If everyone could turn to Isaiah 55, it says in Isaiah 55:8-11:
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith Jehovah. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
And I will stop reading there.
Last time, we were looking, especially, at Isaiah 55:8, where it says:
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith Jehovah.
And we saw the contrast, we saw the difference between man’s thoughts and God’s thoughts, a little bit of the difference, the little bit that we can grab hold of with our minds. Even as we learn truths from the Bible, we really do not know them fully. We learn what we can, according to our ability.
We have to remember that God is Infinite. He is Eternal. He is the Almighty. He is the God who “inhabiteth eternity” and who has always been. He has always been Eternal God.
That means that for as long as we can think, we could look back through the history of this world, through the “foundation of the world,” the creation of the world, and continue looking back into eternity past, and as long as our minds could take us for as far and as deep and as distant as our minds are able to go into eternity past, which, really, we do not know hardly anything about except that Jesus was as a “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,” and we know the character of God, that He has always been the same, “yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” He is the Great I AM.
So God has always possessed the attributes that He currently has and forever will have. This is the nature of God, and God has always been. There is never a point that we can look back to—we would like that, you know, it would help us...we can understand beginnings. But if we could look back into the past of eternity, there is never a place or a spot we can pinpoint and say, “There is where it began. There is where God started,” because He just is. He just is and always has been.
So it is really mind boggling. It astounds us. It amazes us that God inhabits eternity. He dwells in the whole spectrum of existence, from eternity past to eternity future, and that He knows all things within the whole realm, from eternity past to eternity future. That is the Mind of God.
So if we gathered all of the computers that are available today—hundreds of millions of them, I guess—and you know how they like to talk about how much information you can store and how amazing these new computers are—well gather up the whole realm of computers and try to figure out how much information is contained in all of that, then we probably have a drop in the bucket of the Infinite Mind of God. And that might be an exaggeration. That might be an exaggeration. That might be giving too much to the computers and not enough to God, because He is Brilliant. He is Brilliant.
Einstein, amongst men, was brilliant. People with super I.Q.’s, amongst men, yes, you can shine. You can know a lot compared to other human beings, to other people. I know that it does not take much for others to shine around me. People can certainly shine, intellectually, amongst others, and that leads to some pride amongst some, where they are proud that they put forth effort and they studied and they became a doctor or a lawyer or a scientist or one of the more intelligent professions that you really have to put forth some mental effort into becoming something like that.
But as soon as we start talking about God and His thoughts in comparison to our thoughts, then there is no comparison, as it says here in Isaiah 55:9:
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
So as we know that the stars are out there, millions upon millions upon millions of miles from the earth, that distance, if you could measure it, is the difference between man’s thinking and God’s thinking, between the Bible and any other book in the world, between the Word of God, because God is the Author of the Bible, and anything known to man. This is God’s record of His thoughts. This is His Word. This is His communication to us.
So God is really, here, telling man, “If you think that you can understand this Book, if you think that with your mind and with your reasoning power and your ability to learn something, that you can come to the Bible and really know it by your own effort and thinking, you are fooling yourself.” You are fooling yourself. You might as well give a law book, or a whole volume of law books, to an ant and say, “Here, learn what is in these books. Learn what is in these books and then come tell me everything that you find in these books.” Or, give a medical book to a dog or a cat and say, “You study this book because after you are done reading it, we have an operation for you to perform.”
That is how it is. It sounds ridiculous, but that is how it is to give somebody, a man, a Bible and say, “Okay, you learn the Gospel based on your own understanding and your own reasoning power and then you go teach the Gospel to others.”
No. If it seems ridiculous for a tiny creature to learn what men have developed out of their own minds, like law and medicine and things like that, how more ridiculous is it for someone to think that through their mind that they can understand the Bible, that they can decipher the Word of God and then they can teach it? God is spelling that out here.
Then in Isaiah 55:10-11, it goes on to say:
For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
Here, in verse 10, God is likening the rain to His Word. We know that we are living in the time of the “latter rain.” Well, where did that expression come from? It came from the Bible, because God, here in Isaiah 55 says, “As the rain...and snow...so shall My Word,” and there are other verses like that, too, where God equates them or ties them together. And so we see that the rain and snow are pictures, they are types of the Word of God, and we are living in the time of the “latter rain” when God is going to pour out His blessings through His Word to the world.
