Mustard Seed Faith - Old to New - Matthew S4E7

Amen and amen and amen. Hey, if you got your Bibles, hope you do. Matthew chapter 13 is where we are in our study of the book of Matthew all year. Before I get rolling there, I would like to, I know our campus pastors mentioned it, but I would also like to say, happy Memorial Day weekend. Amen? There's only two defining forces in your life that's ever been willing to lay down their life for you, and that's Jesus and the American soldier. And they were both willing to lay down their life for your freedom, Jesus, so that you could have eternal freedom, and the American soldier so that we had the freedom to talk about it and gather in his name. Amen? So tomorrow, when you eat a hot dog and a hamburger and blow stuff up to the glory of God and the remembrance of those willing to lay down their life, praise God. Hey, what a week. What a week. How many of you were at Beast Baptism last weekend? Praise God. Let's go. We baptized 2,552 people on that day. Praise God for that. Here's what's awesome. There's a lot awesome. The 200, the last guy, number 2552, was one of the shuttle drivers that heard testimony after testimony.

He'd been driving a shuttle for seven or eight hours, and all these wet people with red shirts kept getting on his shuttle talking about what Jesus had done. A couple of the guys stuck around later, and he got in that water and professed Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. Isn't that awesome? He was that one more, and even better than that, it didn't even start on Sunday. It actually started on Thursday because 79 inmates at our Marion Correctional Campus went forward with their public profession of Jesus Christ, and it didn't end on Sunday because a group of folks went and did a service at our Lowell Correction Campus, and 51 women there went public with their faith. So last week, 2,711 people were baptized, and so far this year, 3,628 people have renounced the sins of their past, the ways of this world, anything dark or demonic they've ever been connected to, and they have pledged their allegiance to Christ and Christ alone. There's a lot of people asking right now, are we in a revival? We are in a revival. I don't know if the world is. I don't know if America is, but it smells like revival. That's more people than the day of Pentecost. This is a really, really, really big deal. So if you're one of the 2,711 that got baptized last week or the 3,628 that has been baptized this year, let me give you a little pastoral encouragement, a little warning. What you just did, that was not the finish line. That was actually the starting line of your walk with Jesus, and what I want to warn you on is this, is that if you'll read

in the Scriptures, when did Jesus get tempted by the devil face to face? It was right after his baptism. My friend Josh Howard says that the birthmark of the believer is that of a bullseye, and if you just stood in the water and renounced the devil of hell and pledged your allegiance to Christ, now's the moment he's going to come after you, and if you'll remember last week, and I know you do because you remember everything I say, if you'll remember last week, here's what's going to happen. This week, the thief is going to try to come and steal away what God is doing in your life right now. You're never going to face doubt and condemnation like you face right now, and that is not the voice of the Heavenly Father. That's the enemy trying to steal something away from you, or if you still got one foot in the water, one foot in the land, one foot in the kingdom of heaven, and one foot in the kingdom of this world, I'm telling you, the things of this world, the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches will try to choke you out to keep you from being what God has for you, and he said, if you are not going to be deeply rooted in the word of God and rooted in some brothers and sisters around you, then what's going to happen is when you face trials, which you are going to face, then your faith is going to wilt away, and you will not grow strong like the Lord has called you to. But if you'll do what God has called you to do, and you'll till up the soil of your life so that when that good seed is thrown out, that it lands on that fertile soil, then I don't even have words to explain all that God is going to do in and through you.

So now is the best time to take that next step, and that's all it means to be a disciple of Jesus. When Jesus went to his first disciples, he didn't say, believe in me. He didn't say, learn about me. He said, follow me. And so if by definition, you stop taking steps in the direction of the good shepherd, you're not following anymore, and we don't have standards of Jesus. We have followers of Jesus. And so, somebody in here has been following Jesus longer than anybody else. By the looks of it, I have my guesses, okay? You don't ever stop following. You don't ever stop taking step after step after step. And some of you are brand new to this. Some of you got saved at the 922 service and you can't get enough and so you're back again. You gotta take a step too. We wanna help you take those steps. That's why we exist here. That's what all of us staff people, pastors, elders, deacons, all the people here. We exist to help you just be obedient to Jesus. So you got two really easy options. The campus pastor's already mentioned it. You could text the word next to 441122. That's a pretty formal situation. You go through a growth track, especially if you wanna be a covenant member of 1122.

You don't just wanna be a consumer but an owner of what we're doing, you should do that. If you're like, I'm not going to a class, that's all right, you're prideful, but we'll get to there one day. If you just kinda wanna do this on your own or in conversation with maybe one other person, text the word journey to 441122. And we're not gonna send you like a journey album, it's not that, it's the discipleship journey. And all it is, we're gonna ask you some questions and I want you to just pray like crazy and say, what's my next step? And you don't have to do all of them at once. That's what happens, some people get all fired up and you try to hit 10 steps at once. You ever notice like you go to the gym in January and there's a million people, you go in February, ain't nobody? That's because the people walk in there, they hadn't worked out since the Obama administration. And then they do all the machines. Then they can't get off the toilet by Monday and they're like, I ain't doing that no more. So just one step at a time, I would highly encourage you to do that. And what's, oh man, the Lord is so good to us. I wish I was smart enough to like line up all the texts with where we are, but I didn't know when I laid this out a year ago

