The Joy of Harvest

The Joy of Harvest

(No. 3058)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1907.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, IN THE YEAR 1865.

"They joy before You according to the joy in harvest." Isaiah 9:3.

HARVEST crowns the year with God's goodness. When the harvest is
abundant, there is universal joy. Everybody rejoices. The owner of the
land is glad because he sees the recompense of reward. The laborers are
glad for they see the fruit of their toil. Even those to whom not a
single ear may belong, nevertheless sympathize in the common joy
because a rich harvest is a gift to all the nation. It is a joyous
sight to see the last loaded wagon come creaking down the village road,
to note the youngsters who shout so loudly yet know so little what they
are shouting about, to mark the peasant on the top of the wagon as he
waves his hat and gives vent to some gleeful exclamation–and to see
them taking it all to the stack or barn. There is joy throughout the
village! There is joy throughout the land when the harvest time comes!
They that divide the spoil shout loudly, their joyous clamor reaches
the heavens!

A better joy than this, however, greets the more auspicious season when
a sinner finds his Savior, when the prayers that he has sown, like
handfuls of seed, come up and the good yellow ears of confidence in his
Savior are brought to maturity. The joy of those who have found the
Savior is greater than harvest time–they can say with the Psalmist,
"You are more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey."
Burst, you barns! Overflow, you wine vats! But you cannot give such joy
to your possessors as Christ, really grasped and laid hold upon, can
give to a soul that feels its need of Him! The joy of harvest is far
exceeded by the joy of simple faith!

We, as a Church, like Christian Churches in all ages, have had times of
ingathering when we have rejoiced before God as with the joy of
harvest. And there comes even a brighter day than has ever dawned upon
this poor misty earth– the day of the coming of the Son of Man, when
the Sun of Righteousness shall arise, when Christ shall thrust in His
golden sickle and shall reap the harvest of this world! And then shall
the righteous rejoice before Him with a greater joy than ten thousand
harvest years have ever known!

I. Let us talk, then, of our own joy at the present time as the joy of
harvest. The joy of receiving as members of the Church these converts
from the world is THE JOY OF REALIZATION and, therefore, is like the
joy of harvest!

Faith realizes what she sought and expected. It is an act of faith, in
some sort, when the farmer casts his good seed into the earth to die.
He loses sight of it for a long time. It must rot and decay under the
clods. It is not quickened unless it dies. But he believes that it will
be ultimately to his gain to sustain a loss of those golden handfuls.
When he sees the harvest, his faith is honored and proved to be sound
sense. Thus, too, his cherished hopes are fulfilled. When he first saw
the green blade appearing above the soil, he had hope of golden ears.
When the whole field grew green and looked like his own pastures, then
he thought full sure that harvest time would come and each day, as he
has walked across his field, or round about it–as he has seen first
the blade, and then the ear–he has hoped to see the full corn in the
ear. And now his hopes are all fulfilled in the harvest before him! His
labor is all repaid. Many a time have his workmen plodded to and fro
over that ground. It was toilsome drudgery–to plow, to harrow, to
sow–then there was much weeding, the hoe

had to be in frequent use. But now he grudges no labor that has been
spent–he has a good return for all his outgoing in the incoming of his
harvest! Harvest is the realization of faith, of hope and of labor.

So is it with the conversion of souls. We sow the Word of God in faith.
How often have I preached the Gospel here and I have felt that there
was no power whatever in it, of itself, to convert souls, and no power
whatever in souls to make it converting to them! Yet I felt and knew
that God would honor His own Truth and make it quickening to those whom
He had ordained unto eternal life. And you, sitting in these pews and
offering your silent prayers, have hoped that it would be so, too. You
have anticipated it. Your faith has been exercised with my faith,
expecting that God's Word would not return unto Him void. And I know
that many of you, earnest men and women, have looked out for
results–you have had a quick ear to catch a hopeful word from your own
children. You have had a quick eye to notice the tears of any who sat
in the same pew with you. And sometimes your hopes rose very high–and
sometimes sank very low. But now that you have seen many of these in
whom you have been interested, brought in and added to the Church, you
seem to go beyond hope and you bless God that His Word has been honored
and that souls have been saved!

