Harvest Laws for Holy Living - 3 - The Law of Parity

The Harvest - Author Unknown

There was once a spider who lived in a cornfield. He was a big spider and he had spun a beautiful web between the corn stalks. He got fat eating all the bugs that would get caught in his web. He liked his home and planned to stay there for the rest of his life.

One day the spider caught a little bug in his web, and just as the spider was about to eat him, the bug said, "If you let me go I will tell you something important that will save your life." The spider paused for a moment and listened because he was amused. "You better get out of this cornfield," the little bug said, "The harvest is coming!"

The spider smiled and said, "What is this harvest you are talking about? I think you are just telling me a story." But the little bug said, "Oh no, it is true. The owner of this field is coming to harvest it soon. All the stalks will be knocked down and the corn will be gathered up. You will be killed by the giant machines if you stay here."

The spider said, "I don't believe in harvests and giant machines that knock down corn stalks. How can you prove this?" The little bug continued, "Just look at the corn. See how it is planted in rows? It proves this field was created by an intelligent designer." The spider laughed and mockingly said, "This field has evolved and has nothing to do with a creator. Corn always grows that way." The bug went on to explain, "Oh no. This field belongs to the owner who planted it, and the harvest is coming soon." The spider grinned and said to the little bug, "I don't believe you," and then the spider ate the little bug for lunch.

A few days later, the spider was laughing about the story the little bug had told him. He thought to himself, "A harvest! What a silly idea. I have lived here all of my life and nothing has ever disturbed me. I have been here since these stalks were just a foot off the ground, and I'll be here for the rest of my life, because nothing is ever going to change in this field. Life is good, and I have it made."

The next day was a beautiful sunny day in the cornfield. The sky above was clear and there was no wind at all. That afternoon as the spider was about to take a nap, he noticed some thick dusty clouds moving toward him. He could hear the roar of a great engine and he said to himself, "I wonder what that could be?"

Beloved, we want to be so sensitive to sin and its consequences that we never have to utter those words: "I wonder what that could be?"

In our message last week, we concentrated on the first of seven laws of sowing and reaping...Harvest Laws for Holy Living, as we're calling them. That first law is "The Law of Planting," and stipulates that we only reap what has been previously sown, whether by ourselves, by God or by others.

Now, if it were possible for any of us to have spoken to King David immediately after he had rebelled against God in sinning with Bathsheba, and said to him, "David, before this whole episode is over, you will have succeeded in breaking five of the ten commandments in God's moral law," without a doubt he would have told us that we were crazy.

"I would never do such a thing as that!" he would probably assert. But he did!! Note the sad situation, as recorded for us in II Sam. 11.

David's downfall into sin posts a serious warning to each of us of the deceitfulness of sin and its dire consequences in the law of sowing and reaping. Oh, hear me this morning, beloved. Sin is not only disobedience, not only despicable, not only defiling, it is deceitful!! cf. Heb. 3:13.

Sin seldom appears as it really is, but lies, tricks us. Our old natures constantly suggest to us that sin isn't as bad as we might think. That's one of the reasons that we have a personal responsibility to one another to exhort each other against sin, because sin can have such a hardening affect on our lives.

And like so many of us, David had to sin to keep covering up sin.

But as bad as each of David's sins were in his own life, what he planted in his life was but the begin- ning, for before the whole sordid affair was over, everyone of those five sins would be repeated in the lives of his own children!

What David did illustrates all too well the second law of the harvest:

  1. The Law of Parity

What is the Law of Parity? We reap the same in kind as we have sown. I want to illustrate this principle, analyze it with you from three perspectives.

Let me give you a couple of illustrations regarding this law.

  1. The application of this law
  1. The principle of reproduction

As a physical, agricultural law, this is actually the first of the harvest laws expressly stated in Scripture. It's found in Gen. 1:12-13. Note the threefold repetition, emphasis of the phrase "after its kind."

And what is true in the agricultural realm is equally true in the animal realm as well. cf. 1:20-25. The phrase "after its kind" is reiterated seven times.

Because he was created for fellowship with God and to walk in dependence on Him, Adam would likewise reap the results of his actions. When he took of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he reaped the results: spiritual, physical death in his own life and the life of his posterity. As a further consequence of his negative choice to live independently, his sinfulness was transmitted from generation to generation. cf. Ps. 51:5; Rom. 5:12ff.

