Hear now the word of the Lord, beloved, and this is a major prophet, and as with all the prophets, it's offering hope and mercy and restoration in God, but the way of that is repentance. Hear the word of the Lord, Jeremiah 4, verse 3. For thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, break up your fallow ground, and sow not. among thorns. Let me read that one more time. For thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, break up your fallow ground and sow not among thorns. And we particularly look at the last part tonight, break up your fallow ground and sow not among thorns, but especially we want to think about break up your fallow ground. And I was inspired to preach this as I was working on Our yards at the Mance this week. Abraham came out to help me for a while with all the rain. I'm sure you've experienced the same thing. We had a big need to get rid of the weeds. Of course, it's nice to get the rain. It helps the grass grow, the flowers, everything's nice. But those weeds also shoot up and it's incredible. They take over. I was actually walking around the property here. We're out of weed killers, so worked out conveniently because I was running out of time. But I was particularly glad I didn't have to deal with them because they were gigantic. It's like a forest growing over there and sometimes we all take it once a year on our work day and we go at it. It's just the rain, these weeds grow up, it's like crazy. Whereas, we really had to work hard on the grass. Those weeds, they're growing everywhere, right? But we have that Bermuda grass that I learned what it is as I moved to California years ago and never knew what it was. But I think many of you know, one of the things that happens with Bermuda grass is the roots and everything really can grow together and really tight, and they almost make it, it's like a mat. And then what happens is nothing can get down through it very well. And so we've got sections of our yards that once in a while we need to go, and we have this special rake I got years ago, and I know I've joked before, you don't need a Y membership or anything else. You don't need to go to the gym, you just need to come rake my lawn, and I will not charge you a membership fee. Come on over, I'll give you free exercise. I've never had more aerobic exercise. It's one of those things, you know, it's got two sides and you're just raking that dry grass out and it's like every couple of feet you're like, whew, whew, okay. And then you keep going at it, you know. And so because the next rain was coming at this point and we were waiting for the rain to be done so that at the end of the week we could spread out the weed killer slash turf builder all in one because it was just too much, the weeds, to try to tackle the way that dad usually does poor kids. Anyhow, as we were doing that, we also were poking holes, you know, you go around the yard and poke all these holes to really help that water get down into the roots of the grass and also the fertilizer. And what was really interesting, Abe said to me, I had gone around to the backyard, I came back and he said, dad, you know what? This is really an illustration for living for God. I said, what's that? Tell me about it. He said, well, the weeds don't need any help to grow. They grow fast and wide and they don't need our attention. But the grass that we're trying to salvage and help, it takes an enormous amount of work. It takes a lot of work to get that grass better and to make it grow. Help it become strong and green and survive, it needs our cultivation. That includes what we do with the weeds. But the grass needs the help to grow. It doesn't come easy in this sin affected world. So I bring his wise observation to us tonight from Jeremiah chapter 4 verse 3, which I submit to you teaches essentially this thought. God's call to repentance from sin so we can sow and grow seeds of sanctification is first to break up the ground of our hearts and remove the weeds of wickedness. I give that to you as the main idea of our verse. In context, let me repeat. God's call to repentance from sin so that we can sow and grow seeds of sanctification is that we first break up the ground of our hearts and remove the weeds of wickedness. Now the context, as with all the prophets and really all the scriptures, we saw it in the gospel tonight in our reading in Mark, is repent. Repent, and that looks like something. But there's a situation of sin, rebellion that has brought them to a worse place. And so we have the context of Israel, the northern tribes prophesied against by Isaiah primarily, and then Judah, the southern tribes prophesied primarily against by Jeremiah. You see them addressing here in verse 3, Judah and Jerusalem is really actually the focus, the southern kingdom. And we're seeing that they are now being cast out into the foreign nations. They're being sent out of the promised land. They're going to experience all kinds of problems in the foreign lands because they couldn't stop going after their idols. They couldn't stop living their ways. And as you go and just survey, you'll see it's pretty wicked stuff. And the biggest issue is they're worshiping false gods and making idols and take all the lifestyles of these people that come with that, that they were supposed to change. And as Jeremiah is dealing with Babylonian exile, he's calling upon them as God's people dispersed in a foreign land. being sent out and having this situation happen. He's calling upon them to repent. And again, that's the message of the scriptures. That's especially the message of the prophets. Repent. Look at verse one. 