Not wanting to hear the truth?

Sermon notes from Sunday 22 October 2017

2 Timothy 4 verses 1 - 8

This letter has been penned by Paul some centuries ago but he talked about something that we can see happening right before our eyes today. Paul is coming to the end of his life, he is sitting in a prison cell, he was waiting for his executioner to come to his door at any time.  Verses 6 - 8.  He was faithful in a ministry that cost him dearly.  If we are to step out for the Lord, to get saved tonight it will cost us very dearly.  It is not an easy path to take.  Here was a man who proved that.  He found many difficult situations along his life.  Are we ready tonight if this was to be the last night on earth would you say "I am now ready Lord, you can call me at any moment in time because I have trusted the Lord as my own Saviour, my sins are washed away never to be remembered again"?  Here is Paul in a prison cell writing to Timothy and he was pointing out something very grave.  Chapter 4 verse 2 "preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables."  Remember what Amos said "I will send a famine in the land, not of a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water but of hearing the words of the Lord."  Is that day coming to our society, to a place where we have known the sound of good solid preaching for many years and it is possible that people are turning their ears away?  One day God will draw back his word, the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.

He is speaking of a determined time.  A time set aside by God himself.  There is coming a day when the God of heaven will send his son again, not as a baby to Bethlehem or to die on Calvary because that is a finished work, but one day he will come to the air with a shout and the sound of the trumpet.  The dead in Christ will rise first.  That means all those who trusted Christ as Saviour and have passed away will rise to the air first.  Their bodies are in the grave tonight but one day when the Lord comes again to take the church of Christ home every saved man and woman will be taken out of this world but first the dead in Christ will rise.  Their bodies will be raised again to that spirit.  "Of that hour knoweth no man" Jesus once said.  Many are saying they think it will be such and such a time but only the Lord knows the time when he will come again.  Matthew 24 "be ye also ready for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh."  Maybe you are not even concerned about it but rather thinking of tomorrow and what will happen then.  Yet the Lord could come to the air at this very moment.  How would you stand?  Would you be taken to meet him in the air or left sitting in the pew?  The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine which really means they will not want to hear the preaching of God`s word.  A distinguished time because of its deceit and deception.  1 Timothy 4 verse 1 "The Spirit speaketh expressely that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils."  Paul spoke to the Thessalonian church of a "great falling away".  Paul is encouraging young Timothy to preach the word at every opportunity.  There will come a time when he would not be able to do that because the people will not want to hear it.  Men and women will not endure sound doctrine.  We need to be so careful that we do not give up something we have and cherish.  There is coming a time when men will not endure sound doctrine.  Chapter 3 verse 1 get as much of life as you can, there will be times of persecution in the future.  We can see that happening today.  Nation is rising against nation, there are famines and earthquakes happening all around us.  They point to one thing - that Christ is coming again.  Are you ready for such an event?  Paul tells Timothy to preach the word because there is coming a day when you will not be able to do that.  People will not want to hear the sound doctrine.  Can you not see it happening already?  People want a softer approach to the gospel.

A denial of the truth.  There is a time defined here.  It is a denial of the truth and yet there will be an influx of preachers.  1 Timothy 1 verse 6 from which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling."  In other words emptiness, nothingness.  Paul is talking about a deliberate act - turning away from deep thinking of the faith.  A rejection of biblical truth.  There are those tonight who reject the resurrection.  1 Corinthians 15 verse 4.  That is biblical but many say that is not right, it is unheard of.  No-one has ever come back from the dead.  Stephen was on trial in Acts 7 for his working and witnessing.  The Sanhedrin brought him to trial, questioned him and a sentence was passed that he should be stoned to death.  Stephen looked up during his stoning and witnessed God waiting for him to come home.  The Bible says those men who were stoning him rushed on him and closed their ears because they didn`t want to hear what he had to say.  A denial of the origins - that God created everything around us yet they say that could never happen.  There had to be a big bang millions of years ago and everything then appeared as it is today.  There is a denial of the resurrection and a denial of origins.  There is also a denial of gender.  You see people are finding it hard to identify to which gender they belong today.  God made them male and female.  There is no confusion there but now of course we need gender neutrality in everything.  Young men and women need time to realise what they are today.  We need gender neutral toilets, gender neutral uniforms, gender neutral toys.  You only need to turn on the radio, the television or the internet and these things are coming up day after day.  We need to have gender neutral names.  Gender defines who they are but people don`t want that now.  Whenever the children of Israel came into the promised land God gave them certain commands to follow.  Deuteronomy 22 verse 5 "the woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman`s garment; for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God."  Distinctions of the gender.  The definition of the gender.  The Lord had no problem with it.  You have the man and the woman distinguished by their clothing.  There is no cross dressing as far as the Lord is concerned.  Jesus speaking to the religious leaders on marriage took them back to the scriptures to sound doctrine.  "Have ye not read that he which made them in the beginning he made them male and female."  There is no confusion there.  There is marriage today in that anything goes.  Jesus said of marriage in that same passage we were talking about of male and females "for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife and they twain shall be one flesh."  One man and one woman.  There is an indication of a depraved nature.  Man is born of sin and shapen in iniquity.  Every part of man is affected by the fall in Genesis 3.

