All right, we are talking about stories of the kingdom. As you just saw from the intro video, we are starting a brand new series this morning.
! So if you weren't here last week, that's all right. You are in for the beginning of a brand new series. Would you take your Bibles with me?
If you don't have one with you, there should be one in the seat back in front of you. There's the Bible app that you can download on your phone.
But everybody looking at a copy of the Word of God this morning, let's go to Matthew chapter 13. We're starting this series on the parables of Jesus.
These parables were stories that Jesus would use to tell an illustration of a point, a greater point and truth that he was trying to teach.
So, we're starting out this morning with the very first parable that we'll be covering in this series, and that is the weeds and the wheat.
The weeds and the wheat. Matthew chapter 13, we'll read from verse 24 down through verse 30.
For sake of time, I'm going to go ahead and read while you are finding your place.
Matthew 24, I'm sorry, Matthew 13, verse 24.
Jesus presented another parable to them.
The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.
Now, let me stop right there before we go any further and draw your attention to those words.
The kingdom of heaven may be compared.
Throughout the scriptures, throughout the gospels especially, you'll see Jesus telling these parables,
and oftentimes he'll say the kingdom of heaven is like this.
And then he gives us this parable, this story which would illustrate the truth or the point he was trying to make.
So, that's why we're calling this series Stories of the Kingdom.
If you asked somebody in this room to define the kingdom of God, we might struggle a little bit to do it.
I was in a room full of pastors, Texas Baptist pastors across our state, gathered in Waco,
and the speaker said, would you all be able to define the kingdom of God for me?
There was dead silence.
And then a couple of guys ventured an explanation of what the kingdom of God is,
and we all had a little bit different idea of what the kingdom of God is talking about.
Well, let's try to wrap our head around it because apparently Jesus thought it was pretty important.
So much so that he gave these parables to illustrate what the kingdom of God is.
So, let's pick it up back in verse 25 as he says,
The kingdom of God can be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field,
but while people were sleeping, his enemy came,
sowed weeds among the wheat, and left.
When the plant sprouted and produced grain, then the weeds also appeared.
The landowner's servants came to him and said,
Master, didn't you sow good seed in your field?
Where did the weeds come from?
An enemy did this, he told them.
So, do you want us to go and pull them up?
The servants asked him.
No, he said.
When you pull up the weeds, you might also uproot the wheat with them.
Let both grow together until the harvest.
At harvest time, I'll tell the reapers,
Gather the weeds first,
and tie them in bundles to burn them.
But collect the wheat in my barn.
So, the title of our sermon this morning,
our message from the scriptures is this,
The Weeds and the Wheat.
Did you know that this morning,
you could be either a weed or a wheat?
Hopefully, we'll understand what he's talking about
as we dive a little further into this passage.
Can we pray together and ask God to bless our time?
Lord, I pray that right now you would give illumination by your spirit
to the words that you've given us.
You taught this lesson to your followers so many, many, many years ago,
and yet still today, as your followers,
it's a lesson that we need to hear.
I pray that you would impact us and change us from the inside out
to better reflect you.
And it's in Jesus' name we ask it.
Amen.
All right, so let's look again at this passage.
Jesus says the kingdom of God is like this.
The kingdom of heaven is like this.
The man goes and sows good seed in the field.
So the first truth that we uncover here
is there's nothing wrong with the seed.
The seed is not the problem.
Would you look back up in that passage just a little bit earlier,
verse 3.
Matthew 13, but back up to verse 3.
Jesus tells them many things in parables, it says.
And the first one he shared here in this instance is,
consider the sower.
You know, we're talking about one who goes out and sows seed,
trying to get something to grow.
So the sower went out to sow.
As he sowed, some seed fell along the path.
The birds came and devoured it.
Other seed fell on rocky ground.
It didn't have much soil.
And it grew up quickly since the soil wasn't deep.
But when the sun came up, it was scorched.
It had no root.
And it withered away.
Other seed fell among thorns.
And the thorns came up and choked it.
Other seed fell on good ground and then produced fruit.
Some hundred, sixty, thirty times what was sown.
Do you understand the constant thing in that passage?
The problem with the results of the seed was never with the seed itself.
The seed was never the problem.
The problem was always what happened after.
So, the truth we must understand,
that I believe Jesus is trying to teach this morning,
is the gospel is the seed.
What do we mean by the gospel?
