Please take your Bibles and turn
back to where we read in Ecclesiastes
chapter 11. Sometimes when I stand up here
to preach, I wonder if the one that I'm
preaching to most of all is my own self. There certainly is not one who
needs it more, I'm sure of that. But I'd like for us to go back
and read first of all that first verse. Cast thy bread upon the waters,
for thou shalt find it after many days." There is surely in this verse
and these verses a lesson to the Lord's people on generosity,
on liberality, on giving. I told you that Solomon was given
it all that he might tell us that it's all vanity. Christ
is all and everything else is nothing. And we are commanded
toward this generosity. Paul writing to the Galatians,
he says, "...as we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto
all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith." But the Scriptures, all speak
of Christ and His gospel. And if the Holy Spirit, who must
be our great Teacher and Revealer of spiritual things, if He takes
this portion, He will, like every portion of Scripture, Take it
and show to us the things of Christ." He says, "'Cast thy
bread upon the waters, for thou shalt find it after many days.'" I'd like for you this morning
to imagine something in your mind, if you can. I'd like to
have you imagine a river, one maybe like the Nile, that is
known for overflowing its banks. And that in itself doesn't seem
to be a very good thing, but in our picture, if we imagine
it, The river has overflown its banks, gone far inland, is now
in some measure ponded up from the river's edge, and there's
a man out there waiting in that water. And to our astonishment, he is
taking seed. And he's scattering those seeds
in that water. Seems like such a waste. Seems
like an effort in futility, an exercise in futility. He just
wades in that water and he scatters those seeds. Is it foolish? Will it all be
wasted? No, He knows this. He knows when
the waters reside. He knows when they go back into
the river, all the seed will remain there on that now fertile
and enriched ground, and it will germinate. And a crop will grow,
and it will be harvested. That happens many places in this
world. And we are given this as a picture
here in our text that has to do with spiritual things. This has to do with the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because the command that he gives
here is this, he says, cast thy bread. What is the bread of every
true believer? It is none other than Christ
who is the bread of life. He is our bread. And not only what is the bread
of every believer, but what is the bread of every gospel preacher,
every one truly called and sent of God. It is Christ who is this
bread of life. To that man, Christ and Him crucified,
is not a part of the message, it is the message. And all else is vanity. Paul said, I determined to know
nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Everything else was nothing. And so he is bread both to every
believer and to every gospel preacher. And bread in this book,
we're not so much considering other books, but bread in this
book is often used for seed. It often has to do with the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, in one of
the Psalms that we'll look at a bit later, God says this, "...he
that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed." What
precious seed is that? It's the gospel of Christ crucified. It's the precious seed of the
truth as it is in Christ Jesus. That truth that reveals Himself
and His work as the bread of life. Bread and seed. God, it says, gives seed to the
sower. And so, it's in light of that,
that we, by individual witness, and also by public preaching,
are to cast thy bread, cast this seed out on the waters. Christ, in His own example of
Himself, He gives an example of this. In other words, here
is a man who is out in this water, and he's casting out seed, and
it seems like it's a waste, but in reality, it's a necessity. Because Christ said, barely,
barely, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the
ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit." And he was talking about the harvest of men's souls
that would be the result of him dying that death. And the same
principle is necessary and revealed in Scripture with regard to the
Gospel. He says, cast thy bread, cast
thy seed. And if you notice, the very way
that he speaks of here is contrary to natural thinking because he
says, cast this seed. He doesn't say that we are to
plant it in a special place. We're going to prepare us a special
place and we're going to plant this seed. That's not what he
says. He does not say that we are to
insert it grain by grain in a set row or in a particular garden. He says cast it. When I was growing
up, the old farmers referred to such as that as broadcasting. They said, broadcast that seed. Sow that pasture. Scatter it
and sow it liberally. That's the command of this book.
