Okay, if you will, please turn in your Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew chapter 13. Gospel of Matthew chapter 13. I'm going to begin reading with verse 24, and we're going to read down through verse 30. Matthew 13, 24 says, Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field. But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares 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 hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servant said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay, lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. And in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, gather ye first the tares, bind them into bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn. This morning we are going to continue right on in Matthew chapter 13. We have looked at the parable of the sower. And we saw how the Word of God, which is spread, and the Gospel message that is spread, when it is presented to others, there is a reaction that is had. There is either a rejection of that Word, or there is an acceptance of that Word which springs up into life, and a life of fruit as well for the Lord. Now, when we talk about that rejection, we talk about that answer in which is a no, or a rejection of that Word of God, where actually there's many different ways that that is found, and we saw that in the parable of the sower. There are some that just simply, it falls by the wayside, and they trodden over it, and there's no change or no demeanor change or no answer in the realm of interest to the Word of God or the things of God. And then we know that there are some that they may profess to believe very quickly, but when they do this, there is no root in their heart. And they spring up quickly, but there's nothing there. And at the first sign of trials or temptations, they fall by the wayside as well. And then we know that there are some that are choked out by the cares of this world. Whatever it is, there is only one of the four in which receives the gospel message that truly is born of God and produces fruit. So here Jesus tells us His parable in Matthew chapter 13. But this is a chapter of kingdom parables, and this is a chapter where He gives many different parables, and we're going right through them. And right after He talks about the parable of the sower, He gives another parable that is very relatable. to the parable of the sower. In fact, it starts out almost the exact same way. Notice verse 24. Another parable He put forth, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field. So here He has this audience captive and He's talked to them about the parable of the sower. But now this next parable that comes forth has the same type of beginning. It's a man that goes and he sows good seed. But it is a different parable. The parable is listed that this man, he sows seed, and it's good seed, and guess what? It is his field, so it is good ground as well. And when he sows this seed, this wheat harvest that he plants, it begins to spring up, but he notices something different. That as it grows, they realize that there are two different seeds that have been planted. There has been planted the good seed, which is growing up into the wheat. And there has been planted these tares. And the term tare is simply a counterfeit plant that could be destructive, but it looks very similar to the real thing. And in the parable, when the servants tell the Master what has happened, how that there are now tares and counterfeits along with the good wheat, they say, what do you want us to do? Or how did this happen? He says, well, an enemy must have sowed those seeds. It wasn't me. It was an enemy that placed those there. And so then the servants say, OK, well, easy remedy. We'll do what? We'll go and we'll get rid of them. And then you'll have your good wheat there, but we'll get rid of the counterfeit. And what does the master of the house say? Don't do that. Because if you do that, you might damage the good. You might damage the true plants that I've planted. Let them grow together. He had his reasons, and then when it's time for harvest, that is the point where he would separate them. And so that's what happens at the time of harvest. He separates them. And they take all those counterfeit plants and the ones that are useless, the ones that cause destruction and harm, and they gather those up and they bundle them together. And what do they do? They put them in the threshing floor and they burn them. And they get rid of them. And what remains then is the good wheat. That's the parable. And again, as we've talked about parables, parables are what? entertaining earthly stories that have a deeper spiritual meaning to it. And you know what is the exciting and the good news about today's message that I can give you? Is you don't have to hear my interpretation once again of this parable. It's just like the parable of the sower. We have the parable given, but also the Lord Himself tells us what this parable means. So, let's look at what the Lord says this parable means as we look at verse 36 through verse 43. Notice verse 36. Then Jesus sent the multitude away. Now if you remember, He was by the seashore. He was sitting in a boat. He was telling them these parables while they were standing on the shore. And now verse 36 says, Jesus sent the multitude away. And He went into the house, and His disciples came unto Him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. And He answered. And he said unto them, he that soweth the good seed is the son of man. That's Jesus. The field is the world, and 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 burnt 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 that do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire, and