Now is Our Time for Doing Good

Transcript

GR 2114
03/04/2118
This is Our Time for Doing Good
Galatians 6:7-10
Gil Rugh

If you would, turn in your bibles to Galatians chapter 6. We are going to conclude the major portion of this letter verses 7 to 10, conclude the body of the letter and then we’ll have some concluding remarks and the letter to the Galatians will be finished. Paul has been emphasizing in this section of the letter, it really began in chapter 5 verse 1, about the ministry of the Holy Spirit enabling the walk of the believer. Remember the Holy Spirit is the Person of the Godhead who is the focal point of the ministry of God in our lives. Obviously, the work of Christ is basic to everything God is doing in our lives, doing in the work of salvation in the world, but when Jesus was raised from the dead and He ascended to heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit has been carrying on His particular ministry of convicting the world of sin, righteousness and judgment, by the grace of God bringing conviction to draw us to salvation through faith in Christ. He has identified us when we believe in Christ, with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection to new life. He is the One who has personally taken up residence in our lives, to control us, to direct us, to assimilate the word of God into our lives as our ultimate teacher. As John wrote in his epistle, you have no need of anyone to teach you. You have the Holy Spirit who teaches you.

That doesn’t mean God doesn’t use teachers but it ultimately is the work of the Holy Spirit, as we submit to His truth, and are instructed to build it into our lives. God’s intention is, now we walk as His children in this period of time we call the church age, under the direction and control of the Holy Spirit. The confusion that was brought to the Galatian churches was that false teachers had infiltrated among the believers in those churches and were trying to tell them the Mosaic Law was an essential part of God’s plan for them. An essential part for their salvation, which was a corruption of the gospel in its basic form, and then they tried to tell them if you’ve been saved, you need to walk in obedience to the Mosaic Law. That’s not God’s plan either.

We walk in submission, under the control of the Holy Spirit. That is the ultimate enablement, the ultimate power for our lives as the children of God. He’s drawn the contrast in this section, beginning verse 16, “walk by the Spirit; you’ll not carry out the desire of the flesh.” That’s God’s will, not submit yourself to the Mosaic Law and try to keep the commandments of the Mosaic Law and then you won’t fulfill the desires of the flesh. Your new life in Christ is lived by obeying the Spirit, allowing Him to direct and control your life in accordance with the word of God. He’s drawn the contrast between the “works of the flesh” in verses 19 and following and the “fruit that the Spirit produces,” so that there are evidences. If you’re living a life of sin, you’re living under the control of the flesh, the old man, the old nature. That’s a manifestation you’re not a believer. It doesn’t mean a believer can’t sin but you don’t live that kind of life.

The fruit of the Spirit is evident in our lives if we have been redeemed by God’s grace. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t occasions where we fail to manifest that fruit of the Spirit. That’s the tension that goes on, that’s why it’s so important for us to walk under the control of the Holy Spirit. Really, as we come to verses 7 to 10 which conclude the major body of this letter, Paul really goes back and picks up the same emphasis that he had at the end of chapter 5 with that contrast between the flesh and the Spirit and He’s going to drive home the importance of recognizing this. To summarize it, you can’t live your life in the flesh and expect you’re going to have eternal life in the presence of God. You live your life under the control of the Spirit you will manifest the character of God in your life and that’s an evidence you will have eternal life, so we come to chapter 6 verse 7. We looked at verse 6 in our last time in this chapter and the importance of the word of God in the ministry of the Spirit. So those who are taught the word support those who teach the word so that there is a growth in the word because the Spirit isn’t carrying on His ministry outside the word of God. God has given us His word. It’s the Spirit who takes that word as we are taught it and enables us to understand, to apply it to live in light of it.

Then he picks up with verse 7 and there are three really simple statements here. The first one given as a command. “Do not be deceived then God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man sows that will he also reap.” Do not be deceived, a statement that is addressed to believers on other occasions. We’ll look at one or two of those as we proceed on. We don’t want to be deceived. Now don’t deceive yourselves don’t let yourselves be deceived. Don’t deceive yourself don’t let someone else deceive you. Do not be deceived so he’s writing to Galatian churches, the churches in the region of Galatia. They need to understand sin has consequences. A life of sin has consequences. A godly life has consequences or results.

