If you take your Bibles and turn
me to Galatians Galatians chapter 6 Galatians chapter 6 We'll be looking verses 7 through
verse Let's look let's look through
verse 10 7 through 10 the Lord willing tonight 7 to 10 I'm entitled
this message simply sowing and reaping sowing and reaping. The Apostle says, 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. Let us not be weary in well-doing,
for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. As we have therefore
opportunity, let us do good unto all, especially to them who are
of the household of faith. Now I'm going to give you a little
context here, going back to chapter 5, The Apostle Paul is dealing
with this church of Galatia who had been taught the evil doctrine
of mixing the law and grace. Mixing the work of obedience
to the law with the work of Jesus Christ. And he concludes this.
He concludes this in chapter 5 and verse 1. He says, Stand
fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us
free and don't be entangled with the yoke of bondage again. He's
having now rebuked these people for that false doctrine, and
he now encourages them to stand fast in the liberty of Christ,
in the freedom of Christ. Listen, Christ accomplished all.
He's not made salvation possible, He's accomplished salvation,
and you're in Christ, you're free from the law, free from
the guilt of sin, the condemnation of sin. And He says, stand fast
in that by faith. But now He's going to, in the
rest of this chapter, He's not going to speak to those who fell
into that false doctrine, but now He's going to speak to those
brethren who held fast. In the Church of Galatia, there
were two groups here, those that fell for that false doctrine
and those who stood fast. We would call them faithful brethren,
those who were faithful to the gospel. You see, there was a
temptation of those faithful brethren to look down on those
who were not faithful. There's a temptation. You see,
those who were unfaithful, they had been rebuked. Now, if they
come in repentance, there's a temptation of the flesh to look on them
as lesser. Look, I stood firm and you didn't.
And so what does he say in verse 13? To those faithful brethren,
he says this, Brethren, you have been called unto liberty, only
use not your liberty as an occasion to the flesh. But here's the
contrast. by love serve one another. What happens if they use that
liberty, they use that liberty as an excuse to lamb blast their
brethren? Look what happens, he says, but
if you bite and devour, if you bite and devour, take heed that
you be not consumed one of another. And then he says this, walk in
the Spirit. This is how you don't give occasion to the flesh, walk
in the Spirit and you will not, you shall not fulfill that lust,
that desire to look down on them, that desire to constantly rebuke
them and not receive them. And then he acknowledges this,
that hey, you're going to have that struggle. You're going to
have that struggle of self-righteousness. Why? The flesh lusts against
the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. Now, how do you know
you're walking in the spirit? How do you know you're living
after the spirit? He gives us the fruit of the
spirit and those of the flesh. He said, now the works of the
flesh, that's clear. You want to know if you're walking after
the spirit or after the flesh? Listen, he says, adultery, fornication,
uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred,
variance, emulation, strife, wrath, sedition, envying, murders,
drunkenness, reveling, and such like. You know that's walking
after the flesh. If you're biting your brother's
head off, you know that's not walking after the spirit. If
you're hating your brother, that's not walking after the spirit.
If you're following after the lust of your flesh, we know that's
not walking after the spirit. But he says this, those that,
but walking after the Spirit, listen, the fruit of the Spirit
is what? Love. That's the first one he said,
love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, goodness,
faith, temperance. He said this is the fruit of
the Spirit. He said this is what you're to
walk in. And look, In chapter 6, in verse
1, now he says this, Brethren, if your brethren be overtaken
in a fault, what do you do? You that are spiritual, you that
held fast, you that were faithful, you that were spiritual and mature,
what do you do? When they repent, when they turn,
when they say, yes, I failed, yes, I failed for that old lie
of false doctrine. When they come back, what do
you do? You restore them. You restore them. in how a spirit
of meekness. Why? Because you and I were just
as capable of falling into that sin as anyone else. He said,
considering thyself. Lest you be tempted. Lest you be tempted. And he saw then all the attitudes
of grace here. All the attitudes of grace that
have been given to every believer in Christ. God has purposed these
gifts to produce good works. He has given us the fruit of
the spirit. Listen. Not to brag. Look at look what I got. I got
the fruit of the spirit. That's not what we don't brag.