But here, it is interesting that the rain falls, it “watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud,” and this gives “seed to the sower, and bread to the eater.” This reminds us of the parable that I would like to take a look at. It is in three of the Gospels, but let us go to Matthew 13. It is the parable of the sower. It says in Matthew 13:3-13:
And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; and when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: and when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: but other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
Here, Jesus is giving a parable, and Jesus is God. He is the God of Isaiah 55, the One whose thoughts are higher than our thoughts, and He is relating a parable to the people. The disciples come and they ask Him, “Why do You speak in parables? Why speak in parables?” And then He said, “To you it is given to know the mysteries, but to others,” basically He is saying, “it is not given.”
So they are going to hear it and yet not understand. They are not going to understand, and that is basically how it is with people who hear the Word of God physically with their ears but they do not comprehend on a deeper level. They have no real understanding of what the Bible is saying, which we can understand because no man can understand the Bible of them self.
And this is the chapter, if you go down to Matthew 13:34, that says:
All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them:
“Spake He not unto them...without a parable,” and this was Christ’s teaching style. This was His way of communicating, but Jesus is the Word. Jesus is the Word of God. So when we come to the Bible, this is God’s way of communicating, this is God’s way of teaching. It is through parables. Remember, we read in Hebrews 10, “In the volume of the Book it is written of Me,” and Christ is the Word Himself.
So wherever we are reading in the Bible, if there is not a plain Gospel statement dealing with salvation or redemption, or something like that, if there is not a plain statement, then we are to look for a deeper, spiritual, parabolic meaning—a Gospel meaning. And we can give many examples of how this is done in the Bible, time and again.
For instance, let us go to Leviticus 14 and read a few verses there, beginning in verse 1. Leviticus 14:1-8:
And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: he shall be brought unto the priest: and the priest shall go forth out of the camp; and the priest shall look, and, behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper; then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: and the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water: as for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water: and he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field. And he that is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water, that he may be clean: and after that he shall come into the camp, and shall tarry abroad out of his tent seven days.
Now here are some laws given regarding a “leper in the day of his cleansing.” And, spiritually, what it means is that the leper or leprosy points to sin. It points to sin. Whenever we read about leprosy, or at least the majority of times, it points to sin. A “leper in the day of his cleansing” was to be “brought unto the priest.”
The “priest” is a type and figure of the Lord Jesus Christ, and Christ is the One who pronounces the “leper” clean. Here, we see that there will be a sacrifice performed with the birds. Again, the sacrifice points to Christ’s death, His sacrifice for His people.
You see, here, there is nothing in Leviticus 14 that says any of that: that leprosy is sin, that the priest represents the Christ, that the cleansing is a picture of salvation and the washing away of sin. Nothing here says that.
And if some people heard me say that, some theologians or pastors, they would be shocked. They would be shocked, “You can not do that. You can not make those kinds of statements. You have to look at what the Bible says. God is speaking about lepers because He has a concern for the whole body of man, as well as the soul, and God is just saying that on the day of the cleansing of the leper, these laws were to be put into place. Historically, this is how it would have to be worked out. And morally, we can gather that God is very concerned about mankind. He is concerned when people have physical ailments.”
They might glean a few other things, they might be able to teach a few other things, but they are not going to make those associations that I just made—no way—because you do not find that in the text. You do not find it here at all.
But let us go to Luke 17. It says in Luke 17:11-14:
And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: and they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go show yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.
You see how that ties in with Leviticus 14? What did Leviticus 14 say? A leper in the day of his cleansing was to go to the priest, and the priest would perform a sacrifice with the birds and pronounce him clean, if he were truly cleansed from his leprosy.
