It has been the observation of many of God's people that we seem to be in a day wherein there is much dearth, spiritually speaking. Now, the Gospel, thank God, is not bound. And it has still been preached here, there and yonder. But yet, nevertheless, there are seemingly few that at least we are hearing about who are truly following the Lord. Yes, there are the false professions of those who purport to be Christians, but the evidence is that there has been no change in their lives. And the Word of God reminds us that if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. All things passed away. Behold, all things have become new. And there are those who go on for a time, but then they grow tired, and there's a turning back, and there's a falling away. And that is because the root of the matter was never there in the first place. And you know, there is an explanation for that. Because in this country now, we are saturated with preaching where there is no mention of repentance. And there is no mention of repentance because people are being told a gospel wherein they are told that they are not sinners. They miss that very important fact. They have been told a gospel without being told that they are sinners before God, that they are guilty before God, that they are lawbreakers before God. How many know the great verse of John 3 and 16? For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but should have everlasting life. But how many do not appreciate John 3 verse 18? For that verse states, he that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already. And dear soul, in this meeting this morning, you who are without Christ, you are already condemned. But yet that message does not seem to be taught from many pulpits today. That is the message which people are not hearing, and as a result, Not many are true followers of Christ. But men and women understand this, that the same has always been. For there were those in the Lord's time, and they weren't true followers of Christ either. There are three examples brought together in this passage by Dr. Luke in which he refers to these very people who have a desire to be a follower of Christ, but the truth being told is that they were never sealed. Where there is a real, deep, ploughing work done, when the seed comes up, it will live. Where the foundation is dug deep, when the house is built, it will stand. Where there is a probing of the wound, the healing is a true healing and not a pretense. And so it is in the Gospel. And it is to this third example, a man who sought to follow Christ, but desired firstly to go back to his house, that the Saviour was to answer him by showing what is a true ploughman of the Lord. And it is to the words of verse 62 of Luke 9 that I want us to draw our attention to this morning. Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. I want you to notice firstly there the dutiful ploughman. How often there have been those who have said, I'd like to be saved. I'd like to be a follower of Christ. But! And there has always been a but. And so it was with this man of whom you read in verse 61, another said also, Lord, I will follow Thee. But! Let me first go bid them farewell which are at home. at my house. I will follow thee." That was his determination. But he desired firstly to return home and to bid them farewell. It seemed to him that to follow the Savior was a dangerous thing, that it was tantamount maybe even to death. And so he felt firstly he needed to go and say goodbye to those at the home place. What's more, the home and all that it represented was upon his heart more so than following the Lord. And thus he said, but let me first Go. You see, his priority is seen to be upon that which is in the home. He desired to cling on to it. And to leave it would not be an easy thing. And therein lay the temptation, for as sure as he returned back to that place to bid them farewell, there would be those there that would plead with him. And it may be weak over him to have a change of heart and not to leave. He was a man who was walking right into the path of temptation. and that which would hinder him following the Savior. Men and women, the same has been the case with many who profess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And yet, they have permitted something to tempt them and to hinder them from following Christ. And the Lord would bring an apt illustration before our hearts this morning, even in the person of the ploughman. You see, the ploughman, if he is to carry out his duty well, he is one who must have a resolve to work. If the harvest is to be reaped in a number of months' time, then it starts with the plough going in and turning over the sod. The ploughing is as necessary as the sowing. If there is no ploughing, there shouldn't be any sowing. And so, therefore, there must be attention given to this needful and yet given to this toilsome labour. The ground will not be ploughed and prepared if the ploughman has within his heart something else that is more dear to him at that time. The outcome will only be that parts of the ground will be ploughed while other parts will be missed. And so it is in the life of a believer. You know, the prophet Hosea says to us in chapter 10, verse 12, Break up the fallow ground. You know, the fallow ground is that which is left. It is that which is covered in weeds. It is that which is unattended. It is that ground which is neglected and cannot bring forth fruit. And is there not that fallow ground within our hearts? that which we have left and neglected. Maybe it has been the quiet time with the Lord for you. Maybe it has been the reading of God's Word for you. Maybe it has been speaking that word of witness of the Saviour to others for you. But you have left that unattended. And if we are to see fruit born from that in coming days, then it will need to have the sharp plough of God's Word go into it. Break