I cannot tell how many of you have labored for those particular persons
who are to be added to us. I know that some of you have, but I venture
to say that you who have prayed the most, will rejoice the most. You
who have spoken most to souls. You who have labored most to bring them
to Christ will have the greatest part in the present joy of harvest! As
for you loiterers, who do nothing but look on–as for you who are ready
at meal-time to come in and dip your bread into our vinegar, but have
nothing to do with the labor, you who have not toiled with us side by
side–you will have little joy. You will perhaps stand by and be
suspicious concerning the results. Like the elder brother, you will be
angry and not come in while we have music and dancing over the Brother
who was lost and is now found–who was dead and is alive! But you who
have believed the most, you who have hoped the most, you who have
worked the most–you shall keep the feast and rejoice before God with
the joy of harvest! Glory be unto God! He has not failed us! His Word
has not returned unto Him void! He has heard the cry of His children!
He has given to us to sow in tears and to reap in joy!

II. Change the note a little and observe that the joy of harvest is THE
JOY OF CONGRATULATION.

I think I may congratulate you, my Brothers and Sisters in Christ, on
the ingathering of converts into the Church. There is a time for rebuke
and there is a time for expressing our mutual comfort in one another.
Let us congratulate one another that the Spirit of God is with us as a
people and with us in no mean measure. Oh, what would other churches
give to have such an increase as we have had year by year? God has been
pleased to add to us, year by year, pretty nearly after the rate of
four hundred members in a year till our numbers have been swollen
beyond our most sanguine hopes. Oh, how greatly has He multiplied the
people and increased our joy! Surely the Spirit of God is with us!
Every month we have testimony that the Word has been made useful. I do
not think there has been a sermon preached here which God has not
blessed. Ought we to restrain the expression of our gratitude through
any fear of trespassing on humility, when we can say, from positive
facts, that there have been those who have come to us and professed
either that they have found the Savior, or that they were led to
tremble under a sense of sin through the Word every time it has been
preached? Surely, the Spirit of God is manifestly with us! Shall we not
recognize His Presence? Must we not now adoringly bless Him, that
though we are not worthy that He should come under our roof, He does
deign to abide with us and make the place of His feet glorious?

Let us congratulate one another that our prayers, notwithstanding all
the faults that mar them and the infirmities that cleave to them, are
being heard! They are penetrating Heaven, they are entering the pearly
gate, they are going up before the Throne of the Most High! Through
Jesus' blood, which they use as their great prevailing weapon, they are
moving the arm which moves the world! Blessings are coming down upon
our sons and daughters, upon our kinsfolk and acquaintances in answer
to our wrestling, believing prayers! Let us congratulate one another.
If we were depressed, if we were like a wilderness, we would console
one another. Let us now felicitate one another, interchange our
cheerful smiles and our thankful greetings! Let us take the right hand
of fellowship over again and, looking back upon the past, vow for the
future, in God's name, that if He will but strengthen us, nothing shall
daunt our courage, nothing shall restrain our zeal! What He has done
shall make us aspire to more! What has been accomplished by us, as a
people, shall be but a steppingstone to more daring attempts, to more
zealous adventures, to more arduous labors for the promotion of His
Kingdom and the extension of His sway! Let us, then, have the joy of
congratulation! As the farmer congratulates the men, and as the men
congratulate the master, as the one says, "Blessed be you in the name
of the Lord," and the others

reply, "We wish you a blessing in God's name," so now let us
congratulate each other upon God's mercy which we have received!

