SOMETHIN' GONE WRONG IN DE FIELD

157 PATTIES PLACE – PORTERSVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA 16051

 

"The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved."  -- Jer. 8:20

Many nations and eras have had their "harvest" of souls, which provokes the questions, "Why did these harvests end?" and "What is required to have a harvest?" We don't mean to presume on the more learned or knowledgeable students of the word or to pretend that we have all the answers to these matters. Everyone knows, to some degree (whether Calvinist or Arminian) that God must give the increase. That being said let us explore a few things.   

In times of famine, after a harvest has past, a few gleanings become that much more precious and important than the harvest - not less. The cry may well be that of Isaiah 8:20, "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved." Should our response be more effort in the field . . . or less? Should we do less than preach the word—being instant in season and out of season?

The Mechanics of Faith

Psa 55:16 As for me, I will call upon God; and the LORD shall save me.

Rom 10:9 That if thou shalt . . . believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Rom 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness . . .

Rom 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

1John 5:12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

Repentance and faith are not outward works; they are inward acts and occur in the heart, and that is where salvation and righteousness occur.  Lately, we have been running into Calvinists that believe that faith cometh by regeneration and that by regeneration man believeth unto righteousness which are foreign concepts to the scriptures.

While we are so busy lumping folks into  two categories of saved and lost, lost and found, believers and unbelievers, we some times forget the two basic categories in which they must fall – those that have the Son and those that do not. The unjustified, the non-believer, and the lost do not have the Son. Even those Calvinists, who claim regeneration before repentance and faith, do not have the Son before faith or repentance but are yet children of wrath.  The scriptures are the source of faith and understanding when accompanied by Holy Spirit conviction.

The Mechanic of Understanding

Job 32:8 But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration [where is this inspiration found – Herb Evans] of the Almighty giveth them understanding.

Psa 119:93 I will never forget thy precepts: for with them thou hast quickened me.

Psa 119:104 Through thy precepts I get understanding:

Psa 119:130 The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.

Jer 3:15 And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

Pro 21:16 The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead.

Calvinists are usually philosophers and intellectuals that must make the simple things of scripture to be complex, while ordinary Bible Believers explain the complex things by the simplicity that is in Christ. Many Calvinists contend that a man has to be regenerated in order to understand the Gospel, but that is a blatant falsehood and contrary to the scriptures.

Faith must have the word whether written or spoken to produce repentance, faith, and understanding in the lost sinner, something that the sinner is unable to do himself. When repentance and faith occur, the sinner is then regenerated and not before. With God’s impetus of the spoken or written word and the accompanying conviction of the Holy Spirit, the sinner is given that ability to repent and believe. It is the entrance of God’s word, not regeneration, that gives light and that light gives understanding, and regeneration follows after the entrance of the word, light, repentance and faith

Man’s quickening is BY the word of God and not by regeneration. Since all who read or hear the word of God are given light and the ability by God to understand, repent, and believe. No one can take the credit for one’s own salvation, because God initiates this salvation by the word and light that He gives to the darkened soul. The ones that accept God’s word and light are saved, and the ones that do not are lost. The ones that hear the word are given light to understand, except they resist it and harden their hearts against it.

The Mechanics of the Elements versus the Increase

. . . if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes . . . that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee: The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it. The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish. And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron. The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed . . . Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it. Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them . . . All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locust consume." -- Deut. 28:15, 21- 24, 38, 39, 42

You may have a good sower, good seed, and good soil, but if you do not get the right kind of weather, you can forget it. In fact, good weather can complicate the efforts of the sower, but it can also offset the many deficiencies of the sower and the soil (And what if God decides to rotate his lands?).

And then there are the Catholic locusts, the Seven Day Adventist pestilence, the JW cut worms, the Mormon weevils, Christian Science mildew, Calvinist dryness, and the Campbellite larvae. The brethren have not been doing too much bug-spraying lately (thinking that merely sowing will remedy every situation). Still, that will only work up until a point. Ultimately, it is in the hands of a God, who places great value on prayerful and faithful obedience to Him. Still, we must sow in season and out of season. We might provoke some thought, in this regard, by considering the basic ingredients of a harvest - the Sower, the Seed, and the Soil.