Well, that word literally means good news.
The good news about Jesus.
That is the seed.
And there's nothing wrong with the seed.
So, as we are going out into this world,
whether it be in our homes,
or our neighborhoods,
or our workplace,
or our friend group,
or even just strangers that we encounter throughout our day,
as we are in our circle of life,
we are meant to be like this sower and sow seed.
Go out and sow good seed.
Now, you might be sowing bad seed,
and then you'll get bad fruit.
But if you sow good seed,
then you have an opportunity then
to see the fruit of the good news of Jesus
pop up in your life.
So, there's nothing actually wrong with the seed itself.
There might be something wrong with the sower,
and where he's sowing the seed.
There might be something wrong with other weeds or thorns
that pop up alongside it,
and we're going to look more in detail at that part of it.
But the gospel, the good news of Jesus,
there's nothing wrong with that.
And so, don't let the message change.
Unfortunately, do you understand
that in churches across our world,
sometimes the message has changed.
There is a truth,
and then everything else is not truth.
Do you understand that?
There is truth,
and if it's not that,
then it's a lie.
The truth is,
you and I are sinners.
We each have our own sins,
but we are sinners,
every one of us.
We share that in common.
Goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden,
when Adam and Eve chose to disobey God,
and from then on,
the Bible teaches us,
sin passed upon everyone,
all of us.
We have all sinned.
We've all broken God's laws.
We've all broken God's commandments.
So, we were in need of someone to help us.
You can't go back and rewrite what you've done.
You can't even start from now and never mess up again.
None of us are capable.
We're all gonna mess up.
We're all going to willfully break God's laws.
That's who we are.
So, we need somebody to help us.
Well, there was only one,
both willing and able,
to do that,
and his name is
Jesus.
That's right.
And if you didn't know that,
then I hope that good news
just brightened your day today.
Because Jesus is the one,
the only one,
willing and able
to do something about this sin problem.
And he did.
That was God's plan from the beginning.
And so, Jesus
left his throne in heaven,
came down,
humbled himself,
took on human flesh,
became one of us,
lived this life,
suffered all the same struggles
that we suffer,
dealt with the temptations
that we deal with,
but he did it without ever sinning.
He became our example
of how to live this life.
And he walked among us.
He healed us.
He served us.
He met our needs.
He taught us.
He came to seek
and to save
the lost.
And he's still doing it today.
He's still seeking.
He's still saving.
Every time we see somebody
hop up in those baptism waters
and give that public expression
of their faith,
they're showing that Jesus
saved them.
He sought them.
He found them.
And he saved them.
So the seed is not the problem.
The seed is that message.
That still changes lives today.
That still is the good news.
A lot of news out there.
Y'all know what I'm talking about.
Whether you turn on Fox
or CNN
or something else,
you'll find news
and most of it
probably doesn't make
your day brighter.
But
there is good news.
And that's from Jesus
and that's what we promote.
That's what we
sow
and then let God
bring fruit.
So the seed is not the problem.
But then the second part
of this passage
that we see,
I'm going to get back to it
on the screen for you here.
Verse 24.
He sowed good seed
in his field
but while the people
were sleeping,
what happened?
The enemy came.
Well, if you're a follower
of Jesus,
who's the enemy?
That's right.
It's not your neighbor.
It's not that guy
who cuts you off in traffic.
Okay?
It's not the person
who's going at you
on social media.
That's not your enemy.
The enemy is Satan.
There is an enemy
and he is trying
to undermine and destroy
what God does
in this world.
Now, he's always going to fail
but he's going to give it
his best effort.
And so the enemy came
and he sowed weeds
among the wheat
and then he left.
Did his work
and took off.
And when the plants
sprouted and produced grain,
the weeds also appeared.
So the work of the enemy
was there.
And I can promise you,
the enemy
will always sabotage.
The enemy
will always sabotage
what God is trying to do
in this world
and in your life.
The enemy's not just
going to sit by quietly
and let God
turn your life around
and make everything
how it ought to be.
The enemy's going to fight back.
I'm sorry to tell you that.
That's how sweet heaven
is going to be someday.
When our race
on this earth is run
and our time is complete
and God brings us
home to heaven,
we get to live
this perfect,
wonderful,
forever,
eternity with Jesus.
And there's no enemy
to fight against.
But until that day comes,
the enemy is trying
to hold on
to the darkness.
