Parables of the Kingdom

How to bring forth fruit a hundredfold, sixtyfold and thirtyfold

Fred R. Coulter—May 8, 2021

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Greetings, everyone! Welcome to Sabbath services!

This week we're going to have a couple of interesting things to cover and to say and to do.

News & Publications of CBCG:

What is important in everything that is published is that it is the Truth of God; that's what's so important. Remember that Jesus said, 'When the Son of man comes, will He find the faith,' which means the true faith in the earth. There can't be the true faith without the true word, and God has preserved His Word through different people down through time.

The Old Testament was done with the priests and Levites within the Jewish community that are scattered everywhere in the world today know as the Diaspora. They preserved the knowledge of the Truth of the Sabbath of the Old Testament writings. They did have competition from the Babylonian Jews because they wanted to change certain things. But the western Jews remained true to the Word of God.

Likewise they preserved the calendar of God, which is very important. God never entrusted it to any of the Gentiles. Think of what the Gentiles would have done to it. Just stop and think what they do to everything, especially in religion when they get philosophy going into it.

Then in 354A.D. Hillel II published… A lot of people falsely claim that in 354 Hillel invented the calendar. Nonsense! Hillel was the great-great-grandson of Gamaliel who was the head of the Sanhedrin during the days of the apostles. They preserved the calendar and the calculations, and those are always correct. We're going to see something with the calendar:

This year there's a little problem concerning whether we should keep Pentecost on May 16th or, as some claim, May 23rd. Byron Norrod did a very good presentation, so we'll publish that online. I'll just review as we go through some of the things that we're going to cover today.

God wants His Church to preserve and publish the Truth. The things we've done with Christian Biblical Church of God has been with all of the brethren. I could not do any of this without them. Through their tithes and offerings, it was possible to accomplish what was necessary to preserve the Truth. That's what we are dedicated to.

Sidebar speaking Truth: Remember that I read from the 'supposed' Book of Jashur? Well, a little research on that has found that that was not Jashur's book, but a fake written in the 18th century.

That's the way that things go!

• What is the admonition to us all?
• One of the first things that we learn concerning the Word of God?
• Concerning what we need to do?
• Prove all things, and hold fast to that which is good!

When the Church was in the throws of a lot of problems in the 1970s, I was in Pasadena from 1972-75—four years counting inclusively. There was so much politicking going on, so much fighting among the hierarchy that I said I'm going to keep my mind on Christ!

That's when I started A Harmony of the Gospels. I only started it after Dave Brady—one of the members in Torrance, California, and a printer; after I had given the series on the last ten days of Jesus' life—said 'You've got to write a book on that. I said, 'No!'

Dr. Rod Meredith—the one who was teaching the class at the college—should write it. It took about a year of Brady telling me, almost every Sabbath, 'you've got write the book.' So, I finally said—because of the things that were going on—all right, I'm going write the book.

Here's the lesson: Whenever there are problems that are way beyond what you can resolve personally, you focus your mind on Christ so that you're not taken away.

With the help of brethren, I put together A Harmony of the Gospels. The 1st edition was 10,000 published. This was quite a book and I did it in spite of the hierarchy. They were after me all the time.

To show you how God works: When I was just about done having it all compiled and finished off at the typesetter, and so forth, one of the brethren—Frank Loyal—at Spokesman's Club he came to me and said, 'How are you going to pay for this?' I said I didn't know. He said, 'How many are you going to do?' Probably 10,000! 'What is it going to cost?'

I had just gotten in touch with R.R. Donnelly and Sons in Indiana to print it, 10,000. So, I said, '$22,000!' He said, 'This week you meet me down at the bank and I'll sign a loan for you for the money.' This could not have been done without the brethren! You can put a lot of things on paper, but unless you can get it published, what good is it? Maybe good for you.

Then we had a 2nd edition published in 1974 and now we have a 3rd edition, third printing. So, we've probably distributed—as small a group as we are—about 70-80,000 A Harmony of the Gospels.

We resigned on the Day of Atonement October 2, 1979. I won't go through everything, but for the first four years we had Biblical Church of God, and that all flew apart because all the men who were there hated Herbert Armstrong rather than love the Truth. So, we resigned from there.