The devious teachers.  When we see people not wanting to hear the truth the next step is to have teachers who will preach what they want to hear.  Is that a society we are coming up with - that we want to leave for a next generation?  There is an influence of preachers, false preachers who only preach what people want to hear.  In the days of Isaiah we read of a people that the prophets come to.  They came out to them but prophesied not the right things.  Speak unto us smooth things, the things they wanted to hear, things that were nice, that satisfied their ears.  Didn`t want to hear the things of God.  That is what we have in our province.  There is an influence of preachers who want to satisfy what people want to hear.

A disastrous turn. Sadly what will the end be?  Right now there is a softening.  The old devil is working today, softening down the preachers, don`t preach that hell fire stuff and people will come in again.  Do a social event and that is all they need.  There is the softening down process, watered down.  When the anti-Christ comes men and women will be programmed to believe the greatest lie ever.  Romans "God gave them up and God gave them over."  Do you want that?  Here you are, wouldn`t it be awful thing if God took away the witness and filled the gap with a false teacher?  If you are not saved come to Christ.  There is coming a day when the gospel will be watered down and people will turn away from sound doctrine.  You have an opportunity to come to Christ tonight, to trust him as Saviour and Lord for all eternity.  We are still in the day of grace.  Trust Christ now.

The provident hand of God

Sermon notes from Sunday 15 October 2017

Acts 3 verses 1 - 10

Great things were happening on the streets of Jerusalem.  When you went up into the Upper Room after Pentecost something special happened there.  The Holy Spirit came down and filled the believers on that particular day.  Those same disciples came down and began to preach the gospel on the streets of Jerusalem in different languages.  They were confronted with the gospel in their own language.  The Spirit was gathering the people to hear this.  The people thought they were drunk because they heard all these languages then Peter got to his feet.  The whole place was just a buzz.  Peter preaches the word of God and thousands of people were gathered into the kingdom of God on that particular day.  Here we find a particular incident.  Something happened to this man which affected not only him personally but his family, his friends, his neighbourhood, even the city.  It even affects us tonight.  We still read of this particular account all these years later.  This man`s life was totally transformed.  He was 40 years of age and had never walked from his birth.  Something special happened to him.  God transformed his life in a matter of minutes.  Salvation is like that.  It is not a progression, it is instantaneous.  One moment you are outside the kingdom of God and the next moment you are in the kingdom.  That is why Jesus could say to a scribe on one particular occasion "thou art not far from the kingdom."  He was not in it but maybe a step away from it.  Maybe you are in the same position.  You have been thinking about these things.  They are weighing heavy on your heart and mind.  Maybe you are still not saved, you have never trusted Christ as your own personal Saviour.  You are a good person, a religious person, a church going person but you are not far from the kingdom.  In a moment that could be changed.  Your life could be illuminated in an instant.  These 2 disciples came down to where the man was.  They said to him "look at us".  It is not a matter of looking on anyone, that will never save you.  One look to the Christ on Calvary who bled and died for you.  One look could transform your life totally.  It only takes one look but you need to look in the right direction.  This day would be one he never forgot.  He had been carried by his friends to the temple gate.  It was a day when he met the Saviour and was raised to his feet.  Maybe it could be a day like that for you tonight.  Let`s take a look at the situation with this man and out of that we can see what God does in the saving of a soul.

