read again these two verses that talk about this subject of sowing and reaping. Galatians 6, verses 7 and 8. We will pay particular attention to the latter portion of verse 8. Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that sows to his flesh shall have a flesh-ripped corruption, but he that sows to the Spirit Shall the Spirit keep life everlasting? May we know that blessed truth this afternoon. There are no paradoxes in the scriptures. Now what is a paradox? One way of defining a paradox is someone who is thinking, speaking, or acting in a way that does not display how he should be thinking, speaking, or acting. You are a paradox when you are thinking, speaking, or acting in a way that contradicts how you should be thinking, speaking, or acting. A paradox is something that is true, but should not be true. Now by saying this, by my saying there are no paradoxes in the Scriptures, I mean that there is nothing in the Scriptures that cannot be explained correctly and understood correctly if the Scriptures are being rightly divided. But the fact that the Bible contains no paradoxes does not mean that it does not give examples of paradoxes. Of believers thinking, speaking, or acting in ways that contradict how you should be thinking, speaking, or acting, believer. For example, one paradox that it mentions more than once is the paradox of a true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ envying the non-believer. This is a true paradox. It is true, but it should not be true. It is a believer thinking and speaking in a way that contradicts how they should be thinking and speaking. This paradox is seen by Asaph in Psalm 73, just verses 1 to 3. Truly God is good to Israel, even as such as are of a clean heart. But as for me, my feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped, for I was envious of the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. to envy a fool, to envy the wicked. For believers to envy a non-believer is a paradox. It's also seen by the command of the Lord to believers in the first verse of Psalm 37, fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. The fact that the Lord has to give a command is evidence that something is being done that shouldn't be done. This is a true paradox. A believer envious of a non-believer. What a paradox in light of the radical difference that exists between a true, regenerate, redeemed child of God and the non-believer who the Bible describes as a bond slave to sin. and to pray spiritually on the wide road leading to destruction. Envy? One in such a condition? The fact that any believer would ever envy a non-believer is a true paradox and testimony to the battle that you must wage, believer, against remaining sin in your own heart. For every time you succumb in your thinking or speaking to being envious of a non-believer, you're sowing near flesh. and not to the Spirit. Because as I return your attention to Galatians chapter 6 verse 8, hopefully you see not only the paradox of a believer ever envying a non-believer, but also, and I say this out of concern for your soul believer, the foolishness of it. Envying a non-believer is not only a paradox that only a believer succumbing to the world, the flesh, or the devil can display, but it is also foolish. It is foolish because it means you're not applying the truth of your true condition and not remembering and applying the truth of the non-believer's true condition. Because, what is the true condition of the non-believer? Believer? What I just said. He's dead in trespasses and sins. He might be physically existing, but he's spiritually dead. And remember, death in the Scriptures refers to separation. Non-believers are dead spiritually because they are spiritually separated from God due to their constant and never-ending sinning. This truth is captured in Proverbs 21, verse 4. A high look and a proud heart and the plowing of the wicked is sin. If your loved one accepted the truth that everything he does, even those things that are not sinful, are tainted by his sinfulness, he would not so quickly mock and reject his need of the Savior of sinners, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is why the Bible tells a non-believer something he does not believe, but is nevertheless true. And what is that? That he abides under the wrath of God outside of Christ. John 3.36, He that believes on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believes not on the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. The wrath of God abides on him because of his continual sinning and his refusal to believe that Christ Jesus is his only hope of acceptance with God. Dear people, the greatest need for the citizens of the United States of America is not for the quick passage of the perverse economic stimulus package because it is just a display of the ongoing rebellion and sinfulness of every member of government that supports it, whether congressman, senator, or president. No, the greatest need for the United States of America is for God to move in His amazing mercy and grace and bring spiritually dead and depraved Americans to see their true condition in sin, and that it can only be solved by being made new creations in Christ Jesus, displayed by repentance and faith in Him. by displaying true repentance, which is not just a flippant acknowledgment that they do things that upset their self-esteem. By displaying true faith in Christ, which is not just treating the Lord Jesus as fire insurance, even as you continue to fuel the flames. No biblical repentance is true sorrow and pain for any sin. And what is sin? Sin is lawlessness. Sin is any thought, word, or deed that is not honoring to the person and character and rule of the one true and only God as revealed in His written Word, the Holy Bible. So no true sorrow because of your thoughts, your words, and your deeds that were a display of dishonoring and disobedience against the God of infinite goodness. who