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. Israel would, you know, has that broad idea of the name of God's people, means Prince of God, actually, but, you know, would particularly have in view the northern kingdoms, because, of course, they've already been split, right? They've already been divided because of their sin and having false gods and not doing things the way God says, but then they're divided, they're just sent out from this land. But notice the call is what? If, see the word if, if thou wilt return, and put away thine abominations, remove them. But notice, return unto me, it's said twice. So return, return unto me, and that is what repentance, you can go to our larger and shorter catechisms that discuss what repentance is, and it's turning away from our sins, 180 degrees turning to God. And that's what God is saying to do, repent, return. In fact, the Hebrew word translated here, return, is elsewhere translated, repent. So God is calling upon his people to repent. And that's 180 degree turn. And we often talk about it. It's like you're driving one way and you realize you're about to go off a cliff. And so you don't mess around. You turn that wheel fast and you do a 180 screeching turn around and go back the other way. And that's what God is saying, do return unto me, return unto me. And then I can let you be, I can let you return to your land. Repent. And that involves also putting away abominations. Notice in verse one, put away thine abominations out of my sight. Get rid of them. Turn back to me. And in doing that, you're going to get rid of all those things that are in the way of you being with me. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Now these abominations explains the thorns in verse three. Remember, he says, you don't sow among thorns. I'm speaking about our own hearts here, the heart of the church, our hearts collectively, you could say, but our hearts individually, God's people, you don't sow among thorns. You gotta do something about those thorns. And we see, we can understand them as abominations, chapter, verse one of the chapter. Abominations, things that he just hates, that disgust him, sins. Now remember Christ also, his parable of the sower in the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. He talks about the seed and where it lands and whether or not it grows. The part we focus on this evening is Mark chapter 4, verses 7 to 8 and 18 to 19. Jesus says, when the seed is being cast out, which is the precious word of God, some of that seed lands in different places. One of those places, he says, is the thorns. So keep in mind, don't sow among thorns, Jeremiah says. And Jesus says in the parable of the sower, some of the word of God fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. And he explains, these are they which are sown among thorns, such as hear the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the lusts of other things entering in choke the word and it becometh unfruitful. And of course Jesus says you will know them by their fruit. Thorns are the ways of the world which are wicked. They don't make for good ground. to grow holy things and bear the fruit of the Spirit. The thorns or the weeds overtake the plants. They overcrowd the grass. And that's not a place that you start to sow seeds. Something else has to happen first. You can't plant good seed. You can't grow good seed for grass or to grow food plants in weeds. Weeds will always choke out the word. What has to be done? You have to cultivate. You have to dig up the dirt of your heart and remove those weeds. You have to look in your life for the things that are in the way of you receiving the word of God with love and faith and repentance, keeping you from growing in grace. You got to get rid of it. It sometimes may be these enormous abominations. It often could be things that are just not profitable. Could be that particular TV show that you know it's time to get rid of that. It's choking out your love of the word and time for it. You pick the situation. You know your hearts. You know what is in danger of being a god or an idol there. And it's time to rip it out. Don't expect the word of God to grow. Don't expect, as you might give some time to do devotions and prayer, don't be surprised when a lot doesn't happen if you don't first cultivate the ground for the seed to grow. You've got to dig up the dirt, remove the