Surrounded by evil and sustained by hope, Matthew 13:24-43

Remember our rules for parables:

1. Direct discourse between characters in a parable is always significant

2. The emphasis is almost always on the end of the parable.

3. The point of a parable is directly related to its context, and aimed at those who are hearing it.

This means to rightly understand the parable you have to make sure you understand the point Jesus was making to those who heard it in person. This is why the context of the parables are so important, and why the writers of the gospels provide the setting and situation for us.

Who tells the parable? Jesus

Who does Jesus tell the parable too? The crowd that had gathered by the water to hear Him teach.

This was the same crowd that had gathered after he left the house where he just taught that those who received Him were His family and kingdom, and those who rejected Him were not his family or in His kingdom. Notice that in verse 36 it says that he left the crowds and returned back to the house to talk more with His disciples.

Why did Jesus tell the parables Jesus tells these parables to fulfill prophecy.

Jesus fulfills prophecies like those made by David in Psalm 78:1 (CSB) ”1 My people, hear my instruction; listen to the words from my mouth.”

Jesus tells these parables to encourage those who believe in Him

The parables are exciting, encouraging, and enlightening to those who do believe. On the heels of being rejected by the Pharisees and other religious leaders Jesus begins the process of encouraging those who believe through parables.

Read Matthew 13:24-43

The main point of these three parables is tied to the one referred to as the parable of the “wheat and the weeds” or the “wheat and the tares” as it reads in some translations.

Jesus tells these parables to encourage His followers to persevere by teaching them that the Kingdom of Christ is surrounded by evil and sustained by hope.

The Kingdom of Christ is surrounded by evil and sustained by hope

Before we get into the parables I want to share my struggle with these three, well, really my struggle with the smaller two parables. Thankfully the first one is explained by Jesus in verses 37-43.

My struggle with the smaller two parables is between two approaches to interpretation. The first interpretation I would call the more common approach to these parables.

1. The interpretation that what was small in the beginning will grow to be larger (Mustard seed) and more pervasive (Leaven) than they could imagine.

I see the merit for this because they were surrounded by the vocal and visible opposition to Christ. They may have seemed to be small band of believers, but the Kingdom of Christ is promised to grow. In the same way, like leaven infects an entire batch of dough in time the kingdom of Christ will grow and spread throughout the entire world and its peoples.

This interpretation is widely held and I think is consistent with the gospel and even makes sense in light of the context of Jesus and the crowds who have gathered to hear Him teach.

My one struggle with this interpretation is the choice of imagery that Jesus uses here in the parables. Within the OT and the NT these two images of the tree and leaven are typically used as negatives. I have often wrestled with the use of leaven in this parable when throughout the NT it is used to represent sin. As a result, the other interpretation I want to share with you doesn’t go against the truth of what I have just talked about. In fact, I think the two interpretations are both consistent with what we know to be true about Jesus and the Gospel. I will admit, I gravitate to this second interpretation at this point. And, I think had I not heard it second I wouldn’t wrestle at all. But, I can’t help but hear it in relation to the first. So, it is hard to choose it because I don’t want to lose the implications and applications of the first. But, praise the Lord they both fit in the context of the gospel and they both move us toward a stronger faith in Jesus!

The second interpretation I want to share with you is…

2. The interpretation that the tree and the leaven are signs of the world and sin.

The empires of the world are often referred to as trees, and leaven is almost always used to signify sin and it’s contaminating nature. Under this interpretation the two smaller parables in 31-33 reveals that Satan has and is sowing a false seed that grows and feels like he is winning. This false seed even matures into a cultural, or kind of, Christianity that is false. This false Christianity experiences a false growth and is based on false doctrines. But, in the end the faulty seed spread by Satan will be exposed and consumed by the wrath of God.

One of the reasons that I gravitate more and more in my prayer and study to this interpretation is the truth that the coming of Christ will be preceded by an increase in apostasy, which is people renouncing the true gospel and godless worship of a false messiah or man of lawlessness, or as many refer to him- the anti-christ.