there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as a sun in the kingdom of their father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. Okay, it's three minutes till 11, and we've known what Jesus says about this verse. Can we go home now? Well, almost. It's not gonna be that easy this morning. But we do have a very clear definition of what that parable meant. So I don't have to really tell you what the parable means. I trust that you understand it, and if you don't, I pray that you'll read both the parable and the definition until you do understand that. But I do want to clarify some things about this parable, and I do just have some quick thoughts, and that's what we're going to look at for the rest of our time. Just some thoughts that I have about this parable of the tares. And the first thought that I have is this. I want you to notice what he says in verse 37. He that answereth said unto him, he that soweth the good seed is the son of man. I want to first call your attention to this fact that Jesus is the one who plants and nurtures and produces the good wheat in this story. You know, we are nothing if not for the grace of God. And I thank God that we were born in a country and in a nation where the gospel is so prevalently heard and prevalently distributed about. We're blessed in that fact. We don't have to fear persecution when we talk about the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we might face a little bit, but it's far insignificant to where other places face when they mention Christ. And we have all the blessings of this world to live and to hear about Christ and about His death on the cross and about His resurrection, And yet, with all those privileges and benefits that I thank God for, we would be and remain exactly the same in rebellion and defiance to God, had it not been for Christ Jesus planting the good seed in our hearts. He is the planter. and every one that springs up that is true wheat. I want you to understand that. Every person that truly believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, every person that springs up as a wheat plant, so to speak, as this passage teaches us, every one of us have one thing in common. We would not have sprung up to life abundantly without the Good Sower, the Lord Jesus Christ, doing a work in our hearts. The Father chose the people, the Spirit of God calls those people, and we are called and chosen in whom? The great planter, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one that plants. And so this is different from our previous, this is different from our previous parable, isn't it? Because in the previous parable, it was just anyone sowing the seed. And we take that into account in our life that we are responsible to share the gospel and to sow the seed. But I want you to understand something, just like what I talked about in the parable of the sower. If God doesn't do anything with that seed, then nothing will happen. I think so many times churches and pastors and teachers feel the responsibility that it's their responsibility to convert someone, and it's not. It must be the Son of Man that does the converting. We sow the seed, but in all reality, it's the Lord Jesus Christ who plants that in their heart and springs forth life. So, the first thought that I have here is that Jesus Himself is the planter. And all, all of those in His field, and His field is what? Well, look at our definition here in verse 38. The field is what? The world! And I want you to know every single one that springs up in this world that truly belongs to Christ is a result of His mercy, His grace, His seeking, and His saving. And if it's not apart from Him, or if it's apart from Him, we are most miserable of men. Now, what we'll spend the majority of the time with is our next thought, and that is this. The tears look very similar to the wheat, but yet they are vastly different. Early on especially, those tears look to be identical to the wheat. And that's the interesting thing about this from an earthly perspective. When Jesus is giving these parables, He's telling these people something they can relate to. They understood very clearly how crops were growing. They also understood very clearly how a good crop can look like a good, how crops can look like a good crop, but you can have something that is a counterfeit that looks very similar to it, and once they grow and really start to produce, you can tell a difference between the two. But at first, at the outset, when they first spring up, they're almost identical. They appear to be the same early on. This is a very, very, very scary passage of Scripture. Because I want you to understand that the parable of the tares, it represents a people who look, talk, and act like a Christian. But yet, in the end, they are vastly different. We would call these people today, what? Hypocrites. Wouldn't we? They're hypocrites. They appear to look like a Christian, but they are hypocrites. They're not really a Christian. And hypocrisy can fool many people. You can have a church full of people. And there can be many that are truly saved and many that appear to be that way, but are tares, hypocrites. A hypocrite can attend church as regularly. I can't talk this morning. A hypocrite can't attend church as regularly or more regularly than someone who is actually saved. Isn't that something to think about? Now, that does not give you the excuse to say, oh, well, in that case, it doesn't matter whether I go to church or not. No. What I'm saying here, well, first of all, if you're truly saved and you don't want to be in the house of the Lord, shame on you. Because there are some hypocrites that truly don't even know Christ that are more faithful than some people