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["Dio e Zingaro", by La Municipale Balcanica, plays in bright rhythm, with a bright rhythm, with a bright rhythm, with a bright rhythm, with a bright rhythm, with a bright rhythm, with a bright rhythm, with a bright rhythm, with a bright rhythm, with a bright rhythm, with a bright rhythm, with a bright rhythm. Alright, good evening everyone, welcome to First Works Baptist Church. Let's all find our seats and grab a song book, open that song book to song number 90, Jesus, lover of my soul, song number 90. 90. If you are able, let's all stand together for this first song. Song number 90, Jesus Lover of My Soul. Everyone, all together, nice and strong on that first verse. Jesus Lover of My Soul, let me to thy bosom fly, while the nearer waters roll, while the tempest still is high. Hide me, O my Savior, hide, till the storm of life is past. Safe into the haven guide, O receive my soul at last. Other refuge have I none, hangs my helpless soul on thee. Leave, O leave me not alone, still support and comfort me. O my trust on thee is stayed, O my help from thee I bring. Cover my defenseless head with the shadow of thy wing. Thou, O Christ, art all I want, more than all in thee I find. Raise the fallen, cheer the fain, heal the sick, and lead the blind. Just and holy is thy name, I am all on righteousness. Vile and full of sin I am, thou art full of truth and grace. Plant his grace with the astound, grace to cover all my sin. Let the healing streams abound, make and keep me pure within. Thou of life, the fountain art, freely let me take of thee. Spring thou up within my heart, rise to all eternity. Amen. Let's open our service with the word of prayer. Father, thank you, God, Lord, for allowing us, God, to be here tonight, Lord, and hear your word preached unto us, God. I pray, Lord, that you would bless the service, Lord, every aspect of it, Lord. Bless the singing, Lord. May prepare our hearts and minds to receive your word, Lord, and I pray, God, that you would fill past me here with your Holy Spirit, Lord, as he preaches to us, God, and be with us, Lord, in the congregation, that we would apply that which we hear to our lives, Lord, be edified and leave here differently than when we came in, God. We love you, Lord, and it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. Song number 187, Jesus Loves Me. Song 187, Jesus Loves Me. Everyone all together nice and strong. Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong. They are weak, but he is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so. Jesus loves me, he who died. Heaven's gate to open wide. He will wash away my sin. Let his little child come in. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so. Jesus loves me, he will stay close beside me all the way. Thou hast bled and died for me. I will henceforth live for thee. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so. All right, great singing. Thank you for being here this evening. Just a few announcements here before we sing our next song, which will be song number five, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross. If you want to get that ready in your songbook, song number five. If you did not get a bulletin, go ahead and raise your hand. One of the ushers can get one for you. Important information on there, as well as our prayer bulletin that we're going to go over briefly in just a bit. Our Sunday morning service is at 10 30 Sunday evening at 5 p.m. And then we have our Thursday night Bible study at seven o'clock. We are currently going through the book of Matthew. And so I want to encourage you to be here on Thursday evenings for that. You see the First Works family nights, summer schedule. This past Sunday night was the carnival night. Man, we had a great time. I think the highlight of the carnival wasn't necessarily the games for the kids. It wasn't the cotton candy. It wasn't the, you know, a pine geo in the face. Although I didn't get to do that. It wasn't, you know, what else did we have? Popcorn. It wasn't the jumper even. Let's just be honest. It was Mark riding that bull. Okay. Now the bull riding was great. We had a lot of fun. I didn't have much fun doing it. I had more fun watching people do it. And more particularly, of course, brother Mark is good. Now, uh, brother Adrian is the one who won the contest, but really the most aesthetic bull rider is Mark. Let's be honest. So I had a great time for the carnival. I know the kids had a great time and, uh, the adults also had a great time. And so, uh, this coming Sunday is the ice cream social and that'll be after the Sunday evening service. And so I want to encourage you to be here for that. Of course, we're going through a family night, uh, sermon series on Sunday nights. And so, uh, along with that, we'll just have ice cream thereafter and fellowship. Then it's the kids Olympics on the 30th, as well as the men's preaching night. And then we conclude it with the church bonfire on Friday, August 4th. We'll give you more info as we approach that. And so, uh, so far so good on the, on the family nights, we've been having a good time. I want to encourage you to be there for, for the rest of the events. And then you see there on the right hand side, the different announcements I've already announced ice cream social. And then on Monday, July 24th is the Samaria zoning. Pastor Anderson will be preaching for us on Thursday, July 27th. And so that next week, of course, is the red hot preaching conference that will go from Thursday to Sunday. And then that following Thursday is when he's going to come preach. He's on his, um, uh, road trip to all the new IFP churches. And so I want to encourage you to be here for that and bring a family, bring a friend on that day. If they never heard him preach in person, that's now's the perfect time to do so. And then the lady's prayer breakfast is on Saturday, August 12th. Apparently they're going to have champurrado and like, uh, it looks like a croissant there with some cinnamon sticks. I don't know who's the one who came up with that, but Hey, sounds good. And then, uh, no food or drink allowed in the main auditorium, except for water and coffee. Please make sure you're not loitering in the foyer fellowship hall during the preaching service. And then you see their quiet time on Sundays from 3 PM to 4 15. Please make sure you silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction during the service. Let's go ahead and go over our prayer sheet, uh, at this moment. And then brother Cody's gonna come up and pray over these needs here. Of course, continue to pray for our church corporately, pray for God's favor on our church, for the sowing, the missions, pray for the family nights as a prayed that, um, just our church would grow in that area and that they would, uh, apply much of the sermons of what's being preached on Sunday evenings in regards to the family, that it would be effective and that we would have a fruitful, uh, summer in that regard. And then, uh, I want to highlight one specific prayer request, uh, at the bottom. It's not a regarding our church family per se, but it is, uh, regarding some brothers and sisters in Christ, uh, family from Verity Shaw and Eva. Uh, if you can pray for them, for their family, their newborn John was diagnosed with leukemia. And so if you can pray for healing treatments and strength, and please keep them in prayer, obviously it's a, it's a heartbreaking situation. And so if you can, uh, remember to pray for them. And of course, we'll, uh, brother Cody will spend a significant time, uh, tonight, uh, praying over those needs there. And then if you have any additional prayer requests you need to, you'd like to be mentioned, you can put that at the bottom. We'll put, uh, tear that off, put into the offering plate and we'll make sure that it gets on there for the following week. Right at this time, brother Cody's gonna come up and pray over these needs. Let's bow our heads in word of prayer. Uh, dear Lord God, thank you for, uh, every soul here at this church, Lord. And, uh, just thank you, uh, for everything you bless our church with, Lord, and, and, uh, each and every one of us, Lord, just thank you for salvation for the King James Bible, Lord. And Lord, we just pray for your favor upon our church, Lord, and you continue to bless us and bless our church and every member in it, Lord, and, uh, continue to help us to, uh, grow closer to you and to be stronger, uh, in you, uh, day by day, Lord, and just increase our faith, Lord. So we just pray and ask for your favor, Lord, and, uh, just continue to pray for the soul winning, Lord. I just pray that the soul winning is fruitful and that we continue to see more people saved, Lord, and that there'd be more people willing to go out, more laborers willing to go out and preach the gospel to the lost Lord. And so just please, uh, and those who already know how to preach the gospel, Lord, I just pray that, uh, you continue to stir, uh, a love for the lost inside of us all, Lord, so that we go out and, and, uh, uh, reach people, uh, uh, and, uh, get them saved, Lord. And so we just pray for our soul winning efforts. And Lord, I pray for family nights. I pray first for every family, uh, in this church, Lord. I just pray that you, um, uh, strengthen the husband's Lord and help them to become strong leaders, Lord. And I pray that you, um, encourage the wives to, uh, obey and submit and love their husbands, Lord, and, uh, for the children to obey their parents, Lord. I just pray for our families, Lord. I just pray that, uh, family nights is edifying for our church, Lord, and that, uh, we get reminded of, of, of simple principles in life, Lord, and from your word, Lord. And I just pray that, uh, each and every, uh, person in this church, Lord, would take