Passover Exam of Conditions of Growth

Happy Sabbath, everybody! Good to see you and appreciate that special music. We have come this far by faith, haven't we? How many of you have been in the church for 50-plus years?

Okay. A few of you have been. I know some of you haven't been. You raise your hands.

I didn't ask if you were 50 years old. But how many of you have been in 40-plus years?

Look around, brethren, so you can get an idea here. It's so exciting. You're here by faith, you know, which is a marvelous thing, isn't it? This thing of faith. You know, I think that it is faith to faith. It's from one trial or crisis to another trial or crisis that we have to have faith. I was thinking about this topic that I am going to give here to you today and relate it to some of the things that Jesus Christ said about this particular topic. You know, one of the oldest farming practices of man in existence is the planting of vineyards. You know, probably if we look back in history, that would probably go back to the very first thing that man began to farm. We know there were other things, or else he would have never gotten around to the other type of farming. But vineyards were planted on both sides of the flood. You know, it was occurring certainly on the other side of the flood. We know, according to the Bible, that Noah planted a vineyard just after the flood. So he knew how to do it. He was aware of how to do it, and he did it after the flood. And vineyards were very familiar to the Jews of the first century all over the Mediterranean world. And whenever the Roman Empire expanded, it planted vineyards for wine. In fact, they felt that if you couldn't do that, that the place that they were going to occupy wasn't worth ruling over. In fact, interestingly, when Britain was ruled by the Romans, the climate was sufficiently warm enough to plant vineyards. And it's interesting that it has actually begun to be practiced again in Britain due to the global warming that's taking place, which is an interesting thing in itself. You know, it's interesting also that a good vine stock can be hundreds of years old. And you know, you can use that and parts of that wine stock for hundreds of years.

The oldest known productive grapevine in the world is in Slovenia, which is estimated to be 400 years old. Think about that. Wine that was produced 400 years ago from grapes at that time are being produced today in Slovenia. And so a wine stock can be a grapevine stock, I should say, can be very old. But shortly before Jesus was crucified, he gave these important instructions to his disciples. I won't turn to it, but in John 15 verse 1, this is what he said, I am the true vine, and my father is the vine dresser. You know, it says the husband then, if you look in the King James version, these words were more than likely, by the way, given in the room where the emblems of the bread and the wine were given. Barnes actually says this, that it may have been delivered as you enter into the temple, because Josephus says that at the entryway, you know, the entryway was adorned with golden vines. And Jesus Christ may have taken the occasion to say that he was the true vine there. So, you know, it's probably, again, took place the night that he gave the instructions about the emblems. But it's interesting also what Josephus alludes to there about the golden vines that were there in the entryway to the temple. Israel, by the way, was compared to a vineyard in the prophecies of the Old Testament. They were compared to a vineyard that was planted of God, which was intended to produce much fruit. And you know, God intended Israel to be a very productive nation. I won't turn to it, but in Isaiah 5, in verses 1 through 2, you might want to write this down, the place to look at it. But it says there, now will I sing to my well beloved. This is how God referred to Israel. A song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well beloved had a vineyard in a very fruitful hill. You know, if you ever go over to France and see some of the vineyards there, they're just covered all over the hills. And so here it talks about that. Of course, up in the Napa Valley, we see the same thing. And he fenced it and gathered all out the stones thereof and planted it with the choices vine and built a tower in the midst of it. It also made a winepress therein. And he looked that it should bring forth grapes and it brought forth wild grapes.

And so what had been planted turned out to be wild. Not tame, you might say, or where in fact it was produced over a long period of time and was a very good grape, but it was a wild grape.

And so Jesus compared, you know, Israel to that. And of course, we are a part of a vine as well. Jesus Christ said, in fact, he said that he was the true vine. And so Christ compared himself to a productive grapevine. And by analogy, he was not 400 years old, but he was ageless. You know, his grapevine, you might say, and the roots of it and all were ageless. And let's go to John 15 in verse 5 through 7. John 15 in verse 5 through 7. He said, I am the vine, you are the branches. And so Christ is that grapevine that is very old, that grapevine stalk that is very old, but we are the branches of that, you know, productive grapevine stalk. And he that abides in me and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit. For without me, you can do nothing. Now, if we understand, again, the analogy of him being the grapevine stalk, that certainly we understand without that, the branches will not be fed, you know, by the nourishment that comes from the roots, that in fact take care of that vine stalk. And if a man abides not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered, and men gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, he said, that you bear much fruit, and so shall you be my disciples.

And so Christ wants us to be, again, those productive branches that are attached to that true vine. And, you know, when a branch dies, the natural thing for a farmer to do is to simply cut it off and to take that dead part of the vine, and after it is sufficiently dried out, that it is burned. You know, you use it to burn. And if a branch doesn't produce any fruit, it merely saffs the strength of the plant. It saffs the vine, and that is cut off, and it withers, and then it is burnt. In other words, it's possible to be a vine that is very beautiful, but it doesn't produce any fruit. And so you wouldn't want to keep that on the vine. You'd cut it off, and it would wither.

