Ron Dunn Podcast - God's High Time

Episode Date: May 26, 2021

Ron Dunn speaks from his series "Holiness And The Heart Of God"

Thank you very much. It's a joy to be back in your church. And I appreciate Brother Paul inviting me to come back. And he's going to keep letting me come back until I get it right, I guess. And I appreciate it. I told the early morning crowd that I left Dallas late last night and got in here about 1.30 and knew I'd have to get up about 6.30, and I thought, well, that'll give me at least five, four and a half hours sleep. I can make it on that. And then the clerk said, oh, there's a note here for you. And he said on there, he said, don't forget that tonight the time changes. First I'd heard of it.

I hadn't thought about that. Made me some mad to get that note. I deliberated whether or not I could in all good conscience, and I can do a lot of things in good conscience I deliver a whether I could all in good conscience ignore that note and pretend I never got it you know and just sleep right on blissfully through and show up here about 915 but I decided that I could not do that and well could, but I didn't, uh, but anyway, it doesn't take very long to spend the night here. And, uh, and I, uh, anyway, but it's good to see you.

And we were surprised. They were, I was, they were surprised so many people showed up on time i got and this is 11 15 11 o'clock this is not eight and uh so anyhow that doesn't have a thing to do with what i want to talk to you about this morning but thank you for letting come back i look forward to the week i think we'll have a good time together. I want you to open your Bibles this morning to the Old Testament, to the prophet Hosea, chapter 10. The prophet Hosea, chapter 10. You'll find him sandwiched between Daniel and Joel. Hosea, the 10th chapter. During the noon sessions this week, as the Lord leads, we're going to be looking at some passages in this little prophet of Hosea. And this morning, I want to deal with what I consider to be one of the key verses in

the heart as far as what God is trying to say to us out of this book. Hosea chapter 11, chapter 10, excuse me, we will read verses 11 and 12. It's page 1109 if you're having trouble finding it. Hosea, the 10th chapter. We'll just read two verses, verses 11 and 12. And Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread out the corn. But I passed over her fair neck, I will make Ephraim to ride. Judah shall plow, and Jacob shall break his clods.

That's a strange verse, strange way of God speaking of his people. But verse 12 explains what he's really trying to say. 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 reign righteousness upon you. When God instituted the heavens and the earth, he at the same time instituted certain laws by which this universe operates. And these are what we call fixed laws. They are fixed in the sense that they are in constant effect

and they never alter and are never broken. For instance, the law of gravity is a fixed law of our world. That law is never suspended. That law is never changed. It is constant, and it is an unbreakable law. You cannot break that law. You ignore that law to your own peril. If you get on top of this building this morning and say, I don't believe in the law of gravity,

I'm going to break the law of gravity and you step off that building, you'll not break the law of gravity. You'll break your neck, but you won't break the law of gravity. That is a fixed law. There are fixed laws in heaven. Another of these fixed laws is the law of sowing and reaping.

And it's amazing how much the Bible has to say in describing our lives in their relationship to God, how much the Bible has to say about sowing and reaping. There is a law of sowing and reaping, and the law is this. You sow what you reap. That is always the law. You sow what you reap, and whatever you sow, you will reap. This is why Paul in the letter to Galatians says God is not mocked. You cannot mock God and you cannot make fun of him and you cannot make light of his laws. God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap. If he sows

good things he shall reap good things. If he sows good things, he shall reap good things. If he sows bad things, he shall reap bad things. God is not mocked. In other words, God's law is steadfast and constant. There's no way to circumvent it. There's no way to overturn it. God will not be mocked. And that's one of the laws that God is dealing with here in Hosea chapter 10 and verse 12.

What God is wanting to do is to bring a refreshing shower, a rain of righteousness. Sometimes it helps me in studying verses to look at the end of the verse first and work your way back. We need to understand that God is a God of ends. He is a God of purposes. And there are times when if we'll look at the end, that God is trying to accomplish it and work our way back, it'll make more sense. And he says in this 12th verse that we are to do certain things until he comes and rains righteousness upon you.

