Going Weeping- Coming Rejoicing — Leonard Ravenhill

The Lord’s Presence, Faithfulness, and the Seed of the Gospel

Father we're grateful tonight again for the assurance in our hearts that where 'er we meet thee thou art found and every place is hallowed ground. We thank you Lord that you said that if we draw nigh to thee you'll draw nigh to us.

And we're glad that the supplies are exactly the same for us as if there were a thousand people here. We're so glad that giving doth not impoverish thee and withholding doth not enrich thee. And as we have sung these beautiful hymns we thank you again for this rock upon which we stand.

We thank you for Jesus our shepherd, our Savior, our friend, our prophet, our priest, our King, our Lord, our life, our way, our end. Accept the praise we bring. We thank you too that you're not like this weather which is so unstable one day warm and the next day freezing.

You're not like the opinions of men which vary so very quickly, not like the wind which at one hour is in one direction and the next hour in another. We thank you that your Word is settled in heaven. We're glad that we have built on the foundation of our Lord Jesus Christ and upon the Apostles and Prophets and this Word which shall from age to age endure.

We think of the great world about us, your Word says the field is the world. And today there are those who have gone forth, they've scattered the seed, seed that they'll never harvest and some have harvested where they did not sow.

But you said that one day the sower and the reaper shall rejoice together. We thank you for this, that with thee there is justice and righteousness. We thank you for those who have penetrated new areas of heathendom today where the Gospel has been told for the very first time.

And the name that many use nearly very often in profanity has become a new word in some language, a new name about a person they've never known and a revelation that they've never heard of. We thank you for those who break these barriers down and press forward and tell others of this great emancipate to the Lord Jesus who is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by Him.

We pray again for our absent friends, you know the reason for their absence. If they're sick we ask you to quicken their bodies by the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead. If they have other legitimate reasons for absence we pray your blessing on them and if they've only excuses we ask you to speak to their hearts.

Again we thank you for the blessings of this day. We thank you for sight that we can see. We thank you for bodies that are fed and clothed. We thank you that we're not in areas torn by earthquakes and disasters.

We would not accept these as the mere benefits that we ought to have. We recognize again they're in that scope of your mercy and and of your love and greatness and we thank you for them. We pray for those who are afflicted this way that you'll give comfort and strength to them and to those who minister to them.

We ask again in the word of your word that the words of our mouths and the meditation of our hearts may be acceptable. Grant Lord that this meeting may bring joy to your own heart that we may offer you an acceptable sacrifice of praise and of thanksgiving and of adoration because we ask this in Jesus name.

Amen. We look at a psalm tonight. Excuse me. Psalm 126. Psalm 126. There are six verses in it. Let me read them. They're not so very long. When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion we were like them that dream.

Then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing. Then said they among the heathen the Lord hath done great things for them. The Lord hath done great things for us whereof we are glad.

Turn again our captivity O Lord as the streams in the south. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that go forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoicing bringing his sheaves with him.

Well that are the six verses and as I read them I thought there are six movements in these six verses and it would be easier if there was one in each verse but all the six are in the last verse. He that goeth.

So you have somebody going. He that goeth forth weeping. So he's going and he's weeping and he's bearing precious seed. That's the outward journey and the return journey is he's coming again and with rejoicing and bringing his sheaves or bringing his trophies with him.

Zion’s Captivity and the Hope of Restoration

When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion I can't find anybody that identifies this captivity. It could have been a captivity like the children of Israel had in Babylon or when they were for 400 years in Egypt or it could be captivity to a plague or a drought or some other thing but the fact is that the Lord had turned again the captivity.

Now notice it's the captivity of Zion and I hadn't thought about that to be honest until today. It's not a captivity of Jerusalem. It's not the captivity of Judah. It's not a captivity of Israel. It is the captivity of Zion.

Jerusalem is a rocky area and on the north side there's one hill by the name of Zion and if you read the Psalms and memorize them or just think on them you'll remember in Psalm 137 there's that famous saying that when we sat down by the waters of Babylon that they wept when they remembered Zion.

