Five Frank Facts

Let's take your Bibles this morning and open them to Matthew chapter 13.

One of his parables is somehow better than the others, but in this case Jesus explains his parable, and we always kind of like that.

And he put it out there very plainly, and so I want to read the parable, and then also his explanation. So starting in Matthew chapter 13 verse 24, down through verse 30, that's the parable, and then we'll skip to verse 36 and get his explanation.

Another parable he put forth to them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field.

But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the 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 then to go 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 in bundles to burn them.

But gather the wheat into my barn. And then skipping over to verse 36, Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.

And he answered and said to them, He who sows the good seed is the son of man. 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 who sowed them is 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 it will be at the end of this age.

The son of man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness will cast them into the furnace of fire.

There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

All right, so we have the parable, and then we have his explanation. I've chosen this text this morning. It is a passage that I've preached on before a number of times, different angles, various angles, and some of the principles that I'm going to be bringing in to you through the message we've talked about before.

But my intention this morning is to, like I said at the beginning of our service, to have us to begin thinking about getting connected. And this passage really is a very evangelistic passage.

The passage is speaking to the issue of the gospel, the gospel being presented to a world that has lost and saved people.

The saved are to bring the gospel to the lost, and the lost are saved, and we trust God to do all of that work.

And so this is evangelistic, and what I'm going to be saying this morning, I think should speak and will speak to those who have yet trusted Jesus as Lord and Savior.

I think for the most part, as I look around this room, I think what I have here, what we have here in our sanctuary, are people who are saved.

For the vast majority of you. And so this is a word for you as well, because when we identify what is identified here in this parable, identify what is the case for most of the people in this world, it should mean something to us, it should matter to us, and therefore we should get connected in whatever way might help in the presenting of the gospel to a lost world.

And not only that, but also those God is pleased to bring into our church through children's ministry and youth ministry and other ministries of WANAs and such, that are open slates, so to speak.

And we have the opportunity to plant that seed, the seed in their hearts and lives that we know that God will water and grow. And so we need to get connected to this type of ministry.

And so either your need is to get connected to Jesus this morning, and this passage says something to you very clearly. Or we need to get connected in some way to the Lord's kingdom work, not only here in Bartlesville, but around the world.

And so what I want to do this morning is to take this passage and to be very frank with you on some issues, actually frank about some certain facts that we can glean from this particular passage.

They're frank facts. And I think once we begin to look at them, you're going to say, you know, yeah, these are pretty serious, pretty frank facts.

And so what are they? Well, they're not Baptist facts. Okay, let's just make sure we understand that, although we are, for the majority of us, I'm sure, Baptist.

If you're a member of this church, you're a Baptist. I'm a Baptist, and most of us here are Baptist, but these are not Baptist facts. These are not facts that have been developed by any denomination, not any church, not creeds, or catechisms, or anything like that.

These are facts from the Word of God. And we can find these facts in a number of places throughout Scripture, but we can find them all right here in this particular passage. And they are facts for all people.

All people. Baptist, Methodist, Wesleyan, Presbyterian, Episcopal, you know, you just name all of the mainline denominations, Pentecostals of every flavor, Catholics even, non-denominational.

These are facts for those who would say, I'm non-denominational. These are facts for those who are not anything at all. And they're especially for those people who are not anything.

These are facts for all people. I remember Bob Hope, you know, the comedian who's now gone. Not sure where he is today, but Bob Hope, in one of his famous comedy monologues, he said, I joined the Catholic Church and a Protestant Church, and I joined a Jewish synagogue.

He said, I didn't want to miss heaven on a technicality. Now, I know he was joking about that. And again, I don't know where Bob Hope stood in relation to the facts that we're going to be looking at this morning.

Perhaps he would have called them some troubling technicalities. But these are not technicalities. These are facts. Facts from the Word of God.

And here's the first one. And they're really very simple. The first one is simply this. Not all people will be saved. You say, well, I already knew that.

This is important. Even if you already knew it, we are compelled to ask the question, well, does that make any difference to us as God's people?

And does that make any difference to us in the way we live our lives and the way we serve him through his church? But the fact is, not all people will be saved.

Now again, Jesus gives his interpretation of this parable starting in verse 37, and I read it a moment ago. And there he explains that he who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.

Now Jesus is speaking of himself here in this parable. He's the Son of Man. The Son of Man is a title or designation for the Messiah.

So it is the Messiah, it is the Lord Jesus who sows the good seed. And then the field, he says, as we could assume and would have understood even if he hadn't explained it, is the world.

The world in which we live. So he sows the seed in this world in which we live. Now what is this good seed or are the good seeds?

Well, Jesus explains that too in verse 38. The good seeds are the sons of the kingdom. At least that's the way it's translated here in the New King James and some other versions.

