BLESSINGS AND WELCOME ALL :)
WE ARE ALL WONDERFUL CREATIONS... FOR BEHIND EVERY CREATION IS A CREATOR. ALL WE HAVE DO IS LOOK AROUND AT THE BEAUTY ALL AROUND US AND KNOW BEHIND ALL THAT IS OUR CREATOR AMEN.
SOME WORDS TO PONDER NOW AND REFLECT ON...
There's really no such thing as
impossible for you,
because all things are possible with God.
There's no
mountain too high,
no valley too deep,
no trial too wide to stand in His
way.
He's with you, for you,
working on your behalf today.
And many who
care are praying with you
and standing beside you-
until we see the
impossible come true.
With God all things are possible. Matthew
19:26
--Holley Gerth
THE LORD LOVES TO GIVE US DREAMS AT NIGHT WHEN WE ARE ON OUR BED ASLEEP. JOB 33:14-18 HE DOES THIS FOR HE KNOWS HE HAS OUR ATTENTION... WITH NO DISTRACTIONS. THE LORD WANTS US TO DREAM AND EXPLORE OUR DREAMS. BUT HE IS THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN TELL US WHAT OUR DREAMS MEAN WE MUST LOOK TO HIM FOR ANSWERS.
THE LORD PUTS IN OUR HEARTS SEED DREAMS THAT NEED TO BE WASHED IN THE SON'S LOVE. THE PASSAGE OF SOWER IN THE BIBLE TELLS US THIS.
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 way side; 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 bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things,
he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."—Luke 8:4-8.
N OUR country, when a sower goes forth to
his work, he generally enters into an enclosed field, and scatters the seed from
his basket along every ridge and furrow; but in the East, the corn-growing
country, hard by a small town, is usually an open area. It is divided into
different properties, but there are no visible divisions, except the ancient
landmarks, or perhaps ridges of stones. Through these open lands there are
footpaths, the most frequented being called the highways. You must not imagine
these highways to be like our macadamized roads; they are merely paths, trodden
tolerably hard. Here and there you notice bye-ways, along which travellers who
wish to avoid the public road may journey with a little more safety when the
main road is infested with robbers: hasty travellers also strike out short cuts
for themselves, and so open fresh tracks for others. When the sower goes forth
to sow he finds a plot of round scratched over with the primitive Eastern
plough; he aims at scattering his seed there most plentifully; but a path runs
through the centre of his field, and unless he is willing to leave a broad
headland, he must throw a handful upon it. Yonder, a rock crops out in the midst
of the ploughed land, and the seed falls on its shallow soil. Here is a corner
full of the roots of nettles and thistles, and he flings a little here; the corn
and the nettles come up together, and the thorns being the stronger soon choke
the seed, so that it brings forth no fruit unto perfection. The recollection
that the Bible was written in the East, and that its metaphors and allusions
must be explained to us by Eastern travellers, will often help us to understand
a passage far better than if we think of English customs.
The preacher of the gospel is like the sower. He does
not make his seed; it is given him by his divine Master. No man could create the
smallest grain that ever grew upon the earth, much less the celestial seed of
eternal life. The minister goes to his Master in secret, and asks him to teach
him his gospel, and thus he fills his basket with the good seed of the kingdom.
He then goes forth in his Master's name and scatters precious truth. If he knew
where the best soil was to be found, perhaps he might limit himself to that
which had been prepared by the plough of conviction; but not knowing men's
hearts, it is his business to preach the gospel to every creature—to throw a
handful on the hardened heart, and another on the mind which is overgrown with
the cares and pleasures of the world. He has to leave the seed in the care of
the Lord who gave it to him, for he is not responsible for the harvest, he is
only accountable for the care and industry with which he does his work. If no
single ear should ever make glad the reaper, the sower will be rewarded by His
Master if he had planted the right seed with careful hand. If it were not for
this fact with what despairing agony should we utter the cry of Esaias, "Who
hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?"
Our duty is not measured by the character of
our hearers, but by the command of our God. We are bound to preach the gospel,
whether men will hear, or whether they will forbear. It is ours to sow beside
all waters. Let men's hearts be what they may the minister must preach the
gospel to them; he must sow the seed on the rock as well as in the furrow, on
the highway as well as in the ploughed field.
