If you have your Bibles, you can turn
to Matthew chapter 13.
Matthew chapter 13.
And we're going to talk about a parable.
The parable of the wheat and the tare.
Matthew 13 verse 24.
But I want to skip ahead.
I want to skip ahead to Matthew 13
verse 34.
And explain why are we going to talk
about a parable.
Here's why.
All these things Jesus spoke to the multitude
in parables, and without a parable He did
not speak to them, that it might be
fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying,
I will open my mouth in parables, and
I will utter things kept secret from the
foundation of the world.
I will open my mouth in parables.
Why would Jesus want to talk to us
in parables?
Why not just tell us the truth?
Just say what it is.
Don't beat around the bush and soil and
seeds and wheat and tare and fig trees
and coins.
Jesus, just get to the point.
Why are you trying to speak in parables?
Well, a couple things.
What we learned two weeks ago, it's not
the seed.
The seed is the word of God.
The seed is perfect.
It's the soil.
So you can have a perfect seed and
be planted in terrible soil, and guess what's
not going to happen?
It's not going to grow.
The word of God is not going to
grow.
The soil, we have to put this in
the correct soil.
So what parables do is they nourish the
soil.
So when Jesus would give a parable, it
would help to nourish the soil of our
heart so the seed could flourish, the seed
could thrive.
Also what He's doing here is He's fulfilling
prophecy.
I will utter things kept secret from the
foundation of the world that it might be
fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet.
So He's saying, listen, this is what the
prophet spoke about.
I'm going to utter parables.
And a mystery isn't something, you know, ooh,
it's a mystery.
All a mystery is is something that was
secret is now being revealed.
So that's what Jesus is doing.
He's coming on the scene.
He's revealing something that was secret, but now
it's being fulfilled.
It's being revealed.
But before I get to that, do you
know what a parable is?
Here's the definition of a parable.
It's a simple, not complex, a simple story
used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson.
So Jesus is telling a story in order
to get a certain point across, get a
lesson across.
Now here's why I believe.
We often don't like direct confrontation.
Do we?
I'm not the only one here, right?
We do not like direct confrontation.
So a parable is often used to go
in through the side door and reveal something
that we are not looking at.
Even though the truth is right in our
face, sometimes it takes a parable to bring
that truth out.
And this is why self-examination is very
healthy.
Very healthy.
To examine ourselves, to examine our hearts, it's
very healthy.
And I was reminded of the disciples when
Jesus said, right before he was betrayed, he
said, one of you will betray me.
And guess what they all said?
Lord, is it I?
That's healthy.
Self-examination is very, very healthy.
I would encourage you to do it often.
That's what the Word of God does.
It examines self.
It's for self-examination to see where I'm
wrong and to make changes.
Self-examination, where I need encouragement, it encourages.
Where I'm discouraged, it encourages.
Where there's fear, it brings hope.
Where there's animosity, it brings comfort.
Self-examination is very important.
And here's an example of a parable I
actually forgot all about until yesterday that I
gave probably a few years ago.
But I'm going to show you how a
parable works, even in our time.
It's a story of a young girl.
She was probably 10 years old.
And she just found out that her dad
was leaving, her mom, leaving the family.
Saying, you know, I'm out of here.
Sorry.
You know, kids are resilient.
You'll grow.
You'll get over it.
I'll see you from time to time.
And she was devastated, her and her sister.
Well, later that night, she had a dream,
actually a nightmare, of her and her sister
and her mom dying in a horrific car
crash.
And when she told her dad the next
day, the dad said, well, I'm glad it
was only a dream.
And that was kind of his way to
get through it.
But she said, but dad, right before the
car hit and we all died, I looked
through the window, and the person driving the
other car was you.
And I think it was focused on the
family.
The family I have today I heard a
few years ago, that actually caused the man
to repent and return and rebuild his marriage.
So why was it weeks and weeks of,
hey, you're going the wrong direction.
Open the door.
This is wrong.
