The Parables of Jesus - The Parable of the Tares

00:00:01 Michael Barnett

A wonderful worship today, and to continue in worship, I invite you to turn to me in your Bibles to the thirteenth chapter of Matthew, as we can continue our journey through the Gospel of Matthew. Wednesday night, our meals begin again. Amen. And we will be continuing all of our regularly scheduled events throughout the year, including the pastor's study and choir and RAs and GAs. The youth going on, that's right, the youth. So come on and be a part of that. We start serving at 5:30. Finish when we finish. Matthew chapter 13. Let me review real quickly where we are in the Gospel of Matthew.

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

00:00:56 Michael Barnett

In chapter one through four, we have seen the presentation of the King of Kings. Here he is. This is how he came, and we have the Christmas story. We have the birth of the Father and the baptism. We have his victorious victory at temptations, and then in chapter five through.

00:01:27 Michael Barnett

Seven, we have the preaching of the king. His demands. He defines his kingdom, his people, and then in chapters eight and nine, the power of the king. I'm going to come to it only what God can do. Remember those miracles. And then chapter ten, we have the people of the king on the great commission, going out and obeying him. And then we come to the polarities of the king. In chapters 11, 12, 13, and on into 14, and even 15, a key word in chapters 5 through 13 has caught my attention as I prepared these messages through the Gospel of Matthew, and that is the word "multitudes." Twelve times in these chapters, the word "multitudes" is used.

00:02:25 Michael Barnett

In one form or another, indicating a large number of people who came to hear Jesus, a large number of people who came to receive a miracle or bring somebody who needed a miracle. They wanted Jesus to heal or to deliver. And Jesus would preach, and he would do miracles to these multitudes. It was all and every bit of it was done in Galilee. So you have some multitudes here and some multitudes there, but more likely there was a mix of people. More than likely, many of the multitudes, individuals in the multitudes, were the same people because all in the same area. But when we get later on in this section of Matthew, we're going to see where Jesus feeds the multitude, and Matthew makes a point to tell us it was five thousand men.

00:03:18 Michael Barnett

And then, not long after that, we see where Jesus feeds the multitude again. Many of them, probably the same people, those in the same area, in our Galilee, same Galilee area. He feeds the multitude, and man, he makes it a point to tell us there were four thousand. So the multitude is decreasing in number. That means something to us. If you want to know what it means, come back when we preach on those things, but for now I got something else to preach to. In spite of his preaching and in spite of his miracles, Jesus has become a polarizing figure before the multitudes, including the Pharisees, including the religious leaders of the day, and this is why.

00:04:14 Michael Barnett

He speaks in parables. He takes a turn where he speaks in parables. There comes a time when the only thing Jesus ever said to the multitudes was a parable. And we are told in Matthew chapter 13, verses 10 and 11, the two reasons why Jesus spoke in parables. Number one was to hide the truth from these people, to conceal the truth from these multitudes, and the second was to reveal the truth. To anybody who wanted to hear it. In chapter thirteen, verse nine, Jesus says, 'He that has ears to hear, let him hear.' And what Jesus is telling us in this is, if you want to hear the word of God and have a desire to hear the word of God, He's going to let you do it. He's not going to exclude you. 'He that has an ear to hear, let him hear.' He says this to the church in Revelation.

Matthew 13:10

00:05:12 Michael Barnett

He that has to hear, let him hear. Can a churchgoer come and be a part of a local church and hear the word of God and not really want to hear? God said, "I'm not even going to give him insight into it. I'm not going to increase his learning. I'm not going to let him understand." If you want to hear the word of God, you can. And so, the parables of chapter thirteen are parables of the mysteries of the kingdom. He speaks four of the seven parables to the multitudes. He explains two of the four to his disciples and only his disciples. He never offers an explanation of the parables to the multitudes. Only to the disciples who come and ask him. Only to the disciples who come and sit and speak, say, Lord, tell us what you meant by that parable of the soaker.

00:06:10 Michael Barnett

Everybody else thinks you just told us a story about a farmer who threw some seed on ground that didn't produce. Tell us what you meant by it. Today is the same thing. Jesus tells a parable to the multitudes, and they walk away. They say, "Oh, that's an interesting story. I'm so glad to hear that." But his disciples came together when he was alone and said, "Please tell us about the parable of the sower," and Jesus gives the explanation. Three of the seven parables are only told to the disciples alone, as we will see in weeks to come. What is the lesson we learn from that? If you want to understand the scriptures, if you want to understand the teachings of the Bible.

