If you've got your Bible with you, I want to read some verses from Matthew's Gospel, chapter 9. Matthew's Gospel, chapter 9, commencing to read at the verse 35. Matthew 9, verse 35, "'And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the reapers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest. Amen. God will add his blessing to the reading of his precious Word. Over in the portion of Scripture that we read together, the Bible there tells us about the harvest and about Jesus lifting up his eyes. And he said, the harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few. I'm sure you'll agree with me that there has been many big days down through the course of human history. But one of the biggest days ever in the history of humanity was the day that God stood with His back to nothing and spoke this world into existence and started its beginning. And the Bible tells us that God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good, because God's creation was a perfect creation. The ground in its original creation could only be identified as a farmer's paradise. And I say that for this reason, that there were no thorns, and there were no thistles, and there were no briars. They were not part of God's original creation, because God's original creation was a perfect creation. But then the Bible tells us, as we move into the Scriptures, about the subtlety of Satan and about the sin of man. And we find that the man that God had created was now lifting up the fist of his heart in rebellion against his Creator, and soon the world was plunged into a spiritual wilderness. And because of Adam's sin in the Garden of Eden, God cursed the ground. He cursed the ground that He had created. In Genesis 3, verse 17, we read where God said to Adam, Cursed is the ground for thy sake. In sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Listen to this. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee. but there were no thorns and there were no thistles in God's original creation, but rather they were introduced as a result of Adam's sin. When you and I travel through this province and through any part of this universe, you and I will be reminded of God's curse upon human sin, because you will be confronted by the thorn and the thistle, the briar and the weed. They are a constant reminder to all in the world that God cursed the ground that He had made because of man's sin. However, when we move on into Genesis chapter 4 and verse 12, we read of God cursing the ground for a second time. You will recall how that the first of the two persons ever born into the world, one of them committed the sin of murder. Cain rose up in wrath against his brother Abel, and he slew him. And because of Cain's sin, God again cursed the ground. He said to Cain, When thou tellest the ground, It shall not yield forth unto thee her strength. But while God cursed the ground once, yea, twice, He did pledge a very, very wonderful promise. We had man's continuing in sin. God opening the windows of heaven, God breaking up the fountains of the deep, and God causing a universal flood to drown men in perdition. But then God gave this wonderful promise that there would always be a seed time and harvest. In Genesis chapter 8 and 22, we read, While the earth remaineth, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night. shall not cease. And even as we gather in this anniversary combined harvest service, we come to give thanks to Almighty God for the fulfillment of His wonderful promise. You know, sometimes we murmur and we complain. That's human nature. When it's raining, we want it to be dry. When it's dry, we'd like it to be raining. Remember calling on a farmyard one day talking to a man about his soul's salvation, but he was more interested in the things around him. And, of course, it was a very dry spell, and just to keep the conversation going with him, I said, well, I suppose you could do with some rain. Well, he said, you know, I could. I could do with rain in that field, but I certainly wouldn't want it in that field. Well, not even the Lord God of heaven could keep him happy. And you know, we often murmur and complain, but there's always a seed time and harvest. While we come tonight to give God our gratitude and our thanks for His provision and for the material things of life, our attention this evening, of course, will focus upon the spiritual harvest. What you and I need to realize is that the days are getting short, The spiritual winter is setting in. The task is great and workers are few. And there's an urgency in God's harvest field. Little wonder the Savior Himself said, I must work the works of Him that sent me while it is day. For the night cometh when no man can work. You and I live in a day of opportunity. We live in a day of grace. We live in a day when people can come and call upon the name of the Lord and be saved. But my friend, the Bible reminds me that that day is passing. And soon the day of opportunity will be gone. And the door of mercy will be shut. And sadly, you could be shut out. I trust that if you do not know the Saviour tonight, or if you have grown cold or careless, and spiritually indiffered, that your heart will be stirred, and that you'll rise from your sin, and you'll run to the Saviour. But we know not what a day may bring forth. Now, as we look at our text this evening, where the Savior said to his disciples, the harvest truly is plenty to us, but the laborers are few. We want to consider, first of all, the nature of harvest. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ saw people as no one else ever saw them. He saw them as none of God's people could ever see them. He saw them as not even his disciples could see them. Jesus saw people in a way that was very, very special. And he likens them to a great harvest field. He said, lift up your eyes and look, for the fields are already white unto harvest. He saw multitudes and said, the harvest truly is plenteous. Now, looking at the multitude of people, no doubt to see if you have certain things in mind. And thinking about the nature of the harvest, we want you to notice that the harvest is precious. You and I know how precious the harvest is. You and I know the consequences if there is no harvest season. We can look at what is so-called third world countries today, and where there has been a failure in the springtime of the year, and a failure in the harvest time of the year, and instead of life there is death and devastation. No doubt Jesus could see this in the lives of men and women. You see, there is nothing more precious than a person to Christ. And when we think of the nature of the harvest, We've got to keep in mind that the harvest is really precious. And surely that's what Jesus had in mind. And that is why he was so moved. He saw people as no one else could see them. And sadly, you and I, even as God's people, and we'll come back to this a little later in the message, have maybe lost the vision here. And that's why many people don't go to the prayer meeting anymore. And that's why many people don't try to reach the lost and bring them into Christ. That's why many of God's people are happy to go to church alone and never speak to a neighbor or friend or invite them in. But there was a day when people were up and going, and they're out in God's harvest field, and they were reaping, and they were winning the lost and bringing them to Christ. Oh, let me ask you something today, Christian. Are you one of those people that goes regularly to the place of prayer? Or are you one of those people who leaves it to other people to do and to labour in God's harvest field? I remember well the night of my conversion. And I remember the next night I found myself in a prayer meeting. And while I never look upon myself as old, But even then, you wouldn't have been considered a Christian if you didn't go to a prayer meeting. And you know, after the notorious Saul of Tarsus was converted, the people wouldn't believe it. They said, he's an imposter. He's come in amongst us to do the devil's work. And the thing that convinced them that Saul was truly converted was, behold, he prayed. That was the mark. Are we moved as we lift up our eyes and look out across the world and see a multitude of people dying without Jesus Christ? Certainly, the Saviour was moved by their misery. And He saw them as those who fainted, as those who were scattered abroad, As those who were sheep having no shepherd, they were weary and they were lost. Hence the Saviour was moved, and that moving moved Him to the cross, where He laid down His life and shed His blood, the ransom price of lost sinners. You and I can never understand how Christ was moved. You and I can never understand all that was involved in Calvary. Little wonder the hymn writer says that none of the ransomed ever knew how deep were the waters crossed, or how dark was the night that the Lord passed through ere He found the sheep that was lost. Would you believe me tonight, men and women, if I told you that Jesus Christ literally passed through hell for people like you and me? He put such a value upon your life Therefore, don't sell it cheaply to the devil, and don't auction it cheaply to the covens of hell. Christ gave the dawning of his bosom to the hounds of hell to redeem you from a lost estate and a lost eternity. Little wonder the Hymn writer says, Oh, teach me what it meaneth, the joy bending over one's soul, and leading that soul to Jesus Christ. It's not only precious, but it's plenteous. Jesus spoke about the multitudes. Multitudes of lost souls scattered abroad, having a propensity to go wrong and do what is wrong and sin against the Almighty, to wander aimlessly further and further in their sin, For Isaiah says, all we like sheep of God's prey, we have turned every one to his own way. And the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans chapter 3, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, no, not one, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Jesus saw Multitudes of lost people in that terrible predicament. And the Bible says he was moved with compassion. Little wonder we read in Matthew chapter 7, where it says, Enter ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be that go in thereat. And if you're in this meeting without a Savior, I want you to realize the value of your life, the importance of your soul, the preciousness of your soul, that God would give His Son to die on the cross for you. Your redemption was not bought by breath. Your redemption was bought with precious blood. We'll never understand the agonies of Calvary until we sit down in His presence. But Isaiah says of Christ, I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to those who plucked out the hair. And I had not my face from shame and from spitting. And he was numbered with the transgressors, and he poured out his soul unto death, even the death of the cross. We can see man's inhumanity to man. Men stripping away the garments of Christ. men spreading upon Christ, men smiting Him in the feast, men mocking and jesting even one of the dying thieves. But that's man's inhumanity to man. But what you and I cannot see is God lifting His rod of divine wrath and laying upon the back of His Son and punishing all sin in Him. What an awful cost, because the value preciousness of your immortal soul. The harvest, indeed, is precious and plenteous. But we have not only the nature of the harvest, but we have the need in harvest. Now, of course, the Bible tells us here that the laborers are few. They were few in Jesus' day, and they are few today. And God needs harvesters. God needs labourers. Now, I'm not necessarily talking about those going into full-time service, but let me say, this young person, never be afraid of the will of God. Because the will of God is good, it's perfect, and it's acceptable. And yet, God wants every child of His to be involved in His harvest field. You see, God gives to every bird its food, but he does not throw its food in the nest. And so, only God can save souls. But you and I have got to go out and win them. Or the Bible says, He that winneth souls is wise. We win them to Christ, No doubt the Lord will save them. Therefore, that