1 00:00:01,950 --> 00:00:05,310 Welcome to From the Pulpit in Classic Sermons. 2 00:00:05,690 --> 00:00:08,130 Each week we bring you a different message 3 00:00:08,130 --> 00:00:10,630 from some of history's greatest speakers in the 4 00:00:10,630 --> 00:00:13,970 Christian faith, and powerful sermons from modern preachers 5 00:00:13,970 --> 00:00:14,290 too. 6 00:00:15,110 --> 00:00:16,630 This week we have A. 7 00:00:16,670 --> 00:00:17,090 W. 8 00:00:17,250 --> 00:00:20,590 Tozer with his message, Miracles that Follow the 9 00:00:20,590 --> 00:00:21,110 Plow. 10 00:00:25,410 --> 00:00:37,110 So to yourself in righteousness, break up your 11 00:00:37,110 --> 00:00:42,290 hallowed ground, for it is time to seek 12 00:00:42,290 --> 00:00:46,750 the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness 13 00:00:46,750 --> 00:00:48,930 upon you. 14 00:00:50,810 --> 00:00:53,050 First thing I say about it is that 15 00:00:53,050 --> 00:00:56,710 this text is a favorite of mine, and 16 00:00:56,710 --> 00:00:59,930 I have referred to it and introduced it 17 00:00:59,930 --> 00:01:02,710 before, but tonight I want to bring a 18 00:01:02,710 --> 00:01:03,610 message on it. 19 00:01:05,150 --> 00:01:07,850 The second thing is that there is only 20 00:01:07,850 --> 00:01:09,690 one word here that has to be explained. 21 00:01:12,100 --> 00:01:14,540 Sowing is understood by everybody. 22 00:01:15,780 --> 00:01:18,580 Reaping is understood by everybody. 23 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:23,080 Breaking up the ground is understood by everybody. 24 00:01:25,060 --> 00:01:28,340 And the raining upon the broken ground is 25 00:01:28,340 --> 00:01:29,360 understood by everybody. 26 00:01:30,540 --> 00:01:32,740 But there is one word here, and it's 27 00:01:32,740 --> 00:01:34,220 the word fallow. 28 00:01:35,180 --> 00:01:37,840 F-A-L-L-O-W. 29 00:01:38,940 --> 00:01:42,020 Now, I have a sense in which I 30 00:01:42,020 --> 00:01:42,860 plan to use this. 31 00:01:42,940 --> 00:01:44,280 I think it's a Biblical sense. 32 00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:46,140 I think it's a sense that Hosea had 33 00:01:46,140 --> 00:01:46,540 in mind. 34 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:51,840 But if in your part of the country, 35 00:01:52,780 --> 00:01:55,160 or your part of the world where you 36 00:01:55,160 --> 00:01:59,460 might have come from, the word fallow ground 37 00:01:59,460 --> 00:02:02,980 means something else other than what I make 38 00:02:02,980 --> 00:02:04,340 it to mean in my sermon. 39 00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:08,720 Don't put it down to ignorance, because I 40 00:02:08,720 --> 00:02:13,800 grew up between the handles of a plow, 41 00:02:13,880 --> 00:02:14,980 and I could hardly see over. 42 00:02:16,700 --> 00:02:20,320 So this is not a city slicker, like 43 00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:23,180 the young fellow from the seminary I heard 44 00:02:23,180 --> 00:02:24,160 about who went to the farm. 45 00:02:26,300 --> 00:02:28,800 He got into a little country church, and 46 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:32,140 there was a whole congregation of farmers there. 47 00:02:33,740 --> 00:02:35,520 He wanted to show them that he was 48 00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:40,720 no city man, that he knew about farming. 49 00:02:41,180 --> 00:02:43,820 So he preached on the prodigal son, and 50 00:02:43,820 --> 00:02:45,180 he came to the fatted calf. 51 00:02:46,020 --> 00:02:48,840 And he said, now, just in case you 52 00:02:48,840 --> 00:02:50,740 don't understand the importance of this, he said, 53 00:02:50,780 --> 00:02:52,420 Remember, that wasn't an ordinary calf. 54 00:02:53,220 --> 00:02:54,380 That was the one they'd had in the 55 00:02:54,380 --> 00:02:56,600 family for years and years and years. 56 00:02:59,380 --> 00:03:01,720 So it's entirely possible when you're off of 57 00:03:01,720 --> 00:03:04,080 your own territory to say some things that 58 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:04,840 will get you in trouble. 59 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:07,760 But I just wanted to say that so 60 00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:10,060 you will understand that I know what I 61 00:03:10,060 --> 00:03:11,840 mean when I talk about fallow ground. 62 00:03:13,520 --> 00:03:19,320 In this text, God is speaking to us 63 00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:22,480 from the countryside. 64 00:03:24,160 --> 00:03:29,900 A great Englishman wrote a book called Natural 65 00:03:29,900 --> 00:03:31,840 Law in the Spiritual World. 66 00:03:33,040 --> 00:03:37,540 He tried to show that the natural laws 67 00:03:37,540 --> 00:03:40,140 of God, or the laws of God as 68 00:03:40,140 --> 00:03:45,720 known in nature, extend upward and are the 69 00:03:45,720 --> 00:03:47,520 same in the spiritual world. 70 00:03:48,820 --> 00:03:49,920 That was Henry Drummond. 71 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:56,920 And another man said that earth was only 72 00:03:56,920 --> 00:04:00,500 the shadow of heaven thrown downward and made 73 00:04:00,500 --> 00:04:01,060 material. 74 00:04:02,300 --> 00:04:05,540 That the laws of God above, thrown down 75 00:04:05,540 --> 00:04:07,700 into nature, became the laws of nature. 76 00:04:08,320 --> 00:04:09,760 That was Emerson who said that. 77 00:04:11,080 --> 00:04:13,160 And I believe both of those statements. 78 00:04:14,300 --> 00:04:17,060 I believe that the God who made his 79 00:04:17,060 --> 00:04:18,640 heaven made also his earth. 80 00:04:20,149 --> 00:04:24,410 And except for the blindness of sin, if 81 00:04:24,410 --> 00:04:26,370 we knew earth very well, we'd know heaven 82 00:04:26,370 --> 00:04:27,030 pretty well. 83 00:04:28,730 --> 00:04:31,310 Because heaven and earth are the front yard 84 00:04:31,310 --> 00:04:33,030 and the backyard of God's palace. 85 00:04:34,090 --> 00:04:35,590 And God is as much at home in 86 00:04:35,590 --> 00:04:36,310 one as in the other. 87 00:04:38,230 --> 00:04:41,990 God is saying here to us, He's saying, 88 00:04:42,110 --> 00:04:47,990 Be not proud, humble yourselves, and learn from 89 00:04:47,990 --> 00:04:50,810 the field and the soil and the rain. 90 00:04:55,890 --> 00:04:59,730 Let earth instruct you about heaven and about 91 00:04:59,730 --> 00:05:00,650 life and death. 92 00:05:01,970 --> 00:05:04,010 And let the sod and the clay and 93 00:05:04,010 --> 00:05:06,230 the plow and the seed and the rain. 94 00:05:06,230 --> 00:05:09,690 And let these things speak to you because 95 00:05:09,690 --> 00:05:11,110 I made them. 96 00:05:12,190 --> 00:05:14,590 And they have their place in my scheme, 97 00:05:14,750 --> 00:05:18,150 certainly as the silver sea and the throne 98 00:05:18,150 --> 00:05:18,690 have. 99 00:05:20,130 --> 00:05:22,290 So hear me now, says God. 100 00:05:23,590 --> 00:05:27,670 You who have ears to hear, hear what 101 00:05:27,670 --> 00:05:33,430 God will say to us, what he will 102 00:05:33,430 --> 00:05:37,170 say about spiritual things by means of natural 103 00:05:37,170 --> 00:05:37,770 things. 104 00:05:38,830 --> 00:05:42,090 So we present here two kinds of fields. 105 00:05:43,210 --> 00:05:48,010 The fallow field and the plowed field. 106 00:05:48,670 --> 00:05:53,510 The fallow ground and the plowed ground. 107 00:05:54,530 --> 00:05:59,090 Now, the fallow ground, as it is meant 108 00:05:59,090 --> 00:06:05,790 here, and as I understood it in earlier 109 00:06:05,790 --> 00:06:11,730 life, is not what agriculturalists now call it, 110 00:06:11,870 --> 00:06:12,150 quite. 111 00:06:13,390 --> 00:06:16,230 But we'll define fallow ground. 