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Now let's open our Bibles to
Galatians 6, please. Galatians chapter 6. And with the Word open there,
we'll bow in prayer again, looking to the Lord for His blessing
and His enablement to rest upon the preaching of His own truth
upon our hearts as we hear it. And may the Lord draw nigh to
us even now. Again, unite our hearts in prayer.
Our loving God and our Father in heaven, we wait on before
Thee in Jesus' name and we pray that Thou wilt draw nigh to us
in this time that is before us now as we consider the Word and
the message of God for this very hour. We pray, Lord, that Thou
wilt grant us that blessing that we need, that help, without which
no man is able to deliver the Word effectively. without which
no hearer will receive the Word profitably. So, Lord, grant us
help from heaven. Breathe on as we ask of Thee.
Come down in all Thy fullness and bring great glory to Thy
name. We pray all this for Jesus' sake
and for His eternal praise. Amen. Galatians chapter 6 Today
we come to verses 7 and 8 of this chapter. Galatians chapter
6, verses 7 and 8. Be not deceived, God is not mocked,
for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For
he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption,
but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life
everlasting. Now, these two verses form the
conclusion to a main line of thought that the Apostle Paul
took up in chapter 5, as we have already noticed, where he speaks
in terms of the conflict that there is in the believer's experience
between the flesh and the spirit. In that fifth chapter, Paul points
out that the believer's freedom in Jesus Christ is liberty from
sin to serve the Lord and to do His will. It is not freedom
to do what pleases the believer's old sinful nature, but it is
freedom to do that actually which is contrary to that sinful nature
that is yet in the child of God. And therefore, there is a conflict
in the believer's soul between these two opposing forces of
the flesh and the Spirit. But the great objective of the
apostle in chapter 5 is to show the Christian that by the enablement
of the Holy Spirit, the fleshly nature of all its works and all
its motions and its opposition to the things of God may be mortified
and may be suppressed so that the child of God may live in
the enjoyment of the victory and the liberty which that person
has in Jesus Christ. We saw that the key verse really
is toward the end of chapter 5, where it says in verse 25,
the closing words, let us walk in the Spirit. And as we have
noted, it means let us walk in line with the Spirit. And to emphasize the necessity
of living under the control and the power of the Holy Spirit
rather than the flesh, Paul brings these solemn words, which we
find in today's text. where once again he mentions
the flesh and the spirit and therefore you see the connection
right back into chapter 5. Notice here that he uses figurative
language as he applies the truths that he wants to convey to his
readers in that he speaks of sowing and reaping. I say figurative
language because sowing and reaping belong to the earthly realm ordinarily,
but the terms are taken here and used as a figure of speech
by the Apostle. And he's talking of course here
about moral things, about spiritual things, but he's conveying to
his readers the great matter that they must not give way to
the flesh, they must live in the Spirit. And he speaks in
terms therefore of sowing to the flesh, or sowing to the Spirit
on the other hand, and then reaping accordingly reaping a harvest
that is in keeping with that sowing. And he says that the
man who sows to the flesh will reap what is due to that. And the man who sows to the Spirit
will also reap what comes as a result of sowing to the Holy
Spirit. If in the lives of believers,
therefore, and let us remember that Paul is addressing at least
professing Christians here, And in the lives of believers, there
is often, sadly, a sowing to our flesh. And when that is true,
then there will be a harvest. There will be repercussions in
our lives and in our experiences that are in keeping with that
sowing. If you sow to the flesh, you
will reap accordingly. But when the Holy Spirit is the
one to whom we sow, as Paul puts it here, then as we walk in line
with the Spirit, that person who does so will enjoy the blessed
fruit of that kind of walk and that kind of behavior. That's
what he's talking about here. To be more specific, these two
verses are a warning against not being serious about the things
of God. And in that sense, they stand
in very close connection with the immediate preceding context. I have been dealing with verses
2 to 5, 2 to 6 actually now for a number of weeks. And we must
not think that verses 7 and 8 stand absolutely isolated somehow or
other from those verses, never mind the context in chapter 5. These two verses are an immediate
connection with what we have seen in verses 2 through to 6.
