The Iron Law of Sowing and Reaping (Galatians 6:7-8)

Open your Bibles back to Galatians chapter 6 please. Galatians chapter 6. And we're going to focus our attention on verses 7 and 8. Galatians chapter 6 verses 7 and 8. I'll be reading out of the LSB, the Legacy Standard Bible this morning. "Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. But the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life." Verse 7 there is sometimes referred to as the law of sowing and reaping. In fact, the title of this morning's message is the Iron Law of Sowing and Reaping.

The Iron Law of Sowing and Reaping. I added the word iron in there because there are different, more than one kind of law actually. There are some laws that can be violated. They're like traffic laws, criminal laws. There might be consequences for violating or breaking those laws, but they're broken all the time, aren't they? Some of you might have broken some traffic laws on your way here this morning. I hope not. You don't have to confess those at the moment. But there are other kinds of laws that cannot be broken. There's a big three dollar word for that and it's the word inviolable. Inviolable.

If a law is inviolable, it means it's unbreakable. It cannot be violated. It cannot be broken. Such a law is incapable of being violated or broken. The best example is the law of gravity. The law of gravity is totally inviolable. It's impossible to violate the law of gravity. There might be conditions under which the effects of the law of gravity can be lessened to an extent or altered a little, like in outer space, for instance. But the law remains in place and in force. Think of it like this.

If you were to walk outside this church building, climb up on top of it, and jump off, the law of gravity would take effect with a quickness, whether you believed in it or not. It's inviolable. The law of gravity is an iron law, if you will. In the same way that the law of gravity cannot be violated, the law of sowing and reaping, the iron law of sowing and reaping, is also totally inviolable or unbreakable. Let's read verse 7 again. Verse 7 says, "Do not be deceived; God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap." That's an inviolable or iron law that cannot be broken. It is always true. It's always true.

In that way, it's like the law of gravity, but it's different than the law of gravity in an important other way. And that is that the law of gravity only applies to the physical world. But the law of sowing and reaping not only applies to the physical world, but in the realm of morality and the realm of relationships, and it applies spiritually too. In the physical world, think about agriculture. If you're planting a garden, what you sow is what you reap, right? What you plant is what you harvest. And I love that there is an exactness to that, a very high level of specificity to it.

If you plant a kernel of corn, for example, it's not just that you don't harvest a cat or a ball peen hammer. No, it's more specific than that. It's not just that if you sow corn, you reap a vegetable of some kind instead of a fruit, maybe broccoli instead of an apple tree. No, if you plant a kernel of corn, what do you get? Corn. If you plant corn, you get corn. Now, granted, sometimes it seems when you plant corn, you get worms, but that's another discussion. The worms come later. And when you sow corn, you reap corn. When you sow broccoli, you reap broccoli.

So the law of sowing and reaping is true in the physical realm, and it's always true in the physical realm. What about in the realm of morality? What happens when a man continually sows anger into his heart? What does that man reap eventually? Bitterness, huh? I mean, if you sow anger, you don't reap happiness. I promise you. What about dishonesty? If a person continually sows dishonesty, do you think that he's going to ever reap trust? Nope. A person who continually tells even so-called little white lies will reap a harvest of distrust. Nobody's going to trust such a person.

I'm sure you can think of other examples, but the law of sowing and reaping is in force in the realm of morality. How about regarding relationships? Husbands, if you continually sow discouragement into your wives or your children or both, do you imagine you'll reap anything good? No, sir. The iron law of sowing and reaping says you will not. What you will reap is either divorce or a wife who is beaten down and deeply scarred or broken and kids who grow to hate your guts. The good news is that the law works both ways, though.

Sir, I assure you that if you sow encouragement into your wife and children, you will reap a harvest of people who love you and honor you and who have strength of character and confidence to face the world. Ladies, if you sow respect and encouragement into your husbands, you will reap a man who is more likely to step up and assume the role that God intended for him, which we've been learning about in Pastor Chris's series in Ephesians 5. It's the iron law of sowing and reaping, and it applies to relationships just like it applies to the physical world and to the realm of morality.

It also applies spiritually, and it's just as unbreakable in the spiritual realm as it is in any realm. And that's what Paul is really concerned with here. The spiritual application of this iron law of sowing and reaping, and he specifies that in verse 8. Let's read those two verses together again. Verse 7, "Do not be deceived; God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.

For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption; but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life." Now I want to spend our remaining time this morning examining these two verses within this spiritual context. In fact, within the very specific context of the rest of Paul's letter to the Galatians. But before we dive into that, I just want to point out that this iron law of sowing and reaping is mentioned even throughout the Old Testament. This is not something new. Don't try to turn to these passages, just write down the references and listen as I read them.