III. And is not the joy of harvest particularly A JOY OF GRATITUDE?

I envy not the man who can see the Church increased and yet not feel a
sacred, grateful joy. I know some little narrow souls, so compressed
within their own selfishness, that to feed their own souls and cherish
their own feelings seems to them the only aim and end of Gospel
ministry. Whether souls, other than their own, are lost or saved, they
care not. It has been the lot of some of us to be, at times, cast among
a narrow-minded class of people who say, with a supine satisfaction,
"There are very few that shall be saved." And the fewer the number in
their fellowship, the more confident they grow of their own election!
The appearance of a candidate for Baptism or church membership is the
signal for all of them to put on their spectacles and look him through
and through to see if he is not a hypocrite. I do not know that their
churches are so particularly pure, but I do know that it is
particularly difficult to get into them! I do not know that they are
worth getting into, but I do know that they oughtto be worth it,
considering the time it takes before one can possibly be received into
their enclosure! You must be summered and wintered and tried this way
and that before you can be received–and when you are received, the
members are sure to rub their hands together and say, "Well, it's a
serious thing to receive members." And they are about as glad as I
suppose a poor man might be who had 19 children, when there is another
coming to eat of the scanty loaf! They seem to think that the addition
of so many new members would make the whole of the old members so much
the poorer. For my part–and I think I can speak for all here–we
greatly rejoice when new converts are welcomed into the Church–and the
more there are brought into the Christian family, the more joyful we
shall be! We will bless our God–without ceasing will we bless His
name, that He does add to us, for this is His work! Jesus sees of the
fruit of His passion. The Spirit sees the result of His operation. The
Divine Father sees His own children returning to His own board and
herein we do rejoice, yes, and we will rejoice with the joy of
gratitude!

IV. I have been trying to think over the various causes for joy we may
have concerning those who are just now added to us, but I do not think
I can sum them all up. THE JOY OF SYMPATHY, however, cannot be lacking.

In many cases you may not know the persons admitted, yet you may enter
into the fellowship of their circumstances. A parent's joy may kindle
some fellow-feeling. There are fathers and mothers here who feel the
tears rising in their eyes because a dear boy or a dear girl has been
before the Church and borne witness to faith in Jesus–and is now to be
publicly received with the right hand of fellowship into communion with
that Church of which the parents have long been members. Estimate the
prayers uttered or unexpressed, the sighs that have gone up to Heaven,
the many fears, the motherly pangs, the fatherly cares–and now share
the joy of the parents while they say to you, "Magnify the Lord with
us, and let us exalt His name together!" Here, too, are wives who see
their husbands saved and there is much joy occasioned thereby. There
will be a happy household now. Here are sisters and brothers who have
watched over brothers and sisters with the most sedulous attention and
importunate prayer and, at last, they see them relent the stubbornness
they once indulged and confess the Savior whom once they despised!

But, oh, pardon me when I entreat you to sympathize with me and to
share my joy, for it is a joy that overflows just now, and would gladly
call kinsfolk and friends to rejoice with me! What a mercy to be the
means of saving a soul from death and hiding a multitude of sins! How
precious is that promise, "they that turn many to righteousness shall
shine as the stars forever and ever." As I sight that constellation in
the Scriptural heavens, my heart beats with grateful emotion. But I do
not ask you to share only my joy, but to share the joy of earnest
teachers and other workers in this Church! Need I mention names? You
know the persons without my breathing their names. The men, the women
who love the souls of sinners and have been blessed in our midst in
bringing them to Jesus are entitled to your sympathetic greetings!
Rejoice with them! They have reaped their golden sheaves and they are
rejoicing with the joy of harvest! I pray you to share their joy and to
increase their joy! Sunday school teachers– God blesses you so that
out of our school there come many additions to the Church. You who
conduct our catechumen classes, God blesses you–and we have additions
from your midst. Young men who preach in the street, you missionaries
who toil in your little rooms and serve God by speaking a word of
exhortation–you have all been honored this month–there has been some
fruit from every department of service! Therefore let us join in
sympathy with the laborers whom God has thus honored, in thanking God
for their success in souls saved!