And remember the theme of those verses is that of the believer
who is walking in line with the Holy Ghost, bearing the burdens
of the work of God, supporting one another as Christians and
supporting the whole ministry and the whole service of the
church of Jesus Christ and the work of God. every way we possibly
are able to do that. Those who walk in line with the
Spirit will endeavor therefore to bear and to shoulder the responsibilities
of the Christian life and the Christian church. Instead, therefore,
of selfishly catering to the fleshly nature, they will give
themselves to the promotion of the things of the Spirit of God.
And in that sense, they sow to the Spirit, not to the flesh,
as they support God's work and God's cause and God's kingdom.
That's the connection between these verses and what immediately
precedes them. Therefore, Paul here, as I said,
is giving a warning against not being serious enough about the
things of God and the life of the Christian. But while this
is the context and the setting of these two verses, I want to
consider them today from a broader perspective. I want to look at
them as a reminder that they contain the thought and the teaching
that all men, all people, need to be most serious about the
things of God. The heart of that reminder is
in verse 7. It says, for whatsoever a man
soweth, that shall he also reap." The thrust of those words is
very clear. This present earthly life that you and I are living
is a serious and a solemn matter because all that we are and all
that we do and all that we say is actually a sowing. And it's going to bring an eternal
reaping. There's never a moment goes by,
and you need to remember this, there's never a moment goes by
that you are not sowing. Whether you're saved or unsaved,
all men are sowing and all men are going to reap. The seriousness
of these two verses, therefore, most certainly can be broadened
out and applied to everyone, even here in this congregation
today. To put it very simply and concisely,
right here God sets before you in this text a certain law that
He demands that you should regard, and you should regard with the
greatest seriousness, that the life that the Lord has given
you upon this earth is indeed treated as it should be treated
with the solemnity that these words demand, because whatsoever
a man soweth, that shall he also reap. That's the law that this
text sets before us. As I said, these words are the
very heart of these two verses, and they encapsulate this law.
Whatever a man sows, he's going to reap accordingly. I want to
develop that line of thought now, and I want to do so in three
ways. There's first of all the principle within this law. Take
these words that form the core of our text, as I have put it.
Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Now, in that
clause in this verse, there is the reminder of a solemn principle
that we dare not trifle with. and we dare not treat lightly.
And that is that reaping is always according to what is sown. That's the principle that is
established by God in these words concerning this law of sowing
and reaping, that the reaping is according to the sowing. And God has established that
principle in various ways for mankind to note and to observe. And I want to draw your attention
right here, therefore, to those ways in which God has established
this principle concerning this law that the reaping is in keeping
according to the sowing. Keeping with and according to
the sowing. That principle is established by God's natural
law. In the physical world, there
is a natural law, as we are all aware, that what is sown is going
to be reaped. Men expect to reap a crop of
the same kind as the seed that they have sown, and they expect
that because that is a law in the natural realm. It's everywhere
to be seen. It is all around. It doesn't
matter how limited your knowledge of agriculture or horticulture
might be, at least you know this. If you sow a potato, you're not
going to reap something different. It's a natural law. The Lord
Jesus Christ makes use of that natural law. If you turn to Matthew
chapter 7, In the verse 16, he makes use of that natural law
in a very striking way. Matthew 7 and the verse number
16, he says, "...ye shall know them by their fruits." And then
he asks a question, "...do men gather grapes of thorns or figs
of thistles?" Now, the Lord's question underlines that no man
would ever expect to gather grapes from thorns or figs from thistles. He's therefore referring to the
natural law that whatever kind of plant or whatever kind of
tree, whatever it might be you're dealing with, well, whatever
it produces is going to be of the same kind as it is according
to its own species, according to its own family, according
to its own nature. Well, that's the kind of fruit
you're going to find. And the Lord brings that in right
here. And interestingly, He's dealing
here with false prophets. And he says in verse 15, Beware
of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but
inwardly they are ravening wolves. Now the Lord right there is again
focusing on this law in the natural realm because a wolf is not a
sheep and a sheep is not a wolf. As we all know, and therefore
right there you can see how the Lord is speaking in a figurative
way. He talks about these false prophets.