He's trying to not let
any more
turn to the light.
So he's going to sabotage.
And what does he do?
He doesn't just go
pull up
the good seed
that was sown.
Number one,
I don't think God would,
God definitely would not
let him do that.
What he does
is he tries to make it
hard to tell
what came from good seed
and what came from bad seed.
So he goes
and sabotages.
He's sneaky.
He's a trickster.
So,
let's look back at the text.
Verse 25.
He sowed weeds
among the wheat
and left.
When the plants
sprouted
and appeared,
the weeds
also appeared.
Now,
understand a principle
about this.
In your copy
of the word of God,
it might say
tares
instead of wheat.
T-A-R-E-S.
Anybody have a Bible
that says tares?
I figured there'd be
a number of you.
And it basically
means the same thing.
Let me share
a little truth here.
The weeds
can look like wheat.
This was a common problem.
Honestly,
it still is a common problem.
We have any wheat farmers
in here?
I didn't think so.
We were,
if we were in the Midwest,
you know,
we might get some more of that.
But the weeds
can look like wheat.
I want to show you
a picture.
On the left,
the words are probably
hard to see,
but on the left,
you've got Darnell.
Or Darnal.
Anybody know how
to pronounce that?
We'll go with Darnell.
It works for me.
And then on the right,
you have wheat.
To the casual observer,
if you're walking
through a field,
would you easily
be able to identify
the weeds,
tares,
Darnell
from the wheat?
Yes?
That's good.
Most of us can't.
It's a very,
very common problem
in agriculture
when it comes to wheat
is it's hard
to identify.
Now,
as it grows
come harvest time,
it's easier
to identify.
The weeds
will get these,
the Darnell,
the tares
will get these
dark seeds,
and then the wheat
will have the nice
white seeds.
But early
in its stages,
it's very,
very hard
to distinguish
the tares
or the weeds
from the wheat.
Do you know
what's interesting?
Is that the enemy
was not just
trying to get rid
of the good man's crops.
He was trying
to make it hard
for him
to pull up
the good crops
and not pull up
the bad crops
with it.
Not be able
to identify
which is which.
Do you realize
that Darnell
over here,
these tares,
are poisonous
both to humans
and animals?
They can ruin
a field.
They can take over.
They can absolutely
ruin what he's
trying to do.
Do you understand
the point
that Jesus
is making here?
The enemy
is tricky
in how he
sabotages
God's work
on this world.
He doesn't
always just
try to
stop
the message
of God.
Sometimes
he tries
to sabotage
it
by putting
a different
message in
with it.
He tries
to put people
who are not
truly followers
of Jesus
and put them
into a church
of Jesus
followers.
He tries
to make
something that
kind of looks
like Jesus
and kind of
looks like
Christianity
but it's got
a very different
purpose
and it's
poisonous.
There's all
kinds of
illustrations
of that.
Sometimes
the tares
don't even
know
or realize
when it
comes to
spiritual
tares
and weeds
they don't
understand
that they're
being used
in this
way.
They're just
trying to
live their
life.
Just trying
to get
what's best
for them.
And sure
why wouldn't
I join
this church
bunch of
moral upstanding
citizens.
Yeah that's
me too.
But they
have their
agenda
and it
does not
mimic
God's
agenda.
They have
their priorities
that don't
align with
God's
priorities.
And all
of a sudden
when those
people have
been in a
church for
a while
and they
start raising
their family
in that
church
they are
promoting
a different
kind of
Christianity
than Jesus
left us
with.
And all
of a sudden
churches can
start to
get sidetracked
and they
can start
to get
overrun
with
tares
with
weeds.
This is
the principle
that Jesus
is teaching
his followers
saying be
careful
the enemy
is going
to bring
up those
among
you
who will
try to
get you
off track.
Try to
change
the priorities
that I
gave you.
The weeds
can look
like wheat
but when
it's harvest
time
God will
know the
difference.
He will
separate the
wheat from
the tares.
He will
separate the
wheat from
the weeds.
So
the enemy
will sabotage
and the
hard part
is
the tares
or the
weeds
can look
like
the wheat.
Another
thing
the weeds
roots
go deep.
They go
deep.
The weeds
roots
go much
deeper
than the
wheat's
roots
do.
I don't
know if I
said that
very well
but you
know what
I'm trying
to say.