I think that the heart of God this morning is this, that he wants to be from the heart of God a fresh outpouring, a fresh overflowing of the rain of God's righteousness, the rain of God's blessings. We may call it other things. We may call it revival. We may call it refreshing. But this is what God wants to do. But there is a law. You cannot reap what you have not sown. And so God says,

I want you to sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy, and break up your fallow ground. Now, here is the law. God will not rain on fallow ground. The blessings of God will never come on fallow ground. The blessings of God will never come upon fallow ground. Over in Jeremiah chapter 4 verse 3, Jeremiah says, Break up your fallow ground and sow not among the thorns.

Now, what God is saying is, I want to bring blessings. I want to bring forgiveness. I want to bring restoration. I want to bring forgiveness. I want to bring restoration. I want to bring a refreshing rain of righteousness to your life, but I cannot do that on fallow ground. There is a law that says if you're going to have a harvest, you must first break up that fallow ground. Now, I think it's interesting that God describes in several places and numerous times his people as fallow ground. You know what fallow ground was to the Jews? Fallow ground is ground that at one time was productive. Fallow ground one time produced a harvest, but because of neglect and because of proper cultivation, that ground has grown up and it's filled with weeds and thorns and bushes and rocks.

It's just a mess. It is a ground that at one time was productive, but is now unproductive. And what a way to describe so many of us. What a way to describe so many of us. A time in our life when we were productive, when there was fruit, when you could pray and you knew that God was hearing and God was listening, when you could read the Bible and God would speak to you out of it, when there was a burden to witness and when you gathered together in a service like this, you had that sense of worship, you felt that sense of worship. It's sort of like, it's sort of like the songwriter says, where is the blessedness I knew when first I found the Lord? I remember what it used to be like. I remember how productive my life used to be. There used to be

in my life a fertile ground. And when the word of God would be preached it would fall on good soil and bring forth fruit. I remember what it used to be like. We might be like that boy in the far country, the prodigal son who while he stands there in the midst of the pig pen remembers what it used to be like in his father's house. An unproductive life. There is nothing any sadder than to see a land that at one time was richly productive, and yet because of neglect it has become unproductive. And there's nothing sadder than to see a life, a Christian, who at one time was productive in walking with the Lord,

but now there is no fruit, there is no produce in his life. He just is there. Now the reason that ground is unproductive is because it's been undisturbed. You don't do anything to that ground. If you want to make that ground into foul ground, you don't have to haul in weeds. You know, it's always amazed me that you don't have to plant weeds. You know, you can plant tomatoes, and you can plant okra, and you can plant corn, and you have to nurture it and cultivate it and water it, and then it won't grow most of the time.

It dies. Our plants always commit suicide. And it can't grow a thing. When we first moved to our house, there was a little tree out in front, and after we'd lived there for a few days, the thing died. And so my wife said,

we're going to find out why this thing is dying. And she took a limb off of it and went down to the nursery. And the man said, you've got to be kidding. They said, these things don't die. He said, these are mesquite trees. They said, they grow in desert. They grow in ditches. They grow alongside the highway.

He said, they won't die. They can't die. They're indestructible. She said, I've got two of them dying in my front yard. A green thumb I do not have. It's always amazing. I think we'd be a lot better off if we started eating weeds. We wouldn't have to plant anything.

There'd be plenty of those. But you don't have to plant weeds. You know, there is a sense in which the greatest destroyer of all is neglect. Neglect. What do you have to do to make that fertile, producing ground fallow? Nothing. Don't do anything. You don't plow it.

You don't cultivate it. You don't clean it. How do you get a house dirty? What's the best way to get a house dirty? Do you have to bring in a wheelbarrow full of dirt and dump it on the front road? No, the best way to get a house dirty is just do nothing. Just do nothing. You neglect it and leave it long enough and it'll get dirty. What's the best way? What's the best way to destroy a child? Set him on your knee and teach him bad words and teach him bad manners? No, the best way to destroy him is just neglecting.

Just neglecting. Don't do anything with him. Don't do anything for him. Best way to destroy a marriage is just by neglecting one another. Just by neglecting. Best way to destroy a church. You don't have to vote and see whether or not you're going to meet. You just neglect it. Just don't come. That'll destroy it soon enough.

