Matthew 15 v 21 /28

 

Jesus has completed a very hectic ministry in the region of Galilee in the area of Capernaum. He knew He was nearing the end of His earthly ministry, and wanted to rest and teach His Apostles for the future work they would have to do. Jesus has left the area of Galilee completely, and withdrawn into the area of Tyre and Sidon, two places on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in what is now Lebanon. Tyre is about fifty miles south of modern Beirut, and Sidon was halfway between the two. He had gone there for peace and quiet whilst He taught His Apostles.

The cities were outside the boundaries of Israel, and the people were largely Gentiles, but there was a Jewish community. This was the only occasion when Jesus left Jewish territory, and had on His present journey crossed geographical, ethnic, gender and theological boundaries. Later it would mean removing barriers, to enable the gospel to be taken to the whole world.

I have found that quite a number of people found this story hard to understand, as Jesus appeared to be doing something which seems contrary to the image they have of Him, especially in the way He spoke to the woman.

Today many people are anti-Israel and wish to separate from the Jews, but forget the specialness of Israel in the purposes of God. Jesus never implied anything different, but Paul was specially commissioned to bring Gentile and Jews on equal terms. Many of the wonders of technology, which we all enjoy so much, were first discovered and developed in Israel, and given to the wider world in medicine, wireless communication, agriculture and more.

Never overlook the fact that we worship a Jewish Savior, born into a Jewish family, and our God is the God Israel. We teach, (or are meant to) from a Holy Book written by 40 men, 39 of whom were Jews, under the divine inspiration of God. Our faith is not man-made, and is recorded in history by witnesses, which negates any justifiable call for joint worship with other faiths. We respect their right to hold their own beliefs and wish to live amicably with them, but they do not acknowledge the divinity of Jesus.

The story revolves around a "Canaanite" woman, turning from her idols to seek the help and mercy of Jesus to cure her daughter’s illness. This is a woman of Canaanite heritage, who were ancestral enemies of Israel, and thereby of Jesus. She has no understanding, or even knowing of the Old Testament. She is not even in a place where she would be in regular contact with those who did. It is likely that she had heard of Jesus as miracle worker in the land of Israel, from those who were now passing through her land, and now she finds that Jesus is in her area.

She went to Him and pleaded for His mercy, which is further evidence that she does understand something of who Jesus is, for by definition, a person who asks for mercy, asks for something that they know that they do not deserve. She turns her back on the idols of her own culture, and turned to Jesus.

       She pleaded with Jesus to help her crying out, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of   David   my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed." . Jesus turned His back on her, refusing to answer and His Apostles urged Jesus to chase her away. He then said to her, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel’.

Whilst this was in contrast to Jesus’ last commission to His Apostles to go into the world and make disciples, at the time of this incident it was in the plan of God for Jesus to focus on the Jews, and their spiritual needs.

She then knelt before Jesus, and begged Him to help her. His reply was that it would not be right to take the children’s bread and give it to the dogs. She seems to accept the insult and Jesus’ judgement on her, but still pleaded and said even dogs eat the crumbs from the table.  In Palestine, dogs were wild scavengers, and Canaanites were referred to as such by the Jews who were ancestral enemies of each other.

The woman responded, that extended blessings were mentioned by Abraham to the promised Gentiles, that God’s plan was to bring salvation to His chosen people Israel, and then to Gentiles. The woman was showing an attitude of humble faith, which allowed Jesus to answer, for God responds to all who call on Him in true faith.

Jesus was testing her faith, for it was His way to help all people. The woman was displaying greater faith in Jesus than many of His own people, and Jesus responded by telling her faith was so great and granted her request with the result her daughter was healed.

She was persistent, and such perseverance should be the mark of every Christian, but sadly it is not. Too often we give up when we do not receive a quick reply to our requests. We may even get discouraged, thinking the Lord is no longer listening to us or is ignoring us as He was this woman.

What a beautiful example of the humility and faith, and what a contrast she was to the pride and unbelief of those Jesus had been with in Galilee. . She responded in complete humility, which is the way each of us should respond

What can we learn from this story.?

This is one of the miracles performed by Jesus, Let us look to see what we can learn from it.

