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Tag: sower

  • Because the days are evil – 4 – The Devil made me do it.

    Because the days are evil – 4 – The Devil made me do it.

    and do not give the devil an opportunity.

    Ephesians 4:27

    The Lie of the Devil

    There’s an iconic TV character who we know for a common excuse for sin, “the devil made me do it.” We laughed because we have heard it (or something like it) from our friends and loved ones so many times. Inside some of us cringed because we have said it ourselves knowing the truth of our own desires.

    Two lies of the devil are that God doesn’t exist and neither does Satan.

    This, of course, is why he is called the great deceiver of mankind and most who deny God believe the devil to be a myth.

    What deceit?

    διάβολος – diabolos

    Diabolos, in fact, actually refers to any man or spirit of deceit prone to slander or accusing falsely. Metaphorically, applied to a man who, by opposing the cause of God, may be said to act the part of the devil or to side with him.

    “The devil made me do it,” your conscience rationalizes, full-well knowing good and evil yourself and willingly justifying this sin falsely.

    Yet in our hearts you and I always know our deceivability toward this easy lie. We wanted to do this sin, to commit this trespass, even convincing our selfish rebellious will that God has forgiven every one of our sins already (for some reason).

    Not so; just another lie. For the Lord calls believers to permanent change.

    Who will side with sin?

    The devil will tempt you before this small opportunity for revelry against God claiming ‘all sins are not equal.’

    Did God really say this, the devil will ask, slandering the Lord God?

    You can get away with this because you have accepted Christ, slanders the very enemy of Christ.

    We don’t have to read the Bible, the deceiver whispers to your heart. Did God really say that, anyway?

    THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER EXPLAINED

    Jesus tells this parable to a large crowd then explains it to the Apostles and also to those who study scripture.

    “A sower went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some seed fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the sky devoured it…

    Luke 8:5 CSB

    The Tempter clouds justice and the dark reality of God’s punishment of sin.

    “The seed along the path are those who have heard and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. – Luke 8:12

    You do not believe scripture and you fail to take God’s word to heart.

    Although Jesus points to the devil here in the parable, further examination of our tendency toward loving sin prompts other evil actions of ours. Here is a SAVED ‘christian’ (‘once saved, always saved’).

    “And the seed on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy. Having no root, these believe for a while and fall away in a time of testing. Luke 8:13

    You showed great enthusiasm for Jesus. Though you claim to worship at a house built on a rock, your faith is that of seed on a rock. You cannot take root as the heat of the world withers your faith. And little have you realized it was the devil who tempted you to believe, ‘now I am safe to sin.’

    Other subtle slandering by the devil

    “As for the seed that fell among thorns, these are the ones who, when they have heard, go on their way and are choked with worries, riches, and pleasures of life, and produce no mature fruit. – Luke 8:14

    I went to church, check. Listened to the uplifting praise band, check. Texted a friend about something important (or maybe it wasn’t). Okay, probably shouldn’t have done that. Got in my listening to scripture in church this week, check. Gotta go! Rushed out to do some Sunday shopping and see the game. Busy week at work ahead, must work on a few things to get ready.

    Pleasures of life: have you seen their ads? Sexxy, enticing, everybody wants to be part of this. (No worries there.) Lies of the devil, the one who you can claim later ‘made you do it?’

    No wonder pastors struggle to shepherd church-goers lacking in mature fruit of the Gospel. They don’t read scripture and easily deceived. Yet Jesus encourages those who resist the devil and our own urges, those truly saved who yield the mature fruit of faith in the Cross, resurrection and eternal life with God. (Yes, it’s another lie of the devil that ALL get to heaven.)

    “But the seed in the good ground ​— ​these are the ones who, having heard the word with an honest and good heart, hold on to it and by enduring, produce fruit.

    Luke 8:15 CSB

    The days are evil, but the devil didn’t MAKE you do it.

    October — Halloween — New Year’s, Mardi Gras, summer solstice, Oktoberfest — when does it all end?

    At judgement, where will you stand? What is your fruit in witness against the great deceiver and slanderer who continually fights against Almighty God, our Lord Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit?

    The First Letter of John

    The Apostle John writes a letter to believers encouraging them:

    Beloved, now we are children of God…

    Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning.

    The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. – excerpt from 1 John 3, NASB

    By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.

    1 John 3:10

    He didn’t ‘make‘ you do it, but is the devil deceiving you, dear friend?

    What is your fruit of righteousness?

    Because the Days are Evil
To be continued...

  • The House You Build

    The House You Build

    Isaiah 66:1-2

    Thus says the LORD:
    “Heaven is my throne,
    and the earth is my footstool;
    what is the house that you would build for me,
    and what is the place of my rest?

    All these things my hand has made,
    and so all these things came to be,
    declares the LORD.

    But this is the one to whom I will look:
    he who is humble and contrite in spirit
    and trembles at my word.

    5 Hear the word of the Lord,
    you who tremble at his word:
    “Your brothers who hate you
    and cast you out for my name’s sake
    have said, ‘Let the Lord be glorified,
    that we may see your joy’;
    but it is they who shall be put to shame.

    15 “For behold, the Lord will come in fire,
    and his chariots like the whirlwind,
    to render his anger in fury,
    and his rebuke with flames of fire.
    16 For by fire will the Lord enter into judgment,
    and by his sword, with all flesh;
    and those slain by the Lord shall be many.

    Our Lord is a consuming fire.

    He will burn away into flames of fire the chaff of our sins.

    He will send away into the darkness of Hades the souls who refuse His refining Word.

    What does the Lord require?

    Matthew 13
    English Standard Version (ESV)

    That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables…

    18 “Hear then the parable of the sower: 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart…

    … one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.

    … one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

    23 As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

    Is your heart the good soil of your soul? What is the fruit of your receiving the Gospel of Christ Jesus?

    The Parable of the Weeds

    24 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also…

    Satan has been sowing seeds of wickedness among the good seed of the Gospel for two millennia beyond the Cross and Resurrection.

    Is the time of harvest not certainly near?

    isaiah-662_barn and wheat30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”

     “… what is the house that you would build for me,
    and what is the place of my rest?

    But this is the one to whom I will look:
    he who is humble and contrite in spirit
    and trembles at my word.

    1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple…

    1 Corinthians 6:15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?

    … do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

     Take Up Your Cross and Follow Jesus

    Luke 9:23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

    25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.