“Break Up your Fallow Ground, and Sow Not Among Thorns”
If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove. And thou shalt swear, The LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory. For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings. (Jeremiah 4:1-4)
INTRODUCTION: We need a revival, even as Israel did in the time of Jeremiah. Jeremiah lived in the time when the people of Judah and Jerusalem were carried captive. Most of the book of Jeremiah is the impassioned pleading and warning of the inspired prophet of God, begging the people to repent (4:1; 5:30,31; 2:19; 3:14,22). Many of us have committed the two evils God’s people so many times commit- we have forsaken Him, who is the fountain of living waters, and hewn us out cisterns that can hold no water (Jer. 2:13), The Scripture teaches us to take up our cross daily and follow Christ (Luke 9:23), confessing our sins (1 John 1:8-10; I Cor. 11:31,32).
I. FALLOW GROUND!
This means hard soil, unbroken by the plow. If God is to get fruit from your life, the ground must be broken up.
A. When Jesus fed the five thousand, He “blessed and brake.” Blessing means breaking.
B. The pitchers that Gideon used to free Israel from the Midianites were all broken. Whole pitchers would not let the light shine that was inside.
C. God had to break up Moses’s whole life before He used him. Moses lost his wealth, honor, pride, friends, and ambition.
D. Elisha was successful, plowing his plantation with twelve yoke of oxen. It was all broken up when God called him to be a prophet.
E. Jesus broke up the fishing business when he called Peter, James, John, Andrew.
F. Jesus called Matthew the rich publican, breaking him away from friends and money.
G. When God saved the soul of the slave girl in Acts 18, the business of her masters was broken up.
H. It cost two thousand hogs to save the poor maniac of Gadara.
I. It is one of the most terrible curses of the churches today that we are neither hot nor cold (Rev. 3:15-17). We need broken lives for revival.
II. BREAK UP YOUR HEARTS (Jas. 4:8-10; Hos, 10:12).
We must set ourselves to seek God, to turn our hearts from sin, to afflict ourselves in godly sorrow.
A. Daniel was led to have a broken heart and seek after God as he considered the desolation of Jerusalem during the captivity (Dan. 9:3-19). In his prayer Daniel mentioned the sins of Israel twenty-one times.
B. Psalm 51 gives the picture of David’s heart as he sought God after he had fallen into the horrible sin with Bathsheba. David did not even face his sin until Nathan accused him (II Sam. 12:7). But when David saw how far he had gone from God, he deliberately set himself to realize the enormity of his sin (Ps. 51:3).
C. We need to learn to mortify the flesh (Rom. 8:13), fasting as did Bible Christians (Esther 4:16; Ezra 8:21-23; Neh. 1:4; Jonah 3:5-10; Isa. 37:1-4; Acts 13:1-3).
D. Pride, self-will, and self-centered plans must be broken. Our ears are not sensitive to the plans of the Holy Spirit; all our plans should be subject to Him.
III. SOW NOT AMONG THORNS.
Fallow ground brings forth weeds. It is almost useless to sow among thorns and weeds on fallow ground. So are religious services with hearts unbroken, preoccupied with the thorns of worldliness and sin.
One day, when I was five years old, my bare feet pattered down the furrow following my Uncle Tom. To my distress he plowed up some beautiful flowers among the corn rows. He told me that they were morning glories, and I said, “Aren’t they pretty, Uncle Tom?” He answered, “They are not pretty to me. If I grow morning glories I can’t grow corn.” Some of the things in which you delight seem sweet as a morning flower, but I wonder if they can prevent your growing corn for the Lord?
CONCLUSION: “Sow not among thorns” if you want fruit for God. Dig out that sinful habit! Confess and forsake that wicked grudge against your neighbor or loved one. Forgive today and be forgiven! With penitence, with confession and tears give up that amusement that seems “no harm.” Break up your ground, dig out the thorns, and then God will make your ground fruitful.