God says, irregardless of what we think, preach the Word. Preach the Word. Somebody says,
if you believe what you say you believe concerning sovereign
grace, then there would certainly be no need for that. It's so
contrary. No. He says, cast thy bread. Preach the Word. Declare it. And that without
any man-made organization? That without any human logic? That without any special campaigns
or special programs or plans? He says, cast thy bread. You
see, man in his fallen logic and reasoning, he thinks that
God can do nothing except He do it by the schemes and the
plans and the man-glorifying means that man comes up with. It's just exactly the opposite. He says, cast thy bread. Sow
it liberally. One old preacher said, Providence
is the handmaid of evangelism. In other words, by all the affairs
of God's providence in this world, moving us and doing all these
things, He by that causes the path and way that this gospel
is to be proclaimed. And what happens in our lives,
not only as individuals, but churches or whatever it is, whatever
God brings to pass, these are the things that He uses whereby
to spread the seed of the gospel. I remember one time a friend
of mine in Africa. There was a civil war that broke
out in a neighboring country, so that there had to be many
refugees that would come over the border into the country where
he was. Guess where they ran to? They
found themselves by that state and by those conditions brought
under the sound of the gospel, and God used it to call out a
people from the midst of them. You see, we don't determine the
who's and the why's and the how's and the whereby's and all these
things. We're just simply commanded to
cast our bread. We're just commanded to sow the
seed. To, as far as we're concerned,
randomly proclaim the truth of the gospel. We don't have to
organize it. We don't have to do it in this
particular way or that particular way that suits our purposes,
usually which are to glorify our own self and count numbers.
He said, cast thy bread, sow this seed. In other words, it's just like
we read in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. When
God speaks of this, He says, how beautiful are the feet of
them that bring glad tidings, that preach the good news of
the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know this. I know that if I
had been controlling my own feet, if it were, If you had been controlling
your own feet, going in your own self-will and so-called free
will, you would never have come under the sound of the gospel.
I would never have been a preacher of the gospel. But oh, he says, how beautiful
are the feet. of those that carry this precious
seed, those who cast this seed wherever God in His providence
takes their steps in this world, here or there, or through whatever
condition, or whatever hardship, or whatever trial it is, that
in the midst of all this, wherever they go, they are sowing that
seed, bearing that witness. And why are we to do it this
way? Why is it that we are to do it this way? Why are we, through
the preaching of the Word, through the bearing witness of the Word,
through the written Word, we are to sow this seed? Why are
we to do it this way? Because God said to. You know,
men always think they can come up with a better way. They always
think that they can devise a more relative way of communicating
this message. They always think that they can
come up with other means by which this message is to be spread,
this seed. But you notice, in all that man
comes up with, there's one thing that's always absent, and that's
the truth of Christ. That's that message that gives
God all the glory. That's that way that is ordained
of God. You see, we cast the bread, we
sow the seed, we proclaim His Word because God commands it
and because this is His ordained means. And why is it? that He has ordained
this means, because these are the means by which He gets all
the glory. These are the ways. This is the
means by which He gets all the glory, and He gets glory not
only in the end, but also in the means, so that we cannot
say that any means is justified by the end. That's a foolish
logic. Somebody said, well, I'll tell
you what I believe. I believe if God has a people,
He's going to save them irregardless. That's not what the Bible says.
