CHAPTER XI. SPIRITUAL FARMING NO. 4.
SOWING.
Those of us who live in the country
are reminded, as we see the springing corn, that some
one has been at work the blade comes from
the buried seed. Honest work has been done before
there can be seen the appearance of good.
Let those of us who work for the great harvest, be
Mindful of what we sow.
Let us have nothing in the seed-basket
that cannot be termed what Jesus called “The
word of the kingdom.” There will be no
difficulty in obtaining that. Farmers don’t
stint the sower, and God will not withhold seed from
His labourers. Let the youthful preacher be encouraged,
for just as you have seen the sower fill his basket
from the sack, so there is, in the Bible, enough for
each, enough for all, enough for evermore.
Sow bible ideas:
“Put the Bible into them, my
brother,” said an earnest Scotch divine to us
many years ago, and there is nothing grows as well,
or yields as much, as the Bible, used as seed.
People may tell you that they want something else,
something more attractive and pleasing. Yes,
but they won’t say so in the time of harvest.
You may plant your field with flower-seeds, sow tulips,
marigolds, mignonette, &c., those will look very well
in June and July, but how about September? The
very people that asked for them in spring will curse
you for them in autumn.
Bible ideas about god:
His love of righteousness, His hatred
of evil; His love of man, but His dislike to sin;
His delight in benevolence, but His determined hostility
to wrong-doing. We need to show not only God’s
pity for sinners, but His inflexible justice, which
did not spare His well-beloved Son, when He bore our
sins.
Bible ideas about conduct:
Never mind being called legal, if
you can back your preaching by the Bible. Put
the truth into the people about honesty, industry,
and self-denial. Let others spend their time
in talking of the angels with bright wings of gold;
let us teach men how God means them to live in this
world. Those of us who wish to learn how to sow,
should study Jesus and Paul. They are examples
of what sowers should be.
Bible ideas about repentance:
“These things teach and exhort.”
One secret of the want of lasting success, is that
we do not preach repentance. Men need to have
right ideas on this subject. Those who have
not repented cannot believe unto righteousness; they
can believe unto feeling, but not to right doing!
It is not a question so much of tears, as of turning
away from sin. The greatest of penitents said,
“I turned my feet unto thy testimonies.”
Bible ideas about Jesus:
That He died for us according to the
scriptures. When the Master wished to take away
the sadness from His disciples, as they walked to Emmaus,
“He expounded unto them in all the scriptures
the things concerning Himself.” This is
what we must do. Put the truth, as it is in Jesus,
into the hearts of the people. Let us show from
the word of God, that “By His stripes we are
healed.” Nothing gives abiding peace like
the thought, Christ has died for my sins. This
will lead to loving Jesus, with the kind of affection
which will not be tempted to grieve Him by doing that
which is evil. Let us see to it that we get the
seed in.
It is not enough to get
it on the land, we must
put it in.
No preacher has done his work thoroughly
who does not use the harrow. There are some so-called
teachers, who don’t know what the gospel harrow
is. This is why the catechism is not taught.
The ancient plan of catechising in the church ought
to be more general than it is. Why should we
not hide the word of God in the hearts of our hearers,
by causing them to think over what we have said?
We may not be able to get them formally to answer
questions, but we may make them think. Some
preaching is like raking with the teeth upwards.
It may be easier and more speedy, but it is not so
likely to hide the seed. It is a good practice
for those who have been listened to by others, to talk
to themselves after the sermon or lesson is over,
and to say, Soul, what hast thou done to-day?
How many Bible truths hast thou put into the hearts
of the people?
DIDST thou put them in?
If thou didst, never fear but thou
shalt see harvest some day. His word does not
return void. This is not true of thy word, or
of anyone else’s, but “the word of the
Lord abideth for ever!”