Parable Seven

The Teaching on the Seven Parables are excerpts from Brother Emerson A. Wilson teaching of the Seven Parable

THE GOOD AND THE BAD

In the 13th chapter of Matthew there are seven parables Jesus gave consecutively and did not quit until He gave them all. We want you to see that they bring the kingdom up through the Gospel Day from the day it came with power on the day of Pentecost clear through to the end of time. These coincide with the seven letters in the Revelation and clarify each other. We are up to the last one now---up to the very kingdom and how it would be in the day and age in which we live.

The 25th chapter of Matthew also gives us a picture of the Kingdom and the shape it would be in the day and age in which we live. He spoke in the 24th chapter of Matthew and brought us down and told His disciples, “be ye also ready”, cautioning His very people to be ready and be careful. Then He went on to tell us that then the kingdom will be likened to ten virgins, five wise, and five foolish, and all sleeping. That is the day and age in which we live. Now, we have covered the thought that when the midnight cry comes, it is too late for anybody to get saved. The oil shops will be closed, but God is stirring a ministry to awaken people in the last moments of this eleventh hour, that they can get awakened and get their lamps and have them burning before the bridegroom comes.

Now, with the same thought in mind, in the 47th verse of the 13th chapter of Matthew, we want you to notice that from the 44th verse down, the 5th 6th and 7th parables deal with the kingdom, here in the evening light, and everyone of them starts with “again.” The kingdom was like that in the morning time. Now, that we are here in the evening time, again, it is like that. Now, in the morning time we found that when men slept, an enemy came in and sowed tares among the wheat and caused the kingdom to have that which the Revelation declares an apostasy, a falling away. The tares, choked out the wheat and God took the wheat to heaven to be with Him and the tares “ran the thing”, here. That is why we have darkness on the chart for the 1260 years.

Now, again, the kingdom is like unto a net that was cast into the sea and gathered of every kind, which when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. This very last period of the kingdom, Jesus said, would be like a net cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind. Let’s read it. “Which when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world, the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just.” Now, what are we getting at? We are living in a day and age, that existed once before, in the Gospel Day---more than once before. When the devil, working on the minds of men, made them feel that the good and the bad would have to live together, and nothing could be done about it, until the end of the world. Well, the good and the bad will always be together, till the second coming of Christ, in the world, but not in the kingdom. We’re talking about the kingdom. God wants the saints to live beside sinners and work beside sinners. What for? To witness to them and “win them to Christ”! He does not want us to be separated from the world in the thought of going out and reaching him. But there is not both, good and bad, in the kingdom.

We will see from God’s Word here shortly, we’re living in a day and age, (because of some things happening) the very standard of the gospel has been let down, until there is a getting together of the good and bad again. But Jesus tells us something about it, in this parable, that we want you to see. The sea is the same condition that Rome “rose out of” the first time, nothing more than the people. We see, that Jesus told His disciples to follow Him, and they would become fishers of men. But the question we want to deal with---was it the intention of the great fisherman, Jesus Christ, to gather the good and the bad together in His kingdom? Does He expect them to be good and bad, together in His kingdom, until His second coming? The world would have us believe so---the religious world would have us believe so. My friend, they are teaching it on every side, that the good and bad will remain together, (in the kingdom) until Christ comes again. Let me make a statement again: the second coming of Christ is not mentioned anywhere in these parables. We read twice where He said He’d send forth His angels or His ministry, or the Greek says, His messengers, but nowhere, is the second coming of Christ mentioned. Let’s get that straightened in our minds.

Does it not seem that the Gospel of the kingdom is put to a wrong use, when it is used for a drag net? The Greek said in this 47th verse, then shall the kingdom be likened, or again the kingdom of heaven is likened unto a drag net. Christ draws men, but never drags them. We have a picture before us of the very day and age in which we are living---the last age of the kingdom, when quantity is the aim, instead of quality. My friend, they are watering down this Gospel and trying to cut the corners, and Jesus said they would use it like a drag net. What is He speaking of? This mass evangelism today, that is sweeping people off their feet and taking them by the thousands with no change of heart whatsoever. It is dragging good and bad together. The Gospel has been put to a wrong use, when it gives equal place to the good and the bad.

Luke would teach us, in a little lesson there, where they toiled all night and could catch no fish, but Jesus told them, nevertheless, to go on out and drop the net down on the other side of the ship Peter said it didn’t look like it would do any good, but he said, “nevertheless, at thy Word we will let it down”---and the Scripture said they took up a net full of fishes and there was not a bad one in the bunch. What are you getting at? When we let the net down “at thy Word”, when we let it down according to truth, it does not gather good and bad together. The Word of God was given to gather a people out of the world for God’s name. It was given to gather a people out of the world, a holy people, a clean people. Again, the gospel is put to a wrong use, when it gives equal place to the good and the bad. Now, somebody said, “Bro. Wilson, that won’t hold water.” Doesn’t the 22nd chapter of Matthew say, go out into the highways and the hedges, and gather the good and bad, that my house may be filled? Yes, it does. That’s what it says. But read the next two verses: An, when the bridegroom came, there was only one in the company that didn’t have a wedding garment on. Somebody did a heap of preaching. Sure, He said, gather in the good and the bad, but when they got down to the house of God, somebody lifted up the standard, because there was only one in a house full that didn’t have a wedding garment on. I wish I could do that good. Don’t you twist these scriptures on me, because God is not going to let you. (smile)

