Mathew 13:24-50

Believe judgment is coming

Parable of the wheat and the weeds (tares) and dragnet – both are dealing with same truth

Explanation – a man sows some seed in a field.  He along with his servants are sleeping, and while sleeping an enemy comes in and sows weeds among the wheat.  The wheat and the weeds (or tares) sprout up and the servants are horrified.  Boss, didn’t you sow good seed?!?  It wasn’t so much of an accusatory question as it was an affirmation that someone other than the boss had to have done this (they know their boss and this is uncharacteristic of him).  The boss tells them an enemy did this.  So, they naturally ask, do you want us to go pull up these weeds – no, wait till harvest time where we’ll reap the wheat (good seed) and the weeds (bad seeds) because we don’t want to uproot the wheat.  When we harvest the good and bad.  We’ll keep the good – I’ll store it in my barn, but bundle up the weeds and burn them. 

Look at verse 36-43.  Jesus’ interpretation:  The owner of the field is Jesus – He’s going out and sowing good seed.  Good seed, as we discussed last week, is a picture of a heart that is receptive to the things of God, most specifically the gospel (which we’ll discuss momentarily).  The bad seeds or the weeds are the sons of the evil one (Devil) who scattered them among the good seeds.  So you’ve got good/bad in the same field – the field being the world (or His Kingdom).  Then the angels go out by God’s command and gather from the kingdom (now, this is really important) the good ones where they’ll shine like the sun in their Father’s kingdom and then the angels will also gather the sons of darkness from the kingdom and send them to basically hell.

What is Jesus making reference to?  The sobering doctrine and truth of hell. 

• Billy Graham – said “If we had more hell in the pulpit, we would have less hell in the pew.”
• At the final judgment, which Jesus speaks of here in Matthew, there will be a division.  The word judgment means “to separate.”  In addition, the word judgment refers to the work of a judge or a lawgiver, where they “discriminate or make distinctions.”  

Boice states that there are four truths we see here in Matthew 13 about God’s judgment:

• It is thorough. 
• The separation between believers/non-believers will be definitive. 
• The deciding factor of separation is do you have a heart that yielded to Christ Jesus?
• It is a permanent

Why not now?  One individual said that “Jesus is patiently enduring this world, allowing us and calling us to be ambassadors where we witness, share, beg and plead with others to become people who surrender their lives to Jesus” (Russell Moore).

I don’t cringe when talking about hell because I don’t want to offend you – but I cringe when preaching, teaching, discussing the truth of hell because the punishment is so great, so severe, so terrible it should drive us to Christ.  It should compel us to Christ.  It should shape our lives.  Why?!?  Because the punishment is has been dealt with; the sacrifice for sins – death – has been paid on your account – it’s done, it’s finished – and what Christ calls us to is to turn from our own ways and call out to a Savior, Lord, King whose name is Jesus to save us and He will.  Some people think that an avoidance of hell is a wrong motivation to repent and trust in Christ – I don’t share that view.  I think that doesn’t need to be the sole reason – we see the horrible nature of hell and we look to a gracious, merciful Savior who will save us if will but only turn to Him.

Treasure the Gospel of Jesus

Explain parable: you have this treasure buried in a field and a man stumbles across it and he reburies it to hide it from someone else.  And in his joy, sells off his entire fortune (whether it be small/large is no of consequence only that he sold it all) and he buys that field.  Because that field has something invaluable, something you can’t put a price-tag on.  Then a merchant who is in search of fine pearls actually finds a priceless pearl and he too sells all that he has in order to buy this beautiful pearl. 

In this parable you also see the actions, subsequent to when they found the buried treasure and the pearl.  The buried treasure/pearl is the gospel message of Jesus Christ.

• No cost is too great to gain the Kingdom.
• Totality of their pursuit – shapes every facet of who they are. 
• A decisive action where they procured it, obtained, acquired, secured, attained, got hold of…for themselves.

How can we live a life that treasures the Gospel? (taken from C.J. Mahaney’s book Cross Centered Life)

• Preach the gospel to your own heart everyday 
• Memorize the gospel
• Review how the gospel has changed you
• Study the gospel
• Never move past the gospel
  • CJ Mahaney says, “to grow in your love and passion for Jesus you need to grow in your knowledge of what Jesus has done.”