Thank you, Pastor, very much.
Thank you, Brother Dave, for that song. One of the best news I ever heard
in my life was that it was finished. Most difficult conclusion I ever
had to reach in my life, though. I went through all my teenage
years thinking that it was God's will for me to save myself. This
is the truth. God knows that I'm telling the
truth. I finally come. to what I thought was some enlightenment
in my mind, to realize that it wasn't God's will for me to save
myself, but it was God's will for me to help the Lord Jesus
to save me. And that still didn't work. And
he never let off of me. He never let off the guilt upon
my conscience. He pressed me. I've often said
if God dealt with every man the way he dealt with me, He would
save everybody. Because He refused to let me
die in my utter ignorance until He brought me to the place where
He made me to know it's finished. It's finished. And when I saw
that, the guilt was gone. I was saved. I found myself in
Christ. And that's been good news, Bob,
ever since. It is finished. It is finished. I tell you that battle's done.
There's one inside now. But that battle's finished. Christ
by himself purged our sins. And one man said there is that
most definite sense in which the only way a believer is allowed
to consider his sins is this, that they have been purged. We
weep over them. We grieve over them. We confess
them. But I tell you, they've been
purged. That's good news. I want to look at a passage of
Scripture with you in Galatians chapter 6. I was just thinking
about this, and I thought, well, it's just probably more or less
just a little lesson for us to look at. But look here in Galatians
chapter 6, and I want to begin reading in verse 7 and read down
through verse 10. Galatians chapter 6, and let's
begin reading in verse 7. Be not deceived, God is not mocked,
for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. For he that
soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but
he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life
everlasting. And let us not be weary in well-doing,
for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. As we have therefore
opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them
who are of the household of faith. Be not deceived." Oh my, as I
read that, I thought, Be not deceived. The Apostle Paul is
speaking to this church. He's speaking to you and he's
speaking to me. Be not deceived. Don't deceive
yourself. The heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. Don't deceive yourself. Don't
be deceived by sin. Paul said, look indeligently
lest any man be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. How deceitful sin is. Don't be
deceived by sin. Don't be deceived by Satan. The
scripture says that Satan shall deceive the nations which are
in the four corners of the earth. The world has been deceived by
him. A man thinks that he's God's
friend and all along he's God's enemy. Who deceives him? Satan
deceives him. Be not deceived. Don't be deceived
by the deceitfulness of riches. The deceitfulness of riches choke
the word, and it becometh unfruitful, unprofitable. Do I profess to be a man of a
good character, but I'm really not? Have I deceived myself? Do I profess to be honest and
yet it's all pretense? Do I profess to be truthful?
Am I truthful with God? Do I profess to be truthful with
the church? Do I profess to be truthful before
my family and yet I'm living a lie? Have I deceived myself? Am I professing to believe something
that I really don't believe? Am I professing to love something
that I really don't love? Am I professing to love somebody
that I really don't love? Be not deceived. You know if
a man's going to deceive himself, it's probably concerning his
own character. He makes himself believe that
he's something that he's really not. He professes one thing and
lives something else. He professes to be a doer of
the Word, but he's not at all. He professes to walk in the light,
but he's walking in darkness, and he deceives himself about
these things. He says, I love the truth, but
he lives a lie. Be not deceived. And if I deceive
myself, it'll probably be about my character. What kind of a
person am I? Be not deceived. What an awful
word. Be not deceived. Why? Because
God's not deceived in us. God is not mocked. He's not deluded, is He? He knows
us. If I deceive myself, I don't
deceive him about myself. He knows me. He knows our hearts. He knows our thoughts. He knows
what we love. He knows what we hate. He knows
our down settings. He knows our uprisings. He knows what we possess. He
knows everything about us. Everything is naked and open
in the eyes of him with whom we have to do. We cannot deceive
God. We cannot delude Him. He knows it. If we're followers
of God as dear children, if we walk in love, if we live by faith
upon the Son of God, if we walk in the light as He is in the
light, if we're honest with Him, if we're sincere with Him, if
we seek to keep a clear conscience with Him, He knows it. He knows
us. And those who honor Him, He will
honor. And if we draw near to Him with
our lips and our hearts are far from Him, we may deceive man,
but we won't deceive Him. We won't delude God. God is not mocked. Oh, to profess God! To profess
the God of truth and to live a lie is not an attempt to mock
