Today we continue to study in the teaching of our Lord Jesus. And last week we were looking at Matthew chapter 18, the last part of Matthew chapter 18, concerning the unforgiving servant, the parable of the unforgiving servant, which the Lord Jesus gave after the question was put to him by Peter: how often should one forgive a brother or a sister that offends against us? And the Lord Jesus, knowing that by nature we are extremely unforgiving, extremely small-minded, extremely hard of heart, that although we offend against others constantly, when someone else offends against us, we are not willing to forgive.
But we saw from last week three vital principles of the Christian life. And I would like to repeat these three vital principles concerning the Christian life, because it's going to connect to the Lord's teaching that we will look at in a moment, in the Gospel of Luke. Now the first of these vital principles—and if you want to understand what Christianity is about, if you want to know what the Gospel is about—it is summed up entirely in this parable. It is summed up in these three vital principles which derive from this parable. And so for the benefit of those who were not here last Sunday, and also perhaps even if you were here, to refresh your memory and to put it in perspective: what was the first? What is the first of the vital principles concerning the Christian life?
Well, the first of this is that God in His grace freely forgives those who repent. God in His grace freely forgives those who truly repent. Therefore, when this man who owed this enormous debt fell down before his Lord and said, "I have no way that I can, that I am guiltless. I plead guilty to the fact that I have squandered your funds, and I am deserving of all that is coming upon my head," namely that he was to be sold into slavery and to forfeit his life forever, in the sense that he would no longer be a free agent anymore, a kind of living death. To be a slave sometimes is worse than to be dead. He says, "I understand that I am worthy of all this, but I plead your forgiveness." So God in His grace freely forgave. Freely forgives. That's the first principle of Christian life, the first principle of the Gospel. Nothing difficult to understand.
If you in your sins, if you in all your failings, realize that you are cut off from God by your sins, that you have no communication with Him, that you don't even know Him anymore, you are so completely estranged from Him, that you are not on speaking terms with God, so much so that you don't even know whether God exists or not anymore, your state is exceedingly pitiable. It's rather like myself, that during, when I was very small, during the war, the war with Japan, the civil war, my father went to fight for China, went to fight the Japanese. And so I didn't see my father for many years. So that when he came back, since I was out of touch with him, I was not communicating for so long, I no longer knew whether I had a father or not, and whether or not this person who said he was my father was indeed my father. In fact, I didn't know any of these things anymore.
So what is essential for us to observe is that because of our sin, we have been so separated from God, and you may be so far separated from God that you don't even know whether God is there or not, and whether this God can be rightly called your father or not. You are completely estranged. And what more, is that how to get rid of this sin, how can this communication be re-established? Well, the first principle of the Gospel is that if you truly come to Him, if you truly repent of those sins of yours that have separated you from God, God will freely forgive your sins. Why? Because there is no way you can do anything about it. There is no way you can pay the debt. There is no way that you can remove this barrier between you and God. There is—either you perish, or God has to forgive you. There is no alternative to this. But God is going to give you a chance. He will forgive. He paid the debt in Christ.
And so here is the first principle of the Gospel. And I am sure that this principle, if you have been a Christian for any length of time, is perfectly clear to you. At least I hope it is. But deriving from this first principle, because so many Christians only know the first principle, and they don't know the second, and they don't know the third. And this is the reason why in this church I so often stress the second and third principles, as against the first. Because I expect that every Christian understands the first principle, of God's forgiving grace, God's unlimited mercy to those who repent. But if you think that God's unlimited mercy places no kind of demand or responsibility upon you, then you have not understood either the second nor the third principles of the Gospel.
What then is the second principle? This is also what we saw last week. And that is this. God's love, God's grace, as I said a moment ago, is God's transforming love. It is not just His love. It is His transforming love. To define grace simply as love is to miss the scriptural definition. It is not just love. It is a love that transforms, if it is to be effective. Effectual grace is transforming love. I can't put it any more simply than that. What does this mean? The second principle means this: we must henceforth deal with other people in the same way as God deals with us.
