A SEED SHALL SERVE

Sermon

Grove Road Chapel, Eastbourne

E. G. Rowell

April 26th, 1950

“A seed shall serve Him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.” Psalm 22.30.

*We are witnessing today the restoration of the house of God. How kind it is of the Lord to give us back this sanctuary, where we can meet with our friends to praise His Holy Name! This morning, the servant of God led you to consider the beauties of
Zion, the splendour and foundation which is there, to build our faith in the things of God. And this afternoon the servant of the Lord was led to declare the manner in which God would wish us to worship Him. The three of us knew nothing of what each other would be speaking; we relied on the Lord in His divine guidance to see to it that these services should not overlap but should have some kind of sequence. Now the text that we have seems to be a following-on of the subjects that we have had today. Here, many hundreds of years ago, David sits down and writes by the power of the Holy Ghost, and is speaking here a little of the sufferings of Christ. At the end of it he declares this prophecy: “A seed shall serve Him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.” Let us look a little at the word, “Him”: what would be the good of a service that had not Christ for the centre of it? The Father has intended that Christ shall be exalted; He intends that He shall have glory and pre-eminence over everybody, and I have a good hope to be one day among that great congregation who will look upon Him and behold Him as our Saviour and Redeemer. And may it please God, whilst we are journeying here, that He will be pleased to grant unto us a more blessed knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us take our minds back. In the past—before David set down these Psalms—there were men of God who served the Lord. We find that Abel, that godly man, was one of that seed who was brought to serve Him. We pass along and find Abraham—he saw his God and was called to serve Him. Each of these men, and others after them, fulfilled the word—”a seed shall serve Him”;
and this was because they were led to look upon Christ and behold His glory. Passing from the prophets unto the time of Christ; when He appeared in this world, one of the disciples said: “We have found the Messiah; we have seen Him.” It is of this Person that I would speak to you to-night. Can you say that you have beheld no beauty in Christ that you have desired Him? Has anything of Christ been revealed to you by the Holy Ghost? Has your life been a life of service to Him? That is the thought on which I would have you meditate. “A seed shall serve Him.” You cannot serve a person whom you do not know; you must have a revelation of this Person. Many people did see Christ with their natural eyes, but they never served Him; but there were those who did. It has been so, right down through the ages. There have been men who have read the Scriptures, and so on, but yet have never seemed to have any love for Christ or desire to serve Him. Christ is to be glorified by men and women, who shall be brought to love and serve our Lord. Let us praise the Lord that there is this promise, and that this promise is still being fulfilled. What have you seen in Christ? Our friends have put before you the glory of Christ, and of the Father: what has been revealed to you and me of it? You probably know of men who don’t serve Him, and it may be that at times you may be very troubled in your minds and wonder
whether you really serve Him. We want to know that we are the seed of God and therefore have been by the power of the Spirit given grace to serve Him while we are here on earth. Every man and woman is not the seed of God. You may talk about fatherhood and brotherhood, etc., but you know that at the end there will be those to whom He will say “I never knew you.” But this will never be said to one of His seed. We have here a promise that a seed shall serve Him; we want the Lord to help us to examine ourselves and look to see whether we are one of His seed.

Christ tells us that we must be born again and that he who is born again of God is born of the Spirit. Therefore you and I must be partakers of that wonderful grace of His Spirit— we must have the seed dropped into our hearts. Can you say: “I know that I am a child of God”? I have God’s word for my guide, and that leads me at times to a sweet hope that I am born of God, and a partaker of the blessings of His Spirit. I was born without it and I lived without it. But when I was born of God I became a person who knew what it was to have the fear of God dropped into my heart. Those of us who have this knowledge can be sure that it will remain with us until the end of the journey. This seed also has another grace of the Spirit, which is faith. We all have a faith— faith in ourselves—many have this; but the child of God has something more than a natural faith. God-given faith can bring a man to say: “I know that Thou art the Holy One of God.” This faith will give him eyes, so that he shall verily know that he has seen Christ. God’s children have a spiritual faith, and that faith is of the Spirit of God. You bow before Him, you worship Him, you beg for mercy from Him, you want Him to comfort and help you.
The seed that has faith has the grace of the Spirit in it, and so that faith is sure.

