Well, let us come again to the
Word of God and turning to the portion that we read in the Gospel
according to St. Matthew chapter 9 and the last
words that we find in this chapter from verse 36 to verse 38. 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. Then
saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous,
but the labourers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of
the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest. In Matthew 9 and verses 36 to
38 and in these verses we See how Christ speaks of the
great harvest. When he saw the multitudes he
was moved with compassion on them because they fainted and
were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith
he unto his disciples the harvest truly is plenteous but the labourers
are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of
the harvest that he will send forth labourers into his harvest. The great harvest and I want
us to consider what it is that moves the Lord Jesus Christ as
we see here in verse 36 when he saw the multitudes he was
moved with compassion on them because they fainted not and
were scattered abroad the sheep having no shepherd The sight,
the seeing is something that truly touches the heart of the
Lord Jesus. What it is that moves Him. And then secondly, the instruction,
the direction that He gives unto His disciples. And He speaks
to the disciples here in verses 37 and 38. The harvest truly
is plenteous, but the labourers are few. Pray ye therefore the
Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into
his harvest. These two things, and first of
all to say something with regards to Christ's motivation. We read here at the beginning
of verse 36 that he was moved, moved with compassion it says,
and the The verb that we have here is derived from a noun that
literally refers to the inward parts of a man. The heart, the
liver, the lungs, refers to the very seat of our human feelings. And so, in what we're told concerning
the Lord Jesus, we see something of the reality of his human nature. He is God, and as we saw throughout
the chapter, we read the whole of the chapter and we see the
evidence of his deity in the various miracles that he performed. There at the beginning we are
told of how he healed the man who was sick of the pulse and
how does he address that man initially he says thy sins be
forgiven thee and this is that that was an offense to scribes
and pharisees you can forgive sins they say but God only but
what does the Lord say whether it is easier to say thy sins
be forgiven thee or to say rise up and walk but that ye may know
that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins. Who
can forgive sins but God? Here is the demonstration then
in the miracle of His deity. And it's not the only miracle,
we have a whole series of miracles spoken of throughout this ninth
chapter. This One then who is ministering
is truly the Lord God Almighty. But here at the end We see that
he is one who is truly human. He is touched. He is moved with
compassion. We have not a high priest which
cannot be touched with the feeling of all our infirmities, says
Paul, but was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without
sin. There is nothing of sinful infirmity,
but there are all of those human infirmities, all those human
emotions evidence in the person of the Lord Jesus. Again remember
what Paul says there in Hebrews 5 verse 7 referring to the Lord
Jesus who in the days of his flesh when he offered up prayer
and supplication with strong crying and tears unto him that
was able to save him from death and was hurt in that he failed. Though he were a son the eternal
Son of God, yet learned the obedience by the things which he suffered. We often sing that lovely hymn
of hearts, number 23, a man there is, a real man, and he does that
verse concerning the humanity of Christ, that human heart he
still retains. though thrown in highest bliss,
and fills each tempted member's pains, for our afflictions he
is." He is still touched with the feeling of all our infirmities. And so we have it here, when
he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion. And what is it that moves him
in this particular fashion? Well, it's the size of the work,
the harvest he says. The harvest truly is plenteous. There are so many needs, a multitude
of needs that need to be addressed. He sees something then of the
greatness of the work that lies before him. We find something
similar in the fourth chapter of the Gospel according to St.
John, there in John 4 at verse 34. Jesus says unto them, My
meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his
work. Say not ye, There are yet four
months, and then cometh harvest. Behold, I sound to you, Lift
up your eyes, and look on the fields, for they are white already
to harvest. Oh, there's a great harvest!