This is the second principle. Since God has forgiven us, we are therefore under obligation. It is not an option that we can choose. We are under obligation. As Paul said, you must forgive. There is no other alternative. Or as we saw in Luke chapter 17, verse 4, the Lord said, you must forgive. Even as you have been forgiven, you must forgive. There is not an option. If you accept God's love, you must convey that love to others. You must. Or else you will prove unworthy of that love. You will not be fit to receive that love. You will forfeit that love, as we shall see in a moment. The Lord makes the teaching absolutely clear to us, beyond any shadow of doubt. This is the second principle. You must, and I must, deal with others in the same way as God has dealt with me.
I'll think back again of the parable of the unforgiving servant. He was forgiven, and therefore his master expected, of necessity, that he would deal with his debtor in the same way as his master had dealt with him. In other words, as the master forgave him, so he must forgive the other person. If you offend against me, I have no alternative but to forgive you. I have no option. I cannot but forgive you, because I have been forgiven. I cannot but forgive you. I have no option. And therefore, if I harbor an unforgiving spirit in me, I prove thereby that God's love is not effectual in me, in causing me to love you in the same way as He has loved me.
So this second principle is something which strangely enough so many Christians don't understand. They have only been taught the first principle. But we shall see that if you don't have the second principle, you will prove unworthy of the first. That is, if you don't deal with others in the same way as God has dealt with you, then you will prove unworthy of His grace in the first place. So in the same way, this unforgiving servant, because he did not forgive, he proved unworthy of his forgiveness. And he was made to repay the original debt that he owed.
Now this second principle is extremely vital for you to understand. A Christian cannot say, "I have received the grace of God, therefore I can go out and be rude and nasty and unforgiving." You cannot be this. From henceforth, from justification, there must be a corresponding conduct. Remember last week I said that we can put this in theological words. The first principle is the principle of justification. That is, God freely forgives you. The second principle is the principle of sanctification. Namely, your conduct. That from justification there must follow sanctification. There is an inseparable bond between—if I am using now theological language—there is an inseparable bond between conduct and God's forgiveness, between sanctification and justification.
If you do not live like a Christian, to put it very simply, if you don't live like a Christian, you will prove unworthy of eternal life. It's quite as simple as that. And the Scripture puts that in black and white. That's not my interpretation. That's black and white, as we shall see in a moment. The Lord just puts it as clear as that. If you don't live like a Christian, don't go and boast about, you know, "God forgave me, and I was a Christian, and I got baptized." I would rather that if you don't live like a Christian, don't even claim to be a Christian. At least that's the least damage you can do to the Gospel. For the world is fully conscious of churches full of people who profess to be Christians and behave worse than non-Christians.
The Lord Jesus warns: if your conduct does not match your calling, you will not be fit for the kingdom of God. You will not have any place in it. So that means that unless God's grace is effectual in changing us, in changing my attitude, in changing my conduct, then that grace will not avail for me. The only way that God's grace will avail for you—and you know that it avails for you—is when you look at your conduct and you realize that you have changed. Not that you are already perfect, but that you have changed, and that you are changing, that you are in the process of becoming another kind of person than what you were before.
Now this second element is neglected in most churches in preaching today. And I'm very distressed about this. And this is the whole point of my constant preaching down through the years. This is the point, that they have not observed and not implemented the second point. The conduct must follow from justification, from being forgiven.
And from this follows the third principle. The principle, as we saw last week, of judgment. In the Bible, judgment is based upon your works. Always so. Every man, as the Bible tells us again and again, is judged according to his works. Not according to what faith you profess. But how you behave. This is so standard a principle that everyone should know this. And yet, strangely enough, some don't seem to be aware of this. So the third principle is this. And we can put it in the words of the parable. The third principle is this: that God will deal with us in the same way in which we deal with others. God will deal with us in the same way in which we are now dealing with others.
Therefore, this reinforces the second point. The future judgment, you see—one is the past, one is the present, one is the future. These three points is past, present, and future. The past speaks about God having forgiven us, if you are a Christian. The present speaks about our now living in sanctification. The past is justification. The present is sanctification. The future is the judgment that we will all have to face. And that judgment could be either condemnation or commendation, whichever of the two. It could be condemnation, like this servant in the parable, who was condemned because he did not forgive. Or it could be commendation, which means the Lord says to you, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have done a good job. You have done a good job." True, it is by God's grace that you do that job. But still, nevertheless, that grace is manifested through you.
