The Seed — G.W. North

The Sower and the Forgiven Woman

I want you to turn with me to Luke chapter 8. It came to pass, afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him.

Well, we may ask ourselves the question, after what, if it came to pass, afterwards? After what? After this, 44 of chapter 7. Jesus turned to the woman and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet, but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.

Thou gavest me no kiss, but this woman, since the time that I came in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint, but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. And I want you to know that Jesus only used that phrase, this woman, because he was answering the thought of Simon.

When he said in 39, this man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him, for she's a sinner. Jesus wasn't using the derogatory term, this woman, except as in answer to Simon's sneering cynical thinking.

Verse 47,. Wherefore, I say unto thee, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much, but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven, and they that sat at meet with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also?

And he said to the woman, he never bothered to answer that kind of question, he just kept on saying to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee, go in peace. And it's after this, when a woman who had been a sinner had been forgiven by Jesus and expressed her love in tears, and in anointing, and in kisses, after he had said to her, Thy faith hath saved thee, go in peace.

After this incident, alright, and verse 2 of chapter 8,. And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, and Joanna, the wife of Chusa, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others which ministered unto him of their substance.

The Parable of the Sower

And when much people were gathered together, and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable. A sower went out to sow his seed, and as he sowed, some fell by the wayside, and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it.

And some fell upon a rock, and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bear fruit an hundredfold.

And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Verse eleven,. Now the parable is this,. The seed is the word of God,. Those by the wayside are they that hear. Then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe, and be saved.

They on the rock are they which, when they hear, receive the word with joy, and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. And that which fell among thorns are they which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares, and riches, and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.

And that on the good ground are they which, in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience. Amen. Then I want to consider with you for a while the simple truth of this lovely parable that the Lord Jesus himself told.

Becoming the Word of God in Daily Life

God's great intention for you and for me is that he should sow his seed into us. He wants that seed, as Norman has already pointed out, to become flesh in us. In other words, he wants us, we people here, all of us, to receive the great word of God and so bring it out in daily living, in bodily actions, in soul feelings, in all the wonder of conversation.

He wants us to bring out the great word of God. He wants us, if we use well-known Bible phrases, to be living epistles. He wants us to be God's word manifest in the flesh. Now that's what he wants us to be.

A message written by God. And you know, when messages are written, they take on a degree of permanence. And that's the marvellous thing. God wants us to be permanent. He wants us, where we go, to be forever the same glorious word.

That's one thing about a letter, isn't it? That when it's written, it's written. It's unalterable. You can't say, well, let's change the words of it. You can't say, let's alter it at all. There it is.

It's written. It's exactly the same 20 years after if it's written on incorruptible material. It's the same 30 years after, 40 years after. Norman was speaking about that great monument called the Taj Mahal in India.

I went there, and you know, it was built I don't know how many centuries ago. But the Arabic letters written all over this tomb are the same as the day in which they were written. They're there. Hundreds of years have passed by.

You know, the Indians like to think that it is a monument to love. In fact, one of the great tragedies I felt of the jacket of a New Testament that they printed in India, one of the great tragedies was that they put the Taj Mahal on the front of it as a message of love.

If ever you can think such things, this shows you the sort of syncretic thinking that's going on in the minds of Christians. You know, one of the curses of India is syncretism. And you've got it in the mind.

Had I better explain what syncretism is? Some of you are looking quite blank, aren't you? Well, well, I'm sorry about that. It's only because I learn words as I go around. And like that great man Churchill, I mean, amongst statesmen, I don't know whether he's great in heaven, when I was quite young, I fell in love with words.

He says there's something lovely about words. It could have been a snare for me, like music. God had to steer me quite clear of it. And syncretism is this curse that takes a Hinduism, it takes Islam, it takes Buddhism and Christianity and mixes them all up.

And says, there you are, you see? Syncretism, putting them all together, showing they're all the same, that's it. And so upon this great cover, they put this monument, which is, the Indian minds like to think is a testimony to love.

It's a testimony to untold deception, hatred and murder. Did you know that? That the great man that had the tomb built, one by one killed his workmen. When they'd done the job, he killed them, so they couldn't do it for anybody else.