And may I not ask you to rejoice because there is One who loves souls
better than I do, better than you do and who rejoices more than any of
us? It is the Man who bought them with the wounds in His hands, and
feet, and side! He looks down upon those who have come up to Him from
the wilderness and are looking to Him alone for salvation. Their eyes
that were once red with weeping, now flash with hallowed joy! His eyes,
that were full of pity, beam with satisfaction and unfeigned delight
sits upon the Savior's brow! I cannot see Him with these dim mortal
eyes, but I know by an inward consciousness that He is here. Each soul
that has trusted Him has been another jewel for His crown, another
flush of pleasure in return for His pangs of grief. Come, then, let us
rejoice with Him! Jesus, Companion of our sorrow, Captain of our
salvation, when You are glad we are exceedingly refreshed!

Nor is this all, for in yonder skies there are those who wait upon our
Master, who once waited on Him on earth, and are now glad to hymn His
praise before His Throne. Oh, could you hear their songs, you would
find that they are just now louder and sweeter than is ever known.
"Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah," always rolls up to the Throne of
God and the Lamb. But now it is deeper, its volume is more mighty and
its note more sweet as they sing over the ingathering of souls into
God's Church. Christ Himself said, "I say unto you, there is joy in the
Presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repents." How much
more joy is there when, by scores and even by hundreds, repenting
sinners find the Savior!

Think what might have been the lot of those who profess now to have
been saved. You have need of an inspired Prophet to tell you that. Some
of them might still have been where they once were–upon the ale-house
bench, with the drunkard. Yes, and where some of them were who have
been washed and cleansed–with the harlot in her midnight sin. There
are young ones to be added to this Church who have never gone into open
sin, but if they had not been called by Grace, little do we know what
might have been the career of vice before them. Temptation might have
led to sin, sin might have ripened into habit, habit might have
gathered force until they became ringleaders in mischief–but they are
washed, they are cleansed! And O Satan, what a harvest you have lost!
What soldiers have been taken from your ranks! How much mischief might
they have done which now they shall scrupulously avoid, for Grace has
turned them in another road and filled their mouths with another song!

Think, too, of what they now shall be through Divine Grace. I cannot
depict to you each case. I know that there are some here upon whom we
look with the hope that they will be teachers of others. We have,
especially, holy mothers bringing up their children in God's fear and
holy fathers seeking the conversion of their little ones. Their seed,
as a generation which the Lord has blessed, shall become, in later
years–some of them–pillars of the Church, honored and honorable! They
shall serve their Master in this life, they shall bear testimony to His
faithfulness in death and they shall sing His praise forever!

Still, with all this joy of harvest, there is one mortifying
reflection. I would not say much about it lest it should dampen your
joy. It is this. Out of those who are added to the Church, there are
always some who are not saved. Let us judge carefully and watch
earnestly. Some come like Judas with a lie in their right hand and put
on Christ by profession who are not followers of Christ in spirit and
in truth. Search yourselves, Brothers and Sisters, and if you are not
Christ's, do not dishonor His name by venturing to be called by it!

And there is another grievous thought. While so many are gathered in,
there are many who are left out Some of you have been with us in our
best days and I am afraid I shall have to ring that text again in your
ears, as I have done before–"The harvest is past, the summer is ended,
but you are not saved, you are not saved." Your sister is saved, but
you are not saved! Your wife is saved, but you are not! Two of you
sleep in one bed–one has been taken and the other left. Two of you
grind at one mill in your daily work–one has been taken and the other
left. You are not saved, you are not saved! And when the time comes for
you to die, these will be sad words to ring in your ears with a more
doleful sound than death-knell ever knew, "Not saved! Not saved!"
Amidst the joy of harvest, let us not forget to pray for those who are
still wandering in the paths of sin or pandering to the vanities of the
world.