is the source of every good thing you have had, every good thing you presently have, and every good thing you will ever have. To reject Him, to disobey Him? Oh, to be brought to repentance. To be brought to biblical repentance. to be brought to biblical belief, which is confessing that Christ's finished work on the cross is the only way of acceptance with God. And you display that true faith in His finished work by knowing that there is something that a true believer can do that a non-believer cannot do. You believer can sow to the Spirit and not the flesh. And so a believer envying a non-believer just shows that he is not submitting his thinking to the Word of God. Because if a believer submits his thinking to the written word of God, he will realize that one of the most ridiculous things that he can ever do is envy a non-believer. And although this is not the major focus of verse 8 of Galatians 6, it does show why envying non-believers is such a foolish activity on the part of a believer. Because as I mentioned in my previous message, only the first half of verse 8 of Galatians 6 can be applied to the non-believer. For he that sows, or is sowing to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption. Despite how impossible it is for the non-believer to accept this and see this, it is nevertheless true. Non-believers are in the flesh. They are not in Christ through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. They are not new creations in the Lord Jesus Christ through the sovereign mercy and grace of God, so that all they do, every conscious moment of their dead and depraved lives, is so to the flesh, keeping up wrath against themselves for the day of wrath. Envy such a person? You should be praying for them! What a foolish paradox a believer can be at times. Such envy shows that he's sowing to his flesh and not to the Spirit, which is something that he alone is able to do, in radical contrast to the non-believer. The folly of envying a non-believer should be seen not only in facing the true condition of the non-believer, Believer, but also incorrectly considering and remembering your ability because of being in Christ Jesus through God's gifts of repentance and faith, you are able to do two things that are impossible for the non-believer, who is dead in trespasses and sins. You are able not to sow the flesh. Since the non-believer is still in bondage to his flesh and controlled by the world, the devil, and his flesh, that's all he can do. But you have been set free, believer, by the Lord Jesus Christ. As I said in the morning message, John 8.34, Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever commits sin is the servant of sin. You could translate this, whoever commits sin is the slave of sin. That is the condition of every non-Christian. They are slaves to sin, but they can't see it and refuse to believe it. But you know who is the only one who can set Sinner's free, believer, don't you? Because you said you're free. He set you free. He's liberated you. John 8, 36, If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. You don't reject what the Word of God says about the true condition of all men outside of Christ, of your true condition before you were given new life in Him. You confess it and you believe it. John 8, verses 31 and 32, Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on Him, If you continue in My Word, then are you My disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Jesus Christ is the truth. He is the only one who can set men free from their bondage to sin, because one of the clearest signs that non-believers are truly spiritually dead is seen when they parade their bondage as freedom. They think their ability to follow their lusts and idols is evidence of their freedom rather than of their true bondage. You see, Mardi Gras It's not a testimony to man's freedom. It's a clear testimony to his bondage. His bondage to the flesh. Whereas you, believer, have the ability to mortify the deeds of the flesh. You have the ability to put the deeds of the flesh to death. You have the ability to wage holy war against them. Something impossible for the non-believer because he is so dead and depraved. He thinks that things that he does that display his bondage are displays of his liberty rather than his depravity and his lawlessness. For being set free from the law of sin and death, is that not true freedom, believer? You, believer, are not in bondage to the thoughts the words and the actions that will take and are taking the non-believer to hell. But how do you not sow to the flesh, believer? By sowing to the Spirit. You remember the truth, that there is no neutrality in this brief life. There is no standing still spiritually in this life. All that the non-believer can do and is doing is sowing to the flesh. He's not neutral, but neither are you. You were either sowing to your flesh in what you were thinking, saying, or doing, or you were sowing to the spirits. And you see the consequences of living according to the flesh being constantly displayed in the life of your lost loved ones in this world that you are passing through. And you have seen and experienced the reality of this corruption prior to your being saved by the Lord, and regretfully when you have succumbed to the flesh and not mortified it in your new life in Christ. See, you are spiritually alive, believer. You can fight the good fight of faith. You can fight the good fight of faith, something impossible for the non-believer, because he's not living by faith. The world, the flesh, and the devil tries to deceive you into thinking, speaking, and acting according to the flesh's life. But you know, believer, that it's only what? And another characteristic of the true inability of the non-believer to see himself correctly is that he does not think he needs the Lord. He thinks that he can survive on his own. He thinks that he can do things his way and prosper. But you, believer, if