The Parable of the Wedding Feast, Matthew 22:1-14

Today we are concluding our series on the parables of Christ by looking at the parable of the wedding feast. And I want to first consider the historical context in which this parable is given. This would have been Wednesday of the last week before Christ’s death.  On Friday, He will be crucified. On Sunday, He will rise from the dead. For three years He has been preaching and teaching the Gospel of the kingdom. He has been presenting Himself as the Messiah, the Son of God, the Savior of the world. He has been offering an invitation into His kingdom to the people of Israel, the Jews.  And now at the end of His ministry He has come into Jerusalem for the final act.  He knows that the religious leadership have rejected Him as the Messiah.  And in just two more days they will turn Him over to the Romans to be crucified.

On Monday, He had entered Jerusalem on a donkey to the sounds of crowds crying Hosanna! The common people expected Him to be king and to overthrow the Roman occupation and take the throne of David.  But on Tuesday, instead of doing that, He went to the temple and overthrew the money changer’s tables and drove out the merchandisers from the temple.  And in so doing, He sealed His fate with the High Priest, the Pharisees and the Sadducees.  They wanted Him dead.

So this is Wednesday, and He has come back to the temple, and this time He comes to preach.   And in His message, He gives three parables, a trilogy of kingdom of heaven parables, which prophetically forecast the rejection by the Jews and the judgment that will befall them because they failed to accept Him as their Messiah and King.

The first parable He gives in this trilogy is the Parable of Two Sons. It is found in chapter 21 vs 28. "But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, 'Son, go work today in the vineyard.' And he answered, 'I will not'; but afterward he regretted it and went. "The man came to the second and said the same thing; and he answered, 'I [will,] sir'; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing [this,] did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him.” 

Jesus explains this simple parable to show that the religious Jews claimed to do the will of God, but actually did not, and thus would not enter into the kingdom of heaven, whereas the sinners who repented would enter the kingdom of heaven.

The second parable of the trilogy speaks of the judgment that will fall on those who rejected the gospel of the kingdom, which was again directed at the religious leadership of the Jews. Jesus said in vs 33 "Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who PLANTED A VINEYARD AND PUT A WALL AROUND IT AND DUG A WINE PRESS IN IT, AND BUILT A TOWER, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey. When the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his produce. The vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third. Again he sent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing to them. But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, 'This is the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.' They took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?"  They said to Him, "He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the [proper] seasons." Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures, 'THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER [stone;] THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES'? Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it.”

Now that parable is pretty self explanatory as well.  But irregardless, in expounding it, Jesus makes it clear that He is speaking it about them, the religious Jews. That the kingdom of God will be taken away from them, and they will receive the judgment of God because of their rejection.  Whereas the kingdom will be given to a people who will produce spiritual fruit.

And Matthew says that the Jews did recognize that He was speaking about them. I think it’s possible that they recognized Jesus was speaking of God as the Father, and He as the Son of God, and that they would kill Him.  I think it’s possible that they even knew that He was the Messiah, but He was not the kind of Messiah that they wanted. He was going to destroy their livelihood, their financial rackets, and their position of power.  Look at vs 45 “When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them. When they sought to seize Him, they feared the people, because they considered Him to be a prophet.”  They had already planned on killing Him, but were just waiting for the right opportunity.

Now we come to the third parable in this trilogy, which we will look at in a little more detail, as Jesus gives more insight, and a different perspective on the same issue of rejection of the kingdom of God and the judgment due to those who do so. There are four parts to this parable, similar to four parts in a play.  The first act we will call  the invitation rejected.

The story is about the kingdom of heaven, which was the foremost topic of Jesus’s teaching.  As we have repeatedly stressed, the kingdom of heaven is not speaking of what we often think of as heaven, per se, but is referring to the rule of heaven, the rule of God in the hearts of His people.  It is a spiritual kingdom, where those who have been born of the Spirit have their life, their inheritance, in the realm of Christ.

Jesus says in vs 2 "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. And he sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come. Again he sent out other slaves saying, 'Tell those who have been invited, "Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened livestock are [all] butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast."' But they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own farm, another to his business,  and the rest seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them.”

So the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a wedding feast given by the King for His Son.  A wedding was in those days the most important social event of a person’s life.  And a royal wedding would have been the most important social event of a lifetime.  Imagine being invited to attend Prince Charles and Diana’s wedding back in the early 80’s when that event occurred.  It was perhaps the most prestigious, most desirable social event in England of the century.  

Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven can be compared to that kind of wedding.  He is taking the most important, significant event of person’s spiritual life and comparing it to a situation that can be more easily comprehended by mortal man -a wedding invitation by the royal family. 

In those days, the wedding was not given a specific date.  The exact timing of the bridegroom was something of a surprise.  The general time frame would be known, and the invitation was given out to make the people aware that it could be very soon, on a moments notice.  

We know from a previous parable we studied that the bridegroom is Christ, and the bride is HIs church. Jesus is saying in this parable that the invitations to the wedding feast had gone out.  And as the moment arrived for the celebration, the slaves of the king were sent to those who had been invited to attend, but they were not interested in coming.  It says in vs 3, “they were unwilling to come.”  This was an unthinkable thing, that the people would not want to attend the king’s wedding celebration.  

