 --> 46:19.080 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 35. 46:19.080 --> 46:21.120 The Bible reads here, but some man will say, 46:21.120 --> 46:23.120 how are the dead raised up? 46:23.120 --> 46:25.360 And with what body do they come? 46:25.360 --> 46:26.600 Thou fool! 46:26.600 --> 46:29.520 That which thou sowest is not quicken except to die. 46:29.520 --> 46:32.480 And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that 46:32.480 --> 46:36.400 shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat 46:36.400 --> 46:37.680 or of some other grain. 46:38.100 --> 46:44.340 But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him to every seed his own body. 46:44.340 --> 46:49.620 Skip down to verse number 42. It says, so also is the resurrection of the dead. 46:49.620 --> 46:53.380 It is sown in corruption. It is raised in incorruption. 46:53.380 --> 46:56.500 It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory. 46:56.900 --> 47:03.860 It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power. It is sown a natural body. It is raised a spiritual body 47:04.260 --> 47:07.940 There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body 47:08.020 --> 47:15.060 So what is the parable telling us here in matthew chapter 13? It's essentially saying that you know, don't despise 47:15.780 --> 47:17.860 How small the work of the lord is? 47:18.580 --> 47:21.720 Or how much of an impact you can make in this world? 47:22.200 --> 47:27.640 Don't despise how small a church is, how little of a difference you think someone is making, 47:27.640 --> 47:30.920 because at the end of the day, we won't really know until the tree comes out. 47:32.040 --> 47:36.040 And really what this is showing us here, go to 1st Corinthians chapter 1, 1st Corinthians chapter 1, 47:38.120 --> 47:46.120 really what this is showing us is that God often rewards us doubly than what we've actually put into it. 47:47.200 --> 47:52.200 We sow a mustard seed, which to us, the mustard seed could just be everything that we have. 47:52.200 --> 48:03.200 Just sowing, leading people to Christ, discipling people, you know, serving your husband, obeying your husband, loving your wife, raising your children, nurturing the admonition of the Lord, being a blessing in church. 48:03.200 --> 48:06.200 And then you think to yourself like, man, I don't know how much of a difference I really made. 48:06.200 --> 48:09.200 Well, I guess we'll see at the resurrection. 48:09.200 --> 48:12.200 Because at the resurrection, a great tree can come out. 48:12.500 --> 48:16.420 And you're actually larger than life. 48:16.420 --> 48:19.460 And this is demonstrating to us that we should judge nothing 48:19.460 --> 48:21.300 before the time, because we don't really 48:21.300 --> 48:23.620 know who the best Christian actually is. 48:26.220 --> 48:28.980 We don't really know who's the Christian who 48:28.980 --> 48:33.140 has the most rewards, who will be blessed of the Lord. 48:33.140 --> 48:36.140 Like, oh, the mustard seed, yeah. 48:36.140 --> 48:37.380 Might become a tree, though. 48:37.380 --> 48:37.880 I don't know. 48:39.000 --> 48:43.960 So you're best to just mind your own business. 48:43.960 --> 48:45.280 Just serve the Lord. 48:45.280 --> 48:47.160 Instead of comparing yourself to others, 48:47.160 --> 48:49.600 instead of criticizing others' labors, 48:49.600 --> 48:52.600 criticizing what people do, and standing in judgment of them, 48:52.600 --> 48:56.080 you better make sure you just get to work yourself. 48:56.080 --> 48:59.240 Because you might find yourself in the millennial reign 48:59.240 --> 49:00.800 having a little shrub. 49:02.100 --> 49:05.820 You sow the mustard seed, and then you 49:05.820 --> 49:09.620 get a little bonsai tree. 49:09.620 --> 49:12.540 It's like, is this all you get? 49:12.540 --> 49:15.340 That's all you put in. 49:15.340 --> 49:20.820 You get a tree, but it's one of those Japanese trees. 