Somebody did some preaching there, when they went into the highways and hedges and gathered a whole house full of people and when Jesus came, there we have only one in the company that wasn’t ready. We’d better get to work so we can present that kind of congregation to God. We’d better get before God and get hold of something more than men can give us, or from any other avenue. We’d better get the Holy Ghost ruling in our hearts and be submerged in it, until we can have the mind of Christ, about this thing. Yes, they gathered in good and bad. What’s the trouble? Too many are messing with the nets. It’s not being let down “at my Word”.

Friends, it’s dangerous to get more interested in men, than we are men’s souls. It’s happening today. There’s an awful chance that the enemy of our soul gets us more interested in men than we are in their souls. We get to dealing with souls, and realize that every one of them is worth more then this world, and if we fail to warn them of the evil of their way, that God will require their blood at our hands, at the judgment. It will put a fear upon us, that we’ll be careful what we say. We get to dealing with men--- why, most anything can happen. How can it be changed? What did Jesus say to do about it? Well, let’s read a little farther. The Word tells us.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of everything; which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. Here we have the kingdom as a doctrine again. He said the law and the prophets were until John. Since then, the kingdom is preached. Now, the kingdom, the gospel of the kingdom, is as a net. Now look out! But when it is full---what is full? When the gospel’s full, they draw them to shore, and separate the good from the bad. As long as the net is out in the sea, under the water, the good and the bad can sport together, but you pull her to shore and the bad ones will show up, and Jesus said when the Gospel’s full, when the net is full---what is the net? The Gospel. So, when the Gospel’s full, it pulls them to shore. It exposes them; that’s right, they can sport together out there in the sea, but when a full Gospel comes along, it lifts up the net. I could never fish like a lot of preachers do. They just leave the net in there and drag it around. They say, “we really got a load on.” Yes, but you ought to pull it up! You might have seaweeds and tin cans. What are you getting at? I went around a few places and I have had others go around a few places. You would think they were really making a catch, but all you got to do is lift the standard up high and you haven’t got much left. When it is full, He said, “They will draw them out.”

What are you getting a picture of? There has been a lukewarm condition going on over the land. There has been an allowing of the good and the bad to sport together, but opening this last seal of truth is lifting up the standard and it is separating the good from the bad. [ End of Part 15

1. The “end of the world” began on the day of Pentecost. That is the last dispensation. Oh, I thought Jesus was going to send angels at His second coming and separate them. Well, we clarified that the angels would not know tares from wheat. They do not know anything about this salvation. The old saints like to sing, that angels are going to fold their wings when we sing about redemption, because they don’t know a thing about it. I’ll tell you who God’s angels are. They are His ministers. They’re picking this thing up. The old nets have “been to sea” long enough, and it is to the place---they have sinners on the board of trustees and sporting good and bad together, but God is pulling up the net and the good are taking their place.

Somebody said, “What kind of vessels is He putting them in?” Vessels meet for the Master’s use. That’s the kind of vessels; consecrated vessels; holy vessels; vessels filled with the Holy Spirit, with the shout of God on their souls; willing to live for God, and to work for Him; to die for the truth, if necessary; to let it go forth.

So shall it be at the end of the world, the angels, or His messengers shall come forth and sever the wicked, from among the just, and will cast them into a furnace of fire. Oh, we have already clarified these Scriptures, in the second parable, but bear with us for the benefit of those who were not here. There is a difference between “a furnace of fire” and “the lake of fire”. Look out now! What is the furnace of fire? The furnace of fire is God’s eternal Word. How do you know? Isaiah 31 and the 9th verse, read it. He will tell you where His furnace is. Isaiah 31:9, “Saith the Lord, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace is Jerusalem.” His furnace is not in the lake of fire. His furnace is in Jerusalem, and He is casting people into the Word and “burning them”. What for? For the same reason He burned the tares. He is putting the heat on them, that they might wake up before the second coming of Christ and change their building and build according to God’s Word before the final judgment comes.

