Pt 3 Tares Among the Wheat — Alan Redpath

Reading the Parable of the Tares

Matthew chapter 13. Matthew chapter 13, and we'll read from verse 24. Matthew 13 and verse 24. Just for fun, you read it aloud, in the version you have, and I'll do the same, and see what chaos we have.

I'm reading from the, strange to say, NIV tonight. All right? See, I'm coming along, aren't I? Right? Now then, see how we get on with this. Verse 24. Ready? Come on, go. Jesus told them another parable.

The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

The earnest servants came to him and said, Sir, don't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from? Stop! See? Absolute chaos. Let me just go on and read it. You listen. We finished at verse 27.

Then, verse 28. An enemy did this, he replied. The servants asked him, do you want us to go and pull them up? No, he answered, because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them.

Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time, I will tell the harvesters, first collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned, then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn. And down to verse 36.

Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field. He answered, the one who sowed the good seed is the son of man, the field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom.

The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age.

The son of man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.

Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father. He who has ears, let him hear. In other words, let him use them. Right. That's the parable of, well, it's called the tares, or weeds.

And you have it there in verses 24 through 30. And the explanation of it, interpretation of it in verses 36 to 43. And this parable gives the answer to the often repeated question, what is God doing in the world today?

And it gives the lie to the suggestion that his redemptive purposes have failed. It tells of the ultimate triumph of all that has been in his heart to accomplish. Now, there's no difficulty in interpretation, because, as I said, the parable is recounted in verses 24 to 30, and explained in verses 37 to 43.

The Lord Sows the Sons of the Kingdom

The kingdom of heaven is like unto, literally, it has become like unto, verse 24, something that's happening before our eyes constantly. There are two sowings and two harvests going on and being prepared, all the time.

And we look, first of all, at what I've just called the activity of the Lord. Now, don't forget to stop me if I go too quick. Try not to, because I'll speak at dictation speed, where I won't like you to get it down.

But just go average pace. Have a great sympathy for those of you who come from other nations. I don't want you to lose out. Grace your hearts. Here's a man, then, sowing good seed in the field. Now, this morning, we thought of four different kinds of seed flung into the soil and producing four different results, the parable of the sower.

Here, we follow the fortune of the good seed only. Verse 37, he that soweth is the son of man. The good seed are the sons of the kingdom. The field is the world, verse 38. And notice this, won't you, it is his world, verse 24.

And you can jot down Psalm 24, verse 1. The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof. It's his world. Got that? Now, there's the simple picture. Into all corners of the world, the Lord is flinging his children.

Into all corners of the world, the Lord is just flinging his children. People regenerated by the Holy Spirit. Redeemed by the blood of Christ. And through them, his purpose is being fulfilled. In every nation, there are those who by their lives witness to the possession of one thing that all people need everywhere, that is, peace with God.

And it's tremendous to think that amidst all the lack of order and chaos in the world today, the children of the kingdom, the good seed, reveal the discipline and the order and the harmony of a life in tune with God.

Can I repeat that? That's just a sentence, it might be well for you to put fully in your notes. I'll go back just two sentences. Into every corner of the world, the Lord is flinging his children. People regenerated by the Holy Spirit.

Redeemed by the blood of Christ. And through them, God's purposes are being fulfilled. In every nation in the world, there are those people who by their lives witness to the possession of one thing that everybody needs, peace with God.

And amidst all the chaos, lack of order, the children of the kingdom, the good seed, reveal the discipline, the order, and the harmony of a life in tune with God. Now that's the activity of the Lord Jesus today, and we're all part of that.

The Devil's Counterfeit Sowing

Then you have what I've called the work of the enemy. You notice in verse 36 that the disciples asked for an explanation of the parable of the tares, or the weeds. It was the work of the devil which had startled them.

Verse 25, there came into the field an enemy who sowed tares, or weeds. The enemy, said the Lord, is the devil. The tares, or the weeds, are the sons of the wicked one. Now here is a deliberate work of malice, or ill will.

That may be a strange word, m-a-l-i-c-e, malice, but it means just ill will. The enemy has only one object, that is, ruining the harvest. The weeds couldn't be of any use to him. Their only value was to destroy the purpose of the owner of the field.

