Anyway, Matthew chapter 13. My Bible's at Zephaniah, so I'm gonna take a drink while I'm, of this water. What's so funny, Brother Scott? Might have been orange juice or something. Anyway, Matthew chapter 13 this evening. Matthew chapter 13, it looks like the Lord has made a transition. He's leaving his presentation of his ministry of himself as the Savior to the Jewish Sanhedrin, the Sadducees, the Pharisees, the religious part of Israel. And it looks like he's making a move towards those who are his disciples. Those who are following him, a disciple is a learner and a follower of the Lord. And they had accused him of, let's see, what does it say right here? It says here, but he cast out the blind and the dumb and he healed him in so much that the blind and dumb both spake and saw and all the people were amazed and said, this is not the son of David. But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, this fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils. And so they've accused Jesus of doing miracles in the power of the devil. And you know, when people accuse you of doing something in the devil's power, it's time to just find somebody else to talk to, amen? And so he's left them now. It seems the scriptures seem clear that he's done that. And as he's left them, he turns to his disciples and we see that there in Matthew chapter 13. I'll read a few scriptures here and we'll have a word of prayer. The Bible says in Matthew 13, the same day went Jesus out of the house and sat by the seaside, and great multitudes were gathered together unto him. So they went into a ship and sat, and the whole multitude stood on the shore. And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow. And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside, and the fowls came and devoured them up. Some seed 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 others fell into good ground and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. Heavenly Father, we pray that you'll speak to our hearts from your word tonight. And Lord, we're thankful for the work that you're doing in our hearts. Lord, that you would give us a church like this and a pastor like this and a church family like this. Father, we give you the glory for every good thing that you're doing in our lives as a church family. And we acknowledge you in every part of it. And Lord, Laura and I want to say, Lord, from our hearts, we're so thankful to be a part of what God's doing here. and to be home for a bit, and to enjoy the sweetness of the fellowship of God among our family, our church family. And we want to praise you and thank you for all of that. And we pray, God, that you'll help us from the scriptures tonight. I pray that you'll help me from the scriptures tonight, and make me a blessing to your people as they are to me, and get glory from the preaching for your sakes. In Jesus' name, amen. And so we see here that the Lord has taught us a very familiar passage, but he's turned to his disciples and he's teaching them something that is at the foundation, is at the root of the entire Bible, and that's the teaching of the doctrine of salvation. And he's emphasizing this at the beginning as he begins to tell some other parables here that fall on the heels of it. But he starts with this one first because of its prominence, preeminence, its importance, and so forth. But he has something to say about what he's saying. And so let's see what he says about what he's saying. Verse number 10, and the disciples came and said unto him, why speakest thou unto them in parables? So they came to him privately and said, why are you speaking to that crowd in parables? And he answered and said unto them, because it's given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath him shall be given, and he that shall have more abundance, but whosoever hath not from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore, speak I unto 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 saith, 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 ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they 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. And I read those scriptures and I say to myself, I thought the Lord wanted everybody to hear it. He does. I thought that everybody, the Lord wanted everybody to be converted. He does. But what he is saying is that they have rejected him for now, and the teaching that he has for them is, the teaching that he has for his disciples, his learners and followers, is not for those who have accused him of doing miracles by the prince of the devils, the devil himself. And so he has made a distinction and he's separated himself from this group of people for a time. I'd like to say tonight that we don't need to make any kind of a mistake that the Lord's heart is for even those that accused him to be saved. lest we think that, and he was harder on religious people than anybody else, because he would make them twofold more, the children, they would make him twofold, those religious people would make their disciples twofold more the children of hell by teaching them false doctrine and getting them to depend on something other than faith in the coming Redeemer. And so he is harder on them than anybody else, but it did not change his heart attitude and his desire for them to be saved. And if you will, turn with me to Acts chapter number six, and we'll see that. Acts chapter number six. They had rejected the Messiah through the book of Acts, I mean, through