2819 Church - WISDOM AND WONDER | Weeds and Fire | Matthew 13:24-43 | Philip Anthony Mitchell

Episode Date: January 4, 2025

In SZN 2, EP 3 of “WISDOM & WONDER,” Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell expounds on the wisdom conveyed by Jesus through the parables found in Matthew 13:24-43. Welcome to the official Youtube channel for 2819 Church. This channel features powerful and life-impacting messages from Philip Anthony Mitchell and guest communicators. As you listen to these sound biblical messages you can expect to be challenged, stirred, matured and inspired in your faith and walk with God. For more information about us visit 2819Church.org.

If there was a there was ever a time I would uh I would beg you I would beg you it would be on this message, this text. It's not complicated. I don't even know if I can add much to what Jesus is about to say to us from his word. I think there's sometimes you just read. And if there was ever a time I would beg you to just push past just every distraction to just to just hear with your heart. It would be these next few moments we're about to spend together.

I'm all messed up on the inside because this text has been sitting on me all week. I've struggled to really just wrap my mind around the gravity of this text. And I'm not sure what's going to come out of my mouth if even the outline of my heart will come out properly. At this point, I'm not sure if I care. So long as you understand what the Lord said. Before I go any further, I do want to just give honor to Rhonda Johnson and our entire prayer team. Rhonda, who is the director of spiritual formation here at our church,

she leads our prayer team. She also helps our staff with spiritual formation on staff. Howard and the team put together yesterday our very first internal prayer intensive. And we pray that the next one we'll be able to open it up to everyone. But it is the vision of my heart flowing through Rhonda's heart, flowing through the hearts of our prayer team,

who did a phenomenal job yesterday. Excellent. That, that, that if we're not going to be anything at all, we're going to be a house of prayer. It is, it is an intricate part of my personal life.

It is one of the things I take most serious. I probably give more hours to that than any other activity. And I want us to be a church that is serious about prayer. Not only prayers of petition, asking God for what we want, but prayers of intercession. That we are in the spiritual realm engaging in acts of warfare by crying out for those who are far away from God and crying out for the church and crying out for missionaries and crying out for leaders and crying out for

the body of Christ globally especially that the fact that time is running out on us. A prayerless church is a powerless church, and a prayerless believer is a powerless believer. And prayer leads out in front of us. It is the pillar of fire in front of us at 2819. It is the cloud behind us. It is all around us. And so we want to be a people serious about prayer. And I pray for a day will come when that arena downtown, when they play basketball,

we're going to fill that arena with 20,000 people. Not for any name, not for any celebrity, but one day we're going to fill that arena with no celebrity but the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're going to do nothing but space of an hour but just pray

and cry out to God for the church and for revival and for the nation. One day, one day, we're going to fill that arena with 20,000 men and women crying out to God. Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

Bring us revival, Lord Jesus. Save the lost, Lord Jesus. With no superstars on the platform. That the only draw would be his presence I'm dead serious about this I'm dead serious you talk about blessing a room will fill up

call Christians to pray and see if the room fill up see if they show up for saturate show up for access see if they show up for any prayer gathering the thing we do the least is the thing you need to do the most if you're a guest welcome to 2819 and uh for all of our digital disciples watching live right now in cities all across the country we welcome you to 2819 um if you are unbeliever in the room we welcome you. We're thankful that you're here.

And I pray you hear something today that moves you in your heart. We are in a series called Wisdom and Wonder. We're walking through the gospel of Matthew together. Matthew was an outcast Jew in the first century AD who was converted to the Christianity by the Lord Jesus Christ. He became a follower of Jesus, an apostle of Jesus. He would be martyred for the gospel of Jesus, and he went on to write the book that bears his name, placed first in the New Testament, and we're walking through that book together. In this series, we're studying Matthew chapter 12 through 20. And for my note takers, this message will unpack together Matthew chapter 13,

verses 24 through 43. And the bulk of our text was going to come out of 24 through 30 and 36 through 43 I want to put an appropriate message title I don't try to come up with fancy titles I just pull them right from the scriptures if you don't like them I don't care

I want the titles to match the teaching so we're going to title this text I want the titles to match the teaching. So we're going to title this text, Weeds and Fire. Weeds and Fire. Weeds and fire. Spirit of the living God. What can I say, Lord? I just pray right now, even like that iPhone that just went off, that you will sound an alarm in the hearts of the men and women in this room, that you will sound an

alarm in the hearts of all of our digital disciples. You will sound an alarm in the hearts of every unbeliever. You will sound an alarm through the proclamation of the gospel in this hour, in this nation, in this moment. In my weakness, in my failure, and my frailty, I appeal to you for help

right now. And I plead with you that you would open the eyes of the men and women listening to me right now. You would break up the fallow ground of hardened hearts right now. You would create good soil

for the word to land on right now. I pray that this word would not return void and God, some way, somehow, there would be an awakening. An awakening in the hearts of the sons and daughters. Please. I ask this in the mighty. And the majestic and the matchless name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If you agree with that prayer, would you just say amen? Amen.