They're to be exercised. They're to be actually lived
out. They're not to be hidden in the
heart. They're really to be lived. Love. How do you know I love
you if I don't just love you? How do you know that I have any
faith at all if I'm not obedient to the things of God? If faith
is not being exercised by love, then what good is my faith? It's not real. It's not the fruit
of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit must be lived out in the
children of God. So we, we who have been saved by grace
through the sacrifice of Christ, listen, we must not, we will
not, and we do not live after the flesh. We live after the
Spirit. If we walk in the Spirit, if
we exercise the grace, and that's what he's encouraging these believers
to do, is to exercise those fruits of love and joy and patience
and long-suffering. Not just say you have them, but
actually use them. If we walk in the Spirit and
exercise the grace of God, listen, you will not fulfill the lust
of the flesh. You can't do both at the same
time. You know that? You can't really have faith and
love and meekness and joy and hate your brother. You can't
do it. But if you do this, you will
not do this. That's what he's saying. If you're
walking after these things and doing these things, and this
is the truth of every believer. Go to Romans chapter 8. Look
at Romans chapter 8. Paul said, there's no condemnation.
Those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk after, who walk not
after the flesh, but what? After the spirit. For the law
of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the
law of sin and death. What the law could not do and
that it was weak through the flesh, what God did. God sent his only
son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a mediator. as a federal
head and for sin, condemn sin in the flesh. For what purpose? That the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh,
but after the spirit. For they that are after the flesh,
what do they do? They mine the things of the flesh.
That's just true. They mine the things of the flesh.
But they that are after the spirit, what do we do? We mine the things
of the spirit. I tell you this, I don't want
to live after the flesh, do you? I know my flesh is corrupt, and
I know I fall into sin. But I hate those things. I hate
those things. We mind the things of the spirit. For to be carnally minded is
what? Spiritually minded, to be spiritually minded is life
and peace. Carnal mind is enmity against
God. It's not subject to the law of God, neither can be. So
then, they that are in the flesh, what? They cannot please God.
If you mind the flesh and that's what you do is mind the flesh,
I don't care how much you jump up and down and say, I love Jesus.
If that's you minding the flesh, you can't please God in the flesh.
We're going to get to that in just a minute. That's going to
be Big part of the message. So you that are in the flesh,
you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. If so, be the
spirit of God dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the
spirit of Christ, none of you. Now, to live after the flesh
is to be carnally minded, to live after the law and works
of the flesh, by which no man can be justified before God. is to live after the flesh. But
all who have the Spirit of Christ, how do we live? We live by faith
in Christ who has fulfilled that law. We live by faith in Him
who has satisfied the justice of God in our stead. And because
of that, He has blotted out our transgressions as a thick cloud.
He has redeemed us. And so we do not live by law.
That's to live after the flesh. That's trusting the flesh to
give us acceptance with God. We don't live that way. That's
how the carnal man lives. And we also don't live after
the flesh to fulfill the sensual lust of earthly things and pleasures
and covetousness. Therefore, as we live in this
present world, believer, we are constantly, continually turning
to Christ. How often do we constantly need
faith and repentance? Constantly. These are two sides
of one coin, faith and repentance. You can't have one without the
other. We are constantly turning to Christ and coming to Christ.
Why? For the just shall live by faith.
How do the just live? How do those justified live?
We live by faith and not by works of the law. We live by faith,
which is the fruit of the Spirit. And therefore, go back to your
text now. We live by these fruits of the Spirit. So what does Paul
say to these brethren? He said, you know, live by love,
which is a fruit of the Spirit. In verse 6 he says, let them
that are taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all
good things. In other words, let us communicate
to one another what we've been taught. What have you been taught? Well, you've been taught faith.
Love, joy, peace, meekness, temperance. Isn't it right just to communicate
these things to one another? To live out these things to each
other and not live after the flesh. Listen, you're tempted
to live after the flesh. You still have the flesh, but
it must be put off so that we might live after the Spirit. Why, that's just reasonable,
isn't it? If you know anything at all of
Christ's love, and Christ's mercy, and Christ's meekness, and His
grace, then we know that that's how we're to live, and how we're
to treat one another. But now Paul, in verse 7, he
starts out with this verse as a warning. He says this, Be not
deceived, God is not mocked. He warns those who would pretend He warns those that pretend to
believe, profess to believe in Christ, but by their works deny
Him. In other words, these who held
fast to that doctrine, they held fast to the true doctrine. And
so they're saying with Paul all the way to chapter 5, they're
saying, Amen, Paul, Amen, you go get them. You go get them.