00:07:07 Michael Barnett

You're going to have to be intimate with the author. You're going to have to spend some time at the feet of Jesus, asking Him for understanding. He said, 'Well, preacher, I come to church and you're a pretty good Bible teacher. I learn a lot from you. Not enough. You need to spend time with Jesus if you want to understand the Word.' As a matter of fact, I would venture to say that you will have more understanding of the Word of God if you spend more time in prayer than you do consulting the commentaries. If you spend more time in prayer than you do consulting the commentaries, you will have a stronger and better understanding of God's Word through the ministry of the great Teacher of the Holy Spirit that you were indwelt with when you were saved. You've got to spend time with God.

00:08:04 Michael Barnett

And so the reason you don't understand some scriptures is you got to go to God and ask Him for help. His disciples did it twice in chapter thirteen. He spoke to the multitude these parables. They just walked away. They could care less about what it meant. They could care less about gaining an insight and understanding in what Jesus was saying. And his disciples got Him together by themselves and said, 'Lord, tell us what you're talking about.'

00:08:34 Michael Barnett

Help us understand the word of God. Why? Because they had ears to hear, and He let them do it. Amen. Have you ever thought that God is not going to let you understand the Scriptures? You can't understand the Scriptures unless God lets you do it. Wow! And so you got to have an ear to hear. The way you do that is you go to the Lord and say, "Lord, give me some understanding."

00:09:05 Michael Barnett

And another thing I want to say about these seven parables is Jesus is telling us in these parables what to expect in this dispensation. What do I mean by that? What to expect in the period of time between the first coming of Jesus and the second coming of Jesus, and we are in that period of time right now. It's called the dispensation of the church, and Jesus is teaching us what to expect in this day and age in which we live. And so far, we have learned that not everyone who hears the gospel is going to be saved. Matter of fact, most of them will not. Remember, Jesus gave the parable of the.

00:10:03 Michael Barnett

Of the soil, and there were four kinds of soil. Only one of them was good. One of them produced fruit, different levels of fruit, different amounts of fruit, but it was fruit, and the others did not. Jesus was telling us there: not everyone who hears the gospel is going to be saved. Not everyone who hears the word of God is going to respond positively. Many are just going to walk away. The devil's going to take it away from them. They're going to get choked up by the world and the affairs of this life, and only think the temporary, not the eternal. And they're going to walk away, and they're not going to have an ear to hear. And I'm not going to let them hear. That's what he says. And then he gives this other parable to the multitude. So I invite you to look with me at verse 24. Another parable he put forth unto them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven."

00:10:59 Michael Barnett

Is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field. Now I want you to picture this multitude around Jesus and his disciples are there. The good, kind people, good people. Some of them, the evil people. Some of them, nice people. All kinds of people in this multitude. And Jesus says, 'The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field.' They said, 'Oh, we see that all the time.'

00:11:29 Michael Barnett

But verse twenty-five, while men slept, his enemy came and sow tears among the wheat and went his way. And you know what? I think they would say, "Well, why in the world would somebody do that?" We're going to answer that question in a minute. But when the wheat was sprung up and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tears also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, "Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? From whence then come these tares?" And he said unto them, "An enemy has done it." The servants said unto him, "Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? Gather up the tares?" But he said, "No. That's why you gather up the tares. You root up also the wheat with them."

00:12:26 Michael Barnett

Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn. And then in verse 31, he immediately goes and he gives two more parables, right in front of the multitudes. We're going to get to them in weeks to come. But look at verse 34. All these things Jesus spake unto the multitudes. There, that word is in parables, and without a parable speaking unto them, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet, saying, "I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world." That's the mystery part. Then Jesus sent the multitude away. Nobody came up to him and said.

00:13:24 Michael Barnett

We got a question. Nobody raised their hand. They didn't have ears to hear, so Jesus says, "I'm not going to let them hear anymore." So don't go away. And he went into the house, and the disciples, those who have ears to hear, came unto him, saying, "Declare unto us the parable of the tares in the field." He answered and said unto them, "He that sows the good seed is the Son of Man. That's me. I'm the one who sowed the good seed."

00:13:54 Michael Barnett

The field is the world. The good seed are the children of the kingdom, but the tares are the children of the wicked one. The enemy that sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of Man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend. And them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire, there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father, who has ears to hear, let him hear. If you want to know more about this, I'll let you know.