It is a Greek word, huios, and it is generally translated son or sons and generally that's the case. It refers to male children.

So it's translated here sons of the kingdom. But there are some other versions of the Bible, of course, and I could refer to the King James and some of you have that version there and you're looking at it.

It doesn't say sons, it says children. Children of the kingdom. New American Standard also uses that same word to translate huios. Children of the kingdom.

And that's the meaning here. I'm not just talking about male offspring, male sons. He's talking about descendants, technically, literally.

Jesus is referring to generations of those born into the kingdom. So these are what? They're the saved. That's what he's talking about. The saved.

The wheat are the saved. John chapter 1 verse 12 describes them. But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become what? Children of God.

To become children of God to those who believe in his name. So you see, Jesus is saying this, that he has planted, is planting children in his world.

In this world. He sows them throughout the world. This past couple of weeks, the team and Wes and I, the second week, we've met many of these that the Lord has sown into his world.

They are believers. They are his children. They are sons of the kingdom. Sons and daughters of the kingdom. And they are children of God planted all around the world. And they have been planted to grow and to mature and to become fruitful plants of righteousness and to be witnesses in a world that is quite frankly filled with tares.

So who are the tares? Well, he explains that too. See, we don't have to guess about it. Verse 38. The tares are the sons of the wicked one. The tares are the lost in this world.

Now the wicked one, who is that? The devil. You say, did you guess about that? No, it's right there in verse 39. The enemy who sowed the tares is the devil.

Alright, so the tares are those who are lost. The devil has his fake wheat in this world, so to speak.

Now, pay attention to this because Jesus mentions no other kinds of plants in the world. Wheat or tares.

So people are either wheat or they are tares. Children of either the kingdom, the kingdom of God, or the wicked one. Children of the wicked one.

There are no others. Those are the two. And so the frank fact is, not all people will be children of the kingdom. Not all people will be saved.

Now, the universalists, those who believe in universalism, which, by the way, is just the idea or the belief that all people will ultimately go to heaven when they die, and that's a lie.

That's a lie. Universalism is a damnable lie. And yet, you know, I could wish that universalism were true.

What about you? I could wish it were true. I mean, I would love to believe in universalism if it were true.

That's not. And it is a lie of the devil. But there's a part of me that could wish it were true. I would love to believe that God is not going to allow anyone to die and go to hell.

In fact, I would love to believe what many cults are teaching, and that is that there is no hell. Wouldn't you like to believe that? There is no hell, no eternal punishment for the lost, no divine retribution toward unbelievers.

I'm just saying, you know, Don Coleman wants to believe what the universalists believe, that we are all God's children. Wouldn't it be great if that were true?

It's just not true. You know, a lot of us would like to believe that, especially in certain instances and times in life. You know, there are parents with lost sons and daughters who would like to believe in universalism.

There are wives who would love to believe that their husband is saved when he is not. They would like to believe in universalism.

That their children, lost parents, grandparents, who would like to believe in universalism, but it's not true. It's a lie.

Not all will be saved. Does that matter to us? And how do we respond to that? How do we respond to that?

How should we as individual believers and as a church? How should we respond to the fact, the frank fact, that not all people are saved?

That leads us to the second frank fact, and it really kind of follows a natural succession, and that is the majority of people will be lost. I didn't just say many will be, I said the majority of them will be.

That's a frank fact, isn't it? That the majority of people will be lost. Now this is not what we want to believe. You know, in our own heart of hearts, we don't want to believe that.

But that is what the Bible very frankly reveals is the truth about mankind. Most people will die and go to hell. That's, that's a fact.

And that fact is found right here in this parable. We, we can see in verse 25, but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.

And all we have to do is just look at that little preposition among. Among. sowed tares among the wheat. And literally the meaning of this word, this little preposition means that he sowed tares on, in, around each grain of wheat.

And so here's the idea, here's the picture, and it was something that would have been very common in the days in which Jesus told this parable. It was a, kind of a weapon of warfare in this day where, where it pictures an enemy sneaking in under the cover of darkness.

And then, because he cannot see any, very well, it's night time, he does not sow the tares. That's what he's doing. He's sowing the tares among the good wheat.

He doesn't sow them in any, kind of special fashion or orderly fashion like the farmer would. Instead, he just throws it out there. He scatters it all around the field.

It scatters these, these, these tares everywhere. On top of the wheat, beside the wheat, all around the wheat, in the rows of wheat, between the rows of wheat, everywhere.

It's scattered everywhere throughout the field. And the point is this, remember the tares, according to Jesus, represent the lost. All right? And throughout history, the tares have always outnumbered the wheat by huge, enormous percentages.

In fact, it seems that in many parts of the world, even today, especially today, there's seen, there are parts of the world that seem to be totally sown with tares, with unbelievers.

