Break Up Your Fallow Ground: It is Time to Seek the Lord (Part 18)

As you know, we are in a long series titled "Break Up Your Fallow Ground: It Is Time to Seek the Lord" which is based on Hosea 10:12 which reads: "Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you." In this passage, Hosea urges the children of Israel to turn away from their sins, repent, and get right with God.

 

As we begin today, let's take a close look at verse four of Hosea chapter 10. The verse reads, "They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field." God was angry with the children of Israel because of the pervasive corruption that they engaged in. Not only were the Israelites unfaithful in their covenant with God, they were unfaithful in their covenants with their fellow man. Because they had abandoned the law of God, their was no restraint in their society, that would prevent them from "swearing falsely" or breaking their promises to their fellow Israelites. Because of the culture of dishonesty, God sent punishment among the children of Israel. The verse tells us specifically that judgment would come down on them like hemlock which is a poisonous and nauseous plant springs up in good fields. 

Now, in this series of messages, we are addressing specific sins that folks in the church need to confess and repent of in order to get our hearts right with God, and so that we can ask God to send revival in our personal lives, our families, our churches, our communities, and our country. So far we have addressed fifty sins in total, and today, we are going to continue this series by addressing three more sins from our list.

 

1. The first sin we will address today is the sin of not loving our enemies.  Jesus Christ said in Matthew 5:44: "I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." This is perhaps one of the hardest commands to follow which Jesus Christ gave to his disciples and to all of us as His followers. It is much easier for us to follow our natural instinct and hate our enemies. In fact, Jesus acknowledged this when He said, "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy."

Many of Jesus' commands go contrary to our culture and to our human nature. It is not easy to love someone in the church who has offended you and has not apologized and made it right. It is not easy to love an employer who has passed you over time and time again for a pay raise or a promotion. It is not easy to love a family member who has slandered your name in the community and tried to give you a bad reputation. But Jesus says to love them any way. 

We cannot just SAY we love our enemies either. The love we have for our enemies should be a love that calls us to action. Romans 12:20 says, "Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head." Your loving actions towards those who may be your enemies have the potential to bring about shame, guilt, and eventually a change of heart in their lives. 

Are you guilty of not loving your enemies? If so, confess this as sin, and allow God to place His love in your heart for them

2. The second sin we will address today is the sin of not raising our children the right way. Proverbs 22:6 says, "Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it." I believe that one of the greatest problems of our day is children not being raised right by their parents. In most cases, children do not just grow up to become criminals, perverts, or menaces to society. Somewhere along the line, good and godly parenting was lacking. 

God has given two basic commands to parents: train and chastise. 

Training involves the verbal instruction of a child. It involves teaching your child from the Bible what God says about life. A parents job is to instill righteous values in that child that he or she will carry with them throughout life. 

Chastisment is a form of discipline whereby a child comes to realize that wrong behaviour is not acceptable and will not go unpunished. Proverbs 29:15 says, "The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother." Proverbs 23:13-14 says,"Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell."

I know that our culture today frowns on corporal punishment. But, as Christians, we are not called to follow the culture. We are called to follow God's Word. 

Raising a child is the parents' responsiblity -- not the school's, not the community's, not another family member's. It is not even the church's responsibility to raise your child. Charles Spurgeon said, "Let no Christian parents fall into the delusion that Sunday School is intended to ease them of their personal duties. The first and most natural condition of things is for Christian parents to train up their own children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."

If you have been neglecting your duty of raising your children, may I encourage you to confess this as sin today. Ask God to give you the ability and discipline to raise your children for His glory.

3. The third sin we will address today is the sin of not being patient. The Bible says in I Thessalonians 5:14: "Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men." There are two key areas in which we need to be patient in life.

The first area is being patient with God. God does not operate on our timetable. Just because you asked Him for something, does not mean you are going to get it when you want it. God knows what is best for you, and when we accept this fact, we can be patient with God and be content when He tells us to wait.

The second area is being patient with others. It is so easy to get frustrated with those around us when things do not go our way. We can frustrated with our family members, our co-workers, or our brothers and sisters in Christ. We have to realize that others are growing and maturing in Christ at a different pace and we have to remember that others were patient with us as we were growing as well.

Are you guilty of this sin of not being patient with God and with others? If so, ask God to forgive you and create within you a spirit of patience.

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In closing, I want to encourage you to not let any sin that we have discussed today or in previous weeks remain unconfessed. Allow God's Holy Spirit to examine every part of your heart and get rid of anything that is not in line with God's Word. Begin to break up your fallow ground by asking God to forgive you and cleanse you of your sins. Then you can enjoy the sweet fellowship of a relationship with God that is unhindered by sin and wrongdoing.

 

If the Lord should tarry his coming and we live, I hope that you will be with us next week so we can continue this journey of getting our hearts right with the Lord and getting back to serving Him. Break up your fallow ground: it is time to seek the Lord.

 

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Now, if you do not know Jesus Christ as your Saviour, allow me to show you how you can be saved from sin and the eternal punishment of sin.

 

All you have to do is believe "that Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures" and you will be saved. And, like millions of others, you can come to know the risen Lord Jesus Christ for yourself.

 

John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

 

The Bible states in the book of Romans 10:9, 13: "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."  "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

 

If you are willing to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, please pray with me the following simple prayer: Holy Father God, I realize that I am a sinner and that I have done some bad things in my life. For Jesus Christ sake, please forgive me of my sins. I now believe with all of my heart that Jesus Christ died for me, was buried, and rose again. Lord Jesus, please come into my heart and save my soul and change my life today. Amen.

 

If you just trusted Jesus Christ as your Saviour, and you prayed that prayer and meant it from your heart, I declare to you that based upon the Word of God, you are now saved and you are on your way to Heaven. Welcome to the family of God! I want to congratulate you on doing the most important thing in life and that is receiving Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour. For more information to help you grow in your newfound faith in Christ, go to Gospel Light Society.com and read "What To Do After You Enter Through the Door".

 

God bless you and have a great week.