Another harvest is coming when Christ shall gather together His people.
There will be, first of all, the ingathering of the righteous. Do not
make a mistake about the Day of Judgment, as though the righteous and
the wicked were to be judged together, for remember that first of all
there will come the day when the righteous shall be gathered. If you
read the 14th Chapter of the Book of Revelation, you will find that the
harvest precedes the vintage. [See Sermon #2910, Volume 50–the

HARVEST AND THE VINTAGE.] The righteous are gathered as the

harvest of the earth and afterwards the vintage of the world is
gathered–that is, the wicked. The harvest is gathered into the garner
of God–and the vintage "into the great winepress of the Wrath of
God"–and there the grapes are trodden under foot till the blood flows
out, even up to the horses' bridles! Well, there is to come a harvest
of the righteous and what joy there will be when you see the countless
number that swells the ranks of the blessed! O you angels, you had need
to be twice ten thousand times ten thousand when, at the ingathering of
sheaves that no man can number, you welcome the multitudes of the
redeemed! What shouts there will be when millions upon millions mount
to the upper skies! It was a time of great joy when all Israel passed
through the Red Sea, but how much greater joy will there be when ten
thousand times ten thousand, even myriads of myriads, shall enter into
their eternal rest!

There will be joy in the persons saved–each one will have a separate
song or make a distinct note in the one song. What joy over Magdalene
and the dying thief! What joy over Manasseh and Saul of Tarsus! Each
separate case shall stand out clear and bright, as though it were
better than another and yet each one shall claim that his is the
choicest exhibition of Divine Love and Faithfulness. What joy when, all
together, the Lord's jewels shall be put into His casket!

Think of where they shall be gathered from–from poverty, from
sickness, from beds of dust and silent clay. They shall be gathered
from slander and rebuke, from persecution and from suffering, from the
lion's jaws and from the flames–they shall be gathered, ten thousand
times ten thousand of them–from sin and suffering, to sin and suffer
no more!

To where will they be gathered? Gathered to their Savior, to the
general assembly and Church of the first-born whose names are written
in Heaven! Remember that they will all be gathered, not one will be
absent and everyone will be gathered in a perfect state, not one unripe
for Heaven, not one green ear, not one child of God unfit for his
heavenly heritage, but all ready and prepared through the sanctifying
influence of the Holy Spirit! Oh, that my eyes could see the glorious
day! The pearly gates stand wide open and first comes the Savior up the
eternal hills, leading the van fresh from the battlefields of
Armageddon, where, for the last time, He has fought and triumphed over
all His foes! And here comes the noble army of martyrs waving the palm
branches and then the goodly fellowship of the Prophets, the great
assembly of the ministers and preachers of the Word, and the hosts of
those who have come through great tribulation and have washed their
robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb! Listen how Hell
gnashes her teeth! How the infernal lake is stirred to envious burning
while the fiends see these brands plucked from the fire as they ascend
to Heaven! Listen to the symphonious harpings of the myriads of spirits
as from the battlements of Heaven they look on with wonder and gaze
upon the new inhabitants of Jerusalem who are coming to people it and
make it even more glorious than it was before! Listen how they begin
the song, "Who is this King of Glory? The Lord of Hosts, He is the King
of Glory." And listen how the multitude of the redeemed join in the
chorus, "Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own
blood, and has made us kings and priests unto God and His Father–to
Him be glory and dominion forever and ever!"

And they sing again and yet again, "Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah,
for the Lord God Omnipotent reigns." May you and I be partakers of the
joy of harvest and not be yonder with those among whom there is
weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth because they would not trust
the Lamb, because they would not come to Him that they might have
life–but chose their own delusion and followed out their own
corruptions till they met with the due dessert of their evil deeds! God
bless you, dear Friends, every one of you, and make you partakers of
the present joy and the everlasting felicity of the saints, for Jesus
Christ's sake! Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: MATTHEW9:35-38; 10:1; 13:3-8; 18-23.