There's some Middle Eastern countries that have populations that range, you know, from 80 to 90, some would even say 100% Muslim. Well, I think God has his people there, even if we don't know they're there, but the vast majority of these Muslim countries are tares.

You know, rejecting the gospel of Jesus Christ, in fact, many of them are very militant in this, in their fighting against Christianity. But the tares outnumber the wheat in the world.

You say, well, what about our country? I think there was a time when I would have said that, well, maybe, you know, it's not the majority. The majority of Americans are not lost.

And yet, I think, I think really, even in our day, Christianity, true believers are among the minority in this country.

In fact, for years, what seemed to be Christianity was just some kind of cultural thing. that is just very quickly just dissolving before our very eyes. The fact is, the frank fact is that the majority of people in the world, even our world, are not saved.

And what does that mean to us? Well, how should we respond to it? In the seventh chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is even more specific about this second frank fact.

And in Matthew chapter 7, verse 13, remember, he says, wide is the gate and broad is the way and that leads to destruction. And there are many, he says, many who go in by it.

Now, you can do your word study on that if you want to and you can try to squeeze in some argument that he means something else. But what does Jesus mean when he says many? Actually, it means most.

If you go to the very next verse, he uses the word few in relation to the saved. So, few are saved, so many means most.

Most are lost. The majority of the people in this world are lost and they are going to spend eternity in hell where Jesus says there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

You know, a lot of people don't like that kind of preaching. Well, I don't like it either. I really don't. I'd rather talk on something else. But you know, how we feel about a certain thing, that doesn't change the fact.

And we need to face these kinds of facts. As believers, as individual believers, God's people, that God has saved and placed here to live out the truths of the word of God, the gospel, and also to proclaim them.

This ought to mean something to us. That not everyone is going to go to heaven. In fact, the vast majority are not going to go to heaven.

And most of the people that you work with meet at the grocery store, at Walmart, or at the ball games, or at civic events, or school events, they're lost.

They're lost and headed for a Christless eternity. The frank fact is, frank fact number three, many will perish who expect to be saved.

Many will perish who expect to be saved. perish. Now, this is an interesting fact. And by perish, I don't mean just dying physically. You know, I'm talking about what the Bible says, what the Bible calls eternal punishment in hell.

I believe in a literal place called hell. That's the way the Bible preaches. I believe it. And many are going to go there who expect it to go somewhere else.

the word tears in this parable comes from a Greek word for a plant that resembles the wheat.

You know that, don't you? Tear looks like wheat. At least to a point. And then when it reaches its maturity, then it begins to reveal itself because it's fruitless.

All right? So a tear actually refers to this word darnel. Maybe you've heard of it darnel. It's kind of a weedy, kind of rye grass type of plant.

It's a weed. And there are those who say that it's very difficult to tell the plants apart until they reach their maturity at the harvest time. And that's why in our parable we have the servants coming to the householder and saying there in verse 28, do you want us to go out and gather them up?

Gather these tares up. Uproot them. Take them out from the wheat. And the householder says in verse 29, no, don't do that.

Lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. That's pretty logical. And what he's saying is you servants you don't have the eyes to be able to distinguish between the tares and the wheat.

But later at the harvest time then the experienced harvesters will come in and they'll be able to separate the tares from the wheat. By the way these harvesters Jesus says in verse 39 are the holy angels.

And so the fact is we cannot always identify the tares. And really it's not our business to identify them. To identify the tares.

Because they sometimes look just like the wheat. And they're lost in the world especially in our culture. Our still in some sense a Christian culture.

There are lost people today who not only look like and act like the wheat or the saved but they think they are saved. This is the danger.

There are church members for example who somehow got on the church role in churches just like ours. I hope it's not the case here but we've got to be honest about it.

There are people on church roles all around America who think that they're going to go to heaven just because they're a member of that church. That they walked that aisle.

They prayed that prayer or whatever the scenario was and filled out a card and give their tithe every week and do maybe even some other things and thinking that being part of a Christian institution called the church somehow makes them Christian.

And they're not. Many of them. They're good moral men and women who have never told a lie never cheated on their income tax and never said a cross word to anyone.

People who are good people. And giving people. Give you their shirt off their back. And great people. But people who have never truly been saved.

Never truly been saved. Who one day will stand before Jesus. They will be outraged. They will be shocked out of their minds.

Even offended when he looks at them and says depart from me. I never knew. The frank fact is that there will be many who will perish who expect to be saved.

Expect to be saved. Frank fact number four, there is no salvation after death. Now, I'm preaching to the choir here.

I doubt or seriously have anybody here in this room who believes that somehow there's an opportunity for salvation after a person dies. But there are those who think otherwise.