There are a multitude of needs that need to be addressed and
must be addressed. And what does the Lord say in
the context here in John 4? My need is to do the will of
Him that sent me and to finish His work, His determination,
to finish the work, to accomplish God's gracious design in doing
good to the sinful sons of men. This is the burden of the life
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We read of Him who for the joy
that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame,
and He sat down on the right hand of the throne of God. Oh, how it cost Him, when He
sees the greatness of the work, and yet He must go through with
that, had He not entered into an eternal covenant with the
Father, concerning the salvation of sinners, And then we come
to the end of His ministry and His obedience. He's not only
in obedience in His life, He must be obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. It is there in the crucifixion
that He will accomplish the greatest work of all, the salvation of
sinners. And we're told how He anticipates
that, contemplates that there in the Garden of Gethsemane and
being in an agony. being in an agony he prayed more
earnestly and his sweat was as drops of blood falling to the
ground we're told in Luke the cost of saving a multitude of
sinners but that was the promise of God that he had he shall see
of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied by his knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many for he shall bear their
iniquities He knew that his sufferings were not in vain but what a labor
it was what a labor it was in life and in death to accomplish
the salvation of all those that were given to him that great
number a multitude without number it says in the revelation given
to him in the eternal covenant oh it's the size of the work
that touches him at this time, the harvest is so plentiful,
many to be saved and he will labour, he will labour continually
to that blessed end, even the salvation of sinners and as Christ
labours so too are ministers to be those who are labourers,
this is the word that's used here the harvest truly is plenteous
but the labourers the labourers are few pray ye therefore the
Lord of the harvest that he will send forth labourers into his
harvest and the word that's used here is the word that is normally
applied to those who are labouring in the field Those who are engaged
in such arduous work, working all through the day, workmen,
workmen. And that's how the minister is
to engage in his work. They are to be those who, as
the Apostle Paul directs Timothy, they are to labour in the works
and in doctrine it says. They are to give themselves to
the contemplation of the Word of God, the study of the Word
of God, the opening up of the Word of God, the bringing forth
the great truths of the Word of God. That is their task and
it will be a costly task. They are to study, to show themselves
approved unto God, workmen that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly
dividing the word of truth. How Paul gives such specific
instruction and direction in those pastoral epistles to Timothy
and to Titus. How these young men are to engage
in the work, they are to be laborers, laboring in the word of God.
laboring in the doctrines of the gospel, seeking to understand
these things, that they might present these things, rightly
dividing the word, making a distinction between law and gospel. And it's
not just the ministers of the gospel who are to be laborers. All believers really are to be
laborers. We're all to labor in our prayers
and in godly living and in in witnessing, or remember what
the Lord says, let your light so shine before men that they
may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. There's a work to be done and
with those who would seek to give ourselves in much to prayers
to God to be steadfast, unmovable always abounding in the work
of the Lord, for as much as you know that your labour is not
in vain in the world, in the world, or in the Lord, as we
have it there at the end of 1 Corinthians chapter 15. All Paul gives these
directions in constantly in his epistles. They're not all pastoral
epistles, in the main they're epistles directed to churches,
they're directed to the people of God. We have those three pastoral
epistles, 1st and 2nd Timothy and Titus, but so many of the
epistles, are they not addressed to churches? And what are churches
constituted of? They're constituted of people,
saved people. God gathering his people together
into local churches. And all of them are to be laborers. This word is not just addressed
to the apostles and it's addressed to all the disciples of the Lord
Jesus Christ. All are to pray, pray ye therefore
the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth labourers
into his harvest. We're not to be weary in well-doing. In due season we We reap if we
faint not, Paul tells the Galatians. It's a costly work and it was
to the Lord Jesus. It's a great work. The harvest
is so plentiful. They that sow in tears, we're
told, shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth, weeping,
bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing,
bringing his shaves with Him. Oh, there's that work to be done.