And again, it would be burned after it dried out. And so God wants us to be productive. We are to be fruitful and show growth as Christ's disciples each year. Every year, brethren, we should be blossoming new fruit. Every year, we should be producing new fruit from the true vine, because this is a good vine that we're tied into. A good vine that we are a branch of, that God intends to be successful and fruitful. Now, the question that I began to ask myself about what Jesus Christ said about this is, what are the conditions for Christian growth, for the branches of this true vine? What are the conditions? I'm talking about the specific things that must happen in the lives of Christians today in order to be a productive branch off of that vine. What are those conditions? It's like, for instance, when we look at how farmers do their work and so forth.

You know, the plowing that they have to do, the cultivation, the irrigation. We look at some cases, throwing fertilizers of some sort on the ground to make it productive, if it's maybe deficient in some of the things that it needs in the soil. In other words, there have to be conditions in order for that crop to produce, and every farmer knows that. Whatever his crop is, and he's trying to raise, he knows there have to be the right conditions that are there, or nothing he plants is going to be that productive. And, you know, men have learned over the years what works and what does not work. Well, brethren, as we approach the Passover, as it says in 2 Corinthians 13 verse 5, it tells us to examine ourselves whether or not we are in the faith. You know, are we in the groove, you might say, of being productive? And I thought it would be a good thing in order for us to do that, personally, is to examine the right conditions for growth for us. You know, what are those right conditions that need to be there in order for us to produce anything, any kind of fruits? You know, one of the ways we can do that is examine whether we are in the conditions required for Christian growth, like with a seed that is sown again. Unless water is present, that seed won't sprout and it will not grow. It will not produce anything. So that condition has to be there. But how do we apply this to Christians? You know, I could go through probably and I could, you know, talk about the things necessary to make a plant grow, but what we're talking about here is not plants, are we? We're talking about people. How do you grow? How do I grow? And all of us that are part of God's church and are attached to that vine, how can we grow? Well, there are things that have to be there in order for us to grow. Otherwise, we're wasting our time. You know, we're not going to produce anything. There will be no fruit, you know, no matter how many summers come and go. There will not be any fruit.

Well, let's look rather back in the book of Psalms here in Psalm 1, chapter 1, and notice here one of the things, as I already mentioned, that are very necessary here. And here it says in verse 3, chapter 1 of the book of Psalms, it says in verse 3, he shall be speaking about, you know, somebody who is following God's way of life, like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its seasons, whose leaf also shall not wither, and whoever or whatever he does shall prosper. And then he goes on to say the ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away.

And it says, therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment. You know, they won't even be in the judgment. You know, think about the fact that we are in the judgment right now. Judgment is upon the house of God right now, and it's an honor to be here. It's an honor to be able to know God's truth in this day and age that we're living in. And it says, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

You know, people who are committing sin, you know, every day in their life that have are not practicing God's way of life. Now, sure we commit sins, but we repent of sins. But somebody who is a sinner, in other words, someone who practices sin, will not sit in the congregation of the righteous. You know, people don't file in here, you know, in great numbers, do they?

They're out there in the world. And in fact, if they did, you'd have to drag them in here, because they wouldn't come of their own volition. And it says, for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly ship shall perish. And so we see here, in order to grow abundantly, we have to be tapped into water. And more specifically, brethren, we have to be tapped into living waters. Living waters. Now, what are living waters? What am I talking about? You know, living waters, we look upon water that is still, that is, you know, basically without the right minerals and so forth, you can have a dead water, you know.

In fact, there's water out in the ocean, by the way, a whole pockets of water, where life cannot exist, because there's just not the proper nutrients. There's not the oxygen there. You know, scientists will tell you that we have some what they call dead zones in the ocean. And so it has to be a living water. Like, for instance, if you receive water from the Dead Sea, you know, you're not going to do any growing of crops, are you? Because it's the high salt content that is there, that makes it unusable.

And so, brethren, we have to be tapped into living water. And a vine or a tree will not grow without living water. And that is how growth comes when we are tapped into that living water. Let's sort of notice over here in John 7. John 7. When we begin to stretch our minds, brethren, to begin to understand about this, and this major condition that needs to be there for you in your life, either it has to be inside you, or it has to be working with you in order for it to have an impact upon your life so that you will begin to grow.

But in John 7, in verse 37, notice here what Jesus Christ himself said, and this was on the great day of the feast, the eighth day, as we understand, or the last day, I should say, which is the great day, I think traditionally was on the seventh day, I should say. And it says, and Jesus stood up and cried out.

He wanted everyone to hear this. He cried out, saying, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water, not just a stream, a trickle, but rivers of living water. And it says, but this he spoke concerning the Spirit whom those believing in him would receive, for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. And so, brethren, we have to have this living water flowing through us.

The only way we can receive, of course, that within us is through baptism and the laying on of hands. And that water symbolizes the life-giving Holy Spirit flowing from Jesus Christ and God the Father into us, like any tree again or vine. It needs that adequate water, living water, to grow a root foundation, to grow a Christian, you might say. And those roots for us as Christians need to be very deep, you know, within the church of God today.

