Mt. 6:10 π Mt. 13:30 π Mt. 13:38; 2nd π Mt. 13:39 π Mt. 13:41-42 π Mt. 13:43; 2nd; 3rd π Mt. 15:13-14 π Mt. 16:18 π Mt. 18:15-17 π Lk. 17:3 π Jn. 7:17 π Jn. 14:23 π Jn. 14:26 π Rom. 8:14 π Rom. 8:37 π Rom. 14:17 π Rom. 16:17 π 1 Cor. 2:14 π 1 Cor. 4:20 π 1 Cor. 5:9-10 π 1 Cor. 5:11-13 π 2 Cor. 6:16-18 π 2 Cor. 7:1 π Eph. 5:11 π Phlp. 3:14 π Col. 1:23 π 2 Ths. 2:10-12 π 1 Tim. 4:1 π 2 Tim. 3:1-5 π Heb. 12:1 π Heb. 12:16-17 π Jas. 1:3-4 π 1 Jn. 2:27 π 3 Jn. 9 π Rev. 2:6 π Rev. 2:7 π Rev. 2:15 π Rev. 17:5 π Rev. 18:4
At the end of His explanation of the parable of the wheat and the tares, Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” ( Mt. 13:43 ) What did He mean by that and why did He say it? First, we must understand that He speaks of spiritual hearing. Jesus said to the seven ekklesias, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the ekklesias.” ( Rev. 2:7 , etc.) And Paul wrote, “The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” ( 1 Cor. 2:14; top ) We may readily restate Jesus’ statement as “He who has spiritual ears that are submitted to the Spirit of God, use them to hear what the Spirit says to you.”
Why would Jesus say such a thing? He has just explained the parable of the wheat and the tares in rather clear and precise terms. What is left to hear from the Spirit of God?
Embedded in the parable of the wheat and the tares is the owner’s instruction to allow the wheat and the tares to grow together until the time of the harvest. ( Mt. 13:30 ) And Jesus even clarified it further by saying, “The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.” (v. 39 ) Some have taken this to mean that the tares (the sons of the devil – v. 38 ) are irrevocably in the midst of the wheat (the sons of the kingdom – v. 38; top ) and there is absolutely nothing that can be done about it. Various “church fathers” and leaders whose thinking is clouded by this deception, have even declared that the people of Christ will always be a mixed multitude – never seeing the complete, inherent contradiction of terms in what they are saying and espousing.
Jesus said, “Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” (v. 43; top ) What is left to hear from the Spirit of God? All the other things Jesus and the New Testament have to say about dealing with men who claim to be children of God but in truth are children of the devil.
- “Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.” ( Mt. 15:13-14; top ) If a tare is a “pastor” or leader who, by virtue of his unScriptural position and power, refuses to hear the truth and repent, we will hear the Spirit say, “Leave them alone. You stay away from them and avoid their judgment too.”
- “Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.” ( Lk. 17:3 ) But if the sinning brother refuses to hear the truth, not even from witnesses or the whole ekklesia, he is to be treated as a heathen and a tax collector.” ( Mt. 18:15-17; top ) In today’s unscriptural context of the “church” as a mixed multitude, purportedly receiving God’s appraisal and blessing, attempting to obey these instructions usually results only in yet another “church” split. Take great care to step carefully, with ears attentively attuned to the Spirit, through this minefield!
- “Note those who cause divisions (sects, denominations) and offenses (sins, stumbling away from faith), contrary to the [original apostles’] teaching [of the kingdom of God] which you learned, and avoid them.” ( Rom. 16:17 ) The one following the Spirit of truth into greater spiritual light, liberty and truth is not the one causing the divisions and offenses! Rather it is the local Diotrephes ( 3 Jn. 9; top ) with his death grip on the pulpit and the purse strings who demands that you either follow him and his teachings or leave his “church” that is the one separating the body and stumbling others. Do not be deceived by mere outward appearances.
- Paul concludes his prophetic description of the perilous times of the last days, a description that sounds eerily like much of the “church” environment today, by saying that people would be “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!” ( 2 Tim. 3:1-5 ) Those who do not love the truth and who prefer unrighteousness (anything other than what is right in God’s eyes) are those who are given over to strong delusion so “that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” ( 2 Ths. 2:10-12; top ) These may be loyal and faithful “church”-ites in good standing at their “church” and with their “pastor” but their destiny is destruction if they remain stubborn and unrepentant in their religious rebellion against God. From such turn away!
- “Now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother; who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner – not even to eat with such a person. For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside [the ekklesia]? Do you not judge those who are inside [the ekklesia]? But those who are outside God judges. Therefore ‘put away from yourselves the evil person.’” ( 1 Cor. 5:11-13; top ) Those who claim to belong to Christ but who persist in practicing evil things are to be put away from ourselves.