Yeah, I know.
I know.
This is wrong.
I don't care.
You know, God knows my heart.
I just want to be happy.
And all this garbage.
But what happened with this type of parable?
What man in their right mind would not
just start weeping and work on his family?
Or wife, whatever the scenario is there.
And I think this parable has even meaning
for us today with that girl.
There are many people in this room who
hear this on the radio, who hear this
on the video.
You are hurting your family.
You are damaging your family, and you need
a wake-up call.
You need something to awaken you.
And I'm hoping that this sermon can fit
that.
Because without a parable, without a story to
show what is really happening, we often don't
see it.
So that was the whole point of the
parable, is to awaken.
Jesus wouldn't just sit and waste time.
He said, listen, it's like this.
The kingdom of God is like this.
Your hearts are like this.
And he would show us so we can
be awakened.
So the first area, self-examination.
Verse 24, chapter 13.
A group this size, I don't know where
all of you are spiritually, but one of
the points of this parable is going to
be this.
Self-examination.
Are you a tare?
You think you're wheat, but are you the
tare?
Are you the false and not the true?
Because that's the whole point of this parable.
One of the points, Jesus is saying, God
is going to judge everybody at the end.
He's going to separate the wheat from the
tare.
I'm pretty sure his point was, make sure
you're the wheat and not the tare.
What would be the point of exhausting all
of that energy to give this story?
So let's read it briefly.
Verse 24, another parable he put forth to
them, saying, The kingdom of heaven, the kingdom
of God is like a man who sowed
good seed in his field.
But while men slept, his enemy came in,
sowed tare 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 to go out 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 up into bundles and
burn them.
But gather the wheat into my barn.
So Jesus is saying there is a judgment
coming where the angels will come, and they
will sift, they will pull the wheat and
the tares out, and they will distinguish between
the two.
Which should cause us to go, Uh-oh.
Okay, who am I?
What group am I?
I don't want to be a bundle thrown
into the fire.
I want to be a wheat gathered into
the barn.
And that should awaken something.
But while he slept, this is interesting, I
noted this.
That while he slept, the enemy came in.
The enemy didn't come in at night or
day while they were working the farm, and
they got their picks and shovels and they're
watering.
He came at night when everybody is asleep.
And that's what the enemy often does.
He'll come in at night.
Maybe not physically when it's dark, but night.
Undercover.
Subtlety.
Why?
Why is that?
Well, many go through life asleep to the
things of God.
I'm talking right here even about Christians or
unbelievers.
Many are asleep to the things of God.
Have you ever wondered that?
I mean, you look at the direction of
the nation.
You look at the direction of the church.
You guys have any pulse on what's going
on spiritually?
Is your heart a heart of worship and
a heart of prayer?
Where is the things of God?
Why are they dead?
Why are they dying?
I believe one of the reasons is there's
no self-examination.
Or very little self-examination.
So the enemy wants to keep us asleep.
And that spiritual slumber is what I call
it.
We're dead to the things of God.
We're just asleep.
It's like our two-year-old, she's turning
two pretty soon.
Often she'll wake up at night or from
her nap.
You know that scream, right?
Or that cry?
She doesn't scream, cry.
It's like, oh no.
Why is she up?
So what do we do?
We go and pull her up and get
her up?
No, no, no, no, no, no.
Shh, shh, shh, shh.
Nothing.
Shh.
Nobody's up.
Nobody's watching TV.
Nobody's having fun.
We're all asleep.
Shh, shh, shh, shh, shh.
Go back to sleep, right?
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.
It's all the songs I have to sing
now.
Shh, shh, shh.
You guys would pay to see that, wouldn't
you?
And she goes, up, up, out, daddy, daddy.
No, no, no, shh, shh, shh.
But that's what the devil does.
Shh, shh, shh.
When we start to examine ourselves, he says,
it's not you.
It's the other person.
Shh, shh, shh.
Go back to sleep.
Wait a minute, but God's convicting me.