Again the Psalmist says walk about Zion and go round about her, not around Jerusalem. Walk about Zion and go round about her. Tell all her towers, tell all her towers. Mark well her bulwarks and consider her palaces and tell it to the generation following thee.

Now why does he say when the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion? Again it's not Jerusalem. It's not Judah. It's not Israel. It is Zion. So there is one elevation outside of the city or part of the city which is called Zion.

We used to sing a hymn. I just recall it now in the old Methodist class meeting. The hill of Zion yields a thousand sacred sweets. Before we reach the heavenly fields or walk the golden streets. Well all I can think of is that on Zion, on the hill of Zion, the temple was built.

And this is why it speaks of God delivering Zion and not necessarily just Jerusalem again or Judah or Israel. But there on that mount, on that peak, the temple was built and the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion.

And you know I again this is something historic but I believe it's something prophetic too. As I often say to people when I try to teach anyhow, I say now you won't agree with me and where you disagree you know you're wrong.

But I think this is a type of the church and I believe the church is in captivity today. She's in captivity. She's in captivity to men. She's in captivity to system. She's certainly in captivity to money.

If the money flow drops in the next year most of our churches will close down because they run on money. They measure their success. Do you know how much we have in the bank? Do you know this? We're worshipping at the shrine of success, money, numbers and everything like that.

And God has never done that. God has always taken the remnant. Gideon thought man if I can get a great army to move for God and God says son just like your enthusiasm sit down a minute. Man that was a big reduction when you think of the thousands and tens of thousands that he lost.

And Lord when are you going to quit this? The Lord says that's alright. I can do more with a feeble group of men who are totally committed than a whole bunch of zealots and enthusiasts that are going to back out as soon as the enemy begins to attack.

Deliverance That Feels Like a Dream

Alright that's the thought because actually I want to talk about the last verse. When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Now that can mean a number of things. Have you ever had a dream that you wish you could dream over?

Or you woke up and said my I wish it was real. You know when you rode down Main Street in a chariot and everybody bowed to you and oh you'd suddenly come into all those things you've dreamed of. But have you had a dream the other way?

You say oh thank God that'll never happen. That was never true. We're like them that dream. Dreams can be so good and dreams can be so bad. But you see what it's really saying here is this you know. We never dreamed.

I never used that phrase you have. I never dreamed this would happen. They never dreamed they'd get out of captivity. You know that 12th chapter in Acts where Peter's in jail there and he gets liberated and it says that, what does it say in that 12th chapter?

He couldn't believe it. In essence it says that. The angel said unto him gird thyself bind on thy sandals and so he did and he said unto him cast thy garment about thee and follow me and he went out and followed him and wist not that it was true.

In other words I can't believe it. He couldn't believe it. That's the 9th verse of chapter 12. And you see what you sow you reap. He went and knocked at the door. Peter continued knocking but when they opened the door and saw him they were astonished.

They couldn't believe it. Isn't that a great reward for the Lord's faithfulness? That he couldn't believe he was out of jail and they wouldn't believe he was out of jail. Now isn't that great after you've prayed and sweat and said Lord we believe you're gonna do it, believe you're gonna do it.

Hey Peter's at the, oh come on you've got to bet you're having dreams aren't you? It can't be true. You know. And then you have another marvellous illustration of this. I was reading it there I guess it's in, don't read it now.

The 43rd chapter of where is it, Exodus where, or Genesis where it says that Jacob, oh he pulled a few fast tricks didn't he? He was a shrewd old boy. He stole a birthright, he stole a blessing, he cheated, he lied.

You know what happens? What you sow you reap. You remember he had a son called Joseph and he was sold to the Ishmaelites and finally God manipulated it so that they had to go to Egypt for help. Isn't it amazing they were in the land of promise but they weren't satisfied with milk and honey and nuts and nutmegs and all the other things.

They had to go to Egypt for help. You know God has some strange ways of working. They were not satisfied, they could not live on what they had. You still need bread and butter with all the luxuries you may have.

There are still basic necessities and they had to go to Egypt for help. You remember how they went? And when they got there they certainly had a lot of trouble. Oh yes the man said you've come to spy out our country.