- “And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said, ‘I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.’ Therefore ‘Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the
LORD Almighty.’” ( 2 Cor. 6:16-18 ) In his writings to the Corinthians, Paul spoke repeatedly of coming out and being separate from sin, especially idolatry. “I wrote to you in my [previous, not conclusively historically preserved] epistle not to keep company (associate) with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.” ( 1 Cor. 5:9-10 ) Today we would say, “You would have to get off the planet and leave everyone else here!” Since Paul then clearly, in at least two letters, indicated that he was not talking about getting out of the world, by what foolishness can we conclude that Paul is now, in his third letter, speaking about anything other than “Christian” idolatry and immorality? Come out and be separate from the “Christian” forms of sin and wickedness for they are of the worst sort! It is in this light that the similar call to “Come out of her [Mystery Babylon]” indicates that Babylon, the great prostitute, is, at least in some regards, a “Christian” counterfeit of the bride of Christ. ( Rev. 18:4 , 17:5 , etc.; top)
It is not necessary to uproot a tare – such a thing, apart from actually murdering the tare (a practice completely contrary to the way of Christ!), can only be done by an angel anyway. ( Mt. 13:41-42 ) It is not even absolutely necessary to expose a tare. Though that may be some thing we have to do on occasion, particularly with someone ensnared by that tare, (see Eph. 5:11 , etc.), there is much, much more to the genuine life in Christ than confronting and arguing with the Pharisees! And if you’re living the real life in Christ, the Pharisees will come looking for you soon enough, with murderous intent! Nor is it necessary to sit idly in some pew listening to demonically- influenced ( 1 Tim. 4:1 ) sermons from some Nicolaitan overlord ( Rev. 2:6 , 15; top ) while we languish and wait for some future time when the angels will have removed the tares from this world. What is necessary is that we let them alone, avoid them, turn away from them, put them out of our midst, come out from among them and be separate unto God.
When the tares no longer exert their wicked and evil influences upon the sons of the kingdom, “then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” ( Mt. 13:43 ) It is very likely to be a rather lengthy process to detox and purify one’s thoughts and beliefs – especially for those who have submitted themselves to some “church” or “pastor” or “theology” for many long years. It may take an equal or even greater number of years to learn to sit quietly at the Master’s feet, to hear only His voice and to follow only Him as we unlearn our ingrained tendencies and trained proficiencies in “rationally” and intellectually (soulishly) dissecting and dismembering spiritual truths. This time in “the wilderness” will be difficult, uncomfortable, even painful – but it is still only a tested faith that produces patient endurance that leads to a perfected or completed work in our lives. ( Jas. 1:3-4; top )
The kingdom of God is that realm where Christ and God is obeyed and the will of God is the “prime directive.” ( Mt. 6:10 , Jn. 7:17 , etc.; top) This is the heartbeat of a son of the kingdom. It is not enough to admire the administrative structure of the kingdom. It is not enough to seek to conform to patterns of ekklesia or apostolic “order.”
Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will do what I say…” ( Jn. 14:23 ) It is not even enough to strive to obey the requirements, neither as “church” by-laws or “kingdom” edicts, that are laid out in the pages of the New Testament, God’s “manifesto” of His kingdom. We must love the King! Then we will obey Him and we will seek His will – not as a prescribed remedy or as an onerous duty but as a joy and a privilege. And thus we will be righteous (clothed in His righteousness and doing and saying what He sees as right and good and true) and we will shine in our own dark generation like the sun because we are functioning in His kingdom, that realm of righteousness, peace and joy in His Spirit ( Rom. 14:17 ) and of power and not mere talk. ( 1 Cor. 4:20; top )
This is what no man can tell us and what we must hear from the Spirit of truth who resides within and teaches us all things. ( Jn. 14:26 , 1 Jn. 2:27 , etc.) We are called to something that far transcends mere religion and mere philosophy – we are called to a new and transcendent life in a glorious and transcendent kingdom ruled by the God of love, truth, beauty and life! We will only be the sons of God when we are truly led by His Spirit ( Rom. 8:14 ) Though the devil and deceived men and even some sincere but misguided men make every effort to keep us from stepping into this liberty (and responsibility!) which God calls us into, the schemes of death and darkness cannot keep the genuine people of Christ imprisoned! ( Mt. 16:18 ) It is our birthright and personal privilege to overcome all the hindrances of sin, self, this world and Satan combined. “We are more than conquerors through Him who loves us.” ( Rom. 8:37; top )
This is what the Spirit is telling – when the tares no longer exert their wicked and evil influences upon the sons of the kingdom, then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let us with all diligence press onward and upward in this call of God in Christ Jesus ( Phlp. 3:14 ), casting aside every weight and sin which so readily trips us up and running with endurance the race God has set before us ( Heb. 12:1 ) and cleansing ourselves from all filthiness and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. ( 2 Cor. 7:1 ) This is our glorious privilege and inheritance which only a blinded and deceived fool would trade for the mere morsels dispensed by the “church” and this world. ( Heb. 12:16-17 ) Let us be those who diligently and truly “continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel.” ( Col. 1:23; top ) We have gone too far, gained too much and endured too long to grow weary now. Let us press on.
He awaits us!
Let he who has ears hear.
- Natural Foolishness Bible Bullet: 1 Corinthians 2:14 - Neil Girrard Without the Spirit of truth we are unable to understand the things of God.
- Opening Spiritual Ears - Neil Girrard - ( in Adobe/pdf format ) The ear that hears what God is saying is one of the most important things that accompany salvation. So why is this truth so often explained away or ridiculed?
- Come Out; The End Time Men - W.W. Fischer The call to come out was heard by this author in the mid-1980s – and written down for our edification!
- Come Out God stills calls us to come out from among those who falsely call upon His name. Play MP3
- 1. The Wheat and the Tares; The Sons of the Devil - Neil Girrard
- Dealing With a Sinning Brother - Neil Girrard - ( in Adobe/pdf format ) Perhaps the most needed - and perhaps the most absent - aspect of Christian living today is knowing just how to deal with a brother’s sin.
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