The Mystery of the False Christian
The Mystery of The Kingdom of Heaven • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
Open your Bible to the gospel of Matthew chapter 13. The Chapter of the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Now, why we call Matthew 13 the Chapter of the mysteries of the kingdom is because Jesus called them mysteries. Jesus was speaking in parables. They asked him why he spoke in parables, Matthew 13:11 “11 He answered, “To you has been given knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven…”
Therefore, the Bible is a mystery story. For those who do not know the Lord, for those who are not saved, for those who do not have the Holy Spirit within them to enlighten them and interpret the Word of God, the Bible is a mysterious story.
They can know facts. Perhaps they will be able to name the kings of Israel. They may be able to give you a biblical 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 mysteries of the kingdom of heaven that God reveals to the child of God who prays, who has the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit and obeys the Word of God.
Those who are not saved, those who do not have the illumination of the Holy Spirit, those who do not obey the gospel of the Son of God do not have this revelation. The Bible is a mysterious story to these.
Now, there are seven parables in this one chapter. And seven, being the perfect number, means they have a certain conclusion.
They are comprehensive and tell the story of the gospel of Jesus.
These seven parables begin with the time when Jesus was here on Earth and began to preach the gospel until the end of time and the Final Judgment.
And everything that happens from the time Jesus was here until Jesus returns is included in these seven parables.
So when you understand these seven parables, you know what to expect.
If you know what to expect, you are not disillusioned, you are not disappointed, you are not discouraged; you do not give up.
And when things seem dark or bad, you say, "Hallelujah, this is wonderful. This is exactly how Jesus said it would be."
And so, if things get dark, you can say, "It's getting gloriously dark." It is exactly as the Bible prophesied.
Sometimes we see the world with its pulsating evil, and we see the church weak, and we see people refusing the gospel, and we think, "Well, maybe the gospel isn't all that powerful; or maybe our expectations are misplaced."
But then, when we read Matthew chapter 13, we say, "Oh! Everything is exactly, precisely, on the right track, just as Jesus said it would be."
So, over the next few weeks, here at the church and in the SG, with the permission of the Holy Spirit, we will take a look at these 7 parables that reveal “The Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven” -
I want to talk to you about seven things that you can expect, seven things that you can just know are going to happen.
The title of today's lesson is: “The Mystery of the False Christian”.
You should know that not everyone who claims to be a Christian is a genuine Christian.
There's an old black gospel song that says, "Not everyone who talks about heaven goes there." And that's true.
Dr. Vance Havner - said, "Many members of the church have been starched and ironed, but never washed; they have never come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord."
And today's study will help us in three ways.
Number one: He will give us a word of comfort. Number two: He will give us a word of warning. Number three: He will give us a word of instruction.
Now, it will be a word of comfort, because many people become confused and bewildered when they see so much hypocrisy, so many false cults, so much that is paraded under the banner of Christianity that is not real and genuine, and they think that maybe everything has gone wrong. For them, there is confort.
There will also be a word of warning, for there are many today who are not true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, who perhaps think they are saved, but are lost. And they need to be warned; they must be brought to a saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the third word is a word of instruction to tell us how to deal with these people, how to think about these people who are false Christians.
Now, let's take a look at the parable itself. Remember there are seven parables.
And what is a parable?
A parable is an everyday story that has a heavenly meaning.
The Lord would tell a story, just a simple story, and then give us a very special meaning, a double application - the natural story and then the hidden meaning. Sometimes people have the idea that parables are given to reveal. And that's true, but it's not the whole truth. These parables were not given just to reveal; they were given to hide.
Matthew 13:11 “He replied, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.”
This was the first time that Jesus spoke in parables, and this was the time when the rebellion against Him was at its height.
They accused Him of having a demon, and Jesus had to warn them about an unpardonable sin; and then He began to speak in parables.
Today we are going to study the parable of the wheat and the tares, and I start now at verse 24. Let's read it together, starting at verse 24:
24 Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
27 “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’
28 “ ‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
29 “ ‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’ ”
Alright class, That's the story. The story is simply that a man planted wheat in a field, an enemy came while the farmer was sleeping and sowed a weedy seed which is called tares here. Tares is a weed that, at first, looks very similar to wheat - in fact, it is very difficult to distinguish wheat from tares. And the enemy knew this, that's why he came and sowed this tares in the field.