Then we started Christian Biblical Church of God with seven member in the North Bay in Orinda, California, with Esther Grisinger and the group that was there with her.

Then I quit writing all together from 1983 to 1992. However, with the small group that we had, I did do translating of The Seven General Epistles, and we did a Bible study through it. At that time there was great controversy over the Passover again.

So, someone wrote me and I said, 'I've got to write a booklet, about 75 pages. I got up to 75 pages and I said  that it's going to be about 125 pages. Then it's going to be more than that. So, 19 years later The Christian Passover book was published. This, again, could not have happened without the brethren.

The way the money came for this was this way: Dolores knew that we weren't getting much money from the Church, so she said, 'Fred, where is the money coming from?' I said, 'God will provide it!'

At that time I was a loan broker and had a Century 21 office just across the street from where we're meeting now. I had two deals that virtually fell through and nothing happened. It cost to print 3,000 of The Christian Passover book $9,000. So, I had these two deals, and both of them came back to life and I had a total of $4,500. then another deal came through and there was more money, but a little bit short. Then Robert Davis donated $1,500 to get it printed, and that's how we got the first edition of the Passover book published. We now have the 3rd edition.

These two books—A Harmony of the Gospels and The Christian Passover—are important. Why? They focus in on:

• the Truth of Jesus Christ
• the Truth of the Passover
• what day we are to keep the Passover
• what we are to use
• etc.

I received a 'gender neutral book,' which was the RSV New Testament. I read that and everything that they changed in it—God the Father to mother/father as a metaphor—so that the read could just use their imagination. That's when I determined to finish the study translations that we were doing. We were going through The Seven General Epistles and A Harmony of the Gospels and at the time that I received that, I was about halfway through translating.

Then 19 years after I resigned in 1979, in 1998 we had published The New Testament in Its Original Order. There are 19-year time cycles in the way that God works with the calendar and so forth, so God's works things out in different ways.

Since we're going to cover a couple of things concerning the calendar today and counting to Pentecost, I just want you to know and understand that what we are doing in the Christian Biblical Church of God is preserving the Truth of God.

• we do not get into politics
• we do not have a hierarchy

Everything that comes in, the money is used to:

• preach the Gospel
• feed the brethren
• publish the Word of God

God has worked it out so that we have more in-depth studies than any of the other Churches of God. Not because we're anything; we're not! The key to understanding how all of these things work is: Always remember that:

• you came from a speck of dust
• in God we live, move and have our being

That's what's important for us in what we're doing and accomplishing here!

*****

Counting to Pentecost this Year

We're going to cover a little problem, which is really not a problem when you understand it: Which day we should keep Pentecost on this year?

The reason that it's difficult is because we had Passover Day on the 27th[transcriber's correction] of March which was the Sabbath; so we kept the Passover on the night of the 26th[transcriber's correction]. Then the night of the 27th[transcriber's correction] was the Night to Be Much Observed, and that began the first Holy Day and the day portion was on Sunday, the first day of the week (28th of March).

This created a problem that in different years when the calendar is not figured the way it was this year, there is always a Sabbath in between the first and the last Holy Days. We always said 'Counting from the Sabbath,' but what do you do when there is the Passover on the Sabbath and the Wave Sheaf Offering pictures Christ. He can't ascend to heaven outside the days of Unleavened Bread. Why? Because He's the Offering for all the sins of the world!

Leviticus 23:9: "And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, "When you have come into the land… [40 years later] …which I give to you, and shall reap the harvest of it…"'" (vs 9-10).

Why? Because the Canaanites planted their harvest of wheat! When the children of Israel invaded and took over, whose wheat did it become? The Israelites!

One man said that they had to do that a year later, because the Gentiles were unclean in planting the wheat. How could that make the stalk and the new grain unclean? It couldn't! So, that was a false premise to begin on.

"…then you shall bring the premier sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest" (v 10).

This is the first of the firstfruits and represented Jesus Christ ascending to the Father as the perfect Sacrifice for the sins of the world.

Verse 11: "And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD to be accepted for you…. [because Jesus Christ is our Sacrifice] …On the next day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it."