that the parables that we are going to look at are exactly what I'm talking about here. That your faith may start small, but then it's just one step at a time. And over time, not overnight, this thing is gonna grow into something that you never imagined. Matthew chapter 13, we're gonna pick it up in verse 24. If you remember last week, Jesus teaches us a parable on parables. And the point was that the parable, it conceals and reveals. So anybody leaning into God with a humble spirit, you have ears to hear and eyes to see. And he is going to reveal to you mysteries. And anybody rejecting God, it's gonna go right over your head. You're like, I don't understand. And so now that the disciples understand why Jesus is teaching in parables, we're gonna pick it up in verse 24. He's gonna tell three parables back to back to back. And they all have a similar idea. Verse 24, and he, that's Jesus, put another parable before them saying, the kingdom of heaven. Stop right there. See how it's written different up here? Do you know why? Because you remember what we're focused on all year long?

When we started teaching in the book of Matthew, by the time you get to chapter four after like the Christmas stuff, then the book of Matthew says, and Jesus began to teach, and this is what he taught, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Now he is going to tell us what the kingdom of heaven is like. So you should pay very close attention to this. He says, the kingdom of heaven may be compared. That's what parable means. Parable is two Greek words. It means to lay aside. And so what he's gonna do, he's gonna take a common everyday practice that everybody knew about, like cooking and farming, and he's gonna lay aside a deep spiritual truth so that people can make the connection. He says, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while his men were sleeping, pay attention to this. You gotta wake up, church. While the men were sleeping, in the dark, the enemy's gonna attack them. If you don't know that you have an enemy, you're gonna get your tail handed to you. If you fight the devil in the dark,

you're always going to lose. And the church gets lulled to sleep by the pursuit of comfort. And a part of what Jesus is saying is you gotta wake up. You have an enemy. He don't wanna aggravate you. He wants to steal, kill, and destroy this seed of faith that God has planted in your life. He says, but when his men were sleeping, the enemy came and sowed weeds. Not weed, weeds. Just for the record, both bad, all right? Put that in your pipe and smoke it, stop. But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. And 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 they said to him, master. Did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds? And he said to them, an enemy has done this. So the servant said to him, then, do you want us to go and gather them? But he said, no, less than gathering the weeds, you root up the wheat along with them. All right, if you're an old school guy, if you're like, you know, the gray heads in the room,

your old translations, this would be the wheat and the tares. That's what people used to call it, the tares. But literally, in Greek, it's called darnel. That's the name of the plant, it's called darnel. And it's poisonous. The wheat is good, and this darnel is poisonous. And the thing about it is, when you first plant it, and it first begins to come up, you can't tell the difference. They look the exact same. One's poisonous, and one will give you life. And yet, their root structures begin to get all tangled up, and so the servants, maybe with a good heart, say, you want us to get all the weeds out of there? And the farmer's like, hold on, if you do, you're gonna take out all the wheat, too. So what you gotta do is you gotta let these things grow up together, verse 30, let both grow together until the harvest, and at the harvest time, I will tell the reapers, gather the weeds first, and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn. We're gonna find out in a little while, in about 30 minutes, Jesus is going to explain verse by verse exactly what the parable means. But a part of what he's talking about here is what St. Augustine talked about, the visible and the invisible church. Just so you know, St. Augustine was an old church father, all right, a couple thousand years ago.

And by the way, that's how you say his name, Augustine. St. Augustine is a beach south of where I'm preaching right now. St. Augustine is an old dead theologian that you should pay attention to. That's how you say his name. And he talked about the visible and the invisible church, the visible and the invisible church. And what he means is this, the invisible church is all of the believers in Jesus. But then there is this visible church. Like, I know people wear it out because we say we go to church in English, and I understand that, church is a people, it's not a building, all that stuff, that is all true. But if you were a part of the church of 1122, that is a local expression of the visible church. But not every single person that walks in these doors is a part of the invisible church. That we are a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus. And so if you are here and you're kind of checking this thing out, welcome, welcome, welcome. And so what he's saying here is even in the church gathering like what we are doing right now, you're going to have weeds and you're gonna have wheat. And if you try to purify the church that way, the problem is, is you're gonna take out some wheat in your effort to take out the weeds. Now let me tell you something really good,

really good about the gospel, not just this particular story, but the totality of the gospel. In this particular story, a weed can't become wheat. But in the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, weed can be made wheat, the death can come to life, the lost can be found, the blind can see. And it don't matter how you start, it matters how you end. And Jesus wants to actually transform you from what you were into what he has for you, which is a child of God. And so the servants are like us, and here's what Jesus is saying to them. Hey, servants, you don't make good judges between weeds and wheat. Because it's easy to mistake wheat for a weed at any given moment in your life. See, when I was a teenager, I got saved, man. Radically, no doubt, redeemed by the blood of the lamb, put my faith in Jesus. I cast my sin upon him and he imputed me with his righteousness, and I know the moment it happened and exactly where it happened, and I got saved. And then this thing began to happen called progressive sanctification. My justification was done, that because of what Christ has done for me, from God's perspective, it was justified never sin. And then from that moment to the moment I die, the moment I'm glorified,

