Psalms

[0:00] Let us turn this evening to the same portion in the 126th Psalm, the sixth verse.

[0:14] He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

[0:44] Amen. The pilgrimage journey of the Lord's people is set forth by the first phrase in this verse, he that goeth forth and weepeth.

[1:08] A journey that all are called to make, leaving behind them the city of destruction, reaching forward to the city that is above, the new Jerusalem.

[1:30] And as they go, they each are called to carry a burden of affliction, tribulation and trouble of various kinds, signified by the expression and weepeth.

[1:55] But they each possess precious seed. They carry along with them the word of God.

[2:09] The word which God has spoken to them and upon which they have been caused to hope. Their feet are thus set upon a foundation, the foundation of truth.

[2:30] Everything must give way before the word of God. That must and shall be fulfilled.

[2:42] And as they go, sometimes their steps are heavy. And sometimes they are lighter.

[2:54] And when the Lord is pleased to convey into their souls a little of the sweetness of his promise, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

[3:13] And then gladly, for a while, they leave all below. And rejoicing in the Lord, hold on their way.

[3:26] Well, this is the sense in which we are seeking to consider together this portion. A going forth out of captivity, out of prison, out of bondage and spiritual death.

[3:47] Weeping, perhaps, weeping, perhaps, as we go. We noticed one or two points relative to the weeping.

[4:01] The burden of sin. Particularly when we are led to see the sufferings of Christ. Christ will make the Lord's people weep.

[4:17] And then they will weep to see the cause of Christ set at naught. The audacity, the boldness of the enemies of truth.

[4:34] How firmly they go on their way of opposition and hatred to the cause of Christ and his precious gospel.

[4:48] Blaspheming his name. Setting his truth at naught. Ridiculing and despising his cause and his people. And for this, the godly weep.

[5:02] To see the blood of Christ, which has been made so very precious to them. So foully trampled on.

[5:13] As a poet describes it. Set at naught. Counted an unholy thing. And they weep.

[5:29] You know, they weep with crying. Christ. And Christ weeps with them. For in all their affliction, he is afflicted.

[5:42] He feels for them and with them. And they have fellowship with him in his sufferings.

[5:53] And what a privilege. And what a privilege this is. What a wonderful privilege to weep with Christ. And then to discover that he weeps with us.

[6:10] He who wept with those two bereaved sisters. Feels still for all his people in their pains and afflictions.

[6:20] He that goeth forth and weepeth. Then again, they sometimes weep on account of the pains and sufferings that they endure.

[6:37] Oh, but we mustn't do that. Some, perhaps, are ready to say. This is inconsistent with a true believer.

[6:49] One who is blessed with living faith and holy boldness. A true soldier of the cross of Jesus Christ hasn't time to weep.

[7:03] Well, if God has made you strong, bless God for your strength. But don't despise the weak. Now, there are those who suffer, perhaps, in a way that you do not suffer.

[7:19] Who weep. Who weep because of the pain and the suffering that they endure. We are exhorted to weep with those who do weep.

[7:34] And to rejoice with those who rejoice. No, let us not criticise the weepers, the sorrowful ones.

[7:48] May God give us a heart to sorrow with them. And to seek to bear their burden of sorrow with them. Therefore, even in this, there is a sowing in tears, a preceding, a reaping in joy.

[8:11] He that goeth forth and weepeth. Bearing precious seed.

[8:27] Each child of God will bear the seed of the word. Perhaps in one or two different ways.

[8:41] We may bear precious seed in seeking, by prayer, an interest for ourselves in the blessings of the gospel.

[9:02] Before the actual enjoying of those blessings. Now, if there are those here who perhaps cannot say with assurance that God has spoken his word unto them.

[9:23] Do you desire that he should do so? Do you hear others speaking of having a word? And do you long to have such a blessing yourself?

[9:37] You have perhaps witnessed the transforming effect of the word of God in the lives of the godly. And long that you should know also the power of the gospel in your own heart and life.

[9:59] Well, may God help you to bear the precious seed of the invitations and promises and promises of the word of God. Those invitations which are addressed to the empty-handed, to the weak, the destitute, those precious promises which assure and confirm the weakest believer who prays with faith in Jesus' name.

[10:40] My friends, you won't be heard for the vehemence of your prayer, but for the merits of Christ. You won't be heard by your eloquence and your matter in prayer, but you'll be heard for your faith in the merits of Jesus Christ, his word, his blood, his promises.

[11:08] No, he who hangs upon the merits of Jesus is assured that God will hear his cry. He that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed.

[11:27] No, bear the seed of the invitations and promises of the gospel. Therefore, they assure you, seek and ye shall find.