He's a very handsome man, he's an Egyptian, he spoke Egyptian, he spoke through an interpreter, he fooled them all the time like Jacob had fooled others. Well if your father's such a good man you say you've one brother that isn't.

Now that's a strange story. And you have a father at home and he has another son with him and you're all sons of a man who has a son that isn't there and a son that didn't come. Well alright off you go.

Remember they put the money back in the sack. One of them opened it to feed his old nag and when he opened it there was, oh he was terrified. He went back to their father and told the story and he said well this is mysterious but take the money back.

And they all found money when they got back, he'd put their money back into the sack. And then when they went back again for help, this shrewd man on the throne said well the only time you can get it next time is bring your brother.

Well it'll kill my old father, well then I'm sorry. Well then Simeon says let me stay as a bondsman. We will, we will come back, let me stay here. And then you remember Reuben came in and then Judah came in, all arguing later with the king and then with the father.

And finally Joseph said well, pardon me, Jacob said it's going to kill me. My other son he said was bitten and devoured. Why didn't you tell the man you had a younger son? Because he asked us, he's the old man, is your father yet alive?

Have you another brother? Yes. Well we couldn't lie to him. All right. And you remember they went back again. And then finally they came back and they said oh we want to tell you something. You know it's amazing, that's a fantastic story, it needs a lot of meditation really.

But you know it says that when they got into the presence of Joseph, when he unveiled himself in his majesty, they were uncomfortable. Well do you wonder all the dirty tricks they pulled. On the other hand you'd have thought they'd have said oh how marvellous, because he said he meant it for evil, God meant it for good.

He said you definitely tried to injure me and God had this planned all the time. You couldn't see it. You know some have said that Joseph is a type of the Lord Jesus in his final glory because his 11 brothers have bowed down before him and one day the 11 apostles are going to bow down before the Lord Jesus, plus an extra one that was put in.

But remember when they did go home and somebody ran in first and said father, father, now just hold yourself very tight, now this is going to shut your nerves, but do you know what, you don't mean they kept my youngest son?

No, no. That Joseph's still living, he's still alive. He's actually a king, he sits on a throne. We saw him, he spoke to us. He pulled his mask off, he pulled his robes off and he sent the other people out.

And you know he fooled us, he'd been talking to an interpreter and he speaks our language, of course he does, he was brought up with it. And he put his arms round us and he embraced us. I can't believe it.

Dad come to the door, look, look at all these, you see what he sent us? He gave us all an ass or something, a cart loaded with goods, but he sent five or seven for you and he sent extra for our brother Benjamin, seven times as much.

And when he saw the bounty he said, my, my, he is yet alive. And finally he went down and he saw him. And he said, now I can die because my son lives. But he said, I can't believe that he's alive. You know, we don't have any prayers, that old man had prayed, you don't have any nightmares he had.

You don't have any, how many different ways he thought that Joseph had been destroyed, he could have been torn apart, he could still have been a slave camping under the Ishmaelites. That old man had had a thousand miserable nights over it.

Grief that nobody knew, his heart had been torn and suddenly it's all restored to him. Remember the Queen of Sheba when she came, they told her a lot of tall stories. Remember how she was taken around by the, taken around by the, the king and finally she said, well I want to tell you that the half has never yet been told.

And so again it's the same with us as it was in this psalm, it's Psalm 126 for the good ladies that have just come in. When the Lord turned again our captivity, we were like them that dream. You know it's going to be like that with us when we, when we wake up in eternity.

It's going to be so shattering, it's going to be so beyond anything. I don't care if you've heard the most eloquent descriptive preachers, you know, painting the clouds with sunshine and weaving the stars and making a field fill to death.

And when we get there, you know, it's going to be so small. It's going to be so far short of the glory that is yet to be revealed as the Apostle says. Alright verse 2 says, then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing.

But then said they among the heathen, the Lord hath done great things for them. I don't know that any other place in history that a people ever go back totally from captivity into a place of joy and gladness and restoration like these people did here.

Again reminding you for the ladies that came in when the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, it was not the captivity of Jerusalem, not the captivity of Judah. It wasn't the captivity of Israel, it was a captivity of Zion which is a type of the church.

