"Declare unto us"

Matthew chapter 13, verse 24. Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field, and while men slept, the enemy came, 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.

Verse 30, 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, and gather the wheat into my barn. Now look down the chapter again to verse 36. 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.

And 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.

Look down again to verse 43. He's referring to the eternal state here when he says, Then shall the righteous shine forth as the son and the kingdom of their father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Again the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hidden in a field, the which when a man hath found, he hideth and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man seeking goodly pearls, who when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it. Again the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea, and gathered every kind, which when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.

So shall it be at the end of the world. Now he's talking about the end of the tribulation, the beginning of the millennial period. The angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire.

There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him, Yea, Lord. Then said he unto them, Therefore, every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.

And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence, and he came to his own country and taught in the synagogue. And that's at the end of his third discourse. The Lord will bless what we have read from his word.

I want to think particularly of the statement of the disciples at the end of verse 36, when they said to the Savior, Tell us, declare unto us, explaineth the parable of the tares of the field. You'll know that in this section, the Lord is speaking seven at least different parables. The first four of them are to the people, to the crowd.

And the last three of them, he leaves the crowd, and now he's addressing the disciples. We sang that lovely hymn, and is it so? We shall be like thy son. It's beyond our understanding, but the day is coming when that will be fulfilled, when you and I will be not only with him, but like him, morally, in every way.

Nothing of self or sin or the devil that will ever bother us then. But when the Lord wanted to display the glories of the Lord Jesus, in Matthew's gospel, he calls a Levite, and we're reminded of this prophet, this servant, and his activities for his God in this scene. In Mark's gospel, now he takes a tax collector, and we're reminded of one that's building in all of his sovereignty, and his kingdom is being fulfilled.

There's no genealogy given in Mark's gospel. There's no concern about where the servant came from. He's just actively engaged in serving the master.

Then when he comes to Luke's gospel, he calls a physician, a doctor, Dr. Luke, and we see the priestly ministry of the Lord Jesus as that physician moves among the people. There's more association with the people in Luke's gospel and in the others all put together. And when he comes to John, now he's above and beyond everything that's linked with this life, and he's reminding us of this one who is eternal.

He had no beginning. He always was. Before the beginning began, he was there.

Chapter 1 tells us, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. But the Lord had been telling them that at the end, the cares that had been planted by the enemy, they're going to be gathered in bundles and burned. Have you ever thought that this is going on before our eyes today? Think of the commercial world, how there's a combining of great trust systems.

Banks are amalgamating, chain stores are evolving, and there's a binding together, the great union systems in our country. All looking forward to the day when they'll be cast into the fire and burned. The systems of the world.

Think of the religious systems, the coming together in Protestantism. Someone has said that what used to be called Protestants, now even the Roman system is protesting. Protesting the celibacy of the priesthood, the apparel of the nunnery.

There are protests. I told a Catholic friend of mine not long ago, really you're getting to be quite a Protestant in your system. You're protesting everything.

And so the Lord is reminding us whether it's commercially, religiously, socially, politically. I won't get into politics, but we can see everything is heading up to that union when all it will take is one signature for the man of sin to take control of this whole world system of ours. Dear brethren, it's moving there very, very quickly.

The tares are going to be gathered up in bundles and burned, and the wheat will be gathered into the garner. I've wondered recently, are we losing some of the desire for the glories of what's ahead? When that Puritan John Owen was lying on his deathbed near the end, some of his last words were these, The long wished for day has come. I wonder if you and I could say that when we get to the end.

But I want to notice very quickly a few thoughts I have enjoyed regarding that statement of the disciples, declare unto us the parables of the tares. And I see that God is setting out, as he instructs these disciples, principles that govern a scripturally gathered assembly. First of all, look at what he says at the end of verse six.

Tell us, declare unto us, what does it mean? And I was thinking, brethren, the assembly scripturally gathered is a place where the interpretation of the word of God is given. What is ministry anyway? It's not just having a few cliches that I try to build some doctrine around. It's the exposition of the word of God that will preserve the people of God in our day.

The interpretation, what does the word say? Not what I think, but what does God say? So that's what the assembly is. The scriptures are expounded and they're interpreted and the sense is given. Notice again, down to verse 11, sorry, verse 44.

He says about a treasure that's hidden in the field. The man that found it, he sold all that he had and he bought it and then he rejoiced. What's the treasure that's hidden in the assemblies among the people of God? What is it that binds us together? What is it that began our link with heaven? I could take you to chapter 11 of the Hebrews and show you how one after another of those heroes of the faith were brought to God.