We’re living in a day of “preliminary judgment”, when God is giving you an extra chance to get straightened out and get right with Him, before the end of time. So we see, that this thing is taking place right now. Wherever there is a full gospel preached, the good and the bad are being divided. How is it being divided? The old Psalmist said a sinner could not stand in the congregation of the righteous. What are you talking about? This old lukewarm Gospel has let sinners feel at home right in around the saints, but you get up there anointed with the Holy Spirit and preach this full gospel of this evening light, my friend, and it puts the sinners in there place and the saints in their place. Everyone knows, where, they are. They are not messed up any more. It will still bring old time conviction on the sinner---he will not sit there, and be able to raise his hand and profess he has got something he has not, because God will not allow it. Brother, it will put him in a furnace. That brother knows what I’m talking about, that got saved yesterday afternoon. He ran a filling station, next to the church in Granite Falls. They couldn’t get him out to church. He wanted me to come over and eat dinner with him. I went over to eat dinner with him. Still couldn’t get him out to church. He came up here---his father-in-law came up here, and got straightened out---about like Jerusalem. You know, all those good services we had down there---it didn’t affect Brother_____, but when that thing broke, Wednesday night, God put him in a furnace. He came up that aisle running and crying and he---no more than got saved, and he went right to the telephone and called clear to North Carolina an told his daughter and his son to get right up here---“things were going on” up here. Anyway, he no more than got up here, until God put him under arrest. I met him out there on the grounds, and he said, Brother Wilson, you were shooting right at me. I said, “No, I wasn’t…the Holy Ghost was after you.” This business of the sinners feeling right at home around the saints---we want them to come---bring them by the truckloads---we want them to feel welcome, but we never want them to feel they’re right when they’re wrong. Old Holy Ghost preaching will still put people in a furnace. It will make the sweat break out on them and make the hearts speed up, and their circulation speed up and get red all over.

There is still power in this Gospel---if we can just get the rubbish all cleared away and lay hold of it in its fullness. There is still power in it. We shouldn’t have time for anything that’s not full gospel. It fails to do the work that needs to be done in this day and age. We don’t boast of these things, but in the Lord. You know it takes God to do these things. Yes, the good and the bad sport together in the sea, but when the Gospel is full, it brings them to shore, and the minute it brings them to shore, it separates the good from the bad. The Gospel won’t hurt you. People say, Bro. Wilson, you keep preaching that way, the way you are, you will run all the people in the country off--- and there are more people coming all the time. This old time Gospel will just separate the good from the bad. Yes, it will, and it will make the good feel better and the bad feel worse. This old time Gospel is just exactly what the saints are looking for. God’s people never did want to be yoked up with something that is not like Christ. Why? It kills our fellowship.

Jesus said, “What fellowship can light have with darkness?” I’ll tell you what kind---a human fellowship. You can’t have a divine fellowship putting light and darkness up together. I’m here to say, from a heart of love, but my little heart is stirred about these things. Whenever Protestantism turns to Roman Catholicism and strikes up an alliance, she turns to darkness, and whenever the Church turns to Protestantism and strikes up an alliance, she likewise, is turned to darkness. God called a people in 1880 to leave the courts of Babylon, and God expects us to get farther from her every day. We ought to be a hundred miles farther down the road than D. S. Warner was, but what’s the trouble? To many, are hanging around the gates of Babylon. They have hardly got out of the city. They’re still quibbling over some of the old basic truths that God gave D. S. Warner in the first message he ever preached against Babylon. People are looking in the field of science and say, wise men ought to see this. Why, I just read an article in the paper, that science has almost got the Red Sea crossing figured out. Isn’t that something! They are so far behind, they’ll never catch up. We have gone through Canaan. Jesus has come. We are saved, sanctified (consecrated), in the evening light. They are still hung over the Red Sea.

Somebody said, Brother, I don’t think that will separate people. Listen. What do you think Jesus is going to use in the last final time, the final judgment, to separate the sheep from the goats? He’s going to use this Word right here, and if we will preach it today, it will separate people today. God stands ready to separate the chaff from the wheat, as much as He ever did, but what does He use? The Scripture says the fan in His hand. What is in His hand? His ministry. He says in the 51st chapter of Jeremiah, “Send fanners down to Babylon and they will fan her clean and get all my wheat.” Brother, I want to tell you, God stands ready to burn up the chaff as much as He ever did, and He stands ready to gather together the wheat into His barn, but he needs a faithful ministry, that will fan the two apart. God will get the job done. Why didn’t He do it over here? My friend, He works through human instrumentality. If God “had His way,” every person that names the name of God would be together in the sweetest fellowship that the world has ever seen. He would melt our hearts together---there would be no differences of any kind, but we would have love and care one for another. We would see the thing eye to eye. It would make no difference who preached. Everybody would preach the same thing according to the Word of God. That’s what God wants. He needs a willing people; He needs a people that will work with Him, that will walk in the light as He lays it on our pathway---that will not only believe the Word, but will be doers of the Word. That’s what He’s looking for.