First in Job chapter 4 verse 8, Job 4, 8, the Bible says, "According to what I have seen, those who plow wickedness and those who sow trouble harvest it." You see it there? You reap what you plow and what you sow. Proverbs 1.31 says, "So they shall eat of the fruit of their way and be satisfied with their own devices." The fruit of their way is just another way of saying, the harvest of their planting. You see that? Later in Proverbs chapter 11 verse 18 says, "The wicked earns deceptive wages, but he who sows righteousness gets a true reward." And then in the little book of Hosea, a couple of neat references, actually three.

First is chapter 8 verse 7, the first part of the verse. Hosea 8 verse 7, the first part of that verse says, "For they sow the wind and they reap the whirlwind." Hosea 10, 12, the first part of verse 12, "So with the view to righteousness reap in accordance with loving kindness." And then the very next verse, Hosea 10.13, "You have plowed wickedness, you have reaped injustice, you have eaten the fruit of deception." So Paul isn't introducing something new here in Galatians chapter 6. He's simply restating a law that has been stated over and over elsewhere in the Old Testament, and I'm sure there are probably more than the ones that I found.

Something else I want to mention before we examine the verses themselves more closely is something that Brother John O. Sims points out about this iron law of sowing and reaping, and that is that you not only reap what you sow, but you also reap more than you sow, and you reap longer than you sowed. Now all three statements are easily verified in the physical realm, right? We've already seen that you reap what you sow. If you plant corn, you don't reap a watermelon, you reap corn. And Brother John O. correctly points out that you reap more than you sow. We know that too, don't we?

You plant one kernel of corn and we get an ear of corn that's filled with potentially hundreds of kernels of corn. Sometimes you even get more than one ear filled with hundreds of kernels of corn, right? You reap what you sow and you reap more, sometimes a lot more than what you sowed. But lastly, Brother John O. points out that you always reap longer than you sowed. And the best illustration I can think of on top of my head is Louisiana Purple Pod green beans. Assuming the soil is ready to be planted, it only takes a few minutes to plant even a long row of green beans.

And if the Lord grants a good season, you might be picking green beans for that row for months here in the South. Even if you have to till the ground, make the row, amend the soil and all of that before you actually plant the beans, however long all that takes is still only a fraction of the time that you will be reaping a harvest off of that row. You reap what you sow, you reap more than you sow and you reap longer than the time it took you to sow. So it's easy to see that in the physical realm. All three of Brother John O.'s observations are true.

But you need to know that those same principles are true in the realms of morality and relationships and in the spiritual realm. Not only do you reap what you sow in those areas, as we've always discussed, but you also reap more than you sowed and you reap longer than you sowed. If you sow anger, the effects of that anger are multiplied just like corn. Men, one little outburst of unrighteous anger can affect so many people and you might find yourself reaping the consequences for years and years, potentially for generations even. And it's the same with sin, isn't it?

One little sin can have such far reaching effects, multiplied effects, not only for generations but for eternity, for unbelievers. You reap what you sow, you reap more than you sow and you reap longer than you sowed. I'm thankful for Brother John O.'s wisdom there. Now let's dive into the verses themselves. Look again at verse seven. "Do not be deceived. God is not mocked.

For whatever a man sows, this he will also reap." Paul first says to the Galatians here, "Do not be deceived." John MacArthur points out that the construction of the Greek language indicates that he's telling them really to stop being deceived or do not be deceived any longer. The Galatians had shown that they had been deceived and were being deceived already. In chapter three verse one, Paul says they were actually bewitched. Well, what were they being deceived about and how were they being deceived? We're going to flesh out the nature of that deceit a bit more here in a few weeks on July 2nd, Lord willing.

But for now, suffice it to say that from the very beginning of Paul's ministry, he was followed everywhere he went by a group of Judaizers. Those were Jews who had kind of sort of accepted that Jesus was the Messiah, but for various reasons that we'll talk more about in a few weeks, they insisted that Gentile believers also had to be circumcised and follow the ceremonial laws of Moses to be really saved. Apparently, they convinced a significant number of the Galatian believers of such heresy or if not outright convinced them, at least caused them to be troubled about whether their demands were true.

And here's the thing, if we're honest with ourselves as humans, we have to understand the attractiveness of that deceit. What the Judaizers were proposing was attractive to our human flesh. Why? Because we want so badly to be the masters of our own destiny, don't we? We want so badly to be able to say that we had a part in our salvation. Our flesh yearns for recognition. Our flesh, our pride, has a hard time swallowing the fact that salvation is by grace and not by our own efforts. We'd probably be okay if salvation was 99% God's doing and 1% something we had to do to get us across the finish line.

