Wheat and Weeds

Matthew chapter 13. I was able to listen to Alex's

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

message from last week. Isn't Alex such a blessing?

Him and his family and just so thankful for him and for them

and just such a faithful man of God and a dear friend as well.

And he loves you. So it's nice to to know that the

church is obviously being well taken care of by men that I love

and trust and who I know are going to love and care for Jesus

church well whenever I'm gone. So in Matthew chapter 13, Alex

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

had the privilege of giving you the parable of the parable of

the sower. It's been called the parable of

the sower. It's been called the parable of

the soils. But there Jesus showed us four

different kinds of soils and then he told us what these

different kinds of soils were. We're going to review just for a

second idea of parables at all. Why?

Why did Jesus speak in parables? And this whole passage tells us,

if you want to know again, why does Jesus talk in parables?

The passage lays it out and then he explains, well, it's

ultimately the the thing we often hit.

It's God opposes the proud and he gives grace to the humble.

So whenever a person's has hardened their heart, look at

the context here where he's done it.

Remember, he's just been going nuclear on the Pharisees for I

mean, we were, we were there for weeks where he's just putting

them on blast, on blast, on blast.

So much so his own mother and brothers come to seize him to

interrupt him and go, hey, he's out of his mind.

Thank God they repented of that foolishness.

But at that time they're panicked and they're going, he's

saying some strong things. Jesus is telling them they have

committed an unforgivable sin. They've hardened themselves so

much now is it that they can never turn?

Yes. Well, why?

Because the Lord has given them over to what they pursued.

The only way any person can ever repent is by the grace of God.

And the Lord has said, I was gracious and you sinned.

I was gracious and you sinned. I was gracious and you sinned.

I was gracious and you sinned. But you've gone so far now that

I will not offer you any more extension.

Therefore, you won't repent. So we talked about how well,

what if I'm I'm afraid I've committed that sin?

Well, you haven't by evidenced by the fact that you care.

The person who doesn't care is the person, unfortunately, who's

lost. So that's the context we're

moving forward through here. Jesus is putting them all on

blast and it says in chapter 13, verse one, that same day Jesus

went out and started teaching in these parables.

So this is fresh in the Lord's mind.

This is fresh in the Lord's heart, this perspective, he's

going, everybody just saw this happen.

Let me connect some more dots for everybody the same day.

A lot of times in the gospels, we don't really know timelines.

We just the writer just goes and then this and we're like, was it

a month? Was it the next week?

Was this was this gospel writer even keeping everything

chronological like maybe this one did?

But in this case, Matthew says the same day and now he tells

about the four different kinds of soil.

So you can see pretty clearly as you look at these different soil

types. You can go, oh, well, the, the

Pharisees probably. So the temptation, of course, is

to just look around and inspect other people go, I wonder what

kind of soil Natalie is. I wonder what kind of soil Matt

is. Well, it's not that you can't do

that, but that's certainly not your starting point.

Your starting point, of course, and your primary focus is all

you got. What kind of soil am I?

Lord, help my heart and help me to be faithful to you.

So the purpose of the parables, the humble and hungry, they'll

stay close to Jesus, not just for miracles, but for the words

of life. Do you understand church,

everything that Jesus says and does?

Do you understand everything in your Bible?

I don't. But the humble and hungry still

cling to Jesus, like Ruth, to Naomi, like Jonathan to David,

or like Jacob, to God himself. I won't let you go.

And that's what the humble and hungry will do.

When Jesus says things that are hard and difficult and you go, I

don't know what that means. And everybody leaves and he

turns to the 12 you guys leaving 2 And Peter goes, I don't know

what that means, but you have the words of life.

Where else would we go? I'm hungry and humble and I'm

submitted to you. So that might not be the the

fullness of knowledge, but it is a great love and it is a great

devotion. So we're going to recap the

soils before we continue here. The good soil, this is the one

that we want to be. The good soil is the good heart

that produces good fruit even though it doesn't understand

everything. It is submitted to the farmer

and to his tools. That's the good soil.

That's our desire, the hard soil.

Jesus called this the path. Some seed falls along the path.

The path is the hard heart. This is the Pharisees very, very

clearly, obviously people who Jesus saying have committed the

unforgivable sin. This is the Pharisees hard

hearts they reject right away. This is who the Jewish leaders

were, not all of them, but most and many of the people you know,

people like this as well, by the way, these are people who want

absolutely nothing to do with Jesus.

And they will tell you so quickly, you, you might start

sharing something about the Lord and you can feel it.

You feel them bristle. You can feel the anger, you can

feel the frustration and you can sense the hostility.

They hate you talking about him and his word and his Kingdom.

The path soil doesn't receive anything at all.

This is the one soil I would probably say you, you're

probably not going to find in church on a Sunday.