But the fact is, there is no salvation after death. And there are many people who have heard the gospel and they know, you know, they've been told what they need to do to repent and trust Jesus Christ and they're waiting.

Many waiting until it's too late. And with some people, you know, their philosophy in life is ready, aim, aim, aim.

And they never get around to doing it. They just aim to do it. And they never ever do it. And so, in this parable, Jesus explains that the tares represent again the children of the wicked one or the lost.

And when the harvest comes, something very permanent happens to them. Jesus says in verse 39, the harvest is the end of the age.

And so, the harvest then speaks of the end of opportunity. End of an age. I think it's the age of grace.

grace. And so, the opportunity for the tares to respond to the gospel will one day come to an end. And it will be done.

That's all there is. It will come to an end. And Jesus says in verse 40, the tares will be gathered and burned in the fire. In verse 42, and they shall cast them into the furnace of fire.

there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. And it's, of course, a reference to hell. There's no way to get around it.

And verse 43, Jesus says, the wheat, the saved, will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their father. And this, of course, is a reference ultimately to heaven, the eternal state.

And so, someone might say, you mean there's no second chance after we die? No, there's none. No, no second chance. Are you sure about that?

Well, how about the rich man in Luke 16? Jesus tells a story, you know the story very well. We studied it many moons ago as we've been working our way through the gospel of Luke.

Tells a story about the rich man and the beggar named Lazarus. And you know the story, and the rich man was lost, and when he died, he went to hell. And Lazarus, the poor man, was saved, and when he died, he went to heaven.

Right? That's the gist of the first part of the parable. But then in this passage, we get a glimpse of what hell is like. Jesus is giving us a glimpse of that as he tells this story, this story of the rich man and Lazarus.

And even in the story, the rich man giving us little information about what it's like in hell. In fact, let me just read a part of it.

In verse 23, this is all in Luke 16. Verse 23, And being in torments in Hades, or hell, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

And then he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame.

He's in hell. This is a terrible place. But Abraham said, Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things, but now he is comforted and you are tormented.

And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf affixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.

There is no possibility of a second chance after someone dies and goes to hell. There is no glimmer of a chance, no glimmer of a hope.

In fact, the Bible teaches that when a man perishes, and a woman too, perishes, his, her expectations perish. Hope perishes.

In hell, there is no hope. You know, I guess, you know, even in this life, when a person reaches a place of hopelessness, maybe it's some terminal illness, there's always some glimmer of hope that there will be a cure for it before they die.

Or whatever the circumstance is, you could even be in prison for life and still have some hope, you know. And maybe you get out, but in hell there is no hope.

It's done. And there is no second chance for those who go to hell. Does that mean anything to you? One more frank fact.

One day, the last gospel message will be preached. The very last one. One day, the last gospel message will be preached.

And, you know, those tares who were growing alongside of the wheat, enjoying the benefits of being there with the wheat, and everything is great and wonderful and no care in the world, and then suddenly, the harvester's sharp sickle cuts them down.

Separation from the wheat. You know, they're good friends, the wheat. Bundled together with all the other tares thrown into the fire.

I would imagine, in fact, we get a glimpse of this from Scripture, an indication of this from Scripture, that there will be many of those tares who will say, what?

What's this? I mean, I thought I still had some time. I mean, this isn't fair.

No second chance. I was going to. But, I wonder how many will say that.

Proverbs 27 1 says, do not boast about tomorrow. Don't just count on tomorrow. You can't boast on tomorrow, for you do not know what a day will bring.

You do not know. Five frank facts. They are frank, aren't they? not all people will be saved.

The majority will be lost. What does that mean to us? And many will perish to expect to be saved.

And there is no salvation after death. And one day, the very last gospel message will be preached.

For some, that may be today. Maybe. Maybe. But at some point, all gospel preaching will come to an end.

The opportunity will be over. The plea to repent and trust Jesus as Lord and Savior.

That will come to an end one day. But it hasn't come to an end yet. Not yet.

So kind of like the old hymn that we never sing anymore. Work, work, work till Jesus comes. We keep working until that opportunity is over.

On our side of it, as believers, we're gospel preachers, every one of us. And we have a responsibility to keep preaching till Jesus comes.

The ministry of the word is something that we're all involved in. I mean, there are those of us who have been called specifically to that ministry, yes. But all of us have been called to the ministry of the word.

Now, what does that involve? It involves teaching a Sunday school class, little children, and all the way up to the oldest among us.

It involves discipling and introducing young lives to the gospel and Awana and some of our other children's events that we have throughout the year.

We've got one coming up here in October. Involves serving in your church. Many other things.

We just keep working until Jesus comes. lives. Because not everybody is saved. Most are lost. Most are lost.

There's no opportunity for them to be saved after death. We keep working until Jesus comes. .