HoHum: There’s a story about Sir Robert Watson Watt, the inventor of the radar who was arrested for speeding. He was reportedly pulled over by a policemen with a radar-gun. And allegedly Robert Watts said to the policeman, "Had I known what you were going to do with it I would never have invented it!" Shortly after he wrote this poem: Pity Sir Robert Watson Watt Strange target of his radar plot, And this, with others I could mention, A victim of his own invention.
WBTU:
The image in Vs. 7 is vivid. Sow to the wind and reap the whirlwind. It is a fact that when we sow that we reap more than what is sown. Take corn. Plant seeds and produce a lot more corn than the seed sown. The image here is that sow to the wind reap the whirlwind.
Everything we do has consequences. The sins that we do have consequences. The good things that we do have consequences. The priorities we have in life have consequences. The choices we make in life have consequences.
"They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind." Just as the whirlwind is much greater than the wind so the consequences of our actions end up being greater than the deed itself. There are many things that start off small but that lead to greater things. Great oaks, for instance, grow from tiny acorns.
Sin Will Take You Farther- As a child I foolishly turned God away Not knowing the heartache a sinner must face But God in His goodness has let me return To share with His children this lesson I’ve learned Sin will take you farther than you wanna go Slowly but wholly taking control Sin will leave you longer than you wanna stay Sin will cost you far more than you wanna pay
Thesis: Let’s talk about those who reap more than they want from sin
For instances:
Idolaters
Vs. 4-6 talk about this. The calf that Jeroboam had set up.
Reap 3 years siege of Samaria by Shalmaneser King of Assyria and deporation and ruin.
“At Horeb they made a calf and worshipped an idol cast from metal. They exchanged their Glory for an image of a bull, which eats grass. They forgot the God who saved them, who had done great things in Egypt, miracles in the land of Ham and awesome deeds by the Red Sea. So he said he would destroy them--had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him to keep his wrath from destroying them.” Psalms 106:19-23, NIV.
Ever since that day idolatry was a source of grief to God and to the Israelites.
Put other things before our King, Slowly but wholly taking control
Tyranical rulers
Beginning of vs. 4 talks about this.
What happens if someone gets into our government who is like Hitler. Hitler was elected by a democracy. This is a concern. Someone who is power hungry and full of pride.
Max Lucado has organized 40 days of prayer before the elections at church in San Antonio. Here are some quotes from him that might calm us. “We have reason to be concerned but I would suggest that we do not have reason to panic. We, the children of God, can stay peaceful because we know that no matter who inhabits the White House, we know that God still sits on His throne. Christians take into an election cycle a different view that the rest of the world and that is a view of faith. We believe first and foremost this truth: that God is the God of the nations. Congress doesn’t direct the future, God does. Washington doesn’t call the shots God does. A nation is blessed when it has godly leaders. But even if a nation does not have a godly leader, that nation can still be led by God because He controls the hearts of the kings. He directs what happens.
Look at these cases of what happens to people who are tyrants:
Pharaoh- Firstborn son died and his country decimated by plagues and drowing at Red Sea.
Ahab and Jezebel- Ahab died in battle, bled to death. Jezebel was thrown out of a window and her body was run over by a chariot until smashed into pavement and dogs licked up her blood
Sennacherib, king of Assyria. Tried to take over Judah not long after destruction of northern Israel. 185,000 soldiers died. “One day, while he was worshipping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer cut him down with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king.” Isaiah 37:38, NIV.
Haman tried to eliminate the Jews because Mordecai refused to bow down to him. “So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s fury subsided.” Esther 7:10, NIV.
Herod the Great- a madman who murdered his own family and a great many rabbis. Herod had chronic kidney disease complicated by gangrene. Died of a rotting disease
Herod Antipas- Died in exile
Herod Agrippa I- “Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.” Acts 12:23, NIV.
Hitler committed suicide in a bunker.
Negligent parents
All who neglect the upbringing of their children “sow the wind”. There are well meaning fathers and mothers who fail to maintain a firm as well as kind hearted family. Many allow their children to raise themselves, or to follow pleasures as if that being happy were the main thing in life. Neglect to offer any restraint or guidance to their children.
This was the sin of Eli the priest. “For I told him that I would judge his family for ever because of the sin he knew about; his sons made themselves contemptible, and he failed to restrain them.” 1 Samuel 3:13, NIV.
Some parents fail to give their children a godly example to follow. David’s sin brought evil into his family like a whirlwind; some of his sons became arrows in his heart, instead of “arrows in his hand (Psalm 127:4)”. We find this in David weeping over Absalom. “The king was shaken. He went up to the room over the gateway and wept. As he went, he said: “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you--O Absalom, my son, my son!”” 2 Samuel 18:33, NIV.
Wild youth
Even the most godly and diligent of parents in raising their children have some that go wild. The Bible says to “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” Proverbs 22:6, NIV. Many parents weep over this verse.
““Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.” Luke 15:13, NIV. Sin will leave you longer than you wanna stay. Ended up in the pig pen until he came to his senses.
“Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” 2 Timothy 2:22, NIV. "Many spend the first six days of the week sowing wild oats, then we go to church on Sunday and pray for a crop failure." -- Fred Allen
“Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, “I find no pleasure in them”--” Ecclesiastes 12:1, NIV.
All unbelievers
Even good people “sow the wind” when they neglect the salvation of Jesus Christ. how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? Hebrews 2:3, NIV.
Everyone who lives with Jesus Christ is without hope. Such a good person but not a Christian. “How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?” “It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Hebrews 10:29, 31, NIV.
One day the wrath of God will fall upon them. “They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”” Revelation 6:16, 17
“since you ignored all my advice and would not accept my rebuke, I in turn will laugh at your disaster; I will mock when calamity overtakes you-- when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and trouble overwhelm you. “Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me. Since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the LORD, since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm.”” Proverbs 1:25-33, NIV.
All men have “sown the wind,” for all are sinners; but there is “a Man” who is able to shelter us from the whirlwind. “Each man will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.” Isaiah 32:2, NIV. #180- Oh, Jesus is a rock in a weary land, A weary land, a weary land; Oh, Jesus is a rock in a weary land, A shelter in the time of storm.
