Seven Sacred Secrets

Adrian Rogers was a motivator, an encourager, and a leader of the faith. He was also passionate about presenting scriptural application to everyday life circumstances, and you'll hear that in today's message.

Now let's join Adrian Rogers. So the Bible is a mystery story. To those who do not know the Lord, to those who are not saved, to those who do not have the Holy Spirit inside them to illuminate them, and interpret the Word of God, the Bible is a mystery story. They may know facts.

They may be able to name the kings of Israel. They may be able to give you a Bible chronology, but they don't understand the deep things of God. There are some sacred secrets that God reveals to his children through his Word. These are the strange mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. The Bible is to the child of God who prays, has the illumination of the Holy Spirit, and begins to obey the Word of God.

It has the teaching, a ministry that the unsaved know nothing about. Now these are seven parables in this one chapter, and seven being the perfect number means that they have a certain completion to them. They are all embracing, and they talk about the history of the gospel of Jesus. These seven parables begin with the time that Jesus was here on earth, and began to preach the gospel to the very end of the age and the final judgment. And everything that happens from the time that Jesus was here until Jesus comes again is comprised in these seven parables. Now when you understand these seven parables, you know what to expect.

If you know what to expect, you're not disillusioned, you're not disappointed, you're not discouraged. And when things look dark or things look bad, you say, you know, that's wonderful. That's exactly what Jesus said it would be like.

And so if it gets dark, you can say it's getting gloriously dark. It is exactly precisely as the Bible has prophesied. Sometimes we see the world with its wickedness and the church with its weakness, and we see people refusing the gospel, and we think, well, maybe the gospel isn't true, or maybe our expectations will not be fulfilled. But then when we read Matthew chapter 13, we say, ah, everything is exactly precisely on track. So let's look at them, and I want to tell you seven things that you can expect.

Seven things that you can just know are going to happen. Number one, expect many to reject the gospel. Expect many to reject the gospel. Don't get the idea that if Jesus Christ is presented with all of his winsomeness, all of his beauty, all of his attractiveness, that people will fall over themselves coming to know Jesus Christ. If you believe that, you're going to have false expectations and you're going to be disappointed. Maybe you'll get into soul winning, and you think, well, all I need to do is clearly teach how to be saved.

That's all people need. If they just had the light, they would be saved. As a matter of fact, I heard a preacher say, I went to a church growth luncheon. He said the reason our churches are not growing, he says, we have not explained to people what they can have in the Lord Jesus Christ. He said anybody, anybody would be saved if you clearly presented who Jesus Christ is and told people what we could have in the Lord Jesus Christ.

I thought to myself, that's one of the most foolish statements I have ever heard in my life. You can clearly and plainly articulate Jesus Christ and people will reject him. And Jesus knew the hardness of human hearts. And so he gave this first parable, which is the parable of the sower. Look in Matthew 13 verses three through nine. Now I'm recapitulating.

You've been here through these messages, but now we're going to tie them all together. And he's made many things under them in parable saying, behold, a sower went forth to sow. And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside and the fowls came and devoured them up. Some fell upon stony places where they had not much earth and forthwith they sprung up because they had no deepness of earth. And when the sun was up, they were scorched. And because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns and the thorns sprung up and choked them. But other fell into good ground and brought forth fruit. And some fell, some 60 fold and some 30 fold. Who has ears to hear?

Let him hear. Now the Lord Jesus is talking about four kinds of soil upon which the good seed falls. The seed is the gospel message, but some fell by the wayside. And what is the wayside? We'll go to verse 19.

And when anyone hearth the word of the kingdom and understandeth it not. Then cometh the wicked one and catches the way that which was sown in his heart. This is he which receiveth the seed. seed by the wayside. Now the wayside is the path through the field. They call that the wayside.

And because it had been trampled hard, the seed would get down, but it couldn't get in because it just fell on hard ground and the birds would come and devour the seed. And I've preached many times the gospel to the wayside crowd. Their hearts are hard. They don't hear the gospel.

