Amen. Let us turn now to the reading of God's Holy Word, Galatians 6. Page 1239 in most of the few Bibles, Galatians 6. We'll be reading and looking at verses 6-10 providentially. a illustration of planting and then harvesting, which comes right at the time when much of the planting work is done. And so certainly an appropriate illustration in the middle of our text for us this morning. Let us read the word of God, Galatians chapter six, verses six through 10. Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever one sows, that will he 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. And let us not grow weary of doing good. For in due season we will reap if we do not give up. So then as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. So far the reading, the grass withers, the flower fades, the word of our Lord endures forever. Dear congregation, from Genesis through the New Testament books, we find many illustrations tied to agriculture, tied to what the people knew well. And that's true, whether the author is a farmer turned prophet, such as Amos, or a tent-making apostle, such as the Apostle Paul. And so we have this illustration from the apostle before us this morning. And the apostle is teaching us here that what is true in the natural realm is also true in the spiritual realm. What you sow, you will reap. And the apostle uses this rule of agriculture to teach us about the final day, to teach us about what we should do from day to day. And so that's our theme this morning. We must be conscious of the final judgment day, the final harvest, even while working, while planting from day to day. We must be conscious of the final judgment day while working from day to day. And that gives us our two points. First, the big picture. Don't forget the harvest. And second, the little details continue in sowing good seeds. So this big picture and the harvest and the rule of sowing and reaping, which is unbreakable and it will not be broken as long as this earth continues. As the Lord promised Noah in Genesis chapter eight, while the earth remains, sea time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease. And surely, this is proved by our experience. If we plant many good seeds of corn, we expect that there will be a good harvest of corn in due season. That's the general rule. That's how it works. What we sow in the natural realm, we will reap. And the point of the apostle is that the same is true in the spiritual realm. Notice how he says it in verse 8, that there are two basic kinds of seed in the realm of spiritual things, and one is the seed of the flesh. And in context, we know, we can just go back to Galatians 5, 19 to 21, that he's referring to the passions of the flesh, the works of the flesh. And this is contrasted with the good seed, which is that which is in accord with the spirit. And that was listed in Galatians 5, 22 and 23. That's the fruit of the spirit. And what we sow in the spiritual realm, according to those two seeds, and there's only two kinds of seed we will reap. Therefore, the apostle says, and this is actually how he begins in verse seven. Therefore, do not be deceived. There are a number of ways that we might deceive ourselves in these things. One type of self-deception is to pretend that the quality of seed does not matter. And so imagine a farmer who says, I planted really old, rotting seeds this year, and I'm expecting a good harvest in the fall. Now, if a farmer goes around and he tells his neighbors that, they're gonna think he's crazy. It's not gonna work. He's deceiving himself, but he's not deceiving anyone who knows anything about farming. A good harvest requires good seed. Same is true with spiritual things. One cannot expect bad and corrupt seeds to produce a good spiritual harvest. The word corruption in the middle of verse 8, for the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. That word there, it includes both moral decay, but it can also have the sense of death itself. You cannot sow morally decaying things and expect life. It's going to lead to death. Indeed, what is the final harvest, but the final judgment day and reaping, reaping that which is evil, reaching, reaping that or putting in that which is in accord with the flesh will lead to the gathering of death. It ends in death. Good seed produces good, but bad seed leads to bad. Another type of self-deception might be a farmer who says that the kind of seed does not matter at all. And so now a farmer plants dandelion seeds and he goes and he tells his neighbors that I'm expecting to have a great harvest of corn this year. Now we would think that this farmer is also rather insane. He's crazy. He doesn't know anything. How can he expect to harvest corn when that season comes when he's planting dandelion seeds and useless things? He has forgotten that the kind of planting will determine the kind of harvest that he will get. And so it's true in spiritual things. We cannot go around planting those kinds of things, the kinds of things which come from the flesh and expect that it will lead to good things. We can't go around planting our wild oats, as the saying goes, and think that we can just do that when we're 20 and 30 and 40 and it's all gonna be okay because we can repent someday or we can repent each time along the way. We can't go about saying that, well, it's okay that I struggle with being impatient and loving and kind. I can just continue on in that and it's no big deal. People of God, we cannot be deceived. planting dandelions does not produce corn and planting the works of the flesh does not produce that which accords with God's will, does not produce a good harvest. Now let's think a little bit more about that word deceived. Because The farmer who says things like, I plant old rotted seeds or I planted dandelions, he's not deceiving any farmers. He's not even deceiving someone who knows as little about farming as your pastor. He's not deceiving anybody who knows anything about farming. But in the realm of spiritual things, it's not so difficult to deceive yourself and your neighbors. See, there are many who say that there is no spiritual harvest at all. There are many, even within the church, who say that what we plant in regards to spiritual things really has little to no impact on what will come to us on the final judgment day. But people of God, do not be deceived. In the natural realm, The farmer who does such things is not going to deceive his neighbors. In the spiritual realm, you can get away with it. You can find people who will go along with your self-deception. You can find people who will try to mock God with you, but God is not mocked. Actually, the passage could literally be translated, you cannot turn your nose up at God. It's not gonna work. It's not going to work. Do not be deceived. People of God, the time to repent is now. As Jesus himself said it using similar imagery in John chapter four, do not say there are yet four months, then comes the harvest. Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest. Repent now. Do the work of gathering in now. We cannot be comfortable in a lack of love and patience. We cannot be comfortable in any immorality or idolatry. A good farmer would never plant without considering how the seed time will impact the coming harvest, and only the spiritually blind pretend that they can go through life without any care, without any repentance, without any faithful service, and think that it will not really impact the final day of spiritual harvest, the final judgment day. We must be conscious of it. just as the farmer must be conscious of, aware of what the coming harvest will be, we must be aware of that coming day, which may be any day. Now, this is the focus of the text. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. But our text does end this illustration, if we call it verses seven and eight, It does end on the positive side, on the positive note, briefly saying this at the end of verse 8, the one who sows the spirit will reap eternal life. And so let's spend a little bit of time looking at that positive side. Perhaps a helpful way to do this is illustrated by Philip Riken and he said that when it comes to the good harvest of eternal life, it's a little bit like harvesting blueberries. where if you're harvesting blueberries and you're putting most of the blueberries in the freezer to make pies and you're storing up much of the rest of it in the form of preserves for jams or things like that, most of that is for the future. Most of that is going to be a future blessing. And when we think about eternal life, That's true, most of this is in the future. It's like storing up blueberries for another day. The blessings of eternal life are entering into eternal fellowship with God in the place where there's no more tears, no more sorrow, no more pain. These are things that we look forward to, and that is much of the Christian's blessing, but we do have a taste of it already now. And so, just as the one who's storing up lots of blueberries for the future is probably like me eating a number of individual blueberries along the way, so it is with the spiritual blessing of reaping eternal life. We already can taste what? When we repent, we can already now taste the forgiveness of sins. When we trust in Jesus Christ, we can taste that now already. We can already see that Jesus is our beautiful Savior, that He's the one who brings us salvation. And so, then we can already, in Him, expect that good harvest. and all the expectation and all of the already blessings that we have in Christ. This is the good seed and the good reaping. Also, we can taste the good harvest in that there are blessings in planting the good seeds. We might simply say it this way, thinking of the fruit of the spirit, to plant a true Christian joy in the spirit is something which should bring us joy and be a blessing we have now already. And to say that, to think about that is to take us to our second point, to the planting, to the sowing, to the little details We are to continue in sowing good seeds. A single harvest is a big event, but the individual seeds that start the process are many, many little things. It takes many, many little seeds to produce one good harvest. Let us not grow weary of the planting before the planting is done. And to say this is to bring up one more type of self-deception, and that would be to pretend that the number of seeds does not matter. And so now we can imagine a farmer who goes to his friends and he says, well, I planted one seed per acre. I planted one good corn seed per acre, and I'm expecting corn. And since I put it right in the middle of the field, I'm expecting that it's going to be a bountiful harvest. Well, once again, we say he is deceiving himself, but he's not deceiving anyone else. You don't plant one seed per acre and expect a bountiful harvest. Or maybe a little less crazy than that. There might be a farmer who says, well, I planted the first 50 acres well, and then I was just exhausted and I didn't do the next 50. people of God, as it is in the natural realm, so it is in the spiritual realm. We cannot pretend that just the bare minimum of seeds is enough, or we ought not to grow weary and stop before the work is done. The first problem is someone who we might call the coasting Christian, coasting through spiritual life, trying to do just enough but never asking what more can be done or thinking that there is more to be done. This is closely related to the lazy Christian who tries to do just enough. Both need to find a measure of maturity to begin to plant the whole field The second problem is the Christian who gets burned out. They don't have enough energy to plant the next 50 acres. There's so much spiritual work to be done. There's no longer energy to keep going. What are the remedies to this? Well, one remedy might be to get some rest. Planting seeds day by day is not the same thing as saying that I have to plant every single seed in one day. And so one of the answers to burnout might be Take a rest, get a good night's sleep, and plant as many seeds as you can the next day. Even, we might think, the language of our text. As we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone. Another answer to burnout. is to increase our dependence upon the Lord along the way. Even youths grow weary, the prophet Isaiah tells us, but those who hope in the Lord renew their strength. Surely, then, we can say it this way, that we need to remember how we got to Galatians 6, that the planting in good seeds is not our work's righteousness. That would be to fall back into the error of the false teachers the Apostle labored so hard to refute. No, on the contrary, all of this rests upon the great truths that have been so detailed in Galatians 3 and 4, the truth that Jesus Christ is our Savior, that He's the one who's already saved us and allows us to expect the great harvest, and that He's the one who gives us the good seeds to go and plant, not for our salvation, but as His servants. And so this can help us on our way, that we're not relying upon ourselves, that yes, planting the good seeds