The provident hand of God.  Things were happening around the Jerusalem streets.  Things are happening tonight in our own meeting and at other such meetings around our province.  It was a normal day like any other.  Maybe he had a father and mother who lifted him out of his bed, washed him, fed him.  Then there are his friends who come in, they have compassion and mercy on him.  They carry him to the temple and leave him at the temple gates.  There he would sit like any other day and receive pennies from the people as they walked by.  There was nothing different about this day.  To you today is just another ordinary meeting but it could be different for you tonight.  They carried him as they did on many occasions, they laid him down as carefully as they could.  Man can do so much for us but man cannot save a soul.  See the hand of God working in this man`s life.  God has been dealing here and sorting out the bits and pieces.  Two of God`s servants were led to the very place he was sitting.  That is God`s providence.  Maybe you have thought of not coming here tonight.  Somehow all was overruled.  That is the provident hand of God.  He brought you into this meeting.  God takes the preacher and leaves with him a message to preach on.  That message is just for you, he applies things to you and your life.  He doesn`t know all about it but God knows about it.  He works it out according to his plan and purpose.  God is leading his servants to this man, bringing them both together.  What a wonderful amazing hand of God.  God has drawn alongside you tonight, drawn you into this meeting because you have been thinking of the things of God in this past week.  Remember Jesus as an infant being taken into the temple for dedication.  Simeon came in by the Spirit just as Jesus was brought in.  He was drawn in.  Anna was another worker in the temple.  She came in at that particular time.  She was drawn by the Spirit of God.  There is always that unseen element in the saving of a soul.  Remember the woman with the issue of blood for 12 years.  She had tried every doctor.  On that particular day it was the same day Jairus` daughter was ill and he brought Jesus to his home.  The provident hand of God was working because that woman was also present.

The patience that is demonstrated here.  We see God`s servants here making their way to the temple.  It was the hour of prayer.  They stopped to communicate with this man.  He is in desperate need.  They stopped in their tracks.  They have a compassion in their heart for this man lying here.  Remember the Samaritan making his way down from Jerusalem to Jericho.  He saw the man lying by the roadside.  He stopped in his tracks because he had a compassion on the man.  There have been people praying for your soul tonight.  These 2 men stopped and took time to speak with this man.  Maybe there is someone God would have us to talk to.  Philip came to Samaria because there was great persecution in Jerusalem.  He preached the word of God and saw people saved, saw people raised up from illness.  God comes to him and tells him to take the desert road because he had a work for him to do.  He has a compassion for souls and a great patience.  God was leading him and he followed the Lord.  

The presentation that was made - verse 6.  Peter looks down at this man and the man looks up at him.  He thinks he is going to receive money from them but Peter says "Silver and gold have I none but such as I have give I unto you in the name of Jesus Christ rise up and walk."  There is a presentation of the name of Jesus Christ.  These men had been used by God in the past.  Maybe people recognised them in the street.  Now they were looking down at this man.  They remembered what this man needed most - Jesus Christ and they were prepared to give Jesus to him.  They were standing and people were watching them.  They wondered what would happen.  They recognised that they had nothing to give this man but a preentation of the name of the Lord.  Look at verses 6 and 16.  They took no glory for themselves.  It was all Jesus` name that was important.  In verse 22 Peter spoke of the plan of God - it was in Jesus coming into this world and dying on the cross to save men and women from their sins.  He spoke of the power that raised him from the dead - verse 31.  You could see the people being pricked in their hearts as they would think on these things.  God was doing a mighty work.  That is what God has done for us.  The angel spoke to Joseph about the fact that Mary was pregnant.  The angel told him to fear not.  He gave him a presentation of the name of Jesus - "thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins."  If there is no presentation of Christ`s name there will be no salvation of souls.  Men and women have to be pointed to Christ.  As John the Baptist said "behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world."

The power that is experienced.  After listening to this Peter holds out his hand - verse 7.  After 40 years I am sure this man thought he was mad, he had never walked in his life but this man is holding out his hand to him.  This man must put out his hand to his.  There has got to be a meeting of 2 hands.  You have got to surrender your life, got to reach out to the Lord, have to trust him.  He will never force his way on you.  If the Lord comes into your life he will come by invitation and invitation only.  He is a sovereign God, he is powerful, he rules over all things but tonight he offers his invitation and bids you to come and take him by the hand.  This could be the night you could be saved or lost for all eternity.  The power that is experienced when this man reached out to this disciple and Peter took him and lifted him up onto his feet.  His legs became stronger and he realised that nothing had ever happened like this before.  Many people would never have believed they could be changed when they accept Christ.  There is a power that comes in, gives strength to change and strength to live for Christ.  God has brought you into this meeting.  The patience that people have prayed for your soul.  The presentation of Jesus Christ - seen him on the cross of Calvary, realise there is a power to be experienced.