00:14:51 Michael Barnett

If you have a heart to hear more, I'll let you. And those disciples got to hear more because he would ordain them and set them apart, and many of them would write the pages of the Word of God. For us to have an ear to hear in 2026 in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, for us to get in on it.

00:15:21 Michael Barnett

God lets us hear. Amen. So the first lesson from the parable of the sower is not everybody who hears the gospel, not everybody hears the word of God, is going to want to hear and be saved. The ones that are will produce fruit, but the ones that don't, they're not going to hear anymore. And the second lesson we learn from this parable of the tears is there will always be unbelievers, even false believers, and deceived in the world. In the world, I remember years ago on a Sunday afternoon, one of my heroes, Doctor J. Harold Smith, opened in prayer.

00:16:19 Michael Barnett

That's the mention, and he opened in prayer. I said to my friend John, 'Why? We need to go see Doctor Smith. We need to go visit with him.' So we got up from our seats and made our way to where we could see him with that beautiful white hair, sitting in the section that was reserved for people. We just walked in through the little passageway to that section, and Doctor Smith went to say hello. He said, 'I insist y'all sit by me. Sit by me.' So we sat down here by Doctor J. Herndon, and another well-known preacher, a hero of mine. I am not going to say his name because I don't want you to think I am being critical of him. I love him. If he was alive today, I would certainly have him preach here. He's with the Lord, but yeah.

00:17:16 Michael Barnett

Sermon on the Wheat and the Tares, and he got up and preached that sermon. In that sermon, he says, 'This teaches that 50 percent of the people in the church are not saved. They're not saved. 50 percent of people are not saved.' And Jay Harold Smith, Doctor Smith, much my senior, ain't right. That ain't right. When this particular preacher's preaching, and you're sitting next to Jay Harris Smith, and he elbows you in the ribs, and elbows your friend in the ribs, and he wants to say something, you listen. He says the Bible says the field is the word, not the church. The field is the word, and so the lesson of Smith is exactly right. By the way, both those men were named Smith.

00:18:15 Michael Barnett

But Dr. Smith was exactly right. The field is the world, and what we learn here is that there's always going to be people in this world who are not real believers, but they appear to be for a while. So let's look at them real quickly. Number one, I want you to see the reality of the tares. We call this the parable of the wheat and the tares. But his disciples said, 'Tell us the parable of the tares.' So Jesus is emphasizing the tares, and so that's why we have the reality of the tares. Obviously, in this world, there are people of God who are born again and saved.

00:19:14 Michael Barnett

And they live for Jesus in this world, and they bear the fruit that is produced by Christ in this world. At the same time, there are tears in this world. People who might look like they are Christian might look like they belong to Jesus. They're in the field of the world. They're in the world.

00:19:43 Michael Barnett

But they're not, and one day they're going to be exposed. There's always in this world a dichotomy. There's people who build their house on the rock, and there's people who build their house on the sand. There's always going to be that. There's always people who are God's people, redeemed by Jesus. They love Jesus, and they are saved and cleansed, and they're not a perfect people. They struggle with their sin, but they are saved and redeemed. And then there's going to be those who are not. That's the reality of the tears in this world. That's how it's going to be. There will never ever be a time when there will not be wheat and tears in this world. There is a dichotomy. There is a difference. There is a separation, and there always will be.

00:20:43 Michael Barnett

That raises a couple of questions. The reality of tears. Number one, why did the enemy sow tears? Why did he do it? Can you imagine the multitude hearing this parable and not bothering to ask, but certainly it would have piqued your interest to say, why would somebody go into another man's field at night and sow weeds after the wheat has been sown? Everybody in Israel has to eat, and the more harvests we have, and the more we can produce, the better we eat. Why would anybody do this? But they didn't bother to go to the feet of Jesus and say, 'Jesus, tell us what are you saying.' But the disciples did, and Jesus says, 'The enemy who did this is the devil, is Satan.'

00:21:40 Michael Barnett

He's the one who did this, and why did he do this? Why did Satan do it? I don't tell you why. He comes to steal, kill, and destroy. He's a deceiver and a liar, and can be nothing else. Remember this: the tares look just like the wheat for a while. Don't you remember that the rock man who built his house on the rock and the sand man who built his house on the sand? They were just as comfortable and fine and lovely homes until stone came.