It never gets in because their hearts have been trampled by the cares of this world. And then some fell on stony ground. Now look in verse 20, but he that received the seed in the stony places, the same as he that heareth the word and anon with joy he receiveth it.

Boy, he says, hallelujah, this is what I want. Look in verse 21, yet he hath not rooted himself, but doeth for a while for when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, by and by he is offended. Now in this case, the word gets in, but it doesn't get way in. It just gets beneath the surface.

And right beneath the surface is a rock ledge. And so this is the surface hearer, the person who you think he's going to be a great Christian. He comes down the aisle, makes a profession of faith. You baptize him. And then after a while, you don't see him anymore.

I call them Alka-Seltzer Christians. They fizzle for a little while and then disappear. And they're gone.

After you drop them in the water, they're just gone. Now, these are the people who have no root in themselves. And then he says again in verse 22, he talks about those who fell among the thorns. And look at these, he also that receiveth seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word and the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and he becometh unfruitful.

That is, there's a rival crop. The word gets in and the word gets down, but this man is never really truly repented of sin. And so the weeds and the thorns and the thistles choke out the word of God. And this is a person who does not truly know the Lord Jesus Christ. And then finally, he mentions the last category of persons in verse 23. And if you will look at this, but he that receiveth seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word and understandeth it, which also bears fruit and bringeth forth some and hundred, some 60 and some 30.

Now, what should we expect? Well, if you're a soul winner or if you're a preacher or you are an evangelist, expect many to reject the gospel and don't think that you have failed. I used to feel incriminated, absolutely incriminated if I preached and there would not be a response. As a matter of fact, as a younger preacher, when I would preach and give an invitation, there would not be a response. I would feel that I had horribly failed God. I would feel so much like a failure that I did not want to go to the door and shake hands with anybody.

I would want a back door to get out of. And if somebody were to tell me afterward, it was a good sermon. It would make me angry because I'd say, what is wrong? What did I do wrong? How did I fail? And then I, it finally dawned on me that I'd not fail.

Not if I had preached the word of God. There was nothing wrong with the seed. Some seed falls on stony ground. Some seed falls on shallow ground.

Some seed falls among weeds. I'll tell you something else I've learned. If you'll keep on preaching, if you'll keep on sharing, if you'll keep on giving the gospel, some folks will get saved. Some folks will get saved. Don't get weary.

Don't get discouraged. There are people who will come to know the Lord Jesus Christ. Your job is just to scatter the seed.

It is God's job to make it germinate. It is their responsibility to open their hearts and receive the good words. So in this world, in this life, as you live the Christian life, expect some people to reject the gospel. I don't expect everybody to come to Jesus. Don't think that the gospel has failed because the entire world does not come to Jesus Christ. The Bible teaches that we are a little flock.

The Bible teaches that straight and narrow is the way, and few there be that enter therein. We are the master's minority. We are never going to take over this world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

If you think we are, you're going to be discouraged. Now, the Bible teaches that only 25 percent of the soil here was even ready to receive the word. And when that 25 percent received the word, not all of them brought forth the same kind of fruit.

Now, here's something else you can expect, and this will save you from a lot of disappointment. Expect some to reject the gospel, many to reject the gospel. Number two, expect many church members to be hypocrites. Expect many church members to be hypocrites, to be lost. Sometimes people tell me as a pastor, did you know the hypocrites in the church? I say, oh, hypocrites in the church?

Do tell. Listen, you could not be a pastor for as many years as I've been a pastor without realizing that they are hypocrites in the church. And that doesn't mean that the gospel has failed, and nor has it taken God by surprise. Look now at the second of these parables, Matthew 13, beginning in verse 24. Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field.

Nothing wrong with the seed now. But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? From whence then hath it tares? 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? That is the tares. But he said, Nay, lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.

Let both grow together until the harvest. And in the time of the harvest, I will say to the reapers, Gather ye first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn. Now, what is the meaning of this parable? Well, wheat, you know, is that which makes bread and sustenance, and God's children are represented as wheat. And then the tares are weeds that look like wheat, and they are placed there by the enemy. The one who sows the wheat is the son of man, Jesus, verse 37. The good seed, according to verse 38, are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. The enemy who sows the weeds among the wheat is the devil, verse 39.