[11:43] Then, cleave, bear that precious seed of the word that God may have spoken into your heart. It's not always a regular experience.

[11:57] experience. It's not an everyday occurrence. In the days when young Samuel grew up, we read that the word of God was precious in those days.

[12:12] It was rare. It was a rare thing for a person to be blessed with a living faith upon the word of God. It was a rare thing for God in his sovereignty to single out one and another of the sons of men and speak to them by way of love and grace and mercy.

[12:34] And it's rare to die. By comparison with the multitudes of our fellow men who know nothing at all of the word of God, it's a rare thing for anyone to truly testify that God has spoken to their soul.

[12:53] And it's a precious thing. My friends, the Lord has given you something that money cannot buy, that strength cannot acquire, that self-righteousness can never merit.

[13:09] Freely, sovereignly, he has spoken his word into your soul. Oh, bear this precious seed. The good seed has dropped from the hand of the heavenly sower into the ground which his spirit has prepared in your heart.

[13:26] Bear it. Bear it all your days. You do not know when you'll get another, if you'll get another, this side of the grave.

[13:40] One word spoken from God into the souls of his people may last them many days, many years.

[13:52] In the strength of their spiritual meat, many battles may have to be fought, many miles may have to be travelled on this pilgrimage way, bearing the precious seed of the word of God.

[14:12] Bear the precious seed of the doctrines of grace. it may be fashionable for some to say, well, it doesn't matter so much what we believe.

[14:27] We can learn from all sorts of men that all the various creeds there be have something to teach us. My friends, it's precious seed.

[14:40] It's the seed of the word of God and it matters a very great deal what we believe. take heed what ye hear.

[14:53] The word, the words that Christ speaks, thy spirit and thy truth. And all that is inconsistent with the word of God, all that is contrary to the teaching of Jesus Christ, Christ.

[15:12] Oh, may we be helped to cast it ever aside. Let us not either suppose that doctrines are dry.

[15:25] Doctrines are for ministers and not for the average believer who has to live in this present world. My friends, you need the doctrines of grace.

[15:36] You need an anchor to your soul. You need a foundation amongst all the winds of doctrine that are blowing. If the foundations be removed, what can the righteous do?

[15:49] Take away one of the doctrines of grace, and who is to say which next must follow suit? Abandon the doctrine of election, and very soon the whole fabric of the doctrines of grace will be cast overboard.

[16:04] Bear precious seed. Bear it. You'll be opposed for it. You'll be ridiculed for it. You'll be hated for it. You'll be counted a bigot for it, but bear it.

[16:18] The precious seed of the doctrines of the word of God, you know, those doctrines set forth the truth of God. Those doctrines exalt a precious Christ.

[16:29] Those doctrines feed our souls where nothing else can. bearing precious seed, bear the precepts of the word too.

[16:44] Oh, you may be called to carry the precepts of the gospel. Though the Lord lays them in the hearts of his people, sometimes there's a rebellion against this.

[16:59] A rejection for a while of the teaching of the precepts. the rebellious may rebel for a while. They may dwell in a dry land as a result.

[17:15] Oh, bearing precious seed. Oh, despise not the precepts of the gospel. Accept nothing on one side that the Lord has placed in his word.

[17:31] Bear it. You may bear it for a long time. You may carry it prayerfully for many years, bearing precious seed.

[17:47] There's one other way I would just like to look at this expression, bearing precious seed. The parable that we read concerning the sower, the Lord commented with regard to that seed that fell in the shallow soil where there was not much depth of earth, that it had no root.

[18:19] That was the cause. There was an immediate springing up, a springing upwards, growing downwards, a growth of profession, but no root.

[18:41] It was Job, I believe, who, when speaking to his friends, said this, why persecute ye me? Seeing the root of the matter is found in me.

[18:56] you know, when the precious seed of the word of God is sown in our hearts, it will take root.

[19:11] Now, roots take time to develop on plants. You've sometimes perhaps taken a cutting and put it in a pot and watched it.

[19:26] Only a few days ago, I'd brought some out of a pot that I'd put in some weeks before hoping to see the root, but root there was none. Those plants had had just the same treatment as others, that had developed roots, but some hadn't.

[19:47] Well, we need the root of the matter. And the root gradually develops under the blessing of the Holy Ghost.

[20:03] Have we got the root of the matter in us? What is the root of the matter? Well, the root of the matter, the one thing need for is union with Christ.

[20:21] A man may have a glowing profession of religion without union to Christ. Christ. A man may be able to enter into disputations on matters of religion without union to Christ.

[20:41] But a man will never get to heaven without union with Christ. That's the root of the matter, the word of God.

[20:56] James, I think it is, uses this expression, receive with meekness the engrafted world which is able to save your soul.