But the king responds to their rejection with graciousness.  He sends out his slaves again, to ask them to come to the wedding feast. This time he adds that he has prepared this grand feast, the oxen and livestock have been butchered, and everything is ready.  That indicates a tremendous expense on the part of the king, which was prepared for their enjoyment.

But they paid no attention to the second summons from the slaves.  They went on about their business, one to his farm and one to his place of business. Such a callous display towards the king’s invitation would have been unthinkable. The listeners of Jesus would have been shocked to hear of such disregard for the king’s invitation.  The first group of people in the parable were just too busy with their own agenda to be bothered with the king’s business. What they were doing seemed more important and more enjoyable. 

As bad as that was, the second group of people Jesus describes are even worse.  They take the king’s slaves and beat them, and murder them.  In the context of the story, this is just outrageous behavior.  Why would you beat up and murder the servants who invited you to the king’s celebration?  It’s unthinkable.

Now what is Jesus describing here?  I think it’s pretty clear. The king is a picture of God, the king’s son is the Christ, and the wedding celebration is an invitation to be part of the kingdom of His Son.  The invitation had been given to the Jews.  They were the ones first invited to enter the kingdom of heaven.  They were the preferred guests, the priority list.  The gospel was given to the Jews first.  They were the called people of God. 

And the kingdom was offered to them.  They were invited as the special guests who were able to enter the kingdom.  But they were not interested.  They had their own agenda which they were more interested in.  They were busy making money, doing deals.  They were so callused that they refused the invitation again and again.

And even worse, they mistreated and killed the prophets that God sent to them.  Jesus said in Luke 11:47  "Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and [it was] your fathers [who] killed them.” Vs 49 "For this reason also the wisdom of God said, 'I will send to them prophets and apostles, and [some] of them they will kill and [some] they will persecute,  so that the blood of all the prophets, shed since the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation.”

That takes us to the second act, the rejecters punished. Verse 7, "But the king was enraged, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire.”  The king’s graciousness and mercy has an end.  HIs patience has run out. His wrath is poured out on the rejecters, and it is justified.  They have murdered His innocent servants, rather than submit to His rule and be a part of His administration.  So the wrath of God is poured out on the Jews because they have rejected His invitation.

History tells us that just as Jesus depicts in this parable God burned the city of Jerusalem with fire in AD 70.  Over a million Jews were killed when the Roman general Titus surrounded the city and in the process the temple was destroyed and burned.  The remaining Jews were scattered all across Asia.  God’s justice was served against a people that rejected His invitation, they rejected His grace, and they rejected His Son. Because Israel as a nation rejected the Messiah, God rejected them as nation.  And so the invitation is given to others who will bear the fruit of it.

That brings us to the third act, the new guests are invited.  We see that in vs 8 "Then he said to his slaves, 'The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main highways, and as many as you find [there,] invite to the wedding feast.' Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests.”

The instruction from the king is to go everywhere and get everyone that will come. That’s the mandate of the church’s mission, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” That’s the mission. Because of the rejection of Israel, we that were not a people have become the people of God.  He has sent His message into every nation to everyone. “As many as you can find, invite them all to come.” 

Vs 10 "Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests.” The invitation to enter the kingdom of heaven is given to whomever will come.  What Jesus is indicating here is that their acceptance of the invitation is the key to entering, not their morality, not either how good of a person they are, nor how bad of a person they are. It’s not dependent upon their nationality.  But simply all who accept the invitation can enter.  Accepting the invitation is the criteria, accepting the grace of God, not how good of a person you may be.

And that brings us to the last act, the intruder expelled.  Vs 11 "But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes,  and he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?' And the man was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' For many are called, but few [are] chosen."

So this great crowd of people who accepted the invitation were in the wedding hall.  And there is one man who is not dressed in the wedding garment.  Now we are not told exactly what this garment looked like, nor exactly how it is given, nor how this man does not have it.  But what we can assume is that it correlates to the robe of righteousness which God provides to those who believe in Christ and have accepted Him as their Lord and Savior.

We find direct correlation to this robe of righteousness that all who enter must wear, in Isaiah 61:10 which says, “I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, My soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”  

The hymn we often sing, “The Solid Rock” has a line which speaks to this, which says, “Dressed in HIs righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne.”   The robe of righteousness is one that we receive by faith from Christ.  It’s His righteousness.  Our sins are transferred to Him, and His righteousness is transferred to us.  That’s what 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “God caused Jesus, who knew no sin, to become sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”  It’s Christ’s righteousness which becomes our wedding garment, without which no one can enter the kingdom of heaven.

This man without the wedding garment is asked by the king, “Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?” And the man was speechless. He had no answer.  When we stand before God in all His holiness, we will be ever so aware of our own sinfulness.  We will have no excuse.  In our natural state, many people think that they are a pretty good person. I can’t tell you how often I hear people say that.  Somehow, in spite of all that they have done wrong and all the good that they have not done in this life, they somehow think deep down inside I’m really a good person. Well, when the day comes when they stand before God and they see themselves in the light of righteousness and perfect holiness, then they will throw themselves prostrate on the ground and say as Isaiah said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”

I want you to notice that the garment which the guests received was provided by the King.  It was given to them.  They did not already have it, they could not earn it, but when they accepted the invitation it was given to them.  That gift is called grace.  Eph.2:8,9 “For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it’s a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.”

So this man who rejected the garment is in effect no better than the Jews who rejected their Messiah.  He is indifferent.  He doesn’t value the garment which the King provided.  He wants the benefits of the kingdom perhaps, but He doesn’t think that the means by which he is granted an invitation is important.  He thinks he can do it his own way.