The next statement is striking in light of that command, “Do not be deceived.” He’s going to unfold it for us. Never be deluded into thinking you can mock God. Even the concept of mocking God is striking. The word we have here translated mock comes from the Greek word for the nose and it’s thumbing your nose at God. Turn up your nose, as we would express to Him. You treat Him with contempt. Now think about it. Treat God contemptuously. That’s what happens when you disregard what God says, you’re treating Him with contempt as though He’s nothing. He’s not important. He can be ignored with no consequences, so where he’s going with this, if you live your life in the flesh, characterized by sin, don’t think you can escape the consequences of that. There are consequences. You cannot live one kind of life and expect another kind of consequence. That’s what’s involved in treating God contemptuously.

People who reject the salvation provided in Christ live their lives according to their own standards or thoughts. They’re treating God contemptuously yet they think they’ll go to heaven. They think it will all work out fine, so that’s where he’s going with this. God is not mocked and that’s not just—we think of that overt statement. You know we’ll hear people in certain settings, we see it on television and they’ll say things and they shock us with the brazenness of it but this is not limited to that. Their manner of life is a mocking of God and that can be true of religious people but they’re doing it their own way. They have not submitted themselves to the truth of God and the only provision for their salvation, so their whole religious life is a life of mocking God and treating Him with contempt because they have rejected what God has said, set up their own plan and then think everything will work out fine. They become offended if they are confronted with the truth. That’s the kind of context here. God is not mocked.

I think we need to be careful. We as Christians sometimes settle into a pattern. We pick out the big sins, and that’s the terrible things. We focus on people that are more brazen in their open defiance of God and the way they will express it but God, remember, is looking at the heart which is “deceitful and desperately wicked above all things” and so this is talking about a life that is lived contemptuously toward God. Maybe a very religious life. It may look good within a certain framework as the Jews were living, as the Judaizers were proclaiming, we want to keep the Mosaic Law. Well that at least is better than the open godlessness that characterized so much of the Roman Empire. God is looking, He’s being treated with contempt. Their religious practices involved the rejection of Him. These people, who saw themselves so righteous, so good, crucified the Messiah that He sent, so we want to be careful as believers we don’t slide into that, which reduces our view of sin, which minimizes if not in what we say and the way we deal with people that maybe they’re not so bad.

Here’s how God says it, “don’t not be deceived, God is not mocked” and then he goes on to say in verse 7, “for whatever a man sows that he will also reap.” The point is, you cannot escape the consequences. That would be to mock God. You know it’s like we would look at a person who commits crimes but escapes consequences of the court. You know, I think I’m too clever to be caught. I’m too clever to be held accountable, I’m smarter. That’s why God says, you can’t escape the consequences, “whatever a man sows that he will also reap” so He’ll apply it. See He’s moving toward—you almost have this striking statement, the command, do not be deceiving yourselves. You cannot mock God and escape the consequences of treating God as being irrelevant of no consequence. In effect, you tell Him, “Don’t bother me.” You’re taken back to say it but this is what God sees in the heart of the unbeliever in rebellion against Him. Remember He refers to the unbeliever as His enemy and we before our salvation by His grace, Ephesians tells us, were the “enemies of God. We were by nature children of wrath.” In our very being and what we are and our conduct that flowed out of what we were as fallen beings. “Whatsoever a man sows he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh, will from the flesh reap corruption.”

The deeds back in chapter 5 verses 19 to 21. They’re contrary that’s not what’s true of one who in verse 18 is being “led by the Spirit but the desires of the flesh” and here we have some of what we might think of as the big sins. The major sins but you’ll note they’re all mixed together here as we talked about when we dealt with this. “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident” so these are the people sowing to the flesh. This is where they live their life. This is how they live, this is what they do and you have “immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry sorcery.” I mean those are serious things but you’ll note also “strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions” and as we noted, we tend to categorize. These all come from the same kind of heart.

Remember Jesus said, Mark 7 for example, it’s “out of the heart that these things come” and Jeremiah 17 says, “it’s the heart that is deceitful and desperately wicked and only God can search the heart and know something of the depths of its depravity.” Amazing how sometimes people, who profess to be believers, can practice some of these things but think they’re all right. I never did any of those big bad sins. You know I never embezzled from my employer. I never was involved in immorality. I don’t get drunk and mistreat my family. I’m not that kind of person, but at the same time, they’re not willing to bow in submission to God and place their faith in Christ. No, they’re saying I don’t need what God has provided for me. I’m fine as I am but the issue is sin and all have sinned and “There’s none righteous, no not one,” as we are evaluated by God as Romans 3 quotes from the Old Testament passages. We see ourselves as God sees us so those who sow to the flesh, are those kinds of things mentioned here. That’s where they are. That’s what they do, so that’s what it means to sow to his flesh.