There is a praise that arose.  He went into the temple, leaping and singing and praising God.  That is what Christ wants to do for your life.  Will you allow him to do that?  Will you come and trust him tonight, that you might leave this house with a praise to God of heaven for the salvation of your soul?

A vision for God`s work

Sermon notes from Sunday 15 October 2017

Acts 16 verses 1 - 10

A vision for God`s work

I want us to think of the scripture verse 9 "And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia and help us."  Paul gets a vision of a man simply waving to him, trying to attract his attention.  Here`s a man who sees what is happening in his community and realises he needs help.  He is not looking for something of a social benefit but rather of a spiritual benefit.  He is telling Paul to come over into Macedonia to help them.  That is what we need to do - have a vision for God`s work today. We do not take God`s work for granted.  It is not just attending Sunday morning or Sunday evening worship - it is a daily progress.  We are gearing ourselves now for what we term is the winter`s work.  The Ladies meetings, the weekly Sunday School, Lifeliners, outreach around the doors - it all begins again.  The winter work looms before us.  We have rested over the summer months but the devil has not rested.  He has been keeping people back from the word of God.  As we consider the winters work I don`t want us to look at it as someone elses job, that someone else would do it.  Notice the passion and compassion on Paul`s heart as he listened to this man`s plea.  Immediately he left to do the work of God.  When he heard the plea the responsibility was on him to do something.  The responsibility is on each of us.  What can I do to progress the work of God?  It is easy to say there is someone better for that, that there is someone more eligible for that work, someone equipped for that work but the responsibility is more "what can I do today?"  That means opening up our hearts and asking God "what can I do for the winter work that lies before us?"  It is the Lord that equips.  We have to open up our hearts and follow him.  God equips our hearts to be able to do the work.  Are we up to following after the God of heaven?  The Lord came to young Jeremiah one day.  He called him to one side and said to him "I have a task for you."  He was only a young man but he was to go into the nation of Israel, that backslidden nation, that nation that was turning fast from the Lord, when judgment was about to fall and he was to take the word of God to them.  The first thing Jeremiah said was "Lord I cannot speak, I am only a child" (Jeremiah 1 verse 6).  He was using his inexperience for the task but God replied "Say not, I am a child, for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.  Be not afraid of their faces; for I am with thee to deliver thee."  Then what did the Lord do to Jeremiah?  "Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth.  And the Lord said unto me, behold I have put my words in thy mouth."  If the Lord asks you to do something today do not be afraid.  He is only waiting for you to say "yes Lord equip me for it."  He will equip you today.  Notice here in this call and the work in Paul`s heart ...

The attention Paul gives to the work of God.  Chapter 15 verse 35.  Paul was in Antioch teaching and preaching the word of God.  There were in fellowship "with many others".  Somehow that work did not suffice because Paul had the work of God on his heart.  Verse 36 - the attention Paul is giving here to the work of God.  He is teaching and preaching the word of God, building up the people there.  Paul turned his back on that for the good and benefit of the work.  He only wanted to see the work of God built up and strengthened.  He wanted to see the work of God going on.  In chapter 16 he comes now to Lystra and meets a young man by the name of Timothy.  Timothy was about 23/24 years of age.  He had been saved in one of Paul`s earlier missionary journeys.  Paul came to Lystra and preached the word of God.  Timothy was there.  He had been taught by his mother and grandmother.  Perhaps they encouraged him to attend the meetings when Paul was preaching.  We are reminded again of the verse "where 2 or 3 are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst".  It is not just about building numbers each week but rather for people to hear the word of God for themselves.  Remember they could be taken out into God`s eternity tomorrow.  Maybe your invitation to come to a meeting might mean they could be gloriously saved.  If you were to ignore that they could go out into eternity lost.  Paul met Timothy in Lystra.  Paul said of him in 1 Timothy "my son in the faith" and later in 2 Timothy he called him "my beloved son".  Paul thought highly of him.  He wanted Timothy to come with him - verse 3 "him would Paul have to go forth with him."  Timothy knew he was saved but he wanted to go with Paul.  Paul wanted him to go with him because first and foremost he was a saved man.  Who we allow into the pulpit or into any of God`s work is important - we need to make sure they are saved by the grace of God and bear a testimony of saving grace.  Paul invites Timothy to join them.  He knows something about Timothy - verse 1.  His mother was a Jew and believed but his father was a Greek.  Then we read "which was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium".  He took Timothy with them because he had a good testimony.  Paul`s attention to the word of God.  He would need to introduce someone who would not destroy the work.  He had a man who bore a good testimony in the community.  He was only thinking of his reputation.  Paul took and circumcised Timothy because of the Jews.  He was thinking of those not saved, there was something lacking in his life.  Why had Timothy not been circumcised?  Because his father was a Greek.  His mother was a young Jewish girl.  She had married a Greek.  That brought conflict into the home.  That is why it is difficult - a young man raised in a home then takes a partner who is not saved.  That always causes conflicts.  His Greek father did not want him to follow the Jewish traditions.  The language here would tell us that Timothy`s father was now dead.  As he circumcised Timothy, Paul knew he could work amongst the Jewish people and have their respect.  Paul did not want any barriers with the gospel.  He wanted someone who had the respect of everyone else.  That is what we need to be careful about in our fellowship - that we are bearing a good testimony to people - they are without Christ and without hope.  We are defending the work of God, standing up for it.  We do not want to bring in something that will bring disruption to the work of God.