112 00:06:16,430 --> 00:06:24,150 Fallow ground is fertile soil which has been 113 00:06:24,150 --> 00:06:27,670 tilled, and crops have been taken from it. 114 00:06:28,530 --> 00:06:31,330 And then one time the farmer says, We're 115 00:06:31,330 --> 00:06:33,330 going to let it lie a year. 116 00:06:34,390 --> 00:06:38,650 So he lets it lie a year, but 117 00:06:38,650 --> 00:06:41,130 he gets lazy and lets it lie two 118 00:06:41,130 --> 00:06:43,830 years, and three years, and four years, and 119 00:06:43,830 --> 00:06:45,530 pretty soon he gives up that field. 120 00:06:46,610 --> 00:06:49,410 And while it is fertile, it is not 121 00:06:49,410 --> 00:06:53,550 plowed, nor sown, nor cultivated. 122 00:06:54,390 --> 00:06:57,310 And pretty soon the green briar takes over, 123 00:06:58,130 --> 00:07:05,980 and the skunk cabbage, and the burdock, and 124 00:07:05,980 --> 00:07:06,820 the briar rose. 125 00:07:07,300 --> 00:07:09,880 I didn't say briar rose before, because I 126 00:07:09,880 --> 00:07:12,680 always think of the briar rose, always comes 127 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:15,000 in and takes over in a field that 128 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:15,740 isn't plowed. 129 00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:20,060 Now, this was one time a field where 130 00:07:20,060 --> 00:07:21,120 there were good crops. 131 00:07:22,220 --> 00:07:25,860 But it's being now, it's lying now, un 132 00:07:25,860 --> 00:07:28,800 -plowed, and because it's un-plowed, it's barren. 133 00:07:28,960 --> 00:07:29,860 And I want you to get a hold 134 00:07:29,860 --> 00:07:32,500 of this idea, for if you miss this, 135 00:07:32,600 --> 00:07:33,420 you've missed it all. 136 00:07:34,140 --> 00:07:37,980 If it is un-plowed, it is also 137 00:07:37,980 --> 00:07:39,420 barren. 138 00:07:40,440 --> 00:07:42,840 Barren as far as the farmer's needs are 139 00:07:42,840 --> 00:07:43,460 concerned. 140 00:07:44,640 --> 00:07:52,520 Barren not of dandelions, and briars, and burdock, 141 00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:58,180 but barren of pumpkins, and corn, and wheat, 142 00:07:58,380 --> 00:08:01,820 and the rest that we need to keep 143 00:08:01,820 --> 00:08:02,360 us alive. 144 00:08:03,520 --> 00:08:04,840 Now, there lies our field. 145 00:08:04,940 --> 00:08:06,120 I've seen many of them. 146 00:08:07,620 --> 00:08:09,420 We used to have them on our farm. 147 00:08:09,500 --> 00:08:11,540 My father didn't farm all of his farm. 148 00:08:11,540 --> 00:08:14,000 He only farmed certain favored parts of it. 149 00:08:15,760 --> 00:08:17,940 And there were fields there on that farm 150 00:08:17,940 --> 00:08:20,320 that hadn't been plowed within my memory. 151 00:08:20,840 --> 00:08:23,140 And I was there 15 years, and allowing 152 00:08:23,140 --> 00:08:25,640 for two years that I wasn't noticing things. 153 00:08:26,260 --> 00:08:29,120 That would make 13 years that there hadn't 154 00:08:29,120 --> 00:08:30,420 been a plow in that field. 155 00:08:31,520 --> 00:08:36,760 And it just went to ragweed, and wild 156 00:08:36,760 --> 00:08:39,720 carrots, and whatever happened to be around there. 157 00:08:40,600 --> 00:08:44,140 And the sun baked it, and the rain 158 00:08:44,140 --> 00:08:46,080 softened it, and the sun baked it again. 159 00:08:46,200 --> 00:08:49,480 It got harder, and even the field mice 160 00:08:49,480 --> 00:08:51,300 couldn't dig into it, it was so hard. 161 00:08:52,060 --> 00:08:54,060 And pretty soon it was just forgotten. 162 00:08:54,380 --> 00:08:55,880 A cow walked through it to get to 163 00:08:55,880 --> 00:08:56,540 something richer. 164 00:08:57,160 --> 00:09:00,360 It was an old, fallow field, an old, 165 00:09:00,420 --> 00:09:01,480 neglected field. 166 00:09:02,400 --> 00:09:04,200 But the one thing about that field that 167 00:09:04,200 --> 00:09:05,720 I want you to note, and that was, 168 00:09:05,720 --> 00:09:08,700 it didn't have the travail of the plow. 169 00:09:09,440 --> 00:09:11,740 And it didn't have the peril of the 170 00:09:11,740 --> 00:09:14,320 farmer coming early in the morning with his 171 00:09:14,320 --> 00:09:14,760 team. 172 00:09:15,200 --> 00:09:19,360 They didn't have any of those abominable things 173 00:09:19,360 --> 00:09:21,360 that belched smoke. 174 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:24,020 Now, in those days, and they didn't have 175 00:09:24,020 --> 00:09:26,040 in the days of Hosea, they had living 176 00:09:26,040 --> 00:09:27,820 things that could pat and pet and feed 177 00:09:27,820 --> 00:09:31,860 sugar, and curry and brush and put to 178 00:09:31,860 --> 00:09:32,540 bed at night. 179 00:09:34,300 --> 00:09:36,560 The old farmer comes out in the morning 180 00:09:36,560 --> 00:09:41,060 and he gets the fence down, and he 181 00:09:41,060 --> 00:09:43,380 comes in and he has his plow, and 182 00:09:43,380 --> 00:09:45,260 he hitches it up, hitches the team to 183 00:09:45,260 --> 00:09:47,500 the plow and starts plowing. 184 00:09:48,360 --> 00:09:51,400 But for years, since this old field had 185 00:09:51,400 --> 00:09:53,620 had any plow down it back, not one, 186 00:09:54,180 --> 00:09:54,940 not a plow. 187 00:09:55,040 --> 00:09:56,900 It had gotten snug by this time. 188 00:09:57,000 --> 00:09:59,760 It knew it was fertile, and it knew 189 00:09:59,760 --> 00:10:01,080 that it was a Christian alright. 190 00:10:01,660 --> 00:10:04,500 But there it was, self-satisfied and at 191 00:10:04,500 --> 00:10:06,760 rest, at ease in Zion. 192 00:10:07,380 --> 00:10:10,540 Tying a cord, it had now become a 193 00:10:10,540 --> 00:10:14,520 landing field for woodpeckers and blue jays and 194 00:10:14,520 --> 00:10:16,460 any other birds that happened to get tired 195 00:10:16,460 --> 00:10:17,360 on their way over. 196 00:10:18,240 --> 00:10:20,580 Groundhog would come up and look around a 197 00:10:20,580 --> 00:10:22,860 bit, go back knowing he was perfectly safe. 198 00:10:22,900 --> 00:10:24,540 There would be no plow in that field. 199 00:10:25,820 --> 00:10:28,560 And so it was a safe, snug, self 200 00:10:28,560 --> 00:10:32,600 -satisfied field, but the curse of barrenness was 201 00:10:32,600 --> 00:10:33,140 upon it. 202 00:10:33,540 --> 00:10:36,040 It wasn't worth its salt. 203 00:10:36,640 --> 00:10:38,520 It produced nothing. 204 00:10:39,340 --> 00:10:43,260 There it lay, no wonder, no miracle of 205 00:10:43,260 --> 00:10:48,160 life, no harvest, no fruit, no contribution to 206 00:10:48,160 --> 00:10:49,540 the life of the world. 207 00:10:50,060 --> 00:10:51,860 That was that foul ground. 208 00:10:52,960 --> 00:10:55,500 And there's the plowed ground, can be that 209 00:10:55,500 --> 00:10:56,280 same one. 210 00:10:58,540 --> 00:11:02,080 Now, here comes the farmer with his plow. 211 00:11:02,940 --> 00:11:05,120 It's a kind plow if you look at 212 00:11:05,120 --> 00:11:08,440 it down the years, but it's a very 213 00:11:08,440 --> 00:11:09,840 cool plow also. 214 00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:14,160 The old plowshare, which my father faithfully called 215 00:11:14,160 --> 00:11:18,460 plowshare until he died, the old steel plowshare 216 00:11:18,460 --> 00:11:22,480 would bite down into that ground, bite down 217 00:11:22,480 --> 00:11:23,020 in there. 218 00:11:23,020 --> 00:11:27,420 And the horses would lean forward and their 219 00:11:27,420 --> 00:11:30,880 tendons would stand out, and their blood vessels, 220 00:11:30,980 --> 00:11:35,180 you could see them under their finely groomed 221 00:11:35,180 --> 00:11:38,520 skin while they pulled that old plow through 222 00:11:38,520 --> 00:11:40,080 the ground, turning it over. 223 00:11:40,440 --> 00:11:42,040 And oddly, when you turned it over, it 224 00:11:42,040 --> 00:11:44,200 was pretty good soil, really pretty good soil. 225 00:11:44,300 --> 00:11:46,260 Why hadn't it been used before? 