People Of The Lie

Another parable He put forth to them, saying:
"The kingdom of heaven is like a man who 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 grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared.

So the servants of the owner came and said to him,
Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field?
How then does it have tares?'
He said to them, An enemy has done this.
The servants said to him, 'Do you want us then to go and gather them up?'

But he said, 'No, lest while you gather up the tares
you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest,
and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers,
"First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them,
but gather the wheat into my barn.” Matthew 13:24-30



There are many lessons that we can learn from this parable.

The first lesson is that Jesus preached a parable. I imagine that if we could talk to those in the audience that they would say I was there and I heard everything Jesus said with my own ears … but, did they really hear? “And the disciples came and said to Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables?" He answered and said to them, "Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.” Matthew 13:10-11. Those who listened only to the public message and then went about their business clearly did not hear the divine message and deeper explanation that Jesus shared with the disciples that He met with inside. When we meet with God in frequent, intense, personal prayer, and devotions … He will meet us there, and through the Holy Spirit, and the power of His Word, He will guide us, protect us, and transform us. Stop and pray now; that Jesus will speak to you as you seek deeper truth from His Word. Pray: "Reveal to us the tares of the field." Lord. Now let’s look at His explanation, His wisdom, and the applications of this truth as it applies in the walking out of our daily lives.

The "Parable of the Tares", and Christ's explanation of it must be taken together ... because His exposition explains the parable and the parable illustrates the exposition. Beyond the two, no explanation is needed. The main question we are left with is how does the parable apply in our world today?

Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field." He answered and said to them: "He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He, who has ears to hear, let him hear! Matthew 13:36-43

As you can clearly see, contrary to what some would have us believe, the scripture is not hard to understand. Jesus is quite clear. These truths are explained without question. The facts are absolute. There is no speculation. There is no debate. There is no room left for the reasoning, or the wisdom of men. We are not left with questions about what He said. Here are the Truths that Jesus establishes here:
1. Jesus is the one who sows the good seed.
2. The World is the field.
3. The good seed are the sons of the kingdom.
4. The tares are the sons of the evil one.
5. The devil is the enemy who sows the tares.
6. The harvest is the end of the age.
7. The reapers are angels.
8. The tares will be gathered and burned with fire.
9. Jesus will send angels to remove all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness.
10. The lawless ones will be condemned to fire.
11. The righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom.
12. He who has ears let him hear.

Listen Up! This is where people are likely to look in another direction. I realize that this type of message causes me to lose readers. Just this week, a friend of mine was teaching a similar message and he was told; "we want to discuss politics". That is fine, as long as it is not men discussing their idle opinions. The tares have greatly corrupted our politics as well. The political questions should be: “how has America been led astray by the lies of the enemies of Christ, and what can we do to bring the gospel back in front of America?” This is our only hope. The rest is dissipation. Unfortunately, a large percentage of Christians have gotten lost in the tares. I’m sorry but Jesus is speaking directly to you and me here ... and the message is deadly serious. The devil who is the enemy of Christ, and his disciples are real. The tares or sons of the evil one are real. They are all around us. The messages of the devil are also tares designed to deceive us. Jesus NEVER lies. Many who are considered good people by Christians are actually tares. These are the ones who have rejected Christ, His Word, and His Gospel of salvation. The aim of the evil one is to neutralize the wheat and render it un-edible.

So in the context of my recent posts, what tares has the devil seduced America with? Answers: Darwinian Evolution; the Modernist teachings; and the social gospel are a good place to start looking for heresy. Wait a minute you say … what’s wrong with doing good deeds as the social gospel promotes? Nothing; unless your message deletes the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the process, along with the teachings of God’s Word; and replaces those teachings with Darwinian Evolution, environmentalism, the wisdom of men, and a whole list of other worthy and well-meaning goals that are great aims for the betterment of mankind but are contrary to, and in defiance of the Bible and the teachings of our Savior. That is heresy.

Question: if a missionary spent an entire adult life ministering to the poor and giving medical care to the sick; but never shared the gospel of salvation and eternal life with these same poor sick people, would this be a temporal or an eternal ministry? I have a relative on such a mission to Africa. My prayer is that the experience will see her come to Christ as her Savior during the process. Her intentions are good, but without Christ it is all aid for the moment.

