Trucebreaker Consequences

I will hear what God the Lord will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people,

and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly.

Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land. 

Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.   

Psalms 85:8-10

God has many great promises for his people; those who have embraced Him; those that have come out of the world; those that have accepted His call and given Him a yes; those who are obedient to His word. This implies a contractual relationship with God; i.e., 

when we, God will, if we, God will . . .

The passage from Deuteronomy 28:1 shows one example of this spiritual contract with God:

And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: 

God promised abundant harvest IF His people would observe His commandments. BUT if they would not, then the harvest would perish.

But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee: Deuteronomy 28:15 

There are many, many reasons for the promises of God not being evident in your life; revealing itself in poor harvest.  Among them:

®     Disobedience to God's Word.   

God speaks of Israel as a vineyard. Through disobedience to His Word, they became unfruitful. 

Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst. Isaiah 5:13

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Isaiah 5:20

When God's word is disobeyed, it results in spiritual famine:

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord:  And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.   Amos 8:11-12

®     Forgetting God 

Aside from disobedience, another reason for poor harvest is not acknowledging His rightful place in your life:

Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants and shalt set it with strange slips: In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.   Isaiah 17:10-11

It is not enough to know about God, you must know God. You must accept His plan of salvation, and acknowledge Him as Lord of your life.

If you do not rightfully acknowledge God you can work night and day and yet not bring forth spiritual harvest. Israel was an example of a people who forgot God:

They soon forgat His works; they waited not for His counsel.

They forgat God their Saviour, which had done great things in Egypt.  Psalms 106:13,21

Because of this, Israel suffered both in the natural and in the spiritual harvests.

As many who forget God, Israel did not recognize the reason they were experiencing poor harvests: 

And they shall eat up thine harvest, and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat: they shall eat up thy flocks and thine herds: they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees: they shall impoverish thy fenced cities, wherein thou trustedst, with the sword. Nevertheless in those days, saith the Lord, I will not make a full end with you. And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore doeth the Lord our God all these things unto us? then shalt thou answer them, Like as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not your's.  Jeremiah 5:17-19

Amos clearly described the reason for poor harvest in his writing:

And also I have witholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to harvest; and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city...and the piece whereupon it rained not withered...

I have smitten you with blasting and mildew; when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them; yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord.     Amos 4:7, 9

In addition to identifying the problem Amos gives the solution:

For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel Seek ye Me, and ye shall live.  Amos 5:4

®     Improper sowing

Not sowing on good ground; also results in a poor harvest:

God warned His people:

Thou shalt now sow thy vineyard with divers seeds: lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard, be defiled.     Deuteronomy 22:9

Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips:  In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.   Isaiah 17:10-11

In these verses God speaks of "mingled seed" and "strange" slips [small plants or seedlings]. He said they would appear to be growing but in the time of harvest would be cursed.

The New Testament calls the "seed" the Word of God. What you sow in your life affects spiritual harvest. If you sow His Word you will have abundant harvest.

If you consider the traditions of man, organization, or denominations more important than or equal to the Word of God, then you are mingling seed. Many denominations look like healthy spiritual plants. They may have large congregations and beautiful buildings in which to conduct their meetings. But they have mingled God's Word with their own traditions, ideologies or revelations. Their spiritual harvest is cursed. This is how cults begin. They "mingle" the seed of the Word with their own ideas. In the end the harvest is a sorrow.

The Word of God is the incorruptible seed which brings forth the harvest of the new birth in the lives of men and women:  

Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.   1 Peter 1:23

There are many who are blatantly unconcerned with the times we are in.   They are far more concerned with prosperity, fame, power, etc. than with laboring in the spiritual harvest.  Proverbs speaks of a son who sleeps during harvest:  

He that gathereth in summer is a wise son: but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame.   Proverbs 10:5

The harvest is a very busy time. It is the most important time, for if the harvest is not gathered rapidly it will rot in the fields.

In the natural world in Bible times every member of a family assisted in the fields during harvest. A son who spent his time sleeping during this period was a shame to his family.

We are in the most crucial time of spiritual harvest as we near the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet many of the children of God are sleeping. They have not joined the Body of Christ in the harvest fields. Their sickles are rusty and the fields are empty.

Proverbs speaks of the results of such unconcern:   

I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding;  And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down.  Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction.  Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:  So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man. Proverbs 24:30-34

®     Spiritual unfruitfulness

Unconcern results in spiritual unfruitfulness.

Jeremiah speaks of leaders destroying the harvest because of their unconcern:  

Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. They have made it desolate, and being desolate it mourneth unto me; the whole land is made desolate, because no man layeth it to heart.    Jeremiah 12:10-11

Unconcerned leaders result in unconcerned followers. The vision of the harvest must be communicated by our spiritual leaders or the fields will lie desolate because "no man layeth it to heart.”

The spoilers are come upon all high places through the wilderness: for the sword of the Lord shall devour from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land: no flesh shall have peace.    Jeremiah 12:12

The conclusion is the same as the beginning; God has many great promises for his people; 

©  those who have embraced Him; 

©  those that have come out of the world; 

©  those that have accepted His call and given Him a yes; 

©  those who are obedient to His word.  

This implies a contractual relationship with God; i.e., 

when we, God will, 

if we, God will . . .

Biblical Studies

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09/09/19

03/12/21