By Emerson Wilson [ Part 4 ] Chapter 10 - THORNS CAUSE WASTE And what are great possessions? Anything that is too much to give up to follow Christ. In their deceit they will rob us of the 'pearl of great price,' as we will see a little farther on. It was demonstrated before you through Ananias and Sapphira. They held back part of the price and missed the whole bargain. This will let you end up trying to feed your soul on that which the flesh feeds on. Now, I want you to get 'these two,' 'fresh in your minds,' before we 'go into this.' It will let you end up trying to feed your soul on that which the flesh feeds on, and brother, you are really deceived then. In fact, I don't believe there's much hope for you. Somebody said, "What makes you think so?" As soon as the rich man got 'in that kind of shape,' God just required his soul. Why? Whenever a person gets 'that far gone' there is no way of reaching them. The whole trouble then, is in these things that Christ mentioned here, the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other things. Someone says, "How can it be stopped?" The flesh needs to be crucified, with the affections and it's lusts. You can 'stop it all at once.' You don't have to nip one thorn off at a time, but you can get rid of the whole thorn bush. That is the work of the flesh. It's just an 'old thorn bush' and if you will give me time, I'll prove it to you by the scripture. It is an old thorn bush, that will grow in the human heart. Too many are trying to trim it. God's different than that. He doesn't trim it -- He burns it. Flesh, the Word of God would teach us is carnal. God said in His Word when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, thorns would come forth on the earth. It came, in the curse back there, (speaking of literal things) and just as the thorns came forth on the earth, because of the curse put on mankind, even so, there was a spiritual curse that does the same thing within man that the literal thorns do upon the earth. Let's turn to the 32nd chapter of Isaiah and 'bring him to the witness stand.' Let's begin reading in the 13th verse as he tells us of the pitiful condition of mankind. He uses symbols and metaphors in his poetic language to teach us the pitiful condition of mankind before Christ came, or before the Spirit of God was given. Listen to him. "Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briars." Now we know he is speaking of spiritual things. Somebody said, "How do you know?" Read on, "Yea upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city, because the palaces shall be forsaken." "The multitude of the city shall be left. The forts and the towers shall be dens forever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks; UNTIL the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field." Now we know he is not talking about the earth and terra firma because pouring the Holy Ghost out upon the earth does not kill the thorns and clean the briars out-that is, the natural ones. But friends, these thorns and briars are the working of 'the flesh' (humanity without Devine strength). That is what our lives were when Christ found us -- 'a briar patch' and 'a thorn patch.' We never brought forth the first fruit of righteousness. You see a field covered with thorns and briars; You say it Is wasted. But if you let them start, my friend, they will take the whole thing. It is something like, the man that bought a farm and there were berry bushes around the fence-row and every year he let them grow. And after a while they got 'such a hold on him,' he just gave up. The briars just took the whole place, and the berries would come and fall off, and they would get thicker. One day, some people went out there to pick berries and he 'ran them off.' He said, "Get out of here! If you weren't so lazy, you could grow some of your own." 'This work' has a little beginning. All you need to do is, just let it be. Every time you pet it, you cultivate it, and give it more room -- until it will spread out in your life and you'll just be wasted too; just as wasted as a briar patch is 'out there' in a good field that could be used to produce something. He shows us man's pitiful or wasted condition; until the Spirit is poured out upon him from on high. Well, what will happen then? "The wilderness will be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field will be counted for a forest." Thank God for His Eternal Word. Chapter 11 - THORNS THAT CHOKE Thorns have always been used to choke out the Word of Life. Why did they crown Christ's head with thorns? What was that a symbol of? They thought they were choking out the Word of Life that Jesus Christ was scattering around over the country. They thought they were choking it out, or putting an end to it. Little did they know, they were just spreading it out. All through the Word of God, the thorns are a type of the works of the flesh. In Songs of Solomon the 2nd chapter, Christ is talking to the church. Christ gives us a picture of the Church. What did He call her? "As a lily among thorns, so Is my love among the daughters." Do you think you could find a lily in a thorn patch? Well, you can find the church among 'this confusion.' Why