I shall now address myself to the four classes of
hearers mentioned in our Lord's parable. We have, first of all, those who are
represented by the
way-side, those who are "hearers only"; then those
represented by the
stony-ground; these are transiently impressed, but the
word produces no lasting fruit; then, those
among thorns, on whom a good
impression is produced, but the cares of this life, and the deceitfulness of
riches, and the pleasures of the world choke the seed; and lastly, that small
class—God be pleased to multiply it exceedingly—that small class of
good-ground hearers, in whom the Word brings forth abundant
fruit.
I. First of all, I address
myself to those hearts which are like the WAY-SIDE—"Some fell by the wayside;
and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it." Many of you do
not go to the place of worship desiring a blessing. You do not intend to worship
God, or to be affected by anything that you hear. You are like the highway,
which was never intended to be a cornfield. If a single grain of truth should
fall into your heart and grow it would be as great a wonder as for corn to grow
up in the street. If the seed shall be dexterously scattered, some of it will
fall upon you, and rest for a while upon your thoughts. 'Tis true you will not
understand it; but, nevertheless, if it be placed before you in an interesting
style, you will talk about it till some more congenial entertainment shall
attract you. Even this slender benefit is brief, for in a little season you will
forget all that you have heard. Would to God we could hope that our words would
tarry with you, but we cannot hope it, for the soil of your heart is so hard
beaten by continual traffic, that there is no hope of the seed finding a living
root-hold. Satan is constantly passing over your heart with his company of
blasphemies, lusts, lies, and vanities. The chariots of pride roll along it, and
the feet of greedy mammon tread it till it is hard as adamant. Alas! For the
good seed, it finds not a moment's respite; crowds pass and repass; in fact,
your soul is an exchange, across which continually hurry the busy feet of those
who make merchandise of the souls of men. You are buying and selling, but you
little think that you are selling the truth, and that you are buying your soul's
destruction. You have no time, you say, to think of religion. No, the road of
your heart is such a crowded thoroughfare, that there is no room for the wheat
to spring up. If it did begin to germinate, some rough foot would crush the
green blade ere it could come to perfection. The seed has occasionally lain long
enough to begin to sprout, but just then a new place of amusement has been
opened, and you have entered there, and as with an iron heel, the germ of life
that was in the seed was crushed out. Corn could not grow in Cornhill or
Cheapside, however excellent the seed might be: your heart is just like those
crowded thoroughfares; for so many cares and sins throng it, and so many proud,
vain, evil, rebellious thoughts against God pass through it, that the seed of
truth cannot grow.
We have looked at
this hard road-side, let us now describe what becomes of the good word, when it
falls upon such a heart. It would have grown if it had fallen on right soil, but
it has dropped into the wrong place, and it remains as dry as when it fell from
the sower's hand. The word of the gospel lies upon the surface of such a heart,
but never enters it. Like the snow, which sometimes falls upon our streets,
drops upon the wet pavement, melts, and is gone at once, so is it with this man.
The word has not time to quicken in his soul: it lies there an instant, but it
never strikes root, or takes the slightest effect.
Why do men come to hear if the word never enters their
hearts? That has often puzzled us. Some hearers would not be absent on the
Sunday on any account; they are delighted to come up with us to worship, but yet
the tear never trickles down their cheek, their soul never mounts up to heaven
on the wings of praise, nor do they truly join in our confessions of sin. They
do not think of the wrath to come, nor of the future state of their souls. Their
heart is as iron; the minister might as well speak to a heap of stones as preach
to them. What brings these senseless sinners here? Surely we are as hopeful of
converting lions and leopards as these untamed, insensible hearts. Oh feeling!
Thou art fled to brutish beasts, and men have lost their reason! Do these people
come to our assemblies because it is respectable to attend a place of worship?
Or is it that their coming helps to make them comfortable in their sins? If they
stopped away conscience would prick them; but they come hither that they may
flatter themselves with the notion that they are religious. Oh! My hearers, your
case is one that might make an angel weep! How sad to have the sun of the gospel
shining on your faces, and yet to have blind eyes that never see the light. The
music of heaven is lost upon you, for you have no ears to hear. You can catch
the turn of a phrase, you can appreciate the poetry of an illustration, but the
hidden meaning, the divine life you do not perceive. You sit at the
marriage-feast, but you eat not of the dainties; the bells of heaven ring with
joy over ransomed spirits, but you live unransomed, without God, and without
Christ. Though we plead with you, and pray for you, and weep over you, you still
remain as hardened, as careless, and as thoughtless as ever you were. May God
have mercy on you, and break up your hard hearts, that his word may abide in
you.
We have not, however, completed
the picture. The passage tells us that the fowls of the air devoured the seed.