The tares
have these
long roots
that go
in deep
and then
they spread
out and
they can
start to
choke
the roots
of the
wheat,
the good
crop that
the sower
was trying
to produce.
The weeds
roots
can go
so deep
in a
church
or in a
community
of Jesus
followers
that it
can start
to choke
out what
God is
actually trying
to do
through those
followers of
Jesus in
this world.
Unfortunately,
you see it
all the
time.
That's often
why churches
end up
dying.
That's why
churches end
up closing,
shutting down
because the
devil got
in there
and sabotaged
them.
His roots
went so
deep that
it choked
out everything
else.
We must
recognize
when there
are certain
values or
priorities
within
certain
people
that
don't
align
with
God's
values
and
priorities.
You know
what the
crazy thing
is?
We have
to check
our own
heart
and see
if our
own
values
and
priorities
align
with God's
with our
lives,
with our
families,
but especially
when it
comes to
our church.
There is
nothing that
Satan wants
more than
to just
make our
church
ineffective.
He doesn't
even necessarily
want to close
us down
if he can
just make
us ineffective
for God's
kingdom.
So when
you're looking
at God's
kingdom,
by the way,
God's
kingdom was,
is,
and always
will be,
but if you're
looking at
advancing God's
kingdom on
this earth
right now,
which is what
God told us
to do,
then how
would we go
about it?
Well,
we would go
about it
by sharing
the good
news of
Jesus with
other people.
What if
the devil
got in
and said,
no,
that's not
the most
important
thing.
The most
important
thing is
not sharing
the good
news of
Jesus,
the most
important
thing is
having a
nice group
of like-minded
people that
you can enjoy
your life
with.
Well,
that sounds
good,
right?
I want a
nice group
of like-minded
people that
I can enjoy
my life
with.
I think
we all
do.
Funny thing
is,
God told us
to do
that.
He said
you should,
one of the
functions of
the church
should be
to have a
nice group
of followers
of Jesus
that you
can do
life with
together.
But if
that becomes
the priority,
then what
happens?
We become
this us
for and no
more kind
of group
of people.
This click,
this private
club of people
that it's
like,
hey,
this is
who we
are,
this is
what we're
about,
and if you
don't fit
in,
you can't
sit with
us.
You can't
come in
these doors
and we'll
look at you
sideways and
somebody's wearing
their hat in
this building.
Unbelievable.
Weren't they
raised better
than that?
There's all
kinds of
examples of
how that could
play out.
it's not
about our
little group
all looking
alike,
thinking alike,
acting alike
all the time.
It's about
all of us
together trying
to be like
Jesus.
He's going
to take us
different places
in different
ways,
but he's
going to do
it together.
And we
need to
take him
to the people
outside these
walls.
Truth is,
sometimes we
need to take
him to the
people inside
these walls
too.
But the
weeds roots
can go so
deep that
over time
a church
can begin
to prioritize
different things
other than
taking Jesus
to everyone
who needs
to hear.
And that's
when a church
can start
to get so
steeped,
so cemented
in their
own traditions,
their own
values,
what they
feel is
most important
that they
are resistant
to anything
else.
and if
Jesus
himself
walked in
and said,
I want
you to
stop doing
this and
start doing
this,
they'd say,
well,
we're not
sure about
that.
Committee's
going to
have to
recommend it,
we're going
to have to
put it
to a
vote,
Jesus.
We have
our way
of doing
things here.
Now look,
I'm not
attacking
committees
or votes,
but we
have to
ensure
that what
the committees
value,
what the votes
reflect,
is what
Jesus
values.
And if
we have
adopted
traditions
or practices
within our
own church
over nearly
150 years
that don't
reflect the
values of
Jesus Christ
himself and
what he left
for this
church to
accomplish,
then we've
got to look
at that and
say,
have we
let some
weeds in?
Have we
let some
tares go up?
Have those
roots started
to spread
and choke
out what
God wanted
to do
here?
There's a
very practical
application for
this lesson
that Jesus
was trying
to teach.
And so
what does
he say
happens to
the roots
of the
weeds,
of the
tares?
What does
he say
happen?
You pull
them up.
You pull
up the
weeds and
you pull
up the
roots,
you pull
up the
wheat,
all at the
same time
when harvest
time comes.
You don't
do it early.
