Matthew 13 part III
Matthew 13 Part III
Wheat and Tares
Joke: A fire starts inside a chemical plant and the alarm goes out to fire departments miles around. After crews have been fighting the fire for over an hour, the chemical company president approached the fire chief and said, "All of our secret formulas are in the vault in the center of the plant. They must be saved! I will give $100,000 to the engine company that brings them out safely!" The crews try, but no one can get through. Then another fire truck, filled with a volunteer fire company of men over 65, comes roaring down the road and drives straight into the middle of the inferno. The other men watch unbelieving as the old timers hop off of their rig and heroically extinguish the fire, saving the secret formulas. The company president walks over to reward the volunteers.
"What do you guys plan to do with the money?" the president asks the group.
The fire truck driver looks him right in the eye and answers, "The first thing we’re going to do is fix the brakes on that truck."
Beginning: As we continue this journey through the parables of Christ I hope you have enjoyed the 1st four parables. To recap what we have heard so far the 1st four where about what kind of hearers are you, when you hear the message of Christ; what kind of ground did it fall on. I feel that these sermons are very special, and each one is a gift from God. To understand the parables is a start to understanding Jesus. Now on to the 5th parable, For those of you who have read this in the past, In most bible’s it is titled “wheat and Tares”.
But before we get started I want you to fully understand this parable so I want to read several parts of scripture. So please turn with me to the 1st book of the bible in Genesis.
Genesis 3:9-15
9 Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”
12 Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”
13 And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent:
“Because you have done this,
You are cursed more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you shall go,
And you shall eat dust
All the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.”
PRAY
Now I want you to mark that in your bibles and listen to the rest of this sermon on the wheat and Tares.
Matthew 13:24-30
Parable of the Wheat and Tares
24 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. 26 But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. 27 So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”
Some of you might know what a tare is and some do not. For those of you who farm you know what weeds can do to your crop. I read that most farmers from Oklahoma would call tares “cheats” it is a native rye grass that has a scientific name to long and to hard to pronounce, so we will say cheat or tares, ok?
Now when the tare is young it looks just like the wheat, however when it grows or matures it has a head just like the wheat does, but you can tell them apart. Now wheat has value and the tare does not.
Now the 1st scripture we read explains the events that took place immediately after Adam’s sin that we call the original sin. God questions Adam who blames Eve. God questions Eve who blames the serpent. God then addresses the serpent who we know as satan.
I want us to look at a part of that passage again.
Genesis 3:14-15
13 And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent:
“Because you have done this,
You are cursed more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you shall go,
And you shall eat dust
All the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.”
This passage is symbolic. The serpent is satan. The women represents the church, which is the elect. The seed of satan are all reprobate people who are not part of the elect. God says He will put enmity between Him(satan) and the elect. He(God) also tells satan “there will be enmity between his seed and the woman’s seed.
Now if we just read through we would never catch this but I want you to look at that for a moment. What do you notice?
Women do not have seed, men do. Women have ovaries and eggs not seed. The woman’s seed symbolizes those who are not born of man. It symbolizes the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. Is there enmity between satan and our Lord Jesus Christ?
Satan bruised the heel of Christ at the cross. But Jesus crushed satan’s head in His victory over sin at the cross. The seed of the woman also includes the elect who are reborn, through the saving faith in our lord Jesus Christ.
Listen! God adopts all new believers into the His family. This is why the woman’s seed includes Jesus Christ and all believers, because God considers all in Christ as Jesus’ brothers and sisters
Romans 8:14-17
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
Now that we have gone back to the beginning to understand the 5th parable, we read that a man (Jesus) sowed seed in the field, and while he slept a enemy sneaks in and plants tares (weeds) alone side of the wheat. Now let read How Jesus explains this parable
Matthew 13:36-43
Parable of the Tares Explained
36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.”
37 He answered and said to them: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. 39 The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. 40 Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. 41 The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, 42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
Now lets look at Jesus’own interpretation of His parable.
Who sows the good seed? Jesus says He does. This is talking about Salvation. He is describing the reborn, the chosen of God. The Lord saves those who are His.
Where does Jesus sow His good seeds?
v38 The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one.
This verse shows us that Jesus sows His good seed in the world and those seeds are the children of the Kingdom. The chosen of God are Jesus’ brothers and sisters. We are all Gods children. And since we are in this world Jesus is talking about us the believers.
So what about the tares?
v38 The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. 39 The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.
This is very clear. The tares are satan’s seed that he planted in the world. I want you to notice very carefully, the wheat does not become tares and the tares do not become wheat. This is a very straight forward teaching on the fact that God knows those who are His. He also knows who the tares are.
Could it be possible for tares to be apart of the church? There most definitely are tares Gods churches today.
So what happens to tares at the end of the age?
v40 Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. 41 The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, 42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Even though the bible says we win, there is nothing funny about this message. The chosen of God will avoid the furnace of fire. However, the tares(unsaved) will not. This is why we must get the gospel of Jesus Christ to all we can. There are still so many people out there belong in heaven but have never heard the gospel, and they never will until we as Christians get serious about God and our mission here. The gospel of Jesus Christ must be free given to all people regardless of what ground it falls on so all has a chance to hear and be saved. The sad thing is that not all that hear will be saved .
So as I close I hope you understand that the church is filled with tares alone with the righteous side by side, and must of us will never know until the day of judgment. But I want to ask you 1 question.
This the most important thing I could ever ask you, and I ask you because I love you. Jesus said this parable to make you ask yourself, are you wheat or a tare. This is not a matter to take lightly, Jesus says “and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”
Sometimes we need to look at ourselves and ask have “I done all I can do? Am I right with God? And am I with out a doubt going to heaven?
I can’t answer that for you but I can give you the opportunity to settle that question. If you know that you have no been living for God and need to say “God I sorry that I have slipped in my walk with you, help me know you more, help me walk with more, help me be a better servant. Give me the courage and strength to win souls for your kingdom.”
Just step out of your seat walk up hear to me and let get you back on the right road that’s so easy to wonder off of. You come today either for the 1st time or to just recommit your life to the one and only true living God.
Amen