00:22:10 Michael Barnett

That's Satan. That's wheat and tares. And then, when did the enemy sell Jesus? The Bible says, "When men slept." When men slept. Folks, I'm gonna tell you something. We are wheat, and we are the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are in this world. One day we will be taken out of this world, but we are here now. Amen. We are here now, and one day we're going to be taken out. But the church is in this field, and the servants of the farmer, the servants of the landlord, are us. We better not be asleep.

00:23:08 Michael Barnett

In our evangelism, we better not be asleep in our mission. We can be wide awake in everything else, but if we're asleep in evangelism, the tears are going to be destroyed in hell, and the world is going to be full of tears. We need to be wide awake. If the church would be out in the field.

00:23:38 Michael Barnett

Rather than staying in the walls, we'd impact the field with the gospel. Paul wrote, "Awake to righteousness and sin not." For some have not the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame. Let's not sleep when the world is dying and going to hell. Let's not be asleep.

00:24:09 Michael Barnett

So that's the reality of tares. That's how it happened. Second of all, our recognition of the tares. There came a point when the servants did recognize that what was planted in the field was not only wheat, that there were tares there. I mean, they they grew up together for a little bit, but then they became became the situation where they were distinct. You know, you can tell a saved man from. A lost man. Did you know that? There's a difference if a if a saved man is spirit filled, walking with Christ. His attitude's going to be different about everything. His approach to others is going to be totally different. His his life is going to be different. Even amongst the most beautiful hairs, the wheat always going to be different.

00:25:03 Michael Barnett

And so let me tell you scientifically three ways that the weed is different from the tear by looking closely at the tear. The proper name for this tear that Jesus uses in our text is the bearded darning. If you know anything about weeds, you might have heard of the bearded darning. If you're a botanist, you might have heard of the bearded darning. Now we know about.

00:25:33 Michael Barnett

We know about crabgrass. We know about bahiagrass, but over there they have the bearded darn. It is a remarkable weed. It's difficult to distinguish between weeds until it matures a little bit and feeds. Then you know you got some bearded darns or tears. And you got to decide what to do about it. And if you look across your field and you see that it is covered in bearded darning, you got a problem. Let me give you three things about lost man that we learned from the bearded darning. Number one, notice their defiance. Tars will stand up straight.

00:26:32 Michael Barnett

Even after they have reached maturity and they head out, they will stand up straight. Wheat, however, will stoop at the head. In lost people, there seems to be a defiance against the lordship of Christ. Even in the most decent, kind, and gracious people, there still is in their heart an attitude. It says, "I will not submit to the lordship of Christ." We learned that from earlier on in Matthew, where Jesus said to the cities of Caesarea and Capernaum, "All of you people, I have done great miracles. I have preached, and you have not even acknowledged me. You have gone about your way of life without even consideration."

00:27:22 Michael Barnett

That I am the one who provides your very breath. I am the one who gives you three meals a day. I am the one who gives you a roof over your head. It is my sovereignty that has blessed you. It is a common grace with which you were blessed, and you are healthy because of me. And you don't even acknowledge that. You just go along and get along, and you are indifferent to my claims. That is a subtle defiance against the lordship of Christ. And I venture to say, most people without Christ in the city of Ocean Springs—that's how they live. But also, there's this divide. I ain't gonna bow down. No way. That's another group. But wheat—that is really wheat—will bow down and submit. Something else about the beard, Darnell. We learned from Boppy. Notice.

00:28:21 Michael Barnett

Lost people's depravity. Tears will eventually appear a little darker than weep. Jesus spoke of people with some light in the Sermon on the Mount. He said to them, "The light in them is darkness." He's talking about tears. A tear will have a shade of righteousness, but it'll be slightly dark. And did you know that some bearded cardinal is darker than others, depending on the subspecies of bearded cardinal? That's how lost people are. There's some lost people out there who were very dark in sin, and some who aren't so dark in sin. But I want to tell you, a tear is a tear.

00:29:18 Michael Barnett

It's the root problem, not the color problem, not the dark problem, not the light problem. It is a root problem. Not all tears are strangling children. Not all tears are sot drunks in the gutter. That's a darkness thing. Not all tears are sitting in prison today with a life sentence. Because of their sins and crimes, some tears are in the church house this morning. Some tears are preparing the ribs for tomorrow when the family's going to come, and they're a perfect family. There's no bitterness, no hatred. They all will get along and have a wonderful time. But a tear is a tear. Amen.

