King David and the Law of the Harvest
2 Samuel 12
1. Illus. of getting ticket in Charlotte
• Doing lot of construction. Rush hour. Dark and poorly lit.
• Bottom line? Speed dropped from 65 to 55 without us noticing.
• Policeman pulled us over. “Did you know you were doing 68 in a 55?”
• We told him no we didn’t. But guess what? We got a ticket anyway. And for the next three years, thought about that ticket every time we paid our insurance.
• Even though we weren’t aware that we were breaking the law, we had to pay the penalty anyway!
2. Need: Did you know its that way in life, too? I want to tell you today about a law called the law of the harvest. Paul would state this law in Galatians 6 this way: Don’t be deceived, for God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap. There is a connection between the choices we make and the consequences of our choices. Ignorance of this law is responsible for much of the heartache, hardship, and tragedy in our lives. So often we say, “Oh God, why did you do this to me?” when the truth is we did it to ourselves by violating the law of the harvest!
3. Background: David has committed his sin with Bathsheba. About a year has elapsed, a year of total misery for David. At the end of that time. Nathan comes in and tells him a story about a wealthy man with great flocks who steals the lone sheep from a very poor man. After David blows his top, Nathan points at David and says, “Thou are the man!”
4. Text: When Nathan reveals to David the consequences of his sin, he reveals to us that David is a perfect illustration of what happens when we violate the law of the harvest.
5. What does David’s sin teach us about the law of the harvest? At least three lessons.
Lesson #1: You reap according to what you sow
1. If a farmer planted corn, he would expect to harvest corn. If he planted wheat, he would expect to harvest wheat. He understands that there is a connection between what he sows and what he reaps! The law of the harvest simply says that this is true in every area of our life! What we sow is directly connected with what we harvest!
2. See vs 9-10. Nathan tells David, “You have lusted, lied, and murdered. Because you used the sword on another, the sword will never depart from your house.” Read the rest of 2 Samuel. That is exactly what happened. David reaped the harvest of what he had sown. Let me give you a partial listing of his harvest:
One of his sons (Ammon) would rape his half-sister Tamar. If daddy doesn’t control his passions, why should I?
Ammon’s brother kills Ammon for what he did to Tamar. Daddy has no respect for life, why should I?
Another brother (Absalom) double-crosses his daddy and almost takes the throne away from David. Before he does, he fulfills vs 11. Daddy doesn’t always act honorably, so why should I?
3. Principle: David illustrates an important law-of-the-harvest truth. What we sow into our life is directly connected to what we harvest.”
4. Illus. of boy and tree
• Had a tree in orchard he just loved. Hadn’t born any fruit in years, so he sort of adopted it as his. Whenever he wanted to get away, he would climb to the top of that tree and be a pirate or a spaceship pilot.
• Heard Daddy say, “Momma, you know that old tree out in orchard that hasn’t born any fruit in years? I think I’m going to cut it down!”
• Boy panicked. Went out that night and took apples and tied them to the limbs of that old tree.
• Next day, daddy went out with saw, and came back shaking his head. “You know that old barren tree? It’s got apples on every limb!”
• Momma says, “It’s a miracle!” Daddy says, “Yes it is! It’s even more of a miracle considering it’s a pear tree!”
5. You don’t harvest apples from a pear tree. You harvest according to what you have sown! The same is true in life!
We sow a bottle of booze and we reap a broken home and ruined health.
We sow a promiscuous lifestyle and we reap anxiety and disease.
We sow attendance at an unholy party and we reap ruined credibility.
We sow an indifferent lifestyle and we reap children who could care less if there is a God!
If we sow ungodly friends, we will reap an ungodly attitude in ourselves.
If we sow the spiritual disciplines, we will reap spiritual growth.
If we sow godly choices, we will reap the blessings and benefits of godliness!
6. What we sow into our lives will determine what we reap!
II. You will reap more than you have sown
1. A farmer plants one kernel of corn, but harvests a stalk with hundreds of kernels. He plants one squash seed but harvests dozens of squash from that one seed. In nature you harvest more than you have sown. The law of the harvest simply says that is true in life as well. One sinful seed sown into your life may produce multiple harvests.
2. It did for David. See vs 10. The sword will never leave your house… In other words, the one sinful incident was going to produce consequences over the rest of David’s life! He was going to reap more than he had sown.
3. And indeed he did. His own children rebelled against him. He was shamed and humiliated publicly before all of Israel. His legacy was blotted and contaminated. He lost at least a year of fellowship with God. His life was never the same again.
4. Principle: David illustrates an important law-of-the-harvest truth. You will reap more than you have sown!
5. Illus. of tomato
• Daddy always planted a garden. After his stoke, when we didn’t know if he was going to live or not, felt like it was appropriate to plant a garden in his honor.
• Now, never having planted a garden, my brother wasn’t quite sure how much of everything to plant. So he just decided to plant a row of everything…including tomatoes!
• It was only probably 10-12 plants or so. But as you can imagine, the tomato harvest was enough to feel a small third world country!
• He harvested a whole lot more that he sowed!
6. So often we misunderstand this principle of the harvest.
David said it’s only one night- what could it hurt? He found out it hurt a lot!
We say, “its only one time.” We find out that we reap more than we sow, sometimes.
III. You will harvest later than you have sown
1. No farmer plants his seed and expects it to bear fruit immediately. He understands that there is a time delay between sowing and reaping. So it is with the law of the harvest. We sow sinful decisions today, but there is usually a delay before the harvest takes place.
2. That is the way it was with David. It was at least 9 months after his sin with Bathsheba before Nathan visited him. We know that because vs 14 tells us that the baby conceived in their union had already been born.
3. Principle: David illustrates an important law-of-the-harvest truth: There is usually a time delay between sowing and reaping.
4. Illus. of little girl
• She had a nice little piggy bank. Her father wanted to teach her about saving, so he talked to her about putting her money into a savings account at their bank.
• He very carefully explained to her that when she put money into her account, the bank would pay her interest on her money and that her money would grow that way.
• The big day came. They went to the bank. She gave her piggy bank to the woman opening her account. Then she just stood there and stared at the woman.
• “Is there something else I can do for you?” “No, I’m just waiting on my interest!”
• Didn’t understand that there was a delay between sowing her money in that account and reaping the harvest of her interest.
5. That’s the way it is in life. Since that is the case, you need to understand a couple of very important facts about today:
a. The things happening in your life today are the results of what you have sown in the past. You are reaping the harvest of what you sowed a week ago, a month ago, a year ago.
b. What will happen in the future will be determined by what you sow into your life today. If you want to change your future, then you need to change what you are sowing today.
Conclusion
1. Summarize main points
2. I’m going to ask you, "what are you sowing in your life today?"