Since there's no Sabbath between the two Holy Days, which Sabbath is it waved on? The first Holy Day is on the first day of the week and the seventh day, which is a Holy Day, is on the Sabbath. So, IF it's waved after the 7th day of Unleavened Bread, THEN that's outside the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Then it says that you shall offer a lamb of the first year and a grain offering. Notice v 14, this is the key. There is a place in the Bible that specifically clarifies it for us

Verse 14: "And you shall eat neither bread, nor parched grain, nor green ears until the same day, until you have brought an offering to your God…."

What was that offering? The harvest of the crop of the land that they would possess!

"…It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. And you shall count to you beginning with the next day after the Sabbath, beginning with the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven Sabbaths shall be complete " (vs 14-15).

Byron Norrod did a real good job in what he presented, but it won't hurt if I go over it again. In the year that they possessed the land, the Passover was on the 7th day of the week. In Joshua 5 we find the account of it and it's very clear. The reason that God has given His calendar, and in some ways is a little difficult for people to understand. It's because He wants us to make sire that we follow Him.

Joshua 5:10: "And the children of Israel camped in Gilgal and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at evening in the plains of Jericho. And they ate of the old grain of the land… [which God said they could when they arrived] …on the next day after the Passover…" (vs 10-11).

What is the next day after the Passover? The first day of Unleavened Bread! So, this has to be that they had the Passover on the Sabbath Day, because they couldn't eat of the unleavened cakes or roasted new grain until the Wave Sheaf Offering had been offered.

So, they kept the Passover the 14th, which was on a Sabbath. They waved the Wave Sheaf Offering the next morning beginning on the morning of the 15th and when the Wave Sheaf Offering was waved, everybody could start eating grain.

"And they ate of the old grain of the land on the next day after the Passover unleavened cakes and roasted new grain in the same day" (v 11). Remember that they had manna for 40 years!

Verse 12: "And the manna stopped on the next day after they had eaten the grain of the land. And there was no more manna for the children of Israel, but they ate the fruit of the land of Canaan that year." This shows right here—read it carefully:

Verse 11: "And they ate of the old grain of the land on the next day after the Passover…"

If the Passover was not on the Sabbath, it wouldn't have been the next day after the Passover. If it were on a Wednesday, then there would be the days in between; so it couldn't have been on a Wednesday, Friday, Monday. It had to be on the Sabbath!

Therefore, this year when you count, you count beginning with the first Holy Day as the day after the Sabbath, which was the Passover Day. That's what makes it a little complicated. This doesn't come very often, but that should help you understand it.

Pentecost is a harvest Feast, so let's see Jesus giving:

The Parable of the Sower:

Matthew 12:49: And stretching out His hand to His disciples, He said, 'Behold…'" Standing outside were His mother and brothers!

So, notice what Jesus said. He's doing the same thing that He requires of everyone coming to Him. If you come to Him, you must forsake your father, mother, brothers, sisters, lands and everything.

The way you forsake them is not up and sell them and leave; you forsake them as important in your mind. 

"'…'Behold My mother and My brothers…. [everybody where He was speaking, but His actual mother and brothers were outside] …For whoever shall do the will of My Father Who is in heaven, that one is My brother and sister and mother'" (vs 49-50).

Now let's see the Parable of the Sower and the harvest:

Matthew 13:1: "Now, in that same day, Jesus departed from the house and sat down by the sea. And so great a multitude gathered around Him…" (vs 1-2).

Jesus had multitudes following Him everywhere He went! Healing and teaching!

"…that He went into a ship and sat down, and all the multitude stood on the shore. And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, 'Behold, the sower went out to sow. And as he was sowing, some of the seed fell by the way; and the birds came and devoured them. And some fell upon the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up because the soil was not deep enough; but after the sun rose, they were scorched; and because they did not have roots, they dried up'" (vs 2-6).

You must have roots! Why? If you have grain and you don't have the roots going down, there's no stability for it. You have to have the roots!

Same thing with us! We've got to have more than just the simple belief like they show on television. Just that simple believe is not enough; God wants us to do His will as He says in Matt. 12:50).

Verse 7: "And some of the seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them."

Have you ever had a garden that you planted and you had to go away? When you came back, 'Where's my garden?