So this third point is exceedingly important to understand. That God will deal with you in the same way as you deal with others. So next time, when you are dealing with somebody else, think for a moment first: how am I dealing with this brother or this sister right now? Because that is the way God is going to deal with you. Out of your own mouth you will be judged. As the Lord Jesus says, "By your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned." How you speak to others, how you conduct yourself with others, will be the measure by which God will deal with you. You're more fair than that, you can't get. That is justice at its ultimate. That is justice at the highest point. That God deals with each person in the same way as he deals with others. These points are most important.
Now this third point can be broken down into two subsidiary points for the purpose. The first of this is for the purpose of our application of this principle. Because this principle, that God will deal with you in the same way as you deal with others, can be rephrased in this subsidiary point in this way: do unto others as you would have God do unto you. That's basically what it means. Do unto others as you would have God do unto you. Would you have God be kind to you in the future, as He has been kind to you in the past? So be kind to others. If you are unkind to others, you forfeit the right to expect His kindness. I mean, you don't have to be a genius to see that. It's very easy to understand.
If you would like God to be generous with you, then the Lord Jesus has said the same thing in the Sermon on the Mount. In the measure with which you give, it shall be given to you. That's plain words. It's very easy to understand. God will deal with you in the same measure as you deal with others. Very easy to understand. So it becomes a principle of conduct. A principle by which we know how to conduct ourselves as Christians. Now this third principle is also not understood in these days, for some reason or other. So that Christians don't know how to conduct themselves. They don't know what is the principle by which you are to live in daily life. This becomes a guiding principle when we realize this, that in whatever way I deal with others, that's how God is going to deal with me. So if I want God to continue to increase His grace to me, I've got to learn to increase my grace to others. To be gracious to others. To be forgiving to others.
It also means that if I fail to apply this principle, that my spiritual life will go in the reverse. If you become nasty to others, you can expect that God's discipline will come on you. That's very much to be expected. And you can't have been a Christian and you cannot realize, and cannot have realized up to now, that God is the living God. Now you see, these principles all presume on the principle that God is the living God. If God is not a living God, how will these principles be effectual? How can it work? These principles are on the assumption that God is living. The whole Gospel is based on the fact that God is a living person. And no one can be very much of a real Christian who has not soon discovered that. I am a Christian because I know God is the living God. I know that the way I deal with others is exactly how God will deal with me. You just try and see. God will deal with you, sooner or later.
Don't think that if you have escaped for the moment, you have been nasty to others and you didn't get it back yet, it will come, as sure as anything. Because God established the principle that what you sow, you will reap. That's what Paul said in Galatians chapter 6. "Be sure of this, God is not mocked," Paul says to the Galatians. "What you sow, you will reap." You sow nastiness, you will reap nastiness. What do you expect? You sow nastiness and you reap something beautiful? If you want to reap beauty, sow beauty. If you want to reap fruit, then sow fruit. You don't sow weeds down there and hope to get some nice, delicious wheat or barley from that. You sow weeds, you get weeds. You sow thorns, you get thorns. That's the principle. And the spiritual life, that's exactly the same. It's exactly the same. God will make His principles work, and be sure of that.
The other subsidiary point concerning this, that God will deal with us in the same way that we deal with others, is this. On the negative side—the negative side, the first subsidiary point was the positive side, stressing more that what you do good to others, God will do to you—but the negative side is this: that if you deal in judgment with others, God will deal in judgment with you, in such a way, by the way, that not only will you be disciplined, but you will find yourself unfit for the kingdom of God. Many times, when I look through a congregation as I preach the word of God, there is within my heart one deep concern, and I say to myself, I wonder how many on that day will be declared unfit for the kingdom of God. Where God will say, "I don't know who you are. Step aside." And you will begin to say, like the man in Matthew chapter 7, "But, but, I went to church regularly. But, I was baptized. But, but, I was active in Sunday school, and I was active in this and that and the other thing." And He will say, "Step aside. I don't know who you are." That is, your conduct has proved you unfit for the kingdom.
That's the parable of Matthew 25, when He separates the sheep from the goats. Sheep and goats are from the same family, I presume. But one is sheep, another is goat. Their character is different. That character is expressed in the way they behave. Sheep go to the right. Goats go to the left. These are rejected. Be sure of one thing. God's grace cannot be taken in vain. God is not mocked. You can't make a fool of God. God will deal in justice with each person.