It had to be, that was his pride, killed them. And yet they put that on the front of a Bible. If ever you did, God save us, talk about blind leaders of the blind. Well, anyway, God wants us, beloved, to live this glorious life out.

Living the Word Beyond the Conference

And you people, young people and old, you must remember this, that in the great thrills of a conference, and I trust you've been as thrilled as I have, and God has blessed us, God moves upon us, but we're to go home and we're to live this thing out.

You know, I couldn't help think, remarking it in my own mind, in other words, thinking. Call it talking to yourself, I know I didn't mutter into my beard or anything like that. I don't look at Norman, I'm not suggesting that's what he does.

It's a figure of speech. The whole glorious thing is this. He said about women, you know, if the Lord gets hold of them, and He saves them, and He does a wonderful work with them, that they're to go home and they're to live with their unsaved husbands, if they have unsaved husbands, and they are to win the husbands without the word.

And you might have thought, well, no, that's a tremendous thing. I mean, hasn't she got to read a Bible every day? Hasn't she got to read Watchman Me as her morning portion? Hasn't she got to have the daily light, or the SU calendar, or something like that, all up, all over the house?

Anything like that? No, that's not what he's saying. What he's saying is, now listen, you women, and of course it applies specially to women, I think. All right, I won't look. You women, you mustn't think that if you don't preach the word to your husband, he won't get saved.

He's going to be saved without the word. Husbands will not have their wives preaching to them. That's one thing a husband will not have. You can ask my wife, she never preaches to me. Well, except slyly.

Well, you know what I mean. He says I should be in trouble. Well, I don't know how she manages to listen to me so much, preaching to her. But this is what he's saying. People can be one without you keep preaching at them.

Don't think you've got to get up every morning and either give him or her a text, or something. You've got to do nothing of the sort. They've got to be one by your life. You know, I love the old English version.

You know I do, and people have sly digs at me now and again. But I don't take any notice. I'm as thick-skinned as anything. And all this. But you know, when the old translators used that word conversation.

I know now, of course, we have this as manner of life or behavior. But what they were saying was, the thing that holds conversation with people and talks to people is your life. I think it was a marvelous choice of a word.

You see, they taught truth as well as just copied out letters. And that's the important thing for us all to remember. You can't translate without interpreting. Be careful if you have the business of translation in hand.

And you see, this is what it's all to be. And Peter was only saying this very thing. You, my beloved, are to go home and you are just to live. That's all you're to do. And of course, I suppose Peter had to tell the women because they're more particularly bent on preaching.

But the whole glorious truth is that God wants us to see this thing so clearly, beloved. It is His intention that you should be the seed of God as Jesus Christ was the seed of God. That's what He's intending you to be.

Dying to Self as the Law of Spiritual Fruitfulness

And all seeds have to do this. They have to fall into the ground and die. All seed has to do that. Or else it will bring forth no fruit at all. Be sure, if you have been born again in this conference or before this conference, be absolutely sure that God's intention in saving you was not to save you from death.

It was to save you from yourself, another kind of death. It wasn't to save you from all these things. It was in order that you might fall into the ground and die. If you're a seed, you've got to be planted.

You understand that? This is the law of spiritual life. You have to be planted. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And what a glorious thing that is. But let's follow the truth shall we? When the Lord interpreted this parable, He's very clear in verse 11.

The seed is the Word of God. And then He gives these different kinds of ground into which the seed falls. You may have been surprised when you read verse 12. Those by the wayside are they that hear, then cometh the devil, and listen, he taketh away the Word out of their hearts.

Lest they should believe and be saved. Did you think that the devil could come and take the Word out of your hearts? You see, God is aiming at our heart all the time. When He comes and sows the seed. And you say, well no, I didn't sort of see this in this parable.

Perhaps you're quite aware that in Matthew there is this seed sown by the wayside and it doesn't enter in, you're told. And the birds come and scoop it up, it's right off the surface. You see, it doesn't seem to have entered in at all.