We see in the Word, for example here---Oh, I’ve been preaching to our people for maybe two months, on the love of God. Not a “jelly-fish” love, but the kind of love Paul was talking about in 1 Corinthians, the 13th chapter. It’s needed. Why? The first thing the devil did was, to get some of God’s people to lose the Spirit of God, turn worldly, but kept the name and a profession. Then what does he do? He gets hold of the good people that still love God and want it God’s way, and he gets them to “hold them” that are not doing it. Well, nothing but a fresh baptism of the Holy Ghost will give us enough love of God, that we can hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans and still love them. That’s what we’ve got to have today, if we ever win this battle. The thing that won the battle clear down through here, was that which the devil cannot demonstrate. He can’t “put it on”---LOVE. That is one tool, the devil hasn’t got, and the love of God is the strongest thing that was ever put on this earth. It will make a way when there is not way. Our brother can differ with us on ideas and methods, and he can feel that the interpretation of the Scripture might be a little different, but with maybe some difference of ideas and conceptions, when we meet the brother, the love of God will break through the barrier and flow from heart to heart and create in us love to one another as brethren. It will do it; it can break through.

Somebody said, “How in the world could He tear down the middle wall of partition? I’ll tell you: He put the love of God---shed the love of God abroad within the Jews hearts and the Gentiles hearts and it broke right through the wall, and let them love one another. This love of God is the most powerful thing that ever was. Old Rome tried to crush it. Protestantism tried to dissect it, but it came back together in spite of everything. It’ll do it.

In the 4th chapter of Matthew, Jesus gives us a little lesson about dividing. You know, He would gather a great multitude, then, after He got a great multitude gathered, He would take the good Word of God and weigh them. Yes, He would weigh them. He didn’t get to “weigh in” very long and He would turn around and there’d be no one left but His disciples. Now, there are many things that draw people. God healing bodies. Fire in the camp of the saints. There’s nothing that will advertise any better than the church getting on fire. Brother, you let a few shouts go out over this old hill, and you got “everybody and their brother” coming out to see what in the world is going on. Then something gets hold of them, while they’re here. What are you talking about? It reaches out---Christ reached out. We read here in the 4th chapter of Matthew and it gives us a picture of dividing the good from the bad; Jesus’ way, not my way or some other man’s way---Jesus’ way of doing. Verse 23: “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. And His fame went through-out all Syria, and they brought unto Him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and He healed them all.” He’s the same today. “And seeing the multitudes---now, He’d put the net out, and He had a big multitude gathered in. But He did not believe in the good and the bad sporting together. Listen to it! “Seeing the multitudes He went up into the mountain, and when He was set, His disciples came unto Him, and He opened His mouth and taught them, saying;” and here are the beatitudes that weighs us in or out. We’re drawing them to the shore now, and we’re going to sit down and separate the good and the bad. What scale are you going to use? The same one Jesus used. He just took the beatitudes and “weighed them out.” Listen to Him.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Now a lot of people would jump the Scripture and say, it is a blessed thing to be a poor man or woman. It’s got nothing to do with literal poverty there. “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” If that were so, then nobody but a poor man could get saved. The kingdom just belongs to the poor people. The Word of God says, the rich and the poor, and go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. What would be the use of that, cause nobody but the poor could get saved. Well, it has nothing to do with that. Blessed is an individual---the first blessed thing that happened to an individual, when he realizes that his spiritual condition is poor and he needs help. We’ll get over to the letter pretty soon, the Laodiceans can’t get any help unless they change. Why? They say their spiritual condition is rich, when Christ says it is poor. It is a blessed thing to realize our condition before God. It is a blessed thing to realize our spiritual condition is poor and we need help. Why? Because those that are rich in spiritual things, or at least think they are, don’t need any help. He said they that are whole don’t need a physician, so it’s a blessed thing to realize that our spiritual condition’s not good. That is the first blessedness that Christ has for us, because if we go on feeling that it is good when it’s not, the Word says in the 3rd chapter of the Revelation, in the letter to the Laodiceans---it will put us in a wretched and miserable condition. It will leave us blind.

Now, how is a man going to find out his spiritual condition is not good? Somebody, is going to have to preach the Word to them. People are deceived. They have actually backslid and don’t know it. I used to preach that a man could not backslide and not know it, until I got up to the light of this day. I began to understand, that the “seventh seal light” and the Word of God said, thou sayest thou art rich and knoweth not that thou art poor. There, we are deceived. This thing has been a terrible deception, that has worked on the very people of God. Somebody said, “That’s Babylon.” No, that’s addressed to the Church of the Laodiceans. It was one of the seven golden candlesticks, even though it was corrupt. It was still one of the seven golden candlesticks. Teaching us what? That a people might call themselves the Church---it’s not enough just to find a church---we have got to have and understand the Scripture, to know if it’s a corrupt church or not. How are they going to find out their spiritual condition is poor, when they think they are rich and know not they’re poor? Somebody, is going to have to preach the true riches to them. Paul went around, you can see him in the Philippian letter, counting those false riches…ah, he was an Isrealite indeed. He was born one, circumcised the 8th day, and he ran his family tree way back. Brother, he snapped his finger---a Pharisee of the Pharisees; all these things---he thought he was really rich, but all it took was little old Stephen, that had true riches---standing right before him. Brother, that little boy, when they were stoning the life out of him, he was so sweet about it, and he looked into heaven, and said, I see the Son of God standing on the right hand of the Father. Paul said, that’s richer than anything I have---old wretched man that I am. Who will deliver me from this pitiful condition?

