AT the close of a recent corn harvest I called upon a farmer on business. When our business was over he placed upon the table a bowl of grain, remarking, “This is a sample of my first production of the present season, what do you think of it?”
After passing a remark or two upon it, I asked him, as a man of experience, to tell me, “What a tare is.” He replied, “It’s a blank.”
“That is just what I have always understood a tare to be, and I suppose, Mr. W—, that you know, too, what is said in God’s word about tares?”
“Yes; doesn’t it say something about their being put into bundles and burnt?”
“You are right; and it also says that the wheat shall be gathered into God’s barn. Let me also ask which kind do you belong to—is it the tares or the wheat?”
“I should like to be among the wheat, and not in a bundle of tares.”
“Well, if you would escape the eternal burning, and in due time be gathered into the heavenly barn as a sample of what God has produced in this harvest season of His rich grace and salvation, you will have to receive by faith the Saviour provided by a holy God for lost and helpless sinners.”
We would not, however, venture to say whether Mr. W— sufficiently realized his true soul-danger to make sure of escaping eternal judgment, or of his feeling after God so as to secure the Father’s house above. But for all who are running the dreadful risk of putting off this all-important question it is most solemn to remember that God says, “Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares... to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.” (Matt. 13:3030Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. (Matthew 13:30)).
Empty profession abounds in Christendom—plenty of mere “tares.”
The empty professor tries to make out before men that he is a true possessor of Christ. God says he is without Christ and without God in the world. He is like a shell without a kernel. But “the Lord knoweth them that are His.” Those ten virgins mentioned in Matt. 25 were one-half professors. Five were wise and five were foolish. When the bridegroom came the five wise ones went in with the bridegroom to the marriage, but the five foolish were left outside, and the door was shut against them forever!
What an awfully solemn reality it would be, my reader, to wake up at last and find yourself a “blank,” having only a wick, and no oil in your lamp of profession—nothing for God and nothing for heaven—a worthless hypocrite, fit fuel for the fire that never shall be quenched.
Having deceived yourself, and, it may be, many a one besides, you might blame the devil for tricking you with his artful wiles, but that would not help you. When once the door is closed against you, to think of having heard the gospel preached hundreds or thousands of times without ever waking up to your soul’s deep need, would only deepen your remorse. “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
Now, dear friend, plainly, Are you a possessor of Christ by faith in Him, or are you only an unsatisfied professor? If the former, we thank God for His mercy to you; but if the latter, we ask you to carefully read the following short scriptures, and may the God of love and of all grace bless them to the salvation of your priceless soul “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst.... This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.... I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever.” (John 6:35, 50, 5135And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. (John 6:35)
50This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. 51I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. (John 6:50‑51)). “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit.” (12:24). These golden words were all spoken by Jesus Himself when down here, and mark that upon your believing or refusing such words depends your eternal destiny. Jesus, in His love to sinners, went into death—the consequence of man’s sin—as a perfect corn of wheat, and He has come up again in resurrection life, and all who believe in Him to the salvation of their souls are of the same order as Himself, that is to say, they have a nature like His, and are fit for God’s glorious garner. He is their life.
Farmer W—could tell you that when he puts grain into the ground, what springs therefrom is precisely the same kind as he sows. Those who have faith in Him who died will, ere long, shine in the likeness of Him who is risen and glorified.
Then, dear one, why not receive Him in this acceptable year of the Lord, and get a place in the heavenly garner—the Father’s house—forever? Jesus said, “I am the resurrection, and the life; he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and WHOSOEVER liveth and believeth in ME shall never die. BELIEVEST THOU THIS?” (John 11:25, 2625Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? (John 11:25‑26)).
J. N.