Thank you, gentlemen. Thank y'all. all my life I've had the privilege of enjoying what we call 2020 vision and I've never had to need the assistance of enjoying what we call 2020 vision. And I've never had to need the assistance of any kind of optical lens to help me with my vision. A couple months ago, Lena and I was in the mall, and she walked up to me, and she handed me a pamphlet, and she said, honey, I want you to read the back of this pamphlet.

I tried to read the back of the pamphlet and I could not. I struggled to read what was on the back of that pamphlet. And then Lena took a pair of reading glasses and she said, put this on and then read the pamphlet again. I put on the reading glasses and then I was able to read all of the fine print on the back of the pamphlet perfectly. And in that moment, I discovered that my vision was not as clear as I thought it was. In the same way, my wife, she had been silently observing my optical behavior. And she had been noticing that when I stare at things, I would squint a lot. Like in my mind, I think I'm seeing clearly, but she would notice I was squinting at things.

And in her observation of me, she realized that I was not seeing as clearly as I thought I was. And in the same way that my wife was discerning enough and wise enough to realize that I was not seeing clearly, although I thought I was seeing clearly, in the same way when I observed the behavior of the church in America, when I pay attention to our preaching in America, when I pay attention to our preaching in America, when I pay attention to our priorities as Christians in America, when I pay attention to the things that we are preoccupied with in America and the vanity that we love as Christians in America, I look out over this nation and I ask myself and I look out over the country and I think,

I'm not so sure if we are seeing as clearly as we need to see as the church in this nation in this hour. And if there is anything that I have learned that has learned to correct the lenses of God's people, it is the lenses of having a clear biblical worldview. And I think there are too many believers in this critical hour of history that is doing Christianity without a thoroughly biblical worldview. What is a worldview and why is it so important? I want to put a definition on the screen for you of what a worldview is. Okay. A worldview is a comprehensive conception of the world. It is the filter through which that we interpret the life around us. We interpret the life around us. There's a filter through which we see and interpret the world around us. And as a result, it then informs all of our thoughts

and our actions. So the way you see the world would affect the way that you think. It affects your activity. It affects how you interpret everything happening around you do you understand that pay attention so an example for example hindus in their worldview they believe that life is cyclical so that upon death a person is reincarnated as an animal or something else and so as a result you verify people are hindu eating meat god forbid they might eat a relative in the atheist worldview they do not believe in intelligent design and so they think that all of this happened by accident according to their worldview these are examples of worldviews that are not informed by the word of god. And as a result, all around the

world, you have people who have flawed worldviews and it negatively affects the way that they think and the way that they behave. Are you paying attention to that? And one of the most powerful things we need as believers is for us to have a thoroughly clear biblical worldview. Are you paying attention? So now I want to share with you what are the five building blocks of a biblical worldview. It is these five building blocks that are supposed to inform our thoughts and are supposed to inform the way that we respond to the things happening around us in the world. These five building blocks are the key components of having a biblical worldview. And to not understand them is to not see the world rightly. To not have a biblical worldview is to not understand the world rightly. To not have a biblical worldview is to not know

how to respond to the times that we're in right now. Are you paying attention? So here are the five building blocks of a clear biblical worldview. The lens through which believers should be seeing and interpreting the world around them. The first one is creation. Right? That we do not believe that the perfect life support system we live in right now. And the perfect order of creation. And the intertwined relationship between man and creation that trees give off oxygen that we breathe in and we give

off carbon dioxide that they breathe in we don't believe when we look up at the sun moon and stars that all of this happened by accident there are no apes in my family. On Friday night, I took my son Josiah outside on the porch and I said, look out into the stars. You see that crescent moon? Yeah. You see that bright star right there? That's Venus. Yes. You see that right there? That's like Orion's belt. Do you see all of that? And I said, who put that there, Joey? And he said, God did. And I said, yes, God put that there. And so my son and I are having this moment on the front porch where we are marveling over what God has done because God was the creator of all things, the creator of human beings, the creator of the animal kingdom, the creator of everything that we see. That is the first part of a biblical worldview.

We believe in creation and not evolution. Are you following? The second part of a biblical worldview. We believe in creation and not evolution. Are you following? The second leg of a biblical worldview is the fall. That we believe that sin through the enemy's deceit entered into the world and that mankind rebelled against God. And in that rebellion against God, the world was thrust into a state of curse and thrust into a state of sin. It is because of the fall we understand the sufferings of human beings.

We understand that everything that is broken around us is because of the fall. A person without this biblical worldview would try to interpret the brokenness of the world through other means. But we who are believers, because we have a biblical worldview we can point to anything happening in society that is broken even the brokenness in you and we can say we are broken and the world is broken because of the fall of human beings so we see the world through genesis three does that make sense to you the third building block of our biblical worldview, watch, is redemption. That what we understand what is happening right now is redemption. That is God who had a plan following the fall. It was already in his mind before the fall.