Yet you're saying that it's gone in. I'm not saying this, except that I am. It's Luke that's saying it. I am repeating it. And you may be sure, now look, every one of us in this room tonight, you may be sitting there thinking, well I'm one of these hard-hearted people, I'm one of these people, I'm not this, you may have been a hippie or a happy or something else.

And you might have got yourself filled up with drugs and devils and I don't know, all sorts of things. Now listen, when you come within the range of God speaking, and God speaks His Word, whoever you are, however hard you are, whatever be the sin you've come through, think of the story in the preceding chapter, whatever you've been up to, if you've been a woman of the city, of this woman was, it doesn't make any difference at all.

When you come within the sound of the Word of God and God is speaking, that seed goes into your heart. There's no devil that can keep it out. None. He puts it in. Amen. That's right. Well then what's this hardness then, that's inside?

What is this wayside seed? Just this. The key of course is in the verse, it always is, if we read. The devil comes and takes away the Word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. Why is it that the devil can come and take the Word of God, the seed, by which God intends you should enter into fullness and fruitfulness of life.

Why is it that the devil can do that? Simply this, because you have not received it with faith. That's why he takes it away. That's the reason. You see, after these things, what things? He said to the woman, thy faith has saved thee.

God always puts the Word in the heart, bless Him. Always. The devil is waiting to take it out. But if you will believe it, and believe faith is the only thing that can associate your life with it. The only thing that can associate your character, your morality.

The only thing that can associate and link your spirit with the Word of God is faith. The seed had the same potential in it as that which brought forth the fruit in the last mentioned ground. Same, exactly the same.

God does not favour one above another of us. Perhaps over 500 of us here in this room tonight. I want you to know that God is not favouring one of us above another, not one. The fact that some seem to be in greater blessing, greater liberty, greater this or greater that, doesn't mean that God has favoured them above you.

It means that there came a time when they heard the Word of God. You heard what Brother Norman said about himself upon that occasion in a women's institute. Would be a women's institute, wouldn't it? And when he received the Word of God, you heard him.

God does not favour one above another in these things. It's whether a man or a woman, and I charge you all, every one of you in the sight of God. It's how you listen to and receive the Word of God. It's what you do in response to it.

Whatever you do, stir yourself up now, where you're sitting. Open yourself up to the depths of your beings by the grace of God. Devil or man, doesn't matter who you are, devils have got to go. When a man starts listening to God, then no man says, well I've got this, somebody told me I've got this devil, somebody says this, somebody says the other.

When Jesus Christ comes, it doesn't matter what anybody said. Much unless they've said what Jesus Christ says. He comes and he invariably puts the seed into the heart. Why did you think, before he interpreted the parable, he finished up the actual telling of the story with these words?

And he cried them, apparently he'd been talking, must have been in a wonderful voice. I'd love to hear the voice of Jesus. I'd love to have heard him preaching. And when he finished, he stood up and he cried.

You ought, if you're a Bible student, to go through your Gospels and find the occasions when it says Jesus cried. Really cried out. He cried. If you've got ears to hear, hear. Glory be to God. As sure as a man lends a listening ear to God, with concentration, meaning that his spirit is brought to bear upon it, Jesus will do wonderful things in that person's life.

And the devil will never be able to take the word away. Isn't that a tremendous thing? I'd almost forgotten the occasion that Norman spoke of. In those days, I don't know whether I'm sorry to have to say it, but in those days, I was the only one that did the preaching.

I can remember. I used to preach morning and evening. And I'm ever so glad that Norman preaches now. I'm ever so glad. What a tremendous thing it is. You know, earlier today, I didn't quite know what I was going to preach to you about tonight.

God decided it when Norman was speaking. I turned up some verses in Isaiah. And I want you just to look at a couple of them with me. These verses are some of the treasures of my heart. In the end of the 59th chapter of Isaiah, bless the name of the Lord, verse 20.

The Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord, as for me. This is my covenant with them, saith the Lord, my spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord from henceforth and forever.

Glory be to the name of the Lord. When a man's mouth is full of seed, when he is speaking through from the very spirit and marrow of God, if I may use that term, and his mouth is full of seed, glory. I read it again today, and I thought, Hallelujah, Lord, Hallelujah.