that truly belong to Him. And that's sad. That should never be the case. But a hypocrite can attend church as regular or more regular than someone that is truly saved. A hypocrite can be faithful to not only their church, but they can be faithful to their family as well. They can be that great dad. They can be that world's best mother. They could be the one that goes out and helps the elderly and helps in charitable work. They can have a heart that seems so desirous to help others and serve others. They can have a heart that seems as if it wants to serve God. But it doesn't. But it can appear that way. There are preachers that can stand behind pulpits faithfully for years and years and be a tare. Be a hypocrite. not be a genuine follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, how do you believe that? What gives you the right to say that? Well, I think we can simply look to a cautionary tale of Judas Iscariot to show us that. If you will turn with me, keep your place here in Matthew 13, and let's turn to John chapter 13. John chapter 13. Notice verse 8. Jesus is trying to wash His disciples' feet at this point. In verse 8, Peter said to Him, Thou shalt never wash my feet, And Jesus answered him and said, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part in me, or with me. Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, not my feet also, but my hands and my head. And Jesus said unto them, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every wit, and ye are clean, but not all. So here's the story here. Peter asks the Lord, or the Lord is getting ready to wash the feet of His disciples. And we'll get to this here in a moment, but folks, we need to wash our feet every now and then. He's going to wash the feet of the disciples. And Peter says, no, because when someone washes your feet, what are they doing? They're humbling themselves down and putting someone else above them. And when Jesus starts to do this, there are a lot of times where Peter, I don't know about you, but when I hear some of the reactions Peter has, I think, I feel the same way about that. And it's an incorrect feeling. Like, I think his human nature is he's wanting to honor the Lord, but as a result, it's dishonoring. So here's an instance where Jesus is about to bow down and wash the feet of the disciples, and Peter boldly and bravely, and what I would think would be admiringly, says, never! You'll never wash my feet. And why is he saying that? Because he's saying, Lord, you're greater than I am. I'm not going to let you bow down and wash my feet. Which seems very, very, a great thing to say. But the Lord reprimands him here. And he says, if you don't let me wash you, you have no part with me. Means you don't really belong with me. If you're not going to let me wash your feet, And so Peter reacts exactly the same way I would react, again. And he says, okay, if that's the case, don't just wash my feet, wash my hands, wash my head, wash me all over. Because I want to have a part with you. And Jesus says this, what? You don't need washed all over. You've already been washed. But sometimes your feet gets dirty. And I'm going to wash your feet. Now, let's use it today, today's day. My son can go out and be playing baseball, and it's amazing how smelly little kids can get from time to time, right? So you put them in the bath, and they get a bath or shower, and they wash all over, and they come out clean as can be, and then you say, oh, Josiah, go let the dog out. And he goes out on his bare foot, and it's been raining, and he gets mud all over his feet, and he comes back in. Do we have to give him a bath all over again No, all we gotta do is what? Wash His feet, what got dirty. And then when we wash their feet, they're clean again. And so the idea of this passage is simply this, that the Lord Jesus has washed us completely from head to toe, and removed our sins away. That's the moral of this story, okay? He has removed our sins away, but what happens from time to time when we go out in this world? We walk in sin occasionally. And when we do that, we need to have our feet washed. We need to draw close to the Lord and have Him sanctify us and wash our feet that we would be restored a little bit. And that's the point of this passage. Jesus very clearly tells Peter, hey, you're already washed from head to toe. You're already clean. But then He makes a statement. He says what? Except for one of you. Now who was he talking about? He was talking about Judas. Now that's scary that here in these group of men that walked with the Lord, they were all clean, but one of them wasn't clean the whole time. And we see this more clearly in verses 24-27 in the same chapter. Simon Peter therefore beckoned him that he should ask of whom he spake. Then he, lying on Jesus' breast, said unto him, Lord, who is it? Now, the Lord had just told them that one of them was going to betray them. This is one of my favorite things to bring up. I haven't done it for a long time, but I've done it a lot from this pulpit, so please be patient with me if it's like, oh, he's gonna talk about this again. What I find miraculous about this passage is that when the Lord tells these twelve men that one of them is going to betray Him, do you know what their reaction is? Lord, is it me? Peter says that in verse 24. John says that in verse 25, Lord, who is it? And it talks about in other passages where each of them say, Lord, is it I? Is it me? Verse 26, Jesus answered and He said, He it is to whom I shall give a sop when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And after the sop, Satan entered into him. Then saith Jesus unto him, That thou doest do quickly. Now, I want you to understand that I don't think, and I may be wrong, but I don't