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00:00:00 Good morning church. Today's scripture reading is taken from Matthew 13 24-30 and 36-43. Reading from the NIV 2011. Jesus told them another parable. The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sold good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed wheats among the wheat and went away. When the wheat sprouted at the form heads, then the wheat will also appeared. The owner's servant came to him and said, "Sir, did you so good sit in your field? Where then did the wheats
00:00:37 came from?" "An enemy did this," he replied. The servant asked him, "Do you want us to go and pull them up?" "No," he answered, "because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters, first collect the wheats and tie them in the bundle to be burned. Then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn. Verse 36. Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the
00:01:15 weeds in the field." He answered, "The one who swed the good seed is the son of the man. The field is the world, and the good seed stand for the people of the kingdom. The wheats are the people of the evil one, and the enemy who sow them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom, everything that causes
00:01:51 sin, and all who do evil. They will throw them into a blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and nashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like a the sun in the kingdom of their father. Whoever has ears, let them hear. This is the word of the Lord. Oh, it is now. Yes. Okay, it's working. I think it is. Good morning, brothers and sisters in Christ. Good morning. Okay. Uh I was told that there's a family camp this weekend. Um so I thought there were very few people coming. Apparently you are having
00:03:09 a second camp over here. Um okay. So next week is uh brother William um on idolatry and legalism and then uh brother Arnold I was told not to call him uncle. Uh grace to the baron and then Dr. Peter on freedom of grace the week after that. Okay. So, um before we start, let's come to the Lord in prayer. Let's bow our heads together. Our father, we give you thanks that we can come together this Sunday morning to remember your son and what he has done for us. And father, now as we come and open your word, even to
00:03:45 the parable of the kingdom. We pray father that you will help us to see how your kingdom has come even in our midst and in our hearts through the person of our lord Jesus. We pray father that you'll help us to understand the significance of it in our lives and how we may put it into practice. And likewise father we pray that we may examine ourselves to which kingdom we belong. We ask this in the name of our lord Jesus Christ. Okay. So today we're going to look at the parable of the wheat and the
00:04:12 tears. Uh Matthew chap 13 24-30 and then 36-43. We have already read that. Um so we'll jump straight into it. Now I'm going to think about few examples first before we start. Uh first thing is that if I'm a student, right? Um I am actually expected to study hard right so I think that if I study hard I expect that I can get an A+ right? Okay. So I study really hard all the time you know I go through you know all the practice problems go through you know all the past year questions etc. And then I
00:04:48 realized that in reality sunny I failed. So expectation doesn't match our reality sometimes. Right? Second example imagine if I am a hard worker right if I am working in my career I work really hard expect a promotion instead someone else gets a promotion over me. That's the reality. So again expectations don't always match reality right and the third example imagine if I book a flight right and I decide to go traveling you know I say I want to go somewhere I book myself a nice flight and suddenly there's a
00:05:25 delay so sometimes our expectations does not match our reality right now why am I going through these examples sometimes we just realize that there's a big mismatch match and it has something to do with the passage that we read today. So how do we react when reality is different from what we expected right now? Let's look in the context of Matthew chapter 13. We are reading in the context of the parable of the kingdom. Israel was under Roman rule. They were not an independent nation is like saying Malaysia is still under the
00:06:06 British rule. We are still a British colony if we didn't have independence. Israel was not independent. So they were under this Roman Empire at that time. Right? That's why you always hear of Caesar, right? Emperor Caesar and all that kind of stuff. So they were expecting something. The Jews who were under captivity were expecting something. What did the Jews expect the kingdom of God to be like? Because in the Old Testament, it always talks about the coming of a king. He always talks about coming of a messiah.