Notice the awareness that Paul had.  He was aware of his calling - Galatians 1 verse 15 "But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother`s womb and called me by his grace".  Romans 1 verse 1 "Paul a servant of Jesus Christ called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God."  Every child of God is separated unto the gospel of God.  1 Corinthians 1 verse 17 "For Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect." Paul was not going to depend on his own intellect or his great mind, he was going to depend on the power of God.  He was aware that he was set apart for the gospel, to preach the gospel.  We are all called separately into the gospel.  On the day you were saved, when you gave your life to Christ something special happened.  You were separated unto the gospel.  From that moment you were separated.  In Acts 16 Paul is seeking for a door to be opened.  He is waiting for the next step of the gospel to be opened unto him.  He is moving on now.  We have a winter work before us.  Are we aware of what God is asking us to do?  Paul had to press against the door because he felt the door was closing.  Mysia, Bithynia, Asia - all of those doors were closed for him.  We don`t sit back and wait for a door to be opened to us - we push against those doors and God opens them up for us.  Paul said "For a great door and effectual is opened unto me and there are many adversaries." (1 Corinthians 16 verse 9)

The alertness with which Paul acts - verse 10.  This is in the night time when he has this vision.  God was his priority, his mind and ear were open to what the Lord had to say.  He would prove if it was from the Lord or not.  He left immediately.  In Acts 17 Paul came to Athens.  He could see the whole city given over to idols.  "His spirit was stirred in him"  Are we alert today?  We are living in a very dark, dangerous day, when the very powers of hell are coming lower and lower against this earth.  The devil realises he has little time.  What if God has a challenge for you today?  What if you felt God`s hand on your life today?  Like Samuel did lying on his bed one night.  What about Elisha ploughing the field when Elijah comes and tells him "God has a work for you to do".  Elisha gathers everything up, he kills the oxen and makes a sacrifice out of them.  He says goodbye to his parents and follows Elijah.  He is alert to God`s call.  He is attending to God`s call.  There are souls today in my neighbourhood, some in my estate, in my family, souls today on their way to a lost Christless hell for eternity.  We need to be alert to souls today.

The assurance Paul has - "immediately ... assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them."  God is saying something to us today.  There are a great number of souls to be saved - will we take up the challenge knowing God has called us?

Why are you not saved at harvest time?

Sermon notes from Sunday 8 October 2017

Harvest Service - Rev Tom Shaw 

Jeremiah 8 verses 18 - 20

I don`t know how familiar you are with the things of God in the Old Testament.  These words have a lot to say to us in our present time.  In Jeremiah`s day the people of God were in Babylon, in captivity.  There were 2 periods when they could have known redemption.  In Israel there were 2 harvests - wheat harvest from April to June and the fruit harvest in the summer.  If the wheat harvest turned out to be bad you could look forward to the fruit harvest and it would be good.  Here Jeremiah was talking at the end of the 2 harvests - verse 20.  Why were these people not saved at this time of harvest?  Why did they not know a mighty deliverance?  Maybe you have come to another harvest and you are not saved.  There are some reasons from this passage why you are not saved.

They were not saved because they were deceived.  "Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return." verse 5  Chapter 9 verse 6 "Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the Lord."  They have been deceived about God, deceived about salvation, deceived about the gospel, deceived about sin, deceived about heaven and hell, deceived about the second coming of the Lord, deceived about everything that is meaningful to a soul in terms of redemption and pardon from sin.  They have been deceived by the world, the flesh, false teachers, by a seared conscience.  Many are not saved because they are deceived.  Maybe you are part of that group.  You don`t know where you stand.  2 Corinthians 4 verse 3 "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them."  Ephesians 4 verse 18 "Having the understanding darkened being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart."  Galatians 6 verse 7 "Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."  Maybe religious leaders have deceived you.  Maybe one person has deceived you.  Every year there are thousands of people who visit the Acropolis in Athens, Greece.  They take home with them a piece of marble as a reminder of their time there.  The real truth is this - the marble is not from there, all the original pieces have long since gone.  Every day they bring lorries  in and dump marble onto the site so that people can carry it away without realising.  They are being deceived.  There is a sadder deception though - people are being deceived about their soul`s salvation.