up the fallow ground. Let me ask you, are you a resolved child of God to go through with God? You see, God's ploughman must be resolved to work the ground. But you know, the ploughman, the dutiful ploughman will also be one who has a fixed eye. There is great pride even to this day taken in Babel to plough a steep furrow. But to do so, and especially in the time of the horse and the time of the plough coming behind the horse, the ploughman had to fix his eye on something at the far side of the field if he was going to plough a straight furrow. If he didn't, as the Lord suggests to this man who was looking back even before he had got started, then the outcome was one where the work would suffer. To plough the furrow wouldn't be straight. So it is with the believer. Our eye must be upon one. That one is the author and the finisher of our faith. You will read of Christ in Hebrews chapter 12, verses 1 and 2. Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight than the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us." And there the analogy is different. There the analogy is of the runner. And if you watch the runner in the race, he runs a straight race. He doesn't run all over the place, but he seeks to win the prize. And so it is with the child of God. We must run the race well. We must throw off those things, those sins that thus so easily beset us. Verse 2 says, Unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. What was the joy before Christ? It was that He would see His seed, as we were considering last night. He was going to the cross to die for those whom God the Father had given unto Him. He was going to the cross to shed His blood as an atoning death for his own people. And he will see his seat. There is a need to fix our eyes upon the Savior. It is Christ to whom we look by faith at first in our salvation. And it is to Christ that we must continually look as we progress toward heaven. I wonder this morning, is your eye upon the Lord? You know, men and women, child of God, it is easy to get your eye upon others laboring in the field. It's easy to get to that spirit which looks at another soul, another believer in Christ, and you're able to say, there's a man and he's not plowing right. There's a woman and she's not plowing right. And your eye is upon them. It's easy to get your eye to look behind you and to consider what you've already accomplished and to rest in that. There's some, maybe this morning in this meeting, And you're resting upon a past experience with the Lord. Easy to look behind you. It's easy also to look around you and to let your eye drift away to those things that you once reveled in. And there are those in the Scriptures, and we are given to them. And their eye was taken off the Lord. And it meant trouble. And it meant the forsaking of the work. Think of Peter. We read the night of the Savior's arrest. that he followed afar off. And he was one who was to get his eye off the Saviour and upon the fire of the world. And if you turn to Luke chapter 22, you will see it to be the case. It was then that he denied his Lord with oaths and curses. Luke chapter 22, in the words of verse 61 and 62, it says, said, Man, I know not what thou sayest. And immediately while he had spake, there caught crew. And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. Oh, what a contrast there is there to the look of the Saviour. The eye of the Lord is ever upon His people. And the Lord turned. And the Lord looked upon Peter at that moment. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice." And Peter went out and wept bitterly. He got his eye off the Lord. He was walking afar off. He was taken up with the fire of the world. And even in the leading of a little maiden, he was brought to that point where he denied the Lord. Clothes and purses. Or we could think of demons. You turn to 2 Timothy chapter 4 in the words of verse 10. Paul says this, verse 9, "...do thy diligence to come shortly unto me. For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica, Cretans to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia." There was Demas, a man who had his hand on the plough, but he got his eye upon the world again. And he was a man who was to forsake the work and he was to forsake God's servants. What sort of ploughman are you this morning? A dutiful ploughman is one who is steadfast to the end. The words of the Saviour imply that there must be a perseverance. There must be a putting of the hand of the plough and not taking it off. A continuing until the furrow that God has given us to do is completed. You know, today we are in a day where many are quitting. And there are many who are throwing down the plough. And there are many who are no longer actively engaged in the work of the Lord. Is that you this morning? It is my prayer that the Word of God would search your hearts today. And you know before God whether you were walking with God better some months ago, maybe even years ago now. But you are no longer actively engaged in the work and your heart has grown cold and you are afar off. Oh, I trust if that is you then, friend, you will take encouragement from 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 58. It says, Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Their labor is never in vain for Christ. Oh, may this harvest time see a soul who is afar off come back to their first love, get back into the harness again and laboring for the Master. You see, that's a dutiful ploughman. He is one who is steadfast to the end that he finishes the work. He is one who is a fixed eye. He is one who is resolved to work. Is that you this morning, child of God? Let me show you secondly here the danger for the ploughman. The Saviour in these words was to express the real danger there was for the one who was to put his hand to the plough. And what is true of the one who ploughs is also true and is the case