you are being guided by the Bible, know that without the Lord you can do nothing. You know that one of the characteristics of a creature that is not in rebellion against the One who has created him and is sustaining him is that you are dependent upon Him for all that you are and all that you ever will be. You know that God does not have to display His just judgments in a worldwide flood like he did in Noah's day, you know that one of the ways that God can display His just displeasure against sinning man in this brief life is by just leaving him to himself. just leaving Him to Himself to reap the consequences of thinking He can prosper and function without Him and His Word. See, this world has acted and lived as if the God of the Scriptures does not exist or care about this world with a vengeance for the last 200 years. And we are now reaping the results of such rejection. And we will continue to do so unless God in wrath remembers mercy and opens the eyes of lost America so that it can see the chains of sin that it is shackled to. But such is not. Such is not the condition of every true believer. For you, believer known, not only that you could never have saved yourself from your bondage to sin and Satan, Something that only the Lord did in His amazing grace and mercy towards you when He gave you eyes to see and a heart to understand your true condition in sin and that Christ was the only solution to your true condition. But you also know that you cannot win the battle. You also know that you cannot win the battle that you wage against remaining sin on your own. If you are going to know the blessing of the eternal life that the Lord has purchased for those He died for, you know that it is the work of the Spirit of God that will bring it about in your redeemed life. For don't fail to notice how Paul illustrates your dependence on the Holy Spirit in verse 8, believer. For all you can do if you sow to your flesh, believer, if you give into your remaining sin, believer, is all you can do is reap corruption. Galatians 6.8, for he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. It was interesting that one of the hymns that Arthur chose was Isaac Watt's paraphrase of Psalm 51. It's not surprising that David in Psalm 51 asks the Lord not to take his Holy Spirit from him, because he clearly saw what he was capable of being left to himself. But if you're going to know the blessing of the eternal life that the Lord has won for His people, what do you have to do, believer? Galatians 6, 8, For he that sows to his flesh shall have the flesh reap corruption. What? He that sows to the Spirit shall the Spirit reap life everlasting. You have to sow to the Spirit for it is the Spirit's ministry to produce the blessings of eternal life in your soul, believer. You are not regenerated by the Spirit and then sanctified and glorified by yourself. No, your salvation, believer, from beginning to end is the work of God. Salvation is Eternal life is of the Lord. 2 Corinthians 3.17, now the Lord is that Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. You have freedom, believer. You have liberty, believer. You have the ability, believer, and it is so to the Spirit who produces the blessing of eternal life in your redeemed soul. And remember, what is eternal life? Well, it's ultimate realization takes place at your physical death or the return of the Lord. But what is eternal life, brethren? It's not the great golf course or hunting ground in the sky. It's not being served fruit by virgins. Eternal life is knowledge of the true and only Lord God through the Lord Jesus Christ. John 17, verse 3, And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. You are sowing to the spirit, believer. You are sowing to a better and a deeper and a richer and a more correct understanding and enjoyment of the one living true and only God that will be fully realized when you are glorified, believer. When you were dead in trespasses and sins, you saw no glory, you saw no benefit in knowing and serving the Lord. But when He gave you new life in Christ, you saw that the only one who could save you and the only one who could meet and satisfy the needs of your never-dying soul was who? The Living Lord God. You see, the world, the devil in the flesh, is constantly trying to get you to think and act like you can't live without the Lord. Why do you think He is never or seldom mentioned in this world? Why do you think the idol Mother Nature is always in vogue when bad weather strikes? Because the last thing men, dominated and addicted to the flesh, want to admit is that they are constantly, never-endingly in the presence of the God of the Scriptures. Jeremiah 23-24, Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him, saith the Lord? Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord? That which is the greatest burden for the non-believer is consciously thinking, speaking, and acting as if they were always in the presence of the Lord God. That's a burden to the non-believer, but that's the greatest blessing, dear brethren, to a believer, to come to that realization Every one of my thoughts, every one of my words, every one of my deeds, all of it, every one of my thoughts, every one of my words, every one of my deeds were acceptable in the sight of my Savior and my Lord. That, my dear people, would be a foretaste of glory on earth. For if you are a true believer, you understand the words of Augustine. Thou hast made us for Thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee, and in Thee alone, if I might add. For when the Spirit of God regenerates you, believer, what does He do? He gives you the ability both to see and to enter the Kingdom of God. Something that the non-believer cannot see and cannot enter. John 3, verse 3. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. John 3, verse 5. Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit gives you the blessed ability to see yourself and God correctly so that you know that it is only because of Christ that you can enter the presence of God. Envy the non-believer? What folly! You can see things that the non-believer cannot see. You can see the true God by faith. The Spirit of God gives you the ability to see God correctly and enter His kingdom through the finished work of Christ. But that is just the beginning. You are to grow. You are to grow in the grace and knowledge of your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. But how do you do that? by sowing to the Spirit and not to the flesh. You will never grow in the grace and knowledge of your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, believer, if you're sowing to the flesh and not the Spirit. You were passive when the Spirit regenerated you, but if He has regenerated you, you are no longer dead in trespasses and sins, but you are alive in Christ. You are a new creation in Christ Jesus, and your desire and labor should be to sow to the Spirit, whose ministry is to reveal the things of the Lord to those He has given new life to. You know what Paul says in the last half of verse 8? You know there is no such thing as passivity if you are a true, regenerate believer in Christ Jesus. But he that sows to the Spirit, but he that is sowing to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. So the question that should be a priority in your mind in light of this new and blessed condition that you are in, believer, in comparison to the non-believer, since Paul clearly teaches that it is possible for a believer to be sowing to the Spirit, is how? I mean, he says, but he who sows to the Spirit, he who is sowing to the Spirit. Paul says this is something that a true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ can do. So you should be saying, how do I do it? How do I sow to the Spirit? Since Paul clearly teaches that he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap life everlasting, if I want to know this blessing, a blessing that only the Spirit of God can produce in my redeemed soul, I should be sowing those things or doing those things that enable the Spirit of God to produce the blessed truth of eternal life in my redeemed soul. You should be actively seeking to find out how to sow to the Holy Spirit and then apply those things yourself. So simply put, how do you sow to the Holy Spirit, believer? What are those things that you can be actively doing that promotes the blessed truth of eternal life in your redeemed soul? And as I said, remember, there is no standing still in the Christian life. There is no neutral position in the Christian life. If you are not sowing to the Spirit, you are sowing to the flesh and hindering the blessed truth of eternal life in your soul. You are hindering a deeper and a richer understanding of the true and only God from growing and blossoming in your redeemed soul if you are sowing to the flesh. What blessings have you and I cut ourselves off from because we have succumbed to the world's lie that the soul of man can be satisfied with anything less than the knowledge of God? So what are some of the ways that you can sow to the Spirit and not the flesh, believer? For I don't claim to have the ability to give you an exhaustive list as to those things that can display a sowing to the Spirit. Because as iron sharpens iron, don't hesitate to mention to me or others ways that you know are a sowing to the Spirit and not the flesh, so that you and I can build one another up in this most blessed of endeavors. For shouldn't one of the things you truly desire be a greater understanding of the eternal life that only the Spirit of God can produce in your redeemed soul? Eternal life being knowledge of God. knowing God? Well, the first thing I would say to you is that you cannot sow to the Spirit unless you have a regular and ongoing intake of the written Word of God, the Holy Bible. I know that's foundational, dear people, but you can't get rid of the foundations. You will never know the blessing of the Spirit reaping the blessing of eternal life and all that it means in your soul unless you have a regular and ongoing intake of the written Word of God, the Holy Bible. Professing believers who think they can know the blessed work of the Holy Spirit in their souls without the Word of God are fooling themselves. For what is the Bible, dear people? It's the only inerrant and infallible book written by the Holy Spirit. It is through the Bible that the Holy Spirit reveals and declares the truth about God. You have exalted your Word above all your name. How do you know things that are true about God? Through His Word. And since eternal life is knowing God, it is impossible to grow in that knowledge of God if you are not using the tool that the Holy Spirit has given you for growing in that knowledge. And I'll put it this way here, people. Should the Lord, in His sovereignty, be pleased to give you a conscious deathbed, believer, Should the Lord in His sovereignty be pleased to give you a conscious deathbed believer? What is going to prepare you for entering into the truth of everlasting life? It is your personal knowledge of what the written word reveals and declares about God. You will be entering into the presence of the one you have grown in your knowledge of and understanding of while here. If the Lord grants you a deathbed, believer, what will be more blessed to your soul to have known the truth about God as he's revealed himself in his word? Or who wins the Super Bowl? I know how stupid that is. They're not even on the same page. They're not even the same universe. When you come to die, will it matter who gets that Super Bowl win today? When you come to die, will knowing who the living, true and only God is through the Lord Jesus Christ matter? Dear people, so do the spirits. by making sure that your intake of this book never ends. As long as you can see with your eyes, as long as you can hear with your ears, if your