Neglect the most subtle, the greatest destroyer of all. Unproductive. And the reason is because it is undisturbed. Undisturbed. Don't lay a hand on it. Don't touch it. Undisturbed don't lay a hand on it don't touch it undisturbed you know i'm afraid that we've come to the place in our day where we do not want to be disturbed we do not want to be disturbed we do not want to be upset we want to maintain the status quo and uh uh we're like well god god puts it this way i the one reason i love the old testament especially the prophets is because god uses such grant uh graphic imagery and by the way uh it's a little humbling because god doesn't have very nice things to say about about a time see here he calls us a heifer and other place he calls us as a donkey and and things but notice in verse 11 he said in Ephraim is as a heifer that is taught and loves to tread out the corn now there is a great description

he said Ephraim is like a fat old cow talking to these people who loves to tread out the corn you say well what's so wrong with that well what they would do is they'd have one of these uh what do you call it, circle things. They're like, you see them training horses, you know. And they'd tie that heifer up to that, whatchamacallit. And you know what I'm talking about. And he'd just go in circles. He'd just go in circles.

He didn't have to think. Didn't even have to open his eyes. Keep his head down, never had to make any decisions, never had to make any plans. He just tread the corn, tread the corn. And whenever he got hungry, all he had to do, just reach down and lick up a mouthful of corn because the Bible says thou shall not muzzle the ox that treads the corn. And so that old cow is as happy as it can be. It's doing what is easy. You see, it's doing what is convenient. Just going around in circles, treading the corn. What a picture so many of us, you know, all we're doing. Sometimes when we come to church on Sunday morning, we're treading the corn. Just treading the corn. Don't disturb me. Don't change my routine. You see, what is happening

is that you and I have fallen into the habit of doing religious things so much that after a while those religious things mean nothing to us. They simply become ritual. Treading the corn, that's all. Looking for the easy way out. I said at the 830 service, I don't know that I've ever read this in a theology book, and I doubt if I ever will. But I've been giving this a great deal of thought lately. You know, I'm not too certain but that the original sin of man

could well be called laziness. Because you see, when the devil came to Adam and Eve and made this offer, he said, if you will do what I ask you to do and eat of this tree, you will suddenly, instantly, just like that, become as gods, knowing good and evil. Now what the devil was appealing to in man is what he appeals to in all of us. He's appealing to the easy way out. We love the shortcut.

And that's why so many people are conned into all these financial deals. You know why? A get-rich-quick scheme. Always the easy way out. We're always looking for the shortcut. Sigmund Freud said that neurosis is nothing but a substitute for legitimate suffering. There is some suffering that is legitimate, and yet nobody wants to suffer. Nobody wants to do anything that's uncomfortable. And so we'll go to all sorts of lengths you see to avoid anything that is

difficult and yet you know i i i study the gospels and i find that god always encourages us to take the more difficult path have you ever noticed that he said wide is the gate broad is the way easy to get through there that leads to destruction but straight is the gate narrow is the way it takes a little bit more effort to get through there he said to the rich young ruler if you want to follow me you give up everything that you have and sell it to the poor and come and follow me. He said, if you don't love me more than father or mother, sister, brother, husband and wife or son and daughter, you cannot be my disciple. You see, Jesus always encouraging us to take the difficult road. The difficult road. Why? Because the devil's way is always the shortcut. Take a shortcut. Don't wait and take all the time there is to grow and mature.

If you'll eat right now, you'll become as gods. And so we're constantly looking for shortcuts. And by the way, I hadn't intended to say anything about this, but that's the reason so many of us are so susceptible to some of the false teaching that's going around. You see, there are times when every Christian walks through a period of darkness and despair and difficulty, and he's hedged about with trials, and his life gets sort of spiritually dry and he can't feel God as he once did and somebody will come to him and say, oh, all you need is just an experience. All you need is just a quick experience like that. If you'll just have this quick experience,

all your troubles will be settled. All your troubles will be answered. All of your problems will be over. That sound familiar to you? No wonder, no wonder those kind of offers are so readily accepted. Why? Because we'll do anything for an easy way out. And it may well be that the original sin had as its root laziness, laziness, undisturbed, undisturbed. Now, that's just my introduction. All right. What needs to be done? Let me just briefly mention three things. He says in the 12th verse,

So to yourselves in righteousness, w reap in mercy, break up your foul ground for it is time to seek the Lord till he come and rain righteousness upon you. Now it is time. Literally that means in the Hebrew, it is high time. And I think that's interesting. You know, we use that expression. We may say, well, it's time to go. It's time to go. It's high time you did this. It's high time to go. What we mean is, boy, this is it.

