The Book of Galatians #28
The Book of Galatians #28
Galatians 6:7-10
 
When God created the universe, it built it to operate by certain laws.  Men and women of science throughout history have known that everything in our universe is under the reign of law. Whether you're talking about anything from astronomy and agronomy and biology and botany clear to the end of the alphabet and zoology, all of those areas of study are absolutely predictable, because the universe is built on absolute physical laws.
 
And we really don’t need the Bible to support that or prove it or even present it.  It is very clear by mere observation.  However, I do like the fact that the Bible states and supports and pre-dates those observations.  And anytime the bible talks about things scientific it is accurate and if an inaccuracy appears it is only because science hasn’t caught up with God yet. 
 
Now that means there are physical laws in the universe that exist and they don’t need to be proven by the Bible, but they are verified in Scripture and that's good, because that tells me that whoever made the laws also wrote the Bible.
 
And those laws are absolute whether you accept them or not.  If you jump off a building, it doesn't matter what you believe about the law of gravity, it'll go into effect.
 
Just as there are physical laws there are also moral laws that are just as absolute. They never change. 
 
One of those is found here in Galatians 6. As Paul writes, he is now closing out this letter.  He’s presented his position on justification by faith from about every angle it can be presented.  The only thing left is to give a few words of final admonition, and with that in mind he says
 
Verses 7-10
 
To whom is he speaking historically?  He has been giving instructions to the strong Christians as to how they can restore those Christians who have fallen into the trap set by the false teachers and who have begun to believe that the Christian life is a matter of legalism and keeping rituals and ceremonies.
 
But now he turns his attention to another group and that is those who have fallen into this error and believe that the Christian life is a legalistic thing and they're falling on their face in sin. Now some of them want to escape and they are the focus of the first six verses where he says now when that guy's ready and he wants to get up, you pick him up, hold him up, and build him up.
 
But he knows too that there will be some hard and belligerent ones who aren't yet convinced who are still hanging on to the forms of Judaism and who still in the back of their minds may be believing the Judaisers heresy that the Christian life is a matter of legalism. 
 
In fact, there may be some unsaved people connected to the churches in Galatia who believe salvation is through circumcision, because that's what the Judaisers taught.
 
And now he wants to drive home the point to them that they'd better shape up, because the consequences of what they're doing are bad. And so he says in effect, be not deceived, God is not mocked. What you're doing now is going to reap for you a terrible consequence. If you keep sowing to the flesh, verse 8 says you're going to reap what? Corruption.
 
So his last effort toward those people who haven't yet seen that he is telling the truth and are still hanging on to the Judaizers heresy is to warn them of the consequences of such behavior.
 
And to warn them of the consequences, he uses this law of God that is going to take effect in their lives if they don't change. If they keep on sowing to the flesh, they keep on living carnally, they keep on by self-effort trying to please God or if they're even unsaved and they're trying to gain salvation by works, they are sowing to the flesh and they're going to reap corruption. And so this is a warning.
 
Now he presents this warning in four basic ways.  We’ll start to look at it tonight and probably finish up next week. 
 
First of all, let's notice
 
1. The Law Stated
 
verse 7
 
Now there is a principle that nobody in his right mind denies and that is “You reap what you sow”.
 
This is not one of those passages where you have to do a lot of defending. It's a rather simple truth. Not even the average run of the mill skeptic would deny this. What a man sows he reaps. And any thinking man knows that what you sow, you reap.
 
Now notice the context of this statement.  Paul has just encouraged the Galatians to make sure they are under teachers that know the truth. 
 
verse 6
 
Why do we need teachers who know what they’re talking about?  Because you reap what you sow. 
 
Now notice that he begins by saying, “Don’t be deceived”. That's interesting because they already had been deceived.  And I think what he’s really saying is stop being deceived. Don't continue to be deceived.
 
Back in chapter 3, verse 1 he asked, "Oh foolish Galatians who has bewitched you?" They had already been deceived. The false teachers had moved in and sold them all the garbage about the fact that you had to get circumcised to get saved and then you had to keep the law of Moses to stay saved. And they were deceived.
 
And so he says don't continue to be deceived. In fact, the word that's translated deceived actually means “don’t be led astray”. 
 
