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Subject: THE TRUE SIGNS
Replies: 13 Views: 864
gbopp 13.06.08 - 08:09am
*From Matthew 15:29-39; 16:1-12; and Mark 7:31-37* In Decapolis, where the demonicacs of Gergesa had been healed, the people constrained Christ to depart. But they had listened to the messengers He left behind. As He came again into the region, a crowd gathered, and a deaf, stammering man was brought to Him. Taking him apart, Jesus put His fingers in his ears and touched his tongue. He sighed at thought of the ears that would not be open to truth, and tongues that refused to acknowledge the Redeemer. At the word, ''be opened'' the man's speech was restored. Christ went up into the mountain, and there the multitude flocked to Him, bringing their sick and lame. He healed them all; and the people, heathen as they were, Glorified The God of Israel. *
gbopp 13.06.08 - 08:30am
For three days they thronged about the Saviour, sleeping at night in the open air, and through the day pressing to hear the Words of Christ and see His Works. At the end of the three days their food was spent. Jesus would not send them away hungry, and He called on His Disciples to give them food. At Bethsaida they had seen how their little store availed for feeding the multitudes; yet they did not now bring forward their all, trusting His Power to multiply it for the hungry crowds. Again the Disciples revealed their unbelief. Those He fed at Bethsaida were Jews; these were Gentiles and heathen. Jewish prejudice was still strong in the hearts of the Disciples. ''Where are we to get bread enough in the desert to feed such a great crowd?'' RSV. *
gbopp 13.06.08 - 11:39am
But obedient to His Word they brought Him what they had-Seven loaves and two fish. 
The multitudes were fed, seven large baskets of fragments remaining. Four thousand men, besides women and children, were refreshed. Then with His disciples, Christ crossed the lake to Magdala. In the border of Tyre and Sidon His Spirit had been refreshed by the confiding trust of the Syrophoenician woman. The heathen people of Decapolis had received Him with gladness. Now as He landed once more in Galilee, where most of His works of mercy had been performed, He was met with contemptious unbelief. Two sects-Pharisees and Saducees-had been at bitter enmity, but now they united against Christ, asking for a sign from heaven. ''When Israel went out to battle with the Canaaites at Bethhoron, the sun had stood still at Joshua's command.'' *
gbopp 13.06.08 - 11:51am
Some such sign was demanded of Christ, but no external evidence could benefit them.
''O ye hypocrites,'' said Jesus, ''ye can discersn the face of sky,''
-by studying the sky they could foretell the weather-
''but can you not discern the signs of the times?''
Christ's own words, spoken with the Power of the Holy Spirit, were the sign God had given. The song of the Angels to the Shepherds, the star that guided the wise men, the voice from Heaven at Christ's baptism were witnesses to Him. ''And He sighed deeply in His Spirit, and saith; 'Why doth this generation seek after a sign?' There shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah/Jonas.' ''
As the preaching of Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so Christ's preaching was a sign to His generation. *
gbopp 13.06.08 - 12:21pm
But what a contrast in the reception of the Word! The people of the great heathen city humbled themselves; the high and lowly together cried out to the
God of Heaven,
and His mercy was granted them.
''The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgement with this generation,'' Christ had said, ''and shall condemn it; because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and, behold, a greater than Jonah is here.''
see Matt.12:41.
Every miracle Christ performed was a sign of His Divinity but to the Pharisees these works of mercy were a positive offence. The Jewish leaders looked with heartless indifference on human suffering. In many cases their oppression had caused the affliction that Christ relieved. Thus, His miracles to them a reproach. *
gbopp 13.06.08 - 12:41pm
That which led the Jews to reject the Saviour was the highest evidence of His Divine Character; His miracles were for a blessing of humanity. His life revealed the Character of God. He did the works and spoke whe Words of God. Such a life is the greatest of all miracles. Many in our day, like the Jews, cry, show us a sign; work a miracle? Christ does not impart to us power to vindicate ourselves or satisfy the demands of unbelief and pride. But it is not a miracle that we can break from the comes of satan! Enmity against satan is not natural to the human heart. It is planted by the grace of God. When one who has been controlled by the Grace of God. When one who has been controlled by a stubborn, wayward will yields himself to the drawing of God's heavenly agencies, a miracle is wrought. *
gbopp 13.06.08 - 12:56pm
So also when a man who has been under strong delusion comes to understand moral truth. The change in human hearts, the transformation of human characters, is a miracle that reveals an
ever-living Saviour.