These people were not saved because they were unrepentant.   "I hearkened and heard but they spake not aright; no man repented him of his wickedness; saying, What have I done? every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle." verse 6  They were unwilling to turn from sin, to give it up, to abandon sin.  Repentence is to leave the sins I loved before and show that I earnestly grieve, to do them no more.  Maybe there is something you are unwilling to part with for Jesus.  These people are still not saved.  One reason they are not saved is because of unrepentance.  These people were not saved because they were unrepentant.  Is that why you are not saved today?  They are not ready to meet God yet come to another harvest.  Our lives are a complex tangle of sins which make repentance expensive, embarressing and inconvenient.  Repentance for many people is expensive, maybe embarressing and maybe very inconvenient.  If you want to be saved that is what is involved.  Martyn Lloyd Jones was a great medical doctor and was assistant to the Queen`s doctor.  If he had remained in that profession he would have become the Queen`s doctor but he left it and became the minister of Westminster Chapel in London.  He said "the first reason for leaving sin is that God demands us to do so, Christianity starts with repentance."  Francis Ridley Havergael, the hymnwriter wrote  "I bring my sins to thee, the sins I cannot count that all may be cleansed, in that once opened fount, I bring them Saviour all to thee, the burden is too great for me."

These people were not saved because they failed to see the coming judgment.  Verse 7 "Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times, and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming but my people know not the judgment of the Lord."  The birds are wiser than you are.  They know their mating season, their migration period but you do not know the judgment of God.  They have very little respect or knowledge of the judgment of God.  We live in a world today where I believe men do not believe in a God of judgment.  God is some airy fairy person who will pass over our sin.  When God will come again he will come in judgment.  Man the very crown of creation is so very foolish.  He does not see that time is running out and judgment is coming.  People do not see that today.  Here we are one harvest less, one year nearer eternity.  Another harvest of God`s provision yet we are not saved. William Hague, a previous Foreign Secretary and leader of the Conservative Party wrote a book on William Wilberforce who was responsible for the abolition of slavery.  He said "But yet I do forsee a gathering storm and I cannot help fearing a country which like this has so long been blessed beyond all example with every spiritual and temporal good will incur those judgments of an incensed God which in the prophets are so often denounced against those who forget the Author of all mercies."  How much nearer are we to that day than here in these days.  People don`t recognise the coming judgment, they believe it is far away.

These people were not saved because they relied on religious benefits or privileges.  Verse 8 "How do ye say, We are wise and the law of the Lord is with us? Lo certainly in vain made he it, the pen of the scribes is in vain."  The people were saying we have got the oracles of God, by and large the Jewish people were alright.  How can you say we are unwise we have the law of God?  In this part of the world we have had great religious benefits beyond most places in the world.  Here we are today, many are in the church for the worship of God as it is harvest time, we have had so many religious privileges but the sad thing is you are relying on them and them alone.  The Protestant is relying on the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Church is relying on their church practices.  They are worth nothing if you want to be saved.  These people are not saved at harvest time because they rely on religious benefits or privileges.  Such a tragedy that people go out into eternity and have never been saved.  Perhaps have sat in pews, perhaps have stood in pulpits.  We have wonderful privileges, open bibles, the inspired word of God yet can go out into eternity unsaved at harvest.

These people were not saved at harvest time because they despised God`s word.  Verse 8 "How do ye say, We are wise and the law of the Lord is with us? Lo certainly in vain made he it, the pen ofthe scribes is in vain."  The Lord is saying you have rejected the law of God.  Your scribes have been writing.  You have despised the law of the Lord.  Men and women this is God`s word to humanity, it is God breathed, every word of it.  God has spken to us through his book yet we despise it and reject it.  There is no difference between perverting the scriptures and disregarding the scriptures.  Maybe you are here today and the word of God is meaningless to you.  A tragedy to have the word of God and still be unsaved.  There are places today where there is not one single word of scripture in their own language.  Many are working day and night trying to achieve that translation.  We have in our bookshops every version of the Bible possible. We have memorised verses in our mind yet rejected it in our hearts.