No, it's not you.
It's not you.
It's the other person.
Don't examine yourself.
It's the other person.
Shh, shh, shh.
Go back to sleep, spiritually.
Well, what about, I'm looking at myself.
No, it's not you.
It's your boss.
It's your job.
It's not you.
You're not the problem.
You don't need to examine yourself.
You're not the problem.
The greatest trick of the enemy is to
say, you're not the problem.
Shh, shh, shh, shh.
Go back to sleep.
And as we examine ourselves, he says, it's
not you.
It's your family.
It's your parents.
It's your kids.
It's the government.
That's the problem.
Shh, shh, shh, shh.
So every time we want, wait, wait, wait.
Is it me?
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Shh, shh.
Go back to sleep.
Right where I have you.
So no change takes place.
So you can live in that spiritual slumber.
That spiritual sleep until the day you die.
That's how the enemy works, folks.
I'm sure of that.
I'm sure the sun's coming up tomorrow morning.
He wants to keep you in that.
He fears you examining yourself.
Why do you think we love excuses and
something I call blame shifting?
I'll shift the blame to something else.
Unless you think I'm preaching to you, I'm
preaching to me as well.
We all need to hear this type of
message unless the enemy says, shh, shh, shh.
Go back to sleep.
Everything's okay.
It's not you.
So be careful because parables are often meant
to awaken, to challenge.
Paul actually said examine yourselves.
Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ
is in you?
One of the most healthy things you can
do is examine yourself in light of Scripture.
Not the buts, not the yeah, everything else,
but examine yourself in the light of Scripture
and say, in this case, am I a
terror?
Am I just playing church?
Am I going through the motions?
Am I saying the right things?
Characteristics of a terror.
They have no heart for God.
They say they do, but their actions reveal
otherwise.
They're full of excuses and blame shifting.
Pride is the dominating characteristic of their life.
For the terror to say, look, look, look,
I'm wheat, it doesn't work.
No, I'm wheat.
I really am wheat.
I know I don't look like wheat.
I don't taste like wheat.
I don't smell like wheat, but I want
to be wheat.
It says, no, that's terror.
That's terror.
That's weed.
There's a distinction.
Or if a person isn't the terror, and
a lot of this sermon still applies, it
may be that they are just a tiny
shoot of wheat coming up, but the terror
is crowding it out.
The cares of this life, what we talked
about a couple weeks ago, that there's no
root, there's no soil.
You're crowded out.
I can't tell what you are.
You're a little green thing.
I don't know what you are.
You look just like wheat.
I mean, just like weeds.
Just like terror.
I know you say you're wheat, and you
might be, but there's no growth there.
There's nothing.
There's immaturity.
You resemble a terror, but I can see
the potential there.
So keep growing.
Keep mustering up, and keep moving forward.
You will eventually come out of that.
So here's the good news for terrors.
A terror cannot change, right?
It's a weed.
It cannot change, but a sinner can.
A sinner can change.
Acts 26.
Open your eyes, and turn from darkness to
light, and from the power of Satan to
the power of God, so that you may
receive forgiveness of sin.
Terrors can't change.
Weeds can't change their colors.
Weeds can't go from weed to this, but
sinners can with God's help, with God calling
them to repentance.
Isaiah 55, 6-7.
Seek the Lord while He may be found.
Call upon Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake His way, and the
unrighteous man his thoughts.
Let him return to the Lord, and He
will have mercy on him.
And to our God, for He will abundantly
pardon.
Now here's what happens.
You Bible scholars out there will probably know
this.
Who is Isaiah writing to?
God's people.
And so many times, we just glance over
this.
Well, I'm not wicked.
This doesn't apply to me.
The children of God were turning away from
God.
Their hearts had grown cold, callous, and hard.
Wicked just means something that opposes God.
So he's saying, listen.
Seek the Lord while He may be found.
Call upon Him.
This can apply to the unbeliever who doesn't
know God.
So the call is turned to me, and
it can return to a child of God.
