Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world.
So that all may know Christ. Join us now for a portion of one of our services here at Kerwin Baptist Church, located in Kernersville, North Carolina. I appreciate Brother Frank reading our passage. I won't go through the whole passage again.
So we'll just pray and begin, but we have here the parable of the wheat and the tares. We're doing a series on parables on Wednesday nights, and I got to this parable. I was scheduled to do it, I think, two Wednesday nights ago, and God said, No, I want you to do this on a Sunday morning. And I'll explain why. In this chapter, Jesus gives no less than eight parables in one chapter.
Parables are an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. We don't know if many times in these parables if this is a real person, if this is just an. Ideological person. It certainly could be that some of these parables might have involved a person that was real, but Jesus didn't give their names. Or it could be that he just created a scenario and gave that as an illustration so that somebody could understand a principle that he was trying to teach.
In these parables in Matthew 13, Jesus speaks about God's plan of salvation. He speaks about the work of Satan. He speaks about the fickle nature of our human heart. He speaks about the greatness of the kingdom of heaven. And he does a number of parables about the kingdom of heaven.
But after Jesus finished telling many of these parables, The disciples came to him and they asked him a question.
Now, in verse 36, if you have your Bibles, In verse 36, the disciples, it says that Jesus said, Sent the multitude away and went into the house. And his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us. The parable of the tares of the field.
Now, the parable was the first portion of scripture that we read tonight, but what happens is, of all the parables in Matthew 13, The disciples come to him after them and say, listen, we're asking if you would explain this one to us. Would you continue teaching us about this one? No, what's interesting, as you look at it, they didn't ask about the other ones. Why choose this one above all the other parables? And my guess is they didn't ask about the sower.
They didn't ask about the parable of the soil and the seed. They didn't ask about the seed of heaven. They didn't ask about any of this stuff. They said after he was done, they literally, the people left that Jesus had preached to, and it's just him and his disciples, and they very seriously asked him. Would you declare unto us Explain to us.
This parable.
Well, why is that? Why out of all of them, this is the one? that they had questions about. I think because if they're like me, even after I read this particular. Terrible I have some confusion.
I have some questions. And the disciples wanted it to be very, very clear.
So Jesus now. clears everything up. I want you to notice first the context, even before we pray, is that a farmer plants a wheat field. This is what's going on here. He uses good seed and he plants crops expecting a good harvest.
Now, according to this parable, while he was sleeping, An enemy came in. And he began to sow tares. Among the we. Where he had planted for the wheat, an enemy came in and he sowed tares among that wheat. What are tears?
Well, basically, they're weeds. that would go by the name Bearded Darnell. That's kind of the name for them. And it would, what it is, it's a plant that grows and it looks like wheat. It has the resemblance of wheat, but it's not wheat.
It's a weed.
Now the bottom line is that real wheat has fruit. in its head. In the very tip, and that there's real fruit that we use for numerous things, but in a tear. It doesn't have that fruit. A tear is filled with little tiny black seeds that are worthless.
So the field looks good. The farmer's getting excited about the harvest of this extremely full crop.
However, As it grew nearer, It became apparent. that there were tares among the wheat. The servants came and they discover the tares and they come in and tell the master about the problem.
Now, because there is fruit in real wheat, as it would grow taller, the wheat will begin to bend over because the head is full of fruit, but the tares will continue to stay straight up because it's just tiny black seeds. There's nothing really worth anything in there.
So the more it grows together, the more time goes, you begin to see. the difference. The servants see the problem and they offer the owner: they say, Listen, do you want us to go in and pull up these tares? But listen closely, and according to the parable, Jesus said. That the m that the owner here, the master, it's called, Knowing that the roots of tares have now intertwined with the roots of the wheat, he stops them.
And his counsel is, let them grow together. Until harvest. Then we will send in the reapers, and they're going to first gather all the tares. And they're going to be gathered. And they're going to be burnt.
Then the wheat will be gathered and they'll be placed in the master's barn.
Now, the disciples had some questions about this, and they're like, well, What does this really mean?
So they come to him and They ask him to explain it.
So, in explaining this parable, Jesus gives his disciples and us. the identities of those involved in this story.
So I want to give you the characters this morning so you understand it. The sower here is Christ. He's the good sower. The good seed is the gospel. The one who sowed the tares.
Is the devil. This is what Jesus says. The wheat are those who are truly saved. The tares are those who are unsaved but have the appearance. of salvation.
The tares are those who may be in the church or who may not be in the church, but they look saved, they act saved, they sound saved, but in truth, they're deceived about their own salvation. The tares are those who expect to go to heaven when they die. But will in fact Be gathered. and burnt. In hell.
