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LUKE CHAPTER 12 KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel See previous page Lk 12,1-3 (109g) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Revelation of God's word >> Revelation of the truth (112i) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Light >> Light exposes sin >> Light reveals hidden motives – There will be no secrets in heaven. Jesus said that in judgment our secrets will be proclaimed upon the housetops for everyone to hear. Everyone will know everyone else’s business, and then Jesus will wipe it all away and give us a crown of righteousness for believing in Him. No one will care what sins others have committed; it will be irrelevant; no one will judge anyone, for we will all be guilty, and we will all be forgiven. We will no longer be capable of doing some of the things we did in this life, and for that reason we will view our former selves as barbarians compared to our life in heaven. For the good things God will give us a crown and an aura to shine with the expanse of heaven, forever lighting our steps. Lk 12-1 (51e) Judgment >> Judging the Ch urch with the world >> Warning against hypocrisy -- This verse goes with verses 45-48. The Pharisees' hypocrisy existed on every level, and especially in the fact that they claimed to honor the ancient prophets, claiming that if they lived in their time, they would not have persecuted them the way their forefathers did, all the while holding an attitude about Jesus that the only good prophet was a dead one. The Pharisees were the driving force behind Jesus’ crucifixion; the Jewish multitudes didn’t care to see Him crucified; they just got caught up in the moment. When people walk in a level of hypocrisy that the Pharisees did, they enter a dimension of sin that belongs only to the reprobate. (143f) Popularity (Key verse) (143k) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Witnesses of Jesus >> Jesus is popular because of His words (178l) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Hypocrisy >> Jesus rebukes the Pharisees >> Rebuked for having no love for God (191c) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Extract the leaven of hypocrisy Lk 12-2,3 (212h) Sovereignty >> God is infinite >> God is all knowing >> Nothing hidden >> God exposes things hidden in darkness Lk 12-4,5 (47c) Judgment >> Hell is a place of sorrow >> Hell is to be avoided at any cost – It is becoming more and more popular to disregard the existence of hell; the same people don’t believe in Jesus either, making them destined for hell, unless they repent. Many people throughout history have committed mass genocide; Jesus says not to fear them, for after killing, there is nothing more they can do. Ps 56-4 says, “In God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?” Jesus said that God kills. We may not want to believe that against the backdrop of 1Jn 4-8, “God is love.” How could a God of love kill? Once evil has been put in its place, the God who kills will kill no longer. He will be the loving God that we know of Him, but so long as evil exists in His creation He has no choice but to kill, because evil wants to take His place. God is not evil for killing evil. There are a lot of people who get saved because they don’t want to go to hell, and Jesus concurs. He says in these verses that you don’t want to go there. Not wanting to go to hell is a good reason to fear God. (88h) Thy Kingdom Come >> Fear of God >> Fearing the judgment of God is the beginning of wisdom >> Fear the sovereign hand of God on your life Lk 12-6,7 (29l) Gift of God >> God knows our needs; therefore we don’t have to care -- These verses go with verses 24-34 (33k) Gift of God >> God is our Father >> God serves His people who serve Him >> Each one is special to God – Man may only put two cents on five sparrows, the creatures that fly overhead and bring music to our ears, but God places all His attention on them, and gives them each a name, as He does the stars. Imagine a world without songbirds. Although you might not want to park your car under a tree full of them, they are God’s little angels, and He knows them all, yet He cares more about us than He does about sparrows. (212j) Sovereignty >> God is infinite >> God is all knowing >> God knows everything about you – Some say that it is impossible for God to know how many hairs are on our head or to keep track of so many sparrows. For their sake lets pretend for a moment that those same people were born into a completely spiritual world, having never seen a physical object, and then someone told them that there was an infinite physical universe made of atoms and molecules, and a particular planet that supports physical life. They ask, “What is life?” You tell them, ‘Life is when inert atoms form molecules and molecules form cells and at some point these cells come to life and combine to form organisms, and those organisms are alive.’ Would they believe you? No, of course not, but we know this to be true. If God can do this, then how difficult would it be for Him to know the exact number of hairs on our head? KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 12-8,9 (83h) Thy kingdom come >> Jesus intercedes for us >> He represents us before the Father -- These verses go with verses 13-15 (150c) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Confessing Jesus to be saved >> Confessing Jesus that He may confess us to the Father (199k) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Rejecting Christ >> Unwilling to receive Christ >> Ignoring Christ – If someone denies that they know the Lord, like Peter did three times that He even knew Him, though he walked with Him for three years and loved Him, being one of Jesus’ closest disciples, we know Peter went to heaven. If someone denies the Lord, it is not like they have committed the unpardonable sin, so Jesus is not talking about denying Him a single time or even three times, but throughout the course of a person’s life. If we deny God by refusing to let Him into our lives and never repent of our sin, when we come knocking on the pearly gates seeking entrance, He will say to the angels, ‘Who’s that? I don’t know him’ just like we said about Him throughout our lives. Just as they would not let Jesus into their temporal life, so Jesus will not let them into His eternal heaven. Lk 12-9 (199g) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Rejecting Christ >> Throwing God away >> Denying Christ Lk 12-10 (186b) Works of the devil >> The result of lawlessness >> Blasphemy >> Cursing the Holy Spirit >> Consider the work of the Holy Spirit to be sin – This is the definition of salvation: Jesus said, “Unless one is born-again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” Consequently, the opposite is the true definition of the unpardonable sin: Denying Christ as a lifelong practice without repentance. In the process of living this way a person blasphemes the Holy Spirit many times, whenever He comes and speaks to his heart and he resists Him. We can speak evil against Jesus as the apostle Peter did, but if we reject the Holy Spirit and refuse to let Him dwell in our hearts through faith, this Peter did not do. A person can speak a word against Christ and be forgiven, but if he rejects the Holy Spirit, this is the unpardonable sin. Lk 12-11,12 (110c) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Spirit speaks through us in times of persecution – We who have the indwelling Holy Spirit are saved and going to heaven; if we are persecuted and brought before governors and kings and asked to give an account of the things we have said and done as it pertains to God, Jesus advised us not to plan a speech in our own defense, but let God speak for us. It is important to God that we witness to rulers, either that they may repent and be saved or that God may judge them for knowing the truth and ruling against Him. God wants our persecutors to know exactly what they are doing. If they torture us for our faith, that is the very concept of persecution and God will reward us for our willingness to suffer for His namesake. It is better to let the Holy Spirit work through us: speak for us, refrain from evil and create the circumstances that God will use to defend us, giving us courage in our adversity and confidence that God is with us. If walking with God gets us in trouble, we can be sure He will comfort us with His presence. Lk 12,13-34 (248i) Priorities >> God’ s preeminence >> Values >> Valuing God >> Do not value things that devalue God – Jesus would by no means get involved in this family dispute (Vs 13-15). What made it even less appealing to the Lord was the fact that it involved money, which prompted Him to de-emphasize it in His following dissertation. The best of us would call money a necessary evil, but Jesus just called it evil, not money itself but the love of money. There is good reason to de-emphasize the value of money, being that people have over-emphasized it since the beginning of time. It only makes sense that man would place too high a value on money, simply because man is poor. He was born naked, and he will leave the earth taking nothing with him, and in the meantime he works by the sweat of his brow, chasing his next meal and a place to lay his head, so it is very easy for man to over-emphasize the value of money. Jesus did not expect the world to de-emphasize money and possessions, since the world is virtually defined by these things. Rather, this is how Christians ought to live. Since we own everything from God, we should “sell your possession and give to charity; make yourselves purses which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near, nor moth destroys.” God is glad to give us the kingdom; the question is, do we want it? What we value most is the greatest indicator of our hearts. How can we tell God we love Him when we care more about the world and the things it offers? Lk 12,13-33 (94b) Thy kingdom come >> Perspective on wealth in this life – Jesus is saying not to worry; this is a very difficult thing to avoid. He is telling us that if we don't have any money in the bank, then we are living like the animals in the woods that don’t have any money in the bank either, yet God feeds them. A bird chirps, ‘What about the dead bird I saw along the road?’ Jesus replies, 'It happens; people over-emphasize death; they consider it to be the end when it isn’t.' Jesus' perspective on this life was so different from ours, it is hard to wrap our heads around it. He was saying to live each day as though it were the most important day of our lives, and if today is our last, that is even better, because then we go to heaven. This kind of thinking diametrically opposes the world. People nowadays try to stay alive long as possible, because the world fears death more than anything. Whatever money can buy does not hold a candle to that which Jesus offers. We should rightly view money as a necessary evil, but God views it as a curse. He taught us to liquidate our assets and give the proceeds to the poor; let them deal with it. Money is not evil in itself, since it can help the poor. There is value in money, but it is not valuable enough to waste our lives pursuing it. The pursuit of money makes us worry; Jesus is telling us to let God be our provider. He wants to do things differently than we do. God applauds diligence, but He wants to establish His Kingdom in us and wants us to live differently from the world; therefore, He wants us to apply our diligence to His cause in a state of peace, for what good is a kingdom without peace? KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 12,13-21 (21m) Sin >> Greed tries to satisfy man’s need for security >> The love of money – The rich man no matter how much he increases his possessions does not increase the consistency of his life. The trillionaire might own many mansions and a jet plane and be the envy of the world, yet his life does not consist of these things. Rather, his life consists of his soul, something many rich people refuse to acknowledge even exists. They are happy to believe that this physical realm is the only thing that exists. They don’t believe in a spiritual realm because they don't see any use for it in this life. Nevertheless, his consistency is spiritual, and none of his physical possessions are real in relation to eternity. We could knock on the rich man’s mansion door and discover it to be real enough, but come back in a thousand years and the whole building will gone along with the rich man. To God's truth it is all a mere figment of the imagination, for one day it will all cease to exist, and we will look back in our recollection, and wonder what we were thinking putting so much stock in things that were destined to perish. In eternity this life will seem like an aberration we saw from the corner of our eye. God will one day create a whole new heaven and a whole new earth and dispose of the current creation. He will abolish this present physical universe, and if it isn’t real to eternity, then it isn’t real at all. The life that we are currently living will one day consist in our memory only, like a mother who takes a picture of her newborn baby and in thirty years there is no semblance of that infant in her son. This is a temporal creation that will one day be destroyed; therefore, to place our value system on it is like buying a condemned house marked for demolition. (166k) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Carnality/Secularism (mindset of the world) >> The carnal mind cannot discern between good and evil >> The carnal mind’s idea of justice (168d) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Do not conform to the world >> Do not conform to the world and meet God’s judgment (182k) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Deception >> Deceitfulness of riches (249m) Priorities >> God’ s preeminence >> Wealth >> World’s perception of wealth >> The world’s wealth has no value >> The world’s wealth cannot afford a single soul Lk 12,13-15 (1l) Responsibility >> Avoid offending God >> Carrying a false burden >> Taking on responsibilities that are not yours (21l) Greed (Key verse) – Materialism is one of the great evils of the world. Every country holds a perspective on reality, and in their varying realities there are multiple sub-realities. However, none of them know anything about the truth, meaning there is a difference between truth and reality. Truth is a constant, whereas reality is in a permanent state of flux. "Truth" always leads us to make decisions to preserve faith in God, whereas reality always leads man to make decisions to preserve his perception of reality. The very wealthy do not acknowledge any restrictions on gaining wealth, so the system becomes lopsided and quickly loses control and plunges mankind into economic despair and poverty. (58a) Paradox >> Opposites >> Jesus is judge of all the earth but refuses to be an arbitrator – The judge of all the earth refused to be an arbitrator, how ironic. Jesus had a very specific purpose for His life in the flesh, and He refused to be dissuaded in any direction from the purpose He was sent. He did not come as a judge but as a savior (Jn 12-47). This passage describes an attempt to hook Jesus into becoming an arbitrator for man’s endless issues. Moses attempted to be an arbitrator for Israel and it wore him to a frazzle, until his father-in-law suggested assigning a panel of judges to do the work. This man’s parents obviously died and left their children an inheritance without a will and had a brother who was determined to take the entire inheritance without sharing it. The man mistook Jesus for someone who would resolve his problem; he mistook Jesus for someone who was dedicated to fixing inequity in the world and making things right. Rather, His purpose and ministry was to initiate a kingdom that would endure throughout eternity and to die for the sake of those who would inherit that kingdom. (79d) Thy kingdom come >> Renewing your mind >> Monitor your thoughts (83h) Thy kingdom come >> Jesus intercedes for us >> He represents us before the Father -- These verses go with verses 8&9 (87c) Thy kingdom come >> Obedience >> Jesus obeyed all the Father’s will KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 12,16-21 (23e) Sin >> Poverty (Oppression) >> Poor are those who are rich in their own minds – This parable addresses the very heart of man’s dilemma, the fact that this life in the flesh will end someday. The rich man didn’t know when was his last day, so he stored up grain and goods for many years to come and attempted to enjoy his life, but just about then he died. This is a story about a man who retired just weeks before he died. It is a parable about a rich man who decided to invest all his chips in this life, instead of storing up treasure in heaven like Jesus advised, “Where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal.” (165e) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Do not partake of the world >> Do not desire the treasures of the world – At least the rich man admitted to having a soul for what good it did him. Jesus spent a lot of His discourse speaking against living apart from the concerns of money and possessions. He doesn’t want us worrying about the things we need, but to live by faith. If we concern ourselves with God’s purpose, we may not always have what we want, but we are promised to have what we need. The rich man worked very hard for many years to stockpile His resources that he would use for many years to come, or so he thought. For the rich man it was party time, still with no mention of serving Christ. He didn’t have time for God while he was amassing his fortunes, and now that he retired, he still didn’t have time for God because he is too busy enjoying his retirement. This man had no place for God in his heart. The rich man did not mentally or spiritually prepare for his death. On the one hand, death came to him as a curveball. It was an unmovable obstacle in his path, and he plowed into it at a blinding pace that killed them. For him death was a train wreck. On the other hand, those who belong to Jesus, death is a grand slam that leads to eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven. The person who lived his life for Jesus, he can take all his faithfulness with him and enjoy a fuller life in eternity, for his works become part of his inheritance. (170g) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Outward appearance >> Temporary >> This life is temporary – The rich man knows this life is temporary, yet he invested in it anyway in a temporal world, like remolding a building after the city gave it to him for a dollar under the condition that they would one day come and retake possession of it, demolish the building and use the space for a parking lot. So what did the rich man do? He refurbished the building and made it a beautiful home for himself and lived there, but when the city returned to reclaim it, all his efforts and materials were hauled to the dump. He would have been much further ahead to invest into the Kingdom of God. The