Somebody, I knew God, but I've drifted.
I've got this wickedness in my life.
I've got this immaturity.
I've drifted from God.
So the point for both people is seek
the Lord while He may be found.
Call upon Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake His way and the
unrighteous man his thoughts.
Let him return to the Lord.
In both cases, this won't be a surprise
to you because you've heard me say it
before, but repentance is not a recommendation.
Repentance is not a recommendation.
It is the only hope.
The only hope for a person who doesn't
know God to know God.
It is the only hope for a Christian
who has lost his way to get back
on track.
It's not an option.
Until we turn back to soul-searching, Christ
-centered, Bible-believing, truth-elevating, grace-filled preaching,
we will not see change.
That's what Jesus was doing with this parable.
He was preaching into the hearts of the
people.
And many times people often say, well, settle
down, Shane.
Settle down.
Why do you get all worked up?
Well, think about this.
2600 Americans die per day.
Per day.
The occult is one of the fastest-growing
religions in our nation.
Porn is captivating millions of Christians.
Suicide is an epidemic.
And marriages are on life support.
And you want me to settle down.
You want me to calm down.
Bring it down a notch.
I can't.
I like what Robert Murray McChaney said on
your bulletin.
I put it there.
As I was walking in the fields, the
thought came over me with almost overwhelming power
that every one of my flock must soon
be in heaven or hell.
Oh, how I wish that I had a
tongue like thunder.
I fear that you will lay the blame
of your damnation at my door.
What he's saying, and I started to realize
this, 50, 60 years from now, everybody in
this room, I mean, it depends how old
you get, of course, but we will either
be in heaven or hell.
Let that reality sink in for a minute.
We forget that, don't we?
Shh, shh, go back to sleep.
Shh, shh, shh, go back to sleep.
And for some, he does that until it's
too late.
And that's why it's one of the burdens
of my heart with everybody who comes in
this door, we either be in heaven or
hell.
That's why he said, Lord, give me a
tongue of thunder.
What does thunder do?
Is thunder comforting?
Oh, goodness.
Go stand up on a mountain someday and
hold a big piece of metal.
Let's thunder and lightning and see how comfortable
you feel.
That's the voice of thunder.
That's the voice of God.
When God used to speak and they would
hear a voice of doves, thunder, thunder, conviction,
conviction.
And it was said of this man, Robert
Murray McShane, he died at age 29.
He was one of Scotland's most anointed preachers.
When he would come to the pulpit, people
would begin weeping just before even saying a
word because the anointing, the power of God
was on his life so hard, he felt
the heartbeat of God.
And he said, oh, they're either going to
be in heaven or hell.
And I started to think about this week.
Isn't that true?
Everybody who comes in there, everybody we come
in contact with, heaven or hell, there's no
middle ground.
Shh, shh, shh, don't worry about that right
now.
Don't worry about that right now.
So that's sometimes why now you can maybe
better understand my passion.
I'm not called to be a motivational speaker.
I'm not called for everybody to just leave
here and go, wasn't that pleasant?
I'm dealing with death and life.
Death cannot be played with.
It must be confronted.
Whether it's spiritual death where we're dying spiritually
or it's death of a marriage or death
of a relationship with God, whatever it is,
you have to do heart surgery.
That's the heartbeat of a pastor that's called
to do that.
Or there's self-examination for a believer.
Am I dying spiritually?
Am I being choked by the weed?
This is sometimes why a person is not
acting like a Christian.
The thorns are choking the good seed.
So we have wheat and tare growing up
together.
It's interesting, I noted this week also, America,
the good thing is, did you know that
we are the number one distributor of the
gospel around the world?
The wheat.
But we are the number one distributor of
pornography around the world.
Tare.
Unbelievable.
America has set millions of people free, but
has destroyed millions of babies.
Wheat and tare.
You see how they grow together?
Let's pass all these laws so there's no
more tare.
I'm a big fan of godly legislation, but
that's not going to get rid of the
tares.