Here’s what they’re doing and what they’re doing will result, so in verse 8 of chapter 6, the “one who sows to the flesh will from the flesh reap corruption.” A word that means destruction, corruption, decay. You can see that’s the culmination. You sow to the flesh, the flesh produces the crop, and the result is corruption, destruction. It will stand opposed to eternal life at the last half of the verse. “The one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit, reap eternal life” so you see the contrast. You’re living your life under the control of the flesh, for self, and living your life under the control of the Spirit, for the glory of God results in eternal life. Two life styles, two results. Now be careful. Don’t say, well then I’m going to clean up my life so I can have eternal life. No, He’s already made clear that the gospel is salvation, on the basis of, God’s grace by faith.

Come back to Galatians chapter 2 for example, verse 20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” The foundation is we’ve died with Christ; we’ve been raised with Christ to newness of life. If that’s really happened, now you’re living a new life. You’re not trying to live a new life to be saved because the penalty for your sin is death, so you must be identified with Christ in His death. That’s what the baptism of the Spirit is. Romans 6 develops it. We were identified by the Spirit with Christ in His death, so when Christ died, we died. When Christ was raised from the dead, we were, that was a spiritual transaction. We were all baptized by the Spirit when we believed in Christ, into the body of Christ, so “I have been crucified with Christ it’s no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life, which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me,” so you see the faith that I placed in Christ for my salvation is now the beginning of a life of faith. Remember, that’s what we dealt with when we came into chapter 3.

You know we’re saying, well okay, I agree it’s salvation by faith alone but now we live in obedience to the Mosaic Law. No, that’s what He said, “Did you receive the Spirit,” verse 2 of chapter 3, “by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?” Well when you heard, you believed, you had faith. “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now perfected by the flesh?” Now you’re going back under your own strength? No, the Spirit, who brought you to salvation by faith in Christ, now is the Spirit who indwells you to enable you, to empower you, to lead you, so we’re not talking about cleaning up your life and if you lead a good life, then you’ll go to heaven, but there is a manifestation of our new life in Christ. We cannot separate our sanctification from our salvation but you cannot put sanctification in front of salvation. We don’t clean up our life to live a life that is pleasing to God, so that He will declare us righteous. No, it’s the other way. You must be born again. Now you have new life to live is the point that he is making.

Over in chapter 5 of Galatians. Look at verse 21, the end of it. He lists beginning in verse 19, “the deeds of the flesh are evident,” so you wonder am I a child of God? Am I a believer, have I been made new in Christ? Well look at your life. Oh well, there are a lot of these things I don’t do. Some people think that it’s alright to live with strife and jealousy and outbursts of anger and disputes and dissensions and factions and envying as long as I don’t do some of these things at least the worst of them, I’m as I evaluate it, I’m all right. Nobody’s perfect, but you’ll note what He says at the end. “I forewarn you,” verse 21, “just as I have forewarned you, those who practice such things” and that’s sticky. It doesn’t mean a believer is not capable of any of these things, but if that is where you live your life, you will not inherit the kingdom of God. That’s where we’re going in Revelation. If you’re not part of the kingdom, you’re going to hell.

There are only two ends. We talk about heaven, but the eternal kingdom when we get to Revelations 21, is in the presence of God who dwells in the new earth. Heaven comes down to earth, if you will. You won’t inherit the kingdom, so it is a matter, of what is an evidence of a life that has been changed. The danger, young people raised in a Christian home, attend the church, go through, raised and all of this maybe even make a decision, but really their heart hasn’t changed but they’re trying to live a life that is like a Christian should live. The first thing you want to settle, have I really trusted Christ and been made new, so that He can enable me to live the life that will be pleasing to Him.

