Reap What has Been Sown
Book of Jeremiah • Sermon • Submitted
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· 6 viewsJust as God declares to the line of David, we will reap what we sow.
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Introduction
As I read this text, I was reminded of a phrase I heard so many times growing up, Play with fire long enough and you will get burned. I was also reminded of a sermon that I heard on a Sunday night at First Baptist Beebe, AR, many, many years ago. Dr. Ronnie Mayes was my pastor at the time. I remember setting in pew and hearing him say, There comes a point where God draws a line in the sand and if you cross it, there’s no turning back. I remember setting there that night and having two emotions running through me: fear and doubt. Fear, because if this is true, where is the line. Doubt, because how could God do this.
As I’ve matured in age and faith, I realize just how true that statement is. I no longer have an emotion of fear in where that line is, but a fear of knowing with certainty that God truly has drawn that line. I no longer doubt the line, because I’ve seen it over and over in the Scripture and have seen that line crossed by those that I have known and love. Paul understood this truth, that God would judge the sin of man and that everyone of would stand before God and because of this fear writes to the church at Corinth...
11 Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are [made manifest] unto God; and I trust also are [made manifest] in your consciences.
May this same fear/terror of the Lord not only be a driving force for us to declare the Gospel to others and the great need of repentance, but may it also be a driving force to remind us that we must remain faithful to the Lord. For one day we will reap what we have sown.
Focus Passage
11 And touching the house of the king of Judah, say, Hear ye the word of the Lord; 12 O house of David, thus saith the Lord; Execute judgment in the morning, and deliver him that is spoiled [out of the hand] of the oppressor, lest my fury [go out] like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings. 13 Behold, I am against thee, O inhabitant of the valley, and rock of the plain, saith the Lord; which say, Who shall [come down] against us? or who shall enter into our habitations? 14 But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the Lord: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour [all things] [round about] it.
Outline
Once again, let us be reminded of the background. The year is 588 BC. The unbeatable forces of king Nebuchadnezzar surround Jerusalem. Weak king Zedekiah, would rebel against the Babylonian king and refuse to pay tribute. Rather than turning to the Lord, he sought help from Egypt which would be his demise.
13 And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had [made him swear] by God: but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart [from turning] unto the Lord God of Israel.
As we have seen so many times before it never pays to rebel against God and/or trust in the world for deliverance. So what we can we learn from the text before us?
God has a message and not the message you want (vv.11-12)
11 And touching the house of the king of Judah, say, Hear ye the word of the Lord; 12 O house of David, thus saith the Lord; Execute judgment in the morning, and deliver him that is spoiled [out of the hand] of the oppressor, lest my fury [go out] like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
Zedekiah, when he reached out to Jeremiah, was hoping to find deliverance as in times past. He was hoping to find favor with the God he had scorned. As we know from our last study, this was not what took place. The exact opposite took place. God declared judgment on king Zedekiah and his fellow leaders. He declared judgment on the people of God. He declared to Zedekiah, you have no option but death. For the people, he gave them options. Neither option seemed desirable: reject judgment and die or willfully become a slave and live. We know from biblical and extra biblical study that those who willfully became slaves had it better than those that stayed and rebelled in Jerusalem. Those that stayed did die as God declared: war, famine, and pestilence.
As we come to our current text, we find that God has another word and it for the lineage of the Davidic dynasty, And touching the house of the king of Judah, say, Hear ye the word of the Lord; O house of David, thus saith the Lord.
God reminded the Davidic dynasty of His covenant
God had made a covenant with David that there would never cease to be a man from his lineage on the thrown of David and that He would bring the Savior of the world through His lineage. Part of this covenant was based off of those of the royal Davidic Dynasty’s faithfulness and obedience to the Lord. As long as they were obedient, God would keep a king on the thrown from David’s line. If they disobeyed, they would be removed.
The second half of the promise was based off of God’s sovereign plan. He would bring the Savior of the world through David’s line and that would come through Jesus Christ.
God calls the Davidic dynasty to repentance - ‘execute judgment in the morning, and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the of the oppressor’
God declares the results of a lack of repentance - ‘lest my fury go out like fire, and burn that none can quench it’
Where you do not want to be (v.13)
13 Behold, I am against thee, O inhabitant of the valley, and rock of the plain, saith the Lord; which say, Who shall [come down] against us? or who shall enter into our habitations?
One does not want to be in a place of judgment before the Lord - ‘Behold, I am against thee’
One does not want to be in a presupposed place of security - ‘O inhabitant of the valley, and the rock of the plain…which say, Who shall come down against us’
One does not want to be in a place of self-assurance - ‘or who shall enter into our habitation’
Reap What Has Been Sown (v.14)
14 But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the Lord: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour [all things] [round about] it.
God’s judgment was based on their action - ‘But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings’
Too often we go through life doing what we want to do, saying what we want to say, and choosing what we choose and think that there is no consequence to our actions and choices. This is far from the truth.
God declares to us that we will reap what we have sown. Just as a farmer buries seed and reaps a crop based off of that seed, we will reap what we have sowed and cultivated. As he writes to the churches of Galatia...
7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 8 For [he that soweth] to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but [he that soweth] to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. 9 And let us not [be weary] in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
The question isn’t about the harvest coming. It is about what will we harvest. Will the harvest be corruption, for he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, or will be life everlasting, to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
God’s judgment will be fulfilled - ‘and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it’
One cannot escape the judgment of God. Once God declares it is done, it is done.
We find that this prophetic judgment was fulfilled when the Jerusalem was taken captive and burnt down, and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof. This phrase probably relates to the constructions of the city and especially the temple. Much the temple and city were both made of timber from the forest of Lebannon.
2 He built also the house of the forest of Lebanon; the length thereof was a hundred cubits, and the breadth thereof fifty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits, upon four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams upon the pillars.
17 And he made three hundred shields of beaten gold; three pound of gold went to one shield: and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.
21 And all king Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; none were of silver: it was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon.
Do not think that God will not fulfill his promised judgment out of grace of mercy, for it is from the heart of the same just God that we find grace and mercy, that we find just judgment. God would not be a just a God if he willfully allowed his only Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior to die on the cross for our sin and then fail to judge that sin. He will be judge sin. We will reap that which we sow.
Conclusion
God calls us to repentance. God give us time to repent. God brings judgment based off of our decision and action. What do we stand to reap because of what we have sown, both individually and corporately?