T HE K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S to shine down here, to have a cheap repu tation for “ advanced scholarship,” forg etting th a t the history of th e world and the church is forever dem onstrating th a t the “ advanced scholarship” of to day ' is th e ridiculous nonsense of to morrow. Young men and women, listen, it is not worth while to shine down here, to get all sorts of degrees and titles attach ed to your name because you are un tru e to God and His inspired Word. Look back and see how th e shores of past tim e are strewed w ith th e whitened wrecks of men who shone in an apos ta te church. No, do not care a fig to shine as a g reat “ pulpit o rato r,” or “ pulpit hum orist,” or pulpit mounte bank, or a pulpit com forter by holding out false hopes to those who desire to live careless and worldly and pleasure seeking lives; it does not pay to shine down here, even as a “ golden-tongued pulpit o rato r.” It does pay to shine up yonder, to “ shine as th e stars forever aifd ever.” And th e re is only one way to shine np yonder, by being a Beal Bible S tud en t and a Soul-winner. III. Psalm 126:6. The th ird G reat P rom ise of God fo r th e Bible S tudent and Soul-w inner you w ill find in P salm 126:6, “He th a t goeth fo rth and weepeth, bearing p re cious seed, shall doubtless come again w ith rejoicing, bringing h is sheaves w ith him .” Here is ano th er promise th a t stirs the a lert and in tellig en t soul to its very depths. W hat intelligent harvester does not long to come home laden down w ith m ighty sheaves of gold en grain? B u t w hat other h arv est is so desirable as the harvest of precious souls? This too is a promise, as we shall see shortly, for both th e Bible S tudent "and Soul^winner, a Soul-winner ju st because he is a Bible student. It tells us how to come, when our brief b u t laborious harvest tim e is over, bringing our golden sheaves w ith us. L isten, “He th a t goeth fo rth and weep eth , bearing precious seed, shall doubt less come again w ith rejoicing, bring ing h is sheaves w ith him .” Ju s t th ree conditions of a bountiful harvest: “ goeth fo rth ,” “weepeth,” “bearing precious seed.” L et me change the order. 1. F irst, “bearing precious seed.” W hat th e '“ precious seed” is th a t must be borne if we are to reap an abundant harv est of the rig h t sort, our Lord Jesus H imself tells us in Luke 8:11, “The seed is th e Word of God.” T h at is the
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only seed th a t is worth sowing, or th a t will bring a harvest of souls. Men are born again, P eter tells us, “no t of cor rup tib le seed, b u t of incorruptible, by th e W ord of God, which liveth and abid- eth forever” (1 Pet. 1 :2 3 ). To sow th e Word, we m ust know th e Word; so you can see how th is is a promise for the Bible studen t as well as for th e Soul- winner. The Revised Version reads in place of “precious seed,” “ seed fo r sow ing,” and the Hebrew words mean ju st th a t or “ a sowing of se ed ;” and th e only seed th a t is fit for “ sowing” in th e pre pared soil of th e human h ea rt is, God’s Word. H ere too we see why it is so many preachers and m issionaries and personal workers gath er such scant har vests, they are sowing something beside th e Word of God. Go listen to many sermons and note how little th e re is of th e unmixed seed of th e Word of God in them , so much hulls eye daisies and chess and Canada thistles of m an’s no tions and vagaries and speculations and conceits mixed in, un til th e ir churches look like some alleged “wheat fields” th a t we see, full of daisies, mustard, “ th e devil’s p aint-brush,” Canada th is tles and bull th istles and nettles. Oh, young men and women, always bear the “ precious seed” of God’s Word and only that. If someone tells you it won’t draw like poetry and moonshine and “advanced though t” and movies, think of Moody and Spurgeon and some of the things your own eyes have seen these past months in th is very building and elsewhere. 2. Then note th e words, “goeth fo rth .” He th a t goeth fo rth and weep eth, bearing precious seed, shall doubt less come again w ith rejoicing, bringing his sheaves w ith him .” It is not enough to have th e seed, go sow it. Sow it far and wide, th roughou t America, not for getting th e neglected fields, through China, through Japan, th rough Africa, through India, everywhere. It is not the seed the farm er has in his g ran ary th a t brings a harvest bu t th e seed he sows in his field, and it is no t th e tr u th you know, b u t th e tr u th you sow th a t will b ea r a harvest. Remember it is “ seed fo r sowing,” (R. V.) and th e tru th you have learned from th e study of God’s Word here and the tru th you shall learn in your fu tu re study of th e Word is “ seed fo r sowing.” Never forget th a t. Many a man who knows little gathers a far more abundant harvest th a n many who know much, for w hat little he knows he assiduously sows.
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