weeds, use the weed killer, and rake out the dead matted grass that won't let the rain through to the roots of the grass or the seed to fall deep into the soil. One of the other seeds in Christ's parable lands, it shoots up fast, but then it dies and burns up. Why? Because there was no depth. We've got to dig depth. We've got to dig depth into our hearts and not just a little bit on the surface. We've got to cut in deep and dig it up and turn it over. And what we want to focus on tonight that Abraham was highlighting and how, boy, the weeds didn't take any work to grow those weeds, but the grass takes a lot of work, hard work. This is hard work God is calling us to. It's violent. The violent take heaven by storm, Jesus says. It's dedicated, it's determined, it's radical. Fallow ground. We have to dig up the fallow ground. Notice that. Break up your fallow ground. What is that? It's land that has been farmed usually at some point, but it's been left alone for a while. It's been unfarmed for a while, so it has become overgrown with weeds and hardened up, and it needs to be turned up to make room to be able to receive the water and to receive the seed. I often comment about how when I haven't dug around the dirt areas surrounding our grass for plants, what have you, the fruit trees, it's amazing. Pour the water on there, San Diego, just runs right off. I'm not used to that from where I'm from. The dirt's a better dirt. The dirt here gets so dry, it gets so hard with the lack of rain. Water pours right off it, which is why you see when we have heavy rains, a lot of times the floods just goes right away. It doesn't soak in. We've got to dig up the dirt. to get the water of the spirit to go in there and soften and work. We gotta dig up the dirt so the seed gets down in there that it can take root and take fertilization and grow. And not be surprised that nothing much grows if we don't and we leave the weeds. God says, break it up. You want to grow. You want my word to do something in you, you've got to be prepared to take it. Hold on to it. Love it. Have it affect you. You've got to dig things up. You've got to break up the ground. You've got to take that shovel and stick it in with your foot and turn it up and do it again. And if any of you have done that for a little while, I trust most of us had. Again, it's like my rake. You've got to stop every now and then. All right. Sweat. But then you can start planting, you see. God says, break it up. Otherwise you will sow wheat, but you will reap thorns. Jeremiah says in chapter 12, verse 13, break up the ground. Or even when you sow good stuff, that's what Jesus is saying in the parable, right? You'll only reap thorns. Why? Because that's where you started, thorns. And you got to get the thorns out of the way. You got to rip up the ground. You know, even ripping a weed out of the ground, if it isn't too hard, rips up the dirt too, right? Pull up the weeds. And I was doing a little bit of that yesterday here in front of the church. And you got to shake the dirt off of the roots. And it already does a little bit of the ripping up. But if we don't break the ground, then we'll only grow thorns. That's all we'll get out of it. Matthew Henry says this about our verse. They must do by their hearts as they do by their ground that they expect any good of. They must plow it up. Put yourselves into a frame fit to receive mercy from God and put away all that which keeps it from you. And then you may expect to receive mercy and to prosper in your endeavors to help yourselves. An unconvinced Unhumbled heart is like fallow ground, ground untilled, unoccupied. It is ground capable of improvement. It is our ground let out to us and we must be accountable for it. We are concerned to get this fallow ground plowed up. We must search into our hearts. Let the word of God divide as the plow does between the joints and the marrow, Hebrews 4.12. We must rend our hearts, Joel 2.13. We must pluck up by the roots those corruptions which as thorns choke both our endeavors and our expectations. Hosea 10, 12. Remember, what does God often say of His unrepentant people? How does He describe them? He calls them people of hard hearts. Nothing can penetrate, nothing penetrates. We know that God's Holy Spirit is what makes that finally happen, He uses his word, he's talking about we've got to have a broken heart. He says he reveals himself and he communes with those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit and tremble at his word. Unless there be an earthquake of sorts, a fault that breaks us open, that his word, his seed would be in us. Notice God calls upon you, aided by the Holy Spirit, to tear up the ground of your heart. God softens it indeed. Nothing happens without regeneration. But we're talking about sanctification here. Growing in holiness and grace. And God calls upon you to dig up your heart, to work on it. Then the seed will take root. Then the water and the fertilizer can get in and cause growth. Paul speaks about it in