The Law of the Harvest

It can rain, the sun can shine, and nothing's gonna happen. Dr. Tony Evans says if nothing's sprouting in the field of your life you may have skipped something really important. No matter how much church you go to, Bible study you have, or prayers you give, if there is no seed there will be no harvest.

This is The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans. Author, speaker, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, and president of the Urban Alternative. You can't grow what you don't sow. It's as simple as that. So today Dr. Evans will tell us about planting grace seeds and the return God promises when we do.

Let's join him. One of the laws that God gives is what I've called the law of the harvest. You need to understand this law because this is how things work, barring the exception of a miracle. Second Corinthians chapter 9, and I want to take you first of all to why this law is important.

I'm going to explain the law in a moment, but you need to understand the context of this law. He says in the last verse of Second Corinthians 9, thanks be to God for His indescribable gift. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.

Let me say it again. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift. Whatever this gift is, you can't describe it. He calls it indescribable beyond words. He doesn't have the vocabulary to accurately and sufficiently articulate whatever this gift is. It is awesome, for it is beyond description. So if a gift's that good, if a gift's that great, if a gift's that off the chain, and I have it, I want to know about it, because I don't want to have an off-the-chain gift.

I don't know that's off the chain. So the question is, what is that gift? If I were to ask you what the gift is, I'm sure I would get a number of answers, but the answer to what the gift is is actually in the passage.

Let me tell you what this gift is that he can't describe, because it's beyond description. He summarizes the gift in verse 8. Verse 8 says, and God is able to make all grace abound to you so that always having all sufficiency in everything you may have an abundance for every good work.

Let me read that gift again. And God is able to make all grace abound to you so that always having all sufficiency in everything you may have an abundance for every good deed. The gift that God has given each one of us that is beyond Paul's ability to articulate is the gift of grace.

That is the word that makes Christianity different than every other religion ever known to mankind. It is the gift of grace. He even brings it out in the verse before his great verse of thanksgiving, verse 14, while they also, by prayer on your behalf, yearn for you because of the surpassing grace of God in you. Surpassing grace. You have been, I have been, we have been given a gift that will blow your natural mind, and it is the gift of grace. Which means if you don't know what grace is, and you don't understand it, and you don't know how to operate in it, you will not be able to maximize the gift that you possess.

It's a gift called grace. My kids gave me a gift, and it was the gift, a Christmas gift, of an iPad. They gave me the gift of an iPad that was supposed to make life easier for me. But you have to understand, I'm a yellow pad kind of guy, you know?

I've been living all of my life doing all of my stuff on yellow pads. I'm not, everybody who knows me know I'm not the technocrat. I'm not the guy who's really into technology. But they gave me a gift that was able to do exceedingly above and beyond all that I ever... I mean, they had a gift that would remember stuff for me. They had a gift that would record stuff for me.

They had a gift that could take pictures for me. They had a gift that could... And then added to the gift were free apps. My yellow pad doesn't have any apps. There's not an app number one on my yellow pad, but I got apps for this and apps for that. If I need a flashlight, I got a flashlight app.

If I want to keep stuff in file folders, there's a file folder in the app. I mean, there is an app for... If I want to play ping pong, I don't have to go play ping pong. I got a ping pong app.

There is an app for everything. It's like the iPad is able, always and all things, to be all sufficient for every good deed. The problem is I'm so used to the old way. I'm so used to how I've always operated that I have not maximized the sufficiency of the indescribable gift of the iPad that I have received. I tinker with something that is all sufficient, because I'm so used to it. When I've been given a gift that would make life simpler and easier and more orderly and more organized, and I only have to remember one thing, not where I have papers everywhere, but because I'm so used to how it's always been, I have not maximally used the indescribable gift called an iPad. I'm doing the best I can with this illustration.

Stick with me. Grace is the endless supply, the inexhaustible supply of God's goodness doing for us what we cannot and could never be able to do for ourselves. Many of the toys that you buy for your children and even for some adults will say you need batteries. For this thing to work, you need batteries, and the batteries are not included.

Let me tell you how awesome grace is. It includes batteries. God not only has provided sufficiency in every category of your life, He's included the power supply. It includes batteries. It is all that God has supplied, along with the power source to do it, for you to experience all that He has promised and provided for you.

Think about it. As long as fish have been around, they've not yet run out of water. As long as animals have been around, they've not run out of grass, trees, and foliage. As long as people have been around, we've not used up all the oxygen. In other words, there's more than enough water for fish, more than enough foliage for animals, and more than enough oxygen for people, even though we're dealing with hundreds and hundreds of thousands of years.

Why? Because there's more than enough. That's grace. What I just described we might call common grace. What God has provided His children is special grace.

You get what's general to all and you get what's special for you. It's called grace. What God has provided.