00:06:36 You know, David saying that there is going to be another king after him. God has promised that this person will come. So they expected something. They expected that a great leader will show up and then overthrow the ruling government of the day and that was Rome. That he will he will set up a self-government, reestablish the rule of God and his kingdom and bring back God's rule. They all prayed for this and they expected this. When the Lord Jesus talks about the kingdom of heaven, he's dealing with the disappointment that the
00:07:09 people face because they did not know what to expect. Because you see, when he preaches the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven, they are saying that I expected the kingdom of God to be a little bit different. Why why are the Romans still there? You know, why are the political powers still in play? Why are we not free? Why can't I walk freely in the streets, you know, and not, you know, be persecuted as it were by this Roman Empire? So the Lord Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven is near. It
00:07:39 is here now. Matthew 4:1 17, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, present. So it's very odd to them. It just doesn't match. Something doesn't jive. The reality was when the kingdom of heaven came in the Lord Jesus Christ, there were things that he were doing but not according to their expectations. He came, he healed the sick, he raised the dead, you know, he was commanding, it's supposed to with the word nature there. I'm not sure why it disappeared, but never mind. Um, every indication was there that this
00:08:07 great king, the Lord Jesus Christ, the long expected messiah, had entered into the world and he was coming to establish his kingdom. But there was no evil that was falling down before him. How come right how come this so-called king so-called leader comes along and you know we still see all these things John the Baptist had a very interesting question are are you he that should come or do we look for another are are you the messiah or or do we look for another man and then you know the lord Jesus tells him look at
00:08:38 what is happening around you you know the sick are healed you know the dead are raised know all that stuff so even John the Baptist was called off guard as it were okay he was due He's still doing great and wonderful things, but shouldn't he have made everything perfect there and then? That's the question. Shouldn't he have just eliminated the nature of evil on the spot, you know, and make everything right? To this day, we still have the same question sometimes in our in our lives. If God is real, how come, you
00:09:08 know, if the kingdom of heaven is here, how come I'm still suffering? Why do I still have sicknesses, diseases? Why do I have cancer? Why am I struggling with, you know, just daily affairs? You know, if kingdom, the kingdom of God is here, why are we still suffering? Why am I still being persecuted? Why am I having problems with my fellow countrymen or something along those lines? They expected the king to come in power. But guess what? The Lord Jesus didn't come in power. He came in weakness. He wasn't
00:09:39 born in a huge palace as the prince to become the king. He was born in a manger. We know that the kingdom of God is here. That's that much the Lord Jesus Christ he established over and over again. But it's not in the way that he was though they were expecting. It's not going to come fully, not going to come immediately. It's going to come incrementally and gradually. What we have now is the kingdom of God in partial form. Now I've talked to you about the kingdom of God, their expectations and their reality. Let's
00:10:12 talk now about what is a parable. Then we'll jump in. All right. So these are the prerequisite. It will sound a bit dry. Just bear with me. Now the Lord Jesus was a very interesting teacher. He didn't come and teach with you know words that are just you know hard to understand. He gave a lot of pictures. He gave a lot of illustrations and he used what is called a parable. Right? I'm sure a lot of us here know what a parable is. All right? You've heard of the parables maybe way more than I have ever said it in my life. And it comes
00:10:41 from the Greek word paraboli. All right? And paraboly really means a comparison figure. You can say these are equivalent words that they use to describe this. It's a metaphor. This is like this. It is a concrete depiction of a cosmic truth. Remember this. The parable that we read about is a concrete description of a cosmic truth. Now, why did the Lord Jesus preach in such an unusual fashion? All right? It's because the kingdom of God is very abstract, right? And it's multi-dimensional. Now, when I talk to
00:11:20 my wife, right, she she cannot understand abstract things. All right? I say um someone has a trigger finger and I said, "Hey, you know, that person needs to put a splinter on the finger." Then she will look at me and say, "It's not that finger." I say, "That's not the point. I mean is as long as you know whether it's this fingering or that finger as long as they put a splinter on that finger that matters most. It's a very abstract concept as it were and it takes something more concrete for her to
00:11:46 understand. So the same way the kingdom of God is also hard to understand right without a concrete example they cannot see it but sometimes we focus too much on the concrete example and not on the truth behind the the concrete example. So these are simple stories to help us understand God's kingdom. And this is what we are going to see today. The kingdom of heaven is like these are the parables of the kingdom. You'll see all in Matthew chapter 13 all the time. And the one that we're looking at today is
00:12:14 in particular is called the parable of the wheat and the tears. Now we are jumping in. You're saying wow 10 minutes just to start up. Yeah. Okay. We're getting there. All right. So what is the story about again? The kingdom of heaven is likened to a man who sow good seed in the field. All right. start planting good seeds. This is a story of that man. While men slept, he his enemy came and sold tears among the wheat. We'll talk about what tears are. All right? But uh real in a say in a sense like a preview
00:12:45 of what tears are. They they are you can say a degenerate form of wheat. They're not it's not real wheat. All right? And went his way. We'll see why the enemy does this as well. When the blade was sprung up and bought brought forth fruit then appeared the tears also. So this is what it looks like. the farmer was sewing the seeds and all that and then suddenly what comes up you know imagine if I plant um chili patty you know when I was young I used to take the chili patty that my dad likes I plant in the
00:13:13 ground and then suddenly comes out and sprouts out to be a small little tiny chili plant but suddenly if I put chili patty in the ground and then you know I didn't do anything suddenly a duran tree comes up then I know that someone else has planted a duran seed over there right this was exactly what was happening but with wheat and tears And then here comes the questions that the servants started to ask. How come you know you are the good master of this um field? Why didn't why do you do do you sow tears as well? Do you sow wheat?