[21:12] Bearing precious seed. But how is this precious seed to be born? How is it to be carried?

[21:25] I believe it will often be carried prayerfully. It will be, as it were, carried back to God who gave it.

[21:40] As the sinner will ask the Lord to confirm it and to perform it.

[21:51] bearing precious seed, pray over the word of God. Has God given you a portion on which your soul holds?

[22:04] Which has set you fair for heaven and glory? Oh, pray over it. Remember, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.

[22:16] Who can know it? You haven't discovered it all yet? There are yet sins and wickednesses and deceptions lurking in your hearts that you little suspect.

[22:33] Pray over the word of God. Pray to be kept humble and sincere, free from hypocrisy and guile, bearing precious seed.

[22:44] if we are called to bear precious seed, my friends, secondly, we shall bear it with reproach.

[22:57] Let us therefore go forth unto him without the camp bearing his reproach. The reproach of the gospel is not yet ceased.

[23:09] The preaching of the cross of Christ is foolishness to the world in general. that the great truths of the word of God cannot be received by the carnal mind and there will be reproach as our lot for bearing precious seed.

[23:29] But bear it. Oh, as the Lord helped you to bear the reproach, how can we bear reproach? How can our natures which shrink from opposition, which dislike criticism, which would seek to avoid the frown of man, how can we be helped bear precious seed?

[23:56] Well, not in our own strength. And this brings us all down to the same level, doesn't it? This reduces the brave, strong, bold, courageous believer to the same level as the timid and fearful one.

[24:14] Not in our own strength. But as the strength of the Lord is made perfect in our weakness, he is strongest, who knows best his own weakness.

[24:33] Let him that thinketh he stand take heed, lest he fall. Bearing precious seed, which will bear reproach.

[24:49] And then, thirdly, bearing this precious seed, bearing it to others, conveying the word of God to others.

[25:05] Well, perhaps this may relate more especially to those called to preach the gospel than to others, but by no means exclusively so.

[25:18] How many a humble believer has borne the good tidings of the gospel in some simple way, and the Lord has been pleased to bless that testimony to the salvation of another?

[25:33] Bearing precious seed. You, dear servants of the living God, called to preach the everlasting gospel.

[25:44] Oh, what precious seed it is you were called to bear. Preach it in love, in simplicity, in truth, in faithfulness, bearing precious seed.

[26:02] That's it, it's the word, not our opinions, not our thoughts, but the word of God. This will do helpless, needy sinners good.

[26:14] If the word of God doesn't touch their case, nothing else will. Not an eloquent discourse, nothing can do what the word of God does not do.

[26:32] Bearing precious seed, go forth in the midst of your afflictions, in the midst of your sufferings, in the midst of all your sorrows and weeping, in the midst of all your lamentations over your failings, bearing precious seed.

[26:53] We preach not ourselves, but Jesus Christ. And we come not advancing our own persons, our own thoughts, our own plans, but the everlasting gospel of the eternal Son of God.

[27:11] Precious seed. Oh, may it be carried to the length and breadth of this land and in all the lands of the earth?

[27:22] For this is the great commission of the Lord Jesus Christ. Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel unto every creature, bearing precious seed.

[27:41] But now the promise, the promise to this faithful one who goes forth in spite of all his sins, in spite of all his failings, in spite of all his faults, in spite of all the insinuations of a tempting foe, bearing precious seed.

[28:05] Now he, the same one, he shall doubtless come again with rejoicing and his rejoicing will be sweeter than his weeping was bitter.

[28:24] His pleasures shall far excel his sorrows, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing.

[28:36] we, who are subjects of many doubts and fears, value such a word as this, doubtless.

[28:49] It's a word that silences every doubt. It's a word that dismisses all our fears. It is a word that assures us that what God has spoken must surely come to pass and with him nothing shall be impossible.

[29:12] Nothing shall doubtless. Oh, may the Lord drive away those many doubts that plague us at times shall doubtless come again with rejoicing.

[29:30] what is it to rejoice? It's a lovely expression, a beautiful word, but what is it to rejoice?

[29:48] Surely it is to be made glad by the Lord in his faithfulness in fulfilling his own word.

[30:05] Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing. We're familiar with the weeping, we're familiar with the affliction, we are familiar with the suffering and oppression and tribulation which is the lot of the Lord's people here below.

[30:28] But let us remember they shall doubtless come again with rejoicing. Though now it seems their cup is filled with gall, even now there's something secret that sweetens all and they shall doubtless come again with rejoicing.

[30:53] They shall live to see another day, the day of great rejoicing. Now Jacob thought he would never live to see the day of rejoicing, but he did.

[31:15] He thought that his grey hairs would be brought down in sorrow to the grave, but the day of rejoicing came. It is enough, he said, Joseph, my son, is yet alive.