I think you could find the others.

And that's what's dangerous. I think it's dangerous for these

other two soils we're about to get to in a moment.

That's why I'm sharing those with you last, the hard heart,

though, it's kind of obvious. It's like nothing can get in.

You know, you toss a piece of seed over and it bounces back

and hits you in the head. You're like, well, this isn't a

person of peace. This isn't a place that I should

devote all of my time. I can give prayer to them and

pray for the Lord's mercy to breakthrough, but there's

nothing, There's no opportunity for me here.

These next two kinds of soils are the ones that really

concerned me most about my flock and about myself.

The Stony soil, this is the soil where there's some dirt in there

and there's some rocks in there. But unfortunately, the shout,

the soil is very shallow. So the more shallow the soil is,

the quicker things will sprout out up top.

And it looks good. It looks like it's happening.

It's happening. Praise the Lord.

I remember in kindergarten, right, we planted the seed in

the cup. It's taking forever and ever and

ever and ever. We're asking the teacher when's

it going to grow. She's like, It is growing, it is

growing. It's growing where it needs to

grow. It's growing how it needs to

grow. I'm like, but I want to see it,

but it's growing where it needs to.

But if you put it in hardly any soil, it will spring up much

more quickly and have no strength.

The Stony soil is the shallow heart.

This person may be in church all the time, but it's all shallow.

They go that way because it's convenient, the shallow heart.

If everyone around them became a Mormon, this person would become

a Mormon too, because they have no depth.

Their roots are barely there. Their growth is all above the

surface, and therefore they're very vulnerable.

Any heat, any pressure because of the faith, and they'll

wither. How do you know?

Well, you get in your prayer closet and you get in your word

and you say, God, help me to put down roots.

And then how? How do you know who you are,

where you are? Well, you, you continue to

submit yourself under the Lord and go, God, give me roots.

You pray for roots. God root me deeper in your word.

God root me deeper in Christ. You have a hunger and thirst and

a fear of God that makes you go, God, give me roots.

Don't just give me a vertical growth.

Because when do you find that out?

You find that out when it's too late.

You find that out when the pressure comes, when the heat

comes or when the wind blows and the plant goes, you go, I

thought there was roots there. Yeah, we all did.

We all did. I can't believe that that guy's

been in the church for 50 years. The church isn't these bricks

and these windows aren't magical, being in the church.

But are you in Christ? Are you in the faith?

Are you sinking roots down deeper?

Or do you just have some vertical stuff that people can

see? Pressure will reveal.

Pressure will tell the tale. This is this is one that worries

me for me. It worries me for you.

But the one that worries me for worries me for me most is this

next one. It's the thorny soil.

The thorny soil is the distracted heart.

Idolatry takes many forms, and anything can take the Lord's

place and choke out love for God.

The distracted heart does not hate the Lord, but it sees Him

as a luxury and not always a need.

And this is the one, like I said, that scares me most

personally, because thorns come up and around it.

There's still plants here. There's still fruit coming.

And yet, where's the focus? Where's the attention?

This is the one that I have to be on guard about.

Which one brings? Which one does the Holy Spirit

bring to you for attention? Which one do you say?

That one, That one convicts me. Don't leave that conviction

here. Take that conviction all the way

home to your knees. Take that conviction all the way

to your to your commute to work where you're praying and talking

to the Lord about it. Don't leave it in this moment.

This is a reason I also recommend that you take notes,

or you at least have the ability to.

You don't have to outline my sermon as I preach it, but the

ability to jot something down, to have a spot or a place to be

able to do that, to carry something with you and go.

The Lord's speaking to you while I'm preaching.

He's saying things that Joe Michaels not saying.

He's ministering to you in a way that Joe Michael can't minister

to you. You don't want to just go.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, no that.

Take it seriously, consider it deeply, meditate upon it and

continue to pursue it in prayer. This is how we sink down roots.

I'm teaching you how to be a Christian.

I'm teaching you how to grow. Not just with I heard a sermon,

I have more knowledge, but I'm teaching you some practicals of

what it would look like to actually say, Oh, is that

something you should do? Well, yeah.

You should treasure those moments when the Lord brings you

direction and conviction. You should know that you're

being loved and you should do something with it, do something

about it. So those are the soils.

We want to be the good soil. So now we're going to go to our

passage for today to verse 24. We're going to look at verses 24

through 30 and then 36 through 43.

Thankfully, this parable today Jesus explains for us the play

by play chapter 13, verse 24. He put another parable before

them, saying, The Kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man

who sowed good seed in his field.

But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed seeds

among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and

bore grain, then the weeds appeared also.

And the servants of the master of the house came and said to

him, Master, did you not sow good seed into your field?