They come, He says, in sheep's clothing. That means that while
they are wolves, they try to pass themselves off as being
a sheep, or in other words, being part of the Lord's family. That's
what He's really saying, because the Lord talks about His people
as sheep in many places. Then he comes to say in verse
16, and he says, "...ye shall know them by their fruits." And
what he's saying there is, the spiritual fruit from such men
is according to their nature. "...ye shall know them by their
fruits." And then he says, "...do men gather grapes of thorns or
figs of thistles?" Whenever you study your Bible, ask yourself
questions. The Lord's doing it right here.
He's asking questions right here. is to make us think. Because
you know, brethren and sisters, we need to be made to think.
Very often we go along in our Christian experience, as Paul
tells the Hebrews, dull, not exercising our minds at all. And the Lord very often brings
up a question, and that question is designed to make us think.
And that's what he's doing right here. And isn't it interesting
that when the Lord talks about these false prophets and deals
with the fact that the fruit that they bring forth is according
to their nature, spiritually speaking, He actually talks about
thorns and thistles. And it's interesting for this
reason. The first time in the Bible those two things are brought
together, those two plants, thorns and thistles, is an association
with the curse. In Genesis 3, you read there
in that passage where the fall takes place, you read right there
of the curse, verse 17 and then verse 18. And the Lord says of
the ground, thorns and thistles shall it bring forth unto you.
That's the first place in Scripture where you read of thorns and
thistles, and they're associated with the curse and with the fall.
And here he's talking about men who are professing to be preachers
of the gospel. They come as sheep, but they're
really wolves. And all the while their nature
therefore manifests itself Because such men can only produce what's
according to their nature. They're cursed men. They're blasted
men. They're blighted men. And that's
what they leave in their wake. They leave the thorns and the
thistles all around them. And they sow Spiritually speaking,
thorns and thistles continually with their false doctrines, their
perverted ways. And therefore, a harvest is reaped
that is according to what they have sown. There will be a harvest
of the curse and the blight of a Christless ministry. It's a
terrible thing for sinners who do not know God, obviously, to
sit under such a ministry where there's a wolf in sheep's clothing
and he's sowing the thorns and the thistles of a cursed and
a terrible, sinful, and satanic ministry. And the awful harvest
that will come from that is a harvest of eternal damnation and everlasting
ruin. But here's the natural law that
God has established in the physical creation, that the reaping is
according to the sowing. It's also this principle, it's
also established by God's providential law He got us various laws or
rules by which He governs this universe. Never forget that the
universe is not out of order. The universe is not in chaos.
The world is not out of control. It may seem to be sometimes,
but we have a God who put laws into action at the very beginning
and they continue on. And here's another of them, God's
providential law. Now you see that In this sense,
Providence decrees that a man reaps what he sows. If he sows
the field of life in a careless, negligent manner, he will reap
accordingly. Now again, you can see that in
the earthly realm in the sense that a man who is lazy need not
expect to prosper. A man who is lazy and indolent
in his business or his occupation will soon come to penury He will
soon come to grief. Turn to Proverbs. The book of
Proverbs has much to say about that. And you see, that's a providential
law. If you don't work, you are not
going to eat. If you don't use labor and industry,
then you are going to suffer for that. That's a providential
decree. Look at Proverbs 27 and the verse
23. And here's a very interesting
little passage, "...be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks,
and look well to thy herds. For riches are not forever, and
doth the crown endure to every generation." He's only talking
about the hay appearing and the tender grass and the herbs of
the mountains. Verse 26, "...the lambs are for thy clothing, the
goats are the price of the field, and thou shalt have goats milked
enough for thy food, and for the food of thy household, and
for the maintenance for thy maidens." But all of that is said against
the background of verse 23. Be thou diligent. Be thou diligent. In other words,
the farmer need not expect to reap a profit from his flocks
and his herds if he is not diligent. And therefore, the inference
is that the law of providence dictates that if he's not diligent,
well, then he will be a loser. Now turn to Proverbs 24. Proverbs
chapter 24. And look at another way in which
this particular law, the law of providence, is seen. If a
man is lazy and slothful, well then he's going to reap accordingly. He is under the control of providence
and if he doesn't exercise himself, if he does not put himself to
it, well then he's not going to benefit from what he has or
what he owns. Proverbs 24 and verses 30. to 34. You may be familiar with
these words. They are solemn words. Solomon
says, I went by the field of the slothful and by the vineyard
of the man void of understanding. Solomon obviously was a man who
liked to go for a walk. And one day right into the field
or into the country area, maybe near Jerusalem, I don't know
exactly where it was, as he took his walk, he happened to look
over the hedge. Well, the hedge wasn't there.