Zion is a hill outside of Jerusalem, the temple was built on it and they loved it. Again and again, you turn up and see how many times in the scripture Zion is mentioned. And the Psalmist said, if I forget the old Jerusalem, well let my right hand lose its cunning which was the essential hand for hunting with, let my hand be paralyzed and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth.

Praise, Prayer, and God’s Power

But you see when they were restored in all their majesty, you know it's almost impossible for us, well it is impossible, not almost, it is impossible for us to consider the environment in which these people lived.

Not only did they have no black roads and shops and unions and planes and all these things, they were surrounded by heathen gods. And people paid all kinds of homage to their gods, but their gods never answered, their gods never did anything.

But when the children of Israel or when these people prayed, God answered their prayers. And it says, then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing. Then said they among the heathen, the Lord hath done great things for them.

Then they replied, the Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad. Notice what he says, their mouth was filled with laughter and their tongue with singing. The tongue expresses what's in the heart.

As a man thinketh in his heart, so he speaks. And their hearts were so overflowing with joy that not only their mouths were filled with laughter that has no language, but they had a language. They had a language of praise and adoration.

And with their tongues they were extelling God and speaking of his majesty. And when the people outside said, God has done great things, they said, man you don't even know what he's done. You haven't been in captivity as we have.

You've never tasted of the fullness and goodness of God. And our mouths are filled, we're laughing. And not only laughing, we're filled with praise and we're filled with adoration and we're filled with thanksgiving.

So there you have the praise. And then you have the prayer. In verse 4, turn again our captivity, O Lord, as streams in the south. What streams? Well, surely that must refer to the time that God turned the Red Sea for the children of Israel and the Jordan.

Because the Lord had turned those rivers and they said, this is our God. You see what a mighty hand he has? He doesn't even have to reach out of the clouds, he speaks the word. He spoke the word in creation, let there be light.

And suddenly, light comes into being. You see, God is, if we could use it with a big, big, big, big capital, God is all energy, he is all life, he is all power. Christ is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

In other words, he is all in all. Well then, there's some captivity here again because he says, turn our captivity, or turn our final captivity, O Lord, as you turn the streams in the south. Now here's a law for us.

I say the second verse, 2, is praise, and verse 4 is prayer, and verse 5 is passion. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. Now let me express this again to share with the ladies that came in. There are 6 movements in this next verse, 3 outward, going, weeping, daring, and 3 on the return trip, coming again, with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves.

Coming, rejoicing, bringing, is the return journey. Alright, they that sow in tears shall reap in joy, and this should be connected here, he that goeth forth and weepeth, daring precious seed. Again, this is so difficult for us to appreciate.

Sowing in Tears and the Law of Spiritual Harvest

We live in a day of mass production. You just go over the fields, not too far north, and you'll see, well, at this time of the year, maybe 6 massive ploughs, great big fortunes, and they're pulling ploughs with about 10 blades on, and they go up, and then there's another 10 there, and man, they cut a field up in half time.

They just slice that field up like that, and on they go. They do it by contract. They move right up the country. A few months after, you get the same thing in these colossal, what do you call them, threshing machines, binders, and they take, what, a 12 or 15 foot swath, as wide as this place nearly, and right at the tail, there's another, and then there's another, and before long, they've taken 100 feet right off.

They, they slice the field up. But I remember a few years ago, we were in Ireland, and we were in a place called Donegal, where they make that knobbly kind of treed, and it's typical of the country there, because there was a whole family out, an old man whose legs would hardly go, but all of them had the same implement.

You know, they had, they had a sickle, a half-moon sickle, and they sharpened it, and the old man, he got hold of that, that tall, those oats with loving care, put his arms round them, and he, he cut them there with that sickle, and the mother was there, and the children were there, and there were boulders as large as this.

And just in between, where there were little pockets of dirt, they'd sown that seed, and you know what, that seed was very precious. They didn't leave too much for the birds, anybody else. Now, it says, he that goeth forth, weeping, bearing, precious seed.

You see, here's the law of harvesting. You know, it, it says in, in Hosea, Hosea, what is it, chapter, um, 10, I think it is, look it up after, it, it talks there about us sowing ourselves. Sow unto yourself in righteousness.