heed to, uh, the messages being preached throughout this time of family nights, Lord. And so just please pray for the, I pray for the families, Lord, and I pray that family nights are edifying for our church, Lord. And Lord, uh, I pray for, uh, all the requests here, Lord. Obviously, you know everyone's needs and, and, and desires, Lord, and I just pray that you could answer those, uh, requests, Lord, all the general requests, all the family and friends' salvations, Lord. Uh, just pray upon all of those, Lord, that, uh, you would answer those, uh, according to your will, Lord. And Lord, I pray for, um, uh, uh, brother Sean, Miss Eva, Lord, at, um, the Verde Baptist Church, Lord, uh, for their, their, uh, child, Lord, with leukemia, Lord. I just pray that, um, that you're amongst them, Lord, and that you have a hand of healing upon, uh, that child, Lord, and that you could, uh, give them strength, Lord, and, uh, give them comfort at this time, Lord. And I just pray that you're over all of that, Lord, and that, uh, you could help out that situation, Lord. And Lord, we just pray unto you that, uh, you would heal that, that, uh, that sickness, Lord. And I just pray that, uh, you give brother Sean and Miss Eva, uh, more strength, Lord, and more comfort, Lord, and, uh, just help them to show the love that you have for them, Lord, and, uh, help them to see the love, uh, that other people have, uh, for them, Lord. And so I just pray over that, Lord. I pray for healing, Lord, and I pray for just comfort and strength at this time, Lord. And so I just pray for that family, Lord, and that, uh, they'll, uh, it, it's just, uh, uh, a trial, Lord, that they will draw close unto you, Lord, and, and, uh, seek after you, Lord. And I just pray that you answer them, Lord, and hear their prayers, Lord, and, uh, heal their, uh, child, Lord. And Lord, I pray that you bless this service, Lord. I pray, uh, for the singing and for the preaching, Lord. I pray that you fill Pastor Mejia with the Holy Spirit, Lord, as he preaches your word. And just bless this service, and we pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, song number three for, uh, I'm sorry, song number five for our third song, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross. Song number five, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross. Everyone, all together, nice and strong. When I survey the wondrous cross on which the prince of glory died, my richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride. Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, save in the death of Christ my God. All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood. See from His head, His hands, His feet, sorrow and love flow mingled down. Did e'er such love and sorrow meet, or thorns composed so rich a crown, were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small? Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all. Amen. This time the ushers will collect the offering. Time will be in Matthew chapter 13. So so good evening tonight we're in matthew 13 matthew chapter 13 and the bible reads the same day when jesus out of the house and sat by the seaside and gray multitudes were gathered together unto him so that he went into a ship and sat and the whole multitude stood on the shore and he spake many things unto them in parables saying behold a sower went forth to sow and when he sowed some seeds fell by the wayside and the fowls came and devoured them up some fell upon stony places where they had not much earth and forthwith they sprung up because they had no deepness of earth and when the sun was up they were scorched and because they had no root they withered away and some fell among thorns and the thorns sprung up and choked them but other fell into good ground and brought forth fruit some 100 fold some 60 fold some 30 fold who hath ears to hear let him hear and the disciples came and said unto him why speakest thou unto them in parables he answered and said unto them because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven but to them it is not given for whosoever hath to him shall be given and he shall have more abundance but whosoever hath not from him shall be taken away even that he hath therefore speak i to them in parables because they seen not and hearing they hear not neither do they understand and in them is fulfilled the prophecy of isaias which saith by hearing you shall hear and shall not understand and seeing you shall see and shall not perceive for this people's hearts is wax gross and their ears are dull of hearing and their eyes they have closed lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and should understand with their heart and should be converted and i should heal them but blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they hear for verily i say unto you that many prophets and righteous men have a desire to see those things which you see and have not seen them and to hear those things which you hear and have not heard them he therefore the parable of the sower when anyone heareth the word of the kingdom and understandeth it not then cometh the wicked one and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart this is he which received seed by the wayside but he that received the seed into stony places the same as he that heareth the word and anon with joy receive it receiveth it yet yet hath he not rooted himself but doeth for a while for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word by and by he is offended he also that receiveth seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word and the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and he becometh unfruitful but he that received seed into the good ground see that heareth the word and understandeth it which also beareth fruit and bringeth forth some 100 fold some 60 some 30 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 so tears 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 so good seed in thy field from whence then hath it tears and 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 you gather up the tears you root up also the wheat with them let both grow together until the harvest and at the time of harvest i will say to the reapers gather ye together first the tears and bind them in bundles to burn them but gather the wheat into my barn another parable put he forth unto them saying the kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field which indeed is the least of all seeds but when it is grown it is the greatest among herbs and become at the tree so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof another parable spake he unto them the kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till the hole was leaven all these things spake jesus unto the multitudes and parables without a parable spake he not 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 i have been kept secret from the foundation of the world then jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house and his disciples came unto him saying declare unto us the parable of the tears of the field and he answered and said to them he that so with the good seed is the son of man the field is the word the good seed are the children of the kingdom but the tears 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 tears are gathered and burned in the fire so shall it be in the end of the 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 son in the kingdom of their father who hath ears to hear let him hear again the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field the which when a man hath found he hideth and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth that field again the kingdom of heaven is likened unto a merchant man seeking goodly pearls who when he had found one pearl of great price went and sold all that he had and brought and bought it again the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea and gathered of every kind which when it was full they drew to shore and sat down and gathered the good into vessels but cast the bad away so shall it be at the end of the world the angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just and shall cast them into a furnace of fire there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth jesus saith unto them have you understood all these things they say unto him yay lord then said he unto them therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is likened to a man that is an householder which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old and it came to pass that when jesus had finished these parables he departed thence and when he was coming to his own country he taught them in the synagogue insomuch that they were astonished and said once at this man this wisdom and these mighty works is not this the carpenter's son is not this his mother called mary and his brother and james and joseph and simon and judas and his sisters are they not all with us once then hath this man all these things and they were offended in him but jesus said unto him a prophet is not without honor saving his own country and in his own house and he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief let's pray dear lord god thank you for uh this church lord i just pray that you fill pastor with the holy spirit lord as he preaches your word and that us in the congregation uh would have ears to hear and uh would be attentive to the preaching lord we pray this all in jesus name amen amen okay we're in matthew chapter 13 tonight and tonight we begin with the parables and here in chapter 13 there's about eight parables that jesus christ gives out and let me give you a little bit of a background here what's taking place we understand why he's giving out these parables uh here in chapter 13 he's actually speaking to a broad group of