What this word literally means in the Hebrew is it is God's decisive moment. Now, I want to tell you something, folks. You don't get right anytime you want to. You don't have revival anytime you want to. You don't have revival anytime you want to. You don't get the reign of righteousness anytime you want to. I tell you, one of the biggest and toughest tasks of any preacher, any spiritual leader

is being able to read when it's God's high time. I don't care what you do, my friends, you can advertise, you can promote, but if it's not God's high time, you're not going to have the reign. But there are those times when in your heart you sense, you know, boy, this is God's time. This is God's time. And you'd better jump and get on it then or it'll be too late. That's what he's saying. He's saying it is high time for you to seek the Lord. Three things. Number one, if we're going to have a reign of righteousness,

God is going to make us productive and bring about refreshing and revival. There must be, first of all, a personal examination. It has to be personal preparation. There's something intensely personal about this. He says, so to yourselves. So to yourselves. In other words, the first place to start is with yourself. Sow to yourselves in righteousness.

Now, what that simply means is you take the challenge of the Word of God. Because, you see, this is the seed. This is the seed. And what we are to do is to sow it into our own hearts, to take it into our own hearts, to make our lives, as it were, a fertile soil, a fertile field, and allow the Word of God to take, come into our lives and take it seriously and take it obediently. First of all, you sow unto yourselves righteousness. Now, the word righteousness here simply means right doing. It doesn't necessarily refer to the righteousness between God and man

that is imputed and given to us at salvation. What this has to do with is our right dealings towards one another. In other words, all God is simply saying is first thing you've got to do is sow to yourselves righteousness. In other words, you've got to make up your mind you're going to allow the Word of God to challenge and control your life and you're just flat going to do what's right. It's just that simple. You know, we're all the time looking for some deep, dark spiritual secret to be initiated into. And I tell you, the longer I live and the more I study,

the more I realize there is no deep, dark, complicated secret to this whole business. It's simply doing what you know you're supposed to do. And many of us are waiting until God flashes lightning across the sky or sends chill bumps playing leapfrog up and down our back and we see some vision before we're going to do anything for God. Listen, James says, Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not to him that is sin. It's that simple.

It's that simple. He says, and when you do that, you'll reap mercy. You'll reap mercy. All right? First thing, there has to be a personal examination, personal preparation. The second thing is this. There painful cultivation. He says, break up your fallow ground. Clean it up. Rake it up. Cultivate it. You remember over in Matthew 13, Jesus was describing the kingdom of God and he said in one of those parables, the kingdom of God is like a sower

who goes out to sow. And there are four different kinds of ground and those symbolize the four kinds of heart, the four kinds of members that are in this church. But he describes one of them as thorny ground. Thorny ground. Some of the seed fell as thorny ground. Thorny ground. Some of the seed fell into thorny ground. The Greek word is literally cluttered ground.

That ground was so cluttered with thorns and other debris that the seed didn't have a chance to grow. It just choked it. Fallow ground is ground that is cluttered with all this other junk and there's no use sowing on fallow ground because I'm going to tell you something, all that clutter will

choke the seed before it has time to take root. It's amazing how cluttered our lives are today. I was telling the other service, you know, I'm not having a real good time adjusting to this generation.

I know I don't look old, but you know, when I was a little boy, Brother Don, and we had a revival meeting, I thought we were supposed to go. I mean, it never occurred to me that we weren't supposed to go. My mom and dad were members. We were members there, and you're going to have a revival meeting we had them for two weeks then and i just go supposed to go god will get you if you don't and i know this much that if we decided not to go and i we didn't want anybody knowing about it but you know what they do today you know what they to the van and say, listen, we won't be here tomorrow night. I was in a meeting not too long ago.

