LWF: Seven Sacred Secrets - Matthew 13:36 part 2
Part 2 of a Bible study adapted from a sermon once preached by Adrian Rogers
Folks, although times are bad there’s nothing wrong, God’s in control. It’s unfolding precisely as God tells us in these 7 sacred secrets that we’ve studied in Matthew 13!
LWF: Seven Sacred Secrets - Matthew 13:36 part 2
This is the last of seven studies on the strange mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven.
We call them mysteries because that's what Jesus called them and is this study we are looking at these seven parables of Jesus from Matthew 13.
Yesterday we looked at what to expect in these end times.
I. Expect Many to Reject the Gospel
II. Expect Many Church Members to be Hypocrites
III. Expect the Rise of False Cults
And today we'll continue with
IV. Expect to Find Corruption in the Professing Church
So there's not only hypocrites, but corruption in the church.
See Matthew 13:33, “Another parable spake He unto them; The kingdom of Heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.”
So here's a sneaky woman who takes three measures of wheat and mixes it together with leaven or yeast.
Then the entire mix containing three loaves puff up with the leaven.
The idea here is that the woman is sneaky and HIDING the leaven that she TOOK in the bread.
Remember that in Bible times unleavened bread was the symbol of purity, while leaven was the symbol of sin, so leaven always speaks of evil and sin and corruption in the Bible.
In the Old Testament, the sacrifices were to be made without leaven.
For example, the Passover is to be made without leaven.
See Exodus 12:8, “And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread…”
Likewise with the sacrifices.
See Leviticus 2:4-5 KJV
[4] And if thou bring an oblation of a meat offering baken in the oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, or unleavened wafers anointed with oil. [5] And if thy oblation be a meat offering baken in a pan, it shall be of fine flour unleavened, mingled with oil.
Then look at what Paul told the Corinthians who to let sin come into the church.
See 1 Corinthians 5:6-8 KJV
[6] Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? [7] Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: [8] Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
So leaven works quietly and stealthily and best in lukewarm conditions.
The devil said, “Well, if I cannot beat the church, I’ll join the church.”
So he puts the tares in among the wheat and then he says, “Furthermore, I'll corrupt the church with false cults preaching false gospels.”
Remember Jesus said, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees…” and that is legalism.
Then He said, “Beware of the leaven of the Sadducees…” which is Liberalism.
And He also said, “Beware of the leaven of Herod…” which is licentiousness, remember Herod was a pleasure-mad, licentious king.
And we can see with spiritual eyes that see that all three of these: legalism, liberalism, and licentiousness have invaded the church of our LORD Jesus Christ in these last days.
Now does that mean we should quit or that that there’s nothing to it?
Of course not, in fact it means just the opposite, there is something to it!
Just think about it, why would Satan want to corrupt the church if it wasn’t any good to begin with?
Satan is a pervert and every now and then you'll read a horrible story of apostasy in some of the churches, and that's terrible.
For example you’ll read about some minister who goes off into licentious sin or another congregation ordaining homosexuals or accepting homosexual marriage and that’s the leaven of Herod.
Or you'll hear about someone who's become strict and narrow, he’s a legalist and wants salvation by works.
That’s the leaven of the Pharisees.
And then, sometimes you will read about the preacher who denies the resurrection and the deity of Jesus. He denies the core tenants of the faith once delivered unto the saints and that's the liberalism of the Sadducees.
By the way, they also say there isn't a devil, or a spirit or a resurrection
So we have all of these 3 leavens alive a living with us today.
But that's not going to cause me to close my Bible and not believe anymore because this is exactly what Jesus said would happen in the end times.
So this is the woman who hides leaven in three loaves, so we ought to expect Satan to attempt to corrupt and infiltrate the church with this kind of activity.
Now, here’s the fifth thing we can expect and by the way, now it’s going to start getting more positive.
V. Expect God to Keep His Word to the Nation Israel
If you want to know what God is doing in the world today just watch the Middle East and keep your eyes on Israel.