people and we know that obviously he's preaching to israel as a whole but when you think about it when he's addressing israel there's two groups that he's talking to right you have saved israel people who have believed on the lord people who want the truth and then there's a group that are israelites according to the flesh that are not saved all right that have rejected the truth and essentially this is a mixed multitude that he's talking to here and it's really important to understand that and to know that in order for us to understand why he's putting forth these parables and as i was studying this particular passage because we're only going to go over about two parables here in the sermon but as i was looking through these it really kind of jumps out at you as to why he's addressing these particular people and what the parables have to do with the group that he's talking to here look at verse number one it says the same day went jesus out of the house and sat by the seaside and great multitudes were gathered together unto him so that he went into a ship and sat and the whole multitude stood on the shore and he spake many things unto them in parables saying behold a soul went forth to so let me stop right there of course just let me just briefly explain this is that when the bible talks about parables it's obviously a short story it's a simple story that is meant to illustrate a spiritual truth right and one thing you'll notice is that when he's when he's talking or he's preaching about these parables there's always a group of people that understand the parable and there's other people who are just left in complete darkness right and so when you think about parables it's a dark saying but it's not necessarily a story you could never understand it really depends on the person who's listening okay which is why he frequently says he that hath an ear let him hear now this isn't saying like if you have actual ears you know what i mean you're in good you're you're on good terms here you're able to listen he's obviously referring to people who actually want the truth so when the bible says he that hath an ear it's referring to a person who wants to understand the spiritual truth okay and the first parable that he goes over is the parable of the seed and the sower it's a very familiar and popular parable and really we could extrapolate all types of applications in regards to sowing and it's very much applicable to sowing and i'm going to give some of those applications tonight but more so we're going to spend time on the literal interpretation of this particular parable so let's read it here verse four it says and he sowed and some seeds fell by the wayside and the fowls came and devoured them up some fell upon so many places where they had not much earth and for with they sprung up because they had no deepness of earth and when the sun was up they were scorched because they had no root they withered away and some fell among thorns and the thorns sprung up and choked them but other fell into good ground and brought forth fruit some 100 fold some 60 fold some 30 fold who have ears to hear let him hear now skip down to verse number 18 if you would so this is the ironic thing about this particular parable is that he's given this forth and he's actually talking about the people who he's preaching to so as he's preaching to this group of people he's given a parable about the people that he's speaking to now how do we know that well look at verse number 18 is where he expounds upon the parable he gives the explanation and he's not giving it to the entire multitude he's giving it to his disciples right because of the fact that his disciples want to know what this parable means and it says here in verse 18 hear ye therefore the parable of the sower when anyone heareth the word of the kingdom and understandeth it not then cometh the wicked one and catcheth the way that which was sown in his heart this is he which received seed by the wayside so it goes over four particular places that the seed falls upon the seed of course is the word of god the sower is jesus christ and it falls upon four places now when we talk about sowing we can say that when we preach the gospel the seed of the gospel falls upon four particular locations one being the wayside another being stony places another being among thorns and then the last of course being good ground and if we're to break that down we would say four seeds are sown out of those four seeds three people get saved and out of those three people one person actually gets involved produces fruit is a soul winner and is successful in the christian life right and i think that's a really good way to quantify our work for the lord when we're actually serving god and preaching the gospel so that you don't become disillusioned with soul winning right and think why isn't the the multitudes why aren't they getting saved and every single door i knock on to get saved well really realistically speaking you know the world kind of operates under this economy right here where if you sow four seeds you're gonna have people that reject the gospel because they're upon the wayside you're gonna have people who get saved which are those three but even out of those three you might get one who actually begins to serve the lord they get into church they learn how to soul win they preach the gospel and they begin to produce fruit in their lives and that's a great way to illustrate the importance of sowing seeds and not becoming disillusioned with the service of god right so that's the interpretation that i've essentially always taken and or excuse me the application that i've always given because of the fact that that's very applicable to us as a church we're a sowing church very much involved in the ministry of sowing and that's very much important for us to learn but let me give you the the literal interpretation of this parable okay because the first group that the seed falls on it falls upon the wayside and it says this they understand if it not and then the wicked one referring to the devil right comes and he steals the seed out of their hearts now i've always thought to myself or should i say i've always misinterpreted this particular verse to mean that when a person doesn't understand the gospel when we give them the gospel it's an indicator that satan has come and taken the seed out of their heart but that's actually not what the verse is saying the verse says there that they understand that the not then cometh the wicked one and removes the seed out of their heart and obviously we can make the application to say hey when we go out there and preach the gospel you got to be thorough got to explain what the bible says and make sure they understand the word of god and do a good job going through the different references of scripture and giving them the right illustrations and just kind of fine tuning your gospel presentation so that people understand right and that's a great application but this is not what that's referring to you're like well what's going on you know what does it mean well this first group of people is actually referring to israelites who have rejected the truth let me say that again it's referring to a group of people who have rejected the truth now let me explain to you why and why is it that god is allowing the wicked one to come and remove the seed out of their heart you see at the end of the day when someone wants the truth they're going to get the truth and so if someone actually wants to understand biblical truth god's not going to leave them in the dark because there's a principle in the bible that teaches us that when you respond to the light that god gives you he gives you more light and so you say well what about here it says that they understand it not you know isn't this someone who just has a hard time understanding the gospel they have a hard time understanding biblical truth then why is god allowing the wicked one to come and snatch the seed out of the heart of the person i thought that when the word of god goes forth it accomplishes that thing where to he sent it you know never returns back void but what people have to understand is that yes the word of god is powerful it's powerful enough to save anybody but it requires a recipient who is actually receptive to the gospel we're not calvinists here right it's not like the word of god goes forth and it's just going to save every single person who comes into contact with no it requires a recipient to be receptive to the message for them to actually get saved and go forward and and understand the word of god right he said well then i understand what you're saying there but how do you know that this group of people is referring to an individual or a group of people who have rejected the truth well let's let's go back a couple verses here and let's go to verse number nine okay because he actually explains it to us it says in verse number nine who hath the ears to hear let him hear and the disciples came and said unto him why speak his style unto them in parables he answered and said unto them because it has given them to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven but unto them is not given for whosoever listen to this hath to him shall be given and he shall have more abundance listen to this but whosoever hath not from him shall be taken away even that he hath now let me ask you who's the one who's taking it away well according to the passage the context the wicked one and it goes on to say therefore speak i to them in parables because they seen see not and hearing they hear not neither do they what understand and in them is fulfilled the prophecy of his eyes which saith by hearing you shall hear and shall not understand and seeing you shall see and shall not perceive so when the bible says that the seed falls upon