While Men Slept
PPT 1 Title “While Men Slept”
PPT 2- 8 Text
Matthew 13:24 Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.
Matthew 13:25 "But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away.
Matthew 13:26 "But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also.
Matthew 13:27 "The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’
Matthew 13:28 "And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ The slaves *said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’
Matthew 13:29 "But he *said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them.
Matthew 13:30 ‘Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn."’"
Matthew 13:36 Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field."
Matthew 13:37 And He said, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man,
Matthew 13:38 and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one;
Matthew 13:39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels.
Matthew 13:40 "So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age.
Matthew 13:41 "The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness,
Matthew 13:42 and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Matthew 13:43 "Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
He that has ears to hear. Whenever you read that coming from the lips of Jesus, take note because He is telling us that what He is saying is very important, and we should regard it as so.
This passage talks about the enemies’ activities in the life of men, when they are asleep. Sleep in this passage isn’t simply talking about what we do when we go to bed, it is talking about how we are unobserving of what is going on around us.
Is the parable before us there is two benevolent groups, two nefarious entities, and one complicit entity. We see them in verses 37-39.
PPT 9 text
Matthew 13:37 And He said, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man,
Matthew 13:38 and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one;
Matthew 13:39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil
So in this section we have the good as Jesus and the sons of the kingdom, the nefarious are the devil, and tares, interestingly called the sons of the evil one. It is important you note from this parable we are talking about people and not ideas. The devil plants people. They become his living message. They are the embodiment of his plans, schemes and ideas. They are so in sync with him, he plants them then leaves, nothing more for him to do. Not all lost men and women could be called the spawns of satan, but some definitely are.
Who then, is the complicit person? BTW complicit means involved with others in an illegal activity or wrongdoing. In this case the complicit are not involved in the sense they are doing it, but in the sense they aren’t doing anything to stop it. These people are described earlier in the passage with these words, “while men slept.” The passage is more indicting to the church than that, it says, “while His men were sleeping.” In other words God’s people were living in blissful ignorance to what was going on. They were asleep on the job!
While Samson slept, Delilah cut his hair, breaking his covenant with God, which allowed the enemy to overpower him. Multiple times Samson failed to learn the lesson of the danger of sleeping while an enemy is around.
While Jonah slept, the boat he was in was almost destroyed except for the intervention of the sailors to wake him from his sleep. Wake up call on God!
While men slept, the Medes and Persians entered and conquered Babylon and Belshazzar the king of Babylon was slain.
Around Christmas time in 1776, the fire for American independence was burning low, and almost put out. Several defeats were suffered in a row. But while men slept, General Washington led 2500 men across the Delaware River at Trent, New Jersey, on Dec. 26,1776, and they swept a great victory for American independence, turning the tide of the war.
Bad stuff happens while men sleep.
While we slept numerous institutions in our country were taken over by tares of the enemy, most blatantly our educational system. The system is almost hopelessly corrupt. Let me illustrate.
This whole sexual thing going on in schools has as one of it’s dominate mantra’s – don’t tell the parents. When we were growing up if someone said don’t tell your parents it means they knew what they were doing is wrong, and they want to be able to keep doing it.
Whatever you think about Trump he was right in defining these systems as a swamp that needed draining. Where he was wrong was in thinking that he alone could drain it. Here is a sad but accurate explanation, of where I think we are.
PPT 10 quote
A bad system will beat a good person every time. -- W. Edwards Deming
We need more than a politician to drain the swamp. We are at a point where we need Jesus to come and take over. It may sound like it, but I am not talking about politics, I am talking about a real example of the parable before us today. The tares have taken over some of our fields, and they are choking the life out of the wheat.. Enough of that, let’s dig a little more into the parable, and this is how I want to handle the rest of the message.
I am going to talk about the enemies seeds and combat them with some faith declarations.
You will understand what I mean as we go through this message. We can build our faith by speaking what the word says. That is a biblical truth. Romans 10:10.