49:20.820 --> 49:24.060 It's one of the midget trees that's just there. 49:24.060 --> 49:26.460 You don't really get anything else. 49:26.460 --> 49:27.180 And you know what? 49:27.180 --> 49:29.340 The Bible talks about being least in the kingdom of heaven, 49:29.340 --> 49:29.800 too. 49:30.800 --> 49:34.200 So there's no equality in heaven. 49:34.200 --> 49:38.320 The only equality that we have is salvation through Christ. 49:38.320 --> 49:43.600 But thereafter, there is status in the kingdom of heaven, 49:43.600 --> 49:45.720 for a fact. 49:45.720 --> 49:48.320 Meaning that there are people that Jesus Christ says 49:48.320 --> 49:50.840 will be greater than others. 49:50.840 --> 49:53.080 And there are people that will be the least in the kingdom 49:53.080 --> 49:53.580 of heaven. 49:53.580 --> 49:53.800 you 49:54.100 --> 50:00.500 There will be people who have power over the nations, and there are those who have power over an alley. 50:01.700 --> 50:06.660 They'll be the street sweepers. That is an actual thing. This is what the Bible tells us. 50:06.660 --> 50:11.460 So, you know, the principle that we can learn here is that just because the world looks at us 50:11.460 --> 50:17.060 and despises us and thinks that we're just something small and what impact can we make, 50:17.060 --> 50:20.260 you know, well, here's the thing though, is that we can produce a tree. 50:20.700 --> 50:25.700 Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse number 27. 50:25.700 --> 50:27.820 It says, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world 50:27.820 --> 50:30.580 to confound the wise, and God has chosen the weak things 50:30.580 --> 50:33.700 of the world to confound the things which are mighty, 50:33.700 --> 50:37.340 and base things of the world and things which are despised 50:37.340 --> 50:39.860 hath God chosen, yea, the things which are not 50:39.860 --> 50:42.500 to bring to naught the things that are, 50:42.500 --> 50:46.700 that no flesh should glory in his presence, the Bible says. 50:47.100 --> 50:53.580 So in other words, what the Bible is saying here is that God often uses the least likely to succeed, so to speak, 50:54.380 --> 50:59.180 so that that person does not boast or glory in their labors. 50:59.180 --> 51:02.060 They glory in the cross of Christ who's working through them. 51:02.060 --> 51:04.140 Okay, go back to Matthew chapter 13. 51:04.860 --> 51:05.900 Matthew chapter 13. 51:07.100 --> 51:10.380 So he says the seed here is sown. 51:11.180 --> 51:13.820 It's the least of the seed, but then becomes the greatest. 51:14.700 --> 51:21.260 This is another demonstration of what Jesus Christ taught that if you want to be the greatest you need to be a servant 51:21.900 --> 51:26.780 Right if you want to be a chief you need to be a servant here in this world 51:27.500 --> 51:41.140 not exercise your dominion as other Gentiles do and flex on others and flex your bank account and flex your possessions and flex your whatever it is that you have that you think makes you great. 51:41.140 --> 51:44.100 Now according to the Bible, be a servant, be a minister. 51:44.100 --> 51:46.900 That's what will make you great in the kingdom of God. 51:49.000 --> 51:53.960 And we need to make sure that we remain humble when God blesses 51:53.960 --> 51:58.000 us with possessions and finances. 51:58.000 --> 52:01.280 Step one, if God blesses you with finances, 52:01.280 --> 52:04.000 he blesses you with possessions, here's a good idea. 52:04.000 --> 52:04.840 Don't talk about it. 52:04.840 --> 52:06.560 Don't brag about it. 52:06.560 --> 52:09.480 That's a good place to start. 