the wayside it's falling upon a group of people who are dull of hearing and it's not because they it's not like they're not understanding because they don't they can't understand it's because they don't want to understand and so therefore when the israelites who have the word of god in the flesh they're preaching to them giving them the truth but they don't want the truth then what does god do he allows the wicked one who pick who's pictured by the foul of the air to come and snatch the word of god out of their heart you see this is the only instance where god is a socialist say what in the world what do you mean you know he he doesn't take from the rich to give to the poor he gives more to the rich because it says he which hath more shall be given and to him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath so a rich person spiritually speaking according to this passage is referring to a person who wants the truth and because they want the truth god says okay i'll give you more truth but the person who doesn't have understanding because they don't want it okay then he's going to allow the wicked one known as the devil to come and snatch the seed out of their heart you're not even going to get the most basic of truth okay say well that's kind of mean why would he do something like that why would he take away the seed out of their heart because they don't understand well because not understanding is synonymous with not wanting to understand okay look what it says in verse 15 for this people's heart is waxed gross and their ears are dull of hearing and their eyes they have they have closed less than any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and should understand with their heart and should be converted and i should heal them so he's saying look the reason they don't understand is because they have purposely closed their spiritual eyes they have purposely closed their spiritual ears because they don't want to be converted they don't want to understand now here's the interesting thing about this verse is it's reiterated in john chapter 12 the difference being that here in matthew chapter 13 it says they close their ears they close their eyes lest they should understand and be converted in john chapter 12 it says i'm sorry in john chapter 12 it says i have closed their ears i have shut their eyes lest i should heal them and they should be converted so what's the difference the difference is these people here in matthew 13 purposely close their ears and their eyes because they don't want to understand and what does god do he says okay i'll assist you in closing your eyes and shutting your ears so that you don't understand and you can be converted and i should heal you this is what the process is known as what reparation and so when he says this people's heart is waxed gross he's referring to israel when he says this people is referring to the israelites because the israelites have had the word of god for thousands of years they've known of the prophecies and its climax to this particular event here where jesus christ the word of god is in the flesh preaching to them and they don't understand not because they can but because they don't want to understand and essentially they are the people who they are the people whose hearts are on the wayside okay now let me let me further approve this okay go to luke chapter 8 if you would luke chapter 8 hold your place here in matthew chapter 13 luke chapter 8 we find the parallel passage of the parable of the seed and the sower and it words things a little differently and it's great that it does because it gives us just a broader understanding of this particular parable look what it says in luke chapter 8 in verse 11 it says now the parable is this the seed is the word of god listen to this those by the wayside are they that hear then cometh the devil and taketh away the word out of their hearts listen to this lest they should believe and be saved so keep in mind if we were to compare that with matthew 13 matthew 13 is talking about a people who have purposely closed their ears in their in their eyes because they don't want to understand therefore god gives permission to satan to come and remove the seed out of their heart and then luke chapter 8 explains why lest they should believe and be saved further proving that this is referring to the fact that israel is becoming a reprobate nation who is rejected the truth does everyone understand that i know a lot of deep doctrine on thursday evening but we came for a bible study amen and so go back to matthew 13 you know i can i can i can hoot and holler up here and to try to keep you awake but sometimes you just need some discipline to have an appetite for doctrine here amen and i don't know when's the next time i'm preaching on matthew 13 so you better listen up amen and so the wayside is referring to people who have heard the truth they don't want to understand and therefore god essentially gives permission to satan to remove that seed out of their hearts you know kind of like giving them a reprobate mind let you know unless they should believe and be saved okay and obviously people who are out there in the world they wouldn't necessarily fall under this category or should i say of the vast majority of the population wouldn't fall under this category this is meant for a specific group of people who really just hate the truth okay and it says there uh in verse uh let me see verse number 19 so the wicked one comes now here's what's interesting about this particular parable as well because the wicked one is is pictured by satan of course satan is the wicked one who comes and removes the seed and i feel like there's a connection here between this parable and the parable we're going to look at in just a bit with the wheat and the tares because the parable of the wheat and the tares god is the one jesus is the one who's sowing the good seed he's sowing the the children of god and then you have the wicked one sowing the children of the devil so you see him involved in this particular instance where he's taking the seed out of their hearts but then he's also sowing tares among the wheat and we obviously understand the way a person is made reprobate is by the word of god okay is by having a heart that is just dense and gross with the word of god but they've rejected the bible it blinds them and essentially that's what happens there so i don't want to get too much into that because i don't want to steal my thunder for the next parable but we see how that is working here he says in uh verse 19 again when anyone here at the word of the kingdom so he's talking to the israelites you know there's people in the group who are like what does this mean he's like what is he talking about well he's talking about you which is why you don't understand and the main thing that you can get from this particular verse here folks is the fact that if you want to understand something spiritual you will understand it if you want to understand it now obviously this is this is in the main interpretation is regarding people who are beyond the hope of salvation and the fact that he's removing that ability to believe but you know we could also apply this to christians because christians can also become dull of hearing not for salvation but for truth thereafter right where they get saved and they don't really want to grow in their faith anymore they're kind of lazy in their bible reading they're lazy in their doctrine they don't really want to learn anymore and therefore it's like their hearts are becoming gross they essentially begin to lose knowledge of the bible and this is definitely true i mean i can point to pastors that i personally known not in the movement but pastors that i've known in the old ife who essentially stop growing it's like they don't they stop they stop learning they lose information they lose knowledge it's almost as if they look they know less today than they did 10 years ago and why is that because of the fact that it's been knowledge is being taken from them because they don't want to understand the word of god anymore these are the same people who rather go to devotionals and commentaries and uh biblical encyclopedias to understand the bible instead of actually going to the bible itself they're depending on outside sources made by unsaved people to understand the bible okay you know we need to go to the word of god and submit ourselves under the ministry of the holy spirit so that he can teach us what the bible actually says and help us to interpret it now that's harder than going to some commentary and it requires prayer and meditation of god's word it requires you turning off your social media and turning off you know whatever noise is in the background and dedicate some time to actually studying god's word and meditating upon it but it yields dividends of spiritual knowledge and wisdom okay not this fake knowledge that's given by charles spurgeon okay who doesn't really know the bible and so that is the seed that is sown upon the wayside referring to israel and he goes on to say in verse 18 here you are i'm sorry verse 20 but he that receives seed in stone into stony places the same is he that heareth the word and anon meaning immediately thereafter with joy receiveth it now i believe this is actually referring to a person who gets saved okay they receive the word of god and they receive it with joy and meaning they get saved they actually want to hear the truth and they believe on the lord you can you can apply that they believe on the lord jesus christ for salvation it says in verse 21 yet hath he not root in himself but dureth another word for dureth is just a shorter way of saying endureth okay but dureth for a while for when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word by and by he is offended so this