May it please Almighty God to bless us together as we meditate in his holy word this morning. Let's turn to the prophecy of Hosea, chapter 10, and we'll read verse 12. The prophecy of Hosea, chapter 10, and reading verse 12. So to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy, Break up your fellow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and reign righteousness upon you. I'm sure I told you previously, and I just for the young people here today just to remind you that God's servants cannot pick and choose their texts as they would like. And I suppose, given the opportunity, I would not have chosen a text like this, but these words in the middle of the text really took hold of me and and I couldn't part from them and there are these break up your fallow ground it's not the only place these words occur they also occur in the book of Jeremiah and in the fourth chapter in the third verse and they're very significant words but we need to understand what they mean It's alright reading a statement like that, but first of all we need to know what the description is aiming at. Well we read this chapter and Hosea is not an easy book to read and it's speaking about the distress and the captivity of Israel and the ingratitude of Israel.

And when you think of Israel as a nation, when you think of how God was so wonderfully gracious to them, and it is good to remember that there they were came from Abraham and just a single family and they were multiplied to a vast number and they were brought into Egypt and now they multiplied and eventually they were freed from Egypt by the almighty power of God and travelled across the wilderness for those 40 years and then came into Canaan And then God was with them, and they conquered the nations around that area.

So God had been very, very gracious to them. But gradually, they turned away from God. God had given them his commands, and you can read those in the 20th of Exodus, the Ten Commandments, they're very clear. And yet you see Israel didn't keep them. And the other commands that the Lord gave, they followed their own way. therefore it's not surprising therefore that we read in the beginning of this 10th chapter Israel is an empty vine that means there's no real good fruit and that's a pretty sad condition as we look back over the history to realize they come to this very sad condition and we should recognize that How these truths, we may think, well they're Old Testament truths and they don't have any application to me today.

Well, you should realize, and we should realize, that God's Word does have an application to us today. In each part, as we read through the Word of God, it's not, it is old, but it's not old-fashioned, and it's appropriate so that you and I may take notice of the things that we read. Well, in this verse, the prophet was instructed by the spirit of God. And again, it's wonderful to think that God himself, through his spirit, spoke to these prophets to write these important words, which were recorded, which were spoken to the people at that time and have been spoken to the people of God right down through the ages and still does today so we have very clear instructions sow to yourselves in righteousness reap in mercy so we have two statements there righteousness and mercy and then break up your fallow ground And then the statement, for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and reign righteousness upon you.

Well, let's just for a moment concentrate on what it means to break up your fallow ground. It's a farming term. I know some of you know a bit about farming, and it's a farming term. What it means is that the ground has been ploughed, the furrows have been formed and then it needs to be harrowed and perhaps sometimes it's been harrowed and therefore it's been broken down and then sometimes farmers then leave a field. They leave it, as this word says, fallow.

Nothing's actually done on it and therefore it gains benefit through a rest we might say which is good for that land and it benefits and then gets a better crop and so we recognize this but what is important is in that time when the land we might term is fallow therefore there's not a crop on it it has to be kept because otherwise weeds will grow up and thorns will grow up and will take any goodness which is Rejuvenating the soil and so these things have to be watched after that's why it says Break up your fallow ground. You can't just be left. It's got to be looked after and prepared then for The following year perhaps when they do actually then so a crop so we must they mustn't let Weeds and that kind of thing take over the ground.