00:13:45 Okay. Tears are like weed. We e d. All right. Didn't you sow good seeds only? And then he says an enemy have done this. So should we go and gather them up? Should we go and take out the weeds, you know, and separate them? And guess what the master says? No. And you say because if you try to do that now, it may be that you might take everything out with you. You will take the good and the bad and you just can't differentiate the two. So let both grow together until the harvest until they're fully grown
00:14:14 and then you can start separating out the two. The wheat will go into my barn. The tears or the wheat will be burned in the fire. All right? So that's the whole parable. Now I'm going to ask you now you're going to have to use your brain a bit. spot the difference. All right, this one we used to do when we were young. All right, in kindergarten or something. Okay, I'll give you another 10 seconds to find. I'm not going to tell you. A spotted one. What's the one? I cannot tell. Why cannot tell? Oh
00:14:52 dear. Okay, I think my 10 seconds is up already. Okay, two. So, what what's the first one? Can anyone tell me the worm? The worm. Okay. What about the worm? Ah, so you're talking about the ring on the worm, right? And then what's the second one? Leave. Ah, see both of you got that right. No, very good. Very good. Okay, can you give yourself a round of applause? Very good. Okay, back to kindergarten again. Okay, now adult version. Yeah, spot the difference challenge. Which one is the real 100 ringgit and which one is the fake 100
00:15:32 ringgit? Can see the word sample there. Later I get the you know the authorities come to me. It's a little bit more subtle but I think you still can see if you really look carefully. Yeah. Is that little line over there. All right. So it's hard to tell. It's not so easy. In fact you will see that uh there is not it's not quite called the hologram. This is more of like the imprint you know it's not on the real uh it's it is on the real one and the fake one doesn't have it right and of course you know there's also a hologram for the
00:16:06 real 100 ringit now coming back to the parable which one is wheat which one is tears it's a bit more difficult because we are not farmers okay so most of us don't know even when I saw this photo in the first place I also didn't know which one was which all right they both look the same. And that's exactly what this parable is about. Okay, the parable of the wheat and the tears. The tears, there's another word for it. It's called the Darnell. D A R N E L or you can also Google this and find out. It's also
00:16:40 called Zenia. All right, it's a very interesting term that is used. Z I Z A N I something like that, right? I may have gotten the spelling wrong, but yeah, you can search it up. The tears are a degenerate form of wheat. They look exactly like wheat, but it doesn't have the grain. So imagine I plant it in the ground, but it doesn't give me the wheat that I'm looking for. Okay? It's a degenerate form. So you you can't distinguish between the two until it starts to ripen and starts to bear fruit or grain. So think about it. It was very
00:17:12 interesting when it was starting to sprout out of the ground, right? And then the servants started to ask, should we go and pick them up? If it was so easy for them to pick it up, they could, but they couldn't because we don't know which one is the real one, which is the fake one. They look the same until they start to bear the grain. You see the fruit there and you, okay, this is Darnell, I can throw it away. This one got real weed inside. Okay, I should keep. So, because of their resemblance,
00:17:37 sewing tears or weed or this Darnell or Zenia, however you want to call it, was a way for people to take revenge on other farmers. So, if I have someone I don't like, you know what? He plantings wheat now I will go in the night I start planting wheats so that his harvest will not be plentiful won't be full okay so you terrible people you know but you can think about it in our world today anything goes right anyone can think about any way to cheat their neighbor and you just have to think hard enough
00:18:07 for that it was a common enough crime for the Romans that they had a specific law against it so what was the purpose like said you can't pull out the weed from the weeds together you you will kind of pull everything out. So the whole harvest will be gone and that does bring about the need for patience in this case. But in our context we'll talk about what it's all about. So when can you start telling difference? when it is when like I said it has started to bear grain right the fruit the wheat remember this was intentional
00:18:42 sabotage and enemy have done this they recognize straight away all right we haven't talked about who they are just yet so should we separate them in in some right condition you say like I said you cannot tell them apart very hard right so to try and destroy one would mean destroying the other separation of one or the other would be beyond the wisdom of the servants they don't know I wouldn't know either Right. So until much later only it's possible. Now we jump in now to the explanation part in a
00:19:11 sense. Oh no, not yet. We're not the explanation. Sorry. Wait, are we? Yes, we are. Sorry. Verse 36 to 43 is the explanation of the parable. The Lord Jesus Christ said to them because the disciples after everyone was sent away, right? They also were just as confused, right? They don't know what's going on. So they asked Lord, hey, declare unto us the parable of the tears of the field. Can you explain to us? I I don't know what's going on. And the Lord Jesus answers says, "He that sws, he that plants, right? He that plants this seed
