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Use the controls, below, just like you would a VCR. Double-click the "Play" arrow to begin. This page must remain open to continue listening. To browse the internet while you listen, open a new browser window by clicking on "File", then "New", then "Window".HelpPlease help keep this ministry free by honoring our system:Click here to recommend this sermon to others. [A new window will open. Scroll to the bottom to enter your vote or comments, then close.]Help spread the Word by casting your vote...it's a proven system that keeps this ministry free!Gospel of Jesus Series HomepageGrace Notes Ministry:
Parable of the Mustard Seed
Matthew 13:31-32 A whole lot can come from
just a little mustard seed! Today we have mostly
apostate churches...made up of people who have turned away from the
fundamentals of the faith.
Constant diligence must be given to keep the church true to the Bible and
its teachings. Just as God’s Word
predicts, people in these last days turn away their ears from the truth, and
are turned to fables. Did you
know that whatever you want to believe, there’s a group in town that will
accommodate you?
If you want to deny there
is a hell, there is a church in town for you.
Deny the Trinity? There’s
a local group who mock our ‘3 headed God’.
Believe baptism saves, and infants even?
You have several local choices.
Some veer so far away from
Scripture that they now are rewriting it to help accommodate their beliefs. A new English translation
recently published eliminates references to God the Father, calls the Son of
Man ‘the human one’, and removes accusations that Christ was killed by the
Jews. It says children should
heed their parents, not obey them.
Wives are no longer subject to their husbands, but committed to them.
Darkness is no longer equated with evil because of racist overtones,
and the Lord’s Prayer now begins:
‘Our Father-Mother in heaven…’
It reduces the number of times God is referred to as ‘Lord’, because
lords as a ruling group are passé.
The editor of this version said, “The Lord doesn’t cut it these days,
because we don’t have lords.” Is
that blatant heresy or what? This is the general
direction of the church at large today, and the question must be raised,
“Where will it end? What is the
future of organized religion?”
The answer can be found in this parable. The elements:
the seed, the tree, and the birds.
1.
The Seed* v. 31 In eastern culture the
mustard seed symbolizes
something small and insignificant.
Jewish rabbis in those days used a figure of speech when referring to
something tiny, “it’s as small as a mustard seed.”
And let’s not forget what Jesus said in describing faith… Matthew 17:20
It’s
not the size of your faith that matters as much as the OBJECT
of your faith, which should be Christ. When you look at the
Christian belief in ‘seed form’ and compare this to the logic and philosophy
of mankind, it seems to be small and insignificant.
At the university level the Bible is made fun of as compared to
‘conventional wisdom.’ They will
tell you that the belief that 'God literally created the universe and all
that is' is a belief for the simple and uneducated, whose brains can only
handle a small seed of a thought.
Meanwhile, they say, evolution is for thinking people who have
outgrown that simple idea of Creationism.
They’ll tell you there’s no absolutes, that all is relative to the
situation, so open your mind and embrace something bigger. Ted Turner said
Christianity is a crutch for losers and bozos.
He later apologized under public pressure, but make no mistake about
how he truly believes, and he speaks for many today. From that viewpoint,
Christianity truly is like a little mustard seed!
And I’m ok with that, because my Bible says I cannot even enter the
kingdom of heaven until I trust in Christ in ‘childlike’ faith.
And ‘little is much when God is in it!’ Though the seed is small,
it is not insignificant, for in that little seed is great power and
everlasting life! Think of the humble
beginnings of Christianity as a whole:
Where did it all start?
With a little baby in a manger…just a little mustard seed!
He grew up and trained just
12 men, unlearned, who turned the world upside down! We plant little seeds in
the hearts of our kids by letting them know when they sin, that God is not
happy with them. We believe
those little seeds will eventually lead them to the knowledge of sin and the
Savior, and salvation!
The seed…
2.
The Tree* v. 32 Much like the leaven of the
next verse, many misunderstand this part of the parable, saying it is a
tribute to the worldwide success of the church.
But we reject this notion,
for several reasons:
·
A
mustard seed is a plant, not a tree.
This is an aberration, not normal.
It becomes something it was never meant to be.
·
The
parable before it is about counterfeit
Christians [tares] and
the one after it
[leaven] is about counterfeit doctrine.
I believe this mustard seed grows into the counterfeit church. The Bible sometimes uses a
tree to symbolize power and organization.
[ex. Dan. 4:22-Babylon [apostate religion] is symbolized by a growing
tree.] And here’s where it’s all
heading: in the end times we
will have a one world church.
The cry of the day is
globalism. It's one
world this and one world that.
Our president is considered president of the world, and even Superman is now
for truth, justice, and the international way! And how to we get to the
one world church mentality?
Through all of our churches coming together.
I like it when likeminded churches can work together, but the Bible
warns against joining w/ those whose doctrine is different.
And though I believe in being friendly with those who agree with us
in Christ, even if we have different preferences, I say we need to be wary
of today’s movement which says, lay down your doctrine and tear down the
walls of separation which divide churches.
The ecumenical
movement is a greased slide toward the one world church,
and we need have no part of it!
Christian unity is never supposed to be at the expense of truth. So, Christianity started
out as a humble mustard seed, then organized religion took over, and it has
become a monstrosity of a tree with many branches.
And in those branches are the devil’s ‘dirty birds’…
3.
The Birds* v. 32b The mustard seed tree is for the birds.
What did the Lord have to say about the birds in the previous
parable? v. 4 V. 19 tells us
what these fowl represent. They
are of the devil. Satan has his
‘loons of liberalism’, ‘crows of compromise’, ‘marlins of modernism.’ Revelation 18:2 We cannot keep the devil’s
dirty birds out of all of Christianity, but we can certainly keep them out
of GBC, and our own lives! Jude 1:3 So, call me narrow-minded,
bigoted, and uncooperative. The
true church has always been criticized for such things, so it goes w/ the
territory. It goes all the way
back to Cain and Abel. Cain was
the first apostate. He knew full
well what sacrifice to bring, but thought it should work ok another way. So
let’s stand for
something, lest we fall for anything!
May we always believe this to be the inspired Word of God, and go by
it 100%. May we always hold fast
the fact that abortion is murder, homosexuality is an abomination to God,
alcohol is a mocker and we shouldn’t even look at it, sex is for marriage,
and Christians are to be separate from the world! And there’s all the
difference in the world between getting religion and getting saved.
May we proclaim it clearly forevermore!
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