God. To profess to love a holy Savior
and live an unholy life is not an attempt to mock God. To profess
to be generous and to close our eyes to the needs of others is
not an attempt to mock God. To profess grace and to be ungracious
is not an attempt to mock God. To profess mercy and to be unmerciful
is not an attempt to mock God. And Paul said here, it's impossible
to mock Him. We cannot mock God. God is not mocked. And he goes on to say this, for
whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. You know
in nature, there's this strict rule of nature. And God has made
it this way for a reason. And that's this principle, this
rule. Whatever we sow, that's what
we reap. That's a rule that's so essential
for the well-being and the very existence of humanity. If you
sow a peach seed, a peach tree will come up. If we sow a tomato
seed, a tomato plant will come up. And we're so dependent upon
that, that humanity cannot survive if it were otherwise. If we planted
one seed and something contrary to the nature of that seed came
up, humanity would starve to death. God has set this in nature
that whatever we plant, we reap. He has put the seed in every
plant, and we plant it, and lo and behold, it comes up. And
if a farmer Thanks that he can sow stinkweed in his field and
go out in the fall and gather a crop of alfalfa to feed his
cattle, he's deceived himself, hasn't he? Because God has set
this rule in nature. And it's a sure rule that whatever
we plant, that's what we reap. And Paul says it's the same way,
not only in nature. not only in the kingdom of nature,
but it's the same way in the kingdom of heaven. He tells us
that in verse 8, look at it. For he that sows to the flesh
shall of the flesh reap corruption, just like sowing seed in our
gardens, our fields. It's the same way spiritually. If a man loves his sinful nature,
and flash here is the nature, it's the old Adam fallen sinful
nature. If a man loves this sinful nature,
if he cultivates it, if he's sows to it, if he pampers it,
if he walks after it, if he lives in the satisfaction of it, then
he'll reap the fruit of what he sowed. Job said this, this
have I seen, that they who plow iniquity and sow wickedness shall
reap the same. What happens when a man plows
iniquity and when he sows wickedness? He reaps corruption. He reaps
the fruit of the flesh of sin. But he goes on to say this, but
he that sows to the Spirit, the man that's born of the Spirit,
a man that walks after the Spirit, a man that minds the things of
the Spirit, a man who lives in the Spirit, a man whose heart
is subdued by the Spirit, and he walks under the influence
of that Spirit, and he gives himself up to live under that
Spirit, he shall reap life everlasting. Just like in the kingdom of nature,
it's so in the kingdom of God. But you know, here's the great
mystery behind this, and the world doesn't understand this.
He's not just speaking here of they who walk in open and profane
sins, that they reap corruption. It goes deeper than that, doesn't
it? When we talk about the flesh and this corrupt nature and reaping
what it sows, we're not just talking about drunkards. We're
not just talking about adulterers and fornicators and those who
live in open and profane sins. There's religious flesh. There's
men who sow to the religion. And what do they reap? Corruption? Paul was right into these Galatians,
you know that. And at best, they had left the gospel. Paul said, I've even reached
the point where I'm afraid of you. I'm afraid of you. I preached the gospel to you.
I thought with all my heart you'd receive the gospel of the grace
of Christ. I marvel that you've so soon
left it. But you know they hadn't gone
off into open and profane sins. Not at all had they. You know
what they were doing? They were going back under the
law. The ceremonial law. On certain
feast days and certain holy days and certain Sabbath days, they
were shutting themselves up in their houses. The dads were saying
to the wives, now don't you cook today. Today is a holy day. And
you children, don't you whistle. Don't even laugh today. Today
is a holy Sabbath. We shut ourselves in. We're very
strict in our lifestyle. We're going to live like the
Pharisees did. Well, boy, what would Paul say
about those folks? And here you have this fellow
He went to the meeting one afternoon and somebody that was yet preaching
the grace of Christ preached the grace of Christ to this poor
man and he was a nobody. Maybe he was the town drunk.
You wouldn't want him around your house. He stole from people. He was a menace to society. A
sorry man if there ever was one. And there he sat in the back.
And somebody got up and preached the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. And oh, it went to his heart. And he was saved by this gospel. And there was a difference in
this man. But all he knew was Christ in him crucified. All
he could say was, I'm nothing at all, but Jesus Christ is my
all in all. But there was a difference in
this man. He was filled with the love of God. The love of
God was shed abroad in his heart. Oh, he'd heard about the Savior,
and he'd embraced Him with all of his heart. And he had this
joy, this peace that he'd never had before. But here you see these other
fellows shut up in their houses, living their strict lifestyle.