there's this progressive sanctification. And how many of you know, everybody doesn't check the sanctification boxes in the same order? There are many times in my life shortly after that that you could take a snapshot of my life and I look way more like a weed than a wheat. And the servants aren't very good at distinguishing the difference. And so Jesus says, when you sit in the seat of good judgment, you're sitting in the wrong seat. So let these things grow up and he can handle the judgment. But the reality is that, this is not gonna be a very popular sermon, okay? Let me just warn you. And it starts off hard and it gets way worse. So just hang in there. Hang in there. Somebody in line after 9.22 said, bro, you're gonna get cooked online. I said that. That's all right, buddy, I'm fireproof, don't worry about me, all right, let's go. So, here's the thing. The clear teaching of Jesus, not just here, but all throughout, all of his teaching, is that there is a day of judgment. That the angels are gonna come and they're gonna gather it all and then there's gonna be a day of judgment

and there's only two lines, there is no middle line. And either you're wheat of weeds, either you get bundled up to be taken into the farmer's barn, that would be heaven, or you're bundled up and you were sent to the fire, that is hell. And hell is hot and forever is a long time. You should pay close attention to this. C.S. Lewis says that when it comes to Jesus, there's only two options. Either he is of no value, like if what he said is untrue, then just forget it, man, forget it. Or he is of infinite value. If what he said is true, it matters more than anything else in the world. But what he cannot be is moderately valuable. There's only gonna be two lines. Now to the church people, to the saved church people, let me say this, is accountability important? Yeah, it's very, very important, it's very important. Accountability is important, but a judgmental spirit is not what we are supposed to have. So are we supposed to love one another and tell the truth to one another? Yes, yes, yes. But we're not trying to cancel one another. A judgmental spirit is cancer to the local church. So when you see your brother in sin, the Bible says that we are to snatch them out of that, but the key question is, am I trying to help you

or am I trying to be like a bouncer for heaven? Decide who's in and out. Heaven doesn't need a bouncer, man. God's got that under control. So while we are supposed to hold one another accountable and speak the truth and love to one another, the Bible commands us, when we do so, we are to be gentle, especially with the new believer. And we've gotta trust that God is at work. Philippians 1, six says, I am confident of this, that he who began a good work in me will bring it to completion on the day of Christ Jesus. Do you know why I memorized that verse? Because I did student ministry for 15 years, and they're morons. I mean, they get radically saved at camp and they completely forget about it by spring break. And I would just have to remember, it was God who was at work, not their youth pastor, that would bring them to completion. And we've gotta trust God there. And accountability and care happens best in community. This is why I know I beat this drum to death. This is why you need Mac carriers in your life. This is why you gotta get in a disciple group. Because it's a lot easier to hear a rebuke from somebody that you've deputized. Hey bro, I want you to love me enough to tell me a hard thing if you see me heading in a bad direction,

versus getting random comments from YouTube. And our battle is not against flesh and blood. Our war is not against the weeds, our war is against the enemy that planted those weeds. And now Jesus is going to tell two more parables that have very similar points. These are like subcategories of this parable. It's called the parable of the mustard seed and the parable of the leaven. He put another parable before them saying, the kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed into his field. And then he lets us know, it's the smallest of all the seeds. Tiny little itsy bitsy mustard seed. It's like, you can't even see it if I have one up here. And that tiny little seed, the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown, it is larger than all the garden plants and it becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches. This is both true individually and corporately. That what happens is, if you become a Christian, then the faith that you have is actually a gift of God. And even if you've got a tiny little bit of faith, you got 10,000 questions, but you got a little bit of faith that when Jesus died on the cross, somehow that counted for you. Congratulations, put your faith in Jesus and you're saved.

You're like, what do I do with my questions and doubts? Pick them up, follow after Jesus. One day they'll go away, not next Tuesday, or not when I explain it one day. When you get to heaven, no more doubts. You're not gonna have any, nobody's gonna be like, you really believe in Jesus? He's the shiny one on the throne. You don't have to believe anymore, you just look at him, he's right there. And so what happens is that little tiny bit of faith, as you grow over time, gets bigger and bigger and bigger. And not only does it affect you, but listen here, dads, you put your faith in Jesus Christ, it'll change your life. And it'll change your kid's life. And it'll change your family tree for generations and generations and generations to come. What started with one little act of faith. And not only that, I think he's also talking. Dude, he's talking to 12 dudes right now. They're all huddled up in some little house, nowhere. And right now, 2.6 billion people declare Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. You see, what Jesus is doing when he says repent for the kingdom of heaven and hell, it's starting really small in the hearts and lives of individuals, and one day when the trumpet blasts, he's gonna come back on a horse to establish his kingdom over everywhere, and he will be the king of kings and the Lord of lords.

