Sowing and Reaping
Galatians 6:7-10
Let's look at Galatians 6. And we're talking about sowing and reaping or if we were to put it in modern terms what you sow is what you get. And you don't have to be much of a farmer to know that. We're looking at Galatians Chapter 6, verse 7, and I'd like to read verses 7-10. Galatians 6, "Be not deceived God is not mocked for whatever 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. And let us not be weary in welldoing for in due season, we shall reap if we think now. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men especially unto them who are of the household of faith."
Now the universe is built on laws. Men of science throughout history have known that everything in our universe is under the reign of law. The entire world of physical science is dominated by laws. Whether you're talking about everything 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. Now we do not need the Bible to support that, but I think it is important that the Bible does support insofar as the Bible touches on science, it is always accurate. And one of the things that proves divine authorship is the absolute character of the scripture in identifying scientific law and showing us that there are absolutes in creation.
It proves to me that the same being that made the universe so absolute in its physical law is the same being who wrote the Bible for when the Bible comments on this, it comments accurately centuries before scientists ever discovered it. James Dwight Dana of Yale University may be the most imminent geologist America ever produced addressed a graduating class at Yale University with these words. He said, "Young men as you face scientific problems, remember that I, an old man, who have known only science all my life say to you there is nothing truer in the universe than the scientific statements in the word of God."
In the sacred writings of the Hindus and the other religions of the world, you have very serious scientific mistakes, but not in the Bible. The Bible corroborates that there is law and order in the physical world. The Bible gives us interesting statements like in Job 26:7, it says, "He stretches out the north over the empty place and hangeth the earth on nothing." A great statement considering it was written centuries before man ever dreamed that the world was suspended.
Other religious books say the earth is on the back of Atlas or elephants who produce earthquakes when the shake. Others say its on seven layers of sugar and syrup and honey and whatever else and so forth. Isaiah Chapter 40, verse 22 the Bible says, "He sits on the circle of the earth." Isaiah said the earth is a sphere. Men thought it was flat even in Columbus' day. In Job 38:14, the Bible says regarding the earth "That it is turned as clay to the seal." Indicating the earth rotates on an axis. The Bible when it talks about science is accurate. God is a scientific God. That is God is subject to laws. God is consistent with Himself.
And so there are physical laws in the universe and they do not 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. Because when the Bible was written hadn't yet discovered those laws, but God knew them. And I think just as there are physical laws in the universe, man has to come to the realization that there are moral spiritual ones that are just as absolute. If you dive off a building, it doesn't matter what you believe about the law of gravity, it'll go into effect.
And there are moral laws that are just as absolute. They are inviolable laws. They are irrefutable laws. They aren't laws you can dicker with. They are absolute laws. And the same thing is true in a moral sense. If there is a God at all, and most people think there is, and He has built a world that is from the physical standpoint governed by absolute law, then you can believe that the moral world and the spiritual world will be governed by laws that are just as absolute or else he would a totally inconsistent being and that's impossible. For we see the absolute consistency of His character in the physical world alone.
Some people tell us, and it comes in a steady stream from the philosophers of the world, that there are no moral absolutes. And the same philosopher who has convinced himself that there are no moral absolutes is quite confident that if he drives his car 100 miles an hour into a brick wall there is a law that will have a great effect on him. They allow for laws to be absolute and inviolable in the physical realm, but not in the spiritual. That would make the creator totally inconsistent with Himself. There are laws. And God has governed the moral world and the spiritual world with just as much law and order and consistency as He has the physical world.
The universe is structured in every dimension on inviolable, inexorable law. Now in our passage we have one of those moral laws. There are laws of the physical world that all of us are familiar with. Here is one of the spiritual world. "Whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap." That is a moral and spiritual law. It always works. It is never bypassed. It is never avoided. It is inexorable. It is inviolable. God is consistent with Himself.
Now in the book of Galatians the apostle Paul chooses this law to be applied to the Galatians. Now you'll recall that as we've studied, he's nearing the end of his letter. He has carefully completed his main thesis. The only thing left at this point really is to give a few words of final admonition. The great bulk of what he wanted to say he has said. He has established in the first two chapters his apostolic authority. In the second two chapters, he reiterated the divine principle that salvation is by grace. And that's another inviolable spiritual law.
