Introduction: T/M

The field is the world; the good seed are the children [sons] of the kingdom; but the tares are the children[sons] of the wicked one; (Matthew 13:38)

Everyone who is born into the world has in his or her personality the seed of Satan. We all are born in sin and rebellion against God. Then God, according to His own wisdom and foreknowledge, sows the seed of the Kingdom in some human beings. Those who have been chosen to be the recipients of the seed of the Kingdom now have in their personality both the seed of the Kingdom and the seed of Satan.

At the end of the age the messengers of God will remove the seed of Satan from the Kingdom of God and cast it into the flames.

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; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 13:41,42)

The removal of the seed of Satan will take place in two stages. First, as we note above, "all things that offend" will be removed. After that, "them which do iniquity." First the bad seed is removed from the Kingdom, and then the people in whom is the bad seed. At first we have the tares in us. If we do not allow the Holy Spirit to remove the tares from us then we ourselves become tares. In this event our destiny is the Lake of Fire.

The Lake of Fire always retains authority over tares, even when they are in Christian people! If we would escape being injured by the Lake of Fire, which is the second death, we must, through the Holy Spirit, conquer the tares that are in us.

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. (Revelation 2:11)

The first stage has begun now. The Lord is requiring of His people, those in whom is the good seed of the Kingdom, to confess and turn away from their sins. If they do they will be revealed as the sons of the Kingdom.

If they do not confess and turn away from their sin they will be cast into the furnace of fire.

We are speaking only of those who are considered to be in the Kingdom of God. The messengers of God shall gather out of the Kingdom of God all things that offend. The separation described above has to do with people who assemble with believers, who make a profession of Christ, who consider themselves members of the Kingdom of God.

The Lord does not define the good seed as those who practice righteousness but as the sons of the Kingdom. The Lord does not define the tares as those who practice wickedness but as the sons of the wicked one.

This distinction is important. The purpose of the present booklet is to help us understand what it means to be a son of the Kingdom and what it means to be a son of the wicked one. We can understand readily that Hitler and Stalin were sons of the wicked one. We can understand readily that Paul and Peter were sons of the Kingdom of God.

However, when it comes to those who seemingly are of God’s people, those who are active in the churches, it is not as apparent who is a son of the Kingdom and who is a son of the wicked one.

Consider the following:

Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? (John 8:31-33)

I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you. I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father. They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. (John 8:37-40)

Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. (John 8:44) And this:

But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. (Matthew 16:23) The Jews who believed in Him, and His beloved Peter, had not been converted as yet. They still were being moved by Satan. There were tares residing in them, tares whose father is Satan. To believe in Jesus is not the mark of conversion. The sign that we no longer are sons of Satan but sons of the Kingdom is that we are performing the works of God.

There are people in the world who have had the good seed of the Kingdom sown in them, although there still are tares in them. There are other people in the world who have only the seed of Satan in them.

Can an individual who has the good seed of the Kingdom purge himself or herself from the seed of the wicked one? Definitely yes!

But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work. (II Timothy 2:20,21)

We would suggest that the division in the world is not between those who profess to be Christians and those who do not. The division is between that which is born of the Kingdom and that which is born of Satan. Receiving the Lord Jesus provides us with the opportunity to become a son of the Kingdom. If after having received the Lord Jesus we do not through the Holy Spirit cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, taking full advantage of the grace of God, but continue to live our life apart from the Lord, we remain a son of Satan. It may be true that there is no other truth in greater need to be proclaimed in the churches of Christ.

Is a believer in Christ who persecutes another believer reflecting the seed of the Kingdom or the seed of Satan? How you answer this question will reveal your understanding of the Kingdom of God.

When we think about wicked people we are apt to picture in our mind the rapist, the murderer, the thief. There are many such in our day. Some of them behave far worse than animals.

However there is another kind of wickedness that is more destructive in its consequences, and, in fact, is the origin of rape, murder, and robbery. The wickedness of which we are speaking appears throughout the Scriptures. It accounts for the murder of Christ and the vicious persecution of Christians. It is the desire of man to live in his self-will. As long as we live in our self-will we will reveal in our behaviour the personality of Satan whether or not we profess belief in Christ.

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