It starts small, and it grows big, and then another one, same kind of point, and he told them another parable. The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, that's what makes the dough rise, that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour till it was all leavened. In other words, like, if you got saved last weekend, don't look at yourself this week and be like, did it work? I don't, I kind of look the same, yeah, yeah, yeah. Listen, it's starting small, but you have no idea. This amount of bread would be, you could feed like 1,500 people with it, but when you looked at the recipe, when you looked at the dough, you couldn't even see the beginning of the work of God. This is called progressive sanctification. That's what's happening, that's what's happening, and so the question is, what do you need to do to be growing your faith? We talk about this all the time, man, is that we're a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ, and so if you have just discovered your identity in Christ, the next step for you is to begin to deepen that relationship with Jesus, and let me just give you, let me give you a hack, a little discipleship hack, don't tell anybody. The fastest way for you to deepen your walk with Jesus is help somebody else discover theirs.

The best way to become a disciple is try to make one. When you get real serious about being a conduit for the grace of God, instead of a cul-de-sac of it, it's amazing what God will do, and here's the thing, and the growth isn't even up to you. You can stun it, but it is God who does this work in you. In John chapter 15, it's one of my favorite chapters in the whole Bible, I've got about 40, but that's one of them, okay? Jesus says this, very relational, he says, come here, come here, come here. Abide in me, and I will abide in you. That's like relationship like that. Come here, get close to me, I'm gonna get close to you. And they're like, how we do that, Jesus? And he's like, all right, here's how it works. I'm the vine, and you're the branches. So if you will just stay connected to me, then the source of life is for me, and then I will begin to produce things in and through you. This is not something that you manufacture from the outside in, but they are produced from the inside out. And then he's like, how do we do that? And he's like, well, there's a couple of things, okay? First and foremost, my dad, the father, he's like the vine dresser, the gardener, and he's gonna prune out some stuff in your life. So the things that will stunt your growth is sin and stupid.

And you need to get rid of the sin and the stupid. Some of you are just outright disobeying God, and it will kill your growth. And then some of the things that you're doing, it's not necessarily in and of itself stupid, I mean, sin, it's just so dumb. Like, is there anything wrong with social media? Yes. But sometimes the thing you're particularly looking at is not sinful, it's just such a waste of time. We all get caught up in those rabbit trails, right? And just hours, listen, Dr. John Piper at a recent conference, he said this. He said the great gift that we will receive from social media, and then he paused, because he don't like it. He's old, he don't even have a TV in his house, okay? But he's godly. He said the great gift that we are all going to receive from social media is to realize that our prayerlessness was not due to a lack of time. Because it's just stupid, man, it's just stupid. So you prune out that stuff, and then you stay close to Jesus, and how do you do that? He says, abide in my word, and I'll abide in you. Listen, I don't care, like we wrote, we came up with a discipleship journey here so that we could help you take next steps, that's it. But there's no magic bullet. Every discipleship piece of literature

I've ever read in my whole life, it always boils down to three things. You need these three ingredients to grow in your walk with Jesus. You gotta have God's word, God's people, and God's presence, that's it. You gotta have God's word. Congratulations, you're doing it right now. You're doing it right now. You gotta sit under the teaching of God's word. That's not enough, though. Then you need to get in a group with people and talk about it and how it applies to you personally, and you need to study it on your own. Then you gotta have God's people. That means you need Mack carriers, people in your life that are praying for you. If Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane felt like he needed some dudes to pray for him, then how in the world do you think you're gonna do this on your own? And then you also need to be serving God's people. And then third, you gotta have God's presence. That's personally, this is like on your own, in your quiet place, studying God's word, fasting, prayer, you and him, and then that's also when the saints gather together to make much of Jesus in worship and word, then he manifests himself just in a different way. These are the things that we need to do

to grow in our relationship with Jesus. So we teach these three parables. It's not how you start, it's how you finish. Don't judge anybody by any snapshot, but if you've put your faith in Christ, he has begun a good work in you and he will bring it to completion. And I wonder how the folks hear this. I want to encourage you, when you read the text, it's not about you, but it's for you. I want you to put yourself in it. This is one of the positives of the chosen. I know everybody likes to gripe about that, but what else are you gonna watch these days, okay? But it helps you make it personal, right? And so if you were hearing this in the first century, depends on where you are, how you're gonna hear this. So quite honestly, if you've been a Christian for a long time and you tend to get a little bit judgy, anybody tend to get a little bit judgy? You know what I mean? Like you're on social media celebrating all the baptisms, but then you get judgy on what people will wear to the baptism? Check yourself, man, check yourself. You're probably just jealous that you can't wear it, but that's a different sermon, all right? Let's be honest. Part of what he's saying is, hey, hey, be helpful. Quit trying to be heaven's bouncer.

The moment you, Jesus told us that we were to be witnesses, not judges, and the moment you get out of the witness stand and you sit behind the judge's bench, you're in the wrong seat. That's his seat, so be careful. And what we wanna do is we wanna have that same kind of gracious heart that heaven has. Anybody ever coach a little league? Anybody ever coach like T-ball, right? Raise them high, if you coach T-ball, there's a special, there's a jewel in the crown in heaven right there, dude. Because can we be honest about T-ball? They're terrible, they're terrible. But if you're the dad, you don't have it, you know all the other kids are terrible, you think your kids are incredible. Think about it, like what does it mean to be an elite all-star athlete in T-ball? You could stay on the field for the totality of the game. As long as you didn't just wander off, I'm gonna go get a snow cone. You could just keep all your clothes on. If you entered the field and left the field and you still had on cleats, you're an elite level player. Think about it when they get up there to bat. I mean, first of all, you just sit it right, it's right there. Have you ever seen a T-ball swing and you think that is an excellent technique?

