Illus: It seems the older we get, many of us find ourselves at the bottom of the staircase trying to remember, DO I WANT TO GO UP, OR DID I JUST COME DOWN?
When we get like this, we have to be able to come up with something quickly, to get out of the situations we find ourselves in.
Illus: For example, a fellow forgot his wife’s birthday, and she was furious. Once she brought it to his attention, he got himself out of the situation, when he tactfully said to her, “Honey, you look younger than the day I married you. It is difficult for me to think of you having a birthday.”
That compliment, even though it may not be true, was the biggest birthday present he could have possibly given her.
It seems that the older we grow, the more difficult it becomes for us to remember things.
Illus: We are not like the Indian who had a tremendous memory. One day a man told another man about his memory. He said, “Oh, you have got to be kidding, that old man can’t have a good memory.” And he said “I will prove it to you”. He went to him, and he said, “Last week we had breakfast. What did we eat for breakfast?” The old Indian said, “Eggs”. The man said, “That is so general, that does not prove a thing”. Twenty years later, he saw the Indian again, and he mockingly said, “How!” The Indian replied, “Scrambled!”
We are not all able to remember things from ten years ago. WE FORGET A LOT AS WE GROW OLDER.
The same thing applies to us as a nation. That is, the older a nation becomes, the more of the past they seem to forget.
As a nation we have forgotten so many things. Let me point out several things that we have forgotten as a nation.
(1) WE HAVE FORGOTTEN THE LORD’S DAY
Illus: There used to be a time in this country, when people had so much love for God, and fear of God in their hearts, you could hardly find anyone:
• Going shopping on Sunday
• Cutting the grass on Sunday
• Hanging out clothes on Sunday
• Painting their house on Sunday
And if anyone did these things, they were considered to be an ungodly person, and their neighbors were ashamed of living in the same neighborhood with them.
It seems that as a nation, we have FORGOTTEN the Lord’s day. THE LORD’S DAY NOW IS LIKE ANY OTHER DAY!
There is another thing that we have forgotten as a nation.
(2) We have forgotten that God is a holy God, and God judges sin.
God’s Word states clearly, in Galatians 6:7, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
God’s Word says, “Be not deceived…” A lot of folks these days are deceived.
WHAT ARE THEY DECEIVE ABOUT? They are deceived about sin.
God’s Word says, “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
We have people today who are living deceived lives. In fact, they have done so much evil, they cannot remember all the evil they have done. They assume since they have forgotten about all the evil they have done, that God also has forgotten it. But God gives us this warning, IF YOU SOW IT, YOU ARE GOING TO REAP IT!
Not only does the WORD OF GOD teach us this, so does NATURE.
Illus: For example, in the spring you may go out in your back yard, and plant some corn seed. You get so busy and involved in other things, that you soon forget that you planted the seed. Nevertheless, one day you look in your back yard, and you will see corn sprouting up out of the ground. And then you remember, you PLANTED CORN SEED, and now you are REAPING THE VERY THING YOU SOWED.
God’s Word states, “For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
Luke 6:38 basically says the same thing. We read, “….FOR WITH THE SAME MEASURE THAT YE METE WITHAL IT SHALL BE MEASURED TO YOU AGAIN.”
It is the law of almighty God that we reap what we sow.
Let’s look at this verse of scripture in our text closely to see what it means. This verse talks about:
I. A SOLEMN WARNING
God’s Word states clearly, "Be not deceived..." Before there can be deception, there has to be a deceiver.
Illus: On national television, they frequently reveal news about CON MEN. They also point out, that many times these CON MEN prey on the elderly.
These CON MEN (deceivers) know that elderly people are on a fixed income, and they need every dime they have to survive in life. But they will go to the home of an elderly couple with a leaky roof, and give them a price to shingle their house. Once the couple knows, out of necessity, that they have got to get the roof fixed, they will get them to write a check to buy the shingles. But once they get the check in their hands, they cash it, put the money in their pockets, and the elderly couple never sees them again.
All over this nation, there are evil people who are out to deceive people.