It's surprising how quickly weeds and Thistles and thorns grow If you watch that perhaps in a patch of ground Which it looks nice and clean and tidy and very quickly weeds grow up And that's what the example is speaking to us when it's speaking to us here using this natural illustration So that you and I can look at it in our own lives Because it may be that God in his great love and mercy has ploughed up our life ploughed up our heart and there it was with no life and just a lump of you might say ground with no evidence of life and yet the Lord comes and ploughs it up stirs us up so there is a change so there is a concern what a blessing that is if you and I in our lives can find that God has come to us and he's ploughed up our life, ploughed up our heart he has caused a change hasn't left us just in our unconcerned situation the state that we were born in but has come and ploughed us up perhaps it hasn't been very easy perhaps it hasn't been very pleasant but nonetheless what a mercy when God has done it and then he may have harrowed it taken off the the clods and the lumps and granted it's come down to quite a nice smooth soil but then the great thing is to still look after it and not to leave it to grow weeds well that's the natural situation and it's also our spiritual situation if the Lord has come and what we would term converted us.

That means he's called us, that means he's spoken to us, that means he's made us aware of our sinful condition, that we are a guilty sinner and worthy of eternal damnation and has caused us to pray unto him to seek for mercy and we may have benefited from his wonderful favour to us and received his goodness and received his grace and we should be very thankful for that but then it's very easy then to become lukewarm it's very easy to just as it were leave the ground leave our soul not concerned about the health of our soul what a mercy if God gives us a concern so that we are desirous that we might be healthy and if we're healthy we will bear fruit for the honour and glory of God but there are so many temptations in the world today to occupy our minds. Sometimes things may appear to be lawful and we can indulge in them but the great question is do they benefit our soul? Are we leaving that ground, that fallow ground and not breaking it up and not looking after it? we're allowing weeds and we're allowing thorns to grow up well God knows you see the position isn't he in your life and my life and we can we got this very easy analogy isn't it to recognize what it means but we have a great adversary the devil who endeavors to occupy our minds with sinful desires, sometimes sinful words, sometimes sinful actions. And his concern is so that we're not looking after, we're not looking after the situation of our spiritual life, our fallow ground.

We're letting it become occupied with weeds, and thorns. And then you see if there is corn or seed sown, what happens? It doesn't make much progress. Why? Because it's choked. Choked with the thorns. Choked with the weeds. And that's what happened, you see, in Israel's life. And allowed the things of time to occupy them. And therefore they were not fruitful and they were choked with all the poor things of this life. Nothing new, is it?

And yet you and I have a very clear warning. Isn't God kind and gracious? He warns us of the situation that we're likely to fall into. And that's why he says, very graciously with these words break up your fallow ground don't just leave it but look after it get rid of the weeds get rid of the thorns because they will choke the seed so therefore that means that if you come and hear the gospel preached and the seed of the gospel falls into your heart Because of all these other things that you find yourselves thinking about and speaking about and doing, you're not profited. You're not benefited. What does it mean? I'll tell you what it means in reality. It means this. It pushes the glorious gospel and the life of our wonderful Savior into the background. So we become barren and we become unfruitful and we walk opposite to the gracious way that the Lord lays before us. Now often these things are between our souls in God.

People may not necessarily see it They may not realize it. The devil is very subtle. Never underestimate the temptation of the devil. He brings things into our lives, into our minds. That's perhaps one of the greatest curses that we have to contend with in the day and age in which we live. The work of the devil in our mind. He floods us sometimes with wrong thoughts and evil thoughts and do they bring us nearer to God? No. They take us away from God. Do they profit us? No. But they bring distress into our heart.

And so we have this word to speak to us, to remind us the relevance of God's grace and favour toward us because We have this fallow ground. There's been this goodness to us. There's been that ploughing up. There's been that tilling. And then, to use another phrase in the Word of God, we've settled down on our lees. That means we've taken it easy.

We've just forgotten, really, about the importance of the things of God. Read in the Bible. taken second place used to perhaps be our chief joy but we still read it perhaps but not as we should do and we find therefore that we fall into this trap that we're not breaking up the fire ground we are allowing the poor things of this world to dominate our thoughts, perhaps our words, perhaps our actions, perhaps it takes possession of what we might term our spare time, and we find instead of growing in grace, we become stagnant, we become poor, we become affected by the things of time. Now that's the devil's ploy and that's his aim and that's why we should be thankful that God has given us words like this, tucked away in the prophecy of Hosea and to a lesser extent in Jeremiah and yet so relevant for all of us.