I think one of the most tragic songs I have ever heard is the song by Frank Sinatra, “I did it my way.” I  remember after he passed away a few years ago, and hearing all these tributes about him on the radio, and they all seemed to want to play that song.  And I just couldn’t help but wonder where he was at that moment, and if living life his way, according to his agenda and his set of standards, was good enough to enter the kingdom of heaven.  I don’t know the state of his soul, but I know the standard for heaven, and it’s not doing it your way.  It’s not entered according to how you think God should be, or based on your own merits.  But  entrance is only admitted through Jesus Christ.

I know that when I stand at the gate of Paradise, and perhaps some angel says to me, “Friend, what are you doing here?” My only plea will be, “I am with Him. Jesus Christ invited me to come, and He has provided the garment of righteousness required to enter.”

Well, this man had no answer.  He was speechless.  And so the king said “bind him up and throw him into outer darkness. in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Listen, the Bible says hell was prepared for the devil and his angels.  Hell wasn’t made for you and me.  Paradise was made for you and me. God has prepared a place beyond our imagination for those that love Him.  But when we reject Jesus, we reject Paradise and choose to listen to the enemy, and as such they that do so will suffer the same fate as he who they chose to obey. 

Jesus closes this parable with a very simple statement, “For many are called, but few are chosen.” The call has gone out to the world, but only a few are chosen. The gospel invitation is sent out everywhere to everyone. Some are indifferent. Some are hostile. Some try to crash the wedding party on their own terms. But few are chosen. And with the word “chosen,” we’re introduced to the sovereignty of God in salvation.  I think we can parse this word from a lot of different perspectives, but the one perspective I want to focus on is the sovereign act of God in granting salvation, granting righteousness to those who believe.  You believe, and God grants you the kingdom. He graciously bestows upon you an inheritance in the kingdom.  He makes you His child and gives you all the benefits of an heir.

But the great emphasis that Jesus gives in this parable is not on the election of God, but the acceptance of the invitation by man.  He has extended to you that invitation today, to join HIs kingdom, to receive the righteousness of Jesus Christ and become a child of God.  The question is, will you come to Him and bow to Him and believe in Him, that you may be dressed in the robe of righteousness by which you may enter?  Come to Him today.   The invitation is given to you. 

Parable of the wheat and the tares, Matthew 13:24-33

We are continuing in our series on the parables of Jesus, and today we have come to a trilogy of parables which I believe are teaching a similar principle, albeit from differing perspectives.  These parables are part of a greater sermon that Jesus taught which is called the Olivet Discourse.  

Last week we looked at another parable from this sermon, which comes directly before these three. It is the parable of the sower. If you will recall, in that parable Jesus spoke of four types of soil, representing four conditions of the heart, all of which received the seed which was the word of God, but two failed to produce any real spiritual growth, one produced growth which was choked by weeds and thorns and did not produce fruit, and then one soil, the good soil, which produced varying degrees of fruitfulness.

Now the first parable in this series of three sort of builds on the parable of the sower by using a similar illustration of sowing.  Some aspects are similar, and some are different. For instance, in the previous parable Jesus taught that there were four types of soil, indicating believers and non-believers.  In this next parable, He teaches that there are two types of seed. 

Let’s consider then the parable of the wheat and the tares.  Jesus said, ““The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away.”  

I have repeatedly explained in our study of the parables that when Jesus speaks of the kingdom of heaven, He is not speaking of the eternal abode of the righteous, or a place somewhere in outer space where God lives and the saints shall live with Him.  But Jesus is speaking of the sovereign reign of God.  The Bible says that heaven is My throne, and the earth is my footstool.  God is the creator of the world, and He rules over the world.  Not all the people in the world have submitted to Him as Sovereign, but one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord.  Until that day, when He is revealed from heaven in power and glory, men are given the gospel, an invitation, that the way to gain citizenship in the kingdom has been offered through Jesus Christ.  That invitation was given when Jesus came to earth the first time. Men are given the opportunity to receive Him in this age and be spiritually reborn as sons and daughters of God.  And then when the King returns in His glory at the end of the age, those who are His people will join Him to live and reign with Him forever, but those who rejected Him during their life, will be cast out of the kingdom into eternal punishment. 

So when Jesus speaks of the kingdom of heaven, He is speaking of the intermediate age between the first coming and the second coming of the King.  It is the age in which we live on earth now.  God is on the throne in heaven, and He is over all the earth.  He has established His rule and law and proclaimed the good news of the kingdom and invited all who believe to enter.  And at the end of this age He will come again to judge the earth and consummate the final age of His kingdom on earth. 

The teaching of the kingdom of heaven was nothing new to the Jewish audience that listened to Jesus.  But they had a distorted view of what that would look like.  They were expecting the Messiah to be King, and to take up the throne of David in Jerusalem, to defeat the enemies of Israel, and establish Israel as the nation of God, which dominates the world, and to whom the world serves.  They expected a kingdom on earth, but with Israel as the people of God, and the rest of the world to be in subjection to them, or to be destroyed by the Messiah.  They expected that reign to begin immediately upon the inauguration of the Messiah and that it would never end.  They did not understand that it would be a spiritual kingdom for a long time, during which both righteousness and evil would be in effect on the earth for what has been 2000 years now, until the day when the Messiah returns to consummate that kingdom.

