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Making Sure You Are
Part Of The Kingdom Of God
In the
beginning of the beginnings, God the Father, God
the Son and God the Spirited and were at peace.
Then God created the angels, and at first there
was peace. Then a great rebellion took place in
Heaven and the unity of the universe was fractured.
It has been divided into two kingdoms that are
at war. There is the kingdom of God and the kingdom
of the Adversary. One is a kingdom of light and
truth and goodness and life, and one is a dominion
of darkness, chaos, confusion, rebellion and death.
In the
kingdom of God, the Creator rules His subjects
according to His good will. In the dominion of
darkness, the Prince of Darkness rules his subjects.
This war
will eventually end. The kingdom of God will triumph
over the kingdom of the Adversary. All evil will
be completely eliminated, and peace and life will
be restored to the entire universe.
Mankind’s
great problem is that because of the Fall, human
beings are born into the dominion of darkness.
If we do nothing, we remain part of the kingdom
of the Adversary and share in the ultimate destiny
of that Prince and his kingdom - rejection by
God, followed by punishment and eternal destruction
in the Lake of Fire.
We must
do something - something radical, something transformational
in order to leave the kingdom of darkness and
enter to the kingdom of God.
Messiah
Yeshua knew that it is essential that we become
faithful subjects of the King before we leave
this world, and He communicated this need to others.
Soon
afterwards, He began going around from one city
and village to another, proclaiming and preaching
the kingdom of God.
Yeshua
proclaimed the message that God is real and He
has a kingdom that is real! God is a good and
wise and holy and eternal King. He created human
beings in His image, and is grieved over our alienation
from Him. We are estranged from the King and need
to be reconciled to Him. This great king loves
us and wants us to become part of His good and
beneficial kingdom, and rule over us forever and
ever, but for that to happen, we must end our
rebellion! We must put an end to our rebellious
ways.
We must
acknowledge that the Lord is the King, and start
doing things the King’s way. We need to turn away
from our rebellion, our sins, our self-will, and
commit ourselves to do the will of the King.
To help
us overcome the forces of Satan, sin and death,
and become part of the kingdom of God, the High
King, God the Father, sent His Son, King Yeshua,
into this world. We must recognize and welcome
the King Messiah that God sent. It is King Messiah
who makes reconciliation with God, salvation,
entrance into the kingdom of God possible for
those who know this and are faithful to this.
An unusual
entourage accompanied King Yeshua as He went from
city to village, telling people about the kingdom
of God.
The
twelve were with Him, and also some women who
had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses:
Mary who was called Magdalene, from whom seven
demons had gone out, and Joanna the wife of Chuza,
Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others
who were contributing to their support out of
their private means.
You might
think that King Yeshua wouldn’t be interested
in women, because they didn’t have much social
or political power. If He was interested in them,
you might think that King Yeshua would only be
interested in women who were rich and who could
support Him - but Rabbi Yeshua was interested
in rich women and poor women, women from high
social levels, and low social levels. He was interested
in them because He knew that they are made in
the image of God, and are therefore exceedingly
precious and valuable. They were worth His time,
His attention, His interest. They too must enter
the kingdom of God.
I think
it was very unusual for women to follow a rabbi
around from place to place like this. But, Rabbi
King Yeshua was different from most rabbis. He
interacted with women and allowed women to be
part of his traveling entourage.
Some women
traveled with the Rabbi and helped out and supported
Him and His male disciples as Yeshua was telling
the Jewish people about the kingdom of God.
That tells
us that women are very important to Yeshua and
to God, and can make valuable contributions to
the mission. Even though women are very important
to God and the work of the ministry, women were
not the leaders then and are not to be the leaders
now. Leadership is reserved for the men.
Next Luke
gives us one of the longest and most important
of Yeshua’s teachings - the Parable of the
Four Soils. Its length tells us that this
teaching is important. Its subject - how to become
part of the kingdom of God, is also very very
important.
When
a large crowd was coming together, and those from
the various cities were journeying to Him
(again, Yeshua was very popular. He was making
a tremendous impact on the Chosen Nation).
