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THE TEXT SATAN HATES.
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Westminster Chapel, Dr. Campbell Morgan's Church.
“Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also
reap.’’ Gal. 6:7.
HIS is the one text Satan hates. He
hates it because it is so easy to under
stand. He can not blur it or sham it.
It is a thing w’e see every day. There is
not a man, whether Jew or Gentile,
saint or sinner, that does not know it
to be true. It is true in the history of
nations and communities, and it is true
in the history of individuals.
The Sins of Nations.
T
At one time in the history of France she decided
to rule the Bible out of her national life. It was
taken from the homes of her people, and the ene
mies of truth thought they had won a mighty vic
tory. Alas, alas, how mistaken France was! From
that day when the Bible was ruled out until this
present hour, the French people have been damned.
One bloody revolution after another has charac
terized her history.
The moral history has kept pace with the down
ward course of her political history. At one time
France was so immoral, it is said, that ten thousand
dead infants were fished out of the sewer pipes of
the city of Paris in one year. What is this? It
is a demonstration of the truthfulness of the text.
This ought to open our eyes. If nothing else
opens them, this -would. There are people in this
city by the hundreds and thousands -who have no
higher interest in the city than the money they get
out of it. Their plans and schemes are all cut
to the pattern of the almighty dollar. We may go
on here with our sowing of sin, but, as sure as God
lives, we have got to reap it. There are prominent
men here who would sell the city, hide and hoof,
to Satan, if they could get enough for it.
What are Christian people going to do about it?
Are we going to sit with our hands folded and let
ourselves be sold to Satan? If so, let us remember,
“Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also
reap.”
Expecting a Harvest.
It is true that a man expects to reap when he
sows. You see a man sowing wheat, you do not
have to ask him what he expects to reap. If you
see a young man working as an apprentice in a
One of a Series of Sermons Being Preached by Di. Broughton in Westminster Chapel, London.
The Golden Age for October 4, 1906.
machine shop for four years, getting scarcely a liv
ing, yon know that lie is learning a trade. When
you see a student burning midnight oil, you know
that he is working for an education.
God help us to remember that this is likewise true
of our conduct. There are some who do not believe
this, because they do not stop to think.
Once when I was speaking along this line, there
was a young man sitting in the congregation who
said, “I am sick and tired of such silly preacher
talk.” He got up and went home. The next morn
ing when the paper came out with flaring headlines
giving an account of his misdeeds, it was plain that
he had been taught the sad lesson. He had been
a night drinker for twelve months and had been
spending his employer’s money, and that very night
his employer found it out. The next morning he
was to be put behind prison bars. He begged his
employer’s pardon; offered to refund the money;
and promised to live honestly. His employer said,
“No, sir, you have deceived me. You have lived
a double life, and I can not trust you ever again.”
That man knew then this text was true.
There are thousands of young men who are enjoy
ing what they call “sowing wild oats.” They are
just as sure to reap a harvest of sin as they live.
Some sad things have come under my observation in
the last few years. Think of the many young men,
who in the course of their wild oat sowing, have
gone a step too far and brought upon themselves
shame and disgrace!
Expecting What is Sown.
It is also true that a man has to reap after the
manner of his sowing.
If a man sows barley he expects to reap barley.
A colored man was once told to plant barley and
he planted oats. At harvest time his master came
to see how the harvest was, and to his 'astonishment
found oats. He said to the old man:
“Did I not tell you to sow barley?”
“Yes, sir,” said the colored man, “but I be
lieve you are the wisest man I ever seed, and I
heard you say you was going to heaven, and you
had been living for Satan, and if this is true, a
man can plant oats and reap barley.”
The old master stepped aside and began to think.
The result was, he resolved to be a better man.
I ask you men and women, how do you ever ex
pect to be anything, sowing a life of dissipation?
Cut out the text from the Word of God, and take
experience, and tell me, how you are going to heaven
sowing Satan’s seed?
Expecting More Than is Sown.
A man has to reap more than he sows.
A man plants a quart and reaps a bushel. A man
plants a grain of corn and reaps a hundred or more.