You say could a Christian be deceived? Isn't this talking about unbelievers? I think it’s both.  The principle in verse 7 is not “either/or”.
I think it is a general principle that applies to anybody. Whatever a man sows, that he reaps is general. And in the passage, Paul is offering the general principle. Later on he will make the application to the believers. But the general principle is that there is going to be consequence to your behavior. And the consequence will match the behavior.
 
And he is specifically saying, “Don't continue to be deceived about God's laws. You can't get by.”
 
Some people say well, I may be wrong, but God will understand. Well, God may understand, but that isn't going to change the law. If you stand and beat your head against a stone wall, what God understands is that you’re going to have a terrible headache!
 
And by the way, you'd get the same headache if He didn't understand, because you are violating the law. And so if you apply this law at any point, it is going to be true. What you sow, you reap is true for anybody anytime, be he Christian or non-Christian. That's the inviolable law of God.
 
Then he says, “Stop being deceived because God is not mocked.”
 
What does that mean? That means you can't fool God. You can't outwit him. The literal Greek means to turn up the nose at. To sneer at God thinking you can violate His law and get away with it.
 
That’s true for the liberal who believes anything is OK.  IT’s true for the legalist who believes he is justified by behavior. 
It’s true for the person gone crazy on grace who thinks he can live anyway he wants. 
 
You can do what you please, but you're going to pay the consequence. You cannot mock God. You can't sneer at God's laws.  
 
And by the way, the word “mocked” also means ignore. To sneer at seems very “in your face” and intentional. 
 
To ignore seems rather indifferent and blasé but they both come from the same word. Ignoring God is the same as sneering at Him. How many times in your life have you said I shouldn't do this sin, but I'm going to do it anyway? I've done that. I know I shouldn't be doing this, but I'm going to do it anyway. You know what you've done, you've mocked God.
 
But you can't cheat the law. You can’t mock God. It's just like jumping off a 20 story building. It'll go into effect. And any man who wants to live his life in violation of God's law is going to pay the consequences. You can't mock God and get away with it.
 
And yet, people just keep on doing it. Sneering and mocking God.  But you do not violate God's laws and get away.
 
So first of all we have the law stated. Then notice
 
2. The Law Explained
 
Verse 8
Now here we learn that not only do we reap what we sow, but we reap more than we sow.  If you are any kind of farmer at all, there will come a harvest.  And what we reap depends upon what we sow. 
 
There are two kinds of seed involved here.  You can  sow  the seed of the flesh or you can sow the seed of the Spirit.  So let’s think about those. 
 
What does it mean to sow to the flesh? It is the act of choosing to gratify the cravings of sin. Now the flesh, as we've studied, and I'm not going to go into this in detail, but the flesh, as we've studied, is the contact point for sin. And when we sow to the flesh, we are choosing to gratify that particular craving that comes from that contact point rather than to gratify the desire of the Spirit.
 
The result is corruption. You do what your fleshly gratification tells you do. You've sown seed to the flesh. You've put that seed in the field of the flesh and you're going to get the results.
 
Now the seed the Galatians were sowing was trying to live the Christian life in their own energy and be right with God through works. 
 
And Paul says, the result of that will be corruption.  It carries the idea of decay and its ultimate meaning is death. In fact, it is translated both ways. 
 
And so when a person sows to the flesh, he reaps decay, he reaps death.
 
And remember we are talking about a general principle.  If it is a lost person, it ultimately means eternal death and hell. 
If it is a Christian it is the loss of joy and peace and all that he has with Christ. And there may even be times when a Christian who sows constantly to the flesh reaps death also.  God just takes him home. That’s called the sin unto death and it is committed by Christians. 
 
So if you sow to the flesh, you're going to reap corruption.  And it's a sad thing to think about. The unsaved person just continues to sow to the flesh, until he reaps corruption, degeneration, and  ultimately, death in every sense.
 
And for a Christian he sows to the flesh and instead of reaping the beauty and blessing of his relationship with Christ, he too reaps corruption. 
 
By the ways, did you ever stop to think about what grows when you sow to the flesh? 
 
We read about them in chapter 5, verse 19
 
That's what you get from the seeds of the flesh. 
 