52:09.480 --> 52:12.280 And look, some of the richest people that I've ever met, 52:12.280 --> 52:15.000 I didn't know that they were rich. 52:15.000 --> 52:15.760 They weren't like, 52:15.760 --> 52:15.900 you 52:16.400 --> 52:20.400 So how's your day? You know, they're not like laying it out right here. 52:23.300 --> 52:25.300 Don't be a rapper, okay? 52:25.300 --> 52:31.300 Don't be a hip hop rapper, you know, trying to act like you got money when you actually don't. 52:31.300 --> 52:33.300 We know all those bills are fake. 52:33.300 --> 52:39.300 Okay, we know you rented that car, that mansion is an Airbnb, okay? 52:39.300 --> 52:43.300 That's not real, that's not a real millionaire, okay? 52:43.300 --> 52:47.300 Most real millionaires don't even look like it, quite honestly. 52:47.600 --> 52:52.600 OK, I've met some and it's just like they drive a rundown 52:52.600 --> 52:53.600 vehicle. 52:53.600 --> 52:55.160 And they don't really brag about it, 52:55.160 --> 52:57.520 unless we start talking about what they do for a living. 52:57.520 --> 52:58.980 And it's just like, and even then, 52:58.980 --> 53:00.980 they don't tell you they have millions of dollars. 53:00.980 --> 53:04.680 You're just kind of like, OK, this person is very wealthy. 53:04.680 --> 53:06.200 This person's rich. 53:06.200 --> 53:08.840 This person has a lot of money. 53:08.840 --> 53:11.200 But you wouldn't know it, because they don't talk about it. 53:11.700 --> 53:22.500 And so, you know, be the least, be a minister, be someone who's humble, don't be someone who just brags about everything that God has done in your life, because at the end of the day, you could lose it at any given moment. 53:22.500 --> 53:23.500 Okay? 53:23.500 --> 53:31.300 So, it grows into a tree so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. 53:31.300 --> 53:32.500 Look at verse 33. 53:33.000 --> 53:35.160 He goes on to say, another parable spake he unto them. 53:35.160 --> 53:38.280 The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, 53:38.280 --> 53:42.120 which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, 53:42.120 --> 53:43.520 till the whole was leavened. 53:43.520 --> 53:44.360 And that's it. 53:44.360 --> 53:45.320 So think about this. 53:45.320 --> 53:47.240 Jesus preached in this, and he just says that. 53:47.240 --> 53:49.680 And people are like, what does that mean? 53:49.680 --> 53:51.180 It's like, till the whole is leavened. 53:51.180 --> 53:52.160 And he just moves on. 53:55.200 --> 53:56.560 How does that even? 53:56.560 --> 53:57.680 But here's the thing, folks. 53:57.680 --> 53:59.440 Another reason why people don't understand 53:59.440 --> 54:01.320 is because they didn't follow whatever he was saying before 54:01.320 --> 54:04.600 or follow what he says afterwards. 54:04.600 --> 54:08.500 When we look at the description of Levin in the Bible. 54:08.600 --> 54:10.760 As far as the spiritual application, 54:10.760 --> 54:12.500 it's often in reference to sin. 54:12.500 --> 54:13.480 We know that. 54:13.480 --> 54:15.440 A little leaven, leaven at the whole lump. 54:15.440 --> 54:18.440 And that's a great picture of sin. 54:18.440 --> 54:20.320 What sin does is that when it enters your life, 54:20.320 --> 54:22.640 it can often permeate and destroy your life. 54:22.640 --> 54:23.920 But also a church. 54:23.920 --> 54:25.680 A little leaven comes into the church. 54:25.680 --> 54:27.240 You tolerate fornication. 54:27.240 --> 54:28.840 You tolerate drunkenness. 54:28.840 --> 54:31.600 You tolerate adultery and railings 54:31.600 --> 54:32.800 and things of that nature. 54:32.800 --> 54:34.640 It'll end up permeating the church, corrupting it, 54:34.640 --> 54:35.480 and destroying it. 54:36.600 --> 54:41.240 But in this particular context, leaven is not referring to sin. 54:41.240 --> 54:45.320 Leaven is just a depiction of the kingdom of God 54:45.320 --> 54:50.480 and how God wants it to spread in the entire thing. 