Matthew 13 The Great Separation

Matthew 13    The Great Separation

Why would God allow this sowing of tares among the wheat to happen to the kingdom between Christ's first coming and His second coming? Why does God permit the "mystery of lawlessness" to work its way through the church (2 Thes. 2:7)? Like the dutiful workers in the master's field (Matt. 13:28), we're understandably anxious to jerk out every one of the evildoers, confront every devious act, and put a stop to every attempt to thwart and harass the work of God. Yet the parables seem to suggest that such a spread of wickedness and deceit among the people of God is inevitable.  When Jesus finally got out of the boat, made His way through the crowd, and returned to the house in Capernaum where He was staying, His disciples came to Him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field" (13:36). Notice that they didn't ask about the mustard seed or the leaven. They were troubled by the fact that God would tolerate the imperfection and impurity of the poisonous tares growing among the wheat.

In 13:37-43  Jesus explains the parable, but only to His close disciples. In almost bullet-point fashion, Jesus solves the puzzle:  The one who sows = the Son of Man, Jesus (13:37) The field = the world (13:38)

The good seed = the sons of the kingdom (the saved righteous) (13:38)

The tares = the sons of the evil one (the unsaved wicked) (13:38)

The enemy = the devil (13:39)  The harvest = the end of the age (13:39) The reapers = angels (13:39)

At the end of the age, when Christ returns to purge the world of wickedness and fully establish His kingdom on earth, He will send His angels to gather those wicked plants of the devil and cast them into eternal fire (13:40-42). This will put an end to the mixture of the just and unjust, a mingling that has been seen in the church throughout its history. From that time forward, the kingdom of God will be characterized by purity and righteousness, and the righteous will shine like the sun (13:43).

Hostile powers are always at work in this world. They try to cause us to stumble, through harassment, creating barriers, causing conflicts, and promoting confusion. Those who engage in lawless behavior overtly and deliberately work against the good. Without a doubt, enemies of the truth are at work in the world, inspired by the "power of the evil one" (1 Jn. 5:19). Given this reality, we can look to Jesus' parables to provide us with a few important, practical points to consider in relation to the evil in the world.

Eternity  Arthur Stace   Is Hell real or Does Everyone Go to heaven sooner or later?

"The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25  but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away.  26  So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds? 28 He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' So the servants said to him, 'Then do you want us to go and gather them?'29 But he said, 'No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them.30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.'" If you read through the seven parables carefully, this theme is hard to miss. In fact, this theme of judgment is prevalent almost everywhere in Matthew where Jesus speaks in parables. This fits the idea I wrote about earlier—that parables reveal or conceal, or we might say, reward or judge.

Three of the seven parables in chapter 13 have this judgment theme. In the Parable of the Sower, the theme of judgment is subtle. It is God's judgment that those who are hard, shallow, or self-indulgent have the seed of the gospel "devoured" (v. 4), "withered away" (v. 6), or "choked" (v. 7). Because they heard but didn't heed and saw but didn't strive (see vv. 13–15), what they had is "taken away" (v. 12). That's judgment. Human responsibility? Yes. Divine judgment? Yes also.

But that is just the subtle stuff. There is nothing subtle about the endings of the Parable of the Weeds and the Parable of the Net. Both parables end with these same words, "and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (vv. 42, 50). The weeds represent "the sons of the evil one" (v. 38). But then, quite interestingly, these weeds are defined as being within the kingdom (v. 41). They are gathered out of Christ's kingdom. Thus, they appear to be those who profess faith in Christ but don't walk their talk. This is why they are defined as "law-breakers" (v. 41) and, even worse, as not merely sinners but those who cause others to sin. These weeds will be gathered, bound, and burned (vv. 30, 40–42). That is judgment, isn't it?

A similar judgment happens with the fish. In the final parable (vv. 47–50) we read of a great catch. The net that was thrown into the sea "gathered fish of every kind" (perhaps a reference to every tongue and tribe and nation). When this net was "full," the fishermen brought it ashore and sorted through the catch. They put the good fish "into containers" to preserve, but they "threw away the bad" (v. 48). Now, being thrown away doesn't sound as bad as being thrown into a fiery furnace. But Jesus isn't finished. Sure enough we see in verses 49, 50 that the throwing out of the bad fish is just an analogy for when the angels on behalf of the Son of Man7 throw the unrighteous "into the fiery furnace" (yes, another reference to Daniel). Is this simply a moment of extinction or annihilation? No, it is not a period of time but a place of punishment—a place where "there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth [sorrow and regret]" (vv. 42, 50).