00:19:40 is the son of man." He's saying that it's himself. I'm the one who plants this good seed. The field is the world. All right? So, we have a field and that's the world that we live in. Now, good seed are the children of God's kingdom. Remember this parable? What is it about? Parable of the kingdom. So it's talking about what's currently present in our situation right now. We who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ or planted by him as it were are the children of the kingdom. The tears, the wheat, the sorry
00:20:16 the weed, the zeizenia, the darn, the children of the wicked one. Who's the wicked one? The enemy that swn this bad seed is the devil. The harvest is the end of the world. Reapers are the angels. So many things to take in at once. I hope um you know you will bear with me. It's not easy, right? Because there's so many things that you have to load into your context before you can start understanding this. Then he talks about the consequences. He talks about their end. As therefore the tears are gathered and burned in the fire. So
00:20:48 shall it be at the end of this world. Right? There I mean tears are useless to the farmer. It is there is no fruit. there is no grain so what should be done so the Lord Jesus tells them that it's only good for the burning and he will send forth his angels at the end of the age means at the end of this world he'll gather out all his kingdom out of his kingdom all things that offend that stumble that do iniquity all these things that are wrong and shall cast them into a furnace of fire and there should be wailing and nashing of teeth
00:21:19 it's talking about a much deeper thought here about what's happening Right? It's not just about burning wheat and wheat. No, it's it's something deeper than that. What about those who are the children of his kingdom? Then shall the righteous shine forth as son in the kingdom of their fathers. Two things that you have to think about all this while. All right. So this is uh you know just summary. The swer son of man the field the world good seed children of the kingdom tears children of the wicked
00:21:49 one. the enemy, the devil, harvest the end of the world, reapers, the angels. Okay, so keep that in mind. Now, this is the gist of it. We are approaching a very interesting part of this parable because the Lord keeps emphasizing there is a duality. There are there now exists not one kingdom but two kingdoms as it were. All right. So the first thing that we learned today is that there are two kingdoms. There are two orders of reality or realities as it were that we are under. Okay. Two kingdoms. One we
00:22:28 know for certain is the kingdom of God. The second one is not mentioned but we can deduce that is the kingdom of the wicked one. The kingdom of the enemy, the kingdom of the devil. Right? So there are two orders of reality. Now that's what the Lord is trying to say. And the second thing most important all right there is nothing more important in life than to know the difference between these two crops the wheat and the tears. There's no more important thing for you to understand than the difference between these two
00:23:00 kingdoms and most most importantly to which you and I belong. There is no ondefense. So there is only one kingdom you can be part of. So the wheat are remember we are saying are the children of the kingdom. The Lord Jesus is going about and he's sewing his people his sons and his daughters into the world. his message remember is the you know okay I'm just going to quick aside over here right it's very easy for us to say oh yeah you know the the god is uh you know planting the seeds in our hearts you know the the
00:23:39 planting this seed into the ground you know but guess what remember the good seed here is not the word of godh remember that was a different parable right that's the parable of the swer all right so he sws it into different grounds and different grounds bring up different kinds of fruit okay so make sure there is that this um differentiation. Okay. So here the good seed are the children of the kingdom. His message is going about and he's winning men and women from every language, every tongue, every culture,
00:24:09 every nation of this world. That's what the kingdom of heaven looks like in the present hour. But remember the enemy comes and sows his bad seed as well, right? Remember the son of man is not the one who saw the bad seed. He only sows good seed and lives are transformed by and embodying the word of truth, the word of God that is presented. It is the redeemer's purpose, God's redemption to sow his redeemer ones in the world, in this world full of sin and misery at this moment in time in order that they
00:24:42 may be fruit for his glory. This is how it is. God is saying, you know, your kingdom that you expect is not going to come in power yet. You're going to have two orders of reality at this present moment. You know, the Romans are going to rule under you, uh, over you. And yet, my kingdom is still here. You are going to suffer, you know, injustice. You're going to suffer pain, sickness, you will suffer death, but my kingdom is still here. We are sitting there saying, I expected something different and
00:25:10 reality is just completely different. And the Lord Jesus Christ is saying, now this is the reality. All right? We have been sown where we live and where we labor. All right? So what about the children of the wicked one right? We know that the devil came he says and he swed the bad seeds as it were. So who are the bad seeds again? Children of the wicked one they are his own sons and daughters as it were right his own followers are these bad seeds and they are planted alongside the good seed in this world. They are going