54:50.480 --> 54:54.840 So that the whole, he says there, the whole is leaven. 54:54.840 --> 54:56.520 And he specifically says that it's 54:56.520 --> 54:59.560 like a woman who takes leaven. 55:00.300 --> 55:02.600 and hides it in three measures of meal. 55:02.600 --> 55:05.400 Now, when you look at that measurement in the Bible, 55:05.400 --> 55:08.600 you often see, you know, for example, Abraham, 55:08.600 --> 55:13.300 when he meets the three men in Genesis 18, 55:13.300 --> 55:18.500 he prepares a meal for them and he puts, you know, three measures of meal. 55:18.500 --> 55:20.400 We see this also in Judges Chapter 6, 55:20.400 --> 55:25.000 and it's often just a picture of giving yourself holy unto the Lord. 55:25.200 --> 55:25.700 OK. 55:25.700 --> 55:27.640 In other words, here's a way to put it. 55:27.640 --> 55:30.360 It's just giving it all you got. 55:30.360 --> 55:34.280 So if we are going to make an impact in this world 55:34.280 --> 55:38.400 as Christians, we've got to give it all. 55:38.400 --> 55:40.560 It's not just sowing. 55:40.560 --> 55:44.040 It's not just leaving your family. 55:44.040 --> 55:47.200 It's not just working in the name of the Lord. 55:47.200 --> 55:49.360 It's just everything. 55:49.360 --> 55:50.200 You've got to do it all. 55:50.800 --> 55:54.360 You know, three is often the number of completion. 55:54.360 --> 55:56.800 You think of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 55:56.800 --> 55:58.160 These three are one. 55:58.160 --> 55:59.300 It's complete, right? 55:59.500 --> 56:03.580 The Bible says to love God with all our heart soul and mind that means love them 56:03.580 --> 56:10.400 Holy it possible says that our body soul and mind would be preserved blameless to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ 56:10.400 --> 56:16.300 Meaning that we're to be preserved holy right completely so when the Bible talks about the three measures of meal 56:16.340 --> 56:19.060 He's saying you know serve God completely 56:20.420 --> 56:26.060 Don't be in and out of church in and out of your Bible in and out of soul winning in and out just give it all 56:27.900 --> 56:31.300 Give it all for the cause of Christ. 56:31.300 --> 56:33.060 And I think in our church, we don't necessarily 56:33.060 --> 56:34.260 have a problem with sowing. 56:34.260 --> 56:37.380 I think a lot of people do do a lot of preaching. 56:37.380 --> 56:38.300 They sow in. 56:38.300 --> 56:39.220 They preach the gospel. 56:39.220 --> 56:40.600 They get a lot of people saved. 56:40.600 --> 56:42.420 The danger in that is that other things 56:42.420 --> 56:45.500 get put on the back burner. 56:45.500 --> 56:47.280 And I'm glad you're winning souls, 56:47.280 --> 56:50.500 but you better be coming to church too, though. 56:50.500 --> 56:53.480 You better be reading your Bible too, though. 56:53.480 --> 56:55.440 You better be working at your marriage too, though. 56:55.900 --> 57:00.100 You better be loving your kids as well, though. 57:00.100 --> 57:01.440 You're like, well, I'm single. 57:01.440 --> 57:03.740 Well, get married then. 57:03.740 --> 57:05.320 I don't know what to tell you. 57:05.320 --> 57:08.660 You better get married. 57:08.660 --> 57:09.160 Why? 57:09.160 --> 57:12.220 Because the Christian life is various pulls 57:12.220 --> 57:14.740 in different ponds. 57:14.740 --> 57:17.460 And you say to yourself, well, I got salvation. 57:17.460 --> 57:20.500 I'm just content with that. 57:20.500 --> 57:22.580 We'll see what you say in the millennial rain, though. 57:23.900 --> 57:26.060 Because that is the thing, my friends. 57:26.060 --> 57:28.060 I know that sounds spiritual. 57:28.060 --> 57:29.060 I know that sounds great. 