Well, Jesus is referring to that law. Here are ten others and they are standing afar off, and He is telling them, “Go to the priest.” Maybe they knew this law in Leviticus 14 or maybe they heard that Jesus was just a powerful prophet who could perform miracles and they wanted to do whatever He said, but they obeyed. They listened and they went to the priest. They went, because it goes on here, let me read verse 14 again. Luke 17:14-16:
And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go show yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.
So they obeyed, they went, these ten men. And as they went—we do not know how far it was—but as they were traveling to the priest, their leprosy was healed, they were cleansed, and so they had skin like a baby again—skin like a baby, compared to that ugly deforming disease of leprosy, where your digits could fall off and so forth.
They were cleansed of that plague, and so nine of them continued on. Nine of them continued on. There was only one who was disobedient. There was only one who did not listen. There was only one who, we would think, should have been condemned because the Law said, “In the day of your cleansing, go show yourself to the priest.”
Jesus said, “Go show yourselves to the priest,” reiterating the Law in Leviticus 14, and one, who was a stranger, a Samaritan, comes back, falls down at Christ’s feet, and thanks Him. He thanks Him.
The other nine are on their journey, “I know what Christ said. I know what the Bible says in Leviticus 14:2, ‘A leper in the day of his cleansing. Go to the priest.’”
“No, no, no, no. Let us go back to Jesus,” perhaps the Samaritan could have said. “Let us go back to Jesus. He cleansed us. Let us go back to Him and thank Him.”
“No. We were told, and we have to listen literally to what the Bible says, to what the Word says.” But Christ is the Word. “We have to obey literally. Let us continue on.”
Nine of them continued. One went back and fell on his face, and he was a Samaritan.
Then in Luke 17:17:
And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?
They are lost. They are lost in a literal understanding. They are lost in taking the plain meaning of Scripture and no other meaning. They are lost in not searching for the deeper spiritual meaning of the Word of God. And in doing so, they fail to give glory to God, and that is what it says. Luke 17:18-19:
There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.
Can we not gather then that Leviticus 14, which gives no clue, is really talking about sin? When it is speaking of leprosy, it is talking about man’s sinfulness? That the priests, when it is talking about the priest, it is referring to the Lord Jesus Christ? And the cleansing is referring to the salvation of God, when Christ saves us?
It is not there, but as we study the Bible, as we compare Scripture with Scripture and harmonize our conclusions and we look for that deeper spiritual meaning, we find that, in this case, it is the more important meaning, not the surface command.
If you go show yourself to the priest, you do not give glory to God. “But I am obeying the command! You can not say that I am not obeying the command.”
On one level, but on a deeper level, when the command really is focused on Christ, you disobeyed. You went to men and not to God. You went away from God. You went away from the Lord Jesus Christ.
You see, Leviticus 14 is a parable. It is a parable. Genesis, the book of Genesis, the history of the Bible, is written in historical parables. When people fail to understand that, they fail to give glory to God.
Okay, going back to Matthew 13, as Christ is speaking a parable, then later (in Mark 4), He also makes the statement, “Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?,” because God is teaching us, through this parable, how He wrote the Bible, how He gave us His Word.
In Matthew 13:4:
And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:
This parable is also found over in Luke. If we go to Luke 8, here in verse 4, it is a parallel passage. Luke 8:4-5:
And when much people were gathered together, and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable: A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it.
Now skip down to verses 11 and 12, where it is going to explain that verse. Luke 8:11-12:
Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.
“The seed is the Word of God.” The grounds that we read about “by the way side”—the stony ground, the thorns, and the good ground—are really all talking about the heart of man, the heart of people.
Do you know that in the time that we have spent here, while I read Leviticus or I read Luke or I read Matthew 13 and we are now reading Luke 8, it is all seed? We have been casting seed.
It is God who works through His people. He is the sower who sows, but He uses His people to perform the duty of it, the task. So, here and there and there, seed, falling on the hearts, falling on the hearers.
You do not even have to be here. People on Paltalk also, it is seed of the Word of God. Whenever anyone hears the Gospel, they hear the Word. There is seed falling, which is the Word of God. And the Word of God is Pure. It is incorruptible seed. There is nothing wrong with the seed.