Not going out of the house on their holy days. But here this
poor man was, he was working on some poor widow's roof. Whistling
as he worked, his heart full of joy. Here's the point I'm making,
brothers and sisters. You look at this poor man, and
all he had to live upon was Christ and Him crucified. But he was
rejoicing in the Savior. He had the Spirit of God's Son
in his heart. He didn't sit in his house on
these holy days. He went about his business. You saw him and
he worked hard. Sometimes his clothes were white
with dry sweat. He didn't look like these other
Christians that had been shutting themselves away. He just a hardworking
man with blisters on his hands. And Paul looked at those fellows
that had adapted this strict religious lifestyle. Setting
in their houses, wouldn't them let their children laugh or whistle
on some Sabbath day? And you know what he said to
them? You're flesh. You're flesh. You and your ceremonies,
you and your rigid lifestyle, you've left the gospel of the
grace of Christ. Flesh. Flesh. And here he looks over at this
fella, this poor man. that knows nothing but Christ
and Him crucified. And his heart's filled with joy
and the peace of God. And he just goes about doing
good as he can. And he's so ignorant
in a lot of ways, he can't even teach his young children very
much. All he can tell them, children, we're poor sinners and nothing
at all. Jesus Christ is our all in all. And people look at him and they
see nothing but a poor man cleaving to this one he calls the Christ
of the cross. And Paul looks at that man and
what does he say? Spirit. Spirit. There's no flesh about him. Spirit. He's so into the spirit of love. and peace, and joy, and kindness,
and long-suffering, and gentleness. He knows nothing about ceremonies.
He knows nothing about holy days. Christ is his all. What's he
doing? He's sowing to the Spirit. The
world don't understand that, do they? No, they look at these strict
religious people. They look at the Mormons. What
good people they are. Oh, how clean, how well dressed
they are. Paul would say flesh. And you're
so into the flesh, you shall of the flesh reap corruption. But there's a higher rank, but
it's a mystery to this world. And that's so into the spirit,
living in the spirit, walking after the spirit. What a wonderful
life. What a mysterious life. What
a mysterious lie. They that sow to the flesh, and
they that sow to the Spirit. And look here what he says in
verse 9. After telling them that, they that sow to the flesh shall
of the flesh reap corruption. But they that sow to the Spirit
shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And then he exhorts
them to do this. And let us not be weary, and
well do. Well, why would a person be weary
and so into the Spirit? Don't be weary and so into the
Spirit. Well, let me give you just a
few reasons, I guess, why we would become weary in well-doing. I imagine if I asked each one
of you, you could give me a good reason why sometimes you don't
excuse it, but you grow weary in well-doing. I think Paul realized
this about us or he'd have never wrote this. Don't be weary in
well-doing. Why? I tell you sometimes why
we're apt to be weary in well-doing. Because of the ungratefulness
of some. You help them, and they don't
even say thank you. You take a lot of time fixing
tapes or CDs and send them a whole bundle. They want to write you
a note and say, I got them. Thank you. Thank you. And after
a while, you may grow a little bit weary. You may grow weary
of this, the unworthiness of some people. They abuse your help. It's not
just they don't say thank you. They just abuse. The more you
help them, the more they will abuse you and your help. After a while, you have a tendency
to grow weary. One man said what discouraged
him, he had given himself poor. He had given all he had. I doubt
that. But you can consider that if
you want to. He said he'd give up everything he had in his bank
account and he had none left. That could happen. I think if
I had a lot of money and I gave it all away and I didn't have
anything to live off of, I'd be somewhat weary and well doing. Fourthly, we see so little fruit
coming out of our sowing. We sow and we sow and we sow
and we see so little fruit of our sowing. And fifthly is this. We run into
all sorts of difficulty in sowing. My grandpa used to come down from
Kentucky to Tennessee and he cleared new ground for my dad.
Every year he cleared this same patch of new ground. He'd come
back next year, the same old patch of new ground, grew up
and he'd clear it again until finally he got tired of clearing
the new ground. It's not always easy to sow. You know why? We
face difficulty. We've got some old roots in here,
don't we? You ever plow with a horse? I used to plow when
I was just a little bitty kid. Never understood why my dad would
horn a big 2,000-pound horse and send a little 10-year-old
kid out to plow. And he just went basically where
he wanted to. The plow hit a root or a rock.