No, you just say grip it and rip it, buddy, and they'll be on like strike 11, right? And they just hit the tee, bonk, bonk. But then on like the 11th try, they hit it on the second one, boom. And what do you do? He hit it, and you're cheering, run, buddy, run. No, no, run that way, run to first. Yeah, and you're cheering, that's a hit. And you video it, ooh, look at that. And you send it to your father-in-law, man. Look at your grandkid. Your father-in-law's all judgy, but actually that was an error on the second. Shut up, that's a hit. Let's go. Bro, the grand scheme of life, we're T-ball players, people. And every single time somebody takes a positive step of obedience toward Jesus, I wanna make sure we're the fans in the stands of the T-ball game going, way to go, it's a hit, way to go, it's a hit. So check yourself. And then some people, you're brand new in your faith, and I think what they would hear is this. God's got me, and it might take a minute. And God's plans for you are so much bigger than your perceived faults and failures. So just take a step, take a step, take a step. And he is faithful, he is faithful. If you're a parent of a teenager and you read this,

just hear this, God loves your kid more than you do. And you gotta play the long game, man. I know it's war, I know it's crazy, I get it. And you can begin to judge whether you are a godly parent or not based on a snapshot when they're 16 years old. I've never met a 16-year-old that is wise, they're morons, it's what the Proverbs says, okay? And it's not your fault, 16-year-olds, you just don't have enough, you're a moron. You're doing the best you can for 16, but you don't know what you're doing. And so you gotta give it a minute, play the long game, keep praying, keep investing, keep them here in church, do the thing, right, because it might take a minute. And to the faithful that have been walking with Jesus a little bit, I hope and pray when you hear this parable, it reminds you of Jesus. not only what you've been saved from, but how far he's brought you. Because you might not be all that you could be, but by God, you're not all that you used to be. Because God has been doing a work in you over time. And if he can do it in you, there's hope for all of us, amen? And so be honest, which one are you? And then, this is where it gets a little stingy. And I think the lost are listening to Jesus and be like, did he say we're going to hell? You guys are like, I think that's what he said.

I think he's gonna bundle me up and throw us in hell. You're like, yeah, well, that's kind of mean. You wanna come back next week? Yeah, I'll see you next week. They continuously come and hear him just tell very, very clearly that those that put their faith in him are going to be redeemed and restored and go to heaven, and those who don't are going to go to hell. He says it over and over and over. Verse 34, he's gonna explain himself. Verse 34, all these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables, stories. Indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, and he's gonna quote Psalm 78 too. So gifted class, I dare you, read Psalm 78 when you get home. It's very long. And here's what he says. This is verse two. I will open my mouth in parables. I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world. And what Jesus is saying, in Hebrew, that word means dark, not like demonic dark, but just like without light. And Jesus says, I am the light to shine light on what has been hidden in darkness for all these years. And then the whole, all of Psalm 78, what Asaph, that's the guy that wrote that one,

it's just a continuation of God's relentless pursuit of his rebellious kids throughout the nation of Israel's history. He talks about Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and he talks about Moses and how God continuously showed up and did the miraculous, that they walked across the dry ground, that he fed them with manna from heaven, and then they complained about that. So he gave them bird, he gave them quail to eat, and then they complained about that. And what would happen is God would flex like crazy and they would be into it for several hours, and then, like rebellious children, they would turn selfish and turn away from God. And God would love them enough to pour out his wrath on them in order to turn them back to him. And I think a part of what Jesus is saying here is, listen, because you know you can look in the rear view and it's always 20-20, and you look back and you'd be like, how could those Israelites be so dumb when God was so present? And Jesus is like, I know, right? And now the word has been made flesh, and I'm standing right here, that I am the ultimate expression of God's relentless pursuit of his rebellious people, so don't, don't, don't miss me.

And if you turn and if you run, God does not mind blessing you or breaking you, whatever it takes to get you to see Jesus for who he really is. J.F. Packer says it this way, and still he seeks the fellowship of his people, and he sends them both sorrows and joys in order to detach their love from the things of this world and attach it to himself. And now Jesus is gonna explain the parable. And then he left the crowds and he went into the house, and his disciples came to him, and here's what they said. They explained to us the parable of the weeds in the field. They don't get it. Anybody ever have a hard time understanding the Bible? You ever read something and be like, do what? Good, great news, you can make a great disciple. These guys turn into the apostles, you understand? Yeah, and they're like, hey boss, do what? And he taught three, and they're like, we didn't get the first one. Can we start with the first one? We have no idea about the other two. And here's what's great, Jesus is going to answer them. So listen, when you don't understand something in the Bible, you should ask Jesus, and the Bible says that he has sent us the Holy Spirit who lives in us. You know what's better than Jesus being your roommate? Then the third person of the Trinity, God the Spirit,