The devil had no right there, it wasn't his field. He was full of subtlety. He did his work, you notice, while men slept. Verse 25, animated by one thing only, ruin the field. I would say that the devil is a squatter, s-q-u-a-t-t-e-r.

That's a man who settles on land he hasn't any right to, and works it for his own advantage. A squatter, that's Satan. A man who settles on land that he has no right to, and works it for his own advantage.

Got that, or the gist of it? Not too fast, I hope. So far, nobody looking desperately miserable. Right. Notice this again, that the devil's agents are men. Men and women, of course. Verse 38, the weeds or tares are the sons of the evil one.

God works through people, and the devil works through people. One lot are regenerate, born again, Christians. The others are not. That's the one distinction. God works through one, Satan works through the other.

The one live for the Lord, the other live for themselves. And there is an eternity of difference between the two. I'll just say that again slowly, and give you time to put that down so that you can think it through.

The one, that is, the children of God. The one live for the Lord. The other, the children of Satan, live for themselves. And there is an eternity of difference between the two. Notice that the enemy sows weeds.

Something which, at first, you can't distinguish from wheat. Satan sows weeds, something that you can't distinguish from wheat. Because his tactics have always been those of imitation. Always to deceive, never to boost paganism or a religion, but always to counterfeit reality.

Satan's greatest tactics have always been counterfeit. C-O-U-N-T-E-R-F-E-I-T. Got it? Shall I go again? C-O-U-N-T-E-R-F-E-I-T. Got it? Imitation. There's a classic passage in the Old Testament, which I'm going to ask you to turn to.

Counterfeit Worship and the Need for Regeneration

Just give it, and you can read it and see. 1 Kings chapter 12. Perhaps you remember that, I'll just say this quickly to you. At Solomon's death, his son Rehoboam came to the throne. But Jeroboam, a servant of Solomon, whom he had entrusted with authority, rebelled against his son's rule and led ten tribes of Israel into revolt to the northern territory.

He ordained feasts and sacrifices, just like the feasts of Judah, set apart for the priests. The whole system resembled almost exactly the worship of God, as nearly as it could. It lacked only one thing, the vital thing, communion with the Lord.

It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. That's an admission of failure. And that's exactly what Satan's doing today, and boy, is he making a gel of it. Give people anything but Jesus. Anything but Jesus.

Anything but life, which is good seed. Anything other than that quality of life which reveals the transforming power of Christ. Don't let anybody see that. The good seed are people, if they're anything, where the bias of degeneration has been dramatically dealt with by the Holy Spirit.

Now in its place is the bias of regeneration. A new upsurge of dynamic life within. A new motive force driving power. Whereas everything was once discord and less despair, now life moves along another channel of harmony, peace, victory.

And against that, Satan concentrates everything he has. It doesn't suggest we're irreligious or pagans. That's not his greatest advertisement. Or advertisement. But he offers a form of godliness which denies the power of it.

2 Timothy 3, chapter 3, verse 5. It's religion without the cross. In many areas of Britain, and of all countries, we have reformation instead of regeneration. We have a church, but without Jesus. We have programs, but we haven't got any power.

We have fun and games, but there isn't any holiness. We have pressure, lots of it, but no prayer. We have the world, but we haven't the word. And Satan has flung all this at us to keep us back from reality.

And he's so clever at doing it. And do you notice where he does it? Verse 25. He so tears among the wheat. That's the same word in the New Testament as that which describes the Lamb of God in the midst of the throne.

Revelation 5, 6. Tears in the midst. That's Satan. In the very center. He does his foul, fiendish work at the heart of everything. And that's always so, why, that's the explanation of why any evangelical movement has a fight on its hands.

You never, never see a real church alive for God without a battle in the middle of it. Satan consolidating everything. But that's why you need specialists to pray for a work like the Caponet Fellowship.

It must cause great menace to the devil. He's very busy here, I'm sure. Are you busy down at Birmingham? And he's busy in our lives. He'll be after you. Boy. The Lord is only wanting reality. I'm tempted, and I've fallen.

Christian Living Under the Law of the Spirit

Tell you, do you like flying? I don't. Oh, it was wonderful when years ago, before most of you were thought of, you could go across the United States and back in the Queen Elizabeth I ship and have four days on the water, perfect peace.

Never any jet lag or anything like that. And come back. Lovely. I used to love it. But now, goodness. What a crush. But I don't fly. I'm very prayerful when I got onto a plane. I'm not frightened exactly, but very prayerful.