And so the word of God then tells us to sow to yourselves in righteousness and to reap in mercy. That means to sow those good things in good ground that they may grow up and indeed be fruitful. And that fruit, what does it do? It brings honour and glory to God.

And we desire to be found living closer to the Saviour, hearing His voice, and not wandering away, but taken up with the great truths of the Gospel. And so, what a mercy, we have a statement like this. Hosier doesn't beat about the bush, he's very clear, isn't he? He says, so to yourselves, in righteousness. Sow the good seed of the gospel. Concentrate on the work of the Saviour.

Truly desire to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Surely that is sowing to ourselves in righteousness. That's not sowing to ourselves in worldliness. saying to ourselves so that we may truly benefit from his word, benefit from meditation in the great truths of Almighty God.

You know it's a wonderful truth that we can read of in the in the Psalms, and there's so many wonderful statements in the Psalms, but just to speak of one, and that's in the 27th Psalm, and the 27th Psalm and the 8th verse, and this is what we read. When thou saidst, seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee, thy face, Lord, will I seek? Isn't that wonderful? If God actually speaks to us and instructs us to seek his face and our heart responds joyfully, not grudgingly.

Sometimes we're grudging to move away from the evil thoughts of our heart. and yet here we're told seek ye my face and my heart's under thee thy face Lord will I seek what a blessing if God therefore gives us that and so here we have this statement sow to yourselves in righteousness and reap in mercy see if we sow to ourselves by the grace of God those things which direct us to the Saviour, direct us to the mercy of God, direct us to His loving-kindness, and enable us to realise we have a God who does not deal with us as our sins deserve.

What's the result? The result is we will reap. There'll be a harvest. There'll be a harvest and we'll reap in mercy. The mercy of God toward us. We want to harvest in spiritual things. We don't want to harvest in the poor things of this world. What a good and gracious God we have. It comes and speaks to us in such words as this. Sow to yourselves in righteousness and reap in mercy. And in order therefore to be able to do this, By the grace of God we are to break up our fallow ground. Yes, God's given us fallow ground.

He's quickened us into spiritual life. What a mercy therefore if we are spiritually healthy and seeking for these mercies and seeking for these blessings. So to yourselves in righteousness Not in unrighteousness. There's much unrighteousness, isn't there? Within us, the devil produces much unrighteousness in our thoughts. God doesn't say to do that. But he says, sow, sow. Sow the seeds. Sow the seeds in righteousness. And those seeds, of course, are the seeds which direct us to the work of the Savior. You know, when God gives us a godly desire, a gracious hunger after spiritual blessings, we rejoice. We're thankful for God's love and for God's mercy toward us.

And he hasn't left us to ourselves. to follow that way which is so wrong, contrary to our God. But what a mercy when God enables us to break off from those things which are wrong and pray to God who will give us grace to break off from them. We have an evil nature. We have a sinful heart.

We have a great God. We have a compassionate God. The God who knows about us. He knows the way we take. And he remembers that we are dust. This is why we have such a wonderful God to be able to come to. And so he says, then sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy, break up your fallow ground. And then he brings us this phrase. For it is time to seek the Lord. Time to seek the Lord.

Perhaps we've been backward in our lives. Perhaps we've sought the things of time. Perhaps we've spent our time on things that do not profit, on things that do not bring us nearer to Christ but take us away. And so what a mercy if God speaks to us, speaks to our heart with a word like this, for it is time. You wasted time, but now what a blessing if you're able to redeem the time. Redeem the time.

For it is time to seek the Lord. This is a gracious statement from our God. A gracious call from Him to our hearts. Oh my friends, what a blessing if the Holy Spirit gives us that tender conscience and that soft heart to fall in line with these desires. Hosea knew what he was saying. He knew the people he was addressing. He knew the hardness of their heart. He knew the distress. He knew the captivity that they were in. He knew the ingratitude of Israel.