  1. The principle of regeneration

Now, while the Scriptures are brimming with this law, especially regarding its literal, agricultural application, John's Gospel brings out the spiritual side of this truth.

The Lord Jesus used this law in His nighttime discourse with Nicodemus, recorded in Jn. 3. cf. 3:3-6.

All that the physical flesh can reproduce is more physical flesh. Likewise, all that the HS can reproduce is after His kind...after His own holy nature, character. The HS can only reproduce spiritual offspring that are characterized by the new nature He places within us at regeneration.

The implications of this law in Nicodemus' personal life were significant, staggering. Here was a devout Pharisee...highly educated...socially prominent...extremely religious though lost. Being a Phar- isee, he fasted every Monday, Thursday like clockwork, not to mention his meticulous adherence to the Law, diligence in being governed by his religious convictions.

And Hebrew parents would have been proud had their son grown up to be just like him. But regardless of all that, Jesus told him that he and his fellow-Pharisees needed to be born from above. (Note the "ye" in 3:5).

Nicodemus couldn't make it to heaven on the merits of his good works, religion.

In order for us to have a nature in parity with God's nature, the HS must apply this second law of the harvest to our hearts by saving us. There are no exceptions...not even for sincere, religious people.

Next, let's note

  1. The absoluteness of this law

Because God will not be mocked, there are, nor can there be, any exceptions to this law. You can never plant onions and produce pumpkins...you can't sow corn, reap cabbage. Nor can we ever plant wrong, reap right as a result. Gal. 6:7-8 again applies here.

"Be not deceived" = "to cause to wander, lead astray, deceive." It is a present passive, imperative and means, stop allowing yourself to be deceived, led astray, or never allow it to happen. The continuous present and the passive voice anticipates the constant threat and activity of our spiritual enemies seeking to wreck havoc on our spiritual walk with God.

"God is not mocked." "Mocked" = comes from the word for "the nose." It means "to turn up the nose at, to treat with contempt, to ridicule." Man cannot ignore and treat with contempt God's truth and laws by attempting to live by his own wisdom and tactics without serious consequences.

"For whatsoever." "Whatever" makes this law all inclusive—it applies to any and everything we sow.

Principle: Since everything reproduces after its kind, God can never be mocked. Just as no one can sow peas and produce watermelon, or breed donkeys and produce thoroughbred horses, so no one can sow evil and produce good. We cannot sow discord and produce unity. We cannot sow lies and produce truth.

If we sow to the Spirit, we reap of the Spirit. If we sow to the flesh, we reap of the flesh. If we sow evil, we will reap evil. If we have filled our minds and hearts with what is evil, we cannot bring forth what is good.

Matthew 12:34-35 You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. 35 The good man out of his good treasure brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth what is evil.

If we sow indifference to God and spiritual values and priorities, we reap the fruit of indifference—ignorance, hardness, greediness, futility, and frustration. Here is something for us to think about:

Sow a thought, reap an act;
Sow an act, reap a habit;
Sow a habit, reap a character;
Sow a character, reap a destiny.

Let me reiterate: we can't sow hatred, reap love...we can't sow sin, reap sanctification...we can't sow hypocrisy, reap holiness. Why? Because the works of the flesh can't produce the Fruit of the Spirit. We would all do well to remember Eliphaz's words to Job in Job 4:8. Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.

That's absoluteness! That's finality!

Therefore, when David planted to his flesh, he produced a fleshly harvest. And mark it well: even though he eventually confessed his sin, he still reaped the consequences of his sin, though God forgave him.

If you get nothing else out of this message today, please get this: confession, repentance, forgiveness don't stop the harvest! We will reap what has been sown.

Every sin has a price-tag that may make the sin look appealing, attractive, but in the end, it brings nothing but hurt, heartache.

Common sense tells us that the quicker we stop sowing to the flesh, the quicker we'll stop reaping a fleshly harvest.

Had David only stopped with the first sin--which was bad enough, the consequences would have been far less severe. But, no! He kept on going deeper and deeper until finally he had to murder. The more he sowed, the more he reaped, and he discovered that every kick has a more severe kickback.

This morning, we've looked at two practical aspects of the second Law of the Harvest...the Law of Parity, which affirms that we reap the same in kind as we have sown.

We've focused in on the application as well as the absoluteness of this law. Next Lord's Day, we will set forth the third principle: the aftermath of this law, and discover how it affects each of us.