226 00:11:46,580 --> 00:11:49,260 Somebody had neglected it, and there it lay. 227 00:11:49,260 --> 00:11:52,640 So the plow goes through, cutting and tearing 228 00:11:52,640 --> 00:11:56,380 and turning over and rearranging and disturbing and 229 00:11:56,380 --> 00:12:01,020 bruising and causing travail and pain. 230 00:12:02,580 --> 00:12:06,320 But it isn't very long until the kind 231 00:12:06,320 --> 00:12:10,360 reins of God come on that field, and 232 00:12:10,360 --> 00:12:13,940 the cutworms and the angleworms go to work 233 00:12:13,940 --> 00:12:16,880 on it, and other little creatures that God 234 00:12:16,880 --> 00:12:19,480 has put down there to keep it soft. 235 00:12:20,540 --> 00:12:22,040 And the seed that the farmers put in 236 00:12:22,040 --> 00:12:22,880 begins to grow. 237 00:12:23,820 --> 00:12:27,540 And pretty soon, wonderful nature goes to work, 238 00:12:27,640 --> 00:12:31,960 and that field now becomes a green thing. 239 00:12:32,800 --> 00:12:35,960 And the miracle of life becomes, first there's 240 00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:38,520 the pushing up of the little green things, 241 00:12:38,520 --> 00:12:41,120 and then the spreading out of those same 242 00:12:41,120 --> 00:12:44,160 little green sprouts into the kind of grain 243 00:12:44,160 --> 00:12:46,860 or whatever it was that's planted there. 244 00:12:47,800 --> 00:12:50,920 And so the dormant powers are released, the 245 00:12:50,920 --> 00:12:55,300 dormant powers are released, and there's bursting seed 246 00:12:55,300 --> 00:12:58,180 and life and growth and God. 247 00:12:58,640 --> 00:13:02,720 Because that field that lay contented so long 248 00:13:02,720 --> 00:13:06,980 and snug and protected so long now feels 249 00:13:06,980 --> 00:13:11,580 the bite of the cruel plow, and hears 250 00:13:11,580 --> 00:13:15,340 the commotion of the shouting farmer, and feels 251 00:13:15,340 --> 00:13:18,960 the impact of the horses as they move 252 00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:19,500 over it. 253 00:13:20,100 --> 00:13:23,940 All this is necessary, but it's necessary before 254 00:13:23,940 --> 00:13:25,820 there can be any fruitfulness. 255 00:13:26,560 --> 00:13:30,860 Now says the Holy Ghost, So to yourselves 256 00:13:30,860 --> 00:13:33,360 in righteousness, reap in mercy. 257 00:13:34,060 --> 00:13:37,120 Break up your fallow ground, for it's time 258 00:13:37,120 --> 00:13:40,080 to seek the Lord, till he come and 259 00:13:40,080 --> 00:13:41,740 reign righteousness upon you. 260 00:13:42,300 --> 00:13:45,160 Two kinds of lives correspond to these two 261 00:13:45,160 --> 00:13:46,340 kinds of grounds. 262 00:13:47,140 --> 00:13:49,940 There is the fallow life, and there are 263 00:13:49,940 --> 00:13:53,180 so many of them, church members and people 264 00:13:53,180 --> 00:13:55,980 who have had some kind of spiritual experience 265 00:13:55,980 --> 00:13:57,720 somewhere back down the line. 266 00:13:58,520 --> 00:14:03,060 They, I suppose, have been converted, but now 267 00:14:03,060 --> 00:14:04,620 they're at ease in Zion. 268 00:14:05,320 --> 00:14:07,880 They've decided that they didn't like the bite 269 00:14:07,880 --> 00:14:10,260 and the sting and the pain of the 270 00:14:10,260 --> 00:14:10,700 plow. 271 00:14:11,300 --> 00:14:13,160 They've decided it would be better to take 272 00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:15,200 it easy and protect themselves. 273 00:14:16,080 --> 00:14:21,520 So they became proper, poised, self-contained church 274 00:14:21,520 --> 00:14:26,300 members, Orthodox and Evangelical and Alliance. 275 00:14:27,240 --> 00:14:31,160 They give to admissions once a year properly 276 00:14:31,160 --> 00:14:33,920 a certain amount, but they don't let it 277 00:14:33,920 --> 00:14:34,340 bite. 278 00:14:35,080 --> 00:14:37,440 They pray some, but they don't let any 279 00:14:37,440 --> 00:14:38,920 pain follow it. 280 00:14:39,900 --> 00:14:42,640 They go to church pretty often, but they 281 00:14:42,640 --> 00:14:46,140 don't let it get hold of them and 282 00:14:46,140 --> 00:14:47,240 protect themselves. 283 00:14:47,440 --> 00:14:48,700 They are at ease in Zion. 284 00:14:49,260 --> 00:14:51,520 Here we have whole churches of them. 285 00:14:51,520 --> 00:14:53,700 Don't you know that some preachers take a 286 00:14:53,700 --> 00:14:55,240 church like that when they are young, and 287 00:14:55,240 --> 00:14:58,140 they live in that church and go all 288 00:14:58,140 --> 00:15:02,060 along with the congregation, preaching every Sunday to 289 00:15:02,060 --> 00:15:03,740 fallow grounds? 290 00:15:04,380 --> 00:15:08,460 The people who are religious and righteous, if 291 00:15:08,460 --> 00:15:12,920 not self-righteous, but contented, and they never 292 00:15:12,920 --> 00:15:15,120 have any worry, they are never bothered by 293 00:15:15,120 --> 00:15:16,260 anything spiritual. 294 00:15:16,260 --> 00:15:19,280 It doesn't bother them, however hot the sun, 295 00:15:19,300 --> 00:15:21,380 when they go home, joking along the highway 296 00:15:21,380 --> 00:15:23,300 or along the street as they go, and 297 00:15:23,300 --> 00:15:24,860 have their tea and go to bed. 298 00:15:25,520 --> 00:15:27,360 But they haven't been bothered, and there has 299 00:15:27,360 --> 00:15:30,140 been no blood drawn, and they have gotten 300 00:15:30,140 --> 00:15:31,200 through to nothing. 301 00:15:31,640 --> 00:15:35,280 No plow has gone into their souls. 302 00:15:35,920 --> 00:15:38,940 They are the fallow ground of the church. 303 00:15:40,260 --> 00:15:42,400 And yet there is no fruit there, and 304 00:15:42,400 --> 00:15:45,180 no growth there, and no wonder there, and 305 00:15:45,180 --> 00:15:47,940 no glory there, and no life there. 306 00:15:48,840 --> 00:15:50,920 They are not bad enough to go to 307 00:15:50,920 --> 00:15:53,600 hell, but they are certainly not good enough 308 00:15:53,600 --> 00:15:54,380 to go to heaven. 309 00:15:55,240 --> 00:15:57,260 And there they are caught in between. 310 00:15:57,880 --> 00:16:00,200 I would that thou wert a hotter cold, 311 00:16:00,560 --> 00:16:02,680 for cause thou art neither hot or cold, 312 00:16:02,740 --> 00:16:04,700 I will spew thee out of my mouth. 313 00:16:05,100 --> 00:16:06,640 That's the fallow ground. 314 00:16:07,300 --> 00:16:11,360 Then there are the plowed ones, the discontented, 315 00:16:11,360 --> 00:16:14,060 those who are filled with contrition. 316 00:16:14,740 --> 00:16:16,920 If they listen to a Sunday school teacher 317 00:16:16,920 --> 00:16:19,400 or a preacher, or they get a hold 318 00:16:19,400 --> 00:16:22,040 of a book and it disturbs them, they 319 00:16:22,040 --> 00:16:24,300 are bothered until they get right about it. 320 00:16:24,760 --> 00:16:27,140 If truth is brought to bear on their 321 00:16:27,140 --> 00:16:29,640 consciences, they are not restful until they get 322 00:16:29,640 --> 00:16:31,080 their conscience straightened out. 323 00:16:32,240 --> 00:16:33,660 That's the plowed kind. 324 00:16:34,560 --> 00:16:36,620 And contrition is a part of their very 325 00:16:36,620 --> 00:16:37,100 nature. 326 00:16:37,100 --> 00:16:39,840 Some people haven't wept over their sins for 327 00:16:39,840 --> 00:16:41,440 God knows how many years. 328 00:16:42,980 --> 00:16:44,820 They're the fallow field. 329 00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:48,800 Some haven't humbled themselves under God's hand for 330 00:16:48,800 --> 00:16:49,420 years. 