The Bible says that God has a people, that God has a purpose, and that
God has also ordained this means, and He said, go and preach the
gospel to every creature. You go and wherever His providence
takes you, whatever state you're in, whatever situation, He says,
sow that seed, cast that seed, spread that seed, because this
is the means by which He brings His harvest. This is the means
by which he brings about that purpose then, and this is the
means by which he gets this gospel to his various sheep wherever
they are, and this is the means by which he gets all the glory
and honor to himself. It is the Spirit of God leading
men to bear witness to the truth wherever God guides them. Now,
men base it on something like this, well, this place needs
the gospel. Or this group needs the gospel. Or that area needs the gospel. Well, that's natural thinking. And Paul had some of that natural
thinking. And so when you read in the book
of Acts, here is Paul and a group of men, and it says that they
determined, based on what they saw as the need, they determined
to go to a particular area or place in order to preach the
gospel. You know what the next thing
he says is? He says, but the Spirit of God forbade it. Didn't
they need the gospel there? Well, surely. Was there any other
way for them to be saved apart from it? No. But the Spirit of
God forbid them. And so they determined that they
would go another place and do it. And it says the Spirit also
forbade them. And another place. And the Spirit
of God forbid them to do that too. And when they all gave it
up, they said, well, we don't know what to do. The Scripture says that that
night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision, showing him a man
of Macedonia saying, come over and help us. Oh, what will be determined by
that? What will Paul think about that? Will that mean that what they
need is medical missionaries? Does that mean that they're saying,
come over, we've got physical problems or bundles of care packages
or something like that? I don't know of many areas that
that couldn't be said of them, that they do have those needs.
But Paul said this, I determine by that, that God had called
us and was sending us to Macedonia to preach the gospel to them. And so, wherever he was sent,
wherever it was that the path took him, whether it was on his
way to Macedonia, whether it was being held in prison, wherever
it was, he was there to do what? Cast the bread. Cast the seed. Sow the seed of the gospel. And if you notice here, he tells
us exactly where the bread is to be cast. He says, cast thy
bread upon the waters. Literally, on the face of the
waters. Just like in that picture that
I tried to get you to paint in your mind. He says, cast it on
the waters, literally on the face of the waters. This has
to do with the multitudes. Hold your place right here and
turn over to Revelation chapter 17. Revelation chapter 17. And Revelation is just simply
a panoramic view of how God saves His people, triumphs over His
enemies, and spreads His gospel mightily and victoriously in
the world. If you come to this book and
all you can see is beasts and stuff like that, and End Times
eschatology and all these things, you missed it. This is the revelation
of Jesus Christ, the triumphant Savior. And so every vision. has something to do with that.
And in Revelation 17 and verse 15, he says this, and he saith
to me, The waters which thou sawest, where the horse sitteth,
are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. And he shows in that picture
that here are all these people. And this religious whore, the
harlot of Babylon, this simple picture and illustration of false
religion that binds and grips superstition that holds in bondage
the masses of the people. He says, cast thy bread upon
the waters, whether they be Jew or Gentile. Whether they be male
or female, whether they be young or old, whether they be northern
or southern, whether or not they be this or that or the other
or anything else, they are all these waters, these nations.
Nations are made up of people. He said, cast your seed. Whatever it is that brings us,
into contact with the masses, with the nations, with the people,
with the waters. He says, so they said. Oh, it doesn't look too good. Well, I'll tell you, it looks
as good as Ezekiel's command. Because the Lord commanded Ezekiel
to go down to a valley full of dry bones. Dead, dry bones. You know what he said to him?
Preach to them. Well, preacher, you say everybody,
which it does say that in the Bible, that they all are dead
in trespasses and sins. If they're in the condition that
you say that they're in, what good is it to preach to them?
Well, that was Ezekiel's dilemma. So he went down there and he
noticed that valley, and the Lord asked Ezekiel, he said,
Ezekiel, can these bones live? And then Ezekiel was like me,
he just kind of threw up his hands, he said, Thou knowest,
Lord. What's he saying? He's saying,
if it's up to me, they can't. If it's up to them, they can't.