Because I've had too many incidents. And I remember one occasion. I'm just giving you three minutes of relaxation. I remember one occasion when I was flying from Johannesburg to London. On British Airways, of course, if you excuse the commercial.

And I got into this Boeing 747 and it was packed with people. And I suddenly thought to myself, now isn't it, didn't I read, that a plane like this, full of people and gas, weighs two million pounds or a million and a half.

Colossal weight. To get up on it. And I said to myself, how on earth is this thing going to get up? And I went into the plane. It was full. I sat down in the empty seat. And it was next to a steward, one of the crew.

So, unlike usually an Englishman, I thought I'd have a word with him. And I said to him, do you like flying Boeing jets? No, sir, not very much. Oh, why? Well, they're too often going wrong. Oh, yes. Yes.

He said, this one, this one, has been taken out of service twice in the last three weeks, through engine failure. Oh. Oh, it's all right now. You didn't worry. It was put right yesterday. So we think it's all right now.

Well, I got in and sat down and, you know, offered up a real prayer. Lord, watch us today. And we took off, went to the runway, took off with the usual formalities. And the engines began to roar. And I did something then that shows you exactly what sort of person I am.

I looked at my watch. It's got a little stop thing on it. And I knew that a Boeing jet, fully loaded with passengers and gas, takes 46 seconds to get off the ground. It could take more if it's contrary wind.

But we went along off, and I had my watch. And at 35 seconds, suddenly, the engines slowed down. And then, my, they suddenly began to roar. And the vibration in the plane was absolutely awful. As engines roared, I looked at my watch, 46 seconds, well, 50 seconds, 55 seconds.

I said, Lord, how long is this runway? 58, 62 seconds. And whoop! Phew. At the very moment when the lines marking the end of the runway came under the plane. And I thought, he's made it. And we went up and up and up and up.

But I noticed the no smoking sign was not removed. And the fasten your seatbelt sign was not removed. They were both there. And the plane was vibrating like nobody's business. However, no word from the captain.

But a few moments later, well, half an hour later, he suddenly came on the intercom. He had a very Oxford accent. You may not know what I mean by that, but he said, Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

I'm very sorry I've been so long speaking with you, but I had no time. I have some rather sad news to tell you. We have lost an engine. I don't know how you'd react to a situation like that. I know I reacted by saying, Don't worry.

At least I didn't say it, but I thought, Don't worry about that, old chap. I'll jump out and get it for you. You had me. But of course, I knew that'd be hopeless. I knew what he meant. He lost a pylon engine.

And he said, With three engines, our next stop is Nairobi. And he said, I'm afraid we won't make it. And he said, And with your permission, how unnecessary, with your permission, we'll turn round and return to Joburg.

And we'll get there, and we'll be put on another plane. Well, we turned round, and we went to Joburg, and of course we got another plane, because I wouldn't be here to tell you. But you know, that story, maybe you don't see it yet, but I hope you will in a couple of minutes, it absolutely thrills me, because that's the gospel.

Think of that plane a moment. It's going along on that runway, and it's held down by the law of gravity. And in 35 seconds, it lost an engine. And the engines began, the three other engines, began to put all pressure on, and the plane is held down.

And at the time of supposedly take-off, it was a long way short of the required speed, 150 knots, nowhere near it. Sixty-two seconds, it just made it. And then the captain pulls the stick, that's very amateur language, and he turns the nose of the plane up into the air, and it's grabbed by another law, the law of aerodynamics, which takes over from the law of gravity and lifts it up and up and up and up above to 30 ,000 feet.

That's Christian living. I dragged on for about 30 years, held down by the law of sin. Nothing could overcome it. Jesus came into my heart, imparted himself, his life. And when I began to realize what he'd come to do, all I had to do was to turn my eyes upon him, look up to him, and he grabbed me and lifted me up above the law of sin, and I found myself mastered by the law of spirit of life in Christ Jesus.

It took over. Forgive me, that's Christian living. Oh, I've made a mess of it many times, but that's Christian living. I could do all things through Christ to strengthen me. And it's that kind of person when he's mastered by the law of the spirit of life in Christ who's got a tremendous stake for the kingdom, who's out to witness for the Lord Jesus, and Satan fights that person every inch of the way.