Matthew 9:35. And Jesus went about all the cities and villages,
teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom,
and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. This was
His answer to the blasphemous slanders of the Pharisees. A glorious
reply it was! Let us answer calumny by greater zeal in doing good!
Small places were not despised by our Lord–He went about the villages
as well as the cities. Village piety is of the utmost importance and
has a close relation to city life. Jesus turned old institutions to
good account–the "synagogues" became His seminaries. Three-fold was
His ministry–expounding the old, proclaiming the new, healing the
diseased.

Observe the repetition of the word, "every" as showing the breadth of
His healing power. All this stood in relation to His royalty, for it
was "the Gospel of the Kingdom" which He proclaimed. Our Lord was " the
Great Itinerant"–Jesus went about preaching and healing. His was a
Medical Mission as well as an evangelistic tour. Happy people who have
Jesus among them! Oh, that we might now see more of His working among
our own people!

36. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion on
them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having
no shepherd.A great crowd is a demand upon compassion, for it suggests
so much sin and need. In this case the great need was
instruction–"they fainted" for lack of comfort. They "were scattered
abroad" for lack of guidance. They were eager to learn, but they had no
fit teachers. "Sheep having no shepherd"are in an ill plight. Unfed,
unfolded, unguarded–what will become of them? Our Lord was stirred
with a feeling which agitated His inmost soul. "He was moved with
compassion." What He saw affected not only His eyes, but His heart. He
was overcome by pity. His whole frame was stirred with an emotion which
put every faculty into forceful movement. He is even now affected
towards our people in the same manner. He is moved with compassion if
we are not.

37, 38. Then He said unto His disciples, The harvest truly isplenteous,
but the laborers are few; pray you therefore the Lord of the Harvest,
that He will send forth laborers into His harvest. His heavy heart
sought solace among "His disciples"and He spoke to them. He mourned the
scantiness of workers. Pretenders were many, but real "laborers"in the
harvest were few. The sheaves were spoiling. The crowds were ready to
be taught, even as ripe wheat is ready for the sickle; but there were
few to instruct them and where could more teaching men be found? God
only can thrust out, or "send forth laborers." Man-made ministers are
useless! Still are the fields encumbered with gentlemen who cannot use
the sickle. Still the real ingatherers are few and far between. Where
are the instructive, soul-winning ministries? Where are those who
travail in birth for their hearers' salvation? Let us plead with the
Lord of the Harvest to care for His own harvest and send out His own
men. May many a true heart be moved by the question, "Whom shall I
send? And who will go for us?" to answer, "Here am I! Send me."

Matthew 10:1. And when He had called unto Him His twelve disciples, He
gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal
all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. See the way of making
Apostles! They were first disciples and afterwards teachers of
others–they were specially His, and then they were given to be a
blessing to men. They were "called unto Him"and thus their higher call
came to them. In the Presence of their Lord they received their
equipment–"He gave them power." Is that so with us in our own special
office? Let us come to Him that we may be clothed with His authority
and girded with His strength! Their power was miraculous, but it was an
imitation of their Lord's–and the words applied to it are very much
the same as we have seen in use about His miracles of healing. The 12
were made to represent their Lord. We, too, may be enabled to do what
Jesus did among men. Oh, for such an endowment!

Matthew 13:3. And He spoke many things unto them in parables, saying,
Behold, a sower went forth to sow. He had much instruction to give and
He chose to convey it in parables. What wonderful pictures they were!
What a world of meaning they have for us as well as for those who heard
them! This parable of the sower is a mine of teaching concerning the
Kingdom of God, for the seed was "the word of the Kingdom." (See verse
19). "Behold"–every word is worthy of attention. Maybe the Preacher
pointed to a farmer on the shore who was beginning to sow one of the
terraces. "A sower," read, "The Sower." Jesus, our Lord, has taken up
this business of the Sower at His Father's bidding. The Sower " went
forth." See Him leaving the Father's house with this one design upon
His heart–"to sow."