So when Jesus teaches concerning the kingdom of heaven, He is in effect correcting, if not  overturning the stereotypical views of the Jews.  And it must have been difficult for them to understand because like most people, they heard what they wanted to hear.  That’s why Jesus concluded the previous parable by saying, those that have ears to hear, let them hear.  Their hearing was hindered because they did not have spiritual insight.

The disciples,  on the other hand, did have spiritual insight, and so after Jesus had given the parable to the multitude, He went in the house, in vs 36, and the disciples asked Him then to explain the parable to them.

The interesting thing which Jesus taught,  is that during the present age, as the kingdom of heaven is in effect, there are those who are in subjection to the king, and those that are not. He says in vs 38, the field is analogous to the world. The entire world belongs to the king.  Those that have submitted to the King are those illustrated in the previous parable as the good soil.  They received the word of God, the seed, the gospel, and that seed sown in good ground has produced spiritual life.  And a similar analogy is given in this parable; Jesus says the good seed that was sown by the sower are the sons of the kingdom.

But in the parable Jesus says that there is an enemy of the king, who sowed tares among the wheat while the king’s men were sleeping.  In HIs interpretation of the parable Jesus identifies the enemy as the sons of the evil one.  These are those who have believed the lies of Satan. They are not concerned about the things of God because they have believed the lie rather than the truth. And so consequently they are doing the devil’s work in spreading lies and deceit amongst the world.

The idea of this happening while his men were sleeping is something that should be elaborated on.  There was a book that was written by John F. Kennedy while he was still a young man at Harvard.  And the book was titled, “Why England Slept.”  It was about how England and other western countries seemed to sleep while Hitler was ascending to power and preparing to take over Europe.  

A similar reference was made by many people regarding the Japanese invasion of Pearl Harbor.  While America was asleep, the warplanes of Japan were making their descent upon the unsuspecting forces in Pearl Harbor.  That same stealthy kind of approach by the enemy is what Jesus is referring to here in this parable.  It indicates the way in which the enemy works.  He is deceitful.  He works by lying, by subterfuge. He takes advantage of darkness, which is an idiom for ignorance.  And he works by counterfeiting.  The tares look like wheat.

It also indicates that Satan takes advantage of the lethargy and slumber of the church.  The job of the church is to be the watchman, to be wakeful, to be on the alert.  Peter says, be on the alert, because your adversary the devil goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.  But the devil is working while we are sleeping.   There was an album that came out years ago by Neil Young, called Rust Never Sleeps.  That may be said about the devil.  He is working 24/7 knowing that his time is short.  But meanwhile, the church seems to be taking a perpetual nap, while the corruption that is in the world is spreading at a frightful pace.

Jesus said the enemy sowed tares among the wheat.  Tares look like wheat when they are young, but in fact produce a poisonous fungus which makes a person sick.  That sickness is a pretty apt illustration of the nature of the lie of Satan. He promises happiness and fulfillment but in the end it only produces death. And the field which is the world receives the lie of Satan and they become corrupted and poisoned by sin which produces death.

That illustrates an important principle which I mentioned a moment ago.  The work of Satan is often a work of counterfeiting the gospel with another gospel.  A gospel without power, without conviction, without repentance, without the cross, without  judgment. Someone has aptly said, “Where the good seed is sown, there the evil is scattered thickest. False christs and false apostles dog the true like their shadows. Every truth has its counterfeit.”  Satan masquerades as an angel of light, and his message is a lie construed to look like the truth.

We have counterfeit churches in which the true gospel is not proclaimed. We have counterfeit ministries in which the Word of God is not taught. We have counterfeit ministers who open up the Bible and who twist it into false doctrine.  In other words, the counterfeit is always there in the presence of the true, and it is very easy to be misled by them if we are not students of the Bible, and come to the Lord and ask him to explain His word for us.

In the parable, the servants of the landowner come and ask him “‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’  That would seem to be the logical conclusion.  But Jesus says the landowner replies, “No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

What that indicates is that there is a danger to uprooting the counterfeit.  In an actual field of wheat, the roots of the tares may be intertwined with the wheat.  Pulling up the bad would perhaps inadvertently uproot the good. Also, the similarity between the two may be cause for a mistake to be made by the reapers.  And so Jesus says let them both grow.

I think it’s a mistake to try to draw too many conclusions from some elements of the story, particularly this element of not uprooting the tares until harvest. I”m not sure that we can draw too many analogies from that and be certain of our deductions. We might be tempted to say that perhaps even a false teacher could lead someone to become a believer.  And that may be one way of looking at it.  However, what I think the salient  point that Jesus is teaching is that the angels of God will wait until the judgment to separate the wheat from the tares.  I don’t think that Jesus is saying that we should not identify false teaching or should not call out false teachers.  There is plenty of evidence in scripture that indicates that we should call out false teaching and we should warn others concerning it.

But that is not what Jesus is primarily teaching here.  I think the primary lesson that He is illustrating is that both wheat and tares will be allowed to grow until the harvest.  And at the harvest, it will be clear which are wheat and which are tares, because the fruit will be evident.  The point is that there will be a judgment which will determine the sons of the kingdom from the sons of the evil one. Jesus said, “Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.”