And then Paul comes in there and says, OK, you amen choir,
now listen to me. You go and love them. Whoa, wait
a minute. You mean love them after how
they treated us? Love them how they mocked us?
Love them? Yeah. Because that's what it
is to walk after the spirit. That's what true believers are
to do. But some of these did not love. They did not forgive. They did
not reconcile. And what does Paul say? Look,
don't be deceived who you are. I don't want you to be deceived
who you are. God is not deceived. God's not deceived who you are.
Go to Titus. Look at this. Look at this in
Titus chapter 1. This is Paul, the same type of people that
Paul is talking about here in Titus chapter 1. Look at verse
15. He says, unto the pure all things
are pure, but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving nothing
is pure, but even their mind and conscience are defiled. And
why is that? They profess that they know God. That's easy, isn't it? How many
millions and millions of people make professions? They profess
they know God. But, listen, in their works they
deny Him, being abominable and disobedient unto every good work,
reprobate. That word reprobate means devoid
of any judgment at all. In other words, they don't know
the difference between good and evil. They call evil good and
good evil. They've got everything backwards.
Why? They're deceived. They're deceived. Believer in
Christ, I know this is trouble. When we hear things like this,
it's troubling to us when we see those who have made a good
profession of faith and yet in their exercise of grace, they're
empty. Isn't that... I remember reading
this week about the Lord coming to that fig tree. You see the
fig tree? He comes to that fig tree and
it's full of leaves. There's something wrong with
it though. There's no figs on it. How disappointing. He was hungry. And sometimes we have people
who make professions of faith and they seem to have all the
right words and you come to them and there's no love in them.
There's no joy. There's no peace. There's no
temperance. There's no meat. There's no fruit.
How disappointing is that? They make vain professions. They're
unfaithful. They lack the fruit and evidence
of grace and deny God. and their seeming good works
are nothing but reprobate." How sad it is we see those who we
called brethren turn from God. Isn't that sad? We've known brethren. Haven't you known brethren that
just... I've known brethren that I thought very much more mature
and more spiritual than myself, and then all of a sudden they're
gone. Gone. Sad, they turn from God,
they turn from Christ, and in every word, reprobate. Yet they
run around saying, I believe in Jesus, I believe in Jesus.
They make professions. But Paul says this, don't be
deceived. Don't be deceived. Listen, if it walks like a duck,
quacks like a duck, and swims like a duck, what is it? not a horse, it's a duck. Those who are deceived, those
who are deceived, their mind and conscience are defiled. Evil
is good, and good is evil spoken of. Their conscience are defiled.
In other words, they don't have any sense of, when they don't
love you, they don't have any sense of remorse, any compassion. There's no meekness in them.
And so Paul is looking at these ones who were seemingly strong
in the faith in Galatia, and now they exhibit no love. They exhibit no compassion. They
exhibit no grace. And what does he say? Don't be
deceived. Those people who held to the
doctrine are just as lost as those false teachers. Why? There was no grace in them.
No love. We're deceived. One thing about a man that's
deceived is this, he doesn't know he's deceived. He thinks you're deceived. And I know this, unless God opens
their eyes, they won't see it. Illustrate this, our Lord, those
who You know, that day, the judgment
is coming. Those are going to be set on their left hand, those
goats. The Lord says He's going to separate
all men. The sheep on His right hand, the goats on His left.
In that day of judgment, do you realize this? In that day of
judgment, when it comes, the goats will still be expecting
to be accepted. Even when they're standing before
the judgment, they're ready to go to heaven. They think all
is well. They're standing there, look
at those sheep over there. They ain't going nowhere. I'm going
to be the end. And in Matthew 7, 22, our Lord said, in that
day, they'll say to me, Lord, Lord, get that? They're fixing
to go to hell. And in that day, they're still
professing. Lord, Lord, have we not preached in your name?