If we ever wake up the “people of God” and let them see their wretched condition---there’s one thing that will wake them up---get the old time glory in our midst, brother, that makes you laugh-and cry-and shout-and praise God; that gives you old time satisfaction, that you can raise your hand and sing, “I’d rather have Jesus than anything, this world affords today.”

I’ve seen people getting woke-up all over the country. I told you about three years ago, I suppose it has been, (time gets away) I was getting in “this lull.” God woke me up and He told me, if I would stay awake, nobody could sleep around me. Brother, I’ve been going ever since. I’ve seen a lot of sleepers, but I have seen them wake up. I’ve seen congregations of the Church of God, that were so asleep and so dead, that they made the pastor have the evening service at 4 o’clock in the afternoon, (this is true!) because they had other things to do on Sunday night. If he preached over 30 minutes he lost his job and they got a new man.

Somebody said, what happened? The first night I was there, I preached two hours. About the middle of the week, they began to wake up. People began to come to the altar; got straightened out with God. Sisters came around and shook my hand and said, Bro. Wilson, we never knew we were in such a pitiful condition. It came on us so slow and easy, that we didn’t realize we were in the shape we were in. We need to get this old time truth out there and preach on the true riches of God and awaken men and women. Let them get on down and get them a lamp, and get them some oil before Jesus comes here. My friend, there’s one way, that our condition can be shown up---when we preach the true riches of Christ. We need some more old Holy Ghost preaching, about having victory over sin, the flesh and the devil. In this day, when the devil has bound people, tied them up, tied their hands a little more and a little more; they’re losing their liberty; losing their freedom; becoming slaves to the devil; going right on with their profession. We need to cry out that, Jesus was manifested to destroy the works of the devil, set a man free, put a devil-proof armour on him, a sword in his hand, and send him out to fight the devil. It’s a blessed thing, when we can realize out spiritual condition-poor. Blessed are the poor in spirit.

Turn to the 15th chapter of Luke; There’s a Scripture there, but because a man wrote a song, people teach it wrong. Jesus taught there, that he left the 90 and 9 in the wilderness and went after the one. Because a man wrote a song, they say, He left them in the fold. But, it doesn’t say that. He left them in the wilderness, and He goes on and tells you, who the 99 are. There is more joy in heaven over one sinner, that repenteth, than over ninety and nine just persons, who need no repentance. Who were they? The 90 and 9 were the old Jewish nation. Who was the one He went after? He said, I am come to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The ones, that would admit they were lost and needed Christ. He left those 90 and 9, that felt they were justified and did not need Christ---He didn’t leave them in the fold---He left them in the “wilderness of sin and confusion,” and we raise up against Christ as the Laodiceans are, and say, “We have need of nothing.” He will leave us in the wilderness of sin and confusion. We’d better be honest when Christ shows us our state, and do something about it. The Laodiceans say, I’m rich, but Christ said, I say you are poor. We’re blessed---it’s a blessed state to get in, to realize ourselves, as we really are; all the deception dispelled. When we realize our poor miserable wretched condition, as it really is---up beside that which Christ can do for us, we will admit our spiritual condition is poor and that we need help.

The Queen of Sheba, in first Kings, the 10th chapter, an example of somebody poor in spirit. The Scripture said she came up there with a great train. She traveled three thousand miles both ways, rode a camel 75 days one way. It’s no wonder Jesus said the Queen of Sheba would rise up and condemn this generation in the judgment. She rode up there to hear the “wisdom of Solomon;” and a greater than Solomon is here! Thank God, we don’t have to ride a camel 75 days or go 3000 miles. He’s right here, outside our heart’s door! The effort she put forth will condemn men and women today for rejecting Christ when He comes down to their house. She made that trip up there, and after she saw that the house he built and the way he set his servants; all these things---it’s all a great message; and saw the wisdom that God had given him, what did she say? The Scripture said there was no more spirit in her. Brother, she was poor in spirit. She came up there with a great train and all her camels, brother, no doubt going to show him up, for she thought she was about the greatest thing as ever walked on this earth. They told her of somebody up there greater and she was going up to see, but brother, when she saw God’s wisdom put up beside man’s wisdom, the Scripture said, there was no more spirit in her, so she was poor in spirit.

When we see that which God can do for us, it will cause us to realize, that our own righteousness is as filthy rags---ragged individuals, and poor individuals. We will recognize our nakedness. Self-emptying convictions, will take hold of us, that must work before God can move upon us. We will realize that we are void of everything pertaining to life and Godliness, and into the emptiness, He will come with His Fullness. The reason more people can’t get Christ in their hearts, because they haven’t got room for Him. We want to hang on to “all the category” that our heart is filled with now, and give Him a little room in the attic someplace. Say, Amen! =) I’m still preaching to that which calls itself the church of God---the only kind you really wanted when you want to get healed---when you need to raise fifty dollars---when you get in a pinch. But God’s looking for a bride that loves Him, through think and thin. If He never did anything for her, she’d love Him just because He’s Him…so it is a blessed thing to realize our spiritual condition---that it is poor.

