Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Proverbs, chapter 22. Proverbs 22. Continuing in this blessed book. Verse 8. He that soweth iniquity shall
reap vanity, and the rod of his anger shall
fail." This is a divine promise. Almighty God has set forth the
assuredness of justice, judgment, to all that he says are sowing
evil, unrighteousness. He that soweth. You know, often
the Lord uses the analogy of sowing. A sower went forth to
sow. He that scatters is what he's
saying. Iniquity is going to reap vanity,
and the rod of his anger shall fail. He who is sowing perverseness,
that is, anything that is contrary to right, that's what he's saying,
is going to reap trouble, sorrow, The New Testament sets forth
that truth this way. Galatians 6, 7, and 8. Be not
deceived. God is not mocked. That means you don't make a face
at. That's the definition. You don't
make a face at God. But whatsoever a man soweth,
that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to the flesh
shall of the flesh reap corruption. He that soweth to the Spirit
shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. Now, the Apostle
Paul, under the inspiration of God's Spirit, gave the exact
definition of what Solomon wrote in Proverbs. The Apostle Paul
actually defined or gave the interpretation of. Proverbs 22,
8. He that soweth iniquity, he that
soweth to the flesh. Now here's what I want to know.
I want to know what does that mean. What does it mean to sow
iniquity or soweth, continually doing? Here's what it is. Paul
defined it, he that soweth to his flesh means this. He that is loving, believing,
supporting, and spreading a lie. A false gospel. That's what it
is to sow iniquity. Everything that is concerning
the flesh that which does not believe God, and that which tends
to think that He's building Himself a haven of rest, a city of refuge
and eternal salvation by His own fleshly works and efforts. What does the Scripture say is
going to happen? He's going to reap corruption, vanity, what
actually means nothing. This is what he's going to get,
nothing but condemnation, and affliction, and judgment. But
why would a man sow iniquity? Why would someone try to justify
himself before God? Well, here's the reason. He doesn't
believe God. Man by nature, his heart is carnal
and therefore it's dead to the truth. He doesn't believe it. He's sincere. Now he's sowing
it. Now here's the issue. There is by the grace of God
some places where the gospel of God's grace is being preached. And Almighty God has been pleased
to call some out of darkness and save them by grace. But in those places where the
Lord is pleased to leave men and women to themselves, they're
listening to a message, a message that is nothing more than the
sowing of iniquity. And because they don't know God. They don't believe Him. They
don't know Him. They don't understand. The scripture declares that what
is being done is going to result in nothing but corruption and
judgment and death, eternal death. This is the most important thing
that you or I could possibly be doing right now. hearing the
gospel, assembling ourselves together under the sound of the
gospel, being together with God's sheep and being where the Lord
is. And the Spirit of God is blessing.
Man by nature possesses a carnal heart that lies to him. The scripture declares The carnal
heart to be deceitful above all things, above everything, and
it's desperately wicked. And then it says, who can know
it? Here's what the carnal heart does to the man that knows not
God. The carnal heart hides itself
from itself. When I was a kid, you did too,
we played a game called hide and seek. Hide and seek. And you know, I'd take off because
I wasn't it, you know. And whoever was it was going
to have to count and give a few seconds to hide. And I'd find
the best place that I could hide. But you know what? I always knew
where I was. They didn't know, but I did.
The carnal heart is the worst enemy a fallen creature can possess
because it hides from itself. It's desperately wicked. It's full of evil devices, deceit,
folly, And it cannot, it cannot be trusted. And the only way
that one knows that he even possessed a carnal heart before the Lord
removed that heart of stone and gave him a heart of flesh, the
only way he even knows that it was there is when God regenerates
him. Until then, he was absolutely
convinced in the lies and deceptions of his old heart. And all the
efforts of one that sows iniquity, that loves and trusts and spreads
the lie of a false gospel is going to have this end. The rod
of his anger, the rod of his anger, the staff by which he
thinks he's being secured. It's a stick. It's a walking
stick. It's a stick of protection. It's a stick of defense. It's
a stick. All that's going to happen is
it's going to fail. It's going to be the very thing
that Almighty God uses as a witness against him. Listen to Job 4.8,
even as I have seen they that plow iniquity and sow wickedness
reap the same. Everything that a man by nature
tries to do to justify himself by his own works. You know what,
remember Matthew 7, whenever they were standing before the
Lord and many were saying to me that day, Lord, Lord, we prophesied
in your name, we cast out devils in your name, We've done many
wonderful works in your name. All of those things by which
a man tries to justify himself is going to be the basis of his
condemnation. There are those in this world that don't realize the danger
that they're in. But, that's what that scripture
says. But I want to tell you something. I've got some good
news. I'm going to tell you now the
message of hope and life. And it's only known and only
revealed under the sound of the gospel. So I want to be very,
very careful that I set forth the truth. I've already told
you that man's totally depraved. We know that. His heart's deceitful. But there are some that Almighty
God has eternally covenanted to guard and to deliver from
the very lying bondage in which they're held. Because see, all
of us were born with that carnal heart. We were all born that
way. Every one of us possessed it. Every one of us came forth
from the womb speaking lies against God. It was just there. And whenever we could start actually
talking and thinking and realizing, that's what we thought. That's
what we believed. But I want you to listen. Hold
your place and turn with me to Psalm 125. Hold your place there
just for a second. We're going to look at 126 also.
