Notes of a Lecture, by the REV. D. MACFARLANE, Dingwall, Delivered on Sabbath, 10th June, 1917.
“For whatsoever a man soweth, 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” (Gal. vi. 7, 8).
THE Apostle here lays down a principle which is true in nature and in grace. Whatever kind of seed is sown, the same kind is reaped. If you sow barley you shall reap barley, and if you sow wheat you shall reap wheat. This was true from the beginning of the Creation regarding all vegetation, as we have it recorded in Scripture: “And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind” (Genesis i. 12). This is true also in spiritual things. And in order that we might not expect to reap anything better than that which we have sown, the Apostle says: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked.” If we live in sin, we must receive the wages of sin, which is death; and, on the other hand, if we live to God, doing His will by His own grace, we shall reap the good that He promised to those that serve Him.
Every individual of the human race is a sower. The time for sowing is the spring season, which is our lifetime on earth, and whatever we sow in that season, we shall reap the same in kind in eternity, which is the harvest season in which we shall reap what we have sown. The Apostle and his fellow-labourers were sowers, and the seed which they sowed was the Word of God which they preached, and, as the first ripe fruits are reaped before the general harvest comes, they reaped as they sowed; they sowed the seed of truth which produced believers in reality! This is the case wherever the truth is taught from the pulpit in all ages. On the other hand, there were teachers who sowed the seed of error to their hearers, and the result was that those who received their false doctrine became Christians in name but not in reality, and this is always the case where error is preached. These teachers taught that their hearers must be circumcised in order to be saved. Circumcision makes some change in the flesh or body, but makes no change in the soul, which requires to be changed by regeneration and the new birth; without which no sinner can enter heaven, which Christ taught Nicodemus when He said, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” This was a sowing to the flesh, and corruption was reaped, as we have it in our text.
The words of our text apply to the practice of men. If you live after the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, you must reap according as you have sown. There are some who deceive themselves by thinking that they can reap better things than they have sown. These say, “Let us do evil that good may come,” but the principle, enunciated in our text, must stand true. “Whatsoever a man soweth, that he shall reap.” You sow daily by your thoughts, words, and actions, and whatever these may be, you shall reap as you have sown. Examine yourselves as to what are your thoughts when you awake in the morning, throughout the day, and when you lie down to sleep at night. Are your thoughts set upon the Word of God and the things that pertain to your everlasting peace, or upon the world and the vanities thereof? Dr. Kennedy said that he would have good hopes of men or women whose first thoughts when they open their eyes in the morning, and their last thoughts before closing their eyes in sleep at night, were on the Word of God. This must be true of all God’s people, but it is not true of men in a state of nature, whatever they may profess. The Apostle Paul sowed to the flesh till the time of his conversion, when he was probably about thirty years of age, but, when he was changed by the grace of God, he at once ceased to sow to the flesh, and began to sow to the Spirit in his thoughts, words, and actions. He had now better work in preaching the Gospel of God’s grace to perishing sinners, and he is now reaping in eternity a rich harvest which sprang from his incessant labours on earth.
Spring time is a cold season, and those who sow seed in the earth suffer much from the inclemency of the weather, but when they reap an abundant crop in harvest, it more than makes up for all that they suffered when sowing the seed. Men sow, not only by their conduct in general, but they sow in their mode of worship. Those who use the organ or any other musical instrument—but the lips—in the service of praise, in family worship, or in the public sanctuary, sow to the flesh, “fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,” and they must reap corruption, according as they have sown. It is an unscriptural mode of worship; it has no Scriptural warrant in the Church of Christ in New Testament times, nor has it been the practice in Scotland till men forsook the faith, “once for all delivered to the saints.”
There were mighty men of God in the past who would not tolerate any error in doctrine or worship in the Church. They held to the Bible as given by the inspiration of God. They held, not only that the Word of God in the Bible was inspired, but also that the record of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments was also inspired. But a sad change has taken place since these men were taken home to their eternal rest. A flood of errors came into the Church through the instrumentality of graceless ministers. Instead of removing the flood of errors, the flood of errors removed them. They began to criticise the Bible, and declared that there were many errors in it. They borrowed the “higher” criticism from Germany, and let me tell you to be on your guard against the “higher” critics, for their intention is to destroy the Christian religion if they can. I read the article in a recent issue of the Bulwark, written by Dr. Robertson of Venice, who knew what he said. He mentioned in that article that many of the “higher” critics in Germany did not acknowledge even the being of the God of the Bible, but that the God they acknowledged and worshipped was the god of War, whom they called “Woden.” This god gives licence to his worshippers to practise all vices, and to wage war against all Christians. You know that it was often stated in the public prints that the Kaiser said that God was with him in this War, but you are to bear in mind that it is not in reality the God of the Bible he meant, but Woden, the god of War. The worshippers of this god repudiate the Lord Jesus Christ and His sayings in the Scriptures. They say that Jesus Christ said that, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” but they say, “Blessed are the mighty in spirit”—the War-Lords. The Kaiser never mentions the name of Jesus Christ. Till I read Dr. Robertson’s article I did not fully realise that the real intention of the higher critic in Germany was to destroy Christianity out of the world, but I see it now, and I warn my fellow-creatures to flee from every minister who is a higher critic. For ourselves, we resolve, by God’s grace, to keep to the doctrines of God’s Word; to preach these doctrines during our lifetime, and to hand them down to coming generations, pure and entire, as was the resolution of the Psalmist, who said:—
“We also will them not conceal
From their posterity;
Them to the generation,
To come declare will we.”
The devil’s aim is to destroy Christianity, and the higher critics, who are his children, are employed by him to accomplish his purpose, and the evil one is wroth at us because we make a stand in defence of the truth of the Christian religion, but Christ will support us by His grace, and instead of destroying Christianity, Christ, the author of Christianity, will destroy them, for He must reign till all His enemies are made His footstool.
The evil fruit yielded by the corrupt seed sown in Germany may be seen in various ways in our day, such as in deplorable departures from sound doctrine, and in the widespread practical atheism in our own country and other countries, for which God is now punishing the nations in the present terrible War. But the harvest in which men shall reap as they sowed is in eternity, where two classes of people shall reap as they sowed in this world. They that sowed to the flesh shall reap corruption, and they that sowed to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. That harvest shall never come to an end, and the reapers shall be reaping without ceasing, as they sowed, for ever and ever.
Let those who by grace commenced to do good “Not weary in well-doing, for in due season they shall reap, if they faint not;” but those who continue in their evil-doing till the end of their mortal life, cannot expect but everlasting punishment, for the words of our text must be fulfilled: “He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption.” “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ: that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (2 Cor. v. 10).