Why? Because they're dead. And so
the Bible says that God commands him to preach to them, or to
prophesy to them. And as he begins to prophesy
to them, the Bible says that the wind blows, always the type
of the Spirit of God. And upon that preaching, the
Spirit of God blows upon these dead, lifeless, dry bones, and
it says, "...began to join to bone and sinew to sinew, and
there arose up a great army." How'd that happen? Miracle of
God. That's what has to happen whenever
the seed is sown to the nations, when the bread is cast on the
waters to these lifeless, helpless, blind, spiritually dead, lost
souls, unable of saving themselves, unable of hearing and understanding,
unable to believe the truth, and yet God by His Spirit brings
them to life. A life that is manifested by
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith in the One that is preached. Faith to believe what is set
forth in the seed of the gospel. Someone said, well, don't you
believe in election? Absolutely! If I didn't, I wouldn't
preach. But I believe that God, as He
says, has a people out of every kindred, tribe, and tongue, and
people, and soul, in obedience to that gospel command, in obedience
to that divine commission like Christ gave Goyu into all the
world, and preach the gospel. Teach them. Why? Because God has a people among
them. You say, but it's so bad now. Why preach? It's evident that these are reprobate
societies. One day God sent that man Paul
down to a place that was probably more wicked than you and I can
even imagine. It's called Corinth. And obviously, He was even afraid
to be there. You say, how do you know that?
Because the Lord told him to fear not. He was afraid to be
there. He was afraid to open his mouth
and preach the gospel in the face of what was there. And the Lord said, Paul, don't you
be afraid. But preach the gospel, for I
have much people in this city." They were the Lord's people before
He ever spoke a word. They were the Lord's people before
they ever believed a word. They were the Lord's people before
they were ever born and before the world ever was. They were
His people. And Christ came to save His people
from their sins. He said, preach to them. where
I have much people in this city. Sow that seed. You don't know
who they are, but I do. You don't know where they are,
but I do. You don't know what they need.
They don't know what they need, but I do. They've got to have
this seed, they've got to have this gospel, this truth, just
cast it on the water. And as this gospel seed is cast
forth, we do not know the state of those it falls upon, we do
not know the heart soil, if you will, but God does, and He prepares
the hearts of His elect, His beloved people, to receive it. Turn over to Luke's Gospel. Luke's Gospel chapter 8. One day when they're gathered
in the presence of Christ, a great bunch of people, a crowd. It says, "...he spake to them
by parable." Now, I don't know if this is
the best definition or not, but I've heard it a lot, that a parable
is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. But he spake to them
by parable. And in Luke chapter 8 and verse
5, it says, a sower went out to sow his seed, and as he sowed,
some fell by the wayside, 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 others 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." He gives
that story. And his disciples ask him, saying,
What might this parable be? And he said, unto you is given
to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to others
in parables that seeing they might not see, and hearing they
might not understand. Is that sovereign grace or not? He said to these disciples, to
you it is given to hear and understand these things. But to them, it
is not given. All it is, is a parable, a story
to them, but there's a spiritual truth in it, an eternal truth
in it, that you're given to understand. How were they given to understand
it? Because Christ told them. We don't even have to wonder.
We don't even have to go to Dr. So-and-so in order to get a commentary
on this. He simply says this, verse 11,
now the parable is this, the seed is the Word of God. Isn't that what I've been saying?
The seed is the Word of God. The Word of the truth of the
Gospel. The seed is the Word of God.
And those by the wayside, Are they that hear, then the devil
comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they
should believe and be saved." They'll come under the sound
of the gospel. They'll hear the word. The seed's
sown in their hearts and minds. But Satan does something immediately
to distract them from it, to steal that seed from them, to
steal that truth from them, and they hear it, they go on their
way, never think about it again. That is, the seed that when broadcast
fell on the hard rock, they on the rock are they which, when
they hear, receive the word with joy. These have no root, which
for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away." The
seed is planted. Looks like it grows up. There's
a little tender sprout. Maybe it grows up a little bit.
And the next thing you know, It just withers and dies. If
you've ever had a garden, you know what I'm talking about.
Because it has no root. It has no source of nurture.
It has no source of moisture. It seems like there's an external
profession, there's an outward excitement, there's this, that
and the other, but in a short while, it's gone. Because the first trial, the
first temptation, the first thing that comes against it finds it
not rooted and grounded at all, just simply growing on the surface
and it dies. And that which fell among the
thorns are they which when they have heard go forth and are choked
with cares and riches and pleasures of this life and bring no fruit
to perfection. Oh, they believe the truth. They
believe the gospel. They may even be baptized. They
may even join the church. But you know, they're so busy.