In the last two chapters he has shown that the Christian life is not bondage to a legal system, it is not fleshly self-effort, but it is freedom from the law and it is walking in the Spirit. So he has covered the major facts that he wanted to deal with. And in the passage, which we just studied last time in Chapter 6, he has given 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, of keeping rituals and ceremonies.
Now, there's one other group that Paul's got in the back of his mind. He realizes after having said all that he has said, that there will be some who have fallen into this era and believe that the Christian life is a legalistic thing and they're falling on their face in sin. And there are some of those who want to get picked up and so he talks about them in Chapter 6:1-6 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, self-effort. 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.
But whether they be unbelievers who are looking for a work salvation or Christians who have fallen into carnal effort, there are some that maybe aren't ready to be restored and so 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. And so his last kind of effort toward those people who haven't yet seen that he is telling the truth and are still hanging on to the Judaisers heresy is to warn them of the consequences of such behavior.
And usually a warning of consequences stands as strong motivation. And so he presents 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 as we look at this very brief text, we're going to see that this admonition, this law of God is presented in four basic ways through these four verses. The divine law is stated. The divine law is explained. The divine law is fulfilled. And the divine law is applied. It is stated, explained, fulfilled, and applied. And really, that's a kind of a classic sermon in a sense. First of all, let's notice the divine law stated. Verse 7, "Be not deceived, God is not mocked for whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap." Now there is a principle that nobody in his right mind denies.
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, if there is such a thing, skeptic would deny this. But what a man sows he reaps. I supposed that some passages in scripture need great proof. Now when you talk about the deity of Jesus Christ or you talk about the work of the Holy Spirit. It's not enough to just say it, you've got to support it. But this doesn't really need much support. Anything thinking man knows that what you sow, you reap.
Now in the context explicitly, Paul has exhorted the Galatians to make sure they continue to fellowship with good teachers. Verse 6, "Make sure that you continue to share with those who are the grace teachers." Share in all the spiritual goodies and don't fall back into the net and the snare of the false teachers. And here he says this is the reason why, you can't do it and get away with it. You can't live to the flesh and have any success, because what you sow is what you reap. Now he begins by saying be not deceived. Be not deceived. That's interesting because they already had been deceived.
What he's really saying is stop being deceived. Don't continue to be deceived. In Chapter 3, verse 1, "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 it's the word planao and it's primary meaning is not to be deceived, that's the secondary meaning. The primary meaning, which very closely allies to the other one, is to be led astray. Don't continue to be led astray. False teachers were leading them astray. They were led astray into a kind of life that was legalistic and they were trying by self-effort to earn God's favor. Be not deceived.
You say could a Christian be deceived? Isn't this talking about unbelievers? Now mark this, I say it at the beginning to clarify the point. I do not think that the principle in verse 7 is specifically applied to unbelievers or specifically applied to believers. 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.
Now he says, don't continue to be deceived about God's laws. You can't get by. You know, 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, God may understand, but you're going to get a headache if He does understand. 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.
You say, you mean a Christian could be deceived into thinking he can behave himself like he wants to behave when, in fact, he's going to reap consequences? Sure we can be deceived to think that. You say well, who would ever deceive us? You know who? Get this, Jeremiah 17:9, "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked." You deceive yourself. Only it's called rationalizing.
So in the first place, it's easy to rationalize. Obadiah, don't turn to it, we haven't got time. Obadiah 3 and 4, listen, "The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee." Pretty clear isn't it? "The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee. Thou who dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high, who saith in his heart, who shall bring me down to the ground? Though thou exalt thyself like the eagle, though thou set thou nest among the stars from there will I bring thee down saith the Lord." That was a prophecy against Petra in the land of Edom. They dwelt way up in the caves. Who could ever conquer us? They were deceived by their own hearts.