Now, it doesn't say so in the church, it doesn't say so in the world, you can't do that. It says, sow to yourselves in righteousness. Why? Because, uh, there's a Salvation Army hymn, uh, Jesus, tender lover of my soul, a very beautiful hymn.

And the expression of the hymn writer there is this, Keeper of the garden of my heart. Now, if you turn your eyes inward at this moment, you know, the eyes of your understanding, the eyes of your knowledge, look at the garden of your heart.

Has it got fruit in it, or has it got weeds in it? You, you, they made me the keeper of the vineyard, my own vineyard, I've not kept. The trouble with preachers and evangelists is, they go around with a set of sermons and things, and you find their own lives run to waste.

Why? They're keeping somebody else's vineyard, they're not keeping their own vineyard. They're not weeding it, they're not watering it, they're not taking care of it, they're not pruning it. You remember the Apostle says, Whatsoever things are lovely and whatsoever things are of good report, think on these things.

You see, again, I emphasize the, the, the side of human responsibility in the development of our spiritual lives. Let us lay aside every weight. Let us put on the whole armor of God. Let us keep ourselves in the love of God.

That's what the Apostle says. And, and, and I have to take care of this part of my nature. If I don't, those weeds are gonna come back. Boy, the scripture, Hebrews, what, 13 says, Lest there be new any root of bitterness.

Dr. Sanctus of Westminster used to say, I, I believe in the sanctified life, all right, but, uh, if you speak of the old man or the old nature being like a rotten tooth you can pull out, well, it would be nice if it was like that.

If you could get rid of indwelling sin, like you get rid of your appendix when it kicks up, you'd, you'd, uh, you'd go and have it out and say, Thank the Lord, that's taken care of once for all. I believe it could stay like that, but it doesn't necessarily stay like that because, you see, it's a spirit, it's a disposition of worldliness, it's a disposition of anger, it's a disposition of lust, it's a disposition of bitterness.

And Jesus says, if you, if you, if you were to cast the demons and devils out of the room and leave it empty, then you'll find other spirits come in far worse than what went out. Therefore, there must be the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God.

And again, He constrains us and He restrains us, but we are to sow to ourselves in righteousness, and what you sow you'll reap. There's a law, too, that says if you, if you sow, uh, what is it, if you, if you, uh, sow sparingly, you, you, you, you, uh, reap sparingly, and, uh, if you sow bountifully, you reap bountifully.

That, that's, that's God's law. There was a reading today where, uh, I can't think of the scripture for the moment now, uh, somewhere in Matthew, I marked it, I guess in my, no, maybe I marked it in this Bible, let me just look and see if I can see it here.

No, I can't, I just don't remember. I'll skip that anyhow. Let me, let me go back to this. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. Do you remember that 61st chapter in Isaiah where it says concerning the Lord Jesus, He gives beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.

Christ’s Tears, Gethsemane, and the Cost of Redemption

They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. I think one of the greatest verses concerning the Lord Jesus and His passion is given there in that fifth chapter of Hebrews in which it says in verse 7, who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, was heard in that He feared.

You know, that, that's difficult to grasp. In the first place, in the days of His flesh, He didn't need to have one. He had 33 years in the days of His flesh, He didn't need to have one, not from His standpoint.

He could have stayed in eternity and as the heavens are high above the earth, He was so high up there, angels and cherubim and everybody worshipped Him. And then, as that lovely hymn says, what condescension bringing us redemption.

When in the depth of night, not one faint hope in sight, God gracious, tender, laid aside His splendor, stooping to woo, to win, to save the last. What condescension? The greatest distance in the world is not between stars, you can't measure them.

It's not between the sun and the moon and the, the sun and the earth, you can measure that, 93 million miles, so we're told. The greatest distance, immeasurable distance, is between the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man.

And it was bridged in a babe, just about that length. That little babe bridged the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man, in the days of His flesh. When He offered up prayers and supplication with, with strong crying and tears, well, well, when did He do it?

Well, I, I can only think of two instances that would supply a satisfactory answer as far as I'm concerned anyhow. And one would be either in the, in the days of, the 40 days of temptation in the wilderness, or I think rather the days of the, the period that He had there in the Garden of Gethsemane.