Jesus expounds on that in vs 40 "So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”

I want you to notice that in the parable, Jesus refers to the tares as being burned, and in the interpretation of the parable Jesus again says that that lawless and stumbling blocks will thrown into the furnace of fire.  The point being that in both the parable and the interpretation, fire is fire.  The fire doesn’t symbolize something that is not fire.  So we don’t see the terror of hell which is symbolized by fire,  diminished in any way by the interpretation, but actually the reality of hell is reinforced.  The fact of a burning, actual fiery hell that lasts forever is clearly illustrated in this message.

But while the judgment at the end of the age is given great emphasis, the main point of the parable is that both wheat and tares are sown in the kingdom, and will be allowed to continue to grow until the day when Christ returns, and at that time will come the judgment.

And another point that is illustrated in the interpretation of the parable is that the deeds of the unrighteous will be the evidence that they never were converted. Jesus calls them stumbling blocks and those that commit lawlessness.  And by inference, the deeds of the righteous will be the proof that they are sons of the kingdom, even as the fruitfulness was an indication in the previous parable.  Deeds are not the means of salvation, but deeds are the evidence of it, or the evidence that you are not of the kingdom.  That should be clear from the parables. 

Now there are two other parables that Jesus gives immediately after the wheat and the tares. These two are not interpreted by Jesus.  However, I believe the key to a proper interpretation is found in the fact that they come in the sermon before the interpretation of the wheat and the tares.  And so I think that positioning indicates that they are part of a trilogy of parables which are teaching a similar principle, only one of which will be interpreted, but the juxtaposition of the other two before the interpretation means that they share in that interpretation.

Notice then the parable of the mustard seed. Jesus said in vs31 "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field;  and this is smaller than all [other] seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that THE BIRDS OF THE AIR come and NEST IN ITS BRANCHES.”

In this parable we see that the birds of the air nest in the branches of the mustard tree when it is full grown.  If we use the principle of expositional constancy, then we can deduce that the birds are a picture of the devil and his angels as identified in the parable of the sower.  In that parable Jesus says the birds who snatch away the seed is the evil one.  

The sower would be Jesus, if we follow the exposition of the previous parable. In this case, the mustard tree would be the church, which springs up from the good seed, which when fully grown becomes a tree big enough to have birds nest in it’s branches.  

What Jesus is illustrating here is similar to that of the wheat and the tares.  Within the kingdom exists both wheat and tares, both good and evil.  And within the church, the offshoot of the seed, exists both good and evil.  The devil and his angels find safe haven in the church.  We saw that same principle in the previous parable with the idea of counterfeit churches, and a counterfeit gospel.  Satan has always found a suitable site for subterfuge in the branches of the church, counterfeiting the truth with a lie.

Another thing that is worth pointing out about this parable is that a mustard seed does not produce a tree that big, but is actually a bush. Jesus seems to lay stress on the fact that this plant grows bigger than the other plants in the garden to become a tree.   A mustard seed producing a tree is abnormal growth.  And so we can see that what Jesus is teaching is that the church grows abnormally large, and as a result it harbors false teachers and false churches within it.  But if we apply the same teaching about the end of the age which we have seen previously, then at the end of the age, the fruit of the church will be evident and will precipitate the judgment of the unrighteous who have counterfeited the gospel.

Now I would be remiss if I didn’t say that the interpretation I have presented of the mustard seed and the parable of the leaven, is not the mainstream interpretation.  Most traditional commentators have taken the approach that the mustard seed is a picture of the church which will expand throughout the age and throughout the world. They say the same thing about the leaven, that it’s a picture of the church’s rise and prominence in the world.  That may be true, or not true, but either way I don’t think that is what Jesus is teaching.  Again, besides the principle of expositional constancy, I would point to another evidence for my view as the positioning of these two parables.  They are a continuation of the principle being taught in the wheat and tares, which is interpreted after they are all presented, signifying that they all share in that interpretation. 

Now that being said, let’s look at the last parable in this trilogy which I think will verify my position even further.  Vs 33 “He spoke another parable to them, "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened."  All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables, and He did not speak to them without a parable.  [This was] to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: "I WILL OPEN MY MOUTH IN PARABLES; I WILL UTTER THINGS HIDDEN SINCE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD.””

This parable of the leaven is very short and simple.  And yet it too is often misinterpreted as a picture of the growth of the church.  But the problem with that is that leaven is always presented in the Bible as a picture of sin and corruption. Jesus on at least a couple of occasions preached, “beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” They were the stumbling blocks which prohibited the Jews from coming to Christ.  He was speaking of the corrupt teaching which was being done by them which kept the Jews in bondage.  And in the Passover, leaven is a picture of sin, and they were to search out the house for leaven and throw it out, and eat unleavened bread.  It was a  picture of getting rid of the sinful, corrupting influences of the world.

So if you are consistent with that symbolism, then the woman taking flour and adding leaven to it until it was all leavened is not a picture of the church growing in a good way, but growing in a bad way.  The leaven is a corrupting influence which causes the dough to rise.  And so the corrupting influence of sin in the church spreads to all the church.

We also see a similarity in the woman hiding the leaven in the dough, and the enemy sowing the tares while they were sleeping.  Both indicate the stealthy, subversive nature of the tactics of the enemy to sow bad seed in the church.

The idea of hiding leaven in three measures of meal would have offended any observant Jew. This certainly isn’t a picture of the church gradually influencing the whole world for good. Rather, in the context of increasing opposition to His work, Jesus announced that His church would be influenced by corruption and false teaching and a tolerance for sin.