You see, just like tares, lost sinners. Even those who act saved are good for one thing only. A person who does not truly know Christ is good for one thing only.
Now, I'm not saying this according to the Bible, and that is to be burnt. I want you to look at these verses, 2 Corinthians 13, verse 5. It says, Examine yourselves. Whether ye be in the faith, Prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates.
Look at 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 10. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure. For if ye do these things, He shall never fall. See, I believe God asked me to do this on a Sunday morning, although we're going through all the parables of Jesus on Wednesday nights. Our folks have really enjoyed that study as we did all of the miracles of Jesus.
Took us about a year, and now we're going through the parables. But God said do this on Sunday morning. All I'm asking you to do today is to examine yourself. Let's just look at the truth of God's word. Here's what I will promise you: I'm not going to tell any scary stories today.
I'm not going to tell you how so-and-so thought they were saved, got in a car wreck, how they're burning in hell today, or whatever the case might be. I'm not here to manipulate you or scare you or any of those. I am just here to teach you God's Word. But I do believe that oftentimes there are many individuals. who have the appearance of being saved.
who tell people they're saved. and who have even convinced themselves that I feel saved. but are not really saved. And I've got to teach the truth of God's Word. By the way, isn't that what you want from your pastor?
Is to teach the truth of God's Word?
So I just want to do that of love today. Let's pray. Lord, we need your help as we look into your word. God, I pray that you would. Give us wisdom today.
and open hearts. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
So we have here the parable of the wheat. and the tears. The wheat is useful. The tears are useless. The wheat will end up in the barn to be used.
The tares will end up wrapped up to be burnt. What is the difference in this story between the wheat and the tares? Because. They look so similar.
Well, I want you to notice first principle that we see both of these were sown. Both Were sown. Look at verse 24. It's on the screen for you. The kingdom of heaven, Jesus says, is likened unto a man which soweth good seed in his field.
That means this seed was planted. But notice in verse 25: but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat. Both the wheat and the tares shared a common experience of having been planted.
So, what is the difference in these two being planted? First, I want you to notice the nature of the seed. You see, the wheat seed produced wheat, while the tear seed produced tares. On a spiritual level, the seed is that thing that we have placed our faith in. It's the foundation.
of our salvation. For the genuine believer, the seed, as Jesus said, is the gospel. The good news, the fact that Jesus died, that he was buried, that he rose again, the good news that includes anyone, any race, any person. Who wishes to put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ? That is the good seed of the gospel.
The truly born-again person is trusting in Jesus Christ alone for their salvation. But the tares, on the other hand, might be trusting in any number of emotional spiritual or even physical experiences. for their salvation. The seed is different. You see, literally, it all comes down to where have you placed your faith?
What are you trusting in for your salvation? There might be somebody here this morning that says, Preacher, my mom assures me that I got saved when I was a kid.
Well friend, your mama can't assure you of your salvation. You better not depend on the assurance of someone else. For your salvation. Just because your mama told you the story 15 times and you got to memorize now. You have to act that right?
You had better not depend on another might say, well listen, it's kind of fuzzy and I don't remember much about it, but everyone tells me I was saved.
Now, can I tell you something? We need to realize hell is going to be filled with people. who are basing their salvation on some fuzzy experience.
Some experience they had when they were a child, or some emotional experience during a revival or during a good service. But, dear friend, you better not trust in an emotional experience. You better not trust in a trip to the altar. You better not trust in what mama said. Salvation is in Jesus Christ, not some kind of experience.
I've had people say, I've asked people before, do you know that you're saved? Oh, yes, I had a car wreck about 20 years ago, and I'd say, I should have died. You should see that. I can show you pictures of the car, but God saved me. And listen, you just survived a wreck.
God kept you alive so you could be saved. You weren't saved because you lived through a wreck. Do you understand what I'm saying? It's two different seeds. It looks alike and it feels similar, but it's different.
And if your faith or your trust is in some kind of an experience, be it physically, be it emotionally or whatever, or because someone has told you that you're saved, dear friend, salvation comes when the Holy Spirit draws you. It's called conviction. And there must be conviction for sin in your life. And the reaction to that conviction is a repentance. It's an admittance that I'm on my way to hell, that I can't save myself, that all the good I could do could never purchase my salvation.
But I believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And it's not because I feel something or because I've been through something, but because I put my faith and trust in Jesus Christ. What we need to understand is that salvation only comes to a heart that has been convicted of sin. Can I read you a verse, John 6, 44? No man can come to me.
Except the Father which hath sent me Draw him. And I will raise him up. Yeah. May I say something? If you have ever been under conviction, you will remember it.