What is the next step? We’re going to take steps to salvation here, and if you get hung up on any of them, just realize it might be you haven’t got it. These are the steps that it takes to get a real experience with God. They have got it boiled down until it is as simple as falling off a log; sign a card or “blink your light”, but that is not the way Jesus lets people do it. It takes some effort on our part. The next step, He said, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Remember now, we are separating the good from the bad. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are who that mourn? Somebody said, just any one that mourns. No, there are people that get themselves in a shape where they will mourn and God will laugh at them when they mourn: First chapter of Proverbs. How did they get in that shape? They rejected His counsel. What did He say to the Laodiceans? You say this, but I counsel you this. Buy gold tried in the fire, get your white raiment on, anoint your eyes with eye-salve. The Proverb writer said, God’s speaking that you refused His counsel; you rejected His counsel. What did He say? When your catastrophe comes out here, and you begin to weep and mourn before God, He said He’d laugh at you, so this Scripture cannot be put on everybody that mourns.

Blessed are who that mourns? Blessed are they that realize their spiritual condition is not good and then begins to mourn over it. That’s the next step to salvation. We have to realize first, our spiritual condition is not good, and then, we cannot take it so lightly. Whenever you see people take this thing so lightly, you just watch them a few days. There will be no fruit come. I have seen people move sometimes with all the pride and they can hardly get down to an altar of prayer. They think that God is really getting something. Let me tell you, there is going to have to be some Godly sorrow here that worketh repentance unto salvation. We are going to have to realize our spiritual condition is not good and if Christ doesn’t help us, we are doomed; lost, and begin to mourn over the thing. Blessed are those who realize their spiritual condition is not good and then, they mourn over it; they will be comforted.

My friend, we can surely see that this “drag-net business” is not of God. He talks about a straight gate; strive to enter in. I can’t see how they’re miss-using the Gospel today---using it as a “sweeping thing,” that’s just taking in all kinds. It takes some unloading---some straightening out—some humbling down, some Godly sorrow, to get a salvation not to be repented of, one you won’t be sorry about. This salvation today, there’s too many sorry they got it, right after they get it. They call it making decisions for Christ, just have them raise their hands en masse, then, the minute they get outside they’re sorry they ever raised their hands, because they still want to sin. Well, Godly sorrow worketh repentance. It’s not repentance---it works repentance. When you get Godly sorrow working in you heart, the wheels of repentance will begin to turn, and when the wheels of repentance begin to turn, it will cut your tongue loose and you will go confessing unto God, and you won’t hold back a thing, and if you confess unto God, He will remove your sins from you as far as the east is from the west, never to be remembered against you again. So, it is a blessed thing to realize your spiritual condition is not good. The next step is to mourn over it. Let’s read the next one.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. What’s the next step? Realize your spiritual condition is not good, getting Godly sorrow where you can mourn over it. What’s the next position? Take a meek position before God. This is getting rid of all the “king-fishes” here. We have to have a meek position before God and be willing. What are you talking about, taking a meek position before God? Being willing to take it God’s way---just the way God wants us to take it. Too many are laying down requirements to God---we’re going to do this and we are going to do that. Huh-uh! We’ve got to take a meek position before God---be willing to pay the price, whatever it is---and take it God’s way, if we ever get it. Blessed are the meek. They will inherit the earth. My friend, the meek are those who quietly submit themselves to God and follow His directions--- comply with His instructions. When Christ spoke these words to the people back there in Judaism, it was like putting cold water on them. Why? They were looking for a literal kingdom; for Christ to take a literal sword, and go in there and cut off a few heads. Somebody said, “How do you know?” Why, Peter showed what was in him. He didn’t even have a sword. He grabbed somebody else’s and cut off the man’s ear. That bunch was all heated up; they thought they were going to have an earthly reign, and Christ was going to come in literal glory with a sword and kill people. He turned around and said, “If you ever get in ‘this kingdom’ you have to be a ‘meek fellow’.” Well, that’s the way He told me the meek was.

People are yet, looking for a millennium, when Christ will come with earthly glory. Zechariah and the other prophets said, “Behold your king cometh to you meek, riding on an ass, the foal of an ass.” That’s the way He comes. If you’ll permit me to digress a minute, there are some people who have a little trouble with the habits of life, let me see if I can give you a little treatment, by the Lord’s help. Christ came down there and ready to enter into Jerusalem, to be crowned king. He told them where there was a mule, tied with a colt beside it, that no man had ever sat on. We read in first kings and learn that the king rode a mule; usually a white mule, and they rode that mule until it died, and if they change kings, they still rode the same mule. Nobody got on that mule, but the king. When David was ready to turn his kingdom over to Solomon, how did he do it? He got the men together and told them to go over there and get his mule and let Solomon ride into town on his mule, because when that boy got on that mule, what happened? When he got to town they said, Solomon’s been crowned king. How do you know? He’s riding David’s mule. Nobody rides that mule, but the king.