He looked over where it should have been. And he saw a field
and he saw a vineyard, and he knew right away it belongs to
a slothful man. Why? It was all grown over with
thorns and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone
wall thereof was broken down. Then I saw and considered it
well. I looked upon it and received instruction, yet a little sleep,
a little slumber, a little folding of the hands of sleep." You see,
in those two verses, He's telling us what he observed about the
man who owned that field. Where was he? He was in his bed.
And he knew things weren't right. He knew he neglected his vineyard
and his field. But Solomon can see by the state
of things that man's in his bed and he's still saying, a little
more sleep. He's as lazy, you'll know what
it means, as shook water. That's what Solomon sees a lazy,
slothful man still in his bed and is filled in this state. And you see, here's the law of
providence. You lie in your bed. You neglect
your duties, your work, whatever, and my friend, God is showing
you, you will reap accordingly. You will reap. a disastrous harvest. Let me say to you, when I talk
about the law of providence, providence has put into place
what we often call today the work ethic. That's the fancy
term that people use today. The work ethic. Turn to Genesis
chapter 2 and verse 15. Genesis 2 verse 15. And notice
what is said there. The Lord God took the man and
put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it."
And notice here that in His unfallen and in His innocent state, Providence
decreed that man should work. The institution of labor or work
by God was made when man was yet unfallen when he was still
without sin. And therefore, if the institution
of labor was made in that situation, that is why labor has dignity
attached to it. And it's wholesome and it's right.
And that is why in our experience, God is showing us here today
that The institution of labor is even more important since
man has now fallen and man is naturally lazy. He is. He's naturally lazy. You parents
need to drive it out of your children. You need to teach them
to work. You need to show them responsibility. You must make it clear to them
that providence has a law decreed by God that if a man does not
work, If he is left to be a mere layabout, he's going to reap
the harvest of that. Church history talks about the
Protestant work ethic, and rightly so, because wherever the gospel
has gone, the gospel has taught men to labor and to toil and
to obey the law of providence. Then turn to 1 Timothy 5, verse
8. You see, we can translate this right into the spiritual
realm. I'm talking here about God's providential law now that
God has decreed that labor men should work in the physical realm,
and that is a very important thing. There's much to teach
us there. But God takes this now and He applies it spiritually. 1 Timothy 5 verse 8, "...if any
provide not for his own." and especially for those of his own
house. He had denied the faith and is worse than an infidel.
And I will grant you that those words in that verse have certainly
a physical application for a man to take care of his house and
his family. He's to work. He is to, as we say, earn his
bread by the sweat of his brow. That's what God's saying here
again. But there's more to it than that. This verse also addresses
the providential decree that man should provide for their
family spiritually. That is a law of providence. That's really what Paul's getting
at here. I want you to get this straight. He's talking here to
the church, to God's people. And he certainly is saying that
Christian men should not be lazy, slothful layabouts. But he's
also saying with regard to the things of God, if a Christian
man, a professing Christian, does not provide spiritually
for his house, he's worse, he's denied the faith. There's the
point. He's denied what he professes.