Jesus spoke faith declarations all the time. Talitha cumi, (maiden I say to thee arise), woman thou are lossed, Lazarus come forth. There are very few examples in the bible of anyone else doing it. I can only think of one in the NT Peter and the lame man, but for the most part healing in the NT was not by declarations but by prayer and anointing of oil, and sometimes taking medicine was thrown in like when Paul said to drink some wine for your stomach.
That said there is still something that happens when we speak the word of God. Faith comes, fears are clamed, strength is renewed.
Let’s get pack to the parable before us and for the rest of the message I want to:
A. Take quick points from the passage followed by a faith declarations.
B. The need to balance and marinate declarations with prayer.
1. The enemy is a nocturnal visitor (vs. 25) – But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat. He does his work under cover of darkness. He operates in stealth. He slithers in silence and seeks to do his work in ways that are somewhat hidden from our eyes.
I decree and declare that I am not ignorant of the devils devices. I decree and declare by the grace of God I can see his plots and machinations and I will be delivered from every snare of the fowler, no matter how cleverly it has been hidden.
I decree and declare that whatever has crawled into my life under the cover of the night, shall be null and void and of no effect in Jesus name. Powers visiting me at night, under the cover of darkness, I cut you off in Jesus name.
#2. Along the same lines, I want us to note is that even though it isn’t stated, I believe the enemy may be responsible for the sleepiness of men. Unless you bind the strong man, you can’t take his goods. I believe the church in part has been bound, not with rope but with sleepiness, bound with blissful ignorance.
Sleepiness is a very great danger in the last days, according to Jesus.
PPT 11 Text
Matthew 25:3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:
Matthew 25:4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
Matthew 25:5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
We combat that with a faith declaration. I decree and declare that sleepiness shall not overtake me. I will be sober and vigilant knowing my enemy goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may destroy. I decree and declare:
Romans 13:11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
I decree by the grace of God, I am awake and alert.
#3 Tares disfigure a field and compete for nutrients and sunlight.
Tares attempting to steal nutrients from me wither and die in Jesus name!
Tares working to stop my fruitfulness you are cursed with blight in Jesus name.
Tares disfiguring my Christian testimony I curse you from the root up, in Jesus name.
#4 The enemy is a long term planner.
Seeds take time, the enemy is in it for the long term.
Whatever long term plan of the enemy, even that which was sown in my childhood come to naught in Jesus name. Every seed of the enemy sown hidden under the soil of my life rot and die in Jesus name.
I decree and declare that God will frustrate every long-term plan of my enemies, both in my life and in the life of my children, and their children. I decree all these plans shall come to nothing, in Jesus name.
There is a lot more in this parable, that I am not going to get to today, now I want to switch gears and talk about the mystery of prayer in regards to the promises of God and faith declarations. You will see how all this ties together nicely.
PPT 12 text
John 14:2 "In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.
John 14:3 "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
This is one of the most important promises in the bible.
Jesus spoke it, He stated it, He declared it.
But that isn’t all He did.
Let’s go to John 17
PPT 13 text
John 17:24 "Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
In John 14 Jesus made a promise, and yet in John 17 He prayed for that promise to be fulfilled. Promises of God cannot be simply claimed because it seems God has decreed that the means by which they come to fruition is through prayer.
I am not sure of all the reasons why, but one is that I know claiming a promise needs to be shaped through prayer. Prayer often shapes us into the vessel we need to be for God to fulfill His promises.
Do you want deliverance or development? Better yet, prayer makes us ask does God want deliverance or development. Claiming a promise is in a sense ordering God around. It doesn’t usually work that way. But sometimes it does. Prayer helps straighten things out.
Close: Beware of the dangers of sleep. Beware of the enemy sowing just below your level of sight. Be sober be vigilant, be watchful.
In the name of Jesus I curse every seed of the enemy that has been sown into your life in a night season. I declare them null and void.
Now Lord take these declarations and put Your power behind, because I recognize that unless You energize these words they won’t have the power to succeed.