How they lived for God, how they worked for God, how they labored for God. And so it's faith that you and I appreciate. The simplest definition of faith that I know is an acrostic of the word itself, F-A-I-T-H.

Forsaking all, I trust Him. Forsaking all, I trust Him. And if perchance there were one here today and it wouldn't be the first time that someone was saved at a conference ministry session, here's the link to God.

It's simple faith. When you say, I don't understand it, how can I come to Him? He says, come unto me. He's in heaven.

Well, the Bible tells me that faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And so it's the word of God that will give assurance and confidence in your soul. We rejoice lately to hear of a young man being saved at Blue River that we've been praying for and his brother for years.

God is still able to save. And the whole basis of it is this treasure, faith. It's found in the heart of the believer and it's linked with the Lord Jesus.

Notice verse 46 now very quickly. Here's something else he says that characterizes us as God's people. When he had found one pearl of great price.

What's the pearl of great price? That's the church and the person of Christ that we appreciate. He sold all that he had and he bought it and it was great rejoicing. You know how a pearl is made.

A little grain of sand gets into some tissue of that little shell, that animal. And it begins to irritate and there's a secretion and an accretion and accumulation until there's a beautiful pearl that's found. And sometimes it's very, very valuable.

Well, you think of the value that God puts on the local company of believers. I don't understand how people can turn their back on the assembly and never, never come back again. They have never understood what it is to be gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus.

It's precious to him. The treasure, the pearl, the pearl of great price. Then quickly I notice down in verse 47 and 8. He casts this net into the sea and he gathers fish that are both bad and good.

This teaches me that there must be discernment in the company of believers. A recognition of what's good, an appreciation of it. And then at times a recognition of that which is evil.

Sometimes, sadly speaking, discipline has to be carried out. It's always with the result of restoration, not the idea of ever getting rid of someone. Our God is a God of restoration as well as a God of salvation.

But in that company, there's that which is good and that which is appreciated. But then down in verse 52, I notice he brings out of the treasure things new and old. That tells me that when the truth of God is ministered, every need is represented.

Sometimes people say, well, I've heard that before. Well, you read the words of the Lord Jesus and you'll find that there were times when he repeated what he had said before. That's the secret, you know, of learning.

Repetition, repetition. That's why the young believer needs to get into the word of God and to read it and to consistently study it until it becomes part and parcel of him. There may be times when you don't have opportunity to read the word of God.

But if it's stored in your heart, right at a moment when you need something, God will bring it to your recollection. It's living. This book is alive.

Every other book, you can get to the bottom of it. You can memorize it. I remember when I was in college studying anatomy.

I loved it. I loved Gray's Anatomy. There was a time when I thought I had it pretty well memorized.

Went through a dissection class and traced the origin, insertion, and action of every muscle and every nerve and all the rest of the body. And I enjoyed it so much so that the instructor said, do you want to assist next semester in the class and you can go through it again? I thought, great. I just loved it.

You got so you almost had it memorized. But this book, you can never, never get to the end of it. There are depths that will never fathom.

There are heights that will never scale. Thy word have I hid in my heart, says the psalmist, that I might not sin against thee. You see, the word of God is a preservative.

I think it was the great Moody that said, sin will keep you from this book, but this book will keep you from sin. So, young believer, you see to it that you spend time in the word of God. Every need will be met, whatever the need is in your life.

You're wondering about some plan, some step to take. You pray about it. You ask God about it.

And he'll give you a verse. It may be out of context. Mr. Maxwell used to tell about years ago when he was exercised about moving to the prairies of Canada.

He only had one kidney due to bovine TB from milk that was tainted. And so when he went to his physical, he was rejected. The doctor said, you can't go to Canada.

You've only got one kidney. One day he was reading and he came across this verse. Gather up the stuff for moving.

And he called his wife, sis, he said, listen to this, we're going to Canada. God has told me to gather up the stuff for moving. Well, that had nothing to do with going to Canada.

But that's how God spoke to him. And when he went in six months for another physical, he was all clear and passed. So God speaks in unusual ways.

I could tell you other incidents, but I want to finish. And so the Lord helped us to appreciate what the assembly is. A place where God is gathering the wheat, preparing it for his coming one day very soon.

He's going to take us out of this ungodly scene. But all around us, every bit of it is for judgment. And God will put his hand upon the evil systems of this world.

But we appreciate being linked with a company of people where the word of God is appreciated. Where it's taught accurately. Where there's faith that we appreciate.

We're in the treasure. It belongs to the master. He gets joy.

He has purchased us for his own possession. You look into the word election and that's what it means. Not only bought, not only a price paid, but it was purchased for his own possession.

So the Lord bless his word to our hearts and what will follow for his name's sake.