(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.) And a big chapter, this chapter is just all, it's a lot of parables, a lot of parables and what the Bible would call dark sayings. And I actually, two of the big parables that are in here, I did whole sermons on them. And actually the tares one, I did like pretty much just exactly a year ago. But I just wanna kinda go through this. So I'm gonna kind of just breeze through those just because I've already hit those extensively. So if you wanna get a little more in depth on those, you can look back at those sermons. But I just wanna start off here in verse 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. And he starts off with the parable of the sower. But I just want you to get the picture. And a lot of times we may overlook this, what's reading but you can imagine that he's on the shore, this great multitude comes to him and he gets into a ship and they're still on the shore. So imagine the arena that you got going on there. But not only that, but he's sitting. Anytime I've ever seen a depiction of the Sermon on the Mount, or I'm sorry, just him preaching, I'm always seeing him standing and preaching to people. And Sermon on the Mount he probably was, but he's literally sitting on the ship and then preaching to everybody. So just to kind of give the visual what's going on there, but he spake to them many things in parables. And so the first thing I wanted to just talk about is what's the reason for parables? And this chapter extensively hits that. Meaning the reason of why he spake in parables in general. And this is really where he starts doing it. So at this point in our studies from chapter one to chapter 12, he hasn't really opened his mouth in parables. So now he's gonna start speaking in parables and we'll see more as we go on. But this is a key to understanding the parables as we go forward. There's a lot of key things in here as far as why he's doing it and who he's doing it to, like who he's speaking these parables to, to understand how to unlock a lot of these parables. Now in verse 10 there it says, and the disciples came and said unto him, why speakest thou unto them in parables? So that's a good question. Why is he speaking to them in parables? Why is he using these dark sayings as the Bible would say? In verse 11 it says, and 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. So why is he speaking to them in parables? Because he specifically does not want them to understand. We're gonna see that he explains this even further. You say, man, that doesn't make sense. Well, you need to get some Bible doctrine. You need to understand what the Bible teaches about who Jesus, as far as the reprobate doctrine, as far as just stuff like that and understanding. And listen, if you don't get this, you're gonna be really confused because this has brought up a lot. In all the gospels it's brought up in Acts, it's just brought up a lot in the New Testament. Notice it keeps going on there. It says, for, in verse 12, so for is like because as well. So 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. Now this phrase, we're gonna get to it and I'm gonna get into it today. But when we get into other parables, this phrase is gonna be brought up. And that's a key thing to understand of who is it talking about. What we're gonna see is that he's talking about his disciples or the people that are gonna hear it compared to the people that don't hear it. You're gonna look at people that are children of God compared to people that are children of the devil. And so this phrase, he that hath shall be given, and he that hath not shall be taken away, even that which he hath, that's something that's brought up a lot when he's dealing with these parables. So it's very key to understand that. Now in verse 13 it says, therefore speak I to them in parables because they seeing see not and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which said by hearing you shall hear and shall not understand and seeing you shall see and shall not perceive. For this people's heart is wax gross and their hearts 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 desired to see those things which ye see and have not seen them and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them. So imagine too that we just came out of chapter 12 and with chapter 12 he's rebuking that generation saying that there's a greater than Jonas here, there's a greater than Solomon here, there's a greater than the temple and he's really rebuking that generation because they're not believing on him, that they're rejecting him and he's the greatest prophet to ever walk on the face of the earth and now he's basically speaking to them in parables. So you can imagine why, what's the shift? Why is he doing that? Because it's a wicked and adulterous generation that's seeking after a sign so now he's speaking to their darkened hearts in parables but he's not doing it to everybody, okay? So that's what you have to understand is that when he's speaking these parables he's not doing it just so everybody's confused because it's given unto them and so obviously the disciples, he's explaining it to them, okay? And so Isaiah 6 is where this is quoted from so he's saying this is where this prophecy is fulfilled. Okay, so that Isaiah 6, go to Isaiah 6 but this is something that's brought up in all the gospels, it's brought up at the very end of Acts, it's still going on, okay? So this is something that's prophecy was fulfilled in Jesus' day and it was still going on even after the resurrection, even at the point where Paul is going to Rome and going to Caesar and all this stuff, it's still going on. Why? Because Israel was blinded and until the fullness of the Gentiles be coming in, they're gonna be blinded and that's until the seventh trumpet sounds, okay? So not to get into that whole doctrine but that's basically what's going on here. Now in Isaiah 6 and verse eight, it says, also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us? Then said I, here am I, send me. And it says in verse nine, and he said, go and tell this people hear ye indeed but understand not and see ye indeed but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat and make their ears heavy and shut their eyes lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and convert and be healed. Now in other places, they'll talk about how they shut their eyes and they closed their, and so what you have to understand is the whole idea is that they're the ones that close their heart, they harden their hearts, close their ears and close their eyes to what was going on and therefore God is sending them a strong delusion, okay? And he's sending them this delusion and he's basically darkening their understanding by talking to them in a dark saying or in a parable, okay? Now also in Mark, you say, well, lest they should be healed, maybe this isn't talking about them getting saved from hell. Well, in Mark chapter four, which is a parallel passage, in verse 12, it's quoting that same passage but in Mark four and verse 12, it says, that seeing they may see and not perceive and hearing they may hear and not understand, lest at any time they should be converted and their sin should be forgiven them, okay? So there's no doubt that we're talking about them getting saved, okay? We're not just talking about them getting healed physically, we're talking about their sins being forgiven, okay? And he's saying, lest they do that. So what does that mean? He doesn't want that to happen, okay? And you say, well, you know, that doesn't seem like the God I know. You need to get to the God of the