Well, look here! When our King got ready to be crowned, He asked for a mule that no man had ever sat on. Why? This was a kingdom not handed down from somebody else, but the kingdom of God that had never been set up before. They brought that mule colt down there that no man had ever sat on---had not been bridled, and I told you the other day when I was speaking about this: any one that ever worked around any mules and broke them, know that there was power there. You just don’t get on a mule that has never been ridden---and stay on. You just don’t do it. Brother, you throw coats and branches down in front of them---they are going to run clear out of the country. This little old mule walked up and the Son of God got on his back. There was no rodeo---they threw a coat over his back---that was the worst thing they could have done. They threw branches down, and screamed Hosannas! The Scripture said, that mule walked straight into Jerusalem. Why? It recognized its creator. Brother, Sister, if you can recognize your creator and be as smart as that mule, you can walk straight into (spiritual) Jerusalem. Trouble is, you throw Him off. Come in a meek way. My friend, the same old spirit that was in Judaism, that wanted Peter to fight; he was going to have a literal kingdom whether or; it has got in preachers today---they are going to have it; there’s not going to be any earth for them to have it.

See, you can’t measure happiness by the acre; happiness comes on “spiritual wings”---I’m jumping here---want to hit the high places---I’ll get out of here---those who would be meek are truly inheriting the earth. Come on now! Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. What earth? This, earth, right here; the meek are the only rightful occupants of this earth. God created this earth for meek men--- holy men. God is just leaving the sinner live here by His mercy, but when we become meek individuals, we actually inherit it---it is ours. And not only do we inherit this earth, we inherit the next one, glory be to God! The Revelation said, “To him that overcometh, he will inherit all things,” so the next step, after realizing our spiritual condition is poor, and we mourn over it a little, take a meek position.

1. We haven’t gotten an experience yet, but we’re getting close! Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. All right, what’s after that? Realize your condition’s not good, mourn over it, take a meek position before God, then you’ve got to let God see you’re hungering after it---really want it! God has to see within your heart a desire that you really want it---that you would rather have it than anything in the world. You didn’t know what it was, but you found out the hunger of your soul was for Jesus, amen, and you want Him so bad. We begin to hunger and thirst after it, we will be filled.

I want to repeat that God doesn’t want any power fed people. He wants those that are hungry. What are you talking about? Power feed or force feed---They raise chickens “over night” now. They just go every so many minutes and open their mouth and get a syringe and shoot them full of feed. Those chickens just grow right up. God doesn’t want that kind of stuff. He wants people that want Him---He wants people that hunger after Him, and thirst after Him.

I’m just a firm believer, that, up to right now, everybody’s got Jesus, that want Him. Yes, I believe that. I believe if there are any here that want Him, and haven’t got Him yet, they would be getting Him right now. Those of you who are hungering and thirsting after righteousness shall be filled. You know, that’s a positive statement, but it’s yet, out ahead. “Shall be filled.” Let’s go a little farther.

So we see, the next thing after we become meek, is to hunger for Him. What’s the next thing? Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Forgive everybody! This salvation takes a little while. When you get the old time kind. While you are down there mourning over your poor spiritual condition, you have taken a meek position before God, you are hungering and you tell God how bad you want this salvation, then, be merciful. Forgive everybody, because if you don’t forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father in Heaven forgive your trespasses. Can’t have it. Jesus said, when you come to the altar, bring your gifts and remember, your brother, if he has aught against you---it won’t do any good to try to offer your gifts; be reconciled to your brother, go show mercy, then come back. Yes…we have to keep that spirit. Anybody that really gets this thing, is going to keep it, because it is too big a job to get it. And it’s harder to get it the second time, than it was the first time. Well, God help us! Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

What’s the next step? Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Well, thank God, we’re just about getting ushered in where we can see God and talk to Him now, and get this thing worked out. People think they can just run up and knock on God’s door and see Him anytime. No, you have to go by some certain offices here. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God; or the original says, they shall possess God. That “see God”, there, is a Hebrew term. You can read it several places in the Scripture. The 16th Psalm, the 10th verse, says, Thou shalt not suffer thy Holy One to see corruption, or the original says: to possess corruption. Jesus said, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom,” or the Hebrew says: he cannot possess the kingdom. So blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God, or the Hebrew says, possess God--- right in the very heart. Well, we’re getting there!

