Post by Shepherd on Nov 19, 2008 10:53:13 GMT -6
70 A VISIT TO THE HARVEST FIELD
JAMES 5:7-8
The earth that yields seed to the sower and bread to the eater has received its constitution from God; and it is governed through His wise providence by fixed laws that are infinitely reliable; and yet, at the same time, with such diversified conditions and minute peculiarities as may will convince us that the almighty intended the operations of nature to supply us with spiritual instructions as well as with material good.
I. FIRST, THEN, HOW DOES THE HUSBANDMAN WAIT?
He waits with a reasonable hope for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it until he receive the early and the latter rain. He expects the harvest because he has ploughed the fields and sown the grain.
Out on the folly of those who flatter their souls with a prospect of good things in time to come while the neglect the opportunity of sowing good things in the time present.
The husbandman waits with a reasonable hope; he does not look for grain where he has cast in garlic.
Soul then that you are not a fool, you will like him count only on the fruit of your own sowing.
While he waits with a patient hope, he is no doubt all the more patient of the issue, because his hope is so reasonable.
And not only does he wait with patience, but some stress is put upon the length of it; VERSE 7,” AND HATH LONG PATIENCE FOR THE PRECIOUS FRUIT OF THE EARTH.”
He waits. The moons wax and wane; sun rises and set; but the husbandman waits till the appointed time is come.” WAIT THOU, O SUFFERER, TILL THE NIGHT BE OVER.”
Are you a worker? Then you need as much patience in working as you do in suffering.
We must not expect to see immediate results in all cases from the preaching of the gospel. From the teaching of scripture in our classes, from distribution religious literature, or from any other kind effort.
Be patient, O worker, for impatience sours the temper, chills the blood, sickens the heart, prostrates the vigor of one’s spirit, and spoils the enterprise of life before it is ripe for history.
Wait thou, clothed with patience, like a champion clad in steel. Wait in a right spirit, anxious, prayerful, earnest submissive to the ways of God, not doubtful of His will.
Disciple of Jesus, LEARN TO LABOR AND TO WAIT. The first thing that a farmer does by way of seeking grain on his farm is to make a sacrifice which could seem immediately to entail on him a loss.
You must not expect as soon as you become a Christian, that you shall obtain all the gains of your religion, perhaps you may lose all that you have for Christ’s sake.
And, while the husbandman waits, you observe in the text he waits with his eye upward, he waits until God shall send him the early and the latter rain.
None but the eternal Father can send the Holy Ghost like showers on the church. He can send the comforter, and my labor will prosper; it will not be in vain in the Lord; but if He deny, if He withhold this covenant blessing, oh me! Work is useless, patience is worthless, and all the cost is bootless; it is in vain.
Christian men; wait for the coming of your Lord, but let it be with your lamps trimmed and your lights burning, as good servants.
He waits with patience, oh, when we work for God, how often will this happen? There are always changes in the field of Christian labor, at one time we see many conversions, and we bless God that there are so many seals to our testimony.
When God shall give you a rich return for all you have done for Him, you will blush to think you ever doubted; you will be ashamed to think you ever grew weary in His services.
II. WHAT DOES THE HUSBANDMAN’S WAIT FOR?
He waits for results, for real results; right results; he hopes also rich results. And this just what we are waiting for–waiting as sufferers for the results of sanctified affliction.
Oh that we might have every virtue strengthened, every grace refined, by passing through the furnace. And you, also, like the husbandman, waiting for a reward.
Wait till the week is over, and then shall come the wages, wait until the sun is gone down, and then there will be the penny for every laborer in the vineyard. The husbandman waits for the precious fruit of the earth.
III WHAT IS THE HUSBANDMAN’S ENCOURAGEMENT IN WAITING?
The fruit is, that the fruit he waits for is precious. Who that walks through a cornfield where the crops are plentiful, but will say–“Well, this was, after all, worth all the trouble and all the expense, and all the long patience of that winter which is over and gone.”
If the Lord should draw you near unto Himself by your afflictions, if He should make His image in you more clear, it will be worth waiting for.
We may wait, therefore, with patience, because the reward of our labor will be precious. Above all, the reward of hearing the master say, WELL DONE, GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT, is worth waiting for.
