Do You Have Your Ears On? is a sermon teaching us that we should be wary of those who appear to be Christian but cause people to stray from the faith. We should listen to what God is saying to us.

After this sermon we should all be able to say “message received and understood.” Warren Wiersbe once said, “Electricity uses wire to communicate or to transmit or travel. The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God.” There is a sense that the Lord God asks people over and over, “Have you got your ears on?” It is not exactly worded like that in the bible, but the idea is certainly there. Thirteen times, Jesus said the same thing, with a word or something similar. Jesus is saying, “Do you have your ears on? Are you listening? Do you hear what the Spirit is saying?”

The Wheat and the Tares

In Matthew 13, Jesus gave seven parables that illustrated for us, seven mysteries of the kingdom of God. The word “mystery” in the English New Testament does not mean something hard to understand or hard to figure out. The word “mystery” as it is used in the New Testament means God is revealing a new truth. This was something not taught up until this point. The seven things about the kingdom of Heaven and the kingdom of God in Matthew 13 had not been revealed previously.

Looking into God’s Word at the parable about the wheat and tares, are you listening? Have you got your ears on? If you have when we are finished, you should be able to say, “10-4.” Jesus mentions tares which are weeds that grow in a wheat field. When it is growing, it looks like a wheat stalk, but when it matures around harvest time, it looks quite different. Weeds are not to be growing in the crop.

The servants came to the landowner and said they prepared the land and the soil and asked if he planted good seed there. There were tares where there should not have been any in the wheat field. The landowner told the servants that an enemy had done that. They asked if they should weed out the field. He told them not to do it in case they take out the weed and the wheat at this stage. Instead, he said to wait until the harvest when the tares are easily spotted, then gather the tares and burn them because they have no value. Then gather the wheat into the barn where it will be stored and kept.

Previously, Jesus had told them about the good seed landing on the wayside, stony ground, thorns, and good ground, and that the seed on the good ground brought good fruit. The good ground is the fertile heart, and the seed is the Word of God. The Word of God gets distributed to many different hearts and three out of four do not receive it or if they do, it doesn’t take root.

Jesus told the story of the tares in the wheat field to the disciples, but they did not totally understand. They asked Him to explain. Jesus said that the sower was the Son of Man, Himself. The Lord is the sower and planted the good seed in the hearts of men. Jesus is the sower and the field is the world. He explains that the good seed are the children of the kingdom and the tares are the children of the wicked one, Satan.

There is a spirit realm, and we are a spiritual being. John told us that God is a spirit, and those that worship Him must worship Him in spirit. There is much taught in the bible about the spirit of man. The way that God wants you to live is this, to have your body controlled by your mind, your mind controlled by your spirit, and your spirit controlled by the Holy Spirit. When you get in that order, then things start to work out well for you. We generally don’t have it in that order and usually have our body tell us what to do, our mind comes in second, and spirit gets in there somewhere, and once in a while we listen to the Holy Spirit. That is why we have all the problems that we have, mostly. You can be doing exactly what, how, and when you should be doing, and problems happen. All through the Old and New Testament there were people that had lots of problems. But when you get things in the order God has for you, then your life is going to go much better.

The enemy that sowed the tares is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels. Jesus explained the parable part by part so that we can understand exactly what He’s talking about.

The Fate of the Lost

Jesus also talks about the same idea when He talked about Hell. Jesus said Hell was not created for mankind but was created for the devil and his angels. But people go there because they choose to go there and make up their mind to go there. God gives us a choice.

Jesus says the tares represent the lost in this world: those who have not believed in the revelation that God has given to them, those who have not sought to know Him, those who have not trusted the Savior who came and took upon Himself their guilt, their shame, and their sin, and those who have not trusted the Savior.

Jesus uses wheat and tares because they grew up together. In our churches we have people who look, act, and talk like Christians, but they have never trusted Jesus as their Savior, they have never been saved – they are the tares among the wheat. They look like wheat until the time of harvest, not being able to tell the difference.

Jesus gathers out those that offend and those that do iniquity from among His people. Those that offend are those that trap the souls of men to keep them from God. Those things that are traps that are laid is the work of Satan, the devil, he lays traps for us. And then God also gathers those who do iniquity – those people who know the law of God, they know the Word of God, and they intentionally ignore it. The first group are those who are trapped and may not know that they fell into a trap until it is too late. But the second group, those that do iniquity, they are doing iniquity by choice. They chose to disobey God and know they are doing it. They turned their hearts away from the love of the Savior, they ignore God’s will and God’s Word.

The bible teaches that we will not become the Creator or be like God as Satan implied in the Garden of Eden, we will always be the creature. We are not the object of worship; we should be the worshipper. It is not all about you. God has a wonderful purpose for your life. It is not about you, it’s all about Jesus, and about us pointing people to a loving Savior.

Are You Listening?

We are not all God’s children. Do you hear what God is saying? Do you hear that people are lost souls without God in the world? Do you hear that the Good Shepherd seeks after the lost sheep? Do you hear that the creator of mankind, the king of the universe has so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever, anybody, should believe in Him, shall not perish but have everlasting life? Do you hear? If you have heard, have your friends heard? Has your family heard? Have your neighbors heard?

Paul writes in Romans 10:13-14, “Whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not heard?” You will not trust the Lord if you do not believe in Him. You will not believe in Him if you have not heard of Him. That is why there are missionaries, to go out into the world and tell people what they have not heard. That is the whole point of it. That was God’s plan, not ours. It is the way He told us to carry the gospel to the ends of the Earth. How shall they hear without a preacher? How are they going to hear if nobody will go and tell them? How are they going to believe if they have not heard? How are they going to hear if we do not go and tell them?

Have you ever stopped to think, “Well there’s something that needs to be done,” or, “If I don’t do it, who will?” Sometimes the deed is unpleasant, and we do not want to do it. But if we do not do it, who will?” Our Lord is saying that our world is coming to an end. It is at least a thousand and seven years away. It is not a long way off because it begins with the Lord taking us out of the world, at a time that only the Father knows. Perhaps the Lord does not tell us exactly when it will happen because we are such procrastinators. The Lord wants us busy now and not wait until near the end. Our world is coming to an end and our lives are coming to an end. Once we die, after that the judgment.

Where will you spend eternity? Are you a wheat or a tare? You can be in the church and look and act like a Christian. You can be a person who does good things and not be born again. This is simply because most people do not see themselves as sinners. Even in our churches, there may be tares among the wheat. They have never trusted the Lord.

An Unsuspected Tare

Jesus called twelve men to be His closest disciples out of thousands and called them apostles. A disciple is a disciplined one, one who is disciplined to follow the Lord Jesus. Today, Jesus has billions of disciples, maybe trillions if you count all of history. He called the twelve and commissioned them to preach, teach, and heal. And they all went out in His name.

They all sat at his feet and heard His words, but one was a tare. One looked good on the outside but his heart was in the world and away from the Lord Jesus. At the Last Supper, Jesus said that one of them would betray Him. All the apostles looked at themselves and asked if they were the one. Not one pointed to Judas and claimed that he was the one. When Judas got up and walked out, they did not even suspect him then. They thought he was going to do an errand for the Lord. Why? Because he looked good on the outside, did the things they did, and acted the way they acted, and said the things they said. Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at his heart. His heart was in this world.

Have you got your ears on? Can you say “10-4, message received and understood?” Who has ears? Let him hear. Jesus is saying to hear His voice. Hear what he is saying to you. Hear His call upon your life. And answer. What direction are you heading to right now? What road are you taking right now? And where is that leading you? What is the end result of the path you’re taking? Where are you going to wind up? Where will you be when you get where you are going? Have you got your ears on? Do you hear what God is saying to you?

Do You Have Your Ears On? sermon starts with verses from Matthew 13:24-30:

²⁴ Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:

²⁵ But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.

²⁶ But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.

²⁷ So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?

²⁸ He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?

²⁹ But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.

³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

Also verses from Matthew 13:36-43:

³⁶ Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field.

³⁷ He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;

³⁸ The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;

³⁹ The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.

⁴⁰ As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.

⁴¹ The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;

⁴² And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

⁴³ Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Matthew 11:15:

¹⁵ He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Matthew 13:9:

⁹ Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Matthew 13:43:

⁴³ Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Mark 4:9:

⁹ And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Mark 4:23:

²³ If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.

Mark 7:16:

¹⁶ If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.

Luke 6:8:

⁸ But he knew their thoughts, and said to the man which had the withered hand, Rise up, and stand forth in the midst. And he arose and stood forth.

Luke 14:35:

³⁵ It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

John 5:24:

²⁴ Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

Matthew 25:31-34, 41:46:

³¹ If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.

³² There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true.

³³ Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth.

³⁴ But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be saved.

⁴¹ Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

⁴² For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:

⁴³ I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

⁴⁴ Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?

⁴⁵ Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

⁴⁶ And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

Hebrews 9:27:

²⁷ And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

John 4:24-25, 28-29:

²⁴ God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

²⁵ The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.

²⁸ The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men,

²⁹ Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?

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