Yeshua
was a very great evangelist - perhaps the greatest
ever. Not only did He take the initiative to go
from city to village, bringing the good news about
entering God’s kingdom, but many were coming to
Him from everywhere! This is the way to engage
in evangelism. You don’t wait for people to come
to you. If you first go them, you will find that
they are more likely to come to you. If you will
not go to them, they are less likely to come to
you.
When a
large crowd came together, He spoke by way
of a parable. A parable is short story that
is designed to make a comparison and teach a lesson.
The
sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed,
some fell beside the road, and it was trampled
under foot and the birds of the air ate it up.
Other
seed fell on rocky soil, and as soon as it grew
up, it withered away, because it had no moisture.
Other
seed fell among the thorns; and the thorns grew
up with it and choked it out.
Other
seed fell into the good soil, and grew up, and
produced a crop a hundred times as great.
As
He said these things, He would call out, "He
who has ears to hear, let him hear."
His
disciples began questioning Him as to what this
parable meant. And He said, "To you it has
been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom
of God, but to the rest it is in parables, so
that seeing they may not see, and hearing they
may not understand.
A mystery
is a kind of hidden knowledge that is being revealed.
In this parable, King Yeshua is revealing knowledge
about how men and women enter the kingdom of God.
He is revealing these truths to help many human
beings make sure that they really enter God’s
kingdom.
Why did
the King speak in parables and not in a straightforward
way? He spoke in parables because He wants those
who are committed to Him and committed to the
truth to know the mysteries of the kingdom of
God - especially how to enter God’s kingdom. But
to those who are not His followers and are not
committed to the truth that He teaches - they
are better off if they don’t learn these mysteries.
They are better off seeing they may not see,
and hearing they may not understand.
Ray Stedman
helps us understand this. “It’s not that Yeshua
doesn't want human beings to turn to God and be
saved. It’s not that He is hiding truth so that
they won't turn to God and be forgiven. That can’t
be what this means. God’s will is that all men
turn to God and come to a saving knowledge of
the truth.
To understand
what Yeshua means we must know that Messiah is
not originating this statement. He is quoting
from the book of Isaiah. Yeshua is speaking in
parables because what happened in the time of
Isaiah is happening again. History is repeating
itself. In Isaiah's day, the hearts of the majority
of the Jewish people had grown insensitive to
God, their ears dull, and their eyes dim. Who
closed the eyes of the majority of the Jewish
people in the days of Isaiah? Not God. The people
closed them. And why did they close their eyes?
Because the majority didn't want to turn to God
with all their hearts and souls. And the same
thing was happening in the days of Yeshua”.
Yeshua
spoke in parables because He knew that hearing
the truth clearly spoken without the willingness
to put the truth into practice, makes a person’s
spiritual condition worse. Hearing the truth and
then rejecting the truth results in greater judgment.
The more you know, the guiltier you are if you
don’t act on that knowledge. A person is better
off never hearing the truth, than hearing the
truth and rejecting it.
Speaking
in parables was the Rabbi’s way of not throwing
pearls in front of pigs. It should be understood
as Yeshua’s wisdom and mercy - trying to prevent
human beings from rejecting truth and becoming
guiltier and incurring a greater judgment.
We too
need wisdom so that we don’t throw our pearls
of truth before the swine of indifference. We
want to communicate so that we enlighten the committed,
but don’t add judgment to the uncommitted.
But, those
who are committed to the King and the truth He
brings need to know the meaning of the parable
of the four soils, which Yeshua provided. Now
the parable is this:
The
seed is the word of God. The seed is truth
about God, truth about His kingdom, truth about
our need for salvation, truth about Yeshua being
the way to enter God’s Kingdom. These truths are
simple yet extremely powerful. These truths can
make a life-changing and eternity-changing impact
on the life of an individual.
The
sower is anyone who brings the truth about
the kingdom of God and Yeshua and salvation to
human beings.
The seed
remains the same in all four situations. The sower
remains the same in all four situations. The thing
that is different are the responses. Human beings
will respond to the truth about God and Yeshua
and salvation in four different ways. The different
responses to the truth are the four kinds of soil.