demands that you and I be winsome in our witnessing, that we be consistent in our living, and that we be persistent in our praying. Now, under the need of harvest, we see, first of all, the problem. The labourers are few. The harvest is plenty, but, and that word, but, indicates something. It indicates a problem. The labourers are few. The crying shame of the Church of Jesus Christ is that untold millions are still untold. You know, men and women, the tragedy is this. You and I can live beside our friends and neighbors and loved ones. And we can see them live in their sin. And we can see them die in their sin. And we can go to their funerals. And we can see them buried in their sin. And go out into utter darkness in their sin. And it never costs us a thought or drives us to our need in prayer. Few there see the need to seek the Lord in prayer. F. B. Meyer said, I believe that if there is one thing that pierces the Savior's heart with unbearable grief, it is not this world's iniquity, but it is the church's indifference. And oh, as God's people, we must not grow spiritually indifferent. The problem, the neighbors are few. But then he speaks about prayer. He says in verse 38, pray. So Christian, how come you don't have the obligation or feel the obligation? How come the Lord says, pray ye therefore, yet you don't feel any obligation to do it? Oh, could it be you're like a lady, and I had a mission on one occasion with another colleague, and that mission went for nine weeks. Anything the brethren could do, we thought we could do as well. You know, at the end of nine weeks, some 40 people had come to the seabed. And on the Monday night after that, we went up to the Diamond Orange Hall and we had a prayer service. And there the new converts were encouraged to stand up and give a word of testimony. I remember on that night a woman came to me and she said, you know, I've come to the mission every night. And that was a good record. And she said, every night I got people into my car and I brought them along. And many of those people are now saved by God's grace. But she says, I have this confession to make, that never once in two years did I open the Bible and read it. Never once in two years did I kneel at my bedside and say my prayers. And I've never felt the presence of God in two years. And that night she came back and reclaimed the Savior. Is there someone in this meeting? Maybe you came to Christ even during the mission 25 years ago. How is it tonight? My friend, are you still going on? Are you still involved in the prayer meetings? Are you still interested in reaching out to the lost? Pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest. You know, when the Lord was looking for someone to go, We read, and Isaiah said, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send and who will go for us? Then said I. I was crept at praying, Lord, you call somebody else to the mission field. You raise up somebody else to speak to that soul. Lord, you do it. And all the time the Lord's saying, you do it. You do it. And Isaiah said, here am I. Here am I. Send me. You and I need to do that. As I said, I'd just finished a mission in Mount Norris. And there was a lady attending that mission. And oh, I recall her conversion so well. Because I can remember 30 years ago, we had a mission in their community where she lived then. And I remember at that stage, only her brother was saved. None of his brothers, none of his sisters, mom and dad, they were not saved. You know, he used to come into the prayer meetings at half seven, and he used to pour his heart out before the Lord and cry, pleading that God would save his family. And he came in one night, and he prayed a particular prayer. Remember him breaking down and weeping in the prayer meeting? And he said, Lord, if it means taking me home, that my mom and dad and brothers and sisters may be sealed, then you take me home." You know, the very next day, he was working with a digger. He touched an overhead cable, and he was in eternity. And the whole family got sealed, bar one brother. I remember walking across to conduct the meeting that night and saying to my colleague, I could not pray that prayer. But things happened, folks. When people were prepared to pray prayers like it, things happened. Multitudes were saved. The need in the harvest. But then, let me conclude times away with a neglect of harvest. Now, this portion of Scripture smacks of urgency. Multitudes without Christ, few laborers. And the exhortation to pray, to pray workers into God's harvest field. Why? Because multitudes, multitudes will die without the Savior. Now, thinking about the neglect of harvest, let's consider a moment the length of harvest. And you and I know that harvest seasons don't last long. And some years they may be a little longer than others. And so there's always an urgency to get out into the harvest field and to reap, because soon the harvest will pass and be gone. Men and women, can I say this to you who are without Christ? There is an urgency in this meeting. It is the urgency of your soul's salvation. You're not going to live forever. The Bible says, we know not what a day may bring forth. But what is your life? It is even a paper, like steam rising up from a kettle on the boil. You see it for a few short moments. Then it vanishes. It disappears. It's gone. And it's gone forever. And you see it no more. And such is your life and mine. We are here today. And some will be in eternity tomorrow. How quickly it all can happen. Job said, My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle. Like water spilt upon the ground which cannot be gathered up again. And it doesn't matter how long we live in this world. It is going to be but for a very short season. And every man or woman of whatever age, you can reminisce, you can look back, and it seems not very long ago, since we were children playing in the street, children going to and fro from school, but the years have passed on and eternity is beckoning. And sadly, many who used to sit with us in the house of God, they are not here anymore. They're in eternity. And