4. And when He sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside, and the fowls
came and devoured them up. When HE sowed, some seeds fell by the
wayside–even when the Chief Sower is at work, some seed fails. We know
He sows the best of seed and in the best manner, but some of it falls
on the trodden path and so lies uncovered and unaccepted of the soil.
That soil was hard and beaten down with traffic. There, too, on the
wayside, we meet with dust to blind, settlements of mud to foul and
birds to pilfer–it is not a good place for good seed. No wonder, as
the seeds lay all exposed, that the fowls came and devoured them up. If
the Truth of God does not enter the heart, evil influences soon remove
it.

5, 6. Some feel upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and
forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: and
when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root,
they withered away. Among the rocks or on the shallow soil with the
unbroken rock-pan underneath, the seed fell–for if the sower had
altogether avoided such places he might have missed some of the good
ground. In these stony places the seed speedily

sprang up because the rock gave it all the heat that fell on it, and so
hastened its germination. But, soon up, soon down. When the time came
for the sun to put forth its force, the rootless plants instantly pined
and died. They had no deepness of earth and "no root" What could they
do but wither quite away?Everything was hurried with them–the seeds
had no time to root themselves and so in hot haste the speedy growth
met with speedy death. No trace remained.

7. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked
them. The ground was originally a thorn-brake and had been cleared by
the thorns being cut down. But speedily the old roots sent out new
shoots and other weeds came up with them–and the tangled beds of
thistles, thorns, nettles, and what not, strangled the feeble shoots of
the wheat. The native plants choked the poor stranger. They would not
permit the intrusive corn to share the field with them–evil claims a
monopoly of our nature. Thus we have seen three sets of seed come to an
untimely end.

8. But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an
hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. This would repay all
losses, especially at the highest rate of increase here quoted. To the
bird, the weather and the weeds, three sets of seeds have gone. Yet,
happily, one remains to increase and fill the barn. The sowing of good
seed can never be a total failure–"other fell into good ground."The
harvest was not equally great on every spot of fertile soil. It varied
from an hundredfold to thirtyfold. All good ground is not alike good
and, besides, the situation may differ. Harvests are not all alike in
the same farm, in the same season and under the same farmer–and yet
each field may yield a fairly good harvest. Lord, if I cannot reach to
a hundredfold, let me at least prove to be good ground by bearing
thirtyfold.

18. Hear you therefore the parable of the sower. Because you see behind
the curtain and have Grace given to discern the inner meaning through
the outer metaphor, come and hear the explanation of the parable of the
sower.

19. When anyone hears the word of the Kingdom, and understands it not,
then comes the Wicked One, and catches away that which was sown in his
heart. This is he which received seed by the wayside. The Gospel is "
the word of the Kingdom?" It has royal authority in it . It proclaims
and reveals King Jesus and it leads men to obedience to His sway. To
hear but not to understand is to leave the good seed on the outside of
your nature and not to take it into yourself. Nothing can come of such
hearing to anyone. Satan is always on the watch to hinder the
Word–"Then comes the Wicked One," even at the moment when the seed
fell. He is always afraid to leave the Truth of God even in hard and
dry contact with a mind and so he catches it away at once and it is
forgotten, or even disbelieved. It is gone, at any rate. And we have
not in our hearer's mind a cornfield, but a highway, hard and much
frequented. The man was not an opposer. He "received seed"but he
received the Truth as he was, without the soil of his nature being
changed–and the seed remained as it was till the foul bird of Hell
took it off the place and there was an end of it. So far as the Truth
was sown in his heart, i t was in his natural, unrenewed heart and,
therefore, it took no living hold. How many such hearers we have! To
these we preach in vain, for what they learn, they unlearn, and what
they receive they reject almost as soon as it comes to them! Lord,
suffer none of us to be impervious to Your royal Word, but whenever the
smallest seed of Your Truth falls on us, may You open our soul to it!