rich man assumed he had many more years to live. How is that different from every unsaved person, who invests his flesh into a corrupt world? The person who believes in Jesus and invests everything in the Kingdom of God is the wisest man on earth. The rich man by contrast represents the antithesis of wisdom. America is full of people who are in love with money. Their intelligence is irrelevant; they are devoid of wisdom that leads to eternal life. The rich man is thrown into eternal darkness; there he will wonder what good his wealth has done him. If his money and possession are worthless then, what value did it ever hold? (186f) Works of the devil >> The result of lawlessness >> The reprobate >> Man’s role in becoming a reprobate >> The fool >> The heart of a fool – Jesus was saying that the rich man was not a fool that night only; he had been a fool his whole life by emphasizing money over His relationship with God. We tend to throw around the word “fool” but the Bible considers that word to be the worse possible name; it depicts a blasphemer with a reprobate mind. Sadly, the word “fool” suits the rich man, because he never considered God his whole life, brazenly scorning his name as a ridiculous notion. He no doubt over-emphasized the value of money as a teenager or young adult and lived that way the rest of his life, ignoring God without a thought, without a prayer or thanks for his health, a little food in his stomach and a place to lay his head. He needed to prove he was better than most people, using his money to prove it, but money and possessions don’t prove anything. He felt he must get ahead of the game, like a caged gerbil spinning his wheel, or like a man running from his shadow, the looming angst of poverty crouching for him while he dreams in his bed, fear pursuing him like an angry task master, until one day he disappeared. (214c) Sovereignty >> God controls time >> God’s timing >> God’s timing transcends our comprehension >> God’s time line gives the wicked just enough rope to hang himself -- These verses go with verses 44-46 (225c) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Parables >> Parables about wealth >> Parables about a rich man – This is a story about a very successful farmer, who tore down his old barns and built larger ones to store his grain, and the very night he finished all his work and began planning for retirement he died. This is not just a make-believe scenario but regularly happens. The workingman has a routine; he awakens at a certain time, and he lives under a certain amount of pressure, the activities of the day make demands on him, pushing his failing heart. He rises to the occasion, so when he retires, he crashes into the chair and melts into it, unable to rise again. This subject is detailed in the book of Ecclesiastes 2,15-19; Solomon speaks for the rich man as though he had come to his senses, “Then I said to myself, ‘As is the fate of the fool, it will also befall me. Why then have I been extremely wise?’ So I said to myself, ‘This too is vanity.’ For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise man as with the fool, inasmuch as in the coming days all will be forgotten. And how the wise man and the fool alike die! So I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was grievous to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind. Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must leave it to the man who will come after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is vanity.” Anyone who over values money has stepped into a trap, and once it closes, there is no opening it. Each person has a certain amount of time to make his decision about God before his mind hardens to the consistency of a fool, when he can no longer believe in God. (251c) Priorities >> God’s prerequisites >> Making plans >> Making evil plans Lk 12,18-21 (178c) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Presumption KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 12,22-34 (24d) Sin >> Poverty (Forms of fear) >> Pursuit of happiness creates anxiety – Jesus didn’t want us to worry because it takes away from our pursuit of Him. To worry is like getting stuck in the mud; the wheels turn but we get nowhere. Worrying never helped anyone achieve anything. Worry is a negative incentive, like slapping our wrist with a ruler until it bleeds; what does it accomplish? It might motivate us to action, but it is not a source of inspiration. We could say, ‘I will continue slapping my wrist until I get out of debt,’ but if we managed to get debt-free, it wasn’t from slapping our wrist. It is pointless to worry; it accomplishes nothing. Jesus said that we if are anxious about things we cannot fix, what’s the point of worrying about them? God knows the very moment we will breathe our last, and we can’t change that. We can stop smoking and start eating better and exercise more and getting a full night’s rest, which will theoretically lengthen our lives, but to literally add an hour to our lives is impossible. Why worry if we can’t solve any of these problems? (120j) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Contentment >> Content with your standard of living >> Content with the means God gives you – You can hardly say these words today: life is more than food and the body more than clothing. People are steeped in materialism, and Jesus is teaching us not to pursue it. Instead, He wants us to seek His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to us. The thing about letting God be our supplier is that He will ration what He thinks we need. It’s not that God can’t afford to give us more; He just doesn’t want people flocking to Christianity for the wrong reasons. God is not materialistic, though when we get to heaven that will not be apparent, but for now He wants to teach us that having it all is not about having things. The lilies don't try to be beautiful; they just are beautiful; God clothed them with greater magnificence than the raiment of Solomon. Not even in all his pomp and circumstance does a king hold a candle to the lilies of the field! All the kings’ servants work hard to make him look presentable, but the lilies merely exist for God and His glory, and this is how we should live. If we were born of God similar to the lilies, we should let God clothe us how He sees fit, and stop trying to do it ourselves. He will always make sure we have enough to keep warm and modest. (166i) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Carnality/Secularism (mindset of the world) >> The carnal mind cannot discern between good and evil >> The world’s perspective on wealth – When we get to heaven we will realize that all the things we have, streets of gold, mansions, luxurious lifestyles more than the richest man on earth, everyone of us, yet today God wants us to understand that those things are not what matters. What matters is faith and love and nothing more. If we seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, all these things will be added to us through the avenue of contentment. God is not under compunction to give; rather, it is His glory and joy to be kind to His people. (167k) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Do not conform to the world >> The world’s unbelief – The Church is chasing the almighty dollar just as heatedly as the world. It isn’t teaching the world the principles of Christ; instead, pastors are pushing their parishioners to make more money so they can give more to the Church. Who is happy with the government anymore? They seem to exist for themselves, raking in taxes to support the machine. I wonder where they got that idea? They probably got it from the Church, since that is what it’s doing. The trickle-down theory doesn’t work for money very well, but it does work for attitudes and values. The fact that Jesus called the Church the salt of the earth and light of the world suggests that the Church has trickled down its attitudes and values to the government. (194i) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Turn from sin to God >> Yield to God’s right to direct your way – When Jesus said that life is more than food and the body more than clothing, He wasn’t talking about someone in dire poverty who was striving for his next meal; He was talking about people who devote their lives to pursuing these things. He was admonishing us not to be envious of the wealthy who go to fancy restaurants and wear fancy clothes. Jesus used the birds as an example of how to live. They devote most of the day feeding themselves, going from tree to tree picking up insects and seeds along the way. What we need to lean from the birds is that they are not working; they are living. The birds never need to go to work; they would have landed on that branch anyway, and since a bug was there they ate it. They chirp along the way and live while they are feeding. They don’t stop living to go to work; they live the whole time, and that is what Jesus is telling us; He wants us to live. Lk 12,22-32 (228b) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> God working in you >> Comforted >> God comforts you in times of adversity >> He comforts you in your grief (247j) Priorities >> God’s priorities >> God’s interests >> God’s interests are not man’s interests Lk 12,24-34 (29l) Gift of God >> God knows our needs; therefore we don’t have to care -- These verses go with verses 6&7. God clothed the lilies of the field, and if they never tried to be beautiful, yet everyone can appreciate a field of flowers, then we should let God do the same for us. We