We went on a two-week vacation and when we came back the morning glories covered the whole thing. Isn't it interesting how fast the weeds grow?

Verse 8: "And some fell upon the good ground, and yielded fruit—some a hundredfold, and some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold. The one who has ears to hear, let him hear" (vs 8-9).

All the way through He uses that phrase, which means that IF you hear it:

• Are you willing to believe it?
• Are you willing to obey it?

Every time someone hears about obeying, they think, 'Oh no, the harsh Law.' Remember that the Law is not harsh if you keep it! The Law is harsh if you break it, because there's a penalty!

Physical example: as long as you're walking upright and correctly, there's no difficulty. But step in a hole and fall over, you're going to break your foot and leg, they penalty for falling! The walk was not harsh, just like the commandments of God are not harsh. It's the transgression that becomes harsh because the transgression is like the hole you stepped in when you were walking.

We're going to learn some very important things here as we come along. Something that we really need to grasp and understand, so let's continue:

Verse 10: "And His disciples came to Him and asked, 'Why do You speak to them in parables?' And He answered and said to them, 'Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but to them it has not been given'" (vs 10-11).

That tells us an awful lot. In order to understand the things of God the way they should be understood, that has to come from God to us, and from His Word to us.

As you go along and you read the Bible and you see something there and you understand it, especially when you're reading along in areas you haven't read before, and then all of a sudden BING! a light goes on!

• How did that happen? Christ says that it's given to you!
• How does that happen? The same way your smart phone receives a phone call!

And it's not ben given to them in the world!

Notice what else will happen. Here is what will take place if you do not keep God's way:

Verse 12: "For whoever has understanding, to him more shall be given…" Why? Because:

• whoever is faithful
• whoever is obedient
• whoever is seeking to do the will of God as Jesus said

"…and he shall have an abundance, but whoever does not have understanding, even what he has shall be taken away from him" (v 12). You lose it! That's quite a thing! That's automatic!

Verse 13 [transcriber's correction]: "For this reason I speak to them in parables, because seeing, they see not…"

Think of the Protestants and Catholics, but mostly Protestants.

• Do they have the Bible? Yes!
• Do they read the Bible? Yes!
• Do they preach from the Bible? Yes!

But they don't have understanding!

• Why? Because of Sunday and the holidays!
• If they're keeping Sunday, are they doing the will of the Father?
• If they're keeping all the holidays, are they doing the will of the Father?

NO!

Satan has made it so attractive, fun, joyous and uplifting—and he's capable of doing that—and its centered around the family so that is seems the natural and good thing to do. They never read Jer. 10 where God condemns the Christmas tree. They don't equate anything of the Old Testament with Baal worship—who is the sun-god—with what they're doing, because they're blinded because they keep Sunday.

Verse 13: "For this reason I speak to them in parables, because seeing, they see not and hearing, they hear not; neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which says, 'In hearing you shall hear, and in no way understand; and in seeing you shall see, and in no way perceive… [Why?] …for the heart of this people has grown fat…'" (vs 13-15).

In other words, they're so involved in the physical things of the world that they don't believe when they hear and see.

"…and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed…" (v 15).

They don't want to read anything in the Old Testament, 'all of that has been fulfilled.' Little do they know that in Lev. 23 the skeletal outline of the whole plan of God is there. But not in the form that tells you everything, because that's saved for other parts of the Bible.

"…lest they should see with their eyes, and should hear with their ears, and should understand with their hearts, and should be converted, and I should heal them" (v 15).

Isn't that something? Protestantism says that 'we need to get out and save the world.' Jesus says, 'I'm calling only those who will hear. The vast majority heard—following Him—but they didn't do.

Verse 16: "But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear."

Today, v 17 is magnified substantially beyond what He said when this was written, because we have the whole Bible. When He gave this parable, they didn't have anything of the New Testament, yet, except for the notes that they had written down. Think about it with the whole Bible, and with the book of Revelation.

Couple that with the Sabbath and Holy Days, and how important that that is. For people out in the world, that's not important to them, because it hasn't been given to them to know!

Verse 17: "For truly I say to you, many prophets and righteous men have desired to see what you see, and have not seen; and to hear what you hear, and have not heard." That's quite a thing!