another metaphor often in the New Testament. What does he say? Put off the old man. We call that mortification of sin. That's always first, and then he says what? Put on the new man, and ultimately in Romans, put on Christ. It's always in that order. We have to remove, we have to kill the old man. We have to dig it up, remove the weeds and the stones and have it all opened up to put the new man in, the seed, the growth. Have you been complaining that you're not growing in grace? Beloved, even in paradise, man was made to till the ground and to dress and keep it. Complaining you're not growing in grace, Do you need to take this scripture to heart? Proverbs 20 verse four, the sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold. Therefore shall he beg and harvest and have nothing. Are you plowing? Don't expect to reap if you're not. Ecclesiastes 11 verses four and six. He that observeth the wind shall not sow, and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap. In the morning sow thy seed. And of course we're being told in these scriptures tonight to sow the seed. You first got to plow the ground. You must break up your heart by digging up the dirt, ripping out the weeds so you can take God's seed and it takes root and it sprouts up and it can bear fruit. Hosea 10 verse 12, sow to yourselves in righteousness. reap in mercy, break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord till he come and rain righteousness upon you. You know, that's something again we've said before. I was thinking about it as Abe and I were preparing the grass. We were dealing with the weeds. We were raking out the bad stuff so that something could get down and catch in. But I was thinking about, you know, we're getting ready for rain. This is a good time. You can't control when the rain comes. And that's something we need to remember as a church. You know, we can't control when the rain comes. We don't control when seed will grow. We can prepare. We can prepare for rain. And it has to start with us preparing our own hearts more and more that we find ourselves praying without ceasing. Lord God, do a work of salvation. Lord God, save our neighbors. Lord God, send people to me to witness to. Lord God, help me trip over opportunities here and there constantly to share the gospel. Indeed, calling them to repent and have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. How much are we even asking God to do that? How much are we crying out over our own sins before the Lord? Please, Lord, produce more of the fruit of the Holy Spirit in me of love, joy, peace, patience. Anybody don't have enough of that yet? Or you're all good? You got enough? I don't know about you. I need a whole lot more growth of the fruit of the Spirit there. Well, what am I doing to prepare for it? What are you doing? How much have you done to rip open your heart that there would be more fruit because you've enabled it to grow inside you? We're never done with this. Galatians 6,7-9, Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. But he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. There's an encouragement to pick up the spade and the shovel. 2 Peter 3, 17 to 18, Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware, lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, you might say the thorns, the weeds, fall from your own steadfastness. Before I continue reading that, we've got to deal with the weeds every season, right? I'm happy to report we got a bird in a nest as we do every year in the same exact place in the breezeway. I'm not so happy to report, but the same time every year we got weeds everywhere. We're never done needing to dig out the weeds. And as God's rain would fall upon our hearts, we should expect that the weeds will grow there too. If we don't get rid of them and dig them up. Peter goes on to say, but grow in grace. And that's really what we're looking to emphasize tonight and recognizing what's needed for that to happen. Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen. Grow in grace. How do we do that? Well, Psalm 119 verse 11 again, dig up your heart, hide God's word in your heart so you do not sin against him. Well, that's going to involve digging to have place to put it there. You got to break open your heart so it's good ground to take the seed and be watered and produce fruit. Now remember that this parable from Jesus does talk about these different places, these other kinds of ground where the seed doesn't last, but the last one is called the good ground that can take the seed. and it does take root, and it does grow and produce a lot of fruit, God's kind of fruit, the good fruit of the Holy Spirit, not the fruit of this world and that of the Pharisees. It's called the good ground. Well, how do you get the good ground? Break it up. Break up the fallow ground. What area of your life hasn't been farmed in a while that has been farmed before you need to go back and do some plowing? Philippians 2 verse 12, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Now