So these are the three fundamental principles. And today, following upon this, we will look now at Matthew chapter 9—at Luke chapter 9, and verse 62. The last verse of Luke chapter 9, which is very closely related in thought to this passage in Matthew 18. Luke chapter 9, the last verse, verse 62. And we shall look only at this one verse. Jesus said to him, the one who said that he would be a disciple of Jesus. Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." Here is a person who proves unfit for the kingdom of God, even though he puts his hand to the plow. Now, more plain and obvious a statement than that, one cannot get. And what is it that the Lord wants to say to us from this passage? Let's look at this passage closely.
Now, I have expounded the rest of this passage way back in June of 1977. And I shall not cover the rest of this passage, from verse 57 to 62. But only this verse, because though we looked at the whole passage, we did not pay particular attention to this verse. And because this verse follows so close in substance on what we have studied last week, we need to look at it. Look at these words again. There is a man who comes to Jesus and says that he will follow Jesus. "I will be your disciple." And Jesus says, but what did He say? Let's start at verse 61, where the passage: "Another would-be disciple said, 'I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.' Jesus said to him, 'No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.'" What is the Lord wanting to say to us?
Of course, it doesn't take great logic to be able to see that the kind of person that is fit for the kingdom of God does two things. He puts his hand to the plow, which is the basic condition, and he doesn't look back. Now let's look at this. The first point we observe is the universal application of this verse. And that's why I would like to direct your attention to it. The universal application of this verse. "No one"—no person, it applies to anybody and everybody. Anyone who puts his hand to the plow and looks back. No matter who you are. No matter whether you are a pastor, a preacher, a prophet, whatever you are. You put your hand to the plow and you look back, and you will thereby prove that you are not fit for the kingdom of God.
So the first thing I'd like you very quickly to notice is that it applies to any person. The words "no one" is used very often in the Lord's teaching, and is a general principle applying universally to any person. It does not apply to some select group of people. Therefore, it applies to you and to me, these words.
The second thing to notice is this: are the words "putting the hand to the plow." Putting the hand to the plow. This second point tells us something very important. It tells us why we become disciples, or why we become Christians at all. Many people have the notion that to become a Christian is simply to have a certain religion that you can embrace, that you can use to comfort your own heart, that you can have some kind of moral or religious or mental support. No. It certainly gives you some support, and it certainly gives you some comfort. But that is not the essence of being a Christian. Being called to be a Christian is to be called to put your hand to the plow. Well now, I'm sure you know what it is to plow. Plowing is to work. Plowing is to use this instrument that digs into the ground and turns the soil over, and you put your hand to the plow. So that the point of this second point is that being a Christian is to be called into God's service. It is to serve. Putting the hand to the plow is to serve.
No man and no woman is truly a Christian who does not understand that becoming a Christian means to serve God. Now, I'm not talking about being a preacher. I'm not talking about some kind of full-time activity that you may call it. I'm talking about what the Lord Jesus is talking about, is no matter what kind of a Christian you are, no matter how young a Christian you are, how old a Christian you are, every Christian, if he becomes a Christian at all, has to be active, has to be in service. Every Christian in the Bible is in God's service. If you didn't realize that, you have not understood what being a Christian is. Being a Christian is not meant that you sign up in the church registry, "I am now a member of Gospel Church," or a member of this church or that church. That doesn't make you a Christian. Becoming a Christian means that you have put your hand to God's plow. You are now going to do some work for Him. What that work is, we shall see in a moment.
But first and foremost, to understand that becoming a Christian does not mean to be idle. If you are idle, if you do not live for God daily, if you are not active for God, and you don't know yet what it is to be a Christian. It is alarming to me that so many times today in the churches, one is not told that. One is told that one becomes a Christian by raising their hand, by going forward, and so forth. By all means, raise your hand and go forward, there is nothing wrong with that. But the important thing is that you must realize that when you raise your hand, or go forward, or whatever you do, you have committed yourself, your life, to God's service. You have put your hand to the plow. And it is not fair to a person that he doesn't understand this, that he becomes a Christian without realizing that he has enrolled in God's service. He is now committed to serving God by plowing the field. God's field.