particular person is pictured by a stony place where the seed comes he gets saved but he doesn't become rooted in the word of god he's not rooted in christ per se he's not rooted and grounded in love and because of that his christ his christianity is very shallow okay he hasn't really determined to be in this thing for the long haul you understand he saved but they're not really determined they haven't really counted the cost per se and read the word of god and taken up their cross daily to follow the lord and therefore when a trial or tribulation comes into their life they're just easily knocked over okay now i had to turn back to matthew 13 but go back to luke chapter 8 because luke chapter 8 uh also words this a different way and i think it's a it's a good uh passage to address here because people will try to use this particular passage to say you can stop believing in salvation okay now let me say this you can't stop believing okay you know some people will tell you you'll run into people like this at the door i'm sure people in here have had this experience or you ask them do you think you can do anything to lose your salvation and they'll say well if you stop believing right now you shouldn't be surprised when a person says that because they're unsaved and unsaved people come with come up with really ridiculous uh theories you understand what i'm saying um like you know you have to do works to be saved which is a ridiculous thing to think about like oh i have to repent of my sins it's pretty ridiculous right well this is also a ridiculous example and often when people tell me this they'll say you know oh if i stop believing i'll say like stop believing that you're saved or stop believing in god they're like yeah i'll often tell them this well you know do you have parents they say yes i'm like you live with your parents yeah i live with my parents and i'll tell them can i ever convince you do you don't have parents and they're like no i'm like yeah that's pretty ridiculous right like like yeah because it's just it's just like a no-brainer i have parents right well like man when we get saved god becomes our heavenly father and when we're saved the spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of god it's pretty much impossible to get a saved person to believe that he's not saved and that's not to say that people don't doubt their salvation uh at one point or another if they're backslidden they get involved in the world often what can happen with a person like that is that they become so involved and engrossed in sin they are very carnally minded and carnal minds can often lead to unscriptural's way of thinking right and often when you deal with a person like that you talk to a person like you know yeah i'm just kind of doubting because i'm so involved in sin but then you know if you pin them against the wall not literally but you know you corner them and you start giving them these truths they're like why i agree with you i just i'm just backslidden right now right and so you know often when a person if a person ever approaches me saying that they doubt their salvation because they're involved in some gross sin and they've been out of church for a long time and they're just involved in the world you know i'll just reaffirm them or reassure them of verses in the bible to talk about salvation to kind of get them spiritually minded because then at that point the spirit that they're feeding with the word of god can bear witness with their spirit that they are the children of god right and so this is very much important to for us as christians that we constantly talk about salvation we talk about salvation and not like okay i'm saved i'm saved i'm saying i'm saying like talk about the doctrines of salvation the different facets of salvation because at that point we're keeping it on the forefront of our minds and it's important to reiterate the doctrine of salvation because if you don't it becomes convoluted it begins to lose its pizzazz in the church and then you get a generation that rises up thereafter who can't really communicate salvation well and therefore you have churches that don't really know what they're talking about when it comes to salvation so these are things that constantly have to be stirred up in our minds so that we are reminded of biblical truths such as salvation okay whereas this particular person is not referring to someone who's just stopped believing in god now if a person came up to me and says you know i no longer believe in salvation i don't believe in god we wouldn't say they lost their salvation that person was just never safe to begin with i would say in first corinthian chapter 15 whereby you're saved if you keep in memory the things which i have preached unto you lest he believed in vain a person who believes in vain is a person who has an empty belief in salvation they just kind of gave lip service to salvation but they're never really safe to begin with okay because the person can't lose salvation and even the most backslidden of christians will eventually come around if you talk to them about salvation and say well i know that i'm saved i'm just really backslidden i'm really away from god i just you know i'm living a carnal worldly life okay now with that being said look at verse number 12 i'm sorry verse 13 it says on luke chapter 8 excuse me luke 8 13 says they on the rock are they which when they hear receive the word with joy this is parallel to the one we saw in matthew 18 and these have no root which for a while believe in a time of temptation fall away now people have heretics have tried to use this verse to say oh see you can stop believing you know and one particular person that we have to kick out of our church had this belief that if a person becomes like a mormon or something like they they give they give credence to the right salvation but then you know they just believe in a different god or they just get so far away that they just stop worshiping they start worshiping false gods and they no longer believe on jesus christ they become a mormon joel's witness that person is still saved because you can't lose your salvation but you know they're just worshiping false gods or they become a mormon or something like that and they're still saving it's just like wrong wrong if a person certain worships a false god they're they're they're they've apostasized they were never safe to begin with but they'll quote this verse right here but when it says which for a while believe it has nothing to do with salvation and here's a mistake that a lot of people make when interpreting scripture is they'll see a word believe and just all across the board associated with salvation whereas there's other instances in the bible that the word believe is used and it's not talking about salvation now believe on the lord jesus christ and thou shalt be saved it's talking about salvation but there's even instances when the bible says believe on the lord you know and thou shalt be delivered it's not even referring to salvation it's referring to the deliverance of their flesh okay it's like instances when the bible talks about death it could be referring to someone physically dying or it's referring to hell right you all you got to get it in its context and then the context here when it says which for a while believe and in time of temptation fall away it's obviously referring to the fact that they've placed their faith in god for the necessities or the deliverances of this life because if you compare this to matthew chapter 13 he says they don't have a root in themselves but then when tribulation arises because of the word by and by they are offended okay this is a person who doesn't get rooted in the word of god and then they get persecuted for the word of god and they're just like well i'm just going to leave you know church all together you know because they're offended they're afraid they think that god's not going to deliver them you know they get out of church whatever it may be and you know it says for which for a while believe in the time of temptation fall away it's referring to backsliding okay and so you don't have to get rooted in the christian life to be saved because to get rooted in the christian life requires obedience requires you know reading the word of god and abiding in the vine by abiding in his word and making sure that you're reading god's word you're living out the christian life and so if you're to say that that's what this is referring to then you're teaching a works-based salvation what this is just saying is that a person who's not rooted when a trial comes into their life they're just easily they backslide or you could even say a time of temptation temptation could either be referring to a trial or temptation of the flesh they're not rooted in the christian life a temptation of the flesh comes into their life and then they're easily taken away by some girlfriend by some boyfriend by some relationship okay by whatever you know by drugs by alcohol it just gets them out of church and then they you know they fall away they backslide so the lesson that we can learn here hold your place there and go back to matthew 13 the lesson that we can learn with the stony place is that get rooted now i'm preaching to the choir because you're here on a thursday night which is you know proof that you're trying to get rooted in god's word because it's a bible study you're taking time out of your week to be in church to hear the word of god after work after you're taking care of responsibilities you're super hungry you're thinking about mcdonald's and in and out right now can't wait the church is over and all that you know but you're here because you want to be spiritually fed first right we're taking an intercession of the week to hear god's word so that we become spiritually