When we are growing things in our garden—I have been learning a lot about this as Maria has been making a garden lately and she is doing a very good job—as we are growing things in the garden and things are shooting up, beautiful flowers or grass or whatever it is, you throw all kinds of seed out there. You try to prepare the ground first. You get rid of the rocks and get rid of tree roots or weeds, or things like that, and you throw them out.
The difference here, this sower is sowing indiscriminately. He is throwing it on rocks. He is throwing it by the wayside. He is throwing it amongst thorns. And he is throwing it on good ground.
Of course, a farmer would try to do as little of that as possible. He would prepare the ground so that it would be good.
But, you see, with spiritual things, we do not know where the “good ground” is. We do not know what ground is going to take root, where fruit is going to come forth. And so, we do it indiscriminately. We just throw handfuls of seed out there, and it lands where it lands, according to God’s purpose, His will, His mercy, His grace—His salvation plan. It is just the believer’s task to sow, to just keep throwing the seed, and where it falls is completely in God’s control.
Now God does tell us, if you go to 2 Corinthians 9, He does give us a very important principle in verse 6. 2 Corinthians 9:6:
But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.
And so we want to share as much of the Bible as possible, which is basically what that is saying. We want to be about the business of sowing seed, of casting forth the seed of the Word of God bountifully, because we will reap bountifully.
Now we can sow sparingly. We can sow sparingly. Some people do that, I think, when they get up in the morning and they are so busy and so rushed that they read for five minutes. I have been guilty of that. They read the Bible for five minutes, or maybe they have a home devotion with their family and it is very short and maybe not very often. That is sowing sparingly.
But, you see, God would encourage us to sow bountifully, to have a regular time of reading the Bible with our children, with our family, and to have a prolonged period of time.
And we have to remember, there is nothing wrong with the seed. This seed is “quick, and powerful.” It is alive and it can bring to life dead things. It can really bring forth “fruit” in the hearts of people, and it has been doing this throughout history.
And God is saying that this is the time of the “latter rain,” and the “rain” is falling. And what does the “rain” accomplish? It gives “seed to the sower, and bread to the eater.”
And so, if there is bountiful “rain” and there is bountiful “seed” that we can be sending out, that we can be casting forth into the world or into our own families or into our own heart, into our own life, God is telling us this. And we do not know, as we send it out, who is going to be blessed or who is going to have other things come up to destroy the seed. There is nothing wrong with the seed. The seed is Perfect. It is Good Seed.
You could possibly go to the store to buy seed because you want to plant flowers or vegetables or something, but then there is something wrong with the seed. It is not your fault. You did everything right. There is just something not quite right with that seed. You got a bad bag of seed.
Not in this case. We know that for sure. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the Bible, as long as we are allowing the Bible to do the teaching and we get out of the way and we are not sowing “mingled seed,” as long as we are not sowing “mingled seed” in the field, where there is some grace and some works. No. It is all grace. It is all of God. It is all His saving. When anyone becomes saved, it is not “mingled seed.” It is pure. It is pure seed.
If we go to Ecclesiastes 11, we read another verse that relates to this. In Ecclesiastes 11:6, it says:
In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.
In the morning, read the Bible. In the evening, read the Bible or be about the business of sending the Bible out. We do not know. We do not know.
It could be up until today, somebody has been under the hearing of the Bible all of their life, whether a child or a teen or an adult or an older person. All of their life, they have been hearing Family Radio. They have been hearing the Gospel, the true Gospel—perfect seed, all grace, not “mingled seed”—but all of their life, there has been something to “choke the Word.” Just something—there have been some cares, some desiring after other things, the lust of the world, seeking the pleasures of life, there have been all of these things that destroy the seed.
Well, we keep sowing. A father or a mother keeps reading the Bible to the children, and we keep praying, “Oh, Lord. Prepare this ground. Prepare this ground. Make it good ground. Make it right ground so that this time in the morning”...and, you know, how do we know? How do we know, not right now, not right this minute? How do we know that some of the Scripture we read or when we are traveling in the car back home and the “Family Bible Study” is on or “Open Forum” is on or a verse is mentioned, how do we know that is not the particular seed that is going to take root, that is going to get into an area of good ground and is going to grow and going to bring forth “fruit unto eternal life”? We do not know. We do not know.