Some Christians sow to the flesh every day and wonder why they don't every reap holiness. You can't. Holiness is the harvest that comes from sowing to the Spirit.
 
And every time you see a Christian involved in holy practice or lifestyle, with sin in his life, it is simply because he sows to the flesh.
 
But on the other hand, you don't have to sow to the flesh. It says here you can sow to the Spirit and of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
 
So what does it mean “to sow to the Spirit”? It’s the same thing as being filled with the Spirit or walking by the Spirit. It just means to be preoccupied, dominated by the Spirit. Instead of giving in to the flesh and temptations, you yield to the Holy Spirit.
 
And really that doesn’t need much explaining.  We don’t need some technical definition about what it means to walk in the Spirit.
 
It just means to be filled with the Spirit dominated by the Spirit, preoccupied by the Spirit, walking in the Spirit, controlled by the Spirit, Christ conscious, studying the word, praying, dominated by the things of the Spirit so that you make the right decisions and do the right things at the right time. 
 
And what is the result of it?  Life everlasting.
 
What is life everlasting?  That’s a little bit tricky because everlasting or eternal life can either be used to describe the length or the quality of life.  Most of the time, when we talk about eternal life, we think in terms of time.  But eternal life is not a quantity of life as much as it is a quality of life. 
 
Is there any timekeeping in heaven? No. I really believe what is referenced her is eternal life or life everlasting in its qualitative aspect not it’s quantitative. And I say that for several reasons but primarily because eternal life is never a quantity of time in the Bible.
 
it's always a quality of life. It's a kind of life. You know something, I have it now. I have eternal life and it's a different kind of life than I used to have.  It's a quality of life. It's a kind of life. It's God-consciousness.
 
So don't think of eternal life as some kind of thing that goes on forever. Just think of it as a kind of life.
 
Another reason I think it is quality is because of the comparison Paul uses here in the text.  The result of sowing to the flesh is not a short life.  It is a corrupt life.  He’s describing a kind of life not a legth of life. 
 
It is a qualitative comparison not a quantitative comparison.  When you sow to the flesh you reap a certain quality of life. When you sow to the Spirit, you reap another quality of life.
 
Therefore as a Christian, living by the Spirit, I can know the full measure of all the eternal life has to offer both now and in the future and for all eternity. 
 
And on the other side of that, I can sow to the flesh and know nothing but corruption that will ultimately land me in hell, the ultimate corruption, for all eternity. 
 
And what I need to understand is that the seeds I plant now have a far-reaching and long-lasting effect.
 
So we have the law is stated, “you reap what you sow”, the law is explained, “you reap more than you sow”, then thirdly,
 
3. The Law Fulfilled
 
verse 9
 
And here we discover that you reap later than you sow.  Now the fact that the harvest comes later has a couple of outgrowths that are very dangerous. 
 
On the one had there is the tendency for those who sow to the flesh to believe that just because nothing happened when they sinned it never will.  But that is flawed thinking.  Harvest time always comes later than sowing.  And that is often overlooked, but that’s really not what is being addressed here because Paul talks specifically about not growing weary in doing good.
 
Sometimes Christians get tired or beaten down and frustrated, and if that is you then key in on verse 9 because it’s your verse. 
 
I am convinced most of us would like to sow and reap the same day.  Just get the seed in the ground in the morning, gather the grain in the evening and get it all tidied up before nightfall.  Just like a 30 minute sitcom we can fix it all and get it all done in one day. 
 
But that’s not life.  It takes a while.  So Paul says, “Don’t grow weary of sowing to the Spirit.” 
 
It's the word used of a farmer who begins to slacken his exertion because of fatigue. Don't grow weary. I know some Christians have been faithful to the Lord for a long and they just keep on going.  And I’ve known others who just quit. 
 
They’ve taught long enough.  They’ve served long enough.  And they just quit.  They still come to church, but they just sit and soak. 
Others drop out completely.  They don’t just quit their responsibilities, they quit God.
 
But Paul’s counsel is don’t quit.  Harvest time is coming.  God is faithful and the rewards will come.
 
Don’t grow weary while doing good.  What’s he talking about? 
 
It’s just good in the simple sense.  Not just in word, but in deed, doing the right thing.  Just keep on doing it. 
 