But look at Psalm 125 verses 1 to 3. Here's the good news. They that
trust in the Lord, those that have been regenerated by God's
grace, they shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed,
but abided forever. As the mountains are round about
Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth
even forever. For the rod of the wicked, the
rod of the wickedness, shall not rest upon the lot of the
righteous, lest the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity. Now here's what the Lord has
promised. The rod of the wicked, thinking and attitude and spreading
and love and belief in a lie. That's the rod of the wicked. That's what they're standing
on. The rod of the wicked shall not
rest. Here's what it means. It shall
not remain. As I said, we were born with
it. But here's the promise. The rod
of the wicked shall not remain upon the lot, the portion of
God's elect. It's not going to happen. Listen
to 2 Peter 2.9. The Lord knoweth how to deliver
the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust until
the day of judgment to be punished. The Lord knows how, Peter. But
listen, the harvest of God's elect, life everlasting, is not
according to their ability. Their will, but it's according
to God's promise and power. Now, I told you we're going to
look at Psalm 126. Let's look at Psalm 126 for a second here.
Psalm 126 verse 1. Listen to this. When the Lord
turned, or returned the turning, When the Lord turned again the
captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream." Now here's
a believer confessing what has happened to him. When the Lord
sovereignly turned us from the captivity of the bondage of sin
and unbelief, here's what the believer says. He came to us
unexpectedly. on salt, while we were in spiritual
darkness, dreamers, unaware of being in the prison of our depravity. That's what that first verse
says. When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were
like them that dream. Then, when He did that, was our
mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue was singing. Then
said they among the heathen, the Lord, hath done great things
for them. The Lord hath done great things
for us. We're of. We're glad. We're glad. As soon as we were
awakened, liberated from the bondage of sin by regenerating
grace and power, as soon as we were made aware of His mercy
and compassion to us, We were found to be rejoicing in our
heart and it burst forth with the proclamation of His goodness
and mercy and we could not hold our tongues from singing His
praise and proclaiming even to the heathen what great things
the Lord had done for us. We were so glad in those things. In verse 4, He says back, the
believer saying back to the Lord, turn again our captivity, oh
Lord, as the streams in the south cause us to remember again. This
is what we're doing right now. Lord, would you cause us to remember
again what you've done for us? We're so prone to forget. We're
so prone to be lax. Lord, would you cause us to realize
again something of our deliverance and our rescue from the bondage
of sin. Bring back to our minds that
which you have so amazingly and mercifully and compassionately
done for us. Lord, that rescue which was as
the streams in the south. Now the only way I could understand
what that meant was to just look at the words. As the streams in the south,
the south that word there is actually Negag and refers to
in the definition Egypt. That's what it refers to. It's
referring to Egypt. A parched place and picture of
the bondage of sin. Egypt is a picture. But the streams,
as the streams. Lord, you caused us to remember
how you came and turned us again. Caused us to remember what you
did for us when we were in captivity as the streams. When you delivered
us as the streams. And the word streams there means
it's a bed or a channel of water that flows through a dry land.
Now here's the picture. Here we are, we're in this world.
Now what is this world but a dry and parched, dead, arid land
of sin and rebellion against God? We're in a world, but we're
not of it. And what happens here but it's
like a river that's running through. A river of life, a river of refreshment. And the Lord, in His mercy and
compassion, came and found us, caused that river of His mercy
to cross our paths, and said, I'll call you. You come. My sheep hear my voice. I know
them. I call them by name. Isn't that
the way the Lord saves His own? And then the scripture declares
in verse 5, the Lord's speaking back. They that sow in tears
shall reap in joy. those that sow with a heart made
tender toward the Lord and toward His people. A heart that grieves
over the presence of sin that still resides within. Sin is
still there. That old heart, as I've said
before, the removal of that heart of stone that the Lord said,
I'm going to remove that heart that dominates. A man is born
with one heart, a heart of rebellion. God said, I'm going to remove
that. But the presence of sin is still there. But it doesn't
have dominion over us. It doesn't rule anymore. There's
a new heart there that rules. He says, they that sow in tears
broken of what they are. They sow in faith to Christ is
what they're doing. They cast themselves upon the
Lord of glory. They sow in obedience. Him who loved them and gave Himself
for them. They sow in the spirit of repentance.
What does that mean? Their minds have been made to
know how God now justifies a sinner. That's repentance. You know,
I know what everybody says. I'm going to repent. I'm going
to turn over. I'm going to start going to church. Repentance is
a mind changed to know how God justifies a sinner. And they sow in charity. Love
to God and love to His people. And they shall reap in joy. If you have a margin there, actually
that word joy is singing. They're going to reap in singing.
Singing in their hearts unto the Lord, rejoicing unto Him. And lastly, Hosea 10-12, I want
to read this. Sow to yourselves in righteousness. When one sows in righteousness,
what does that mean? Well, there is one who is the
righteousness. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. He
is our righteousness. So when we are said to sow to
ourselves in righteousness, it's to actually say that we look
unto the Lord Jesus Christ by faith. as our only hope and acceptance
before God is to believe on Him alone for our every need and
to expect according to God's word and promise that our final
state, state now and state then, is going to be total deliverance
from the very power of sin now, dominion of sin now, but then
the presence of sin. Sow to yourselves in righteousness,
and you're going to reap in mercy. Oh, may the Lord bless our hearts
and cause us to remember we are what we are by the grace of God.
I pray the Lord bless this to our hearts for Christ's sake.
Amen. All right, let's take a break.