There's a battle on his hands. I'm looking forward to getting to heaven. There won't be any more battles there. But I tell you, the problem is getting there. Constant fight, constant fight with myself, constant fight with the enemy.

He won't give in, acknowledge he's defeated, but, but, turn your eyes on him, count on him, and he lifts you up above it all. What has that got to do with this parable? Nothing. But it means an awful lot to me.

He sows tares among the wheat, right at the very heart, not on the circumference, not on the periphery, but right in the heart. He sows tares. That's where he's doing his fiendish work, at the heart of churches, fellowships, everywhere, today, in Britain, and throughout the world.

So don't be surprised if he attacks you. Thank the Lord that he does. He thinks you're worth bothering about. A certain person who doesn't know much about the attacks of the devil, well, you don't need to bother about him.

But if Satan really attacks you, hallelujah, that means you're the cause of a nuisance to him. May you always be worthy of the attention of Satan, and may we be alert and awake to his subtlety. The question is, what realm are we working in?

Reformation Versus Regeneration

A reformation or regeneration? Are you trying to improve yourself, or to have yourself replaced by Jesus? The Lord is never in the self-improvement plan. He's in the Christ replacement plan. There's all the difference in the world between the two.

Never trying to make you better. Don't kid yourself about that. Five minutes after this service has ended, there isn't a sin imaginable that I'm not capable of committing, but for the grace of God. I'm no different from what I was fifty years ago, probably a lot worse, potentially.

But Jesus, grace, his sufficiency, that's all. Are you trying to improve yourself? I suggest you're almost at the edge of a nervous breakdown, if you are. Or going to see a psychiatrist, you know. And accomplishing nothing, except wearing yourself out, trying to make yourself better.

Stop it, my friend. Don't spend two minutes doing that. I just take Jesus, the reality. Is it Reformation, or is it the Church, or Christ? Denomination or dynamic? Or is it program, or real power? Is it new methods you're looking for, or new men?

That's what God wants. Is it fun and games, or holiness? Entertainment has taken over in evangelical circles today. Very largely. Is it pressure, or is it prayer? I don't care how attractive an alternative may be, that's Satan's fear.

And the Holy Spirit doesn't operate in it at all. Face the cross, give yourself to God's plan, and immediately the Holy Spirit is free to work in revival, and renewal. But fail there, and we cut ourselves off from the only source of real power.

Beware of every counterfeit of the enemy. The action of the Lord, and the work of the devil. The Lord's activity, and the work of the enemy. Now, just to look at this. The counteraction of Jesus. What does the Lord do about this situation?

Christ's Policy of Discernment

Here we are, verse 30. Let both grow together until harvest. And at harvest time, I will tell the reapers, gather the weeds first, and bind them in bundles to be burned. But gather the wheat into my barn.

That's verse 30. Funny word for heaven, but in a moment we'll see what it means. Here's what I call the policy of discernment. Discernment. D-I-S-C-E-R. Discernment. The Lord, discernment. Let both wheat and tares grow together until it's quite clear which is which at the time of harvest.

And when wheat and tares have come to full growth, likeness has gone. No possible mistake then. For Jesus said, By thy fruits you shall know them. That's Matthew 7 .16. As harvest time approaches, the difference between wheat and tares is more marked.

So Jesus says, part of his counteraction, Leave them alone. Why shouldn't we deal with them now? For one thing, they're too much alike for us to distinguish accurately which are which. Too much alike for us to distinguish accurately which are which.

And to deal with tares requires Jesus should take the reins of power. That he should come again and cast out all that's evil and all that's counterfeit. And only he knows, without any possible mistake, those who possess possess Holy Spirit life.

Please don't spend your life heresy hunting. Only he knows those who possess Holy Spirit life. They shall be gathered into his barn and shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their father. But the counterfeit shall be cast into a furnace of fire.

Verses 42 and 43. Slow for this minute. You get your pens and go at full speed. Ready? Slow down. I'm saying that to me. Now I'm speaking to you though. Sorry. Slow down. Me, yes I am. Here you are, ready.

The establishment of a new heaven and a new earth demands the final destruction of everything that has thwarted God's plan here. Twice more. Right, slow down. That's not you, that's me. The establishment Ready?