We will see that in these last days God is going to keep His Word as He has sworn to do to the nation Israel EVEN THOUGH IT WAS STARTED BY THE ZIONISTS AND THE ROTHSCHILD’S!!!
See Matthew 13:44 where Jesus said, “Again, the kingdom of Heaven is like unto a treasure hid in a field; which, when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth the field.”
Now, that treasure hid in a field is Israel.
A man is walking through a field and he discovers there in the field a buried treasure.
So he uncovers and reveals it and then he covers it back up again.
Then he goes and buys the field, so now he owns the field, and what’s in the field, in other words now he owns the treasure too.
Now, some people have the wrong idea that the treasure hid in the field is the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that we are the man walking through the field.
Then we discover the treasure and sell everything we have so we can buy the field and get the treasure.
Well that's very wrong. The field is the world.
Neither the church nor any Christian can buy the gospel because is not for sale.
So the gospel is not discovered and then covered.
Think about that, none of that makes sense, but that’s the way that some people interpret this parable.
The truth is that Jesus called Israel His peculiar treasure and He is dealing with Israel in four basic steps:
Step Number One: There was a brief time when Jesus uncovered the treasure.
Remember God made a solemn promise to Abraham, but the treasure was hidden and covered before Jesus came.
Israel was a nation but ignominiously small, when Jesus was here on earth.
That was the treasure buried in the field.
Then for a brief time, Jesus simply uncovered the treasure.
And here's how Jesus uncovered the treasure in Matthew 12:27, where they had accused Jesus of casting out devils by the prince of devils.
And Jesus said, “And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then [watch this] the kingdom of God is come unto you.” (Matthew 12:27)
So Jesus said, “I have come doing all of these miracles.”
The treasure in the field was hid and Jesus said, “I’ve just uncovered the treasure. I have shown you the kingdom.”
And that’s why Jesus did all of these miracles; to show the kingdom power, but the Jews rejected Jesus and they lied about Him.
They criticized Him, and were compliant in the crucifixion of Jesus, as were the Gentiles, so the treasure was covered again.
But Jesus went to the cross to purchase that treasure which was now hidden once more.
People won’t understand God’s plan for Israel unless they know the Bible.
The Bible says in Proverbs 25:2, “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing…”
So God has covered it up and this ought to help you to understand.
When you read the gospel of Matthew, up to chapter 12 Jesus does miracles, but then from chapter 12 on Jesus doesn’t do any more miracles.
Now Jesus speaks in parable and before chapter 12 Jesus didn’t do any parables; He only did miracles.
And that's because before chapter 12, Jesus is uncovering the treasure and revealing the kingdom of God but they refused it, so Jesus said, “All right. I’m going to cover it up.”
And now, hearing, they won’t understand because it is covered.
Jesus says "Now, I’ll speak to you in parables, but unto them it’s not given.”
In other words, it is covered.
Then finally one day, Jesus is going to come again in glory, and uncover His treasure, Israel.
Then Israel is going to become a nation born in a day.
Now the people of this world trample this treasure, and the nations of the world are gathering themselves together against Israel, but God is not finished with the nation Israel, His peculiar treasure.
He bought the field, which is the world, and He is going to take His peculiar treasure to Himself, and a mighty nation will be born in a day.
So keep your eyes upon Israel if you want to know what Jesus is doing in the world today.
We can trust Jesus in spite of the fact that many reject the gospel.
We can trust Jesus in spite of the fact that there are hypocrites in the church.
We can trust Jesus in spite of the fact that there is corruption in the church.
We can trust Jesus in spite of the fact that there’s the rise of false cults.
We can trust Jesus in spite of the fact of the persecution of Israel.
And we can
VI. Expect Jesus to be Building His Church
He said later on in Matthew 16, “Upon this rock, I will build My church…”
And this is the parable of the pearl of great price.
See Matthew 13:45, “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.”
Now, some people say, “Well, the pearl of great price is the gospel. We sell everything that we have so that we can buy the gospel.”
NO that’s insane, because the gospel is not for sale.
Plus we have nothing to sell, because we are bankrupt sinners who have nothing.
"In my hand no price I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling."