Don't worry,
we're not
going to go
through this
church right
after the
service ends
and say,
you're a
wheat,
you're a
tare,
you get
out,
you can
stay.
Somebody might
do that to
me too,
so we'll
pass on that
idea.
He says,
no,
you don't
know,
you can't
know who's a
weed and
who's wheat.
God knows,
he keeps the
account.
When the
time comes,
they'll expose
themselves.
It'll be easy
to tell.
And then
we'll send
the tears
off to be
burned.
So,
the next
part on
your bulletin
here,
produce for
the barn
or poison
to be burned.
We've been
talking a lot
about fruit
lately.
We've been
talking a lot
about bearing
fruit for
Jesus.
We've talked
about this
Who's Your
One campaign.
If you haven't
been a part
of that and
you walked
in and you
saw signs
everywhere that
said,
Who's Your
One,
you're probably
wondering what
that's all
about.
Well,
that means
that we
are supposed
to share
the good
news of
Jesus with
people.
So,
let's start
with one.
Let's start
with one
person in
each of
our lives
that you
say,
I need
to share
Jesus with
that person.
So,
I'm going
to pray
for them.
I'm going
to ask
God to
give me
opportunities
to share
Jesus with
them.
And then
I'm going
to pray
for boldness
that when
those opportunities
come,
I won't
be too
scared.
I won't
be too
nervous.
Or I
won't be
too shy.
I will
have the
words to
say to
share
Jesus with
somebody in
that moment.
This is my
one person
that I'm
going to
focus on.
Maybe God
will send
me somebody
else along
the way.
But I'm
praying for
this one
and I'm
going to
work toward
seeing this
one hear
the good
news of
Jesus and
become a
follower of
his.
So,
we've been
talking about
this and
that's called
bearing fruit.
Jesus gives
us this picture.
He says,
I am the
vine.
You are the
branches.
If you
abide in
me,
then you
will bear
the fruit
that comes
from me.
Now,
you might
be abiding
in yourself
and you
bear the
fruit that
comes from
yourself.
You might
be abiding
on the
internet and
you bear
the fruit
that abides
from that.
You might
be abiding
and spending
your time
in focusing
on having
your heart
attached to
all kinds
of different
pursuits in
this world and
you will have
the fruit that
comes from
that.
But if you
abide in
Jesus,
then you'll
have the fruit
that comes
from Jesus.
That's what's
called produce
in the barn.
He wanted
to grow
wheat.
So when
it's time
for harvest,
he collects
the wheat and
he puts it
in the barn.
The tares
don't go
in the barn.
They're
poisonous.
They get
burned.
They get
bundled up
and they
get burned.
And I think
it's interesting
that he said
they get
burned because
there is a
real punishment
for those
without Jesus.
and I
wish it
wasn't this
way.
But unfortunately
the Bible
is pretty
clear that
those who
die without
Christ are
condemned to
an eternal
punishment in
a lake of
fire called
hell.
It's a
terrible place.
God didn't
create it for
you.
He created
it for Satan
and all of
his angels.
But those
of us who
broke God's
laws and
rejected his
payment for
our sin.
Rejected his
son's sacrifice
to redeem
us.
Remember that
song we all
messed up on
the words
earlier?
Redeemed.
What does that
word even mean?
Why are we
even singing
that song?
Redeemed
means you
bought something
back.
We were
God's.
We were his
creation.
As we said
earlier, Adam
and Eve's sin.
Sin passed
upon all of
us.
We were all
born now with
this sin
nature.
God could
have just made
us robots.
Right?
Could have just
made us
automatically do
whatever he
wanted us to
do.
But he gave
us this
will.
He gave
us this
choice.
He gave
us the
ability to
choose to
obey him or
not to
obey him.
Well man,
that's certainly
a more
meaningful
relationship.
If I have
the choice to
love you or
not love you
and I choose
to love you,
that's meaningful,
right?
If I had no
choice, there's
nothing special
about that.
But when we
had the will,
the opportunity
to accept or
reject Christ and
we reject him,
then we end
up in the
same punishment
that was
reserved for
Satan and
his demons.
Poison to
be burned.
There are
people who
sit in church
every Sunday,
year after year
after year,
and they're
going to be
bundled away as
poison to be
burned.
Why?
Because they're
not wheat.
They're weeds.
They're tares.
I cannot
imagine,
seriously, I
can't even begin
to guess who
it would be in
this church,
but statistics
would say
there are
people in
our church
who are
weeds,
who are
tares.
