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Christ’s Object Lessons
opportunities would be given them. Every means that the love of God
could devise would be put in operation that they might become trees
of righteousness, bringing forth fruit for the blessing of the world.
Jesus did not in the parable tell the result of the gardener’s work.
At that point His story was cut short. Its conclusion rested with the
generation that heard His words. To them the solemn warning was
given. “If not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.” Upon them it
depended whether the irrevocable words should be spoken. The day
of wrath was near. In the calamities that had already befallen Israel,
the owner of the vineyard was mercifully forewarning them of the
destruction of the unfruitful tree.
The warning sounds down along the line to us in this generation.
Are you, O careless heart, a fruitless tree in the Lord’s vineyard?
Shall the words of doom erelong be spoken of you? How long have
you received His gifts? How long has He watched and waited for a
return of love? Planted in His vineyard, under the watchful care of the
gardener, what privileges are yours! How often has the tender gospel
message thrilled your heart! You have taken the name of Christ, you
are outwardly a member of the church which is His body, and yet you
are conscious of no living connection with the great heart of love. The
tide of His life does not flow through you. The sweet graces of His
character, “the fruits of the Spirit,” are not seen in your life.
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The barren tree receives the rain and the sunshine and the gar-
dener’s care. It draws nourishment from the soil. But its unproductive
boughs only darken the ground, so that fruit-bearing plants cannot
flourish in its shadow. So God’s gifts, lavished on you, convey no
blessing to the world. You are robbing others of privileges that, but
for you, might be theirs.
You realize, though it may be but dimly, that you are a cumberer of
the ground. Yet in His great mercy God has not cut you down. He does
not look coldly upon you. He does not turn away with indifference,
or leave you to destruction. Looking upon you He cries, as He cried
so many centuries ago concerning Israel, “How shall I give thee up,
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Ephraim? How shall I deliver thee, Israel? ... I will not execute the
fierceness of Mine anger. I will not return to destroy Ephraim; for I
am God, and not man.”
Hosea 11:8, 9
. The pitying Saviour is saying
concerning you, Spare it this year also, till I shall dig about it and dress
it.