And we derive our strength, by the way, through the rivers of living water. That's strength. That's why some of you are here, by the way, for 50 years. There's a lot more to it, but that's why we're here. That that Spirit is still working in us. It's still producing something in us. And that's the only way that you and I are here, brethren, today, because of that Holy Spirit. Because when that Spirit goes, brethren, then it is over.

Remember when David, what David himself said, he begged God not to take his Holy Spirit from him.

And it came very close, by the way, with his sin with bachula. He got down very low.

And that's, again, the effective sin to us. It saps us of our strength. It's like that vine, in other words, that doesn't produce any fruit off of it. You know, if it goes too long without producing the fruit, you cut it off. And it withers, and you burn it. And, you know, we should understand what that means. Now, the church, brethren, is the place where God's Spirit is at work all the time. In the church, the Spirit of God is at work all the time.

And, you know, sometimes I will say this, that people come to church, and they are around God's Spirit so much, sometimes they can fool themselves into thinking that they have God's Spirit.

Be careful about that. You know, it's important that you have God's Spirit in you. You know, people can go a long way on their own strength. So, make sure, again, that Spirit is working in you, it's active in you, that you're not deceiving yourself. And, you know, the Holy Spirit should flow through us in a very big way. And that means we have adequate water, plenty of water.

I mean, we've got more water than we know what to do with, because it's all around us, it's in us, and flowing through us, again, if we've opened our minds and our hearts to that.

And so, in order for us to grow, brethren, you have to tap in to the Holy Spirit, that living water. Don't have that, not going to grow. And, you know, if you're not baptized, and you're of the age where you should get baptized, you ought to begin seriously thinking about being baptized. Now, don't get baptized and think that somehow you just dunked under that water, that you're going to receive God's Spirit unless you are sincere to the heart's core.

And, you know, if you are sincere and you sincerely repent, you go down in that water, you come up and you have the laying out of hands, you know, you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now God says, okay, here it is to you. What are you going to do with it? What are you going to do with it? And again, it's important for us to use it in our lives. Another thing that is important, which is a condition for growth in us, and, you know, unfortunately, I've seen this not to be the case in the church. Ever since I've been in the church, I've seen it. And I'm sure those of you who have been in the while, you have seen this as well.

Elders have seen it, certainly. Is it, you know, in order to grow, you have to be receptive to the truth. You have to be willing to listen to the truth. You have to be willing to apply yourself to the truth. To be receptive to the truth. You know, sometimes we can begin to take things for granted, too, and not be receptive that way. Sometimes we can begin to hear something in the church that we've heard before, and we sort of reach over and turn the radio off.

We're not receptive. You know, I've heard probably, I don't know how many sermons I've never added up.

I've heard over my lifetime, I've heard many sermonettes over my lifetime, in time being in the ministry, heard many messages about the Bible. And I've heard things, I'm sure all of you could say this as well about yourself, but you know, I don't think there's ever been a time when I didn't learn something and what was being said. And so there's no need to turn the radio off, you see. We need to hear things sometimes, many times, before we grasp it.

You know, I had someone come up to me and tell me that, you know, they heard some things in sermons that they'd never known before. You know, how is it that some people get it, and some people, it takes a long time to get. I'm talking about basic things, basic things. How is it? It's because people continue to be receptive to the truth, and you keep learning, you keep adding on, you know. So it's important for us always to be receptive to what is being said. In 1 Corinthians chapter 2, let's go over to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. You see, you are on a journey, you and I are on a journey to not just to see the superficial things of God, but we are on a journey to understand the deep things of God. You know, Mr. Armstrong once, you know, was told that he ought to be a lawyer, because he had so many questions to ask. Some of you may remember him saying that. And in a way, he said, I did become a lawyer. He said, I became a lawyer of God's law, God's way of life. And I studied it in that way, in that manner. But, you know, somebody told me he should be a Philadelphia lawyer, but he did become a Philadelphia lawyer. He used to talk about how the church was a Philadelphia era of the church as well. But here in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, let's notice this in verse 9. But as it is written, I has not seen nor ear heard nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him. You know, we haven't understood this in the world in general. Those in the world probably think that they do. Some people think that they have understood these wonderful things. I should bet to you that we haven't seen the depths of what God has prepared for us yet. We don't probably grasp it the way that we should.