The man seeking goodly pearls is Jesus and the pearl of great price is the church that He loves.
Israel is called a treasure, but never a pearl which is a term reserved for the church.
Now remember a pearl is formed by an irritant on the inside of the clam or oyster.
And it is covered with a beautiful substance called nacre, layer upon layer upon layer until it becomes something beautiful.
Now this pearl, more beautiful than any other pearl that is grown with succeeding layers.
A diamond can be divided, an emerald can be divided, but not a pearl.
The church is one body indivisible in The LORD Jesus Christ, and Jesus is the one who with the silver of His tears and the gold of His blood bought the pearl of great price.
Then this pearl is taken from the depth of the ocean to realms of light.
Likewise Jesus has lifted us up.
So as the pearl goes from something ugly, a spec of grit or a grain of sand made into something beautiful, likewise that’s what The LORD Jesus Christ has done for you and me.
Jesus has paid the price for the pearl of great price.
And you can expect, for Jesus to build His church.
We’re on the winning side.
So:
Don’t let any hypocrite discourage you.
Don’t let any corruption in the church discourage you.
Don’t let any false doctrine discourage you.
Don’t let any persecution of the Jews discourage you.
Don’t let the fact that the church seems to be ignored discourage you.
Jesus is building His church, He will build His church we can bank on it.
Now, the last parable and the final thing we we can expect from these seven parables which cover all of history is to:
VII. Expect God to Judge Righteousness
So this brings us to the last of these parables.
See Matthew 13:47-51 King James Version (KJV)
47 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: 48 Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. 49 So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, 50 And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 51 Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They say unto Him, Yea, LORD.
So this is a picture of a dragnet, do you remember that show? Dum ...dum dum dum?
You know the one, where Sergeant Friday would say, “Just the facts, ma’am.”
It’s a dragnet that Sergeant Friday was dragging through the streets of Los Angeles to catch the wicked.
Likewise God has His net going through the nations of this world to win souls, but He also goes along and scoops up the wicked along with them.
It's like commercial fishing boats that put out their big nets and drag it all in.
Then the deck hands with their big rubber gloves sort the catch that has been dumped on the deck.
So the good fish perhaps shrimp are put on ice, but the others are thrown overboard.
Every time I read this parable I think of a commercial fishing boat, dragging up the net, dumping it out on the deck and sorting the catch.
And that’s what it’s going to be like at the end of the age, only it’s not fishermen that are going to be doing this, it’s God’s angels who will separate the good from the bad.
So our job in this day and this age is to draw the net and it is God’s job to sort the catch.
In other words, when we share the Gospel, it is not our responsibility to get anyone to believe.
We cannot cause anybody to believe all we must do is preach The Good News of The Gospel.
The kingdom of God is like a net that we just draw it through the nations of the world.
And then at the end of the age God, who separates the wheat from the tares, is the same God who is going to separate the good from the bad in the parable of the net.
So, all of this tells us that God knows exactly and precisely what the situation is and how it will unfold. Jesus told us it all in Matthew 13!!
Where He told us exactly what would happen!
Not everyone is going to hear the gospel, and not everybody who hears the gospel is going to be saved, but some will be saved.
Then He says that there are going to be hypocrites in the church, tares among the wheat; and we see that.
He also said that there’s going to be corruption in the church likened unto leaven, and of course we also see that. We’ve heard all the scandals and read of all the perversions in the church in the news.
Then He says that Israel is going to be persecuted, trampled like a treasure, buried in a field, but then He's going to return very soon and uncover that treasure!
He said also “I’m going to build My church.”
And then He said, “Soon, in fact VERY soon, I’m going to come and sort the catch.”
So when we read this, we ought to say, “Isn’t it wonderful. It is happening exactly as God said.”
Don't have any false expectations, and think that the gospel is going to convert the world.
Or if we think that hypocrites prove the Bible not to be true, or if think that false cults will never arise, then we’ll ask, “What went wrong?”
Folks, nothing is wrong, God’s in control.
It is exactly, precisely as God says it will be in these seven sacred secrets that we’ve learned from this wonderful chapter in the Word of God.
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