Harvest Laws for Holy Living - 14 - Doing Something About It

Today, we bring our series of messages on the subject of sowing and reaping to a conclusion. I want to make a final appeal to you regarding this matter of Harvest Laws for Holy Living by reminding you that hearing the truth set forth in these previous 13 messages will do us little good unless we are determined to act on what we’ve heard.

I call your attention to two passages of Scripture, one in the OT, one in the NT. cf. Ezek. 33:30-33.

The prophet Ezekiel ministered in a time of great evil. It was his responsibility to prophesy to a generation that listened after a fashion, likened him unto one having a pleasant voice, told others about his preaching, but did nothing about his message. They heard his words but did them not.

Ezekiel was not the only man of God whose sermons fell on unresponsive ears. Earlier, God had advised Isaiah well in advance that his message would blink eyes and shut ears and harden hearts lest the hearers convert and be healed. And interestingly, those words show up later in each of the four Gospels and still later in Acts and Romans to explain the poor response of Israel to the ministries of the Lord Jesus and of Paul. Israel heard but did nothing.

Then note James 1:22-25. James warns against the same evil. Invariably we do not quote all of verse 22. We say, "But be doers of the word and not hearers only," and we stop there. But there is a most solemn further word, "deceiving yourselves." That is the worst thing about it: hearing and not doing, we delude ourselves.

Our Lord constantly warned against doing nothing about it. cf. Mt. 7:15-23. Then He made the application in 7:24-27. See also John 13:17; 15:14.

Chief among the besetting sins of the saints is hearing without doing. And it is a grievous sin, and James 4:17 tells us why.

In Ezekiel's day, they heard the preacher, complimented him, told others about him, but did nothing about the message. The centuries have passed, and today we listen to preachers, invite others to hear them, even congratulate them with a compliment, "I enjoyed your sermon." But do we do anything about it?

Let it never be forgotten that, although we may do nothing about the Word we hear, the Word will do something to us. The same sun melts ice and hardens clay, and the Word of God humbles or hardens the human heart. Truth heard and not acted upon is a dangerous thing. Spiritual impulses which are not translated into action have a disastrous reaction.

Vance Havner, writing 60 years ago, said this: It is well known that many movie-goers who are continually being excited and stirred in the world of make-believe become emotional drunkards. But there are also religious drunkards and Bible-conference drunkards and church drunkards, who go from meeting to meeting, constantly being stirred but doing nothing about it, until their souls become fed-up, their moral muscles deteriorate and they lose their capacity for being aroused. Presently they suffer from a moral let-down, a religious hangover. They delude themselves. They have heard the best preachers, they have read the best books, they have had their ears tickled and their emotions thrilled, but as with a stimulant, the doses have to be increased, and after awhile there is no effect, no matter what they read or hear. An alarm clock that fairly blasts us out of bed on the first morning may eventually fail to arouse us. Something like that happens to those who hear and take no action upon it.

It is most dangerous to play with the holy stirrings of God's Spirit through His Word. I had rather take chances with forked lightning any time. The Word of God is dynamite--it is a hammer, a fire, a sword. And Paul reminds us in II Cor. that the messengers of God’s Word are a savor of life unto life and of death unto death. The man or woman or young person who habitually hears the Word of God and does nothing about it is the greatest of fools, for he fools himself.

Americans are a generation of spectators, and the result is that we have become desensitized to action. We sit, thousands strong, in a football stadium and watch twenty-two men strive for the mastery down below. Then, on Sunday we go to church, and once again we are spectators before whom the pastor is expected to perform. Many people have no more intention of doing anything about the sermon than they intend to act out what they experienced at the football game. We are spectators after all, not partic- ipants.

Modern Christians find it easy to hear the Word and do nothing about it. Preaching may be had on every hand, at church, at the turn of a radio dial, on TV or the Internet. Sermons have become so commonplace that we take the truth for granted. But where much has been given, much shall be required. God forbid that we should go out of church merely comparing one preacher with another; like the listeners of Ezekiel's day, complimenting the messenger without conforming to the message, passing it up as just another sermon, "enjoying" it when God meant that our consciences should be pricked by it. The task of the preacher is "to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable," and we are comfortable enough. God help us if we let the fowls of the air snatch up the seed which should produce thirty-, sixty-, an hundredfold; if we behold ourselves in the mirror of the Word and straightway forget what manner of persons we are!