Now, Daniel is listed as one of the three most righteous men in the Bible: Noah, Daniel and Job. Three most righteous. Look at the trial that Job went through. We won't get into that, but the first time I read the book of Job, I thought God was wrong. Look at how righteous Job was.

Daniel was given the most tremendous prophecies of the empires of the world from his time to the return of Christ. Think of that! He was an old, old man when he received the 70-weeks prophecy. Here he is:

Daniel 12:2: "And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake… [the resurrection] …some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they who are wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they who turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars forever and ever" (vs 2-3).

So, here's Daniel receiving this, and God is telling him. I imagine that Daniel was all excited, 'When is this going to be, Lord. You gave me all these other prophecies, when is this going to be?'

Verse 8: "And I heard, but I did not understand. Then I said, 'O my lord, what shall be the end of these things?' And he [the angel Michael] said, 'Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end. Many shall be purified, and made white and refined. But the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand" (vs 8-10).

We saw that fulfilled in the words of Jesus in Matt. 13. Quite an amazing thing! See how the Bible always comes together: New Testament/Old Testament and Old Testament/New Testament.

(break)

Think about it, you understand God's plan. Think of all the people on earth who are without understanding. We will be the ones with Christ, when He returns, to bring them understanding. That's something to contemplate!

Matthew 13:18: "Therefore, hear the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the Word of the Kingdom and does not understand it…" (vs 18-19).

• What is the first word of the Kingdom?
• What did Jesus say?
• Repent and believe the Gospel!
• Repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins!

"…the wicked one comes…" (v 19). That's Satan the devil, the one who is deceiving the whole world.

How is he deceiving the whole world? First of all with his establishment! He rules the world! Remember when Christ was tempted by Satan, he said, 'If you will worship me, I'll give you all the world and all the kingdoms of them.' So, that why the world is ordered the way that it is. It's not God's world, it's Satan's world, and Satan is deceiving the whole world! How does he deceive them?

• he keeps them from keeping the Sabbath and Holy Days
• he keeps them from having a relationship with God

We will see a little later that there's another parable here about counterfeits. 

"…the wicked one comes and snatches away that which was sown in his heart. This is the one who was sown by the way. Now, the one who was sown upon the rocky places is the one who hears the Word and immediately receives it with joy; but because he has no root in himself, he does not endure…" (vs 19-21).

Jesus said, 'The one who endures to the end, the same shall be saved.' So, the end is either in the end of your life or the end of this age when Christ returns.

"…for when tribulation or persecution arises because of the Word, he is quickly offended. And the one who was sown among the thorns is the one who hears the Word, but the cares of this life and the deceitfulness of riches choke the Word, and it becomes unfruitful" (vs 21-22)—unprofitable!

Isn't that true today. Look at it today. Look at how many people fall into this category today. Why? Because the whole world is rich and increased with goods! How many people are into making money in the stock market and buying gold and silver; whatever it may be? Running a business. 'I couldn't shut down on Saturday; I'd lose all my business.'

• Do you want eternal life?

or

• Do you want a business?

The business is right at hand, but the eternal life is out there a ways away!That's why they don't make it.

Verse 23: "But the one who was sown on good ground, this is the one who hears the Word and understands, who indeed brings forth fruit and produces…"

Fruit is the result of what you're doing according to the commandments of God. What does the Bible say about fruit? You will know them by their fruits, what they produce!

The fruit that we produce is reflected from the things that we are able to use to preach the Gospel. But that fruit is not available unless there if first conversion fruit within. So, there has to be endurance and there has to be work.

"'…one a hundredfold, another sixtyfold and another thirtyfold'" (v 23).

Let's take a look and see some things in the book of Proverbs. Let's see how this backs up exactly what Jesus said. In order to produce fruit, what do you have to do?

I grew up on a farm until I was 12-years-old. I had to milk the cows. You better get our and milk the cows, because if you don't milk the cows then they get mastitis and sick. I had to tend to the horses. You had to have the horses to pull the plow and the hayraker. If you don't have hay and you don't go out and cut the hay and have it raked up in rows and then stack it in shocks and then you bring the horses out there with the wagon and you through all the stocks out up there, take it to the barn. You have this big fork that comes down and grabs a whole bunch of hay and takes it up and you set it inside the barn and dump it in the barn.