did He liken her to a lily among thorns? These churches and man made organizations are works of the flesh. Any church you can join, was started by some man or group of men. It is an earthly thing. That second beast (of the Revelation) came up out of the earth, or out of the minds of men. The Church came down out of heaven. She Is the only one that did come down from heaven, and Christ likened her to a 'lily among thorns.' I believe there are many people who see her, but are not willing to take the scratching to get to her. She is like a lily among thorns -- and they will scratch you, and 'work on you.' You will get 'scratched up.' It will take some persecution to get there. But if you are willing to pay the price and take the trip through the briar patch, you can get to (and in) the Church. Let's go to the 55th chapter of Isaiah. I believe you see -- thorns are a work of the flesh, but Isaiah will help us a little farther. "Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and He will have mercy unto our God and He will abundantly pardon. For your thoughts are not my thoughts and your ways are not my ways." If we will throw away our thoughts and throw away our ways and take God's thoughts and ways, we can all go together. The thing that divides God's people is 'their' thoughts. We had better cast 'our thoughts' aside and find out what God thinks about it. The Word of God is the mind of God. Only an old deceitful spirit and false doctrine would tell people that we don't know what God's mind is in the matter. Go to the Word, if you please. If He never spoke any later than that, it will be just like He Said, and if we will believe 'that way' we can have it 'that way.' The Word of God is the mind of God, searching our thoughts, searching our ways. If we both take it Gods way, we can go together. He said: "As the heavens are higher than the earth so are my thoughts higher then your thoughts and my ways higher than your ways." There is a 'heavenly place' that we 'set together' right here on earth. When we get lifted to the place that we take it Gods way, when we get a revelation of God's truths -- while men 'down here' are operating something in what they think about it, Gods people are 'up here' in a 'heavenly atmosphere' walking in what God thinks about it. Praise the Lord! "As the rain cometh down and the snow so shall my Word be that goeth forth. It will prosper in the thing whereunto I sent It." Glory be to God! What will happen to you when the Word hits you? You will go out with joy, led forth with peace, the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Those 'trees' are righteous Individuals. In the 61st chapter of Isaiah, he said we are the Lord's planting that we might be called trees of righteousness. Isaiah is trying to show us here that when we get back to God and get right with God -- and back 'in tune' with nature, it will even 'cheer us on.' He takes nature here, to show us that when we are out of harmony with God, we are out of harmony with nature. His world doesn't look as beautiful as it ought to, and we begin to be sick with the whole thing. If we will begin to see 'this thing' as God wants us to see it, nature will 'move us on and praise us.' When the people turn you down -- and won't take the message -- and persecute you; shut your eyes and as the psalmist of old, "look unto the hills from whence cometh your strength." Get out -- alone with God. He will use nature to 'cheer you on.' Sure, the birds will sing, all the trees of the field shall clap their hands and instead of the thorns shall come up the fir tree, Glory be to God, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree. What will it be? It will be to the Lord for a name. What will be for a name? A people, or a congregation of fir trees and myrtle trees -- with no briar and no thorns. They are God's people, but have too many thorns and briar patches in among the fir trees. God says He won't put His name on it. But I declare unto you, that when we get far enough into the Church in Asia (in the Revelation), that there is just a 'certain condition' that must exist before God says, "I will write my name on it." Isaiah tells us what It Is. When we get rid of 'the works of the flesh' (stop being carnal), and become a sanctified people, baptized by one Spirit into One Body -- a grove of fir trees and myrtle trees, then, my friend, God says, "That will be for me a name; there is my people." And it will be an everlasting sign. Yes, a sign that will work everywhere God's people are. How are we going to find the Church? You find a place where there are fir trees and myrtle trees and no thorns and Briar -- that's God's people, "that will be to Me for a name." In the first chapter of the Songs of Solomon the 17th verse, the church said "the beams of our house are cedar and our rafters are fir." The Church of God cannot be built out of thorns and briar. It is built out of fir trees and myrtle trees. We have got a bunch of people building today, everything into what is called the church -- and what a monstrosity. It is no wonder it does not stand. God builds solid things into the church. It takes the best lumber there is (to signify it that way). But men