00:25:48 to look like the sons of the kingdom. They're going to look quite similar if not exactly the same. So first John chapter 5 verse 19 says that we know that we are of God and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. So there two there's a differentation kingdom of God, kingdom of this world or kingdom of the evil one. John is presenting a picture of a world in which is enslaved by Satan. how you uh okay the Lord Jesus Christ here in John chapter 8 was talking to some of the Pharisees you know um of the teachers of
00:26:26 the law that came up to him and says you are your are of your father the devil right and the lust of your father you will do he was a murderer from the beginning he did not abide in truth because there is no truth in him when he speaks a lie he speaks of his own for he's a liar and the father of it so we have a bit of a definition as it were of the children of the kingdom and the children of the wicked one. Who are the children of the wicked one? In practical terms today, who are these people? We know there's the world. Yes,
00:27:01 they are in the world. Non-believers. Yes, in a sense that's true. And I think in a sense it is, yeah, they are non-believers. But in the context of this parable, how is it that some look alike to the children of the kingdom, some don't? Right? And I think it's a very pertinent question to ask because the emphasis was that they look the same. They cannot tell the difference until it's ready to ripen. And it's a very sobering reality because the children of the wicked one here in this parable is really talking about
00:27:41 false Christians. It's an oxymoron. How how do you have someone who is a Christian and false at the same time? All right. So when we say false Christian, we're really talking about someone with the same form but different fundamentals. Think about it. It's like twins. So you see a twin, right? They actually have different personalities. No, right? It's very rare to find twins with exactly the same personality. You know, they are exactly the same. There there's always some differences. Okay. So, the closest
00:28:11 scrutiny will often fail to detect the differences between the test and we unless they are both developed. So, it gives us an insight into Satan's subtle working. It's very subtle, right? He does this by what is called opposition by imitation. a bit like China you know all those luxury brand you know so they try to oppose by how they imitate you got this triple A grade you know all that kind of stuff imitation all the counterfeits and all that so the bad are shown among the good right the difference is not always discernable you
00:28:43 cannot really tell it's hard to tell what does it look like in practical terms right so one of the ways we already know is that there are people who look like Christians guess what there are people who are in church all right they are people who look like Christians, sound like Christians, they behave like Christians, do everything like Christians, they are moral, they are decent and even religious. But guess what? They suddenly find out that they have no grain in the end at the end of the world. It's a very sobering thought.
00:29:14 It's very possible that we can find out that actually we are not really Christians. They were they thought they were authentic but actually they are counterfeit as it were. So it many who are not the lords yet resemble those who are all right. So a lot of us think that oh yeah you know that person is a Christian you know because that person goes to church but a lot of people who come to church actually are not Christians right and this is especially pertinent for people who are born in Christian families right I was born in a
00:29:48 Christian family my wife was born in a Christian family and this is the struggle that we had we came to realize that am I really a Christian because you know for me I was brought up in Sunday school I have come all this while you know I have done all these things you know um I've sang, you know, I have, you know, studied my Bible, I've prayed every day, read, you know, all these things. And you say, am I really a Christian? All right. And the answer sometimes is no. So when I was younger, I thought that being a Christian means
00:30:17 doing all this Christiany stuff that you know, you know what that's called? It's called Christian culture. It's not being a Christian because that's Christless. I can do all these things without the Lord Jesus Christ being in the picture. So there's a difference between the converted and the counterfeit. And this is the very scary verse in Matthew chapter 7 21-23 says there not everyone that says to me Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. Ah kingdom of heaven again it's a picture. But he
00:30:47 that doeth the will of my father which is in heaven. So the only ones that will be entering into my kingdom is the one who does the will. So say what do I have to do? What will is the father's will? Right? Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? Have we not cast out devils in your name and in your name done many wonderful works? You see that all the time, you know, telly evangelist, you know, oh, you know, they slay the spirit, all that, you know, and then, oh, you know,