Helen doesn't have weeds. And he said to them, An enemy

has done this. So the servants said to him,

Then, do you want us to go and gather them?

But he said no, lest in gathering the weeds you root up

the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the

harvest. And at harvest time I will tell

the reapers, gather the weeds 1st and bind them in bundles to

be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.

Now to verse 36. Then he left the crowds and went

into the house, and his disciples came to him, saying,

Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.

He answered, The one who sows the seed, the good seed is the

son of man, the field is the world, and the good seed is the

sons of the Kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the

evil. 1 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil.

The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the

angels. Just as the weeds were gathered

and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the Age.

The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out

of His Kingdom all causes of sin and lawbreakers, and throw them

into the fiery furnace, and that place there will be weeping and

gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine

like the sun and the Kingdom of their Father.

He who has ears, let him hear. God, give us ears to hear.

Today we pray that we would not be dull, that we would not be

blind, and that we would not miss out.

Lord, even if we don't have the fullness of understanding, give

us the fullness of humility and the fullness of love and the

fullness of devotion. But I pray that You would open

the eyes of our hearts. Now we're not just chasing you

because of the blessings that you bring, although they were,

there are many. We chase you and pursue you

because you have the words of life and because you are the

resurrection and the life, because you are the light of the

world and because you are the good farmer.

You sow good seed and you take bad seed and even make it good.

We thank you for your love and compassion for us today.

Grow us and strengthen us. Help us to receive all that you

intend for us in Jesus name, Amen.

So Jesus explained this parable clearly.

So there's no question for what this one's about.

That's not the case with all the parables.

With some of the parables, we say some folks think this, some

folks think that, some folks think maybe he was saying both

of those things. We'll do the best we can with

those as we get to them next week.

Got to get to get to some some more where Jesus doesn't

necessarily spell it out plainly.

But the only question for this one is what should our response

be to it? And we're going to get to that.

But the man is Jesus, the field is the world, The good seed is

the sons of the Kingdom. Those are Christians.

The bad seed is the sons of the devil.

Non Christians, the enemy who planted the bad seed is the

devil. The harvest is the end of the

age and the reapers are angels. Just another thing, just really

surface level that we can't avoid.

And it's super obvious. Look at the language that Jesus

uses. Again, not the modern

evangelical kind of language to describe everything, right?

He is black and he is white. He is saying the sons of the

devil and he's saying the sons of God.

It's just very plain spoken in his language instead of, well,

you know, some folks have some misunderstandings.

So do we do we love the words of Jesus because because we want to

shame people? No, we just love the words of

Jesus because they're the words of Jesus and we want to have his

heart and we want the fullness of who he is.

We keep saying that as we go through Matthew.

We see both the God to be feared and the God to be loved and

adored. We see both all at the same

time. We don't, we should not pick one

or the other. You're not mature to pick one or

the other. You're mature when you can

handle the tension of the Scriptures and you can handle

who Jesus is the right thing at the right time.

But He's always the truth. He's always the truth.

And again, we just see Him speaking plainly in ways that

are not pleasant for those who are not in his Kingdom to hear.

Now the context. Of course, He's talking

privately to his disciples, and yet He has no problem laying out

with clarity, as He has been doing throughout Matthew.

So Matthew's continuing to raise up and show the Jews, his Jewish

readers, this Messiah. He's continuing to show the

authority of Jesus and all that he's talking about and all that

he's teaching. There's something interesting

about ancient times. It was illegal in ancient times

and different cultures to sow seed, to sow weed into anyone's

field. So that was a common enough

practice that they said this is a particular law.

Now, it's not just something slight, but this is something

that can be punished to some degree because it was a way that

you can manipulate someone else. It was a way you could harm

someone else. You know, you're, you're in that

context, you're harming their harvest.

Their harvest is not getting all the nutrient that it could

possibly get. It's having to share nutrient

with the weeds. There's a weed called Darnell,

and this is the one that we suspect was probably what Jesus

was referencing. And this is a weed that looks

exactly like wheat. They're identical.

And you can't tell until everything ripens.

You don't know. So they're growing up.

You're going look at all that wheat.

Look at all that wheat, man. It's a good harvest.

Man, this is such a blessing. And it looks so good and so

wonderful. And then finally it starts to

turn and it starts to come to a head and you go, oh, no, they,

they're the, the wheat is the, the golden brown that we're

familiar with when we think of wheat, Darnell turns black.

So there's these distinctions between them.

And you go, what happened here? An enemy has done this.

I didn't plan all that, but an enemy has done this.

So you can't tell which is which until it's ripe.

When it comes to parables. The other thing is we have to be

careful to not go too far into the analogies.

One pastor once said even the very best analogy limps.

So as opposed to just walking with perfect strength, it's

still an analogy. So we we need to make the point

out of a parable that Jesus makes with the parable.