57:29.060 --> 57:30.200 And it's just like, whoa. 57:35.300 --> 57:40.900 But here's the thing, the Bible tells us that some people shall be saved yet so as by fire, 57:40.900 --> 57:42.420 meaning that they're going to lose a lot. 57:42.420 --> 57:45.260 A lot of their works will be burned at the judgment seat of Christ. 57:45.260 --> 57:46.300 And you know what a lot of people are going to say? 57:46.300 --> 57:48.340 I wish I'd given them more. 57:48.340 --> 57:52.140 Once you realize how much people get for the work that they did, 57:52.140 --> 57:54.940 you realize I should have done more. 57:54.940 --> 57:57.340 And you say, well, how can I get the most bang for my buck? 57:57.340 --> 58:00.180 Just serve God in every area of life. 58:00.800 --> 58:07.180 Well, I do work on my marriage. I do, you know, try to raise my kids in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord 58:07.180 --> 58:10.020 I do read my Bible. I do pray. Okay, go sowning then 58:11.340 --> 58:18.640 Make sure you're preaching the gospel, you know, the Bible tells us that everything is dying right Revelation 3 talks about that 58:19.400 --> 58:25.640 And so we need to make sure that we balance everything and put the leaven into the three 58:25.640 --> 58:33.080 measures of meal so that the whole is leavened. In order to make a complete and entire saturated 58:33.080 --> 58:37.160 impact for the cause of Christ, we need to make sure we put three measures of meal. 58:37.160 --> 58:42.440 Okay, very important. Go down to verse number 58:46.200 --> 58:47.400 Let's see here. 58:49.900 --> 58:54.900 goes to the tares, cast them into the furnace. 58:54.900 --> 59:00.580 Look at verse 44. Now this parable is probably one of my favorite parables. 59:00.580 --> 59:04.380 This one right here. It's very powerful. It says in verse 44, 59:04.380 --> 59:07.060 again, the kingdom of heaven is likened to treasure, 59:07.060 --> 59:08.060 hid in a field. 59:09.000 --> 59:15.960 the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof, goeth and selleth all that he hath, 59:15.960 --> 59:23.240 and buyeth that field." Now that is a powerful, powerful parable there. Because what he's saying 59:23.240 --> 59:27.960 is this, he's given this illustration of a man, you know guys, he's hiking, he's taking a walk, 59:28.600 --> 59:32.360 and then you know he sees something like, you know, and I'm obviously inferring into the text, 59:32.360 --> 59:36.680 but you know, he sees a little something shimmer in the distance in a field, he's like, what is that? 59:37.300 --> 59:42.020 So he goes there, and it's a silver coin. 59:42.020 --> 59:43.700 And he's like, oh, man, it's a silver coin. 59:43.700 --> 59:46.420 So he digs it up, but then more keeps coming out. 59:46.420 --> 59:47.660 And then there's silver coin. 59:47.660 --> 59:49.340 There's shimmering all over the ground. 59:49.340 --> 59:52.580 He's like, this field has treasure in it. 59:54.100 --> 59:58.700 And the implication here is that it's worth a lot of money. 59:58.700 --> 01:00:00.900 There's a lot of treasure there. 01:00:00.900 --> 01:00:03.460 There's a lot of probably gold and silver. 01:00:03.460 --> 01:00:05.620 I mean, he hit the jackpot. 01:00:05.620 --> 01:00:08.060 The problem is that it's not his, because the field doesn't 01:00:08.060 --> 01:00:10.180 belong to him. 01:00:10.180 --> 01:00:15.020 So in order for him to obtain this field, 01:00:15.020 --> 01:00:18.300 or obtain the treasure, excuse me, he has to buy the field. 01:00:19.100 --> 01:00:23.500 Meaning that it's going to cost him a lot. 01:00:23.500 --> 01:00:26.980 Because the price of the field is basically everything 01:00:26.980 --> 01:00:28.820 that he has. 01:00:28.820 --> 01:00:30.740 The price of purchasing the field 01:00:30.740 --> 01:00:34.500 is going to completely drain his bank account. 