ARE YOU WHEAT OR ARE YOU TARES?

The Sermon Notebook: New Testament (Are You Wheat or Are You Tares? (Matthew 13:24–30))

ARE YOU WHEAT OR ARE YOU TARES?Matthew 13:24–30Intro: In this chapter, Jesus shares some 8 parables. In these “earthly stories with heavenly meanings” Jesus speaks about God’s plan of salvation, the work of Satan, the fickle nature of the human heart and the greatness of the kingdom of heaven.After Jesus had finished telling the first four parables, the disciples came to Him to ask Him a question, v. 36. They didn’t ask about the sower, the soils or the seed; they didn’t ask about the mustard seed or the leaven. When they asked Jesus to explain a parable, they asked Him to explain the one that is the focus of our attention today; the parable of the Wheat and the Tares.Why did they choose this one over all the others? The Bible doesn’t say for sure, but I am going to venture a guess. My guess is that this parable contained some element or the other that troubled these men. And, I have to honest and tell you, some of the elements of this parable trouble me! By way of introduction, let’s examine this parable using our Lord’s own explanation of it, v. 37–43, and notice some reasons why this parable caught the attention of the disciples.A farmer plants a wheat field. He uses good seed and plants the crop expecting a good harvest. However, while his servants slept, his enemy entered the field and planted tares among the wheat. Tares are weeds known as “Bearded Darnel”. In the early stages of its development, it looks exactly like wheat. It is only when the plant has matured that the difference between the “bearded darnel” and the wheat can be seen. What is the difference between the two? The wheat has wheat kernels in its head, while the head of the tares is filled with little black seeds.So, the field looks good, the farmer is expecting to harvest a bumper crop. It seems that there is more wheat growing than he expected. As the harvest grew nearer, it became apparent however, that there were tares among the wheat. The servants discover the tares and come in to tell the master about the problem.You see, they were able to tell the difference because as the wheat develops, and the kernels grow inside the head of the wheat plant, the weight of the kernels causes the wheat stalk to bend, making the head appear to be bowing toward the earth. The tares, on the other hand, have empty heads and they continue to stand straight and tall because there is no weight to pull them toward the earth!The servants see the problem and offer to pull up the tares, but the master, knowing that the roots of the tares have intertwined with those of the wheat, forbids them. He knows that if the tares are pulled up, that much of the wheat will be uprooted along with them. His counsel is to let them grow together until the harvest, and then he will send in the reapers to gather the tares first and bind them to be burned. Then the wheat will be gathered and placed in his barns.In explaining this parable, Jesus reveals the identities of the various characters mentioned here.• The sower is Christ.• The good seed is the Gospel of grace.• The enemy who sowed tares is the devil.• The wheat is those who are saved.• The tares are those who are unsaved, but have the appearance of salvation.The tares are those in the church who look saved, act saved, sound saved, but who are in truth deceived about their salvation. The tares are those who expect to go to heaven when they die, but will, in fact, go to hell!I may be preaching to some people here today who are really tares. You think you are saved. You hope you are saved. You know the lingo of the church, you look saved and act as saved as anyone around you, but you have never really been born again.I have just one objective in preaching this message, and that is to get each of you to do what the Word of God commands everyone to do, 2 Cor. 13:5; 2 Peter 1:10.The question may come today, “Preacher, why are you preaching this message to us?” The answer is: I don’t want you to go through life deceived about your salvation and end up in hell! I want you to be sure that you are saved by the grace of God!Are you wheat? Or, are you tares? Someone might say, “Preacher, we’re all saved today! There’s no need for a message like this!” Friend, you don’t know that! You say, “I know that my Mama is saved!” No you don’t! “I know my Daddy is saved!” No you don’t! “Well, I know my kids are saved!” No you don’t!The truth is, you can’t know about anyone but yourself, and you may even be wrong about that! Think about this, over 200 million Americans are church members. If they are all saved, then why is there so much crime, abortion, drinking, drugs, sexual immorality and hellish living in our society involving church members? If they are all saved, then why do young people who claim to be saved have premarital sex at the same rate as the world?The truth of the matter is that people often think that they are wheat when they are in fact tares. Allow me to