That is what God is saying here in Ecclesiastes 11, where He is saying that we do not know “whether they both shall be alike good.” So that is encouragement to us to keep ministering the Gospel, to keep sharing the Word of God, to keep sowing seed.
Going back to Luke 8, it says in Luke 8:6:
And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture.
The explanation of that is found in verse 13. Luke 8:13:
They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.
So that is the seed that is falling on a rock, and that is the nature of our hearts. We have hearts of stone, the Bible says, and unless God does something about that, all seed would fall on a stony heart. It would all fall on a rock, and yet, I think many of us have met people who were very excited when they heard the Gospel, very excited, “Oh, praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!,” and full of joy. Then after a little while, where did they go? Where did they go? They went away. Then went away because they heard the Word—and believe me, there is every reason to be joyful about the Word of God and to praise God for His salvation—but, you see, their heart got in the way. There could be no growth upon a stony heart, and so they had no root. Jesus is the “root of Jesse” and the “stem of Jesse.” He is the Root that must be in the heart of an individual, if there is to be spiritual growth and if there is to be salvation.
Then in Luke 8:7, it goes on to say:
And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it.
“And choked it.” I mentioned that my wife has been growing a garden. We had a friend stop by yesterday who knows a lot about gardens, and she went over to this one plant that we have by the gate. It has been there ever since we have been there, like 15 years. She is not a believer, but she bent down and she started taking up all of these weeds and saying, “You know, this is choking your plant.”
She used those very words, and I had been studying this and my wife came up and told me that she said that, and I said, “Oh, really?” “Yes, the weeds are choking your plant, stunting its growth, and if you keep it like that, it is going to die,” that is what she said. Then she pulled them all out.
That is exactly, I think, the problem with many Christians, many Christians. There is nothing wrong with the Word. There is nothing wrong with the Gospel, but something is choking it—choking it.
Look down at Luke 8:14:
And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.
“Cares and riches and pleasures,” and in another parallel passage it speaks of “the lusts of other things.” So there are cares, there are troubles, and we know there are. We know there are! There are all kinds of troubles in this world, for every one of us, and yet God says, “Be careful for nothing.”
“Be careful for nothing.” Why? Well, one good reason is that cares “choke the Word.” Cares strangle the Word so that there can be no fruit. If we are anxious, if we are fearful, if we are worried about this world and what is coming or what is going on in our life, yes, we keep listening to the Bible, we keep listening to the Bible and we do not turn Family Radio off, but what is going on in our mind? Cares and troubles and anxieties, and so, these, too, are not compatible.
So God says, “Be careful for nothing.” “Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you,” is what the Bible says, in order that the Word can flourish and the Word can really begin to grown. Be anxious for nothing.
And then it goes on to say in Luke 8:14:
...and are choked with cares and riches...
“And riches.” In one of the other parallel passages, it says “deceitfulness of riches” because we could be striving, we can be desirous to make money and all the things that money brings. We want these things, we desire these things, we want to live a comfortable life, and yet the “deceitfulness of riches” is going to “choke the Word.”
“Well, I can not really go out too much to share the Gospel because I have to work so much.” Or, “They are offering overtime on Sunday, and you get double time on that day, so I really have to work on Sunday.” You know, these kinds of things will “choke the Word.”
Finally, it says in Luke 8:14:
...and pleasures of this life...
“Pleasures of this life” also “choke the Word.”
You know, I heard Robert mention a couple of weeks ago, when he did a study about games, where teenagers were playing games. Unfortunately, I think that can play a big part in choking the Word.
They are hearing the Gospel. They are hearing the Truth, and yet, there is so much time devoted to this, or other things in this life. And it is not just that, there are all kinds of things. There are computers. There are movies. There is television. There are games. There are all the things that we have today that, many of them, the world never had to deal with, but today they are available.
So there are all kinds of pleasures that take our time, that distract us from what is really important, which is our relationship to God. If we are saved or not saved, if we are going to enter into Heaven or be destroyed, these things are the most important things.