Is there here a way-side hearer? Perhaps he did not mean to hear this sermon,
and when he has heard it he will be asked by one of the wicked to come into
company. He will go with the tempter, and the good seed will be devoured by the
fowls of the air. Plenty of evil ones are ready to take away the gospel from the
heart. The devil himself, that prince of the air, is eager at any time to snatch
away a good thought. And then the devil is not alone—he has legions of helpers.
He can set a man's wife, children, friends, enemies, customers, or creditors, to
eat up the good seed, and they will do it effectually. Oh, sorrow upon sorrow,
that heavenly seed should become devil's meat; that God's corn should feed foul
birds!
O my hearers, if you have
heard the gospel from your youth, what waggon-loads of sermons have been wasted
on you! In your younger days, you heard old Dr. So-and-so, and the dear old man
was wont to pray for his hearers till his eyes were red with tears! Do you
recollect those many Sundays when you said to yourself, "Let me go to my chamber
and fall on my knees and pray"? But you did not: the fowls of the air ate up the
seed, and you went on to sin as you had sinned before. Since then, by some
strange impulse, you are very rarely absent from God's house; but now the seed
of the gospel falls into your soul as if it dropped upon an iron floor, and
nothing comes of it. The law may be thundered at you; you do not sneer at it,
but it never affects you. Jesus Christ may be lifted up; his dear wounds may be
exhibited; his streaming blood may flow before your very eyes, and you may be
bidden with all earnestness to look to him and live; but it is as if one should
sow the sea-shore. What shall I do for you? Shall I stand here and rain tears
upon this hard highway? Alas! My tears will not break it up; it is trodden too
hard for that. Shall I bring the gospel plough? Alas! The ploughshare will not
enter ground so solid. What shall we do? O God, thou knowest how to melt the
hardest heart with the precious blood of Jesus. Do it now, we beseech thee, and
thus magnify thy grace, by causing the good seed to live, and to produce a
heavenly harvest.
II. I shall now
turn to the second class of hearers:—"And some fell upon a ROCK; and as soon as
it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture." You can easily
picture to yourselves that piece of rock in the midst of the field thinly veiled
with soil; and of course the seed falls there as it does everywhere else. It
springs up, it hastens to grow, it withers, it dies. None but those who love the
souls of men can tell what hopes, what joys, and what bitter disappointments
these stony places have caused us. We have a class of hearers whose hearts are
hard, and yet they are apparently the softest and most impressible of men. While
other men see nothing in the sermon, these men weep. Whether you preach the
terrors of the law or the love of Calvary, they are alike stirred in their
souls, and the liveliest impressions are apparently produced. Such may be
listening now. They have resolved, but they have procrastinated. They are not
the sturdy enemies of God who clothe themselves in steel, but they seem to bare
their breasts, and lay them open to the minister. Rejoiced in heart, we shoot
our arrows there, and they appear to penetrate; but, alas, a secret armour
blunts every dart, and no wound is felt. The parable speaks of this character
thus—"Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith
they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth." Or as another passage
explains it: "And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who,
when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and have no
root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or
persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended." Have we
not thousands of hearers who receive the word with joy? They have no deep
convictions, but they leap into Christ on a sudden, and profess an instantaneous
faith in him, and that faith has all the appearance of being genuine. When we
look at it, the seed has really sprouted. There is a kind of life in it, there
is apparently a green blade. We thank God that a sinner is brought back, a soul
is born to God. But our joy is premature: they sprang up on a sudden, and
received the word with joy, because they had no depth of earth, and the
self-same cause which hastened their reception of the seed also causes them,
when the sun is risen with his fervent heat, to wither away. These men we see
every day in the week. They come to join the church; they tell us a story of how
they heard us preach on such-and-such an occasion, and, oh, the word was so
blessed to them, they never felt so happy in their lives! "Oh sir, I thought I
must leap from my seat when I heard about a precious Christ, and I believed on
him there and then; I am sure I did." We question them as to whether they were
ever convinced of sin. They think they were; but one thing they know, they feel
a great pleasure in religion. We put it to them, "Do you think you will hold
on?" They are confident that they shall. They hate the things they once loved,
they are sure they do. Everything has become new to them. And all this is on a
sudden. We enquire when the good work began. We find it began when it ended,
that is to say, there was no previous work, no ploughing of the soil, but on a
sudden they sprang from death to life, as if a field should be covered with
wheat by magic. Perhaps we receive them into the church; but in a week or two
they are not so regular as they used to be. We gently reprove them, and they
explain that they meet with such opposition in religion, that they are obliged
to yield a little. Another month and we lose them altogether. The reason is that
they have been laughed at or exposed to a little opposition, and they have gone
back. And what, think you, are the feelings of the minister? He is like the
husbandman, who sees his field all green and flourishing, but at night a frost
nips every shoot, and his hoped-for gains are gone. The minister goes to his
chamber, and casts himself on his face before God, and cries, "I have been
deceived; my converts are fickle, their religion has withered as the green
herb." In the ancient story Orpheus is said to have had such skill upon the
lyre, that he made the oaks and stones to dance around him. It is a poetical
fiction, and yet hath it sometimes happened to the minister, that not only have
the godly rejoiced, but men, like oaks and stones, have danced from their
places. Alas! They have been oaks and stones still. Hushed is the lyre. The oak
returns to its rooting-place, and the stone casts itself heavily to the earth.