01:00:34.500 --> 01:00:37.500 It's going to bring it maybe even to a negative. 01:00:37.500 --> 01:00:40.060 It's probably going to go into the red a little bit, 01:00:40.060 --> 01:00:41.620 because the field is so expensive. 01:00:41.620 --> 01:00:44.780 But in his mind, it's not a sacrifice. 01:00:44.780 --> 01:00:45.580 What is it? 01:00:45.580 --> 01:00:46.740 It's an investment. 01:00:47.900 --> 01:00:51.620 He realizes, yeah, I'm going to pay for everything, 01:00:51.620 --> 01:00:55.260 and I'm going to sacrifice a lot in the short term. 01:00:55.260 --> 01:00:57.940 But once I buy that field, I get that treasure. 01:00:57.940 --> 01:01:02.620 I'll get repaid triple, quadruple more than what I 01:01:02.620 --> 01:01:04.620 actually put into it. 01:01:04.620 --> 01:01:06.220 He said, well, what principle is this? 01:01:06.220 --> 01:01:07.340 The principle is this, folks. 01:01:07.340 --> 01:01:11.540 When it comes to the kingdom of God, pay the price. 01:01:11.540 --> 01:01:14.020 Don't view serving God as a sacrifice. 01:01:14.020 --> 01:01:14.200 you 01:01:15.000 --> 01:01:18.480 Don't view coming to church as a sacrifice. 01:01:18.480 --> 01:01:20.320 Don't view the gas that you put in your vehicle 01:01:20.320 --> 01:01:23.600 to drive all the way here as a sacrifice. 01:01:23.600 --> 01:01:25.680 Don't view your Bible reading as a sacrifice. 01:01:25.680 --> 01:01:28.920 Don't view soul winning in this heat, 01:01:28.920 --> 01:01:30.760 because Arizona's worse. 01:01:30.760 --> 01:01:32.200 All these other countries are worse. 01:01:32.200 --> 01:01:33.360 All these other states are worse. 01:01:33.360 --> 01:01:34.960 All these other places where it's human is worse. 01:01:34.960 --> 01:01:35.600 But it's hot. 01:01:35.600 --> 01:01:36.760 It's like, oh, man. 01:01:36.760 --> 01:01:39.000 It's not a sacrifice. 01:01:39.000 --> 01:01:41.440 I'm here to tell you, you're not sacrificing anything. 01:01:42.700 --> 01:01:45.160 It's an investment. 01:01:45.160 --> 01:01:46.960 It's an investment. 01:01:46.960 --> 01:01:51.640 You're buying the field in order to obtain the treasure that's 01:01:51.640 --> 01:01:53.440 hidden in that field. 01:01:53.440 --> 01:01:55.900 What is the Lord Jesus Christ trying to get across here? 01:01:55.900 --> 01:01:59.740 Stop viewing, like serving the Lord as just 01:01:59.740 --> 01:02:01.900 like a drudgery or something. 01:02:01.900 --> 01:02:02.980 Oh, it's just so grueling. 01:02:02.980 --> 01:02:04.460 I've just sacrificed so much. 01:02:04.460 --> 01:02:05.480 It's just so hard. 01:02:05.480 --> 01:02:07.380 Yeah, it's so hard for you to come to church 01:02:07.380 --> 01:02:09.460 and have me yell at you in an air-conditioned room. 01:02:10.000 --> 01:02:13.280 It's so difficult for me to just call out sin, 01:02:13.280 --> 01:02:15.720 and you sit there and you read through the scriptures. 01:02:15.720 --> 01:02:18.220 It's not a sacrifice. 01:02:18.220 --> 01:02:20.360 Hey, guess what? 01:02:20.360 --> 01:02:22.820 Missing church, or excuse me, not missing church, 01:02:22.820 --> 01:02:25.060 coming to church, going soul winning, 01:02:25.060 --> 01:02:27.480 and sacrificing the World Cup. 01:02:28.700 --> 01:02:31.100 Because you're gonna sacrifice the World Cup, right? 01:02:31.100 --> 01:02:33.600 You're gonna go soul winning. 01:02:34.600 --> 01:02:35.440 Guess what? 01:02:35.440 --> 01:02:37.700 You know, that's an investment. 01:02:37.700 --> 01:02:37.800 you 01:02:39.300 --> 01:02:41.300 But then I won't know if Spain wins! 01:02:42.540 --> 01:02:43.740 I hate Messi! 01:02:46.800 --> 01:02:48.360 Who cares? 01:02:48.360 --> 01:02:52.680 Look, there's a treasure in the field waiting for you. 01:02:52.680 --> 01:02:57.800 There's treasures in the field that await. 01:02:57.800 --> 01:03:01.760 But you're over here investing in someone else's treasure. 