In speaking the Word of God, the sign should be manifest now and always is the presence of the Holy Spirit, to make the Word a regenerating power to those that hear. Those who desired a sign from Christ had hardened their hearts. They would not see that His mission was in fulfillment of the Scriptures.
''If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one may rise from the dead.''
see Luke16:31. *
gbopp 13.06.08 - 01:12pm
Turning from the group of cavaliers, Jesus reentered the boat with His disciples. In silence they again crossed the lake. On reaching the farther side, Christ said,
''Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Saducees.''
The Jews had been taught to regard leaven as a type of sin! In their sudden departure from Magdala the disciples had forgotten to take bread. They understood Christ as warning them not to buy bread from the Pharisees or Saducee. Their lack of Spiritual insight often led them to misconception of Christ's Words. Now Jesus reproved them for thinking that He who had fed thousands with a few fishes and barley loaves could have referred in that solemn warning to merely temporal food. *
gbopp 13.06.08 - 01:24pm
There was a danger that the crafty reasoning of the Pharisees and Saducees would leaven His disciples with unbelief. The disciples were inclined to think that Christ should have granted the demand for a sign in the Heavens. He was able to do this, and such a sign would put His enemies to silence. The disciples did not discern the hypocrisy of the cavaliers. Months afterwards, Christ repeated the same teaching.
''Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.''
Luke12:1.
Leaven works imperceptibly, changing the meal to its own nature. So if hypocrisy is allowed in the heart, it permeates the character of life. A striking example was the practise of Corban, by which a neglect of filial duty was concealed under pretence of liberality to the temple. *
gbopp 13.06.08 - 01:41pm
The scribes and the Pharisees concealed the real tendencies of their doctrine, instilling them artfully into the minds of their hearers. This deceptive teaching made it hard for the people to receive the Word of Jesus Christ. The same influences are working through those who try to explain the law of God to make it conform to their practises. This class do not attack the law openly, but put forward speculative theories that undermine its principles. They explain it so as to destroy its force. The hypsochsy of the Pharisees (and the likes) was the product of self-seeking. This led them to pervert and misapply the Scriptures. This subtle evil even the disciples of Christ were in danger of cherishing. The followers of Christ were influenced in a great degree by the reasoning of the Pharisees, *
gbopp 13.06.08 - 02:03pm
often vacillating between faith and unbelief. Even the disciples had not in heart ceased to seek great things for themselves. This Spirit prompted the strife as to who would be greatest. This made them so little in sympathy with Christ's mission of self-sacrifice. As leaven will cause corruption, so the self-seeking spirit, cherished, works the defilement and ruin of the soul. Today, as of old, how widespread is this subtle, deceptive sin! How often our services to Christ is marred by the secret desire to exalt self? How ready thought of self-gratulation and the longing for human approval! The love of self, the desire for an easier way than God has appointed, leads to the substituation of human theories and traditions for the Divine Precepts. *
gbopp 13.06.08 - 02:13pm The religion of Christ is sincerity itself. Zeal for God's Glory is the motive implanted by the Holy Spirit, and only the Power of God can banish self-seeking and hypocrisy. This change is the sign of His working. When the faith we accept destroys selfishness and pretence, when it leads us to seek God's Glory and not our own, we may know that it is of the right order.
''Father, Glorify Thy name.''
Then a voice came from heaven, saying, ''I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.''
John12:28.
''Glorify Thy name''
was the keynote of Christ's life, and if we follow Him this will be the keynote to our life. 
*
agape777 14.06.08 - 02:47pm
Matthew11:28-30 ''Come to Me,
all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29.''Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30.''For My yoke is easy and My burden light.'' *
agape777 14.06.08 - 03:01pm
The Saviour left none to feel shut out from His care and love. He looked upon the distressed and heart burdened, those whose hopes were blighted and who with earthly joys were seeking to quiet the longing of the soul, and Christ invited all to seek rest in Him. The yoke is the law of God, in the New Covenant written in the heart. It binds the human worker to the will of God. The yoke of service Christ Himself has borne in humanity. He said, John6:38
''I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.''
Love for God, Zeal for His Glory, the Love for fallen humanity brought Jesus Christ to Earth. This was the controlling power in His Life. This principle He bids us to adopt. *