The harvest is the end of the age when God separates the wheat from the tares. Now, what is the lesson here? Expect there to be hypocrites in the church. The devil is at work, and every church has them, and it's not our job to go through in Christendom and try to separate the wheat from the tares. Never get into a crusade against somebody else's religion.

That's not your business. Your business is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, surely you should warn people of false doctrine. The Bible tells us that, but don't you go around rooting out tares.

You will make some horrible mistakes. You will pull up some wheat, and you will leave some tares because you cannot see an individual's heart. You do not know that individual as God knows that individual. So in this parable, you have three basic thoughts. You have the sowing of the tares, the growing of the tares, and the knowing of the tares. The sowing of the tares, the devil did it. The growing of the tares, the hypocrites and the Christians are side by side, and they grow together. The knowing of the tares will come at the end of the age. The lesson, don't expect everybody to receive the gospel. Number two, don't get discouraged because of hypocrites in the church.

Just don't do it. It doesn't prove the gospel is false, not at all. A counterfeit is the greatest compliment that anything that is real could have. Why do people counterfeit $100 bills? Because evidently a $100 bill is worth something. They don't counterfeit gum wrappers.

You see, the counterfeit is a testimony to the worth wildness, the validity of the real. And so what can you expect from the time that the gospel began to the end of the age? Don't expect everybody to accept the gospel.

They're not going to. That doesn't mean the gospel has failed. Number two, don't expect that everybody who names the name of Jesus is really a true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you do, you're going to be disappointed and discouraged, and you'll find some old hypocrite, and you'll say, well, if that's Christianity, I don't want anything to do with it. Jesus has already warned you. Now, here's the third thing that you need to expect of these seven sacred secrets. You can expect the rise of false cults. You can expect the world to be filled with false cults. Now, look, if you will, in Matthew 13, beginning in verse 31, and here's the third of these parables.

Look at it right here. Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all seeds. But when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. Now, some people think, oh, isn't this sweet, from a mustard seed to a great big tree. Look how wonderful the gospel is.

But that's not the teaching. You see, a mustard seed is pungent and small. Mustard is fiery and hot.

That speaks of the explosive power of the gospel. And that mustard makes a mustard plant, a shrub, which is comparatively small. But then, he says, it becomes a tree. Now, shrubs don't become trees. The book of Genesis teaches us that.

So we're talking here about something that is unnatural, a monstrosity, some kind of unnatural growth. And the birds that come and lodge in the branches, what do they represent? The birds that are lodging in the branches of this unnatural growth, this tree. These birds are demon powers. Now, remember in chapter 13, verse 4, where the birds came and stole away the seed. The same word for birds or fowls that is used in verse 3 is the same word that's used over here in verses 31 and 32. They represent demon powers. I can prove that if you look in chapter 13, verse 19.

Look at it again. He's saying here that it's the power of Satan. And when anyone heareth the word of the kingdom and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one and catcheth the way that which was sown in his heart. These birds that catch away the seed illustrate the devil. Now, put this verse in your margin.

I gave you this before, but this clears it up. In Revelation chapter 18, verse 2, God speaks of Babylon. Babylon was the cradle of all false religion. That's where the Tower of Babel was. That's where the first type of antichrist Nimrod founded that city so long ago. And God looks to the final judgment of the false religion and he says in Revelation 18, verse 2, and he cried mildly with a strong voice saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen and is become the habitation of devils and the hold of every foul spirit and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. So Babylon is for the birds.

What he's saying is this thing that started out as a mustard seed has become a tree and these dirty birds are lodging in the branches. And that's the reason that you see false cults all places and everywhere. Now, that doesn't mean that the gospel has failed. That doesn't mean that the Bible is not true.

