hristian is to grow by co-operating with the divine agencies. Feeling
our helplessness, we are to improve all the opportunities granted us to
gain a fuller experience. As the plant takes root in the soil, so we are
to take deep root in Christ. As the plant receives the sunshine, the dew,
and the rain, we are to open our hearts to the Holy Spirit. The work
is to be done “not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith
the Lord of hosts.” Zechariah 4:6. If we keep our minds stayed upon
Christ, He will come unto us “as the rain, as the latter and former rain
unto the earth.” Hosea 6:3. As the Sun of Righteousness, He will arise
upon us “with healing in His wings.” Malachi 4:2. We shall “grow as
the lily.” We shall “revive as the corn, and grow as the vine.” Hosea
14:5, 7. By constantly relying upon Christ as our personal Saviour,
we shall grow up into Him in all things who is our head.
The wheat develops “first the blade, then the ear, after that the full
corn in the ear.” The object of the husbandman in the sowing of the
seed and the culture of the growing plant is the production of grain.
He desires bread for the hungry, and seed for future harvests. So the
divine Husbandman looks for a harvest as the reward of His labor and
sacrifice. Christ is seeking to reproduce Himself in the hearts of men;
and He does this through those who believe in Him. The object of the
Christian life is fruit bearing—the reproduction of Christ’s character
in the believer, that it may be reproduced in others.
The plant does not germinate, grow, or bring forth fruit for itself,
but to “give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater.” Isaiah 55:10.
So no man is to live unto himself. The Christian is in the world as a
representative of Christ, for the salvation of other souls.
There can be no growth or fruitfulness in the life that is centered
in self. If you have accepted Christ as a personal
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Saviour, you are to forget yourself, and try to help others. Talk of
the love of Christ, tell of His goodness. Do every duty that presents
itself. Carry the burden of souls upon your heart, and by every means
in your power seek to save the lost. As you receive the Spirit of
Christ—the Spirit of unselfish love and labor for others—you will
grow and bring forth fruit. The graces of the Spirit will ripen in your
character. Your faith will increase, your convictions deepen, your
love be made perfect. More and more you will reflect the likeness of
Christ in all that is pure, noble, and lovely.
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
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gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.” Galatians 5:22,
23. This fruit can never perish, but will produce after its kind a harvest
unto eternal life.
“When the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the
sickle, because the harvest is come.” Christ is waiting with longing
desire for the manifestation of Himself in His church. When the
character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then
He will come to claim them as His own.
It is the privilege of every Christian not only to look for but to
hasten the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, (2 Peter 3:12, margin).
Were all who profess His name bearing fruit to His glory, how quickly
the whole world would be sown with the seed of the gospel. Quickly
the last great harvest would be ripened, and Christ would come to
gather the precious grain.
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Chap. 4 - Tares
Based on Matthew 13:24-30; Matthew 13:37-43;
“Another parable put He forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of
heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field; but
while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat,
and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought
forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.”
“The field,” Christ said, “is the world.” But we must understand
this as signifying the church of Christ in the world. The parable is a
description of that which pertains to the kingdom of God, His work of
salvation of men; and this work is accomplished through the church.
True, the Holy Spirit has gone out into all the world; everywhere it is
moving upon the hearts of men; but it is in the church that we are to
grow and ripen for the garner of God.
“He that sowed the good seed is the Son of man.... The good seed
are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the
wicked one.” The good seed represents those who are born of the
word of
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God, the truth. The tares represent a class who are the fruit or
embodiment of error, of false principles. “The enemy that sowed
them is the devil.” Neither God nor His angels ever sowed a seed
that would produce a tare. The tares are always sown by Satan, the
enemy of God and man.
In the East, men sometimes took revenge upon an enemy by
strewing his newly sown fields with the seeds of some noxious weed
that, while growing, closely resembled wheat. Springing up with the
wheat, it injured the crop and brought trouble and loss to the owner
of the field. So it is from enmity to Christ that Satan scatters his
evil seed among the good grain of the kingdom. The fruit of his
sowing he attributes to the Son of God. By bringing into the church
those who bear Christ’s name while they deny His character, the
wicked one causes that God shall be dishonored, the work of salvation
misrepresented, and souls imperiled.
Christ’s servants are grieved as they see true and false believers
mingled in the church. They long to do something to cleanse the
church. Like the servants of the householder, they are ready to uproot
the tares. But Christ says to them, “Nay; lest while ye gather up the
tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together
until the harvest.”
Christ has plainly taught that those who persist in open sin must
be separated from the church, but He has not committed to us the
work of judging character and motive. He knows our nature too well
to entrust this work to us. Should we try to uproot from the church
those whom we suppose to be spurious Christians, we should be sure
to make mistakes. Often we regard as hopeless subjects the very ones
whom Christ is drawing to Himself. Were we
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to deal with these souls according to our imperfect judgment, it
would perhaps extinguish their last hope. Many who think themselves
Christians will at last be found wanting. Many will be in heaven
who their neighbors supposed would never enter there. Man judges
from appearance, but God judges the heart. The tares and the wheat
are to grow together until the harvest; and the harvest is the end of
probationary time.
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There is in the Saviour’s words another lesson, a lesson of
wonderful forbearance and tender love. As the tares have their roots
closely intertwined with those of the good grain, so false brethren
in the church may be closely linked with true disciples. The real
character of these pretended believers is not fully manifested. Were