And so the Galatians bought the deceit or they were on the verge of buying it. Now John MacArthur points out the Galatians had deceit flying at them from three sources. And it turns out that we all face, they're the same three sources of deceit that we all face, believers and unbelievers alike really. They were first deceived by their own flesh, their hearts specifically. They were deceived by Satan and they were deceived by the Judaizers who were false teachers. It's a tale as old as time as the song goes. The Galatians were deceived by their own hearts, by the devil and by false teachers.

Jeremiah 17 9 says the heart is more deceitful than all else. Galatians 6 3 Paul says if anyone thinks he is something, this is right above where we started reading, if anyone thinks he is something when he's nothing, he deceives himself. 1 John 1 8 says if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Our own hearts are a key source of deceit, especially when the deceit involves something that we think can make us look good, which is what those Galatian hearts were thinking.

The Judaizers were laying it on thick and if the Galatian believers would only give in to their demands, they could avoid being persecuted by the hardcore Pharisees and other Jews. Think about this. How easy is it to give in just a tiny bit to avoid peer pressure, to avoid persecution? I'm afraid many have compromised the faith just to be accepted by the world or their neighbors or their peers.

Sadly, many pulpits in this country this very morning right now are filled with men who have given in to the deceit of their own selfish hearts, the deceit of Satan and the attractive deceit of false doctrine that's quote just a little bit false so that the world might accept them and speak well of them. They either forgot or ignore the words of Christ in Luke 6 26 where he says, "Woe to you when all men speak well of you for their fathers were doing the same things to the false prophets." And by the way, if a doctrine is just a little bit false, it's all the way false.

There's no such thing as a little bit false, kind of like there's no such thing as a little bit pregnant. You either are or you ain't. If a doctrine is mostly true, then that doctrine is totally false. So we must guard against the deceitfulness of our own hearts, even those of us who've been born again. Our flesh is still hanging on even though it's been crucified with Christ. Even though we are a new creation, that old man raises his head up and causes us trouble more often than we would prefer. We won't turn there this morning for the sake of time, but but go study Romans chapter 7 to see Paul describing that struggle with the old man.

Study that closely, but be sure that after you've done so, don't stop there. Turn over to chapter 8 and at least read verse 1 of Romans chapter 8. You'll be glad that you did. We also must be on guard against the deceit of the devil, right? Revelation 12 9 says, "And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world." In John chapter 8 verse 44, Christ describes Satan this way. "He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him.

Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies." Satan has been deceiving mankind since the Garden of Eden. And if you'll recall, part of his appeal to Eve was in a sense that she could have power, a power that the devil implied that God was withholding from her or hiding from her and that God hadn't really said what she thought he'd said or that God had not told her the truth. Same thing's happening with the Galatians. What the Judaizers were saying appealed to that fleshly desire for power and called into question what God had already said clearly through Paul when he gave them the gospel.

Namely, that salvation is found in the finished work of Christ alone with nothing added. So they were deceived by their own hearts, they were deceived by Satan, and of course they were also deceived by false teachers. There's nothing new there either. Listen to the Apostle John in 1 John 2, 26, where he says, "These things I have written to you about those who are trying to deceive you." He's talking about false teachers there. Paul warns Timothy in 1 Timothy 3, 13, "But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse deceiving and being deceived." And I love this in Titus chapter 1 in the middle of describing qualifications for elders.

Paul says this to Titus and I believe he's talking about the same people that he's talking about in Galatians. I mean the same people with the same names, the same actual individuals. He says to Titus, "There are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of dishonest gain." So the Galatians were being deceived by their own hearts. They were being deceived by the devil and deceived by false teachers known as the Judaizers. And Paul bluntly commands them here in verse 7, "Don't do that.

Don't be deceived." Or as MacArthur explained the construction of the language, "Stop doing that. Stop being deceived." And guess what? He says the same thing to us, to me and to you. Do not be deceived or stop being deceived. Then look what he says right after that. Immediately after he commands them to stop being deceived, he warns them by saying, "God is not mocked." The amplified version nicely gives us a fuller range of meaning there of that phrase. Here's what the amplified says.

It says, "God is not mocked." And then in brackets it says, "He will not allow himself to be ridiculed nor treated with contempt," listen to this last one, "nor allow his precepts to be scornfully set aside." Let me say that again, "God will not allow his precepts to be scornfully set aside." I especially like that and I think it's the most applicable to what the Judaizers were doing here as well as those Galatians who were drifting toward them. Paul had given the Galatians the gospel of salvation by grace alone and they believed it. We know that because in chapter 1 verse 2 Paul says he's writing to the churches.