So you better come to that understanding now,
so you can pray and fast and have
God remove the tares, have God's will be
done.
In America, the Bible is the number one
selling book, yet sexual perversion is an epidemic.
In America, healthy marriages built this country, but
divorce and selfishness are killing it.
We read our Bibles, yet treat our spouses
like garbage.
Wheat and tare.
We quote the Bible, but don't obey it.
We're quick to point out the flaws in
others, but not our own.
We go to church smiling, but anger dominates
our home.
We hate self-righteous people, but we rarely
look in the mirror.
Hey, I didn't come to win a popularity
contest tonight.
That's out the window.
And if you don't like what I'm saying,
you need to hear what I'm saying.
I know it's kind of a joke, but
it's true.
Jesus wants us to awaken from our spiritual
slumber.
How long are we going to keep playing
this game?
How long?
That's what the enemy wants.
Ephesians 5.
Awake, you who sleep.
Arise from the dead, and Christ will give
you light.
Ephesians 5.8. Before that, for you were
once darkness, but now you are light in
the Lord.
Walk as children of the light, for the
fruit of the Spirit is goodness and righteousness
and truth.
Finding out what is acceptable to the Lord,
and have no fellowship, no fellowship with the
unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.
Now this is very interesting.
This doesn't mean point out the flaws in
others.
This means point out the flaws within.
Expose the unfruitful works of darkness that are
coming up within that are not allowing me
to walk in the light of Christ.
And another commentary on this from the Message
Bible.
I wouldn't encourage this Bible to be used
as a study Bible, but more as a
commentary on the Bible.
Ephesians 5.
This guy, Eugene Peterson, is dead on with
this portion.
You groped your way through the murk once,
but no longer.
You're now in the open.
The bright light of Christ makes your way
plain.
No more stumbling around.
Get on with it.
The good, the right, the truth.
These are the actions appropriate for daylight hours.
Figure out what will please Christ and do
it.
Wow!
Who's going to say, I didn't know that.
But how simple is this?
You want half of your problems to vanish
tonight?
I'm not making this up.
Find out what Christ wants you to do
and then do it.
Don't waste your time on useless work, mere
busy work.
The pursuit of darkness.
Expose these things for the sham they are.
It's a scandal when people waste their lives
on things they must do in the darkness
where no one will see.
Rip the cover off those frauds and see
how attractive they look in the light of
Christ.
That's a pretty good commentary.
And then here's my favorite part.
Wake up from your sleep.
Climb out of your coffin and Christ will
show you the light.
Here's what he's saying in that show.
Apply the word of God.
Don't quote it.
Apply the word of God.
Don't quote it.
I am so tired of people quoting Scripture
without obeying it.
If I had a dollar for every time
that happened, you too, right?
You wouldn't need Social Security.
Don't count on that.
Don't count on people applying Scripture.
This is a challenge for myself included.
We know it but we don't apply it.
And the power is in the application.
You can't mix the purity of God's word
with the filth of rebellion.
You can't mix the purity of God's word
with the filth of pride.
You can't mix it.
And I'll give you a good current parable
or analogy.
You want one?
It applies now.
Okay, we don't have to go too far.
See if this works.
Okay.
Just went to Home Depot.
You like that, Shaylee?
What is this?
Huh?
Uh-oh.
I don't think it's working.
Oh, it smells terrible.
Can you believe this, Vivian?
Whoa.
Wow.
What are you doing?
That's the same thing in the spiritual.
This is a physical analogy what's happening in
the spiritual.
You hear the word of God but you
don't apply it.
You mix pride and rebellion with the purity
of God's word.
That's how foolish that looks.
The toxic.
I'm getting sick.
You know it was water, right?
Okay, good.
Because the first service didn't know that.
They were worried.
But with all joking aside, you can't mix
the purity of God's word and the filth
of rebellion.
That's why change isn't taking place.
That's why nothing is changing.
