Living In The Last Days

I was telling. Are you better get them now? We liable to turn there tonight. I was telling Marcia while ago I remember where I was at 7 p.m. 27 years ago, I was sitting in our kitchen table. I was eating a shrimp. We're we're going to study something else. Now, y'all know I like prophecy. I just can't help it. And this past Sunday, of course we was in The Book of Revelation and tonight I want to and I've entitled this message living in the last days and we're going to look at one of Jesus's Parables of how good and evil. Will co-exist in the last days. So if you have your Bibles tonight, turn with me. If you would to Matthew chapter 13, And we're going to look at a few versus here and what I like about a lot of his as he tells the parable and he's going to use the agricultural analogy here about a solar and Seed. But then, after he tells the parable, if you, if you can go and read maybe three or four or five versus later, he explains the parable. So that's what we're going to look at tonight. We're going to look at this pair but we're going to look at his explanation of it and then we're going to talk about what it means to us in our day. So one of the issues that has been debated for centuries, Is the direction of our world? In other words are things getting better or are things getting worse or they getting better. So that we ourselves or whoever's on Earth. When the Lord is going to come back, we're going to usher in the Kingdom because we have formulated this Utopia on Earth where everything is so good. Then finally God can come back. Or is it going to be so bad that it's going to be a cataclysmic event. Well we know what pants are too. That is because we read and studied some in the Book of Revelation, but the answer you'll get of whether the world is getting better or worse, could depend on when you asking if you would have told somebody at the beginning of the 20th century, people would have laughed. If you said, what things are getting worse, they would have laughed at you all the technological and economic developments occurring in the world. At that point, there was an overwhelming sense that we're moving in the right direction and things are going well. But then by the middle of the century, you had two world wars you had a couple of economic disasters. You had the Great Depression, you had Global problems, you had nuclear arms coming on the scene and so few would speak of that as well. The world is getting better and so when you look at this, let's just say our own Nation today. Despite all the scientific advances, all the medical advances. Do you think that our nation is getting better? No, it's not getting better. How many all we have to do is watch the news and and you can see that. So most people recognize apart from some intervention, this world is on a slide, going down word. We read about that and and Romans chapter 1. Now some people will say well preacher. You must be a pessimist. Well I'm not a pessimist because And this is why. Because I recognize that this world is not my home. This is not where I'm going to live for eternity. This world. Matter fact, the Bible says this world is passing away without all the Telluride, things are getting worse and worse. I'm optimistic about the future because I know who holds the future and it's God himself. He's in control of the future. In the Bible has been given to us so that we can know how to live in a world. That's full of Decay. The world is winding down, is spiraling out of control. So Christ will tell us how we are to live and he tells stories that he instructs the disciples for living in this decaying world. So many people about when Jesus came the first time that he was going to set up his kingdom on Earth and all this Utopia that the Old Testament kind of expressed Was coming to fruition when the Lord came the first time. But the Bible says, he came into his own and his own did. What did not receive in? His own family rejected him and so the kingdom was set aside Christ went to the cross and died. He arose again, he ascended to heaven and now there's a. Of time when our King our Lord is absent from this Earth. That's the day that we live in, in. Jesus told a parable to his disciples about how good and evil will co-exist during this period of time. And this is what this power Parable is about. So let's read it. Matthew Chapter 13 and we're going to read verses 24 through 30. He says, another Parable he put forth of them saying the Kingdom of Heaven Is Like a Man Who Sold 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 tears also appeared. So the Servants of the owner came and said to him, sir, did you not so good seed in your field? How then does it have tears? No tears was sweet. That look like real quick but it was useless and you had to be an expert to be able to see it. The tell the difference. So they asked him said, we didn't you sow good seed and look at verse 28, he said that are an enemy has done this. The servant said to him, do you want us to go and gather them up talking about the terror? But he said no less. While you gather up the tears, you also uproot the wheat with them. And look what he says in verse 34. Both grow together until the Harvest, and at the time of the Harvest, I will say to the Reapers first gather together, the tares bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn. Now, he uses a agricultural analogy about a man sowing seed in his suite came up, but it had tears among the wheat and then his disciples that will will. I pay what? We'll just go, pull a. I said no, leave it alone because you'll pull some of the good weed up to And I lose my crop. If you do that, let's just wait till Harvest and then those who will reap, I'll just tell them the throw the tears away, and we're going to burn them, and we'll keep the good. We will, what in the world does that mean spiritually speaking? Because he's not talking about a field a week here, he's not talkin