Right now what God is doing while we're sucking our thumb and we're playing around and we're having services, God right now is in the process of redemption. He is harvesting to himself a people from every nation, tribe, and tongue, harvesting from every continent on the planet, a people who he will live with forever. And that we know during this time of redemption, everyone is not going to be harvested, but what God is doing right now is moving all the pieces around the world harvesting sons and daughters he's gathering a church from every place in the world unto himself redemption so we understand what God is doing in the earth

are you paying attention the fourth part of a biblical worldview is consummation, which is to bring everything to a close and ending. And that through a biblical worldview, we understand, listen to me, time is running out. That according to the scriptures, God is bringing the world towards consummation. He's preparing the world for the end of all things as we know it. That's why it is foolish to try to create utopia here. There is no utopia you're going to create down here. There is nothing of perfection you're going to create down here. God is moving the entire world towards a definite ending, and I believe that ending is closer than what we think it is. The rapture of the church is closer than what we think it is. The return of Jesus is closer than what we think it is. The rapture of the church is closer than what we think it is. The return of Jesus is

closer than what we think it is. So there is a consummation. There is a point in which God will bring everything to a close. All of it is in the word of God, man. It's all in there. The only people that don't know are the people that want nothing to do with the word of God, right? Consummation. And then the final leg of a biblical worldview is new creation it's all in the word of god man that god said in the end go read revelation 20 and 21 that he's going to recreate the earth he's going to recreate the world he's going to burn this world by fire and he's going to recreate this world and after the recreation of the world he will come and live for this people we will live with God and Jesus will rule and reign for

the endless ages of eternity from the city of Jerusalem don't get it twisted nobody's going to wipe out that city I could tell all these militias you're wasting time God defends that nation and all your efforts are going to be for not because the lord is going to come back and reign from the city of jerusalem and it's through this worldview that we interpret the world so i am not confused about what's happening right now i know that i'm living in the time of redemption does that make sense to you okay a biblical worldview okay those five pillars make up the biblical worldview and if there's ever been a story that illuminates the significance of a biblical worldview and what God is doing

right now and where we are right now and what our priorities need to be right now it is the parable we're about to unpack right now. So I taught you in the beginning of the series that there are two kingdoms right now in war, the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness. I taught you that these two kingdoms are constantly in battle with one another and they are clashing. I taught you that Jesus came to inaugurate the kingdom of light and that the kingdom of light is advancing in every direction in the hearts of men across the entire globe and that the kingdom of light would eventually overthrow the kingdom of darkness until the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our God. And then we looked and said to you that Jesus taught us these teachings about the kingdom, these secret teachings about

the kingdom. They are encrypted that he called parables. The parables of Jesus that was encrypted for the learning of his followers, but was a type of judgment against those who rejected his teaching. Last week, we talked about the parable of the sower, the encrypted teaching about the sower. And then right, pay attention now, right after the parable of the sower, Jesus gives this next parable we're about to unpack right now. He said to them, or Matthew wrote in Matthew chapter 13, verse 24. He says he put another parable before them saying, pay attention. The kingdom of heaven, that is the kingdom that you live in. That if you are a follower of Jesus,

you live in the kingdom of heaven. So everything Jesus taught about the kingdom of heaven, it should be important to your life. The parable should be important to your life. Let me say this again. You live in the kingdom of heaven if you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, the parables about the kingdom are important to your personal life. Do you understand that? So he says he put to them another parable saying 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 weeds among the wheat and went away. Pay attention.

So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds? He said to them, an enemy has done this. So the servants said to him, then do you want us to gather them up? But he said, no, lest in gathering the weeds, you root up the wheat along with them. This is so insane to me. But he said, no, lest in gathering the weeds, you uproot the wheat with them. Let them both grow until the harvest. And at harvest time, I will tell the reapers, gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned.

But gather the wheat instead into my barn. Now, I want you to pay attention to this parable, right? I want you to notice in this parable that Jesus tell a story about two farmers, okay? One farmer sowed good seed in his field. The other one comes behind him and sows weed in this field. Now, in the first century AD in the agricultural world, his disciples hearing this story would be familiar with this kind of scenario. There were farmers who would sow grain in their field, wheat grain, and then if another farmer had beef or animosity or a grudge against another farmer, they would come at nighttime when nobody can see, and they would sow weeds into the field of that farmer.

Now, the type of weed they would sow is only found mostly in the Middle East. It's called Darnell weed. Watch. And Darnell weed is a type of weed that when you sow it into the ground, as it begins to grow at first, it looks identical to wheat. So while they are growing, you cannot tell them apart. They are indistinguishable from one another. The wheat looks exactly like the weed. They look almost identical as they're growing at the same time. The difference is the Darnell wheat has poison in their roots.

And you will not be able to tell them apart until they're both fully grown. And then once they're fully grown, you notice from the heads of the stalk, one is wheat and one is weed. But by the time they're fully grown underneath ground, they're too intertwined together in their roots. So if you try to separate them too early, you might pull out a weed and wreck a wheat at the same time. So whenever this happened, farmers would have to wait till the harvest and then they would send their labor to the harvest and say, now separate

the wheat from the weeds. The wheat, they would gather all that bread and they would put it in a bar in a place of safety. And then the weeds, they would pick it up from the floor and they would throw it in a furnace. They would let it burn for fuel. I want you to notice in the parable that the man who sowed the good seeds, he said he sowed it in his field.