and women today are determined to build briars and thorns in. May God help us to see it. The Scripture shows us that it is 'the work of the flesh' that choked out the Word and caused us to become unfruitful. We are made to realize again that there is a need of 'progressive work of grace' upon the souls of men if they remain fruitful. Jesus said, "I tell you these things (when He taught 'the purging of the branches' in the 15th chapter of John) that your fruit may remain." That you may remain fruitful. Chapter 12 - SOME FELL ON GOOD GROUND... We've found out that the seed is the Word of God, or the Word of the Kingdom, and we have already covered three kinds of hearers. Why should we deal with these simple parables? Because Christ chose that means to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and we find that there are deep truths hidden within them. We find in them four kinds of soil that cover the four classes or practically cover all humanity. We all fall in one of these four classes; wayside hearers, thorny ground, stony ground, or good ground hearers. We have already covered three of these classes and will get Into good ground. Let us start at the first verse. "The same day went Jesus out of the house." He went back into the house before He preached the rest of the sermon, and a great many people are going to be left outside because they will not come in 'by the door.' That door is Christ and for that reason they will not be able to find out what is 'going on' in the house. Nobody knows what is going on 'in the house.' Jesus came to bring us a knowledge of salvation and every thing He came to do for us will be made known. Many people theorize and surmise, but theory is only good until you get knowledge, then you can throw all theory away. Let me Illustrate. If your car breaks down on the way home and you get out and see what's the matter with it. You don't know what the trouble is, so you shake a few wires and punch this and turn that and about that time your wife gets out and says, "Maybe it is this and maybe that." You are liable to tell her that she doesn't really know a thing about it and is Just theorizing, when that is just what you have been doing all the time yourself. About that time, a mechanic comes along and discovers the trouble and tells what is wrong with it and fixes it. You get in and drive off and throw your own theories 'out the window.' Now the same thing is true about the Word of God. He came to bring us a knowledge of truth, not just a theory. If we are only willing to wait, God will make it plain. Now, Christ went out of the house and sat by the seaside and great multitudes were gathered unto Him. He went in a ship and sat, and the multitude sat on the shore. He spoke many parables unto them and among them, this one. "Behold, a sower went out to sow. And some seed fell by the wayside, and the fowls came and devoured them; some fell in stony places where they had not much earth and forthwith they sprang up because there was no depth of earth. When the sun was up they were scorched and withered away because they had no root. Some fell among thorns and the thorns sprang up and choked them. And others fell into good ground and brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. Who hath ears to hear let him hear." We have found thus far, that those who received the seed in the wayside experience went no deeper with God. Those that received it in the stony ground went no further in the Christian life and bore no fruit. Those that received it among thorns bore fruit for a while, but because of 'living after the flesh'…that should have been crucified, they became unfruitful. But, the Word tells us that some fell on good ground, and brought forth fruit, a hundred fold, some sixty, and some thirty, I will refresh your minds with old truths, but I am a firm believer in the fact that if the 'old truths' brought the people out of confusion and kept them together, it will do it today. True, God has a prophecy for today, but we do not want to forget the old foundation of truths that brought us out in 'this glorious way' and set our feet on the solid rock. We can gather a people together with just a head knowledge, but it takes the genuine message of truth to cause the love Of God to be shed abroad and for all to be baptized into one Body by one Spirit. The same seed was sown on all kinds of ground. The same Word of God was sown In the stony places, and also in thorny places, and in the good ground, Someone may say, that as long as we have good seed, we may not have to worry. But we need good ground too. Satan works on individual lives. We not only need good seed, but we need good ground. The Church cannot be built on wayside, stony, or thorny soil. She cannot be built in a straw pile, or in a thorn bush, or among stones, but it takes good ground to produce the results we must have to produce the Church. There is just one word that distinguishes good ground from all the rest, namely, the word, fruitful. Jesus mentioned in the 7th chapter of Matthew, a very familiar test that we enjoy using. Matt. 7:20, "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." Men hang things on the 'so called' Christmas