If you don't do that you don't have cows, milk or meat. On top of that chickens. You have to feed the chickens. With the milk you have to separate the cream from the milk so you can have butter. You must produce!

Likewise spiritually! How do we produce? By study, prayer and living God's way! The effect in our lives is the fruit:

• internally in the mind
• externally in how we conduct our lives

Proverbs 11:27: "He who diligently seeks good seeks favor…"

It's not that you're trying to 'butter up' to the boss, but if you're a hard worker and you're doing good—and the boss sees it—what is he going to do? He's going to pay you well and reward you! He's going to keep you employed! Notice the opposite:

"…but he who seeks mischief, it shall come to him" (v 27).

Think about those who weren't bringing forth any fruit.

Proverbs 10:4: "He who deals with a lazy hand becomes poor…"

• Do you know what his excuse always is?
• Have you ever seen the pickers on the History Channel? They go out and buy various things that people have kept and stored! They have it all stacked up there!

But they wouldn't be there if they didn't have diligent hand to collect it. Then the ones who come to buy it have to be diligent to find out where it is so they can get it. But if you are lazy, you won't have it.

"…but the hand of the diligent makes rich" (v 4). Think of that in relationship to spiritual fruit!

• What did Jesus say to the Laodiceans? You're blind, wretched and poor!
• Why? Because you were lazy and complacent!

Proverbs 12:24: "The hand of the diligent shall bear rule, but the lazy shall be under tribute."

They can never make it because they never get around to it. That's the excuse! If you ask them why they didn't do this, they say, 'Well, I never got around to it.'

Verse 27: "The lazy man does not roast what he took in hunting, but the substance of a diligent man is precious. In the way of righteousness is life… [that's what we're seeking] …and in that pathway there is no death" (vs 27-28). That is there will be eternal life!

Let's see how we are to do this, Psa. 119. If you want a Psalm to help you get out of all the doldrums, if you're in the doldrums, this is will help you. This is the longest Psalm in the Old Testament. It shows a close relationship between the one writing it and God. We don't know who wrote it; it doesn't say it's of David. But nevertheless, God put it here.

Take this Psalm and read two sections of it; there are 22 sections. Read two at  time and see how that will help you in understanding in being able to have the zeal and love for God that you need to have.

The reason there are 22 sections—and each section has 8 verses—is because it's sectioned out according to the Hebrew alphabet that has 22 letters. This tells you exactly what to do:

Psalm 119:1: "Blessed…" Isn't that what everyone wants? Anybody here stand up and say that you want the curses? Nobody is going to do that! Even those who do evil want the blessings, but they don't get them.

"…are the undefiled in the way… [What is that way?] …who walk in… [within] …the Law of the LORD" (v 1).

Jesus said, 'My mother, brother and sister are these who do the will of God.'

Verse 2: "Blessed are they who keep His testimonies and who seek Him with the whole heart."

• What does true Christianity really bring? A wholeheartedness that you can't find when you're carnal!
• Why?
• How many people have you heard of that have said, 'He or she is twofaced'? One way to this person, another way to that person, and maybe three-faced and another way to this person!

Verse 10: "With all my heart I have sought You; O let me not wander from Your commandments."

Think about this: when you study each of these sections, study two of them and go where it's quiet and private, or an office, bedroom or whatever. The King James says, 'go to your closet.' When I first started praying, I went into my closet. It was dark when I shut the door. I could smell my socks and shoes, and I didn't know about this 'prayer stuff.' I finally figured it out that as long as it's quiet, private place you're okay. I couldn't concentrate on praying when I was smelling all of my 'bo.'

When you're praying, take those two sections, get on your knees and read the two sections verse-by-verse, pray about it, think about it and ask God to help you understand. By the time you get through the whole 119th Psalm—which will take you 11 days if you do 2 a day—you will see how your attitude and everything has changed. Why? Because the Word of God is Spirit and Truth, and it is designed to convert the mind and the way that you think!

Remember, we're looking for ways to produce a hundredfold, sixtyfold and thirtyfold.