[31:30] I've given him up for dead for many years. Have you got a Joseph? You've given up the dead. Oh, but Joseph is yet alive, I will go down and see him before I die.

[31:48] So doubtless, because God has spoken it. There were those promises that God had given to Joseph that so bound him up with his mother and father and brethren and they had to be fulfilled.

[32:12] Jacob had given up his son for dead. His brothers had sold him into Egypt, supposing never to see him again, but God's word had to be fulfilled and it was.

[32:26] For doubtless come again with rejoicing. Would it gladden your heart if God were to fulfil his word? if some of the precious promises contained in the gospel were revealed and performed by a faithful God and you live to see it, you live to bless God for it, this is surely the greatest source of rejoicing known on earth, a rejoicing in God.

[33:00] Remember how the Lord himself rejoiced. rejoiced. He rejoiced in the doctrine of predestination.

[33:12] He rejoiced in spirit. He said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babe.

[33:26] That these arrogant, self-sufficient ones who know all there is to know, as I imagine, with regard to the word of God, are blind and ignorant and foolish.

[33:40] But these babes, these poor, weak, ignorant ones, unto them the gospel is preached, unto them the truths of God are revealed and Jesus rejoiced in spirit.

[33:57] Oh, you shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing your sheaves with you. What do the sheaves signify? Well, I think, firstly, the sheaves signify answers to prayer.

[34:20] Have you got any sheaves to bring with you? Hannah had, for this child I prayed, and she could testify before Eli, he had misjudged her, he had supposed quite unfairly, but he had nevertheless supposed that she had been drunk, but she was praying, she was praying for a child, and God heard her cry, and she brought that sheaf with her into the temple, and set him before Eli and said, for this child I prayed.

[35:08] Oh, as the Lord heard your prayers, answered your petitions, we can't perhaps speak of much, to mercy, to be able to speak of anything, to be able to look upon any circumstance, or any person, and say, for this one I prayed.

[35:34] Now, no thanks to my prayers, no merit to me in this matter, but I prayed, God helped me to pray, and God has heard my prayer, and God has given me my request, and now I'm bringing these answers to prayer.

[35:58] Secondly, think of that Old Testament scripture in Malachi, which speaks of bringing the sheaves or the tithes into the storehouse, bringing the sheaves with him.

[36:23] What for? Well, let's go back to Hannah for a moment. What did she bring her sheave with her for? Why, to give it unto the Lord. He shall be given unto the Lord so long as he shall live.

[36:39] Answers to prayer are not given to us to consume upon our lusts, but to return to the Lord. Bringing all the tithes into the storehouse, how have we brought all our sheaves with us back to the Lord who gave.

[37:03] The dear Lord who heard and answered our poor prayers, bringing his sheaves with him to his honour and glory. seeking to devote to his cause all that he has given, all that he has done.

[37:25] Before those things were ours, they were his. The Lord gave. And in some things we might prove that the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away.

[37:42] Do you know my friends, if we brought our sheaves with us, then that will help us to bear those circumstances when the Lord takes away.

[37:56] Therefore, in a sense, we've already given them back to him. Only grace can do this, but those blessings, those answers to prayer, are not, I say, given to us to consume upon our lusts, or to make us to appear a big men and women in spiritual things, but that he might have all the honour and all the glory bringing his sheaves with him.

[38:31] those that go forth into the work of the ministry, that go forth and weep bearing the precious seed, here is a promise to encourage them, to carry them through those days, weeks, months, or years of darkness, and apparent unprofitableness, and fruitlessness, and oh how bitter those years can be.

[39:14] But our text says that they shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. What the Lord accomplishes in the hearts of his dear people, through the ministry of the word, for the most part remains unknown to others.

[39:41] But the day will declare it, and there is a day appointed when the Lord servant shall doubtless come again with rejoicing.

[40:00] Now I do not doubt for a moment that some of you here have heard with pleasure, and heard with profit, and heard to the blessing of your souls under the ministry of your pastor, but he doesn't know.

[40:19] You haven't told him. now I would seek to encourage you to do so. Let him that is instructed in the word communicate with him that teacheth in all good things.

[40:38] Know that he may come again with rejoicing. You see him sometimes in his sorrows, in his afflictions, in his down sittings, help him to rise up.

[40:54] Encourage him with some little testimony to the honour and glory of God. Know that his labours have not been in vain in the Lord, and that the word of God through his lips have been made of blessing to your souls.

[41:19] You could have no greater blessing on earth than this. Oh, let not the Lord's mercies lie forgotten, but seek as you may be enabled, and to the honour and glory of God, and to give him something to rejoice in.

[41:40] Amen.