You don't want to spell that. The establishment of a new heaven and a new earth demands the final destruction of everything that has thwarted God's plan here. Leave them alone, said Jesus. Leave them alone, why?

Spiritual Growth Through Antagonism

Second reason. The children of the kingdom grow best amidst antagonism. I'll give it again. The children of the kingdom grow best amidst antagonism. It's the activity of the devil which drives us to pray, drives us to depend on the Holy Spirit, to determine to work together in God's plan.

Delicate plants need a glass house. Delicate plants need a glass house. Strong trees grow on a mountainside in the teeth of storms. Oh, how true that is. I recently was speaking to somebody and he said to me, the circumstance, as a Christian, the circumstances in which I live are not at all conducive to growth.

You sure? What's that? Only Christian in a home? The only Christian in your office? The pressure of a busy life, seven days a week, non-stop. The lack of Christian fellowship, nobody I can share with at all.

And maybe ill health, and I go to one person after another for healing, it never happens. Constant satanic opposition, conducive to growth? Yeah. When every prop is removed from you and there's no one and nothing, you can lean on.

What a wonderful position for Jesus to come in. Read what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 12, when he got a thorn in the flesh. I wonder what that was. I've got a little book that I'm going to take up to heaven with me, and I've put in it all sorts of things in the Bible I don't understand.

It didn't used to have many things now, but it does now. And this one is, I wonder why, Paul, what was his thorn in the flesh? Personally, I think possibly, it was lack of eyesight following the revelation of Jesus to him on the road to Damascus.

Because he said to the church in Galatia, in the fourth chapter somewhere, Most gladly you would have given your eyes for me. I think that's what it was. He was blinded by his revelation of Christ. And so he started joining the club, which most of us have joined, and said, Now Lord, I can't stand anymore.

You've got to move it, shift it, take it away from me. Can't exist anymore, and can't possibly grow with this thing going on. It's impossible. Please Lord, take it away. The answer from heaven, No. My grace is sufficient.

My strength is made perfect in weakness. When you're weak, then you're strong. And so he discovered children of the devil can become children of God. Amazons carry the parable beyond the Lord's intention.

But implicitly, someone who's a child of Satan, and doing his work, however near it may be to reality, can do what no weed or tare can do in the realm of nature. He can become wheat. It's even possible, even possible, that here in Canterbury, there might even be one person who suddenly realizes you've been doing, in the name of Christ, the work of the enemy.

Tares can become wheat. The policy of discernment. And the policy of discernment is also the policy of destination. There are two sowings and two harvests. And, oh I can't enlarge on this, but at the end of the age, under the personal direction and authority of the one who bled for men's salvation, the tare shall be cast out and the wheat gathered into his barn.

You notice the end of the age, verse 30 that was. The end of the age is not in the hands of people, but in the hand of God. Finality is not brought about by human agencies, but by divine intervention.

Angels are the reapers, verse 39. I often wonder why the Lord calls heaven a barn. That sounds very uninteresting. But I'll tell you something about a barn. It has no divisions in it. It's free from all the damage of rain and gales and storms.

And when you're in a barn, you could never tell what field any particular grain of wheat has grown in. No fences between them. They're all lumped together in a barn. Oh, that'll be wonderful. Because you live alongside there, happily with people you don't like down here, and you're all in a barn, crowded in with everybody.

Oh, once in a barn, nobody can tell whether we're Baptists or Anglicans or Pentecostals or anything. It's wonderful to be united in Jesus like that. So we're finishing now. But remember, it's for this we live, and every testing, every tear, every sifting, has this in view.

The Final Harvest and the Assurance of Heaven

Satan's policy cannot possibly succeed. The great thing I have to be sure about is that I'm not a tear, but a wheat. Gather the wheat into my barn. That'll be a wonderful Thanksgiving day. He sowed good seed, and his barn is going to be absolutely filled with them.

He shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied. And listen to Psalm 126, verse 6. He went forth weeping, bearing precious seed. He shall come again rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. What kind of seed are you?

The time is 8 .53. Pause. Word of prayer. Lord, how we praise you that you've redeemed us. And you want daily to fling us out into the world in which we live with all its desperate need and calamities as good seed.

And we pray that we may behold following you and obeying you completely. And there shall be fruit that will remain. Thank you, Lord, for the prospect of heaven. Till then, keep us day by day looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith.

In Jesus' name, amen.