Because you can't take what I know and
divorce it from what I need to do.
You might as well do that.
That's what it looks like to God.
What?
Shane, bug killer all over you?
Yeah.
It's what we do in the spiritual.
Just no difference.
So here Jesus goes on to explain the
parable of the tares.
He who sows the good seed is the
son of man.
But 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 sowed them.
The enemy was 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 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.
Now this is interesting.
These are hard things to hear, right?
Do you realize I'm not just cherry picking
certain verses?
We started in Matthew 1.
We're in Matthew 13.
And how often is Jesus warning?
Let me look at all these bad scriptures.
Oh my goodness.
Whoa Shane, you're making a case for, you
know, you're pulling out.
No, I'm just reading through the Bible.
Just reading through the Bible.
So it's interesting.
It's interesting if a pastor says that Jesus
will send out his angels.
Just think if I'm on Oprah Monday morning.
So Pastor Shane, what do you think?
Well, Jesus is going to send out his
angels.
And they will gather out of his kingdom
all the things that offend.
And those who practice lawlessness and will cast
them into a furnace of fire.
There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
We are called Bible thumpers, hellfire and brimstone
preachers, radical, extreme.
Get them out of here.
But that's Jesus' words.
Why is he telling the people that?
He's saying, listen, there will come a day
when God will judge the living and the
dead.
Every knee will bow and every tongue will
confess that Christ is Lord.
The terror will be bundled up and thrown
into the fire.
Unquenchable fire.
There's weeping and gnashing of teeth.
The we will be gathered and going into
the Father's barn.
You better know what side you're on.
That's the whole point.
Yet we're not supposed to talk about this?
Because somebody might leave offended?
Good.
I hope.
I hope you go home and examine your
life in the light of the gospel.
Self-examination.
Say, I don't like that guy, Shane.
But Lord, am I weak or am I
tear?
I'm tear and I don't want to end
up like that.
But as soon as you get in your
car, you put on the old music.
Man, don't listen to that guy.
Shh, shh.
Isn't that a great trick?
Shh, shh.
Oh, man.
Get him out of there.
Shh, shh.
And trust me, you think I get excited
about messages like this?
I try to get out of it.
Oh, man.
Is there another way around this one?
No, it's what the Bible says.
Jesus says.
It's something very interesting.
Jesus spoke more about hell than heaven.
This nice, mild, meek-mannered, turn-the-other
-cheek Jesus spoke more about the realities of
hell than heaven.
Why?
Think about it.
If you truly did not want somebody going
there, would you not warn them?
What parent in their right mind is going
to be glad that their child ends up
in hell?
If you believe the Bible, the inerrancy of
Scripture, that thought should really motivate us to
pray and to seek God and to check
our own hearts.
Listen, I come across people all the time
speaking different places, and you'd be amazed at
how many people have been coming to church
for years and they're tares.
They're in leadership.
They're in the children's ministry.
They're serving, and they're not even believers.
They look pretty similar, don't they?
Can you spot the weed in there, or
the tare?
So self-examination is the whole point of
these parables.
So why did Jesus use parables?
He probably wrote that question because I didn't
know I'd already answered it.
Why did He use parables?
He used them to awaken the spiritually dead
or dying.
What about earlier, we talked about a few
weeks ago, the sower and the seed.
He says, make sure your seed lands on
good soil of the heart.
Why?
Don't let the thorns choke it.
Don't let the stony gravel have no foundation.
What's He doing?
He's warning.
What about the grain of wheat that dies?
Jesus said, unless a grain of wheat dies,
it will bear nothing.
Dying to self.
The whole context of that parable is losing
your life for the sake of Christ.
Unless a kernel of wheat falls into the
ground and dies, it abideth and produces nothing.
But if it dies, that's where the life
comes from.
He's saying, have you died to self?
Have you surrendered your life?
Do you care more about your life?
Because if you care more about your life
than Christ, you will lose it.
That's Jesus.
