Join Sharon Knotts on The Sound of Faith as she delves into the profound lessons from the Parable of the Tares. This timely message reveals the subtle infiltration of poisonous seeds within the church, disguised as the righteous. Discover the importance of discernment and the responsibility of ministers to preach the full counsel of God, warning and protecting the flock from the enemy’s snares.
00:00:05 Introduction and The Parable of the Tares
Greetings friends and new listeners, welcome. I’m Sharon Knotts, thanking you for joining us today on The Sound of Faith, because we know faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Today’s message, the parable of the tares, is a timely word for Christians in this time when Satan is sowing poisonous tares amongst not the world or sinners, but amongst the church and the saints. What is most disturbing is the fact that the tares look exactly like the wheat, and when their roots become entwined, it is hard to separate the two. But God knows the wheat from the weed in the parable of the tares. He said that Satan sowed that seed and he went his way. He just left it there. Amen? Because he knows that the propensity of the heart of man is sinful. Amen. And saints of God, that is why we ministers, we preachers have got to preach messages. And I’ll just put it on myself because the Lord has put me in a position of authority. Amen. And not everybody that preaches in this church is in the same position that I am. So I would just say this. That is why I preach messages that get up in your business.
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And I know it. When I preach them, I’m getting up in your business. Amen. And I don’t do it in a haughty way. I may do it in a bold way because I’m under the anointing. But I don’t do it in a haughty way. It’s more like Paul said, woe unto me. If I preach not the gospel. Amen. And you see the gospel not only says salvation to everyone that believes. It also said it reveals the righteousness of God. That’s number two. But number three it says that it also reveals the wrath of God against all unrighteousness. And that’s another message we’ll preach one day. Amen? The three things the gospel reveals. So I have to preach messages that expose. expose what Satan’s doing. Expose the tares. Expose those seeds. Amen? I love to preach feel-good messages. And I have a whole bunch of them, and I preach them. Amen? But I realize I cannot neglect to preach the truth that can open up your minds and your hearts to Satan’s strategies. Amen? And when the Holy Spirit gives me a stern word to tell it, I’m going to tell it. But I guarantee you when I do, it’s because somebody needs to hear it. Maybe it’s not you at that moment, but it’s somebody. Amen? Because somebody, and more than one, is making contact in the church with tears. And the thing about it is, is they do not realize that they’re tears. If they knew they were tares, they would be on guard. They would beware. They would even separate themselves. Amen? They may not do it overtly to make a scene, but they would know in their spirit, ah, something’s not right here. And after a while, if they see that pattern continuing, and if they can’t seem to steer them away from that, then they realize this might just be a tare. So I need to be on guard. Perhaps they turn out that they’re wrong, and the person’s just a mixed-up person that doesn’t have very much word in them. That’s why you have to be careful. Yeah. But you must always, for your own sake, be on guard. Because Satan is sowing those tares. This is how Jude put it. For there are certain men crept in unawares. Just close your eyes for a moment, and in the imagination of your mind, I want you to think about what it means, crept in unawares. What are you seeing? What do you think of the crept in unaware? You’re thinking of a lion who’s stalking his prey or another cat in the cat family. You know how they… Do you ever watch a cat that’s watching its prey? You ever watch those nature things? It is fascinating. Those cats, they get in a pose and they can stay there for a while. And then you think that they’re frozen and then… And they’re just creeping up. And this little whatever animal is over there just nibbling away and having a nice time. Especially if the animal that they’re looking at is a baby. Whatever the species, it’s a baby. And that lion is, I got this one. The only thing that can save that baby from certain death is while that lion is so focused on that baby, that little cub, he’s watching that little bear cub, and he’s having a little good time, and all of a sudden, he sees in the periphery of his vision, mama bear stands up, and she’s like seven foot tall, and she goes, rawr! That’s what saves that baby. Amen? And that’s how it is in the house of God. That’s how it is in the church. Amen? There are certain men that are crept in unaware. Here’s what he goes on to say. For there are certain men crept in unawares, ungodly men. Now listen to this. Who turn the grace of our God into lasciviousness. Turn it. Make it something else. Turn it into lasciviousness. You might say, Sister Sharon, I have never really understood that word lasciviousness. And we don’t use it in modern English very much. I don’t think we do. Outside of the King James, you probably won’t hear it used at all. But what does lasciviousness mean? I found an easy way for myself to remember what it means. Maybe it will help you. A synonym to lasciviousness is licentiousness. Okay, don’t get upset. Say, that really helped me a lot, Sister Sharon. Okay, it’s going to get easy, I promise. Licentiousness, as in a license, as a license to drive or a license to do this or do that or do the other. So here we go. Licentiousness, some people would be, they give you a license to sin. Lascivious means