Fish don't have to create water, animals don't have to create foliage, and we don't have to create oxygen. It was already provided and it was more than enough. It's grace. That's the principle of grace. And He says in verse 8, God is able to make all grace abound to you so that all ways, having all sufficiency in everything you will have left over, you will have an abundance. More than enough.

You cannot earn grace, for then it's no longer grace, but what you must do is access grace. All of us here today have a relationship with the electric company. If you've got electricity, you've got a relationship. There is a supplier of electricity to your house. Electricity gives you the power to do everything else, to run whatever you need run by electricity in your house. Now, your relationship with the electric company supplies the electricity, but what it doesn't do is come flip the switches in your house. It gives you access to electricity, but you must plug in the refrigerator, you must plug in the toaster, you must plug in the electric can opener, you must turn on the electric stove. The electric company is not going to turn it on for you. It's going to give you the ability to access more than you need, because there's enough electricity for your house and then some. So when you buy some new stuff, you don't have to call for new electricity.

The power is from the plant. You simply access it. That's how grace is. Grace is what God supplies, but what grace does not do is access the supply. You must access what God has provided, unlike the electric company, at no cost to you, because the price has already been paid. So grace supplies it. Jesus paid for it, but God won't access it for you. You must access the grace. Stick with me.

I'm going somewhere. God has supplied grace. Jesus has paid for payment, but you must access it. So the question is, why am I not experiencing the grace of Jesus' supply? Well, it has nothing to do with the electric company.

It has everything to do with you leaving the switch off. That is, grace unaccessed. Dr. Evans will come back to show us how to flip on that grace access switch in just a moment. But first, I wanted to let you know that time is running out for you to take advantage of our current special offer. It starts with all six full-length lessons in Tony's current series, Return on Investment.

It also includes the companion study guide that makes it perfect for use with your small group, as well as your personal devotions. If you contact us by tomorrow, we'll send you this Return on Investment study package as our thank-you gift when you make a contribution toward Tony's ministry. Make a point of visiting us right away at tonyevans.org or call our 24-hour resource request line at 1-800-800-3222 and get details before time runs out.

I'll have our contact information again after part two of our message and this. Democrats, Republicans, independents, they all claim God is on their side, but Dr. Tony Evans says we all need to line up on God's side. The Word of God must trump your political alliances if you call yourself a Christian. That's why the Tony Evans Training Center just introduced an exciting new course, How Should Christians Vote? An in-depth look at what every believer needs to know before stepping into the voting booth. I don't want to know where God stands, so I know where I'm supposed to stand as a child of God. Believers depend on the Bible to guide our lives. This course will equip you to stop changing books when it comes to politics. Whether it's immigration, taxation, abortion, since it's a nation under God, what does the God over us think about what the nation wants to do? The How Should Christians Vote course will teach you to sort through the spin, hype, and double-talk this election year and make a truly godly decision at the polls, all with the help of in-depth content from Tony, probing discussion questions, access to full-length messages, and an online discussion forum where you can ask specific questions and get detailed answers.

Visit tonyevans.org today and connect with the Tony Evans Training Center. Paul says in Romans chapter 5 verses 1 and 2 that we access this grace by faith. Grace must be accessed. If you understand the farmer, you'll understand how to access this grace that cannot be described. Number one, your harvest depends on whether you sow.

Verse 6, now this I say, he who sows. You will never see a farmer or hear a farmer say, I have to get my harvest first, because that's not possible. You cannot give a harvest where there has not been seed sown prior to the harvest. A lot of people come to church wanting to harvest from unsown seed. They want God to bless them with a harvest when there has been no seed sown. In farming, you cannot access a harvest without a seed.

It is impossible. They want the grace of a harvest without the sowing of a seed, and that is, apart from a miracle, an impossibility. Because no matter how spiritual you are and how much praying you do, if there is no seed, there will be no harvest. No matter how much church you go to, Bible study you have, or prayers you give, because sowing must always precede harvesting. So if you have a need, the question is, did you plant a seed? Because without the seed, it can rain, the sun can shine, and nothing's going to happen.

Because when it comes to experiencing God's grace, it must be accessed. Number two, it all depends on what you sow. First of all, it depends on whether you sow. But next, it depends on what you sow. If you plant an apple seed, you won't get a pear tree. If you plant an orange seed, you won't get an apple tree.

Because as I shared with you last time, Genesis 1 12 says that when God created vegetation and fruit, He put the seed in the vegetation and fruit so it would reproduce after its own kind. So you can't plant one thing and be looking for another thing. The thing you plant has to be predicated on the thing you expect. That's why the verse, Luke 6 38 says, give and it will be given to you. In other words, what you plant is what you receive.

So based on the need, that will tell you the seed that you need to plant so that it can replicate after its own kind. That's why the Bible says in Galatians 7, 6 verse 7, whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap, for good or for bad. What you sow is what you reap. It then also depends on how much you sow.