remember when we were preaching through Philippians, that's not saying we save ourselves. The context has the idea of progressive sanctification, growing in holiness, recognizing in verse 13, it's God that works in you both to will and do of his good purposes, but we're to be working cooperating with the Holy Spirit and growing in sanctification. And that work involves a shovel. It involves a garden rake. Sometimes it involves those really big iron rods to get it down in there deep and pull out that root. Like that old peach tree I had to get rid of the roots years ago. Oh, it had been rotting for years because it hadn't been taken care of properly. I did my best. It was just eaten up from within. It took me a while to get those roots out. There's a whole lot of sweat and grunting at that time. I'm glad you weren't there to witness, but it's a lot of work. And there's a whole lot of, I chopped it up with an ax because I'm afraid of chainsaws. And I probably put myself in more risk, but I chopped that thing up. It took a long time. I got others to help me after a while. We took turns on it. That's what we're breaking it up. to have room to plant something else. Now I have a lovely lemon tree Mr. Renner got me for my birthday years ago and it's growing fruit. This year was its best ever. But we had to do all that to have a place to put the lemon tree. Remember also that the world is cursed because of sin. Genesis 3, 17 to 19 says that sowing and farming, literally, will be by the sweat of the brow. due to the thorns and thistles on the earth that must be removed and the plowing that needs to happen first. Well, that's true physically, but it's also true spiritually for farming a harvest of righteousness in your life. We're in a cursed world. These things don't come easy. What will naturally happen is the ground left untended will grow weeds and it will not grow the word and the fruit of the spirit. Again, we're talking about sanctification. In particular, we're talking about progressive sanctification, making progress. There's a distinction to be made. We often have heard definitive sanctification. God makes us holy in Christ. The Holy Spirit applies and makes us holy. We are called saints. in the scriptures, even though Paul goes on to then tell us all the things we've got to do better and grow, but we're called saints. Definitively, positionally, we are holy before God in Christ, not in ourselves. But as we're serving him until glory, we need to grow in grace. We need to do the work that will help us grow in grace. We're talking about progressing in our sanctification. And again, we depend on the Holy Spirit. It's a work of a Holy Spirit. of the Holy Spirit, but it involves our working with Him to grow. And it's not complicated, but it's also not easy. It's hard work. We always complicate the matter. It's not complicated. It's just hard. And because we don't want to do the hard work, we complicate it and we lie to ourselves and we make it all involved. No, it's just hard work. You just got to pick it up the shovel and start digging. But things happen pretty quickly when you do that, right? It doesn't take that long to dig a hole, plant a seed, and see what happens. Growing a nice, lush lawn takes a lot of work. But so does getting rid of weeds to do so, which grow easy on their own. It's not natural. It's supernatural. The spirit working in you, the will to do it, and then working in you to do it more. But it's work. It's not natural. You've got to recognize that. Just like the weeds grow naturally, not the grass, you've got to work hard at it. Same thing spiritually. Northernester.com has this page that says, why do weeds grow faster than grass? And I think we can think about this and apply it to this concern to break up the fallow ground, get rid of the weeds, so grass or food plants would grow. Because it's not natural. You've got to recognize it's not natural. Naturally, we'll just grow weeds. They share, if you choose a grass that isn't native to your region, it can grow a lot slower than the plants around it. Your grass will still grow regardless of where it is native, but it will take longer to adapt to the soil. temperature and water conditions. Well, that's the truth. You know, this is not natural for us and so we should expect there's adjusting, there's getting used to these things. Goes on to say this, in contrast to the grass, weeds are almost always native to the area. They are transplanted by the wind and adapt to the current conditions. As Abraham said, you don't have to do anything to make the weeds grow. They just seem to come out of nowhere. The grass, I got nothing unless I am raking and digging and digging. Goes on to say, weeds grow best in the conditions they find themselves in. So no matter what type of soil you have or how often it rains, weeds will love the specific conditions. Just as our old nature and sin. They go on to say this, like most plants, weeds have a root structure that grows underground. Just because you dig