licentiousness, but you won’t remember that. But just remember, it gives you a license to sin. How many understand that metaphor? I knew you would. So in other words, they use grace. as a license to sin. They use grace to cover sin. They condemn preachers who preach against sin and say, you have no love. And how many know that once you’re accused of you have no love, it really knocks you back and you have a hard time repositioning yourself. Because if someone can accuse you of not having love, well, what kind of Christian are you? What kind of person are you? You have no love. I hear nothing else you have to say. The devil is so clever. Amen? You have no love. The problem is not that we don’t have love. The problem is you don’t have truth. Because you cannot ignore these verses. And there’s a lot more than just what Jude said. The Bible says in Isaiah 820, if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them or there is no truth in them. Amen? So let’s see what grace does teach us. Turn to Titus 2.11. We’re going to read some of my favorites now, and you’ll recognize them, but I’d like for you to see them in the scripture, and also it’ll be on the record. Titus 2 and 11. This is what God’s grace does. For the grace of God that brings salvation hath appeared to all men. Verse 12. Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. See, if you’re going to preach about grace, you’ve got to be in balance. We understand that grace is God’s unmerited favor. We understand that God gives us grace that we did not deserve, but through Jesus Christ, for his sake, he gives us grace. But that’s only one side of the coin. Because once we receive such unmerited, amazing grace… to be saved, then it requires something of us. It teaches us that in this world, we’ve got to deny ungodliness. We’ve got to deny worldly lust and we’ve got to live soberly, which means to be on guard, to be vigilant and watching. We’re not talking about not drinking and being an alcoholic. It comes from that, but we’re not talking about that sense of it. We’re talking about, because when someone drinks, then their ability to discern things gets fuzzy, and all of their senses begin to decline. They say things they wouldn’t say. They do things they wouldn’t do. They lose control of their actions and their words when people are drunk. Amen. So we’re taking it metaphorically. In other words, you’ve got to be on guard. You’ve got to always be watching. This is what Peter said. We all know this verse. Be sober. Be vigilant. Your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour, whom you resist steadfast in the faith. Knowing these same afflictions are accomplished in all your brethren that is in the world. Amen? It means to be sober. And so that is what true ministers of God are going to do. They’re going to preach grace, but they’re going to preach it in balance. Turn over just a couple pages in your Bible to 2 Timothy, the second chapter. 2 Timothy 2. We’ll look at the last two verses, 25 and 26. Now he’s telling, Paul is admonishing Timothy how to preach. We’ll back up to verse 24. And the servant of the Lord must not strive. You don’t argue. You don’t debate. But be gentle unto all men, apt to teach and patient. So the servant of the Lord, he’s talking about someone here that’s in a position, as Timothy was, to be a minister, a co-minister of Paul’s, and eventually the pastor of the church of Ephesus. He said he’s got to be apt to teach. That word apt, we get the word aptitude. He’s got to be, let me put it in a word we’ll understand better. He’s got to be skilled at teaching. Skillful at teaching. That’s why I’ve said it before, you know, that not all teachers are called to be pastors. But all pastors are called to be teachers. That separates a lot of people’s qualifications right there. Amen? Because you can be a good preacher, but that’s not enough to be a pastor. And that’s where a lot of people have messed up. They think because they’re a good preacher, and they’re a good preacher. They got a good anointing when they preach. But when it comes down to teaching… The doctrine and taking that teaching into counseling people in their own personal lives by the word of God and teaching people that Satan has come in now and snared them. Let’s read on. He must be apt to teach and patient in meekness, instructing, teaching. There you have it again. Instructing those that oppose themselves. Who are they opposing? God. themselves if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will I don’t even know what to say how can a Christian be taken captive by the devil at the devil’s will Amen? Because these people have fallen into a snare. They have fallen into the snare of Satan. And it can come in various ways. And that’s where a pastor slash teacher has got to be able to show this person. Instruct them. They’re not opposing you. They’re opposing themselves. Why are they opposing themselves? Because obviously they have ended up in the snare of the devil. They have opened up a door. They have opened up a crack for Satan to come and snare them. And it could be on many different subjects, so I won’t discuss what it could be, because it could be everything from false doctrine… to problems in their marriage, to problems in their finances, to problems in their personal life, or just, you know, all their family, many different ways. But the fact is that Satan probes, finds a way… to snare them. And they fall into the snare of the devil. And so it is the responsibility of the pastor and the teachers to try to reach that person by instructing them, opening up the scriptures. It’s not enough to just say, man, you’re not right. Man, you need to get right because you’re not right. The devil’s done God in you and messed you up. Well, that’s not going to help them get out. They’ve been