We've got to read the Bible cover to
cover to get the correct understanding of who
He was.
Because the same Bible says He was a
lamb.
They say He was a lion.
The same Bible says He turned the other
cheek.
It says He's coming with the armies of
heaven.
And He's riding a white horse.
And the angels of heaven will follow Him.
And out of His mouth will go a
sword that He will strike the nations.
And He will rule the nations with a
rod of iron.
And He will tread the winepress and fierceness
and wrath of Almighty God.
And He will have a name written, King
of kings and Lord of lords.
That's what the Bible says in all its
completeness.
Thanks for the claps, but don't clap.
And then the weeds and the tare where
we're at here.
What about the barren fig tree in Luke
13?
Jesus said, oh, look at that barren fig
tree.
Isn't that cute?
He said, if your life is like that,
let's cut that fig tree down and burn
it, throw it into the fire.
Wow.
He's showing, listen, look at the fig tree,
look at this.
Why?
Because you have to come in the back
door.
You have to come in the back door.
You can't say, hey, you might be on
the broad road of destruction.
You have to show them why they're on
the broad road of destruction.
Look what it looks like from a scriptural
course.
What about the prodigal son?
Is that not a warning?
When the prodigal son came to himself, he
spent everything in riotous living.
The King James says, he spent his substance
in riotous living.
That's taking everything he has ahead to Vegas
for us.
And he spent all, everything.
And when he came to himself, he returned
to the Father.
A lot of people say, ah, it wasn't
about that.
That was about the mean elder brother.
Look at that mean elder brother.
Yeah, that's true.
But if you think that story is just
only about the mean elder brother, that means
you are seeker sensitive and you want to
avoid difficult truths.
It's about repentance and returning to the Father.
That's the context.
What about the demon invasion we talked about
a few chapters or a few sermons ago?
About when the devil leaves, if we don't
clean up that house, the context with salvation,
he'll bring in seven other demons, and the
last state of that man or woman is
worse than the first.
Is Jesus just trying to be, what, pleasant
here?
What's wrong with this guy?
What's wrong?
Nothing.
He's the Son of God saying, you need
parables to awaken your hard hearts.
You need to see the true condition of
your heart.
What about the parable of the ten virgins?
And this is my concern for many of
the church.
When the bridegroom comes again, five are ready,
five are not.
It's been debated, was it salvation, was it
just this?
I just don't want to be the five
that aren't ready.
I'll let the theologians debate the nuances of
the verb tenses and all these things.
But when he comes again and we're not
ready is the whole point of that message.
Be ready.
Do not be carried away by the things
of this world.
And then he goes on in verse 31,
another parable he put forth to them, saying,
the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard
seed, which a man took and sowed in
his field, which indeed the least of all
the seeds.
But when it grows, it is greater than
the herbs and becomes a tree, so that
the birds of the air come and nest
in its branches.
And I just thought right there, don't despise
the day of small beginnings.
The mustard seed, the kingdom of God will
grow, will flourish.
You cannot stomp out the kingdom of God.
They've tried it.
They've tried to get rid of the Bible.
They've tried to kill everything.
They've tried to kill it.
It doesn't work.
It's a seed and it will grow and
it will grow and it will be the
strongest of all the trees.
That's the analogy there.
What about the parable of the leaven?
Another parable he spoke, the kingdom of heaven
is like leaven, which a woman took and
hid in three measures of mill till it
was all leavened.
In other words, a little bit of leaven
leavens a whole loaf of bread.
It affects everything.
So the kingdom of God in your heart
should affect everything.
Listen, this is heart self-examination time.
If the kingdom of God is not changing
you, if it's not challenging you, if there's
not some resemblance of wheat there, that's a
scary spot to live.
You're living your life with a question mark.
Because the Word of God is very clear
that the wheat, the children of God, obey
the Word of God.
Not just know it.
The Pharisees knew it.
The Pharisees could quote the Bible better than
me.
But their hearts were wrong.
Their hearts were stony.