What is it that moves the Lord Jesus? It's the size of the work. The harvest truly is plenteous,
but the labourers are few. But that's not the only thing
that motivates the Lord Jesus. There's something more significant
than that, surely. It's the state of sinners. It's
the state of the sinners. It's the realization of their
great need. When he saw the multitudes, he
was moved in compassion on them, because they fainted and were
scattered abroad to sheep, having no shepherd. Oh, how great is
that need! They fainted, it says. They were
tired. We have it in the margin. There's
an alternative reading also. They were harassed. They were
distressed. Scattered abroad like sheep without
a shepherd. And this alternative reading,
harassed or distressed, interestingly, strangely we might say, it's
derived from a verb that means to skin. or to fly, to rent. They likened unto scattered shepherds
who might well be rented. But it's an interesting reading
when we think of what we have in the Old Testament. There's
a verse back in Isaiah, Isaiah 18 and verse 7 and he speaks
of the Gospel Day. In that day shall the present
be brought unto the Lord of hosts, of a people scattered and ploughed.
A people scattered and ploughed. Scattered and flying. And isn't
the Lord mindful of that scripture as he utters these words? This
is a present that is to be brought unto the Lord of hosts. how the
Pharisees were there, and what were the Pharisees doing? Oh,
they were the ones who were skinning the people and scattering the
people. They rejected Christ. They found fault with the followers
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And even here in the context
we see how quick they are to condemn the Lord. In verse 32
they went out, it says, And behold, they brought to him a dumb man
possessed with the devil. The Lord is about to perform
another great miracle. The chapter begins with miracle,
it ends with miracle, it's miracles throughout the chapter. When
the devil was cast out, the dumb spake, it says. And the multitude
marveled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel, but... but the Pharisees. What did they
say? He casteth out devils through
the prince of devils. All their blasphemies, their
opposition to all the truth of the gospel. Are not these the
sort of characters that are being referred to in that 34th chapter
of the book of Ezekiel? Remember the words that the prophet
is directed to speak against the shepherds of Israel in that
chapter. In the Old Testament, the shepherds,
of course, would have been the priests and the princes, the
kings and the prophets, but they were those, you see, who were
unfaithful priests. They were wicked princes. They
were false prophets. And we're told there, in that
chapter, Now the word of the Lord came unto Ezekiel, saying,
Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy
and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds,
Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! Should
not the shepherds feed the flocks? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe
you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed, but ye feed not
the flock. The diseased have you not strengthened,
neither have you healed that which was sick, neither have
you bound up that which was broken, neither have you brought again
that which was driven away, neither have you sought that which was
lost, but with force and with cruelty have you ruled them.
And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd, and they
became meat to all the beasts of the field when they were scattered."
Or the evil ways, the wicked ways of those men in the Old
Testament, and the scribes and the Pharisees were the same sort
of characters in the New Testament. But what does God go on to say
through the prophet? Verse 11, Thus saith the Lord
God, Behold I, even I will both search my sheep and seek them
out. Verse 24, I, the Lord, will be
their God, and my servant David, a prince among them, I, the Lord,
have spoken it, and I will make with them a covenant of peace,
and will cause the evil beast to cease out of the land, and
they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the
woods. Oh God will make provision, He
will set up one shepherd over them, Even my servant David,
he says, he shall feed them, he shall be their shepherd. It's
the Lord Jesus Christ that is being promised there. How different
the Lord's ministry to that of those evil scribes and Pharisees,
those wicked men. They have no time for Christ,
they have no concern for the multitudes. But see the vision
here of the Lord Jesus Christ. when he saw the multitudes he
was moved with compassion on them because they fainted and
were scattered abroad the sheep having no shepherds remember
as he makes his final journey up to Jerusalem and as he surveys the city as
it lies before him We read those words in Luke 19, 41, when he
was come near he beheld the city and wept over it saying if thou
hadst known even thou at least in this thy day the things that
belong unto thy peace but now they are hidden from thine eyes.
