...to take up more specifically, this morning it's very similar to the Kingdom of God in certain respects, and we'll notice here that, where yesterday we had in this present time we're living in, is also called the Kingdom of God, it's called the Kingdom of Heaven and we'd like to go into that a little more, we have also the Kingdom of the Father over here on the right on top, and then the Kingdom of the Son, identified with the millennial glory.
So we have all four here portrayed on this chart, the kingdom of God at the top, again the general overall view of it all. And sometimes the moral view of it, the Kingdom of Heaven is the aspect of the Kingdom in its heavenly character, but also in its dispensational view or the territorial view it could also be described as perhaps. That is it's the place here on earth, because the Kingdom of Heaven only includes really this present time although it introduces us into the kingdom of the father and so on. But really the Kingdom of Heaven is a little more narrow view of the kingdom, it's only found in Matthew's Gospel, it's interesting that Matthew was the the evangelists who presented Chrisr as king. First of all as king to his people Israel, but we know that he was rejected as their king, and crucified. And so Matthew develops the sequence that follows his rejection beginning with chapter 13 of Matthew.
In Chapter 12 of Matthew, and you find that the Jews were attributing the miracles that the Lord did to beelzebub, the prince of devils. That was, as it were, the culminating sin. Upon which the Lord Jesus began to introduce something new, the kingdom of heaven. God is never frustrated by man's unbelief. He has a way, he has a purpose over all of this. And so in the Kingdom of God, the rule of God over all things at all times, He still gets what He wants in his kingdom. In the kingdom of heaven we have described in these ten similitudes here that I've listed and Lord willing look over them in a little more detail tomorrow or later today, we have viewed in these 10 similitude a picture really, what the kingdom of heaven is. And they give us different views, they're like 10 snapshots, 10 pictures of what the Kingdom of Heaven really is. Many of these parables, or similitudes, are also used to describe the Kingdom of God, because they are very similar, and identical in some aspects. But the Kingdom of Heaven then is given to us, and I'll just mention here we're going to start with the sower, which is the first of the parables in Chapter 13.
The sower, the sower is the formation, this is the Lord Jesus beginning something new. In the old testament, God was looking for something from man, and man didn't give that. Israel was the pleasant plant, that God had in his vineyard but they didn't bear fruit. So God and now starts something new, the Kingdom of Heaven was something new. It's also in mystery at this time there's scripture that in Matthew that is the kingdom of heaven is really in its full extent is only seen to faith. People in the world don't notice that the Lord Jesus, in heaven, is forming a Kingdom right now, they're oblivious to the fact of it in many ways. Yes they see the outward aspect of it, and we'll go over that, but they don't see really what's going on. Only those who have faith and lay hold of that, those that have force, the violence that lays hold of it, they're the only ones that will really enter in at the end and partake. So at the close of this time when the kingdom of heaven is ready for the Lord to come and take his own at the rapture, the children of the Kingdom will be taken up into heaven to enter into the kingdom of the father, and they'll share there, into the kingdom of the father, both of those are found here, in what we're going to take up today.
Let's then began by reading in Matthew 13 the parable of the sower Matthew's Gospel chapter 13 I think we will read this, verse three, Matthew 13:3 "and He spoke many things unto them in parables saying Behold the sower went forth to sow, and when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside and the fowls came and devoured them up, some fell upon stony places where there had not much earth and forthwith they sprang up and because there they had no deepness of earth and when the sun was up they were scorched and because they had no root they withered away, and some fell among thorns and the thorns sprang up and choked them, but other fell into good ground and brought forth fruit some a hundred fold some 60 fold some 30 fold, who hath ears to hear and let him hear. And the disciples came and said unto him Why speakest Thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but to them it is not given, for whosoever hath to him shall be given and he shall have more abundance, but whosoever hath not from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables because that seeing, they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand, and in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias which saith by hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand and seeing ye shall see and shall not percieve, for the peoples heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing and their eyes they have closed lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and should understand what their heart and should be converted and I should heal them, but blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears, for they hear for varily I say unto you that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see and have not seen them, and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them. Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower, when any one heareth the word of the kingdom and understandeth it not then cometh the wicked one and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which receives seed by the wayside, he that received the seed into stony places the same is he that heareth the word and anon with joy receiveth it, yet hath he no root in himself, but endureth for a while, for when tribulation or persecution arise because of the word, by and by he is offended. He also that receives seed among the thorns is he that hear the word and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and he become a unfruitful, but he that receives seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word and understandeth it, which also beareth fruit and bringth forth some an hundred fold some 60 some 30.