It's difficult plowing. It's difficult sowing. There's
a lot of roots, there's a lot of rocks that's within us. I
never gave a penny to nobody that there wasn't something inside
of me saying, I want to keep that. I can't do anything that I should
do, even when God gives me grace to do it, without seeing sin
involved in it. I hate it, don't you? When I
would do good, evil is present with me. And after a while, that
has a tendency to wear you. I'm weary with fighting over
this old man. But of all the things that could
weary you, let this one thing, he says here in verse 9, cheer
you and encourage you. Look what he said. Be not weary
in well-doing in due season, We shall reap if we faint not. There's always a lapse time between
sowing and reaping. It doesn't matter if you're sowing
after the flesh or if you're sowing after the spirit. Usually
there isn't a lapse time. This is why wicked men go on
in their wickedness, because judgment against an evil work
is not rendered speedily. God must not know it. God's not
going to judge. I'm not going to reap what I
sow. There's just a lapse of time between sowing and reaping.
It's the same way. Those who walk in the Spirit
and sow after the Spirit, there's a lapse of time. Brothers and
sisters, it's not harvest time yet. Paul is encouraging us as children
of God to sow beside all waters. As we live by faith in this world,
let us do good. Let us be encouraged to do good.
And in time, in God's own time, in God's own way, and according
to God's own will, we shall reap if we faint not. It's the same
way in the kingdom of nature. It's the same way in the kingdom
of heaven. Listen to this. See if this ain't
so. I give you some reasons just now not to be discouraged and
why people are discouraged sometimes and so on. You and I shouldn't do well,
so others will pat us on the back anyway. Should we? Well, they're just not thankful.
Is that why we're doing it? For them to pat us on the back.
Don't that have a certain amount of phariseeism in it? We shouldn't do well just because
someone is worthy of it. That's not why the Lord did us
good, is it? If he'd have waited until we
were worthy of it, he still wouldn't do anything for us. We shouldn't do well only when
we have plenty to do with. There was a widow that had one
mind, and she gave it. And the Lord said, she'd give
more than those fellows that were rich. It's not how much. The Lord doesn't need what we
have. We shouldn't judge of the harvest
by what little fruit that we're able to see here. Well, so little
fruit. How do we know that? Don't God
have better eyes than we have? Don't he see? Don't he know? Then let us wait and let him
reward. And don't be a looker. There
was another reason I didn't give you. I thought about this just
now. My sister. I was talking to my
dear sister down in Tennessee. And she was telling me. She said,
you know, we had a dinner Sunday. And I done made up my mind that
I wasn't going to stay and help with dishes. I said, why wouldn't
you stay and help with dishes? Because she said, just me and
two or three more is the only one that does it. Nobody else
is doing anything anyway. And that got her weary and well
done. And we look at other people and
say, well, they're not doing anything. I'm doing everything.
I'm just doing it all anyway. And I'm weary. They won't help.
If everybody would help, but just a few of us are doing it,
so we go weary. You know we shouldn't do that.
We shouldn't be looking at how much somebody else is sowing.
They may be sowing in fields that you have no idea that they're
sowing in. Well, oh so-and-so, the treasurer
said, I know how much he gives. It ain't much. You know his brother's dying
of cancer? And he's paying his hospital bill? I didn't know
that. I didn't know that. There's a
lot we don't know. And we look at people and say they're not
doing anything. But how do we know? How do we know? Let's sow
in our own fields. Let everybody else sow in theirs.
And don't be discouraged and weary because we see that somebody
else is not sowing like we think they should. In due season, we
shall reap. We shall reap. Now, I don't fully understand
this, but I want to show you a couple of Scriptures, and I
want you to turn with me. In Hebrews chapter 6. This encourages me, and I'll
trust it will encourage you. The scriptures talks about our
work of faith and our labor of love. Walking by faith, living
by faith, laboring in love, patience of hope, and someday reaping
the fruit of that way. And look here in Hebrews chapter
6, and look in verse 10, look at this. I don't fully understand this,
and I don't even know how much I should even say about this.
Don may even stop me, I don't know. I don't understand when
Paul said, you shall reap. I don't fully understand that.
But some way or another, those who sow to the Spirit and live
in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit, someday, hopefully in
this lifetime, a portion they will reap, but for sure in that life to
come they will reap. If you've got somebody in your
community, he's somebody that's well known and he's upstanding
in the community, and I mean he does good for that community.
He stabilizes that community. He makes it a better community.