The sinner, who, like Saul, was among the prophets, goes back to plan mischief
against the Most High.
If it is bad
to be a wayside hearer, I cannot think it is much better to be like the rock.
This second class of hearers certainly gives us more joy than the first. A
certain company always comes round a new minister; and I have often thought it
is an act of God's kindness that he allows these people to gather at the first,
while the minister is young, and has but few to stand by him: these persons are
easily moved, and if the minister preaches earnestly they feel it, and they love
him, and rally round him, much to his comfort. But time, that proves all things,
proves them. They seemed to be made of true metal; but when they are put into
the fire to be tested, they are consumed in the furnace. Some of the shallow
kind are here now. I have looked at you when I have been preaching, and I have
often thought, "That man one of these days will come out from the world, I am
sure he will." I have thanked God for him. Alas, he is the same as ever. Years
and years have we sowed him in vain, and it is to be feared it will be so to the
end, for he is without depth, and without the moisture of the Spirit. Shall it
be so? Must I stand over the mouth of your open sepulchre, and thin, "Here lies
a shoot which never became an ear, a man in whom grace struggled but never
reigned, who gave some hopeful spasms of life and then subsided into eternal
death"? God save you! Oh! May the Spirit deal with you effectually, and may you,
even you, yet bring forth fruit unto God, that Jesus may have a reward for his
sufferings.
III. I shall briefly
treat of the third class, and may the Spirit of God assist me to deal faithfully
with you. "And some fell among THORNS; and the thorns sprang up with it, and
choked it." Now, this was good soil. The two first characters were bad: the
wayside was not the proper place, the rock was not a congenial situation for the
growth of any plant; but this is good soil, for it grows thorns. Wherever a
thistle will spring up and flourish, there would wheat flourish too. This was
fat, fertile soil; it was no marvel therefore that the husbandman dealt largely
there, and threw handful after handful upon that corner of the field. See how
happy he is when in a month or two he visits the spot. The seed has sprung up.
True, there's a suspicious little plant down there of about the same size as the
wheat. "Oh!" he thinks, "that's not much, the corn will out-grow
that.
When it is stronger it will choke these few thistles that have unfortunately
mixed with it." Ay, Mr. Husbandman, you do not understand the force of evil, or
you would not thus dream! He comes again, and the seed has grown, there is even
the corn in the ear; but the thistles, the thorns, and the briars have become
intertwisted with one another, and the poor wheat can hardly get a ray of
sunshine. It is so choked with thorns every way, that it looks quite yellow: the
plant is starved. Still it perseveres in growing, and it does seem as if it
would bring forth a little fruit. Alas, it never comes to anything. With it the
reaper never fills his arm.
We have
this class very largely among us. These hear the word and understand what they
hear. They take the truth home; they think it over; they even go the length of
making a profession of religion. The wheat seems to spring and ear; it will soon
come to perfection. Be in no hurry, these men and women have a great deal to see
after; they have the cares of a large concern; their establishment employs so
many hundred hands; do not be deceived as to their godliness—they have no time
for it. They will tell you that they must live; that they cannot neglect this
world; that they must anyhow look out for the present, and as for the future,
they will render it all due attention by-and-by. They continue to attend
gospel-preaching, and the poor little stunted blade of religion keeps on growing
after a fashion. Meanwhile they have grown rich, they come to the place of
worship in a carriage, they have all that heart can wish. Ah! Now the seed will
grow, will it not? No, no. They have no cares now; the shop is given up, they
live in the country; they have not to ask, "Where shall the money come from to
meet the next bill?" or "how shall they be able to provide for an increasing
family." Now they have too much instead of too little, for they have
riches, and they are too wealthy to be gracious. "But," says one, "they
might spend their riches for God." Certainly they might, but they do not, for
riches are deceitful. They have to entertain much company, and chime in with the
world, and so Christ and his church are left in the lurch.