The Lord instead of coming now to get something from man, He is the sower and He is giving something to us. The seed is the word of law and this is the gospel of our salvation, it's a wonderful thing that we can have a gospel meeting here every night and offer salvation to all. Offer entrance into God's kingdom, the kingdom of heaven, too. And you know, the gospel is a great thing, sometimes I think we forget what it cost the Lord to offer this to us, it cost Him to go to the cross, it cost Him to bear our sin there at the hand of a holy God and so that he could righteously bring anybody into his kingdom. This is the most magnificent this is the easiest possible way of access into something that I can imagine. God does all the work and the Lord here came down to sow that seed, to give us the gospel of salvation, to give us a way of entrance on the basis of what he would do on calvery's cross, satisfying God so that the Lord Jesus could have a people in his kingdom, and that's why we preach the gospel. But it goes out to all because God wants his house full, and the first people that He preached it to refused it, the Jews, and God's heart wasn't satisfied then, he wanted to go wider, and so he included the whole world, and he does it on a righteous basis. Nobody will be in the kingdom at the end in the father's kingdom there and be able to say that they were any better than anybody else there or that they had anything of their own that would cause them to be there. It's all of grace and so that's why in Romans, for example, it says there is no difference for all have sinned, everybody had been already reduced down to one low common denominator of a guilty sinner in the old economy, the law.
And now God gives out the invitation to all, and so one of the parables here is the marriage invite, it's a comparison to invite to a marriage because that's really what the kingdom of heaven is, and the kingdom of God too, they are a free invitation to Gods place of blessing, to heaven, to the place where God the father and God the son through the Holy Spirit want to bring people into blessing to share what God has, so the Lord Jesus is the sower and he came down and we often think of this parable of the sower as the evangelist that goes out and sows the seed. Well that's true, but the evangelist, where does he get his seed from? We get it from Christ, he brought the seed, the good seed, "except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" if we don't get that faith, if we don't get that word of God from the Lord who gave it to us we have no gospel to preach, that is, not the gospel that we preach. And so it's a wonderful thing that the Lord Jesus instead of coming and asking/requiring things or presenting a kingdom to people to attain to, to enter in on their own basis, he now gives us a righteous basis of entering into his kingdom, but you'll notice that the seed that's sown it's sown all over, the world is the is the ground, the field where it's sown and it falls on four kinds of ground, a picture of four different kinds of heart. The only one that really bears fruit, any fruit at all, is the one, that good ground that had been broken up where the seed could find root and lodging and grow up, a good and an honest heart, that's the only thing that really God requires of us is to come before him in honesty as to our condition. Sometimes people have the concept that before they go to the gospel meeting, or before they accept the Lord as a savior they have to change their life or they have to remedy some of their past problems. That's not true; what you have to do is just be honest with yourself, what your condition is and let the seed of God enter into your heart, believe what the Lord has said, accept the Lord Jesus as your savior, and that will bring the fruit, that is what gives life. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So when we sow, or when the Lord sows the word, it's the preaching of the Gospel and our hearts respond accordingly. And not only is there the good ground, but there is the bearing much fruit and the various different things impede the seed, the plant bearing fruit. Any farmer knows that for a plant to produce good fruit there can't be weeds, there has to be the sun, there has to be the dirt that's broken up, I think that's a picture of repentance. Our brother was speaking about that, repentance, change of mind, the ground broken up, oftentimes before we can bear fruit God hast to deal with us severely in order that our own wills be set aside, and we, like the prodigal son, change our mind and decide that what God is offering is really better. God, in this kingdom, it's on a voluntary basis I might say, that is God doesn't going to force anybody there, you're not in the kingdom because you were born there, or because of your family, you get in the kingdom by faith. Everyone individually has to do this, everyone has to accept the Lord as their savior, and there are hindrances that the enemy uses. So you have the stony ground, and it doesn't bring forth fruit, it starts out and so there are many when they hear the blessing and the offering of an entrance into a kingdom, they like that, they want to partake of the goodness there, but time will tell if there has been no real repentance and a true acknowledgment of the Lord Jesus as their savior.
So this is how the kingdom is formed, now I'd lack to go on to the kingdom of the father and we'll come back, perhaps, to some of these parables. In the same chapter in Matthew let's drop down to verse 36. I'm going to suppose that most of you, that all of you, have a certain understanding. I'm not going to read everything in this chapter, but this is a discussion about the parable of the tares and wheat. And this is the Lord's explanation of it, let's just read it beginning with verse 36 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 sowth 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 son in the kingdom of their father, who hath ears to hear let him hear.