I mentioned Revelation 21. Why don’t you come over to Revelation 21. We’ll eventually get here unless the Rapture occurs and we’ll get here, but we won’t get here in our study of Revelation if the Rapture happens. Chapter 21, “those who overcome” verse 7 “will inherit these things,” what He’s promised, the new heaven the new earth, with God residing. His very presence there but look at verse 8, “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers idolaters and all liars,” we talked about lying a little bit in our study of Revelation in chapter 14. “Their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” and that was the subject at the end of chapter 20, so you see the description of the same kinds of characteristics of the life. There are characteristics of those who have been made new in Christ.

Come back to Galatians chapter 6 the contrast at the end of verse 8. The one “who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” That’s living your life under the control of the Spirit, being led by the Spirit, walking by--back in chapter 5 verse 16, “walk by the Spirit you will not carry out the desires of the flesh.” Verse 18, “if you are led by the Spirit, you’re not under the Law.” Verse 25 of chapter 5, “if we live by the Spirit, let us walk” and there the word we noted remember was keeping in step, keeping in line “with the Spirit.” He’s the One who directs and controls our walk and as we take in the word of God with a desire that the Spirit of God apply it to us with a commitment to live in light of it.

You know it is so sad for people who are trying their best to lead a Christian life, as they understand it but they don’t have the Spirit of God. It’s a pathetic way to try to live your life. It’s a relentless pressure, I have to do this, I have to be like this, but there’s no way except stopping and saying, “God I’m a sinner I can’t do it. I cannot be pleasing to You until I’m made new by You.” That’s what Christ was telling Nicodemus in John 3. Nicodemus, you’re a teacher of the Jews of the Law but “you must be born again” or you’ll never see the kingdom. You cannot clean your life up and make yourself acceptable, even teaching the Law can’t make you pleasing to God. You have to be born again. The issue, the dividing issue and then we have the Spirit of God now to direct, control us and lead us.

Come back to Romans 8. There are a number of passages but Romans 8 is one we looked at earlier. God is gracious. He repeats Himself for us so as we study the word, we find the emphasis coming back, further elaborated or explained in Romans chapter 8 verse 5. “Those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. Those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit,” yet it is hard to stay on that focus, but when you are controlled by the flesh, that’s where you’re interests are. It’s hard to try to devote a life to the things of the Spirit when you’re of the flesh. Those who are of the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. “The mind set on the flesh is death. The mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.” You see the same kind of contrast. If you sow to the flesh, you reap corruption, destruction. The mind set on the flesh is death. You can call it death, corruption destruction. The death is the second death ultimately, which Romans 20 says, being cast into hell. This is the second death, separation from God for eternity.

Verse 7 “the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God,” it does not subject itself to the law of God, it is not even able to do so. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God, that’s why we say the unbeliever never does anything that is pleasing to God. It never comes from a heart that is submitted to Him, that is bound before Him. That doesn’t mean the unbeliever does everything he could in overt opposition to God but even the best of his actions are selfishly driven. Oh, isn’t it good that he gives money to help people in need? Isn’t it good that he did this? On the human level, yes, we’re glad for God’s common grace that restrains the full overt manifestation of the bottomless depravity of the human heart, but they’re not doing it out of a desire to please and honor the true and living God.

If they were, they would bow before Him in acknowledging their sin and guilt and hopeless condition and place their faith in Christ. Sometimes believers begin to get confused and this happened when we had “Evangelicals and Catholics Together.” I heard someone saying that you know one of the things that had been done in recent history among evangelicals is to realize that Catholics and Evangelicals aren’t enemies. Well wait a minute; you cannot be a friend of the world and a friend of God. We have two different ways of salvation. The fact that we might agree on certain moral principles or things like that doesn’t change anything. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God and everyone is in the flesh until he experiences God’s redemptive grace, is crucified with Christ, and is raised to newness of life and so he says in verse 9.

“However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him,” so there are only two kinds of people. The people that have the Spirit of God dwelling in them and those who don’t. And how do you get the Spirit of God dwelling in you? By placing your faith in Christ, being made new by the power of God. For the gospel is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” God’s salvation is available to everyone but its power does not work in a life until a person believes in that gospel. Not a corrupted form of the gospel. Remember Paul dealt with that in Galatians 1, “if anyone teaches another gospel than the one I have preached, he’s anathema,” cursed to hell! Well, what did the Judaizers do? We looked at that. Well you must believe in Christ and also keep the Law to be saved. Paul says they’re anathema, cursed to hell! You must believe in Christ and be baptized to be saved. They’re anathema. You must believe in Christ and keep the sacraments to be saved. Anathema! You add anything to faith in Christ, anathema!