00:31:17 prosperity, you know, I pray and then, you know, I became rich and wealthy, etc. And what does the Lord say? And then will I profess unto them? I never knew you. Depart from me ye that work iniquity. See the emphasis. Many wonderful works. Work iniquity. It's about works. So a lot of us might think this, but some of us already know. I think it's worth emphasizing. It's a bit hard to see on the screen. Okay, screen easier to see that we think that good works cause salvation. It is not. It is really not. All right. So we think that
00:31:56 we have to work to earn God's favor. We have to work to be approved by God. I have to work to be you know justified. And God says no. In fact, if you do all these things, you have worked iniquity. We'll see why. It is not the cause of salvation. Good works is not. But good works are the result is the other side of the coin. It is the effect of salvation. Salvation is the cause. Good works is the result. Now, what about the analogy of a tree, right? Our salvation is not rooted in our works. It's not what I do before
00:32:37 God that's going to make me a saved person or a person that is approved by God. It is the fruit of salvation. Right? The good works is an outcome. It is not the cause. Isaiah 64:6 puts it this way. Our righteousnesses, our works, our works of self-righteousness are as filthy racks. In God's eyes, it is not enough. It is not enough for you to come to church every Sunday. It is not enough for you to read your Bibles at home. It's not enough for you to pray to me. All these things are not enough. Then you say,
00:33:16 "Wow, this God demands so much of me." God is not demanding a lot out of us. He's demanding a lot more than we think out of us because sin requires eternal punishment, right? It's not something that, you know, I can just do in this present time and this present moment and then resolve my issue. You know, God, I can make myself right before you in this one lifetime. No, can't. He's a holy, righteous, and just God. And he demands that sin has to be dealt with. So, what is fundament fundamentally different? We'll talk
00:33:51 about what God does. So we think that these things will lead to salvation and of course that is where the fake Christians are. I was one of them when I was younger. We rely on our works. So if I don't go to church for one Sunday, I will feel devastated. I was like a you know I'm not a good Christian or you know I don't read my Bible. I don't pray. Oh that means I'm a lousy Christian. Okay. So what do I do in that situation? I make sure I go to church every Sunday. I make sure I pray every day. I make sure I read my Bible every
00:34:24 day without fail. But guess what? That does not make me a Christian. Salvation is the thing that should lead me to do these things. Instead, I'm doing these things so that I can be saved. And guess we always think that the definition of eternal life is just that, you know, when I die, I'll be raised up and to life again. Guess what? John chapter 17:3 makes it very clear what eternal life is. This is a definition. I think it's worth thinking about it. We always think definition of eternal life is that
00:34:53 I will never die one day. No, no, no. That's not true. It's not about physical death. We're talking about something deeper than that. The Lord Jesus says this. Now, this is life eternal that they may know you. Now, key word know you. The only true God is talking about the father and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. All right, let's read that together. Now this is eternal life that they know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Key word know. You have to know God. That is the fundamental
00:35:37 difference. I can do all these things about church. I can be part of Christian culture. I have so many Christian friends. But if I don't know God, then what's the point? Because that is the fruit, the grain that is in the wheat. All right? So genuine faith transforms and it does not perform. First thing we consider, same form, different fundamentals. Next thing we're going to consider, same field, different fruit. Good seeds, sons of the kingdom. Again, tears, bad seed, sons of the wicked one. The Lord Jesus sold the
00:36:11 world with his disciples. Guess what? Satan has a counterfeit for every divine reality. The devil souls the world with those who look like, talk like some extent also walk like disciples, but they are not genuine followers of the king. We have so many different you can say religions as it were that actually are copycats of what we truly believe. We have Mormons. We have Jehovah's Witnesses. We have Catholics. All these things mix the word of God with something else and it becomes false counterfeit. Looks like
00:36:49 it. So we say, "Wow, you know, the pope must be a Christian. Does he really believe in the Lord Jesus Christ fully for his salvation or does he also rely on his works?" Looks like. How do we really observe the difference? One word. All right, just one word. Can anyone guess what that one word is? Relationship. Relationship. Yes, I agree. What's the result of that relationship? Transformation. Yes. Transformation. Growth is the key. There must be transformation. If you know God, it's impossible for you not to be
00:37:23 transformed and grow. So, it's very important that you grow in that fruit. That is the key. Remember the wheat and the chest, that story, growth. So in the end, the Christian grows into the likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ. The counterfeit moral person will never really grow. Guess what? You will grow in some sense if you are a counterfeit Christian, but you grow not in Christlikkeness. You'll grow in something different. You grow in judgmentalism. I go to church every Sunday. You know, the other one doesn't.