Be Aware Of The Corruption of the Crop

Matt 13: 38  The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one,  39  and the enemy who sowed them is the devil.

If anything is clear here, it is that there are people who will be tares.  The weed involved looked just like wheat, except n fruit in the head of the wheat.  This parable of judgment is to remind us that there are people who will look just like Christians who aren't and they are the ones that get snatched up at the end and thrown into the fire.  It is a word of warning for us gathered here on a Sunday. Make sure you are really a Christian. Make sure you are really in the faith. This also reminds us that there are people in churches sewn by Satan who will undermine the gospel with false teaching or just plain distraction from the gospel. 

Be careful about plucking the wheat out by harsh handling of others.

Be careful also to make sure that the gospel is proclaimed that the seed is spread.

Be Prepared For The Coming of The King

Mat 13:40  Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age.  41  The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 

There are two events in the future which are absolutely certain. First of all, it is absolutely certain that Jesus Christ is coming again to receive His people unto himself, and to reward them according to their works; and in the second place, it is absolutely certain that Jesus Christ is coming again to judge the world.  Folks ask me "What will be the outcome of Trumps Tariffs on Australia business and the economy?" And I replied, "I do not know." Men often come to me with the question, "What will be the outcome of the Chinese governments increasing naval strength around Australia and the South Pacific?" And again I reply, "I don't know."  Or what will be the outcome of the wars in the Ukraine or Israel?

But I will tell you what I do know, and it is infinitely more important. I know that some day the Lord Jesus Christ will come back again, and receive His waiting and faithful people unto himself, and I know that there is going to be a judgment day for the world, and that judgment day is the subject of our thought today.

It Is Certain "The Lord Jesus Christ shall be revealed from heaven with mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who know not God."  John, says of the lost: "They shall be tormented with fire and brimstone." In another place he says: "The adulterers, the sorcerers, and all liars shall have their place in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone." And in another place he says : " They shall both be cast alive into the lake of fire." The last book of the Bible closes with a dark scroll on the sky. "The smoke of their torment ascended for ever and ever."

It is Jesus

Jesus describes His own role at the end of the age in verse 41 . The Messiah will be Judge, as foretold by John the Baptist, but Jesus places His action at the end of the age. This judgment is spoken of in Old Testament passages.  The description, "the furnace of fire" is no doubt lifted from the apocalyptic language of Daniel (3:6), as is "the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father"

(Dan. 12:3 ). Note the significant use of the two phrases, "of His kingdom," identifying it as a present reality at work in the world and "the kingdom of their Father", the eternal kingdom.

Who is to be the judge in that day? Jesus Christ himself- "God hath appointed a day in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men in that He hath raised Him from the dead."

Christ is to be the Judge. That same Christ whom you are rejecting is to be the Judge. That same Christ whom you are robbing of the honor which is His due is to be the Judge. That same Christ whose divinity you are denying, not that you have any reason for denying it, but simply you don't want to have to believe it and want comfort in your sin-that same Christ whom you are trampling under foot will sit as Judge in that day. That will be a very dark day for some people. It will be a dark day for Annas and Caiaphas, who robbed Jesus of every form of justice. Now they stand before the bar, and Christ sits upon the throne. I can imagine Pontius Pilate in that day, who knew that Jesus Christ was innocent, and yet condemned Him to appease the Jewish mob. Pilate will stand at the bar, and the Christ he so basely wronged will be on the throne. I can imagine - the soldiers who spat upon Him, and mocked Him, and crowned Him with thorns. The Christ they spat upon, buffeted and crowned with thorns, sits upon the throne and they stand at the judgment bar. I can imagine Judas Iscariot, who for thirty pieces of silver sold his Master after three years of close association with Him; now he stands before the bar, and the Christ he betrayed sits upon the throne. I can imagine that man and woman in this audience today who have been telling their friends that they do not believe that Jesus is divine, who have been trampling the Son of God under foot, who have been resisting the invitations of mercy it may be for years; you stand before the throne, and the Christ whom you have defamed, slandered, rejected and trampled under foot, sits as Judge.