Oh, I thought we were talking about good works. You are because when God makes you new, we become partakers of the divine nature as Peter says. The Spirit of God dwells in us. You died with Christ, are made new, and you think your life doesn’t change? We go on the same way. We’re born again. These analogies are used, these pictures are used to impact us, and when we minimize the greatness of the salvation God provides in Christ, we begin then to blur things and people that look good and have a relatively good life are probably going to be all right too. Then we become confused, and then pretty soon the confusion becomes such that you don’t know who’s a believer, and who’s an unbeliever, and soon, the church is pretty well comprised of unbelievers.

The line is drawn clearly and those who don’t have the Spirit don’t belong to Christ. Those who have the Spirit belong to Him and if you have the Spirit in you then the righteousness provided for your salvation in Christ will also impact you. Now your life will be characterized by righteousness, not perfection yet. There’re stumbles, and “if any man sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” and if it weren’t for that ongoing cleansing, none of us would be saved. We’d have lost it before the day was over on the day we trusted Christ, because the wrong thought, the wrong words would have come, the wrong… but God is gracious. But my lifestyle is different, so come back to Galatians.

Paul is emphasizing this. To teach anything else is to mock God, to imply that you can treat God contemptuously, sow to the flesh and yet claim to be a believer. In my years in the pastorate, I have talked to people. It always comes back to this, you come here and sit and tell me you’re living a life of sin. You have been living in this life of sin and right now, you’re telling me you have no intention to stop. Why would you say you’re a believer? Oh, I know I’m saved, I know I’ve trusted Christ. How do you know that? How are you so arrogant to say you’re right and God’s wrong. You’re treating God contemptuously. He said if you’re living that kind of life, you don’t belong to Him.

Let’s look at the fruit of the Spirit and see what there is in your life. I’m not saying a believer can’t, you know, be there talking and he’s sinned, she’s sinned, it happens. You can’t sit here and a life lived like that--but I know I’m a believer. I meet people who haven’t been in a bible believing church for years but they’ll say, Oh yeah I’m saved but you don’t have to go to church just because you’re saved. You know I can study the word at home. There’s an element of truth to that but God says, don’t forsake the assembling of yourselves together. I’m concerned that He says He saved you and put you into a body and you need the fellowship and input of the gifts of the other members of the body to grow, and you’re telling me you can treat God contemptuously and what He says doesn’t apply to you and yet you claim to belong to Him? Something’s wrong here! We feel like, well, we can’t, you know, sit in judgment, well; there’s a certain kind of judgment we can sit in. Sometimes we get confused. We ought to have it sorted out. If you’re going to live in sin that tells us where you are.

Okay, come back to Galatians chapter 6. We agree on this. Gil you’ve been telling us things we know, we know, we know. I think in your old age that you’re getting repetitive. Well I was repetitive in my young age. Some of you have been here through that. You know why this needs repeated. Look at verse 9; “let us not lose heart in doing good.” The danger is, we wear out, we wear down. We get weary, it is a battle, there is a war. Remember we were told to “put on the full armor of God.” Paul had to write to Timothy and remind Timothy, God “has not given us a Spirit of timidity.” You have to step up, stir up the fire of the gift that God gave you. You know the danger is, we lose some of that passion. We get weary. “Let us not lose heart in doing good.” This is the point, “for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.” Doing good is the same thing as sowing to the Spirit in verse 8. The one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life, so let’s not grow weary in doing good in the things the Spirit would have us do, in obedience and carrying out God’s will as revealed in His word.

Many of you have been believers for some time and you know we can get weary. You just get tired of it. You know I’m not giving up but you know I’m just sort of backing off. It’s amazing how we’ve seen Christians are satisfied with less. Shorter sermons, less serious study of the word, less study of the word, because you know, my life’s busy. You know I think I’ve learned a lot and no, let us not grow weary in doing good. In doing, what the Spirit of God would have us do. That involves chapter 6 verse 1. “If anyone is caught in a trespass, we must be involved in restoring such a one.” Verse 2 we “must be bearing one another’s burdens” and what he’s talked about in Galatians, there’re doctrinal conflicts that go on. There are personal issues, back in chapter 5 verse 15, “biting and devouring.” Oh no, another—I remember someone telling me years ago. You know sometimes it’s hard for me to enjoy the quiet times in our church because I am always sort of tense about what coming up next and there always is a next.