I. The Elements of the Parable
I. The Elements of the Parable
Let's now look at the various elements.
There are seven elements here in this parable that we need to identify. Let's see what they are.
The Sower
37 He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man.
The man who does the sowing is Jesus Christ himself.
I would like to remind you that the Son of man is a term that Jesus Christ often used to describe Himself, therefore, the One who is sowing in the field is Jesus Christ Himself.
2. The field
38 The field is the world
The field is the world.
See, verse 38: "The field is the world" (Matthew 13:38).
We don't need to guess this. In this world, Jesus is planting good seeds.
But who/what are the good seeds?
3. The good seed
and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom.
and the good seed are the children of the Kingdom
Now, the seed He sows are true believers.
I want to pause here and say, in parentheses, but very important, that you do not confuse the seed of this parable with the previous parable.
In the parable of the sower, the first parable of chapter 13, the seed is the Word of God. In this parable, the seed are the true believers.
And if you don't understand this, you can get confused.
In the first parable, the soil was the hearts of men; In this parable, the soil is the world.
Therefore, our Lord is sowing the seed that is true believers throughout the world; everywhere He is placing His believers.
Now, while the Lord is planting true believers, we find that the enemy is planting something els…
4. The Weeds - who are these?
The weeds are the people of the evil one,
V38
The tares look like wheat, the tares are those who appear to be Christians but are actually children of the devil.
And where are they planted?
In the whole world.
Who sowed the tares?
5. The enemy
39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil.
Note that the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the weeds are the devil's children.
Sometimes people talk to you about the universal fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood of man. We may be brothers in our humanity, but we are not spiritual brothers, and not everyone is a child of God. Jesus told the Pharisees, the false believers of His day, "You are of your father the devil" (John 8:44). This makes everything very clear. The Lord Jesus said that these tares are the children of the devil. So these days, you know we're seen as intolerant or somehow even anti-American if we don't just embrace everyone else and say, "Well, we're all going to the same place, and your religion is just as good." mine".
Who will pull the weeds?
6. The Harvesters
the harvesters are angels
those in charge of the harvest are angels
The angels are responsible for pulling out the weeds.
When?
7. Harvest time
The harvest is the end of the age
And when will the harvest take place? At the end of our era.
This is the seventh element: the time of harvest.
40 “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age.
This gives us a clue that these seven parables encompass the entire history of the Christian church.
Jesus began His ministry by sowing the good seed, and these seven parables go until the end of time, so they are comprehensive.
Here our Lord is revealing the mystery of history - religious history.
These are seven sacred secrets, mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.
Therefore, the 7 elements of this parable are:
The Sower = Jesus
The good seed/Wheat = the true believers
The field = the world
The weeds = false believer
The enemy who sowed the weeds = devil
The harvesters = angels
Harvest time = the end of our era
II. The Weeds Analysis
II. The Weeds Analysis
Secondly, let's analyze the weeds under three simple points, very easy to remember.
the Sowing of weeds,
the Growth of weeds and
The Knowledge of the weeds.
A. The sowing of weeds
Now, let's think a little about sowing the weeds.
See verse 39:
39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
"Who sowed the weeds? The devil.
It is the work of Satan.
Satan is a counterfeiter of a believer; he is a pervert.
Now let me make it clear: the devil is not opposed to religion.
Religion is his main tool; It is the #1 commodity in his inventory and trade.
Satan is up to his ears in religion.
Why did he do it? Well, that same verse says, "It was an enemy who did this."
Matthew 13:28 (NIV)
“‘An enemy did this,’ he replied...’
Verse 39: "The enemy who sowed them is the devil."
In translation Tyndale translates this as: "An envious person did this."
Now why would the devil do that? Do you think the devil is interested in weeds? No.
Do you think the devil is interested in wheat? No. What really interests the devil is not the tares or the wheat, but worship.