I'm going to tell you something. If we did not have false cults, then you could say the Bible is not true because the Bible says they're going to come. The Bible says, in the last days, men shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. So don't get discouraged if everybody doesn't believe the Bible and everybody doesn't come to Jesus and get saved. Don't get discouraged if there are tears among the weak, that is hypocrites in the church. And don't think that the gospel has failed or something has gone wrong if there are false cults all around the world. It is exactly precisely what Jesus said would happen. This mustard seed becomes a grotesque, monstrous tree and the fowls, which represent demon spirits, lodge in the branches of this apostate Christianity. Now, when you understand that, you can say, yes, it's happening exactly as Jesus said. Number four, what else can you expect? You can expect to find corruption in the professing church.

Not only hypocrites, but corruption in the church itself. Look, if you will, in Matthew 13, verse 33. Another parable spake he unto them, the kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till the whole was leaven. Now that's talking about yeast. Here's a woman, she takes three measures of wheat and she mixes it together and she puts leaven in it. And the whole thing, these three loaves are swell up and puff up with leaven.

Now, the idea here is the woman is sneaky. She's hiding this leaven in the bread. Now, unleavened bread is an emblem, a symbol of purity. Leaven in the Bible is an emblem, a symbol of sin.

It speaks of evil and sin and corruption. In the Old Testament, the sacrifices were to be made without leaven. For example, on the Passover is to be made without leaven. Exodus 12, verse eight, and they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire and unleaven bread. The sacrifices in Leviticus 2, verses four and five, and if thou shalt bring an oblation of a meat offering, bacon in the oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour mingled with oil or unleavened wafers anointed with oil. And then Paul told the Corinthians who let sin come into the church.

In 1 Corinthians 5, beginning in verse six, your glorying is not good. Know you not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven that ye may be a new lump as your unleaven, for even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. So what does leaven do? Leaven works quietly, stealthily.

It works best in lukewarm conditions. And the devil, the devil has said, well, if I cannot beat the church, I'll join the church. So it puts the tears in among the wheat. And he says, furthermore, I will corrupt the church. I will begin false cults to preach an antithetical gospel, a false gospel.

And he says, furthermore, I will stealthily put false teaching in the church. And Jesus said, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. What was the leaven of the Pharisees?

Legalism. He said, beware of the leaven of the Sadducees. What was the leaven of the Sadducees?

Liberalism. And then he said, beware of the leaven of Herod. What was the leaven of Herod? It was licentiousness.

Herod was a pleasure-mad, licentious king. And all three of these things, legalism, liberalism, and licentiousness have invaded the church of the Lord Jesus Christ in the last days. Does that mean you and I should quit? Does that mean that there's nothing to it?

No, it means just the opposite. There is something to it. Why would Satan want to corrupt it if it were not good to begin with? Satan is a pervert. And so we have this leaven with us today. Friend, is that going to cause me to close my Bible and not preach anymore?

You better not believe that. It's exactly as Jesus said it would be. Here's a woman who hides leaven in three loaves. Three loaves speak of that which is right and fellowship with God as we taught you.

We don't have time to get into that because let's go on through. But you can expect that Satan is going to corrupt the church with this kind of activity. Now here's the fifth thing you can expect.

Now it's going to start getting more positive. You can expect God to keep his word to the nation Israel. You want to know what God is going to do? Keep your eyes upon Israel. And we find this that God in these last days is going to keep his word as he has sworn to do to the nation Israel.

Now look if you will in chapter 13 and verse 44 and you'll still see what God is up to in this day and in this age. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hid in a field which when a man hath found he hideth and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth the field. Now what is the treasure hid in a field?

It is Israel. And the parable is this. A man is walking through a field. He discovers there's a buried treasure in the field. He uncovers it. He sees what it is.

He covers it back up again. He goes and buys the field and so when he owns the field, he owns what's in the field. He owns the treasure. Now some people have the idea that the treasure hid in the field is the gospel of Jesus Christ and that we are the man walking through the field and we sell everything we have so we can buy the field and so that we can get the treasure.

Well, the field is the world. The church doesn't buy the world. Christians don't buy the world. And the gospel is not for sale and the gospel is not discovered and then covered. I mean none of that makes sense but that's the way that some people interpret this parable. No, Jesus called Israel his peculiar treasure.