You know the devil doesn’t go away, the flesh doesn’t keep from wanting to assert itself and sometimes you just figure, you know, I’ve shared with you. I had a person that just came in and told me, I appreciated his honesty but I didn’t appreciate where he was going with it. I just don’t want to be part of the conflicts anymore. I’m taking my family someplace where we won’t have this. Well how am I going to follow Christ if it involves taking up my cross and following Him, and I have to be a good soldier and I have to have the full armor of God? You know what? We sing about eternity, that’s what He’s telling us. We’re going to reap, there is a kingdom. You know my retirement plan is not here and there I won’t be retired and doing nothing but all the activity God has planned for me will be joyous and a blessing, so don’t get weary in doing what God would have you do. Don’t wear out, don’t get tired and you’ll note, come back to chapter 6.

Paul mentions himself, “let us not lose heart.” You know Paul’s had a difficult life, he has a difficult ministry. The Galatians are just adding to that difficulty, with the problems he has to help straighten out, but he just can’t give up on them. We’re in this together, we’re involved with one another. That’s how chapter 6 started out, some are going to stumble. I just can’t say, well we don’t need them. I have burdens to bear I can’t bear their burdens. Now wait a minute, we “don’t lose heart in doing good” and I have the Spirit to enable me to do everything He wants me to do and every believer and Paul includes himself has to be careful we “don’t grow weary.” Do I have the same passion, the same zeal for Him and pleasing Him and serving Him and you’ll note there’s a condition here, “do not lose heart in doing good, in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.”

You know it involves what we call the perseverance of the saints. By God’s grace, we do endure but you know we can lose rewards by not being faithful. Paul warned the Corinthians about that in 1 Corinthians chapter 3. You know we can have works that are burned up and have nothing, because pretty soon we think well; I’ve earned the right to live a little bit like the world. For the world, the goal is what to get to the place—you know sometimes Marilyn and I when we want to become mindless for a little bit of time, we’ll watch something on the house channel and you know beach life. People talk about, we’ve worked hard, now we’re looking forward and they talk about on a beach and we’ll say to each other, is that what we would want to do? Just go sit on the beach, watch the waves and do nothing. I’d be restless. Is that what life is about for us? You know we’re supposed to be in warfare until the last day because you know what? We have eternity of ease from all stress, all pressure, all conflict, just serving the Lord and being active about what He has prepared for us forever, so “do not lose heart in doing good.”

There are several passages that use a similar expression but just to go to one, 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 verse 13. “But as for you brethren, do not grow weary of doing good” and they had conflicts within and conflicts without. The church at Thessalonica was a church that had to go through suffering and persecution and then they had other issues of lazy Christians and so on that he talks about here. He has to encourage them. Brethren, don’t grow weary of doing good and then you’ll have to help Christians who stumble, that’s the next couple of verses. You’ll have to deal with the unbelievers opposing you, and you’ll have to deal with the lazy believers leading an undisciplined life but don’t grow weary in doing good and doing good is doing what the Spirit would lead us to do as God’s people. Come back to chapter 6, “in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary” and the last part of verse 9, “the time of harvest will come.” We are to endure. You know there are times I’ve thought by the time I got to this stage of my life and ministry--this age, things settle down, everything gets smoothed out, everybody’s learned the word, we’re just moving along. You could put it on cruise control, then somebody pulls in front of you with a big truck and you’re no longer on cruise control.

Look at Hebrews chapter 12 this not growing weary but keeping on, chapter 12 verse 1. He has given us all the examples of Old Testament saints who persevered, who didn’t grow weary, who stayed with it, “so let us lay aside every encumbrance the sin, which so easily entangles us. Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame”—now what? “He sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” I’m just discouraged, you know I’m just discouraged, I’ve lost heart, I’m weary.

Well, consider Christ, you know the best is yet before you. The reward is in the future. We expect the reward now after X amount of time of being faithful, I expect God will in this life do this. He never said that, the end of Paul’s life was execution but that’s not out of the normal. What was the end of his Lord’s life? Crucifixion. It’s not for us in this life, so he goes on, come down to verse 4. “You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin;” you have forgotten the exhortation. Here’s the danger we have we forget certain portions of the word. We go over it, over it, and over it and over it, something comes up and it’s as if we never heard anything like that it just goes out the window.