The devil wants worship. He said to Jesus “If you fall down and worship me”.
The devil is jealous of the worship that God receives.
That's why he plants false believers in the world.
To try to corrupt, deceive and discourage true worshipers.
He is a forger.
And let me say this about the devil, who is the chief falsifier of religion:
He is good, because the best forgery is the one that most closely resembles the real thing; the more similar it is to the real thing, the better the fake.
This is the reason why our Lord, the teacher of teachers that he was, chose this parable, because the wheat and the tares, especially in the beginning, are very similar.
Let me point out five false things that are in the world today, and you need to be aware of them. This is the work of Satan.
1. A false Jesus - 2 Cor.11:4
1. A false Jesus - 2 Cor.11:4
Did you know that there is a false Jesus?
The devil has a false Jesus
Now, if someone comes up to you and says, "Oh, we believe in Jesus" - a Jehovah's Witness or a Mormon might say, "Hey, we believe in Jesus too" - you need to find out which Jesus they believe in.
Note this verse in your margin - 2 Corinthians 11 and verse 4:
4 For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.
He is saying: be careful, don’t be so naive as to accept anyone who says I believe in Jesus.”
If a JW, Mormon knocks on your door...
"Ah, pastor, they were so nice, wonderful, and I asked them if they believed in Jesus, and they said yes."
Friend, there are demons that bear the name of Jesus;
Be careful, the devil has a false Jesus spread throughout the world.
2. A false spirit -2 Cor.11:4
2. A false spirit -2 Cor.11:4
4 For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.
Someone say, "Oh, I know it was real, because I had a spiritual experience."
Be careful, because you may have had an encounter with a demon.
The Bible says, "Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits" - test the spirits - "whether they are from God" (1 John 4:1)
3. False ministers - 2 Cor.11:13-15
3. False ministers - 2 Cor.11:13-15
fake Jesus and
false Spirit,
there are also false ministers.
Second Corinthians 11, verses 13 to 15 - Paul is describing these, and listen to what he says:
13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.
And when you look for the devil, don't forget to look inside the “churches” in the pulpits.
4. False Brothers - 2 Cor.11:26
4. False Brothers - 2 Cor.11:26
Satan has a false Jesus.
Satan has a false Spirit.
Satan has false ministers.
And what does this false Jesus, this false Spirit and these false ministers produce?
False brothers.
Paul talks about the things he endured, the suffering he endured, and he says,
26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers.
Paul said, "In addition to everything I've been through - the elements, the pagans, the difficulties - I'm having to contend with false Christians, false brothers."
and the devil's falsification does not end there
5. A False Gospel - Gal.1:6-7
5. A False Gospel - Gal.1:6-7
He has:
A false Jesus.
A false Spirit.
False ministers.
False brothers.
And the devil has a false gospel.
Galatians 1, beginning at verse 6 - Paul said,
6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.
Learn this about the devil: he is a pervert.
Satan is a pervert.
And what he wants to pervert more than anything else is the gospel of Christ.
And Paul says,
8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!
These false apostles, with their false gospel, may appear to be doing some good.
Bu Paul said
let him be eternally condemned!
They can do something good: they can do charity work for those in need, like sheltering the homeless, they can feed the hungry, they can be doing this or that.
But I want to tell you one thing: a fake note can do a lot of good. It can buy clothes. It can buy groceries. It can buy gasoline. But, a fake bill will not be approved by the bank examiner.
And a false Christian can do this and that, and everyone will say, "Look what he's doing! Look how good it is!" But the day will come when he will face the examination of the Lord Jesus Christ.
"Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 7:21).
Lesson: Don't let a fake Christian be a stumbling block on your path to heaven. And never allow anyone to use a hypocrite as an argument against Jesus and his church.
A hypocrite is not an argument against Christianity; a hypocrite is a wonderful argument in favor of Jesus and the Church.
Why? Well, men don't fake grocery bags; what do they copy? LVT bags…!
Why? An LVT Bag is worth something - so they fake LVT Bags.
They do not falsify what has no value; they falsify what is worth.
