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Thru the Bible Daily
Matthew 13:24-43
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When we hear a good story, our defenses drop, and the critical lesson can be more easily received. As we study Matthew 13, listen to Jesus teach important spiritual lessons in the form of parables. Listen closely, since Dr. McGee said this chapter is...
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How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord is made for your faith in his excellent way.
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Welcome to through the Bible. I'm your host, Steve Schwetz. When Dr. J. Vernon McGee first began teaching on the radio, his goal was pretty simple. Just to reach people in Southern California with the word of God. And that was it. But God, he had a much greater plan, didn't he? Before long, the Bible bus was crossing state lines and then oceans and then language barriers. Dr. McGee once said, I'd love to blanket the earth so everyone could hear the Word of God. So I'll just fling it out and you know, that seed is still being flung today. What started as a local Bible study is now heard in more than 250 languages, reaching into some of the hardest to reach places on earth. Geographically remote and culturally isolated regions where. Where access to biblical teaching is really rare. One of these places is Nepal. High in the hills, far from cities and headlines, yet not too far from the reach of God's word. Here's a letter that we received from eastern Nepal. I live with my wife in a small town. We are old now and life is not easy. We survive by making and selling bamboo baskets. It's simple work and the income is small, but it is enough for our daily needs. When we came to faith in Christ, our sons forced us out of our home because we believed in Jesus. Now we live alone and provide for ourselves. It was painful to be rejected by our own family, but God is so good to us. Even though people have hated us and spoken harshly to us, we carry no bitterness. The Word of God reminds us that the world hated Christ first. The truth comforts us. His Word gives us courage and strength to keep going. We are faithful listeners and feel very close to you. You teach us to live by faith, not by sight. We have grown in our walk with God. We are not afraid anymore. Instead, we are encouraged to continue in faith as we look forward to heaven. Our days here may not be many, but we treasure this close fellowship with the Lord. God has not left us alone. And for that, we are deeply thankful. Wow, what a testimony. And to those who pray and give to keep the Bible bus moving, thank you. Because you have an impact on people like this all over the world. And you're helping send the seed of God's word into places that many of us will never see. And God is indeed still being faithful and bringing the harvest. Turn now to Matthew 13 as Jesus tells us the story about a man who sowed good seed in his field. And then something unexpected Happened. Let's pray, Father, as your word is scattered, let it fall on good soil and bring hope to the lonely, strength to the isolated faith, to those who long to hear truth and then draw hearts to your Son in Jesus Christ we pray. Amen. We begin in Matthew 13, verse 24, as we make our way through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.
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Now, friends, here in the 13th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, we have that second major discourse as we indicated last time. And here you have the mystery parables of the kingdom. We have here about, oh, seven or eight parables, and they're all drawn from the commonplace. Our Lord took these things that were at the feet fingertips of those people in that day, something they could see and know in order to give them great spiritual truth. Someone has put it in very lovely poem like this. He talked of grass and wind and rain and fig trees and fair weather, and made it his delight to bring heaven and the earth together. He spoke of lilies, vines and corn, the sparrow and the raven, and words so natural yet so wise were on men's hearts engraven. Now, last time we saw the parable of the sower, and we saw that it would be called a kingdom of heaven condition. This is not the church we're talking about here. It's the kingdom of heaven. And I believe that today this is the picture of the present hour and it's bigger than the church, the kingdom of heaven, because it encompasses the earth and it's the reign of the heavens over the earth, as we've indicated. Now, God's program today is through the church. And the church is a called out body. And that means he's calling out a people to his name. And you have therefore a kingdom of heaven condition today. God's carrying on his program. But notice now in this next parable which he interprets by the way, makes it very clear, verse 24. And another parable put he forth unto them, saying, the kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field. Well, you see, he picks up actually where he left off before, because he told then about a sower going forth to sow and what happened to the seed. And we found out that only one fourth of it ever got into good ground. And the other three fourths are folk that hear the word, but they do not respond to it. They're not saved. And your percentage here is about a fourth. Unfortunately, my percentage is less than that of the people that I preach to the unsaved. I would say less than a fourth. Frankly, we feel that if one out of ten of those who respond to our invitation