So this second point I would like you to grasp very quickly from these words of the Lord Jesus. Now, putting the hand to the plow involves certain things, which also means becoming a Christian involves certain things. First of all, as we will immediately realize, that to put the hand to the plow—have you tried plowing? Try and see. See if you know how to plow. You probably will find that the plow is going right up into the air instead of plowing the ground. You will find that you just don't know what to do. You don't know how to move the oxen. Because plows in those days were usually pulled by a number of oxen. In 1st Kings, chapter 19, verse 19, we find that Elisha was plowing behind 12 yoke of oxen. That is a big team of oxen. So he must have been using a very big plow, digging very deep into the ground, to need 12 oxen to pull the plow.
What is our job? Our job is simply to guide the plow. We can't push the plow through the ground. We are simply not strong enough for that. The oxen pull the plow. It's so in the same way. In serving God, we don't do this in our own strength. It is God who provides the power. But we have the responsibility of directing the direction of that plow. That is entrusted to our heads. Where the plow goes is entrusted to our heads. And so the first point in this matter of putting the hand to the plow is that it requires skill. Doesn't it? You and I probably wouldn't know what to do with the plow. We wouldn't even know how to get the oxen to move. You'll probably stand there, say, "Come on, move, move." And the oxen just stand there. You don't even know how to get the thing going, let alone guide it in a straight line. It requires skill.
Serving God, becoming a Christian, then, far from being idle, you have from henceforth to learn how to serve God. How do you do that? There you need to study the word of God. The mark of a true Christian is somebody who attends to God's word, who is interested in the word of God, who likes to get to a Bible study and get his teeth into the word of God, because he wants to know, "How can I serve God effectively?" There are many people who are quite willing to put their hand to the plow. They can stand there—you can stand there all day, the field doesn't get plowed, because you don't know what to do with the plow. Becoming a Christian, then, is a commitment to learn the skill of serving God. And this applies to every Christian, not just full-time workers, to preachers, and the like.
The second thing is that it requires patience. Patience. I mean, a plow is not a race car. You don't put your hand through it and the thing tears off there and you can rush through it and in five minutes you have finished the thing. Even tractors move very slowly, as you will have noticed, if you don't use animals. It moves with patience. It moves slowly. You've seen the tractor go very, very slow, and you sit there and guide the plow. But the other thing I would like also that you notice concerning putting the hand to the plow—the plows. It's beautiful, the picture that the Lord selects here. Very much like the picture in Luke chapter 17, verse 7, where again every Christian is spoken of as a servant of God in plowing. But the point that I'd like you to get to know is this: that you are called to God's service, the place. Thank you.
# He Who Puts His Hand to the Plough (Part 2) — Luke 9:62
To water the ground. To irrigate the ground. Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, "I planted and Apollos watered." You may not be a church planter. You don't know how to plant a church. You do not know how to sow the seed. Sowing the seed in the Bible is a picture of preaching. Paul tells Timothy to preach the word of God, in season and out of season, using the picture of a sower. Sowing. In this case, sowing at any time of the year. The preacher sows at any time of the year. Not only in spring.
Now you may not know how to preach. You may not be called to preach the word of God. But every Christian—and this is the point of putting their hand to the plow—every Christian is called to plow. This takes us to the third point. To ask the question: what exactly then are we called to do? What is the plow that we put our hand to? Now what do you think is a plow? Look at a plow. What does a plow do? Well, what does a plow do? A plow is simply an instrument in which one end is a pole which goes over the back of the animals, if there are two or four or six. They usually are in pairs. One is a straight pole. And the other is a thing that goes into the ground with a hook in it. And this thing is towed in the ground in such a way that this hook plows up the ground.
And I have mentioned this before and I mention it again. It looks very much like a cross. There is the bar that goes across the two animals or four animals. And there is the other bar that goes into the ground. The part that is in the ground, of course, is hidden. That part which is that spade-like thing that turns the ground over. So when you look at it like this, it looks very much like a cross. And that is where the Lord deliberately uses this picture. Putting your hand to the plow is like taking hold of the cross. It is putting your hand to the cross. That is to say, we are to live—to put your hand to the cross, to take up the cross, is the call in this third point. To live the sacrificial life. Becoming a Christian, serving God, is the call to take up your cross and follow Christ. It is a call to the sacrificial life.