cannot add a single moment to our lives or an inch to our height; the things that are impossible to us are easy for God. If we can feed and clothe ourselves, then imagine how easy it is for God to supply our needs, yet we worry if God is mindful of us or even cares. He is willing and able to help us, and therefore told us to relax. This was actually the hippy’s attitude back in the 1960s; it was probably the only thing they got right. However, what they didn’t understand was that though they de-emphasized money, it was still a necessary evil, so they would call mommy and daddy and ask to wire them another fistful of sweaty money, so they could continue their delirium utopia of sex, drugs and rock-n-roll. This was not the vision of Christ. Although they de-emphasized money, they still needed a way of support. ‘Work to live and not live to work,’ is a biblical statement. In America, if all we have is enough, we are considered poor, and that was even the case in Jesus’ day, but Jesus never defined the poor as such. Rather, He defined a poor person as somebody who does not acknowledge in his life. Money is a function of time, and if we chase the almighty dollar all day, we won’t have time for God. We can make a couple bucks and coast for a few weeks and worship God and fellowship with the brethren and live in the joy of the Holy Spirit until our money runs out, and then go and make some more money and come back and live in peace, love and harmony. The hippies could have done this, and some of them did. To be self-reliant while de-emphasizing money is the recipe for life that Jesus taught. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 12-27,28 (216d) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> Compelled by the Spirit >> God takes advantage of your love for Him >> Being addicted to the Holy Spirit Lk 12-31,32 (23j) Fear (Key verse) -- It is not too difficult to reduce sin to its most rudimentary principle: "fear", which fears only one thing: poverty. The flesh's way of avoiding poverty is through greed, which has a brother and sister named: lust (craving pleasure) and pride (craving authority). There is the fear of not obtaining, and there is the fear of losing what we have gained. There is a lack of trust in the general public these days. The lawless fight poverty in the fear of not obtaining what they need, and they too often define "need" as want, which is just another word for "greed". In our struggle against poverty it is easy to harden our heart against our neighbor. This is what Jesus promised would happen in the last days (Mat 24-12), and it is our job to keep it from happening to us. Lk 12-31 (232k) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Seek the essence of his kingdom >> Seeking the righteousness of His kingdom – The entire gospel of Christ can be summed up in these verses, “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Mat 6-33); this and, “Thy kingdom come, they will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Mat 6-10). The vision God has for the Church reflects the fact that while we are praying for God to supply our needs, we are also seeking His Kingdom. Jesus taught us to pray for God's kingdom and He will supply our needs, so we can continue focusing our attention on His will. Anyone who wants more than this has abandoned his calling from God. There are people who are hurting, and there is a gospel that has not yet been heard, and there are places in our hearts that God has not yet filled. There is unity in the body of Christ that is still undone, and for these reasons God wants us to devote our lives to seeking His kingdom. Lk 12-32,33 (34m) Gift of God >> Be generous like your Father >> Give to the poor (236h) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Invest in the kingdom >> Invest your treasures into the kingdom >> Invest everything you value – God distinguishes His children from the nations of the world, teaching us how to build and establish the Kingdom of God. We do it by transferring our diligence from the pursuit of money to the pursuit of His kingdom, changing our priorities, and God will make sure all our needs are met. He has ways of helping those who are faithful, who have accepted a completely different lifestyle from the secular world, and He does it differently for each person, for there is no recipe or set pattern. The children of God are open to living a miraculous life; hence, they are open to their Father’s assistance, their lives having the fingerprints of God all over them, being interwoven into their lives in ways that seem totally natural. God will give His kingdom to those who are willing to live by faith. We who walk by faith have the confidence to trust God to provide for us, and as a result we have the confidence to believe in Him for eternal life. Jesus wasn’t talking about giving His kingdom to just anybody. We know for a fact that we are going to heaven, because we have come to know Him as our provider. We have sacrificed our own interests for His interests, and He has reciprocated by caring for our needs, and in the end he will receive us into His heaven. Lk 12-32 (30g) Gift of God >> God is our Father >> Favor with God through His Spirit – In today’s church people have focused completely on the grace of God, but if He is so gracious then why can’t we be gracious to Him? People think that this is not necessary, or perhaps we are so evil that we are unable. People in the Church today think that God loves us so much that we don't need to practice love toward others. They think He is so kind that there is no need to be kind ourselves. Since He is doing everything for us, there is nothing left to do. People these days think very highly of themselves, but why do they need the grace of God if they think highly of themselves? Some act as though they don’t need the grace of God, but these need His grace more than anyone. (33i) Believers Are Special To God (Key verse) (33l) Gift of God >> Believers are special to God >> He has given us all things (125i) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Joy >> Joy is the result of giving Lk 12-33 (226g) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Rewards of the Kingdom of Heaven >> Reserved in heaven >> Rewarded in heaven – Jesus is saying, ‘Place your heart in heaven.’ Paul essentially said the same thing, that we are already there in spirit (Col 3,1-4), that we already possess the Kingdom of God and in a spiritual sense we already inhabit heaven. All that is left is for our resurrected bodies to lead us home, and we will be complete. Jesus is talking about making the only investment that is truly guaranteed, “where moth does not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.” We can invest in the Kingdom of Heaven, and when we get there, we will be able to spend our investment throughout eternity. Lk 12-34 (94o) Thy kingdom come >> Perspective is your personal reality >> How your location influences you – Perspective is our location, and location influences our attitude (direction). These two influence each other in a perpetual feedback loop that determines what we treasure most in life. For example, on the one hand, if we have a negative attitude, it might lead to frequenting the local tavern, where we trade our hard-earned money for a drunken stupor. Our life further unravels and nobody wants to know us, and it changes our perspective, turning us even more negative. On the other hand, we could have faith in Jesus Christ, that might lead to a body of believers at the local church, where we grow together in the faith, thus changing our perspective. The more we refine our truth, the closer we get to Jesus, and the better our point of view, which is our location, and location changes attitude. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 12,35-48 (84c) Thy kingdom come >> Be on the alert >> Be faithful till Jesus comes >> Invite the return of Christ – We need to spiritually invest in the Kingdom of God. We should not pursue the things of the world because it distracts from the things of the Lord. Worldliness makes us spiritually lethargic; He wants us dressed in readiness and immediately come to the door when He knocks. If He knocked and nobody answered, wouldn't He think, 'Where is my bride? Where is the person who claims to love me? Is she playing the harlot with somebody?' Lk 12,35-46 (237d) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Transferring the kingdom >> The Church is transferred to the kingdom >> The rapture >> Receiving the kingdom in God’s time – No one is exempt from preparing for His return, whether we are pre-tribulation Rapture fans or not, but what must pre-trib believers do to prepare, since according to them, Jesus is coming for them before the tribulation starts? They won’t have to prepare for hardship; they won’t have to stockpile food, clothing and other necessities. What did Jesus mean by rations? There would be no need for rations if Jesus were coming before the antichrist appears. Rations sounds like we are all together in one place, like the upper room, and there is one pool of resources from which we all draw. When God provided manna in the wilderness for Moses and the Israelites, it was a type of ration, so perhaps something like this will occur again. See also: Last days (Prepare for his return); Lk 12,35-44; 5m / Preparing for His return; Jn 10,40-42; 8h Lk 12,35-44 (5m) Responsibility >> Jesus’ yoke of obedience >> Our obligation to shepherd the flock – Some say that He is only talking about certain people being caught off-guard, but the rest of us who have it all together will be ready for Him, but it doesn’t say that. Rather, He is talking to all of us, no matter what we believe about His coming. We will all be wrong in our assumptions; therefore, it would behoove us to be alert and ready for Him. Jesus says if He catches us off guard, we will be in big trouble, more than we could imagine. “The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Mat 24-50,51). We can make predictions and hypotheses about the time of His coming, but we will all be wrong no matter what we believe, and when that time comes, we will understand why that is actually true. Peter asked the Lord whether He was speaking to them or to the whole crowd. He was asking for the pre-tribulation Rapture people, and for the post-tribulation Rapture people, and for everybody in-between, anybody who would take a stab at predicting the time of His return. Peter essentially asked the Lord, ‘You’re not talking about us too, are you, because we are your closest disciples; we know the truth, right?’ What was Jesus’ reply to Peter? “Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his Master will put in charge of His servants to give them their rations at the proper time?” The person caught being faithful is the one who will be right. Jesus took the emphasis off the time of His return, and put it on our need to remain faithful regardless of when He comes. He wants to catch us serving Him. See also: Prepare for his return; Lk 12,35-46; 237d (99m) Thy kingdom come >> Perseverance >> Persevere in ministering to the body of Christ – A thief is guaranteed to come, and the thief is the Lord Jesus Himself. If we are not prepared for His return, He will seem more like a thief than a savior. The difference between a thief/burglar and a robber is that one takes things without the owner knowing it, and the other confronts the owner and makes demands of him. The second coming of Christ will be more like a burglary than a robbery, where people will suddenly come-up missing, and the person being burglarized are the servants of Christ who expected to be raptured with them but were not paying attention or standing guard. (192e) Die to self >> Result of putting off the old man >> Gain by losing >> Receiving from God by substitution >> Committed in the natural to receive in the spiritual Lk 12,35-40 (215ib) Sovereignty >> God controls time >> The Kingdom of Heaven appears suddenly >> Without warning >> Kingdom suddenly appears when His people are not expecting it – Of all the promises Jesus made, the fact that He will come at an hour that we do not expect may be our least favorite. We would all like to know when He is coming, but His promise was that we will not know. Consequently, anybody who sets a date for the second coming of Christ is challenging the wisdom of God, who assured failure to every person who attempted to predict this. When it comes to a challenge of wits between God and man, who do you think will win? After Jesus said, “You do not know the day nor the hour” (Mat 25-13), we can surmise that the person who would attempt to date the Lord anyway has fewer brains than the average person, making him all the less likely to be right. We could never possibly guess the day of his return. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 12,35-38 (224e) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Description of heaven >> The joyful kingdom >> The marriage supper of the lamb – What can we expect from the Marriage Supper of the Lamb? Jesus Christ Himself will serve us! God plans to reward His people for preparing themselves for His return; their alertness will not go unnoticed. There is something about God serving us that will make us feel pretty special; it will be a real honor for Jesus to come and pour our glass. We will take communion with Him. There are a couple feasts and celebrations represented by this passage: one started in Jesus’ day and has continued throughout the age of grace, and the other will happen after the Rapture, marking the beginning of eternity for the Church, transforming the bride of Christ into the wife of the Lamb. One celebrates the engagement while the other celebrates the wedding. Jesus was obviously talking about His second coming, but He was also talking about His situation of the cross. Communion represents His first coming, when He came to make declaration of their betrothal; then He ascended to heaven and began to prepare a home for them (Jn 14-2,3). The way they conducted weddings in Jesus’ day, the bride was usually chosen by the parents (representing God the Father), and the man would come and call upon the woman from her community (you did not choose Me but I chose you—Jn 15-16) and they would have the marriage ceremony, but the consummation of the marriage would come at a later time, after the man has prepared a home for her. Therefore, the Marriage Supper of the Lamb represents the second coming of Christ and consummates the marriage between Christ and the Church, which doesn’t occur until everyone is present, directly after the Rapture. Jesus has been choosing His people for the last 2000 years and is still choosing them; then He will unite them as one and consummate the marriage after the First Resurrection. Verse 37 refers to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb that will occur during the bowls of God’s wrath, which He pours on the world of sin and depravation. Lk 12-35 (226a) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Parables about lamps – “Keep your lamps alight.” This was also Jesus’ advice in the parable of the Ten Virgins (Mat 25,1-13). He said the way to do that was to make sure we always have enough oil. The oil represents the anointing. To the extent that we do His will is the extent of our anointing that we use to do His will all the more. The light shines inside the lamp, but we pour the oil in a reservoir below the flame from which the light draws. When the lamp runs out of oil, the fire dies, so when Jesus said, “Be dressed in readiness and keep your lamps alight,” He meant for us to continue doing His will by the strength that He provides. Lk 12-37,38 (12l) Servant >> Jesus is the servant of man – It may be a great privilege to serve the living God, but there is no greater honor than for Him to serve you. During the last days when all hell breaks loose and the Church is struggling to maintain their stand for Christ, when Jesus comes to visit the world and looks for faith on the earth, and sees His faithful and chosen in their proper places, Christ Himself will prepare a holy feast, referring to the Marriage supper of the Lamb, that He had in mind when he said, "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God" (Lk 22-15,16). Lk 12-40 (214dd) Sovereignty >> God controls time >> God’s timing >> God’s timing transcends our comprehension >> God’s time is none of our business – When Jesus said He was coming at a time when no one would expect, He had disobedient people in mind, for they are the ones who set dates. Why is it so impossible to accurately predict the return of Christ? First, to the people who were listening to Jesus at the time, they would have never guessed His second coming would be 2000 years later. Second, for us, knowing His return would come 2000 years later is easy, but it still doesn’t help much, in that anybody who would set a date against the counsel of the Lord would do it by the principles of his flesh and not by the Spirit of prophecy. Man’s flesh is stupid when it comes to the things of God, which is why the disobedient will never get it right, and those who are faithful would never ask Him for dates. Notice that every time somebody sets a date, it was in the person’s lifetime. People always guess a date when their flesh would like to see Him return, a time before anything bad happens, hence they are usually pre-tribulation Rapture advocates. This is the consensus of the Church today, and it is something that man’s flesh would concoct. After Jesus promised He would delay, a spiritual man would expect Jesus to come after the great tribulation; after all, it is the tribulation of the saints to which Jesus referred (Mat 24-9), and their tribulation will end at the Rapture. Paul said specifically that Jesus would come at the last trumpet, which is the seventh trumpet, cited in Rev 11-15. God has a relationship with mature Christians; He reveals His word to them; He won’t reveal the day or the hour, but He will reveal the general timeframe of His return and the sequence of endtime events. Lk 12,41-44 (225ja) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Parables >> Parables about nurturing the people of God >> Parables about a shepherd and his sheep – Who are these stewards? Peter asked the question, so Jesus was directing His reply to him and to His disciples; still, the context was to everybody; we all must be ready for His return. Jn 10-2 says, “The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep.” The only way to be a Christian is to enter through the door, and everyone who enters is a shepherd of the sheep. God wants us all to be leaders of His church, for we all play a part in the Kingdom of God. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 12,42-48 (184g) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Abusing the grace of God >> Spending His grace on your pleasures >> Abusing your position – If the slave who intended to be faithful and sensible changed his mind and instead began to beat his slaves and eat and drink with drunkards, that is characteristic of a person who has fallen away from the faith, referring to apostasy. Jesus is painting a word picture of people who once believed, but since the delay they have had a change of heart, and now they are exploiting God's people. Jesus is talking about leaders losing their faith and then transferring their unbelief onto the parishioners, so the entire church becomes infected with spiritual abuse. What is the cause? “My Master will be a long time coming.” Ironically, the Church didn’t have this attitude in the 1700’s or the 1800’s as much as they will have it just before He comes. Jesus has been gone for 2000 years, and it was only 300 years into the age of grace that the Catholic Church was formed, suggesting that man quit waiting for God long ago. Shortly after the apostles fell asleep people took matters into their own hands and established Catholicism as the "official" Christian religion. Jesus is coming at an hour when no one will expect, but this especially applies to those who are not serving Him. He said it twice, once in reference to everyone, and again for those who would take part in apostasy and are using the gospel to accomplish their own goals, which invariably involves money. Lk 12,42-44 (13m) Servant >> Serve God faithfully – Where Mat 20,1-16 spoke of the single denarius that represents our place in heaven, this passage speaks of the rewards that we will receive for our service. It says that He will put us in charge of all His possessions. This life is given as a testing ground to prove our faithfulness. God could have made us automatons, identical to each other, and it would have been a lot easier on Him, but we have a will that is fully intact, and God values it above all else. He will entrust us with His entire creation, being free to do whatever we want with it, trusting us that we will faithfully serve Him and those in our charge. According to the parable of the mina, God will entrust us with varying amounts, to the degree that we have been tested and found faithful; this is the degree to which He will entrust us with all His possessions. This will be our reward for serving Him: He will give us an unimaginable amount of authority that would have gone to anyone’s head in this life. Imagine being in authority over hundreds of people, none of whom will ever die but will have the command to be fruitful and multiply throughout eternity. It doesn’t matter if we are mayor over ten cities, five cities or one city, their numbers are destined to soar to infinity! There will be planets and solar systems and entire galaxies filled with people that we will manage. See also: Inheritance; 34e / New heavens and a new earth (Our inheritance is infinite and eternal); Lk 19,12-27; 192d (34e) Gift of God >> Believer owns everything >> All things belong to us – God will turn over the entire creation to mankind, not just the earth like He did with Adam and Eve, but we will receive the entire universe as our possession. Everything God creates, including a new people, He will put us in charge of them, commanding them to be fruitful and multiply, and this they will do throughout eternity, and our inheritance will continue to grow forever and ever. See also: Inheritance; 13m (243l) Kingdom of God >> The eternal kingdom >> There shall be no end to His increase >> God's kingdom is Infinite >> We will reign with Christ forever – We know that "All that he has" includes the entire universe, but what use would it be to give us a dead and dying universe like the current one? God will create a New Heavens and a New Earth (Rev 21-1). Yet again, what use would it be if there were no people to populate it, especially since he has created us to be kings and priest (Rev 5-10), kings and priest of whom? (246e) Kingdom of God >> Spirit realm imposed on the natural realm >> Literal manifestations >> Disciples literally feed the people through Christ – Jesus was saying, ‘Carry-on until I come.’ In Jn 21,15-20 He asked Peter repeatedly, “Do you love Me? …Tend My lambs.” Now in this chapter He warned us not to get off the subject of the gospel. Most people when they hear the word “gospel” immediately think in terms of evangelism, as though the gospel had nothing to do with the Church now that people are saved, but this is incorrect thinking; the gospel is central to the Church. Jesus wanted Peter to feed the people who were born-again, who were hungry for spiritual truth, teaching them how to live and walk and partake of God's unction and receive the sustenance that falls from heaven like manna. In Lk 12-42 Jesus used the word “rations”, referring both to literal food and spiritual food. The Church will live on rations in the last days during the great tribulation while they wait for Christ’s return. It also means that the people of God will come together as they did in the upper room waiting for the day of Pentecost when God released His Spirit. The Church will wait for Christ again, not in one group but in various groups throughout the world. Jesus said to feed them their rations at the proper time, both literal food and spiritual food. We have a small amount of authority in this life with a handful of people under our charge to give them their rations, in reference to the last days when God takes care of us during the great endtime revival and sends food from heaven just like He did for Moses and the Israelites. See also: Great Endtime Revival; Lk 12,54-57; 214i / Two periods: first century and last century; Lk 19,28-40; 194c Lk 12,44-46 (214c) Sovereignty >> God controls time >> God’s timing >> God’s timing transcends our comprehension >> God’s time line gives the wicked just enough rope to hang himself -- These verses go with verses 16-21. It has been 2000 years since his Master departed, so why would the slave abuse the flock just before He returned? Instead of saying, ‘It’s been 2000 years, my Master should return anytime now; I better be on my best behavior,’ he said just the opposite, ‘If it’s been 2000 years, what are the chances he will return tomorrow?’ The unbelieving slave turned the second coming of Christ into a math problem of probability and statistics and gambled on his Master's absence. Like the lottery, the likelihood of wining is remote, so is the second coming of Christ. Instead of the slave hoping his Master would come soon, he gambled that He wouldn’t. Statistically the slave made a computational error. He was thinking that the longer His Master was gone, the less likely He would return, but this rationale was based on the time that had already elapsed. Since He had been gone for a long time, he should have thought that the likelihood of His return increased with each passing day. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 12,45-48 (21b) Sin >> Disobedient to the call (21j) Sin >> Premeditated sin >> Having no Intensions of loving your brother – The slave reasoned in his heart that since it is more likely his Master will not return anytime soon, he would use this time as an opportunity to take advantage of the saints, and began beating his fellow servants, both men and women. Jesus is warning us that spiritual abuse will be rampant in the last days, apparently worse than any other time in the history of the Church. I never met a pastor who physically assaulted his parishioners, but it is common for pastors do verbally beat-up on their people to finance their excessive lifestyles that they enjoy off the backs of their parishioners. These are cult leaders abusing the flock, going on expensive vacations and eating at fancy restaurants and staying at extravagant hotels, having the best of everything, and leaving their faithful church members home punching the clock, so they can give big tithes to meet their pastor’s demands. (49d) Judgment >> Those who are unfruitful in His kingdom are destroyed (51e) Judging the Church with the world >> Warning against hypocrisy -- These verses go with verse 1 (186a) Works of the devil >> The result of lawlessness >> Blasphemy >> Unwilling to obey the revelation from heaven >> Unwilling to walk in God’s ability (195b) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Idolatry >> Serving two masters >> You can only serve one at a time (196k) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Spiritual laziness >> Replacing God’s standard of excellence with yours >> Fattened for the day of slaughter – People today don’t seem to care about their own faith. We can hardly muster an ounce of appreciation for the things that God has done for us, or offer Him a moment of dedication and faithfulness, and we have knowledge of the Scriptures that people in ancient times could only postulate, yet our disobedience spurns the Lord, and our rebellion despises Him, and our lack of will ignores Him. Lk 12,45-47 (179j) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Wolves >> Unworthy servant >> Unworthy of eternal life – It says that God will cut the slave in pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers. So was this pastor a believer even though he was assigned a place with the unbelievers? That is not likely. We are talking about a guy who is pretending to be a Christian and he is the pastor of a church; that is the very definition of a wolf. He has absolutely no business pastoring a church when he doesn’t even believe in God. These are shysters, people who have no concept of God standing in a place of spiritual authority. Jesus is saying there will be people like this leading the Church in the last days, and for Him to mention it suggests the problem will be widespread. If the people knew any better, they would leave the Church and