A Godly husbandman waits with patience, again, because He knows God’s covenant. God has said “Seed time and harvest, summer and winter, shall not cease”
and the Christian farmer knowing this is confident.
What strong confidence have we who have looked to Christ, and who are resting on the faithful word of a covenant God. He cannot fail us. The covenant stands good, the harvest must come as surely as the seed time has come.
Let us cheerfully resign ourselves to the Lord’s will in suffering, for as others of His saints who went before us have reaped the blessing, so shall we.
IV. WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF PATIENCE?
To patiently wait God’s appointed time is our business. Suppose a man should be impatient under suffering, will it diminish his suffering.
O that we would endeavor to conquer impatience. It cast Satan out of heaven, when he was impatient at the honor and dignity of the Son of God.
The benefits of patience are too many for me to hope to enumerate them. Suffice it to say, patience saves a man from great discouragement.
Expect to wait for glory; expect to wait for the reward which God hath promised; and while you are waiting on the Lord your bread shall be certain, and your water shall be sure; you shall often eat meat, thank God, and take courage.
When we have patience it keeps us in good heart for service, great haste make little speed. He that believeth shall not make hast; and as the promise runs, he shall never be confounded, above all, patience is to be commended to you because it glorifies God.
Let me have my best things last, my Lord, and my worst things first. Be they what they may, they shall be over, and then my best things shall last for ever and for ever.
Cast not away your confidence. But there is something more. The apostle says, YE HAVE NEED OF PATIENCE, AFTER YE HAVE DONE THE WILL OF GOD.
It is that after our fight is fought, after our race is run, after our allotted task is finished, there is so much need of patience, of such patience as waits only on God and watches unto prayer, that we may finish our course with joy and the ministry we have received of the Lord Jesus.
Look back at James 1:4
CONCLUSION.
Are you ready to depart? Not you for a brief space has the reaper come.
YE HAVE NEED OF PATIENCE. Wait on the Lord. Holiness shall now be legibly, more legibly, than ever, inscribed on your forefront by the clear shining of the sun of righteousness.
The heavenly husbandman has you daily, hourly, in His eye, till He shall say to the angel of His presence, “put in your sickle.”
The coming of the Lord draweth near. Ever year brings Him nearer to everyone.
JAMES 5:7-8
The earth that yields seed to the sower and bread to the eater has received its constitution from God; and it is governed through His wise providence by fixed laws that are infinitely reliable; and yet, at the same time, with such diversified conditions and minute peculiarities as may will convince us that the almighty intended the operations of nature to supply us with spiritual instructions as well as with material good.
I. FIRST, THEN, HOW DOES THE HUSBANDMAN WAIT?
He waits with a reasonable hope for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it until he receive the early and the latter rain. He expects the harvest because he has ploughed the fields and sown the grain.
Out on the folly of those who flatter their souls with a prospect of good things in time to come while the neglect the opportunity of sowing good things in the time present.
The husbandman waits with a reasonable hope; he does not look for grain where he has cast in garlic.
Soul then that you are not a fool, you will like him count only on the fruit of your own sowing.
While he waits with a patient hope, he is no doubt all the more patient of the issue, because his hope is so reasonable.
And not only does he wait with patience, but some stress is put upon the length of it; VERSE 7,” AND HATH LONG PATIENCE FOR THE PRECIOUS FRUIT OF THE EARTH.”
He waits. The moons wax and wane; sun rises and set; but the husbandman waits till the appointed time is come.” WAIT THOU, O SUFFERER, TILL THE NIGHT BE OVER.”
Are you a worker? Then you need as much patience in working as you do in suffering.
We must not expect to see immediate results in all cases from the preaching of the gospel. From the teaching of scripture in our classes, from distribution religious literature, or from any other kind effort.
Be patient, O worker, for impatience sours the temper, chills the blood, sickens the heart, prostrates the vigor of one’s spirit, and spoils the enterprise of life before it is ripe for history.
Wait thou, clothed with patience, like a champion clad in steel. Wait in a right spirit, anxious, prayerful, earnest submissive to the ways of God, not doubtful of His will.
Disciple of Jesus, LEARN TO LABOR AND TO WAIT. The first thing that a farmer does by way of seeking grain on his farm is to make a sacrifice which could seem immediately to entail on him a loss.