The immediate problem for America is The People of the Lie.

The Modernist movement established the battle lines. The Modernists concluded that there are no absolutes that they can reject the established doctrines of Christianity: creation, the virgin birth, the miracles of Christ, salvation, justification and eternal life through Christ and then believe whatever they choose and call it Christianity. Fundamentalists on the other hand say no! There are fundamentals of the Christian faith that are absolutely taken by faith and these Truths are not negotiable.

The tares are often disguised as beautiful flowers and mixed in as shown in the wheat field picture above.
They are beautiful flowers but they are not wheat, and I imagine they would make you sick if you ate them.

We have an entire generation of adults who have been trained in a variety of heresies that they now have accepted as truth, and they call themselves Christians. Their missions are good deeds and well meaning. The question is: are these beliefs Christian? Many are religions that have been allowed to call themselves Christian, but promote doctrines contrary to God’s Word. Many have blended Christianity with the teachings of the world … often rejecting the Bible when conflicts arise. Others are religions that promote good and positive principles. And of course there are many who openly deny Christ; but instead stand on principles that promote the common welfare of all. Lastly, we have those who reject all religion and have determined a belief system based upon whatever they choose to believe. After all this is America … the land of the free.

All who reject the gospel of Christ are doomed; and unfortunately America will ultimately fall, unless a revival occurs. We must pray to that end. We are not to judge them … but Christ judges them all. “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:18

“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron.” 1 Timothy 4:1-2

As predicted by Clarence E. Macartney, in his response to Fosdick 90 years ago: "Shall Unbelief Win?" ... where he argued that liberalism had been progressively "secularizing" the church and, if left unchecked would lead to "a Christianity of opinions and principles and good purposes, but Christianity without worship, without God, and without Jesus Christ." This prediction has now come to pass. Churches standing on Biblical fundamentals are now the exception rather than the norm. People want to be entertained. People want a message that goes along with what they have come to believe. In other words ... people want to be the god of their own belief system.

That is their option, but don't call it Christianity.

The question that must be addressed NOW by each believer is: Do the beliefs I have accepted as Christianity lead to eternal salvation with Christ in heaven or am I lost eternally due to false doctrines. Is anything that you believe contrary to God's Word?

Thus we see that the Lord Jesus Christ solemnly warned that MANY who will do wonderful things IN HIS NAME will turn out to be unsaved people who did not know Him in truth. It is not enough that someone loves “Jesus” or serves “the Lord” or preaches “the gospel.” The apostle Paul warned of false christ’s, false spirits, and false gospels 2 Corinthians 11:3-4. The Devil can and does counterfeit everything God is doing in this age. He has his own gospel, his own doctrine of conversion, even his own brand of holiness.

The only way we can know for sure what is genuine and what is counterfeit is to test it by the infallible Word of God. The people at Berea were commended for doing this: “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so” Acts 17:11

Those who carefully test everything by the Word of God today are often considered as troublemakers by many within mainstream evangelicalism, but the Bible warns that those who are not careful are foolish. “The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going” Proverbs 14:15. The wise man knows there are many spiritual dangers. He is aware that he has a formidable spiritual enemy who transforms himself into an angel of light and whose ministers transform themselves into ministers of righteousness. The wise man takes heed to the Bible’s warnings: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” 1 Peter 5:8. “... Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works” 2 Corinthians 11:14-15. Because of these spiritual realities, the wise Christian is extremely cautious. He does not simply accept someone as a genuine Christian because of a mere profession or because of “good works.” He investigates what gospel the person holds, what Christ he is trusting, what spirit he is following.

How is this lie being delivered and willingly received by millions who have in their heart trusted Christ? Search your heart and you tell me. I don’t want to be judgmental or legalistic … but the examples are NOW everywhere. Here is an extreme example of how deception misleads a most loving person. Notice the number of Christian leaders who were not Bereans in this article??? There are many, many, more examples.

God Bless you my Friends, Bob
Copyright: Robert West 2011