That is, he took ownership of the field. I want you to notice that the seed he sowed, he called it good. I want you to notice that his enemy came at night for an opportunity and sowed the weeds among. Watch the word, among the wheat. Not far away from it, among the wheat. And I want you to notice that they are growing together until a particular time. Are you paying attention to that? Verse 31. okay verse 31 he put another power before them saying the kingdom of heaven is like a grain of

mustard seed that a man took and sold in his field it is the smallest of all seeds but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants it becomes a tree so that the birds of the air can come and make its nets in it we're going to look at that next week he told him another parable the kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and heard in three measures of meal until it was fully leavened. We're going to look at that next week. Verse 34, all these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables, indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable. This was done to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet. I will open my mouth in parables. I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world. And so Jesus is speaking to the crowds in parables as a judgment for their rejection,

but he's speaking to the crowd in parables to fulfill prophecy. He's revealing to his followers truths about the kingdom that has been hidden from the beginning of the world. Are you paying attention? Now, what happens next is what I love, is that Jesus, again, as a good teacher, would then exegete, or he would teach expository teaching about the parable of the weeds. He's now going to explain it to his followers line by line, verse by verse, expository teaching. We learned that from somewhere, and I want to ask you, listen to me carefully. With these last few moments that we have together, it's not even going to take long. Listen to me, family. I beg you, with these last few moments that we have together, because the parable is not long and the teaching is not long, I'm begging you to pay attention

to what Jesus is about to say, and I want you to see the parable through a biblical worldview. Are you paying attention? Okay, verse 36. Then he left the crowds, and he went into a house, and his disciples came to him saying, explain to us the parable of the weeds of the fields. Now stop. I want you to pay attention to what's happening right here. Matthew said that Jesus told three parables to the crowd after the parable of the sower. But of the three parables that he told, only one of them intrigued them. Like that parable of the leaven, we don't want to know about that right now. Gosh. That parable of the mustard seed, you can tell us about that later. But this one about the weeds and fire and bundles, we want to know about that right now. And so I want you to see

something. Notice that the scripture says Jesus left the crowds. I think this is powerful because in his activity, man, I love the fact that we see jesus know how to pull away from activity and work he pulled away from the crowds it's so different than we do today like we love crowds and we love noise we think it's virtuous to be workaholics but the lord had this rhythm of work and pulling away, work and pulling away. Look, he pulls away from the crowds and then he gets along with his followers. And then they ask him a question, explain to us the parable of the weeds. I love the fact that they ask him questions because it shows that they are hungry and that Jesus said, blessed are those who are hungry. Those who thirst

for hunger and righteousness, they are going to be fulfilled. That we get more from our Lord when we seek him for knowledge that I see in them. A type of behavior, man, I want for you. That I want you to have this type of behavior when you're always seeking the Lord for insight. Lord, speak to me in my heart. Speak to me about the areas I need to change. Speak to me about my future. Is this person my husband? Is this person?

They're always seeking the Lord for insight. And I want us to adopt that principle as followers of Jesus, man, that we have this habit of seeking the Lord for insight. And it's in their questions, man, we get some of the most powerful teachings from the parables because they're seeking God. They have a type of hunger that we should have. So they're hungering and thirsting for knowledge. Verse 37. He answered and said to them, the one who sows the good seed is the son of man. Pay attention.

So now the Lord identifies himself, watch, as the sower. Pay attention. He identifies the seed as good. He calls himself the son of man. Pay attention. The son of man is a title that we see show up in the Old Testament, especially in Daniel. And when that title shows up in the Old Testament, it's a title that's a tagline for God Almighty, the son of God. So the Lord says the Son of Man is the one that sows the good seed. So he calls himself the Son of God. He identifies himself with deity. Pay attention. And then said, he is the one that sows the good seed into the

field. This is very powerful because he's taken ownership for all of the sowing. This is why we can't brag on anything. God, this is so powerful. Jesus is the one doing the sowing. He is the one in the earth doing the building of the church. He is the one that's responsible for all the work. Watch. He is the one that deserves the glory for what's happening right now in our lives. He didn't say we do the sowing. He does all of the sowing. I want you to notice he calls the seed that he sowed good. That word good is not talking about morality. It's talking about the righteousness of believers that have been imparted to us by the righteousness of Christ.

And so he says the seed that I sow is good seed that he sows. Now, I want you to pay attention to this too. Now, I want you to follow this teaching carefully. Last week in the parable of the sower, what did Jesus sow? The word of God. What did he harvest from sowing the word of God? Sons and daughters. So first he sows the word word he harvests his followers then he takes the followers and he

sows them okay did you see that okay first he sows the word he harvests his followers then he takes the followers and he sows them so those of us who have been saved we've been saved by the seed of the word then he calls you a seed and then he sows you follow the teaching okay verse 38 the field is the world and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom the weeds are the sons of the evil one and the enemy who has sold them is the devil the harvest is the end of the age and the reapers are angels i want to i want you to pay attention to everything in this text carefully. He said the field is the world. In the parable, who owned the field? The sower. So Jesus is the owner of the field. That's why the scripture says in Psalm 24, the earth is the Lord's and the

fullness thereof. So the earth belongs to the farmer. It belongs to the man. It belongs to Christ. Okay? So the field is the world that Jesus owns. Then he says he takes the seeds, the good seeds of the kingdom, and he sows them into the field. You know what it is?