So he weeps over the city. He is moved with compassion upon
the multitudes. And who is it? Who is it that
the Lord addresses His anger to, His righteous indignation. Why? It's upon the scribes and
the Pharisees that He pronounces dreadful woes. And we have it
here in this Gospel in chapter 23, that fearful chapter that
is full of woes as the Lord addresses these men. There in 23.13, Woe
unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye shut up the
kingdom of heaven against men, for ye neither go in yourselves,
neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Woe unto you,
scribes and Pharisees. Verse 14, verse 15, woe unto
you, scribes and Pharisees. Verse 16, woe unto you, blind
guides. And so throughout the chapter,
woe upon woe, and then when we come to the end, See how the
Lord addresses Jerusalem again, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou
that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto
thee. How often would I have gathered thy children together,
even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would
not. Interesting verse. The Lord is
speaking of Jerusalem. He speaks in the third person,
doesn't he? How often would I have gathered
thy children together, he says, even as a hen gathers her chickens
under her wings. And then these words, ye would
not, ye would not, who are those words addressed to? There in
the second person they are being addressed to the scribes and
Pharisees. they would not enter themselves
and even those who would enter into that kingdom they would
seek to prevent them. Or the ministry of the Lord Jesus
such a searching, discriminating, dividing ministry. But here principally
we are to take account of the great compassion that the Lord
shows. Why does he show it? Because
of the greatness of the work, the multitudes. that plenteous
heart and the fewness of the libras with the Lord so touched
when he looks upon the multitudes in their scattered condition
or that they are suffering at the hands of those wicked spiritual
leaders, the scribes and the pharisees. We see then something
of what it is that motivates the Lord Jesus in this part of
his ministry. In the second place I want us
to turn to consider his instruction to his disciples and the methods
that the Lord employs in his own work and we see it here in
verses 37 and 38. After that statement in verse
36, then saith he unto his disciples, the harvest truly is plenteous
but the labours are few Pray ye therefore the Lord of the
harvest that he will send forth labourers into his harvest. And there are two things I want
us to observe here. The primacy of prayer. The primacy
of prayer in this work of the Gospel. And then secondly the
importance of the preaching. Firstly, we must observe that
prayer has that preeminent place. Pray ye therefore, he says. Pray ye therefore. And the wonderful
thing with prayer, of course, is the simple fact that when
we come to that, we're recognizing the sovereignty of God. No one ever prays to God, truly
prays to God as an Arminian, as a free willer. When we come
to God, even the Arminian, we ask Him to do things. If we're
burdened over the souls of men, we actually ask God to save sinners. In prayer we have to recognize
that God is that one who is sovereign. And here the Lord says quite
clearly in the middle of verse 38, that it is God who is the
Lord of the harvest. It's God who is the Lord of the
harvest. Remember how in John 15, where the Lord speaks of
himself as the true vine, one of those great passages, I am
the vine, ye are the branches, he says. And then he says this,
and my father is the husbandman, My Father is the husbandman.
He is the Lord of the harvest. And see how God exercises His
sovereignty in the outworking of His purposes of grace. It
is God who determines just where the gospel is to be preached.
Whether it goes to this place or whether it goes to that place.
How is it that some nations on the face of the earth have been
greatly blessed with the Gospels, and other nations have known
very little of the Gospel? And when we think of our nation's
history, how we have been greatly favoured. What blessings the
Lord God has bestowed upon these islands. And we see the sovereignty
of God with regards to where the Gospel is preached, in the
ministry of the Apostles in the Book of Acts. There in chapter
16 we have what is called the Macedonian
Call. Here is Paul and he's ministering in Asia. He's ministering in
Asia Minor. Turkey, as we would now call
it. But then he's clearly directed to go to Europe. There in Acts 16 verse 7, After
they had come to Mycenae, they decided to go into Bithynia,
but it says the Spirit suffered them not. And they, passing by
Mycenae, came down to Troas, And a vision appeared to Paul
in the night. There stood a man of Macedonia
and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia and help
us. And after he had seen the vision,
immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly
gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto
them." The sovereignty of God with regards to where the gospel
is to be preached. It is the Lord who opens doors,
it's the Lord who closes doors. And as we see that sovereignty
with regards to the place where the gospel is to be preached,
so God is the one who has also ordained where and when the gospel
is to prosper. He has appointed when the gospel
should prosper and to whom that gospel should prove to be a prosperous
gospel. The language again of prophecy
in Isaiah 55 verse 10, As the rain cometh down, and the snow
from heaven, and returneth not thither but water to the earth,
and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to
the sower, and bread to the eater, so shall my word be. that go
a forth out of my mouth, it shall not return unto me void, but
it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper
in the thing whereto I sent it, says the Lord God. Oh, it is
God who is sovereign here. And Paul was so conscious of
that in all of his own ministry. when he has to deal with the
Corinthians and there was a certain partiality amongst those believers
at Corinth, they had their favourites. But what does the Apostle remind
them? There in 1 Corinthians 3 he says,
I have planted Apollos waters, but God gave the increase. So then he that plantereth is
neither he that watereth but God that giveth the increase."