Paul writes about this in

2 Thessalonians 2:1–10 CSB

Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him: We ask you, brothers and sisters, not to be easily upset or troubled, either by a prophecy or by a message or by a letter supposedly from us, alleging that the day of the Lord has come. Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way. For that day will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he sits in God’s temple, proclaiming that he himself is God. Don’t you remember that when I was still with you I used to tell you about this? And you know what currently restrains him, so that he will be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but the one now restraining will do so until he is out of the way, and then the lawless one will be revealed. The Lord Jesus will destroy him with the breath of his mouth and will bring him to nothing at the appearance of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is based on Satan’s working, with every kind of miracle, both signs and wonders serving the lie, and with every wicked deception among those who are perishing. They perish because they did not accept the love of the truth and so be saved.

The truth is, that as we near the time of Christ’s return, the world will be spinning toward a godless false worship of the antichrist looks like the result of the leaven spreading throughout the entire world. The birds nesting and finding comfort in the tree resembles the prophecy in Daniel about Babylon, and looks a lot like a world power that gives shelter to those who work against the kingdom of God and a false comfort to those who follow false gospel.

This leads me to mention that my greatest fear is not the falling away of church goers to embrace open sin and rebellion against God. My greatest fear for you and others who claim Christ is that you will go to church where the object of worship isn’t Christ and the goal of the church isn’t His glory and His kingdom.

I believe there are many doors Satan uses in the churches of America. And I believe that our church and the rest of our denomination have guarded well against his entry through the liberalizing effort to make sin acceptable in many forms today. But, while we were guarding the door against immorality I am afraid we left the door of idolatry wide open.

Satan has sown the seed of idolatry and false gospel that promotes morality and legalism over the gospel of grace and repentance. I mentioned this when we looked at Matthew 12:38-50. Jesus taught in that passage that getting all cleaned up and organized on the outside doesn’t mean that anything on the inside has changed.

He told the story of the unclean spirit in Matthew 12:43–45 (CSB), “43 When an unclean spirit comes out of a person, it roams through waterless places looking for rest but doesn’t find any. 44 Then it says, ‘I’ll go back to my house that I came from.’ Returning, it finds the house vacant, swept, and put in order. 45 Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and settle down there. As a result, that person’s last condition is worse than the first. That’s how it will also be with this evil generation.”

This story means that you can follow all the rules, and even make everyone else follow all the rules, but if you don’t have the presence of Christ reigning and living on the inside then your final condition will be worse than the first.

The Pharisees were the ones this illustration was aimed at. They had put their lives in order, but their hearts were empty and eventually would be the cause of their ruin. The same thing is happening all across the landscape of our churches. I don’t mean the liberal churches that are redefining sin as acceptable and good in the eyes of God. I mean our churches, the conservative and biblically based churches. Legalism, or fundamentalism, is the temptation Satan has used in our churches.

I think we have this idea in our head that the whole world will worship some kind of Antler’ed man on a throne who tells them to do whatever they want… But Satan knows that won’t work with you. You aren’t going to be tempted to follow some world-wide leader who advocates gross sin and rebellion.

But, a false gospel that seems close and feels like the warmth of Christ… this is the way to infiltrate our ranks. I am afraid he is well on his way to aiming our minds and our focus on the temporary kingdom of this world rather than the eternal and righteous kingdom of Christ.

I believe we can fight against the immoral culture outside the church and the idolatry inside the church by hearing what Jesus has to say… the parables He tells in our passage today reveal that the kingdom of Christ is surrounded by evil and sustained by hope.

The Kingdom of Christ is surrounded by evil and sustained by hope

The Kingdom of Christ is surrounded by evil

Matthew 13:24-30; 37-43

Jesus presents the crowd with the truth that the enemy will be at work, there is an eternal consequence to the sin of rejecting the Father’s will (Matthew 12:46-50), and that evil will be in the world until the end of days.

1. Satan is real and he is actively working against God

The enemy Jesus refers too is Satan, and he is working today.

