#123 Lu. 13:18-21 THE GROWTH OF CHRISTIANITY, BOTH TRUE AND FALSE Introduction: Our text today contains two of the Kingdom Parables which our Lord gave to His disciples. These are The Parable of The Mustard Seed and also The Parable of Leaven. The Parable of The Mustard Seed pictures two things. First, it pictures the phenomenal growth of true Christianity. Then it also pictures the entrance of false religion into Christianity, thus polluting it. The Parable of The Leaven shows that once false religion enters into Christianity, it too, continues to grow as does true Christianity. I. The small beginning and great growth of true Christianity V. 18, "Then said he, Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it?" Our Lord realizes that it is difficult for us human beings to understand the spiritual kingdom of God in this world. Christianity is a spiritual kingdom. Christ is the King. Those who are Christians are His subjects. The teachings of Christ as recorded in the New Testament are His kingdom law. The whole of Christianity in all the world is His kingdom. Jesus asked, "To what can I liken Christianity so that you can better understand what I want to say about it?" V. 19, "It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden..." By comparing the Kingdom of God to a grain of mustard seed planted in a man's garden, Jesus seeks to give us a better understanding of the Kingdom of God. But please keep in mind, that Christianity is not like a grain of mustard seed that has been laid up on a shelf. It is like the whole story about the mustard seed that has been planted in the garden. In this parable He informs us not only about the beginning stages of Christianity in the world, but He shows it's phenomenal growth and the pollution that would later come into it as the years go by. In other words, Jesus gave not only a picture of the beginning stages of Christianity, but He gave a brief picture of its entire future. The mustard seed is the smallest of all the seeds planted in the gardens of Israel. There are smaller seeds in existence in the world, but this is the smallest seed known and used by the Israelites at that time. It was not, however, the same variety of mustard seed that we plant in our own gardens here in East Texas. We plant mustard seed in the interest of producing edible mustard greens. We plant mustard seed for the greens. The variety of mustard seed which they planted was not for the production of greens, but for the production of more seed. They harvested the seed, ground it to a powder, and used it as a spice. It had a hot peppery taste. When the ground seed was mixed with oil or water, it formed a hot peppery tasting paste or spread. Today we go to the store and buy a mustard spread already commercially prepared. In the parable, Jesus tells of a large plant growing from the small mustard seed. (V. 19) "...and it grew, and waxed a great tree..." Once the farmer planted the seed in the garden, it grew to great size. It was common in that part of the world for the mustard plants to grow from eight to twelve feet in height. This was an exceptionally huge plant to come from such a tiny little seed. Jesus said it was a great tree. It was not great in size in comparison to other trees, but it was great in comparison to what might be expected from such a little seed. In this part of the parable Jesus pictured both the small beginning of Christianity and its phenomenal growth. It all started when Jesus walked on the shores of the Sea of Galilee and called on two men to leave their father's fishing nets and follow Him. Those two men were Simon Peter and his brother, Andrew. In Matthew 4:18-20 we read, "And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him." From that small seed a mighty plant would grow. Or to put it in other terms, from that small beginning a mighty spiritual kingdom would grow. This is the Kingdom of God. Jesus Christ is the King. Peter and John were the first subjects in this kingdom, but that small number would grow and grow and grow and grow. Let me say that Christianity has grown under some very adverse conditions. The scribes and Pharisees of Jesus' day were strongly opposed to its growth. The whole Sanhedrin Council raised up in opposition and demanded the death of the King. Because it was in His purpose to be put to death, Jesus allowed them to put Him to death. He allowed them to crucify Him. But the King did not remain in the grave. He arose from the grave and gave His subjects their marching orders to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Jesus and His disciples had spent most of their time in Capernaum of Galilee during His personal ministry on earth. But when He ascended and went back to heaven He left them in Jerusalem. From Jerusalem they were scattered by persecution and they went in all directions preaching the gospel. Eventually, the subjects of the King have spread the gospel throughout the whole world. Hundreds of thousands of churches of like the one at Jerusalem have sprung up in all parts of the world. During the Dark Ages thousands upon thousands of Christians were put to death by their enemies. They were fed to the lions and burned at the state. But the faster they killed the Christians the faster Christianity grew. It spread to Africa, Europe and to the far east. When the colonists came to settle America, they brought the gospel to this land. Eventually it came even to East Texas. When the gospel message was first brought to this part of Texas the only people who lived here were Indians, Mexicans and outlaws. The outlaws came here because they were safe from the law when they crossed the Sabine River. The Sabine was the border between the United States and Texas. Most of the early settlers who came out of the United States moved on through East Texas as fast as they could