Well, the churches are called out ones. Churches are believers. And then in verse 11 of chapter 1, he calls them brothers. So he's writing to Christians. Paul had given them God's precepts or rules for salvation. Then the Judaizers who scornfully set those precepts aside had come in and were convincing the Galatian believers to do the same, to scornfully set aside the very precepts of God. They were in danger of setting aside the truth of the gospel, that salvation is by grace alone. And in doing so, they would be found to be mocking God. But Paul lets them know here God is not mocked.

What he means is that you might think you're mocking God and getting away with it, but rest assured you won't. Who remembers the old song, "You Don't Mess Around With Jim"? Raise your hand. Am I the only one old enough to remember that song? You don't tug on Superman's cape. You don't spit in the wind. You don't pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger and you don't mess around with Jim. Well, if you know the song, it turns out that a chap named Willie McCoy, who everybody calls Slim, could in fact mess around with old Jim and took him out.

But Paul wants the Galatian believers to know, and for me and for you to know, you don't mess around with the God of the universe, whether your name is Willie McCoy or not. "Stop being deceived," Paul said. "You can't mock God and get away with it." And with that, he tees up the iron law. Look at verse 7 again. "Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, this he will also reap." See, the Galatian believers were being deceived and deceiving themselves that they could set aside the pure gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone and not suffer the consequences for that.

But Paul is telling them, "Look here, folks. You are sowing something when you do that. And you need to know that you can't sow one thing and reap something else." What were they sowing? Look back at verse 8. "For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the spirit will from the spirit reap eternal life." These Galatian believers were sowing to their own flesh, and Paul said if they continued to do that, the harvest would be certain they would reap corruption. They would be helpful to understand two key words there in verse 8, the word flesh and the word corruption.

Now, flesh, as it's used in Scripture, has meanings that range from the actual skin and meat itself that's on your body, on your frame. It can also refer to your whole physical person as a whole. And there's various other slight variations of meaning that we won't go into. But Paul often used it in a very particular sense, and it's in that sense in which he uses it here. He's using it in an ethical sense, so to speak. And what he's describing by the term flesh is basically the center of sinful desires in a person, and at the same time the vehicle through which sinful desires manifest. You got that?

Sort of the center of sinful desires and the vehicle through which those sinful desires manifest. So what was happening here was the Galatian believers were sowing to the flesh. They were sowing to the seat of sinful desires. They were, in a sense, feeding their sinful desires. And I believe one sinful desire in particular, pride or self-righteousness. Earlier we talked about how our flesh yearns to be recognized. It yearns to be able to take credit for something, especially in terms of our salvation. The message of the Judaizers appeals strongly to that yearning in the flesh of the Galatian believers.

And Paul is here warning them and warning us, frankly, that they are deceived if they think they can mock God like that. They are deceived if they think they can sow to their sinful flesh with self-righteous acts and reap anything other than corruption. So what does corruption mean? Well, the word translated corruption can mean destruction. It can mean ruin. It can mean decay.

And I agree with John MacArthur, pretty safe bet when you agree with John MacArthur, but I agree with John MacArthur when he says that here in this verse, it can actually mean all three, depending on who the verse is aimed at and whether the person is a Christian or not. Because see, this principle of sowing and reaping, the iron law of sowing and reaping applies to Christians and unbelievers alike. If an unbeliever, one who has not been born again, thinks they can earn their salvation by works of self-righteousness, then what they have to look forward to, what they will certainly reap if the Lord doesn't intervene, is eternal destruction.

But it also applies to believers like apparently these Galatians were. Remember, Paul called them brothers. In their case and in your case and my case, we who've been born again, if we deceive ourselves into thinking that we can do anything to merit the goodness of God toward us, that we will, what we will reap is ruin and decay. We reap ruin in our witness. We will reap decay in our sanctification and on and on. We know that those who've been born again can never be unborn again. No, that cannot happen. But what can happen is our usefulness in the church can be ruined. Our relationships can suffer decay.

That's very unpleasant to think about, but it bears thinking about. What about you, brother? What about you, dear sister? Are you deceiving yourself? Have you been deceived into thinking that you can do enough to merit the grace of God? Which is really a nonsense statement when you think about it, talking about grace and merit in the same sentence. The whole point of grace is that it's unmerited. It can't be merited. It can't be earned because if it's earned, it's not grace. Do you see that? R.C.