The Bible describes Satan in nothing but evil terms:

Satan is an adversary of God and he seeks to destroy the children of God.

1 Peter 5:8 (CSB)

8 Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour.

Satan murders; as sin grew in the world and we see it on the cross.

Satan is the father of lies and a deceiver to the core

John 8:44 (CSB)

44 You are of your father the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies.

Revelation 12:9 (CSB)

9 So the great dragon was thrown out—the ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the one who deceives the whole world. He was thrown to earth, and his angels with him.

Satan is the temporary and restrained prince and ruler of this world

John 12:31 (CSB)

31 Now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out.

Ephesians 2:2 (CSB)

2 in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient.

In 2 Corinthians Paul teaches a great deal about who Satan is and what he does.

Satan schemes and takes advantage of our ignorance

2 Corinthians 2:10–11 (CSB)

10 Anyone you forgive, I do too. For what I have forgiven—if I have forgiven anything—it is for your benefit in the presence of Christ, 11 so that we may not be taken advantage of by Satan. For we are not ignorant of his schemes.

Satan blinds the minds of unbelievers and is considered the god of this age

2 Corinthians 4:4 (CSB)

4 In their case, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ,, who is the image of God.

Satan tempts people to sin

Satan takes away the word of God and uses the pressures of the world and of sin to choke the hearts of those who hear the gospel

Matthew 13:18-23

Satan accuses…

Satan masquerades as an angel of light

2 Corinthians 11:12–15 (CSB)

12 But I will continue to do what I am doing, in order to deny an opportunity to those who want to be regarded as our equals in what they boast about. 13 For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder! For Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 So it is no great surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will be according to their works.

2. Hell is real, terrible, and deserved

“Weeping and gnashing of teeth”

(Matthew 8:10-12; 13:42 & 50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30)

The denial of hell is a significant departure from the Christian faith. There is no such thing as faithful Christianity without the doctrine of an eternal punishment of sin in what we refer to as hell.

You cannot receive the truth about Jesus without receiving His teaching on hell.

In my study I found this quote from the Ligonier study through Matthew. (No name attributed to it.)

“There is very little about hell in the Old Testament, and very little in the epistles. It is almost as if God decided that a teaching this awful would not be received from any lesser authority than that of His own Son. Also, just as we have the fullest revelation of salvation in Jesus Christ, so also we have the fullest revelation of damnation from His lips.”

In the NT Jesus describes the reality of hell as a place of deserved torment under the wrath of God. I have heard many people describe hell as a place without God. But, since we know that there is no such thing as a place without God. It is better for us to understand hell as the place where the wrath of God is experienced.

Hell is often referred to as a lake of fire, or as Jesus says here a place of weeping and the gnashing of teeth. In the same way that the language about heaven is symbolic and describing something better. The language used for hell is symbolic of something that is far worse.

Hell is deserved...

Romans 6:23 CSB

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The more you grasp and believe the awful reality of hell, the more you will grow in your gratitude and humility for God’s grace. In addition, the deeper your belief and understanding of hell, the more motivated you will be to seek and to save the lost.

We have a Who’s Your One? Wall outside in the hallway. If we truly believed in hell, then we would cover the letters on that wall with the names of those who are praying for and sharing the gospel with.

Evil will be in the world, and infiltrate the church, until the end of days.

Evil is in the world, and will be until Christ returns.

This doesn’t mean that we are to go about our business and ignore it. We must be ambassadors of Christ in the world around us. 2 Corinthians 5:20–21 (CSB) says, “20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.” 21 He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

As ambassadors for Christ we appeal to those around us to repent of their sins and trust in Christ.

As ambassadors for Christ we are to care about the people, our cities, our states, and even our countries. In fact Jeremiah 29:7 (CSB) says, “7 Pursue the well-being of the city I have deported you to. Pray to the Lord on its behalf, for when it thrives, you will thrive.”

Evil is in the world, and it will be here and continue to grow right alongside the kingdom of Christ until He returns. Until then the weeds remind us of the task to reach the lost. The amazing truth of the gospel is that God can transform weeds into wheat!