And my
prayer is that
they would not
suffer the
punishment
of poison to
be burned.
verses 47
through 50.
Back in
Matthew 13,
we'll be done
in just a
moment.
Verses 47
through 50.
Again, the
kingdom of
heaven is
like a
large net
thrown into
the sea.
It collected
every kind
of fish,
and when it
was full,
they dragged
it ashore,
sat down,
gathered the
good fish
into containers,
but threw
out the
worthless
ones.
So it
will be at
the end of
the age.
The angels
will go out,
separate the
evil people
from the
righteous,
and throw
them into
the blazing
furnace where
there will be
weeping and
gnashing of
teeth.
Now, if you
just read this
passage in a
vacuum, you
would say,
well, I don't
want to be
evil, I want
to be righteous
so I don't
get thrown
out.
So I
better be
good, I
better mind
my manners,
I better eat
all my
vegetables,
I better be
as good as
I can be,
right?
But if you
read that
context, not
all by itself,
but in the
passage, that
passage in the
whole context of
scripture, then
you understand
what it means to
be righteous or
evil.
Evil means
God has not
imputed or
like stamped
his righteousness
onto you.
evil means you
are still just
like everybody
else without
Jesus.
Guess what?
Before you
got saved,
before you
consciously made
the choice to
place all your
faith in Jesus
for the forgiveness
of your sins,
you were evil
too.
And then God
made you
righteous.
Now if that
hasn't happened
for you,
then I pray that
you would become
righteous, not by
your righteousness,
but by his
righteousness today
before you leave
this place.
You'll have an
opportunity to in
just a moment.
But he says he's
going to separate
the evil from the
righteous.
That doesn't mean
he's going to
separate the people
that act the best
on the outward
appearance,
on the surface.
It means he's
going to separate
those who have
been stamped by
Jesus'
righteousness,
by his blood,
been washed
clean.
That sacrifice
that he made
on the cross.
Easter's coming
up.
We're going to
talk.
The whole world
is going to
pause for a
minute and think
about bunnies,
carrots, and
Jesus'
resurrection.
I don't know
how those things
came together.
And the bunnies
and carrots are
fine.
But Jesus'
resurrection,
after his death,
his sacrificial
death, is what
makes all the
difference for you
and for me.
Then you are made
righteous in God's
eyes, not because
you're a good guy
or a good girl,
but because Jesus
made you righteous.
And then he can
help you be
righteous after
that.
So are you
produce for the
barn or are you
poison to be
burned?
Are you fish that
will be put into
containers and
used for a good
purpose or will
you be thrown
out?
Here's the
difference between
ripened wheat and
tares.
See wheat over
here?
It bows over
when it's ready
to be harvested.
It's got these
white seeds.
The darn
ale, the tares
remains erect
and it has
these dark
poisonous seeds.
Are you
produce or are
you poison?
Are you used
for a good
purpose?
Or are you
going to be
thrown out?
It's a hard
question we have
to ask ourselves.
We've got to
look back at our
own salvation
experience.
are we a
genuine follower
of Jesus or
have we just
been trying to
be a good
person?
Have we just
felt like oh
I've always been
a Christian.
No you
haven't.
You were born
without him.
You must receive
him.
You must receive
him.
Ezekiel 36 and
we'll be done.
I have good
news for you.
Would you turn
back in the Old
Testament to
Ezekiel right
before the book
of Daniel?
Kind of turn to
the middle of your
Bible and then look
around until you
find Ezekiel chapter
36.
I have good news
for you.
God can turn the
weeds into wheat.
God can change
you from a
weed into
wheat.
Right now you
might be sitting
here and even
though you have
felt like you're a
good person you
belong here.
This has been your
church for many
years.
You might actually
be a weed.
And Satan is
hoping that you
stay that way
and you keep
sowing your own
agenda and you
never become wheat
for God's purpose.
but God can
change you.
2 Corinthians 5
17 says if any
of us are in
Christ he is a
new creature.
Old things are
passed away.
All things are
become new.
Now look at
Ezekiel.
Ezekiel 36
verse 25.
I will also
sprinkle clean
water on you
and you will be
clean.
He will make you
clean.
I will cleanse
you from all your
impurities.
All your idols.
Verse 26.
I will give you
a new heart.
A new heart.