He says he's a Christian man, but he never gathers his children
around to pray with them. He professes to be a child of
God, but he never sets up the family altar to read the Scriptures
and teach them and train them in the ways of the Lord. Let
me ask you, Father, very, very pointedly, have your children
ever heard you pray in your house? Have they ever seen you make
that attempt to take the book, open it up, at least read it
with them, pray with them? God is showing us here, and listen
carefully, that where that is not done, where that principle
is not applied, we're seeing today even decreed by the providential
law of God, there will be an awful harvest. Many a Christian
parent I know has been very faithful and diligent, and many children
have gone astray. But at least you can say this,
my head is clear from their blood. But my dear friend, if you cannot
say, I did my best, And with all my failures, I tried to show
them and teach them and bring them the Word. If you cannot
say that, and they're now gone into the world, and only the
grace of God will rescue them, you are reaping what you sowed.
You weren't careful about your little flock. You weren't diligent
about that flock that God gave you in the form of your children. And therefore you're going to
reap what you sow. And then this principle is established by God's
moral law. Because in the moral government
of this world established by God, it is firmly fixed that
a man will reap what he sows. And the fact of this principle
being established by God in the moral realm is proved in a very
interesting way and in a very solemn way in that man's conscience
tells him to expect the consequences of his sinful behavior and the
sowing that he carries out. You know how people talk, oh,
he sowed his wild oats, and it's a kind of a joke. It's laughed
at. I tell you, my friend, that's
not a matter to laugh at. Because I tell you right now,
the man who sowed his wild oats, as they call it, is a man who
will have a conscience if he doesn't repent that will torment
him in hell forever. God has established in His moral,
in this moral law, that a man reaps what he sows. And as I
say, it's seen in the faculty of conscience. Turn to Romans
2, Romans chapter 2, 14 and 15. Romans 2 verse 14. The apostle says, for when the
Gentiles... Now remember that when the New
Testament uses the word Gentiles, it not only distinguishes such
people from Jews, it means more than that. It means that you're
talking about pagans. Of course, it's not politically
correct today to call people pagans. Well, that's what the
word means, pagans, heathen. And it says, for when the Gentiles
which have not the law, that means don't have the law written
down in a book which they can read like we have in God's Word,
which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in
the law, these having not the law are a law unto themselves.
That doesn't mean that they're a law unto themselves and that
they can do what they want. It simply means that they have a reminder
within themselves there is a law. because by nature they do that
law. Now what does that mean? It means
simply this, when God made Adam, when God created man, He created
the law within man. I've been teaching in the Bible
class about Genesis 3 and the temptation and the fall. I've
been pointing out to the brethren and sisters there that the temptation
there in Genesis 3 and what took place was not a matter of Adam
and Eve merely eating the wrong fruit. It was a matter of Adam
and Eve disobeying God, because when God made them, He put His
law into their hearts. They were created with the law
created in them. And that tree of the knowledge
of good and evil was actually a gracious act of God, because
that tree was a symbol of the good that they would have if
they obeyed, but it was a symbol of the evil that they would have
if they disobeyed. That's what it's all about. So, man was made with the law
created within him. Now look again at Romans chapter
2. That explains verse 14, man is the law of God written in
his very being. And then it goes on to say in
verse 15, which show the work of the law written in their hearts.
How do they show it? Their conscience also bearing
witness and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing
one another. Right there in verse 15, you
can see that man has God's law in his heart because there's
a conscience within him. And remember, my friend, as Proverbs
says, the candle of the Lord, he calls it there, conscience
is the candle of the Lord that searches out the hearts of men.
It's an inward monitor. It's a faculty of the soul. You
have a conscience. I have a conscience. The Bible
talks about the conscience frequently. And the conscience is that inward
monitor, that searching light that tells us when we have done
wrong and when we have done right. And it's the evidence of the
moral law that God has established in the very being of man. And it all translates into this.