Evil infiltrates the church, and will continue doing so until Christ returns.

When we find evil in the church we have been given clear directions on how to discipline and handle both the sin of the saints and the work of the enemy. Jesus is not telling us that we should tolerate sin and the work of the enemy in the church. He is teaching on the world. The church is a people of repentance, and as such we are to graciously call one another to repentance and we are to quickly remove the instruments of the enemy from our midst. There is a difference between giving in to the ploys of the enemy and being an instrument of the enemy for the demise and division of the church. Jesus is addressing the work of Satan in the world and in the church. Just like Satan was at work in the Pharisees, and he is at work in the church today.

In the same way that Satan disguises himself as an agent of light, the church is infiltrated by those who disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.

2 Corinthians 11:12–15 (CSB) says, “12 But I will continue to do what I am doing, in order to deny an opportunity to those who want to be regarded as our equals in what they boast about. 13 For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder! For Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 So it is no great surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will be according to their works.”

Paul wrote about the “doctrine of demons” that was plaguing the church in 1 Timothy 4:1.

Jesus taught in Matthew 7:15 about the wolves in sheep’s clothing that would come into the church and harm the flock.

Paul prayed in Philippians 1:9 that the church would be filled with knowledge and discernment to avoid the schemes of Satan in the church.

“It would seem that Satan is winning! But the test is at the end of the age, not during the age.” - Warren Wiersbe

The Kingdom of Christ is sustained by hope

Jesus is real, His victory is guaranteed, and He sustains those who are His.

This is the hope that Jesus brings to His hearers!

There is an enemy, and there is a hell, but be comforted that there is also an end! And, the end that Christ promises is a source of strength and of hope.

Even though you are surrounded by the work of the enemy. It may feel like the world is choking out your faith, but press on! There is a reward waiting for you more glorious than anything this world has to offer!

Philippians 3:12–13 (CSB)

“12 Not that I have already reached the goal or am already perfect, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead,”

1 Peter 5:4 (CSB)

“4 And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.”

2 Timothy 4:7–8 (CSB)

“7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 There is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me, but to all those who have loved his appearing.”

Eternal life is real, glorious, and undeserved

Matthew 13:43 tells us that eternal life belongs to the righteous and that is glorious! We have so much to look forward to in eternity with Christ.

Eternity will shine with the reflection of God in the image of everyone who is saved. Like light bouncing off a mirrored building we will radiate with the righteousness of Christ in eternity.

But, our righteousness is not one we have achieved, it is one that we have received.

In Romans 4:16 (CSB) Paul explains that righteousness is received by faith in Jesus Christ. Paul wrote. “16 This is why the promise is by faith, so that it may be according to grace, to guarantee it to all the descendants—not only to the one who is of the law but also to the one who is of Abraham’s faith. He is the father of us all.” A few verses later in Romans 4:22–24 (CSB) it says, “22 Therefore, it was credited to him for righteousness., 23 Now it was credited to him was not written for Abraham alone, 24 but also for us. It will be credited to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.”

Eternal life is undeserved, it is a result of God’s grace through our faith in Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 2:4–5 (CSB) says, “4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, 5 made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!”

Jesus says that we will shine like the sun in the kingdom of our Father, but we are also taught and commanded that we should live according to the righteousness of Christ now.

The kingdom of Christ is surrounded by evil and sustained by hope, and we are called to live according to the hope we have in Christ and the grace that we have been given.

Responding to the truth:

1. Examine yourself

Because it can be hard to distinguish between true and false faith, make sure of your calling and salvation.2 Peter 1:10 (CSB), “10 Therefore, brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election, because if you do these things you will never stumble.”

2. Press on

Hope in Christ

Strengthened by the grace and Spirit of God

Mercy is new every day

You can do all things through Christ who gives you strength

Be faithful to the gospel

Share the gospel

The Kingdom of Christ is surrounded by evil and sustained by hope

Press On!