Besides this special faith, another grace given to you and me is love of God. What have you felt in your heart of Christ, and what have I felt in my heart of Christ? It has been a trouble to me ever since the commencement that I cannot love Christ as I want to, and yet besides our faith, the Lord has been pleased to grant in our hearts a little love of His precious Son, and this is a mark and evidence that we are partakers of the Spirit that brings forth love in our hearts to Him.

If you are the seed of God, the Holy Ghost will take the word, will lay it in your heart, and thus you will know that you are born of God. The Holy Spirit will use His word. If He has told you to come out of the world, you will do so, no matter what doubts you may have. The word of Christ, by His Spirit, will affect your life, and in spite of all the turmoil in your mind you will not be able to get away from it.

Then, also the word is laid there for comfort. If you are His child you may depend upon it that you will not always be in misery; you will not always be dejected. The Holy Ghost’s work is to take the teachings of Jesus and reveal them to you; and this
will give you some hope and comfort in your soul. This is the evidence that you are the seed of God.

Let me tell you of a recent experience of mine. About a week ago I had a sweet and blessed morning with God. That morning the Holy Spirit drew near and gave me faith to lay hold of the word and to rejoice in it. It was this word: “Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.” Oh, the peace that was imparted to my soul—the joy that I cannot express before you! There may be some little one who is longing for it. You may have been weeks, months, even years—but I tell you that there will be a time when the Lord by His blessed Spirit will bring the power of His word to you. Also followed on the word—and faith held it—”Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty, and that land that is so very far off.” That morning of which I have just spoken was spent in meditation upon the glory of His word. Some of you may not have had this experience, but I tell you that the Lord will give it to you who long and wait for it. The time will come when He will reveal Himself to you by his blessed Spirit and you shall joy in God the Saviour. And it is because of the effects of the Spirit that come upon our spirit on these occasions that you and I step forward in His service. If we are born of the Holy Spirit, if we have the seed of God in our hearts, and are the children of God, then there cannot fail to be service rendered. Look upon this congregation. We are gathered here today because the Lord has been pleased to raise up those here in this place who care for the house of God and so have spent their time and energy and money in order that this house might be restored; “a seed shall serve Him.” It was to the honour and glory of His holy name that this chapel was built many years ago, and it is through the grace of God that His people have been given courage and patience and help and the will to restore it. But let us go back. We find that it was so even in the days of the past. Who was it who gave us the Word of God? The Lord. Who gave us His Book in its entirety? God. “A seed shall serve Him.” There were men to sit down and write this book and because of their loving service we have the entire Word of God today. Then the Lord has called the apostles and the ministers to His service—”A seed shall serve Him.” There never was a time but there were men to stand upon the walls of Zion and serve God.

There may be some young men here who may be exercised about the ministry. And I do hope there are, because God has said that there shall be a seed to serve Him. I hope there may be those who will come forward to proclaim the glory of God; if so, don’t be afraid. Because God will see that you are helped in the work. I am looking to the younger generation for God to raise up faithful men, for some of us are getting on in years; our prayer is that He will raise up young men according to His promise “A seed shall serve Him.”

To you who are just private Christians, there comes a time
when we go to the sanctuary to seek comfort and help from the Lord. Don’t let us forget that even by so doing you are serving Him—by just going to His house, even though there may be only a handful of you. So, when you come to the sanctuary, whoever you are, a deacon, a member, or just a private person—every time you come remember that the world looks upon you, and every time this happens you are a seed that serves Him. May the Lord grant that you may be exercised, not only by coming to His house, supporting it with your money, upholding it with your presence, but that you may also be led to declare what has been done to your soul through His love, and spread the word.

May the Lord grant His blessing to rest upon each of you. Take your thoughts unto Heaven, and look to the time when there shall be the counting up to be done. Look to the time when you will be counted by God as one of His jewels, as one of the eternal generation of the seed that serves Him.

*Preached at Grove Chapel at re-opening of the Chapel after War Damage