First, you have been harvested by the word of God. You've been harvested by the gospel. Pay attention. And then God takes all of his children like seed and he scatters them in the world. This is so powerful to me. In some areas, the seed is more concentrated than others. So it might be more believers in one nation than another nation. But all around the world, he has scattered seeds.

And it may be millions in one corner of the world and a few thousand in the other corner of the world he has scattered seeds and it may be millions in one corner of the world and a few thousand in the other corner of the world but all around the world jesus takes his sons he reaps them by the gospel and then he sows them back into the world so everyone who is saved you have been planted by the lord jesus christ no this is important. Listen to me. It doesn't matter what city you live in. You got to know that you have been planted by the Lord and that your planting is not by accident. You've been planted with your gifts, your talents, your abilities,

your burdens, your concerns. You have been planted by God and your planting is not by accident. You've been planted in this hour and this season for such a time as this. Your parents was planted in another generation and your grandparents was planted in their generation. The Lord, oh my gosh, the Lord knows the needs of this generation and he planted you in this generation. And so if he brought you to Atlanta, your planting is not by accident. If he brought you to 2819, your planting is not by accident.

If he ripped you away from some other place, your planting is not by accident. If you're in New York, New Jersey, California. If you're in North Carolina, wherever the Lord has planted you man we should be fruitful wherever we have been planted somebody might be a tulip somebody might be a rose somebody might be something else I don't need to be jealous of the plant that's next to me I just need to bear fruit wherever I have been planted until he picks me up from that garden and plants me somewhere else. I just need to be faithful wherever I have been planted. I need to stop complaining about where he put my feet and I need to be faithful wherever I've been

planted. So your planting was by design and your planting has been on purpose and wherever the lord has planted you listen to me this is so important man he planted you with a purpose listen this is why like earlier you got to read the whole thing together when he called you saw and light he planted you to be so enlightened wherever you are he He did not plant Christians to just go to church. I just want to shake you. Biblical worldview, biblical worldview, biblical worldview. What era are we living in? Redemption. What is God busy doing? Harvesting people before time runs out. Consummation. So if we understand a biblical worldview, we understand we've been planted right now.

We're living in this era of what? Redemption. We're living in the era when we should be busy about what? Kingdom work and about the spread of the gospel. We should be busy about that because according to biblical worldview, you know what is coming next. Consummation. Judgment.

The end of all things. And so you got to see your planting as strategic, as purposeful, as on purpose. And if you have a biblical worldview, then you're not just living absent from understanding the time and the era that you live in. You understand creation. You understand the fall.

If you know the biblical worldview, you're living in redemption. You're living in the time of history when God is trying to harvest a people to himself. You know what's coming next. Consummation, the end. You know everybody's not going to be in a good position at the end. Why are you a plant that's not fruitful? What good is an unfruitful plant during the era of redemption? A plant that doesn't pray.

A plant that doesn't care. A plant that doesn't see. What good are you as a plant? Pay attention. that doesn't see what good are you as a plant pay attention and then he says man the one who sold the weeds is the evil one the devil he said and the scripture says the devil came when at night and sold that seed why because the devil likes to start trouble and try to be undetected. Notice he said in the parable that this enemy came at night. Watch. When people are sleeping.

Watch. When they're not paying attention. Now watch how the word come together. That's why the scripture says you need to be vigilant and paying attention. Watch. That we need to be woken up to what we're doing. He said the devil came and planted weeds in the garden. Who are weeds?

He called them the sons of the evil one. Now, I don't care if you get offended. He said in the world, there are people who are sons of the devil. And if we call them out, man, they say you judgmental, you close-minded, whatever the case. Listen to me,

biblical teaching. Jesus said right now in the world are the sons that I planted, watch, and among them are the sons that the devil planted, watch. So in the world, everywhere, on every continent are the sons of God and the sons of the devil, Watch. They have been planted in the same field and they were planted among one another. That means anywhere people are in that room, in that arena, gosh, in that church, in that school,

on that campus, in the YouTube, there are the sons of the God and the sons of the devil. Watch. And they have been planted among one another. Side by side. But because the Darnell weed looks just like the wheat. As they're growing, sometimes you can't tell them apart.

So you could be in a room just like this and don't even know you're sitting next to a son of the devil. Or you went to a church that's being preached, being preached, and the person standing on the pulpit is a son of the devil, or you go pay to sit in some room with some prophet, and the person you're listening to is a son of the devil. The enemy did not plant weeds that you easily see. He planted a type of weed that mimics the wheat, so they look identical. And so mixed in right now, watch, are the sons of light and the sons of the

devil and it's hard sometimes to tell them apart it's why you got to stop looking at posts and look for fruit wait till we're doing a teaching in first john we do we're about to do a series in first john a year from now and you're gonna to say you can't tell me I'm not saved really? no there's evidence for those who are saved and those who are not it's all in 1 John this is how we know who the sons of light are fill in the blank

pay attention if in the field the world there are the sons of God and the sons of devil that means you know what has to coexist uncomfortably in the field, the world, there are the sons of God and the sons of the devil, that means you know what has to coexist uncomfortably in the world? Good and evil. Watch. Watch.