Bible, okay? I don't really care if that's not the God you know, that's the God of the Bible that certain people can come to a point where God does not want them to get saved, okay? He gave them a chance and they come to that point. Now, there's another thing that's quoted and I'm kind of just going through the path right now in this chapter, we're gonna get to the parables but I really wanna get to the explanation of why he's even speaking to them in parables. In verse 34 of Matthew 13, he's given another reason or he's basically explaining why he's speaking to them in parables. Verse 34, it says, all these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables and without a parable spake he not unto them. Then it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet saying, I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world. Now, to really understand and go back to Psalm 78 where this is quoted at, it all ties together basically, to him that hath, he's gonna reveal it to them. To him that hath not, he's not gonna reveal it to them and basically, he's gonna reveal it unto the babes. You know, he's hid it from the wise and the prudent but he's revealing it unto babes and we see that here where it's actually quoted in Psalm 78 in verse one there, it says, give ear, O my people, to my law, incline your ears to the words of my mouth, I will open my mouth in a parable, I will utter dark sayings of old which we have heard and known and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, showing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord and his strength and his wonderful works that he had done. So you think about this, you know, as far as the disciples, they're probably young and all this stuff as far as just young men and, you know, that younger generation, and he's basically that older generation that's high up in authority, by and large, rejected them. Now obviously Nicodemus, there's exceptions to the rule, right, Nicodemus was the rule of the Jews, I believe he got saved. But all that to say is that by and large, the older generation rejected him and he's saying we won't hide it from their children and that generation will hear it. And so you can kind of see where, who's hearing and who's not hearing it as far as just understanding the word of God. Now in Proverbs chapter one, go to Proverbs chapter one. So now we see, you know, a proverb is a dark saying, right, a parable, a proverb, a dark saying, these things are pretty much synonymous. Now a parable, a parable is not necessarily a dark saying, but sometimes it is, okay. So I don't want you to think that those words are interchangeable necessarily, but we do see that being said, talking about parables, talking about Proverbs, talking about dark sayings. In Proverbs chapter one in verse five, it says, a wise man will hear and will increase learning and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels. To understand a proverb and the interpretation, the words of the wise and their dark sayings. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. And this is a theme throughout Proverbs where it's basically saying a wise man will increase in learning, will increase in wisdom, right. But a fool, you know, you can't instruct a fool. It doesn't that sound familiar to the he that hath, shall be given, you know, more and, you know, him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. And you may read that and you're like, oh, you know, shouldn't a fool increase in learning? No, what we're getting at is you have to have the beginning of knowledge in order to even increase in wisdom, right. And the fear of the Lord is the beginning of that. Salvation, okay, the foundation. So if you have the foundation, you can increase and you can be given more, but if you don't have the foundation, guess what, you're gonna be taken away even that which you have, okay. So in a lot of these cases, when you're dealing with who he's speaking to and who he's not speaking to, you're really dealing with the extreme groups of saved, reprobate, does that make sense? And when we get into further parables, not necessarily, even in this we'll see that with the tares and the weed, but in a lot of these parables, people get really off the rails because they're like, is this person saved? You know, and people are always constantly trying to look at this and say, well, you know, this is showing you can lose your salvation. And listen, you should never get your doctrine as far as like, this is where you're getting your doctrine from, from a parable. A parable should only bolster a doctrine, okay. Meaning that there's a well-established doctrine, and this parable is talking about that doctrine, and maybe you can get some little more details in there from the parable, but by and large, you should not be getting your doctrine from a parable. If all your proof or your doctrine is a parable, you're not right, okay. Because I could show you proof texts for all these other, for all these parables, as far as that are just clear statements in the Bible. And if you can't give me a clear statement in the Bible that is attached to a parable, then you're wrong about your interpretation of the parable, okay. And so, and if you understand that the reason why he's even saying these parables is to confuse and to darken and to dilute those that he doesn't want to believe, then you have to understand that there's a reason why it's a little cryptic, okay. But go to Proverbs 26, because this is what false prophets do. You know as well as I do, they love parables, because they can just try to make it say whatever they want. And since it's dark and cryptic, you know, it could sound good, and it could sound like it's right. But obviously they're taking the whole Bible and turning it on its head to try to bolster some doctrine from their parable. It's kind of like saying well over here it says that, you know, this servant is cast into outward darkness, therefore you can lose your salvation. It's like, well I guess nuts to John, where it says, you know, fairly verily I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life, and shall not come in the condemnation but is passed from death into life. I mean, not to that clear statement, you know. We're just gonna take your interpretation of a parable. And this is what it comes down to, is all these people that are not saved, this is them when it comes to parables. In verse seven of Proverbs 26 it says, the legs of the lame are not equal, so is a parable in the mouth of fools. Go down to verse nine, as a thorn goeth up into a hand of a drunkard, so is a parable in the mouth of fools. Now there's a couple things that you can see with that, but the one that really gets me is the thorn in the hand. Do you know what that means, is that they can't feel it. They can't sense it, right? The whole thing, the whole idea is that a thorn going up into a drunkard's hand, they're numb to it. So to them, you know, the wounds, they have these wounds, and you know, Proverbs 23 talks about that as far as who hath stricken me, you know, because you wake up and you got all these bruises and all this stuff and you don't know what happened to you. That's what it's talking about. Basically they can't feel out a parable because they're a fool. And so these people that are unsaved, when they look at a parable, they're just blind, and they're just trying to feel out something and they're completely calloused to try to figure it out. But when it comes to a parable, here's the key when it comes to a parable. You need to really just look at the surface meeting to begin with, right? I mean, don't think too