the books of the gospels, and they had rejected him, the Holy Spirit, there in the beginning of the book of Acts, and even throughout the book of Acts. But in Acts chapter six, the need for helpers to the ministry, and we call them deacons, though they're not called that here, servants that would be able to help so that the preaching could go forward. And I just wanna say I'm thankful for every person that helps our pastor and our pastoral staff, It makes it possible for them to preach the Word of God and to spend time in prayer because what that does is that enables God to be able to work through them to accomplish the main things that need to be accomplished. Amen? And I'm just very thankful for that. The effect of that, the Bible says, and after they had called these men, we call them deacons and so forth, the Bible says, verse six, whom they set before the apostles when they had prayed and laid hands on them. The Bible says, and after that happened, and the word of God increased. And the number of disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly, and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith." Amen? Now, don't be thinking that just because somebody believes wrong, teaches wrong, that God doesn't love them, okay? Now, you need to be as wise as the Lord is, and not agree with false doctrine, and not spend enormous amounts of time trying to convert them, but at the same time, if the Lord gives you an opportunity, and it's gotta be the Lord that does that, then give a word for the Lord. Share a Bible tract, and tell them about the love of Christ and the necessity of salvation by grace through faith, plus or minus nothing. Take an opportunity to do that and let them see a genuine heart for the Lord for them as well. Because the Lord's not pleased for anybody to die and go to hell. Did y'all know that? He's not willing. If you die without Christ, you do so against the express will of God. He is not willing that any should perish. And so if you're here tonight and you're not saved, we want you to know from the Bible that it is God's express will for you to come to know Christ as your personal Savior and to know the joy of being the person that God created you to be. He created every person to know Him. And it grieves the heart of God. He's not pleased. with those that don't get saved. He's not pleased. It doesn't please Him to do that. But there's coming a day of judgment, and God will get glory in that judgment, and it'll be a very somber place and a very somber time. But God will get glory there. Every knee shall bow. Every tongue will confess. But it'll be a sad day. but it'd be a glorious day for the Lord. The Lord is righteous, and he will be known that way. So here in chapter 13, he's teaching some things. We see this prophecy of Isaiah, and so Christ brings this prophecy of Isaiah back out to here. The prophecy that Isaiah prophesied was right at the call of his ministry towards the northern kingdom. The northern kingdom never saw a godly king. The northern kingdom rejected the godly king that they should have had. The Northern Kingdom took up two places of worship to worship false gods, claiming to be believers and so forth. And in my land, the Lord, He loved the area of Samaria. Amen? He still went there. I must needs go through Samaria. Amen? He loved them. And so they did so against the love of God, against the will of God, but there was a prophecy that caused them to not know the blessings of God. And so he pronounces that prophecy upon Judaism and the religious Jews, and all they did was All they did was push that forward by rejecting Him. They pronounced a curse upon themselves. His blood be upon us and our children, they cried out as they cried out to crucify Him. And so they pronounced their own curse, and then later on we learned that Israel's present blindness was a blessing to us. Amen? And because of that, the gospel is going out from the Gentiles and so forth and we get to get in on that. It doesn't mean that God doesn't love the Jewish people for goodness sakes. He wants every one of them to be saved as well. And there's coming a day when all of them will look on Him. We don't know what generation that is. It could be this generation. And we should pray for it to be this generation. Amen? But it could be this generation. But generations pass without knowing the Savior. And it grieves the heart of God, and it ought to grieve us. And you know, Jewish people are still getting saved. And you know, all lost people are blind to spiritual truth. And so, you know, when a Jewish person gets saved, I don't know, have y'all ever met Jack Reese? He's a Jewish man that got saved. I've never seen so much zeal and love for soul winning and for the Lord. I mean, that guy's animated like a cartoon when he talks to you. And he just, he's so thankful to be a born again Christian, you know, and to be able to tell, you know, his family and so forth about the Lord and so forth. And he's just a soul winner. He loves souls. So the Lord talks about this parable here about the seed and the sower. And he talks about these three different soils. And he mentions them. And then the disciples ask him about it. And he says, Here ye therefore, verse 18, the parable of the sower, When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which is sown in his heart. This is he which received the seed by the wayside. But he that received the seed in a stony place is the same as he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it. Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while, for when tribulation or persecution cometh, persecution arises because of the word, by and by he's offended. By the way, Srey Yinyan uses the phrase by and by all the time. Anyway, I guess she's had an effect on us. Anyway, which also beareth fruit, bringing forth some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. And so he gives them an explanation. He gives his disciples an explanation of who it is that really gets saved. And it's those that are going to be fruitful and bear fruit. Those are the ones that show evidence that they are really saved. There's a biblical character that showed no evidence that he was saved, except for his wife and his two daughters. His name was Lot. And you wouldn't know that that man was saved unless Brother Peter hadn't have brought that out in one of his epistles. You wouldn't have known that he was really saved. Abraham was saved. And God could not judge Sodom and Gomorrah until he got them out of there. And what a beautiful picture of the rapture we see, how God is going to deliver us from this world before he brings judgment upon it. But there's an evidence that we can see, though we are not the authority on whether somebody is saved or not. I'm thankful for this. I would love to speak of heaven a little bit, and I've learned a few things about it as I've talked to my brother who's lost, who's concerned about heaven. But this one thing I do know, that my name's written down. And I'm rejoicing in that tonight. I'm rejoicing in that tonight. If you don't know that, Tonight would be a good night to sort that out, to get that settled, that your name is written there. And tonight would be a good night for that. But he has some things to tell his disciples here concerning this age. You see, they lived in a wondrous time. We romanticize things and I think, well, wouldn't it be wonderful to be at the cross? I don't think I could bear it. Wouldn't it be wonderful to live in Jerusalem in that day? I don't think I could bear it. It don't have anything to do with Wi-Fi or Coca-Cola either, you know? I mean, they lived underneath a hard government where you'd see people that were strung up on crosses and underneath the thumb of that and religious laws where grace was hard to be found and a hard life. It wasn't an easy life there. We don't romanticize those things and so forth, but you know, they were wondrous times because the Savior was walking the face of the earth. And I believe we're living in wondrous times as well. And I believe that we ought to be looking for the Lord a little more closely. I'm never gonna name a day, an hour, or a time. But I know it's a lot closer than it's ever been, amen? I can say that with assurity. And I can say I'm more desirous for him to come than I've ever been. But you know there's people that are needing the Lord. And we have an enemy, and he spoke about an enemy right here that's trying to prevent people from getting saved. And you know he's hard at work at that. He's hard at work trying to keep people from hearing the clear truth of Christ died for your sin, and you can't do anything to affect that change in your life that's needed except to receive Christ as your personal Savior. There's nothing that you can do. He is the only person who can affect a permanent, eternal change in your life. And He did that, and He does that through the cross and through His shed blood. And His shed blood, Hebrews says it's a new and living way. And it's speaking about the blood of Jesus Christ. That blood that He shed is just as effective. The theological term is efficacious. It literally means that it has power to do what nothing else can do. And if you'll trust in Him, And what He did on the cross, and the fact that He shed His precious blood for you, He will change your life. He will give you that which your heart dares to believe could never be happening. He will do the impossible for you. He will give you new life tonight if you'll receive Him as your personal Savior. He talks about that enemy in the parable of the tares. He says, while men slept, the enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat. and went his way, and we see that Christians grow up with false Christians, people that say they're Christian and they're not. Why in the world are we asking silly questions like, well, why do they do this? Why would they do that if the Bible doesn't say, why would they do that? Why are we asking why? The Lord has simply stated right here that false Christians are gonna grow up in this age and in this time. And this time is farther and farther, and that, oh, the mustard seed, another space. He said unto them, he said, let me see if I can find that one real quick there, the mustard seed. Yeah, yeah, men slept. Appears to the kingdom of heaven, yeah, no, that's the woman who took the meal. Yeah, verse 31, 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, is greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. I believe, I wanna qualify, this is a parable, and I wanna state, but I believe, that this mustard seed is a picture of Christendom during this age. He's preparing his disciples, his learners and followers for what times are going to be like in this age. That's what I believe. and I believe that this mustard seed which grew up into a tree, it wasn't a supernatural growth, it was an unnatural growth. And the birds of the air are spoken of in the previous parable, and it says that those birds