trees. But whoever saw a fir tree bear balls and lights and icicles and stars, etc.? You can hang anything on a tree, but for that tree to bear fruit of its own, is another thing. If I should go to an orchard in winter, it would be very easy to deceive me as to what kind of a fruit tree was there. You might tell me that a peach tree was a plum and be able to 'get by,' but when the fruit comes on the tree in summer and the peaches and plums are there; you can deceive me no longer, for by the fruit I will surely know those trees, The false ministry of today that are trying to preach to God's people are putting on sheep's clothing, but if you will look, you will see a wolf in sheep's clothing and a wolf's tracks under it. A wolf does not make sheep's tracks. The 'heat of the truth' poured out in the 'fourth vial' of the Revelation Gospel, is revealing what is in people. God would have His Word preached under the power of the Holy Spirit and then, it brings out what is in people. If you have the love of God shed abroad in your heart, the hearing of the Gospel warms the heart and inspires the saint to leave that place a better man or woman. Moreover, as the Gospel goes forth from day to day, the divine love and fellowship among the people of God will grow more precious, but if there is bitterness in their hearts, the Gospel will reveal and bring conviction of the same to the hearers and bring out the hatred and bitterness. John said that there were many spirits out in the world and that we were to try the spirits. But how shall we try them? By the preaching of the true Word of God, the spirits are tried; both good and bad. May God help us, as never before, to declare His Eternal Truth. The wayside hearers wanted the truth and took it and hid it in their hearts, but they failed to get an experience of salvation. We must get down to business with God if we are to have such an experience. God has ways of moving on people and changing them from wayside hearers to the other kind. I shall give you an illustration. Recently, I preached the funeral of an elderly woman who had died of cancer. A large family had gathered in the funeral parlor. My heart was touched as I looked upon them, for I was quite certain that most of them were ignorant of the things pertaining to Eternal Life. It just seemed that day, that practically all of them would be wayside hearers, for they were not paying one bit of attention to the message. I was again called to the same place and found that a young man of 35 years (a member of the family) had suddenly 'dropped dead.' This time, they all sat still and listened. They could 'lay away' an aged mother who was of the age to die and not think too much about it…they were so surrounded by the things of the world they could not forget them long enough to let me deal a little with their souls, but when God reached down and took a young athlete, 35 years old, and seemingly in health, out of their midst, they were shaken up a bit and ready to hear the Word. God blessed in a wonderful way and the seed was sown in hearts. God has a way of changing attitudes toward His Holy Word and causing people to 'hear and understand' and decide for or against the Word…somewhere along the pathway of life. These 'hearers' were not those in stony places either. The stones were quickly removed by obedience, making root for the Word. The thorns were plucked up by the roots. In Luke 8:15 "The good ground are they who in an honest and good heart…" Let us stop here a moment and say that the first thing necessary is, that we have to be honest with ourselves and God. "The good ground are they who with a honest and good heart, having heard the Word, receive it and keep it and bring forth fruit with patience." In the morning dispensation or Gospel Day, we have Christ giving a picture of the hundred fold Christian or the Morning Church, or the Bride in her pristine glory… fully yielding her increase to God and to Christ. Scripture says that some seed fell in good ground and brought forth fruit, some a hundred fold, some sixty fold, and some thirty fold. What is the meaning of hundred fold, sixty fold and thirty fold? Recently, a man expressed an opinion that because of the different situations of life some people could bear no more than thirty fold and some could (maybe) bear sixty fold, but he doubted if anybody was bearing a hundredfold any more. But the Bible tells us that they bore a hundred fold first in spite of the fact that there are some who use this portion of scripture to prove their theory of growing In grace. Saying, that we begin with thirty, then on to sixty and finally develop to where we can bring forth one hundred fold. When we get to the teaching of the evening light, we will see that the Church started out on a hundred fold basis and when they came down to thirty and sixty fold, you could not even see the church and moreover the Church has never run on less than a hundred fold basis. She was in her thirty fold basis it Luthernism which is so aptly illustrated in the words "First the blade, (thirty fold) then the ear (sixty fold) and then the full corn in the ear, (a hundred fold). The Church did not start out in 'cloudiness' and come