We see first, that true faith may sometimes be found, where it was least expected. A Canaanitic woman cries out to our Lord for help, on behalf of her daughter. ‘have mercy on me’, she says ‘O Lord, thou Son of David’. Such a prayer would have showed great faith, had she lived in Bethany, or Jerusalem. But when we find she came from the coasts of Tye and Sidon, such a prayer may well fill us with surprise. It ought to teach us, that it is truth we have in this passage.

The prayer of this afflicted mother, at first seemed entirely unnoticed. Jesus did not answer a word. Yet she prayed on, ‘Lord, help me’. The saying which fell from our Lord’s lips was discouraging saying,’ I am not sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel’. Yet she prayed on.

The second saying of our Lord, was even less encouraging than the first: It is not meet to take the children’s bread and cast it to the dogs’. Yet hope deferred did not make her heart sick. Even then she was not silenced. Then she finds a plea for ‘crumbs of mercy to be granted to her. And her pleas obtained at length a great reward ‘

O woman, great is thy faith; be it unto thee even as thou wilt’. That promise was never yet broken, which stated. Seek and ye shall find.  There is a lesson for us when we pray for ourselves.

We are sometimes tempted to think we get no good for our prayers, and we may as well give up altogether. Let us resist the temptation from the devil, and pray on. For strength to do duty, for grace to bear our trials, for comfort in every trouble. Be sure that no time is so well spent in every day, as that which we spend in prayer. Jesus hears us and in his own good time, will give an answer.

When we pray for others, remember this history. We may have children whose conversion we desire. Relations and friends whose salvation we are concerned. We follow this Canaanite woman, and lay their souls before Christ. Name their names before Him until we have an answer, which might be a long time.

We may seem to pray in vain, and intercede without profit; but never give up. Believe that Jesus is not changed, and he who granted this woman’s request, will also hear us, and will one day give us an answer of peace.

 

 

Give thanks to God for His Holy Gospel. Praise the Lord Jesus Christ,

 

 Turn now with me to Paul’s 2nd Letter to Timothy in Chapter 3

 

Paul is in a Roman prison, and this is the last Letter he will write, he knows this and wants to ensure he passes on his ministry to someone he can trust, to faithfully carry on in the manner he has done so.   Paul begins by speaking of the ‘last days’

The Bible states, during the ‘last days’ there will be a time when scoffers will be present who will mock God, saying he is dead, we can’t find him anywhere, and they will scoff at any talk of judgment or the return of our Lord’.   When the Bible mentions last days, as it does numerous times, it is referring to the days between the day of Pentecost and the time of our Lord’s return.  Many Bible scholars think we are in that period now and they may well be right. The Bible lists terrible events which will come before the final end, and whilst these have in some way been seemingly applicable to past years, they seem to be most applicable now. When we look carefully at them we can claim they are very much relating to our time  .Never in my life term has murder been treated has just another crime; it was given wide notice.

In the first nine verses of Chapter 3, Paul talks of godlessness, describing the very conditions we find today; lovers of selves and money, unholy, children having no respect and disobedient. This is what happens when a nation turns its back on God. We live in an age of relativism, in which there are no absolutes, no basic morals, a case of if it feels right it is. They become lovers of themselves, and there is a moral collapse as the pursuit of money becomes so important.  

In v10 Paul expresses his faith, purpose in life, endurance, love and patience, and living a godly life, and warns of impostors.   He then points out the suffering he endured, and Timothy must be prepared as every Christian must, to find he suffers be it mild or harder.

Paul must have felt saddened to see a falling away from Church after it had made much progress.  It is sad when people fall away, and once they do so find it hard to return, it is so easy to succumb, often to outside pressure.

Paul is telling Timothy, to follow the teaching of the Apostles, which he means sound words, and not be led astray, still a good message for  to-day,  when the pressure is constantly to avoid being positive in keeping to Scripture.  Sound words are those not distorted or weakened ones. It is so easy to be distracted and led astray

 Paul likens this to James and Jambres who opposed Moses, these two men opposed the truth and corrupted others in mind disqualifying the faith.  Paul contrasts all that, with the way Timothy has been brought up with a love of Scripture, something children of several generations have been deprived of in the present ages.  The Ten Commandments have become Ten Suggestions, or pick any four from ten.  We have raised a generation, who are unaware of even the most basic beliefs. A majority do not even understand the true meaning of Easter and Christmas.