331 00:16:50,060 --> 00:16:51,400 They're the fallow field. 332 00:16:51,540 --> 00:16:54,220 But the plowed field is the field that 333 00:16:54,220 --> 00:16:59,140 has felt the stirring up, the plow, the 334 00:16:59,140 --> 00:17:00,980 confessing and the seeking. 335 00:17:02,420 --> 00:17:04,540 They are the plowed fields. 336 00:17:04,660 --> 00:17:05,880 That's the plowed Christian. 337 00:17:05,880 --> 00:17:09,740 And the difference between the two is that 338 00:17:09,740 --> 00:17:13,900 this latter one feels the pulsations of new 339 00:17:13,900 --> 00:17:17,700 life and the miracles of grace and power 340 00:17:17,700 --> 00:17:18,839 and fruitfulness. 341 00:17:20,319 --> 00:17:24,520 And it always results from a state of 342 00:17:24,520 --> 00:17:27,140 heart that is plowed up. 343 00:17:29,740 --> 00:17:35,340 And where there's confession and where there's contrition 344 00:17:36,120 --> 00:17:44,220 and where there's spiritual discontent, contented cows, says 345 00:17:44,220 --> 00:17:45,620 the Carnation Milk Company. 346 00:17:46,300 --> 00:17:48,600 Our milk is from contented cows. 347 00:17:50,080 --> 00:17:52,220 Well, it's in the nature of a cow 348 00:17:52,220 --> 00:17:53,600 that she should be contented. 349 00:17:53,620 --> 00:17:57,000 That's why she's a cow, that she should 350 00:17:57,000 --> 00:17:57,720 be contented. 351 00:17:57,720 --> 00:17:59,880 You never heard of a discontented cow. 352 00:18:02,660 --> 00:18:05,800 But God didn't say, You are my cows. 353 00:18:06,460 --> 00:18:08,680 He said, Break up your fallow ground. 354 00:18:08,840 --> 00:18:10,320 It's time to seek the Lord. 355 00:18:11,660 --> 00:18:13,240 You're to be a fruitful people. 356 00:18:14,060 --> 00:18:18,560 Look in the big soulful eyes of a 357 00:18:18,560 --> 00:18:18,920 cow. 358 00:18:19,500 --> 00:18:25,280 John Burroughs wrote something about cattle, and he 359 00:18:25,280 --> 00:18:27,800 said about a cow, He said, Her moist 360 00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:33,020 breath and her luminous eyes and her long 361 00:18:33,020 --> 00:18:35,700 trombone blast in the morning over the meadow. 362 00:18:35,720 --> 00:18:36,980 I like the sound of that. 363 00:18:37,440 --> 00:18:38,200 I like the sound. 364 00:18:38,260 --> 00:18:40,820 I'd rather hear cowball, a good cow that 365 00:18:40,820 --> 00:18:42,540 does it right, than to hear a lot 366 00:18:42,540 --> 00:18:43,180 of these orchestras. 367 00:18:43,260 --> 00:18:44,320 They're called orchestras now. 368 00:18:45,580 --> 00:18:50,160 But here she is, and she can't do 369 00:18:50,160 --> 00:18:50,820 anything else. 370 00:18:51,140 --> 00:18:53,260 God made her like that, so we'll excuse 371 00:18:53,260 --> 00:18:54,700 her and say, It's all right, go ahead, 372 00:18:54,740 --> 00:18:55,600 we like your milk. 373 00:18:56,180 --> 00:18:59,620 But this isn't the way Christians should live. 374 00:19:00,100 --> 00:19:02,920 God doesn't say anything about a Christian being 375 00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:03,460 a cow. 376 00:19:03,800 --> 00:19:06,960 He says that we are sheep, and the 377 00:19:06,960 --> 00:19:08,740 Lord leads us into deep and green pastures 378 00:19:09,300 --> 00:19:11,200 and fights our battles ahead of us and 379 00:19:11,200 --> 00:19:12,140 leads us out. 380 00:19:12,820 --> 00:19:14,220 Then he says we're soil. 381 00:19:15,160 --> 00:19:17,180 He says there are two kinds of soil. 382 00:19:17,320 --> 00:19:21,220 The fallow soil, which is contented and at 383 00:19:21,220 --> 00:19:26,160 ease with itself, and the plowed soil, which 384 00:19:26,160 --> 00:19:30,640 is discontented and contrite and humble and filled 385 00:19:30,640 --> 00:19:34,940 with confession and restitution and seeking God. 386 00:19:36,060 --> 00:19:41,920 Religious history shows these two phases in religious 387 00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:42,320 life. 388 00:19:42,740 --> 00:19:46,400 The dynamic, which is the plowed life, and 389 00:19:46,400 --> 00:19:50,460 the advanced, victorious, miraculous life. 390 00:19:51,060 --> 00:19:53,300 And then the static, which is the fallow 391 00:19:53,300 --> 00:19:58,040 phase, which has safety and caution and quietness 392 00:19:58,040 --> 00:19:59,400 and barrenness. 393 00:20:00,140 --> 00:20:01,180 Look at your Bible. 394 00:20:01,340 --> 00:20:03,120 These two phases may be traced in the 395 00:20:03,120 --> 00:20:04,580 history of Israel. 396 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:06,820 Israel and Egypt, there she was. 397 00:20:06,920 --> 00:20:08,980 She had been there 400 years, and she 398 00:20:08,980 --> 00:20:10,580 had gotten adjusted to herself. 399 00:20:10,680 --> 00:20:12,080 She had become adjusted. 400 00:20:12,800 --> 00:20:14,360 She was well adjusted. 401 00:20:15,220 --> 00:20:17,140 Every little boy that went to school, without 402 00:20:17,140 --> 00:20:19,420 any doubt, he got on his report card, 403 00:20:19,480 --> 00:20:20,340 he adjusted well. 404 00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:22,920 So they were adjusted. 405 00:20:23,020 --> 00:20:26,420 Everybody was adjusted to the land of Egypt. 406 00:20:26,600 --> 00:20:29,020 A few of them weren't, and a few 407 00:20:29,020 --> 00:20:31,580 of them cried, but the masses were adjusted. 408 00:20:34,530 --> 00:20:37,330 And God heard the few, the relative few, 409 00:20:38,010 --> 00:20:41,170 that weren't adjusted, that never could get over 410 00:20:41,170 --> 00:20:43,490 it that they were slaves in Egypt when 411 00:20:43,490 --> 00:20:46,830 they should have been free men in Palestine. 412 00:20:49,690 --> 00:20:51,890 So God sent a man named Moses. 413 00:20:52,930 --> 00:20:54,710 Do you know what the plow did to 414 00:20:54,710 --> 00:20:55,050 Egypt? 415 00:20:56,550 --> 00:20:58,970 How the plow came in there, and one 416 00:20:58,970 --> 00:21:05,210 terrible, grown after another, the lice and the 417 00:21:05,210 --> 00:21:08,190 frogs and the blood, the water and the 418 00:21:08,190 --> 00:21:11,530 blood and the darkness, and finally the death 419 00:21:11,530 --> 00:21:12,450 of the firstborn. 420 00:21:13,950 --> 00:21:16,850 All of this came as the plow going 421 00:21:16,850 --> 00:21:17,630 through the land. 422 00:21:17,630 --> 00:21:19,870 And then when Israel was plowed up, God 423 00:21:19,870 --> 00:21:20,670 let her out. 424 00:21:22,390 --> 00:21:25,650 And then under the judges later, under the 425 00:21:25,650 --> 00:21:29,630 judges she settled down to her living. 426 00:21:29,810 --> 00:21:30,490 She was just living. 427 00:21:30,570 --> 00:21:32,470 They were all Orthodox, they were all Jews, 428 00:21:33,230 --> 00:21:37,190 they were all right and fundamental and all 429 00:21:37,190 --> 00:21:39,430 that, but they were living far from God. 430 00:21:40,190 --> 00:21:42,350 Cold-hearted men, God would raise up judges, 431 00:21:42,490 --> 00:21:44,010 and then they'd go back into their bondage 432 00:21:44,010 --> 00:21:44,330 again. 433 00:21:44,330 --> 00:21:48,290 Then came David and Solomon, and God Almighty 434 00:21:48,290 --> 00:21:50,830 sent his power upon David and upon his 435 00:21:50,830 --> 00:21:52,390 son Solomon in the lesser measure. 436 00:21:53,070 --> 00:21:56,930 But the Jews came out of this fallow 437 00:21:56,930 --> 00:22:02,730 phase into the dynamic phase, the plowed phase. 438 00:22:03,810 --> 00:22:06,830 And then before Christ came to the world, 439 00:22:07,070 --> 00:22:09,830 it had been 400 years when Jesus appeared, 440 00:22:10,010 --> 00:22:11,290 since there had been a prophet in Israel. 441 00:22:11,290 --> 00:22:12,030 Imagine that. 442 00:22:12,450 --> 00:22:17,970 400 years since Malachi, the servant and messenger 443 00:22:17,970 --> 00:22:20,130 of God, prophesied in Israel. 