There's nothing fuzzy about that. If you were under conviction when you got saved, it's not something that you just can't quite remember. Do you understand that what we often deal with, there is no age limit on salvation? And I have parents all the time, and man, I have to work with my own children. And when you grow up in a church, that's a wonderful thing, but when you grow up in a church, we have junior church that they hear all these things, they hear the gospel, that many times it is possible that maybe a child can be so willing and obedient that maybe there is the action of salvation, but not really the conviction of sin.
And that's the difference.
Somebody has to be able to understand that they're a sinner and that there is sin and there's consequences of that sin. And we have trained our children, and Brother David does a fantastic job. Brother Eli and Brother Frank and all these, that when we deal with children, we don't walk them through a prayer. We don't say repeat after me. In fact, if we have a child that wants to be saved, and we come get the parents.
And we want the parents in there, and we want them to see. Because, may I say something? There's a lot of confusion that can build up over the years because of a child that was never convicted of sin, but just obeyed a person. And all I'm saying is this. You say, Preacher, you're trying to scare me.
No, I'm not. I'm just trying to tell you the truth. I would rather tell you the truth. and hurt your feelings. then lie to you and not hurt your feelings.
The nature of the seed, but notice secondly, the nature of the sower. You see, the good seed was sowed by the owner of the field, the tares were sowed by the enemy. Why did the enemy do this? We know that the good seed, the good sower, is Jesus, and the sower of the tares is the devil. Why does he do this?
Well, I tell you why. It's in an effort to ruin the crop. Satan is in the business of sowing tares among the Lord's wheat.
Well, Satan knows if he can place enough of the artificial among the genuine. then he can kind of hurt the entire crop. Satan is in the business of undoing all that the Lord is trying to do. If he can fill the church with lost church members. then he can fill hell with deceived people.
If he can mix enough goats in among the sheep, as the Bible gives reference to. Then he can disrupt the harmony and the blessedness. of the church. May I say something? I had a preacher make this statement one time.
I don't know if I fully agree with it, but the longer I've been in it, I do, because we've been blessed here at this church. We just don't have a lot of mess. We just don't. And I'm thankful it could start tomorrow. It might start before I'm done.
I don't know. But we're just blessed with harmony here. But this is what he said. Whenever there is church trouble, You can almost always bank on this truth that there is a lost. person involved somewhere.
And usually, it's the one that looks the most saved. Yeah. May I say something? Satan knows that enough lost people in the church is going to give the church a bad name. Let me say this.
Why? Because the lost can only imitate the saved for so long. But then their true nature. like the nature of the tares. will come out.
You know, a person can look saved, act saved, be in the church, do everything we do, but give it time. And eventually, real wheat grows different. Real wheat has fruit. Real wheat bears fruit. fruit.
Tears Have no Fruit. Both were sewn, number two. Both sprouted. Both began to grow.
Now, this is a question I have.
So, even a terror who is not even a real piece of wheat. grows just like the wheat. Yep. Verse 26 says, But when the blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. They're growing right along with the real wheat.
Well, I want you to notice first as we look at this, notice first the increase of the wheat. Verse 28, they literally, his servants come in and tell him this, and he said unto them, an enemy hath done this. The servant said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? They're growing together.
So do you want us to go in and separate them? And notice what he said. Nay, lest when ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat. That is why you and I don't play judge. I am not in the business, and you better not be in the business of deciding who's saved and who's not, or telling a person who's saved and who's not, because you can root up the wrong thing if you start doing that.
Amen.
That's good. That's why he said, no, you're going to try to pull up all this bad, but when you do, you're going to pull up some of the good, too.
So we're just going to let them all stay together. And when harvest day comes. When the rapture comes. This is interesting. Both the wheat and the tares grow.
As the wheat grows, the tares grow right alongside of them. They did everything the wheat did, and they looked good doing it. Do you know it is entirely possible for a person who doesn't know Christ to come into this church, to listen to the Word of God, to obey the Word of God, to grow, to look the same, to act the same, to do everything, but over time? There'll be no fruit. You see, God doesn't, a person, an unsaved person, is open church, God doesn't pluck them out of church.
Well the ideal scenario is God wants the person to hear the truth and to accept the truth and to get saved. But let me tell you the person that won't hear the truth and won't get saved is the person that sits here and thinks they're already saved. And they think they're already saved because they're trusting in the wrong seed. Right. Interesting to me.
Did you know that it's possible for a lost church member to grow in the things of God? It sure is. Take the Bible, for instance. It's a spiritual book. It takes the right kind of spirit to understand.
Look at this verse, 1 Corinthians 2.14. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them, because they're not spiritually discerned.