eyes give out and you can get the Bible on tape, you listen, you study, you think. You'd be like Bunyan, who said if you cut him, he would bleed the Bible. Because it's through God's Word that the Holy Spirit gives you a greater and a greater understanding of the true and living God in what is eternal life. This is eternal life that they might know You, the only true God in Jesus Christ, whom You have sent. And if you doubt, my dear people, how important the Bible is for sowing to the spirits, consider what Peter writes. Consider what Peter writes in his second letter. having talked about his experience on the Mount of Transfiguration, and you remember with the Mount of Transfiguration, that's where he saw the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ revealed? He mentions this reality. He mentions the fact of his Mount of Transfiguration experience. But what does he go on to write? Does he say you should hunger for a similar experience? No, he writes in 2 Peter 1 verse 19, Dear people, read, study, and meditate on what the Scriptures reveal and declare about God, and never stop reading, studying, and meditating on what the Scriptures reveal about the living God. He's saying, you've got a more sure word. We sung glorified and without a transfiguration, but you've got the living Word of God in your possession. You've got the complete revealed Word of God. have a greater understanding of eternal life through this book than even Peter, James, and John did on the Mount of Transfiguration. Oh my dear people, you want to be so into the spirits, you are going to be reading Studying and meditating, when this passage tells you about something about God, you stop and you say, oh, here's a truth about God that He's been pleased to reveal in His Word. Have I thought on it deeply enough? Have I understood it correctly? Because, dear people, when you die, where are you going? If you're a believer, you're going into the presence of the living and true God. If you are going to be sown to the Spirit, you have to seek to align your study of the Word with the things that are important to the Holy Spirit. See, you can use the Bible in many ways. That's why you have so many cults. They misuse the Scriptures. They twist the Scriptures. You can use the Bible in many ways, but that does not mean that you are using them in a way that is a sowing to the Spirit. So what is one of the ways that shows you are sowing in step with the Spirit? Well, what is one of the main ministries of the Holy Spirit? John 16, verses 13 to 15. How be it when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth. For He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak, and He will show you things to come. He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are Mine, therefore I said, I that He shall take of Mine and shall show it unto you. One of the main ministries, dear people of the Holy Spirit, is to show you the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ in all His offices. You are sowing to the Spirit if you desire a greater understanding of who the Lord Jesus Christ is from the Word that the Holy Spirit wrote. When you read the Scriptures, when you study the Scriptures, when you meditate on the Word of God, which He infallibly moved men to write, do you ask yourself, is there something about Christ? Is there something about the Lord Jesus Christ I can learn about when I am reading this passage? You see, people who talk about going to heaven, but the wonder and glory and majesty of seeing the risen, exalted and glorified Lord Jesus Christ, doesn't even enter into their conversation or their thoughts. They know nothing about heaven. They know nothing about eternal life. Because what does John write in 1 John 3? Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that hath this hope in him purify himself, even as he is pure." You sow to the Spirit, you are sowing to a greater knowledge and understanding of the One that you will see. in glory. And that leads me to the third and last thing that displays a sowing to the spirit and not the flesh. Are you examining your life to see if there are things that you are thinking things that you are saying, things that you are doing that are a grieving or a quenching of the Spirit of God. You see, you can't produce the blessed knowledge of the Lord in your soul, believer, if you are thinking, saying, or acting in ways contrary to who the Lord is. You are not Psalm 1914. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer. You are not so into the Spirit if you are not personally praying. Psalm 139 verses 23 and 24. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts and see if there would be any wicked way in me and leave me, leave me in what? In the way everlasting. The everlasting way. Greater and greater knowledge of who you are. Remember, He is the Holy Spirit. You are not sowing to the Spirit if you are thinking, speaking, or acting in ways that are not reflective of biblical holiness. Does what I am thinking reflect the sowing to the fruit of the Spirit? Or to the works of the flesh? Does what I am saying reflect the sowing to the fruit of the Spirit? Or to the works of the flesh? Does what I am doing reflect the sowing to the fruit of the Spirit? or to the works of the flesh. How can I know the God who has redeemed and saved me better if what I am thinking, saying, or doing is not reflective of who He has revealed Himself to be? Believer, you can have a foretaste of glory You can have a foretaste of glory in this brief life by sowing to the Spirit and not to the flesh. God give you the wisdom to labor at that which can only bless your soul and make you greater light and salt in this generation. Be sowing to the Spirit and know the blessing of what He alone can produce in your soul, that he that sows to the spirits shall of the spirits reap life everlasting. God grant that you and I know the blessing of such sowing in these days. Let us pray.