The word of God is the seed of the kingdom. The parable of the sower sets forth this truth as plainly as language can do so. “The sower soweth the word.” That parable sets forth the truth that the word of God is to the spiritual kingdom exactly what seed is to the vegetable kingdom. The word produces plants in the spiritual kingdom just as seed produces plants in the vegetable kingdom. If this be not so, then no one can tell what the Savior meant to teach by this parable.
Life is in the word just as life is in any other seed. If the seed be not planted, life will not spring up. No matter how well the soil may be prepared, there will be no life there till the seed be planted. No matter how much the heart may be prepared by education, culture, sorrow, or whatever may come, there will be no spiritual life in the heart till the seed—the word of God—is planted there.
Seed is able under suitable conditions to transform dead elements of the soil into life. In nature, this is the process of reproduction. Those who contend for a direct operation of the Spirit in regeneration base their contention on the fact that the sinner is dead. It is claimed that dead sinners must be made alive by this direct work of the Spirit before they can obey the Lord. This is the heart of their contention. Grant their premise, does their conclusion follow? Is the sinner’s heart any deader than the soil into which the farmer sows his seed? The farmer knows that the life inherent in the seed is able to transform dead soil into a living, growing plant. If the theologians were as wise as the most ignorant farmer, they would sow the seed, which is the word of God, knowing that the deadness of the soil—the sinner’s heart—is no barrier to an abundant harvest. PREACH THE WORD.
There is saving power in the word. An angel said to Cornelius: “Send to Joppa, and fetch Simon, whose surname is Peter; who shall speak unto thee words, whereby thou shalt be saved, thou and all thy house.” (Acts 11:13, 14.) “Wherefore putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” (James 1:21.) “I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” (Rom. 1:16.) Of course, no one thinks there is power in the material of which the Bible is made. The power that leads men to Christ is the thoughts, the ideas, the motives, presented in the word of God. There is power in a thought; and power in a motive. By words men move men, even whole armies and nations. Men’s thoughts have been powerful enough to overthrow kingdoms. If we want men to act a certain way, we try to fill them with thoughts and motives tending to lead them in the direction we want them to go. We stir up action along certain lines by filling the people with certain thoughts and motives. In this way we work in people to induce them to will and do as we think they should. A man lives out in his life the thoughts he has in his heart. If we can fill people full of God’s ideas, God’s thoughts, we will induce them to do God’s will. In this way God works in people to get them to live different lives. This helps us to understand what Paul says in Phil. 2:13: “For it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.”
It is through the mighty power of the word that men are drawn to Christ. I fear that many preachers will never get forgiveness for the way they have treated what the Lord says in John 6:44, 45. They so often read verse 44 and stop for their usual argument on the direct drawing put forth by the Spirit. Of course, when God draws, he draws by his power. If they would read both verses, they would defeat their argument made on verse 44. Is that honest? Is that handling aright the word of truth? Read both verses: “No man can come to me, except the Father that sent me draw him: and I will raise him up in the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall all be taught of God. Every one that hath heard from the Father, and hath learned, cometh unto me.” (John 6:44, 45.) It is through God’s word that we hear and learn of the Father; in that way God’s drawing power is brought to bear upon us. The gospel is God’s power to save, because it draws men to Christ, who alone can save.
It is not necessary to put in much time following the rambling efforts of the debater to prove man’s depravity. Some years ago I had a discussion with Mr. Ben M. Bogard. On the Spirit question, he made the usual arguments on the depravity deadness of the sinner. In my first reply I made the statement: “I object to Mr. Bogard’s theory because it limits the power of God. He has the sinner so dead that God could not make a gospel that would reach him. I object to a theory that makes God so helpless.” Mr. Bogard, with more than usual bluster, replied: “It is not a question of God’s power. God can do anything he wants to. He could have made a gospel that would reach the dead sinner’s heart, if he had wanted to do so.” I replied: “The sinner is not so dead, then, as we have been hearing he was. Even this personal contact for which he contends would not have been necessary if God had made the right kind of gospel. So the trouble is not in the deadness of the sinner, but in the inefficiency of the gospel. But God could have made a better gospel, if he had wanted to. My contention is that he made the very gospel that Mr. Bogard says he could have made. Why waste further time discussing the deadness of the sinner?” Of course, I paid due attention to Mr. Bogard’s total-depravity notions, but he did not recover from his admission. God made a gospel that is perfectly adapted to man as he is. PREACH THE WORD.
Pointed Paragraphs:
If you become a little squeamish about denouncing false teachers, read Jeremiah. If you think people are so hardened in sin that they hate you for preaching the word, read Jeremiah. A careful study of Jeremiah is good tonic for anyone.
Jeremiah has been unjustly called the “weeping prophet,” as if he were a sort of weakling; whereas there was never a more heroic soul. Nothing turned him aside from his duty. If he wept, it was because he loved his nation, and his heart was torn with the knowledge of what was coming to his people. He would have been cold-blooded had he not wept.