Their hearts were hard.
Their hearts were rebellious.
So here's the good news for those who
are dying spiritually.
If you're in this state, shh, shh, shh,
shh.
This is my favorite part of the sermon
because this is where the most amount of
change can take place.
You have to remove the tears that are
growing in your life through worship, prayer, and
repentance.
That's why I can't get away from these
three themes.
I've thought of the other ones before.
How about potlucks?
How about driving with Air One on?
Let's give us something new.
We can't.
This is how you rejuvenate the heart.
And what happened a month ago for somebody
else could happen tonight.
What happened last year for somebody else could
happen tonight.
What happened two weeks ago for somebody else
could happen tonight.
We always have to foster worship and prayer
and repentance.
That's all the message does is to point
you to that.
It points you to the cross.
It points you to this time.
Why?
Because these things crush pride.
They eliminate excuses.
They soften our hearts and they transform impossible
situations.
And can I just give a brief personal
testimony?
If I don't worship and all I do
is study the Bible, you won't want to
be around me.
If all I do is read, I read
this an hour a day, let me tell
you what I learned.
Because knowledge puffs up.
You become a Pharisee.
You become arrogant.
You become proud.
Worship breaks you.
The Bible gives you the knowledge.
Worship gives you the application of that.
Without worship, your heart will, not might, will
grow cold, callous, and hard.
That's why you have a lot of people
quoting Scripture but not living it.
Because they don't worship.
They're not worshipers.
They're not worshiping.
They're not praying.
And I know that hurts good.
I came to hurt tonight because I'm tired.
I'm tired of people not seeing all that
God has for them because they're allowing certain
things to block that.
As much as you read the Bible, you
better be in worship.
If you've got an hour in the Bible,
you better be an hour in prayer, an
hour in worship.
Because prayer and worship, that's like the fuel
that flames that.
Just reading alone, just me reading alone, I'm
just hard and mean and stubborn still.
It's the worship that breaks me and breaks
me and breaks me and breaks me.
And then comes another day.
I need to be broken again.
I need to worship again.
This morning, I just kept listening to that
song, Holy Spirit, you're welcome here.
Holy Spirit, you're welcome here.
Holy Spirit, you're welcome in my heart.
It took me 30 minutes for finally, oh
God, please, just begin to work in my
heart.
And work in my heart.
Yeah, I read the Bible and I love
it.
Thank God for that.
But now I need the Bible to work
in my heart.
And that's what worship does.
So that's why we make this a big
deal is because this is when the heart
changes.
And that's why I'm not poking fun.
But it's reality when people are just like
this.
Man, one more song.
That line at In-N-Out Burger is
going to be pretty long by now.
Panda Express sounds pretty good, but they're full.
Golly, I wish this guy was.
That's, you guys, I don't know what to
tell you, but you didn't get much out
of the service.
Because if this message doesn't propel you to
worship, if it doesn't cause you to worship
and pray, it falls on what the Bible
calls deaf ears.
The hardness of heart.
So that's what the whole point of this
is to get you to worship and pray
and seek God again.
You marry those things and you will watch
your marriage come back together.
You will watch your relationship with the Lord
come back together.
You will watch things you never, that's impossible.
Watch it come together through worship, the word,
prayer, coming together.
Let me close with that.
As Chelsea comes up.
Lord, I just want to take a minute
and pray for those who are discouraged tonight.
Lord, encourage them through worship.
Lord, some of us have been living in
a certain condition for years and years and
years.
Lord, we need you to break through in
our hearts through worship tonight.
As we sing these final few songs, Lord,
open our hearts.
Lord, we've got children who are walking away
from you.
We've got family members who are on their
way to hell.
Lord, there's too much at stake.
There's too much at stake to continue to
play games as the enemy lulls us back
to sleep.
He gives us that cup of warm milk
and puts us back down and we just
go to sleep.
But Lord, I pray that you would awaken
tonight.
Awaken your sleeping church.
I pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.