These people were not saved because of false teachers.  Verses 10 and 11 "Therefore will I give their wives unto others, and their fields to them that shall inherit them; for every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely. For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying Peace, peace when there  is no peace."  People are being taught falsely.  Jeremiah was concerned about this.  The prophets were teaching mistruths.  Every preacher does not tell you the truth.  Richard Wurmbrand was imprisoned in Romania before communism fell.  He said that when he was put in prison some prisoners heard he was a pastor and those men told him "please don`t lead us astray."  Don`t listen to teachers of the word of God who will lead you astray because if you do you will never be saved.  W P Nicholson was the most blessed of preachers Ulster produced.  He was present when 300 soldiers were preparing to go into battle.  The padre told the soldiers "if you die in battle you will go straight to heaven, your blood will save you."  Nicholson told them "this man is a liar".  The 300 men cheered him, they knew the padre wasn`t right.  C H Spurgeon said "it is better to abolish pulpits than fill them with men who have no experimental knowledge of what they preach."

These people were not saved because they refused to come.  Verse 5 "Why then is this people of Jerusalm slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return."  Jesus said "ye will not come that ye might have life and that ye might have it more abundantly."

The Parable of the wheat and the tares

Sermon notes from Monday 9 October 2017 

Harvest Thanksgiving Mr Trevor Matthews

Matthew 13 verse 24 - 30, 36 - 43

The Parable of the wheat and the tares

I love to preach from the parables.  I don`t need to tell you what a parable is - an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.  No-one goes about building theology from them.  Jesus used them to teach bible truth.  Every parable has a key truth in them.  In this parable the harvest is the end of the world.  A harvest to take place in a future day when Jesus comes again.  That day might be closer than you think.  Things are moving fast in our world.  The end might be sooner than many realise.  Jesus told the story of a farmer that was good.  He obviously employed a number of men and instructed them to go out into the field to make the ground ready for seed to be planted.  The boss goes off to buy the seed, he doesn`t want the cheapest seed he can find, he wants the best seed.  He has one chance in the year, if he gets it right it will be a good result.  He brings the seed home and tells the men what to do.  The men are happy with the crop, they inspected it from time to time and reported back that the crop was good until one day wheat was bursting into full ear.  This field was totally messed up, laced with the wheat the tares were also growing.  These men are alarmed and told the boss "I thought you gave us good seed, how come these tares are coming up through it?"  The boss tells them "an enemy has done this, he has come in the night and planted the seed."  Satan is an angel of light, he works under the cover of darkness to dilute and deceive.  The men asked "do you want us to pull the weeds out, they will ruin the crop?"  The boss said "no let the both grow together until the harvest then separate the tares from the wheat."  We do not know who the enemy was.  That was the story.  Jesus takes his disciples into the house to explain this parable.  Jesus tells them what the story was all about in crystal clear terms so we cannot get it wrong.  

The preparation for the harvest.  The field is the world.  When thinking of this story we are in the field, you and I are in this field.  We are not totally abstract from where we are at tonight.  The scripture teaches us the whole world lies in the lap of the wicked one - how - because of the sin from our parents, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.  Satan seeks to deceive.  That is a real story about real people who live in our world.  There are 2 types of seed.  The good seed - the wheat represents the children of the kingdom.  In plain simple terms the believers in Jesus Christ, those in whose heart the good seed has taken root and created fruit.  "Being born again, not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever." (1 Peter 1 verse 23)  What does that mean?  We come to an understanding that we are sinners, that we have broken God`s law, that we are transgressors, that we are separated from God because of our sin and we come to an understanding that God loves us.  Maybe we have come tonight feeling down, no one really cares.  Jesus cares about you and cares about you in a way we will never fully understand.  When you understand that love took Christ to the cross to bear the full penalty of your sin, that through him and him alone and his work on the cross, that you as a sinner can be reconciled, pardoned, forgiven.  He comes to live within your life.  The good seed takes root in the heart.  Psalm 19 "the law of the Lord is perfect, it converts the soul."  If we are going to come to know God, to be sure of heaven conversion is essential.  The law according to Paul is the school master, he guides, instructs, shows the way and the law shows how short we are, how far we have fallen in rebellion.  As we see our lostness there is the conversion of the soul.  There are some people who have an intellectual conversion.  You can do a bible course, understand intellectually and still not be converted.  The conversion is a work of the Spirit in the depths of our being, changing us from the inside out.  Nicodemus didn`t understand it either when Jesus told him he must be born again.  Nicodemus said "how can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother`s womb and be born?"  Jesus had to explain to him that it was not physically being born again but a spiritual birth, being born from above, the Holy Spirit coming into these hearts and changing us from the inside out.  Has the good seed taken root yet?  Maybe the good seed has been sown but it hasn`t taken root yet because of the hardness of our soul, the soil being hard.  God wants to change us through the powerful good seed.  The bad seed.  When the man slept his enemy came.  Jesus identifies quickly this perversion.  