Verse 34: "Give me understanding…" Isn't that what we need? Understanding:

• of the Word of God
• how we deal with people
• of how we deal with each other
• about ourselves and our own carnal inclinations, sins and everything like that
• right from wrong
• good from evil
• righteousness from wickedness

"…that I may keep Your Law…" (v 34).

God wants you to understand what the Law is, and why we're to keep it. He says that if we do, He will bless us!

"…and observe it with all my heart" (v 34).

• What does that remind you of? The first and great commandment!

Everyone wants the love of God, but:

• How many want to love Him back? He wants your love, as well!
• How? With all our heart, mind, soul and being!

This is how we come to God:

Verse 145: "I cried with my whole heart; answer me, O LORD; I will keep Your statutes."

When you're in trouble—and we're all going to face trouble—that's just the nature of life.

Verse 146: "I cried to You; save me…"

Look up in your concordance and see how many verses are in the Bible are save me, God will save you and so forth.

"…and I shall keep Your testimonies" (v 146).

Verse 139: "My zeal has consumed me, because my enemies have forgotten Your words."

That means that if you know the way of God and you are zealous for God's way, and you look out and see all these people in the world—wherever they are and whatever they're doing—that should make you more zealous for the way of God. We find:

• be diligent
• be zealous
• be wholehearted

That's how we approach God!

Verse 69: "The proud have forged a lie against Me, but I will keep Your precepts with all my heart…. [that's what God wants] …Their heart is gross like fat, but I delight in Your Law" (vs 69-70).

Notice how he is looking at everything from the perspective as to why God has called him and what He is doing. As a matter of fact, this whole Psalm, every verse in it, could very well be a prophecy of how Jesus thought about God's way, and about doing what He needed to do.

Remember when Jesus was at the Feast of Unleavened Bread when He was 12-years-old and the whole entourage was going back to Galilee and they couldn't find Him? Finally, Joseph and Mary went back and found Him after three days, and they saw Jesus among the wise and intelligent. They were astonished at His questions and answers. Mary said to Him, 'Why did you do this?' He said, 'Did you not know that I have to be about My Father's business?' At age 12!

Remember, God the Father taught Him directly every single morning (Isa. 50). Think how inspired this is, and think how this may very well be a prophetic projection of how Jesus conducted His thoughts with the laws and commandments, and everything like that.

Verse 47: "And I will delight myself in Your commandments, which I have loved."

See how the blindness comes to the world when they say that you don't have to read the Old Testament. How the blindness comes because 'you don't need to keep the Sabbath because that's Jewish.' Why do you believe in Jesus? He was Jewish!

Verse 48: "And I will lift up my hands unto Your commandments, which I have loved, and I will meditate on Your statutes."

This is how we have the zeal and endurance to do all the things that God wants us to do.

Verse 141: "I am small and despised, yet, I do not forget Your precepts. Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Your Law is the Truth" (vs 141-142).

That's quite a thing! When it talks about hungering and thirsting after righteousness, as Jesus said we should do:

• Is this not the way we do it? Yes!
• For what? To have contact with God!

Contact with God the Father and Jesus Christ, the Ones Who rule and have created and made the whole universe for the Family of God. He's working out His plan here on earth. Think about the fact that we can pray directly to Them.

• there's no hierarchy
• there's no one in between you and God
• there's you, God the Father and Jesus Christ

That's the whole focus! "Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Your Law is the Truth."

This is what happens when you put the Bible together and look at as a whole.

Titus 2:11: "For the grace of God, which brings salvation for all men, has appeared."

God's plan is that not all now! That's why you need to understand the plan of God.

Verse 12: "Teaching us that, having denied ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live moderately and righteously and Godly in this present world, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our Savior and great God Jesus Christ… [Jesus is God! We learned that in John 1:1!] …Who gave Himself for us, so that He might redeem us from all lawlessness, and might purify for Himself a unique people, zealous of good works" (vs 12-14).

That's what God wants! If we do this and apply ourselves that way, think about how we can grow in grace and knowledge.

Matt. 13—there are some other parables here. We will see that the Bible is one complete whole like a sphere. With a sphere you can intersect lines, an innumerable number of lines, through the sphere and they all connect, whether you go from the inside out or the outside in. That's the way the Word of God is.