In the final analysis, we must examine ourselves in light of these parables as to whether or not we are truly sons and daughters of the kingdom, or whether we have been deceived by the lie of the devil and are actually children of rebellion.  Jesus said by their fruits you shall know them.  Those who have confessed Jesus as Lord have received the righteousness of Christ resulting in being born again spiritually as children of God.  And as such, they have a new nature, and their deeds are evidence of that.  Those that are in rebellion are still in their sins, and are  still carnal, and their lawless deeds are evidence of their nature.  

The difference might not be easily seen.  On the surface, the regenerate and the unregenerate may look the same.  But God sees the heart.  And on the day when we all are judged at Christ’s appearing, God will separate the sheep from the goats, the righteous from the unrighteous, and the wheat from the tares. 

If you are here today and you have realized in your heart that you have never been born again spiritually through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord, then you still have the opportunity to surrender to Jesus Christ today.  Today is the acceptable day of salvation.  Today Jesus invites you to join His kingdom.  I pray that you will call upon Him today and be delivered from the dominion of darkness to the kingdom of Jesus Christ.  Don’t put it off.  Call upon the Lord today and be saved.  

The Parable of the Sower, Matthew 13:1-23

Today, of course, is the holiday we call Easter.  The origins of this holiday are not completely clear.  Some people think that the Emperor Constantine changed a pagan holiday on this date to become a day which the resurrection of Christ would be celebrated.  That cannot be verified.  But we do know that by the time of Martin Luther and the Reformation, the association by Christians with Easter as a celebration of the resurrection was pretty much established.  So much so that the translators of the King James Version substituted the word Easter for the original word Passover in Acts 12:4.  Most of our modern versions do not have that substitution.  The NASB, for instance, reads the passover, not Easter. 

So consequently, we do not actually find Easter mentioned in the scriptures.  However, we do celebrate the Lord’s resurrection every Sunday.  It being the day of His resurrection, the first day of the week, we come together to worship the Lord.

One aspect of the resurrection though that is rarely considered is how it applies to me. The Bible says in 1Cor. 15:20-22 “But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.  For since by a man [came] death, by a man also [came] the resurrection of the dead.  For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.”  So we learn from that there is a resurrection for us that believe, in the same way that Christ was resurrected.  

But in a manner of speaking there are two resurrections for the believer. The first is when we are dead in our sins, and made alive in Christ.  There is a resurrection from death to life which is our spiritual rebirth.  It is when we become a Christian.  Jesus said you must be born again by the Spirit. Salvation then, comes as a result of first dying to the old man, and then being born again as a new man by the Spirit of God.  And then at Christ’s second coming, there will be a bodily resurrection, at the last trumpet, when the dead in Christ will rise first and meet the Lord in the air.  At that point our bodies will be changed from corruption to that which is incorruptible.  It will be changed from mortal to immortal.  But first comes the spiritual regeneration, when we die to the old man and are born again in the Spirit.

In speaking of the bodily resurrection from the dead, Paul said in 1 Cor.15:36, “That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies; and that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own.” Now he is speaking of the resurrection from the dead there.  But it also can apply to our regeneration, when we die to the flesh, and are raised up to live with Christ, to walk from that point on by the Spirit, and not by the flesh any longer.

Now I don’t intend on preaching a typical Easter message today.  But I did want to make the point that the importance of Christ’s resurrection has greater implications than simply His body coming out of the tomb.  But because He lives, we live.  Because He was resurrected we shall be resurrected. However, I also think that this principle of resurrection to new life is illustrated to some degree by the parable we are studying today.  As most of you should know, we have been studying the parables of Jesus for a number of weeks now, and today we come to what is known as the Parable of the Soils. 

This chapter is a continuation of a long day of teaching that Jesus did beginning in chapter 12.  That same day, according to vs 1 of chapter 13, Jesus sat by the seashore.  Jesus teaching at the beach seems to be a common occurrence in the gospels, as most of the time His teaching was outdoors. And on this occasion such large crowds gathered to Him that he moved to a boat and the crowds came near the waterline to hear Him.

Jesus began to teach them, and He spoke to them in parables.  Just as a reminder, a parable is not a morality tale, it’s not an allegory.  It is a fictional illustration set in the physical world used to teach spiritual principles.  The first story that He tells is one that would be readily appreciated by his audience, who were  from an agrarian culture, people that would easily understand and relate to this illustration of sowing and reaping.  Not only that, but surrounding the Sea of Galilee were farm fields on the hillsides which could have been in the process of being sown at that very moment. And so the people could have been hearing Jesus describe what their eyes were witnessing in the distance at that very moment.

Now we are also fortunate, because in this parable, which is not always the case, Jesus explains the parable later to the disciples.  So we can be certain that we understand what He was teaching.  So there are two parts to this passage, the first part is the telling of the parable which the crowd received, and then the explanation of the parable which the disciples received.  And there is an interlude in between where Jesus explains why that is so.

So Jesus presents the parable to the crowd on the beach saying, "Behold, the sower went out to sow;  and as he sowed, some [seeds] fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. And others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.”