go someplace where the pastor was actually a Christian and could teach them the word of God, but the people are no spiritually wiser than their pastor. This is the description of the last days’ apostasy. The pastor no doubt had some kind of mental ascent about God, but he certainly had no works to show for his faith, so God interpreted His faith as unbelief, because faith minus works equals unbelief (Jm 2-20). Lk 12-45,46 (157d) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Evidence of being hell-bound >> Being displeasing to God >> Leading a fruitless lifestyle (242j) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Persecuting the kingdom >> Worldly pressure >> World pressures you to forsake your neighbor Lk 12,46-48 (47f) Judgment >> God Judges the world >> Hell is a place of torment Lk 12-46 (206k) Salvation >> God makes promises on His terms >> Eternal security? >> Perish in your sin >> Perish in your omission of righteousness Lk 12-47,48 (48i) Judgment >> Levels of judgment >> Judged according to your knowledge of God – The knowledge of God becomes a curse to those who do not walk in it, hence the reason people resist it. That which was meant for good has the outcome of evil for those who do not obey it. They instinctively know that the truth will only get them in trouble, because there is nothing in them that seeks God. They know they will one day hear Him say, ‘You knew the truth and did nothing with it.’ There are very few people in America who doesn’t know about the gospel of Christ, but there are places in the world off the beaten track that have heard very little about Jesus; these are the ones who will receive but few floggings for living apart from God’s will. The rest God will hold accountable, based on what they did with their knowledge, but to the person who obeys the truth, it is not a trap but a blessing. (155f) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Witness of the believer >> Conscience >> An evil conscience keeps us from believing God >> Knowledge of evil testifies against our lifestyle KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 12-47 (180i) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Rebellion >> Rebelling against God’s narrow way >> Rebelling against the will of God Lk 12-48 * (1a) * Responsibility – Key verse for the entire chapter – This chapter underscores nearly everything the Bible has to say. Therefore, it would behoove us to consider our responsibilities as we study the other chapters of this website, because it applies to most contexts in one way or another. A new convert or a troubled Christian who is seeking a new beginning would benefit from this chapter in that it addresses some of the basic responsibilities we have as Christians. It also provides direction to mature Christians as a standard by which we can measure our faithfulness toward God. The greatest contribution and theme of this chapter attempts to answer the age-old question we have asked throughout the centuries; the jailer asked Paul in Act 16-30, "What must I do...?" This chapter is devoted to explaining what we must do after we are saved. (4a) Accountability (Key verse) (4f) Responsibility >> Advocate God’s cause >> From him who has shall much be required – Jesus had a lot of great sayings, this one being similar to another kingdom principle, “To everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away” (Mat 25-29). We are not mere receptacles of God’s grace and mercy; we are also called to be responsible and accountable for the gifts that God has given us. Church leaders can be defined as: a person who has been given the most grace, or a person who has done the most with what he has been given. There are those who haven’t been given much but have done a lot with what they have, and there are others who have been given much but have done little with it, and both accomplish about the same amount. Then there are people like Paul who was given much grace and did much with it. These people are rare in the Church, because after they see they’ve been given much, they spend it on the pleasures of the world instead of investing it in the Kingdom of God. (32f) Gift of God >> Father will honor you if you die to self >> In His service (72j) Authority >> Hierarchy of authority >> More Authority The More Responsibility >> The strong shall help the weak Lk 12-49,50 (38a) Judgment >> Blood of Jesus >> God judged the devil through the blood of His son – Jesus is obviously referring to His crucifixion. It is interesting that He equated His crucifixion with casting fire on the earth. It wasn't that long ago (Lk 10-17,18) that Jesus described Satan as falling from heaven light lightning, which probably looked similar to the days of Elijah when he challenged the false prophets to a spiritual dual saying, ‘Whoever calls down fire from heaven and consumes the evening sacrifice, his god is God.’ Jesus is using Elijah’s example for himself and is about to call down fire from heaven, only He will be the evening sacrifice. In so doing He will pass judgment on Satan, the false prophets and the liars and the deceivers of this world and will set free those who are seeking the righteousness of God. He also equated His crucifixion to baptism, referring to Himself as the evening sacrifice again as being baptized in the fire of God’s judgment. (104d) Thy kingdom come >> Purifying process >> Purified by fire >> Purified through the fiery anointing Lk 12,51-53 (65f) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Jesus brings division >> Families break up because of faith in Christ – It is ironic that Jesus who would bring unity has instead brought division. It all depends on what we want; if we want unity we will get it, but if we do the things that divide people, how can we unite? Jesus as a prophet is telling us what is going to happen; if there are two people and only one of them is a Christian, then division is inevitable. He combined many stations in life to show that division will occur because of His influence on some people and not on others, but He never mentioned division between husband and wife. Both husband and wife should believe in Jesus; we should not marry an unbeliever. As Paul said, “What has a believer in common with an unbeliever?” (2Cor 6-15). They are like two separate species; spiritually they are opposites. A Christian marriage does not guarantee Christian children; we don’t get to pick our sons and daughters, but we do have a hand in forming their belief/value systems. Lk 12-52,53 (63l) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Sarcasm >> Scoffing at the wicked KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 12,54-57 (107j) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Hearing from God >> Church is of the truth >> God’s people can discern the truth – Jesus said, “Do not judge” (Mat 7-1). Just about everybody knows about this verse, but how many people know that this verse has parameters. For example, if a father said to his son, ‘Don’t get wet,’ should he never take bath? So there is also a time to judge and there is a time not to judge. When Jesus said, “Do not judge,” he was talking about unrighteous judgment; this we should not do, but God has given us authority to judge between truth and error. Jesus was talking about discernment when He said, “Why do you not even on your own initiative judge what is right?” He was talking to those who refused to see Him as their Messiah; they weren’t just blind; they were willfully ignorant. Every sign imaginable was given them: the fulfillment of prophecy, signs, wonders and miracles; He was the very embodiment of God’s word. Jesus was telling them, ‘Though others tell you that I am not He, why can’t you judge for yourself?' (154a) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> God bears witness against the world >> No excuse >> There is no excuse for rejecting Christ – Jesus was complaining that the people had no discernment. This does not pertain to the gift of discernment, for the gifts were not yet made available, but He was referring to a natural sense of discernment; they didn’t even have that. They were able to discern the earth and sky to determine the weather, but they were unwilling to see the signs that pointed to the identity of Jesus Christ as their Messiah. They had no excuse for being ignorant of Him. Essentially, Jesus told them throughout the gospels, ‘If you don’t know Me, then I’m not telling you.’ (166f) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Wisdom of the world >> Nature Of Man’s Wisdom >> Man’s wisdom does not know God – We are all weather forecasters; it’s not hard to do, no harder than discerning that Jesus is the Messiah. He essentially said, ‘Why can’t you see the signs? Why don’t you know who I am? Jesus didn’t say they were unable to analyze the present time; He said they were unwilling. Question: why did they refuse to recognize Jesus as the Christ? Answer: their previous teachings were blocking their minds! Israel at that time was taught the Old Testament Scriptures every Sabbath at their local synagogue, but they never studied the passages that spoke about the first coming of Christ, only His second coming, and so they were taught to look for signs of Him coming in great power and glory. Nevertheless, they had an obligation to listen to Jesus because of the signs He performed that proved His identity. They didn’t all have Bibles like we do today; they relied on their spiritual leaders to tell them about God. Still this was no excuse for rejecting Him. They didn’t even need the Scriptures to know that Jesus was the Christ, for no one else could do the things that He did (Jn 15-24) and no one else spoke the word of God with such purity. It was obvious this man was telling the truth; all the signs were present, still they did not believe in Him. We cannot pour junk into the human heart and expect it to produce silver and gold. If we want a heart that believes in God, we must pour the truth into it. (171l) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Outward appearance >> Outward appearance of circumstances (214i) Sovereignty >> God controls time >> God’s timing >> God’s time is soon >> Evidently soon – We should wonder if the Church is going to make some of the same mistakes as Israel. If God required discernment from Israel, He will require it from us too. We need discernment to effectively discern the Great Endtime Revival that is coming. Jesus said that many will come in my name and say, “I am He,” but that is not too deceptive after Jesus promised that His return would be like lightning that shines from one end of the sky to the other. If someone comes to us in the flesh purporting to be Jesus, we should not listen to him under any circumstances. However, there is revival coming led by the Jews, and it is highly questionable if the Church will recognize this event as God’s plan of redemption and protection from the antichrist. The revival will come before the return of Christ with signs and wonders to be observed; there will be the Two Witnesses, and they will light up the sky with fire, and there will be 144,000 Jewish witnesses who will organize the gentile revival, and if we are unable to discern this, then we will go the way of all Israel, whose waiting turned to disappointment and bitterness by the time Jesus arrived, as when they were slaves in the land of Egypt before being rescued through the ministry of Moses. The same thing may happen to the Church if people don't awaken from their spiritual slumber. See also: Great endtime revival; Lk 12,42-44; 246e KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Lk 12,54-56 (69b) Authority >> Discernment >> Discerning the Truth – When Jesus came the first time as the Lamb of God, we would think that after proving Himself through many signs and wonders that Israel would have accepted Him, but they wanted their imagined Messiah more than they wanted their real Messiah. Israel’s eyes were open to all the natural signs of the weather, because they were interested in that, but they couldn’t discern their Messiah, because they apparently were not interested in Him. Israel had gone through a lot of very hard times because of their disobedience, trying to be like other nations, but that was not possible after God called and chose them through Abraham. The world just didn't work for them; it didn’t even work for the nations that continually rose and fell. We would think that after Israel had gone through so many hardships for so many centuries, having been deported to Babylon and made slaves for seventy years and were finally allowed back to their homeland after Jerusalem had been destroyed and their temple leveled, they would have learned their lesson and longed for their Messiah. Israel was looking for specific signs of His coming, and if He didn’t meet their expectations, they would simply reject Him, because all they really wanted was to be delivered from their natural enemies. They were willing only to accept Him on their terms. They didn’t care to be delivered from a spiritual enemy—sin, which happened to be top priority in God’s mind, but it was at the bottom of Israel’s list of concerns, and this is why they missed Him. Lk 12-56 (178i) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Hypocrisy >> Hypocrisy of the Church is rebuked >> The Church is rebuked for making false judgments – “There is something very powerful in not knowing the signs of the times. This is not a matter of education or of theology degree… this is something that is normal for the disciples of Christ. He said that we would be hypocrites if we don’t understand the signs of the times." (FAI: Covenant and Controversy Part III: The Great Trouble Lk 12-57 (69g) Authority >> Righteous judgment >> Meditate on discernment >> Judging what is right – For many people, seeking truth is a matter of picking their sources to whom they will open their minds and receive information. Unfortunately, if we are not on their list of influential sources, we will be cut and our ideas blocked from their minds. This is an external filtering system where they give authority to certain individuals to influence them. In contrast, Jesus was suggesting an internal filtering system that censors concepts and ideas, not people. This requires vigilance on our part and a strong sense of discernment. He would rather we honed our ability to discern the truth than pick certain people to implicitly believe. Christians are far too willing to hand over the responsibility to someone else to collate and report the truth for them, because they don't want to fuss with it. For many, picking sources of truth is capricious, resembling blackbirds collecting shiny objects to take to their nest; of these specific sources they will adhere to every word they speak, but will not believe a word from anyone else that they have not formally approved, especially when they contradict their official sources. If someone who is not on their approved list tells them the truth, they might claim to look into it but never do, but if one of their sources tells them something that is clearly wrong, they will still be inclined to believe it, even if they know it's wrong. Satan loves this method of truth-seeking, because it makes his job of deception so easy; all he has to do is get the source going in the wrong direct and he will sway others to follow him in the same wrong direction, multiplying Satan's efforts. Lk 12-58,59 (65b) Paradox >> Anomalies >> God helps Satan >> God gives people over to Satan – This parable refers to unforgiveness, that if left unchecked quickly turns to bitterness. Unforgiveness is a taskmaster that is assigned to a person who will not forgive. The way Jesus described it resembles spiritual darkness that gains authority over a person who harbors bitterness. According to the parable, the opponent is the bitter person's offender, God is the judge, the demon world is the magistrate, and the constable that throws him in prison is a demon (his assigned prison guard). Notice that the magistrate (Satan) does not have authority to imprison anyone, but must request God. This is a depiction of him acting as the accuser of the brethren as it says in Rev 12-10. This also is a reproduction of what happened to Job in the beginning chapters. Before Satan could afflict Job in some way, he had to get approval from God. So this same thing is happening here in Jesus' rendition of spiritual events. When we take the context of these verses into consideration, Jesus complaining to the Jews that they were unwilling to interpret the signs of the times, Jesus was implying that unforgiveness and bitterness has clouded their minds from recognizing Him as their Messiah. (120e) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Forgiveness >> Forgiving your brother >> Don’t forgive your brother and God won’t forgive you – Jesus was talking about a person who refused to forgive, saying that it was not too late.’ He can settle accounts outside of court on the date of his scheduled appearance, even while he is walking with his opponent to appear before the magistrate. However, once court is in session and he is found guilty and judgment is passed, sentence is swift; they will throw him in prison and it will be too late to forgive; “You shall not get out of there until you have paid the very last cent.” Note the irony, a person unwilling to forgive always feels it is the other person who is at fault, but it is the bitter person who gets locked-up and not the other guy. The main purpose of a prison term is to remove the perpetrator from society so he doesn’t harm anyone else; people scatter from those who harbor bitterness. What happened to the person who wronged the bitter person? Unforgiveness makes him appear innocent, so if the bitter person wants justice, he should forgive those who wronged him, and let the light of his forgiveness shine on their darkness. Prison life is a loss of freedom. If he gets tired of prison life and wants to leave, too bad. He stares at the walls and sits on the cot and suffers mental and emotional anguish until it becomes physical. There is all kinds of time to think about his guilt, but that jail cell is not an environment that is conducive to discovering the truth about himself; in fact, more often the prisoner becomes more bitter in jail and makes up stories to condemn the other guy for his conscience to appear innocent. The prisoner of unforgiveness wastes his time thinking about the person who put him there, because that person is actually himself. If he ever gets released, he will not be enlightened; his experience of incarceration will not benefit him one iota. He will still be bitter and more angry than ever, which means he will end up right back in prison again, so the cycle continues. Most people who are literally imprisoned are in fact bitter, and whatever they did to earn their spot in jail was secondary to their bitterness, for it was their bitterness that led them to commit their crimes in the first place. Unforgiveness will destroy a person who harbors it, while forgiveness sets him free, so forgive, forgive, forgive. See next page