It is the sovereign will of God that is paramount. He is the
one who makes the world to prosper and so we have to pray to Him,
we have to call upon Him, we have to seek Him. And we have
to recognize that all the preaching ultimately is for God, to His
honor, to His glory is the harvest to be gathered in. Ye are God's
husbandry, he says to the Corinthians. It's God's work. It's all to
the glory of God, the salvation of sinners. For of Him and through
Him and to Him are all things to whom be glory forever and
ever. We're not to lose sight of that
basic truth, the importance in of prayer. Pray ye therefore
the Lord of the harvest. And we pray to Him desiring that
He might have that glory that belongs to Him. Yes, it's for
the good of sinners. It's for the salvation of sinners.
But more than that, it's all to God's honour. And so we come
and we seek His face and we desire that he might receive that preeminence
that is his due. But besides the primacy of the
preaching, we also here have to recognize the importance of
preaching. And we see it in the context.
And there we see nothing mentioned of preaching in what the Lord
is saying as he gives this instruction to his disciples. Now look at
the context in which our text is found. This morning in the
previous verse, verse 35, we're told how 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. The Lord's ministry is primarily
a preaching ministry. Yes, he ministers to the people
in their sicknesses, he performs miracles, but the miracles are
secondary to the preaching. And we've said this many, many
times. In John's Gospel, the word that is constantly used,
rendered miracles, in our Authorized Version, is literally the word
sign. This beginning of signs did Jesus.
The miracles are signs pointing to Him as that One who is truly
the Christ of God. That One who is the Great Prophet.
That One who is the Prince of all preachers. It is preaching
that has the preeminent place. He goes through all the cities
and villages here in Palestine teaching in their synagogues
and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom. That's the ministry
of the Lord. And then when we come into chapter
10, and remember, in a sense, the divisions that we're so familiar
with, chapters and verses, are quite artificial. They were introduced
many years after the scriptures were first given, and they're
useful to us. Don't decry these divisions, they're very helpful
to us. But what we have at the end of chapter 9 really runs
straight into chapter 10. And what do we read? Verse 1,
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. And then we
have the names of the twelve apostles. But then at verse 5,
Again we see the primacy of the preaching. These twelve Jesus
sent forth and commanded them saying go not into the way of
the Gentiles and into any city of the Samaritans enter you not
but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and as
you go preach saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand heal the
sick cleanse the lippers raise the dead cast out devils freely
have received, freely give. As they go, what are they principally
to be about? The preaching. The proclamation
of the kingdom of heaven. The preaching of the everlasting
gospel. Next to prayer. Preaching was
the great business of the apostles. And again, Are we not reminded
of that in the Acts, there in chapter 6, remember? The origin of the office of the deacon. There were the apostles, in a
sense, they were the only functionaries in the early church, they seemed
to do everything, but there's some dispute now concerning the
distribution of assistance to the widows. and they determined
that they need some to attend to this matter and so there are
those who are appointed to serve tables, as it were, to deal with
this matter. And what did the apostles say?