It is a disturbing situation, where all the traditional manners are  not practiced, because few know what they were. Children are denied the basic details of the Bible or its characters, and Jesus is just a word they hear adults use when they swear.

Many of us here to-day grew up in a totally different culture.  We may not have had all the wonderful technological aids and comforts that now are available, but we benefited in other ways. Like Timothy, we were taught about the Bible at home, and went to Sunday school as youngsters, learning the stories about Jesus, which gave us standards and values. and a good foundation for life. 

We had morning assemblies in all schools, now largely avoided in (state) schools. This may not have been widely followed up in life, but the basics had been laid, and our lives were directed by Christian values. Children are now denied these foundations, and are growing up without knowing the country’s religious faith and heritage. 

In v14/5, he refers to the teaching Timothy had, having been  brought up in the faith by his mother and grandmother,( and also had been taught much by Paul, and in fact Peter had helped a little, so he had the two Apostles who wrote much of the new testament.  Now, Timothy had the wisdom to receive salvation, by trusting in Jesus Christ, the only way to God.

In v16 we come to an important verse when Paul reminds him that ALL Scripture is inspired by God, and tells what is right and true, so we can recognize wrong way.

In v17 God prepares his people to do good work. This will mean Timothy to be fully equipped for his ministry, when he has to correct people who are not speaking the truth, rebuke those who mislead, and encourage with patience those who are learning the gospel. We are told God inspired and guided forty men, using their different characters and occupations, to write the Scriptures which would be His message to the world.  We can reasonably presume that if God gave us these words, He would not have done so just to fill pages, but meant us to take note of all that was given.  God wants us to understand and know Him, and the only way we can do that is by Him telling us, which He does in this book. He tells, we listen and obey him.

There are 66 books in the Bible, 39 of which are in the Old Testament and 27 in the New, written by 40 men.  God used their individual personalities and occupations, to communicate His words, and none of them would claim it was any thoughts of their own. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, all state they did not feel worthy, but God laid a burden on them.  This was done over many years, without any collusion, they did not meet each other, yet there is no contradiction in writings. The Bible is given to teach us and guide us in the way God wants us to live.  It is the supreme authority for the Church containing the very words of God and does not need any amendments.

This is a very stressful world in which we live.  This is a post Christian age, when most people under the age of 40 have little if any knowledge of the Christian faith or Church. 

 It may have been written by men, but these men were inspired by God, to give us the message that God wished us to have.  We are therefore enabled to live according to God’s teaching.

  The important word is, ALL.  Once you start discounting parts you challenge, the whole credibility and authority of the Bible is destroyed. When we fully understand God’s Word, we are more able to inform others.  I don’t think even Church members, give the Bible the attention one would expect.  I know there are many whose sole connection with it is in the Sunday service. But even then, is mainly a case of listening to it being read.

 In evangelical Churches, it has been the practice of having Bibles in the pews, or at least available, so that members can follow the readings, and I always found it helped to follow the sermon, (when the sermon is Bible based that is.)  I went to take a service at one Church where there wasn’t even a Bible to read the lessons from, and someone had to go out and borrow one.

I am very impressed  by some Churches I have seen in the United States, which have large congregations. When the Pastor announces the Bible reading, the whole congregations turn to their own Bibles; this is revealed when the cameras show all different Bibles; such is the attention paid by the people, they are making notes of the sermon.  This was once common in our Churches, but after many years in ministry, I never saw it happen.

There is a basic question we should all ponder.  Why do we come to Church?  There are many answers, but the real purpose should be to worship God with reverence and awe; to learn about God and how He would want us to live.

In order to do this we need to know our Bibles and be prepared to accept what is taught there.  I know this will not be acceptable to some people within the Church, for it may condemn the way they are conducting their lives.   The Bible has to be the supreme authority of the Church.

The maker of the world has laid down the terms in His manual, and if people do not conform to those terms they can have no reason to complain when turmoil occurs.   