The great and holy themes of Scripture are always joined with a call to do something about them. The first part of Ephesians shows us our exalted position in Christ, but right out of those heavenly glories we move from doctrine to duty, to the believer's vocation, which too often is regarded as a beautiful vacation. There are those who enjoy a dissertation on "The Lord knows those who are His," but who resent an application of the rest of the verse, "And let every one who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity."

It is possible to revel in sermons of a prophetic theme, such as Peter’s words, "...seeing that all these things shall be dissolved," without going on to do something about the "...what manner of persons we ought to be in all holiness and godliness. The coming of our Lord is a certainty--a coming certainty, a comforting certainty, and a challenging certainty. But it is also a cleansing certainty, and if we hold properly this hope, we shall do something about it--we shall purify ourselves even as He is pure.

From start to finish, the Word of God joins creed with deed, and if "cursed be he that handles the Word of God deceitfully," let us remember that one way we can do that is by hearing it and not doing it. "Sin will keep us from the Bible and the Bible will keep us from sin," and it is not the Word hidden in the head but in the heart that keeps us from sin. You can have a head full of Scripture and heart full of sin! We can backslide with a Bible under your arm!

John Gossip, who lived from 1873-1954, wrote these stirring words: Is it unfair to suggest that, in some of us at least, [Christianity] hasn't fully worked so far simply because, at the pinch, at the decisive moment, we don't want it to work or ourselves to be lifted up above the failings and disloyalties we find so alluring, but rather to be enabled to continue them without the ugly consequences of so doing, to have the inexorable laws of life bent aside in our favor, so that we can squeeze through and escape, without reaping what we have sown; because, as we misunderstand it, the whole point of the good news our Lord brings is the (to us) gladsome announcement that God is happily much more morally indifferent than our consciences had thought, and is not going to make a fuss about our sins and such-like trivial peccadilloes, but will surely let us off - because, in fact, we have not grasped that the core and essence of the Gospel...is its tremendous and glorious revelation of how deadly is God's hatred of sin, so that He cannot stand having it in the same universe as Himself, and will go any length, and will pay any price, and will make any sacrifice, to master and abolish it, is set upon so doing in our hearts, thank God, as elsewhere.

The problem today is not that we are suffering from a lack of sermons. Maybe we have too many sermons. There is enough of the Word of God stored in the heads of Christians, if it were obeyed, to set America on fire and set off enough Divine power to put atomic bombs to shame in comparison.

But something has to be done about the Word. It is true, gloriously true, that God's Word will not return unto Him void. Ezekiel was assured that although the people would not heed his message, they would know that a prophet had been among them. Many a preacher, in an unresponsive day, has encouraged himself with that blessed truth.

Again, Havner observes: But that God's Word will not return void is no lollipop to roll under our tongues while we evade personal responsibility. The preacher has a responsibility to preach the Word, but his hearers have a responsibility to heed it. There is another verse about the Word not profiting Israel long ago, ‘not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.’ There must be a volitional response, ‘faith taking hold of the Word.’

We may have faith, but is it OBEDIENT faith? "By faith Abraham OBEYED." Are you obedient to the truth you know? Let me confine myself to the book of James and ask you a few pointed questions from this brief letter from which we earlier saw the text about being doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving ourselves.

These are only a few verses, chosen almost at random. Think what would happen if the Church did something about one little book, the book of James! God help us to do something about it, lest we hear God's words and do them not, deceiving ourselves.

Jenny was so happy about the house they had found. For once in her life 'twas on the right side of town. She unpacked her things with such great ease as she watched her new curtains blow in the breeze. How wonderful it was to have her own room. School would be starting; she'd have friends over soon. There'd be sleep-overs, and parties; she was so happy. It's just the way she wanted her life to be.

On the first day of school, everything went great. She made new friends and even got a date! She thought, "I want to be popular, and I'm going to be, because I just got a date with the star of the team!" To be known in this school you had to have clout, and dating this guy would surely help her out. There was only one problem stopping her. Her parents had said she was too young to date.