And I want you to see that his dealing with Israel is in four basic steps and you need to see these. Step number one, there came a brief time when Jesus promised the treasure, that is he made a solemn promise to Abraham but the treasure was hidden, that is it was covered before Jesus came. Israel was a nation that ignominiously small and when Jesus was here on earth, that is the treasure was buried in the field. For a brief time, Jesus simply uncovered the treasure.

You're in chapter 13, go back to chapter 12 and you're going to find out how Jesus uncovered the treasure. Look if you will in verse 27. This is chapter 12 and verse 27. They had accused Jesus of casting out devils by the prince of devils. And Jesus said, and if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. But if I cast out devils by the spirit of God, then watch this, the kingdom of God is come unto you.

Now what does that mean? Well, Jesus said, I have come during all of these miracles. The treasure and the field was hid. Jesus said, I've just uncovered the treasure.

I have shown you the kingdom. And that's why Jesus did all of these miracles to show the kingdom power. But they, the Jews are refused him.

They lied about him. They criticized him and they were compliant in the crucifixion of Jesus as were the Gentiles and the treasure now is covered again. But Jesus went to the cross to purchase that treasure. The treasure is now hidden.

The treasure is now covered. People don't understand God's plan for Israel unless they know the Bible. The Bible says in Proverbs 25 verse two, it is the glory of God to conceal a thing. So God has covered it up.

That's going to help you to understand something. When you read the gospel of Matthew up to chapter 12, Jesus is doing miracles. But from chapter 12 on, Jesus doesn't do any more miracles. Now Jesus does parables. Before chapter 12, Jesus didn't do any parables. He did miracles. But after chapter 12, Jesus now is doing miracles.

Why? Because before chapter 12, Jesus is uncovering the treasure. He is showing, He's saying, this is the kingdom of God.

They refused it. So Jesus said, all right, I'm going to cover it up. And now hearing they won't understand, it's covered. I'll speak to you, He says in parables, but unto them it's not given.

That is, it is covered. So then finally Jesus is going to come again in glory and He is going to uncover this treasure. Israel is going to come.

A nation will be born in a day. The people of this world now trample this treasure and the nations of the world are gathering themselves together against Israel. But God is not finished with a nation, Israel, His peculiar treasure. He has bought the field which is the world and He is going to take His peculiar treasure to Himself and a nation will be born in a day. And you keep your eyes upon Israel if you want to know what Jesus is doing in this world today.

Now, here's the next thing you can expect. You can also expect Jesus in spite of the fact that many reject the gospel, in spite of the fact that there are hypocrites in the church, in spite of the fact that there is corruption in the church, in spite of the fact that there is the rise of false cults, in spite of the fact of the persecution of Israel. You can expect Jesus to be building His church.

He said later on in Matthew 16, upon this rock I will build my church. Now, what is this parable about? Well it's the parable of the pearl of great price.

Look if you will now in chapter 13 verse 45. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man seeking goodly pearls who when he hath found one pearl of great price went and sold all that he had and bought it. Now, some people say, well the pearl of great price, that's the gospel. We sell everything that we have so that we can buy the gospel.

That's insane. The gospel is not for sale. If it were, we wouldn't have anything to sell anyway. We are bankrupt sinners.

We have nothing. In my hand no price I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling. The man seeking goodly pearls is Jesus. The pearl of great price is the church that He loves. Israel is called a treasure, never a pearl. The pearl is formed by something and irritant in the side of the clam or the oyster and then it is covered with a beautiful substance called nacre, layer upon layer upon layer until it becomes something beautiful. This pearl, more beautiful than any pearl that is grown with succeeding layers. A diamond can be divided. An emerald can be divided but not a pearl for the church is one body indivisible in the Lord Jesus Christ and Jesus is the one who with the silver of his tears and the gold of his blood bought the pearl of great price and as a pearl is taken from the depth of the ocean to realms of light, Jesus has lifted us. As the pearl goes from something ugly, a grit, a grain of sand made to something beautiful, that's what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for you and that's what he's done for me and Jesus has paid the price, the pearl of great price and you can expect for Jesus to build his church.

