Cleansing with Chastisement

Sermon OverviewScripture Passage: 2 Samuel 12:1-142 Samuel 12 tells the heartbreaking story of how God dealt with David’s sins. David had committed adultery and murder. When David finally asked God for forgiveness, he faced cleansing with chastisement through the loss of a child.In order to understand why David suffered as he did, we must know the law of the harvest.The first principle of the law of the harvest is implantation: if we want a crop, we have to plant.We reap because we have sown, and many times we reap the physical and spiritual blessings somebody else has planted before us.The second principle is identification: we reap the same as we sow.Adrian Rogers says, “You cannot plant discord and reap unity. You cannot plant hypocrisy and reap holiness. You cannot sow to the flesh and reap to the spirit.”Galatians 6:7 confirms, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.”The third principle is incubation: we reap later than we sow.David’s fatal crop came up days after God pronounced judgment on him. But some seeds sprout after a long incubation period. Whatever it may be, we will reap in due season.The fourth principle is intensification: we always reap more than we sow.Hosea 8:7 warns, “They sow the wind, and reap the whirlwind.”If we do a little good, God rewards us a lot; if we do a little evil, our punishment will be far more severe than we’d expect.The final principle is implementation: if we want to reap a crop, we must get busy.God gives the opportunity, but we must implement the plan. We may try to talk ourselves out of planting based on exterior circumstances.Ecclesiastes 11:4 instructs, “He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap.”David’s experience with the law of the harvest was a painful one. God forgave him, but He did not cancel out the law of the harvest. To be forgiven means there’s unbroken communion with God, but it doesn’t mean we bypass the suffering for what we’ve done.What David planted came to the surface, just as we will reap what we’ve sown.Apply it to your lifeUnderstanding the law of the harvest, will you reap blessings or consequences? Choose to plant what is good and pure.