The bad seed represents a real pervasion.  Who is the enemy?  The devil.  It is old fashioned to believe in the devil these days people tell us.  He is doing his work today.  He is blinding our minds today.  This seed he sows are called tares.  What are tares really?  The tares are the weeds, specific weeds.  The tares when grown are identical to the wheat.  This is why these men when they inspected the crop had no idea they were there.  The weeds were happy to grow with the wheat.  They were comfortable growing with the wheat.  You will know that one of the names given to Satan is deceiver.  That is his job - to deceive.  If you knew you were being deceived you wouldn`t be deceived.  Satan`s work is to deceive.  His job is to obscure from men and womens mindsets the absolute need for an encounter with Jesus Christ, to come to a place of repentance of sin and know Jesus entering our hearts and lives.  These tares mimic the wheat.  They are not really wheat.  It is possible to be a church member, to sing in a choir, to read the Bible, to have an appreciation of the gospel, be a kind upright member of the community.  Jesus is showing us Satan`s work is to do all these kind, upright things, to allow us to go that far but not to have an encounter with Jesus Christ.

The perplexity - the men couldn`t wait to get in there and pull these weeds up.  The boss tells them no "let them both grow together until the harvest."  Some of us will struggle with the message of the Christian gospel.  They have been through a hard struggle in life.  Someone has done something to us, asking the question "why did God allow that? why didn`t God intervene?"  God allows both to grow together - why -"for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." (Matthew 5 verse 45) They only grow together until the harvest.  We need to remember that some of us we have grievances against God.  There are things we will never understand.  The Psalmist said "fret not thyself because of evil doers." (Psalm 37 verse 1)  We think of so and so and what they have allegedly done, know they have been elevated to political staus or whatever.  Don`t fret because of evildoers.  You will do harm.  There is a day of harvest coming.  We may think people have slipped through the justice system of our country but there is a harvest day coming.  What is the purpose of the harvest?  What do you need in harvest?  The harvest is about bringing in the crops.  No-one can bring in a harvest without doing a work of separation.  That which is not good and profitable.  Jesus tells us at that final harvest there will be a work of separation.  The tares will be separated, the good from the evil.  We read that the angels will gather out of his kingdom "all things that offend".  The earthly kingdom.  What does this mean?  I was in a service one Sunday morning in Ballymena when a man was preaching.  He was a greek scholar and a very able bible teacher.  He said of these words "if we translated this more or less from the Greek text we could read should gather out of his kingdom all those who are offended."  Paul talked about the offence of the cross.  To some people the thought of blood being shed, of Christ bearing the pain and suffering, of me having to trust in the cross and through his work my sins are forgiven that is offensive to them.  Are you offended by that?  That blood was shed for you.  It is the only way sins are forgiven.  Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins.  Sin cannot be pardoned any other way.  Blood was shed to pardon your sins.  If I am going to partake of that work on the cross I must come and surrender my life to the one who laid down his life for me.  There are those who are offended.  All the wheat and tares are going to be gathered together.  Why was it so essential to get rid of these tares?  How do you identify these tares?  They had no substance.  The tares look like the wheat.  If the tares mix with the wheat and you bought some wheat and ground it into flour, then took it home and baked bread with it that tare would kill you immediately.  When they ground the wheat and the tare together it made it extremely poisonous.  "None that defileth will ever enter in."  There is no sin in heaven just genuine wheat.

The pleasure in a harvest.  "Gather the wheat into my barn"  What a barn there is.  "In my Father`s house are many mansions."  Will you be gathered in?  Have you got your title deeds to the mansion?

The pain in the harvest - "bind them in bundles to burn them."  There is a pain in harvest - shall cast them into a furnace.  You can have someone who has lived a wild life, is far from God and someone who is religious and upright, they wouldn`t want to identify with that rascal.  On that final day they are going to be in the same bundle. What a graphic picture of the end of the age.  Eternal separation from God for ever.  We need to expose Satan`s dirty work, tricking people into thinking they are alright.