far into it. You know what I mean? Like if you have a parable where there's a profitable servant, an unprofitable servant, be like, you want to be profitable, right? It's not good to be unprofitable, it's good to be profitable, right? And you need to look at the surface meeting before you start diving into, is this saved or lost or whatever? You just need to be looking at who's wise, who's foolish, I want to be the wise person, okay? So, you know, a lot of people, they lose the whole surface meeting, and so you just need to look at, okay, you know, how would this help me? Then you can dive into that. Now, let's go into the parable of the sower. And again, I'm gonna go through the parable of the sower and the parable of the tares of the field pretty quick. And here's the thing, both these parables in this chapter are explained by Jesus, okay? So we don't really need to do a lot of guessing or try to figure out what's being said because he straight up says it, especially the tares. I mean, it's just like, boom, boom, boom. Here's what this is, here's what this is, here's what this is. It's very clear as far as what's being said. And so anybody that's gonna try to say any different, I mean, you basically just have to go against what Jesus actually said it was. But the parable of the sower, verse three there, it says, and he spake many things unto them in parable, saying, behold, a sower went forth to sow, and when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside, and 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 fruits, some in hundredfold, some 60-fold, some 30-fold, who hath ears to hear, let them hear. So the surface here, what are you dealing with? Someone just basically spreading out seed to wherever. The principle obviously is soul winning when it comes to this, and we'll see the explanation. So what does that mean? Going into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature? Just let the chips fall where they may. I mean, that's the surface meaning there, is just let the seed go out there, and whatever happens. And you got this attitude when it comes to soul winning, it's like, whoa, you don't wanna go there unless they're gonna have a good church, and they're not gonna be rooted and grounded because you're leaving a baby at the doorstep. What does the Bible say? The Bible says preach the gospel to every creature, whether it falls by the wayside, whether it falls in the stony ground, whether it falls in the thorns, whether it falls on good ground. Preach the gospel, let the chips fall where they may, because people are gonna get saved. Now, when it comes to this, I believe that all get saved except for the first, meaning that those that fell by the wayside, and go down to verse 18 of chapter 13 because it's gonna explain it. Jesus is gonna just expound what's being said to his disciples. In verse 18, it says, 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 away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the wayside. So we see that he didn't understand it. So it's clear he didn't get saved. But if you go to Luke chapter eight, so Matthew 13, Mark four, Luke eight are all parallel with this parable. Luke eight 12 says this, it says those by the wayside are they that hear, then cometh the devil and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. So it's very clear that he didn't get saved. And so this is also a warning to those that hear the word of God that hey, the devil could snatch that away from you to where you're losing your opportunity. And I'm not saying this person's a reprobate. I'm just saying that basically they didn't get saved. And so that one's pretty easy to see they didn't get saved. The rest of them, it's very clear that they're saved. But there's problems, meaning that, and this isn't all inclusive, meaning that you can't look at a parable and you're like it's a catch all for every situation. That's where people get into a problem where you're just like this is every situation. No, it's not. There's a lot of situations. But he's kind of hitting some major ones. Does that make sense? Where people will get saved and they run into a problem, they get saved, they run into some different problem, or they get saved and they're on fire for the Lord. That's what you're dealing with here. But it's not necessarily all inclusive in the fact of what can happen to someone to get saved. So you see in verse 20, the explanation of the stony places, it says, but he that received the seed in stony places, the same as he that heareth the word and anon with joy receiveth it. Yet hath he not root in himself, but deareth for a while, for when tribulation or persecution arise because of the word by and by, he is offended. So this is one. In another place, it says he believes for a while. So it's even very clear that they believe. And so unless you want to say that belief isn't the only thing that gets you saved, then you got a problem there. And you know what that shows me is that you don't have to believe until the end to be saved, meaning that you can lose faith in following God. Now, obviously not talking about someone rejecting gospel, but what I'm saying is that as a believer, you have measures of faith. You can increase your faith or you can basically lack in your faith or be faithless as in you think of the disciples. Peter, when he started to sink, why don't you have any faith, faithless, and all that stuff that he says to his disciples. But this is just clearly someone that's not rooted, being rooted and grounded in the faith. It talks about this in Ephesians, talks about this in Colossians. And the fact is, it says, as ye have received him, so walk ye in him, being rooted and grounded. Okay, so walking in him, and Colossians, it talks about this in chapter two, is the fact of if you walk in him, you're not gonna be offended when trials and tribulations come, okay? And so that's something that's constant. Jesus is saying, I wrote these things unto you that you would not be offended. And then he says, there's gonna be tribulation in the world, but be of good cheer, I will overcome the world. So we're gonna go through trials and tribulations, but those that aren't rooted and grounded are gonna fall away, and they're gonna kinda get out of things. But that doesn't mean that they're not saved, okay? The next case is the thorny ground, or just in the thorns, and it says in verse 22, he also that receives seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word in the cares of this world, and its evilness of riches. Choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. Now, here's someone, I believe, that used to be fruitful, meaning they were winning people to Christ, and they were doing things for God, but the deceitfulness of riches, meaning the cares of this life. This is very common, okay? Here's the thing, when it comes to trials and tribulations, most churches don't have trials and tribulations because they're not doing anything, okay? So most people that get saved, they're not usually dealing with trials and tribulations because they're not doing anything anyway, okay? Most people, I believe, are in this category where the cares of this life, they'd rather watch the football game on Sunday, they'd rather do this or that, they'd rather have the boat, they'd rather have all these different things than going to church and doing the things of God, okay? I believe that's most Christians are choked by the cares of this life. And not only that, I believe you're dealing with Christians that used to be on fire in this particular case, okay? Like I said, it's not all inclusive, but in this particular