The
First Response To The Truth Is The Soil Beside
The Road: This Group Has No Commitment To The
Truth
Those
beside the road are those who have heard; then
the devil comes and takes away the word from their
heart, so that they will not believe and be saved.
Soil that
is right beside the road is packed down. The seed
can’t get into the soil to geminate. It remains
on the surface of the hard soil, where it was
destroyed by people who ignored the truth and
walked on it. It was also eaten by the birds,
which are Satan and the demons, who are able to
immediately take away the truth.
This tells
us something very instructive about the activity
of the fallen angels. God is graciously at work,
using human beings who know Him to bring human
beings who don’t know Him, the truth that can
save them. The truth will come from personal contact
from one human being to another. The truth will
come through conversations and sermons, through
drama, film, music and art. The truth will be
proclaimed by means of radio, TV, the Internet,
books, magazines, pamphlets, CDs and other media.
At the
same time that God is bringing truth to people,
the Adversary of God and his demonic assistants
are doing what they can to keep human beings away
from the truth. The fallen angels will try to
keep human beings in a state of ignorance and
unbelief. They will use distractions like pleasure
and entertainments. They will use false religions
and philosophies to confuse and suppress the truth.
They will use fear and intimidation to keep people
from the truth. By these and other methods, they
try to keep people from the truth, and in many
cases, are very successful.
So, the
first response is those human beings who hear
the truth but immediately reject the truth that
can save them, and so they remain part of the
kingdom of darkness. They will be judged and condemned.
The
Second Response To The Truth Is The Seed On Rocky
Soil: This Group Has Shallow Commitment That Does
Not Endure
The second
group have a different initial response, but the
outcome is the same. These people hear the truth
about God, the Good News about salvation, about
forgiveness, and atonement, about Heaven, about
living eternally with God, about having peace
and joy, and it all sounds so good! And they immediately
receive the truth with delight! Those on the
rocky soil are those who, when they hear, receive
the word with joy.
But their
story doesn’t end there. Unpleasant things happen
to them and they turn away from the truth. And
these have no firm root; they believe for a while,
and in time of temptation fall away. This
group are like soil that is on top of a layer
of rock. The seed is able to get in the soil and
germinate and start growing a little plant, but
the young plant is unable to sink its roots deep
in the shallow soil. Because the roots are unable
to go down deep enough to remain cool and have
enough water to sustain the plant, when the sun
comes up the plant dies.
The problem
with this group is shallow commitment to the truth.
They are committed to the truth, to God and to
Messiah and salvation and Heaven and eternal life
as long as this commitment doesn’t cause them
discomfort - which it will. Persecution, testing,
trials are part of the normal experience of the
sons and daughters of God. But when that happens,
those with shallow commitment turn away from the
truth.
Although
they may have received the truth for a while,
their faith wasn’t genuine, saving belief, because
true believers remain with the truth. True believers
persevere. True believers endure to the end and
are saved. These people are ultimately no better
off than the people in the first group who immediately
rejected the truth and did not believe and will
not be saved.
We help
this group by telling people not only the Good
News - the good and positive aspects that result
from the truth, but also the bad news - the difficulties
that embracing the truth in a fallen, demonically
controlled world, will bring.
We should
tell people that embracing the truth that will
save them doesn’t guarantee them a problem-free
life in this world. We need to tell them that
there is a cost to discipleship. The cost will
be temptations and trials, problems and persecutions
- but the cost is well worth paying for the eternal
reward that is gained!
We should
also tell them that God’s grace will be sufficient
to meet their needs, and help them overcome their
trials and problems, and keep them alive until
they complete their mission; and then they will
die and rise again to live forever in God’s eternal
kingdom!
The
Third Response To The Truth Is The Seed Among
The Thorns: This Group Has Confused Commitment
The third
group are people who respond to the truth, and
remain with the truth for a longer period of time,
but because they lose focus, and get distracted
by other things, they don’t succeed, and the eventual
outcome for them is the same as the first two
groups - remaining part of the dominion of darkness.
