While men...slept.
According to the parable of the Ten Virgins in Matt. 25, with the ‘virgins,’ being a type of the church/believers,...what was the state of all ten prior to the return of the bridegroom?
They got drowsy and fell asleep.(vs. 5) Hence...why we see in several places where Paul admonishes the church to ‘wake up’. (Eph 5:14-15; Rom. 13:11)
I think it goes without saying that our enemy, the devil, will often attempt to counterfeit the ways and things of God. If we are not careful, we can succumb to them. (Matt. 24:24; 2 Cor 11:2-3;14)
So when you study Matt. 13 and the parable of the sower, we see where a sower went forth to sow seed (word of God) and those who really were not sure what they were hearing, or ready to receive it,...the birds (devil) come immediately to snatch that seed (word from hearts vs.19). And in that same chapter, we read the parable of the wheat and the tares that I cited at the start here. While men slept, an enemy came to sow seed.
Seed can be so tiny and appear to be so unassuming. But allow it to be planted and take root...and over time...well, you get the idea. Paul talked, regarding sharing the gospel and the word of God, that one man plants, another waters, but it is God who gives the increase. (1 Cor. 3:6). Guess what? Satan does the same thing.
I cited two examples yesterday how the devil ‘put it in to the heart of Judas to betray Jesus’. (John 13:2). Then in Acts 5, just prior to God’s judgment falling on Ananias, Peter asked him: “Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?” (3)
There’s probably good reason why we are told to ‘guard our hearts’. (Prov. 4:23). How do our hearts become defiled? (Mark 7:21-23). It begins with a seed. Paul talks of bringing into captivity every thought...to the obedience of Christ. (2 Cor. 10:5). This was one of those things I guess I thought I always knew or was aware of...but you know how that goes...you know...but you really don’t know...because if you really did know...you’d be more attentive to these things. We can easily drift off or fall asleep when we just ‘hear the word, but don’t put it into practice. James tells us we deceive ourselves when we do this. (1:22). And is it not interesting that is how Jesus distinguishes the two builders one being wise and one foolish in Matt. 7:24-27.
It is remarkable to me, now...when I look back and see how active that enemy is going about and sowing seed/thoughts into the unsuspecting minds of so many church members. We just let our guard down and the next thing you know, you are struggling with so many issues and such.
Have you ever stopped to consider who actually plants those lustful thoughts in your mind and those little ‘movies’ begin to just unfold that...if you are honest...you kind of enjoy. Otherwise, you would have shut it down immediately. (Matt. 5:28). Or what about those moments when a seed of suspicion takes root and you ‘think on these things’ and the next thing you know, your heart is filled with anger and fear and resentment and revenge. I shared awhile back how that subtle demon of ‘self-pity’ could just change the course of a day for me and bring me down and discourage me simply because I was ignorant of his schemes. (2 Cor. 2:11). When God pointed that out to me, I was stunned and am happy to report I am walking in more victory in that area than I ever thought possible.
“Who told you that you were naked?” [God’s question to Eve in Gen. 3:11]. I think we know the answer to that. Who told YOU...you were this or that or ......?
I make no apologies for repeating various passages and points in these postings because we really have not allowed the Holy Spirit to make them real to us. Take the insight Jesus offered in Matt. 12:43-45. He clearly teaches what unclean spirits do once cast out of a person. They wander about and then seek to re-enter our lives. This is NOT poetic language. I know during my own personal awakening that took place two years ago (and it has not slowed down one iota), God opened my eyes to how I had allowed so much bad seed to be sown into my mind/heart.
I would often drive around with my radio on and listen to talk radio and hear all this anger and division and suspicion and fear and anxiety constantly filling my mind. And how many wasted hours...are spent in front of a TV set allowing the enemy to just ‘back a truck up’ into your living room (heart/mind) and dump countless seeds of lust, murder, violence, adultery, pride, ego, etc. And you don’t have to be watching ‘adult’ channels for that to take place. But we do like to ’entertain’ ourselves with so many visuals that we tell ourselves is ‘not really sin’, even though it simulates sinful acts.
This has nothing to do with going on a crusade against TV. It has everything to do with recognizing that our hearts and minds are going to be filled with one kind of seed or another. We have the privilege of choosing what kind of seed we allow to be sown in to us.
Oh, the passage I mentioned from Matt. 7:24-27 where Jesus was teaching about a wise man and a foolish one who were both building a house...one on rock, the other sand? He then goes on to explain that both houses were subject to the same storm and ‘flood’ that beat against the house. Have you ever read in Isaiah where ‘the enemy comes in like a flood’? And look at Revelation 12:15 where the ‘serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood...that he might carry the woman (church) way by the flood’.
It won’t be long before we are in to hurricane season. And we see the same video clips every year...where a particular region is under the bulls-eye of a major destructive storm bearing down on them....and what do we see non-stop video clips of? People shoring up their homes...covering up windows...laying out sand bags...doing all they can to make sure they are ready.
So what are we told that the ‘Day of the Lord’ will be like? – it will come ‘like a thief in the night’. ( 1 Thess. 5:2). And what does a thief come to do? - to steal, kill, and destroy. (John 10:10).
Now let us examine Matt. 24:42-44: “Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
Reading through the first several chapters of Revelation we see the serious warnings that Jesus had for all seven churches. Interesting phrase used there in His address to the Church at Sardis there in chapter 3. He comments on how they ‘had a name/reputation of being alive’, but He tells them outright they are ‘dead’. (1-3). But it is this statement that catches my attention: “Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.”
Remember when Jesus took His disciples with Him in to the garden to watch and pray with Him. (Just stop for a moment and consider what an incredible gift of opportunity that would have been…to be invited to join the Son of God in prayer.)
And….they all fell asleep.(Matt. 26:40-41)
Sleeping people usually don’t know when they are asleep. And that is when the enemy likes to sow his seed.
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