They're just so busy. They've got so many things going
on in their work. They've got so many things going
on in their life. They've got so many things in
their family going on. They've got all these things
which God says are the things that prove whether or not we
are believers. And they use them as an excuse
not to believe. They use them as an excuse not
to be faithful. They use it as an excuse as to
not being able to hold fast. They're choked. They're too busy
for God. They're too busy for His gospel. And in their life, they manifest
what is truly important to them, what is truly valuable to them,
what they really love, what they really want to do. Now if you notice, out of these four
groups, three of them, not good. But they that are on the good
ground are they which in an honest and good heart, having heard
the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience." The
seed is cast here, falls on this ground, falls on that ground,
falls on this other ground, and it seems like it's all in vain. But then some of that seed falls
on good ground. What is good ground? Good ground
is simply the ground where the husbandman has already gone and
prepared it. Do you remember when the apostle
went into one place and preached? There was a group of women gathered
on the side of the banks of the river. And Paul went down there
sowing that seed. Those people were already religious. But it says there was a woman
there. She was a businesswoman. Her
business. She was described as a seller
of purple. A fabric known for the area that
she came from. And she's there on business.
It says the Lord opened her heart. Lydia whose heart the Lord opened.
That seed fell on good ground. The Lord gave her a new heart.
And she was enabled by Him to understand and to see the truth
of it and delight in it. Fell on good ground. Brought
forth fruit. All ground is bad ground naturally. All hearts are stony. All lives
are choked with thistles and thorns and such. All lives are
shadow, having but an appearance of things. But God makes His
people to have good ground. Good ground. And so, as the apostle
in another place preached, and it says that so many rejected
what he said, it all fell on hard ground and thistle ground
and all that kind of stuff. But it says, but as many as were
ordained into eternal life, they believed. They believed. And we're not too weary in this. We are not to measure the success
of it by the outward harvest or by outward observation or
numbers. We just decide. We just decide. Look back at our text. Ecclesiastes
11 verse 4. He that observeth the wind shall
not sow, and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap." Here's
a farmer. He gets up. He says, well, you know, it looks
like it'll rain today. I don't think I'll plant. Or
he said, the wind's out of the wrong direction. God says, He
won't reap either. He that is always observing these
things, looking for the right climate, the right wind, the
right sun, the right this, that and the other, he doesn't ever
get around to sowing, but then again, he doesn't reap either. Some of you men like to fish.
You're always looking for that right wind. But do you ever notice
how it's never just exactly right? Really, it just never is exactly
right. That's why we're not eating any
more fish than we are. Someone told me once the best
bait to catch a fish on was a wet hook. In other words, you have
to fish. You have to sow. That's the command
here. Cast thy bread upon the waters.
Sow. He that observeth the wind, shall
not sow, and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap. As
thou knowest not what is the way of the Spirit, nor how the
bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child, even
so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all." You know
anything about causing the bones of a child to grow in the womb?
Well, you say, no. Well, neither do you know how
God works. In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening
withhold not thy hand, for thou knowest not whether shall prosper
either this or that, or whether they both alike shall be alike
good." You see, when you sow this seed,
he said sow it in the morning and in the evening. You and I
don't determine how long it takes for the seed to germinate. He
said, you don't know how the Spirit works. The Spirit is like
the wind according to Christ in John chapter 3. The wind blows
where it will. It does what it will. We don't
control it. We don't know where it comes
from or where it goes. We just know the result of it, the effect
of it. He said, you sow in the morning,
sow in the evening. I'm getting old. I'm looking
toward 35 years or so preaching. But I don't know, the Lord may
give just another harvest yet. Because it doesn't depend on
my age. It doesn't depend on my ability to sow. It depends
on what He does with the seed. He'll take the seed and bring
it to life. Paul says to Timothy, preach
the Word, be instant, in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke,
exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. Doctrine. That dirty word nowadays. Let's
don't talk about doctrine. Let's just talk about Jesus.