What does the plow do? Well, it turns over the ground. It causes the ground to turn over. What is the ground? What is the field? The Lord Jesus has made that clear to us in Matthew chapter 13 and verse 38. In Matthew 13:38, the Lord says, "The field is the world." This world is the field which we are plowing. How do you plow? Well, you put this plow, this cross, into the ground, and it turns all the soil over. It turns everything upside down. Exactly as they said of the apostles in Acts, that Paul and Barnabas were turning the world upside down. That is what the cross does. When you live the kind of life to which you are called, you will make a mark in the world. Because wherever you go, you are turning everything upside down.
Now notice, you cannot sow the seed without plowing. Because nothing will grow. If you sow the seed on the ground, what happens? The birds will come and eat it up. And you just cannot penetrate the ground. The ground has to be turned over before the sowing of the seed can take place. In the same way, the kind of life that you live through taking up the cross and following Jesus, the kind of life that you live in being committed to Christ, is what makes a mark upon the non-Christian. Your professing to be a Christian makes no mark upon anybody. It is the life, the quality of the life that you live that makes a mark.
Isn't it so? Think of how you became a Christian. How I became a Christian. Do you think I was impressed that somebody said, "I am a Christian"? Well, so what? You are a Christian. Somebody else is a Hindu. What difference does it make? But what difference it makes is when you see the quality of his life. That is what makes an impression upon you. It is the quality of the Christ-like life. It is the quality of this cross in your life that makes a mark on the non-Christian. It is that which turns the soil upside down and prepares his heart for the preaching of God's word.
The greatest service you can do for God then is not going out there just simply to preach to others and say, "I can't serve God." Many people have said to me, "I can't serve God because I don't know how to preach." As though the only way you can serve God is to preach. Leave the preaching to somebody else. What do you do? You live the sacrificial life, the Christ-centered life, the cross-centered life. And you will find that you will make a mark upon the non-Christians. You will be like a plow, or your life will be like a plow guided by your life, by your hands, by your mind. It will be like a plow going through the earth and turning the ground upside down. And because you have passed that way, later on, the seed that will be sown in that person's life will take root and grow.
It is the plow that plowed into my life. What is the plow? It's when I saw people who lived the life of the cross. That made an impression on me. I have met lots of Christians. I went to Christian school. I went to missionary school. And I came out hard like stone. I rejected Christianity. I had no time for missionaries. For me, these were all the Western imperialists. I had no time for this kind of people—missionaries. To me, these were people who were paid to preach the Gospel. Maybe they weren't good enough to get a job at home. And so what do they do? They come around traveling the world at other people's expense and preaching the Gospel. Who is interested in missionaries?
But the kind of people that made an impression on me, as I said, were the people who had taken up the cross. They were not preachers. They were ordinary Christians like everybody else in the church. But their lives made an impression on me. Their lives were like a plow that went through my life and turned the ground upside down. So when the Gospel was sowed, my life had already been turned open. The plow had done its work. It was no longer the ground that was closed and stony and hard, but had been turned over and receptive to the word of God.
You and I are all called to be people who plow for God. That the way you have passed through this world will be a place which has been turned over, so that somebody else may come later and sow the seed. Or maybe even you will drop some seeds in there. Who knows? And that will bring forth fruit for God. The world will not be saved because we are good at talking. The world will be saved only when they see God's power in our lives. The power that, like the plow, turns the ground over.
Now, and this is a point I would like you to notice. Many Christians don't understand this point too well. When you plow through someone's life living a Christ-like life, you may upset a lot of people. They may resent it at first and be upset with you. Upset means upset—turned upside down. You see, they're literally upset, turned over. If I upset this cup, it means I knocked it over. You see. They may be upset with you. And many Christians are very afraid of upsetting people. Don't worry. No plow has ever done its job that didn't upset all the ground underneath it. It turned it all upside down. But there's no other way.
Your life may upset some people. They may think you are too fanatical, maybe. Thank God for such fanatics who glorify Him. Maybe they think that you are too dedicated, you are too single-minded, plowing a straight furrow right through, refusing to turn to the left or to the right. That's okay. Whatever it may be. Where you have passed, you have made a mark. Thank God for those Christians who are always plowing. Because you can see where they have gone through. They have turned the ground over. Those people who have been turned over may have been pretty upset at some time.