I bet you I had a dozen people come up to me on Thursday and say, we sure have enjoyed the meeting. We can't be here tomorrow night. One lady said, we've got to babysit our grandchildren. I don't guess you realize church had a nursery. One man called me on the phone and said, hadn't been there all week, been wanting to get out, but we've been so busy, had a little league on Monday night. And he went through the whole list.

And what I'm getting at, what I'm getting at is this, that, I mean, used to, used to, you know, if we didn't come to the meeting, we certainly wouldn't go up and tell the pastor that we weren't. We didn't want him to know. We sort of felt embarrassed, you know, if we didn't come to the meeting, we certainly wouldn't go up and tell the pastor that we weren't. We didn't want him to know. We sort of felt embarrassed, you know. Today, they just come right on up.

Hell, yeah. See, our lives are cluttered. I know our lives are cluttered. Listen, I know, I know very well this week, everybody here has got plenty to do without us scheduling a meeting. The more time-saving devices we have, the less time we have. But I want to tell you something. everybody here has got plenty to do without us scheduling a meeting. The more time-saving devices we have, the less time we have. But I want to tell you something.

You and I are going to have to determine what is priority in our life and what is it in your life that is so cluttering up you can come to church on Sunday morning or Sunday night, get a little thrill, the Word of God planted in your heart, but you go back to your world, you go back to your house, and all the clutter that is there, all of the things that you have to do, the Word of God doesn't stand a chance in your life. What is it that is keeping you from being all that God wants you to be? You say, I don't have time. Yes, you do. You have time exactly to do what you want to do.

You have time to do what you think is essential to do. And what God is saying here is you've got to break up your foul ground. You've got to throw out the rocks and the thorns and all of the debris so that things that are choking the Word of God from ever bearing any fruit in your life are thrown out. It's just another way of him saying repentance. There are just some things we're going to have to repent.

Now, I want to tell you, and I don't know the right way to say this, but last week a man said to me, I am convinced that the way to get to God, talking about revival and stuff, he said, I am convinced that the way to get to God is through praise. I am convinced, talking about you and me, talking about a church that needs revival,

said I'm convinced that the only way to get through to God is by praise. I had to disagree with him, and still do. Matter of fact, I believe that the emphasis on praise is today one of the greatest hindrances to revival. We're having it. And I'll tell you why. Folks, I believe in praise.

I really do. And I believe that it may well be that for a person who is up to date with God and his sins are confessed up to date and he's right with God, it may well be that the best way for him to get to God is through praise. But I want to tell you something. You bring some old backslidden Baptist with sin in his heart and he hasn't confessed that sin and repented

of that sin and you say, listen, if you want to get to God, all you have to do is raise your hands and shout and praise and you'll get to God. That is not true. For that kind of person, there's only one way to get to God, and that is by repentance of sin. All we're doing when we do that is simply doing what the Jews did in the Old Testament times and doing what the Catholics do today, saying that religion is a matter of ceremony and ritual. You don't have to change the heart. You don't have to repent of your sins.

You don't have to be broken over your sins. All you have to do is just come praise the Lord. Have a good time. You'll get through to God. And I said I think that may well be one of the greatest hindrances to real revival today, and I'll tell you why. Because we make up, and please, I know I'm going to be misunderstood by some folks.

You're going to say, well, Brother Dunn doesn't believe in praise. Yes, I do. But I want to tell you something. We make up our minds before we ever get into service, we're going to have a good time. And everybody's supposed to be happy, and we're all going to praise the Lord. And you see, if God is trying to burden us, if God's trying to break our hearts, if God's trying to convict us,

we're trying to get Him out of that. We want Him, no, don't sit there and weep, and don't sit there and be convicted, don't sit there and be condemned and feel guilty. Let's just jump up and down and praise the Lord. The emphasis, you see see is all upon the happiness i think praise is the issue and the expression of real revival but i don't believe it's the way to revive i think it's repentance of course much easier to praise than it is to repent

i'd much rather do that than repent last Last thing, oh, well, I want to do is repent. But he says you break up your fallow ground. There are some things that are going to have to be broken, some idols that are going to have to be broken in your life. Well, one last word. Not only must there be a personal preparation and examination but there must be a painful cultivation and then finally a persistent

supplication notice he says for it is time to seek the Lord how long till he comes how long shall I long? Till he come. How long shall I seek him? Till he comes.