snared by the devil. Amen. You’ve got to instruct them in the word of God. And here’s the thing. Here’s how they get out. First of all, the first step is always the first step, and that is acknowledge the truth. Isn’t that what it said? That they may come to the place of acknowledging the truth. They’ve got to see it. They’ve got to have the light go off in their spirit. They’ve got to think, oh my God, the devil tricked me. And realize that the pastor, the teacher, the counselor is not trying to make them feel bad, look bad, belittle or abase them, but show them the devil has tricked them. And then they say, oh my God, I see it, I realize it now. So you acknowledge the truth and then you repent. Because God is trying to save the sheep and recover. Amen. that he may recover himself out of the snare of the devil. I don’t want anybody to raise their hand, but I know for sure there are people sitting here today that at one point in their experience fell into the snare of the devil. They fell into the snare of the devil. And if it’s you, you know who you are. But you’re here today in victory. You’re sitting here today in victory. You have been recovered. You have been delivered out of the snare of the devil. Because you heard the truth and instead of trying to twist it so you could persist in your wrongdoing. Because when people don’t want to come clean, then they’ll go to another counselor that’ll agree with them. And you’ll always find somebody to agree with you. Because if they’re not of the Holy Spirit, they’re of the devil’s spirit, so of course he’s going to have people to agree with your situation. because the devil wants to snare you so you never get set free. But when you acknowledge the truth and you say, you know, how do you acknowledge the truth? You call sin what it is. You call it what it is. You can’t say, well, it’s a mistake. You can’t say, well, it’s a weakness. Well, it’s a character flaw. If it’s sin, you got to call it what the Bible calls it. you’ve got to call it sin. Amen. Whatever it is, if it’s a sexual sin, you’ve got to call it that. Amen. If it’s a sin of the spirit of pride, you’ve got to call it that. First of all, you’ve got to acknowledge the truth and call it what it is. Amen. And then you repent. And when you do that, you will get out of Satan’s snare. And nothing makes me happier than when I see someone recovered out of the snare of the devil. When I see someone that was the devil got them and really started messing up their lives and it really didn’t look like they had a good prognosis where they were in that snare. But when truth comes and their heart is honest and they acknowledge the truth and they ask God for forgiveness and they ask God to recover them, God is such a God of restoration. Hallelujah. He can take those things, those mistakes. And I tell you this, you’ll be the wiser for it. And maybe, just maybe, somewhere, you’ll get to help someone else because you’ll be able to identify, oh, that’s the snare I was in. And you can go and say, brother, sister, can I talk to you from an honest heart? I don’t tell all my business to everybody, but I feel like this will help you because it’s exactly the snare the devil made for me, and I fell in it. Amen? When you see that flirtation is going beyond attraction, and that attraction now is becoming… salacious and it’s leading to if it isn’t stopped it’s going to lead to the snare of either fornication if that’s the if they’re not married or adultery if they are and sometimes you can see that you think oh that doesn’t look good that doesn’t sound right i’m not what i’m seeing here is not just friendly christian fellowship Amen. The devil is trying to set people up for a snare. Amen. And God may be talking to somebody here today. I have no idea. That’s between the Lord and his sheep. Amen. But I’m trying to show you that we’ve got to preach these things. We’ve got to preach these kind of messages. We will give an answer to God if we don’t. While we’re in Timothy, skip over to 1 Timothy, the fourth chapter. And let’s look at verse 13, 1 Timothy 4 and 13. “‘Til I come, give attendance to reading, exhortation, and doctrine.'” I love this because it’s so balanced. Everything that Paul talks about in these kinds of ways are balanced. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. So obviously, Timothy had the elders present. Presbyterians like the eldership or even other pastors, they laid hands on him. And he received personal prophecy and a word of God concerning his ministry. So he’s saying, don’t neglect that, but stir it up. Amen? Meditate upon these things. Give thyself wholly to them or completely to them that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee. Isn’t that powerful? I have the Holy Spirit remind me of this many times. Amen? So I have to continually meditate on these things. I give myself to reading exhortation and doctrine all the time. Whenever I’m not doing a business that’s of a clerical nature or something like that, my business is reading, exhortation, and doctrine. all the time amen i have to give myself wholly to it and you can tell when a preacher has done that you can tell when a preacher has really been in the word you can tell it amen when they get in the pulpit you’ll be able to hear the power of the truth that will come out of their preaching amen and and you can tell if they have it Because they may have a nice message, but it’ll be shallow. It won’t be deep. And there’s only one way to get deeper, and that’s what he just said. You’ve got to give attention to. You’ve got to make it your focus, in other words, is reading and exhortation and doctrines. And you can’t, I listen to other preachers and other ministers. I do. Good ministers and good preachers, I listen to because they feed my soul. And sometimes I’ll pick up