The Mechanics of the Sower

When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side. But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it . . . He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. -- Mat 13:19 -23

The sower soweth the word. Mark 13:14

A sower went out to sow his seed: -- Luke 8:5

Obviously, the more sowers that sow, the more seed will be sown in a given period of time. But what if the sowers are not very good at it? What if they are lazy? What if they sow haphazardly or sparingly? What if they do not care if the blades come forth or not? What if the sowers have the attitude that if the Sovereign Lord wants a harvest, he will provide one? What if the sowers are more interested in the size or amount of their air conditioned barns and stainless steel farm machinery? What if the sowers are more concerned about the gain that they receive from sowing?

What if sowers sow in an unplowed field, or among thorns, or rocky places? What if a sower dumps all the seed down one hole? What if he says to the ground, "One, two, three, repeat after me, you don’t need any seed." or "You don't need to believe, repent, or be changed."?  Will there be a harvest? Or, if there is a harvest, will it continue and remain? With the wrong kind of sowers, somethin’ may well go wrong in de field, with all due respect to the black preacher who so eloquently preached such a message.

The Mechanics of the Good Sower and the Good Seed

The seed is the word of God. -- Luke 8:11 

He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; -- Matt 13:37

What about the wrong kind of seed? Bad seed? The Israelites were told not to sow with "mingled" seed. If you mingle the spiritual seed of the word of God or the gospel with the seed of men, there is no telling what you might produce. No doubt, the "Pop, Hippie, and Hollywood" type Christianity of our day is a result of sowing with the mingled seed of the American Standard Version, the Revised Version, the Reversed Standard Version, the New King Jimmy Version, Good News from Modern Man, the New International Version and so forth. Perversions, every one of them!

And then there is the seed that says, "There's power in the tub." and "There is a fountain filled with water." The wrong kind of seed (TARES) or mingled seed will, no doubt, cause somethin' to go wrong in the field. The Good seed, sown by the Good Sower accomplishes its task, if sown in the good soil and heart that is not hardened. 

The Mechanics of the Good Soil

But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience. – Luke 8:15

We have mentioned the sower sowing the wrong way and in the wrong places, but let us consider the "poor soil." Every farmer knows that you must clear and plough a field if you are going to have a good harvest. But what if the hardened ground, frost raised rocks, thorns, brambles, and so forth are allowed to accumulate without any attention? What if the fallow ground is not broken up? What if the ground is cold, hardened, or just plain worn out? How many preachers, whom you know, are breaking up the fallow ground of this sin hardened generation in which we live? What we have today, instead, are preachers becoming a part of the sin hardened problem and this sin hardened generation. Is there really only a problem with the fields being white unto harvest and the absence of "faithful" laborers and not also a problem of bad "sowers, bad seed, and bad soil?"

The Mechanics of the Fertilizer

The great revivals, in America, which produced a great harvest of souls (often without a great deal of outward effort), are obviously not happening today. Someone merely read a sermon with amazing results, while men, today, spit and sputter, sweat, walk on the pulpits and pews, and often reap a handful of air.

The great soul winning successes, of the past, came on the heels of a freshly fertilized soil. Our forefathers were blessed with martyred and persecuted forefathers, fertilizer for the soil in which they sowed. Russia has been fertilized, by persecuted and martyred Christians, for many decades, and now, Russian believers, a few years ago, started to realize a harvest unlike anything they have ever seen.

The harvest, being plenteous, and the laborers being few, may, indeed, be some of the problem, but is that really the entire problem? We have gospel broadcasts, periodicals, books and tracts, and some of the kookiest witnesses everywhere. Or is the problem one of bad sowers, bad seed, and bad soil that is worn out, depleted, in need of the fallow ground being broken up, and desperately in need of NEW fertilizer and bug spray. What do you think is going to be the next step in America's farm program?