No man can hide from the truth even though the love of the truth is hidden from many. “And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (2Thes 2:10-12)
The LORD has said that HIS “doctrine (teaching) shall drop like rain”. The scripture plainly says that HE sends the “rain on the just and the unjust” (Mat.5:45). All men are totally accountable to GOD and are without excuse “Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:” (Rom 1:19-20)
Man’s lack of love for the truth is no excuse for his disobedience to it, “For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)” (Rom 2:12-15)
There is not a man on earth who has not been taught of GOD the very basic truth of right and wrong. HE has given men a conscience that bears witness to them of right and wrong. This very trait is handed down from their father Adam who ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden. The LORD told Adam that he would die in the day that he ate thereof. Rather than setting that forth as just a possibility, HIS words were a prophetic certainty. Now all of the offspring of Adam have inherited this death which is the direct result of the fulfillment of HIS decree.
Sin is the pervasive power which grips the heart and darkens the mind of man. The power of sin is not to make men ignorant of that which the LORD has plainly revealed but to make them despise the truth and have no desire after it. This is exactly what the LORD told the Pharisees, “Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.” (John 5:39-40) Into the hands of the Jews (especially) were “committed the oracles of GOD” (Rom.3:2) but they despised the truth and crucified the SON of GOD.
Often we hear men try to make the argument that since some may not have “heard” the gospel preached that it would be unfair for them to be condemned, but this is a specious argument without foundation even as the scripture says; “But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world. But I say, Did not Israel know?” (Rom 10:18-19) Man’s problem is not in what he has not heard but that he has had no desire after those things which he has been taught since the doctrine of GOD has dropped as the rain and speaks forth condemnation to all who have despised it.
Then HE said but, “my speech shall distill as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass.” While the rain can easily be seen as it falls no one has seen the “dew” fall because it is a more subtle work and is even as the LORD described the wind to Nicodemus, “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8)
The doctrine of GOD has been shed forth abroad so that no one can deny any knowledge of it, but the “speech” of GOD can only be heard by those ears which HE has prepared. As the prophet Elijah discovered, the power of GOD is not in the fire, the wind, or the earthquake but rather in a “still small voice”.(see I Kgs.19:12) The LORD is pleased to speak in the ears of HIS people the very words of life, and it is his “speech” alone that can raise the dead and cause the lame to walk.
HIS speech is that which:
Distills as the dew. Dew is a condensation of water vapor that only occurs at certain times. No one can be certain how heavy the dew may be or even if there is going to be any dew at all. It provides no sustenance to any but those who are prepared to receive it. The large animals cannot slake their thirst by it, but to those insignificant insects that crawl through the blades of grass it seems as a flood. “For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.” (1Cor 1:26-31)
Is as the small rain on the tender herb. There is something very refreshing in a light morning shower that is missed in the deluge which occurs at midday. While the deluge cannot be mistaken, the tender herbs and emerging plants are better served by a “small rain”. The LORD is gracious in HIS dealings with that heart HE has made tender by the plowing of the law’s conviction. HE speaks softly and peacefully to that man who has been made to tremble before HIM by the operation of the SPIRIT. To him whose hope is almost extinguished who is made to cry out as the Publican, “GOD be merciful to me a sinner”, HE is pleased to whisper words of peace and comfort. “Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall show judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory. And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.” (Mat 12:18-21)
Is as showers upon the grass. GOD is pleased to cause the lame to walk. Though HE never lets him forget that place from whence he has come nor whose power raised him up, HE comes to deliver from the bed of that exact affliction. “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” (John 8:36) Paul said, “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” (1Co 13:11) The LORD has come to water that grass that HE has planted, and as it grows by the rain that HE sends, it needs to be mowed from time to time, which HE does with deft skill but HE does it to make the grass more healthy. “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phi 3:13-14)
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