We are told God inspired and guided forty men, using their different characters and occupations, to write the Scriptures which would be His message to the world.  We can reasonably presume that if God gave us these words, He would not have done so just to fill pages, but meant us to take note of all that was given.  God wants us to understand and know Him, and the only way we can do that is by Him telling us, which He does in this book. He tells, we listen and obey him.

We should be ready to turn to it and study it more.  For most Christians, I fear Bible reading is confined to someone else reading it in the service. 

It is not a coincidence, it is fact that as the Bible has become so irrelevant to so many people, life has become so much more coarse and immoral, and we have a breakdown in society.  There seems to be no sense of shame on the part of many people, even those in the public eye. 

We now see politicians rushing to condemn the moral condition of the nation, a condition which most of them legislated to create and encourage, and which they now realise is a moral monstrosity. Timothy is called upon to reprove, rebuke and exhort, which in fact is the task of all preachers. In other words, we have to be concerned with mind, will and emotions by correcting wrong thinking, pointing out what is wrong in behaviour and attitudes, and encouraging those depressed.  This has to be done with caring, but positive words.

     When Billy Graham, the most successful preacher of all time, was starting out in ministry, he was troubled as to whether the Bible really was God’s Word or man’s idea.  There were passages he could not understand.  He was so concerned he went up into the mountains near his North Carolina home, and read and re-read his King James Version of the Bible, then turned to God and said, ‘I have seen enough of your transforming ability in this Word, to know you are behind it.  I know there are many questions I do not understand, but I take it by faith that it is your Word and will preach it as your Word and trust you.’  The rest is history.  He always encouraged people to take their Bibles with them to his crusades and meetings.

 In my visits to preach in Churches I have been amazed how few provide the Bibles.  I went to one Church where there was not one Bible, not even for the reading of the Lessons.

    

 The Bible is essentially a book of salvation, and there has never been any doubt that the only way to be saved is through Jesus Christ.  He is the focus and climax of the Bible from start to finish.  The whole Bible focuses on the coming of Christ, after prophet after prophet in the Old Testament foretold His coming.  In the Old Testament Jesus is predicted.  In the Gospel Jesus is revealed.  In Acts Jesus is preached.  In the Epistles Jesus is explained.   In Revelation Jesus is anticipated.  

The aim of many public officials is to erase Christianity from public life in which no mention or expression of the faith is allowed, and some Christians are swept away by the tide of opposition.   In some intellectual and academic circles, the Bible is seen as some form of hate literature, and this is being taught in schools, colleges and universities, simply because it doesn’t fit in with some modern thought.

     Paul feared that Timothy, young and timid man, was in danger of yielding to the anti-Christian pressure facing him.  His message to Timothy, and which also applies to us, is to stand firm even if it means standing alone.  Don’t weaken under pressure.

     Timothy was brought up in a Jewish background, and so was taught the Scriptures from an early age by his mother and grandmother.  It was customary for Jewish boys to be taught the Scriptures from age five. Whilst these would be the Old Testament, he had also been taught by Paul and Peter, who between them had written most of the New Testament, so he would in fact have virtually the whole Bible as we know it in his knowledge. There is a great tragedy in the fact that children are growing up here  without ever hearing the stories of Jesus or the main biblical characters, as parents do not have the time, inclination or knowledge to help them.  But it has not always been like that.

 

Many of us here to-day grew up in a totally different culture.  We may not have had all the wonderful technological aids and comforts that now are available, but we benefited in other ways. Like Timothy we were taught about the Bible at home, and went to Sunday school as youngsters, learning the stories about Jesus, which gave us standards and values and a good foundation for life.  We had morning assemblies in all schools, now largely avoided in (state) schools. This may not have been widely followed up in life, but the basics had been laid, and our lives were directed by Christian values. Children are now denied these foundations, and are growing up without knowing the country’s religious faith and heritage. 

The argument that because the Bible was written so many years ago we can look at it with a different approach to the present day, doesn’t hold.  God was not just the God of the first century, but for all time.  The last words of Jesus were to his Apostles, whom he taught to go into the world, and make disciples in all nations, teaching all he had commanded.

