If God saves you, does He keep you saved?
According to the words of the Lord, that is exactly the case.
We have looked at a number of places people use to say that Jesus is wrong, and each time we look at the context of those passages, we find that they don't say what people claim they do.
Today we'll be looking at a well known parable... The Parable of the Sower.
This is the second declared parable we encounter as we read the gospels.
Matthew 13:24-30
Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.
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, '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 until the harvest: and in the time of harvest 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."
The book of Matthew is the only time we see this parable, so we should pay close attention to what Jesus says.
Just like the previous parable, the 4 soils, Jesus explains this parable to His disciples as well.
Matthew 13:36-43
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 of the field'.
He answered and said unto them, "He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; the field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; 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 world; and the reapers are the angels.
As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.
The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and 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."
Before we look at this, pleaee note that we are only looking for aspects of the parable that deals with salvation and not the end of the world (eschatology). Let that be another discussion for another day.
The first thing that we're introduced to in this parable is the sower.
Jesus says that He is the sower.
The second thing that we're introduced to is the seed.
Jesus says that the seed are the children of the kingdom.
Let's expand on this.
From the previous parable, the 4 soils, we learned that the seed was the word of God/good news of the kingdom.
Jesus tells us in this parable that this seed only produces children of the kingdom.
Did you catch that? The only thing that the gospel produces are children of God.
Remember, in the previous parable, only 1 soil brought forth fruit.
The next thing introduced to us is the field.
Jesus tells us that this is the world.
So Jesus tells us that there are children of the kingdom in around the world.
Then we are told that men slept.
This is an analogy of the passing of time.
During this time, the enemy, the devil, sowed tares among the wheat.
Jesus tells us that these are the children of the wicked one.
As the wheat starts to grow, so too the tares.
This is a picture of the problem we are having.
Here we have two groups of people who are together. Those who are saved (children of the kingdom) and those who are not (children of the evil one).
While they are growing together it's not possible to distinguish between the two.
As we continue, the next group we're introduced to are the servants of the household.
Jesus doesn't tell us who these people are. They too could be angels or mature believers.
In any case, we know that they work for the Son of Man since they're the servants of His house.
These servants are able to identify some of the wheat and some of the tares.
They go to the sower and ask if He sowed tares as well as wheat. They are told no. They then ask if they should go take out the tares.
The sower says to leave them, as the servants might pull out the wheat as well.
Here we see four things happening.
The first is that some of the children are starting to show what kingdom they belong to.
This is the only reason why the servants knew there were tares among the wheat.
Before that time, the servants thought everything was wheat.
Did you catch that.
The servants believed that the people who were among the people of God were all saved.
It's not until the tares started to show that they are not wheat that the servants realised.
The second thing we notice is that even though the servants knew that the sower sowed good seed, when they see the tares, they question the sower.
They thought the sower had something to do with it.
They thought that the tares also belonged to the sower.
Did you catch that?
Even though they were clearly not wheat, perhaps they were still of the kingdom.
Also, because the servants saw tares among the wheat, they now had doubts as to what the sower sowed as they couldn't think of no other way for the tares to be there.
This is the issue at hand.
Those of deny the security of salvation know what the Lord (the sower) says.
They know He said that His sheep will never perish. They know He says that He will never leave or forsake us.
The problem is that they see those who they regarded as wheat since they were among them, start to manafest themselves as tares.
What they see causes them to doubt the word of the Lord (the sower). They then think, wrongly, that this is the way the Lord made it (salvation) .
What they do next is what we ought to do. They went to the sower and asked Him.
They didn't go to another servant who is close to the sower (Peter, Paul, John, etc.), but to the sower Himself.
The third thing we notice is the reply of the sower.
He didn't sow the tares. How sowed the wheat and all the wheat He sowef was still present.
The difference is that there are tares.
Jesus tells us that the enemy is the devil.
The fact that the sower knew that the tares came from the enemy means that He knew when the enemy did it.
He knew the tares were there before the servants did. Even before the tares started to be distinguished as tares.
Jesus knows who are His are who are not. Remember, it was He who sown the seed.
The tares were tares from the beginning and the wheat were wheat from the beginning.
Did you catch that? The servants may have been calling the tares wheat all this time, but the sower knew that they were tares.
The fourth thing we should notice is the response from the servants.
They ask the sower, 'do you want us to pull out the tares?'
Why would they ask that question?
It's because after going to the sower, they believe what He's said.
They trusted Him, and took Him at His word.
Since the enemy did this. And tares aren't part of the kingdom from the beginning, they seek to remove them.
But the sower says no, lest they pull out some wheat as well.
Jesus tells the sowers that just because you're able to identify some of the tares doesn't mean you can identify all of them.
Jesus tells them that if He leaves it upto the servants they will get it wrong.
Instead, He says to let the grow together until the harvest, which is the end of the world.
The last thing we should take notice of is that the sower is happy to let the wheat and tares grow together.
Is He not worried that the wheat might turn into tares? No, He isn't, because wheat doesn't turn into tares.
The purpose they are allowed to grow together, from the view of this parable alone, is for the tares to be identified.
It's so that the fruit can be made manafest to identify what sort of seed it is.
This is salvation from God's perspective. We are priviledged in that God declares to us the truth of the matter. He doesn't keep us in the dark regarding what God does in and through us.
Those who are saved are the wheat. Those who convert to other religions, turn to atheism, turn/fall away from the faith... are all tares.
The wheat were so from the beginning. They just hadn't manafested the fruit as yet.
The tares were so from the beginning as well. And just like the wheat, hadn't as yet started to manafest what sort of seed they were.
I would even go so far as to say that there are people who clearly look like tares but many in the church calls them wheat.
Before we finish for today, there is something we must consider. Why would the enemy sow tares among the wheat?
The wheat won't change to tares. The wheat can't decide to change their dna and become tares.
So, to what end does the enemy do this?
I can think of a few reasons, which we can clearly see in this parable.
The first reason that comes to mind is that the devil causes us to be confused in being able to identify those of God.
When you read the bible through you see this pattern constantly. From the false prophets of the old to the false preachers and teachers in the new.
Even to the point where the devil and those who are of him pretend to be angels of light.
He puts his people amongst the people of God to bring confusion.
Secondly, by doing this, He causes us to doubt the word of the Lord.
Many of the problems within christendom are because we walk according to our own thoughts. This stems from the fact that somewhere along the way, we have started to doubt that what God says is true.
How does he do this? By causing us to walk by sight instead of faith (trusting in the word of the Lord).
Again, look at his m.o. shown throughout the scriptures.
From convincing eve to physically examine the forbidden fruit in the old to the signs and wonders he will perform in the new.
He calls to our flesh, the natural man, and once he shows us something that he tells us is different than what God has spoken, this causes us to doubt the Lord and lean on our own understanding.
From then on, we start to come up with our own plans to somehow bring to pass that which God says He will bring to pass, while at the same time convincing ourselves that we're doing the will of God.
Thirdly, the ultimate end is to have the people of God going against the plans and purposes of God... publicly.
This causes two things.
This causes God to discipline (read kill) His people, which reduces the amount of people who resist him and his people.
It also causes more people to turn to him and his ways.
After all, if there is only one way (and there is), and those who personally know and are on that way... aren't reflecting that one way to everbody, then they are... by their example... directing people to another way.
How do we counter this? By going back to the master of our house, and taking Him at His word.
Join us next time as we continue to examine various places that people hold onto in order to doubt the word of the master.
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