about that at all. You say, well, what is he talkin about? Well, let's go to verse 36, and we're going to see what he was talkin about vs 36 through 43. He's going to explain Then Jesus in the mall to do the way and went to the hospice and his disciples came to him saying, explain to us the parable of the tears of the field. He answered and said to them, he who sows The Good Seed is the son of man. Who's the son of man? Jesus. All right, so the one who sews, The Good Seed is the son of man. Now look at verse 38, the field is the world. Okay so we got Jesus soul in good seed all around the world by the field here for a farmer's field. We're talkin about the world, all right? The good seed that was sung by the son of man or the sons of the Kingdom, who would that be? That would be us Christians sons of the Kingdom Sons and Daughters of the Kingdom. So Jesus has song Christians in this world, but the tears are the sons of the wicked one. Who would be the wicked one? That would be Satan. What? Who would be? The Sons of Satan. Anyone who's not safe. This is talking about say, people in the world and unsaved people. What did Jesus tell? The Pharisees says you are of your father, the devil You either a child of God or your child of Satan? That's just, I mean, that's just the way it is. That's the way the Bible teaches it to look what he said, the field is the world. The good seeds are the sons of the king, but the tears are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who sold them, he tells us is the devil. All right. What's his Harvest that he was talkin about? Well, he tells us the Harvest, is the End of the Age. What does he mean there? When Christ comes back, his second coming, All right, so when he comes back, the end of that and the reapers are the Angels with who were they will remember this past Sunday. We talked about the angels with eyes all around them or the living creatures. Those were Angels who's going to carry out God's judgment on the earth in the Book of Revelation, they are his Reapers, the angels are Therefore, as the tears are gathered and then the fire. What is he talking about there? If you don't know Christ and you die without Christ, where you going hell? Burned in the fire he said 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. So we will reign with Christ on this Earth for 1,000 years after he comes back, the second coming, that's called the millennial Reign. We will reign with him. That's why the Bible says the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of God. We're talkin about the righteous, those who are we. Talkin about the unrighteous, we're talkin about God, the Father we're talkin about the main enemy of the Bible Satan, the field is the world. The reapers are the Angels and the Harvest is when Christ comes back. Now it makes more sense. Done it. Now, if we're going to understand this, this Parable, we need to think in Coos. We have to think into. So let's go through this Parable and look at this. First of all, there were to plan or sores as we have on the screen here in Christ. Explanation of his Parable. We're told that the field is the world and the field is planted by to Source. The one who sold the good seed is the son of man or Jesus and he goes forth to sow, good seed in the field and later another soror planner comes through and who is that? That Satan and he plants evil seed. So we have two planners Source. Point number two, We have two plants seeds that look at it in 26 through 28 a, but when the grain has sprouted that produced a crop, then the tears 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 tears? He said them enemy has done this. He said the enemy has done this, all right? So the good seed is the children of God. The Bad Seed Children of the devil Christ is depicted here. A planning Christians in the world while we wait for him to return at the same time the devil is sewing evil in the midst of God's people. So in other words, there's a mixture of good and evil people song in the same field. What can't you just? Look at our world and see that there's good people people that want to do, right? And then you have evil people, all of them growing up together in the same field. Now, I don't know about y'all, but y'all never remember. Sometimes when you would pull a prank on someone years and years ago, one of the things that people like to do was roll houses and toilet paper. I see some of you shaking head, you probably done it yourself, probably roll, someone's house with toilet paper, but in the first century in Christ day, if you wanted to get someone and play a prank on him, you know what you would do? You would overthrow their field. You say, what do you mean? Well, most of the people were farmers and if you were mad at someone to get, even, you would sneak in his field at night and throw what they called Arnold wheat, darnold. Meat, that was the week. That looked exactly like real good week, but yet, it could not produce any crop whatsoever. So people would go and they would so darn all week with it and then it it just took an expert to see if it if it was real or not and then went to wait, Begin The Grove. The farmer would think would look at the bumper crop that I have. But then in the end, it be nothing to harvest because of Daryl, we would take over darnold. We had no value. You can play a trick on your neighbor and it would be months before he would figure it out. Jesus said, that's the way the kingdom will be while we wait. He has sown his children in world, but why we sleep? Satan is so in his evil in the world, And so, and we all grow up together friends. There's two families on this Earth. There's the family of God and the family of Satan. You're you're in one of those families if your Saviour in the family of God, if you're not, your father is safe and I hear a lot of people say Well, we are all children of God. And we're not, we were all created by God, but only those who have accepted Christ is in the