In this way, Christ pictures a hard-hearted individual. He is utterly selfish and has no capacity for self-denial. Let us mentally picture this type of individual. He has a quickness of perception. He quickly takes hold of the Word. This type of individual is often heard 'shouting' in the service on Sunday, but we seldom see him in prayer meeting. Why? He has no depth, true root, or love of God in his heart. His is just a light, 'emotional case.' Beneath the surface the heart is still hard and 'cold as a rock.'

In the 11th chapter of Ezekial and the 19th verse, God says, of the people in the time of Christ's coming, that He will give them one heart and a new spirit. "I'll take, the stony heart out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh." Proverbs, the 4th chapter, 23rd verse: "Out of the heart are the Issues of life." The heart, is the 'core of the whole.' If we have people with a new heart, we won't have so many old issues…(smile). When we have a new heart, we will receive a 'new issue.' Paul says this, when he explained that, "if any man be in Christ Jesus he Is a new creature." Old things are passed away and behold all have become new. When He gives us 'one heart,' we will 'act alike' -- we'll be 'one.' "…I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh: That they may walk in my statutes…" This new heart will help them to walk in His statutes and keep his ordinances and to do them. People who have a new heart will walk in His statutes and keep His ordinances. He will be their God.

There are some other stones. In the 63rd chapter of Isaiah, God gave a commission to the ministry. It takes the love of God in man to pour out the wrath of God on a false spirit and a false system and yet have enough love of God so that the man you are preaching to will know you love him as you are preaching to him.

One of the dangers of today Is that the enemy will strive to get people to compromise, apostacize, and turn from truth, and then, he'll get other people to dislike them and look down on them. You must love them. If a brother errs in the truth, God orders us to work to convert him, not to brush him off and say we are no longer a brother of his. This 'groupitis' is the worst affliction that ever hit God's people. They sometimes come up and say, "what group are you with?' I am a member of that group in the 14th and 15th chapters of Revelation; it is the one that follows the Lamb withersoever He goeth. It is the one standing on the sea of glass mingled with fire with victory over the beast and his image and his mark, and the number of his name. That takes care of any of the devils work that he has come up with or that he can come up with.

The devil works today (if we're not careful), in a way that will do a destructive and terrible thing to the Body of Christ. We do not need to put any feeling in this. God put enough in it. If you pour this Word on a man, if he is guilty, he is hurt badly enough, without us giving him a cold shoulder. Some people are withering. And it is clear what kind of an experience they have.

The divine ploughman, or the ministry, has a big job. In Isaiah the 62nd chapter, the 10th verse, he said to the ministers, Here is your commission - "…go through the gates, prepare ye the way of the people;…" Now, why can't the people get along without the ministry preparing the way? Why do we get all of these sects and divisions? False ministers prepared a way. The prophet said, "Woe be unto the pastors who have scattered my flock. Christ said, "There Is one way," and prepared a ministry to tell of that one way. Any man who is saved is in the palm of God's hand and is put in Christ's fold, and unless a false preacher lets the fence down some place, the people will never get out. "Prepare a way for the people." Cast up the highway. If you ever get on 'the highway of holiness,' you are as sure of Zion as if you were there already because that is where it ends. The highway of Holiness goes to Zion. If you get on Route 40 and go west, you will end up in San Francisco.

God said there would be a highway and 'a way' to get on it. It's like the turnpike. Anyone can get on it, but not just any place. Jesus said, "I am the way." There is only one way to get on 'the highway of holiness.' That is through Jesus Christ, the Lord. Isaiah said there will be a highway above the ground, above the old way you have traveled. A highway and a way to get on it. The unclean shall not pass on it. There will be no lion, no ravenous beast. These are symbols. The different animals are to show the different dispositions of man. Every animal is different and has a different disposition. Men are all made the same, but have different dispositions. So God went back to the animals to show us the different dispositions of men. No lion will be there. He's that old individual that has that bold and evil spirit. The devil is like a roaring lion. That fellow has a hateful disposition, and an old hard heart, always growling.

We are commanded to 'cast up' the highway. People are trying to pull It down. They would level it to where anyone can get on. But God called a ministry to 'cast it up.' You cannot lift it any higher than it is, but just raise it before the people. Preach the gospel, and cast it up before the minds of men. My, what beauty -- this 'highway of holiness!'

Get out the stones. Lift up the standard for the people. We see people come and 'sit under the Word,' and God reveals things in their lives that will be a hindrance to them. That is what the stones are. The 'ministry' is putting on a sham. They are trying to find false hiding places. Too many, even In the 'so-called' Church of God, are hiding behind the idea -- it Is not my duty to execute the Church of God, just to preach It. I ask them, "What do your people pay a good salary for?" God's people love that kind of man, because they know that kind of man, is being true to their souls. The true saints love straight preaching, on the other hand, mere professors will put up with anyone that preaches to please the people.

Back to the parable, the 6th verse, "And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away." We have already learned the sun is the Word of God. The sun is the symbol of God's eternal Word. Let us refresh our minds with the thought that God takes natural things to teach the spiritual.

The Psalmist meant this when he said the sinner cannot stand in the congregation of the righteous. We need sinners to attend the services or we'll never win any to be saints. When the Word of God goes forth, it lets every man know where he stands. The sinner may know, even though you love him, that the Word of God comes so close he will be able to see himself, where he Is. A sinner can't stand. He'll wither under the preaching of God's Word. God doesn't want people to think they are right, when they are wrong.