444 00:22:20,870 --> 00:22:24,590 And then for 400 years there was not 445 00:22:24,590 --> 00:22:25,090 a prophet. 446 00:22:25,750 --> 00:22:29,650 For 400 years not a voice was heard 447 00:22:29,650 --> 00:22:30,630 from God. 448 00:22:31,550 --> 00:22:35,830 And so the teachers took over, and they 449 00:22:35,830 --> 00:22:39,930 codified and systematized their theology. 450 00:22:39,930 --> 00:22:46,950 And the rabbis began to pull the casuistry 451 00:22:46,950 --> 00:22:49,390 and the sophistry trick on the law. 452 00:22:50,270 --> 00:22:52,070 And pretty soon they had a pile of 453 00:22:52,070 --> 00:22:55,350 commentary on the law called the Talmud, which 454 00:22:55,350 --> 00:22:57,630 was bigger ten times ten and a hundred 455 00:22:57,630 --> 00:22:59,190 times bigger than the law itself. 456 00:22:59,970 --> 00:23:03,110 And they counted their phylacteries and measured them, 457 00:23:03,570 --> 00:23:05,510 they counted the length of time they prayed, 458 00:23:06,210 --> 00:23:09,050 and they went to the synagogue regularly and 459 00:23:09,050 --> 00:23:10,770 they went to the temple regularly. 460 00:23:11,810 --> 00:23:17,810 And there were good, shallow people living their 461 00:23:17,810 --> 00:23:19,230 untroubled lives. 462 00:23:19,370 --> 00:23:20,710 Nobody was bothering them. 463 00:23:20,790 --> 00:23:22,390 The only trouble came from the outside. 464 00:23:23,050 --> 00:23:25,170 They had no internal trouble at all. 465 00:23:25,790 --> 00:23:27,210 One of them stood one day in the 466 00:23:27,210 --> 00:23:29,650 temple and said, Oh God, I'm glad I'm 467 00:23:29,650 --> 00:23:30,870 as good as I am. 468 00:23:31,050 --> 00:23:31,190 Amen. 469 00:23:31,890 --> 00:23:33,070 I'm wonderful, God. 470 00:23:33,190 --> 00:23:35,610 I fast and I live right. 471 00:23:35,670 --> 00:23:36,310 Aren't you glad? 472 00:23:36,390 --> 00:23:37,670 Aren't you proud of me, God? 473 00:23:38,570 --> 00:23:40,750 That was the one Jesus talked about. 474 00:23:41,110 --> 00:23:43,510 There, that's the kind of people they were. 475 00:23:44,410 --> 00:23:47,150 And then came Jesus Christ. 476 00:23:47,430 --> 00:23:49,410 Then came John the Baptist first. 477 00:23:49,550 --> 00:23:50,810 Then he began to preach. 478 00:23:51,410 --> 00:23:55,570 And then he baptized Jesus and Jesus came 479 00:23:55,570 --> 00:23:57,970 teaching and came doing his miracles. 480 00:23:58,350 --> 00:24:01,350 And then the whole country went into ferment. 481 00:24:02,270 --> 00:24:04,950 And all the hatreds crystallized in one place 482 00:24:04,950 --> 00:24:06,850 and all the love crystallized in another. 483 00:24:06,850 --> 00:24:10,150 As the plow of God went through that 484 00:24:10,150 --> 00:24:10,690 land. 485 00:24:11,570 --> 00:24:13,790 And then came the Gospels and the Acts 486 00:24:13,790 --> 00:24:16,370 and the Epistles and the singing church and 487 00:24:16,370 --> 00:24:19,210 the dying church and the missionary church and 488 00:24:19,210 --> 00:24:21,630 the glorious church without spot or wrinkle. 489 00:24:22,490 --> 00:24:24,390 But first there had to come the plow. 490 00:24:24,650 --> 00:24:26,630 First there had to come the terrible preacher, 491 00:24:26,850 --> 00:24:27,230 John. 492 00:24:27,750 --> 00:24:30,090 Then there had to come that strange, wonderful, 493 00:24:30,390 --> 00:24:31,590 awesome man, Jesus. 494 00:24:32,910 --> 00:24:35,430 And as they lived their lives and wrought 495 00:24:35,430 --> 00:24:37,790 their great and terrible deeds and preached their 496 00:24:37,790 --> 00:24:41,550 awesome and terrible sermons, it was like plowing 497 00:24:41,550 --> 00:24:42,230 up ground. 498 00:24:43,730 --> 00:24:47,430 And then the church began her long march 499 00:24:47,430 --> 00:24:48,570 down the years. 500 00:24:49,430 --> 00:24:51,750 But the church settled down after a while. 501 00:24:52,570 --> 00:24:55,010 And then came the long, long darkness, the 502 00:24:55,010 --> 00:24:58,250 long darkness we call the dark ages. 503 00:24:58,950 --> 00:25:01,010 And then a great big German with a 504 00:25:01,010 --> 00:25:03,970 thick neck who wasn't afraid of anybody, including 505 00:25:03,970 --> 00:25:06,610 the Pope and the devil, was climbing up 506 00:25:06,610 --> 00:25:10,350 the steps of a church one time on 507 00:25:10,350 --> 00:25:12,450 his knees, hoping that if he punished himself 508 00:25:12,450 --> 00:25:13,730 enough, God would forgive him. 509 00:25:13,790 --> 00:25:15,390 And he heard a voice saying to him 510 00:25:15,390 --> 00:25:17,450 out of heaven, he probably had read it 511 00:25:17,450 --> 00:25:19,510 somewhere, but it was brought back vividly to 512 00:25:19,510 --> 00:25:22,030 his memory, that just shall live by their 513 00:25:22,030 --> 00:25:22,490 faith. 514 00:25:22,950 --> 00:25:25,050 He jumped to his knees a converted man 515 00:25:25,530 --> 00:25:27,870 and went out and began to preach the 516 00:25:27,870 --> 00:25:28,310 gospel. 517 00:25:29,210 --> 00:25:30,990 And that man was Martin Luther, and we 518 00:25:30,990 --> 00:25:31,990 had the Reformation. 519 00:25:31,990 --> 00:25:35,210 When the plow of God went through Germany, 520 00:25:35,290 --> 00:25:36,670 the Reformation was born. 521 00:25:37,410 --> 00:25:40,730 All those long, static periods have been followed 522 00:25:40,730 --> 00:25:43,890 by plowing times, times of plowing. 523 00:25:44,010 --> 00:25:45,630 The days of John Wesley, that was, of 524 00:25:45,630 --> 00:25:46,810 course, after the Reformation. 525 00:25:47,510 --> 00:25:50,590 The days of John Wesley, they sold their 526 00:25:50,590 --> 00:25:51,410 pulpits. 527 00:25:51,490 --> 00:25:53,750 That is, a young fellow wanted a pulpit, 528 00:25:53,870 --> 00:25:54,890 they called it a living. 529 00:25:55,290 --> 00:25:57,670 Practical, down to earth, they called it a 530 00:25:57,670 --> 00:25:57,870 living. 531 00:25:58,230 --> 00:26:00,230 He said, Now, can you furnish me with 532 00:26:00,230 --> 00:26:00,630 a living? 533 00:26:00,630 --> 00:26:02,370 They said, You can take this church down. 534 00:26:02,470 --> 00:26:03,870 He just given the man a job. 535 00:26:03,910 --> 00:26:05,010 The Holy Ghost wasn't in it. 536 00:26:05,370 --> 00:26:06,250 He took his living. 537 00:26:07,330 --> 00:26:09,110 And they paid their tithes into the church, 538 00:26:09,210 --> 00:26:10,790 so everybody did, and he lived. 539 00:26:11,670 --> 00:26:14,630 Sometimes they would be so drunk that two 540 00:26:14,630 --> 00:26:16,610 boys would have to hold them up, history 541 00:26:16,610 --> 00:26:18,430 tells us, while they preached their sermons. 542 00:26:18,930 --> 00:26:20,590 They would hit and lean over, and one 543 00:26:20,590 --> 00:26:23,950 boy would grab them, and the Reverend Godly 544 00:26:23,950 --> 00:26:27,230 Most Venerable Brother was two sheets in the 545 00:26:27,230 --> 00:26:27,490 wind. 546 00:26:27,490 --> 00:26:30,370 Well, he was preaching his sermon, you know. 547 00:26:31,010 --> 00:26:36,230 And there was adultery, and there was drunkenness, 548 00:26:36,430 --> 00:26:39,910 and there was gambling, and there was every 549 00:26:39,910 --> 00:26:42,670 kind of bacchanalian revel all through the night. 550 00:26:43,790 --> 00:26:46,190 And there was fighting and all the rest. 551 00:26:46,410 --> 00:26:49,190 And then came a man, an Oxford man, 552 00:26:49,750 --> 00:26:52,810 whose mother had 17 children, and I think 553 00:26:52,810 --> 00:26:54,490 he, if I recall, was the 15th. 554 00:26:55,330 --> 00:26:56,910 And his name was John Wesley. 