There, in Acts chapter 6 and verse 4, we will give ourselves
continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. Prayer
is first. We will give ourselves continually
to prayer and to the ministry of the Word or the importance
of the preaching of the everlasting gospel. This is to be the subject
matter of the prayer of the people. Pray ye therefore the Lord of
the harvest that he will send forth libras into his harvest. And again, this verb that we
have, to send forth, it's such a strong word really. It literally means to throw out.
We would associate it with the throwing of a ball, to throw
a thing. It has the force of thrusting
them forth. How shall they preach? says the
Apostle in Romans chapter 10. How shall they preach except
they be sent? And God must do the sending.
And God will empower those who He intends to send. He will not be able to hold back. Jeremiah, he would forbear. Why? Because his ministry was
in a sense so negative and there were those who despised his ministry
and rejected his ministry and he would forbear but the word
he says was in his heart and in his bones like a burning fire
and he couldn't forbear he had to preach and proclaim those
things that God had given him. Oh it is the Lord you see who
must be appealed to and prayed to as the one who would send
forth Libras into his harvest field. It's interesting to compare the
various accounts in these Gospels. We have four Gospels of course
and the first three are very similar synoptic Gospels. but
it's interesting to compare passages with passages and if you turn
to Mark chapter 3 and there in verse 13 we read these words
concerning Christ He goeth up into a mountain and calleth unto
him whom he would and they came unto him and he ordained well
that they should be with him and that he might send them forth
to preach. He goeth up into a mountain and
calleth unto him whom he would. And again the word, the verb
that you see there, to call is the stronger of two possible
words. It emphasizes his sovereignty. He calls unto him whom he would. And he ordains the twelve and
he sends them forth. or the sovereignty of the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself. He says, later in this Gospel,
in chapter 11, All things are delivered unto me of my Father.
And no man knoweth the Son, but the Father. Neither knoweth any
man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son
will reveal Him. The sovereignty of our Lord Jesus
Christ. in all of these things, and we
have to recognize that. The Lord, pray ye therefore the
Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into
his harvest. What is it that constrains them
in that ministry? Is it not the love of Christ?
The love of Christ constraineth us, says Paul, again writing
to the Corinthians, such is constraint just as the Lord Himself here
is constrained and is motivated, He sees the multitudes, He's
moved with compassion on them. And so too are those to be who
are truly His followers, His servants. They must be like unto
Him. And what a pattern of ministry
we see in the Lord Jesus. Previously, of course, we have
In chapters 5, 6, and 7, his great sermon, the Sermon on the
Mount, seeing the multitudes again, seeing the multitudes,
he went up into a mountain, and when he was set, when he sat
down, the normal posture of a rabbi, he would sit to teach. He sits
down, his disciples came unto him, he opened his mouth and
taught them, and then the sermon follows. And when we come to
the end of that sermon, what do we read? There in chapter
7, verse 28, it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings,
the people were astonished at his doctrine, for he taught them
as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Oh, the Lord be pleased then
to own the ministry of his words to us, amongst us. that we might
yet see the gracious works of God that we might be conscious
of the multitudes that we might be moved with compassion that
we might be like unto the Lord Jesus seeing the greatness of
the work of the desperate needs of the peoples when he saw the
multitudes he was moved with compassion on them because they
fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherds
Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous,
but the libras are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of
the harvest, that he will send forth libras into his harvest. May the Lord be pleased to bless
these verses to us. Amen. Well, let us now sing our concluding
praise in the hymn 374. The tune is Christchurch 536. This lovely hymn of Berridge. We're told at the end how it
was occasioned by the death of George Whitfield, a great evangelist
in the 18th century. Quite a fruitful ministry both
here in Old England but also throughout New England. Send
help, O Lord, we pray, and thy own gospel bless, for godly men
decay, and faithful pastors cease. The righteous are removed home,
and scorners rise up in their view.