later into the 'full light,' but she started out in the 'full light' and bore a hundred fold. She later fell to sixty fold and then to thirty fold and so out of sight. God will not put the Church out for the world to look upon in any less than a hundred fold stage. The sixty and thirty fold set in when she was falling away from the truth and light of the Gospel as given her. In the 8th verse of the 8th chapter of Luke He does not even mention the thirty and the sixty fold. He simply said that the good ground brought forth a hundred fold and it will bring it forth today. How many sins can you have in your heart and still be holy? Holiness is one hundred per cent. They bore a hundred fold for God and because of it the Church was plainly visible and had power. Now, let us go back to some types in the Word of God. Turn with me to the chapter in Genesis, Chapter 26. Was Abraham a type of God? Was Isaac a type of Christ? Was not Abraham's servant a type of the Holy Spirit who he sent after Rebecca, or the bride of Christ? Let us do away with excuses, for some will say, "I'll never get over sixty fold." Be sure, my friend, that you have scripture for that. What does the Bible say about it? Chapter 13 - THE HUNDREDFOLD TYPE Genesis 26:1, "And there was a famine in the land that was in the day of Abraham and Isaac...." There was a famine 'on' in Canaan. What was it 'on' for. Read the rest of the Word. That was God's way of running the Canaanites out. Isaac didn't have to fight… God just starved them out. They ran down there for food and Isaac took the whole land. But if Isaac hadn't listened to God, he would have run down to Egypt too. We need to know we are doing the will of God and stand pat. It might be God is just trying to run off a few hypocrites through the troubles to give us more liberty. In the 12th verse of the 26th chapter of Genesis, you will see…in the same year Isaac sowed the land and brought forth an hundredfold. After the Canaanites were all run out, Isaac sowed the land right in a famine and brought forth an hundredfold. Now what is that a type of? Old Israel wouldn't listen to God. The prophets pled with him, Jeremiah worked with him, but he (they) wouldn't listen to God. God moved on Amos in the 8th chapter of Amos, the 11th verse and said, "Tell them there is going to be a famine in the land, not of meat, nor of bread to eat, not of water, but a famine of hearing the Word of the Lord. From Malachi until John the Baptist or Christ, there was darkness over the earth. There was a famine 'on' of hearing the Word of God. Why did the famine come? Man brought it on himself. Why is there a famine on the Word of God today? Man brought it upon himself. So, we need to learn a little lesson. All we need do is go up against God a little bit, or the saints to whine around a little, and say, "we don't want that preaching." Well, God can give it to us cold, and give us plenty of it. Where do we get Bible for that? Israel did not want the manna, they wanted to eat flesh. God gave it to them until it ran out of their nostrils. There were people who wanted to modernize 'this thing' a few years ago and there are some now 'so full of It' they don't know what to do. Well, just remember, it was asked for (frown). There was a famine of the Word of God when Christ came. Isaac, the Word of God says, in the 26th chapter of Genesis, the 12th verse, Isaac and Rebecca sowed the land right in the midst of the famine and brought forth an hundredfold. What was that a type of? There was a famine on the land when Christ came, He took His bride and sowed the land and brought forth an hundredfold right in the midst of the famine. The morning church in her 'pristine glory' brought forth an hundredfold for God. It was not until the 'falling away' started that the sixty fold and thirty fold came into view. Now, someone would say, Brother Wilson, that is Old Testament. Give us something in the New Testament that will prove we have to bring an hundredfold. Matthew 19:29, "And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters or father, or mother or wife or children or lands, for my names sake, shall receive an hundredfold and shall inherit everlasting life," "And every one" (not every one that Is willing to forsake all, but every one) "that hath forsaken all, houses (that may be church houses) land, brother, sister, children, or wife for my name's sake shall receive an hundredfold" plus eternal life. So, it is not Bro. Wilson's saying, but the Lord's saying. That is, if you cannot get an hundredfold out of your experience you are still holding on to one of those idols He listed there. Your wife might be hindering you. Some one says, "Are you supposed to leave her?" No, but put her in secondary place. Put God first. Land, children, father, mother…those are the things, if you please, that are keeping people from serving God in the right way. It gets right back to that old consecration of putting everything on the altar for God. If you will put it there, and leave it there, you can bear an hundredfold, for the Word of God says so, and you know it is so. Up through this thirty and sixty fold age, we are going to get to the 'fireworks.' You will find out