Now imagine a lost person who gets deceived into thinking he's saved. They sit under the preaching of the same truth. The Bible is explained the same to them. That lost person can literally understand the Bible. Because I'm up here explaining it.
Tears in the church singing the choir. They can serve as a deacon, they can be a Sunday school teacher, they can attend faithfully, they can come and they can be involved, they can even stand in the pulpit and preach. But just because they have all the activity of wheat. and the appearance of wheat. They're growing just like the wheat.
And they look just like the wheat. That doesn't mean they're real. The increase of the wheat. Notice, secondly, the image of the wheat. Verse 30 says: Let both grow together.
until harvest. The tares grow alongside the wheat. They look just like the wheat. If you had wheat in one hand and tares in the other hand, you would not be able to tear them apart. And that's often the way things are in church.
We cannot tell the difference between the genuine and the artificial. And that's why it's not up to us to tell the difference. Yes, sir. Amen.
Don't go. Listen, mamas and dads, don't go tell your kids they're safe. If they ask questions, no, no, no, when you were three, just because you might have been the one at the house that led them to the Lord, you didn't do wrong. You answered their questions. But when they start having questions and things, don't get offended because you think you're the one that dealt with them and it's a pride issue now.
No, you got saved back then.
Well, I was with Brother Frank. Brother Frank was preaching and God's really convinced. No, you got saved when you were three. How dare you do that? This is their eternal destiny in front of them.
Yes, sir. We are not to pick apart between the tares and the wheat. They look the same, they act the same. All that. Look at 2 Timothy 3, verse 5.
Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Yes, sir. Parents should never tell their children they're saved. Spouses should never tell the other one that they're saved. The fact is, you don't know.
Only the Holy Spirit knows. Notice thoroughly the ingredients of the wheat. Verse 38 says, The field is the world, the good seed are the children of the kingdom, but the tares. are the children of the wicked one. There's one thing different.
between the wheat And the tears. One thing is tares cannot produce fruit. If you were to open the head of a wheat plant, you'll find it filled with wheat kernels. But if you open the head of a terror, It'll just be tiny little black seeds. Tares cannot produce lasting fruit.
And that's the way it is with tares in the church. They give all the external appearances of being real. They look right, act right, walk right, talk right, dress right, but when you get right down to it, there's no fruit in their life. They lack the things that would make them a genuine believer. Because when you have begun a relationship, a true relationship with Jesus.
He works through us and fruit comes out. Yeah, yes sir. Have no fruit. You know what's interesting? It's interesting here that in response The farmer, they asked, You want us to remove the tares?
His counsel was to allow them both to grow until harvest. The picture is this, you and I can't tell the difference. Look at this verse. 1 Samuel 6, verse 7. We're almost done.
But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance or on the height of his stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord seeth not as man seeth, for man looketh on the outward appearance, but God looketh on the heart. Both were sown, both sprouted. Number three, last, both. were sifted.
Harvest time. Cain. Verse thirty. Let them both grow together unto harvest. And in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first.
The tears. And bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn. What are we talking about here prophetically? We're talking here about the great white throne judgment. Because the tares were taken first.
And the rapture we're taken. the tears are left. But after we go to heaven and we have literally the we're judged you know, at the great white throne and And all that. And we are in heaven. We come back with Jesus.
We rule and reign on this earth for a thousand years. And then there is the great white throne judgment. You and I, as saved, are judged at the judgment seat of Christ after the rapture of the church. But we're talking after we have ruled and reigned. This is the end.
This is the end of the world this past. The greatest news that anyone can receive is the news of the free gift of salvation found in Jesus Christ. It is our desire for you to know him personally, Would you take a moment to hear this today? Every man is born with a sin nature. Romans three twenty three says For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
No matter how hard we try, we're not good enough to obtain God's glory. or to get to heaven. Because of that, sin carries the penalty of death. Romans 6.23 says, For the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life.
through Jesus Christ our Lord. The wages of our sin, or the payment of our sin, only equals death and separation from God. But it's only through God's gift salvation through Jesus Christ that we can accept him as our Saviour. Jesus Christ paid for your sin debt. The Bible says in Romans 5:8, But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
All you have to do is receive Christ. by faith as your Saviour. Romans ten nine says That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Verse 13 continues, For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. It's as simple as admitting that you're a sinner believing that Jesus is the only way.
and calling upon his name. Bible says whosoever that's anyone can call upon the name of the Lord to be saved. Have you accepted Christ as your personal Savior? There is no greater day than today to take care of this. Would you accept Christ as your Savior?
If you have any questions, please give us a call at 336-993-5192 or visit our website at Kerwin Baptist Church. Dot com. or visits that person at one of our three service times. We hope you have a great rest of your day. God bless you.
Mm-hmm.