minded this you know showing up to church on a thursday night is part of getting rooted you know you say well how far do i get rooted how deep do you want to get rooted it's up to you you know do you want to be a rooted christian or like a sunday morning only rooted christian you know you want to risk that i'd rather just be sunday morning sunday night thursday evenings okay you know three to thrive get as deep as you possibly can be and even aside from that when you go home and wake up tomorrow morning you read the word of god so you can get even more rooted okay then you go soul winning now you're getting more rooted and like the more you serve god the more bible you read the more you take up your cross daily to follow the lord the deeper the root goes so that when a trial comes you're just not easily knocked over the reason a person is easily knocked out of the christian life is because their roots they're not really deep into the ground they're not really deep into the christian life they're just easily uprooted and fallen over and they're just easily offended and so the goal for us as christians to be is week in week out we're just an inch deeper an inch deeper as i read god's word as i memorize scripture as i serve god you know because the the day's gonna come my friends listen to me when the trial will hit your life and here's the here's the attitude that sometimes new christians get you know because sometimes new christians are just like they they see they know everything of course they know everything i mean christians new christians just know everything i'm joking they don't know it they don't know they don't squat okay but they can have this attitude that they know everything they even know the kind of trials that they will experience so they kind of prepare themselves like well i know if these things come into my life i know how to deal with these particular things here i they think of the worst case scenarios and it's just like gotta cover it but you know that's not the way the christian life works you know you're acting like you're going to catch god off guard or something like that god is going to hit you with something to mature you to prune you according to john chapter 15 amen with some sort of trial that you've never experienced before and it's going to require for you to dig deep today to be rooted deep today so that when that trial comes you're not easily swayed you're not easily moved you understand i shall not be moved well that can that only applies if you're deeply rooted in the christian life now i'm speaking to the adults here and even some of the young people you know some of the the the if you have parents who are in church you know it's easy to be rooted in the christian life because your mom and dad are plotting you in the in the house of god they're making you come to church right they're making you be here and you're getting rooted because mom and dad are kind of like those sticks that you know they i don't know what they're called you guys know what i'm talking about i'm not a botanist here but let me see if i can explain this because everyone's looking at me weird you know if you want a tree to grow up upright you put like these two sticks and you kind of wrap them you guys know what i'm talking about don't look at me like that you guys know what i'm talking about nod your head and be like yeah you know yeah is that something you guys do some of you former drug dealers out there you guys know what i'm talking about you know they put the sticks or whatever and they wrap it so it grows upright well those sticks are kind of like your parents they're kind of helping you grow upright you understand but let me say this is there's going to come a time when those sticks are no longer available and you have to root yourself in the christian life and if you've if you've only depended on your parents to keep you upright then you're going to tip over the moment those sticks are taken away if you're not serious about the christian life okay and that's a whole sermon in and of itself the point that i'm trying to make here is the importance of getting rooted and grounded in the truth okay you know to be strengthened with the inner man uh you know in the word of god according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with the with might in the inner man and so it requires you yes having a personal relationship with the lord absolutely okay and not the shallow definition of that what a lot of pastors out there talk about i'm legitimately reading the word of god not just for inspiration but for information and making sure you build in convictions into your heart and in your uh and in your reigns the inner man okay and so you know the the trial is only a test to see how deeply rooted you are so don't blame me when a trial comes and you get out of church oh you know you try to blame the pastor because he offended you or something there's people out there like that we've had people in our church like that they left our church and it's just like it's your fault they blame me they try to say like i'm teaching heresy or something like that and it's just like you know oh it's his fault because of x y and z no it's your fault i have not changed my ministry in any which way i i preached the same sermon to you that i preached to everyone else if you fall away it's indicative of the fact that you are not deeply rooted so here's your weekly reminder get rooted in the bible you know if you skip some bible reading days this week tonight and tomorrow are the days to get started once again and don't bite off more than you can chew and say well i'm going to catch up by reading 20 chapters tonight and tomorrow why don't you just start with a few chapters tonight and a few chapters tomorrow okay and so that is the the one who hears the word of god but then they don't get rooted and they fall away look what it says in verse 22 he also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and he becometh unfruitful now this is pretty interesting if i were to interpret this and kind of give a an application of christians today i would say this person is in church this person is like determining to get rooted in the christian life so they don't they don't get tossed but because of the fact that they're not necessarily or i'm sorry that they're engrossed in the things of this world they're not fruitful you see the goal of the christian life is not to just not be moved the goal is to become fruitful the goal is to be a profitable christian yeah right someone who actually like i don't know like does something for the lord you understand so it's one thing to actually be in church it's another thing to actually be fruitful in church be fruitful in the christian life and you can be this christian who you're reading the bible you're learning god's word you're preparing for the trials to come but you're not being fruitful why well it says there the cares of this world news podcasts conspiracies bills health issues work you know just common cares of this world biden gas i mean everything you can think of anything right the care and by the way we all have the cares of this world but apparently with this person they're allowing the cares of this world to cause them to become unfruitful so it says the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches now this is something that i know and i've seen in christians as a pastor where you know they can become a covetous person they think that you know missing church for work is justifiable and they begin to make excuses why not to come to church because they rather work and earn money than to earn knowledge by listening to god's work and it says there the deceitfulness of riches can get a person to become unfruitful now they're they're in church they're listening but they're not necessarily being fruitful why because they're serving mammon rather than god right says the deceitfulness of riches choked the word and he become unfruitful and the parallel passage just says the lust of other things entering in so what's the deal with this person okay how do we avoid being the person who's receiving seed among thorns well the way we avoid is we got to make sure that we're not entangled with the affairs of this life okay and we need to make sure that we keep the main thing the main thing which is our christianity okay our communion with god and you know what obviously it's easier for me than it is for you because of the fact that this is what i do full time but there's also a temptation for me because i do this all the time to just burn out right so i'm constantly talking about the bible you know church is what i do i mean this is what i'm always doing so it's a temptation for both of us but in order for you to avoid this we need to just keep on the forefront hey i'm still christian i need to make sure i get involved in the fight so a way you can make sure that you don't become engrossed with the cares of this life engrossed with the riches the deceitfulness of riches the lust of other things entering in this is the way you do it you have to get into the fight because the bible says that no man that warreth entangled himself with the affairs of this life that he may be a good soldier so if you are if you find yourself becoming uh cold towards the things of god because of the cares of this life because of riches because of the lust of other things entering in then let's fight go get in a fight not like literally sorry man just go punch someone out or something i'm saying spiritually go fight some heresy go fight for your christian life go uh fight the good fight of faith go fight against the devil go fight against your flesh if you purposely get into the fight then you don't have time for the cares of this life you don't have time for the deceitfulness of riches you really