How will they be separated from us?
The Lord Jesus stated, "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" (Matthew 13:41).
The Lord’s "messengers" may be holy angels, wicked angels, people, or circumstances. The Lord gave Paul "the messenger of Satan to buffet me" (II Corinthians 12:7). It was Satan who was hurting Paul but it was the Lord Jesus who was in control. The Lord Jesus was removing from Paul the last traces of Paul’s tendency to trust in his own strength.
God uses many devices to remove the tares from the wheat. A major tool is fiery persecution. When we are ready to attend the assemblies of the saints at the risk of our life, or imprisonment, or torture, then we know we have been born of God. When we make a profession of Christ only when it is safe and comfortable to do so, we may be a tare and not know it.
The way of the Lord must be made straight. There is little God can do with the Christian churches of our day. They are neither hot nor cold. They are a mixture of true saints and fleshly "believers." The tares must be removed from the wheat before the righteousness of the true Church can be witnessed by the peoples of the earth.
Peter warned us about false teachers, of whom there always has been an abundance. The false teachers are covetous and seek to get money out of the Lord’s flock (II Peter 2:3).
We commented previously about running greedily after the error of Balaam for reward. The love of money is the basis for a major part of the Christian ministry in the wealthy nations of the world. Money is the prime motivation. The preachers and teachers, in many instances, dilute the message of holiness and discipleship. They do so in order to make the congregation more comfortable, gaining more people and therefore more money.
In our day the churches are rated by the number of people in attendance. A little reflection will reveal that the number of people in attendance is not a true measure of the quality of an assembly of Christians.
Most of us probably would agree that measuring the worth of a church by the number of people who attend is not sound. Nevertheless we continue to regard large numbers of people as signifying that an assembly is successful and worthy. Why do we do this? It is partly because of the love of money. A large congregation ordinarily means a large cash flow and status in the eyes of people. We value popularity and material success. But the Lord Jesus does not. He is content with two or three of the faithful.
Fierce, violent persecution will help banish from us this unscriptural viewpoint and the other evidences of the lack of spiritual discipline. When it becomes dangerous for a large group of people to meet together we no longer will place such a high value on large numbers of people. At that time we will realize that our motivation in building large churches has been fleshly.
The Scriptures teach us that God performs His tremendous works with one person or a few people. We desire numerous people because we love money, status, and power. We love money, status, and power because we are tares and not wheat.
God is righteous by Nature. Those who are born of God are righteous by nature and practice righteousness. They love mercy and walk humbly with God. This is how we can tell the difference between those who have been born of God and those who have not been born of God.
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. (I John 3:9)
The above verse means the person who has been born of God begins to show God’s Nature in himself. Although he may stumble and fall while he is growing to maturity, he always is striving to walk in righteousness and holiness. Eventually he is able, through God’s Life that is in him, to walk before the Lord (even in the world) in righteousness, holiness, and obedience to God.
The tares are not so. They never have been born of God. They are sons of the wicked one. They have entered the assemblies of the saints but not by the direction of the Holy Spirit of God. They will leave just as quickly as they came as soon as there is persecution.
The tares are ready to believe they are saved by "grace" and do not have to change what they are. The tares always will resist the doctrines of overcoming sin and crucifixion of self. They are not willing to allow the Lord to perform the painful operations necessary for deliverance from the world, from Satan, and from their lusts and self-seeking. They have perverted the teaching of the Apostle Paul to mean that the grace of Christ is God’s way of excusing our lack of personal change into holiness and righteousness.
The tares always are seeking the cheapest possible way of regaining Paradise.
The wheat love God. They are more interested in God’s attitude toward them than they are in going to Heaven when they die. The Life of God in them calls out to God desiring to be like God, of God, an eternal part of God. God is their Father. The Spirit in them cries,Abba.
One point of confusion is the concept of what it means to be "born again." We have made being born again synonymous with "accepting Christ" or with faith in the blood atonement. Accepting Christ as Savior and Lord is one matter. Remission of sins through the blood atonement accompanies all true receiving of Christ. Being born again of God, while it follows all true receiving of Christ, is a distinct experience. It is not a legal transaction, as is forgiveness through the blood atonement, but an experience in one’s personality.
To be born of God is to receive the Divine Seed in us and to have it grow from a seed to a new creation in Christ. As the Seed develops in us we reveal in ourselves the family likeness of God.
The tares have never been born of God. They have not been born again although they may talk a great deal about being born again. We know they have not been born of God because they do not show the family likeness of God. Rather, they show the likeness of the personality of Satan. They are children of wrath. They are more of Adam than they are of God!
The wheat are the sons of the Kingdom. The tares are the sons of the wicked one. The wheat have been ordained to eternal life. The tares have been ordained to condemnation:
And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. (Acts 13:48)
For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, . . . . (Jude 1:4)
Being of God’s wheat is by election, by the working of God. The Lord adds to the Church daily. When men add to the church it is tares that are brought in. This is what has happened through the centuries of the Christian Era.
It is the author’s opinion that many—perhaps most—of the Christians of our day have never been born of God. They are not the Lord’s wheat. If they had been born of God they would show the Nature of God in themselves.