And every counterfeit Christian, every fake Christian that you see, is a testimony to the true, the value, the good quality, the good material of a true believer.
Don't you understand this? Therefore, in a very strange way, the hypocrite is a kind of witness.
Note: And another thing: don't say, "Well, I don't want to be a Christian because of the hypocrites."
How foolish!
How many of you here think it's necessary to have a little $$?
Alright, those of you here who think it's necessary to have a little $$.
Would you say “Well, because there is fake money in the world, I won’t want any more $$$”? Of course not! It would be foolish to say that.
"Well, because there are some hypocrites Christians, I won't go to church; I won't serve the Lord."
Every now and then someone says, "Oh, there are some hypocrites in your church." I say: "Of course!".
If you go to the store and buy a dozen eggs: and one of them is hypocrite/broken/spoiled, are you going to throw away the other 11?
Hey guys, one of the twelve apostles was a hypocrite.
Now, don't be discouraged. Jesus said there would be Hypocrites, false Christians, a false Jesus, a false Spirit, false apostles and ministers, false brothers and a false gospel, don't be surprised. This did not take God by surprise.
That's the main point. These things do not prove that what we believe is not true.
They are proof that what we believe is true, because the devil is falsifying what is worth, and also because the Bible says that is exactly what will happen -
not only has it happened, but it will happen until the end of time.
Now, when did he do that? When did the enemy do this?
Look, if you want, at verse 25, and find out when the enemy did this. The Bible says: Matt.13:25
25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.
And this happens because we, who are part of the kingdom of the redeemed, are sometimes asleep.
God have mercy on us. "While everyone was sleeping."
First Corinthians, chapter 15, verse 34, says:
1 Corinthians 15:34 (RC95)
Watch righteously and do not sin; because some do not yet have the knowledge of God; I say this to your shame.
There are people who are being led down the wrong path, and the reason they are being led is because we have not been awake/vigilant for righteousness, and some do not have the knowledge of God.
Many sermons are like tranquilizers to make people relax, rather than an alarm clock to wake them up.
Now listen to what I'm going to say, I say it in love and fear:
And it may be that some of your loved ones will turn out to be the devil's weeds, because of your insensitivity and spiritual drowsiness.
Please, Don't be mad at me, someone has to sound the alarm.
We need to sound an alarm.
The apostle Paul said:
Galatians 4:16 “Have I become your enemy because I told you the truth?”
Sometimes it seems like we are trying to win popularity contests, and the enemy sows weeds among the wheat because men are asleep;
they don't sound the alarm like we should sound the alarm.
So the first thing: the sowing of tares - "An enemy" - an envious person - "did this" (Matt.13:28)
III. The growth of the weeds
III. The growth of the weeds
Now here's the third thing I want you to notice: not just the sowing of the weeds, but the growth of the weeds. Matthew 13:28-30
“ ‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
“ ‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’ ”
Jesus said let the weeds grow and become ripe.
Hear, all the Lord's co-workers:
our job today is not to pull out the weeds!
It is very common nowadays to see people in the social media crusading against false Christians, false pastors, and false religions. That's not our job.
We can warn people, we can preach the truth, but it is not our job to pull out the spiritual weeds; It is not our job to try to root out or eliminate hypocrites from the world.
If we do, we will do more harm than good.
Have you ever seen people trying to put out a kitchen fire by pouring water into a frying pan?
When you try to put out a kitchen fire by pouring water into a frying pan, all you do is increase the heat.
And I want to tell you - listen very carefully: Never, ever, ever join a movement to persecute someone because of their religion!
Let me repeat that: Never, ever, ever join a movement to persecute someone because of their faith!
You must preach the truth. You must defend the truth.
Each of these people will be accountable to God.
God is the one who will judge, not you.
And if you try, you will do much more harm than good.
And you might end up plucking out some wheat while trying to wring out some tares.
Now, He's not talking here about church discipline.
Every church must exercise discipline.
Church discipline is not primarily to uproot and remove, but to correct, recover and restore.
Sometimes people need to be removed from the fellowship of the local church.
He's not talking about it. The parable here is about the wheat and the tares in the world. The field is the world.