As we are going along and time is getting less and less, it is becoming all the more important that these types of things, these wastes of time, really be rooted out and dug out of someone’s life so that they can focus on the Word of God.
Actually, Moses had to deal with that kind of question, if you remember. In Hebrews 11:24-26, it says:
By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.
That was the same thing, in one way. The world had its pleasures then. The world has its pleasures now, even though they are much more magnified today. And yet, Moses, he really was faced with the temptation of being a ruler in Egypt and having great riches in that country. And yet, he, by God’s grace, refused to be called “the son of Pharaoh’s daughter” and chose rather “to suffer affliction” than to enjoy these things just for “a season.”
That is what it is coming down to. We are coming down to just “a season,” just “a season.” Well, there are three more years—summer, fall, winter, spring, summer, fall, winter, spring, summer, fall, winter, spring. That is it! That is it! “A season.”
And when we get down to that very last season, this verse really takes on more of a literal meaning, does it not? But yet, it has always meant man’s lifespan, his duration of time on earth, where he is choosing, like Esau, to go after these things, rather than the blessing of God, and he is despising his birthright in doing so.
Okay. We will stop here and close with a word of prayer, and then we will have a time of lunch.
Dear Heavenly Father, we do thank You for the Bible, and, Father, we thank You for the Holy Spirit that guides us into truth. We thank You that You open our understanding to reveal things to us that, of ourselves, we could never know everything. And, Father, we thank You for the Word and for the possibility of salvation, how at any point, at any time, You could bring increase. We are involved with planting and watering, but it is You who must give the increase. And so we do pray that You would have mercy on those who are under the hearing of the Word and on all of us, that we would prune the garden of our lives and that we would weed out things that are choking the Word so that there might be more fruit. And we ask for Your direction in this and for Your strength. And we pray these things in Christ’s Name. Amen.
We will have questions and answers, if there are any, and then we will sing a hymn. Does anyone have anything you would like to ask or a comment you would like to make? You are welcome at this time, whether here or on Paltalk. You can raise your hand, and we will take your question.
1st Question: In what way were the other nine lepers cleansed?
Chris: Well, the other nine lepers were physically cleansed. So they were healed of their leprosy, physically. But, you see, God is using a picture of leprosy to represent sin. And when He says (in Luke 17:18) of the one who returned, the Samaritan:
There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.
He actually does save this man, because it says in the next verse:
Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.
So Christ did give him salvation, and that is what it is all a picture of. But the important thing is that whenever someone says, “Well, you have to take the literal meaning,” I would go here. I would go here, because it shows that if you do follow the literal meaning, you are failing to give glory to God.
Or if anyone says, “Well, coming out of Babylon is not a command to me. How does that affect me? Or fleeing Judaea to the mountains? How does that impact me? That is talking about the Jews or that is talking about Babylon.”
The spiritual meaning is of great importance, and we are obligated to obey it. “Well, I do not understand the spiritual meaning.” Because of our sin, we do not understand the spiritual meaning. It does not mean that we are still not obligated to obey it.
So if God says, “Come out of her, My people,” and He is giving that command in a veiled way, in parabolic language, like we find in Revelation, it does not mean that someone can just say, “I do not understand it. It is spiritual language, so I do not have to follow it and I do not have to obey it.”
That will not allow someone to be disobedient in that area. God will still hold them accountable for obeying that command.
Okay, anybody else?
2nd Question: I was kind of curious about that statement, “lacked moisture,” in that one verse.
Chris: In Luke 8? Okay. Let us go back to Luke 8:6:
And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture.
Seed is amazing. Seed does try to grow wherever it is found or wherever it falls. It fell on a rock and so it did spring up, but its root could not go very deep. And then when the sun is up, it is going to wither because it lacks moisture and it can not get into the ground very well where there would be a lot of moisture to keep it strong and alive.
That is, again, pointing to Jesus. It is pointing to Christ, as, yes, there is the water of the Gospel, but there is that water that flows when Christ saves someone, and I think that this is related to that.
Okay. Anyone else? Let us close with a hymn.