It doesn't matter where the person is. The man lifts his hand and he
commits a murder. The man lifts his hand and he
steals, whatever it may be. He may be living, I don't say
this disparagingly, I just am using the point. He may be living
in a quarter of the earth where primitive times still exist. But if he does any of those things,
his conscience begins to work. He knows he has done wrong. Furthermore,
he knows he will reap what he has sown. It may all be very
clouded and darkened and so on, but there's something telling
that man, I'm wrong. I've done wrong. This is not
right because God has a moral law. that establishes the principle
that a man will reap what he has sowed. And it's right there
in the very conscience. Now look at Acts 28. Acts 28
and verse 3 and 4. Acts 28 verses 3 and 4. And when
Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire,
there came a viper out of the heat and fastened on his hand
And when the barbarians, now again remember, Paul here is
among people who do not know God. They are heathen, they are
pagan, they are idolatrous about God, Acts 28. And it says in
verse 4, when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on
his hand, they set him on themselves. Now listen to what they said,
no doubt this man is a murderer. Whom though he hath escaped the
sea," listen carefully, even more now, "'yet vengeance suffereth
not to live.'" That's a remarkable statement.
Here are people who have no Bible as we have it. Of course, they
haven't even got the Old Testament. And remind the new. They have
nothing by way of written revelation from God. They're lost. They're
in darkness. Paul and his company have just
arrived on this shipwreck on the island of Malta, or Miletus
it's called here. And you see the story how the
serpent came out and gripped Paul's hand. And of course they
thought, well he must be seriously in trouble as a murderer. That's their conclusion. And
he's about to die because he escaped the sea. But he's not
going to escape anymore. And listen to what they say.
Vengeance is not going to suffer him to live. They knew what vengeance
is. They knew there is an answer
to be given. They knew that what a man sows, he reaps. Now, of
course, they were wrong here in this case, as far as Paul
is concerned. But it's the fact they had this knowledge, this
understanding. And you see, that's built into
men. Remember in Luke chapter 13, whenever the Lord was giving
His little parables there, He talked to the people about about
repenting, and he taught them about those who had been slaughtered
by Pilate, and then another group on whom a tower had fallen. And
he said to them, I suppose you think that these people were
terrible sinners because these things happened to them. The
Lord goes on to correct their thinking, but the point is that
is how people think. And they still think that way
to this day. A calamity happens immediately people jump to the
conclusion, oh, those people must have done something terribly
wrong. Or even more than that, have you never heard the person
say, when a calamity comes, I wonder what I did to deserve this? Now, that person may have done
nothing at all, but the very fact that person says that tells
you the conscience is at work. It's uneasy because God establishes
this principle, you'll rape according to what you sow. He establishes
it by natural law, providential law, moral law, but He also establishes
it by spiritual law. In the spiritual realm, God has
decreed that men should worship Him and should obey Him and should
love Him and should glorify Him and serve Him. I want you to
get what I'm saying right here. That is a law. that God has established
for mankind. It's a spiritual law now we're
thinking about. God, because He's Creator, deserves
our worship. He has owed our worship. He's
owed our obedience. He's owed our love. He's owed
our everything. Do you understand that? That
is a law, and that law is universal. There's not a person on the face
of the earth who is exempt from that law. That is why the heathen
go to hell, though they have never heard the gospel as we
know it. It's because all men by virtue of their creation owe
their Creator worship and adoration and praise, and they're accountable
to Him. That's a law. And that spiritual
law therefore dictates that men will reap what they sow. Let's
get God's Word to show us that. Acts 17 this time. Acts chapter
17. When Paul is at Athens and he
preaches on Mars Hill, a very well-known passage to many believers,
but look at it with me now. Acts 17 verse 24, God that made
the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven
and earth. And you notice here how Paul
starts out his sermon on Mars Hill. He starts out with the
name God. In fact, in the original Greek
it says THE God, the one and only God. He made heaven and
earth. He made the world, all that is
therein. He's Lord of heaven and earth.
He does not dwell in temples made by hands. He's immense.
He's infinite. This is what Paul is preaching
here. We haven't had time to read all the verses, but when
you go down these verses, you will find that he shows these
philosophers in Mars held that they should worship this God.