that the reason they didn't get into an hundredfold and the reason they don't today; they are holding on to things that God said, "Let loose of." Someone says, "Bro. Wilson, how are you going to 'hook' this first parable with this first letter (in the Revelation)to get started. I won't have to. It is already 'hooked.' Everybody knows that Ephesus was a 'sowing age.' Now, there is just one thing we need to consider, to help us understand. When the letter was written to Ephesus - that was about AD 96, the work of apostasy or compromising, or losing their first love, or leaving it, I should say, had already been done. There was a time that Ephesus had a 'first love' - she couldn't have left it if she had not had it. It might be Interesting to know, just how short lived, the morning glory of the Church really was. It might help us, because people will say, "Well, my, this reformation is so young, how could it 'go to pieces' so early?" Do you know, the morning church began to lose some of her glory within 25 years after Pentecost? The Church was started AD 33 and AD 66 Jude said 'men had already crept in unawares.' That was 30 years after it started. Back at AD 62, Paul wrote that the 'mystery of iniquity' had already worked. You come up to 1880 when the glory of the evening light came back, Jude said within 30 years after the church was built, men had already 'let the standard down,' and men can't 'creep In unaware,' if we don't 'let the standard down.' That is the way for them to get in. You add thirty years on to 1880 and that will put you up to about 1913 and 1915. At that time -- I got a book of camp meeting sermons when Bro. Riggle and others were 'crying out' saying, "they are 'creeping in' already, we've got to war against them"… and they preached Jude's message over again. We want you to see this, that this period that we are dealing with was in the early stage of the Church, when she was sold out to God and brought forth an hundredfold, before the falling away ever started. Paul declared that the day of the Lord would not come, except there be a falling away first and 'there is' your falling away from a hundredfold to sixty and thirty, etc., before it ever began. Paul wrote to the churches and warned them what was going to happen. He wrote to Ephesus -- back In the 5th chapter of Ephesians. He wrote to her about two years after the Church was started and said, "Awake, thou that sleepest, arise from the dead and Christ will give you life." Who was It addressed to? Not to the world. Not to sinners; but to the Church of God at Ephesus. They had gone to sleep on the job. In the beginning, she was an hundredfold, and now we see the pitiful condition she has fallen to. We see that something happened -- that moved her from the state she was in. In the 2nd chapter of the Revelation, "Unto the angel of the church at Ephesus, write: These things saith He that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks" (the stars represent the ministry -- the Candlestick, the church; now, think on this), I am going to give a name to everyone of these churches. Ephesus -- the 'serving church;' within the heading of every letter contains the condition the church is In. Someone says, How do you get that? Christ presented Himself to the Church here, in seven different ways. Here He holds the seven stars and walketh in the midst of the Church. Later, we will see Him with His eyes of fire etc., so within the heading of that letter, you can see the condition the church is in. Christ presents Himself as needed. To the sinner, He presents Himself as a Saviour. To the sick, He presents Himself as a Healer, To the growing or maturing believer, He presents Himself as a Comforter… as a Sustainer. That is why He is the same Christ, and has presented Himself in seven different ways. Why? There were seven different needs, and He came as that, which was needed. So here He is…as He that holdeth the seven stars in His Right Hand and walketh in the midst of the candlesticks. Why would He present Himself to Ephesus that way? First of all, because the ministry had 'gotten out of hand.' Second, He was no longer permitted to walk in their midst as He once did. Walk in their midst means: His complete government. He once had complete rule and He was Head of the Church in every way. He had walked in the midst, led them and enriched them in power. He was not permitted to do that anymore. Follow through these letters, and you will see how He presents Himself -- to each of the congregations according to their need. Repeating…the ministry had 'gotten out of hand' and because of this, Christ was not walking in the midst of the Church as He once had. We see it, as he describes the situation in verses 2 and 3. He tells us that they did have good ground. Read it…"I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them, which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles and are not, and hast found them liars." All right, let's back up and see if there was good ground in the beginning. They had the Word. "I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them, which are evil." They had the Word. It brought a change in them. They couldn't bear them, which were