So now if we have a biblical worldview, the atheist says there can't be no God because the world has too much evil. The believer who has a biblical worldview knows that the world is fallen and that in the world are the sons of the devil. And because the sons of the devil are in the world, there will always be evil in the world is falling and that in the world are the sons of the devil and because the sons of the devil are in the world there will always be evil in the world watch and because god did not plant them he cannot be blamed for evil in the world y'all are not paying attention see this is how you back down somebody in a conversation if god exists how much there's so much evil in the world because you got a wrong world view because I have a biblical world view I know that the wall is falling and the sons of the devil are

in the world and God and the devil planted them to do wickedness and to bring harm to society so why was there a school shooting that killed innocent children? Sons of the devil. Why are there false religions being led by false prophets? Sons of the devil. Why are there people committing rape and murder and molestation and suicide? Sons of the devil. Why are there people who are opposed to Christ and opposed to the gospel

and they hate the church? Sons of the devil. Why are there people that hate you and your job because they know you're a Christian? to Christ and opposed to the gospel and they hate the church sons of why the people that hate you in your job because they know you're a Christian and so because we have a biblical worldview and we understand scriptures we know that evil and good have to unfortunately they have to coexist for a period of time do you understand that you understand that okay and the ones that the devil saw are not always going to be obvious they they mimic christians and they look like so we understand that all around us are the sons of the devil you understand that And then look what he says. He says, the harvest is the end of the age. Now pay attention, family.

The Lord does two things here that people try to argue is not happening. He confirms the existence of the enemy. And then he tells his followers, all of this is going to come to an end. How many of us ever think about that time that's coming? How many of us are even thinking that the harvest is coming? The end is coming. And a lot of us are not thinking about that. Okay? But maybe the next verse can make you think about this a little bit more.

Right? Because among the sons of the devil are all your friends and family members who are not saved. Don't think for one second because they're moral, they're good. They are people who are very moral who are still sons of the devil. They are people who've been attending church their whole life who are still sons of the devil. Every person who is not saved, who's not born again, who has not been sealed with the Holy Spirit, they are sons of the devil. You say, oh preacher, how could you say something so cruel? Don't you know my unsaved mother is listening to the message? How could you call her son of the devil? No, Jesus did. Follow the whole teaching of Matthew. Jesus said

out his own mouth, listen, if you are not with me, you are against me, he said. He said, man, your father is the devil, is what he said. If God is not your father, the only other father you have by default is the devil. So if a person is not saved by default, their father is Satan, the evil one. Even if they have good behavior, they are being influenced by the evil one. There are people married to sons of the devil. You're in relationships with sons of the devil. You go to work with sons of the devil. You're on campus with sons of the devil. You're sitting on rolls with sons of the devil. You go to work with sons of the devil. You're on campus with sons of the devil. You're sitting on rows with sons of the devil. There's sons of the devil in the chat watching me right now.

And so with the atheists saying there can't be no God because there's evil in the world, the believer says, no, there's evil in the world because it's fallen. Biblical worldview. And that the world has filled with the sons of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin

and all lawbreakers and throw them into the fiery furnace and in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth so I'm thinking about every person I know who's not saved. I'm thinking about family members who are not saved.

I'm thinking about coworkers who are not saved. And if I have a proper biblical worldview, then I know a time is coming where the Lord is going to crack the sky. That's what he says. He's going to issue a charge to his angels, the reapers. And watch, they're going to gather out of his kingdom. He calls it his, the world, every cause of sin. Now, pay attention. There are people who call themselves Christians, but you love sin.

I'm done. I'm not even doing this justice right now. I. family the Lord said he's going to return and he's going to snatch every lawbreaker say I do church but you enjoy your sin you're a lawbreaker and you think you're safe all of our sexual sin

all of our idolatry all of our love and other things he said there's certain people will never get into the kingdom of god idolaters liars those who practice sexual immorality you love your sexual sin you love lying cheating stealing you love like we love all these things like, the reapers are not coming for you. Right? Like, I... The Lord right here makes it clear. He said that he is going to send his reapers.

They are coming for you, and that he is going to harvest. Watch. He's going to snatch out of his kingdom the world that belongs to him. Nobody is getting away with anything. Every corrupt politician. Every corrupt person. Every unsaved athlete.

Every unsaved R&B star. Every rapper that's unsaved. Every preacher that's unsaved. Every false prophet every person who claims to be a Christian who loves sin every person in sexual immorality every liar, every thief

every person who is an idolater every person that worships anything other than Jesus he says I'm coming for all of them I'm going to gather them all up first. Watch. And I'm going to throw them in the fiery furnace. And then he says, in that place. You know what that is? Location. This is for all the liberal professors and all the liberal Christians that says, oh, the Bible, we don't even need to take it at face value. It's all literary. It's all allegory. There's no such thing as hell.