You must not expect as soon as you become a Christian, that you shall obtain all the gains of your religion, perhaps you may lose all that you have for Christ’s sake.
And, while the husbandman waits, you observe in the text he waits with his eye upward, he waits until God shall send him the early and the latter rain.
None but the eternal Father can send the Holy Ghost like showers on the church. He can send the comforter, and my labor will prosper; it will not be in vain in the Lord; but if He deny, if He withhold this covenant blessing, oh me! Work is useless, patience is worthless, and all the cost is bootless; it is in vain.
Christian men; wait for the coming of your Lord, but let it be with your lamps trimmed and your lights burning, as good servants.
He waits with patience, oh, when we work for God, how often will this happen? There are always changes in the field of Christian labor, at one time we see many conversions, and we bless God that there are so many seals to our testimony.
When God shall give you a rich return for all you have done for Him, you will blush to think you ever doubted; you will be ashamed to think you ever grew weary in His services.
II. WHAT DOES THE HUSBANDMAN’S WAIT FOR?
He waits for results, for real results; right results; he hopes also rich results. And this just what we are waiting for–waiting as sufferers for the results of sanctified affliction.
Oh that we might have every virtue strengthened, every grace refined, by passing through the furnace. And you, also, like the husbandman, waiting for a reward.
Wait till the week is over, and then shall come the wages, wait until the sun is gone down, and then there will be the penny for every laborer in the vineyard. The husbandman waits for the precious fruit of the earth.
III WHAT IS THE HUSBANDMAN’S ENCOURAGEMENT IN WAITING?
The fruit is, that the fruit he waits for is precious. Who that walks through a cornfield where the crops are plentiful, but will say–“Well, this was, after all, worth all the trouble and all the expense, and all the long patience of that winter which is over and gone.”
If the Lord should draw you near unto Himself by your afflictions, if He should make His image in you more clear, it will be worth waiting for.
We may wait, therefore, with patience, because the reward of our labor will be precious. Above all, the reward of hearing the master say, WELL DONE, GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT, is worth waiting for.
A Godly husbandman waits with patience, again, because He knows God’s covenant. God has said “Seed time and harvest, summer and winter, shall not cease”
and the Christian farmer knowing this is confident.
What strong confidence have we who have looked to Christ, and who are resting on the faithful word of a covenant God. He cannot fail us. The covenant stands good, the harvest must come as surely as the seed time has come.
Let us cheerfully resign ourselves to the Lord’s will in suffering, for as others of His saints who went before us have reaped the blessing, so shall we.
IV. WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF PATIENCE?
To patiently wait God’s appointed time is our business. Suppose a man should be impatient under suffering, will it diminish his suffering.
O that we would endeavor to conquer impatience. It cast Satan out of heaven, when he was impatient at the honor and dignity of the Son of God.
The benefits of patience are too many for me to hope to enumerate them. Suffice it to say, patience saves a man from great discouragement.
Expect to wait for glory; expect to wait for the reward which God hath promised; and while you are waiting on the Lord your bread shall be certain, and your water shall be sure; you shall often eat meat, thank God, and take courage.
When we have patience it keeps us in good heart for service, great haste make little speed. He that believeth shall not make hast; and as the promise runs, he shall never be confounded, above all, patience is to be commended to you because it glorifies God.
Let me have my best things last, my Lord, and my worst things first. Be they what they may, they shall be over, and then my best things shall last for ever and for ever.
Cast not away your confidence. But there is something more. The apostle says, YE HAVE NEED OF PATIENCE, AFTER YE HAVE DONE THE WILL OF GOD.
It is that after our fight is fought, after our race is run, after our allotted task is finished, there is so much need of patience, of such patience as waits only on God and watches unto prayer, that we may finish our course with joy and the ministry we have received of the Lord Jesus.
Look back at James 1:4
CONCLUSION.
Are you ready to depart? Not you for a brief space has the reaper come.
YE HAVE NEED OF PATIENCE. Wait on the Lord. Holiness shall now be legibly, more legibly, than ever, inscribed on your forefront by the clear shining of the sun of righteousness.
The heavenly husbandman has you daily, hourly, in His eye, till He shall say to the angel of His presence, “put in your sickle.”
The coming of the Lord draweth near. Ever year brings Him nearer to everyone.