is genuine, that our batting average is good. And frankly, I find that other Christian workers and evangelists today. I know a very prominent evangelist and a member of his team said that only 3% of their converts, that is only 3 out of 100, could be considered genuine. Well, that, may I say, reveals that our batting average today is not too good. But we thank God that it is that good. That's the picture. Today we're in a kingdom of heaven situation, giving out the word of God, and this is what happens to it. But here's another facet, another phase of the kingdom of heaven. It's a picture of a man which sowed good seed. But wait a minute. But while man slept. Not the sower. Sowers the Lord Jesus. He neither slumbers nor sleeps, but I do. Maybe you do. While men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. Now we have an enemy. We know who the enemy is. Satan. And he sows tares. That's false doctrine. And there's a great deal of that type of sowing today. But when the blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. You see, at first you couldn't tell the difference. Very frankly. A lot of the cults and isms, at first they sound very good. It's about that 12th, the 13th, the 14th lesson. That's the one you're going to have to watch. Not the first one. Somebody said to me some time ago, Dr. McGee, you ought not to criticize so and so, because I listened to him and he preaches the gospel he did that day. And every now and then he does. But may I say, it's the other things that he says later on. You see, the tares have been sown among the wheat. Now, verse 27. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? From whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, you see, the sower knew an enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, nay, lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together. Notice this, friends, this is important. Let both grow together until the harvest. And in the time of harvest, the I will say to the reapers, gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them. But gather the wheat into My barn. Now, this is the picture. And it's a very important picture, friends, to see and interpret. He says, here, don't try to pull up the tares. Let them both grow together and they'll finally head up. And you'll then be able to recognize tares by the fruit. She shall know them, and then by the wheat. You'll know it in time. But don't attempt to pull up tares. Now someone comes to me and says, pastor mcgee, do you think the world's getting better? And I say, yes, I think it's getting better. Somebody else comes and says, Dr. McGee, don't you think the world's getting worse? And I say, yes, I think the world's getting worse. And somebody that's standing there that's heard me say both says, what are you trying to do, ride the fence? Trying to please everybody. That's very much unlike you. Right? May I say, but both are true. The wheat's growing today and the tares are growing today. The world's getting better. The wheat's growing, heading up. Never been a time, frankly, when there has been as much bible teaching as there is right now. I thank God for that. There's a great deal of it, friends. Frankly, I'd love to blanket the earth so nobody'd have an excuse, but I guess I can't do that. But I'm satisfied. Just wherever the lord wants me to fling out the seed, I'll fling it out. Now what happens? Well, it grows. And I'll be honest with you, I think there's some wonderful saints of God today who love the word of God and who will die defending it. Thank God for them. The wheat's growing, friends. But I want to tell you, there's a lot of tares. I've been a pastor a long time, and my thought. When I entered the ministry, I entered a denomination and I entered it with the idea that I was going to clean it up. I was going to straighten them out. You know, a lot of the young preachers feel that way about it. And, you know, they just about cleaned me out and straightened me out. I tell you, I found out I couldn't do that. And I was thankful to find out from this passage and related passages that my business today is to preach the word. My business today is to give out the word of God. And I'm not around pulling up tares anymore. When I started, I tried to pull them up, and I found out that there's something trying to pull up the wheat. So I had my problems. Therefore, my Business is to sow it. And I believe that is the responsibility today. Now, both are growing in the world. Now, this is a kingdom of heaven situation. Actually, it's not his church, you say. Well, it's in the organized church. Yes, but the organized church is not his church. His church is that invisible number. And when I say invisible, I mean they're not confined to an organization. I actually don't like that term invisible church, because I find out a lot of the saints understand by that that they'd be invisible Sunday night and they're invisible at the midweek service. In fact, they're invisible a whole lot of times. But the true believers, irrespective of any denomination, those that have trusted Christ and are resting in him and love his word, I think that's the real test. Therefore, this is a kingdom of heaven condition. And both are growing together today, aren't they? Don't be disturbed. He's the one who's going to put in the sickle. He's the one that's going to separate tares and wheat. I'm thankful that's not my job, because I wouldn't know and I'm afraid I would. Pull up some wheat. Verse 31. Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a grain of mustard seed. Now, we got a different kind of seed here, friends, and this is mustard seed. Now, mustard is a condiment. It has to know vitamins in it. It's not wheat germ. You put it on hamburgers, you couldn't live on mustard. And mustard is not a tree. It's just a little bitty plant, by the way, which a man took and he sowed in his field. Which indeed is the least of all seeds. I was rather amused the other day reading one of these young liberal preachers saying he thought this was profound. He had found out that the mustard seed is not the least of all seeds. Well, now, what did the Lord mean then, if it's not the least of all seeds? Well, it was the least of all seeds that those people knew about in that day and for this brother's benefit. It's a pretty small seed, by the way. We're not splitting hairs, but we seem to be splitting seeds. May I say, in desperation they try to find errors in the book. Well, let's just leave it like it is. It's the smallest of seeds, friends, and it's one of the seeds that a man took and sowed in his field. The important thing is there may be other seeds, smaller but Also, it's not to become a tree either. And this one here became a tree. But when it's grown, it's the greatest among herbs. But here it becometh a tree. So that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. Now, what you have here is the growth of Christendom. The outward growth of the organized church. The mustard seed, you see, a condiment. It adds spice to it. And a lot of people today say the church must become relevant. We must identify ourselves with the common and contemporary culture of the day. And we must just get right down there with them. Where did you get that? You don't get that out of the word of God. May I say to you that this is the picture of that little mustard seed. I like to term this as the parable about the little seed that got to the vigoro. And my, how it grew. It became a tree. Big organizations today. My, how the church boasts of its big organizations, big numbers, and has very little influence, by the way. But it does have just a little mustard. And we're not to be mustard. We're to be salt. And we are not to even be pepper. And if we are, we've sure lost our pep. But here you have the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. And I heard the interpretation of that several years ago. That made me smile. It was a liberal interpreting it in my denomination at that time. And at a church meeting, he told about how the mustard seed was growing. That was the church. And a lot of the birds were coming roosting in it. And he had a Baptist bird and a Presbyterian bird and a Nazarene bird. And I want to tell you that he had a lot of funny birds in the tree. But that's not what it means. The birds, our Lord's already interpreted. He said the birds come and took away the seed. And who was the birds? He said the birds were the enemy. It was Satan. So I don't like that interpretation at all. And I'm afraid this brother was way out in the left field on that one. This is Christendom, and evil has gotten into the organized church. I think we need to recognize that. And that's the reason that God's people ought to be very careful about the church that you belong to. You identify yourself with it should be true in doctrine. It also should be true in its action. It should be honest and truthful. These are things that are very important. Now he gives another parable, a fourth parable, another parable. Spake ye unto them the kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till the whole was leavened. Now, this is the parable that I would say is the key parable of the chapter. Now let me back up and say something that ought to make this appear very important to you. First of all, the gospel of Matthew is the key book of the Bible. Second, the 13th chapter is the key chapter of Matthew. And the 33rd verse here is the key verse of the 13th chapter. So may I put it like this? Actually, what we have here is the key verse to the Bible. That's exactly what I'm trying to say. And frankly, it's very important. This is the one that we need to look at. And I wish I had time to go into a great deal more detail even than we can in a five year program. Now, will you notice some things here that are very important? I'll read it. Another parable, spake he. Unto them, the kingdom of heaven is likened unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till the whole was leavened. Now, the mustard seed, that's a different kind of seed. We saw and we saw that the birds got in the crescendum. The organized religion. Now here is one that really reveals the condition today. The kingdom of heaven today is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till the whole was leaven. Now, there are those that talk about the leaven of the gospel. They ought to know better. Nowhere is the leaven used as a principle of good. It's always the principle of evil. It occurs 98 times in the Bible and about 78 times in the Old Testament and about 23 times in the New Testament. And it's always used in a bad sense. Dr. Lightfoot, a great scholar, made this statement. Rabbinical writers regularly use leaven as a symbol of evil. Now, leaven is not the gospel. The three measures of meal just happen to be. Because what is the meal made out of? Why, it's made out of the seed. It's made out of the wheat, the grain. And that is the picture of the word of God. What happens to it? Well, this woman comes along and I hope you ladies listening in will forgive me for saying this, but when you find woman in a doctrinal sense in scripture, you always find she's used as a principle of evil. In the book of Revelation, when we got there, you remember Jezebel, you