living inside of you and teaching you what God has taught you. And so he's going to explain it, and this is a perfect example of expository preaching. This is what Jesus does. He's going to go line by line and explain what it means. That's what we do here. Verse 27, any answer. The one who sows the good seed is the son of man. Once again, Jesus is claiming to be God, again and again and again. Right now it's real popular online for people to say, well, Jesus never claimed to be God. Those people should stick to coloring books because they're not mature enough for chapter books yet. Jesus is a first century Jewish rabbi. He's quoting Daniel chapter seven. The whole nation is looking for this person that was called the son of man, and Jesus is going, I'm him. He does it over and over and over and over. And he says the field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. If you're a believer in Jesus, you're a son of the kingdom. Now, ladies, don't be like, what about us? Okay, quit griping so much, first of all. Here's what this means, okay? You have to understand first century context. A daughter could not receive the inheritance in the first century, so he is not demeaning women.

He is elevating every woman to the same status as the firstborn son. And so, by the way, if you ever have a translation of the Bible that takes verses like that and puts sons and daughters, that ain't the one you should be reading because that's not what it says and you'll misunderstand things. Now, today it wouldn't make as much sense, but what he's doing, everywhere Jesus shows up throughout all of church history, the role of women and children have been elevated every single time. And so what he's saying is, it doesn't matter how you start, whether you're Greek or Jew, slave or free, male or female, that the ground at the foot of the cross is level. The field is the world and the good seed is the son of the kingdom. Now, one of the things to notice is in the previous parable, he planted the word and he harvested people, followers. Now he's going to plant the followers and they are going to expand his kingdom. Then he says, the weeds are the sons of the evil one. Now, that sounds mean. So you're telling me that, because people will say, Pastor, you're saying I'm the son of the devil? Yep, that's what I'm saying. Well, where do you get that?

The weeds are the sons of the evil one and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. It's just what it says. Listen, man, I'm just the mailman. I don't get to write it, I just deliver it. The reality is this, every single one of us, if you had a spiritual passport, there's only two countries on your spiritual passport. It's either in Christ or in sin. Those are your only two options. Now, the good news is we're all born in sin, but by the redemption of Jesus Christ, if anybody believes that when he died on the cross, it counted for them, then we get a new passport and we are in Christ. But if you are not in Christ, you are in sin. You are a son of the evil one. And the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age and the reapers are angels. Let me be as clear as I can about this. There is coming a day of judgment and you and I will stand before a holy God. And there are only two options and it's heaven or hell. That's it. Then every single one of us will stand before a holy God and he will judge us and he is holy and he is just and he is loving and he is gracious and he is merciful. And here's the problem. Here's the problem, especially with American church people.

A bunch of people think, a bunch of people grew up in church that just didn't have ears to hear the actual gospel. We'll say, well, I'm going to heaven. Why? Because I'm good. Well, you're not, but let's just give it to you. Let's say you're good. Let's say you're the best person on the planet. Here's the problem. God's standard isn't good. His standard is perfect, perfection. Like, where do you get that? Jesus, Matthew 5, 48, be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. We'll get there in a few weeks. A rich young ruler comes to Jesus and says, what must I do to inherit the kingdom of heaven? He goes, that's easy. Be perfect. And the guy's like, well, I nailed that. So what do we do? Because think about it. Anybody want to say they're perfect? In the moment, you're like, I am. You're by definition self-righteous. Means you're not perfect. You're by definition prideful. But not only have we sinned against the holiness, the law of God, let's just think about it. Let's lower the standard real quick.

Have you ever broken one of your own promises? What is the only standard you were held to? What are the things that you promised you would do? You ever tell God, I'll never do this again? Remember that? She was holding your hair back in the toilet and you were like, God, if you get me out of, you remember? Right. Everybody's like, how does he know? I know. So what do we do? We have an almighty perfect God and we are imperfect. We can't even keep our own laws. And because God is holy and God is just, all sin must be paid for. All sin must be paid for. I mean, think about this, okay? Let my man just stood up with the baby. Hey, the crying doesn't bother me. No problem. Do whatever you need to do. Do you see that beautiful little baby with that swole dude walking him out right now? Good job, dad. You're the man. All right. So let's just say, Mama, did I see you right there, Mama? Just think, don't think about this too much. I'm not trying to give you nightmares,

but what if somebody did the most awful thing you could ever imagine to your baby? and they caught him and they had it on video and he confessed and then on the day of judgment, the judge looked at him and said, you know what, nobody's perfect, everybody makes mistakes, just, you can go free. I can, you're sweating already, I can tell. All of us would rally with you and say, you are an unjust judge and you were unfit to sit behind that bench. Well, you multiply that out by infinity and God is the just judge. This is why he cannot overlook sin and all sin must be paid for. Every single one of us understands this. And the way that you were punished, even in our legal system, it's not just what you do but who you do it against. So like if you get mad today and kick your chair, it's not good, but you're not gonna go to jail. You kick your neighbor, you're gonna get arrested. You kick the cop, you're gonna get tased. You kick the president, federal penitentiary. You kick the pope, it's like purgatory. That's not a real thing, but you know, it just keeps going up. You kick a cat, it's not even a sin. We all know these things to be true. And every sin, every time we sin,

