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Chapter 22 - Sower
Matt. 13:16-17
16 But [de] blessed [makarios] are your [humon] eyes [ophthalmos] , for [hoti] they see [blepo] : and [kai] your [humon] ears [ous] , for [hoti] they hear [akouo] .
17 For [gar] verily [amen] I say [lego] unto you [humin] , That [hoti] many [polus] prophets [prophetes] and [kai] righteous [dikaios] men have desired [epithumeo] to see [eido] those things which [hos] ye see [blepo] , and [kai] have [eido] not [ou] seen [eido] them; and [kai] to hear [akouo] those things which [hos] ye hear [akouo] , and [kai] have [akouo] not [ou] heard [akouo] them. KJV-Interlinear
16 'But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. 17 'For truly I say to you, that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it; and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. NASB
Angels as well as people of past generations longed to see the events that were unfolding during Jesus' time, 1 Pet. 1:10-12. The prophets of old and anyone who was positive toward God and knew and understood the doctrine of the Savior, would have deeply desired to see that day (the first advent of Christ). Even angels long to see events occur and to learn from them as human history proceeds towards it inevitable conclusion.
History is proceeding and advancing like a huge slowly rolling stone down the mountainside. Nothing can stop it. Nothing can alter its course. It won't stop rolling until it reaches the end of its course, and God alone knows in advance the duration and path the stone will take before it finally comes to a complete stop.
Positive volition is the beginning of your advance toward a strong spiritual life. A consistent program of daily study is your guarantee of attaining spiritual maturity and entry into that winners circle that so few will reach throughout history.
No club, no organizational memberships, no political affiliation, no geographical location, no IQ, no natural ability, no religious affiliations, nothing, can take the place of a positive person and a consistent daily dose of Bible doctrine.
It is sad but there are many folks that grow up within various organizations. They spend their lifetime with those organizations and become addicted as it were to them. We have already seen this in the examples of the Pharisees, in the followers of Judaism, and so forth. In our current day there are religious organizations that are consumed by their internal rules and traditions and even rituals of function which they follow 'religiously' week after week.
These past three weeks we have entertained a young Chinese exchange student, and have had an opportunity to see inside the beliefs that are prevalent in central China, where she lives. Of course Buddhism is the predominant religions over there, but it is not the only faith which is practiced. And many people apparently just do not believe in a religion, since they depend on the government to look after their needs. The general philosophy over there is that if one lives a good life, then you should be able to go anywhere and 'be safe.' It is a concept of safety in the security of having a good life. God is excluded from the equation. I asked if she knew anything about Christianity, and she knew nothing, and was resistant to hearing anything that conflicted with her way of thinking. So I used the occasion to teach her about Christianity so she might come to an understanding of our culture here in America. My approach was through math. In math everything on opposite sides of the equals sign is considered equal. So I used her academic knowledge to show her what Christianity was all about.
Jesus Christ = God.
That is all I gave her, and told her if she understood this, then she know more than enough to understand Christianity. I couldn't force Bible studies on her but she was aware of my writing them everyday and even saw the kids reading them each evening. Perhaps one day the equation will gel in her mind and something in life will bring her to Christ. It is simple and easy to remember.
False beliefs are things that serve as traps for folks. And unfortunately many folks do not recognize the trap. Also, for those who become unsatisfied with their current situation, the trap is so powerful that it is difficult to separate themselves from the trap. They are threatened with ostracism, peer pressures, excommunication threats and so forth. Of course these threats are empty threats as they are powerless in the spiritual realm. Their power exists only in the fear or insecurities they incur in their victims who are uncertain of their spiritual position in life.
But as Jesus says, blessings go to those who have the eyes and the ears (positive volition for truth), and who therefore follow through in their positive volition to a consistent daily Bible study. Those who are naive, will learn. Those who are weak will become strong. Those who fear will become courageous.
In their day, the Pharisees could control the lives of their followers. Fear and intimidation was a strong point in their policy of control. Their responsibility before God was to teach Bible doctrine, but they had replaced that mandate with their own policy of political and regulatory control. The Pharisees were in control and any who crossed them would feel their wrath. They being in control over the existing organizations of the day, could weld unbelievable control over the public. To depart from them would mean ostracism to the max. And that might even mean business problems for those who were in business. It might mean employment problems for those who would need a job. It would mean social out casting for those who had 'so called' friends. The pressures in life could become unbearable.
But, and there is a very big but (exception) to this. This unbearable life style applies only to those people who function entirely within the power and control of the jungle environment. We have used the jungle illustration before in this study.
We all live on planet earth, and on planet earth all life exists within a jungle setting. In reality you have two environments within which you may reside and live your life. The first is the jungle setting (life apart from God). The second is the spiritual setting (life in fellowship with God).
The latter is the preferred and is available to all who have first believed in Christ, and then subsequently remain or consistently restore themselves (through the confessional to God the Father) to fellowship throughout their lives.
Within these two environments there are rules which guide or control the functions of each. In the jungle there is the law of the jungle. This is the worst possible set of rules under which anyone could live. The strong destroy the weak. There is no loyalty, no patriotism, no fairness, nothing good within its scope. Everyone gets destroyed sooner or later under these rules of the jungle.
To offset these rules within the jungle, God put in place His divine rules of establishment. These apply to all peoples and consist of volition, marriage, family values, nationalism, law and order, due process and so forth. Even unbelievers in a society can have a decent life when these rules of society apply.
In the spiritual realm we have two sets of rules as well. Within the fellowship sphere, Gods rules of conduct apply. We learn these through Bible study. They are more than just living an honest life (unbelievers can live an honest life), but within the sphere of fellowship we live our life under the control of the Holy Spirit who is the agent of power through which we live our lives.
Recall that we cannot detect His presence within us. Gods indwelling in us is spiritual and not physical. Our five senses do not apply, so those who have seizures, or other emotional experiences are merely putting on a show for other people to see. It is all phony. The offset for the spiritual life (which applies to believers only) is the life outside of the fellowship sphere. In that case the sin nature is in control (not God the Holy Spirit) of your soul and in that case the believer out of fellowship imitates the unbeliever in their life. The rules of life then are back to the jungle rules or establishment rules.
Within the jungle there is terror due to ignorance and lack of a relationship with God. But when one lives inside the fellowship sphere, then one is in effect inside Gods palace, inside Gods refuge, inside Gods hand, and in that position nothing and no one can touch you.
Will your suffering stop instantly in life? No. The world will hate you and the gossips, the control mongers, those who don't approve of your life will do all they can to make your life miserable. But they will fail. With God in charge of your life, then solutions present themselves and you will be guided out of the problem. The enemies who wish you ill will, will be dealt with by God, and their attacks will be deflected back onto themselves. They will in effect destroy themselves with the very attacks they initiated against you.
Within the sphere of Gods power there is blessing only (blessed are the eyes and ears for they see and hear). Within the sphere of the world there is never blessing - never (cursed is the man whose eyes are on man). So to those who fear leaving or severing ties to something that they have become accustomed to from many years of membership, then learn the eyes and ears lesson. Look to your Bible study and Gods doctrine and your spiritual life, rather than to some earthly organization. Do not support that which you know is wrong, but support that which you know is right.
We live in a time which is later than the time of Chris, obviously. Anyone who in the past was positive, would long to see our day as well. We have many advantages in our current day, and we should not squander them.
End of Lesson
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