don't focus on the lust of other things entering in because you're so focused on the fight you see what i'm saying so if you're warring a good warfare you're not going to be choked the word of god is not going to be choked in your life because of the fact that you're purposely uh serving the lord by fighting and making sure that you are you know defending doctrine you're studying the word of god you're fighting your flesh you're fighting the devil you're fighting the world okay and you're like you mean to tell me that like i have to just constantly be fighting yes that's what we're here for we're here to fight okay i'm not saying you have to be on fourth gear the entire time but for the most part our christian life is characterized by fighting and this is exactly one some of the reasons why churches stay unfruitful because yeah they're in church sunday morning sunday night wednesday night they got their midweek service but they're not fighting false prophets they're not fighting false doctrine they're not fighting the world trying to keep the world out of their church they're not fighting to keep their families together they're not fighting to keep themselves together they're not fighting anything they're not fighting sin they're not fighting the devil they're just kind of cruise controlling the christian life and that's why they're unfruitful and so don't be the christian who's receiving seed among thorns don't be the heart that is among thorns that is entangled right with the affairs of this life so you can please him so you can be a good soldier and be effective in the christian life so again the first one is the person who's just done with the truth they don't want the truth the second person is the individual that is not rooted in the christian life and so therefore you know when the homos come and they break a window they're just like i can't go back to that church because what if that rock would have hit me or something you know what if they blew me up or something i could have been in that building at two o'clock in the morning and something could have happened to me or something you know they're just they're just easily offended and offended doesn't mean like like they got their little feelings hurt offended here means that they're they're they stumbled okay they just they can't proceed further into christian life because of the fact that they're scared and then of course those among thorns are essentially the people who uh they are rooted but they're not doing well as far as bearing fruit is concerned and folks we got to understand that the goal of the christian life obviously is to be faithful from beginning to end amen but also to bear fruit because of the fact the bible says be not weary in well doing for a due season we shall reap if we faint not and so we need to look we need to keep that on the forefront of our minds like i want to earn a reward i want to serve the lord because i love the lord it's the love of christ that constrains me to keep serving him because of what he's done for me but at the same time the opportunity is also there to earn a paycheck okay at the end of this and i want to earn a paycheck i want to earn a reward i want god to honor me at the judgment seat of christ okay look at verse 23 but he that receives seed into good ground is he that heareth the word and understandeth it which also beareth fruits and bringeth forth some a hundredfold some sixty some thirty this is the ultimate goal the ultimate goal is to be faithful to be rooted and to be fruitful so this is the person who they understand it they're in church they've essentially made church a part of their life they're reading the bible every single day they're in church they are learning how to soul in and they're bringing forth through it says some 100 fold some 60 some 30. now obviously this could be referring to souls right in a year span they're getting 100 people saved some of 60 some 30 but they're being fruitful for the lord and that's where we want to be that's the sweet spot is the good ground okay so my encouragement to you before i finish up the the the second parable here is be be a good ground christian you better make sure that on a weekly basis you find yourself on good ground monday comes around you're like am i on good ground today or is the word of god falling upon deaf ears am i am i dull of hearing am i rooted in the word of god but am i also being fruitful you know part of our prayers each week should be lord allow me to lead someone to the lord this week help me to find someone to get someone saved this week you know give me the privilege of running into someone who's receptive to the gospel who can hear because i don't want to be an unfruitful christian and obviously this is not only referring to so we have to be fruitful in other areas right fruitful at our jobs fruitful in our marriages fruitful with our child rearing fruitful in everything that we do okay and so that is the parable of the seed and the sower look at verse 24 it 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 so tears among the wheat and went his way but when the blade 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 seeds into thy field from whence then hath it tears he said unto them an enemy hath done this the servant said unto him wilt out then that we go and gather them up but he said nay lest while you gather up the tears 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 you together first the tears and bind them in bundles to burn them but gather the wheat into my barn now i'm going to skip verses 31 through 35 because i want to spend time on this particular parable that is further explained in verse 36 now let me just say this regarding this parable is that i'm going to explain some of the the cryptic terminology here because sometimes people get confused with this parable because of the sequence because it talks about the end of the world and how does this match up with the end of the world if the resurrection also what we would call being the rapture is first but here we see that the master is is gathering the tears first into bundles and burning them and then he gathers the wheat into his barn how does that is a massive sequence of the resurrection right so sometimes people can get confused with this but i'm explaining to you what it means this evening now first and foremost look at verse 36 it says then jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house and uh his disciples came into him saying declaring to us the parable of the tears of the field and he answered and said to them he that soweth the good seed is the son of man the field is the word or excuse me the field is the world the good seed are the children of the kingdom but the tears 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 now let me stop there so in when he's given the parable first in the first uh in verse 25 i want you to notice it says while men slept now we can apply this to church even though it's not necessarily referring to church because the platform that is being done on is just the world right so the world is essentially you know the the field where the wheat and the tears are being sown by god and by the devil but we can apply this to church because this happens in churches as well where satan sows tears among wheat in a church referring to the fact that infiltrators will come into a church people who are children of the devil now this should not be very common but it does happen if it's too common and it happens like every week and there's just false prophets in the church like every week infiltrators every week then there's an issue and the issue is men are sleeping who are the men the pastors are sleeping on the job because it's the pastor's job to weed out the tears from a local new testament church now again this isn't mainly talking about a church because you know people can take that and say well you're not supposed to kick people out of the church because it says there let them both grow together and then the harvest comes or whatever but this isn't referring to a local church this is referring to the world we could apply this to a church and we can see how it can happen in a church where a pastor is so lenient with his members that he doesn't care what people believe or teach it's just a smorgasbord of children of god and children of the devil coming into a church where some dude is like a repent of your sins false prophet and i i've been in churches listen to me i've been in churches where false prophets are permitted to be in the church where there's guys in the church who openly reject the king james bible and will uh seek to get new members and convince them against the king james to use the niv or nkjv or whatever and they'll go around the church looking for like fresh meat to try to like sway them away from the bible and to teach false doctrine and these people are just permitted to go unfettered in the church why because men are sleeping okay now i'm not perfect my pastor friends are not perfect and we don't have perfect discernment and so you know infiltrators will still come into our church now i don't think there's any right now i mean if they are then they're just brazen about it and eventually they will be found out because the bible says that they shall proceed no further and so i mean there might be a judas around here somewhere i don't know no one look at me cockeyed right now because i'm gonna start thinking it's probably you okay what are you looking at no i'm just kidding but you know here at least that when we find out someone's a false prophet they just immediately get the nine and a half shoe boot out of the church okay whereas another church is just like well they're just a little off in this area you're wake up you're asleep wake up stop being asleep at the wheel the guy's a