were the enemy which come and taketh the seed away out of the heart of a person. And I believe that this thing of Christendom has grown so big and you've got so many false teachers and false preachers and even the devil and demons himself that run the thing, you know? I mean, why are we asking the question, why do they do such things? You know, the Lord wants us to concentrate on our local church, and winning our families, and winning our friends, and winning our coworkers, and winning South Africans, and winning those that are dear to us, and those that God would bring across our path. That's what his concern is for us, and that's the concern that we need to have. He said, he answers the question to them He said unto them, he that soweth a 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, as therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of Man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire, and shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the Son in the kingdom of the Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. You know, the Lord's asking if we have a teachable spirit tonight. The Lord's asking if we're willing to hear what he's really trying to say to us. And I'll finish up tonight with this last parable in just one last word. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like, verse 47, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was cast into the sea and gathered of every kind, which when it was full, they drew to the 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. Angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just. It shall cast them into the furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Jesus saith unto them, you understood all these things? And they said unto him, yea, Lord. They had understanding about what he was saying. Then said he unto them, therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that's a householder which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old. what a treasure it is to be a steward of the truths of the Word of God, and to be a steward of the gospel of our Savior, and to have the privilege to give it out to every person that the Lord would bring across our path that is gonna die without the Lord, without us, without His Word, without Him. Sray would tell people, after she would win them to herself, Her dad came to her years later, and he said, I need to apologize to you. I need to tell you how sorry I am for how I treated you and the things that you went through. And Shrae said, Father, I've already forgiven you for that. It's okay. But there's another one that you should ask. And she was talking about the Lord, and she said, Daddy, there's a fire. And I want to emphasize to you tonight, there's a fire. We could end the message tonight right there. If somebody would bring it home to me in my waking moments in the morning, that there's a fire and that people are going into an eternity of fire and bring that home to my heart and cause me to have a greater burden for somebody to be saved, that would be okay with me. There's a fire. She's effective at winning people to the Lord. She wants them to know the love of the Lord. She wants them to know the goodness of the Lord. We want you to know the love of the Lord. We want you to know the goodness of the Lord. The sweetness of fellowship with the Lord. The sweetness of the fellowship with God's people. But you need to know there's a fire. But anyway, I won't leave it there, I'll leave it with a favorite portion. You know, he's already told us in the Sermon on the Mount, you know, that narrow is the way, few there be that find it. He said, broad is the way which leadeth unto destruction, few there be that go in there at. But he said, he said, He said in Luke 15, he said, but that on the good ground are they which in an honest and good heart haven't heard the word, keep it and bring forth fruit with patience. There's some, there's some good ground and all we need to do is sow it, not like a drop spreader. Like a broadcast spreader. You know, that broadcast spreader, ladies might not know what I'm talking about. You've seen your husband, he cranks that thing and it just goes like that. That's what the sower does that he's talking about. And we need to be broadcasting. We need to broadcast the greatness of our God, the greatness of the cross, that shed blood that he shed that's so effective, as effective today as it was the day that he shed it on Calvary. What a wonderful thought. What a wonderful thing to meditate on. Wouldn't it be wonderful to meditate on? Pastor, I got another message from a preacher. You'll have to save it for later, I guess. You know, His shed blood wasn't just shed for the salvation of our soul. There's so many things that it's efficacious in our current lives after we're saved. Not only for the forgiveness of sin, but the sprinkling of our conscience, the fellowship of the saints. There's so many things that the power of the gospel is still involved in our lives, and we don't really think about it a whole lot. But only those who are washed in the blood, who are cleansed by that blood, by faith in that blood, only those can enjoy the rest of those blessings, amen? And it's God's desire for them, just as it is for each of us. Father, I pray that you'll take the message tonight, use it in our hearts, as our pastor would say. Thank you for him and for my church family, and God, I pray that you'll dismiss us with your blessings, in Jesus' name.