evil, anymore. They had been made into 'new creatures' through Jesus Christ and they hated the things they once loved and loved the things they once hated. The next thing we know is that they understood the Word. The fowls couldn't pick it up. Somebody said, "How do you know?" They 'tried' them that were apostles. How do you 'try' them? They tried to pick up the word and take it away and Jesus told them of the fowls, but they couldn't do it. They tried them, which said they were apostles and found them to be liars. That is the way God wants the saints to be yet today. We are living in a day and age when people get 'scared to death' when somebody comes to their door, that hasn't got an ounce of doctrine straight and cannot 'hook two scriptures together to save them,' but the saints get seared to death and all nervous. God wants to 'try' people. We need to get an understanding of the Word until we can try false spirits and deceivers and prove them to be liars. When that church was on an hundredfold 'stage,' she had enough power with God and understanding of His Word, that she could try them, which said they were apostles -- and found them to be liars -- so, the fowls were not able to pick up the seed. Now, sad to say, there are a whole lot more 'today' -- claiming to be apostles…and are not. And we need to be 'finding them liars too!' In the next verse -- third verse, "Thou hast borne." What kept the tree from bearing? What caused people to become unfruitful? The thorns grew up and choked out the Word. "Thou hast borne," shows us a falling away. "Thou hast been fruitful." How do you know it is a hundredfold? Well, let's read it. "And has borne, and hast patience." I believe there was a time when the thorns were all gone, because if there are any thorns in your life, you cannot have patience. You will get aggravated, agitated, irritated. "Hath patience, and for My Name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted." So, how do we know they bore an hundredfold? He said, "Everyone that forsakes father and mother, houses and land, etc., for My Name's sake," (that's the reason of it), "shall receive a hundredfold." And these people had laboured for His Name's sake, so we know they bore an hundredfold. We see all this goodness that He shows forth, my friend, and tells of the goodness and how they bore an hundredfold, and I say again today to the church, let us labour for His Name's sake. When we do what we do for His Name's sake, or God's name...I might stop just a moment on that. God's name is a holy name. It is the only 'character Name' there is. You can be 'any kind of a rascal' and have a name Wilson or Luther or Wesley. Men of all kinds of characters have got 'that' name, But God is a 'character name' and none can bear the name of God except they possess the character and nature of God. That is why there were none. Read in Luke and you will find none were called the Sons of God from Adam down to Christ. Adam was the Son of God, and from there on down he was the son of man…and the son of man…until Christ came, who was the Son of God again, and thank God, to as many as received Him, to them, everyone of them, He gives them power to become the Sons of God; and when we become the Sons of God and have the nature of God, then we can bear the name of God and be the Church of God. I pray to God, to help us see that there is something in this name. After while, we will see that He does not write it on everyone. Paul said He was the first born among many brethren. People like to quote John 3:16, and it is good, but it is outdated =). Something greater has happened. God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son, but He is not His only begotten Son any more. Paul said He was the first-born among many brethren. Peter said He begot us. Who? With His own Word of truth. So Christ is just one of many begotten sons now. We are all begotten of God. Thank God, when we are begotten of God (born of God), we can bear the name of God and be the sons of God, and heirs together with Christ of everything that God has laid up 'in store' for us. So, we see that, when we begin to 'do this thing' for His Name's sake -- that shows you what David had in mind in the 23rd Psalm, when he spoke about the goodness of God. "The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want." Amen! Thank God, I believe it just that way. People today, want 'this, that and the other' of 'things of the world.' Friends, you need a shepherd, because, when you 'sell out' and let Christ become your shepherd, 'your wants' will be cancelled. And David went on and told us many more things. I spoke several weeks on the 23rd Psalm 'here,' and I cannot get into 'that,' but he listed the many things we wouldn't want; we wouldn't want for rest, we wouldn't want for food, we wouldn't want for water, right on down through, and all teach a great message. But he 'came on down' and says: "He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His Name's sake." Well, let me 'tell you,' it means something to bear the name of God, and if we will let the Lord be our shepherd, He will keep us in the paths of righteousness, and we will be one hundredfold saints. [ End of Part 4 ]