555 00:26:57,470 --> 00:26:59,890 And he got converted, and his heart was 556 00:26:59,890 --> 00:27:00,950 strangely warm. 557 00:27:01,730 --> 00:27:03,090 And he went out and began to use 558 00:27:03,090 --> 00:27:05,130 the plow on England. 559 00:27:05,970 --> 00:27:08,870 He used that plow, and he plowed deep, 560 00:27:08,950 --> 00:27:10,470 and he called on them to do their 561 00:27:10,470 --> 00:27:11,010 plowing. 562 00:27:12,050 --> 00:27:15,830 And the result was a great awakening, an 563 00:27:15,830 --> 00:27:19,390 awakening that joined with the Moravians to go 564 00:27:19,390 --> 00:27:22,170 around the world, an awakening that gave us 565 00:27:22,170 --> 00:27:25,790 the Salvation Army, an awakening that has given 566 00:27:25,790 --> 00:27:29,290 us almost all of the great missionaried societies 567 00:27:29,290 --> 00:27:30,330 of the present day. 568 00:27:30,390 --> 00:27:31,830 That is, some were more recent and grew 569 00:27:31,830 --> 00:27:35,210 out of it, but their spiritual lineage goes 570 00:27:35,210 --> 00:27:38,770 back to those marvelous times of the Wesleys 571 00:27:38,770 --> 00:27:41,530 and the Moravians when God Almighty used the 572 00:27:41,530 --> 00:27:44,730 plow on men, and the men used plow 573 00:27:44,730 --> 00:27:46,210 on each other and on themselves. 574 00:27:47,430 --> 00:27:51,170 Miracles always follow the plow, and God's power 575 00:27:51,170 --> 00:27:52,310 waits on the plow. 576 00:27:52,310 --> 00:27:55,070 God's power waits on the plow right here 577 00:27:55,070 --> 00:27:56,770 in this church, my dear friends. 578 00:27:57,210 --> 00:27:59,710 The Spirit never falls on a fallow ground, 579 00:28:00,270 --> 00:28:02,550 but power is released when the plow comes 580 00:28:02,550 --> 00:28:02,970 along. 581 00:28:03,350 --> 00:28:05,350 If you're satisfied, you're fruitless. 582 00:28:05,710 --> 00:28:07,650 If you're satisfied, you're barren. 583 00:28:08,190 --> 00:28:10,430 If you're satisfied, you're not growing. 584 00:28:10,910 --> 00:28:13,270 If you're satisfied, you're not ready for the 585 00:28:13,270 --> 00:28:14,170 coming of the Lord. 586 00:28:14,650 --> 00:28:17,850 If you're satisfied, you're not a holy person. 587 00:28:17,850 --> 00:28:21,510 Any local church will play at religion for 588 00:28:21,510 --> 00:28:22,170 a lifetime. 589 00:28:22,750 --> 00:28:24,330 Play for a lifetime. 590 00:28:24,990 --> 00:28:28,050 Pastor comes in, bless him, and he's put 591 00:28:28,050 --> 00:28:30,270 a lot into his training now, and he's 592 00:28:30,270 --> 00:28:33,570 got a couple of degrees, and he has 593 00:28:33,570 --> 00:28:35,250 a family coming along now, and he has 594 00:28:35,250 --> 00:28:36,850 economic interests involved. 595 00:28:38,210 --> 00:28:41,730 So he's careful because he has to keep 596 00:28:41,730 --> 00:28:43,190 his money coming in. 597 00:28:43,810 --> 00:28:46,110 Besides that, the baby needs shoes, and his 598 00:28:46,110 --> 00:28:47,570 wife insists on a new coat. 599 00:28:48,570 --> 00:28:51,810 So he smiles and smiles and smiles and 600 00:28:51,810 --> 00:28:55,210 lets the board push him around and brings 601 00:28:55,210 --> 00:28:59,310 his church into such an order that nobody 602 00:28:59,310 --> 00:29:00,070 is disturbed. 603 00:29:00,310 --> 00:29:02,770 The old deacon that habitually sleeps through the 604 00:29:02,770 --> 00:29:04,150 sermon, he's not disturbed. 605 00:29:04,910 --> 00:29:07,730 And the gossipy old girl that has cursed 606 00:29:07,730 --> 00:29:10,570 the church for 40 years, she's not disturbed. 607 00:29:10,950 --> 00:29:12,270 Nobody is disturbed. 608 00:29:12,490 --> 00:29:14,390 Everybody just goes the way they are. 609 00:29:14,970 --> 00:29:17,450 And the church goes on playing at religion. 610 00:29:17,630 --> 00:29:19,050 But we give our tithe, don't we? 611 00:29:20,010 --> 00:29:21,190 And don't we? 612 00:29:21,230 --> 00:29:23,150 Don't we appear at church so many times 613 00:29:23,150 --> 00:29:24,270 every week, don't we? 614 00:29:24,830 --> 00:29:27,470 And besides that, we don't gamble, do we, 615 00:29:27,510 --> 00:29:29,170 and race horses and play cards, and you 616 00:29:29,170 --> 00:29:30,530 never saw us drinking, did you? 617 00:29:31,210 --> 00:29:33,010 So the church plays at religion. 618 00:29:33,730 --> 00:29:36,150 And her entity is church entity instead of 619 00:29:36,150 --> 00:29:36,690 Christianity. 620 00:29:37,490 --> 00:29:44,730 And then, bumped awake somehow or other by 621 00:29:44,730 --> 00:29:47,730 somebody, by the sovereign grace of God, but 622 00:29:47,730 --> 00:29:54,300 maybe through some poor voice that isn't very 623 00:29:54,300 --> 00:29:58,040 eloquent, what rouses such a church as that? 624 00:29:59,740 --> 00:30:02,220 And then they forsake the old ease and 625 00:30:02,220 --> 00:30:05,500 the old comfort and throw down the old 626 00:30:05,500 --> 00:30:08,900 protective fences and beg the plow to come 627 00:30:08,900 --> 00:30:10,100 in and go to work on them. 628 00:30:11,140 --> 00:30:13,400 So they forsake safety for the peril and 629 00:30:13,400 --> 00:30:15,800 the pain of living and the miracle and 630 00:30:15,800 --> 00:30:18,000 the wonder of a revived church and a 631 00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:18,560 new life. 632 00:30:19,820 --> 00:30:23,740 And the lone Christian, he lives his protected 633 00:30:23,740 --> 00:30:24,200 life. 634 00:30:25,680 --> 00:30:28,920 You know, we're pretty slick, we people. 635 00:30:29,080 --> 00:30:29,960 We're pretty slick. 636 00:30:30,980 --> 00:30:35,760 I read an article one time about aging. 637 00:30:36,340 --> 00:30:38,060 Now, it didn't bother me personally, but I 638 00:30:38,060 --> 00:30:39,600 was just reading an article about it. 639 00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:48,700 And this fellow pointed out that an older 640 00:30:48,700 --> 00:30:51,720 person moves in straight lines. 641 00:30:52,300 --> 00:30:55,480 A child will twist in every direction and 642 00:30:55,480 --> 00:30:56,740 then suddenly sit down flat. 643 00:30:57,720 --> 00:30:58,580 Never hurt him a bit. 644 00:30:59,100 --> 00:31:01,860 But an older person, instead of twisting around 645 00:31:01,860 --> 00:31:03,680 to do something, they turn and flip around 646 00:31:03,680 --> 00:31:08,140 because they're not as limber and supple as 647 00:31:08,140 --> 00:31:08,840 they used to be. 648 00:31:09,820 --> 00:31:11,320 And Christians can do that. 649 00:31:11,420 --> 00:31:13,480 The older fellow, as he gets older, he 650 00:31:13,480 --> 00:31:15,060 protects himself. 651 00:31:15,600 --> 00:31:20,720 And instead of bending down supplely, he does 652 00:31:20,720 --> 00:31:24,960 it angularly, watching his sacroiliac and all the 653 00:31:24,960 --> 00:31:25,220 rest. 654 00:31:25,680 --> 00:31:27,680 Now, churches can fall into the same state. 655 00:31:28,420 --> 00:31:33,080 We can protect ourselves, learn to take it 656 00:31:33,080 --> 00:31:37,780 easy, and we can build cautious fences around 657 00:31:37,780 --> 00:31:38,520 ourselves. 658 00:31:39,780 --> 00:31:42,620 But we're weak and barren and cold. 659 00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:47,280 And then that individual Christian, an individual Christian 660 00:31:47,280 --> 00:31:51,460 breaks up his fallow ground, he gets discontented. 661 00:31:52,300 --> 00:31:56,260 It's so wonderful to be discontented in spiritual 662 00:31:56,260 --> 00:31:56,860 things. 663 00:31:56,860 --> 00:32:01,980 And he rouses himself, and he gets contrite, 664 00:32:02,020 --> 00:32:05,020 and he humbles himself, and he stirs himself 665 00:32:05,020 --> 00:32:07,380 up, and he concesses, and he gets right, 666 00:32:07,460 --> 00:32:08,320 and he straightens out. 667 00:32:09,480 --> 00:32:12,500 And oh, he's broken up the fallow ground, 668 00:32:13,300 --> 00:32:18,400 and in comes the wonderful life and joy 669 00:32:18,400 --> 00:32:21,380 and fruitfulness and blessing and the nearness of 670 00:32:21,380 --> 00:32:25,340 God and the wonder of a blessed spiritual 671 00:32:25,340 --> 00:32:28,220 life that he never knew before. 