A loving God would never create hell, really. Jesus taught about hell more than heaven. Now pay attention. Listen. Listen to me. He's telling us, everyone you know who is not saved, all of them. I've got family members who are in the path of wrath. Man, they're going to be snatched by the reapers. And as they're being pulled,

they're going to be begging God for forgiveness. But time is going to be too late. He says, I'm going to throw them in that fiery furnace and in that place. You know what place is? Location. They're going to be weeping and gnashing of teeth. You know what that is? They're going to be sorrow when they realize they missed the kingdom. You know what gnashing of teeth is? It is the expression of pain. And preacher, I don't get it. When you die, people die apart from Christ. There is no annihilation of the body. Come on, family. The scripture teaches that everyone that awakes on the other side of death, they awake conscious. They're going to be, listen to me, man. We need to be thinking about this,

man. They're going to wake up conscious on the other side and in their consciousness they're gonna realize they've missed the kingdom they're gonna be dragged down to a place of torment and they're gonna have a body fit for destruction they're gonna have a body that's gonna allow them to sit in fire watch man forever like can you even fathom in your mind what it is Watch. Man, forever. Like, can you even fathom in your mind what it is to wake up on the other side of eternity? Know that you missed the kingdom. I was in church but sinning and wilding out and having fun. Doing the church and the world at the same time.

Thinking you was safe. Or the atheist. Or the Hindu. Or the Muslim. They wake up and realize now they're far away from God, and now they can't get out of that place. How many men and women are dying every day, and they are entering this place?

And this is happening while the wheat is in the field doing what? Now I'm talking to you. Now I need 10 more minutes. I don't care. This is happening every day while the wheat is doing what? What are you doing? What am I doing? Right? When you understand this parable in light of a biblical worldview,

that you understand this life is not about you getting to a bag all the time. Or building monuments to yourself. Who cares how many followers you have? Don't you understand all of this is going to be burned up? Then if you understand the parable, and you understand that we're living in the hour of redemption, then what does this say about your time? My God, how should that affect your prayer life? Some of you, man, if the kingdom depended on your prayers, the whole thing would collapse.

Listen to your prayers. You're always begging God for stuff. Are you pleading for souls? Are you pleading for the spread of the gospel? Are you pleading for the planting of new churches? Are you pleading for missionaries who are in places where there's not a lot of seed? Are you pleading for your unsaved loved ones for their eyes to be open? Are you pleading for their ears to be?

Just listen to the garbage you pray. If this hour is only about the harvest, then what about your prayers? What about your money? What are you supporting? You put all this money into your hair and into your house and into your bills, and you won't put a dollar into the Lord's work during the hour of redemption? What about your activity? You won't help move gospel ministry forward? You just want to be taken. Why are you content to just be a spectator during the hour of redemption? I'm out of time. I'm so frustrated. Listen to our preaching. Is it helping believers to know what hour we're in? Is it coaching you into true discipleship? Is it helping you to understand what biblical

Christianity is all about? Just listen to the preaching in our nation. Is it preparing you for the harvest that's coming? Is it awakening your soul towards man? Like, when's the last time you shed a tear for someone who was far away from God? See, you don't feel that grief because you don't give a darn. You don't give a damn about what God is doing right now. All you want is what you want. And you just content to come to a church and sit in a room and be a spectator

but you won't be a part of what God is doing. You are a useless wheat. Planted with no purpose because you won't engage in what Jesus is doing. Ain't nobody else coming behind you. He planted you.

He planted me. If we don't do the work in the field, who's going to do that work? If we're not praying, who's going to pray? If we're not advancing the gospel, who's going to do that? If we're not supporting gospel ministry, who's going to do that? If you don't give a damn,

who is? You know why your heart is messed up? Because you have a Christianity that's not biblical worldview, that's informed by bad teaching and not by the word of God. I want you to notice, listen, all I'm doing is walking you through the text, right? Whose words are we reading? The Lord. Who is he writing to?

Who is he talking to? His followers. The things he's saying, watch, is the things he wants you to be preoccupied with. Notice we've been going through Matthew. Not one time you ain't heard Jesus say anything about your material blessing yet. We already 13 chapters in. You and him say nothing about all the things you want. You and him say nothing about comfort. You and him say nothing about all the things you want you and him say nothing about comfort you and him say nothing about being a millionaire you and him say nothing about all this vain stuff that you keep running after the things he is saying is the things he wants his followers to be preoccupied with why is he telling a story about the end of the age?

Because he wants you to think about it. Why is he telling you a story about the sons of the enemy? Because he wants you to be aware about it. Why is he telling you a story about hell and those who are going to be tossed in the fire because he wants you to be concerned about it and I even think for the sons of the devil that the fact that the harvest has not yet come

the fact that it's coming it's like a sign of grace giving people time to repent and I will put money on and I'm not a gambling man if we could x-ray your heart you're not thinking about this I know you're not all you're thinking about is clothes money what you're trying to build your business your job your entrepreneurial, your entrepreneurial venture, your ministry, your book, yours, yours, yours. That's all you're thinking about. I know it. We can hear it in your prayers.

See, watch. And when I even look at where people are going apart from God, how does that not affect your worship in this room? How do you sit down during worship? How do you not lift a hand? How do you not respond to your salvation with nothing else but a heart fully devoted to God's service? Like I'm reading this text and I'm on my knees in my prayer time saying, Lord, what can I

render unto you for the fact that I'm in the kingdom of light? I'm not going knees in my prayer time saying, Lord, what can I render unto you for the fact that I'm in the kingdom of light? I'm not going to be tossed in any furnace. What can I, and I didn't even have nothing to do with that. No one comes to the Father except the Lord draws him. So if I've been drawn, I've been saved. It's been by the power and the mercy of God. And so what can I, what can I render unto him? The fact that I'm going to escape this. The fact that my life has been planted in the kingdom. What do I give back to him for that?