up part of a weed doesn't mean you have killed the entire plant. Lastly, they say this, weeds with complex root structures will spread out underground and pop up anywhere there is thin grass. The grass in turn will take too much time to grow thicker, thus giving your weeds plenty of opportunity to grow. Unless you first dig the dirt of your hearts and rip out the weeds. So may the Lord help us to do more of that this week. Again, it's deliberate breaking up the fallow ground. It's decided, it's violent, it's thorough, but it must happen for God's precious seed to grow in us. That we again would bear more of the fruit of the spirit to give him glory. and to attract others to come and worship our Father in heaven as light of the world, a brighter light, salt to the earth, a more preserving, savory salt. An important way to think about this, breaking up the fallow ground, last week's morning sermon on Mark 9, 43 to 40, Jesus says, something causes you to sin, cut it off, cut it off, or pluck it out. Whatever causes you to sin, and I had just, was motivated to use some illustrations, as you know, from James Adams' book, and use the illustration of, it was time for me to have my tooth plucked out. I am a lot better for it already. I dug in there, cleaned it out. That's the way we have to handle things. That's the way we really do this. Again, it's not a little dusting. Then you will much more easily plant and water the precious seed of God's Word and bear the fruit of Christ's Spirit. Remember the sermon on 1 Timothy 4 verse 7 last year? 1st Timothy 4 verse 7, but refuse profane and old wives fables and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. And we focused on exercise yourself unto godliness. And we recognize the message of the sermon was sanctification is hard, rewarding work like exercise. It's a lot of work. You know, why don't we exercise? Because it's hard. And we lie to ourselves and we make it more complicated than it is. Eat less and exercise more. That's most of it. It really is for most of us. That's most of it. Exercise. It's hard but rewarding work. It is indeed rewarding to break up the fallowed ground and have the seed grow. It's rewarding but it is indeed hard. And if we don't just say it and put it out there and recognize it and accept it, we won't do it. I finally say, look, I want that grass to go better. I'm just going to start finally raking. And now I look on my grass and I'm already enjoying what it looks like. Do you think I'm done? No, I'm not done. I'm going to be doing it again in a little while, probably. And every year. It's like exercise, exerting yourself spiritually and slowly over time. Christian, the Holy Spirit calls you to grow in grace. And there's only two options. There's no plateauing. You'll either be growing or declining. You'll either be digging and growing or you will be leaving it unkept, not digging and weeds will grow there. Those are your only options. And you're called to grow in grace. And you must realize and be prepared that yes, because of regeneration, because of the blood of Christ, yet still you must labor to grow in grace. You must labor to grow in grace. And that is the message for you this evening. For thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, break up your fallow ground and sow not among thorns. Beloved, you must labor to grow in grace. Let us pray. Oh Lord God, we thank you for your call upon our life in grace. We thank you that you began a good work in us and are faithful to complete it, but you use means and you call upon us to dig, to break things up, especially as you've softened and given us a new heart. Lord, let us protect it from weeds and hardening. Let us keep digging, keep opening, keep tilling and turning over that your precious word would go deep and that we would not sin against you. and that it would be a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. Oh Lord, your living word, discerning the thoughts and intents of the heart. Lord, let it penetrate and let us do our part to prepare for that to be so. And oh Lord, as you would help us do that, Let your word grow in us. Holy Spirit, let your water bubble over, let all of your fruits grow up tall and ripe and fresh and vibrant for our own benefit, for a witness to others and for your glory. And oh Lord God, prepare us for heaven, prepare us You're preparing a place for us, as someone has said. We also pray you would prepare us for that place. Do your work in us, oh Lord. And let us look forward to the day when there'll be no weeds and there'll be no sin and there'll be no tears and there'll be no death and we will rest in the eternal day of rest. And yet, Lord, until that time, Help us to keep working on ourselves. Encourage that it is you that is working in us. We ask that you be with us this evening. And before we go to bed, that we do some kind of digging, that we keep putting off a very good use for the Sabbath day. And we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, and all your people said.