1 John 1:8, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves." Yes, the first place, you can deceive yourself. You don't even need an outside source. Let me give you this one. Are you ready? "Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving yourselves." You know how you deceive yourself? You go out and say oh that was a terrific Bible study and your behavior doesn't change. And you deceive yourself into thinking that because you know the facts you're really growing. You're really operating. You're really cranking it out as a Christian. You've deceived yourself.
You've sold yourself a bill of goods that information is all God's after and He's not. Yeah, you can deceive yourself. Let me tell you something else, false teachers can deceive you. You know, we pick up the pieces of baby Christians all the time who've been deceived by false teachers. Many false Christ it says in Matthew 24 are going to arrive leading all kinds of people astray in the tribulation time. And part of the end time prophecy says that men are going to be deceived again and again. False teachers are very busy deceiving us. And that's why it's so important for the church to teach the word of God.
There's nothing as tragic as Christians who've been Christians for any length of time who don't know anything because they're vulnerable to false doctrine. It sucks the very energy and strength from them. And so it is that the word of God says we can deceive ourselves and we can also be deceived by outside deceivers. But behind it all is that ugly character Satan and it says in Revelation 12:9, "And the great dragon was cast out that old serpent called the devil and Satan who deceives the whole world." So folks let me tell you, when the Bible says be not deceived, it's hitting us right where we are because we deceive ourselves, number one, and we do that so often and I think particularly the statement of James thinking that because we know a principle that satisfies it and it doesn't.
And then we can be deceived by false teachers. And then we can be deceived by Satan and his emissaries themselves. And you know something, and living in the day in which live we are open to more deception than anybody at any time. Did you know that? 2 Timothy 3:13, "Evil men and seducers shall become worse and worse deceiving and being deceived." That's part of the pattern of the end time. Don't be deceived. Don't be deceived into thinking that you could violate God's laws. You say, I'm a Christian. I'm under grace. God's not going to do anything to me. Listen, there is an inviolable law in the universe. You violate it Christian or not Christian and it's going to bring consequence.
He says this, don't be deceived. You say why? God is not mocked. God is not mocked. What does that mean? Fooled or outwitted. 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. You know, and sometimes I've talked to young people who've gone crazy on grace, you know, and they think they're free to do anything. Man, I'm forgiven. I'm totally forgiven. Everything has been set aside. The cross accomplished everything. I'm free and breezy man. I can do what I please. I'm under grace. No, you can't.
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. You can't ignore. And the word incidentally mocked also means ignore. And to sneer at seems very violent. To ignore seems rather indifferent. 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.
I always think about Hemingway when I think of this. Sad, sad, sad life. I shared this with you a long time ago how that there was an article and a series of articles in Playboy magazine, which was quoted in Eternity magazine, a wonderful Christian magazine where I read it. And believe me scouts honor, and in the article it made the statement that Hemingway had proven that you could do everything you wanted to do with no consequence. It said that. It said, in fact, "the old Victorian ideas of the Bible that the wages of sin is death," and that "what you sow you shall reap." It's all been proven to be a lie. Hemingway has done this and he's done that and he's done the other thing and it talked about his amorality and so forth and so on and it praised him to the skies. Ten years later to the very month that the article was written he put a bullet through his brain and killed himself.
Now you don't cheat the law. You don't cheat it. Oh he thought he could mock God. And you remember the Lord's prayer that He wrote. "Our nada who are in nada, nada be thy name." It's Spanish for nothing. You can't mock God. It doesn't work, because you violate a law. 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. "The wrath of God," says Romans 1:18, "is revealed against," how much ungodliness, "all ungodliness and all unrighteousness of men." There is no escape.
But men go on doing it. Sneering and mocking God. Jude said, "Beloved remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ how they told you there should be mockers in the last time who should walk after their own ungodly lusts." Boy I'm telling you we're seeing a world of people just gleefully violating God's laws aren't we? I just think about what's called the sexual revolution and all of this talk about no longer you need to get married, you just live together. You do what you want. People living like animals, group sex, and on and on and on and on it goes and people living in absolute violation of all of God's laws and they expect to have happy endings.
They should all try to