think it went down as you read it right here. Now, I think it happened exactly as you read it, but I don't think it happened like this, okay? Because it almost appears that they're saying, Lord, is it me that's going to betray you? Is it me that's going to betray you? Is it me that's going to betray you? And then he goes, no, whoever I give this piece of bread that I saw, whoever I give that to, that's who it's going to be. And then he dips it and hands it to Judas. I don't think it happened quite like that. I almost think it was later in the meal as they're talking and things are going on. And who knows if the disciples even truly realized or understood what they were seeing, but I'm sure He casually dipped that and handed it to Judas and then in Judas' mind. As soon as He did that. Something came over him. In fact, it even says more so that Satan entered into him. He was fully, at that point, prepared to betray the one he walked with for three and a half years. And when he did this, Jesus looks at him and says, whatever you need to do, go do it quickly. And he leaves. point of this whole spill that we talked about in this chapter. All the men around that table said, Lord, is it me? Now, we like to think ourselves super detectives today. And we would like to think that if we were sitting at that table, we would say, when the Lord said, one of you will betray Me, we'd say, yeah, Judas over there. I knew something was funny about him the whole time. It's him that's going to be the one to do it. You notice when we all gather and we pray, he keeps his eyes open? You say, well, how do you know that? Well, you had your eyes open too then. You say, how do we know it's Judas? Because anytime we would go and talk to someone about the Lord, He wouldn't want to do it. Or, every time that we would gather together and talk about the Father in Heaven and Jesus would share and teach us, He would be asleep while we would be soaking it in. Did they say these things? No. They said, Lord, is it me? because it was so out of the realm in their minds that one of them would betray Him. What does that teach us? Judas acted the part. Now, I've mentioned this before to you, but the crazy thing about it is, too, there were missionary journeys where he sent his disciples out, and they did miracles. And I don't understand this fully, and I don't know the ins and the outs of it, but folks, I believe that Judas was given the ability to perform miracles too. Because otherwise, at that table, they could have said what? Oh yeah, remember when we were doing all those miracles? But Judas never did that. I think he looked exactly like the ones he sat with. And I think he acted exactly like the ones he sat with. And I think he conversed exactly like the ones he sat with. And I think he worked just as hard as the ones he sat with. But the whole time, he was a child of the devil, never belonging to the Lord. And folks, that is a scary thought. That's 1 in 12, and that person walked with Jesus Himself. So, I don't think that we can prudently do this and stick with it as a hard number. But let's say our church membership was 144. If the odds were the same, and it was 1 in 12, then that means the 12 people that claim to be a part of our church wouldn't truly be saved. I can't speak on behalf of any of you. What you need to do is look in your heart And you need to stop trying to fool your neighbor. Stop trying to fool the Lord. And what's really scary is you need to stop trying to fool yourself. And you need to realize that you may not belong to Jesus Christ unless you truly repented of your sins and put your faith in Him. Everyone in this field, which is the earth, everyone in this world that is not a true wheat that is a counterfeit. They are ultimately the child of Satan. And we see that because it's Satan who planted those seeds, wasn't it? Jesus says that very clearly. It was the devil. Ephesians 2, you don't have to turn there, but it talks about how we were once quickened from the dead. In Ephesians 2, verse 2, I'll read it if I could ever find it here in my Bible. It says, where in times past, now this is anyone that does not belong to the Lord, where in times past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the children that now worketh, the children of disobedience. You see, we may think, oh, well, we're a good person. We believe in God. We're a good person. We try to do good things. But I want you to understand, if you are not planted and rooted up in the Lord Jesus Christ, you're a child of the devil. And ultimately, your end is a scary ending. I mentioned that many try to fool themselves. And I have on two separate occasions when I spoke on a topic like this. On two separate occasions I had someone come to me and tell me that that used to be them a long time ago. I'm not going to name names. I'm sure they wouldn't mind if I told you. But they said, that was me. For years I played the part. Until one day, I realized I did not truly believe. And then they were saved. And a lot of times, again, we try to fool other people, but the scary thing is we try to fool ourselves. And we do. Sometimes a lot of people do fool themselves. So much so that in Matthew 7, Jesus said that there would be many that stand before Him and say, Have we not done wonderful things? Have we not cast out demons? Have we not done wonderful works in Your name? And what does He say? Depart from Me, I never knew you, ye workers of iniquity. And maybe you're here this morning. And in every appearance that you've given to other people, in every appearance that you've tried to give to God, in every appearance that you've tried to convince yourself, you have convinced yourself that yes, you're a Christian. But my question to you is, are you His child? Have