Now my purpose in reading this right now in a preliminary way, is to show the entrance into the kingdom of their father, the last verse there that we read. Then shall the righteous shine, and so you have during this time of the formation of the kingdom of heaven here on earth. The kingdom of heaven began when the Lord Jesus went back to heaven, and started forming his kingdom. That's when it began, and it will go on until he takes the wheat, which are the true believers into his barn which is when they will enter into heaven, I believe, at the time of the rapture. Now I believe there is a sense that the kingdom of heaven will go on during the following time of the tribulation, it's impossible to describe all these things on the chart. There will be the judgment of the tares following the gathering in of the wheat. It's very interesting to notice the order of events in this parable of the tares and wheat. The first thing that happens is at the close of the time. First of all God or the Lord lets the tares and wheat grow together and that's what we see happening today, we see the kingdom of heaven as a mixture of good and bad and that's what it really is. There are professors and there are those that are real, our brother has been speaking about that in connection with the church, the same thing. Here though it's in connection with the kingdom. The tares are those that make a profession of knowing the King. They recognize the Lord Jesus in heaven as King, in a certain nominal way, but if they do not have the Holy Spirit like the five virgins who had no oil in their lamps. If those who profess to know the Lord don't have the Holy Spirit, then they won't be taken in the barn at at the time of the gathering in of the wheat.
So first of all, at the close we notice that the tares are gathered in bundles to burn. They're just gathered together in bundles, it doesn't say they're burned. They're only gathered together in bundles. And then the bundles are left there, right there where they are. That's the old fashion way or the old-time way of harvesting wheat. They gathered the wheat with a sickle, and they gathered them in bundles, perhaps tied those bundles, and laid them out on the ground to finish the drying process. You can't take wet wheat into the barn, it will get hot and maybe moldy and even catch fire. So the bundles are left there in the field to burn, that is the tares. The Angels do this work, and then the wheat is gathered into the barn. So I believe that the wheat gathered into the barn corresponds to the rapture, when the Lord comes. The bundles of tares are still out there in the field, and the judgment of them will follow afterwords. When it says here in verse 42 "and shall cast them into a furnace of fire, there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth".
I believe this judgment is a distinct judgment from other judgments that will take place when the Lord Jesus comes from heaven. There is this judgment particularly of the false profession of the kingdom. So then after the bundles are burned, let me get this straight here, in verse 42, there's the bundles that are burned, and in verse 43 "then shall the righteous shine". It's interesting that it takes place then when the Lord comes back from heaven. I believe that we/he will have the judgment seat of Christ in that timespan there, and in connection with; it isn't mentioned in connection with the kingdom, but still it's when the bride of Christ makes herself ready, and then after the bundles are burned, the righteous shine in the kingdom of their Father. And that's what we look forward to, to being associated with the father. The kingdom of the Father, I believe, is a heavenly thing. I believe in some ways it's identified with the heavenly side here, the kingdom of the Son. You can't diverse these terms always from one another, the Lord knows, but we tried to just put it in a graphic picture here, to identify when it is and how, and the heavenly part versus the earthly part.
Now another Scripture we might refer to about the kingdom of the Father is in Matthew 26 verse 29, "but I say unto you that I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom". This is an interesting verse that the Lord gave at the time he instituted His supper, the Last Supper, the remembrance of the Lord, and he was about to depart out of this world. The Lord at this time was about to go back to his Father's throne. I'd like to turn back to a verse in Psalm 110, that I think gives us this perspective, just put your finger there, we're going to come back to Matthew 26. Notice what it says in the 110th Psalm, verse one, "the Lord said unto my Lord sit Thou on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool". That's the position that the Lord occupies right now, right now the Lord Jesus is sitting on His Father's throne. He is there in glory, sitting there, waiting to receive his kingdom and he is waiting in patience. Now the Lord Jesus in Matthew 26, just before he was to leave, he tells them that he's not going to drink of the fruit of the vine until he drank it new with them in the kingdom, and that would be at this time here, when the Lord received his kingdom. It's a wonderful thing to see this this dedication of the Lord to us. The Lord, I believe, was saying "I'm not going to enter into the joy of my kingdom, even though I'm going away up there in heaven. (He's taking a vow, like the vow of the Nazariteship, here for a time.) He saying "I'm not to enter into my joy of the kingdom, untill I have you with me". To me this is so touching, I think this is the cure to worldliness. This is the cure to keeping us separated from the Lord.