I remember the days when God gave me that promise way back in a city in the northeast of England. When God gave that promise to me, and how truly it's working out. When it's seed, and it goes into hearts, In the days when God was opening up to me the wonders of His great covenant.

Amen and Amen. God's out to sow seed. The seed is the Word. Is it going into your hearts tonight? Right deep down inside? Are you receiving it with faith? Do you know, beloved, I'm constantly dealing with people.

Their trouble is that they do not receive the Word with faith. I had a precious man, a vicar of the Church of England, came to see me the day, I won't say where from. He came, a long standing engagement that he should come.

He sat up there, I wished I could have come to the baptism. I couldn't come to the baptism for these prior engagements. And we sat and we talked. And he hadn't as much faith in him as that microphone has.

Not a bit. And he didn't know how. And he didn't know he couldn't receive. He didn't know what it was to receive. Think of it that I think of it. He knew before he lived. But that's not the point. Not really, it is a point.

But the thing is this. They don't know how. If I said to you, man now be honest, woman. Do you know how to really take the Word of God? Do you know what faith really is? Do you? This is the great thing of God.

Salvation, Fruitfulness, and Spiritual Maturity

Let's move on. Faith. We are told in the first instance here. In that verse 12. Is that you should be saved. That's faith. I'm reading Luke 8 verse 12. Take it for granted that we're back in the original chapter.

If I just say the verse. Luke 8 verse 12. You must have faith to be saved. But listen. That's not the end of the story. Just sort of S A V E D. It's, that's it. You must never think that salvation is the mere moving of God upon you to forgive you your sins.

This is following after that. Woman, thy sins be forgiven. Now listen. Sometimes I have a little dig at the scientists. I want to put them on up tonight. Luke was a scientist. He had a scientifically trained mind.

He was a doctor. He was not a Jew. He was Greek. Lucas is not a Jewish name. And this man was scientifically trained. When you read Luke's gospel. You must allow the logical outworking of truth. Chapter 7 brings you to forgiveness of sins.

And the response of the forgiven heart. After these things. Now he's moving on. The next revelation. Luke. This will explain to you the different methods of the gospel writers. And what lies beyond this forgiveness of sins.

This salvation. I'll tell you. Listen. This seed. Which upon first reception. And true reception. Will save your souls. Is intended to bring forth the hundred fold fruit. In your life. That's what God is aiming at.

Hundred fold fruit is not getting you saved. So that after living forty years on the earth. You'll go to heaven instead of hell. Fruit for God is a whole nature. A whole life. One hundred fold. Brought back into and up to God.

The whole range of human personality. Possibility. Potential. Filled with the power of the Word. And life of God. And producing fruit. That's what God's after. Amen. But let's trace down. As Jesus goes his steady way.

His infallible way. And he passes to verse thirteen. Now. They on the rock. These are they. Which when they hear. Receive the word. With joy. And these have no root. You can tell the people who have no root.

Just read. Here it is. For a while. They believe. In time of temptation. They fall away. Always. These are the people. They have no root. They use this term. Saved. Yeah I'm saved. I'll tell you they went to a rally.

And that they put their hand up. And that they signed the card. Or something like that. Now name the famous. Or not so famous preacher. And that's it. You see. And they receive the word with joy. And they think isn't it marvelous.

I'm going to heaven when I die. I might not die. Jesus is coming back. And you see they. It's right. It's absolutely right. It's so marvelous. In fact most evangelistic campaigns. Turn round this. That you come to Jesus.

And you get your sins forgiven. And you're saved. And you go to heaven. And then they're nearly always. If they have the proper school. Will preach the second coming. Before they're through. And it's right.

It's glorious. Because in the end. Though we may not believe we're going to hell when we die. We still don't like the article of death. So it's nice to think we may not die. And it's all gloriously true.

But listen. Have you got any root. Have you allowed. And you got to. You got to allow the word of God. To stay there long enough. To get rooted in you. Because there are some people. Who believe the once saved always saved theory.

You know that they put their hand up in a meeting. And they got forgiven. And it was marvelous. They felt as light as thistle down. And so on and so on and so on. And they believe then. That they can fall back.