Be In Awe of The Cursing of Criminals

Mat 13:40  Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42  and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 

It is absolutely certain that there is to be a judgment day. "God hath appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness." Men who are living in sin may laugh at it; they cannot laugh it away. In the days of Noah men laughed at Noah's predictions that there was to be a flood, but the flood came and swept them all away. In the days of Lot the men of Sodom laughed at the idea that God would rain fire and brimstone out of heaven, and destroy Sodom and Gomorrah and the other cities of the plain; but the fire and brimstone fell, and these cities were blotted out. In the days of Jeremiah the people of Jerusalem laughed at Jeremiah's predictions that Nebuchadnezzar would come and lay Jerusalem in the dust and destroy their temple. But it all came to pass just as God said, and just as Jeremiah believed and predicted. In the days of Jesus Christ men laughed at Christ's prediction that the armies of Rome under Titus and Vespasian would lay Jerusalem's walls even with the ground, and that calamity would overtake that city such as the world had never seen; but historians outside the Bible tell us that it all came to pass just as Christ predicted, and that Jerusalem was overtaken with the most appalling siege in the world's history. All of God's predictions about judgment on individuals and nations in the past have come true to the very letter in spite of all the false hopes that were held out by false prophets. If we are to judge the future by the past -and there is no other way to judge it- Gods predictions about the future with regard to judgment upon individuals and nations will come true to the very letter, in spite of false hopes held out by the false prophets; that is by the "liberal preachers" of the day. It is absolutely certain that there is to be a judgment day for the world.

God has given us a special guarantee of the judgment day, and that special guarantee is the resurrection of Christ from the dead.

The Lord Jesus said, " At the end of the world the angels shall come forth and separate the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire." Can you not explain it away ? Oh ! yes. I could make these angels fairies ; I could represent this fire as only something looking like fire

Burnings . The Bible sixteen times says it is fire.  The whole race is sinful and rebellious, and underneath that race there is a furnace glowing, cracking, roaring, raving, and we shall all be plunged in it unless we escape through faith in Jesus.

The Bible more frequently speaks of the wrath of God than it does of the love of God. Not because God has more wrath than mercy, but because he knew the world would be slow to believe it. We have not enough backbone of moral courage to preach the whole Bible. So we go preaching a one-sided God, with a character which we In Thessalonians : " Taking vengeance on them that know not God." In Revelation: "They shall drink of the wine of the wrath of Almighty God, poured without mixture into the cup of His indignation.'

What does a man want to know of a life raft when he is sure of no shipwreck ?

Revelation ; "The wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God."

God fifty-six times, in the plainest, most unmistakable, stupendous, and overwhelming way, declares that there is a hell. It is burning now. It has been burning a long while. It is becoming fiercer by the victims that are ever being dropped into it. Yea, I will go further, and say there is a possibility, aye, there is a probability that there are some in this house to-day who will spend eternity in the lost world. Nothing but the hand of an outraged, defied, insulted, long-suffering, indignant, omnipotent God keeps this whole audience this moment from sliding like one avalanche into it.

"It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where 'the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched'" (Mark 9:47–48).

1. The punishment is deserved.

2. The punishment consists of suffering

3. The punishment is constant.

4. The punishment is conscious.

5. The punishment is continual - eternal.

Revelation 14:11, where it is said that the wicked "will have no rest day or night." The endlessness of the punishment is also confirmed by the forceful pronouncement in Revelation 20:10, "They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever." Revelation 20:10

Be Assured By The Collecting of the Called

but gather the wheat into my barn.

43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.

1 Thessalonians 4: For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

Gather the wheat. The saints will be found in all ranks of society.

It will be a gathering from very great distances.

They will come from all the ages.

Assured Of The Contentment of the Chosen To the wheat the barn is the place of security.          A place of glory   43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.

D. L. Moody at death caught a glimpse of heaven. Awakening from sleep he said, "Earth recedes, Heaven opens before me. If this is death, it is sweet! There is no valley here. God is calling me and I must go!"

I twice sat with folks who experienced this absolute joy of knowing the presence of the Lord Jesus as they passed into glory.  .

Just before John Bunyan died, he said, "Weep not for me, but for yourselves. I go to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will through the mediation of His blessed Son receive me though a sinner; there we shall meet to sing the new song and remain everlastingly happy, world without end."

Lorelle and I have stood by another who experienced terror, unmitigated terror

Where will you spend eternity?

Lutzer writes: Five minutes after you die you will either have had your first glimpse of heaven with its euphoria and bliss or your first genuine experience of unrelenting horror and regret. Either way, your future will be irrevocably fixed and eternally unchangeable. In those first moments, you will be more alive than you ever have been. Vivid memories of your friends and your life on planet earth will be mingled with a daunting anticipation of eternity. You will have had your first direct glimpse of Christ or your first encounter with evil as you have never known it. And it will be too late to change your address.

The good news is you can change your destination right now. This very minute you can pass from spiritual death to spiritual life.

John 5:22 The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son,23 that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

Hear.             Believe               Pass from death to life.