You and I wouldn't have any character about us at all. If we didn't
recognize that man, would we? And oh, what a good character
he is. Well, there's coming a time when
the Lord Himself is going to recognize everything that's been
done for His glory through faith in His name and out of love to
their hearts, to His people. He's going to recognize that.
He's not going to forget one thing, not one good deed that's
done for his glory. He's not going to forget it.
He's going to recognize it. I was sick and you come sit under
my bed and you held my hand and you prayed with me. I was hungry
and you fed me. I was naked and you clothed me. He won't forget that. Look at
what he says in verse 10, Hebrews 6. God is not unrighteous to
forget your work of faith and labor of love which you have
showed towards His name, in that you have ministered to the saints,
and you do minister. And we desire that every one
of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope
until the end, that you be not slothful, but followers of them
who faith and patience inherit the promise." There won't be one thing go unnoticed. We do it and we forget about
it. We do it and all we see is sin
mixed in it. And we repent of it. Someday,
the Lord will remind us. And He said, I saw the good in
it. I saw whose glory you did it for. You shall reap. And if anybody here has done
anything for His glory through faith in His name, out of the
love and grace that God's put in your heart, and God forgets
it, then I've missed the mark with this Scripture and what
it means. It'll never happen, brothers
and sisters. Oh, don't that encourage you? Don't that encourage you?
Every opportunity you have to do good, God will remember it. He will remember it. Look over
here at another passage in 2 Corinthians 9, in verse 6. In due season you shall reap. If we've done well, then he would be unrighteous
of God to forget it. He will not forget it. And look
here in 2 Corinthians chapter 9. This is a very interesting
passage. He talks about sowing here too.
Look in verse 6. But this I say, he which sows
sparingly shall reap also sparingly. And he which sows bountifully
shall reap also bountifully. Now Paul is mainly here in the
context speaking of money, giving of money. But we can't limit
it to that. And I don't want to limit it
to that. What I'm talking about tonight, I'm talking about doing
well. Sowing after the Spirit. Everything.
Look what he says in verse 7. Every man according as he purposed
in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly, are a necessity
for God loves a cheerful giver. If you're a cheerful giver, God
loves you. That's why you're a cheerful giver, because He
loves you. He don't love you because you're
a cheerful giver. It's evident He loves you because you're a
cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace
abound towards you that you always, having all sufficiency in all
things, you may abound in every good work. As it is written,
he has dispersed abroad, he's given to the poor, his righteousness
remains forever. Now look at this. Who do we get
the seed to sow? When I'm talking about seed,
I'm talking about well-doing. Well-doing. Whatever it is. Be not weary in well doing. Where do we get the strength
to do well? Where do we get the opportunities
to do well? Where do we get the words to
speak? Where do we get the money to give? These are seeds. Where does these seeds come from?
Look in verse 10. He that ministers seed to the
sower. You do well? He gives you the
opportunity to do well. You've got strength to do well?
Doors opening? It's Him. It's Him. He ministers
seed to the soul. And He ministers bread for your
food and multiplies your seed sown and increases the fruit
of your righteousness. He gives the seed. And then he
says here, he multiplies the seeds some, and he increases
the fruit, the reward. The Lord will give the seed, his seed, and cause it to germinate,
send his rain upon it, his sunshine upon it, and then refuse the
harvest. Brothers and sisters, it will
never happen. Be not weary in well-doing. Do well. Do all you can for God's
glory. In everything you do, He has
enabled you to do it. And you will reap the benefits
of it. A condescending, gracious God
I'll never get over this. He comes to us and He works in
us. Every virtue we possess, every
victory won, every thought of holiness is His and His alone. And He comes to us and He so
secretly works in us, giving us all of these opportunities,
giving us all these seeds to sow. And then He turned around
and said, I'm going to reward you for what you do. Oh, I'm
going to reward you. You shall reap abundantly. And it's Him that's doing it
in us. What a gracious God. What a gracious God. Look back over in my text in
verse 10 then. In the light of this, don't be
weary in well-doing. In due season, you shall reap
if you faint not. God's not going to forget what
you've done. You shall reap. It's Him that's working in you.
To will and to do. It's His seed that you're sowing.
And He'll multiply your seed. And look what He says here in
verse 10. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good to all men. As we have therefore opportunity,
as God provides the seeds, As God opens the doors, as He gives
opportunity, let us do good. Let us do all kinds of good to
all kinds of people. Give yourself, give all yourself,
give all that you possess to doing good as God is pleased
to give you the opportunity. Don't be wary. When God provides you with a
field, He'll provide you with a seed. to sow. When He provides
you with an opportunity, He'll provide you with strength. He'll
provide you with time. He'll provide you with words
to say. I bet this happens to your pastor.