And they can go. You know all the whole stuff. And so on. Once saved always saved. You see. An absolute abuse of a sacred gospel truth. An abuse of it. You must not abuse the word of God. Paul so sacredly shouted this in 2 Corinthians 4.

Not handling the word of God deceitfully. You mustn't do that. You can hand the word of God to deceive yourselves. On pucker doctrines. The whole glorious truth is beloved. That you got to let this word you heard take root.

It is not something just for mental mulling over. Or milling around. It's got to get root right down there in your heart. Where character flows from. Where personality is built up. It's got to get root in you.

Right down there. Some of you will have heard me tell this story. But pardon me. If you will keep coming where I go preaching. You are bound to hear some of the stories again. I was at a conference. In a certain city.

In England. And it was lunch time. And not like this marvelous stew we have here. It was a typical fellowship conference. Where you grab a plate and some forks. You file in. You file out. If you are like me.

You take a spoon. You don't worry about knife and fork. It's not usually the kind of meat you can cut up. You can scoop it all up. And that does for your second course too. And I give you a tip. Well anyway.

I got my plate. And went and sat down. In this room. And sailing in merrily. You know eating my lunch and had to look up. I've learned to eat lunch twice as fast as most people. Because I've usually got a long list to sort of chop on to immediately.

But I happened to glance up instead of looking at a wolf. Looking like a wolf looking at my plate. And I look round the room a bit. And there was a young lady about 3 or 4 chairs up. And she was looking at me with everything in her eyes.

So I looked back again. And when I looked. The tears started to sort of form here. And I got on a bit and looked again. Now she meant it. They were really running. So I said to the people in between. Would you mind moving and letting this young lady come and sit by me.

You see. So they did it. And we sat together. I said what's the matter love? Oh you see. I can't repeat or I can't reproduce this. But she said. She said. I said I beg your pardon. She said. You've changed.

I said what do you mean dear I've changed. I don't think I have. She said. And out came the story. Years ago or whatever it was she said. I came to Brawler. And God was so wonderful. He did such marvellous things to me.

He said you were so wonderful. You were lovely to me. And down ran the tears down her face you know. And it was marvellous. And so I had to sort of say yes that was true. I recalled the occasion. When she'd come and she'd been in deep distress.

And I'd given her a hug you know. And said that's alright love you know. And she said you've changed. I said no I haven't. I haven't changed. I said but look. You mustn't get your roots into a man. You've got to get them into God.

I didn't shout it like that. I whispered it. I shouted it for you. You've got to give roots. See. Rather like Norman when he said. All alone he thanked God for those lonely years. I know what he means.

That's how I was brought up. I reckon he must be my seed don't you. That's how it came with me. Absolutely alone. Except for my wife. One period of my life I had no one. No one. Because of the truth that God had poured into my heart.

And I wouldn't let go for any man. You're all here as a result of it. This is the tremendous thing for you to see. You've got to get roots. And the best place to get roots is away down there in the cold dark.

Amen. I wonder if in the end we won't kill everybody by our wonderful fellowships. I wonder. Alright don't write letters to me. I know all the answers to that one. But I'm still sure that there is a danger.

I'm still sure. I'm sure the danger need not happen. Need not come to pass. But beloved you've got to get roots. And unless you let this word of God get root, root, root in you. Right down into the fiber of your being.

It'll never stand. Never. Nothing will happen. For a while joy, hallelujah. But where are they? When they have no moisture of their own. They really got their roots into your little pool. They are rooted by your river.

They haven't got one of their own. And unless my beloved that seed is watered by the Holy Ghost. Unless the glorious showers come down from heaven. Unless this blessed moisture from on high comes there.

You'll die. Got to get root. If you want fruit, get root. Amen. God, this is one of the things I cry out for more and more. Lord, at the risk of repetition, because I said this earlier. Give us men. Take away effeminacy from us Lord.

Give us men. Give us character. Give us life, reality. Oh Lord. We've got to get some rootage. Listen. I mustn't stay too long on this point. But I never promise to be through by any specific time tonight.

The whole glorious thing is this. That there are characters in the Bible from which we can learn so much. Have you ever heard about that wonderful character. Called Joseph. He was daddy's favorite boy.