00:37:54 You know, I read my Bible every day. The other one doesn't. So, I start to judge other people instead. So a Christian is somebody who grows more content with God as the years go by. But a counterfeit one goes content but not just with God is God and health, God and prosperity. Anything of this taken away from me then I will say that oh you know this God is not good for me. It's a very transactional relationship. Right? So Matthew chapter 7 verse 15 to 20. It talks about false prophets here. Jump
00:38:26 straight to the end. How do you know the difference between the two? You shall know them by their fruits. You shall know them by their fruits. So this is an example of certain false teachers that have crept in. They will tell you, you know, it's okay to sin because, you know, God is gracious. It's all right. Guess what? Those are false teachers. How do we know? Because by their fruits. Rabbi Zechariah is a very, very good example, right? He may preach, he may teach, but look at his life. We know for a certainty then that
00:39:00 by his fruit we know that he's a false teacher as it were. False teachers only can bear that kind of false fruit. By your fruits you shall know them. Same with Christians. They claim to know God but by their actions they deny him. Their actions. So a concrete example in the Bible we read of two disciples Peter and Judas right and they both were failures as it were. But you would never have thought that Judas was actually a betrayer. Have you ever wondered? Remember, you know, when the Lord Jesus was saying, you know, one of
00:39:34 you going to betray me. Then they look at each other, who is it? Who is it? They cannot pinpoint and say that Judas is the one you know. It was so glaringly obvious that Judas was the betrayer. He they would have definitely pointed him out. That means uh that they were not suspicious of him because he looks exactly like them. He acts exactly like them. He was counterfeit. Instead, Peter was making mistake after mistake after mistake. He couldn't stop. But without knowing the end of the gospels, we might
00:40:02 be very tempted to conclude that some of his disciples were not authentic. And the ones who were not authentic, we were thinking that they were legitimate. So question is, are we growing in Christ? Are you a true disciple? Not examine yourselves as it were. Galatians 5:22 to 23. The fruit of the spirit. You know, are you growing in these things? Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, generous, goodness, faith. It's a long topic. We will talk about it in about two months, God willing. It's a it's it's a
00:40:33 multifaceted fruit. You can't say I'm growing in one area and then you know the other you're not. You have to grow in every facet of this, right? And the only way that this is going to happen, John chapter 15, abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except you abide in the vine, you no more can you except you abide in me. Kia abide in me. So if you're not growing in Lord Jesus Christ means you're not abiding in him. Last same finale different fate. When will the separation
00:41:06 occur? Let both grow until the harvest. Remember the harvest is the end of the age. So the good seed and the test are now intermingled by it's not forever. It's not going to go on for on and on and on. There will come a time that they will be separated. Right? The Lord Jesus Christ is going to come again in his power, in his glory as king. Now this time he will come in judgment. He didn't come in judgment the first time. He came to save. But the second time he's coming, he's coming to judge. Are you
00:41:39 wheat or are you tear? And at that judgment all evil will be judged. The non-believers as it were, you know, we were talking about them. Yes. Everyone will be judged. So the close of the age will mean the end of evil, which is what we are longing. Justice, the longing for perfection. That is what we are all looking forward to. That is coming. But for this period of time, good and evil allowed to coexist just for this moment. And we talked about the wheats that are going to be gathered up by the
00:42:11 reapers thrown into the fire. The furnace of fire and the wing of nashing of teeth that is being spoken about I think in verse 41 to 43 in that section is actually really about the hell and lake of fire. Hell and lake of fire. Sorry. So in Revelations 20:15, it says there, "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." Very sobering thought. You have authentic Christians who be gathered into the barn and you have people who look like Christians, who do very Christiany things, does
00:42:52 everything that a Christian would do and yet ended up in the lake of fire. Two stark realities. Remember two kingdoms, two order of realities, two crops. Which one do you belong to? Guess what? We are all not born wheat. When you born into this world, you are automatically as it were born a tear. We are born in sin. All of us are no exception. There is none righteous, know not one. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of all. So God puts a blanket upon everybody. And I demand eternal
00:43:36 judgment, eternal punishment for that sin. You see, God very unfair. Guess what? God says, I'm going to make a way. I know it's very demanding because I'm holy and righteous God. I'm going to demand it. But guess what? Someone else is going to pay the price. Jesus answered and said unto him, "Verily I say unto you, except a man be born again." See the word born, right? We are not born wheat. We were born test. So unless you're born again as a wheat unless you are born again spiritually. You will not see or enter
00:44:13 the kingdom of God. The new birth is the only entrance into the kingdom of God. You must know this new birth. As therefore the tears are gathered and burned in the fire. Remember that is what tears should face at the end. So the question is this. What did it cost to make you and I whee? Remember we can be relying on our works looking like Christians coming to church every Sunday you know going for all sorts of church events. Almost every church event I can go for alpha beta gamma. I can go for carries. I can go
00:44:52 for kyros. I can go for every single ministry that is in this church. I can help in every single way. But I can still be a tear. What did it cost to me? What did it cost to make you a child of his kingdom? Remember the cost was to be burned in the fire? The Lord Jesus Christ had to endure the fire of God's wrath for you and for me. Where do we find this? Galatians 3:13. And it says there Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us instead of relying on your own works.