case, you're dealing with people that used to go soul winning, used to be on fire for the Lord, and then the cares of this life choked them. So if you think that, hey, I'm in a soul winning church, I'm soul winning right now, I'm gonna do this until the day I die, you better, you know, wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall, I've seen many mighty men fall that are close to me, that were close to me, that used to be on fire, they used to go soul winning more than I did, and I was going soul winning, you know? It's not like I wasn't going soul winning, but they were going more than me, but cares of this life took over. So this is a good passage to see how this can happen to anybody. And it also shows you too that consistency is better than, you know, when it comes to zeal and consistency, listen, you need to just be consistent, okay? And you say, well, I can only go once a week, listen, be consistent. You'll end up winning more people to Christ than the person that's like a firecracker that's going out there and just like going all week, because that's not sustainable, okay? It's better just to be like, I'm consistent, I'm going every single week, because listen, in the end, you're gonna see a lot of people saved. It's like the tortoise and the hare, you know? I don't mean to bring that up as a bit, that's not biblical, but it really is true in the fact of just slow, steady, keep going, and you can try to increase steadily, but the race that we're running is not a sprint, it's a marathon, okay? So you gotta pace yourself. You do a sprint and a marathon, you're gonna be gassed and you're gonna tighten up and you're not gonna make it, okay? Now, and I'm not a runner, so I don't know why I use that as a reference, but it's true, it does apply. Now, the last one obviously is in good ground. I don't believe anybody says this is not a safe person, okay? I think everybody that, I'm sure there's some weirdo out there to probably say they're all lost, you know? But all I have to say is that the last one's very clear, but all this is saying is that there are people that they're soul winners, they're fruitful, and the 160 and 30, you say, well, am I supposed to be winning like this, just 100 people to Christ in my whole life? Well, you'd be doing more than anybody. You'd be doing more than a lot of people if you did that, but you gotta think about how, what's the, you think of harvest, that happens every year. So if you were to look at this in the time lapse, I'd look at every year, looking at, okay, am I winning 30, am I winning 60, am I winning 100, and some people are winning more, some are winning less, but if you want a marker as far as what you're trying to do and trying to be in that realm of being fruitful, and that also shows you too, these people that are like, well, I know people that have been trying to witness to people all their lives, and they've only one person to Christ in their whole life, then you're not fruitful, okay? I mean, praise God you won one person to the Lord. Okay, that's more than most Christians, but that's not being fruitful, okay? And so, he that beareth precious seed, or he that goeth forth and beareth precious seed, and weep, and I'm really butchering that, he that goeth forth and weep at bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. Okay, so if you go out, and you're gonna have times where it's gonna be hard knocks, you're gonna have some droughts, but in the end, if you're consistent, you're going to get people saved, okay? And so don't faint, you know, don't be weary in well doing for if we, you know, man, I'm really just struggling, but in Galatians it talks about, don't be weary in well doing. Good night. I know where we faint not, anyway. So yeah, for a new season, we shall reap if we faint not, thank you. So don't be weary in that. Now, going on to the next parable, again, I'm kind of blasting through those because it just really does explain it, but the parable of the tares of the field, so we see that this one's very just explicit. This is exactly what we're dealing with here. And so in 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 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 thou, 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 servants 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 together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn. Okay, so I just wanna go straight into what is being said here, okay? So if you go down to verse 36, so what do you see? Basically, he plants good seed, someone comes in and plants tares among the wheat, and they look very similar, okay? Have you ever looked at tares and wheat? They look really close, so you think of the, what we're gonna see here is we're dealing with children of the wicked one compared to children of the devil and wolves in sheep's clothing, okay? Meaning they're gonna look like the wheat. Verse 36, it says 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 tares of the field. He answered and said unto them, he that soweth the good seed is the son of man, the field is the world, the good seed are the children of the kingdom, but the tares are the children of the wicked one. The enemy that sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels. So see how it just plainly just states exactly what everything is in this parable. Now, one thing to notice here, because this is gonna be a theme when it comes to other parables in the future, there's only two groups of people here. Saved and, give me a second. Saved and reprobate. Where are just unsaved people at in this, okay? Does that mean there's no unsaved people, okay? Or that unsaved people are children of the devil? No, it just means that he's focusing on two major groups of people. And this is a theme throughout the Bible in general. Anyway, think of 1 John, in this the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil, okay? You're dealing with two major groups as far as the eternally secure and the eternally damned, right? And so this kinda helps us with that to see, hey, this is very clear. There's no question that you're dealing with children of God, reprobate children of the devil, okay? And so, in this, it's interesting because this parable actually, I use this a lot to explain to people why God would let reprobates live. Listen, I wish every pedophile would die tonight, you know? I mean, that's what I would love to happen. But notice that, you know, in this parable when he says, you know, his servants are saying, you know, do you want us to go ahead and take those tears up? And he says, no, let them grow together, why? Lest you pull up the wheat with the tares. So there's a reason, and sometimes we don't see the bigger picture as far as if he were just to kill every single reprobate right now. The bigger picture of who would get saved and who wouldn't, right? You gotta understand that God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. He'll have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. And yes, he can't force anybody to get saved, but he can do everything that he can to try to see that the most people possible get saved. Right, I believe God is, he's not sovereign in the aspect of forcing people to get saved or sending people to hell, you know that. Like basically, we all have a choice, but I do believe that he's doing his best to make sure that the most amount of people get saved as possible, right? I think about this when it comes to the rapture and stuff like that. You think about having children, and you think about when they can get saved and when they can understand. Because obviously I believe that