No. You can't talk about the true Jesus without talking about
His doctrine. The Gospel is the doctrine of
Christ. The sign down the road says,
biblical preaching is always in season. I want to stop there
and make a few changes and say, biblical preaching is scarce
here. Because it is. Biblical preaching. Biblical
preaching is Christ and Him crucified. It's the preaching of the gospel.
And just simply by a few things we read in Scripture, we can
find out a lot about the gospel. He says it's the gospel of God. Has to do with God. Begins with
God. Not you, not me, not man. It begins with God. It has to
do with what God has determined. Has to do with how God is. Has
to do with what God purposed to do. His will is called also
the gospel concerning His Son. You can't preach the gospel without
preaching the particulars concerning Christ, who He is. He is God
manifest in the flesh. You can't preach it without declaring
what it is that He has successfully and mightily accomplished. What
He's doing on that cross, who put Him on that cross, it's called
an everlasting gospel. This gospel was before the world
was. This is the only gospel there
is now. This is the gospel that will
be worlds without end. It's the everlasting gospel.
And those who are sin of God have preached the everlasting
gospel. In other words, what we speak
of in the gospel has its roots in eternity past. And it assures
salvation for eternity future. I give unto them everlasting
life, they'll never perish." It's the gospel of the grace
of God. There's no gospel of works that
comes from God. Oh, there's a gospel of works
out there, but it didn't come from God. It's not God's gospel. It's the gospel of your salvation,
He says. That He has saved us. and called
us. It's good news. It's glad tidings. Look at what he says in verse
1 again. But thou shalt find it after many days. What? The fruit of it. The harvest
of it. The consequences that God has
brought forth. In other words, this is a promise. This is a sure thing. I mentioned that verse in Psalm
126. Turn there for just a minute. Psalm 126. The Lord taught me
this verse of Scripture a long time ago. And it has floated in my boat
when there seemed to be no tide." Psalm 126 and verse 5, "...they
that sow in tears shall reap in joy, and he that goeth forth
and weepeth bearing precious seed." This promise is to no
one. who simply calls himself a Christian
or a preacher or anything of that nature based on what they
think that is. It has to do with those who are
bearing this precious seed. When I was young, my dad and
my uncle, they did a little farming. I
think it was mostly a hobby. Do a little bit. But they were
always sure when they planted their corn, they wanted what
was called certified seed. And that's what Paul wanted.
That's what he had. He said, I certify to you, brethren,
that my gospel is not of man. I didn't get it from man. It's
not about man. It doesn't glorify man. I didn't get this gospel from
man. But he that goeth forth and weepeth,
bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing
his sheaves with him. Here's the picture. Here's this
man, this woman, gone out in the field, cast in this sea. They don't know what area is
good ground and what area is not. They cast with the hope
it all is. But they know it's not. Paul
said, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they
might be saved. But he said, the problem is,
though they have a zeal for God, it's not according to knowledge.
How do you know that? He says, because they are going
about to establish their own righteousness, and have not submitted
themselves to the righteousness of Christ. When men are always
talking about what we are to do to be righteous, you know
they have not submitted to the only true righteousness there
is. He shall doubtless come again
rejoicing, bringing His sheaves with Him." What's His sheaves? That's those shocks of wheat
like they used to do in the old days when they would take the
scythe and cut it down and bundle it up in bundles and stack it
up in the fields. That was the harvest. That was
the fruit. And these who bear this precious
seed, they'll doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing
with them their sheaves." Solomon says, "'For thou shalt
find it after many days.'" There is a time of harvest. There's
a season of reaping that the Lord of the harvest has ordained. And most likely that season,
that time, is not conducive to how we want it to be in the flesh.