share some thoughts with you that tell what the wheat and the tares have in common, but which also point out what makes them so different. I want to preach for a few minutes on this question: Are You Wheat Or Are You Tares?I. v. 24–25 THEY WERE PLANTED TOGETHERBoth the wheat and the tares shared the common experience of having been planted. The difference in the experience is revealed in two very important ways.A. There Is A Difference In The Seeds—Obviously, the wheat seed produced wheat while the tare seed produced tares. On a spiritual level, the “seed” is that thing in which we have placed our faith. For the genuine believer, the “seed” is the Gospel of grace. The truly born again person trusts Jesus Christ alone for their salvation. The tares, on the other hand, may be trusting in any number of emotional, spiritual or physical experiences for their salvation. It all comes down to where you have placed you faith. What do you trust in for your salvation?(Ill. Far too many have their faith in a moment of time, a prayer they prayed, a profession they made or an assurance they received, instead of in the Lord Jesus Christ! It is very important that you know a time, but never allow a time to become your Lord!)(Ill. There may be someone who says, “Preacher, my Mama assures me that when I was little, I trusted Jesus.” Friend, your Mama cannot assure you of your salvation! You had better not depend on the assurances of others when it comes to your eternal destiny.Another might say, “It’s all kind of fuzzy, and I don’t remember much about it, but everyone tells me that I have been saved.” Folks, we need to realize that Hell will be filled with people who are basing their salvation on some “fuzzy” experience they had when they were a child, or some emotional experience during some revival or good service.What we need to understand is that salvation only comes to a heart that has been convicted of sin and after genuine repentance has taken place. John 6:44 tells us that it is impossible to be saved until the sinner has been drawn to God. My friends, if you have ever been under conviction, you will never forget it. There will be nothing “fuzzy” about that experience!)The question that must be answered today is this, “Where is your faith?” On what do you base your hope of Heaven? It must be in the Jesus Christ alone. It must rest in the finished work of Jesus at Calvary, or your faith is in vain!(Ill. A flu shot. If you have had one, then you have been injected with a “dead” virus. The doctor gave you this to prevent you from getting the real thing. In a spiritual sense, many church members have been inoculated with a dead religious virus that will prevent them from being saved. They have had some kind of experience and they have been vaccinated against Heaven as a result.)B. There Is A Difference In The Sowers—The good seed was sown by the owner of the field, the tares were sown by his enemy. Why did the enemy do this? Obviously it was in an effort to ruin the crop and ultimately, it was an attack upon the farmer.(Ill. Satan is in the business of sowing tares among the Lord’s wheat. Why? Well, he knows that if he can place the enough of the artificial among the genuine, then he can devastate the entire crop. Satan is in the business of undoing all that the Lord is doing! If he can fill the church with lost church members, then he can fill hell with a multitude of deceived people. If he can mix enough goats in among the sheep, then he can disrupt the harmony and the blessedness of the church.(Ill. Whenever there is church trouble; you can almost bank on this truth: there is a lost person involved somewhere.Satan knows that enough lost people in the church will give the church a bad name. Why? Because the lost can only imitate the saved for so long, then their true nature, like that of the tares will come out!What I am trying to say today is that you do not need to base your hope of Heaven on some experience or the other. You need to be sure beyond any shadow of a doubt that you have truly trusted Jesus Christ and Him alone for your salvation.)I. They Were Planted TogetherII. v. 26–30a THEY PROGRESSED TOGETHERA. Notice The Activity Of Each—Now this is interesting, both the wheat and the tares grew. As the wheat grew, so the tares grew alongside them. They did everything the wheat did and they looked good doing it!