Sin's Harvest — E.A. Johnston

Sin's Harvest in Hosea

There is a verse of scripture that haunts me. It's found in the book of Hosea, and it speaks of sin's harvest. It is Hosea 8 7 which declares for they have sown the wind and they shall reap the whirlwind.

And it's true friends that sin has a harvest and the reaping is far more costly than the sowing. The title of my message today is Sin's Harvest, and I believe this harvest of sin can be seen in a nation.

Sin's harvest can be seen in the church, and sin's harvest can be seen in the individual. In Hosea chapter 6, God exhorts Israel to repentance as seen in verse 1. Come and let us return unto the Lord for he hath torn and he will heal us.

Israel's Unheeded Call to Repentance

He hath smitten and he will bind us up. This illustrates a loving father who exercises harsh discipline to a wayward child. But the remedial judgments of God upon his wayward people go unheeded as we see in Hosea 6 10.

I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel. There's whoredom of Ephraim. Israel is defiled. And in Hosea chapter 7, God reads off a laundry list of Israel's manifold sins. God likens them to a deceitful bow and a half-baked cake.

They are self-deceived about their half-hearted worship of God. And they are unreliable in their obedience to God. And then in chapter 8, where we have our text for today, God threatens destruction to both Israel and Judah for provoking an offended God by their gross sins.

God's been rejected. They have set up kings, but not by me, God tells them. And the whole heart of the matter is dealt with in Hosea 8 7, as God declares. For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.

The Spiritual Harvest of Sin

In other words, what's done is done. There's no going back. The seeds of evil and iniquity have been sown by the rebellious Jews, and now it's harvest time. And as the seed ratio is seen in agriculture, where there is a ratio in the investment of seed versus the yield.

For example, if three grains are harvested for each grain seeded, the resulting seed ratio is 1 .3. And in the spiritual life, there's a harvest ratio as well. Sin sown will produce a world of trouble and woe and pain and suffering, yielding far more than what was anticipated.

Listen to me, friend. Sin will take you further than you want to go. It'll leave you there longer than you want to stay. And sin will cost you more than you ever realized. For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.

There are three aspects of this truth I want to explore today, friends. For it applies to us as it did to Israel of old. And these three aspects are the following. Number one, sin's harvest is seen in a nation.

Sin's Harvest in a Nation

In Hosea 4 .1 we read, For the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.

Therefore, shall the land mourn. This is sin's harvest to a nation. Look at America, friends. Once favored by God with great material blessings and spiritual awakenings, where revival spread all over the land, bringing salvation to thousands.

Now, America has rejected the God of the Bible. America has legalized sin, and it promotes sexual perversion. America has legislated God out of our public schools, out of our government. Now it's harvest time.

Natural calamities fall upon the land, one right after another. Floods, and fires, and hurricanes, and tornadoes. Now a great plague is spreading across the land, and it's a scene right out of the Old Testament, upon a disobedient people.

Sin's Harvest in the Church

America has sown the wind. Now she reaps the whirlwind. Number two. Sin's harvest is seen in the church. The modern church is a deceitful beau, quite unreliable in the proclamation of the true gospel, as she slumbers on pillows of compromise and conformity.

The church wanted to reach the world by letting the world into the church, and the result is a great judgment from God upon the church. In Hosea 5 15, we read, I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offense and seek my face.

The American church is under the remedial judgment of the withdrawn presence of God. When was the last time, friend, that you felt the power of God in a meeting? Church on Sunday is like a showboat. It's all pomp and hot air.

God tells the backslidden Jews, I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offense and seek my face. God has withdrawn himself from the church in America, and he's waiting for the church to repent and seek his face.

Sin's Harvest in the Individual

Until that time, we will just continue to play church on Sunday amidst cold formality and spiritual dryness. Number three. Sin's harvest is seen in the individual. Listen to me, friend. When the son of God was nailed to the cross, every stroke of the Roman hammer was an explanation point, crying out, sin is costly, sin is costly, sin is costly, for it costs the Savior his blood.

You sow the wind, young friend, and you will reap the whirlwind. You cheat on your wife in adultery, and your family will reap the whirlwind. You may hide your sin for a little while, but a harvest day fast approaches.

You will reap more misery personally than you've ever sown, for they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. In the Bible, the whirlwind is a symbol of the sudden destruction of the wicked.

I've seen church members who became involved in gross sin without any repentance, and they were removed by sudden death. Sin is playing with fire, friend, and like Proverbs 6 27 declares, can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned?

The Certainty and Cost of Sin's Harvest

Of course not. Sin's harvest is a certainty. Sin's harvest is full of sorrow and suffering, for the word of God stands sure, for they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.