     The Bible gives us access to the mind of God.  The more we read, the more we will know God’s intention for us.  Just as you spend more time in a person’s company you get to know them better, so as you spend time  with God through His Word, the better you will know Him. For in the Bible God speaks His mind. 

     The Church has a wonderful opportunity to recover lost ground at the present time.  The nation has woken up to the moral collapse and the Church should take the opportunity to remind the nation how far it has strayed from Christian influence.   Above all, we must defend the authority of Scripture.

   Today the Church in the West is in decline, in stark contrast to Africa, Asia, South America, where the Churches have memberships of thousands.  The reason these Churches are so strong is because of the strong biblical foundation, and they have not been tearing the Bible away as we have in the West.  They still believe it and boldly proclaim it.

Church, leaders are calling on people to actually ignore Bible teaching on marriage and sexuality, and practically have created special services to enable this.  Can you imagine a Muslim cleric challenging the Koran?

Follow God’s Holy Gospel and Prase the Lord Jesus Christ

J

JOHN 6 v 22/70

Few passages of Scripture have confused people

 as the gospel reading. A sense has been put upon

it which was never meant to be. The verses do not

 mean in a literal way, but mean more in a

 spiritual meaning.

Jesus had fed the five thousand by the Sea of

 Galilee, and to avoid facing the crowd that had

 gathered moved to Capernaum, where the crowd

 traced him. He knew they were following him for

 the food he could give them and no other cause.

He told them. ‘I am the bread of life, and whoever eats my body and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day.’ The very idea of eating flesh and drinking blood would be revolting up with God. He is the bread, in the sense that he nourishes us spiritually, and satisfies the longing of our souls. Those who accept him into their lives will not therefore hunger, because their spiritual longing to know God will be known.

This chapter gives us a vision of Jesus, whereby we can relate to him not just as someone we read about, but rather as someone we can turn to, and both he and God become a friend, as the hymn states, ‘what a friend we have in Jesus’. This invitation is extended to all people, but there is a stubborn resistance which refuses the offer, so that what the heart is really searching for is lost. This is where the Jews lost out, they could not believe that someone who came from an ordinary home could possibly be a messenger from God.

When Jesus said he was the bread of life, he was saying he was essential for life, so to refuse to accept his offer means to lose eternal life in heaven. He was the mind and voice of God, who lived a human life among us and offers help to all who seek him. He spoke the words, ‘come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest’.

Jesus said he was the living bread, in that all who believe in him shall have their spiritual longing filled. He went on to say, unless we ate the flesh and drank the blood, there would be no life within them. To eat the flesh means to believe in him, and to drink his blood means to accept his death on the Cross where he shed his blood.

We are reminded when we take Holy Communion of the sacrifice made which the body and blood is representing. The Roman Catholic Church did at one time, I do not know if it still applies, believed when the bell was tolled, the bread broken and wine blessed became the body and blood of Christ. And in the High Church Anglo-Catholic wing, parts maintained that belief.

In Jewish thought, blood stood for life, and when a body bleeds life flows out of it, and to a Jew blood belongs to God, which is why Jews will not eat meat unless it is has been completely drained of blood. Jesus wants us to take his life into the very center of our hearts and life.

Some people were thinking God did not choose them and Jesus would turn them away, but he promises anyone who turns to him will never be turned away. Jesus said no one can come to him unless God sent him/her, which implies that no one has the moral and spiritual ability to come to Christ unless God the Father draws them, that is gives the desire and inclination to do so. All of us who have turned to Jesus and accepted him into our hearts and lives, were inspired to do so when God touched our hearts and gave us the choice of accepting or rejecting Jesus. All who truly believe in Jesus will be saved and have eternal life, and on the day of judgement will be raised up to the fulness of eternal life.

You may have a precious book, which you never got down to reading it, just having left it in a bookcase. Eventually you do read it, it thrills, entertains and inspires you, and you are left wondering why you turned away from it from the start.

But people are still finding Christianity is a problem, and staying away from Church, and what increases their resistance, is the demand he makes on our lives; we are bound to accept him as the ultimate authority and accept moral standards of purity., sermons well before I preach them and never can rely on her presence.  