family of God, that makes you his child. If you're having accepted Christ, you're not his child. Your father is the devil God created. All of us, we are all his creation but we're not all his children. Each person belongs to one of the other. The tears in the parable, they are the fault. Tweet those who try to look like the children of God, on the outside. But on the inside, they belong to the devil and I notice it's an imitation here. You know, a lot of people look like a Christian and they go to church and do things Christians do. But they've never accepted Christ. So no matter how many times they said in church or how much money they give to the church there, their father is Satan. Not think about that. We're not talking about those who just out-and-out. Deny God, we're talkin about those They look like wheat. They look like the real thing. It's an imitation is what it is and in the last days, when the Antichrist comes, he's going to be able to perform Miracles, just like Jesus did, and the false prophet, and the Beast, all of them, they're going to imitate the Trinity, they're going to imitate the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and people will fall for it. And so, this is what we're talking about, people who some say, we're there wolves in sheep's clothing. In other words, Satan uses imitation to destroy God's kingdom Point. Number 3, there's two plans that look at it here. The second part of verse 28, through 30 Servant said to him, do you want us to go and gather them up talking about the tears? But he said no less. While you gather up the tears, you also uproot the weed with them, let both grow together until the Harvest. And at the time of the Harvest, I will say to the Reapers first gather that are buying them in bundles and burn them, but gather, the wheat into my barn. Where is his barn? What is that talking about heaven, that's where we going to spend eternity. So in the service, find out about bad week, they say, what should we go? Pull them up. But the owner kind of warms them, here know there's danger in that and he advises them to wait to the Harvest until the Reapers will go out for his. This is what this means. You and I are going to have to learn to live in a world over song with evil. That's what we're going to have to do. We have to learn how to operate in a world filled with those who masquerade as children of God. That's what we have to do. Now, it's important to see here. Satan doesn't he doesn't Soul thorns and briers, but what does he say? No fault sweet. It looks just like the real thing. You going to have preacher standing up in church, has this coming, Sunday morning preaching, a false gospel. And they going to wear a coat and tie and they going to be handsome and they're going to look good and they going to Tori skills and the people will absolutely love them. But they're so in another gospel, not the gospel, that's a Bible. So in the world today the children of God surrounded by the children of Satan. And some people think what we need to do is we need to root out the evil to change the world. In other words, there's a lot of Christians out there who think that we need to try to reform the morality of society and reread our culture of evil influences. If I would have asked you tonight to begin with would you like to reform our culture and to rid of it? All that is evil and morally corrupt? Every single one of you would have said yes

But that's not what God has called us to do. He hasn't called us. To change the world, and to reform it. What did, what did, what did he tell them? They said you want us to go get them. He said, leave it alone. He said don't you dare go out there. Pull up them. Tears you look up some my week. He said you let it alone with my Reapers, they'll handle it. Friends list is so easy to fall into the trap to think, where we used to live in a Christian Nation back when our nation was founded. It was a Christian Nation. And now I look at it and it has gone. So, secular humanist, I just can't stand that. What we need is, we need to elect the right people and we need to make America a Christian Nation again, it will never happen. It will never happen, and God did not call us to create a Utopia a Christian Nation. He says, you dwell with them, you let them all grow together. And in the end, I will take care of, who is darnold and who's the real deal? I'll take care of it. So what are we supposed to do? Are we to vote for people who hold biblical values? Absolutely? Should we make our culture that we live in? Should we make it as Godly as we can? Yes, we should. But the end game cannot be. I'm going to reform culture, the in-game has to be. I'm going to share the gospel so that some of these tears can become the real thing. That's what the end game is. Is not to reform culture, will never do it. It's going downhill too fast and he hasn't called us to do that number for

two prospects. Both the good and the bad week will be harvested one day. The first harvest. That is a good week. When is that going to happen? When Jesus comes back to Rapture the church. When he raptures the church and the church is in heaven, that's the good harvest. That's the real wheat right there. So and then the Lord will take all of his people out of this world. And the only thing left will be fought sweet darnold, wheat. That's the only thing that will be left. He will gather all his people into his house heaven, then he will send the Angels down. To take care of the darnold week, the false week and burn it. This is nothing but a reference to everyone who denies Christ. Every you say, well, how about the tribulation will people believe in Christ? Yes. A bunch of people will believe in Christ and they'll be martyred for their faith. Most of them will, some will make it through to the Millennium. Most will be killed for their faith. People's ask me all so well, if I don't get save now and the Rapture occurs. I'll just get saved after the Rapture.