you truly believed? Have you truly repented of the sin in which you have so rebelled against God? Have you repented and believed that Jesus is the Messiah and that He died for sinners on the cross and rose again the third day? Don't leave here fooling others and fooling yourself. But trust. Now, with our final moments, With our final moments, boy, I went a little longer than I thought. I want you to notice this as well. That in this parable, there is no separation of the wheats and the tares. That's the thought I want you to think about. There's no separation. They said, do you want us to go separate them? And the planter says, no. Leave them there. Let them grow together. And this reminds me of when the Lord is praying in John 17, His high priestly prayer. In John 17, verse 15, He says that He prays that they will not be taken out of the world. He prays that they'll not be taken out of the world. You know, the prayer would ultimately be, why not be saved and then go to heaven immediately? Well, no, we have work to do while we're on this earth. And Jesus prays that they wouldn't be taken out of the world, but they would not be of this world. And so we must navigate through this world while others call us hypocrites. People like to lump the tares right in with the wheat in this world. And they like to clump everyone together and people love to call Christians hypocrites. So that Christian that ruined his testimony and his name that was 48 states away, the same person will look to them and they look to you and say, you're the same. Because the wheat and the tares, they grow together. And so we must be able. to stand firm for the Lord and produce fruit in His name, so that we can separate ourselves in this earth. We also must have discernment as individuals and as churches. Now that doesn't mean that we're judgmental, but that means we have discernment over other people, folks. It doesn't mean we're overly judgmental, but it means we stand firm on what the characteristics of a true Christian is. And if someone is not standing firm on those characteristics, then maybe we look at them and we say, maybe you're not a true planted wheat. I don't know how else to say that. And maybe you share the gospel with that person. Or maybe as a church, when someone lives a life contrary to what our church stands for, maybe we have the audacity to do what the world hates, and we discipline that person. Because they are not acting in a manner which represents a true Christian. You see, we are called to do those things. As God hasn't separated us from Him in this world, we need to strive to separate ourselves by the true nature of what a Christian is. And then the last few things I want to mention, the last few thoughts. If you're in Matthew 13, Look at verse 39. When he gives these definitions, he says, the enemy that sowed them is the devil. But I want you to notice this next section. The harvest is the end of the world. The harvest is the end of the world. The next thought I have is this. The harvest is coming. Now, for thousands of years, 1800, 1900 years, I guess, people have been saying, we're living in the last times. And the end of the world could happen at any moment. So I'm not going to paint a specific picture with a very thin brush and say that in the next two years, the end of the world has happened. It might be another 100 years. Might be another 1,000 years, I don't know. But what I do know is this, the harvest is coming. The end of the world could happen today just as easily as it could happen 1,000 years from now. And we must be ready. We must be ready. Now there's some confusing things in this passage, and since there's a minute left, I'm not going to bring them up. I was going to, but if you're interested in what I find so confusing, come talk to me afterwards. But I don't think we have the time. But the end result of this whole idea that the harvest is coming, the end result of this, no matter what difficulties I have, the end result is this. Separation is going to take place. The wheat and the tares will be separated. The tares will be taken and bundled and cast into a lake of fire where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And I want you to understand that if you are not truly saved, if you do not belong to Him, or you have a loved one that does not belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, that the end is this. They will be bound and they will be cast into a lake of fire where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. People don't want to talk about hell anymore. People don't think it's kosher to talk about hell anymore. But the Word of God teaches that there is a place where those who reject the Son of God, there is a place that those, because of their evil deeds and their works, will be punished. And that is a place of complete separation from God and all those who belong to Him. And they will be punished for eternity for their works. And that place is real, folks. And the harvest is coming. which means we must warn others of their end if they don't believe. And I would like to close our service with a little bit of encouragement by looking at what happens to the wheat. There's separation, the tares are cast aside, but look what happens to the wheat in verse 43. Then shall the righteous Shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their father, who hath ears, let him hear." Folks, we will endure, we will be planted, we will shine as the sun, and we will glorify and honor and praise and worship our Savior in His kingdom forever and ever. That is the parable of the wheat and the tares. May we pray that we search our souls, search our hearts, that we know that we can be counted as one of the wheat and not as a counterfeit of a tare.