it's a slap in the face of an almighty, perfect, holy, and just judge. So what are you gonna do about it? There's nothing you can do about it, but because of his grace, he is just and the justifier. And for anyone who would believe, he will wipe away your sin, impute you with his righteousness, and you do not go to hell, you go to heaven. And so when people, I mean, you know, people get mad at me all the time, that's fine. Join the crowd. But you stand before him, and there's two options to pay for your sin. Payment in the Bible, the word is atone or atonement. There's only one of two ways that your sin must be atoned for. And one option is you can self-atone. You can say, I will pay for my sin. And because we sin against an almighty, infinite God, it requires you to forever and ever and ever pay for that sin separate from him that is called hell. And it's worse than you think. The other option is what theologians call substitutionary atonement. That means I'll take the deal that Jesus is offering me, that when he died on the cross, he didn't just die for you, he died instead of you. And that if you believe, I mean, man, the invitation in the Bible is unbelievable. It's scandalous.

For anyone who would believe that when Jesus died on the cross, somehow that counted for me, you receive the right to become a child of God. This is the good news of the gospel. And this is what he says, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Now listen, some people, I mean, again, they'll say, somebody will clip this and put it out there, whatever, I don't care. And they'll be like, Pastor Joby's preaching hellfire and brimstone. Right. It is not love to tell people something that makes them comfortable, that would lead them to an eternity apart from Jesus. I mean, what doctor among you would be afraid to diagnose the situation because you were afraid it might hurt their feelings? They would not be worthy of their license. And there's a bunch of preachers that are afraid to do it, because they love what you think about them more than they love you. And one day I'm gonna stand before him, I'm gonna be in line too. My judgment's worse than yours, by the way. And I just refuse to have the conversation where he's like, why don't you tell them about what it takes to get to heaven and what hell was? I'm gonna stand before him with a clean heart and pure hands, because I love you enough

to tell you what it takes. There will be a day of judgment. And then look at verse 40, and just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. So listen, man, I ain't mad at you. I don't think I'm better than you. So how we just said, please don't go to hell. Please don't go to hell. Please choose Jesus. Because some people will say, you mean to tell me God is gonna throw people into the fire? Yeah. If you reject him, another way I want you to think about it is this. Your life is on a journey, on a path, and it has a destination. And if you fundamentally say, God, forget you, I'm gonna do it my way, your way leads there, but it doesn't have to go there. Because Jesus is saying, just turn around. Just repent. I've paid the full price. If you will just receive this free gift of eternal life that I am offering you, it can all change. You just can't be the boss of you. Because if it just comes down to this, you need to be the boss of you. or look at God and say, my will be done,

or you look at him and say, not my will, but your will be done. And his will is that you'll be saved, you would be redeemed, you would be free. And so listen, as long as I got breath in my lungs, if you are gonna go to hell, you are gonna have to walk over me, grumpy, bald-headed, beard, yelling at you every week, and begging you, please don't go, please don't go, please get over yourself and surrender your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, because he wants you. Mark 3.13 says, and Jesus called all unto himself those whom he wanted. He goes on to say, and 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. And if you're like, well, that seems extreme, it's just because you've never seen God for who he really is. Because of his justice, all sin must be paid for. Because of his mercy, he delayed the payment. This is why we have the opportunity to be here right now, because the wages of the sin is death. Every single one of us deserves it, and yet he would be so merciful that he delays the payment,

so that we would have an opportunity to hear this incredible invitation of his, to put our faith in him, to change the direction of our destiny, and to be with him forever and ever and ever. And then the best part, because of his grace, the way that he fulfills his justice is he is just and the justifier, that he makes the payment that we could not make ourselves. And then for anybody that puts their faith in Jesus, this is the next verse. And then the righteous will shine like the sun. You know who righteous people are? They are not people that get it right. That's not what it means, man. Because if it was just the people that always get it right, then none of us, there's none righteous, no, not one. The people that are righteous in the New Testament are people that have a right standing before God. If the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5.21, I quote it all the time, that God made him who is without sin to be sin for us, that we would be made the righteousness of God. This is the great exchange that when Jesus goes to the cross and you believe, you trust that when he pushed up on his nail-pierced feet and he says, it is finished, tetelestai is the word, and it literally means paid in full.

When you believe that somehow that counted for you, all of your sin debt gets credited to Jesus and he pays the total bill on your behalf and all of his perfect righteousness gets credited to you so that when you stand before a holy God and he says, be perfect as I am perfect, he doesn't see your mess, he sees his son, Jesus Christ, and it's not what you know, but it's who you're with and because of him, we get to stand before him. My favorite picture of this is in Jesus' most famous parable. In Luke chapter 15, it's called the parable of the prodigal son, that's what we call it, and there's this kid that rejects the dad, says, you're dead to me, he goes out and just train wrecks his life. And then the Bible says he comes to his senses and he doesn't even get it theologically right because he's gonna come home and try to earn a spot as a servant on his dad's farm, but God, who is rich in mercy, when he sees his son for a long ways off, by his grace, he runs to the boy, he wraps his arms around the boy, he covers the boy's face with kisses and then he imputes him with righteousness. He says, go get my robe, go get my robe, because the Bible doesn't say