Sproul famously says, "If you ever get to thinking that mercy is obligatory, a little bell ought to go off in your head to tell you you're no longer thinking about mercy." Because mercy is, God is never obliged to show mercy. Mercy is always voluntary. Folks, you've got to understand that if you're checking all the religious boxes, thinking that you're showing God how worthy of His love you are, you're deceived. And you're mocking Him. What needs to happen is you need to be born again. If that's you, I want to show you something quickly. I want to show you what you have to look forward to. Turn with me for just a second to Matthew 7.

Matthew 7. And let's read verses 21 to 23. Matthew 7, 21 to 23. This is Christ speaking. And He says, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter." Listen. "Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, in Your name did we not prophesy? And in Your name cast out demons? And in Your name do many miracles? And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you. Depart from me you who practice lawlessness.'" Now right there, we get a good look at some folks, many folks, who sure did check off some boxes. Huh?

They checked off some big boxes, didn't they? And what did Christ say to them? "Get away from me. I never knew you." In other words, you aren't mine. You aren't one of my sheep. You're lawbreakers. And sir, ma'am, if you're working your fingers to the bone thinking you're earning something from God, you need to know that you are earning something, but it's not what you think. You aren't earning righteousness because you can't. You are sowing to your flesh and you will reap corruption. Don't be deceived. You can't mock God and get away with it. And that's some heavy stuff and I'm not going to leave you there. I don't want to leave us there.

So look back at verse 8, one more time with me, look at the latter part of the verse where it says, "But the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life." Now, I wish we had time to talk more in depth about what all Paul means by sowing to the Spirit. I'll tell you what I just thought about. Go listen to earlier, I don't remember now the verse, but in Pastor Chris' sermon about walking in the Spirit, sermon in Ephesians, and there it is. It's all right there. Sowing in the Spirit is synonymous to walking in the Spirit. So that'll cover that.

But for time's sake, I want you to glance at the first seven verses of chapter 3, Galatians chapter 3. Let's look at the first seven verses in Galatians chapter 3. We're almost done. Verse 1 of Galatians chapter 3, "O foolish Galatians, who bewitched you before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?" This is the only thing I want to learn from you. Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law by hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things for nothing, if indeed it was for nothing?

So then, does he who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the law or by hearing with faith? Just as Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness, so know that those who are of faith, those are the sons of Abraham. So in the context of this letter to the Galatians, I think it's clear that one thing at least, maybe the main thing that Paul had in mind here in verse 8 of chapter 6 when he says that, "Sewing to the Spirit produces a harvest of eternal life," is the opposite of trusting in what you can do. Instead, it is trusting in what Christ has already done. Do you see that?

The entire letter is Paul reminding or even insisting that it's not by works, it's not by works, it's not by works. Rather, it's by grace through faith. It's by grace through faith alone. I love this quote from Puritan Thomas Manton who said, "A man who is satisfied with his own righteousness does not prize Christ." He's right about that. If you're satisfied with your own efforts, if you think you're earning God's favor, then Christ isn't precious to you. But if you know that you have no chance without his mercy, Christ is precious to you. You do prize him and what he's done and what he's finished above all else. So do you prize Christ, sir?

How about you, ma'am? Is Christ precious to you? Folks, are you trusting in what Christ has already accomplished on the cross or are you trusting in your own religious efforts? If you are trusting in anything other than the finished completed work of Christ, you're deceived. You're mocking God and you will reap what you sow. The iron law of sowing and reaping is undefeated. It's inviolable. It's unbreakable. But watch this. John MacArthur pointed this out and I just can't quite get over it.

If the Lord is telling you that you need to be born again, if the Father is drawing you by his Holy Spirit to the cross of Christ, if you will but cry out to him, then glory to God as MacArthur points out, you can reap what Christ sowed. The law is in place. You reap what you sow. But by the power of God through the work of the cross, you can instead of reaping what you sow, can reap what Christ sowed. Have mercy. Keith, it's a good thing I don't have my tennis shoes on. I'm just, that's all I'm gonna say. That's an amazing truth. Come to him today, won't you? Submit to him. Receive his mercy and reap the righteousness that he sowed.

Let's pray. Father, your word is so rich. You haven't left us groping. We don't have an excuse. We're without excuse. Lord, I feel weak and unworthy to even open this book. So Lord, I pray that if I said anything, if I mumbled on anything or said anything wrong, that you would just erase it from their hearers and let your word go forth in power. We know that it will not come back void. It will accomplish that for what you sent it. And so Lord, I just pray. I pray that people would take stock. Hey, how am I sowing? Am I sowing to the flesh? Am I counting? Am I checking off boxes? Do I think I'm making myself look pretty to the Lord?

Or am I focusing on his own beauty that he assigns to me? Am I just trusting? Am I resting in Christ and trusting in his finished work? Be glorified today, Lord. In Jesus name, Amen.