My friends, how good it is if God has deals with us, therefore in love to our souls and tells us, tells us it is time to seek the Lord. What a blessing, if that is applied to our heart, what will it do? It will make us repent of our sinful desires, of our sinful thoughts, of our sinful words, perhaps of our sinful ways. And we'll come, come to the throne of grace. It's a wonderful expression that, you know. Throne of grace. God's throne. And grace is His mercy. Free, unmerited mercy. Throne of grace. Come to that throne of grace and pour out our hearts before Him.

And that's not something that you and I can just turn the tap on and it just pours out. you and I need the help, the power of Almighty God to come into our hearts come into our hearts and give us then that living desire to come and seek the Lord our life is short isn't it? we don't know how long our life is but what a blessing it is if while we are in time we do find ourselves earnestly seeking the Lord.

And to realise that God speaks these wonderful words, it is time. It is time. Is it time in your life? Is it time in my life? To hear such gracious words, it is time to seek the Lord. And you know if that is so, we can recognize that the Lord is very gracious because he says, it is time to seek the Lord till he come. Till he come. Are we waiting for the Lord? Are we waiting for the Lord to come? Are we praying to the Lord that he will come?

Do we feel perhaps we're barren Do we feel perhaps that we're like this, we have a need to break up the fallow ground, that we've allowed thorns, we've allowed weeds to grow in our spiritual life, which have choked, choked the word. So there's no room for it. there's no room for God's word in our hearts we're occupied with the poor vanities of time and so how good it is to recognise the Lord speaks in this way for it is time you know it's spoken really isn't it? in love the Lord does speak in love He doesn't cut us off He doesn't cut us off, He doesn't cast us off He says, just words like this, it is time. Time to seek the Lord. What a mercy God brings us there, to seek the Lord.

God knows where we each are in our spiritual life. You are the only one that knows where you are in your spiritual life. Other people may make assumptions, They make an assessment, they may be far off from the mark, but God knows all about us. And God knows where we are. And God knows where we've got to.

And God knows whether there's the need for such a word of exhortation to us today. And so here we have, sow to yourselves in righteousness and reap in mercy. break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord. And so really this directs us to the need to seek the Lord in this way, to sow to ourselves righteousness, to reap in mercy, and to break up your fallow ground.

You may think this morning, well, this is not a very interesting text and don't think I'm very keen on listening to a sermon like this. Well, it is the Word of God. And we should never turn away from the Word of God. And perhaps we sometimes need to ask ourselves the question, is there not a cause? A cause in our life. for words to be directed by the Spirit of God to us so that we consider our ways consider our ways it's always good to do that consider our ways and then as we see the state we found ourselves in and to recognize the need there is to come and to seek the Lord. For it is time to seek the Lord till he come. It would seem here there's a very positive statement. Till he come. Till he come. What a blessing when God gives you and me faith to come to him.

Notwithstanding our sinful condition, And my friends, you read through this book of Hosea and you'll see the state that the people of Israel were in, walking contrary to God, and yet you see the Lord comes. The Lord comes to them and encourages them to say, break up your followed ground for it is time to seek the Lord. You've allowed the weeds and the thistles and the thorns to grow. You've allowed it. And now it's time to seek the Lord. What a blessing that God should come and direct us to words like this. So we don't say, well, I'm all right. I'm OK. I'm healthy in my soul. I don't need any words like this.

Well, God knows sometimes the devil, who is a great liar, pretends that we're OK. pretends that our spiritual life is good. Well, again, if we're tempted sometimes like that, we have to examine ourselves as to whether there are the fruits of the Spirit in our life. Now, this is shown to us in the last chapter in Galatians, and how good it is if we can see the fruits of the Spirit.