Have we not cast out devils? And in your name done many wonderful
works. That's their confession. That's
their hope. And they thought they had a good
hope. They thought they were ready
to be accepted. The confession of the deceived
are works and experience. Well, you know, that one time
I really felt that Jesus touched my heart. That one time I weeped
and I cried and I really, really thought I repented and, you know,
if that's what you're holding on to, you're deceived. Salvation's in Christ. Holding
on to Him, receiving Him, that's salvation. Not what you experience,
not what you've done, not your religious deeds. You know, Jesus
is going to make confession that day, too. He's going to say this.
I confess to you. He said, I profess unto them
this truth. I never knew you. You that work
iniquity depart from me. That's Christ's confession. Why?
Because God's not deceived. They work, but God's not deceived. God is not mocked. So stop now. I think it's good
for us. Listen. Every one of us then
should take this heed and examine ourselves. I know this. We like to examine someone else.
But it's good for us to examine ourselves and listen to this
word. Be not deceived. I don't want to be deceived. In Psalm 139, let me turn over
there real fast, I'm gonna read this to you. Psalm 139 and verse
23, David said this, search me. Search me, O God, and know my
heart. Try me and know my thoughts and
see if there be any wicked way in me. And lead me in the way
everlasting. Search me. Be not deceived, Paul
said. You know what? I don't want to
be deceived. So what do I need? I need God to search me. I don't
need you to search me. I need God to search me. I want
God to search me. I want Him to see if there's
any wicked way in me. And you know what? Then I want
Him to lead me in the way of life. Christ. I want Him to bring
me to Christ. I want to come to Christ. I need
Christ. If I'm ever going to have any
fruit of the Spirit, I know this, it's got to be from Christ. I've
got to have Him. God would expose our deceitful
hearts and move us to confess our sins and forsake it. You
know, if I don't love you, I want to forsake that. I want to confess
that before Him and I want to do His work. I want to do His
will. And by faith, we look to Christ
and I pray that He would yield the fruit that is pleasing unto
Him. Pleasing unto Him. I want to be good for God's people. I want to do good for God's people. I want to do those things that
are pleasing to God and good for His people. May God give
us strength to exercise these graces for His own glory. Let
us be aware of this truth, though man is deceived, God is not.
God is not mocked. I tell you this, I'd rather deal
with an honest atheist than a self-righteous religious. Why? Because he mocks God. He
mocks God more than the atheist. At least the atheist is honest
with himself as to who he is. But the religious man, he's deceived.
He mocks God by his sinful works. The religious man tramples underfoot
the blood of the Son of God as a common thing and makes his
works and will equal to the offering of Christ. Isn't that horrible? That's abominable. That's mocking
God. That's saying Christ is not sufficient,
so I've got to add to it my works. He's mocking God. Then you've got others who profess
with their lips but live in sin. What is that but mocking God?
Isn't that mocking the grace of God? It is. It's mocking the grace of God.
Why? Paul said this, shall we continue in sin that grace may
abound? What? God forbid. God forbid. I know some who are who just keep
making professions, I believe in Christ, and just living in
all sorts of abominable sin, and have no guilt of conscience
over it, no stirring over it. What is that but a deceived person?
Now you listen, if you're living in sin, with no repentance, no
turning to Christ, I know this, believers see it, we do. With
all sorts of evils. One thing God always gives his
people is faith and repentance. Always. Always. He chastens us
until we can't do anything else. He whips us so good we can't
do anything else. I'll tell you what, living in
sin and saying grace, grace is doing nothing but mocking grace.
It's a mockery to grace. Let us then be assured that God
will never be mocked, He will never be ridiculed or mimicked
by unrighteous men who claim grace, but never actually possess
it. He will not be mocked by those
who claim to love Christ and live in this present evil world,
who claim to be robed in the righteousness of Christ, yet
mocking Him by living in opposition to His Word. That's
mocking him. But listen to this, Paul said
this, don't be deceived, God's not mocked. God's not mocked. Now they'll illustrate this,
the apostle uses a very simple proverb. Look at this, go back
to your text. Very simple proverb. He said, for whatsoever a man
soweth, that shall he also reap. What he's saying is, whatever
kind of seed you put in the ground is the plant you're gonna get.
