If we do not reproduce ourselves and bear fruit we will die out. The seed in the good ground “beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.” The seed sown among thorns was choked out and “he becometh unfruitful.” So, it is evident that the Lord wants us to be fruitful, but how do we do that?
Someone has to sow – Jn 4:35-38 – a big part of the problem is that not enough seed is sown. In a famine [Gen 45:6], for instance, there is no earing [plowing] and therefore, there is no harvest [Amos 8:11]. If you don’t want a complete famine for hearing the word of God, you have to keep sowing and you have to sow bountifully [2 Cor 9:6]. The more you sow, the more you’ll reap. As one preacher said, “This is the law of the soil and it is also the law of the soul.” Listen, if we don’t sow the word, we’re finished, because very few others are sowing it.
Someone has to water – 1 Cor 3:5-9 – Is 55:10-11 compares the word that goes out of the mouth of the Lord to rain and snow that moisten the ground. Once the seed is sown you have to keep watering it with the word of God. And not only that, you have to water it with tears of earnest compassion for the lost [Ps 126:5-6]. When I was saved, I was in at McCallie School in Chattanooga,TN. Rocky Young led me to the Lord in tears the night I got saved. For the remainder of high school we prayed every Wednesday in his office and he never ceased to weep for the students. When I visited him in 1989 to tell him that I had been called to preach and that I was going off to Bible College, he wept as we prayed together before my departure. Many men were reached with the gospel because he watered the word of God that was sown in their hearts with his tears.
Someone has to reap – Jn 4:35-38 – notice that the reaper enters the sower’s labor – if the sower hadn’t sown before him, there would be nothing to reap. Billy Graham preached and Olga’s mother got saved many years ago. Olga’s mother witnessed to Olga many times [sowed] and prayed for her often [watered] hoping that Olga would get saved. We met Olga on visitation and she was saved after hearing the gospel again [reaped]. We entered into the labor of Billy Graham and Olga’s mother and were able to reap a harvest. Olga’s daughter, Angel, also was saved a couple of weeks later. Her father, Olga’s ex-husband, had witnessed to her many times [sowed] but was never able to lead her to the Lord. We were able to lead her to the Lord 3 months after he died [reaped]. We entered into his labor and now we “may rejoice together.”
According to Gal 6:9, it takes time to reap and if we do not grow weary and faint, we shall reap in due time. Johnny led a fellow to the Lord in a Dairy Queen. That fellow is good at sowing the seed. But he isn’t a good reaper. So, when he gets someone who appears ready to reap, he calls Johnny and they go back to the same Dairy Queen where this fellow got saved and he makes the person he’s been witnessing to sit in the very same seat at the very same table to hear Johnny preach. And they get saved there!!
When someone sows, and someone waters, and someone reaps, God gives the increase – 1 Cor 3:5-9 – that’s because we labor in the harvest but the harvest is the Lord’s. In Acts 6:7, the word of God increased and the number of disciples multiplied. We have the Bible Conference coming up Oct 19-21 – this is a great opportunity to invite your friends to hear the gospel preached – to sow seed – and we have 10,000 New Testaments coming in October and we’ll have a superb opportunity to sow seed with those – we just need laborers [Matt 9:37-38]. Will you labor?
D.L. Moody bought a picture of a fellow drowning in a storm raged sea who was saved by holding on to the Cross of Refuge with both hands. It was the most beautiful picture he had ever seen until he saw a picture of a woman being lifted out of a raging sea with one of her hands on the cross; with her other hand she was reaching back to pull her friend out with her.