The Wheat and the Weeds

THE WHEAT AND THE WEEDS

I have used the parable of the wheat and the weeds in many articles to show that God will remove all sin from His Kingdom. This is to occur at “the end of the age.” As I see it, this means that all who are part of the Kingdom of God will be delivered from sin and the sinful nature. In fact, I think this promised deliverance has commenced already in that many of us are confessing our sins and turning away from them.

The temptation is to think of the parable as meaning that some people in the world come from the Son of Man, and some come from Satan. For example:

He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.” (Matthew 13:37-39)

Now I ask you, doesn’t it sound as though we are dealing with two groups of people: “the sons of the Kingdom” and “the sons of the evil one”?

Again:

They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 13:42)

But we find that there are two classes of people, or spirits, who are thrown into the fire:

The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. (Matthew 13:41)

“Everything that causes sins and all who do evil.”
Everything that causes sin.
All who do evil.

All who do evil we understand. There are people in the world who do evil. I am not saying they cannot repent and turn to Christ. All I am saying is that there are people in the world who do evil, and we all know it. Jesus said that at the end of the age, He will send out His angels and they will weed out of His Kingdom all who do evil. This means that at one time they were in Christ’s Kingdom.

The Apostle Paul did not say there was no one in Christ’s Kingdom who is an evildoer. Paul said that such people will not inherit the Kingdom. At the end of the age, the evildoers will be tied in bundles to be burned. So they assuredly did not inherit the Kingdom of God.

So much for the current teaching of lawless grace.

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21)

You know, as I sit here and type out this article, I realize how much of the present Christian teaching is of Satan. The current teaching is that if you once “accept Christ,” then when you die you will go to Heaven to live forever in a mansion. You could never be judged as an evildoer.

But I think these words in Matthew are independent of whether we are on the earth or in the spirit world at the time. All who do evil will be tied in bundles to be burned and thrown into the fire. It does not say except for those who “accept Christ.” The issue is not our religious stance, but whether we are an evildoer.

We might think that once we have died and are in the spirit world, we could never be an evildoer. But there is no Scripture whatever for this belief. Sin began in the spirit world.

When the Kingdom is to be cleansed from evildoers, it will need to begin with the spirit world, because most of the evildoers are there. I believe the reason numerous Christians are not careful about their behavior is that they are under the impression they never can be judged as an evildoer after they die. Where did they get that idea?

For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to men in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit. (I Peter 4:6)

The Divine judgment will reach into the spirit world. This is why it says in Revelation chapter 12 that the tail of the dragon swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. All evildoers, professing Christians included, are the tail of the dragon. Not one evildoer will be left in the Kingdom of God. Not one!

I do not regard some person who is struggling to live a righteous life as an evildoer. An evildoer is someone who is not concerned about his or her behavior, but practices ungodliness all the time. You may not believe it, but there are professing Christians who are evildoers. I hope you never run into one. So the Divine judgment is against evildoers.

And then it says, “everything that causes sin.” This is referring, I believe, to our sinful nature, and also every other ungodly force that presses on us. When we want to do good, evil is present with us. In the present hour, in the program of redemption, the Lord Jesus is ready, His angels helping, to deliver you and me from the sins of the flesh.

How do we participate in this program?

The Holy Spirit points out a sin that we are practicing. This may include: sexual immorality; impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred; discord; jealousy; fits of rage; selfish ambition; dissensions; factions and envy; drunkenness; orgies; and the like. There are many others, but these will give you the idea.

In our day, sexual lust and perversions, are increasing. One publisher, if you can believe this, is selling a book titled, How To Have Sex With Animals. I have no doubt there will be “Christians” who will read this book. I notice in the internet news the emphasis on nakedness. Nakedness seems to be on the increase. The Spirit may point out to us that we are being guilty of a sexual sin, such as fornication, adultery, sexual perversions of any kind, or gender difficulties.

When the Holy Spirit has pointed out a sinful behavior to us, which might or might not be sexual, we must confess the specific behavior to God. This is not some sin of the past, only one we currently are doing. When we confess it, Christ will forgive us, if we really have resolved to never again, with His help, practice this behavior even one more time—not for eternity. It is an eternal judgment.

When the Divine judgment begins to be exercised, at the end of the age, the sins we have confessed and renounced will not be mentioned. We need to get busy right now confessing and turning away from our sins. Judgment is hovering over our country, and we need to save ourselves and our loved ones by turning away from the sins of the flesh.

Let no one deceive you saying “God does not see our sinning; He sees only the righteousness of Christ when He looks at our behavior.” If you will read the Epistles carefully, you will see how utterly false this teaching is.
Let no one deceive you saying “Divine grace will prevent our being harmed by judgment.” The purpose of grace is to permit us to leave the Law of Moses and follow the Spirit of God as He guides us in the program of confessing and turning away from the sins of the flesh. It is not the purpose of grace to prevent God from seeing our ungodly conduct. We ought to know better than this!
Let no one deceive you saying “There soon will be a ‘rapture’ that will carry you to Heaven in order to escape tribulation.” The purpose of the next appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ will be to: Raise from the dead His victorious saints; catch them up to where He is in the air; place all of His faithful saints on the white war-stallions; and descend with them to establish the Kingdom of God on the earth.
Let no one deceive you saying “God will not permit a Christian to suffer.” If we know anything about Church history, we know of the tortures and murders the Christian saints have suffered and are suffering yet today at the hands of Muslim fanatics.
Let no one deceive you saying “God’s love is unconditional.” It is true that God will accept anyone who comes to Him for salvation. But God’s love is conditional in that those who do not bear fruit are regarded as dead branches and are pruned from the Vine, Christ, and thrown into the fire.

These lies are being preached and accepted in our day! As a result, the Christian churches in many instances are morally weak. They are not, by their behavior, serving as moral lights to the unsaved community.

In conclusion, I would say that some people in the world indeed are wicked. They care nothing about righteousness. If it is necessary to gain what they desire, they will hurt any number of people. These are the wicked and are discussed in the Psalms:

For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. (Psalm 1:6)

It is true that all of us were born with wicked hearts. But the righteous make every attempt to overcome their wickedness.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9—KJV)

The purpose of life on the earth is not to make us happy, which is obvious. Rather, the purpose of life is to give God a chance to select and train a royal priesthood who will be able to maintain Paradise for all decent people, once it has been restored.

One of the principal tasks of each member of the Priesthood is to overcome through Christ the sinful desires and self-seeking in his or her nature.

To everyone God says:

Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong; let him who is vile continue to be vile; let him who does right continue to do right; and let him who is holy continue to be holy. (Revelation 22:11)

Why should you and I be among those who are thrown into the fire?

(“The Wheat and the Weeds”, 3693-1, proofed 20210925)