01:03:01.760 --> 01:03:05.680 You're making someone else rich, someone else popular. 01:03:05.680 --> 01:03:09.560 And the score is going to be 2 to 1 or something anyways. 01:03:09.560 --> 01:03:10.840 When does that ever change? 01:03:10.840 --> 01:03:11.000 you 01:03:11.800 --> 01:03:13.680 I know I'm offending all you soccer fans, 01:03:13.680 --> 01:03:17.360 and I call it soccer, I don't call it football. 01:03:17.360 --> 01:03:21.200 It's literally two to one, one to two, two zero. 01:03:21.200 --> 01:03:24.560 It will not exceed two. 01:03:24.560 --> 01:03:25.760 Maybe three? 01:03:25.760 --> 01:03:26.640 I don't know. 01:03:26.640 --> 01:03:28.020 It depends on who messy pays off. 01:03:28.020 --> 01:03:28.520 I don't know. 01:03:28.520 --> 01:03:29.600 You know what I mean? 01:03:29.600 --> 01:03:32.800 You just don't know. 01:03:32.800 --> 01:03:34.840 Why don't you go ahead and go look for the field 01:03:34.840 --> 01:03:37.000 that has the treasure? 01:03:37.000 --> 01:03:39.400 Why don't you give it all you got to purchase that field? 01:03:40.200 --> 01:03:46.200 And you'll thank me later when you have the gold, silver, and precious stones, not the wood, hay, and stubble. 01:03:47.200 --> 01:03:51.200 You'll get the rewards for your investment. 01:03:51.200 --> 01:03:57.200 And obviously, sometimes we say sacrifice, but the right mindset is that it's an investment more than anything else. 01:03:59.200 --> 01:04:07.200 Whatever you put into it, you know, the Bible says the blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich and he addeth no sorrow to it. 01:04:08.800 --> 01:04:10.760 And you can never out give God. 01:04:10.760 --> 01:04:12.880 It just will not happen. 01:04:12.880 --> 01:04:14.120 Buy the field, purchase the field. 01:04:14.120 --> 01:04:16.200 This guy's smart. 01:04:16.200 --> 01:04:19.160 Next parable here, and this is the last one. 01:04:19.160 --> 01:04:24.080 Because the seventh one, which is the net, 01:04:24.080 --> 01:04:27.840 is essentially a reiteration of the parable 01:04:27.840 --> 01:04:29.560 of the tares and the wheat. 01:04:29.560 --> 01:04:30.720 They're being separated. 01:04:30.720 --> 01:04:33.320 The bad are cast into the furnace and so forth. 01:04:33.320 --> 01:04:36.440 So I'm not going to reiterate that. 01:04:36.440 --> 01:04:36.500 you 01:04:37.000 --> 01:04:42.040 Look at verse number 45. It says, again, the kingdom of heaven is likened to a merchant man 01:04:42.040 --> 01:04:48.520 seeking goodly pearls, who when he had found one pearl of great price went and sold all that he had 01:04:49.160 --> 01:04:53.320 and bought it. So it's the same principle that we see in verse 45. The pearl of great price is 01:04:53.320 --> 01:04:57.800 referring to the word of God. It's referring to the words of the word of God. It's not referring 01:04:57.800 --> 01:05:00.440 to some heretical book made by ten speeders. 01:05:00.900 --> 01:05:05.400 I'm referring to Mormons, I'm referring to the Book of Mormon. 01:05:05.400 --> 01:05:07.620 This is addressing the Word of God. 01:05:07.620 --> 01:05:08.620 You know what? 01:05:08.620 --> 01:05:11.160 The practical application that we can gather from this is this. 01:05:11.160 --> 01:05:13.240 When you're studying the Bible, search for that goodly pearl. 01:05:14.300 --> 01:05:14.800 Right? 01:05:14.800 --> 01:05:18.500 Pray for the deep truths of God's word, the treasures of God's word. 01:05:18.500 --> 01:05:21.200 But it's also applicable to just say, because it's simply 01:05:21.200 --> 01:05:23.540 reiterating what the previous parable stated, 01:05:23.540 --> 01:05:28.100 that it's worth the investment into the goodly pearl, 01:05:28.100 --> 01:05:31.460 into that field, because we know the return that we're going to get 01:05:31.460 --> 01:05:33.140 is going to be a lot greater. 