Now that’s all that the crowd got to hear.  They had to figure it out from there.  And I have to say that even though the crowd was from an agrarian culture, and they probably had living examples on the hillsides doing the exact thing that Jesus was speaking of, they probably had no clue as to what He was really saying.  Perhaps the best that they could extract from it would have been something along the lines of - most of your work will be unprofitable, but if you do a lot of it, some will be profitable.  So perhaps they thought the moral of the story is to work hard and some of it will pay off eventually.  After all, there was no real reason for the people to be see a spiritual application in that story.  Everything that the gospels tell us makes it pretty clear that the multitudes who were drawn to Christ were really only looking for physical “blessings” in the way of food, or healing, or being able to have Israel reinstated as an independent monarchy under the reign of the Messiah who would be an actual king and would defeat their enemies.

There inability to discern the truth of the parable is why Jesus ends the story with the cryptic phrase; “he who has ears, let him hear.” This was not a call for all to listen.  Rather, it was a call for those who were spiritually aware to understand the spiritual lesson being taught.  It was said in recognition that they were not spiritually listening.  They were only interested in physical things. But Jesus is saying that there is more than physical lessons here.  There is a spiritual lesson which they needed to hear, but they first needed to gain spiritual awareness.

So Jesus has this great big crowd who have all come to see Him.  And He gives them this cryptic sermon that they can’t possibly figure out on their own and He walks off the beach. And the disciples, I imagine, think that Jesus has blown a good opportunity. He failed to make the message clear, and bring it home with a suitable sentimental story and an invitation to walk the isle repeat this prayer after me.

So perhaps reproachfully, they say, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” There might have been a huge number of people who made a commitment to follow Christ that day, but instead, He left a lot of people on the beach scratching their heads, asking one another, “what did it mean to you?”

So the disciples question why Jesus taught in parabl, and He answers by saying in vs 11 "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. For whoever has, to him [more] shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, 'YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND; YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE;  FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL, WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR, AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES, OTHERWISE THEY WOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES, HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN, AND I WOULD HEAL THEM.' But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see [it,] and to hear what you hear, and did not hear [it.]” 

Now that answer deserves a message of it’s own to plumb all the depths of what Jesus said.  But we aren’t going to take the time to parse it all this morning.  However, the gist of what Jesus is saying is that it takes spiritual life, new eyes and new ears that are spiritually tuned, in order to understand the spiritual truth of the parable.  The disciples had that new life. The multitudes did not.

In His answer Jesus revisits the principle we talked about last week in regards to the Parable of the Talents.  That to him who has, more shall be given, and him who does not have, even what he has shall be taken away. And if you remember we said that which they had was spiritual life, and those that did not have spiritual life would even lose what they did have, which was natural life.  Jesus says the same thing here in regards to why He speaks in parables.  If they don’t have spiritual life, then they cannot understand spiritual truth.

It really goes back to what Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3.  You must be born again. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Without being born again, without new eyes and new ears, there can be no understanding of spiritual things.

Then Jesus explains the parable to the disciples.  He says, hear then the parable of the sower.  I originally called my message the Parable of the Soils.  That seemed to make sense to me, and besides, that’s what most commentators called it. But Jesus calls it the parable of the sower.  And so I changed my title.  It’s Jesus’s story, and I suppose He knows best.

However, the tendency to call it the parable of the soils is due to the fact that Jesus describes four types of soil in the parable.  He gives practically no description of the sower.  We are not even told who he is.  But we can deduce that the sower is Jesus Christ Himself. And we can find justification for that in another parable, 

 There is a parable which we will look at next week which begins in vs 24 of this chapter, called the parable of the wheat and the tares.  And Jesus explains that parable in vs 37, saying, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man…” 

I’ve mentioned before a principle of hermeneutics called expositional constancy, that means symbols in scripture seem to have the same meaning.  And you might be able to make that case here. It’s safe to say that if the Lord is the sower in one place, He certainly could be the sower in another place. After all, the good seed comes from Him, doesn’t it? That’s not a stretch. So we could conclude then that the one who sows initially is the Lord Jesus Christ, the One who has the word of life. 

And that assumption clues us in on what is the seed in the parable.  The seed is the word of God.  Jesus calls it in vs 19 "the word of the kingdom.” It could also mean the message of the kingdom. Luke records this same parable and in  Luke 8:11 he adds “the seed is the Word of God.”  So the message of the kingdom is contained in the Word of God. Jesus began His ministry preaching the kingdom of God is at hand.  Over and over again He has given instructions concerning the kingdom of God, or the kingdom of heaven. The message is that Jesus is the King of the kingdom of heaven, and His rule is over heaven and earth.  The message is the good news, the gospel, that God has made a way for man to enter into His kingdom, and receive the blessings of the kingdom.  The blessings of the kingdom are life, spiritual life, abundant life, eternal life.  So the gospel, the word of God, is the seed which Jesus Christ is spreading abroad over the earth.

And I think the point should be emphasized that without the word of God a man cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus doesn’t give an example here of a patch of soil in which no seed was cast, because that should be obvious.  Without seed, there can be no growth, no life.  So it’s  important that we recognize the essentiality of the word of God in salvation. I could say a lot about that, but we don’t have time.  However, I do want to emphasize it, because I’m afraid that so often today the word of God is being de-emphasized.  We substitute all kinds of things in the church for the preaching of the word, singing, skits, dramas, films, etc.  And we wonder why people are not saved.  Paul said in 1Cor. 1:18 “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 

Now that brings us to the soil.  Jesus gives us four types of soil.  And the soil symbolizes the heart of man.  The heart, when spoken of spiritually, is really the soul.  It is the seat of man’s intellect, emotions and will.  Jesus references the aspect of the intellect especially in the first soil, the packed hard road beside the field. There were byways through the farmer’s fields that allowed people to traverse across their property without trampling on the crops.  And these byways were not cultivated.  They were hard packed.  And some of the seed cast by the sower falls on the hard packed soil that is not broken up. It lays on top and Jesus says the birds of the air come and eat the seed.