a little nugget from them and the Holy Spirit will take that nugget and I always like to say I Pentecostalize it. Amen? And from it will grow a whole message that the Holy Spirit gives to me. Amen? But you know that is no substitute for reading. It’s no substitute. Yes, listen to good preaching CDs. Yes, watch good preaching on TV and radio. But there’s no substitute for reading the word for yourself. Amen? Give attention to reading. Give attention to exhortation and to doctrine. And there you have the balance. The exhortation is what makes you feel good. Amen? The exhortation is what makes you feel good. And that’s what most ministers will be doing when they’re under another ministry. They’ll be out there to exhort. Amen? And to build up the flock and to make them feel good and to strengthen them with the Word of God. But those that are going to be in that leadership position, they not only have to have the exhortation, they have to have the doctrine. Amen? And I’m saying this because of what Paul said. If you will do this, brother so-and-so, if you will do this, sister so-and-so, if you will do this, Sharon, when you get in the pulpit, you’re profiting by all that will appear to all. And not only that, what’s more important, you will save yourself. And I’m going to make heaven and save those that hear you. So that’s what I’m about. I want to save myself, but I want to save you too. And of course, you know, I don’t mean that in the literal sense. I mean it in the sense that Paul meant, the word that I preach will save you. Amen? So he said, while they slept, they were unaware, the enemy sowed those tares, and he went his way. Now, before I run out of time, most importantly, what is meant by the tares? We already said it’s people. We already said that it’s the children of the devil. But let’s look at what Jesus was talking about. In the Middle East… The tare is something called darnel, D-A-R-N-E-L. It’s a type of grass, and it grows with the wheat. It’s a type of seed that looks exactly like the wheat. It looks like the wheat, but it’s really a weed. Amen? The similarity between the darnel and the wheat is so great that in some regions they refer to it as false wheat. Boy, that’ll preach right there. False wheat. It bears identical resemblance of the wheat until… until the ear or the head of the grain appears. And when it gets to that stage, the wheat will be the color brown and the darnel will be black. And its seeds are poisonous. When its seeds are eaten by birds and other beasts of the field or even by humans, It causes intoxication, which causes vertigo and dizziness and vomiting. It can even progress to the point to cause convulsions. Barn owls are apt to eat this, and it causes them to have vertigo. Imagine a bird with a vertigo trying to fly. How many know what vertigo is? It’s dizziness where you’re off balance and everything’s spinning and you can’t walk straight. When it’s severe, you become nauseated and you will vomit. It’s a terrible condition. All of us probably may have experienced it for a day if we had an ear infection or you get a sinus infection, but it goes away. But my son Todd lived with it for years and years and years and went to all kinds of doctors and had all kinds of tests trying to figure out what was wrong with him. And it was terrible. He spent months sometimes in bed with the room just spinning around. Terrible condition. Amen? And thank God he’s much better now, very much better. He rarely has an episode anymore. His was related to, you know, who knows for sure. The Johns Hopkins doctor finally said he had a type of migraine. But it wasn’t the kind of migraine that gives you a headache. He didn’t have a headache. It affected his balance. And it can be triggered by certain foods. like caffeine. So he has to be careful with his diet. So you can imagine that if these seeds are eaten and it causes this, and here’s the thing about it, it not only can be so severe that it causes convulsions, but it can be so severe that it is fatal. Amen. What an urgent message from the words of Jesus, the parable of the tares. In this parable, which is different than Jesus’ foundational teaching on the parable of the sower, the seed is not the word, but people. Christians are the seed that produces wheat, and the children of the devil are the tares, which was a poisonous seed that looked exactly like the wheat. In fact, it was called false wheat. But when it was fully grown, the wheat is brown and the tares are black. And when its seeds are eaten by birds and beasts, they cause intoxication, vertigo, convulsions, and even death. Satan sows these seeds in the church amongst the saints where people are asleep spiritually and unaware. Jude said of the last days, for there are certain men crept in unaware who turn the grace of God into lasciviousness, which means a license to sin. Jesus said that at the end of the church age, the angels will separate the tares from the wheat, and the tares will be cast into eternal fire. God has called ministers to preach the true gospel, the whole counsel of God, and leave the separating to him. But he has charged us to warn and protect the sheep. The Parable of the Tares is available on CD for a love gift of $10 or more for our radio ministry. Request SK187, mail to Sound of Faith, P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203, or go online to soundoffaith.org. Friends, even if you do not want to order the CD, if you enjoy Sound of Faith, we need your financial support to cover the cost of airtime. So please write or go online today and let us know that you are enjoying the programs on Sound of Faith. But to order Parable of the Terrors by mail, Request SK-187. Mail to P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203. Till next time, this is Sharon Otts saying, Maranatha.