Is that not easy? Anybody miss that? If I put a
tomato seed into the ground, what am I going to get? I'm not going to get an apple
tree. I'm going to get a tomato plant. If I put corn in the ground,
I'm going to get corn. Whatever seed you put in is what
you're going to get out. That's a simple proverb, anybody?
Not a farmer, but I understand that. You don't have to be a
farmer to understand that. Yet this is what the lost religious
man expects. He expects to put in the seed
of his religious labors and grow acceptance with God. That's two
different seeds. You ain't gonna do it. From his
self-proclaimed obedience, he plants that, his self-made law
and rituals, and then he expects to be accepted with God. It's absurd. It's absurd. Those who sow sin and live in
sin, but profess to be saved by grace, should not expect to receive
life, but death, but death. Why? Because all that the flesh
can yield is corruption. Look what he says, for he that
soweth to the flesh shall what? Of the flesh reap corruption. You don't get anything else.
You sow to the flesh, you're only gonna get corruption. Isn't
this true of just sin? What does sin promise? It promises joy. It promises
contentment. It promises to be satisfied.
If I have this, I'm going to get satisfaction. And you know
what it does? You sow to sin and you only get
corruption. You get misery. You get pain. You get affliction. You get no
joy or satisfaction. You sow to the flesh, you're
going to reap corruption. This is without a doubt. Now
this nature of Adam we are born to is filled with the seed of
sin, is it not? Is that not all the flesh has
is sin? A man is born of woman is a few days and full of trouble. That's just so. Scripture says man drinketh iniquity
like water. Naturally, as the sparks fly
upward, man is born to sin. That's what Job said. Now listen,
I remember when I was a kid, dad had a grinding stone and
I'd put metal on that grinding stone. Those sparks would just
go, just naturally just go up. You see, man is, he's naturally
prone to sin. That's all. It's all he can do.
And so the natural heart by nature
is corrupt. Yours and mine. Everyone made
by nature is corrupt. Listen what the psalmist said
in Psalm 53 verse 20 said the fool has said in his heart No
God, I know that's what Alec says. There is no God don't put
that there It really is intended for that the fool says this no
God The fool says I will have my
own way I Will not have this man to rule over me. I will do
as I please That's what the natural heart says yours and mine That's
what our old corruptible heart it is corrupt and has done abominable
iniquity So then there is none that do it good. That's what
the psalmist said Jesus said of the man's heart
that it's corrupt therefore it only yields corruption. He said this, if a good tree,
what kind of fruit does a good tree produce? Good fruit. But a corrupt tree brings forth
evil fruit. So what do you need? You need
a new tree. We by nature can only produce
evil fruit. So Jesus said, you make the tree
good and the fruit will be good. So we need a new tree. How foolish
and corrupt and dead in sins is the nature of man. And unless
God works a work of grace in his soul, he will never come
to Christ. He will never repent of his sins.
He will continue to sow into the flesh and shall continually
of the flesh reap corruption. Now don't be deceived to think
you're going to get anything else. Man's heart is corrupt and so
then his mind and will are corrupt and defiled. Therefore, the true
child of God, we know this, sin is mixed with everything we do.
Is that not right? Sin is mixed with all we do.
And all we can do in the flesh, no matter how commendable it
is in the sight of men, if a man continues in this, in sowing
to the lust of his flesh, he shall of the flesh reap corruption. We are not walking in the Spirit
and exercising the fruits of the new man. We are sowing then
to what? What are you sowing to? If you
will not restore your brother, if you will not receive him,
if you will not love him, what are you sowing to? You have that
old nature that's full of corruption, don't you? What are you saying
in your heart? No. Well, you're a fool. We will reap exactly what is
sown. Wages of sin is death. And here's the message of grace.
The message of God's grace is in Christ alone, and we must
believe Him. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. We who believe are not of them
that live after the flesh, though we can and do sin. It is by grace
that when we are rebuked of God, what do we do? We repent. We turn. But it's always the same with
the self-righteous man. He continually blames God, blames
anyone else but himself. He still refuses to believe on
Christ. They're deceived to hope that
their works are somehow, which are full of sin, will somehow
get them eternal life. This is the true word of God.