Lip service? Yeah. Disobedience? Sinful behavior? What do I get? What can you really return for that? But a heart and a life totally surrendered. Oh, there was one more verse. Verse 43.

Then the righteous, that's you and me who are saved, will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father. And the Lord says the same thing he does to keep calling us to attention. Those who have ears to hear, let them hear. You know what it is? Those who live now for his glory, when they have been redeemed completely, they will be glorified. This life is for his glory. In the next life, I will be glorified.

But what we're doing in this life, you're trying to find glory. I know. All of us believers, we're trying to harvest glory for ourselves now. No, this life is to bring him glory. And then in the next life, he will glorify me. We will shine like the brightest thing you've ever seen, the sun. Philip Anthony Mitchell from Queens, I'm going to shine one day like the sun. And that my only concern right now in this life is how do I be fruitful where I've been planted? Is that your concern? Is that in your prayers? Does that affect your giving? Does that affect your worship?

Does that affect the way that you live? That era of redemption started when the Lord came, died, and was resurrected. Man, we're right on the backside of that hour now. And I love how the Father took the Son from heaven. He planted the Son and broke him in the earth. Resurrected the Son with all power that the Son now can plant the gospel in the earth. Raise up sons and daughters, and then plant sons and daughters in the earth to raise up other men and women that would eventually plant other men and women in the earth. Discipleship. That by the resurrected

power of Christ, man, we're supposed to be living a life, man, of kingdom work, kingdom prayers, kingdom activity, kingdom busyness. And this right now, like, my heart is so broken because, man, if you just sit back and you watch social media, like, how many believers, are they really about this life? Wow. Wow. Jesus. Jesus. Father. My God. And the reason we're not is because our world view was warped. Yeah. family my prayer for you is that you would pay attention to the things that Jesus said more than the things men are saying gosh man a lot of men are talking and you're going, you're going to and fro listening to a lot of sermons and a lot of prophets. At what point do you just sit down and listen to the things that the Lord is saying to you?

That if you start listening to the things the Lord is saying to you, and you draw near to him in prayer, and you open the Bible, you just sit down. You don't need to be a theologian. You don't need to ask me or Kenny or Elder. You don't need to bombard us with questions all the time. Why don't you just sit? Like the disciples, they ran to the Lord. Why don't you just sit with him in prayer?

Open the Scriptures and just read and just sit there. Turn down all the voices of so many men and just sit there and just read and just pray and let the words of Jesus get into your heart and get into your mind. That you will start caring about what he cares about. You will start thinking about what he thinks about. You will start loving the things he loves. You will start loving the things he loves you will start hating the things he hate was not Paul who wonders and let this same mind that was in Christ be in you also how could you have the mind of Christ when you don't even know if I did what I was supposed to do. I just feel… How are y'all going to have the mind of Christ when you never read?

John said, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And in verse 14, the word became flesh. If you don't read, if you only keep listening to sermons, but you never read, you never sit in prayer, then listen to what you're asking for. Listen to what's in your mind. Look at the things that's in your heart. Look at the condition of your heart. Look at the things you're always longing for. Look at the things you think are important right now. You think I care about how big my house is? You think I care

about how wealthy I am? You think I care about that? If I have clothing and food and shelter the Lord has provided, man, I'm content with that. I want my life to be on the altar of his work if it costs

me my life. It's bleeding out of my prayers. It bleeds out of my activity. It bleeds out of my preaching. It bleeds out of everything that I'm doing. Dang it. I'm over time.

I just... Father, Father, I pray for the sons of the kingdom, the daughters of the kingdom. Would you awaken them, Lord? Would you help them to discern the hour that we are living in? Would you burn them in their hearts with your love, your priorities, your hatreds? Would you deliver them from enjoying sin and playing around with sin and doing things in the dark. They think we're going to get away with all this stuff. Would you give us hearts of purity

and holy consecrated into your lives? Would you help us turn down the noise of watered down American preaching? Would you give us a love for the Scriptures that we just keep reading and we just keep reading and keep reading? Would you give us a stamina to sit in your presence and pray and take walks and be in your presence? Will we look out into the sky and think you're about to burst that sky any day now? Would you help us to be grieved over the loss, grieved for family members and friends and people in the gym and on our job who are far away from you? Would you help us to think that time is running out and that the Reapers

are coming for those who are lost and would you move us in our prayers? Would you move us in our finances to support gospel ministry and missionaries on the other side of the world wherever we can do to help move the gospel forward in this hour of redemption would this become our priority would Sunday services not be enough? And would you burn us in our hearts with your priorities? Deliver us from an American Christianity that is man-made and humanistic and warped with idolatry and sin.

Lord, I don't know what else to pray. Save the sons of the devil who are listening to me right now. They're in the room. I pray you would save them. Deliver them, God, from the domain of darkness before it's too late. I pray for the ones watching me right now. Deliver them from the domain of darkness before it's too late. I pray for the ones watching me right now.

Deliver them from the main of darkness before it's too late. Lord, I I pray this in the mighty and majestic and the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen and amen and amen.