He Taught Them Many Parables… (The Parable Of The Wheat And Tares) # 2

The Lord would take something physical that they all were familiar with, and use it to teach them a valuable spiritual lesson. This method of teaching is referred to as parables. And the Bible said that He taught them many parables.

For example, in our scripture today, He used the parable of “The Wheat and Tares”.

He used this parable for a very special reason. He wanted to teach them a valuable lesson about the MINGLING OF EVIL AMONG THE GOOD.

We do not need to do any surmising about what this parable means. This is one of the few parables that the Lord gives, and then explains the meaning.

Let’s look at the parable of “The Wheat and the Tares”. It is a favorite of many Bible students. First, let’s look at -

I. THE PARABLE EXPOUNDED

Look at Matt. 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.”

We need to remember that the Lord was addressing people who knew a great deal about farming. And the story he tells them in this parable is something they are very familiar with.

He tells about a farmer who sowed some good seeds in a field. But after he sowed the seeds, while he was sleeping one night, the enemy came in and sowed some bad seeds next to the good seeds.

To understand the impact of this parable, it is critical that you understand that the bad seeds were sown so close to the good seeds, that if they were uprooted it would destroy the good seeds also.

But after the seeds were sown, good and bad, perhaps it was only a few days later, one of the servants was in the field and he noticed the good seeds had begun to sprout from the earth, but also he noticed along side the WHEAT that was springing forth from the earth, TARES were springing forth also.

He ran and told his master something like this, “I have some good news and some bad news.”

• The good news is that the Wheat is coming forth

• The bad news is that the TARES are coming up right beside the wheat

After the servant told him of the situation, the servant most likely said something like this, “Sir, would you like me and the other servants to go and uproot the tares that have been planted by the wheat?”

The farmer said, “No, the enemy has planted the tares right beside the wheat for a purpose. He knew that if we uprooted the tares, we would also uproot the wheat in the process.”

Then the farmer said something very interesting, look at verse 30, we read, “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.”

WHAT A TREMENDOUS LESSON THE LORD IS TEACHING THE CHURCH.

• We understand that in every Bible-believing, Bible-preaching church, God the Holy Spirit has lead certain people there for a very specific purpose.

• We understand that in every Bible-believing, Bible-preaching church, Satan has sent his crowd for a very specific purpose.

Every Bible-believing, Bible-preaching church has two kinds of people:

• THE WHEAT (This is the good seed that has fallen on good soil)

• THE TARES (This is the bad seed that has fallen on good soil)

But notice two things:

• They are growing in the same field

• And the same can be said of the church, you have the WHEAT and TARES in the same church.

The devil (the enemy) has very cleverly planted the tares right beside the wheat.

WHY? BECAUSE HE KNOWS THIS CREATES A TREMENDOUS PROBLEM FOR THE CHURCH.

WHAT IS THE PROBLEM? The problem is this: the Bible teaches Church discipline.