If you die in your sins and spend eternity in hell because you
sow the seed of sin, you will reap exactly what you sow. You
won't have nobody to blame but yourself. Nobody to blame but yourself.
Because you would not believe. You would not believe. You would
not forsake your sins and the pleasures of the world for the
salvation that is in Christ. You sow to the flesh and you
shall of the flesh reap corruption. Don't be deceived. Don't be deceived. But here's the positive for those
who are children of God. Look at this in verse 8. But he that soweth to the Spirit
shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. Now this is in no
way speaking to us of sowing good works so that we might reap
eternal life. That's not what it's saying.
Nor is it sowing good works so that we might reap temporal benefits. That's what the earthly, fleshly
believers, that's what they, that's the law. You know, that
health, wealth, and prosperity gospel. If you just keep doing
good works, and you sow love, and you sow peace, then somehow
that's going, that's sowing to the flesh. That's not sowing
to the Spirit. But every child of God that soweth to the Spirit
of God, not our works, listen, what seed are we sowing? We're
sowing to the Spirit that seed which is the work of Christ.
It is the work of Christ. And if we sow the work of Christ,
we do this by faith, by trusting Christ, by believing on Christ.
What are we doing? We're sowing to the Spirit what? He that soweth to the Spirit
shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. We reap life and
peace with God, forgiveness and righteousness because of Christ. He is the seed. In Titus 3 and verse 5 it says,
Not by works of righteousness which we have done. How are you saved? Not by works
of righteousness which we have done. We're not going to sow
to the flesh. Because we know this, it's only
going to reap corruption. You see, if we're ever to reap
life everlasting, it must be from a totally different seed
than anything I can do. That seed must be Christ. Not
by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to
His mercy He saved us. How? By the washing of regeneration. By giving us a new nature, a
holy nature, and renewing the Holy Ghost which He has shed
on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that, being
justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the
hope of eternal life, believers in Christ, so to the Spirit,
only the fruits of the Spirit that God has given us." In other
words, these fruits of the Spirit that we have, are they not the
works of Christ? They are. If I love you, where
does that come from? Does that come from me? No, it
comes from that nature which is Christ's nature. That nature
He has created inside of me is His nature. His righteousness,
His love, His joy, His peace. So if I ever love you, it's only
a product of Him. We are not deceived as to think
we are saved by grace so that we may sow to our lusts. As I've
already said, Paul already said in verse 13 of that chapter 5,
he says, don't use your liberty as a cage of the flesh. Don't
do that. True believers in Christ, we
receive the seed of the gospel on that good ground prepared
to the spirit. And as the Lord yields his fruit
in his season, even so do we sow to God all the glory. He is all our salvation. He is
all our peace. He is all our sanctification.
He is all our wisdom. He is all our redemption. Therefore, as we sow by faith
in Christ, we will continue to grow in these graces. Isn't that
wonderful? As we sow these fruits of the
Spirit, guess what? We will grow in them. I'm so
glad that there's an endless supply of love to be given. You know, if I just gave you
my love, it's limited. It's limited. But if we sow to
the Spirit, the things of the Spirit, we shall have more to
give. Using the illustration of sowing
to the Spirit, think about giving. Giving is a grace, isn't it?
Giving is a grace. It's not natural. Usually we
hoard. That's natural. Giving is not. I was reading this before that
there are three types of givers. Grudging givers, duty givers,
and thanksgivers. Grudging givers say, I have to.