I want to tell you something. We're on the winning side and don't you let any hypocrite discourage you. Don't you let any corruption in the church discourage you. Don't you let any false doctrine discourage you.

Don't you let any persecution of the Jews discourage you. Don't you let the fact that the church seems to be ignored discourage you. Jesus is building his church.

He will build his church and I'm telling you you can bank on it. Now here's the last and the final thing you can expect and by the way these seven parables just cover all of history. You can expect God to bring it all to judgment. You can expect God to judge righteously and that brings us to the last of these parables and I can only touch on it but look if you will in Matthew 13 now beginning in verse 47. Again the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea and gathered of every kind which when it was full they drew to shore and sat down and gathered the good into vessels but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world the angel shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just and shall cast them into a furnace of fire and there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Jesus saith unto them have ye understood all these things they say unto him yes Lord. Well I hope that they did. Now this is the picture of a dragnet by the way you remember that show.

You know just the facts ma'am. It's a dragnet but just as sergeant Friday was dragging his net through the streets of Los Angeles to catch those wicked God has his net going through the nations of this world to win souls. I spent a summer one time off the coast of Georgia had a chance to spend some time on a shrimping boat. It's a great experience to go out shrimping. These were commercial shrimpers and they had a net that they would drag behind this trawler. This net had two great big wooden objects they called doors bigger than household doors and behind these doors was a big net a pouch and they would let these doors down very heavy they had iron bars on them and they would sink to the bottom there of the sea and they would scrape along the bottom of the sea and hold the mouth of that net open and that trawler would go back and forth over the shrimp beds and the shrimp the crabs the fish the sting rays the eels everything would be swept into the mouth of that big net and after they'd gone back and forth and back and forth there came a time that was so exciting to me they would take the winch and the yard arm and they would begin to bring that net up out of the sea and it would be full of all kinds of wiggling squirming things and then it had a drawstring at the bottom and he would pull the drawstring and out all that stuff would come on the deck of that ship. All manner of evil.

It's amazing. Oh of course thousands of shrimp would be sting rays and be eels and be crabs and there'd be fish flopping and all this stuff and these men would put on their big rubber gloves and they'd get out there and they'd start throwing some things overboard and just after they'd drawn the net they'd sort the catch and they'd take the good fish they'd take the shrimp and they'd put that on ice but the other went overboard. And every time I read this parable I remember just being there on that boat and working on that boat and thinking how much that's what it's going to be like at the end of the age only it's not fishermen are going to be doing this it's angels that's going to be separating the good from the bad. Now friend what is my job? What is your job in this day in this age? Our job is to draw the net. God's job is to sort the catch.

Our job is to draw the net. I can't cause anybody to believe. I can't cause them not to believe. What I must do is preach the gospel.

What you must do is preach the gospel. The kingdom of God is like a net that we just draw through the nations of this world and then at the end of the age God, the one who separates the wheat from the tares, the same God is the one who's going to separate the good from the bad in the parable of the net. So what does all of this tell us?

Friend listen here's what it all tells us. God knows exactly precisely what the situation is going to be like. Do you know what God told us in Matthew 13?

He told us exactly what will happen. I'm going to tell you not everybody's going to hear the gospel. Not everybody that hears the gospel is going to be saved. No they're not but some will be saved. And he said also there are going to be hypocrites in the church.

Tares among the wheat and we see that. He said also there's going to be corruption in the church like leaven. We see that.

We've heard all the scandals. We've read all of that. We know that's going to happen. And he says also that Israel is going to be persecuted, trampled like a treasure buried in a field but I'm going to come soon and uncover that treasure. He says also I'm going to build my church.

And then he says soon and very soon I'm going to come and sort the cage. And when you read this you say isn't it wonderful. It is happening exactly as God says. Now you see if you have false expectations if you think that the gospel is going to convert the world or if you think that hypocrites prove the Bible not to be true or if you think that false cults will never arise you'll say what went wrong. Nothing has gotten out of God's control. It is exactly precisely as God says it will be. Seven sacred secrets that we've learned from this wonderful chapter in the Word of God.