The reason the Church is falling apart, is that fewer and fewer within are accepting those demands. God is not going to bless a Church which is acting and preaching contrary to that which he has laid down. We are making accommodation in our teaching and liturgy, for what is unequivocally rejected by God in his Word, (the Bible). There needs to be strict teaching of the Gospel, as Jesus commanded, in which the Gospel is preached in simple terms.
Paul told Timothy, preach the Word; by that to tell what the Bible states, without any amendments or personal opinions. Unfortunately, there are preachers who feel the Bible needs to be made more relevant to modern culture, but their feelings are not a consideration, it is to be stated as written and God has commanded.

A lesson on the duties of Church Ministers is given. A Minister is not a mediator between God and man; no power to pardon sin or impart grace; cannot make soul serving; should teach the sufficiency of the Gospel in all maters; teach the adequacy of Christ to satisfy the necessities of the world.

We need to seriously consider, what it means to be a follower of Jesus; it means you accept Christ as Savior, and follow all Christ teaches and demands. I was once asked to explain what a man in Songs of Praise meant when he said, he had attended church for years but had just become a Christian. A Christian is someone more than just an attendee at Church; it is a man or woman who has offered their life to follow Jesus.

We see in this passage back-sliding. When Jesus explained what he meant by eating and drinking, from that time many went back and walked with him no more.

.Do not accept Jesus as just a character in a book, but someone to whom we can turn to as the final authority in life. The invitation is given to all people, but there remains a stubborn something which refuses the offer. The human heart defies God, but when we accept him the heart finds what it has been searching for.

As we come to the last verses in this chapter, we read that ‘many of his followers said this is very hard for us to understand, how can anyone accept it. Such followers were not true and genuine beleivers, but were following him for what he could do for them, such as healing and multiplying food.

Jesus knew there were some who were unsettled and knew they would never accept the doctrines he expounded. Paul warned some people in the Church would not either turn to those who were ready to say the things wanted to be heard, and how that is manifest in to-day’s Church.
There is much to be learned from this passage. People place too much emphasis on ceremonial procedure, but Christianity makes the state of the heart the principal matter. Flesh and blood mean the atonement of Jesus and eating and drinking means faith. Faith in the atonement of Jesus is of absolute necessity to salvation, and we are united with our Savior.

We see the hardness of people’s heart. Even when the preacher was Jesus, who Peter describes, as ‘the Holy One of God’,( that is the One set apart for service to God) yet was not accepted by so many. When Jesus spoke kindly and clearly, not all listened.

The true grace of God is an everlasting possession, and true followers do not fall away. But there is also fake and unreal religion in the Church, which is why some people do leave. Like the ground spoken of in the parable of the Sower, the stone is hard and nothing can take root there. Many words and resolutions are made, but they have not had the grace of God.

If Jesus experienced so much, well might we do so, but do not be discouraged; do not let your faith be threatened, there have always been failures in the Church who fail and want to take others with them; the remarks of Peter apply to us.  Casual Christianity is not enough to save our souls. Grace is needed to make a true believer, which will enable us to serve God in the most difficult times. Never rest until you have that grace properly established in the soul. The words of our Lord come to us when he states, ‘ask and it shall be given you’.

All Christians should by faithful and loyal to Jesus and demonstrate this by not being hypocritical in their way of living, rather accepting and practicing his commands.

Millions have been baptized, and such has been the mendacious meaningless procedure, that we have never seen them attending further. We live in an age of free thought and behavior, in which the sole aim is pursuit of self-pleasure. Those who deceive themselves they are heaven bound, because they consider they are so righteous on spurious grounds, will one day see their judgement overruled by divine judgement. Jesus said human effort accomplishes nothing,

When Jesus saw people walking away, he asked his Apostles were they going to leave him, and Peter who loved the Lord asked, ‘to whom shall we# go?’ Peter knew Jesus was the only way to God.

Never forget the old story of preaching Christ crucified.  It has not lost its power.  We must preach the true story of the bread of life which Christ provides, Never, let those who mock and ridicule, nothing else in this evil world will do good; no minimizing the power of the Gospel. 