Do you ever notice a man or a woman or a couple? Spring comes and
they prepare the ground. You'll see them out there late
one afternoon and they'll be putting that seed in the ground. But the strangest thing is, you'll
see them out there the next morning with that cup of coffee in their
hand looking as if to see if any of it came up. They know
it's not going to come up, but they wish it was. You and I don't determine that
length. Our confidence is that God has promised the harvest.
He has promised that he'd bless the means that he has established. And He has described us as being
workers together with Christ. In other words, it's not the
skill or the gifts of the sower, it's the power of God that produces
the harvest. God has purposed to save a people
in Christ. And Christ died for and redeemed
that people and pledged Himself to bring them. And the Holy Spirit
will give them spiritual life and faith and new birth and work
in them both the will and to do of His good pleasure. Oh, He came unto His own, and
His own received Him not." End of story? No. But to as many
as received Him. That's almost a contradictory
thing, isn't it? Somebody received Him when nobody
of themselves could receive Him? They received Him. because they
were born not of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of God. He gives life. And how many times
has a farmer gone out to sow, seed, and do everything he can
to assure that it will come up and produce, but it didn't. You see, God continues to let
us know that all life must come from Him, even in the natural
realm. He's the life-giver. Oh, they'll
be willing in the day of His power. And if you look over in
1 Corinthians chapter 3, And verse 3, later on in that
same place, in the church of Corinth, they always struggled
with problems. One of the things they fell victim
to was a little preacher worship. A disease that remains to this
day. One of them said, well, I'll
tell you, Paul's about the best preacher. He's the only one I
can listen to. Of course, another one said,
you know, but Apollos is so eloquent. I just really like the way he
sits forward. Or maybe another one said, I
just like Simon Peter. He's just full of fire. I mean,
he's just so enthusiastic and zealous and all. I just like
to hear him preach. 1 Corinthians 3, Paul says to him,
For you are yet carnal. For whereas there is among you
envying and strife and division, are you not carnal and walk as
men? For while one saith, I am of
Paul, and another, I am of Apollos, are you not carnal?" Is that
not the flesh talking? Who then is Paul? And who is
Apollos? But ministers or servants by
whom you believe, even as the Lord gave to every man, I have
planted, Apollos watered." What does that next thing say? But
God gave the increase. So neither is he that planteth
anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase."
Now, he that planteth and he that watereth are one, and every
man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor, for
we are laborers together with God. You are God's husbandry. You are God's building. He said,
one sows, one waters. One sows a little more seed,
one waters with more of the Word, but God gives the increase. He must give the increase. And
we can be sure that as we labor and sow, it's never in vain. I was telling someone this morning
before the service, the preaching of the Gospel, the sowing of
this seed, first of all, and most importantly, glorifies God. It is a sweet savor unto God. Not only in them that are being
saved, but even in them that are perishing. Not only in them
that believe it, but those also who don't believe it. Because
the sweetness of it is His darling Son. He says this, "'For as the rain
cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither,
but watereth 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 goeth 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 whereunto I sin it." Maybe the reason why the Word does
not seem to accomplish what we want it to, it may be that our
objectives are different from God's. He sends it forth to save
His people and to exalt His triune holy being. Cast thy bread upon the water. You will find it after many days. God help us to be generous. Not
hoarders. Generous. Especially to them
that are of the household of faith. Our fellow brothers and
sisters. But to all men. But this means more than that.
Cast this seed upon the waters. Precious seed. Because He that beareth precious
seeds, that almost sounds like it means, and waters it with
their tears, shall doubtless come again rejoicing, bringing
with Him His sheaves. The harvest. Father, this day
we thank You. We pray that You'd bless Your
Word to our understanding to our hearts, to our encouragement,
to our delight, calls us, Lord, not only to look to Christ, to
trust His precious blood and plead His righteousness imputed
to us, but also to be those who cast that precious seed upon
the waters in the expectancy of that harvest that you have
ordained to the glory of your name. Help us, we pray, for we
ask it in Christ's name. Amen.