One day a whole community in the West was
greatly shocked by an awful murder. A boy wis
found by the roadside with his skull fractured and
his heart cut out of his body. It was discovered
that the lad’s playmate did it. When they traced
the history of the lad’s playmate and of the mur
der to its origin, it was found that in the library of
the boy’s father was a book, giving an account of
the life of Jesse James, the notorious robber and
murderer. It is said every hideous passage in the
book was marked with a pencil. The book showed
that it had been used oftener than any other book
in the library. Perhaps the father never read it.
He remembered buying it, but denied ever reading
it. But the boy got the hideous thing and fed upon
it until his whole mind was on fire to do the devilish
deed. And in a moment of rage, the pent up fire
was fanned into a flame, and the awful deed was
committed.
“Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also
reap. ’ ’
Father and mother, I pray you, in behalf of your
son and your daughter, in behalf of the community
in which you live, be careful what you let the young
mind feed on.
I believe the newspapers are responsible for many
crimes by the manner in which the hideous deeds
of today are written up.
I remember a young man was sentenced to die for
the murder of a young woman. On the gallows,
when asked if he wished to make a statement, he
said:
“Yes, but I do not care to make it to the whole
crowd. I want to make it to a friend. Just say,
for the good it. may do some one else, the cause
of my coming to this place was whiskey, bad wom
en, and lowdown, trashy novels.”
“Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also
reap.” No wonder Satan hates this text.
Brother, you keep on in the same road of sin you
are going—just keep on! You say, “It is hard to
break off.” Then just keep on. It will be harder
tomorrow; and still harder the next day. It will
cost you a mighty struggle to quit now, but it will
cost you more than a struggle finally. If you can
not quit today, pray tell me, how do you expect to
quit tomorrow? I would not be mastered by any
thing. I would not be a coward. “Cannot quit!”
God help you!
Jesus Christ Ready to Save.
There is one thing more I want you to know.
Jesus Christ is ready to save the sinner. God
be praised for the fact. If any one tells you it is
too late to be saved, just put it down that man does
not know the Bible. Jesus can save the sinner, and
will save the sinner when he comes to him, it makes
no difference what the sin is. He will help you
quit. Just ask his guidance and hear him say, “I
will, if thou wilt.”
This is true, but, sinner, listen: He never prom
ises to save, from sin’s consequence in this life.
May I be better understood? Jesus Christ prom
ises to save from sin’s consequences in this life
erate the scar sin has made. If you get drunk and
somebody cuts off your nose, the Lord will forgive
you for getting drunk, but He will not stick the
nose back on: Some of you are going headlong in
sin and are expecting to stop after awhile, and
think it will be all right. Hear me, you have got
to reap the fruits of sin here, as sure as this text
is in the Word of God.
Inherited Sin.
When I was engaged in the practice of medicine
I was appointed on a committee to examine appli
cants for West Point. I examined them physically.
There were twenty men who applied. The last
young man to be examined was one of the handsom
est fellows I ever saw. He was six feet in height
and weighed about two hundred pounds. When I
saw that young man come in I said to myself, “My,
quite a giant of a chap to be only twenty years
old!” One of the committee said to me, “He has
made a round hundred on all our branches. We
leave him now to you to make your examination.”
I said, “You are such a handsome fellow it hard
ly seems necessary to make a physical examination,
but I must. Let me look at your teeth.” He said,
“There is not a decayed spot in my mouth. Were
I as sound everywhere as in my mouth, I would be
the soundest man in this country.”
He opened his mouth, and just as I loked into it
I was struck with horror!
Said I, 1 ‘ My friend, no use going any further. ’ ’
“What are you talking about?” asked he.
Then I said. “You have teeth that point to a
certain sin which is back of you.”
He broke down and cried, and I felt like crying
with him. He went home and told his father what
I said. His father wrote me a letter saying I had
slandered his family. I said to him, “I am as
sorry about it as you are, but I could not pass him. ’ ’
They called together some of the leading doctors
of the town, and among them their family physi
cian, who had never thought to examine him in that
way. They said, “There is no use going any fur
ther, it is true.”
Jesus Christ had doubtless forgiven the sin of
his parent, but he did not stop the reaping.