Here He has done so much to gather us into his kingdom. And he goes away into a place where he can't be crucified, where he can't be rejected, in a higher sphere, in heaven, to have a kingdom there, and instead of bringing judgment upon this world immediately after he was rejected, he says "I'm going to first of all have a people there with me in glory". So he does back to heaven and he says "now I'm not going to enter into my joy, not going to drink of the fruit of the vine". That is, wine is a picture of joy and entering into it. So we, brethren have the opportunity to respond in kind. To be a people that's willing to share his rejection, willing not to have a thrown now, willing to pass the time of suffering, all through this time here, while the kingdom is being formed, we're waiting in patience, just like the Lord, we should be. May the Lord help us then, to lay hold of this and to to respond to the Lord in kind, to not take anything out of this world unless we can really honestly take it in fellowship with him, and for his service, for the service of the king, for his good and blessing. That's the entrance then, into the kingdom of the father. The Lord then, when he receives his kingdom there, then he's going to, together with his bride, enter into the joy. And by His grace, I'll be there, will you?
Now the kingdom of the son, briefly, back to Matthew 13, I just want to touch briefly on that, even though we've really spoken on ii yesterday, but in Matthew 13, notice verse 41, I believe we already read it, verse 41, "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". So you have here, at the beginning of this time the Lord gathering out all things that offend. I believe that's the burning of the tares and so forth. It's described in some of the others, there's a mustard seed that grew into a great tree, and that tree is not God's mind of his kingdom. Another verse in Luke 22, let's turn to quickly, in connection in the kingdom of the son, we'll read beginning with verse 24, "there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest, and he said unto them the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors, but ye shall not be so, but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he that is chief as he that doth serve. For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat or he that serveth? Is not he that sitteth at meat? But I am among you as he that serveth. Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations, and I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my father hath appointed unto me. That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel".
The Lord answers this this striving, this question about striving to be the greatest, because really, in the old economy of the law, that's what they sought to do, they all tried the hardest to be the best, but the Lord is saying, now in the kingdom it's not that way. That's totally opposed to it, it's the other way around, whoever serves the most, is going to end up being the greatest in the kingdom. That's a real lesson for us, you know. It's so common for us, when we get into a place of leadership, to think that the people should serve us, but real leadership is serving others more faithfully. So the Lord is the perfect example of that, he gave all, he served the greatest, and there's going to be no equal there with him in the kingdom. But He gives us the opportunity, if you want to strive, this is what you ought to strive for. The way to true greatness is being little, serving much, serving the best, and so then, that's connected with the kingdom of the son.
This is the time when true service will receive its proper recompense, and its the good time to have it, because it'll go on and on and on. Whereas any praise of men now, it may stop at the day, or it may go on on for a week or so, and then it is finished, but it'll be worthwhile entering in truly in the kingdom at that time. And so the Lord mentions two things I want to point to here in verse 30, "that ye may eat at my table in my kingdom". Fellowship with the Lord at His table is even a better thing than receiving rewards. When Mephibosheth was at the kings table, he was content to let Ziba have all. He wasn't occupied with material things, he wasn't occupied with praise, he wasn't occupied with rewards, he had the king. Oh beloved, may our hearts lay hold of this. Our King, the Lord Jesus, His glory, being there with him in his glory, that's the best thing. But he also says in the last part of the verse, "and sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel". And so during this time of the kingdom and the millennial reign of Christ, there will be those thrones, there will be reigning. And we have here, I put the parable of the talents there, at this place, because, I believe, that parable describes to us how to take the things of this time of our life, how we use what's entrusted to us now, the talents that have been entrusted to us, if we take those talents that have been entrusted to us, and use them for the King, then he's going to give us back the same amount, at this time, to reign over 10 cities, five cities, or however many. That's Lukes gospels view. In Matthew it's enter into the joy of the Lord. So there is the recompense, and we don't want to make little of that. That is much to be valued and esteemed. There will be nothing done for Christ that won't receive its reward. We must be content to wait during this time, until the Lord comes back, and it will it be well worth it. So there are those two little aspects, I think, the Lord brings before us in connection with the kingdom of the son. Well, our time is up, and, Lord willing, tomorrow we will go through briefly, these parables, the ten parables of the the kingdom of heaven and to finish our topic. I believe that that's all for now, so let's just thank the Lord.