 

Give thanks to God for His Holy Gospel; and Christ be praised

 Matthew 13 v, 24-53

 

In to-day’s gospel reading, there are  parables included in this passage.  When Jesus was teaching He always took scenes from life which people could understand, and then He applied this to convey a message.  Jesus is teaching about God’s Kingdom, of which he is the King.  The parables contain a spiritual meaning to explain the truth.

When looking at a Bible passage it is helpful to consider three questions. What does it say; what does it mean; how does it relate to me?  I will take each of the parables to show what they are stating, and then apply the meaning.

The first parable is a continuation is really a continuation of the parable of the Sower, which you heard last week.  I imagine it will cause some preachers more than a little difficulty in facing its teaching.

The farmer has sown wheat seeds but an enemy came and sowed weeds amongst the wheat seed.   The weed was called darnel, a bitter poisonous weed which could cause serious consequences. When sown it so closely resembled wheat that it could not be recognised and it was only when it began to grow that it became identified and by that time the roots were intertwined so that to pull them up would disturb the good seed. Therefore it was not practicable to separate one without damaging the other, so the separation had to wait until harvest when the reapers would gather and pick the bad seed out and use it as fuel to burn on the fire. That is the story.

The meaning is that the farmer is our Lord; the good seed are those who gladly acknowledge Him as their Lord and Saviour. The weeds are those who are not followers of Jesus. There is no in between, you are inevitably either on the Lord’s side or if not, on the side of the evil one.

The field is the world; the harvest is at the end of the age; and the reapers are the angels, who will gather Christ’s people make and separation the.

What then is the explanation that affects us?
We are reminded there is always the presence of hostile powers in the world seeking to destroy goodness.
This parable is not a discourse on farming, but rather the theme is that of separation and judgement. Jesus used imagery to deal with the reality of emphasising what can be for ever lost. Some people think that Jesus was just trying to frighten us which raises the question is there something to be frightened of?

If you travel on major roads you will see signs warning of speed cameras, which infer a penalty if you drive over the limit.  There are also signs telling of the number of accidents and fatalities due to careless driving. Yes they are trying to frighten us, but they are also reminding us how close death can be and any sensible person will heed the warnings.

Jesus is here warning of the consequences of what faces us if we reject Him, and showing His love and care for us through the death He suffered at the Cross that we may be forgiven for all our wrongdoings..

Jesus always made it clear that this life is a preparation for eternity and we face a choice now. He taught there were two roads in life, a broad one leading to destruction which many take, a narrow one leading to eternal life. There are two masters, Jesus and the devil; two destinies, heaven and hell.

To suggest hell is for many people, including clergy an anathema. There will be preachers this morning putting a completely different interpretation on this parable. But if we are keeping to the Bible’s word there is no room for personal opinion or sensitivity.

Verse 42 clearly states, referring to the evil ones, ‘they will be cast into the fiery furnace.’ Jesus used this term elsewhere also to signify hell

People have various views of what happens so that when we die, we simply cease to exist; or a loving God would never send anyone to hell, everyone eventually ends up in heaven. It is true God will not send anyone to hell; people just make the choice for themselves by rejecting Jesus Christ.
In all the world there is only one source of authoritative information about the afterlife, and that is the Bible. Outside of the Bible, everything else is only speculation and wishful thinking. If we want to know what God has to say on this important topic, it is to the Bible we must go.

Turning first to consider the reality of heaven, on the night before He was crucified, Jesus told His disciples He was going to prepare a place for them in His Father’s house where there were many mansions; the Bible states heaven is–God’s dwelling place where Christ is today and where Christians go when they die.

People don’t believe in it like we used to. They are all too busy making a living to worry about what happens after we die. To the unbeliever such words seem either sentimental or simply incredible. But to the one who accepts God’s Word at face value, they are nothing less than the sober truth

We don’t talk about it nowadays because it isn’t popular to suggest that unbelievers are tormented for all eternity for their sins. Yet the Bible teaches the eternal punishment of the wicked in many passages.
Those who fail to repent now and turn to Jesus will find it will be too late for remorse, too late to give your heart to Jesus.