You see, I, I, I don't like pictures of Jesus. I never had one in the house, I never will. Because nobody ever gave us the right picture of Jesus. I don't like Jesus, the, all the pictures of gentle Jesus, meek and mild.

Don't believe Jesus was like that at all. I believe Jesus was a big, strong, healthy man. He wasn't attracted physically, attracted physically in the way we think of it. But you see, there's such a thing again, as Tozer said about dear old Abe Lincoln, he was so, he was so ugly, he was beautiful.

His craggy features, man, I, I remember once seeing a bust of him, I, I wished a thousand times I'd bought it. It was $12 and that was an awful lot of money for me 20 years ago. But if I saw it now, I'd buy it.

He was a magnificent, but his features, you know, they speak of strength and character, and you can have your smart men, you know, little mustaches curled, and all the rest they have, and sideburns and all the trimmity.

They don't come any near, anywhere near the character. The picture of Jesus to me is a picture of a strong man, a rugged man. And he prayed with strong crying and tears. You know, that, that's not, that's not a good translation.

In fact, there are lots of Greek words you can't translate. And, and this word here is, he, he, he prayed with passion. He prayed with entreaty. He prayed with, with, with a massive burden upon his spirit.

There was a, a very wonderful man, he's given us some wonderful hymns. John Wesley translated some of the hymns of Count Zinzendorf, the Moravian. And he was a very wonderful man, a very talented, rich man.

And, and on his estate he, he brought a lot of refugees, and he built homes, and he cared for them. And they were the people that had revival at Hernford in 1737. He came to Christ because in an art gallery he saw a picture of Christ on the cross.

And underneath the artist had put this, I did this for thee, what hast thou done for me? And, and Dr. Tozer said, I'll never accept that. I, I, I don't believe Jesus ever asked for, for, for discipleship on those levels.

Jesus demanded loyalty. Jesus demanded you take up your cross. There's nothing sentimental about Jesus. Not in the way we think of sentiment. Jesus was praying here with strong crying and tears. Why? Because he was going to the cross?

No, no, no, no. I don't believe that. I don't believe that for a moment. He measured the cost of the cross before he came to earth, from the, before the foundation of the earth. He had already taken measure of the sinfulness of men and what the cross was going to mean to him.

We sing some pretty sentimental hymns about the cross. The only thing is that you've got to watch that you don't believe that Jesus said what the hymn writers think, think he said. I don't believe Jesus was whimpering and whining.

I don't think he asked for compassion, this cross is too heavy. He weighed that cross. I suggest to you that when Jesus here is praying with strong crying and tears, I'm going to make this suggestion.

I never read it, but it came to me in prayer today. I believe that immediately Jesus got there into the, into the anguish of Gethsemane. Oh, it's true, the hymn writer says, none of the ransomed ever knew how deep were the waters cross.

But you know what? As soon as Jesus got into that anguish of Gethsemane, he began to feel the awfulness of sin. In the word of the psalmist, all thy billows have gone. I, I suggest to you that the moment that Jesus was, was wrestling and saying, if it be possible, I'm going to suggest to you that he saw every sin that ever came into the world.

He saw every broken life, he saw every jailer, he saw every harlot, he saw every sin, he saw every grave. It didn't have to happen. But it had happened. I think to him, I'd have been weeping not for his situation, but those disciples, man, he trained them for three years and all he gets is desertion.

Most of us don't like that. We begin to cry. We begin to ask for help. We look here and look there. I'm not saying it's wrong. It's a sign that there isn't too much strength for sure. But Jesus is praying with strong crying and tears unto one who is able to save him from death, but it doesn't ask that he said that he wanted to be saved from death.

Jesus is praying with strong crying and with tears. Again, I believe because he had an awful, awful vision of the sinfulness of men. Now, an hour, two hours, maybe some of you three, I don't know, you roll into bed and as you do, just whisper to yourself that 270 ,000 people died today without Christ.

Two hundred and seventy, make it, make it an even quarter of a million. People die every day without the knowledge of Christ. You know, it says that this is a law in the Christian life that he that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoicing.