"DEEP PLOUGHING"

"DEEP PLOUGHING"
by David Wilkerson

"Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and
longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee
to repentance?" (Romans 2:4)

I do not agree with all of the Puritan writers´ doctrine, but I love
their emphasis on holiness. These godly preachers called their
sermons "deep ploughing." They believed they could not sow true
seeds of faith until the soil of their listeners´ hearts had been
deeply plowed.

The Puritans made sure their preaching went deep, cracking all
the fallow ground of their listeners´ souls. Their sermons produced
genuine repentance in their congregations and, in turn, over the
years this produced strong, mature, faithful Christians.

Today, however, most preaching is all sowing with no plowing. I
hear very few sermons nowadays that dig deeper than the topsoil.
Deep plowing does not just address the disease of sin; it digs
down to the very cause of the disease. Much of the preaching we
hear today focuses on the remedy while ignoring the disease. It
offers a prescription without providing surgery!

Sadly, we cause people to think they have been healed of sin
when they never knew they were sick. We put robes of righteous-
ness on them when they never knew they were naked. We urge
them to trust in Christ when they don´t even realize their need to
trust. Such people end up thinking, "It can´t hurt to add Jesus to my life."

C. H. Spurgeon, the powerful English preacher, said the following
about the need for repentance:

"I trust that sorrowful penitence does still exist, though I have not
heard much about it lately. People seem to jump into faith very
quickly nowadays. . . . I hope my old friend repentance is not
dead. I am desperately in love with repentance; it seems to be
the twin sister of faith.

"I do not myself understand much about dry-eyed faith; I know that
I came to Christ by the way of weeping-cross. . . . When I came
to Calvary by faith, it was with great weeping and supplication,
confessing my transgressions, and desiring to find salvation in
Jesus, and in Jesus only."

-Source-

http://sermons.worldchallenge.org/en/node/26771

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