Somebody will come to me and say, I wish you'd come and talk
to these people. I've got a lost loved one. I
wish you'd come and talk to them. And I just ask Him every time,
why don't you talk to Him? I just don't know how to say
it. You say it so much better than I say it. Has God provided
you with the opportunity of doing well to His soul? He'll provide
you with words. Then do well. Blessed are those whose soul. Blessed are those whose soul.
Blessed are those who sow and sow and sow and sow besides all
waters. As we have opportunity, let us
do good. Let us do good. Because it's
God that's providing you with those opportunities. That's His
seed. And whatever's needed, He'll
provide you with that. And the more you give yourself.
Brother Don made mention of it back in the study. This has happened
to him more than it's happened to me. But I've come to the pulpit
thinking that I couldn't stand in the pulpit. I had no strength. I felt like I had nothing to
say. Lord, I give myself to you if you're pleased to use me to
feed your people. And what did he do? He gives me strength. He gives
you opportunity. He'll give you strength. He'll
give you grace. Be not weary in well-doing. I think, brothers
and sisters, if we understood what the Apostle Paul is saying
here, we'd be giving more of ourselves to the Lord. We'd be
watching for more opportunities. We'd be taking advantage of every
opportunity we had to do good. All kinds of good. A dollar wouldn't
stay in our pocket long. We'd work ourselves till we were
ready to leave this world we were so weak. Opportunities.
As we have opportunities. One last passage of scripture,
over in Proverbs chapter 11, and I'll close with this. Proverbs chapter 11, and look
in verse 24. There is that scattereth. There's a man that scattereth.
Sounds like a seed, so it doesn't. He scattereth. That's all he's
doing, scattering. Every time he gets something,
he gives it away. He got some strength, he uses
it to help other people. He just scattereth. He scattereth.
He scattereth of his self and his time and his efforts. Everything
is scattered. And look at this, and yet he
increases. Yet he increases. The more he gives away, the more
he has. Old John Bunyan said, there was a man, some say was
mad. The more he give, the more he had. That's what Solomon said. The Lord's give you opportunities,
use them, he'll give you more. He'll give you a good job. He'll
give you money. Use it for His glory. Honor Him
with it to do good. He'll give you more. You're spending
your strength for His glory? Spend it. He'll give you more
strength. You're preaching yourself half to death? Just keep on preaching.
He'll give you more messages. Scattering, scattering, scattering. And yet He increases. People
say, what's happening? He's mad. The more he gives,
the more he has. But look at this side. There
is that withholdeth more than is right. That's meat. And it
tendeth to poverty. I'm just too tired to go. No,
too tired. You're probably not going to
get any strength sitting there on that couch. I can't afford to give. You're probably never going to
have any more then. It's only those that give. that God increases. Be not weary in well-doing. In
due season you shall reap. You know what? If I think of
reaping, you know what? You know what I think of? If
the Lord is going to reward me, you know how long? This is the
reward. How long? more than anything
else. The Lord called his servants
to him, and he gave to one man five talents. He gave to another
man two talents, and another one talent. And he went into
a foreign country, and finally he called them to account. Let's
see what you've been doing with what I've given you. And the
one man said, Lord, you gave me five talents, and here's ten. That's sowing, ain't it? That's
sowing. Another one said, you gave me
two, and here's four. That's sowing. And he was increased. Do you remember what the Lord
said to those two servants? Oh, brethren, if this has something
to do with reaping, then here's what I want to reap. Is that
something to do with reward? Here's what I want to hear and
here's what I want to receive. The Lord said to those two servants,
well done, you good and faithful servant. Oh, oh, you've been
faithful over a little, just a little. I'll make you ruler
over much. Thou unto the joy of your Lord. Oh, that's the reward I wanted
you to have. That's the reaping, I think,
that would cause my soul to sing and shout and leap down in its
low bottom to hear our sovereign Lord say that to me. Well done. And you know what
we'll do when he tells us that? We'll fall at his feet and say,
you did it all. You did it all. I had an opportunity,
where did it come from? I had the means, where did it
come from? I had the strength, where did it come from? You did
it all. And we'll fall and worship before
his blessed feet. Brothers and sisters, be not
weary. and well-doing. Be not weary
and well-doing. God bless you. Thank you, Pastor.