And if not, to realize Perhaps such a statement is directed to me and perhaps I should take note of it and perhaps I should bow down under it because surely our great desire should be that we do grow in grace and that we do grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. What is it really? It's fellowship with Jesus, isn't it? Fellowship with Jesus.

And whatever state in our life we really do need that, and of course the Apostle Paul graciously directs us to that when he wrote to the Philippians with that wonderful desire that he's able to say, But what things were gained to me, those I counted loss. for Christ. It's good sometimes just to analyze our hearts and our desires. What things were gained to me, lots of things are gained to us, aren't they?

Those I counted loss for Christ. Comparing it with the knowledge of Christ, they were pretty worthless. Yea, doubtless, and that means what it says, There's no doubt about it. And I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count none but done that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God, by faith.

That was the apostle's desire. He tells us, doesn't he, his life and with the following verse he says that I may know him well the Apostle knew the Savior of course he met him on the Damascus Road and he'd been with him and guided and directed him and now he comes to this grand statement that I may know him and the power of his resurrection that is a risen power The risen power of the Saviour enables us to hear his word and to do just what we've been considering, sow to ourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy and break up our fellow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord. Well, here was the Apostle writing these wonderful words, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection.

It's a risen power. It's a power which changes our lives. It's a power which lifts us up from the poor things of this world. The poor things that Hosea was speaking to the Israelites about. Power. And the power of his resurrection. Oh, it's a great and glorious statement.

And it's wonderful to know the power of God. in our hearts because it lifts us up from the things of time. It lifts us into heavenly places. It lifts us into that place of union with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ that I may know him in the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings.

That means union with Christ. Union with Christ. Not that which you and I would seek after naturally, but that which brings us into union with Christ. And really there's no greater union than to be joined to the Lord Jesus Christ. Union. Union. What a mercy it is.

And fellowship of his sufferings. being made conformable unto his death, if by any means I may attain unto the resurrection of the dead. How often we see the Apostle Paul looking ahead, looking ahead, not on the things of this world, but looking ahead to those eternal blessings those eternal realities if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead not as I had already attained either were already perfect but I follow after if that I may apprehend that means you might understand that for which also I am apprehended of Jesus Christ. Well, we could go on. This third chapter in Philippians is a lovely chapter.

It's really worth pondering over and recognizing the depths that it refers to and the grace it gives and the wonder of his love towards unworthy sinners. And so it means this. It's time to seek the Lord till He come and reign righteousness upon you. That means to come into the path that the Apostle Paul was earnestly desiring. Oh, it's a great blessing, isn't it? To be found there, union with Christ, union with his sufferings, recognising what he's done from worthy sinners. and to reign till he come.

Till he come. He will come. He remembers his people. He doesn't leave them. He doesn't forsake them. He does come. We have to press on. We have to fight in the good fight of faith. We have to endure the hardships of this life, realizing there is a gracious and glorious reward that God has laid up in glory for those that love Him. There is a wonderful prospect for the Church of God. And that's not something which will fade away. That is something which is eternal. That is something which God has gone to prepare.

And as he tells us, I go to repair a place for you. And if I go to repair a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there, ye may be also. It's good if God gives us grace to lay hold of those sure and certain promises. Well, we have this statement in this in this chapter and it's good to realize that the Lord is gracious and the Lord is merciful and so he tells us and may we indeed desire to follow the words that he speaks to us sow to yourselves in righteousness not in unrighteousness reap in mercy break up your fallow ground God has given us some fallow ground, we're not to leave it, to grow weeds and thorns and to choke the word of God, but we are to break it up. Then he says, for it is time to seek the Lord till he come and rain righteousness upon you. There's a promise there, isn't there? Rain righteousness. so to ourselves righteousness if God gives us that grace we can look forward to the harvest look forward to that time when he rains righteousness upon us not our righteousness but his righteousness and we can then come and rejoice in his finished work and indeed praise God from whom all blessings flow. So this morning 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. Amen.