Like we tell our kids sometimes, how many times did I tell you? I know but I forgot. We’re like that spiritually. You’ve forgotten the exhortation that is addressed to you as sons, verse 5. “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him. Those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, He scourges every son whom He receives.” It’s for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as sons. It’s not the discipline of punishment but the discipline of development. As James writes, “count it all joy when you fall in various kinds trials because that builds endurance.” We want to mature, we’re not hothouse Christians. Part of what we do in raising our children is what? We bring them along and sometimes we have to keep our hands off and let them suffer, let them struggle. They’re learning, they’re growing, God brings trials and difficulties into our lives so what? I learn to trust Him more. I learn to rely upon Him.

I can’t handle this, I don’t know how to handle this but Lord you can handle it. You can give me the strength to handle it. You’ll give me the wisdom. I grow, what happens is we forget what the Lord says to us. That’s why it’s repeated; that’s why we keep going over it. I have to build it into my mind. Like Paul said, let us not grow weary. Paul includes himself. This is part of our life. Verse 11, “all discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful, but to those that have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness,” more of God’s character seen in us. More of the fruit of the Spirit seen in us, more of the ability to handle adversity, difficulty and trials in a way that manifests God’s word in our lives, so we “run with endurance. We don’t lose heart and we’re laying up treasures in heaven” that’s what we’re talking about, you think we’re going to be walking the streets of the new Jerusalem in the very presence of the eternal God and say, “no, I wish I had relaxed more. I wish I had taken more time to do nothing.”

Come back to Galatians 6. He deals with this. You remember, “do not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we reap if we don’t grow weary” and those who give out, bale out lose rewards and some demonstrate that they never were saved, and some end up with the works they have done being consumed, yet still saved as 1 Corinthians 3. “So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who are of the household of faith.” While we have time, remember we will reap in due time, verse 9, so now is the time of sowing. This is our time. It is not well this time comes up here this is the time we have to live our lives in obedience to God’s will in submission to the Spirit. This is our time. It will pass. Someday life will be over. What we are to be occupied with now—let us do good to all people. Do they deserve it, are they a believer an unbeliever. I want to manifest the presence of the Spirit of God in my life in every situation.

Well, I’ve this boss--you don’t know what they’re like. It’s hard. Well do good to them, manifest the fruit of the Spirit in your dealing with them. Remember Jesus said if you treat those who treat you kindly and good, what reward do you expect? That’s what the unbeliever does, you be nice to me I’ll be nice to you. You don’t treat me well I won’t treat you well, tit for tat. No, do good to all men. My life is simplified. It doesn’t matter what the unbeliever is like, the unbelievers I have to deal with, I have to manifest God’s character, “the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience.” I come and say I can’t deal with this, so and so, this person this situation, I can’t handle it.

What’s that got to do with how you handle it? That person’s not being what they should be, now what’s that to do with you being what you should be? Well if they would change, I could then be—well wait a minute, that’s not what God says either. You manifest His character in every situation. I complicate my life as an excuse for me not to do what God says I have to do. What does how you treat me have to do with how I function? What does what an unbeliever does to you have to do with you and your response? What does Peter write? How did Christ handle it when He was crucified? He didn’t curse them; no words against them come out.

Well, I can’t handle it. Well then, back up, you can’t handle it; let’s talk about your relationship to Christ. First, you want to be sure that you’re a believer. Maybe the pressure is revealing your character. You know pressure does one of two things, it reveals character and it produces character. First, let’s not take for granted you’re saved. Are you sure you’ve trusted Christ and have the Spirit indwelling you because I can understand if you’ve not been saved, you don’t have the Spirit of God dwelling in you, you can’t do it, you’re right. But if you have trusted Christ and the Spirit of God dwells in you, it’s not a matter of you can’t, you just don’t want to. You want God to change the situation, you want God to change that person. Then I will be this loving, joyous at peace with patience, kindness, goodness and faithfulness as 5:22 says as fruit of the Spirit. No, while we have opportunity, this is our time. While we have time, this is the time God’s given us.