Till he comes. That is reminiscent of Jacob and his wrestling with the angel, you remember? And as they wrestle, the morning began to, and the angel said, Let me go. And Jacob said, I'll not let you go until you bless me. Of course, I think that was a fight that was fixed. Well, now, you know an angel could have gotten away from Jacob if he wanted to, don't you think so? Don't you think that, do you think that Jacob could hold that angel against that angel's will? I just believe angels are stronger than Jacobs. Angel says, let me go.

Well, go. You want to go? Go. Jacob said, no, I'm not going to let me go well go you want to go go Jacob said no I'm going to let you go I tell you what I think I think the angel was saying let me go and then under his breath I think he was saying

but I hope you don't because if you hold out if you persist you'll get the blessing Jacob said I will not let you go until you bless me. I don't understand it, but there is something about persistence

that God loves. God loves persistence in His children. The only two parables the Lord ever gave us about prayer, both of them emphasize the persistence. The man knocking at midnight and knocking and knocking and knocking until the door is finally open. And the widow coming to the unjust judge demanding that her case be avenged. Ask and keep on asking. Seek and keep on seeking. Knock and keep on knocking. All the way through

there is the idea of this persistence, this persistence. Why? I think it's because God is trying to test the seriousness of our desire. And I want to tell you something. If I have a hunger that can be satisfied by a mid-morning snack, God's not going to meet me. The kind of hunger that God is looking for is the kind of hunger that says, I'll die, I'll starve unless I get hold of God. It's just simply a matter of saying this is the most important thing in life and I'm not going to let anything hinder me

and I am going to grab hold of God and I'm going to seek the Lord and turn my face toward Him and live for Him and seek Him until I get everything straightened out in my life. And he says, and He shall reign righteousness upon you now you see the two righteousnesses there we didn't have time to get into that but first of all he says you sow to yourself righteousness and then god will reign righteousness on it i want to tell you something folks you know what God will do for you exactly what you do for yourself

he says you sow to yourselves righteousness that shows me that you love righteousness and then I'll rain righteousness on you if I'll take the first step and if I will prime the pump, as it were, and sow seed of righteousness in my heart by obeying the Word of God, God says I'll come and I'll rain righteousness on you.

Same thing Jesus means when He says, He that has, he shall receive more. And to him that have not, it shall be taken away. God treats us in the same measure we treat ourselves in spiritual things. And so you set the level and the limit of your own blessing. And I guarantee you, whatever you're sowing to yourself, that's what God's going to cause to rain on you. If it's righteousness, God will cause righteousness to rain on you. If it's righteousness, God will cause righteousness to rain on you. But I guarantee you,

if you're sowing to yourself sin and ungodliness and wickedness, you can rest assured God will rain that upon you also. So he says, it's high time to seek him until he comes and rains righteousness.

Wouldn't it be a tremendous thing this week? I don't expect everybody to. Somebody asked me not long ago, what are you? I said, I'm a remnant preacher. I finally found out what I am. Not an evangelist, not a pastor, not a missionary. I'm a remnant preacher. You know what a remnant preacher is?

A preacher that preaches to the remnant. You see, in every church, God always has a remnant. I know, I know, I know that a great many of the folks that hear me on Sunday morning are not going to do a thing in the world about it. They're going to go on out and be the same. But I also know that in every congregation there are those whose hearts are hungry for God. They're the remnant. They're the remnant.

And it's like Vance Haffner said, when you start a fire, you don't try to get the old big old back log burning first. You get a few hot coals together and blow on them. And so I just trust the remnant. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the remnant this morning, those here who really are serious about this business, really hungry for God, would obey what God says. He said, I'm going to grab hold of the altar and I'm not going to let go until God rains righteousness upon us as a church. The Ron Dunn Podcast is available only for personal edification, not to be duplicated, uploaded to the web, or resold without prior written consent.

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