Look at verse 28, sorry, verse 27, that they should seek the
Lord. Let that sink into your heart
today. You should seek the Lord because He made you. If there
were no other reason, here's one that is powerful. you should
seek the Lord. If haply they might feel after
him, and find him, though he be not very far from every one
of us. What an amazing sermon to preach to pagans and heathens
on Mars Hill, but what a mighty sermon. He couldn't have said
anything better at this point. He's dealing with men, men who
are made by God, men who are under God's authority as the
Lord of heaven and earth. men who are under God's standard
and God's law. And one of them is this spiritual
law that all men ought to worship Almighty God and fall before
Him in repentance. That's what he says here. Seek
after Him. Find Him. And he gives a reason. Verse 28, For in Him we live
and move and have our being. Do you see that, sinner? It's
in God. that you live and move and have
your being. Here you are going through life
and you think you're in charge. And you think that you're the
owner of it all. And you're fully convinced that you have made
it to where you are right now. through your own attainments
and efforts and energy and brains and all the rest of it. I know
all those things need to be used in life. But my friend, God tells
you that in Him as a creature you live and move and have your
being. And for that reason, you need to seek Him and find Him. Instead of living without Him,
Instead of doing what pleases you, you should be seeking God.
And here's the reason. You will rape from what you sow
on. Because look at verse 31. He
hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness. You see where he comes to? He's
coming now to apply the principle, the spiritual law that shows
this principle, that a man reach according to what he is sown.
And the spiritual law is God as judge, God as creator, therefore
He's judge. You should worship Him, you should
repent of your sin, because if you don't, there is coming a
day when God will judge the world, and will do so in righteousness,
and you will stand before Him. And then the spiritual law will
be fully applied. You are going to reap what you've
sown. That's the principle in this
law. And I've taken most of my time
today to deal with it. But there's a preface to this
law. Notice it quickly. In Galatians 6, look at verse
7. We've seen the words in this
statement, Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. We've
seen this principle that the reaping is according to the sowing. It's established by these laws
of God. But look at the preface now,
the opening words of this verse. Be not deceived. God is not mocked
for whatsoever a man soweth. that shall he also reap." What
is the preface saying to us? The preface is saying two things
to us. You're going to reap according
to your sowing because God is not deceived, or you're not to
be deceived about your relationship with God. It says, be not deceived. And there's a command right there,
be not deceived. That word means, as you would
imagine, to lead astray, to be deceived, to cause to wander
and all that. It means all those things. And
what the Lord is showing us here is simply this, that because
of the state of our hearts, here's the point man, here's the point
sinner, because of the state of our hearts, we are in danger
of being deceived into concluding. that I can do what I like and
not reap the harvest." That's the meaning of those words.
The Bible says the heart of man is deceitful. And you see, in
this matter of reaping what you sow, isn't it the case that men
tell themselves, I can do it and I will get away with it? I can turn to the drink. I can
turn to whatever it might be. And when it might have harmed
others and ruined other homes, I will be able to master it.
It won't destroy me. It won't harm my family. See, my friends, sin is deceitful. And our hearts
are deceitful. And we tell ourselves all the
time While others may have been caught, I won't be caught. I
won't reap the consequences of what I've just said or done.
God is telling you, do not be deceived because you will. And then in this preface to this
law, there's not only this command, there's this caution. And the
caution is this, God is not mocked. The word for mouth literally
means to turn up the nose. That's what it literally means. And we often use that term, don't
we? So-and-so turned up his nose at whoever or whatever. Well, here's the thought right
in the Bible. Do not turn up your nose at God. That's a caution. That's a very
solemn caution. Because what it's saying is this,
no man will get away with turning up his nose against God concerning
this issue of raping what you sowed. You see, people do turn
up their noses at God, as I said. They're doing it all the time.