00:30:17 Michael Barnett

Lost is lost. It's a root problem. They're depraved. Jesus resurrected three people in the New Testament. He resurrected Lazarus who'd been dead four days and was rotting. He resurrected the little girl who'd been dead for a few hours, and he resurrected the young man who'd been dead for just a little bit of time. So you have curevation, more putrefaction and even more putrefaction, but dead is dead. Lost is lost. Whether it's your good sweet neighbor or loved one or relative, or if it's the guy that robs and steals and rapes and cheats and murders children, dead is dead. A tear is a tear. Now you might say, little preacher, wait a minute. I know some people.

00:31:16 Michael Barnett

They they're not necessarily out winged Christians, but you know I'm not gonna say they're great sinners. Let me tell you something. Did you know a counterfeit $100 bill can purchase just as much as a real $100 bill until it's found out? Amen. Did you know that? Huh? A counterfeit. A counterfeit $100 bill can do just as much good and be received with as much gratitude as a real $100 bill. Matter of fact, you might have a counterfeit $100 bill in your wallet right now, and not even recognize that it's fake. It's not real. It's not backed up.

00:32:15 Michael Barnett

And the tale, regardless of how light it is, and regardless of how wonderfully it looks, is not backed up by heaven. These are the people who will say, 'Lord, we did all kinds of things in Your name. We cast out demons. We preach sermons. We call sons the Lord. We gave. We were benevolent. We were kind neighbors, good neighbors. We never mistreated anybody.' Lord, He's gonna say, 'Depart from me. I never knew you. You were not.' But there's a third thing I want to tell you about tares. A tear was slightly poisonous. Do you know that? A tear.

00:33:12 Michael Barnett

Was slightly poisonous. It didn't necessarily kill him, but it would make him have an upset stomach. You'd be eating the Pepto-Bismol. I guarantee you. Slightly poisonous. The level of its toxicity is dependent upon the species of dart.

00:33:43 Michael Barnett

Dark tears that you can identify easily, or light tears that get mixed up. The level of toxicity is there, and they're wrong about two things. This is their doctrine. What do most people believe? Even the kindest and most wonderful people in this world. Who were lost? They have two doctrines. That my friend, this morning when I called in and said, 'Man, what are you preaching today?' and he asked me what I'm preaching, and I gave him my sermon. He said, 'Those what we call damningable doctrines.' And you get awful on these two doctrines. It doesn't matter anything. Number one, they are wrong on the doctrine of self.

00:34:41 Michael Barnett

They just don't see themselves as sinners because they're a stock of darnel, bearded darnel. That's not as dark as that one over there. They're not as dark as that one over there. Maybe they're not as light as that one over there. But that one over there is darker than me, and they just don't see themselves as sinners. Most of their life, they look at the wheat and say, 'Man, we look just alike.' And so they don't have the doctrine of sin, that they are sinners, that there is none good, no, not one, that the good works are like filthy rags in the eyes of God. And then the second doctrine that they're off on is the doctrine of the Savior, that they need Him.

00:35:34 Michael Barnett

They may believe that Jesus was virgin born and celebrate it. They may believe that Jesus went to the cross and died, but for sin. But they really don't think they need a savior because they're not as dark as another stalk over yonder. You see, or they look very, very similar to the wheat. By the way, get ready.

00:36:04 Michael Barnett

If the tear can look like the wheat can look like the tear. Now that's good preaching when he likes it. Amen. So that's our recognition of the tears. Third, our responsibility to the tears. They said they came to the farmer and said, "Well, do you want us to go out there and pull them up? Because the roots are probably intertwined, and you pull them up, you're going to pull up the tears of the weed too. Let's just wait until the harvest, and we'll separate them out, and we cut off the heads, and we'll separate it out that way. It'll be a little more laborious, but we'll do it." They said, "Yes, sir." We're not supposed to hate people.

00:36:57 Michael Barnett

And let me give you something else. We're not supposed to change people because we can't. We can't change their behavior. We live amongst them, and we're to be witnesses for Christ as we grow together in this field called the world. We're supposed to show them what we look like, and I want to tell you not only is that in terms of our morals, but that ought to be in terms of our attitude and our approach to people and our approach to difficulties in life. Everything we live with them and we love them, but I will tell you what: some of you fertilize them.