And then there's other things that we could say, this could be

considered, this could be considered, but we never want to

take a point and bring it too far and try and squeeze juice

where there's not juice intended from the Lord.

So This is why, you know, I want to walk in wisdom and humility,

but I want to teach you these things so that you're also

aware. I don't want you to be baby

birds who hang on every word that John Michael has to say.

I want you to be baby birds who hang on the every word that

Jesus has to say. And then with that wisdom, you

can recognize like, OK, maybe pastor overstated his case.

Good. You should be able to notice

that. You should be able to see that.

And by God's grace, I pray that I won't do things like that.

I pray that I will continue to grow in wisdom and maturity.

Why? Because those who teach will be

judged more harshly. So that scares me.

But I want you to be equipped. I want you to pay attention, and

I don't want you to, like I said, to just take what I'm

saying. I want you to take the word of

God. But we're going to look at what

Jesus intended. And yes, we're going to pay

attention to some other consequences here.

The weed grows along with the wheat.

And even then Darnell, obviously when you plant 2 plants side by

side, their weeds are going to their, their roots are going to

intertwine. So that's what happens with the

Darnell and with the wheat. Their, their, their roots are

intertwining. Jesus is telling us with this

parable, we're all going to be together until the end.

The evil of the world that grieves us, that can overwhelm

us at times, that can discourage us.

He's telling us you're going to be with it until the end.

This is the way it is. Wheat, meat, weed.

Well, how do you know? Sometimes the wheat can't tell

the difference. You might not know until much

later. You might not know until the

judgement in some cases. I thought that was wheat.

The judgement revealed otherwise.

Wow. What do we do with that?

We already covered what we do with that, if that.

If that puts the fear of the Lord in you as it should, then

that should drive you to your knees and that should drive you

to wring out your heart before the Lord and say, God make me

good soil, make me good soil. God make me wheat.

And that humility the Lord works with and blesses and then

comforts and reassures. But Darnell hears this and goes,

Yikes, Darnell, if that's you, God loves you and calls you to

repentance. He changes Darnell into wheat.

He doesn't do that in this parable, but we know from all of

Scripture that that's what he does.

So Jesus is telling us we're all going to be together until the

end, and at the end he is going to sift out appropriately.

We need to add here, every parable is good and useful, but

every parable doesn't tell us every single thing that we need

to know about something. So, for example, this parable

taken by itself could make it sound like whoever is a

Christian and whoever isn't will stay that way until the end of

time, but that's obviously not the case.

But if we took this parable alone to its logical extremes,

we could say, and we'd say, does Darnell ever turn into wheat?

Well, of course not, but that wasn't the point of the parable.

But we know from Scripture that Jesus does turn Darnell into

wheat because, by the way, where does wheat come from?

Did you become wheat all by yourself, or did you used to be

Darnell? We all used to be the weed, the

worthless weed. So Jesus obviously had to make

us new. So it's obviously not the case.

But the Christian, it's obviously not the case that we

have to stay what we are because the Christian obviously used to

be the son of the devil. So there are points to be made

about Christians and non Christian that Jesus makes

throughout the Gospels, but he's just not doing that.

All right. Here He is saying what he is

saying and he's not saying what he's not saying.

So now what should our response be to this parable?

What should our response be what?

What is Jesus's intention? There's three things that I want

to point out, three responses that we should have as his

people #1 Jesus wants his people to read this parable and to be

put at ease rather than panic. Look at verse 28 through 30

again. He said to them, an enemy has

done this. So the servant said to the him,

then do you want us to go and gather them?

But he said no, lest in gathering the weeds you root up

the weed along with them. Let both grow together until the

harvest. And at harvest time I will tell

the reapers, gather the weeds 1st and bind them into bundles

to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.

What does Jesus want for us here?

Jesus wants us to not be overwhelmed by evil.

He wants us to not despair because of evil.

I get frustrated. Do you ever get frustrated with

the evil of the world? I get angry.

I get angry at my government. I get angry at corporations.

I get evil at greed. Ma'am, Adam and Angelina came

back from their trip. They told me about, like Adam

told me there's 10,000 food ingredients that are literally

illegal in the United Kingdom that are legal here.

If he had said like there's 26, I'd be like, that's insane.

There's over 10,000. This makes me angry.

There is such an evil. It's such a wickedness.

The disease epidemic of the United States, all the problems

that we experience, how much of that is being done to us because

of and the, the plastics, right? The microplastics and in the way

it affects the, the testosterone in men to make us more passive

and to make, you know, like I can go down a rabbit hole with

this. And, and there's much evil and

there's much wickedness and there's a lot of it.