my friend, if you had been one of them, where would you be in eternity? Frank Marshall was a great gospel preacher. People said about Frank Marshall, he worked with the Irish Evangelistic band. They mainly worked around the border counties. But Frank Marshall, you know, preached very, very loud. And amazingly, he preached very long. And people used to criticize him for that. I think I've heard it since then. But he used to retort with these words and say, My friend, when you're in a lost eternity, you'll be shouting, Marshall, you didn't shout loud enough and you didn't preach long enough. And Frank Marshall was conducting a gospel mission. He went around the community knocking doors and inviting people to come to his meetings. He saw a farmer standing in the field, working at the hay. leaning over a pitchfork, and he went up the field to speak to the man, to invite him to hear him preach. The man was antagonistic, knew about the mission, but he didn't want to know. And he certainly wasn't forgoing. Frank Marshall asked him, would he take an invitation, and he wouldn't take the invitation. And then Marshall began to speak to him about his soul's salvation, and the urgency of the matter. And that eternity was beckoning. And the man became angry and he turned to Frank Marshall and he said, I'll tell you what, if you don't get yourself the hell out of this field, I'll stick this pitchfork stick through you. And so as not to antagonise the situation, Frank Marshall turned and walked away. It wouldn't have been characteristic of Frank Marshall to do that. And that mission went for six weeks. And on the closing week of the mission, near to its very end, he was driving down the road and he saw the man standing up there in the field. And he thought, I should go and speak to that man again about his soul. And so he walked up the field, the man is leaning on the pitchfork, and he doesn't seem to realise Marshall was approaching. And Frank Marshall thought within himself, you know, he's not reacting. I'll get an opportunity to speak to this man. And he went up, came right up beside him, still the man had not turned round, and Marshall thought, this is opportune moment. And Frank Marshall just went right up, put his hand on the man and he was leaning dead over the pitchfork. Friend, there's an urgency in the matter of your soul so that tomorrow you could be in a lost eternity. Tomorrow you could be beyond recall, beyond reclaim. Because not only is the harvest short and brief, but the harvest can be lost. There's a text, Jeremiah 8 and verse 20, the harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are not seen. My friend, are you seen? Maybe you've been sitting for years in this congregation. You're not sealed. Danger of losing your soul. There's always an urgency in the harvest. The little verse says, to lose your wealth is much. And to lose your health is more. But, oh, to lose your soul That is such a loss that nothing can restore. Let me just close with Marshall. He went to the diamond Orange Hall. Most people are familiar with the diamond, the historic home place of Orangeism. And a very large Orange Hall stands there, and Frank Marshall conducted a gospel mission in that Orange Hall. Many people came to it. Many people were saved. It really was harvest time. And on the closing Monday night, or the Monday night of the closing week, two men who had attended the mission every night, one of them got gloriously saved. And of course, it was his desire that his friend, We'd also come to know the Savior. So he made sure that he had him at the Tuesday, the Wednesday, the Thursday, the Friday, and the Sunday night meeting. But as the appeal was made each night, he did not respond. He just went out, enjoyed the atmosphere of the meeting, didn't get saved. And it came to the closing Monday night, and the appeal was given, and yet he did not respond or close in with Christ. So it came to the end, and the meeting was over, and the mission was shut. And Frank Marshall went to the door to shake the people by the hand, thanked them for coming. And the last two people out of the diamond orange hall that Sunday night were those two men. And the first of the two out was the man who had given his life to Jesus Christ on the Monday night. The last man out of that hall and out of the mission was his unseen friend. Just as he took Frank Marshall by the hand to bid him goodbye, A gust of wind caught the door and banged it shut. Scared the life out of the man. And he looked for his saved companion and he said, what in the world has happened? His friend assured him nothing. Just the wind caught the door, banged it shut. No, no, he said. He said, I have a witness in my heart that God has shut his door and locked it in my face forever. Never from that night had that man any inclination ever to go to a church service or a gospel meeting. He'd lost the harvest. He send away his day of grace. He had missed his God-given opportunity. My friend, you could go out of this meeting tonight, and tomorrow may seem just like any other day, and you may not realize that you have stepped over God's deadline, and you've put your soul beyond reclaim. Therefore, tonight, I urge you to enter in at the street gate. to come and to call upon the Lord and be sealed. Reach out in faith tonight. Give Him your heart. Put your soul forever beyond the possibility of going to hell. Backslider, you should come and reclaim the Savior tonight. I wouldn't like to meet the Lord in a backseat instead. So, what will you do with Jesus tonight? Indeed, I should turn that around and say, tell me, what will you do without Jesus? Now, you might say, I can live without him, and you can't. And you might say, I can die without him, and you can, and many do. But there's one thing you cannot do. You cannot go to heaven without him. For Jesus said, I am the door by me. If any man enter in, he shall be saved. Therefore, friend, behold in Christ, trust Him tonight, do it now, and be saved and safe for all eternity. May God help you this night to come to Him. That's funny, Father. We bow in your presence.