For example, when you set out to serve the Lord, you may upset your father, your mother, your brothers, your sisters. You may upset them all. They may be very angry with you. Their lives have all been turned over by you. You have disrupted the smoothness of their lives as they think of it. And you are distressed by this. Why should you be distressed? Remember that unless they are upset, they may never be open to God's word. When I became a Christian, I upset my family. I upset my father. I upset my mother, so much so, as I shared with some of you, my mother didn't even want to see me in the home anymore. She was so upset with me. But if I had not upset her at that time, she would never have become a Christian.
Several years later she came to the Lord, and when she came to the Lord, she really came to the Lord. What I mean is that she didn't just go and get baptized and became some sort of a Christian. She came. Her life was turned over. But if I had not upset her—I plowed through her life indeed, not because I willingly hurt her, but because there was no other way I could do it. I could not but upset her by serving God. The only other alternative was not to serve God and therefore not to upset her. That alternative I couldn't take. God had called me. I must serve Him even if it upset everybody else. But remember this: don't be so afraid to upset people, because without upsetting them they may never be saved. Like the plow, you may never have turned over the ground. Understand this principle so well.
That is why in the Lord's teaching, you will notice that He was never afraid to upset people. He was never afraid. Because many times the truth is going to upset people. Are you therefore not going to speak the truth because it's going to upset them? Not at all. Speak the truth lovingly. And if it still upsets them, then it has still to be spoken. The Lord Jesus was never afraid to upset people.
So this is the third. Let's get to the fourth point on this passage. We have seen now what it is to put one's hand to the plow. We have seen, thirdly, what is the plow. The plow, now we have seen, is the cross in our lives, living a committed sacrificial life and therefore making a mark upon the world. What a tragedy that so many Christians go through the world and never left any mark of goodness in their way. Does anybody know that you are a Christian in your class? Does anybody know in your office that you are a Christian? Probably you don't make any mark at all. You don't make any waves. You don't turn anything over. And so when the seed comes, there is nowhere for the seed to go because the ground is not prepared. Your life did not prepare these people for the Gospel.
But the fourth thing the Lord says this. Maybe you don't make any mark upon anybody. For what reason? Because you look back. I suspect that the majority of Christians are people who really get nowhere as far as plowing. They put their hand to the plow. But have you tried plowing looking back? Or can you drive a car looking back? Can you drive a tractor looking back and hope to get a furrow in front of you that is straight? Of course not. If you are the kind of Christian who may have made a commitment—now notice, putting the hand to the plow is a commitment. The person already has got so far as to put the hand to the plow. We are talking about Christians, not about non-Christians. A non-Christian has never put his hand to the plow. He has never taken hold of the cross. But even if you have come so far as to take hold of the cross, you have put your hand to the plow, but you are still looking back, you will prove thereby that you are not fit for the kingdom.
Notice the words "look back." In the Greek text we have a present participle. And in the Greek a present participle is a continuous tense, which should be translated as "if any man puts his hand and keeps looking back." He is constantly looking back. It is not just an occasional glance at the back. It is constantly looking back. This is what the Greek means here. He is not fit for the kingdom. Where is your mind? Where is your heart as a Christian? If you have become a Christian and your heart and your mind is still back—why do you look back? Because your heart is still there. "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." What is there to look back to if there is nothing that attracts your attention, that doesn't attract your heart there?
The Israelites came out of Egypt, did they not? They did. They were called out of Egypt. They became God's people. But where was their heart? Back in Egypt. You look at the first five books of the Old Testament, you will see the whole story all the time. They came physically out of Egypt, but their hearts were still in Egypt. They were always looking back at Egypt. And always grumbling that out there in the wilderness, there were not enough potatoes, and there were not enough leeks, and there were not enough garlic, and not enough onions, and all the nice things they liked, the things that have strong taste, that give delicious taste to the food. And what are we doing in the wilderness when back in Egypt we had all these nice things? Their heart was still there.