is a demonstration of our faithfulness, but our being saved is already done. It's already accomplished by the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, taking the curse upon himself for us. whatever remedy it is, physical rest, increased trust in Jesus Christ, both of these things together, let burnout not stop us from planting good seeds entirely. On the contrary, let us not grow weary in doing good, the apostle tells us, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up. Now that is what it means to not grow weary. We might ask, what is the sowing of good seeds? Well, we've answered that a little bit already, and we're talking about how there's two kinds of seeds. The seeds of the spirit is the fruit of the spirit. That's one thing about good seeds, but let's look at it even a little bit more. It is not just some of the things we do. There are only two kinds of seeds. Every action, every thought, every desire of our heart is a seed planted. The passage does not speak of three kinds of seeds. God doesn't say, here's 100 seeds, and it represents 100 hours in the month, and you can do with that whatever you want. And then after that's done, then plant either to the flesh or to the spirit, and don't plant to the flesh, plant to the spirit. No. Everything we do is planting seeds. Every thought, every desire, every motivation, every action, No wonder the apostle says do not grow weary in doing good. We are called to be sowing the good seeds every day in every sphere. especially in the place where we're first placed and those who are closest to us. And so our passage says we have a special duty within the household of faith. Those are our nearer neighbors, even as we ought to seek good, seek to do good for everyone as we have opportunity. We can make that even more narrow. Many of us are blessed within the household of faith to have an immediate family. Well, that's even our closest neighbors, isn't it? So, Thinking about planting good seeds starts with things like taking out the garbage with a good attitude for the glory of God. That's a seed planted. It's things like taking responsibility for that, which is your responsibility within the house, and then within the household of faith, and then as you're able beyond that to everyone. It's everything we do. Jerry Bridges, the best-selling Christian author, he passed away about five years ago. Usually best-selling Christian authors will strike against you, but in this case Bridges was a faithful, solidly reformed man. He said it this way, quote, good deeds should begin at our home. If we are out doing good deeds for others while neglecting the needs of our spouse, our parents, or our children, we are not practicing the grace of goodness. Mundane household duties are sore points in many homes, even Christian homes, but the Christian growing in the grace of goodness, he sees the distasteful and despised duties of the home as an opportunity for doing good deeds for those he loves most. People of God, no wonder we need encouragement to not grow weary. It takes energy to be active in doing good for the blessing of those around us, for the glory of God. It's not easy to be always seeking to do good, but let us do it day by day as we have opportunity. In other words, not trying to plant every single seed in one day, but through the daily grind, doing as much as we can from one day to another, doing it for the glory of God, doing it in accordance with the fruit of the Spirit, putting off the work of the flesh always. Now, verses 9 and 10 are actually quite general, we might say. We've made them a little more specific. There is one specific instruction in our passage, and we've jumped over it, but let's actually come back to it. That's verse six. And verse six is a little bit different. It's one of the things that the apostle does quite often, where it goes both with what came before it and with what comes after it. And so, look at verse six with me, and I'm going to paraphrase it in light of both what's before and what's after. If anyone thinks that a teacher is not bearing a burden, so verses two and five speak about burdens, we looked at that last week. If anyone thinks that a teacher is not bearing a burden since he does not have a job as others in the household of faith do, let the teacher be sure that he is laboring diligently in the teaching of the word, that that is his load to carry, and that the teaching are the seeds that he's called to plant. he ought to share that planting, that teaching with others. And then those who are taught ought to share material things with him. And if we need it spelled out anymore, 1 Corinthians 9, 11 actually uses the same illustration where the apostle says it a little more explicitly. 1 Corinthians 9, 11, if we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? This is the rule. There should be diligent carrying of the burden and planting, and then there's sharing. And I give thanks that we have many mature congregations, including this congregation, which share so well. That's one of those things where We read on in 1 Corinthians 9, and we see that brand new Christians often have a very difficult time understanding this principle. And so the apostle even says that in order to to have the opportunity to preach he did not ask the Corinthians to provide for him that they wouldn't put any distraction before them but mature Christians understand this and I give thanks that many material things are shared with your minister from from being provided for from Also little gifts and these things are all appreciated and it's all in accordance with even a specific instruction of what bearing burdens and of what sharing and planting looks like in Galatians 6.6. So people of God, let's end by looking at all of this together once more. Let us never forget There is a final day of harvest coming. In the meanwhile, let's not grow weary in the day-to-day. The day-to-day task of planting as many good seeds as we have opportunity to do, planting them not for our salvation, but as those who have been saved. Amen. Let us pray. Lord God Almighty, we thank you that you have spoken to us clear truths, clearly illustrated truths to help us to understand what we are called to do Lord, give us indeed the seeds to plant, even as we know the good deeds have been prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them as your people. And Lord, help us then, give us strength along the way, depending upon our Savior, Jesus Christ, to continue in that service. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.