They're doing it this way. They commit wickedness and they
say, God doesn't know. People convince themselves of
that. If they even believe in God, well, He doesn't know anything
about it. Therefore, they turn up their nose at God. They deny
His omniscience. The Bible says God knows everything. The Bible says the eyes of the
Lord are running to and fro through the earth, beholding the good
and the evil. God knows your sin. Do not turn
up your nose at God by saying in your heart, I can do what
I like and get away with it." Because the preface to this text
and to this law tells you otherwise. Don't let your heart deceive
you. God is not mocked. And I've explained the sense
of that. And then there is the prospect of this law. For he that soweth to his flesh
shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth to the Spirit
shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." Notice again that
since the reaping will be according to the sowing, then there is
a prospect here encapsulated in verse 8. It is brought together,
and there are two sowings and there are two harvests. My friend, there's a prospect
before you one way or the other. He, we are told, that soweth,"
verse 8, "'to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption.
On the other hand, he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit
reap life everlasting.'" You and I have got to see today one
or the other of those harvests will be ours. As I said at the outset today,
We are all sowers. We're all sowing in time for
God's great eternity. To sow to the Spirit is to live,
as we've seen, in line with the Spirit, a life that's controlled
by the Holy Ghost, a life that's in Christ, a life that has His
blessing and has His Spirit living in our hearts, bringing forth
fruit now. And then looking forward to that
glorious day that Paul points to right here when he says that
those who sow to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. That's glorious. Dear believer, be encouraged
today to sow more to the Spirit. Be encouraged today to do more
for God, to do more for Christ as you see what He has done for
you. Love Him with all your heart. See the enablement of the Holy
Spirit, because great will your reward be in heaven. So to the
Spirit. So less and less to the flesh. We all still do as God's people,
but oh, let it be less and less. Less to self. Less to have our
own ways. Less to have dominance over other
people. Less gossip. Less criticism. Less slander. Less lying, because
we all lie. Is it God saying to us? Less of that. More of the Spirit. And then in glory, what an eternal
weight of glory will we reap. Not because of our works. Because
God blesses us in Christ. And you see, while that may be
the prospect for the Christian, There's a prospect here for the
unsaved. He that soweth to the flesh shall
of the flesh reap corruption. And there the word corruption
is used in the sense of disaster. It's used in the sense of the
awful reaping that the sinner is going to have. In Hosea, there's
a little verse that says, They have sown the wind, and they
shall reap the whirlwind." They have sown the wind. You see,
that is a figurative expression. It means that here are men, and
they're carefree, and they're careless, and they go through
life, and they sow the wind. They just do what pleases them. God says they will reap the whirlwind. The whirlwind in the Bible is
often associated with judgment. It says in Job that the whirlwind
will drive the ungodly out into darkness. You sow the wind. You reap the
whirlwind. You live for yourself only. And
are there not some of you doing that? Your whole life is consumed
with you, your pleasure, your business, making money, getting
on, as men put it in this world, and all of those things, which
many of them are very legitimate and fine in their own place. But, ah, my friend, is this what
controls you and drives you? The fleshly desire for more and
more and more. You don't see the awful end of
all that. You will reap a terrible harvest. That's the prospect. It's dark. It's foreboding. But oh, that
you today would come to Jesus Christ and begin to live by faith
in Him and have the Holy Spirit in your heart and reap life everlasting. Because the Lord says in Matthew
25, But these shall go away into
life eternal, but these shall go away into everlasting fire." I looked her hymn book for that
old hymn, and it's not in it. You will reap whatsoever you've
sown. is certainly coming, you will
reap whatsoever you've sown. Sinner, come to Christ today.
Just now as you sit in that seat, let your cry go up to God for
mercy. Flee from the wrath to come. Let us bow in prayer. May God
write His Word upon our souls. on our minds for His own eternal
praise. Father in heaven, may Thy Holy
Spirit take Thy Word this day and use it. And may there be
a drawing of souls to Christ, a saving of them by grace, by
God's almighty power. And we pray, Lord, that Thou
wilt work on and Thou wilt use Thy truth for the glory of God. And I may the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the
Spirit be with every believer both this day and then forever. In Jesus' name, amen.
Reaping What is Sown
Series Studies in Galatians
| Sermon ID | 11407627262 |
| Duration | 1:10:38 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - AM |
| Bible Text | Galatians 6:6 |
| Language | English |
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