00:45:31 Remember Lord Lord you know have we not prophesied in your name? You can do all these things in God's name and yet not know him. Depart from me for what? For depart from me for I never knew you. Knew I never known you. You don't know me. You need to know him. And for you to know God, that life eternal. Remember that that verse. Now, this is life eternal. That they may know you. For us to know God, to know a holy and infinite and righteous and just God, sin must be dealt with once for all. And guess what
00:46:05 God says? You can't pay the price. I will send someone who will, someone who can. And he did at the cross of Calvary. John 12:4. Before we sing our final song, verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. It abides alone and stays alone. But if he die, it brings forth much fruit. This wheat, what this corn of wheat, who is it talking about? It's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. He was that real wheat that fell into the ground and die so that you and
00:46:43 I can have life. We can bear forth much fruit. We are that fruit of that cross. If you believe in that Lord in what the Lord Jesus Christ has done. So are you and I are you wheat or are you a tear? What if I'm not sure whether I am wheat or tear? Very natural question to ask. Very simple says there all you need to tell the Lord is this. Lord Jesus, if I never knew you before this, and if I never done this before, I want to accept you as my savior. I don't want to rely on my works anymore. I don't have to. I don't want
00:47:26 to be counterfeit as it were. I don't want to come to church to gain God's favor. I want to just accept your righteousness because you have made me right with God and I can have that favor now because of what Christ has done for me. Thank you for the cross and all that you've done. That's how we can know whether we are wheat planted by the swer himself. Are we really saved? It's the sobering message of this parable. They are alongside each other. Wheat and tears looks exactly the same. One relies on their own works, the other
00:48:03 relies on Christ alone. So let's examine ourselves. Remember this. through Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ and in him alone. Can you then be planted by the swer himself as the good seed and being rooted in grace? You can shine forth like the son in the kingdom of your father through Jesus Christ alone, not through my works. So that I am a real wheat, a real child of his kingdom in God's sight. Let us bow in prayer. Father, we just ask now that if there would be any among us that as we examine ourselves, if we
00:48:49 have been not relying on Christ alone, we pray father that you will open our hearts to know that there is no way our father we can win favor with you. There is no way our father we can make ourselves right with you. But father, we thank you so much that because we can do nothing, you did everything. You gave the best that heaven could give. You gave the true corn of wheat that fell into the ground and die and brought forth much fruit. May we our father be that wheat that is planted by the swer that we may be rooted in the grace of
00:49:25 our lord Jesus Christ and one day shine forth like the sun in your kingdom. We ask this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Let us now rise to sing the goodness of God if we truly believe in him. Remember the words. It says, "I love you, Lord. Your mercy never fails." You will recognize his mercy. I love you, Lord. You have led me through the fire. Think about that fire that he went through for you and for me. And then you can then sing, I have experienced the goodness of God. We will now invite uh Pastor Moby to um
00:50:12 lead us in the taking off the emblems. The emblems represent the blood and the body of the Lord Jesus that was given. It's not going to save us. Remember what saves is knowing him. If we truly know him, examine yourselves and partake of that bread and of that cup. Over to you, Pastor Mo. Please be seated. Before I administer the Lord's Supper, if you have not receive the element, could you please raise your hand and the ushers will give you an element? Is anyone that without it? Thank you. This morning we invite all believers who
00:51:14 trust in Christ as their savior. And we come to the table not as an individual but as a community by sharing the bread and the cup. Christ make us one with him and with each other. And I'd like to read a portion of scripture before we proceed. For it says in 1 Corinthians 11 verse 23. For I receive from the Lord what I also pass on to you. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same
00:52:12 way, he also took the cup after supper and said, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you would eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaims the Lord's death until he comes. Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drink the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sin against the body and the blood of the Lord. At this time, I'd like to ask everyone to take a moment of reflection from the word and the reflection about yourself
00:52:57 in your walk with the Lord. Let us spend some moment in quietness before God before we partake of the bread. For it says in the scripture again, the Lord Jesus took bread and gave thanks. Let us pray. Father, we give you thanks for the bread which we are about to partake. As we have reflected upon our own lives, we pray that areas that we have sin against you, we ask for your forgiveness and we want to thank you for this bread. For this is the bread of the new covenant. And he let us break the seal and take the cup, take
00:54:24 the bread, and we'll uh partake it together. Let us partake of the bread together. and the cup and he passed the cup to his disciple and he give thanks. Father we want to thank you for the cup for the cup is a symbol of your blood for the remission of our sins and we want to thank you. Let us stand. Before we stand, let us uh break that break the seal and uh to drink it together. If you have done so, let us stand together as a family and the unity of our hearts and the body as a community. Let us partake of the cup
00:55:40 together. Let us pray. Father God, you have graciously accepted us as a living member of our Lord Jesus Christ. Grant us the strength and the courage to live for you and to serve you with gladness and singleness of our hearts through our Lord Jesus Christ. And may we Lord in our struggle continue to lean on you that we be truly a disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ. For we pray and ask this in Jesus name. Amen. Please be seated. Second Peter 3:18. But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord
00:56:44 and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. and let all of God's people say, "Amen." Thank you all. Have a blessed Sunday. You're dismissed.