Since some people scoff at the notion of an after, life .Let  us pause for a moment and ask why the Bible reveals heaven and hell to us. What do we gain by knowing about these things and why are they important to the Christian faith?

1. To right the wrongs of this life.  So many crimes go unpunished while the perpetrators are set free to hurt others. Hell must exist, if for no other reason than to balance the scales of justice.

2. To Reward those who serve the Lord.

Heaven must exist so that those who served Jesus faithfully may enter their eternal reward.

3. To fulfil the promises God made to his people.
4. Redeem the suffering of this life.  The Bible states that “our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”

We constantly hear of people whose suffering seems to be overwhelming. It may be cancer or some other disease, it may be a broken marriage or a child in trouble, it may be financial disaster or trouble at work or at school. God’s people endure many hardships in this life. Most of the time, we can’t fully understand why God allows certain things to happen to us.

But we have this promise. When the books are opened and the scales are balanced, we will discover that the things we went through in this life are nothing compared with the glories of heaven.   It has been said, for the unbeliever, this life is the only heaven they will ever know. For the believer, this life is the only hell we will ever know.

Each person must make an intelligent and informed decision about heaven and hell. If what I have said is true, then you must do whatever it takes to make sure you go to heaven and you must make sure at all costs that you do not go to hell.

Sometimes we are ready to think a person is a wonderful Christian when in fact they may well not be, and on the other hand wrongly condemn someone. Judgement must wait for the harvest, when we will be judged not anyone aspect of our life,but as our whole life.

It is often thought that the fact a person attended a Church and was accepted as a Christian would automatically be at the Messianic banquet, but the Bible makes it clear that is not necessary so. Many Church people these days live lives which do not measure up to what the Bible expects. Indeed, there are preachers who are living and supporting ways which are so totally against the teaching of Scripture. Judgement however is in the hands, and at the mercy of God, who alone knows the secrets of all our hearts.

Let us go back one more time to the words of Jesus Christ. When Thomas asked him the way to heaven, Jesus gave this answer: “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”. Those words are clear; it is not enough to have a casual approach to Christ, there has to be a firm commitment to believe and act according to His teaching.

The way to heaven is as narrow as the Cross. Only those who trust Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord will enter the gates of heaven.

It is said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. By the same token, the road to heaven is paved with the blood of Christ. Let us all be assured we are on the right road. 

 

In verses  31/43 there are five parables all relating to the activity of the Kingdom of God

  The mustard seed was then the smallest of all seeds, but could grow to 10 feet high. It has branches that spread out in which birds could perch on.

     Jesus was meaning when we claim that if you believe in Jesus and by his death on the cross you will have life in heaven with him, to the unbeliever that may not mean much, but it was the message taken by the Apostles in the small country of Israel 2000 years ago and has for centuries spread across the world.

Yeast is a symbol of growth, and as yeast spreads through a lump of dough, so the kingdom spreads through a believers life by th Holy Spirit.

The next story is of hidden treasure. In the Bible days there were no banks so people often buried treasurable items in the ground for safety.  Here a man is tending to a field when he comes across hidden treasure during the course of his daily work.  He realises the value so he went to the owner of the land and bought the field, having  sold all he owned to do so.

   

 The story of the pearl is of a merchant in the jewellery business, who knows there is a pearl of great beauty and value. One day he found it and he too sold his possessions to have it.

 

People can find Jesus in their everyday life, often by accident. By a message a on a Church noticeboard, in conversation with a Christian, or some other chance event.. Other people will search for a Bible teaching Church, a much harder way, but will persist, and there find the treasure they were looking for.   In doing so, they find a new inspiration for life and realize the value of the treasure of a changed life. The parables are telling the same truth that the kingdom is of such value we should strive to gain it.

Lastly is the story of the net.  A net was dragged across the water and collected different kinds of fish.  Those with scales on were classified as bad and had to be separated from the rest.  So, the Church of God can contain people who are unworthy as well as the true believer, and we cannot discriminate.  The Church is for the whole world, and God wants all to be saved.  But the Bible teaches a time will come when Jesus will, separate the sheep from the goats, the good from the bad.

 

Give thanks to God for His Glorious Gospel and Praise the Lord Jesus Christ.