You may have become some sort of a Christian, but your heart has not separated from the world. And therefore, you put your hand to the plow, yes, but your eyes are looking back there all the time. The Lord warns you. It is not enough to make a commitment. This fourth point is about a total commitment. Putting the hand to the plow is a commitment. But if your commitment is not total—you may have your hand there, indeed, committed to the plow, but your eye is still looking back—you will not be fit for the kingdom. That is why I have so constantly proclaimed and warned that either the commitment is total, or it will not be acceptable. Don't say to yourself, "Well, it's not my hand on the plow. There I am on the plow. I am teaching in Sunday school. I am in the news magazine. I am doing this and that." And I am sure your hand may be to the plow. But your heart—that's what the Lord wants to know. Where is your heart? Now, this is very important. You are committed, but are you totally committed? Your salvation depends on the answer to that question. That is most important.
So we come quickly now to the last point as our time is going. If your heart is still back there in the world, the fifth point we need to bear in mind is this. There is a kind of person that is not fit for the kingdom, even though they have come as far as the gates of the kingdom. Look at the person who was forgiven in the parable that we looked at. He was forgiven. He could have made it to the kingdom. And then he blew it all. He blew it all at the last minute. He did not live the life that was expected of him. He did not go out and forgive others. What about you? Are you fit for the kingdom?
That was one type of person who was not fit for the kingdom. He was forgiven and he did not forgive. Why? He hadn't changed. God's grace had not transformed him. Why? That is the question. Think of yourself for a moment. Do not say to yourself, "I have got the first step. I have received God's pardoning grace." Ask yourself the second question. Have you got to the second step? Are you dealing with others in the same way as God deals with you? If not, why not? Is it because your heart is still the same as before, still in the world? Are you fit for the kingdom? This is the question.
Let us look at one verse as we are about to close, as our time has gone. In 2nd Thessalonians chapter 1, verse 5. There are so many verses here, but I would just like to draw your attention to this one verse, where Paul is saying virtually the same thing as the Lord is saying. I don't know what reason you might have for looking back, or why anybody might have for looking back. Why does a person put his hand to the plow and look back? Well, one of the reasons we saw is his heart was still back there. There was something that he still likes back in the world. But another reason might be that it's so hot while you are plowing. The sun is beating down on your head and you think of the nice cool shade back there. Or maybe it's so freezing cold and you are plowing there and it's a very cold, windy, blustery, rainy day and you are freezing. In serving the Lord, in plowing a straight furrow, you have to experience many trials. Maybe persecutions.
And look what Paul says in 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, verse 5. In verse 4 he has been speaking about persecution. Verse 4: "Therefore we ourselves boast of you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and the afflictions which you are enduring." Yes, the sun was beating down hard upon them as they were plowing. But look at verse 5: "This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that"—now notice carefully these words—"that you may be made fit for the kingdom of God, that you may be made worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering." Now here you have exactly the same idea, being fit for the kingdom or not fit for the kingdom. You are being made worthy of God's kingdom by the very fact that you are enduring the heat of the sun, by the very fact that you are enduring these tests.
Are you enduring tests and trials? If every time you endure a test and a trial, you immediately say, "Well, I'm quitting, I'm going back." What kind of commitment do you have? The person who is totally committed does not discuss the question of looking back. For them that is not a live issue anymore. That is nothing worth discussing. I have set my hand to the plow and I press forward toward the mark of my high calling in Christ. Behind me is finished. Talk of quit is no more discussion. I have no question of discussing about quitting. I have no thought of looking back again. My eyes know only forward and no retreat.
Christopher Columbus, as you may know, when he went on this great historic journey of discovering America, he set out across uncharted seas. And day after day there was no land to be seen. No land to be seen. And the sailors said, "Let's go back, back." Their hearts were back in Spain or Portugal, wherever they came from. Christopher Columbus didn't know the word "back." He did not look back. Columbus said, "Forward we go." Almost to the point that the crew were going to mutiny. They were going to rebel. They were about to rebel. But Columbus only went forward. And this went on day after day. He wrote in his diary, "We sailed forward." And this went on day after day like this. Until finally one day there was land in front. Because the sailors considered that there was no hope, no way they would find land. They had been out on the sea for months and this is enough. But Columbus said, "We will go." No turning back.
That is the spirit to which Christ calls us. You put your hand to the plow and you don't look back. What kind of person is fit for the kingdom of God? That is the kind of person—totally committed. Let us understand then this important warning that the Lord gives to us. Let us examine before God where we stand and see that we will plow a kind of furrow that will make a mark upon the world for Christ. And no matter how tough the going will be, we have no thoughts of looking back. Let us be quiet before God in prayer.