Yes, but they begin to spend their riches, and they have
surely got over that difficulty, for they give largely to the cause of Christ,
and they are munificent in charity; the little blade will grow, will it not? No,
for now behold the thorns of pleasure. Their liberality to others involves
liberality to themselves; their pleasures, amusements, and vanities choke the
wheat of true religion: the good grains of gospel truth cannot grow because they
have to attend that musical party, that ball, and that soiree, and so they
cannot think of the things of God. I know several specimens of this class. I
knew one, high in court circles, who has confessed to me that he wished he were
poor, for then he might enter the kingdom of heaven. He has said to me, "Ah!
Sir, these politics, these politics, I wish I were rid of them, they are eating
the life out of my heart; I cannot serve God as I would." I know of another,
overloaded with riches, who has said to me, "Ah! Sir, it is an awful thing to be
rich; one cannot keep close to the Saviour with all this earth about
him."
Ah! My dear readers, I will not
ask for you that God may lay you on a bed of sickness, that he may strip you of
all your wealth, and bring you to beggary; but, oh, if he were to do it, and you
were to save your souls, it would be the best bargain you could ever make. If
those mighty ones who now complain that the thorns choke the seed could give up
all their riches and pleasures, if they that fare sumptuously every day could
take the place of Lazarus at the gate, it were a happy change for them if their
souls might be saved. A man may be honourable and rich, and yet go to heaven;
but it will be hard work, for "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of
a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven." God does
make some rich men enter the kingdom of heaven, but hard is their struggle.
Steady, young man, steady! Hurry not to climb to wealth! It is a place where
many heads are turned. Do not ask God to make you popular; they that have
popularity are wearied by it. Cry with Agur—"Give me neither poverty nor
riches." God give me to tread the golden mean, and may I ever have in my heart
that good seed, which shall bring forth fruit a hundredfold to his own
glory.
IV. I now close with the last
character, namely, the GOOD GROUND. Of the good soil, as you will mark, we have
but one in four. Will one in four of our hearers, with well-prepared heart,
receive the Word?
The ground is
described as "good": not that it was good by nature, but it had been made good
by grace. God had ploughed it; he had stirred it up with the plough of
conviction, and there it lay in ridge and furrow as it should lie. When the
gospel was preached, the heart received it, for the man said, "That is just the
blessing I want. Mercy is what a needy sinner requires." So that the preaching
of the gospel was THE thing to give comfort to this disturbed and ploughed soil.
Down fell the seed to take good root. In some cases it produced fervency of
love, largeness of heart, devotedness of purpose of a noble kind, like seed
which produces a hundredfold. The man became a mighty servant for God, he spent
himself and was spent. He took his place in the vanguard of Christ's army, stood
in the hottest of the battle, and did deeds of daring which few could
accomplish—the seed produced a hundredfold. It fell into another heart of like
character;—the man could not do the most, but still he did much. He gave himself
to God, and in his business he had a word to say for his Lord; in his daily walk
he quietly adorned the doctrine of God his Saviour,—he brought forth sixty-fold.
Then it fell on another, whose abilities and talents were but small; he could
not be a star, but he would be a glow-worm; he could not do as the greatest, but
he was content to do something, however humble. The seed had brought forth in
him tenfold, perhaps twentyfold. How many are there of this sort here? Is there
one who prays within himself, "God be merciful to me a sinner"? The seed has
fallen in the right spot. Soul, thy prayer shall be heard. God never sets a man
longing for mercy without intending to give it. Does another whisper, "Oh that I
might be saved"? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou, even thou, shalt be
saved. Hast thou been the chief of sinners? Trust Christ, and thy enormous sins
shall vanish as the millstone sinks beneath the flood. Is there no one here that
will trust the Saviour? Can it be possible that the Spirit is entirely absent?
That he is not moving in one soul? Not begetting life in one spirit? We will
pray that he may now descend, that the word may not be in vain.
FATHER GOD FLOW OVER OUR HEARTS WITH YOUR LOVE AND GRACE FROM ABOVE FILLING US WITH DREAMS AMEN.
TO BE CONTINUED HOW THE LORD SPEAKS TO US :)
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