20. 21. But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he
that hears the Word, and with joy receives it; yet has he not root in
himself, but endures for awhile: but when tribulation or persecution
arises because of the Word, by-and-by he is offended.Here the seed was
the same and the sower the same, but the result somewhat different. In
this case there was earth enough to cover the seed and heat enough to
make it grow quickly. The convert was attentive and easily persuaded.
He seemed glad to accept the Gospel at once. He was even eager and
enthusiastic, joyful and demonstrative. He hears the Word and with joy
receives it. Surely this looked very promising! But the soft was
essentially evil, hard, barren, superficial. The man had no living
entrance into the mystery of the Gospel, no root in himself, no
principle, no hold of the Truth of God with a renewed heart. And so he
flourished hurriedly and showily for a season but only for a season. It
is tersely put, "He endures for awhile." That "awhile" may be longer or
shorter according to circumstances. When matters grow hot with
Christians, either through affliction from the Lord, or persecution
from the world, the temporary Believer is so sapless, so rootless, so
deficient in moisture of Grace, that he dries up and his profession
withers. Thus, again, the sower's hopes are disappointed and his labor
is lost. Till stony hearts are changed it must always be so. We meet
with many who are soon hot and as soon cold. They receive the Gospel
"anon" and leave it "by-and-by."Everything is on the surface and,
therefore, is hasty and unreal. May we all have broken hearts and
prepared minds, that when the Truth of God comes to us it may take root
in us and abide.

22. He also that received seed among the thorns is he that hears the
Word and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke
the Word, and he becomes unfruitful. This class of hearers we know by
personal acquaintance in this busy age. They hear the Word, they are
affected by the Gospel, they take it as seed into their minds and it
grows well for a season. But the heart cannot belong to two absorbing
objects at the same time and, therefore, these men cannot long yield
themselves up to the world and Christ, too. Care to get money,
covetousness, trickery and sins which come from desires to be rich, or
else pride, luxury, oppression and other sins which come of having
obtained wealth, prevent the man from being useful in religious
matters, or even sincere to himself–"he becomes unfruitful." He keeps
his profession. He occupies his place, but his religion does not grow.
In fact, it shows sad signs of being choked and checked by worldliness.
The leaf of outward religiousness is there, but there is no dew on it.
The ear of promised fruit is there, but there are no kernels in it. The
weeds have outgrown the wheat and smothered it! We cannot grow thorn
and corn at the same time–the attempt is fatal to a harvest for Jesus.
See how wealth is here associated with care, deceitfulness and
unfruitfulness. It is a thing to be handled with care. Why are men so
eager to make their thorn-brake more dense with briars? Would not a
good farmer root out the thorns and brambles? Should we not, as much as
possible, keep free from the care to get, to preserve, to increase and
to hoard worldly riches? Our heavenly Father will see that we have
enough–why do we fret about earthly things? We cannot give our minds
to these things and also to the Kingdom

of God.

23. But he that received seed into the good ground is he that hears the
Word and understands it; which also bears fruit, and brings forth, some
an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Here is the story of the
Word's success. This fourth piece of land will repay all charges. Of
course no one parable teaches all the Truth of God and, therefore, we
have no mention here of the plowing which always precedes a fruitful
harvest. No heart of man is good by nature–the good Lord had made this
plot into "good ground."In this case, both thought and heart are
engaged about the heavenly message and the man "hears the Word and
understands it. "By being lovingly understood, the Truth gets into the
man and then it roots, it grows, it fruits, it rewards the sower. We
must aim at the inward apprehension and comprehension of the Word of
God for only in this way can we be made fruitful by it. Be it ours to
aim to be among those who would bear fruit an hundredfold! Ah, we would
give our Lord ten-thousand fold if we could! For every sermon we hear
we should endeavor to do a hundred gracious, charitable, or
self-denying acts. Our Divine Sower, with such heavenly seed, deserves
to be rewarded with a glorious harvest!

–Adapted from The C. H. Spurgeon Collection, Version 1.0, Ages
Software, 1.800.297.4307

PRAY THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL USE THIS SERMON TO BRING MANY TO A SAVING
KNOWLEDGE OF JESUS CHRIST.