And here's what I tell him. I don't think that you're going to have a chance. Because if you deny Christ now, even though you known the gospel, if you read the book of Revelation, what you see is that, the more the judgments come the harder, the heart of man. And yet, and even in one spot, it says, in Revelation that the people knew that these judgments was done by God. And what did they do? They didn't Val Them In Crowd to him to save them, they cried for the rocks, and the mountains to fall on them and kill them. Friends the longer, you say no to God in this life and then, and then, and then after the Rapture, and all of a sudden Antichrist comes on says, hey, you either take my Mark or your family's gonna starve, you're not going to be able to work, you're not going to be able to eat. You're not going to be able to buy and sell what you think people's going to do. They don't want to die like that. They'll take that Mark, you've already rejected Christ in this life. You will do the same. Especially when you see, his people are getting smarter and everybody that takes them are do their buying and selling. Now, they haven't been living the easy life. And so I don't think you'll have a chance to play with who's going to get saved in the tribulation. Well, there's going to be a 144,000 Jewish evangelists is going to go out. Twelve thousand form each tribe and they're going to preach the gospel and many will be saved, but I think for the most part those who were going to be saved or Jews, the Jews that have gone back to Israel. But they've gone back and unbelief and all these Jews will get saved during the tribulation. But as I said, they'll be martyred for their faith. He's going to send the angels to gather default sweet and Burnet, a reference to the fire of hell. Now I know that's a tough lesson and one that you don't hear a whole lot about in our culture, but friends the Bible clearly teaches it so you're in this age as we wait for Jesus to return good and evil will flourish together. Now, some people think, well, if we can just get enough good, The Good Will overtake the evil but friends, scripture teaches the opposite, good is losing ground to evil today. Next year, it'll be the same. Think the tears are growing faster than the week. And so, that brings me to my last Point. These facts about three important principles that we need to consider in here. They are right here. Number one, the important place. That Christians occupy in the field. Now, you say will, will you mean in the field in the world? Because that's what the field meant. If the Lord shows his children in the world and you are one of his children. Then God has put you right where he wants. You We had two Souls. Remember, one evil one, good, the good is the son of, man. Those of us who know the son of man had a relationship with it. He has planted us exactly where he wants us. You are seed in the hand of the Lord and he has dropped you right in the place where you are and he wants you to bloom in that place. He has put you in the midst of Tears. How many of you Every person that you communicate with every person that you work with and every person that, you know, is a Christian, who would say that no one. We've all been put in a realm. Of Wheat. And tares, we all know of someone's in our family, there's people in our family that son saved not just friends and co-workers but even family members, so we're in this and so I think if we would just sense the significance of this, it would make a huge difference in our world. But sometimes it just seems like everyone wants to be someplace else. If they're in business, they want to be in politics, if you're in politics, they want to be in Ministry. If they're in Ministry, they're going to be in education. Have you ever noticed that almost every preacher wants to sing? And then almost every singer wants to preach. Everybody wants to do something different from where God has put them and what we need to say it slow down. Say Lord, you saw me here. I want to grow and I want to have a positive Christian influence on the people that are around me, be aware of where God has placed you in this world and all the opportunities that you have, right. Number two, The impossibility of changing the world. Now we've already talked about this. I don't know if you've ever listen to Jay Vernon McGee on the radio, he was a preacher. And this is what he said. He said, God did not call me to clean up the pond. He called me to fish out of it. I think about that hears, this world and so many Christians want to clean up the world. And like I said, you you vote for the people who have biblical principles, you go in and you support God and Free Speech, do all of that. But you're not. The endgame is not the clean up this world. The end game is to fish out of a dirty pond. And the Brain people out, the Lord is not called us to clean up the culture. Changing the world has never been the focus of the Gospel Christ, told his disciples to go and preach the gospel and call people out of this world, friends less. If if if you think that our main job is Christians, is to transform the world. Then you don't understand what the Bible teaches about the world. This world is not our home Christ. Did you call people don't be of the world but you call people out of this world into his kingdom. That's what we are meant to do. This world is not our home and it's too. Many Christians is caught up in an unrealistic hope of changing our world and friends. If I see the way you think you're on the wrong path, he said leave the darnold, wheda loan. Let It Grow. You can't stop it from growing and it's going to grow until the Angels come in judgement. That's what he said. And then number three, Did I mention there's the invitation for the tears to become we. So we are Gods ambassadors, inviting people into a relationship with him. We're fishing out of a dirty Pond. We invite the tears to become sweet. Now, most of the people we talked to about Christ, Our tears. I would think they may be moral and righteous people, and they may live good lives in comparison to the rest of the world, but they're just merely imitation, Christians. They don't know Christ and it's our responsibility to introduce them to him. You see, God is in the process of making this marvelous conversion change in imitation wheat into the genuine stuff and Friends. He is readying, if that's a word, our world for the Harvest and he wants as many people as possible to spend eternity. And his house and not the Lake of Fire. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we thank you. And praise. You and love you tonight. Lord, for your word, Lord. We thank you for this Parable and what it means, Lord, and how you explained it to us. Father, help us to have a realistic view of our world. So that's a no. That lore, we can't mate, this nation of ours, a Christian Nation, you haven't even called us to do that. You said there's going to be evil growing along with the good and it's our job to take the evil and explain how to turn. Good to take the darnold and make it real sweet. Lord, give us that Evangelistic Zeal that we need to introduce others to Christ and or we just thank you for everything that you've done. Thank you Lord that we don't have to be pessimistic because we know what the future holds because we know who holds the future forcing Christ name. I do pray. Amen. All right.