with the one who professes to be a follower of Christ. The danger is of a wandering heart. Let it be understood that that heart of yours is deceitful and desperately wicked. Who can know it? That heart of yours is prone to lead you astray from the paths of righteousness that the Lord would have us to trod. The hymn writer was to pen it well. He said, Let thy grace, Lord, like a feather, bind my wandering heart to thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart. Take and seal it. Seal it from thy courts above." It was Eve in the garden who saw that the tree was good. And then her heart was to long after it, a tree to be desired. It was the longing heart which led to her taking of that forbidden fruit. And that meant disobeying the Word of the Lord. And that meant sin against God. What could be said about Eve could be said about Lot's wife. You turn to Genesis chapter 9, you have that occasion where the message was given by the angels of the Lord. It was clear and it was plain. The judgment of the Lord was about to fall upon Sodom and upon the cities of the plain. And yet we read that they were to escape for their lives. In Genesis chapter 19 verse 17 it says, And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that is, the angels had brought Lot, his wife, and his family outside the city. He said, Escape for thy life, look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain. Escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. And you see that word, look not behind thee there. It gives the thought of a longing look, of a look with regard to the place that they were in. Let his wife and his family were not to be hankering after that which they were leaving behind them. The message was, look not behind thee. The message was, escape for thy life. Get to the mountain. They were not to crave the things of Sodom at the expense of making good their escape. Their heart was yet to be set on getting to the mountain and getting to the place of security and safety. Yet, how many of God's people are in danger of the same. Their heart is not upon going through with God, but rather upon the world, its delights, its pleasures, which admittedly, only lasts for a season. The man in her passage was guilty of having a longing heart for the world. He still desired the temptations of the house at the expense of forsaking all and following the Lord. And they ask you, dear soul, this morning, upon what is your heart fixed? You see, I read in Matthew chapter 6 and verse 21, For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. What's your heart set upon? What's your treasure this morning? Is it in the Lord? If it's not in Christ who has saved your soul, then it's misplaced. You're looking upon the wrong treasure. The danger for the ploughman with a wandering heart towards other things is that sooner rather than later it will mean him looking back. You notice the words of the Saviour in my text. He says, no man having put his hand to the plough and looking back. We are exhorted in the New Testament to remember that way. She was warned. She was directed as to where her heart and her eyes ought to be upon the mountain. But alas, on the way there, we read that she looked back. She looked back to the city of sin. She looked back to the house and the things in it. back with desire to be there again. And she became a pillar of salt. The wave of judgment which was to fall upon those cities in the plain was also to catch her. And her memorial is that she will look back when she should have been looking forward. The ply man who is resolved to go through with God will never seek to go forward. They will seek above all temptations to keep their eye fixed upon the One who has called them into such a work. To look back is to cause the work to suffer. To look back is to be half-hearted in our labors. And if you take time to look at Ephesians 6, you'll see there the armor of the believer, but you'll notice something. There's no armor for the back. We're not to turn. We're not to go back. Go forward. Are you one who is looking back upon the world and its enticements as harvest time? Are you one who is even taking your hand off the plough? For if you haven't done so yet, you soon will, and it will mean that you'll go back. If you're not going forward with the Lord, if you're not growing in grace, listen, be honest before God this morning. You're going back. But there's no standing still. You'll go back if you keep going the way you're going. The danger is for one that looks back. They are showing evidence of being a lost soul. You see, the root of the matter was never there in the first place. They're like the one of the parable of the sower, of whom we read of the seed falling upon the rock. If you turn back to Luke chapter 8, you'll see the verse 13. where it gives you that example that says, They on the rock are they which, when they hear, receive the word with joy. There is a certain amount of receiving God's Word. And these have no root, which for a while believe, and in a time of temptation they fall away. Four types of ground in that parable. Only one to bring forth fruit. There are those today in the seed is felon. And their heart is like the rock. You've received it with joy. You've maybe even believed it for a time. But when temptation has come about, you've turned back. This man in our passage showed potential. He professed he wanted to follow the Savior. But there was a looking back. A looking back before he even got going. And by implication, he never was to follow Christ as a disciple of his. He was like those in the villages whom we read in the earlier verses who did not receive the Lord. And yet we read in verse 56 that He left them and He went to another village. And men and women, while this Saviour is passing this way at this harvest time, and the Word of God is searching our hearts, and has searched hearts on Friday night, and has