And we're right to be angry. I think we're right to be

frustrated. I think we're right to be

grieved. And those are just some of the

kind of the first world examples.

Think about the believers in Nigeria right now.

They're facing a very different kind of evil.

You know, the persecution that the church faces throughout the

earth. It's, you know, I'm like, oh,

they're getting me with the micro plastics as I grab a

plastic water bottle to to take another sip.

But believers who are growing up beside the Darnold that trying

to kill them, believers who are surrounded by evil all over the

world. So it looks like something, but

God knows who belongs to him. And his comfort to us is that

he's not going to tarry forever. He is coming back and the judge

will judge rightly. And this is the comfort he gives

to you. He wants you to say, hey, you

need to accept the fact that you're going to grow up with

these weeds around you. And sometimes you won't know who

the weeds are, and sometimes you will.

But this is the comfort that the father gives.

This is the way it is. As a father, there's times where

I've had to teach my son some hard life lessons and it's not

comforting for them to hear as a child, the lesson of life isn't

fair, my son, it's not fair. It won't be fair to you.

There will be imbalances, there will be injustices and you need

to accept it. Now that's hard for a child to

hear. That's a difficult lesson for a

for a naive child to hear on man.

This is stiff, right? That's a stiff teaching.

And the same way Jesus giving us a stiff teaching.

He's saying church going, yes, Lord evil's going to be around

you until the end. Like man, I was thinking maybe

it wouldn't. Maybe, maybe you could do

something about this. Well, keep working, keep being

the light, keep being the salt, but also you need to accept this

reality because this is the way it is.

I'm telling you how I'm going to do things and you need to

understand it. The servants go, should we sift

it out now? The Lord says I'm going to sift

it all out at the right time. I'm the judge.

I will clarify, I will make it right.

Vengeance is mine. I'll repay everything just as it

should be. I'll show you in this in Romans

Romans 12 · chapter mention

chapter 12, the Lord Jesus wants you to read this parable, hear

this parable and be put at ease rather than panic, rather than

worry. Romans 12 verse 17 Repay no one

Romans 12:17

evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the

sight of all, if possible, so far as it depends on you, live

peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge

yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God.

For it is written, vengeance is mine.

I will repay, says the Lord, to the contrary.

If your enemy is hungry, feed him.

If he's thirsty, give him something to drink, for by so

doing you will heap burning coals on his head.

Do not overcome. Do not be overcome by evil, but

overcome evil with good. This is what it looks like to be

salt and light. You want to heap burning coals

on your enemy's head. You're going to do it one way or

another by blessing him. Either that blessing is going to

heap burning coals of conviction on him right then that he that

will lead to his repentance, which is what we want, or the

tragedy, what we don't want. It will continually build

judgment upon him where burning coals will literally and

actually cover him for all eternity.

The tragedy that the Church of Jesus has been spared from by

the blood of Jesus do not be overcome by evil, but overcome

evil with good. We're grieved by what we see

around us. The sons of the evil ones

surround us. They entangle their roots with

ours. They suck nutrient and life from

us. Don't you feel that?

Don't you feel times where where there's a draw, where there's a

something taken from you by the evil of the world?

But the Lord doesn't leave you there.

He's got more, He's got more grace for you.

He's got more of his spirit to fill you with.

You're not going to run out. Just do what you should do.

Be good wheat. Give it time and the Lord will

judge. Do not be overcome by evil.

Overcome evil with good. We are not being destroyed by

the world. We're actually preserving the

world. So although the world does make

withdrawals from us, the thing the world is withdrawing is the

salt and the light, and the Lord will continually provide us with

more. So whereas the wheat in the

field truly suffers and there's nothing, there's no hope.

When we are rooted and grounded in Christ, we continually absorb

all that we need from Him. You don't have to worry about

being choked out by the evil ones.

Yes. And we can't mix our parables

either. So that sometimes you could say,

oh, so because he's referencing soil and multiple parables.

But again, each parable really is a standalone and they weren't

intended to marry into one another.

But you don't have to worry about the evil.

And this is, this takes walking by faith.

This takes walking by faith to go that was evil and I am angry

about it, but I don't just despair.

I don't just rage posts on Facebook.

I don't just rant endlessly at the water cooler.

I don't just overwhelm my wife with my tyranny or with my with

my anger at the tyranny of the microplastics.

You know, I, I, I have to actually take these things to

the Lord because then my heart becomes poisoned if I don't.

Microplastics are the least of your of your worries, Joe

Michael. They're just in your body.

The more important thing is to keep things out of your heart.

Because if I allow things in my heart, hatred for the

politicians who I know hate us. I know they hate me.

I know they hate you. I don't question that.

I'd be so naive to think that. I know they hate us.

But Jesus goes well. So love your enemies, Joe

Michael. They are your enemies.