But, you know, God is talking about rulership. He's talking about rulership, as we understand, not just of this earth, but perhaps even throughout the entire universe. And, you know, again, we don't think as deeply about that as we should. And, of course, we don't understand the why's. Why God has us do certain things as we should. But it says, but God has revealed them to us through his Spirit. It says, for the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. See, when we have God's Spirit in us, we have an eagerness to know these things. And that's why we're so receptive to it. We want to hear all these things. Like some people, you know, they get caught up in Hollywood, and they want to hear all about their star, whoever it is that they are worshiping. And usually it is nothing but worship, is it? You know, they want to know what kind of toilet paper they use in the bathroom, you know. You know, I'm exaggerating this, but it gets that bad with some people because they almost worship their Hollywood idol. Well, brethren, let's understand that you and I want to know everything, too. But we want to know everything about what God thinks. I mean, we want to know the intricate details. It's like, you know, this past week I was thinking about, you know, what it must be like in heaven. You know, we don't know how to live down here in peace here upon this earth. We don't know how to talk to each other. You know, people don't know how to live with each other. You know, you get on the freeway, you realize that people don't know how to live together. You know, I've noticed that, you know, I was telling my wife that, you know, if I was from another planet and I got here, that, you know, when people honked at you, I would think that that was their way of saying hello. But we all know that that's not so. People lay on their horns, you know, the least infraction. But, you know, think about it, too. When you talk to people, people talk to one another. You know, can we talk and not be negative? Can we talk with each other and not put somebody else down? Can we do that? I thought about that. Could I do that? You know, how sometimes we talk and we will say things off the cuff and later we think, well, I should have said that, you know. But what must it be like in heaven, brethren? I ask myself, how do angels talk to each other? You know, is there an angel by the name of Joe? You know, and maybe another angel by the name of Bo? You know, how was your day? You know, of course they wouldn't have a day, would they?

There's no night and day, but, you know, how was your decade? Well, they wouldn't have a decade, would they? But, hey, I haven't seen you for two million years, you know. But you know what I mean? How would they talk to each other? And how are their lives? Do, you know, do they go to, you know, in heaven? Do they go to a ballgame sometimes? Boy, how'd you like to go to a ballgame like that? You know, they get up to slug and they, you know, people maybe would complain about hitting 10 or 15 miles, you know, it was a ball. But how would they talk? Can we, brethren, talk in a way that we're not adding things that we would look upon as being, you know, sinned? That, you know, where we're putting somebody else down, that, in my book, would be a sin that should be repented of. But, you know, we as God's people have been given the Holy Spirit, brethren, and we want to look into the deep things of God. We want to know the intricate things about God's way of life.

And it says, for what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of a man which is in him?

Even so, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. So, brethren, if we're not receptive to the truth, you know, the things that we need to know we're going to miss out on.

We're going to miss them. We want to be able to really understand in our own minds, you know, what God's way is. And so, we, brethren, have to be receptive to the truth. You know, years ago, we used to have an old television. It was black and white. And on top of it, on top of the television, you had what? Some of the old people here.

Rabbit ears! Remember those old rabbit ears? Did you ever put tin foil on the end of the rabbit ears? You know, everything. And because then there was no cable, there was no satellite dish, but we had the rabbit ears or the antenna that were on top of the house, you know.

I don't know if any of you had the big, tall antenna that I remember we lived in Oklahoma, and the only stations you could get is Fort Smith, Arkansas. And there were three stations there that that, you know, we had. And then, if you got, if you had an extremely good antenna, you could get Tulsa, Channel 8. I remember that. But many times, I was on top of the house, and I was like, what else? Is it clear now? Is it clear now? No! Turn it the other way!

I remember, you know, so well that time. And, you know, it would, you'd go, it'd be very fuzzy with a snow on it, you know. And then, finally, you'd hit that, that one. There! That's it! That's it!

Just hold it there! So you'd have to stand up on top of the roof, you know, holding it.

And then, you'd go down, you know, and it would be snow again. And then, you'd have to go back. You know, you do that all kinds of times. But, well, brethren, we need to point our antenna in the right direction. Because, in this world, Satan is a god of this world, and it says he broadcast to the children of disobedience. And a lot of times, we got our antenna pointed there.

We need to get our antenna pointed to heaven, and use that Holy Spirit that God has given to us. Get on that wavelength from heaven, and direct that antenna in that direction, brethren. Let's go to Matthew 13, verse 23. Matthew 13, verse 23.

You'll hear it says, but he who received seed in the good ground. You mean, remember the parable of the sower where Christ talked about how the seed fell on different kinds of ground?

But it says, he who received the seed on the good ground.

It says, is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. You know, you hear sometimes a farmer talking about his crop. He says, well, you know, that crop over there that I have is going to produce 150 bushels.

They'll say, how productive this is going to be. Well, here we see that if you can get the right conditions, if you can plant your seed in good ground, that's what we're talking about here, as God's people. That means we're going to be very productive. And one of those conditions, like I said, is to be receptive to the truth. Always be receptive to the truth. Always have your ears open to the truth. Particularly if you're in the house of God, you better have your ears open, because you never know when it's going to be said. That thing that you don't know. You know, I've a long time learned that some people that need what is going to be said are usually not there. That is the way it works. And I'll give you one guess as to why that is. And I think you could probably figure out what happens, because they haven't turned their antenna the right direction. You see, they're not there when they should be there to hear the truth. You know, also, brethren, we can't be spiritually lazy and learn, brethren, the depths of the spiritual knowledge that God has for us. You know, sometimes you have to wade through some basic things before you get to the really deep things. Remember, you're not the only one in the church. There are a lot of people at different stages of growth in the church.

And so we always have to go back to the basics. Isn't that what a coach does?