He made him a lovely coat of many colors. So the Bible says. Oh and he really was the apple of his daddy's heart. You see. But God had plans for Joseph. God wanted to make Joseph a man next to the king.

But he couldn't be next to the king. He was too close to his daddy's heart. You see. So God had to take him. Put him down a pit. Sell him into Egypt. Push him through as a slave. Send him to prison. Make him the victim of forgetfulness.

Make him the victim of malice and of hatred. Make him the victim. The undeserving victim. Of all these things. And because he was the undeserving victim. But there was no other way for God. He just had to go through the fire.

God made a man of him. Some people I know. Their wives are more masculine than they are. Some men. I don't mean that in an offensive way. I heard somebody say once. And this is why they're always very particular about me and my wife.

Because they've got a theory. That behind every decent man there's a good woman. So after a while they get fed up you see. They may say why don't you bring your wife. You see. They want to see this good woman.

That's behind me. Well this is the theory. I don't know how true it is. Get to know my wife you'll see. And the whole glorious truth. Is here. That you've got to get some root man. You've got. Listen I'll tell you.

You've got to go back. You've got to be hammered. You've got to go back where you haven't got this loving atmosphere. Where instead of someone hugging you regularly every morning before breakfast. You're more likely.

Well I won't tell you. You see this is the whole thing. I know there are times of refreshing. I know that all these things are good for us. But you've got to go through the mill. And you've got to get some root in you.

And you've got to be able to stand up to temptation. And don't think that if you fall that you're lost. Get up again. Jesus Christ the righteous is your advocate. Appeal to him. Let the Lord have you.

I never knew a baby that learned to walk without falling. It's all part of the process. I see some chappies their legs are almost like circles. Because they will walk. The mothers overfeed them for a start.

I think they get too fat. But the great truth about it is. If you stumble. And all sorts of things like that. God's very sensible. You know babies are never born big. They're born so low. That they're almost as big around that way as they are that way.

So if they fall over they only just roll about. They never do anything like harm. You can nearly drop them twice a day. And they come up all right. This is the big thing. God has to hammer us. And he has to do things with us.

The Choking Power of Cares, Riches, and Pleasures

Let's go on. Verse 14. That which fell among thorns. Are they which when they've heard. They go forth. They're choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life. And bring no fruit to perfection.

What a dreadful thing that is. Choked with the cares, riches, pleasures of this life. It's amazing how the Lord puts his finger on these three things isn't it. He's an absolute master at telling us the truth isn't he.

All these people that are weighed down by cares. Cares about this and cares about that. And cares about the other. I can remember a lady coming to me one day. I learned a lot of my lessons you know. Right in the beginning of what we'll call my ministry.

Full time ministry. I was in a particular place up in the north east of England. Which should be nameless. And a woman came to me. And she was a precious soul. Really precious soul. She used to come and she'd say.

Oh will you pray for me brother. Pray for our family. Pray for our Bill. Pray for our Bert. Pray for this. Pray for that. And she used to be burdened and burdened with these other souls. And one day I got older I said.

Now look here sister. The devil will kill you. You carry on like that. This isn't a burden from God that you've got. It's the devil trying to kill you. Making you weighed down with care for others. She said.

She said right. I said absolutely right. I said now I'm going to pray that this burden will lift off you. She thought she got a great pair burden. She carried the weights and the sorrows of her brothers.

Of her husband. That was this that and the other. So we prayed about it. And this burden that she thought was from God disappeared. It takes a man of stature. To be able to say that he has continual heaviness.

For his kinsmen according to the flesh. That was Paul the great apostle. You can read some verses of scripture and kill yourself with them. Did you know that? God open our eyes. It's good to be concerned about others.

But watch this subtle devil. You get overburdened with these cares. Or of course riches or pleasures. I don't suppose any of us are overburdened with riches. We may be overburdened with a desire to have them.

I don't know whether you are. And pleasures. Oh what a subtle thing is pleasures. Isn't it? The pleasures of this life. Did you notice? Didn't say of the world. Did you notice? The pleasures of this life.