children that are innocent, that haven't come to the knowledge of good and evil will get raptured, okay? Does that make sense? Like babies and children that aren't at that age where they can understand. But you think about, well, what about a child that's just getting to that age? Like they just had the knowledge of good and evil. You know, would God just let them stay here? And then, you know, like you think about, I think about my children, you know, like I don't wanna think about one of my children staying because they just came to that knowledge of good and evil and then they didn't get, they didn't have a chance to get saved. I believe God will allow it to be that perfect, meaning that when he comes and you wonder, why is he tearing? Well, it's over and over again. The reason why he's tearing is because he's waiting for the precious fruit of the earth, right? It's always because of the reason for salvation, right? God's not slackens during his promise, as some men count slackness, but it's long suffering to us word, not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repent. And you wonder, why has it been 2000 years? Maybe because there's a perfect time for him to come to where it's just everything lock and step. Everybody had the perfect opportunity. The gospels have preached to every nation. Everybody's perfectly, you know, meaning that there's not gonna be that case, okay? That's just my personal thought on it. But either way, you look at this parable and it kinda explains that a little bit as far as like, why are their children or the devil still walking around? Why doesn't God just annihilate them? Well, because the weak would be plucked up with them, maybe, in some of those cases, okay? So anyway, you gotta understand that God knows the bigger picture. He sees more than you do. His thoughts are above our thoughts, and we can't always see that bigger picture. But also, you know, the tears, and one thing to see here, obviously, you see the end of the world is the harvest. This really shows that, clearly, but also the fact that these angels are gonna be taking the tears, and it says, now go to Revelation chapter 14, because in this parable, it says that he's gonna take the tears, he's gonna first take the tears and bundle them, and that's the thing that's kinda interesting because, or it says in the parable, gather ye together first the tears and bind them in bundles to burn them. And the interesting thing is that in Revelation 14, we're gonna see two reaping. So this is really linked, okay, this parable. And like I said, you know, when it comes to that parable, you wanna look at the clear statement. So Revelation 14 would be the revelation, right? So this is the more clear statement as far as timelines would go, meaning that you're gonna have the reaping of the saved before you have the reaping of the unsaved, or as we'd see here, the tares. And so Revelation 14, verse 14, it says, and I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of Man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, thrust in thy sickle, and reaped, for the time has come for thee to reap for the harvest of the earth is ripe. So we see, you know, this angel crying out with a loud voice, the voice of the archangel, Jesus, you know, the Son of Man's, you know, is on this white cloud, Jesus coming in the cloud. So this is obviously the rapture. But in verse 16, it says, and he that sat on the cloud, thrust in his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped. So this is clearly a picture of the rapture, obviously, symbolistic as far as this sickle, but what does it represent? The harvest, right? The rapture reaping. So we see this tying in with that parable. But then it says in verse 17, and another angel came out of the temple, which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. Another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire, and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle saying, thrust in thy sickle, thy sharp sickle, and gathered the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God, and the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress even unto the horse bridles by the space of 1,600 furlongs. Okay, so we see that the reaping of the good, meaning that that's ripe compared to fully ripe in the vintage, so I don't have time. You can look at the sermon that I preached already, but the vintage is like none of the wicked people, and fully ripe would entail that it has ripened too far. So anybody that's ever grown cucumbers, my brother will attest to this, those things, when they're ready to go, you need to start picking those beasts because they'll turn yellow and orange and then just in the mush really quick. And you know, when it comes to certain things, I think avocados are like that, right? You know, they get ripe and then they're dead, you know, like they're done right after that. And so some things are like that. It's just like really quick that they go rotten. But when you look at the parable, what you have to understand is that they're first being bundled, okay? Making them into faggots, if you will, okay? That's what a bundle of sticks is, okay? And so to be burned, okay? So what's being done first? He's bundling them. Now, what I believe this is talking about is the antichrist and the mark of the beast, okay? Revelation 19 is really where we see the antichrist, the false prophet, and all his army and all those that took the mark of the beast are being killed and being cast into hell, okay? Now, the beast and the false prophet are being cast into a lake of fire, but what do you see with that parable? You see, you know, the wicked being cast into hell and then the saved being reaped and all that. So what you see, and then in Revelation 14, you see the fact that he's casting these people into the winepress, the wrath of God, okay? So get the timeline, right? What happens first? Abomination, desolation, right? Before the rapture, abomination, desolation, you have people taking the mark of the beast. Then you have the rapture, right? So that would be what happens here in Revelation 14, 14. But that bundling happened before that, okay, where they were taking the mark of the beast and they were all kinda gathering together against the saints of God. And in Revelation 19, verse 20, it says, and the beast was taken, and with him, the false prophet that wrought miracles before him with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and then that worshiped his image, these both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. So what you see in Revelation 19 is the destruction of the beast and the false prophet and his armies, but that's not every single person on earth, okay? If that was, no one else would be going into the millennial reign, okay? So people get that wrong or they think that basically, Jesus kills every single human being. Well, then no one's living and dying in the millennial reign. You either have people in hell and us rolling and reigning, there's no one else there. But what it comes down to is that there are people that are not gonna take the mark of the beast, okay? So the tares are being bundled before the rapture, but they're being prepared to be burned. Does that make sense? Because when you even look at the vials and stuff like that, it says those that take the mark of the beast are the ones that are gnawing their tongues for pain or they're in pain, right? It talks about how there's gonna be sore pain on those that took the mark of the beast. And so I believe that unsaved people in general that don't take the mark of the beast are still gonna be going through