We read about the saints in other situations and other times and that’s great, I want to be encouraged by that but this is the time, I have to live it. How am I doing? While we have time, let us do good to all people, so I’m going to manifest the fruit of the Spirit even in dealing with the unbeliever, even the unfair unbeliever. Lord, if you’d change him I could be a testimony to him. Maybe I want you to be a testimony to him in his unchanged state and I want you to grow in learning how to be that testimony. Change my husband, change my wife, change my kids, change my boss, Lord change me. As we have opportunity, “let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith,” fellow believers.

We don’t have time to go to other passages but you know our special responsibility—we can’t even handle it among believers. Believers get unglued. This is what Paul is concerned about back in chapter 5 verse 15. You bite and devour one another you consume one another. How is that manifesting love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control when you’re at each other tearing each other apart? We’re to be doing what the Spirit would have us do in manifesting His work in our life with all people, but especially among the family of God, that’s the household of faith and yet sadly that’s not the way it goes. Well, yeah, that church, they’re always fighting about something with one another, well they did this, they did that. You know you come back; the one I will give an account for is me, how am I doing in the time God has given me? All right, let me take a few minutes to run through some points that I’ve put together on these verses.

1. We are not to be deceived by thinking God can be mocked.
So, for all of us, we want to be careful our thinking about God is accurate. I don’t want to deceive myself in any way. If I’m saying, I can’t handle this situation I can’t deal with this person, I can’t function like God would have me function as long as they’re like this. Well what am I doing? I’m telling God what He says is not true. You put me in a situation and I can’t do what You would have me do in this situation. Is that not mocking God? I think I’m telling God He didn’t tell the truth, so don’t be deceived, thinking God can be mocked.

2. We will reap what we sow. That’s the principal that God has set down. You’re not saved by what you do but what you do is a manifestation of who you are. You either belong to Him or you don’t. I’m sadly concerned that sometimes, people may be manifesting that they don’t belong to the living God. Ultimately, only God sees the heart but we paper over persistence in the flesh. I had someone tell me, a very close relative said, it’s a life of bitter hatred but insists he’s a believer. I mean, how can, this be? So we reap what we sow.

3. Those who live by the flesh are going to destruction.

4. Those who live by the Spirit are going to eternal life. Aren’t you glad God changes us on the inside?

5. We must not become weary in doing God’s work, as a local church, each of us individually. You know we may have been at it for 50 years but we can’t grow weary in doing God’s work.

6. We will be rewarded if we persevere. And that’s where we’re going to the ultimate reward, well done good and faithful servant. We can endure anything; go through anything because that’s the ultimate goal, honored in His presence.

7. We are to be ready to do good to all people. This is the time for us to manifest God’s work in our lives. This is the opportunity we have. When I stand in His presence, I can’t go back and relive my life. The days that go by here can’t be retrieved and no sense in bemoaning my yesterdays. All I can do is be committed for today and when tomorrow comes, for tomorrow.

8. We are to be especially concerned to do good to fellow believers.
We don’t start there, we have to back up and say, “Where am I spiritually?” I can’t put up with these people; I can’t get along with them. We’re all God’s children God is our Father we’re His family. He’s put us together, we are to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of love, I can’t do it. Then I have to back up, why can’t I do it? Well it’s either because I’ve never been redeemed and don’t have the Spirit or I’m a child of God who decided I don’t want to submit to what God wants me to do. I’m unwilling to do it in this situation and until something changes I will not manifest what the Spirit does. Now I’m in a real situation here, so we want to take this truth, apply it and live it out. This is our time.

Let’s pray together: Thank You Lord for Your word thank You for Your grace. Lord we are in awe that You’ve call us to Yourself that You have cleansed us made us new, given us You’re Spirit and Lord in this time in which we live we are called to do Your will, to have the Spirit lead us, control us, produce Your character in us in every situation. Lord pray that we will take these truths to our hearts individually. If we’re honest Lord, we come up with excuses. We’re not doing what we should because of what someone else has done because of the circumstances we’re in and Lord in saying that we are denying Your sufficiency, Your provision Your promises. Lord, we believe what You’ve said; we believe You’ve made every provision for us. You’ve given us everything necessary to live a life of godliness and by Your grace we want to do that. May that be true of us in the days of the week before us, we pray in Christ’s name. Amen.


















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