00:37:54 Michael Barnett

Amen. You live in such a way that you just make them stronger terrors. You need to live a holy, separated life. Live for the Lord in your morals, in your attitude, in the way you treat people, what you say, and how you act, and how you carry on. You need to walk in the fullness of the Holy Spirit, where there's love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, long suffering. Fain meet dissemblers; against such there is no law. For they that have crucified the flesh thereof and the lusts thereof. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Pause. Quint fertilize with the tables. Amen. Yes. Our responsibility.

00:38:52 Michael Barnett

Tears is telling how they can become wheat. Not act like them. We live in this world with them. Our responsibility is to show them what real wheat looks like. Our responsibility is to show a goat what a lamb looks like. And if you're? Because God has the power, we don't. But God has the power to take tailors, change the molecular makeup of tares from the root on up, and turn it into wheat. And he has the power to take goats and turn them into lambs, and in time, lambs become sheep when they grow in the Lord. God can do all. That's our responsibility. We keep wanting to change. We keep wanting to change everything. We can't change it. Y'all might remember we had a gentleman in our church who was a counselor.

00:39:51 Michael Barnett

And a wonderful man. I learned so much. He told me one time. He said, "There's something people need to realize when it comes to the family who aren't doing what they think they should or the right thing." He said, "There's not one thing on earth you can say or do that'll change it for us. You better go to God and pray and be a living testimony of the holiness of God." And show them what a life well lived for Jesus looks like. Separation from the world. Jesus said, "As you go, and as you go in this world, there is always going to be tares right next to you, because the enemy is so." And then, lastly, the reaping of the tares. There's going to be a gathering day. First Thessalonians four, First Corinthians fifteen tells us.

00:40:47 Michael Barnett

That one day the wheat will be gathered to Christ. The Bible says, 'I would not have you be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that which have died in Christ. For we which are alive and remain will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, with a trumpet sound, and that trumpet shall sound.' First Corinthians 15 says, 'One day there's coming when the Lord will return, and we will not all die, but we will all be changed.'

00:41:17 Michael Barnett

He's gonna make us like him. There's a gathering day coming for the church. It's imminent. It could happen any moment. It's called the rapture of the church. I believe that, Richard. You really believe there's gonna be a day when the trump sounds in glory, and all of a sudden those who are saved are gonna be missing from planet earth. Yes. I know some old missing from church. If they can be missing from church, they can miss Mark too. Amen. God can do that. God will do that. I believe the Bible.

00:41:49 Michael Barnett

But Jesus speaks of another day of reaping here, when His angels will come and reap them into fire. Jesus is talking about hell, and there's nothing pleasant about it. He's talking about hell, where the bearded darnel, spiritually speaking, will be cast into this fire. Those without right, the light ones, the dark ones, and the in between ones will all be cast into the fire of the harvest day? The wicked will go into the barn, into the presence of God, to the family farm. But the tares will be burned. And He gives us this statement, and they, verse forty-two: They shall be cast into a furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

00:42:49 Michael Barnett

Way of great sorrow, great regret for that soul that heard had opportunity and refused to be saved, refused to come to Christ. Who said, "I don't want to have an ear to hear, and I don't care if God lets me hear." Great sorrow. And gnashing of teeth, there'll be this in hell too. Gnashing of teeth, side by side with the wailing, we have the gnashing of teeth. This anger that people have. This will be the same crowd that gets mad and angry when they're confronted with their sin. This will be the same crowd that says, "How dare you compare me? How dare you say I'm a sinner? I can point out a thousand things about you and your church."

00:43:49 Michael Barnett

How dare you? And they get angry because I'm gonna tell you something, friend. The way you live without Christ now will be the way you are in hell for eternity without Christ, because there's no change. However, look what He says. But the righteous, the wheat, will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.

00:44:19 Michael Barnett

We're not perfect wheat. We're susceptible to bugs. We're susceptible to drought and disease. We struggle with our sins. But the difference between us and the bearded darnel will always be a tear. Whether it's a sad tear or an angry tear, in hell they're going to be a tear. But the beard. But the wheat.

00:44:49 Michael Barnett

We just get made perfect, amen. In glory, you stand before Him one day as you live before Him right now. It's time to change. It's time to repent. Be saved. Two lessons: not everyone who hears the gospel will be saved, and number two, there will always be false Christians. In this world, always believe. I hope you're not one of them. If you are, you can be saved today and give your life to Jesus and be born again. You're a pair that can be confident, and I pray you will. In response to the Holy Spirit, let's stand for our song of faith.