He says when anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. So we see in that statement several things.  First, the necessity to understand the word. That incorporates the intellect.  Secondly, the birds are interpreted as the evil one.  That references the devil and his angels, and Jesus indicates that they can snatch away the word of God. The word of God is foolishness to these people who don’t understand it.  So they disregard it, and the devil makes sure that it is dismissed as foolishness and not brought back to their mind.  And the third thing Jesus teaches in that statement is that the soil is the heart. The word of God was sown in the heart. 

Romans 10:10 says, “for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”  The first soil illustrates a hard, unbelieving heart in which the word is not received.

Jesus next interprets the rocky soil. Vs20 "The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away.”

Rocky soil is soil that is a very thin layer of dirt over a bed of rock.  And because the root can’t go down, the growth spurts up, but when the sun becomes hot, there is no moisture in the soil and the plant wilts and eventually dies.  Jesus interprets this as a person who hears the word, but has not counted the cost of discipleship. This is what I spoke of earlier, in order for the seed to grow, it must first die.  There is a cost to Christianity, a cost to following Christ.  It requires a sacrifice of your will, for doing His will. Some people are happy to accept that Jesus died for their sins so that they can receive the blessings of God.  But they don’t realize that they need to die to their flesh as well. Jesus said take up your cross and follow Me. That’s what it means to confess Jesus as Lord.  These people were not saved and then lost it, they were never saved at all. They had a superficial salvation, but never a true conversion.

The third soil is the thorny soil. Charles Spurgeon gave a great sermon on just this soil alone.  He hardly mentioned the other soils, just the thorny soil.  And perhaps because if I had to guess this is the most pervasive one. Thorns are pervasive, aren’t they?  I noticed again yesterday that the first things to get green in the field around my house is the thorns. They take over.  You don’t need to plant thorns, they are naturally prolific.

Jesus said in vs22 "And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”  I’ve always had a question in my mind whether or not this person is saved or unsaved.  The first two were clearly unsaved.  This one I’m not so sure. I think the indication is that if he persists in that condition then he is unsaved.  But perhaps there is a chance that this person is saved, he has new life, but he backslides.  He turns back to the things of the world that he was supposed to have forsaken.  He becomes so enamored with the world again and the pursuit of money, or his career, or something that is carnal, fleshly, that it chokes the spiritual life to the point that it doesn’t produce fruit. 

But maybe I’m being overly generous in that assumption this person could be saved.  Because Jesus says in Matt. 7:16-20 "You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn [bushes] nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits.”  So, the bottom line is that a life that does not bear fruit is not truly a Christian.  Perhaps there is a time where God has to do some pruning, some cutting away, some cultivation in order to take away the thorns and weeds which are choking out the life, but the bottom line is that fruit is the evidence of spiritual life and the lack of fruit is evidence of no spiritual life.

Well that leads to the last type of soil, and that is the good soil. The seed which fell on the good soil  *yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.  Jesus said in vs 23 "And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.”  The number of the fruit there is not of primary importance.  But what is important about the good soil is that it is fruitful. How much may depend on other conditions. But the point is that believers bear fruit. 

The question is, what is fruit? A common misconception is that fruit is leading other people to Christ.  That may play a part in it, but that is not specifically what Jesus is talking about.  Fruit is righteousness.  It’s a life of righteousness.  Not just being declared righteous by faith, resulting in justification.  But living righteously, which is sanctification.  

I’ll give you a couple of verses to support that.  Phil. 1:9-11 says, “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment,  so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ;  having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which [comes] through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”  The fruit of righteousness.  It comes through Christ living in you. No longer you living for your desires, but Christ living in you.

Another is Heb. 12:10-11 talking about our earthly fathers, “For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He [disciplines us] for [our] good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” There it is again, the fruit of righteousness, sharing in God’s holiness.

Righteousness is the fruit of the new life. John said in 1John 3:7 “Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.” That’s the evidence of being truly saved.  That’s the evidence of being a Christian.  There is a new life of righteousness which is evident to the world.

That life of righteousness is what the scripture refers to as sanctification. Hebrews 12:14 says, “Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.”  Sanctification is holiness, righteousness. It is being holy because He is holy. And so let me close by saying this.  Examine yourselves this morning in the light of this parable.  Which soil do you think characterizes the state of your heart? Do you not understand this message and are going to forget about it as soon as it’s over? That’s the soil by the road.  Or are you like the rocky soil?  You had some sort of spiritual  experience once and because of that you think you are saved.  But in reality the word of God has never taken root in your heart.  And so there has not been any spiritual life.

Or do you recognize yourself as the soil that is thorny? You believed the word, you have had some spiritual growth, but the the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth are choking the word, and your life is unfruitful. If that’s the case, you need to uproot those thorns, confess your sin to the Lord and ask Him to cleanse you, to renew a right spirit within you. Repentance is the plow that produces good soil, which results in the fruit of righteousness.  

Psalm 51:10, 12, 17 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. ... 12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit. ... 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.