And think about who is giving this advice.  Remember, this is Paul.  Talk about a guy who had opportunity to grow weary.  And yet he never turned back and never gave up and never gave in and never left the ministry and never forsook the Lord.  You know how he got out of the ministry? The Lord had to have his head chopped off to get him to heaven.
 
He wouldn't quit. "We are trouble on every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in despair. Persecuted but not forsaken. Cast down, but not destroyed.  Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. Who we who live are always delivered unto death."
 
But he says that's all right, because when death works in us, life works in you. We have the same Spirit of faith according as is written. "I believed therefore have I spoken. We also believe therefore we speak." In other words, nothing hinders us.
 
 
And he says "we know even that if we die our earthly house of this tabernacle's dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands eternal in heaven."
 
Even if I go, I'm...it's just going to be promotion. He says, in fact, this is better anyway. I'd rather be absent from the body and present with the Lord any how. The end of his life. He writes 2 Timothy, he says, well, he says, I might as well die now. You say why? He says, well, I finished my course, I've kept the faith.
 
He is the epitome of one who did not grow weary in doing good. 
 
He knew there was a “due season” of reaping. 
What's due season? It’s simply God's time. You'll reap if we faint not.
 
Here he really zeroes in on the Christians.  By the way, note the progression. 
 
Verse 7 is a general principle for everyone. 
Verse 8, more specifically, those who sow to the flesh reap corruption.
 
Verse 9, let “us” who are believers who sow to the Spirit not get tired in doing it. 
 
And in verse 10, it is very specific to behavior in the church family. 
 
So what he is talking about in reaping for the Christian is not salvation but rather reward. 
 
Did you ever realize that you can serve the Lord Jesus Christ faithfully and then run out of gas and lose your whole reward. That's what that says. You'll reap if you “do not lose heart”. 
 
John echoes that same thought in 2 John, verse 8.
 
Listen to what he says. "8 Look to yourselves, that we[a] do not lose those things we worked for, but that we[b] may receive a full reward.
 
In other words, you could forfeit something you already worked for because of your unfaithfulness. Therefore, sow to the Spirit and just keep doing it. 
 
You say, “But you didn’t answer my question!  “When's the harvest?”
 
Don't you worry about that.  It is in due time and it is probably sooner than you think. 
 
So the divine law is stated explained, fulfilled,  and lastly,
 
4. The Law Applied
 
verse 10
 
Here we find one of those “therefores” of Scripture and we know what they remind us to do.  They point our attention backward to what has just been said so we have a point of reference. 
 
Since God’s Law is set, and because we are to sow to the Spirit and since we are to keep doing it, then do good to others.  
 
Here’ the practical application of the principle and it is a very interesting statement.   Literally it says, “Let us have a seasonable time.”
 
It's not saying do good when others come and give you an opportunity. It says do good by looking for opportunities. Let us have time. Let us have opportunity therefore. Literally, it is “Let us make an opportunity to do good.
 
And even more specifically, it’s not just general good, but “the good”.  He’s talking about the good he’s already mentioned.  Restoring sinning brothers, expressing the fruit of the Spirit, the good in the context. The good that God loves that God gives through the Spirit.
 
And I like this, let us do good unto whom? Unto all men. Do you do good unto the unsaved? That is so important because they're getting their view of Christians from what we do with them and to them. Our goodness before the world has a profound effect on the lost. 
 
People are very critical of Christianity and the greatest way to stop the criticism is to do good to them. Instead of worrying about how articulate you are at presenting the gospel, why don't you worry about how good you are to the unsaved people around you?
 
How kind you are to your neighbor, how loving. That's the heart of our testimony as we discussed last Sunday. Do good to all men.
 
And then he adds, "especially to those of the family."
 
And that doesn’t even need any commentary.  The call's pretty clear isn't it?
 
There's the law. It's God's law. If you violate it, you suffer the consequence. If you're a Christian and you sow to the flesh, you're going to reap corrupted Christian life. If you're an unbeliever, your whole life is sowing to the flesh and you're going to reap death eternal and ultimate. If you're a Christian he says sow to the Spirit. And some day you'll reap if you don't lose heart.  So make some opportunities to do good with the lost and the family.
 
Let's pray.