The sower is the Son of Man. He sowed seeds. That is where the harvest comes from. He said the fields are white unto harvest, A harvest does not just come. Someone has to sow it first. Where was His field? He walked up and down the shores of Galilee, and over the mountains and sowed the precious seed in the hearts and lives of mankind. And while He was sowing the poor Gentile was pushed back and could not come into the midst, being counted only as a dog by the Jews.

It was as though He said: "When the Holy Ghost comes He will give you the sickle, for you must have a sickle to reap. When He comes, He will take the things of mine and give them unto you, and you can go out and start reaping." Multitudes followed after Him and He fed them. Once a group of people followed Him for three days. There's something about the Word of God that gets hold of men. They followed Him from the city, out into the country where there were no grocery stores for miles around. They pressed so close about Him, that He was compelled to get in a boat and push out a little that all might be able to hear His message. God stands ready to anoint His followers today and send the Holy Spirit upon them and cause men to hunger and to do the same today, when there is real consecration and dying out to the world.

But, reading further, we find, that when the sun began to rise and He began to lay down the facts of discipleship and what it entailed they turned away and left Him. Then He turned to His disciples asking them if they too were going to leave. But they only answered, "To whom shall we go?"

Today we see many people getting offended by the Word that they claim, was the means of their salvation. What causes men to become offended at the Word of God? They become offended because they don't understand it. And because they don't understand it, they get offended. It is necessary to understand it, or some false prophet will take it away from us. We, too, if we do not understand it, may become offended. In the 11th chapter of Matthew, we read that John, the forerunner of Christ, was greater than all the other prophets. Why? John came preaching repentance; he was a good preacher and executed the will of God and preached the Word. He advised people to confess their sin; and when those 'old birds' (Scribes and Pharisees) got in line, He was frank with them and the true condition of their hearts. He called out to them, "Who hath warned you of the wrath to come?" This He said because being filled with the Spirit He could discern what was In their hearts. Also He bade them to show forth fruit worthy of repentance.

Once when He was baptizing, Christ appeared and John said, "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world. I am not that Christ but am sent before Him. He that hath the bride, is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth Him rejoiceth greatly because of the Bridegroom's voice. This my joy is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. He that cometh from above is above all. He that is of the earth is earthly and speaketh of the earth; he that cometh from heaven is above all, and what He hath seen and heard that He testifieth and no man receiveth His testimony. He that hath received His testimony hath set to his seal that God Is true."

There are people who want to build a church and name it after John. A Baptist minister once said that Christ did not call him John the Methodist, or John the Lutheran, but John, the Baptist. But Jesus said, He that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than John. John was just an advocate or advertiser for Christ. When a circus comes to town, people are sent ahead to post bills and advertise it. John was the forerunner for Christ. Now we know that any member of the circus is more Important than the advertiser of it. He stood and declared the truth to men.

John preached in the sunrise of the Gospel. He did not have the light that we have today. For four hundred years there had been darkness in Israel. Since the last prophecy of the prophet Malachi, no one had brought a message from above. If we do not hear from God, we go into darkness. It was not like turning on the electric. But In that darkened sky there appeared a star over the Judean hills that led men who were wise to the Christ.

John stood in partial darkness just as the light was breaking. He knew it was coming and he stood in the light he had and preached the Gospel. But the day never broke until Jesus appeared, preaching the Gospel, coming as the Lamb of God. Then when John was put in prison and ready to be beheaded, he began to have some doubts. Perhaps if you or I were in his position we too would begin to doubt. When he had his freedom, eating locust and wild honey, and preaching the gospel freely, it seemed real and he entertained no doubts, but down there in prison, with all hope of opportunity gone to do the beloved work, he became uncertain and sent some of his disciples to question the Master, yet this same man had said of Him, "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world."

The disciples went to Jesus and said, "Art thou He, or do we look for another?" To this inquiry Jesus answered and said, "Go and tell John the works ye do hear and see. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, people are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them." Tell him also, Blessed is He that is not offended with me, I am too busy healing the sick and preaching the gospel to visit him, Tell him to remember his own words that he must decrease and I must increase. And things are going along just as prophesied by him. It is his time to decrease as I must push forward on the increase.

Why did John get confused and apparently even a bit offended? The program was not going as he thought it should. Men and women today get offended, because the fulfillment of scripture and especially prophecy, does not turn out as they had it all settled in their own biased minds. Then someone comes preaching and throwing light on some particular part of the Word and when it does not just exactly dovetail with their own interpretation; instead of receiving some enlightenment on the Word, they become offended. Many are still holding on to what little light they received long ago, and expect to go to judgment leaning on that little bit. Their spirit is that of the Pharisee refusing to accept any new message from Christ.

God does not want people to get saved in a 'Cloudy way.' We are living today in the 'evening light.' Zechariah said there would come a time when it would be neither dark nor light, but in the evening it would be light. God wants people saved in the light so they will know what is expected of them. If you do not lift up the standard, the people will fall short of it and the whole churoh will be just like that in about ten years.

We read in the 21st chapter of Revelation and the 27th verse, "And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb*s Book of Life." But what happened to that young man who came to the altar? Well, the Sun came up that Sunday morning (that is, the truth was preached as to the true conditions that must be met to receive salvation) and that fellow withered and has never been seen since. He was shown by the Word just what it would cost to be a child of God, a complete turn around and a different purpose in our lives. One of the tricks of Satan is to get people of the world to come among the saints and try to make saints (seemingly) of them. It can't be done. Let the Sun shine on them at the very beginning and let them know what kind of heat they are going to have to take If they make a decision to serve God. Now, we are getting out the stones when we tell people what it will cost to really be a child of God. [ The End ]