01:05:33.140 --> 01:05:34.220 OK? 01:05:34.220 --> 01:05:36.060 Don't view the Christian life as a sacrifice. 01:05:36.060 --> 01:05:38.060 View it as an investment. 01:05:38.060 --> 01:05:41.100 And here's the great thing about investing. 01:05:41.100 --> 01:05:41.400 Thank you. 01:05:41.500 --> 01:05:43.540 into the things of God. 01:05:43.540 --> 01:05:46.140 You don't really have to wait until the millennial reign 01:05:46.140 --> 01:05:48.020 to see a return. 01:05:48.020 --> 01:05:51.620 God ends up blessing you even in the temporal. 01:05:51.620 --> 01:05:53.540 He's such a great boss. 01:05:53.540 --> 01:05:55.180 He's such a great Lord. 01:05:55.180 --> 01:05:59.220 He's such a generous Savior that we not only 01:05:59.220 --> 01:06:02.540 get dividends in the eternal, he even 01:06:02.540 --> 01:06:06.740 blesses us now in the temporal as well. 01:06:06.740 --> 01:06:08.260 He gives us both. 01:06:08.260 --> 01:06:08.760 OK? 01:06:08.760 --> 01:06:08.900 you 01:06:09.200 --> 01:06:11.200 He gives us kind of like a down payment. 01:06:12.000 --> 01:06:15.040 He blesses us here with spiritual blessings. 01:06:15.280 --> 01:06:20.980 He blesses us with success and prosperity and knowledge of God's word and salvations 01:06:21.680 --> 01:06:25.360 and prosperity in various ways. We get that here now. 01:06:25.920 --> 01:06:30.640 But the Bible is telling us here specifically that we will see it in the future one day as well. 01:06:30.800 --> 01:06:32.800 These are the mysteries 01:06:32.880 --> 01:06:36.820 of the kingdom and I would hope that as a Christian you take these to heart. 01:06:37.600 --> 01:06:39.340 Don't take them lightly. 01:06:39.340 --> 01:06:42.280 Recognize there's tears in this kingdom. 01:06:42.280 --> 01:06:43.820 It doesn't mean the kingdom is bad. 01:06:43.820 --> 01:06:45.200 It doesn't mean the seed is bad. 01:06:45.200 --> 01:06:48.620 It's just reality. 01:06:48.620 --> 01:06:53.200 Also, recognize that the little you do 01:06:53.200 --> 01:06:56.020 will end up producing a tree. 01:06:56.020 --> 01:06:58.260 Recognize that in order to get the treasure, 01:06:58.260 --> 01:07:00.020 it requires investment. 01:07:00.300 --> 01:07:05.500 But once you invest, you know, it requires for you to have that three measures of meal 01:07:05.500 --> 01:07:07.500 till the whole is leavened. 01:07:07.500 --> 01:07:08.500 Okay. 01:07:08.500 --> 01:07:10.300 Give it all you got. 01:07:10.300 --> 01:07:14.420 Invest as much as you possibly can and earn the rewards for Christ. 01:07:14.420 --> 01:07:15.420 Amen. 01:07:15.420 --> 01:07:16.420 Let's pray. 01:07:16.420 --> 01:07:17.420 Father, we thank you so much for your word. 01:07:17.420 --> 01:07:18.420 Thank you for these parables. 01:07:18.420 --> 01:07:22.260 Help us as your people to take the heart, the things that were said today, Lord. 01:07:22.260 --> 01:07:24.940 I pray that you'd bless us, Lord. 01:07:24.940 --> 01:07:26.700 Thank you for giving us a glimpse into the eternal. 01:07:27.100 --> 01:07:32.700 And sometimes the cares of this life, the deceitfulness of riches, the lust of other things entering in, 01:07:32.700 --> 01:07:38.940 can choke the word and we can become unfruitful. And so help us Lord to realign our perspective, 01:07:39.500 --> 01:07:45.820 our motives Lord, our objectives in this world. And may we seek first the kingdom of God in your 01:07:45.820 --> 01:07:49.500 righteousness Lord. I pray that you bless us as we go on our way. Bless us soul-warning, may we see 01:07:49.500 --> 01:07:53.980 people save Lord. Fill us with your spirit and your power. We pray this in Jesus name, Amen. 01:07:57.100 --> 01:08:02.860 Song number 44 as our last song will work till Jesus comes song number 44 01:08:07.300 --> 01:08:10.740 song number 44. We'll see you on that first one.