to get away from the Indians and the outlaws. But some of those outlaws heard the gospel and got saved. Texas joined the union and became a part of the United States and eventually settlers began to move to these parts and churches began to spring up in East Texas. One of those very first churches to spring up in East Texas was the Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church. It first organized in New London in or about 1856 and in that year they exchanged church property with a Cumberland Presbyterian church which had been organized in this community. The Baptist church from New London exchanged property with the Presbyterians of this community and the Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church has been carrying on business for the Lord in His Kingdom ever since. II. The entrance and growth of false religion into Christianity But now let us take a look at the next part of the parable. (V. 19), "...and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it." Keep in mind that it takes the whole parable to illustrate all that Jesus wants to show about Christianity. This part of the parable tells about the birds lodging in the branches of the tree. Jesus said that the fowls not only came and lit on the branches of the mustard tree, but they actually lodged there or made their homes there. In other words, this mustard plant or mustard tree became a bird roost. Did you ever see a bird roost? Did you ever smell one? Pewee! It's not a pretty sight! And it stinks! The birds roosting in the branches of the tree represent the false religions of the world coming to rest in the branches of Christianity. For many generations the forces of Satan tried to kill out the Christians. They could not succeed. The more Christians they killed, the more rapidly Christianity multiplied. So the Devil changed his tactics. He stopped trying to kill out the Christians and sent his followers to join up with Christianity. In other words, he decided that if you cain't lick'em join'em. So he brought people with all manner of heretical ideas into Christianity. He brought them right into the ranks of Christianity. The heretics became a part of the Christian movement and in due time, they, too began to get followers. That is why there are so many totally different kinds of religious beliefs within Christianity. It would seem that all Christian churches would believe, practice and preach the same thing, but they don't. There are many different kinds of birds resting in the branches of Christianity. In the second parable Jesus gives a graphic picture of the growth of heresy in Christianity. V. 20-21, "And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened." Jesus illustrated the growth of false religion in the churches by speaking of leaven being put in a lump of bread dough. In Scripture when leaven is used symbolically it always represents that which is evil. In this case, it represents false doctrines and unbiblical practice. It started small within the Christian churches and grew. Only a small amount of leaven is put into bread dough, but as time goes by the leaven increases and spreads throughout the lump of dough. In like manner, heretical religion inside Christianity apparently started with just one person within the membership of one church. However, as time went by, others in that same church became persuaded to his heretical ideas. That heretical idea then spread to other churches. Eventually in some congregations, the heretics outnumbered the followers of truth. It was not long until whole congregations were following heresy. One heretical idea led to another. For instance somebody got the idea that baptism is necessary for salvation. That is not true. John 3:18 say that the believer in Jesus is not condemned. They could not stand to think about babies dying and going to hell and so they started baptizing babies in order to get them into heaven. However, immersing babies in water appeared to be rather dangerous and so they started sprinkling and pouring water on the babies. If sprinkling and pouring was good enough for the babies, it must be good enough for adults. And so one error after another crept into the Christian movement. Eventually whole denominations have sprung up within Christianity teaching heresy and practicing things which are altogether foreign to Biblical teaching. Right now in the city of Waco, Texas we have a classic example of the kind of spiritual corruption has taken place in the name of Christianity. What this means today is that there are a great many churches that are called Christian churches that God does not recognize as true New Testament churches. For instance, some so-called churches deny the truth of the gospel as set forth in the New Testament. They deny that one gets saved by repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ. They preach and teach that one can only get to heaven by his good works rather than by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. That is not true Christianity when a false way of salvation is substituted for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Some so-called churches deny the inspiration of the Bible. They teach that the Bible is a collection of myths and fables. That is not true Christianity when the inspiration of the Bible is denied. Some churches teach and preach that Jesus is not the virgin born Son of God. They deny that Jesus is Deity God dwelling in human flesh. They blaspheme when they say that Jesus is an illegitimate child of a German soldier who was stationed near Nazareth. That is not true Christianity when the Deity of Jesus is denied. Some churches teach that Jesus did not arise from the grave. They explain the Biblical record of His resurrection by saying that the writers of the New Testament were just superstitious and dreamed up the