(Ill. I think it is pretty obvious that saved people grow in the Lord. If you stay in church, stay in the Bible and stay in prayer, then you are going to grow and prosper in the things of God.However, did you know that it is possible for the lost church member to grow in the things of the Lord also? Oh yes! Take the Bible for instance. It is a spiritual Book! That is, it takes the right kind of spirit to understand the deep truths of the Bible, 1 Cor 2:14. Now, imagine a lost person who gets deceived into thinking he or she is saved. They sit under preaching where the truths of the Bible are explained and made clear.That lost person can certainly understand the Bible. They can memorize it and know the Bible stories. They can possess all the activities of the genuine believer. Tares in the church sing in the choir, they serve as Deacons and Sunday school teachers; they attend faithfully and come to prayer meeting. They even stand in the pulpit and preach the Word of God. But, just because they have all the activity of the wheat it does not mean that they are real. Ill. Matt. 7:21–22!)B. Notice The Appearance Of Each—Not only do the tares grow alongside the wheat, but they also look just like the wheat. Until they have matured completely, they are impossible to tell one from the other. If you had wheat in one hand and tares in the other and held them both before your eyes, you would not be able to tell them apart!(Ill. That’s the way things are in the church. We cannot tell the difference between the genuine and the artificial. The tares in the church dress right, they talk right, they walk right a lot of the time, and they give every appearance of being saved. If you examined a real Christian and a tare together, you could not tell them apart. In fact, the tares might not be the worse; they might just be the best!)(Ill. That is why we must never be guilty of telling someone that they are saved. Parents should never tell their children that they are saved! Spouses must never tell the other that they are saved! The fact is, you just don’t know, unless you happen to be the Holy Spirit, and I don’t think you are! Never be guilty of playing the Holy Spirit to any person!)C. Notice The Achievement Of Each—So, the tares act like wheat and they look like wheat, but this is where the similarities end. One thing the tare cannot produce is fruit. If you were to open the head of a wheat plant, you would find it filled with wheat kernels. If you opened the head of the tare, you would find it filled with tiny black seeds. One thing the tare could never produce was lasting fruit. Fruit is the defining mark of genuine salvation!(Ill. So it is with tares in the church. They give all the external appearances of being the real deal. They look right, act right, talk right and walk right, but when you get right down to it, there is no fruit in their life.What do we mean by fruit? The tares will lack the things that make the genuine believer so special. They will lack the fruit of the Spirit, Gal. 5:22–23. They may be able to counterfeit it for a while, but eventually, their true nature will be seen, Gal. 5:19–21.Matt. 7:17–20; 12:33) If you are a tare, you can have the external appearance of being a Christian, but don’t let what you look like and the things that you do be the basis of your assurance. Be sure you faith is in Jesus Christ and in Him alone!(Ill. It is interesting to note the response of the farmer when he was asked about the removal of the tares. His counsel was to allow them both to grow together until the harvest. Why? Because the roots of the tares would intertwine with those of the wheat and if the tares were pulled out, then some of the wheat would be damaged also.The picture here is this: You and I cannot really tell the difference between the genuine and the artificial! If we set ourselves up as judges and start trying to weed out those we think may be tares, we will certainly pull up some of the wheat as well. (Ill. The word “among” in v. 25 means “every other one”.) Judging between the real and the false is God’s job and it must remain that way! All we see is the outward appearance, but God is able to look upon the heart, 1 Sam. 16:7.Again, let me caution you against playing the Holy Spirit in the lives of those around you. You do not know who is saved or who is lost. You might even be fooled about yourself!) (Ill. Some of the sheep can look pretty goat-like. Ill. Many will smell as if they were bought at a fire sale—1 Cor. 3:15.)I. They Were Planted TogetherII. They Progressed TogetherIII. v. 30b THEY WERE PROCESSED TOGETHEREventually the day of harvest arrived. The reapers were sent into the field to gather the tares first, and then the wheat. How could they tell the difference now? It is easy at this stage, because as the wheat matures, the head becomes filled with kernels and the weight of the kernels causes the stalk of the wheat plant to bend toward the ground. The seeds in the head of the tare are light. This allows the tare to stand tall.The picture here is plain and clear. As a genuine believer grows in the Lord he tends to become more humble before the presence of God. The tare, on the other hand, will stand in his pride and go to hell clinging tightly to his false beliefs and foolishness.When harvest time came, they were both gathered, but they met very different ends.A. The Tares Will Be Eliminated—These plants were bound together, allowed to dry and were used much like kindling. They were fit for nothing but to be burned. If the tares were accidentally eaten, they caused nausea and dizziness.B. The Wheat Will Be Elevated—The wheat was gathered and taken into the barn. Here it would be processed for human consumption and maybe even sold for a tidy profit by the farmer. He kept the wheat, but had no use for the tares!