Next, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Well, we finally got a man born of God! He is a child of God now! How did he get it? Realizing his spiritual condition wasn’t good, mourned over it, took a meek position before God, hungered and thirsted, stood there and showed mercy to everybody---said Lord, I’ll forgive everybody. If I’ve wronged anybody, I will restore it four-fold. Next thing, my friend, plead to God for heart purity---next thing, become a peacemaker. Make your peace with God---and the children of God are peacemakers! I know a lot of people call this and that the children of God, but Jesus said, blessed are the peacemakers, they shall be called the children of God. If everybody were a peacemaker, that declared to be, there wouldn’t be as much trouble as there is. He told us to make peace, as much as lieth within us---live in a peaceful way with all men, and endeavor to make peace as we go about. The very work of God upon hearts will cause us to do it.

God is a God of peace. When we find peace and make peace, we are the children of God. Romans the 5th chapter and verse 1 says: “Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Thank God for it. When the angel came to bear the good tidings of great joy…that Christ was going to be born; after he preached the message, the heavenly choir struck up the invitation hymn and said “Peace on earth, good will to men.” When we get straightened out with God, we will get straightened out with our fellow men. It’s just natural. That’s the way the Spirit of God works. We get straightened out with God, we will get straightened out with our fellowmen, and when people begin to get “on the outs” with their fellow men, just mark it down, they’re “on the outs” with God, because we can’t be clear with God and be “out” with our fellowmen.

Down through the rest will tell us what happened. Blessed are the peacemakers, they will be called the children of God. Blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you---here’s what will happen to you if you really get this experience---blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you, falsely, for my name’s sake, rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven. So persecuted they the prophets, which were before you. You are the salt of the earth---I’m still dealing with the Laodicean letter---you are the salt of the earth. He said to gather the good in the vessels, and cast the bad out. What gets cast out? If salt has lost its savor, it is fit for nothing but to be cast out. We are not casting away the man that does not know God. No, God bless your hearts, no, no, no! Jesus is saying come---come! Who is this that gets cast out? They’re people who have been the salt of the earth and “played around” and lost their savor. I’m preaching about the Laodiceans. We haven’t got to the letter yet, but that’s what I’m preaching about. That’s who is fit to get cast out. Brother, they really squall, when you take the Word of God and put them in their place, but that is what Jesus said to do. Fit for nothing, but to be trodden under the foot of man. What are you talking about?

A man that has once known God, and turned from Him, is a miss-fit on any corner. The world doesn’t want him; Christ cannot use him; he’s just what the Laodicean letter said, wretched and miserable. Nobody’s any more miserable than this people that has got caught in this compromise, this apostasy; they’re too good to go out in the world and find any pleasure, yet they’re not good enough to find pleasure in the things of God. They’re just in between the thing. Miserable state; they’re the salt that has lost its savor---“good for nothing,” but to be cast out.

Jesus said, ye are the salt of the earth---who? The people of God. Somebody said, how do you know? He said, you are the salt of the earth, then, you are the light of the world; and you’ll never be the light of the world until you’re the salt of the earth. Is there a difference? Yes. Why didn’t He say, you are the light of the earth and the salt of the world? What’s He talking about? We’ve got to have enough God in our lives that without ever speaking a word---He showed us there in the letter---that society was corrupting away. We salt things to keep them from corrupting. Why do you think corruption is taking our nation? Not enough salt! Too much salt that has lost its savor. It’s no good! It won’t help society because, that which professes to be the church, has lost its salt (savor). The corruption of the world is coming right into the church environment. If we will the salt, there will be no corruption, because we can salt her down. If we will be the salt of the earth, it will be easy to be the light of the world.

What are we talking about? Get this real experience that keeps us---salt will keep us, it will preserve us. If we get this Holy Ghost salt that we’re talking about, it will keep us sweet. When the reverses come against us on the job, an it looks like corruption will take every thing around us, and the explosion would take everyone there, it won’t take us, while we’re salted down. Just walk around like that a few days---keep our mouth shut, and after we’ve salted the thing down real good, then, they’ll come and ask us, “What’s different about you?” That’s the time to be the light. But we have too many trying to be the light that’s never been the salt. Isn’t that right? Let people observe, that you really have something, and then they will ask you about it. Out in the west, where the highways are open and somebody thinks they’re driving along pretty good at 95 miles an hour---you, just “slip on by” them. You know what happens---you get off at a filling station, they’ll drive up---“What in the world have you got under that hood?” The same thing is true in Christianity. Be the salt of the earth. What am I talking about? You don’t have to talk, if you really have Christ in your heart, it will be as hard for the devil to work sin around you, as it was when Christ walked in the midst. I know what I’m talking about. I have walked in barber shops---I’ve walked in places and never said a word---never had an attitude to throw cold water on what was going on, but they could not get any fun our of what they were doing. Why? I didn’t go to condemn them. Christ did not come to condemn the world, but the world got condemned, anyway. He didn’t come to condemn it, but the very spirit He manifested condemned it. We don’t want to condemn people when we preach, but the Word of God and the Spirit of God will condemn sin on any corner. It will never condone it. The Holy Ghost shining through our lives will salt the thing down.