So love them. Pray for them.

Oh my goodness, what if this election goes so pray, Oh, what

if so pray, so pray. Keep your heart pure.

Keep your heart pure, that the evil's going to be around you.

It's going to be around you until the end.

Until I sift it and sort it. Until I pull the weeds out and

burn them and use them as fuel. Then, then it is the way it's

going to be. Yes Lord, steal my heart.

Yes Lord, strengthen me. Yes Lord, fill me with your

spirit. Yes Lord, keep me tender.

Don't let me get filled with pride.

Don't let me become self-righteous.

Righteous indignation is a healthy thing, and yet I can't

deceive myself when I really am just prideful.

Your light is not diminished by the darkness.

The candle is not afraid of the dark.

Candle doesn't go to a dark room and shrink.

The candle just says, this is what I'm here for.

This room is so dark. Well, that's why I'm here.

That's why you're here. Salt is here to preserve the

earth. The light is here to help the

darkness. The first point we said Jesus

wants his people to read this parable and be put at ease

rather than panic #2 Jesus wants his people to read this parable

and be motivated. Look at verse 40 of We're Still

in chapter. Oh, sorry, I'll move just to

Romans. Go back to Matthew 13, chapter

13, verse 40. Just as the weeds are gathered

and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age.

The Son of Man will send His angels, and they will gather out

of His Kingdom. Of whose Kingdom?

It's God's Kingdom, the Son of man.

It's all His. It's all His.

Right now. We're not prophesying by faith

that the earth is going to be His.

It already is. He owns it.

Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it

be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his

angels, and they will gather out of His Kingdom all causes of sin

and lawbreakers and throw them into the fiery furnace.

In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

How does Jesus want us to be motivated?

Jesus doesn't want us to look at the weeds and not care at all.

So the first point we said is he wants us to be comforted and

say, accept this reality and understand it.

But then he wants us to have the motive, look at the weeds with

compassion, care deeply for the sons of the devil, and we should

be motivated to give them the gospel of the Kingdom so that

they are not burned with fire. What is Jesus teaching here?

Jesus teaches that hell is real regardless of what any idiotic

liberal heretical theologian would say.

There's people who who would teach you and would twist the

scriptures and say, oh, Jesus was speaking in hyperbole.

No, he was speaking in parable when he spoke in parable, and

now he's teaching the parable explicitly and Jesus is saying

hell is a place. Jesus built hell.

God made hell devils. The devils not in charge of

hell. The demons aren't in charge of

hell. They're not stabbing people with

pitchforks saying ha ha, welcome to our domain.

No, God built hell for Satan and for his demons.

That's who hell was designed for.

Humans aren't intended to go there.

Humans are intended to live with God forever in his presence.

But all the enemies of God will be dealt with in judgment if

they don't bend the knee and kiss the sun.

So that is why much of humanity, unfortunately and tragically, is

going to hell. But this should motivate us.

This should compel us. This shouldn't go well.

He's coming back with a sword. I can't wait for that day.

Well, I love my Lord, and I can't wait for him to come back.

But at the same time, I'm grieved so that the loss won't

be lost. People are.

People are going to stay conscious.

When people die, they don't lose consciousness.

They die here and they wake up one of my nephew's, he had a

grandparent die and the way they explained it to him, he was how

old was he? Tucker was about 7:00 or so.

And the only way they, they were trying to teach him to explain

to him that and this his granddaddy was a believer, thank

God, but they were trying to explain to him that granddaddy's

died. And he said, I know, I know, I

understand. He responded in heaven.

So that's a that's a video game term.

Like your character dies and then you and then you're like

blue, you respond. You could respond a different

location on the map. But like in Tucker's mind, he's

like, no, I get it, guys. Like he respond like so.

But Tucker's right, we respond, but you don't lose

consciousness. And for the Saints, this is a

deep comfort. But for anyone who's not, it is

a horrific tragedy. It is the tragedy of all

tragedies. It's the terror of all terrors.

You've never had a nightmare? Scarier.

You've never seen a movie? Creepier.

There's nothing more tormenting and awful than burning in hell

forever. Pastor, this is strong, man.

We got to stay with Jesus. The word is true.

The word is faithful. You're just trying to scare

people. I'm trying to be faithful to the

word, and I'm. Is this fire and brimstone?

Well, yeah, literally it is. It is because the Word of God

tells us the whole truth and not just a part of it.

So when someone dies outside of Christ, it's a tragedy.

We mourn and we weep and it's so heavy and so devastating.

This is why you should be praying for your friends and

your loved ones who don't know the Lord.

I've got friends and loved ones that I'm praying for and the

thought of them in hell is a motive for me because I know

it's real and I know that is exactly where they're going to

go and that's exactly what's going to happen to them.