And put a new
spirit within you.
His Holy Spirit.
I will remove
your heart of stone
and give you a
heart of flesh.
I will place my
spirit within you
and cause you to
follow my statutes
and carefully observe
my ordinances.
God can change you
from a weed
into wheat.
But not if you
resist him.
only if you
embrace him.
Only if you
say yes.
God will not
change everyone.
Some,
I don't know why,
I can't understand
him,
I can't understand
his mindset,
his ways are much
higher than my
ways.
But some were
created with God
having the foreknowledge
that they will not
come to me.
They will not turn.
They will not
accept.
They will stay
evil and wicked.
I will never be
able to impute
or stamp my
righteousness onto
them.
But some of you
will.
Some of you will.
And I pray that
before my time
on this earth
is done,
God uses me
to turn many
to righteousness.
Many who he
calls,
many who he
draws,
can hear the good
news from my lips.
And I hope that's
your prayer too.
I hope that's
your prayer too.
Because it's going
to take all of us
to grow his
kingdom.
It's going to take
all of us for his
children to come in.
So,
our takeaway this
morning is simple.
Are you living
like weeds
or wheat?
What's your
function?
In your home,
in the community,
in this church,
what is your
function?
Are you living
like weeds
or wheat?
I know on the
surface you'd
probably say wheat.
But go below
the surface.
Look at what
your priorities
are.
Are your priorities
God's priorities?
Or are you
holding on to
different priorities,
different values
that lead us to
different places
than what God
called us for?
What did he come
for?
He came to seek
and save the
lost.
Is that our
purpose?
May God give us
the same purpose
that he did
and may he make
us wheat
for his good
pleasure,
for his good
purposes.
We'll give him
all the glory for it.
Would you bow your
heads with me right
now?
God,
I pray that in
this moment you
would reveal to us
by your spirit
whether we are
in you or not.
So many people
in this world
think they're
Christians.
They're convinced
they're Christians
because they grew
up going to
church.
Someday,
as you teach us
in your word,
they're going to
stand before you
and say,
Lord,
I did all these
things in your
name.
I was a good
person.
I did community
service.
I helped people
when I had the
chance.
Why are you now
rejecting me?
And you're going to
look at some of
those people and
say,
I never knew you.
Depart from me.
You can't be here.
I never knew you.
God,
those are sobering
words for me,
for every person
in this room.
Are we truly
your children?
children,
has there been
that moment
where we turned
to you and
placed our faith
in you?
Not just to help
us through a tough
time in our lives,
but for the
forgiveness of our
sins,
where we humbled
ourselves before you
and said,
God,
I know I'm a
sinner.
And I know
that's why you
sent Jesus to die
on that cross,
was to pay for
my sin and
everyone else's.
I know you're
God.
You rose from
the dead.
I believe in
you.
I place my
faith in you.
And with your
help,
I'm going to
follow you
the rest of
my life.
God,
if that moment
has come,
then we can
stand together
and we can say,
yes,
I am wheat.
I might not be
perfect,
I might mess up,
but I know
my standing
with God.
Give everyone
in that room
confidence
in that
truth,
personally,
individually,
for them.
It's in Jesus'
name we pray.
Right now,
as Jared's
playing,
let's keep our
seats just for a
moment before we
dismiss.
In my prayer
just a moment
ago,
I gave that
prayer of saying,
God,
I humble myself,
I place my faith
in you,
forgive me of my
sin and make me
your child.
Would you bow
your heads with
me just so we
have some privacy
right now?
If that's you,
if you've never
done that,
I'm not asking
if you've been
in church,
I'm not asking
if you call
yourself a
Christian or
if you're a
good person,
I'm saying,
have you ever
done that?
Placed your
faith in Jesus
to forgive your
sins and make
you his child?
In the privacy
of this moment,
would you slip
your hand up and
say, that's me,
I need to do
that.
I haven't done
that.
Just slip your
hand up right
now and I'll
pray for you.
Thank you.
For the rest of
you, would you
say, am I behaving
as a weed or as
wheat?
Am I serving my
own purposes,
which, man,
Satan might be
using to poison
the whole crop?
Or am I behaving
as the wheat that
God made me to be?
In this moment,
would you pray
and ask God,
make me serve my
purpose for you
in this world.
Behave as your
child, not as
weeds that need
to be pulled.
We'll give God
the glory for you.