that, but I think it's particularly gonna be hitting on those that take the mark of the beast that are children of devils at that point, right? You think of, they have sealed their fate. They are reprobated at that point. And so I hope that makes sense with that as far as why it says first, but every word's important, right? It says he first bundles them. Doesn't necessarily say that he first cast them into the fire. It says he bundles them first to be cast into fire, okay? So I don't believe they're cast into the fire before he reaps the harvest, okay? And so anyway, but I did wanna get to these other parables, meaning that the ones I haven't hit before, and a lot of these are very linked, okay? So it's basically like a lot of different ways of explaining the same point, okay? And where people get off the rails on this with people that aren't saved or just people that are saved and they're kinda like, what is this talking about? Because when I got saved, I'm constantly like, man, that kinda looks like you can lose yourself. You know, and I was constantly trying to not, you know, trying to show that it didn't or whatever. But when it says the kingdom of heaven is like and done to, we're not talking about how you get saved, okay? Most of the time it says that, it's just giving you a comparison of what were different aspects of heaven or who's gonna be there and who's not gonna be there. You know, it's not an aspect of how you get saved, okay? So first we see here in verse 31 of Matthew chapter 13, we see this parable of the mustard seed and leaven, okay? And I believe these are very linked as far as what it's trying to tell you. So in verse 31, it says 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 becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. And so what do we see here with this? Well, what you're coming to is he that is least here in this earth is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. That's what it comes down to, okay? And this is taught throughout the Bible, but it talks about whosoever you is a servant of all will be greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Talking about a little child, being humble as a little child, you'll be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. So what's it talking about? Being small in this world and the fact that, yeah, right now it looks small. Right now it looks like you're nothing. Just like that grain of mustard seed, right? It looks like you have nothing to your name, and you look at the world and they have everything, but if you want everything in this life, you're gonna have nothing in the world to come. Now I'm talking as a saved person, okay? So I'm not talking about heaven, hell here. I'm just talking about the fact that all this is really coming down to in a lot of these parables that we're looking at, as far as where's your treasure at? Are you willing to lay up for the future? It's kind of like having a retirement plan, right? Or you're putting money, you're saving money. Do you see that you're not getting that instant gratification at the beginning, but in the end you have this mountain of treasure in the end, okay? And that's what I was saying with the mustard seed, is that the mustard seed is the least of all seeds. So it's like this tiny little seed, but yet when it grows into a tree, it's huge, okay? And so it's kind of showing your investment. And in verse 33, the parable of the leaven is similar, meaning that in verse 33 it says, 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 whole was leaven. Now this is interesting because leaven is usually never used as a good case, right? Leaven's always like sin or having leaven bread. You don't want leaven at all. But what's leaven do? It expands, it makes something bigger, right? So you think about it, it hides it, right? Meaning that you don't see it right away. It's something you have to wait for. And I'm impatient, so I'm really bad about this. You know, like I said, trying to make cinnamon rolls. Never works out because I don't give it enough time to raise. But what do you have to do? You have to let it, over time it raises, okay? So you gotta think about what you're doing now, it's gonna look insignificant. But we that labor in the Lord, we're not laboring in vain. And it's constantly reminding us of that, that we will be rewarded for what we do. We're not laboring in vain. And to be steadfast, unmovable in the work of the Lord, for we know that our labor will not be in vain. And so this is really just hitting on this and the fact of, hey, it's hidden now. It looks small now. No one can really even see it, right? Because you think about being born of the Spirit of God. When people get saved, you can't see that. And when you look at John 3, he says, the wind, move it where it listed. And it talks about the fact that it's like the wind, right? You know it's there, you can kind of feel the wind, but you can't see it. And the same thing with, even people that get saved, it's not something that is really visible to a lot of people, and even to people around you, especially unsaved people. Now we see it a little more, right? People come into church, but let's be honest, most people that get saved don't come to church. You're not really seeing your investment, maybe first hand. And a lot of those people that you win to Christ may end up doing great things for God, but you may not even know, right? And you may not know what's going on with that. And I kind of think about Brother Dave. Brother Dave got saved at a young age, but now he's doing, Brother Dave Gandy, I'm sorry, there's too many Brother Dave's. Brother Dave Burzins, sorry, I need to clarify. There's too many Dave's in the world. But Brother Dave Burzins, he got saved, but then he didn't really start doing it until later in his life. And that person that won him, who knows, you know, like if they even know that he's a pastor tearing it up for the Lord, you know, and stuff like that. And so you never know what your converts may end up doing, but you don't really see it, right? So it's kind of hidden from you a little bit. And to me, that's a good thing. It's this whole aspect of not judging anything before the time, because you don't really want to know. Right? If you saw your reward right now, let's say it was, listen, it's going to be magnificent. You know, like, but if you saw it right now, you may have the temptation to just kick up your feet and be like, oh man, you know, that's fantastic. I've already got it made, right? And so I'd rather just wait until the end to find out what's there. And sometimes you work harder because you had no idea if you have little or a lot. Does that make sense? And so a lot of these parables, just kind of dealing with that, like, hey, do it now. It's going to be big. And he's kind of just leaving it at that. It's going to be big. It's going to be great. You know, I have not seen or heard, you know, and it talks about the fact that it hasn't even entered into the heart of man, what he's prepared for them that love him. And so you got to understand that he's just kind of showing you that picture here and he's using physical means to do it. But in Matthew 13, verse 44, this is kind of the same thing, but it's kind of given me an aspect of how you do it. Meaning that in verse 44, it says, this is the hidden treasure in the field and also the pearl of great price, which I believe these are both pretty much the same thing, okay? It's just two different ways to explain the same idea. And verse 44 says, again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in the field, the which when a man hath found it, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth the field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man seeking good, goodly pearls, who when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it, okay? So what do we see here is both cases, this guy is selling everything he has to buy this certain item, right? And this really just ties into being a disciple, right? Kind of giving it all up in this life for that treasure that's in heaven. Matthew chapter six, you know, obviously we've already touched on this, but Matthew chapter six and verse 19, this is the sermon on the mount. It says, lay not up for yourselves, treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also, right? The treasure, the pearl of great price, the treasure that's in the field. And it's saying lay up for that which is in heaven, and go to Matthew chapter 19, when it talks about selling all that you have. Listen, this has nothing to do with you going to heaven. And I don't care if you read John Bunyan's, you know, Pearl of Great Price, you know, is that the name of the book or whatever? I get that mixed up with the Mormon's Pearl of Great Price, right? But Pilgrim Progress, but in the book, there's something to do with the Pearl of Great Price, like he's seeking for this. And I always want to call him Paul Bunyan, but that's the guy with the big blue eyes. So that's not the same guy. But anyway, all I have to say is that, you know, that's like the Baptist book, you know, everybody's supposed to be reading this thing, but that literally teaches you you can lose your salvation, by the way. Because this parable about a Pearl of Great Price has nothing to do with you getting saved. This has all to do with your reward in heaven. The kingdom of heaven is likened unto this, okay? Someone that would sell all that they have to have this Pearl of Great Price. It has to do with your reward, your treasure. Matthew 19 and verse 27, it says, Then answered Peter and said unto him, behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee, what shall we have therefore? And Jesus said unto them, Verily, I say unto you, that ye which have followed me in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. But many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first. Now, this is a lot of times brought up too, lay hold on eternal life, right? So in this life, you know, talking about, that I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Now, obviously, spiritually speaking, we have eternal life and we have the resurrection, spiritually speaking, but we still have the old man and all this stuff. We're trying to tap into that, if that makes sense. You're trying to tap into the new man. And you're constantly wanting to lay up for eternity, right, things that have eternal value compared to temporal value. And so it's just a constant, you know, what's your treasure at? Is it here in this life, or is it here in eternity? And notice that the first shall be last and the last first, what are you dealing with? That's the whole point of these parables, and the fact of being small now, to be big later, to be least now, to be greatest later, and also in this, to give up all now, to have great riches in the future, in eternity. Really the same principle, you're just kind of showing different aspects of the same thing, and showing you kind of an earthly example of what anybody would do, right? If they saw this great treasure, they would give up everything in order to get it. And so, but also there's this other parable. So those all kind of link together, the mustard seed, the leaven, and the three measures of meal, the hidden treasure, the pearl, of great price. Those are all really just talking about having great reward in heaven. And so, but then it comes back into this net parable. And I believe we're really kind of coming back to the tares and the wheat kind of thing, where we're talking about, you know, there's gonna be people in heaven with eternal life, and there's gonna be people in hell with eternal damnation. And in verse 47 it says, 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. So it's very clear what's being said here. And this is where people get confused, because they're like, well, it says in the kingdom of heaven. So there's people that are bad in heaven? No. It's clearly, it's gonna give you a time frame. There's another parable where you're dealing with this supper, you know, where he's bid all these guests, and it's like, this is like the kingdom of heaven. It's like, there's not a man there that shouldn't be there, okay? And we'll get to that later, but all I have to say is just look at the explanation. It says, so shall it be, in verse 49, at the end of the world. The angel shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Okay, so it's very, it's really just kind of calling back to the end of the world, with the wheat and the tares, and how that's gonna work out there. And then you go down to verse 51. I know I'm going quick through this, but really, these parables are not that complicated. And like I said, if you have verses that just bolster, you know, you just have to have statements that bolster all this stuff, right? We just know that, you know, the saved will go to heaven, and then the lost are gonna go to hell. He's severing the just from the unjust, right? It makes sense, it's not that complicated, okay? But people get way too, the problem is you go way too deep into it, and you're just like, what does that net represent, right? And it was in the sea. So what does the sea represent? And it goes, you go way too deep. And I'm not saying that there isn't some kind of meaning to some of that stuff, but listen, you just need to take the surface meaning for what it is and if you go any deeper than that, you better not contradict any scripture when you're doing it, okay? So in Matthew chapter 13, verse 51, this one's interesting, okay? And I'm just gonna be honest with you, I'm not exactly sure what's being said here, what he's implying with this. I think a number of things could apply. But in Matthew 13, verse 51, it's interesting that his disciples understood everything that he was saying. It says in verse 51, Jesus saith unto them, have you understood all these things? They say unto him, yea, Lord. So whether they were telling the truth or not, but all that to say is that it really isn't that, a lot of stuff was just completely explained to him, right? And then some of that was, if you understand rewarding and he already preached the Sermon on the Mount about laying up treasure in heaven, you kind of understand how they would get that, right? But in verse 52, notice what it says here. It says, then said he unto them, therefore, every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old. So this is where I'm not 100% dogmatic on what's being said or what's being implied here. Now, obviously, when you see new and old, you think of Old and New Testament, right? So it could be talking about the fact that, hey, now we have both New and Old Testament and the Old's not irrelevant, right? And I would agree with that. It's a true statement, right? Meaning that a scribe is gonna bring forth things that are new and old now because you have both Testaments, as far as the reading of the Old Testament and the New Testament, right? But I kinda think about this as far as the Old Man, New Man. Now, whether this applies to this or not, I'm not 100% sure. It could be talking about how, as a preacher, you're supposed to be instant in season, out of season. So you're kinda bringing back the old stuff, meaning these are the foundation doctors that you're