Duty givers say, I ought to. And thanksgivers say, I want
to. I want to. This is true of every one that
sows to the Spirit. We want to do good works. We want to exercise these graces. I want to love you. I want the
joy of the Spirit. I want peace with God in my soul. I want meekness. I want temperance. I want faith. I want to do these things. Surely I ought to. Surely I have
to. But my heart is, I want to. I want to. That's what it is
to sow the Spirit, is that we want these graces. And we want
to exercise these graces. And we know this, that just because
we do these graces, that's not life. Our life is hid with God
in Christ. But these are exhibitions of
life. These are, you know, I'm moving
around up here, I'm moving. That's an exhibition and I'm
not dead. Loving the saints is an exhibition,
you're not dead. Wanting to serve Christ and hating
sin. These are all things that happen
to someone who's alive. And so lastly, notice that all
the sons, all that sow the seed of the Spirit, they reap the
same thing. Life everlasting. I tell you
this, I may not have as much love as you. I may not have as
much faith as you. Joy or peace, we make their variants
of these We all don't have the same measure, do we? But we have
the same plan. You're going to reap the same
thing. Life everlasting. And we know this, that when we
have done all, when we have exercised every grace that the Spirit of
God has given us, so to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit, we
know this, we confess this, we are unprofitable servants. All our good works add nothing
to the reward. But we praise God that He allows
us to be used. He allows us to serve Him. He
allows us to praise Him. He has sown the seed of grace
in our hearts. that He has put us into union
with Christ so that His works, His offering, His righteousness
are mine, and I will reap all that He has earned. And if we continue in this faith
and grace of God, it is even because we are kept by the Spirit
of God. And we shall reap all that God
has promised. So what does Paul say? As we
have therefore, I'm sorry, he says in verse nine, let us not
be weary then in well doing. You know why we're weary in love? It's because we're not doing
it by faith. It's not by faith. You're doing
it out of your own flesh. But I'll tell you this, It takes
effort to love, doesn't it? You think it's easy? No, it actually
takes determination to love. He said, don't be weary in doing.
Don't be weary in well-doing, for in due season you shall reap
if you faint not. Therefore, as we have opportunity,
therefore, let us do good unto all, especially who? the household
of faith. As we have opportunity, as I
have opportunity to love you, what should I do? Love you. As
I have opportunity to be joyful in the gospel, what should I
do? I should be joyful. As I have opportunity to be me,
then I should be me. At every opportunity, at every
opportunity, we should exercise this grace, this grace of God. The service of Christ, now listen
to me very carefully, the service of Christ is going to cost your
flesh greatly. In fact, in order to serve Christ,
you must kill your flesh. It's going to cost the flesh
greatly to be faithful, to hear the gospel, to be faithful to
give to the ministry, to be faithful to pray, to be faithful to love,
to be able to support the brethren will always be at the expense
of the flesh. Always, always. You cannot have
both. You cannot do both. Listen to
me, if you're doing both, you're after the flesh and not after
the spirit. If you're doing both, if you
think you can, you're deceived and you're already sowing to
the flesh. We can't do both. Therefore the flesh will become
weary, but the believer let us rest in hope that even though
we do struggle, we do suffer in this life. Listen to this. John said it does not yet appear
what we shall be. We rest in hope that when he
shall appear, we shall be like him. Let us then keep our eyes
fixed on the hope of eternal life, which God has promised
and cannot lie. Let us be fixed on Christ. And
what? Exercise the fruits of the Spirit.
That's what Paul's saying. Now don't be deceived. Listen,
if you don't have any fruits of the Spirit, God's not mocked. You mock Him, but He's not mocked. But if you are a true believer,
and that's what we should do is examine ourselves. Are we
true believers? Now listen, you may hold to the doctrines of
grace. Does that mean you're a true believer? Now the question
is, do you have Christ? Have you laid hold of eternal
life? Has the seed of the gospel of
God's grace given you life and faith and love and joy and peace
and meekness and difference? If He's given you those things,
what are we to do? We're to love, have joy, peace,
and meekness, and temperance, and then when we have those,
have more. And when you have those, have more. And what should
we expect by sowing these things? We should expect life everlasting.
Why? Because Christ has procured our
salvation by himself. Isn't that good? All by himself. I'm so thankful for the gospel
of God's grace. I pray God to give us such love
for one another, such meekness, considering ourselves, lest we
be tempted. May God help us to exercise these
things. Our Father, please be merciful. to your saints. Pour out your spirit to us, that
we might live in these graces that you bestowed, the glory
of Christ, for the furtherance of the gospel, for the good of
thy people. Help us at every opportunity
to do good and not be weary in these things. Forgive us when we fail. Wash
us. Set our eyes on the love of Christ
that surely constrains us from sowing to this flesh. I pray
that you do it for Christ's sake.