Our job is to preach the glorious gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
However, I will tell you something else. While it's not our job to go out and chase other people for their religion, you need to be careful not to spend your money to fertilize weeds.
You need to invest your money in good work that believes in the Bible and honors Christ, and preach the truth!
Don't use your money to fertilize tares. Don’t buy stocks from the devil's enterprise.
This is one of the reasons why it is always good to make your donations through your local church.
Be part of something that you know is real. Do not use your money to fertilize the devils seeds.
IV. Revelation Day is Coming
IV. Revelation Day is Coming
There is the sowing of weeds.
There is the growth of weeds.
The Lord said, "Let them both grow together until the harvest."
Now, here's the last thing: the day will come when the tares will be revealed.
There will come a time when the wheat and the tares will be discerned, beginning in verse 40 of this same chapter. See again:
“As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
Now, what does this tell us? This tells us that harvest time is coming.
Why does God tolerate weeds? Why doesn't God root them out right now?
I'll tell you why: because the tares are not fully ripe - neither the wheat nor the tares are ripe - until the end of the age.
You say, "Well, some of these people are long dead." They are not yet mature.
Write down a verse: Revelation 14:14 and 15.
John, the writer of Revelation.
John, the beloved Apostle, had a vision of the Final Judgment, and this is what he saw:
I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one “like a son of man” with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.”
See, what does he mean by that?
A man's harvest does not come when he dies. This harvest goes on and on and on.
Let's take as an example a man who owns a pornography company, with that he builds an empire. And with his merchandise - only God knows how many homes were destroyed, how much disease was spread, how many babies were murdered by unwanted pregnancies, how many little children's lives were deformed and distorted, how many minds were perverted, how much dirt and filth came out of the evil recesses, from the dark depths of this man's heart - but soon - and he is reaching old age - soon he will die.
But his influence will continue, and continue, and continue. He will corrupt someone, that will corrupt someone, that will corrupt someone, that will corrupt someone, that will corrupt someone, that will corrupt someone.…
This will not end until the end of time, until God puts the last period in the last sentence, in the last paragraph, in the last page, in the last book, in the last volume of history. When everything is finished, God will gather all the evidences.
The same happens with a righteous person. Friend, your influence for good, for God, will continue and continue and continue after you die. As God said about Abel
Hebrews 11:4 “By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.”
I hope that when I die and go, if Jesus does not come first, that my influence will continue and continue and continue and continue until the waves of this ministry touch the shores of eternity.
Then the harvest will be ripe - then the harvest will be ripe. This is why God does not judge at this time, because it is too early to judge.
But here's the point of this parable: Don't let the slowness of God's judgment deceive you.
You may be a good-looking weed: but judgment is coming.
Note that the weed is gathered into bundles to be burned.
This is interesting to me. I have noticed that in the world unsaved people seem to be gathering together; they are amalgamating; they are all coming together; they are all merging; they are all coming together; they seem to be packing themselves up for burning.
This union is not necessarily something that will be a great blessing for them.
Conclusion
Well, it's time to close the matter. Let me just say three things in conclusion, okay? We talk to you about the sowing, growth and knowledge of tares. Let me make three applications very quickly.
A. Be assured of your salvation
Application number one: Please, for God's sake, for your sake, be assured of your salvation. If there is a false Jesus, if there is a false Spirit, if there are false brothers, false ministers and a false gospel, has the devil played a trick on you?
The devil would rather - see you going to hell from the church pew than from the gutter.
Let me give you a verse - 2 Corinthians 13:5 “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?”
there is no salvation without conviction of sin
there is no salvation without repentance
there is no salvation without faith in Jesus Christ.
Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.
B. Don't let a fake Christian keep you from going to heaven
The second thing: if you have not yet given your heart to Jesus Christ, I ask you, do not let a fake Christian keep you out of heaven. Don't hide behind a hypocrite. Don't think that the real is not real because the false is there.
C. If you are a false Christian, repent and receive Christ
And number three: If you are a fake Christian, I ask you, in the name of Jesus, to repent of this and receive Christ alone as your Lord and Savior.