(Ill. The implications here are very clear! When this life has run its course, there are only two possible destinations for the human soul. Every person who lives and dies as a tare will find themselves cast into the fires of Hell, to be eternally separated from the presence of God, 2 Thes. 1:8–9; Psa. 9:17. The genuine believer, on the other hand, can look forward to going the Heaven to be gathered into the Lord’s House in Heaven, John 14:1–3.The question is what will happen to you? It all depends on whether you are a tare or you are wheat. Examine your heart carefully today. Do not allow yourself to be deceived right into Hell. If your faith is anywhere else but in the Lord Jesus Christ, then you are a tare and you need to be saved today.)Conc: I want to ask you a couple of questions. How are tares made? Where do they come from? How do they get into the church? It is, of course, the work of Satan. It is the result of decision oriented preaching. (Ill. Remember, the word “among” means “every other one”, verse 25.)Besides that, there are some dangers that you need to beware of as you walk through life. As I try to bring all of these thoughts together, I want to close with some words of warning.1. Beware Of Good Works—It is easy to substitute good works for salvation. Often, the tares are not the worst ones we can think of, they are the best. They are busy and active in the church, but they are lost nonetheless. Don’t let a seat in the choir, a job in the church, or something good you have done send you to Hell! (Ill. Eph. 2:8–9 declare the plain truth that salvation will never be found in works!)2. Beware Of Good Beliefs—There is a real danger in coming to a church like this one. You hear the truth, and that much truth is preached and taught here that it is easy to learn the doctrines and to believe the right things, while never actually believing in the right Person! You see, you can believe the Bible and every word in it, and still go to Hell. You don’t believe me? Name me a verse that the devil doesn’t believe, James 2:19. He believes it all, and even trembles at it, but he will never be saved. You can believe it and go to Hell!It won’t make a difference in your life until you bow before the Lord in repentance for your sins and receive the atoning death of Jesus as your only hope of salvation. You can believe in the blood, the resurrection, the virgin birth and every other fundamental doctrine of the faith and still die lost. They cannot help you until you come to Jesus as a lost sinner and repent of your sins.Some of you need to do that today! You have grown up under sound Bible preaching, but you have never been born again. You have never been brought under Holy Ghost conviction and repented of your sins. Oh, you believe right, but you have never acted on those beliefs and been truly saved. Don’t let good doctrine send you to Hell!3. Beware Of Good People—There are people all around you that wouldn’t hurt you for anything in the world, but who would help you on your way to Hell without even realizing it. My own grandmother almost did it to me. Don’t ever let the words and assurances of another serve as the foundation for your salvation! Well meaning people can cause you to be deceived by assuring you that you are right with God.4. Beware Of Good Feelings—Sometimes we get in some very emotional services. There are some pretty intense feelings during those services. It is easy to feel the emotion and maybe cry a little and even give a testimony and tell about that time when you were afraid and went to the altar, or when you had some experience or the other. You just need to know that those emotional feelings cannot save your soul! I like the good feelings, but I am not counting on them to get me to Heaven! I am saved whether I feel like it or not because I am trusting Jesus Christ for my salvation. What about you?Are you wheat, or are you a tare? Are you a good, fruitful plant, or are you a weed in God’s garden? Look at the kind of fruit your life reveals. It is either the fruit of the Spirit, or it is the works of the flesh, Gal. 5:19–25! Look at your life and you have your answer!You say, “Preacher, the devil is trying to make me doubt my salvation today.” I just want to say, I doubt it! There are times when he may do that. When you are genuinely saved and trying to serve the Lord, he may come to you and tell you that you aren’t saved and cannot serve the Lord in an effort to defeat you. In a service like this, the devil would be foolish to tell you that you were lost.If someone is speaking to your heart and telling you that you are lost, it is the Holy Spirit. He is calling you to come and get it settled today. If He is calling you right now, please let nothing or no one stand in your way. Don’t let pride or what others might think about you to hold you back. Don’t let your position in the church stop you. If God is calling you need to come.