GOD DOES NOT LIKE A MIXTURE

 Earlene Davis

“Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds: lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard, be defiled.” Deuteronomy 22:9

What is divers seeds? It means different kind of seeds. There is to be no mixture of seeds. God does not like a mixture. The seed speaks of the Word of God (Luke 8:11). We are to sow only the pure Seed. We are not to mix His Word with philosophy, logic or reasonings of men. Our Apostle Paul tells us in Colossians 2:8, “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” Again, “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:8).

Is there much mingled seed sown today? Yes, there is very little of the pure unadulterated Word of God being preached. Those who confine themselves to the Word of God might as well abandon all thought of popularity. They are looked upon as narrow and not flexible. I want to be just as narrow as the Word of God, don’t you? I used to buy packages of mixed grass seed because they were a lot cheaper than the pure seed. But one day I sat down and read the label. I have not purchased any since, because a certain percentage of it is just weeds. I was sowing mixed seed and getting a defiled crop. A minister can enlarge his congregation by not getting unto a deep study of the Word and sowing mixed seed. But how much better to have a precious few who love the pure Word, than a mixed multitude.

Is sound doctrine important? In Paul’s epistle to Timothy, a young minister who would carry on after his departure, Paul put great emphasis on sound doctrine. “O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babbling, and oppositions of science falsely so called: Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee” (I Timothy 6:20-21). Oh, the devil is so sly. He is a sly old fox. We have seen in recent years how the charismatic groups have gone. It’s wonderful to hear of so many from different denominations being filled with the Holy Ghost. But where is the pure Word? It is neglected so they can meet together and not have division. One group has as one of their mottoes, “We agree to disagree agreeably.” It is a popular thing to forget the Word or else have as little of it as possible, and mixed seed at that. Just having what they call “worship and praise services,” music to entertain and stir the emotions, which satisfies the sourish nature but not the Word which feeds the spirit.

Let us not neglect God’s Word. If you truly love God, you will love His Word. If we leave out His Word, we can become one-sided, having power without the steadying influence of God’s Word. The flesh gets carried away without the instruction and correction of the pure Word. Some start playing with the gifts of the Spirit, teaching how to sing in tongues, even to laying hands on each other and giving them gifts of the Spirit and so on. I Corinthians twelve – Who gives the gifts of the Spirit? The Holy Spirit, of course. Even though we are to “covet earnestly the best gifts,” (V. 31) the Holy Spirit dividing to every man “severally as He will” (V. 11). So not having the pure Word, we see man has put his hand in where it does not belong, giving gifts of the Spirit, and so forth, we see flesh, flesh, flesh.

Let’s allow the Holy Spirit to work. We could get lopsided the other way, as a result of mixed seed. Some who are Spirit-filled will go to teachers who are not filled with the Holy Spirit to learn how to apply the scripture to their lives. There are all kinds of ‘How to…’ seminars in the religious world (spiritual self-help programs or self-improvement). Again, we see men’s hands doing things, instead of the working of the Spirit. They have the Word (mixed seed); but try to perform the Word in their lives. That is the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is replaced by Christian psychology, men’s formulas and steps (how to be mighty in spirit, four steps to maturity, eight steps for this and twelve steps for that, how to become an overcomer, etc. So much good is mentioned with scripture applied to the formulas and steps. It is mixed seed without power. Matthew 22:29, “Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.” Mark 7:7,13, “Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men…making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.”

Sugar coated error: the error is disguised by so much that is good, a mixture of truth and error. It makes the error so easy to swallow, just like sugar-coated medicine. See why God hates a mixture? When we start following formulas and steps to improve as a Christian, we are leaving out the working of the Holy Spirit. We cannot even take the Scripture and hack away at ourselves to make us come to perfection. “O foolish Galatians, who hath be witched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” (Galatians 3:1-3).

Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together. That is what God instructed Israel in Deuteronomy 22:10. Why? Because they do not walk together, their gait is different, they do not pull together, they do not go together. The ass is an unclean animal and speaks of the Old Creation. The ox is a clean animal and speaks of the obedient New Creation that cannot plow with the rebellious ass of the Old Creation. “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would…This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:17,16). The ox and the ass yoked together is the result of mixed seed sown – the flesh trying to perfect itself. We cannot do this work in us even if we have the Scripture, the right Scripture. As we look into God’s Word, we must by faith believe it – agree with God and what He says. We lay hold of it by faith, yielding ourselves to it, saying to God, “Make this practical in me.” Then it is the Holy Spirit who works it in us, and it becomes part of us. We must give the Holy Spirit His right place.

Quench not the Spirit – (I Thessalonians 5:19). Some think this is referring only to speaking in tongues and interpretations, and so forth. Oh, this means much more than that. Quench not the operation of the Holy Spirit in your life, of making the Word of God practical in you. “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (II Corinthians 3:18). The Holy Spirit is the Agent of all God’s operations in our lives. The Holy Spirit is the moisture that makes the seed (the Word) grow.

Thou shalt not wear a garment of divers sorts, as of woollen and linen together (Deuteronomy 22:11). When washed the wool would shrink, but the linen would not thus making a real problem. Sowing mixed seed results in yoking together the Old and New Creation; and a result of that is the wearing of mingled stuff, which speaks of mixed conduct. This surely is confusion. The woollen garment is from animal life, and speaks of our standing in Christ over which we have no control. We are accepted in the Beloved (Ephesians 1:6). The linen garments are from plant life and speak of our state, our practical sanctification, the Word of God worked in us by the Holy Spirit as we yield. “And to her (the bride of Christ) was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness (or righteous acts) of saints” (Revelation 19:8). Do not try to mix them. The devil would deceive us, fool us if he can, and disguise the mixture so that we do not see it. Never measure the standing by the state, always judge the state by the standing. To lower the standing because of the state is a death-blow to practical Christianity. This would not only be a failure to God, but of our neighbor, we owe to both maintenance of our testimony and singleness of life. Beware, be on guard, for the result is confusion. “For God is not the author of confusion” (I Corinthians 14:33). “And be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith” (Philippians 3:9). “Some having swerved have turned aside…Some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck” (I Timothy 1:6,19). We must take a stand for the truth.

by E. J. Davis