The
seed which fell among the thorns, these are the
ones who have heard, and as they go on their way
they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures
of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity.
These
people hear the truth and respond to it. But,
over time, these people lose their focus. They
get distracted and entangled by the things of
the world, by materialism, by the desire for a
comfortable life, by money and status and power.
They lose
their first love. They don’t keep their eye focused
on Yeshua. They lose that singleness of sight
which is so important. They become double-minded.
They start
to desire other things more than serving God and
following Messiah and embracing His mission, His
goals, His agenda, His message. They want to pursue
the world and Heaven, God and money, the spirit
and the flesh. Eventually, they turn away from
God and Messiah and Messiah’s mission and their
commitment to the truth ends.
We should
never cater to this desire to mix the message
of Messianic salvation with a message of materialism
- that the truth will make you richer or your
life easier or more comfortable. But, the loathsome
and corrupt and perverse and damnable “Prosperity
Teaching” does just that. It is better named,
“The Gospel Of The Seed Among The Thorns” or “The
Deceitfulness of Riches Gospel”.
Don’t
get distracted from the truth. Stay focused on
serving the King, on doing His will, on Messiah’s
mission, on your spiritual duties and responsibilities.
Stay on target. Stay on task! Stay the course!
This third
group may endure longer than the second group
- who quickly fell away - but this group of people
also never produce the desired result. They produce
no fruit. Their lives are ultimately unfruitful,
unproductive failures. Their fruitless lives show
over time that they didn’t have genuine faith
that will save them.
Finally,
we come to the fourth group, the response we want
to make sure we have made. The fourth group are
those who hear the truth about the kingdom of
God, Messiah, salvation, eternal life in the New
Jerusalem, and accept the truth, and act on the
truth and stay committed to the truth throughout
their lives, and proved that they are really sons
and daughters of the King of Heaven.
The
Fourth Response To The Truth Is The Seed In The
Good Soil: This Group Has Full Commitment And
Are Marvelously And Eternally Saved!
But
the seed in the good soil, these are the ones
who have heard the word in an honest and good
heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance.
These
are the ones who hear the truth about God, Messiah,
salvation, eternal life; they hear and recognize
the truth, and accept the truth and stay committed
to the truth throughout their lives - through
joy and sadness; though good times and bad times;
through times of victory and times of disappointment.
They find
out that the Bible is divinely inspired and true
and they believe it and stick with it. They stay
close to God, and cling to Messiah Yeshua. They
embrace Messiah’s teachings, and goals, and values
and agenda. They become committed disciples and
followers and take up Yeshua’s great mission to
bring the truth to the rest of the world. They
don’t get distracted by persecutions, or by the
worries of the world, or by riches and pleasures
of this life.
What makes
the difference between remaining part of the Kingdom
of darkness and sharing its destiny, or becoming
part of the kingdom of God and living forever?
It is simply hearing the simple Gospel, the Good
News, the truth about God and Yeshua and salvation,
and accepting the truth, and living your life
in accord with the truth for the rest of your
life.
The people
in the first group, who have no commitment to
the truth, are not saved. Despite their initial,
limited reception of the truth, the people in
the second and third groups are not saved either.
It is those who prove by commitment and adherence
to the truth throughout their lives that they
are genuine disciples. It is those who despite
trials and temptation, endure to the end, who
are saved.
One final
thought: We should understand that many who “make
decisions”, who “prayer the prayer of salvation”,
will prove over time that they never ever entered
the Kingdom of God. It’s not always possible to
tell at first who are the true disciples, who
are the real sons and daughters of God, and who
are not, since many will show initial enthusiasm,
but make shallow commitments, or confused commitments,
and then fall away from the saving truth. Time
and circumstances will reveal the wheat from the
tares.
May the
Living God give each one of us the grace to reflect
on the four soils, and examine our lives, and
make the necessary changes to ensure that we are
true citizens of the Kingdom of God!
And, may
each one of us be good and faithful sowers of
the seed of truth that alone can save human beings!
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