SOWING AND REAPING

SOWING AND REAPING

Galatians 6:7-9 (KJV)

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

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.

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

Laws of sowing and reaping:

• We reap what we sow
• We reap in proportion to how much we sow
• We reap some much later than we sow
• We’ll have to reap our crop

One of our 15 Bible truths of HOPE is, “You can choose the sin, but you cannot choose the consequences.”

I. SAMSON, GREATLY USED OF GOD IN THE END, BUT DIED AS A FRUIT OF HIS EARLIER SOWING

Judges 16:25-30 (KJV)

And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison house; and he made them sport: and they set him between the pillars.

And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them.

Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport.

And Samson called unto the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.

And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left.

And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.

It was over 30 years ago when I first heard a preacher, as he was preaching about Samson, say, “Sin will:

• Take you farther than you want to go
• Keep you longer than you want to stay and
• Cost you more than you want to pay”

One time I heard the story of a snake handler doing a demonstration with a constrictor snake.

The snake slithered and wrapped around his ankle. He said “I can handle it.”

The snake slithered up farther and wrapped around his thighs. He said, “I can handle it.”

The snake slithered and wrapped around his waste and still He said, “I can handle it.”

The snake got all the way around his chest. With confidence He said, “I can handle it.”

By the time the snake wrapped itself around him up to his neck, it was too late. He couldn’t handle it.

Almost everyone thinks they can handle their sin.

II. DAVID ASKED FOR FORGIVENESS BUT STILL HAD TO REAP

2 Samuel 12:13-14 (KJV)

And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.

Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.

I meet people all of the time who say something like this, “I asked God to forgive me. Why do I still have all this bad stuff happening to me?”

God can and does sometimes graciously remove the consequences of sin.

But it is unwise to expect it.

More often than not, you’re going to have to reap that crop.

• Getting saved isn’t going to change it
• Asking forgiveness isn’t going to change it
• Going to church isn’t going to change it
• Turning over a new leaf isn’t going to change it

The consequences of sin, the crop that is produced by it, very often, has to be reaped.

So far there hasn’t bee a ton of good news in my message has there been?

That’s pretty much the way the Bible is.

It speaks much more about the consequences of sin than it does about the blessing of heaven.

There is a reason for that; because the consequences are real and serious!

But there is good news.

There is a way to reverse the consequences for good.

• If we sow good seed
• If we sow it long enough and
• If we sow enough of it

We will eventually begin to reap more of a better crop than the evil one.

III. JOSHUA IS AN EXAMPLE OF SOWING GOOD SEED

A. Joshua sowed good seed as Moses’ minister

1. He was faithful to Moses

Numbers 11:28 (KJV)

And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them.

I believe that Joshua became the servant of Moses shortly after Israel left Egypt.

All of those years of wilderness wondering Joshua served Moses:

• ministering to his needs, 
• attending to his requests, 
• serving him in any way necessary

At one time I worked construction as a journeyman ironworker. We were considered skilled labor.

• I was a certified welder
• I went through an apprenticeship training course

On every job site there was another group of construction workers called laborers.

Technically they were unskilled labor.

But honestly, they were the most valuable people on the job site.

They worked closely enough with people from every trade that those laborers who had worked long enough in their trade, could pretty much lend and hand and be a help 

• anywhere on the job with 
• anyone on the job.

You really never see Joshua in the limelight

• In the battle of the Amalekites, he was leading the soldiers in the field, but the focus is on Moses praying.
• At the report of the twelve spies at Kadesh Barnea, Joshua gives a good report, but he is soundly put down by the majority.

He is everywhere you see Moses in the wilderness, but he is never seen trying to make something of himself.

2. He was a follower up Sinai

Exodus 24:13 (KJV)

And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua: and Moses went up into the mount of God.

• Joshua went places where no one else went with Moses and
• Joshua saw things that no one else saw with Moses and
• Joshua heard things that no one else heard with Moses

A good leader is always first, a great follower.

Joshua demonstrated that.

3. He was fearless at Kadesh-Barnea

Numbers 14:6-9 (KJV)

And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes:

And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land.

If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.

Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.

• He believed God was able and
• He stood for that when everyone else stood somewhere else.

B. Joshua sowed good seed as the wilderness soldier

Exodus 17:8-10 (KJV)

Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim.

And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.

So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.

I can’t see anything in this where Joshua was trying to make a name for himself.

• He was just doing what needed to be done
• He was just doing as Moses had said

Too many people try to make a name for themselves. They do what they do hoping to be the next Moses. What we really need to do is just what needs to be done and as the Lord has said.

C. Joshua sowed good seed as Moses’ replacer

Joshua 1:1-2 (KJV)

Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD it came to pass, that the LORD spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying,

Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.

There came a day when Moses died and Israel needed someone to replace him.

• Moses recognized Joshua’s potential and
• The Lord recognized Joshua’s potential

Joshua never got puffed up about it.

He just picked up the mantle as it were and led Israel over the Jordan River.

D. Joshua sowed good seed as the Lord’s servant

Joshua 24:14-15 (KJV)

Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.

And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

Conclusion

I grew up my teen years in a small town in southeastern Washington called Waitsburg.

The area is a big time wheat harvesting area, so I worked almost every summer in the wheat fields.

One of the jobs we did in late spring or early summer was to walk through those thousands of acres of wheat and pull the rye. It’s a weed when it’s in a wheat field.

Every year the rye would grow back – probably introduced by some bad wheat seed many years ago.

Every year the wheat farmers knew they would have to pay teenagers to walk through those fields and pull the rye.

But the wheat farmers never quit farming wheat just because they kept getting rye in their fields.

• They planted wheat
• They pulled the rye and
• They harvested a better crop of wheat than they did the rye.

Don’t get discouraged that you have still have some bad crops to reap.

Just keep planting good stuff and, before long you will have so much more of that in your harvest, it will overwhelm the bad.