idea of Jesus out of their superstitions. They put up a sign on the front indicating to the world that they are a true Christian church. But regardless of what kind of sign they put on the front of their building, it is not a true church which denies the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Some churches teach that there is no God at all. They say that the very idea of God's existence is just wishful thinking on the part of man. They call themselves Christians, but a religion that denies the very existence of God is not Christianity at all. Within the ranks of Christianity is at least one whole denomination which deny that God exists. That is a false religion that came from the pits of hell. Every once in a while a man comes along who claims to be Christ. Recently there has been a great deal in the news about David Karesh from Tyler who claims to be Christ. He is the head of a so-called church. This is the group that is involved in the stand-off with the federal law out in Waco right now. Yet he is not the only one. I have in my possession a pamphlet published by a black man right over in our neighboring city of Longview. He makes no bones about it. He claims to be Christ. He does not deny that Jesus was sent to be the Christ. He just says that Jesus failed as the Christ and that he is going to succeed where Jesus failed. Let me tell you that these are false Christs and the churches which they lead are false churches. They are right from the Devil himself. III. Some things which Jesus wants us to understand Jesus wants us to understand that in our day true Christianity still exists. He does not want us to look around us and get so discouraged by all the false religion in the world that we will throw up our hands and quit. Neither does He want us to be discouraged because our group is small. True Christianity is not small in comparison to what it was when it first started out. But it is small in comparison to some of the other religions of the world and it is small in comparison to some of the heretical Christian religions. But we should not be ashamed to be a member of a small church. Small churches have an opportunity to grow large. I have had opportunity during my ministry to pastor a larger church. I would not hesitate to go to a large church if I could feel that God was leading me to one. But I have never been ashamed to pastor the smaller churches. As long as I am where God wants me to be, that is all that matters. Neither does the Lord want us to get discouraged because of the opposition to the truth that is in the world. We need not expect the world to applaud us for preaching and teaching the truth of God. We should expect opposition. And much of that opposition to the truth will come right from within the ranks of Christianity itself. Much of the opposition will arise from within Christianity because much of the heresy is within the ranks of Christianity. But the truth is going to win in the long run, because God is going to win. What the Lord wants us to do is to keep on keeping on preaching the word of God and teaching the truths of God. God wants us to be faithful and true to Him in the very midst of opposition to the truth we teach. God wants us to trust Him to bless the truth we teach and to know that somebody will believe it and will be persuaded to the truth. God wants us to trust Him bless us for standing for the truth. God wants us to know that we are not failures in His cause just because we are not taking the world for Christ. God does not ask us to take the world for Christ. God asks us to take Christ to the world. Then it is up to them whether or not they believe God's word. But God does want us to be careful to preach and teach the very word of God. God wants us to study His word and to then be faithful to His word. God does not want lost people to be gullible and to be deceived by Satan into believing a false way of salvation. He wants them to believe the gospel as set forth in the New Testament. He wants lost men, women, boys and girls to repent of their sin and to trust in Jesus Christ so that they will be saved and not go to hell. He wants them to trust Jesus to take them to heaven. Listen, if you are unsaved, I assure you that there is no way in this world that you can live good enough to get into heaven. If you ever make it to heaven, you will have to trust in Jesus Christ to save you and take you to heaven. God also wants saved people to hold membership in a true New Testament church and to be supportive of the truth in every way they can. He wants you to be forewarned that there are heretical religions in the world and He does not want you to be deceived by them. He wants you to stay away from them. Conclusion: Listen, if you are not saved, God wants you to get saved. He wants you to turn to Him right now even today and to get right with Him so that when you die you will go to heaven. God does not want you to go to hell, but you will go there unless you turn to Jesus Christ, God's Son, and trust in Him to save your soul. If you are saved and looking for a church home, you can thank God that not all the churches are heretical churches. You can thank God that in this part of the world there are a number of good Biblically sound churches available for you to hold membership in. Also, if you are saved, God wants you to be a member of one of His true churches. God wants every saved person to be a member of a true New Testament church. I am convinced that God wants somebody to join this church here at Pleasant Hill to help carry on the work of the Lord here. If you happen to be one of those people whom God wants to join this church, I am sure that He will lay it on your heart to do so. So if God lays it on your heart to join this church, won't you come this morning and let the Lord have His way with your life?