Matthew 13:24: "And He put another parable before them, saying, 'The Kingdom of Heaven is compared to a man who was sowing good seed in his field… [that's Jesus Who is doing the sowing] …but while men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. Now, when the blades sprouted and produced fruit, then the tares also appeared…. [why? Because the tares don't bear any fruit] …And the servants came to the master of the house and said to him "Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? Then where did these tares come from?" And he said to them, "A man who is an enemy has done this." Then the servants said to him, "Do you want us to go out and gather them?"'" (vs 24-28). Go out and take them out right now!

Verse 29: "But he said, 'No… [God will take care of them His way] …lest while you are gathering the tares, you also uproot the wheat with them. Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and at the time of the harvest, I will say to the reapers, "Gather the tares first, and bind them into bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my granary"'" (vs 29-30).

We will see that on Pentecost day, and see how that works. The tares are:

• those who infiltrate
• those who bring false doctrine
• those who want to cling to the people of God because they're good, but don't want to become part of them

What happened when the Church was scattered, because Christ is the One Who scattered it. All of the tares went back into the world! That's why we have to:

• be diligent with the Truth of God
• preserve the Truth of God
• keep it that way
• teach the brethren

All those things are necessary!

Verse 31: "Another parable He presented to them, saying, 'The Kingdom of Heaven is compared to a tiny mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; which indeed is very small among all the seeds; but after it is grown, it is greater than all the herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of heaven come and roost in its branches'" (vs 31-32).

So, we start out very small. He's talking about the Kingdom. You gather all the Churches of God together in one group—if you could ever do that—and then compare it to the rest of the world. That's rather small! Lot's of times you think:

• Why did God call me?
• Why am I here?

Go to God and He'll answer the question, because He wants you to be converted to qualify for the resurrection and help Christ:

• rule the world
• change the world
• get rid of Satan the devil

How is that for a mission? But we can't do that until we're resurrected! In the meantime, we have to grow in grace and knowledge.

Verse 33: "Another parable He spoke to them: 'The Kingdom of Heaven is compared to leaven…'"

During the days of Unleavened Bread leaven is compared to sin! How can the Kingdom of God be compared to leaven? Because there is a good action to leaven.

When you put it in the flour it raises. If you bake it, it's permanent. If the dough raises and then you punch it back down it has to rise (leaven) again. So, the good action of leaven in this case is the Holy Spirit causing you to grow in grace and knowledge so that at the resurrection it's all permanent.

How is it permanent with bread? You bake it! There's heat! In the case before electric ovens there were fires. What do we go through to develop character? Fiery trials! To make the character of God permanent in our way and thinking in everything that we do.

Verse 34: "Jesus spoke all these things to the multitudes in parables, and without a parable He did not speak to them; so that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, 'I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world'" (vs 34-35).

That's quite a thing! Read the rest of the chapter, the parables. Think about what we have in the Bible today especially, that we have the knowledge of God that was hidden from the foundation of the world! It was only brought out right at the end-time.

John Guenther has written a lot about the history of the Church. It's evident that we got the Word of God coming down through the Churches of God and the Waldensians and those who followed them were the ones who preserved it. They were the ones from who also sprang the Protestants.

So, God is working a work here today beginning with the time of the Reformation and the spreading of the Word of God in preparing for the return of Christ, getting all the nations all together the way that He wants them at the end-time, and all those things taken care of.

We are going to see on Pentecost that we are going to be a part of the greatest event since creation! That will be the first resurrection!

Scriptural References:

• Leviticus 23:9-11, 14-16
• Joshua 5:10-12, 11
• Matthew 12:49-50
• Matthew 13:1-17
• Daniel 12:2-3, 8-10
• Matthew 13:18-23
• Proverbs 11:27
• Proverbs 10:4
• Proverbs 12:24, 27-28
• Psalm 119:1-2. 10, 34, 145-146, 139, 69-70,

                        47-48, 141-142

• Titus 2:11-14
• Matthew 13:24-35

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Jeremiah 10
• Isaiah 50
• John 1:1

Also referenced: Books by Fred R. Coulter:

• A Harmony of the Gospels
• The Seven General Epistles
• The Christian Passover

FRC:bo
Transcribed: 5/12/21

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