suffered that woman Jezebel to teach. Well, when she gets in that position, then it's a principle of evil. And here's a woman taking the leaven and hiding it. Now, if this is the gospel, why in the world do you hide it? It's to be shouted from the housetops. It's to be herald to the very ends of the earth. You don't hide it at all. This is a principle of evil, if you please. And it's put into the meal, which is the word of God. And today you find that no cult, no ism ignores the Bible. I find today that these devil worshipers, demon worshipers, and there's a great deal of it right here in southern California, they use the Bible. But you see, they put leaven in three measures of meal. And what does leaven do? Well, leaven is a principle of corruption. You put leaven in bread and what happens causes it to rise, makes it tasty, too, to the mouth. And that's the reason a great many people find a thrill in some of the cults. Because, you see, unleavened bread, it's just blah as far as the natural taste is concerned. A little leaven really helps it. And I happen to be from the south. My mother used to make biscuits. And she'd put leaven in and put them on the back of the stove, and they'd begin to rise. And you'd come running in the kitchen and she'd shush you. You don't want the biscuits to fall. Then she'd take those biscuits and put them in the oven. When it got to a certain height. And she didn't stop it by putting them in the oven and baking them, why, it would be corruption. Have you ever seen what happens to it when you keep letting them rise? I tell you, it makes a pan of something you don't want, but when it gets to a certain place, it's very tasty. Leaven is the principle of evil. And this, I think, is one of the key interpretations of the word of God, my friend. Now, our lord stopped here for a moment, and he said, all these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables. And without a parable spake he not unto them that it might be fulfilled. Which was spoken by the prophet saying, I'll open my mouth in parables. I'll utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world. Now just nail that down. He's telling us something new here. And this is brand new. It was never revealed like this in the old testament at all. Now, will you notice? Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house and his disciples came unto him saying, declare unto us the parable of the tares and of the field. Now he will interpret that for us. I have already gone over it, but let's listen to this and see whether I was accurate or not. He answered and said unto them, he that soweth the good seed is the Son of man. Well, I'm right on that. The field is the world. Right on that. The good seed are the children of the kingdom. Right on that. But the tares are the children of the wicked one. The enemy that sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered together and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world. Now that is the picture of today. It's Christendom, not the church. That's exactly as it is today. You know, my Lord, he never miss not a time. And this is as accurate a picture of today as you possibly could have. Now he goes on and he says in verse 41, the Son of Man shall send forth his angels and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend them which do iniquity. You see, in the kingdom, even the millennium, there's going to be evil, but it's going to be taken out. And he shall cast them into a furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear the harshest words in scripture Our Lord gave them. These words came from the gentle lips of our very wonderful Lord. Now will you notice verse 44? We come to the fifth parable again. The kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure it in a field, the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth that field. Now, these parables, that is, we have three now that are coming up after this one are two. It's no wonder how you look at it. But these parables that you have here have a very particular, particular and peculiar interpretation. Of course, we can't go into detail at all today, but we will next time. Now, we're spending time here because, friends, this is important. But let me just say this now, in closing today, the treasure in the field is the nation Israel. May God richly bless you.
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Foreign, we'll pick up right there as the Bible bus rolls along. Before you climb aboard next time, why don't you read the rest of Matthew 13 yourself, and then ask God to prepare your heart for what he wants to plant there. Now download the Digital Matthew Bible Companion as Well, over@ttb.org it's free, of course, and it's a great way to review each lesson and dig a little deeper with the discussion questions. Again, download it in the app or@ttb.org or call 1-865-Bible. It's if you'd like to purchase a paperback copy. And as you go, remember, we're all Sowers. Pray for one another. Look for opportunities to scatter that seed of God's Word in your conversations. Your kindness, your courage. You never know where it's going to take root. I'm Steve Schwetz. Thanks for boarding the Bible bus today. I'll see you next time.
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Jesus, name him all to Him, I hope sin had left the Crimson Sam,
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our study today was made possible through your prayer and financial support. We'll meet you back here next time. In fact, we're going to do this together, Lord willing, till Jesus comes again, in which case we'll meet you in the air.