kinda preaching on all the time, but you're still kinda coming up with new material as far as you're still finding out new nuggets of truth. It could be that too, okay? So all I have to say is that there could be a lot of, there could be different applications to it. But think about this. When I see householder, I think of some other verses. In 1 Peter 2, it likens us unto a spiritual house. We're the temple of the Holy Ghost. There's a lot of verses talking about our body being a house or basically where our soul and spirit are dwelling. But in 1 Peter 2 and verse five, it says, ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifice as acceptable God by Jesus Christ. And so another place. Now this, I believe, is more so talking about the house of God, okay? But we're talking about a scribe that is likened unto a householder. So I think you're more so dealing with a person that's in house. But if you were to think about 2 Timothy 2, 20, it says, but in a great house, there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth, some to honor and some to dishonor. And what I'm getting at is that it could be the fact that basically someone that is instructed of the kingdom of heaven, someone that's saved, can either bring forth things that are new or old, meaning that you can either walk in the old man or you can walk in the new man. And in all these parables that you're dealing with as far as like the grain of mustard seed, the leaven, if you walk in the old man, you're not gonna have that treasure in heaven. You're gonna be first in this life and you're gonna be last in the kingdom of heaven. Does that make sense? And I think about the famous verse with this would be 2 Corinthians chapter five and verse 17. It says, therefore, any being Christ, he is a new creature, old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new. This is talking about the inner man. Go to Ephesians chapter four, just to see a clear, I want you to understand that the old man's still there, meaning the old man in the flesh. When you were dead in trespasses and sins, your soul was an old man. Does that make sense? But when you got saved, that old, old things were passed away, behold, all things are become new, but the flesh is still old until the resurrection. Okay, once the resurrection happens, you know, and you think of like new heaven, new earth, that's when he says, old things are passed away, all things are become new completely, meaning even the heaven and the earth is being completely made new, right? But in Ephesians chapter four and verse 20, it says, but ye have not so learned Christ, if so be that ye have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus. And you kind of think about this where it talks about the scribe, which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven. And so I kind of liken it unto that. And instead of verse 22, that ye put off concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt, according to the deceitful lust, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. That's just my thoughts on it, okay? And again, if you come up to me like, I think you're completely off base, you know, you wouldn't offend me. If you said that about a lot of the stuff, you know, like, that's not that important. What I'm saying is that, you know, I just wanted to give you my thoughts on it, that this could be talking about that. Meaning that, you know, you think about those that have a good treasure of your heart, so you kind of think about the old man, new man there, as far as what are you walking in, you know? So, but I think that does tie into the whole fact of having treasure in heaven, so. But the last portion there in verse 53, really just comes down to that a prophet is not without honor, save in his own country and in his own house. You know, the fact that Jesus goes back to his own country, Nazareth, and he can't do a lot of miracles there, right? Verse 53, it says, 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 their synagogue, and so much that they were astonished and said, whence hath this man this wisdom and these mighty works, is not this the carpenter's son, is not his mother called Mary, and his brethren James, and Joseph, and Simon, and Judas, and his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things? And they were offended in him, but Jesus said unto them, a prophet is not without honor, save in his own country and in his own house. And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief. So there's a lot of things to see there that Jesus had physical brothers and physical sisters, but also these people were saying, is not this the carpenter's son? So they're saying that he's Joseph's son, okay? And so not really understanding the fact that he's the son of God, that he was born the Virgin Mary, that all that was being fulfilled. And so this just comes into the fact of, people that know you tend to not take you that seriously because they knew you, they grew up with you, and it's hard. And my parents come to church and stuff like that, and I have my older brothers here, and they all grew up with me, and they were my faults in and out. And so what it comes down to is, in a lot of cases though, your family's not gonna really all the time take you very seriously. And here's the thing, if they didn't take Jesus seriously, you understand that that's very much the case too. So if I went back to, think about this, if you had a past with friends and stuff like that, let's say you were into drinking or something like that, or you partied back in the day, and then you come back and be like, hey, I'm a pastor now, they're gonna be like, oh man, we saw you, we know who you are. You know what I mean? But that's different than Jesus, but what it's saying is that even with Jesus, they did that. He was sinless, okay? They didn't have a past, and he was completely sinless. So don't be surprised if people in your past don't take you seriously when you weren't walking in the Lord or whatever back in the day, or even just in general, right? As far as relatives, what it really comes down to is just dealing with family and friends is gonna be tough. It's not impossible. His brethren eventually did believe on him, and it's not like that. It didn't turn around to be good, but we see that obviously he didn't do a lot of mighty works, he didn't do a lot of healing because of unbelief. The faith was the key for these people to get healed physically and salvation. But that's Matthew chapter 13. Big chapter, tackling a lot of parables. We're gonna be getting into a lot of other parables, but it's really not that bad. You know, when you think about you have the Holy Ghost inside of you, you gotta think simple when it comes to these parables and just think on the surface, meaning what is he just trying to say? Think about the physical application of what's being said, and then try to get into the spiritual aspect, okay? If you can't understand the physical, how are you gonna understand the spiritual? So understand what he's saying physically and then try to get into the spiritual aspect. So let's end with a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this evening and pray that you would be with us as we go out through the rest of the week with work and just everything we need to get done. Pray that you give us safe travels, and I just pray that you would bless Mountain Baptist Church, all the families that are here, and Lord, just pray that you be with those that couldn't make it. And I pray for health as well in the church and those that are pregnant. And Lord, we love you and pray all this in Jesus Christ's name, amen.