And everyone who's ever died and gone to hell, a man who died and

went to hell 100 years ago, he's been there for 100 years.

While you and I were having breakfast this morning, he was

there this afternoon when I take a nap and I enjoy this beautiful

day with my family. He's still going to be there and

he has no hope of ever escaping. And the man, that's true for the

man of 1000 years ago, and it is perfectly just and it is

absolutely right and it is totally what I deserve.

I deserve every bit of it. I deserve to suffer.

How could a perfect God, once you sin against him, how could

there ever be a finality to your, to your punishment?

You sinned against the infinitely Holy One, the only

possible way. And justice will still never be

satisfied fully in eternity, because how could you?

There's no way to repay my sin against God, who is infinitely

holy. The only possible solution is

infinite punishment for me. But annihilation and ending that

would be. I mean, that would be.

That would be not justice for me.

It'd be like, OK, a million years for John Michael was

enough and now I'm going to squash him like a bug and cease

his entire existence. People in hell would beg for

that. People in hell would beg for

annihilation. And these are the false

doctrines of the world. The false doctrines of the world

teach that there's such a thing as annihilationism and there's

their heretics. These are false believers, false

prophets, wolves in the church who write books and teach these

things that there comes a time when when everything stops.

So there comes a time when everything is somehow turned

again and and everyone is eventually brought into the

eternal Kingdom. But if that's true, if one

person could ever make it into heaven without the blood of

Jesus, then that also means that the blood of Jesus is completely

worthless. Because if one person can get in

without the blood, then everyone logically can get in without the

blood. And the blood of Jesus is not

worthless. It is costly.

And the Father loves the Son, and he is pleased with the Son,

and he will not allow one person to dishonor his Son.

That's why he has given him the name above every names above

every name. And that's why Jesus will come

to judge the living and the dead.

Who else is worthy? Who else is qualified?

Who else can open the scrolls except for the Lord himself?

Hell is real and the reapers are coming.

This gives us great compassion. This gives us great love.

This doesn't make us go. I don't like that.

This makes us instead go. God, send me here am I send me.

Here am I send me. He's coming to judge the living

in the dead. What is your life, Church?

What is my life? Our eternity is secure.

If you're the wheat, then your life is settled.

I don't have to survive this thing.

My life doesn't matter. Joe Michael doesn't have to

survive. God, just let me be faithful.

I win whatever happens. If I lose, I win.

If I win, I win. I win because Jesus is 1 and I'm

with him. He is coming to judge the living

in the dead in light of his appearing and His Kingdom.

Preach the word again. The candle is not afraid of the

dark. The candle changes the dark.

If the weeds didn't intertwine with the wheat, they couldn't

even survive. You are the nutrient of Jesus to

the world. So that's the second thing Jesus

wants us to be motivated by this parable.

And then the third thing Jesus wants for us from this parable.

He wants us to be hopeful. Read in verse 43 with me.

Then the righteous will shine like the sun and the Kingdom of

their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

The righteous will shine like the sun.

That's the wheat. If that's you, then that's your

promise, that's your reward, that's your blessing, that's

your peace, that's your satisfaction, that's your

delight. It is something to look forward

to. How can we hold all these things

in our heart at the same time? By God's grace, because we

should, we can. Have you been happy and sad at

the same time? It's a it's a strange thing.

We're complicated creatures, but the Lord equips us and fits us

for this work. Have faith in Jesus because this

is your destiny. This is what's coming for his

church. His Saints are going to shine

like the sun. We will rule and reign with him

forever. We will judge the angels.

It's so funny. Paul writes out, he says, do you

not know that you'll judge the angels?

Like actually, I didn't know that, Paul.

Glad you threw that in. I did not know that was coming.

We're going to shine like the sun.

It's going to be good. Go to Revelation chapter 22.

Revelation 22 · chapter mention

Our future is glorious. Our eternity is secure by the

blood of Jesus. We are sealed by the promise of

the Holy Spirit. Revelation is the last book in

your Bible, the very back Revelation chapter 22, the last

Revelation 22 · chapter mention

chapter of the Bible, verse one. Then the Angel showed me the

river of the water of life. Bride is crystal flowing from

the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the

street of the city. Also on either side of the

river, the tree of Life, with its twelve kinds of fruit,

yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were the

healing for the nations. No longer will there will there

be anything accursed, but the throne of God and the Lamb will

be in it, and His servants will worship Him.

They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads,

and night will be no more. They will need no light or lamp

or sun. For the Lord God will be their

light and they will reign forever and ever.

There are many beautiful promises that will reassure your

heart here at the end of Revelation.

I encourage you to read them. I encourage you to read all of

your Bible. I encourage you to read all of

Revelation, but in particular to know what's coming.