672 00:32:28,900 --> 00:32:30,200 But you know what always hurts? 673 00:32:30,420 --> 00:32:31,560 It means the plow there. 674 00:32:32,220 --> 00:32:34,280 Now, what does the plow mean in the 675 00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:34,780 private life? 676 00:32:34,860 --> 00:32:36,800 I'll bring it to you in five minutes. 677 00:32:36,860 --> 00:32:37,180 I'm done. 678 00:32:37,780 --> 00:32:39,880 What does this plow life mean? 679 00:32:40,680 --> 00:32:44,980 Well, it means bringing out into the open 680 00:32:44,980 --> 00:32:48,660 and getting rid of bad, private, secret habits. 681 00:32:50,020 --> 00:32:55,680 The secret habit has an effect of hardening 682 00:32:55,680 --> 00:33:00,940 the field, that habit nobody knows about, that 683 00:33:00,940 --> 00:33:01,920 we keep quiet. 684 00:33:02,940 --> 00:33:04,540 Out into the open it comes. 685 00:33:04,840 --> 00:33:08,700 It's confessed, it's forsaken, and then that bad 686 00:33:08,700 --> 00:33:10,200 feeling against other Christians. 687 00:33:11,100 --> 00:33:14,240 Churches are paralyzed for a lifetime because of 688 00:33:14,240 --> 00:33:16,900 bad feeling against other Christians. 689 00:33:16,900 --> 00:33:19,180 We have a bad feeling. 690 00:33:19,760 --> 00:33:22,140 They were wrong, of course, and until they 691 00:33:22,140 --> 00:33:24,180 apologize, that bad feeling is going to remain 692 00:33:24,180 --> 00:33:24,500 there. 693 00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:28,600 But our Lord said, if you bring your 694 00:33:28,600 --> 00:33:32,880 offering to the altar and there remember that 695 00:33:32,880 --> 00:33:37,060 thy brother has ought against thee, leave there 696 00:33:37,060 --> 00:33:41,160 thy sacrifice, thy gift at the altar, and 697 00:33:41,160 --> 00:33:44,620 go hunt up your brother and get straightened 698 00:33:44,620 --> 00:33:47,000 out and get rid of the bad feeling, 699 00:33:47,480 --> 00:33:50,140 and then come back and offer your sacrifice. 700 00:33:50,660 --> 00:33:54,000 Five thousand dollars given to foreign missions with 701 00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:56,940 bad feeling in the heart doesn't affect God 702 00:33:56,940 --> 00:33:57,960 nor impress ever. 703 00:33:59,060 --> 00:34:01,260 And a prayer twenty minutes long doesn't mean 704 00:34:01,260 --> 00:34:04,460 anything to God if there's bad feeling there. 705 00:34:05,100 --> 00:34:07,480 Let's get rid of the bad feeling, the 706 00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:11,159 censorious spirit that kills off the lambs and 707 00:34:11,159 --> 00:34:13,540 quenches the life-giving Holy Ghost. 708 00:34:14,280 --> 00:34:18,540 And then there's fear, and fear always brings 709 00:34:18,540 --> 00:34:19,560 bondage. 710 00:34:19,800 --> 00:34:20,880 What kind of fear? 711 00:34:21,360 --> 00:34:23,380 Fear to pray in public, for instance. 712 00:34:23,860 --> 00:34:25,520 What a difference it would mean if some 713 00:34:25,520 --> 00:34:29,100 of us would be willing to begin praying 714 00:34:29,100 --> 00:34:29,639 in public. 715 00:34:31,300 --> 00:34:32,920 Say, from here on, every time I get 716 00:34:32,920 --> 00:34:34,380 an opportunity, I'm going to break out in 717 00:34:34,380 --> 00:34:34,679 prayer. 718 00:34:35,040 --> 00:34:36,400 I'm not going to pray half an hour 719 00:34:36,400 --> 00:34:37,780 and crowd everybody else out. 720 00:34:37,980 --> 00:34:40,219 It's just as discourteous to pray too long 721 00:34:40,219 --> 00:34:42,960 in a public meeting and prevent others who 722 00:34:42,960 --> 00:34:44,380 want to pray from praying, as it is 723 00:34:44,380 --> 00:34:46,280 to talk too much around the table and 724 00:34:46,280 --> 00:34:47,440 usurp the conversation. 725 00:34:48,080 --> 00:34:49,500 But it isn't a question that we're praying 726 00:34:49,500 --> 00:34:50,699 half an hour, it's a question of our 727 00:34:50,699 --> 00:34:52,900 praying, letting our voice be heard. 728 00:34:53,120 --> 00:34:55,360 I say to you young Christians, in God's 729 00:34:55,360 --> 00:34:57,040 name, let your voice be heard. 730 00:34:57,300 --> 00:34:58,860 When there's a prayer meeting, you be one 731 00:34:58,860 --> 00:34:59,940 to stand up and pray. 732 00:35:00,380 --> 00:35:02,000 I remember the first time I prayed in 733 00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:02,280 public. 734 00:35:02,680 --> 00:35:04,400 I got up scared stiff and said, God 735 00:35:04,400 --> 00:35:05,920 bless the missionaries, and sat down. 736 00:35:06,460 --> 00:35:07,840 They're the best I did, but God knew 737 00:35:07,840 --> 00:35:08,940 I did it and he knew I meant 738 00:35:08,940 --> 00:35:10,240 it, and so he blessed me. 739 00:35:11,020 --> 00:35:14,800 And I say, fear to pray in public. 740 00:35:15,500 --> 00:35:16,740 Fear to pray at home. 741 00:35:17,520 --> 00:35:19,680 There are homes that are in a state 742 00:35:19,680 --> 00:35:23,920 of semi-spiritual paralysis because everybody's afraid to 743 00:35:23,920 --> 00:35:24,240 pray. 744 00:35:24,700 --> 00:35:27,180 Outside of mumbling a half-minute prayer at 745 00:35:27,180 --> 00:35:30,080 the table, nobody prays in public, prays at 746 00:35:30,080 --> 00:35:30,440 home. 747 00:35:31,500 --> 00:35:32,020 Afraid to. 748 00:35:32,720 --> 00:35:34,260 And then afraid to witness. 749 00:35:34,600 --> 00:35:34,920 Fear. 750 00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:35,780 Terrible thing. 751 00:35:35,900 --> 00:35:38,200 The bondage of fear is an awful thing. 752 00:35:39,440 --> 00:35:40,560 Fear to witness. 753 00:35:41,060 --> 00:35:42,580 Fear to witness to relatives. 754 00:35:43,940 --> 00:35:45,160 And witness to friends. 755 00:35:46,240 --> 00:35:48,240 You're a Christian, but you haven't witnessed. 756 00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:50,800 The man went up into the north woods 757 00:35:50,800 --> 00:35:52,320 of Canada from the United States. 758 00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:54,800 He's a young convert. 759 00:35:54,920 --> 00:35:56,560 He'd just been saved a short time. 760 00:35:57,740 --> 00:35:59,480 And he went up to cut some timber. 761 00:35:59,800 --> 00:36:02,020 You know, west and north there's a great, 762 00:36:02,660 --> 00:36:04,600 I suppose, more timber in Canada than any 763 00:36:04,600 --> 00:36:05,480 other country in the world. 764 00:36:06,400 --> 00:36:07,960 And they cut it every year. 765 00:36:07,960 --> 00:36:09,440 I don't have to tell you this, but 766 00:36:09,440 --> 00:36:11,380 trying to get my illustration straightened out. 767 00:36:12,240 --> 00:36:14,280 And this young fellow decided he would go 768 00:36:14,280 --> 00:36:16,560 up there for a winter and work. 769 00:36:17,500 --> 00:36:19,060 And they said to him, now remember, you'll 770 00:36:19,060 --> 00:36:20,660 find those woodmen pretty tough boys. 771 00:36:22,800 --> 00:36:25,020 And your Christian life is going to take 772 00:36:25,020 --> 00:36:25,820 a beating up there. 773 00:36:25,940 --> 00:36:27,400 He said, all right, I'll go. 774 00:36:27,600 --> 00:36:28,360 I want to go anyhow. 775 00:36:28,860 --> 00:36:29,400 So he went. 776 00:36:30,620 --> 00:36:32,660 And he stayed out to sea and came 777 00:36:32,660 --> 00:36:33,020 back. 778 00:36:33,880 --> 00:36:36,620 And they said to him, how did you 779 00:36:36,620 --> 00:36:37,760 get on with the woodmen? 