Look at verse 6. Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. He who sows bountifully will reap bountifully. A farmer can't sow a seed and be looking for 15 acres worth of produce. He says, if you sow sparingly, then look for sparing results. If you sow bountifully, look for bountiful results. He says, because that's how the farm works. If you've got 15 acres worth of farm you want to come up, then you better do 15 acres worth of sowing.

People want this whopper of a blessing, a payday from heaven when they sow nothing or very little. Next, your harvest depends on where you sow. Let's say I want some squash. Nah, let me come up with something else. And so I sprinkle watermelon seeds on the carpet here.

Why are you laughing? I want watermelon. I'm supposed to sow a seed, right? So I'm gonna sow my seed and I'm gonna plant it all over the carpet here. I'm gonna be waiting a long time for watermelons to grow because I planted in that which cannot respond. You don't just plant anywhere.

You have to plant in that which is designed to receive the seed in which it is being planted. That's why he says, now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness, you will then be enriched in everything for all the morality which through us is producing thanksgiving to God. So what is good soil? Good soil is to invest in that which will allow you to legitimately give thanks to God. Can I give thanks to God for where I'm placing this seed? Is the soil a soil I can give thanks to God for or not? Because if I can't give thanks to God for it, I ought not to be planting seed in it. That's not where the seed goes because it's not conducive for a good harvest. So is it something I can connect God to or not connect God to? Because then it will determine whether it grows or not.

It benefits others and it gives a basis for thanksgiving. Let me tell you something else. Your harvest depends on when you sow. When you sow. If you plant a seed or whatever it is you are needing, don't come out tomorrow looking for it.

Okay? You don't plant a seed today and see a growth tomorrow. There is a time gap between sowing and reaping. Always.

Always. Now watch this. Just because there's a gap doesn't mean nothing's happening. It's just happening underneath the ground.

It's happening. Stuff is taking place, stuff is moving, seeds are opening, things are being born, things are being—don't get mad, because you don't see anything. Finally, your harvest depends on why you sow. Why you sow.

Watch this now. Notice in verse 10 he ends the verse by saying, your seed for sowing in the increase of the harvest of your righteousness. Here's why. God is interested in meeting your need as long as meeting your need is gonna make you a better person. See, a lot of folk want to be blessed for blessing's sake.

Never mind, their life's not gonna be better, their lifestyle is not gonna be better, they're not gonna be closer walking with God, but bless me, bless me, bless me. He's interested in the increase in your righteousness, not just the increase in your stuff. He's not just interested in you getting a new car so that you can be a more carnal driver in it. He's not interested in you getting a bigger house so that you can be more unrighteous in it. He's not interested in getting you a better wardrobe so that you can please the world with how you look and not please Him with how you live. He's not interested in just the external. He says, I want to see the increase in your righteousness.

I want to see you're closer to me, you're loving me more, you're following me more. That the harvest is not just the stuff, it's also the life, the person. Yes, He can make all grace abound to you, but He wants to make sure the grace has made a better you, not made more stuff for you alone. But you say, but I thought all of this was grace. I thought all of this was God doing it for me, but you're telling me I have to sow a seed.

But did you see the verse? The verse says, He who gives the seed. See, you even get the seed by grace.

Why? Because in whatever God gives, He puts the seed in it for the next thing you need. God has got this thing so covered that once He meets a need, He includes a seed. So He meets the need, includes the seed, so you can replant the seed to meet the need, and when the need comes, there's more seed for further sowing, so there can be further reaping, so there can be more seed.

And when you plant the seed, what pops up was bigger than what you put in. So He didn't turn this thing around so that as the Bible calls it, there's grace on top of grace, because once grace opens up, there's more grace in it for more grace to be sown and received. Dr. Tony Evans will come back with a quick closing comment in just a moment. But first, if the concept of God's grace in your life is new to you, visit tonyevans.org today and follow the link that says Jesus. There, Tony will explain everything you need to know about what being a real Christian is all about and how to start a brand new life. Again, that's tonyevans.org. And while you're there, get the complete full-length version of today's lesson.

Just look for the details on the title, The Law of the Harvest, or better yet, get it as a part of Tony's current series, Return on Investment. As I mentioned earlier, we're offering CDs and digital downloads of all six messages in the series, along with the personal or group study guide that goes with them. All is our thank-you gift when you make a contribution to help us keep Tony's teaching on this station. But the special offer ends tomorrow, so be sure to contact us right away at tonyevans.org for the details. That's tonyevans.org. Or call 1-800-800-3222 and let one of our resource team members help you.

That's 1-800-800-3222. Well, tomorrow, Dr. Evans will tell us more about the importance of being a conduit of blessings as he explains why reaping isn't always about keeping. Right now, though, he's back with this brief final thought for today. God is able to make all grace abound in everything so that there is more than enough for you to do good things over and over and over again. So thanks be to God for His indescribable gift of grace. The alternative with Dr. Tony Evans is brought to you by the Urban Alternative and is made possible by the generous contributions of listeners like you.