"Well, I just won't tell them the entire truth. They won't know the difference; what's there to lose?"

Jenny asked to stay with her friends that night. Her parents frowned but said, "All right." Excited, she got ready for the big event. But as she rushed around like she had no sense, she began to feel guilty about all the lies. But what's a pizza, a party, and a moonlight ride? Well the pizza was good, and the party was great, but the moonlight ride would have to wait. For Dan was half-drunk by this time. But he kissed her and said that he was just fine. Then the room filled with smoke, and Dan took a puff. Jenny couldn't believe he was smoking that stuff. Now Dan was ready to ride to the point. But only after he'd smoked another joint.

They jumped into the car for the moonlight ride, not thinking that he was too drunk to drive. They finally made it to the point at last, and Dan started trying to make a pass. A pass is not what Jenny wanted at all (and by a pass, I don't mean playing football.) "Perhaps my parents were right....maybe I am too young. Boy, how could I ever, ever be so dumb."

With all of her might, she pushed Dan away: "Please take me home, I don't want to stay." Dan cranked up the engine and floored the gas. In a matter of seconds they were going too fast. As Dan drove on in a fit of wild anger, Jenny knew that her life was in danger. She begged and pleaded for him to slow down, But he just got faster as they neared the town. "Just let me get home! I'll confess that I lied. I really went out for a moonlight ride."

Then all of a sudden, she saw a big flash. "Oh God, Please help us! We're going to crash!" She doesn't remember the force of impact. Just that everything all of a sudden went black. She felt someone remove her from the twisted rubble and heard, "Call an ambulance! These kids are in trouble!" Voices she heard...a few words at best. But she knew there were two cars involved in the wreck. She wondered to herself if Dan was all right, and if the people in the other car were alive.

She awoke in the hospital to sad faces. "You've been in a wreck, and it looks pretty bad." These voices echoed inside her head, as they gently told her that Dan was dead. They said "Jenny, we've done all we can do. But it looks as if we'll lose you too."

"But the people in the other car!?" Jenny cried.

"We're sorry, Jenny, they also died."

Jenny prayed, "God, forgive me for what I've done. I only wanted to have just one night of fun." "Tell those people's family, I've made their lives dim, and wish I could return their families to them. Tell Mom and Dad I'm sorry I lied, and that it's my fault so many have died. Oh, nurse, won't you please tell them that for me?"

The nurse just stood there-she never agreed, but took Jenny's hand, with tears in her eyes. A few moments later Jenny died. A man asked the nurse, "Why didn't you do your best to bid that girl her one last request?"

She looked at the man with eyes so sad. "Because the people in the other car were her mom and dad."

I repeat the theme of this series: Choices have consequences!! We had that brought home to us in February when those two girls from Blaine High School made some tragic choices that cost them their lives.

I close with these words from J.C. Ryle’s wonderful book, Thoughts for Young Men: "Satan does not care how spiritual your intentions are, or how holy your resolutions, if only they are determinded to be done tomorrow...Leave nothing unsettled that is eternal."

What kinds of choices are you determined to make from this day forward?

Drinking From My Saucer

I've never made a fortune and it's probably too late now. But I don't worry about that much, I'm happy anyhow.

And as I go along life's way, I'm reaping better than I sowed. I'm drinking from my saucer, 'Cause my cup has overflowed.

I don't have a lot of riches, and sometimes the going's tough. But I've got loved ones around me, and that makes me rich enough.

I thank God for his blessings, and the mercies He's bestowed. I'm drinking from my saucer, 'cause my cup has overflowed.

I remember times when things went wrong, My faith wore somewhat thin. But all at once the dark clouds broke, and the sun peeped through again.

So God, help me not to gripe about the tough rows that I've hoed. I'm drinking from my saucer, 'Cause my cup has overflowed.

If God gives me strength and courage, when the way grows steep and rough. I'll not ask for other blessings, I'm already blessed enough.

And may I never be too busy, to help others bear their loads. Then I'll keep drinking from my saucer, 'Cause my cup has overflowed.

~ John Paul Moore ~