Okay, men, let's go through the basics again. You know, no matter how many times you go over it, but always there's something that's deeper for us to see. You know, time and time again, Jesus said to the scribes and Pharisees, what did He say to them? Here, these were men who were learned men, who were intelligent men, who studied the Bible. It was their job. It was their profession. And He said this, He says, have you not read? We'll talk about an insult. It would be like me saying to Mr. Rorem, have you not read in the law? Well, it's his job to do it. He's supposed to be familiar with the law. And so this is what Jesus said to those who came to Him, questioning Him, you haven't read it. You haven't seen it. You haven't been receptive to what it was saying to you. Well, brethren, with God's Spirit, we can look at Scripture with renewed eyes, but we must look and meditate on them to grow and understand. You've got to think about it. You know, don't expect, brethren, that you're going to come in here and get an instant cup of coffee. This is natural stuff. It has to be brewed. And what I mean by that is you need to take it in your mind, you need to brew it up there a little bit, and then you'll get the taste of what the real coffee is here. Now, if you hate coffee, I'm sorry for that analogy, but you can substitute tea if you like to, which has to be steeped, if you like that word better. So you can steep on it a little bit until you come to the understanding, and you will. God gives us the renewed eyes through His Holy Spirit. You know, there was a time when a scribe saw Christ answering questions, and he decided he was going to ask one. Let's go to Matthew 12, just over from where you are there, in Matthew 12 and verse 28. I'm sorry, Mark. I saw that. If that's a word. We have an English teacher here. Maybe they can tell me. I claim that patented, by the way. Just kidding. Mark 12 and down in verse 28.

It says, Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, which is the first commandment of all?

And, of course, you know the answer that Jesus Christ gave. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your mind. The second one is, like unto it, you should love your neighbor as yourself. And it says in verse 32, So the scribe said to him, Well said, teacher, you have spoken the truth. For there is one God, and there is no other but he. And it says, To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is more than all, he says, of the whole-burn offerings and sacrifice. Remember we talked about sacrifices up in Santa Rosa recently? That God wants us to be people of understanding that we understand that love God is more important than anything else, and, of course, to apply ourselves to that. But notice in verse 32, and it says, Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, You are not far from the kingdom of God. But after that, no one dared ask a question of it. So they didn't ask Christ any more questions. Now, Jesus Christ didn't say to him, you know, you're there. He said, You're not too far from the truth. You know, remember when you were playing games when you were little kids, you know, you would hide something and, you know, you would say, Am I colder or hotter?

You're warm, you know, and then you'd move that direction and you'd get a little further. Oh, you're getting hot now, you know, that way. Well, Christ was telling him, You're not far.

Go a little further. You know, look into a little bit more and you're going to get it. You're going to grasp it. And so, brethren, we need to be able to go far there if we're going to grasp the deep things of God. And I think I'm pretty safe in saying that if you've been in the church for 30 or 40 years, you understand more than others because you've gone a little further.

Now, I don't know how long, you know, when we stopped learning, but I know Mr. Armstrong said he was learning right before he died. So, all of our life, brethren, go a little farther.

But always be receptive to the truth because that's what's going to make you grow and overcome.

You know, Paul, I'm not going to go to it, but in Hebrews 5, 11, told the church at large, the general membership of the church, he says, I have much more to tell you, he says, but you're dull of hearing. You see, they stopped being receptive. And he says, some of you need to have milk because you're not ready for meat yet. You're not there. Well, brethren, wouldn't it be wonderful, brethren, if all of us were ready for meat right now? Now, we're not all there in that position. And certainly, I know I have a lot more to learn. And I'm sure that all of you feel the same way.

And I kind of feel like I eat meat, but I will let God be the judge of that.

But you know, you think about it from the standpoint of physical things. Oftentimes, people in the physical realm will study hours to understand things, physical things I'm talking about. Science, of course, men of science will spend their entire lifetime to try to understand physical things. Well, brethren, the same way that this world will concentrate on things, to evaluate things, to meditate on things, we must concentrate our attention to gain deeper understanding of the truth. And it's a lifelong endeavor and always going a little further with that receptive attitude. Otherwise, brethren, we will remain as babes who can't tolerate meat.

As soon as you stop growing, you know, and stop being receptive, you become a babe again. You start over again. I wonder if God sometimes sits on his throne and says, boy, when are we going to make some new territory here? You know, certainly we know God is very merciful. He deals with us and tolerates us, you know, I think in many ways. But it's time to move on, and the way we do that is always be receptive to the truth. That's a condition.

Another thing that is very important is this. The old man must truly die. The old man must truly die.

You know, the thing about death in the physical realm, Christ gave this as an analogy, by the way, in a roundabout way. I think it ties into what he said. If you pluck a peach from a tree, within that peach is potential for another tree that will produce peaches. You have all kinds of peaches, you know, off of that one seed. You know, my wife always used to drive her up the wall because we would find a nice peach, you know, a big, robust peach. And I thought, boy, that's the kind of peach I want. That's the kind of peach tree I want. And I would eat the peach and leave the seed on the sink. And I never did plant the seed, by the way, but that's why it drove her up the wall. But, you know, inside of that beautiful peach I ate was a seed that, if I planted it, I would get the same fruit that was there, you know, within that peach.

When a peach just falls to the ground from a tree, what happens is the flesh on the outside of that peach begins to decay. And, you know, that's what's been happening for the last 6,000 years. And voila! If it falls in the right place, you have a peach tree, another peach tree. Then you have a peach tree here, peach tree over here, and it all happens just naturally, you know, from the rain coming down and all the things that conspire to cause that peach seed to begin to sprout a little fruit tree and then up to where it becomes very productive. So that seed can produce a fruit. But the flesh of the peach must die. I don't know if you quite thought about yourself being that way, like a peach. But the flesh has to die, and someday it will. When you're changed out of this physical mortal into immortal, it will die, the physical. Well, let's notice here in John chapter 12. I should have been turning to this, but in John 12, in verse 23, John 12 and verse 23, beginning here, and Jesus answered them, saying, The hour has come that the Son of man shall be glorified.

And most assuredly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it produces much grain. Same analogy as the peach gave to you in the flesh, you might say, outside of that peach. And notice what he says going on, He who loves his life shall lose it. You love to have that flesh around that peach seed. You're going to lose it. And you know, you're fighting to lose it, losing battle anyway. You want to preserve the flesh around that peach seed. And I'm looking at you from here. I can tell you're losing a battle. I look at myself in the mirrors and I know I'm losing that battle.

Remember when you were young and it seemed like you were ageless? Nothing bothered you that way. Well, you don't have that anymore if you're getting older. And it says, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. And it says, if anyone serves me, let him follow me. For where I am, there my servant will be also. If anyone serves me, him my father will honor. And so, you see, brethren, the old man, that flesh has to die.

And, you know, at baptism, we are symbolically buried in a watery grave. But remember, it's symbolic. It's symbolic. You know, because it wasn't, you'd be left in the grave, the watery grave. It's symbolic. But it is an outward show of your inward intent, what you have said you want to do when you get baptized. And once you step out of that baptismal pool or that, the waters of it, we are symbolically saying that we will walk in the newness of life.

You know, when the minister says to you, your sins are forgiven. And then, of course, when you receive God's Spirit, you're able to do that. You're able to walk in that newness of life. But remember, it's only a promise that you have made. You haven't done it yet. You promised God that you would do it. We know it also symbolizes the resurrection. The Christ will raise us up at the time of the first resurrection. However, the process of living in this newness of life is not yet done. We have to mortify the old man in our lives and not give place to the devil any longer in our lives. So that's a battle in our lives. Now, I'm not going to go to this in Romans 8 and verse 7. You know, it talks about how the carnal mind is enmity against God. It's not subject to the law of God. Neither indeed can be. And if we, again, live for the flesh, we're going to die. It says that over there. To be carnally minded is death.

To be spiritually minded is life. And so, brethren, we must kill ourselves, if I can put it that way. I'm speaking in a figurative way with this because that's what we did when we got in that water, a pool of baptism. And we have to let Christ begin to live in us. And eternal life comes, brethren, from the... when the flesh, you might say, around the seed, which is the opportunity for eternal life when it's planted and it grows up and it bears fruit. Then, eternal life happens when we're changed out of this human flesh. But, you know, Satan has been snatching eternal life from people for the last 6,000 years. He got in the Garden of Eden. He was there. He snatched it away from Adam and Eve. He tried to do it with Abel. Abel was faithful. He was faithful. He stood firm. And, you know, he no doubt tried to do it with Noah. To think about what he went through, building that ark. The only person on the earth that was building a boat with no water around. You know, think about that. An amazing thing! So, Satan has desired to snatch the chance of eternal life from us, brethren. And, you know, I liken Satan the devil to this. Satan the devil, brethren, is like a Frankenstein doctor who, you know, wants to, you know, take away from us the opportunity for eternal life. He wants to resurrect the old man. He doesn't care about you being in the kingdom. He doesn't care about you being in the first resurrection. He wants to resurrect the old man.

He's the Frankenstein. And, after you begin to turn away from God, you know, it's like in the old Frankenstein movie. If you've seen some of them, it's like when he's finally been able to revive this corpse. He says, it lives! It lives! You remember that in some of the movies? Well, he's looking for that time. Oh, back! He's back! This old man is back! Well, let me tell you the ways that you can find out if the old man is back. Just easy ways. Well, not receptive to the truth anymore. He doesn't want to hear it. He doesn't want to listen to it. Thinking too much of yourself.

Being selfish. Being self-will. A lack of humility.

Not willing to serve anybody else. Want to take care of the self. I love me, and I'm going to take care of me. Forsaking the brethren. Don't want to be with those righteous people, because they just make me feel uncomfortable. You remember it talks about how darkness doesn't like light.

That's why people begin to think that. Coasting along. Just coasting along.

Not watching yourself, but watching other people. Sometimes people that don't want to obey God said, well, there are hypocrites over there.

Well, you know, maybe there are people that are hypocrites in the church.

God be thanked. I don't know. If somebody's hypocritical, I really don't want to know that. Frankly, I'd rather they change. But, you know, the Bible does say, be sure your sin will find you out.

Now, what happens, too, is people begin to have a lack of respect. You know, the old man's back.

The old man's coming back. Somebody is skeptical. That's the old man. And somebody becoming sarcastic.

You know. So, brethren, these are signs the old man is coming back in a big way.

I won't have you turn to Galatians 2.20, but notice what Paul says here.

And I'll quote it to you. He says, I have been crucified with Christ. And it is no longer I who live. You see, we're killing off the old man, getting rid of him. But Christ Jesus lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. So, we've let Christ take up residence within us through his Holy Spirit.

So, brethren, the old man has to be dead if you want to produce fruit.

Otherwise, you know, when you go out to that vine, you know, look at the vine where it's not, you know, done away with the old man, and it's got these little puny grapes.

Maybe he's a little connected, but not connected enough. But, you know, the husbandman comes by and looks at that vine. He says, uh, something wrong here. I'm going to keep an eye on this thing.

And he may just decide, I'm going to cut it off. I'm not going to bear any fruit. I might as well cut it off. Remember, it's the Father who called you and drew you to the church. And it's the Father who will cut us off. Kind of like old Bill Cosby when he told his son, I brought you into this world and I can take you out. Well, the Father, brethren, called us and he can strip us off if we're not careful. We know he doesn't do that capriciously, but only as any good husbandman would do or farmer would do. He waits until it's just the point where nothing could be done. Another thing that is a condition for growth, brethren, and I even hate to bring this up because it'll make you uncomfortable, being able to receive correction. Well, I haven't heard that a long time. Being able to receive correction. Jesus said, He said, therefore you shall be perfect even just as your Father in heaven is perfect. And so, brethren, Jesus said that we have to become perfect. That's a high calling for us to perform. And Jesus said He was the vine and the Father is the vine dresser. And He said, every branch in me that does not bear fruit, He takes away. The husbandman sniffs it off, cuts it off. And every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it that it may bear more fruit. So if you're producing a good fruit, you know, God's desire is, okay, we're going to produce a better fruit. You know, we're going to produce a better fruit. That word prune is from the Greek word katharō, a kathiro, to prune or to cleanse. So we have to be cleansed, brethren, of our ways and our sins. We have to be cleaned up. And God calls it pruning here in what He inspires John to write down. And since God is perfect, brethren, we must change in order to be like Him. And so we have to take correction. We're going to have to be told somewhere along the line, no, that's not the way. No, this is the way. You know, I know we don't like that, do we? It's like you go to maybe a theater and you want to sit somewhere else and the, you know, usher comes up and says, no, would you please sit down here? You know, I don't know if you've ever been to a parking lot where you were, you know, you had parking attendants there and you see a parking place suggest where you wanted. And they're waving these lights and everything and say, no, come up here. And you know, you're two football fields for me. Intras, you thought you knew better, you know, but they wanted you to do that. It's correction. We don't like it. You know, it's not one of those words we like, but we have to be corrected. And you know, whether or not we're going to benefit from that correction is it depends on our willingness to be corrected, to be shown.

In a changed heart, brethren, where we repent, a changed heart should be a surrendered heart to Jesus Christ. I know when I was baptized prior to baptism, I said, God, you know, I've made a mess of my life and I am yours. Now you do with me what you want to do. And so, you know, that was what I told God. Of course, it wasn't easy sometimes to make the changes I had to do, and still have to do, quite frankly, but we have to remain submissive to God. You know, Hebrews 12, verse 6, it says, For whom the Lord loves, he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives.

And so, God scourges everyone that he receives. In other words, he gives correction. And as long as we receive correction, the process of bearing fruit can continue in our lives. As soon as we stop wanting to change and respond, well, you know, you can figure that out. I mean, we're going to be stuck where we are. We're never going to change. We're never going to overcome. Let's go to 2 Timothy, chapter 4. 2 Timothy, chapter 4.

Over here, Paul is talking to Timothy, and he says here in chapter 2 of 2 Timothy. I'm sorry, in 1 Timothy. But down here in verse 24 and 25, he says, And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but be gentle to all able to teach, patient.

So, it talks about the ministry and the way the ministry is, or should be, in humility, correcting those who are in opposition. And it says, If God perhaps will grant them repentance so that they may know the truth.

So, sometimes the ministry is sometimes the unpleasant task of telling somebody that, hey, you need to go this way, not that way. And most correction, by the way, is gentle. Most correction is very kind. It can be very easy to take. Some people can tell you, you need to change, and it doesn't hurt your feelings at all. And I think the ministry strives with all this being not to hurt anybody's feelings. But if people wear their feelings and their emotions on their cuffs, it's sometimes hard not to offend somebody. If sometimes people get up on their high horse and they say, well, if he says anything to me, I'm going to let him have it.

And it's happened before. And you're the messenger, and when you get there, they kill you.

That can happen. But most correction, I would say, is very gentle and kind. And probably, most ministers who would give any kind of correction would say, look, I've been down this road myself, and I certainly understand. However, if we only respond to stern correction, you know, what's wrong there? Well, I think we're going to get it, aren't we? If we want, you know, we're only going to respond to that, then that's what God is going to give to us. So, you know, my personal feeling is I'd rather not correct anybody. And I will refrain from doing that with all my being. I can put my heart into that, by the way, because I've seen people corrected that did not receive it very well. The most important place for you to learn is by being receptive. Right here, what's being said here. I hope I'm not being harsh with you here. I'm trying to be as gentle as I can because I've been through this myself. Things that I need to learn, and hopefully I'm just a messenger. I'm passing on what I've learned about these things.

But let me tell you, brethren, the spiritual survivors in the church respond to a whisper of God. They don't need a shout. They respond to a whisper. They don't need a loud trumpet to tell them. You see, God says to His servants, you know, lift up your voice, cry aloud, and spare not. Well, there's a time when you have to do that, too. But, frankly, if somebody's a spiritual survival, you know, all they need is a whisper from God. At least that's my goal. I want to have that attitude toward what God says. You know, God doesn't have to command me thundering from heaven. I hope He doesn't. But He knows I want to know the truth. Number five, if you're writing these down numerically, remain willing to follow wherever Jesus Christ leads us.

Being willing to follow wherever Jesus Christ leads us. You know, God leads us through His Holy Spirit, brethren, and the Holy Spirit, we're told, leads us to all truth. But sometimes the truth that we see, brethren, is sometimes uncomfortable. That's why sometimes we don't follow it. But we have to be willing to follow the lead of God's Spirit, and God's Spirit leads His church and leads His people, brethren. We need to be willing to, again, follow that.

And it says in Romans 8, 14, For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. So they have to be led by God's Spirit. And as God reveals the truth to us, we must act on that truth by applying it in our lives. And remember, none of us is alone in this. Every one of us is going down the same road because we are also learning and we are also applying in our lives.

And we must remain willing to yield to the truth when we see it.

Also, brethren, that attitude is important to us because it may determine your future more than you realize. You know, it won't be just a matter of being in the kingdom of God. It may mean much more than that. Let's go to Revelation 14. Revelation 14. Here in Revelation 14, John says, Then I looked, and behold, O Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000, having His Father's name written on their foreheads. Talk about the 144,000. And it says, I heard a voice from heaven like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of loud thunder.

And I heard the sound of the harpists playing their harps, and they sang as it were a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures and the elders. And no one could learn that song except the 144,000 who were redeemed from the earth. So, they're talking about people redeemed from the earth. Well, being among the 144,000 is going to be probably the most prized opportunity. You know, the closest children, you might say, to the Father and to the Son, for a thousand years and out for all eternity. Notice in verse 4, it gives it more directions about the 144,000. These are the ones who are not defiled with women. Of course, we understand, what we understand from this brethren is that the church of God is a woman, a chaste woman.

In the world, there are unchaste women who are churches also by analogy. In other words, they're not defiled by the false churches of this world and this society that we're living in, but they are virgins, spiritual virgins that are espoused to Jesus Christ. And these, it says, are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes, wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. Again, we talk about this on the day of Pentecost, every single year about the firstfruits. They will be the firstfruits, brethren. And that is a very special group. And when we are resurrected, at Christ's return, brethren, we will be with Him, our husband, when we're married, for all eternity. All eternity at the side of Jesus Christ. And the reason we're going to be there, brethren, is because we follow Christ wherever He leads now. And we will follow Him then as the wife of Christ, the bride of Christ.

And so in this life, brethren, we must be willing to follow wherever Christ leads. It means that you're going to suffer persecution. It may mean you're going to be accused of things that you did not do. You may be thrown to prison. You may be beheaded. You may be put to death. But you follow God's way no matter what. And we need to be willing to endure persecution. And we need to be like Jesus Christ to be humble. Remember, when He was before Pilate, He didn't say a solitary word. He was like a lamb led to the slaughter. And frankly, it wouldn't matter what He said anyway.

He knew what was going to happen to Him. He knew that, in fact, no matter what was said, He was going to be crucified at that particular time. So He was like a lamb that was mute, that did not say anything. And we need to be willing to be like Christ in that regard.

And we need to follow Christ even to the death. Remember, that's what He did.

He served until the death. And the death of the cross, as the Bible says, and we need to be willing to do so until we die or until we're changed, whichever happens to us before Christ's return. So, brethren, I think these are pretty important things, these things that we talked about here today. These are conditions that must exist in you, in me, in order for us to grow and develop and change. And so these things examine in your life.

Again, what is your attitude with regard to these things? Because what happens if we begin to ask ourselves these questions? It looks to our very core as a being and as a Christian, frankly.

We learn how to be a Christian. And these are some of the conditions which must exist, brethren, in our lives to continually produce fruit. Has to be there. And each one of us, brethren, need to examine ourselves concerning these conditions prior to the Passover. Maybe a little different way of examining yourself than before. But, brethren, if the right conditions are there, you know, we're going to produce fruit some 30-fold, some 40-fold, some 60-fold, as Jesus Christ said. But if we're not having these conditions, what's going to happen? We're going to be spinning our wheels. And so, brethren, let's be of the mentality of trying to look at these conditions and make sure they're in our lives because then, if they are there, brethren, we as branches of that true vine, Jesus Christ, will flourish and produce much fruit.