How's this thing end up? Every guys must say, how's the

world going to end? I don't know how the world's

going to end. Many Christians have strong

convictions on it's going to end like this.

It's going to end like that. Here's what I'm sure of.

Jesus is coming back and I'm with him and I'm not going to

argue with however he does it. Somebody's right, somebody's

wrong. Team Jesus, I'm all in.

Wherever your convictions are on it, I'm good with it.

But that's going to be a short window compared to what's

coming. Saints, we're going to be with

him forever. We're going to rule and reign as

we were always intended to. We're in this gigantic section

here in the middle between the Garden of Eden where we were

supposed to live happily ever after, and then God's

restoration, God's restoration plan.

But there's coming a day where we're going to look back on all

of this and we walk into eternity forever living with our

Lord, living with one another, knowing each other.

Remember, we're just respawning. But where we respond is nothing

like where we are. It is far more glorious.

It is far more perfect because He is there.

He is our light. He is our everything, a heaven

without Jesus. Please annihilate me.

What would the point be? I don't want to just exist.

Jesus is the only purpose of existence, to love and honor and

walk with Him and fellowship with Him.

If you think you would enjoy heaven without Jesus, then that

means you probably don't have Jesus.

But Jesus wants his people to be hopeful, to know what's coming.

Evil will be fully put away and no one is going to get away with

anything. His justice is perfect.

His Saints got their sin put on Him, but all the evil ones were

dealt with by the Lord appropriately.

We will be glorified later, but only if we're faithful now.

To glorify Him, the Lord plants his people all over the world,

all over the field, and then He's coming back to harvest us

at the right time. He told his disciples, He says,

I go to prepare a place for you. If, if it wasn't so, I would

have told you. That's always a comforting

passage to me. He's all right, guys.

I'm going to go and take care of it, and then I'm going to come

back and get you and you're going to come be with me.

If it wasn't that way, I would have told you.

I would tell you guys the truth. You can trust me.

I'm coming back. And then he leaves us and he

says it's evil here. There's darkness around you.

There's weeds around you. Go into all the world, do your

work, accomplish the mission. I'm coming soon.

I'm coming soon. Let's read that actually in

verse. We're still in Revelation 16.

Let's go to verse 16. Revelation 22.

Let's go to verse 16. I, Jesus, have sent my Angel to

testify to you about these things for the churches.

I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright Morning

star. Verse 17, the Spirit and the

Bride say come, and let the one who hears say, come and let the

one who is thirsty come. Let the one who desires take the

water of life without price. If you're not sure that you

belong to him, if you're not sure if you're wheat or if

you're the weed, the good news is that Jesus wants to save you.

He wants to save you right now. He wants to save you before the

reapers come. He will give you a new life.

He will make you wheat. If you say I don't think I'm the

good soil right now, well then let's get that right with the

Lord as well. Let's take that to Him in

humility and repentance. God, I see a thorn.

Lord, I feel, I feel the stab of it.

I feel the distraction. I feel my attention wandering.

Let's take all these things to Him in prayer.

Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your Word.

Jesus, we thank you for teaching us.

We thank you for walking with us.

God, we thank you for bearing with us.

We thank you for opening up the eyes of our hearts so that we

would not despair at the evil around us.

We would recognize it, that we would accept the reality that

we're facing. But don't let us despair now.

We also pray that you would fill us with motive to love the

world, to carry the gospel, to be the witness.

And Lord, we also pray that you would fill us with hope, the

blessed hope, the day of your return, the great expectation

that we have for our eternity with you, to love you and to

enjoy you forever. Yeah, we confess our sins of be

in the wrong soil, be in the bad soil, be in the Stony soil, be

in the thorny soil, be in hard soil.

God, I pray if there's anyone here or who's listening, who

wants to be sure of their salvation, that they would come

to you with faith, that they would come to you with humility,

that they would come to you giving you their life fully and

completely submitting to you, the farmer, and saying I'm

yours. Whatever I am, weed, wheat,

whatever I am, Jesus, I'm yours. Jesus, take me and make me

everything you want me to be. Let that be your prayer, Saints,

let that be your prayer. I don't know if I'm a St.

Then let that be your prayer. Jesus, save me by your blood, by

your sacrifice. I am a Sinner in need of you,

the Savior. My life is yours.

God, hear the hearts of your people and the prayers of your

people. Go with them today.

Holy Spirit, I pray that you will continue to prick our

hearts, that you will continue to draw us to you in prayer, not

just for ourselves, but for our country, for this world, for our

loved ones. In light of your coming and your

Kingdom, help us all to preach the Word in Jesus name.

And now the Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make his face Shinedown upon you and be gracious to you.

The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you great

peace in Jesus name. Amen.

Angela and I will be in the corner over here.