searched hearts last night, and I believe is searching hearts this day again, I wonder does it find you who in fact is one who is a lost soul? You desire to be saved. You desire to be a follower of Christ. But you never really follow the Savior in the first place. You have never been made fit for the kingdom of heaven. And, my friend, you are in danger of being lost for all eternity. You are in danger of missing the kingdom of God altogether. Is it not time that you sought the Lord in salvation and were saved? When you go out of this meeting house absolutely sure, God has saved my soul. There is the danger of the ploughman. Let me show you the desired harvest. You see, the ploughman who goes out with plough in hand is one who does so with a purpose. He perseveres through the tough and the hard ground. He overcomes all the temptations that may abound in this, so that he may reap the desired harvest come the due season. That blessed harvest for the follower of Christ is the kingdom of God's heaven. And there is only one way in which we can be made fit for heaven, and that is through the work of another. It is God who sets His love upon us. It is God who calls us by His grace to be a follower of Christ. It is God who sends His Spirit to take the Word of God so as to break up the foul ground of our hearts. The hearts of men and women must be prepared to receive the engrafted Word of God, which is able to save the soul. And as the ply man plies the ground so as to repair it and so as to cause it to be a good seedbed, so the same must be true in the Gospel. Only God can cause these hearts of ours to be receptive to His Word. That is called the regenerative power of God, whereby He causes that which is dead, dead in trespasses and in sins, and He causes it to be brought to life so as to receive the message that God has for us. Have you known that preparing work of God? Have you known that Spirit striving on your soul? and turning over the sod of your heart and breaking up that fallow ground so as to receive the good seed. That's the work of the Lord. But you know, the prime one doesn't stop there. For then there follows the sowing of the precious seed in the ground that has been prepared. It is then to know the seed been scattered upon it and has done so in the hope and in the knowledge that there will be in due time that harvest which will be reaped. Men and women, when we consider the seed that is sown spiritually, then we're dealing with the precious seed of the Gospel. We're dealing with that which the Bible states is incorruptible seed. We're dealing with that which God says shall not return unto me, boys. And that is all the more reason for us as believers to be dutiful, to be that faithful ploughman and that ploughwoman, to sow the seed of the gospel, that having put our hand to the plough, and by God's grace not to take it off, but to press on in the labours that God has given us to do in the field of this world. We have the promise that he that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing. bringing his sheaves with him. The desired purpose of the ploughman is to have those many sheaves. It is to have that bountiful harvest. That is why he toils. That is why he goes out with the plough. And above all distractions and allurements, he has to finish the work. Dear believer, the desired harvest in our lives is surely that in following Christ we will become more like Him. that there would be that growth spiritually in our lives, that there would be growth in the signs of grace, and that indeed, in following the Savior, we would be the means of sowing the good seed of the Word so that others will join us in that kingdom of God's heaven. Our desired harvest is surely that through our work much glory will be given to the One who has called us out of darkness into His most marvelous light. God has saved us for a purpose. Wonder, is your life glorifying to God? Let me ask you just, before I close, child of God, is your life bearing fruit? You see, if you turn to John chapter 15, we read in the words of verse 5, I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in him The same bringeth forth much fruit." Much fruit. If you are a child of God, engrafted into Christ, your life ought to bear fruit. Fruit that shall remain. For He says, without Me you can do nothing. You have it in verse 16. You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain. And whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My name, He may give it to you." Is your life bearing fruit to God's glory? Let the words of the children's chorus embed in your heart. The cross before me. The world behind me. You turn back, child of God, and look in those things that you reveled in once, you're not going to bear fruit for the Lord. And you're not going to grow spiritually. The cross before me. The world behind me. No turning back. No turning back. May God find us with that determination to go forward, both individually and collectively as a church, to go forward at this harvest time and to do great exploits for Him. Let me ask you, are you saved this morning? If not, then come now. Come to the Lord of the harvest. Come to Christ by faith. Have that blessed assurance that heaven is yours. And when the sickle of death goes in in her life and your life, then you will be welcomed into God's kingdom, into the presence of Him who loved you and gave Himself for you. I trust that that will be your portion. And should there be those in our meeting and you have taken your hand off the plough, then come back to the Lord. You're cold of heart. You know that hardness. You know that fallow ground all too much. Come back to the Savior this morning. He will restore unto you the years, maybe the years, that the locust has eaten. Thank God He's ever married to the back slayer. Come back this morning. May God bless His Word to each of our hearts. For His only name's sake. Amen.