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Christ’s Object Lessons
guidance, angels of God draw near. The Holy Spirit is given to open
to them the rich treasures of the truth.
The good-ground hearers, having heard the word, keep it. Satan
with all his agencies of evil is not able to catch it away.
Merely to hear or to read the word is not enough. He who desires
to be profited by the Scriptures must meditate upon the truth that has
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been presented to him. By earnest attention and prayerful thought he
must learn the meaning of the words of truth, and drink deep of the
spirit of the holy oracles.
God bids us fill the mind with great thoughts, pure thoughts. He
desires us to meditate upon His love and mercy, to study His wonderful
work in the great plan of redemption. Then clearer and still clearer will
be our perception of truth, higher, holier, our desire for purity of heart
and clearness of thought. The soul dwelling in the pure atmosphere
of holy thought will be transformed by communion with God through
the study of Scriptures.
“And bring forth fruit.” Those who, having heard the word, keep
it, will bring forth fruit in obedience. The word of God, received into
the soul, will be manifest in good works. Its results will be seen in a
Christlike character and life. Christ said of Himself, “I delight to do
Thy will, O My God; yea, Thy law is within My heart.”
Psalm 40:8
.
“I seek not Mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent
Me.”
John 5:30
. And the Scripture says, “He that saith he abideth in
Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked.”
1 John 2:6
.
The word of God often comes in collision with man’s hereditary
and cultivated traits of character and his habits of life. But the good-
ground hearer, in receiving the word, accepts all its conditions and
requirements. His habits, customs, and practices are brought into
submission to God’s word. In his view the commands of finite, erring
man sink into insignificance beside the word of the infinite God. With
the whole heart, with undivided purpose, he is seeking the life eternal,
and at the cost of loss, persecution, or death itself, he will obey the
truth.
And he brings forth fruit “with patience.” None who receive God’s
word are exempt from difficulty and trial; but when affliction comes,
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the true Christian does not become restless, distrustful, or despondent.
Though we can not see the definite outcome of affairs, or discern the
purpose of God’s providences, we are not to cast away our confidence.