the boy stopped by a Holiday Inn Express and got cleaned up in order to come home. He's still covered in pig mess and the dad gets his perfect spotless robe and he wraps it around him so that when anybody looks, they don't see the mess of the life the boy has made. They see the perfect righteousness of the father on him. And that's the offer, man. That's the offer. And then the righteous will shine like the sun. How do you shine like the sun? Passerone, there's no sun in heaven. Jesus, the Bible in Revelation says, there's no sun, you don't need one because Jesus is the source of life, the source of light. And so what this means is, is that we turn our face towards him, he turns his face towards us and we reflect who Jesus is. And here's my favorite part. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father. Not judge, not military leader, not king. He who has ears, let him hear. You put your faith in Jesus, man. Your identity is not primarily a tool in the hand of God. or a soldier in the army of God, your primary identity is a son in the family of God.

That means that you can go from a son of the evil one to the son of the heavenly father. The only way you can transfer parents is by being adopted. It's one of the most beautiful pictures of the gospel is adoption. Hundreds of 1122ers have adopted kids. We push it hard in the 1010 Life. We should keep adopting kids. If you've been praying about it, and you're like, is this a sign? This is a sign, I prayed about it, God's telling you to adopt more kids, okay? And listen, man, if you've been adopted, you know how special you are? I mean, I know something didn't go to plan as far as man goes, but do you know what happens if you got adopted? You were chosen. Yeah, your parents picked you. And there were no tryouts. See, the verdict came before the performance. It's not like they went to an orphanage and they were like, all right, take these 10 home and bring back the ones you don't like. That's not what happened, man. They just chose you. And then not only that, it's very expensive. I don't know why it seems so silly, but it's very expensive. And they were willing to pay the full price

for you to join the family. And not only did God choose you, you know the price he was willing to pay? The blood of his very own son. That's what he paid. And then the moment you're legally adopted, your name changes. Your old name ain't your name anymore. Now you have the name of the family that paid for you and chose you. And that moment, legally, your inheritance changes and all that your parents have now legally is yours. This is a picture of the canoes of the gospel. Judgment day is coming. And church people, we make terrible judges. So help one another, amen. But no bouncers of heaven. We don't need that. And you have one of two options. It's an eternity with him because of what he's done or an eternity in hell because you choose your way. And God is saying, won't you receive this free gift of salvation? Remember we did it a couple of weeks ago? Jesus says, come on, come on. Come to me, all you who are worn out by this life because my yoke is easy and my burden is light. A yoke was the requirements to follow a rabbi. So what's yours, Jesus? Just repent and believe.

Your life is heading to an eternity. It's heading to an eternity apart from him. Just turn around and put your faith in me and I'll do all of the rest. I've chosen you, I've paid for you, I've called you. And whoever would believe that when Jesus died on the cross somehow that counted for me, you received the right to be adopted into the family of God. Have you ever done that? And if you're like, yeah, okay. I mean, I want to, but I got to, and the amount of faith I have is what? Like a mustard seed? That'll work. Because it's not the amount of faith you have, it's the object of your faith. And so just admit it. All right, God, I need you, I can't do this. Believe, I believe, I trust when Jesus died on the cross it counted for me. And the Bible says, if that's you, then you just call on the name of the Lord. You just cry out, Lord Jesus, save me. And it's a prayer that he answers 100% of the time because he always keeps his promises. In Romans 10, 13, it's for all who call on the name of the Lord. That means you surrender your life to him. My life is yours, not mine.

And the Bible says, you will, not might be, not hope to be, not maybe, you will be saved. Would you bow your head, would you close your eyes? And if you know that you know that you know today for the very first time, not because of my words, but because you know that the king of the universe is speaking directly to your soul, that you hear the invitation of Christ to you to repent and believe. And you are ready to admit it. I'm a sinner, I need a savior. If you are ready to put your faith in Christ that when he died on the cross, somehow that counted for you. And today, right this moment, it is time for you to call on the name of the Lord to be saved. If that's you, I want you to lift your hand as high as you can. And you say whatever words you want to. Lord Jesus, save me or some good ones. And he will do it every single time. Our good and gracious heavenly father, God, we love you more than anything. And God, we thank you that you came on a rescue mission for us. God, I thank you that you beg and you plead and you call your people to turn from our own ways. turn to you.

And God, for the person right now thinking, oh, it's gonna cost me so much, Lord. Lord, I pray that we would know it's gonna cost us all of our sin and all of our shame and all of our condemnation. And what we receive is you, and in you there is freedom. And so, God, we pray this. In the only name that gets us an audience in heaven, we pray this in the good, strong name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. And all God's people said, amen. Church, would you please stand to your feet? We are going to respond, and we've got a lot to celebrate. There's been a bunch of people that have met Jesus for the very first time this weekend. And the Bible says that heaven rejoices. I used to think that only meant the angels, and then it dawned on me a couple of weeks ago, Jesus is in heaven. And so the church oughta do the things that Jesus does, and I believe he gets up off his throne and he celebrates every time somebody lost is found. And so we should celebrate. We're gonna celebrate by singing. We're gonna celebrate by bringing. We're gonna celebrate by praying. Let's sing, let's bring, let's pray, let's respond.