780 00:36:37,960 --> 00:36:39,140 Oh, he said, wonderfully well. 781 00:36:39,300 --> 00:36:40,580 He said, no trouble at all. 782 00:36:40,740 --> 00:36:42,060 The lumbermen treated me well. 783 00:36:42,620 --> 00:36:43,680 He said, you didn't get persecuted? 784 00:36:43,820 --> 00:36:44,600 Not at all. 785 00:36:45,800 --> 00:36:48,620 He said, you see, I never let them 786 00:36:48,620 --> 00:36:49,620 know I was a Christian. 787 00:36:50,920 --> 00:36:55,380 You can avoid persecution if you just keep 788 00:36:55,380 --> 00:36:56,100 your mouth shut. 789 00:36:57,320 --> 00:37:00,320 And some people do that very thing because 790 00:37:00,320 --> 00:37:01,460 of the bondage of fear. 791 00:37:02,320 --> 00:37:04,720 Let's drag it out into the open. 792 00:37:05,660 --> 00:37:09,600 Fear can harden the soil and all that 793 00:37:09,600 --> 00:37:15,160 grows, a few green briars, wild cabbage, no 794 00:37:15,160 --> 00:37:17,340 fruit comes because we're afraid. 795 00:37:17,920 --> 00:37:20,620 Afraid to obey the commandments of Christ. 796 00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:21,660 Afraid. 797 00:37:24,620 --> 00:37:26,260 A friend of mine was a chemist for 798 00:37:26,260 --> 00:37:27,540 the Kool-Aid company. 799 00:37:29,020 --> 00:37:30,280 That is, he was head chemist for that 800 00:37:30,280 --> 00:37:33,120 particular plant where they make this stuff, you 801 00:37:33,120 --> 00:37:34,620 know, to pour water on, drink, if you 802 00:37:34,620 --> 00:37:35,140 would like it. 803 00:37:37,480 --> 00:37:39,540 And he used to have their office parties, 804 00:37:39,780 --> 00:37:40,800 or they used to have their conventions. 805 00:37:42,880 --> 00:37:44,300 And he came to me about it. 806 00:37:45,460 --> 00:37:49,340 And I told him, I said, you can't 807 00:37:49,340 --> 00:37:50,360 have part in that. 808 00:37:50,460 --> 00:37:51,320 He said, no, I know it. 809 00:37:52,820 --> 00:37:56,120 So he went to their conventions, but he 810 00:37:56,120 --> 00:37:56,820 hadn't understood. 811 00:37:57,530 --> 00:38:01,860 When they passed around the liquid refreshments, he 812 00:38:01,860 --> 00:38:04,800 took a cola, a lemonade. 813 00:38:05,920 --> 00:38:08,220 They kidded him a bit, but they found 814 00:38:08,220 --> 00:38:09,140 out they couldn't budge him. 815 00:38:09,720 --> 00:38:12,080 They couldn't move that man. 816 00:38:15,490 --> 00:38:17,110 Now, how about it? 817 00:38:18,150 --> 00:38:22,750 Are we going to lie fallow and barren, 818 00:38:23,550 --> 00:38:31,880 contented, undisturbed, not bothered religiously, or are we 819 00:38:31,880 --> 00:38:34,320 going to listen to the voice of God 820 00:38:34,320 --> 00:38:37,680 and do something about our fallow lives? 821 00:38:39,080 --> 00:38:43,120 Can we go on without fruit, without blossoms, 822 00:38:43,260 --> 00:38:44,020 without barrenness? 823 00:38:44,160 --> 00:38:46,300 Imagine if winter stayed all the time in 824 00:38:46,300 --> 00:38:46,660 Canada. 825 00:38:47,080 --> 00:38:50,400 Imagine if your backyard was always brown and 826 00:38:50,400 --> 00:38:50,760 barren. 827 00:38:51,300 --> 00:38:52,880 Imagine if that tree out in front of 828 00:38:52,880 --> 00:38:54,400 the house never blossomed. 829 00:38:56,180 --> 00:38:58,360 Imagine if the parks were brown and the 830 00:38:58,360 --> 00:39:02,460 leaves were off the naked trees all year 831 00:39:02,460 --> 00:39:02,840 round. 832 00:39:03,080 --> 00:39:03,360 No, no. 833 00:39:04,060 --> 00:39:06,000 Here's what the farmers called green-up. 834 00:39:06,720 --> 00:39:07,320 Green-up! 835 00:39:08,380 --> 00:39:11,040 The time when spring comes and the birds 836 00:39:11,040 --> 00:39:11,580 return. 837 00:39:12,520 --> 00:39:14,600 I believe that according to this text here 838 00:39:14,600 --> 00:39:16,560 tonight, we can have that and can bring 839 00:39:16,560 --> 00:39:17,700 it about ourselves. 840 00:39:18,360 --> 00:39:20,740 Break up your fallow ground for it's time 841 00:39:20,740 --> 00:39:21,820 to seek the Lord. 842 00:39:22,520 --> 00:39:24,400 Spring is ready to come and you don't 843 00:39:24,400 --> 00:39:24,840 know it. 844 00:39:25,720 --> 00:39:28,560 Break up your fallow ground so to yourselves 845 00:39:28,560 --> 00:39:30,760 in righteousness and then you can reap in 846 00:39:30,760 --> 00:39:31,880 mercy later on. 847 00:39:32,340 --> 00:39:35,280 And he will come and reign righteousness upon 848 00:39:35,280 --> 00:39:35,680 you. 849 00:39:36,140 --> 00:39:37,660 Now that's for the individual. 850 00:39:38,380 --> 00:39:40,420 Somebody says, I pray that God will revive 851 00:39:40,420 --> 00:39:41,040 the church. 852 00:39:41,200 --> 00:39:45,000 God can't revive a company except he revives 853 00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:47,520 the individual that make up the company. 854 00:39:47,960 --> 00:39:50,460 He can't bless Avenue Road Church unless he 855 00:39:50,460 --> 00:39:51,180 blesses you. 856 00:39:53,900 --> 00:39:56,080 So are we going to obey God in 857 00:39:56,080 --> 00:39:57,180 this and listen to him? 858 00:39:57,180 --> 00:40:00,900 And if we are, then let's do it 859 00:40:00,900 --> 00:40:01,420 practically. 860 00:40:02,780 --> 00:40:08,820 Let's stop petting that secret habit, that sin 861 00:40:08,820 --> 00:40:10,080 that nobody knows about. 862 00:40:12,050 --> 00:40:16,310 Let's stop believing that that bad feeling we 863 00:40:16,310 --> 00:40:18,530 have against another Christian is simply grief. 864 00:40:18,670 --> 00:40:20,970 Oh, I'm so grieved with Brother so-and 865 00:40:20,970 --> 00:40:21,150 -so. 866 00:40:21,290 --> 00:40:22,330 You mean you're mad at him. 867 00:40:24,800 --> 00:40:29,680 And that sincerest, and that fear, that terrible 868 00:40:29,680 --> 00:40:30,160 fear. 869 00:40:31,340 --> 00:40:32,780 Let's put the plow to it. 870 00:40:33,500 --> 00:40:35,160 God didn't say, I'll break up your fallow 871 00:40:35,160 --> 00:40:35,360 ground. 872 00:40:35,420 --> 00:40:36,220 He said, you do it. 873 00:40:37,880 --> 00:40:39,980 You grammarians know that there is a there 874 00:40:39,980 --> 00:40:42,980 is a subject, an implied subject. 875 00:40:43,240 --> 00:40:45,880 You break up your fallow ground for it's 876 00:40:45,880 --> 00:40:46,980 time to seek the Lord. 877 00:40:47,820 --> 00:40:50,040 I have confidence, I believe this will be. 878 00:40:50,800 --> 00:40:52,340 And I believe one after the other will 879 00:40:52,340 --> 00:40:54,220 find as they break up their fallow ground 880 00:40:54,220 --> 00:40:56,200 that there will be a visitation from God 881 00:40:56,200 --> 00:40:57,500 that will spill over on others. 882 00:40:58,220 --> 00:41:01,520 And slowly but certainly, surely, we're going to 883 00:41:01,520 --> 00:41:04,640 have a rich harvest in Avenue Road and 884 00:41:04,640 --> 00:41:06,840 we're going to have a church that will 885 00:41:06,840 --> 00:41:10,400 be spiritually fruitful and green with the leaves 886 00:41:10,400 --> 00:41:12,680 of God that are for the healing of 887 00:41:12,680 --> 00:41:13,140 the nations. 888 00:41:16,320 --> 00:41:18,800 You have been listening to the From the 889 00:41:18,800 --> 00:41:20,480 Pulpit in Classic Sermon series. 890 00:41:21,120 --> 00:41:22,360 This week you heard A. 891 00:41:22,380 --> 00:41:22,720 W. 892 00:41:22,840 --> 00:41:25,920 Tozer with his message, Miracles that Follow the 893 00:41:25,920 --> 00:41:26,400 Plow. 894 00:41:27,160 --> 00:41:29,140 Tune in again next week to hear Tim 895 00:41:29,140 --> 00:41:31,580 Keller talk about Absolutism. 896 00:41:32,040 --> 00:41:33,920 Don't we have to find the truth for 897 00:41:33,920 --> 00:41:36,920 ourselves on the From the Pulpit in Classic 898 00:41:36,920 --> 00:41:37,640 Sermons.