false prophet teaches a false gospel he's not a little off yeah and by the way he might be a little off but that little that he's off is going to split hell it's going to cause him to split hell wide open and anybody else who he takes with them okay who believes like him now what is this referring to because let me just take a few moments of your time this beautiful thursday evening to explain what's taking place here okay because people can get confused about this due to the the order of sequences of what's taking place because in our minds based upon the eschatological sequence of the bible you know it's like the rapture takes place first he gathers all believers together they go to heaven we go to heaven and then later the wicked are cast into the lake of fire right so when you read this it's just like well i don't know how this makes sense look at verse 40 as therefore the tears are gathered and burned in the fire so shall be in the end of the world so the man shall send forth his angels and they shall gather out of out of his kingdom all things that offend and then which do iniquity and shall cast them into the furnace of fire there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth then shall the righteous shine forth as a son in the kingdom of their father who has ears to hear well since we have ears to hear you will have no problem understanding what i'm about to explain okay because you want to understand right this is not referring to the resurrection or i'm sorry let me back up this is not referring to the first resurrection this is actually referring to the resurrection of the damned that takes place around the same time as the second resurrection the first resurrection is the rapture okay when jesus christ comes in the clouds three and a half years thereafter is the establishment of the millennial reign a thousand years after that you have the battle of gog and magog and then the white throne judgment or somewhere in that little time frame between the battle of gog and magog and the white throne judgment you have the resurrection of the just and of the unjust how do we know that well revelation 20 explicitly shows us that there's a resurrection of the dead where the damned are taken out of their graves out of the oceans the the souls of the dammer reunited with their physical bodies they're judged according to the books and the book of life and then they're cast into the lake of fire now revelation 20 does not explicitly talk about the resurrection of the just when it takes place but we know it's around that time and thankfully because we have matthew 13 we know what happens after the angels gather the the the children of the wicked one gather them into bundles and cast them into the fire and then you have the resurrection of the just now who are the resurrection who are the just that are being resurrected those who have died during the wrath of god those three and a half years of daniel 70th week the latter end of the three and a half years and those who have just lived and died in the millennial reign who were saved how do we know that because revelation chapter 20 talks about the blessing of being a part of the first resurrection implying that there is a second resurrection so people who die after the rapture who are saved and during the millennial reign they go to heaven i always get this question asked all the time where do they go they go to heaven okay which is great but you know it's just better to be a part of the first resurrection because you get to enjoy the millennial reign that's why it says it's a blessing to be a part of the first resurrection and how do we know that this is talking about that because when a person dies and goes to hell today they're not escorted there by by angels angels don't come and escort people to hell they just lift up their eyes in hell okay they just drop there you understand you know when someone dies you don't really need to escort anybody to hell gravity just takes them there you know just they just drop into hell okay however in the lake of fire though angels do gather people and cast them into the lake of fire okay and obviously if he's talking about the children of the wicked one that is referring to those who have died and gone to hell because at that point they're they're they're children of hell you understand and so when he says in verse 40 is therefore the tares are gathered to be burned in the fire so shall it be in the end of the world and people get confused because it says well it says the end of the world yeah but you have to understand something folks when the bible talks about the end of the world it's a very generic phrase that refers to like a lot of different markers of end times because you could talk about the rapture as being the end of the world and you know what you that's correct that's accurate because it's nearing the end of the world but this end of the world is literally the end of the world why is that because of the fact that it's the end of this world prior to the transfiguration of the new world because when we talk about end times we're talking about the teachings of the end of days the rapture you know the tribulation the wrath of god those events those particular events well when the bible talks about the end of the world here it's literally referring to the end of this known world prior to god glorifying the the uh the current world that we have making it making it the new heaven and the new earth in revelation chapter 21 and 22 does that make sense to everyone does everyone have ears to hear okay and so yes he does gather to get them together in bundles and cast them into the furnace there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth and then the smoking gun of the fact that this the uh the events that we're talking about here is leading up to the new heaven new earth is verse 43 then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their father who has ears to hear let them hear okay the kingdom of the father the father descends into this world in revelation chapter 21 does that make sense to everyone and so the father is not here on this earth during the millennial reign jesus christ is here the son of god is here but the father at that time is in heaven but then he it becomes you know his kingdom per se you know because jesus christ delivers up to the kingdom to the father in revelation 21 and therefore the righteous shall shine forth in that kingdom okay so that's what that parable is referring to and obviously the the general teaching here that we can gather is the fact that there will always be wicked people in this world even during the millennial reign okay wicked people will always exist which is why it says let me look for it here verse 41 says the son of man shall send forth his angels and shall gather out of what his kingdom all things that offend well his kingdom is referring to that millennial reign and you're like are there like wicked people during the millennial reign dude the battle of gog and magog is just a bunch of wicked people who think they can like beat god i mean how wicked delusion and delusional do you have to be and it's like a lot of people it's like the biggest army there is i mean that's a lot of wicked people so he's he's gathering all those people out of the kingdom to be tossed into the lake of fire that's it pretty good uh parables here right hope that made sense hope you all have ears to hear and we'll finish this uh in two weeks let's pray father we thank you so much for your word and thank you for the parables lord there's so much deep meaning to them lord help us to continue to grow in our knowledge of the bible and help us to continue to cultivate a heart that wants to learn the bible wants to learn the truth may we never fall into the trap that we have grown beyond uh that we've already capped out on on spiritual growth lord may we constantly have a hunger and thirst after righteousness to know what the bible has to say lord and may we never reach a point where we feel like we know everything that we've attained there's always more to learn even as a pastor and i've read the bible many times i still have not attained i don't know everything and i want to continue to grow and i hope that 10 years 30 years down the road i know way more than that i know now and uh may the same testimony be in our church lord and with our members bless us as we go on our way we love you we thank you pray these things in jesus name amen all right we have one last song song 325 trust and over obey song 325 trust and obey everyone all together nice and strong when we walk with the lord in the light of his word what a glory he sheds on our way while we do his good will he abides with us still and with all who will trust and obey trust and obey for there's no other way to be happy in jesus but to trust and obey not a shadow can rise not a cloud in the skies but his smile quickly drives it away not a doubt or a fear not a sign or a tear can abide well we trust and obey trust and obey obey for there's no other way to be happy in jesus but to trust and obey not a burden we bear not a sorrow we share but our toll he doth richly repay not a grief nor a loss not a frown nor a cross but is blessed if we trust and obey trust and obey for there's no other way to be happy in jesus but to trust and obey but we never can prove the delights of his love until all on the altar we lay for the favor he shows and the joy he bestows are for them who will trust and obey trust and obey for there's no other way to be happy in jesus but to trust and obey then in fellowship sweep we will sit at his feet him and or we'll walk by his side in the way what he says we will do where he sends we will go never fear only trust and obey trust and obey for there's no other way to be happy in jesus but to trust and obey