Illus: A man came to a preacher wanting help. The preacher tried to help him, and loaned him some money. He heard that this man was locked up in jail, and the police department called the preacher and said, “Does __________owe you any money? The preacher said, “Yes, he borrowed six hundred dollars from me.” The police department asked him if, at his convenience, he would come down to the police department to discuss some things with them. The preacher wasted no time, and when he arrived, a man dressed in a nice suit came into the room, and introduced himself as the detective handling the case. The detective said, “Pastor, this man that you helped, is one of the biggest con men in the states of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.” He pulled out several sheets of paper where he had deceived people. It literally took several sheets of paper to contain the names of these people. He showed another list, where some had been conned out of literally thousands and thousands of dollars.
If that man is living today, no matter where he is, unless he has given his heart to the Lord, I can assure you that he is still trying to CON someone.
Every day we come into contact with people who are trying to DECEIVE us, and take everything we have. The preacher was shocked, and considered himself fortunate that he was not conned out of more than he was by this man. He never realized there were people like this.
But listen, the biggest deceiver on the face of this earth is not a man. The biggest deceiver is Satan himself.
Look at Revelation 12:9. It says, “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which DECEIVETH THE WHOLE WORLD: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
Notice, he does not just deceive people in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. The Bible says he deceives the WHOLE WORLD. And he is not locked up today behind bars, so we will be protected from him. He is very much involved with our lives every day. And God’s Word says, “Be not deceived…” by this deceiver.
Before there can be deception, there has to be a deceiver. And there is a deceiver, and people are being deceived.
HOW DOES HE DECEIVE US?
(1) BY OUR TRUSTING IN OUR FEELINGS, INSTEAD OF THE WORD OF GOD.
We can not trust our feelings, they will get us in trouble. For example, some days we might feel like punching our boss in the nose, but that would not be the wisest thing to do.
Some have the philosophy, if it feels good, it must be alright to do it. You practice that philosophy, “If it feels good, do it”, and you will stay in trouble most of the time.
(2) BY OUR BELIEVING THAT IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT WE DO, AS LONG AS WE ARE SINCERE.
Just because someone is sincere does not make it right. We can be sincerely wrong!
Illus: We have people in this country who recognize that abortion is wrong, and they are sincere in their efforts to stop it. In fact, in their sincerity, they blow up these abortion clinics, and kill the doctors and nurses that work in these clinics.
They are sincere, but they are SINCERELY WRONG in doing such a thing.
(3) OUR THINKING THAT GOD CAN BLESS OUR LIVES, WHEN WE ARE SOWING EVIL SEEDS.
This verse of scripture reveals to us A SOLEMN WARNING.
Also, it reveals to us-
II. A SENSIBLE WARNING
The word of God says, “…God is not mocked…”
Some people today, think God is as foolish as some of these modern day parents. They will TELL their child to do something, and the child knows they do not have to obey, because if they ignore their commands, the parents will soon forget they even told them to do something.
THESE CHILDREN MAKE MOCKERY OF THEIR PARENTS! PURE MOCKERY!
Now we all recognize these people are failures as parents, and the fact is, if God operated the way they did, God would be a failure as God.
But notice, God gives us a SENSIBLE WARNING. The Word of God says, “…God is not mocked…”
You see:
• A child might be able to get away with disobeying their parents, by saying they did something they were asked to do, when they did not. BUT GOD SAYS WE CANNOT “MOCK HIM” THIS WAY.
• A child might be able to do something in the dark, and no one will see what they have done. BUT GOD SAYS WE CANNOT “MOCK HIM” THIS WAY.
The reason many today think they have done evil and gotten away with it, is because they have forgotten the law of “Sowing and Reaping.” That is, you can’t plant a corn seed, and reap corn the same day. No, the law of “Sowing and Reaping” means that we sow today, and sometime in the future we reap what we have sown.
Many have sown bad seeds, and they think at this point in their lives that they have gotten away with it, but one of these days they are going to find out, you cannot MOCK GOD by going against His Word.
We looked at A SOLEMN WARNING, and A SENSIBLE WARNING, but also look at-
III. A SOWING WARNING
We read, "Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he reap"
We have to be careful how we sow, because WE ARE going to reap.
Illus: It was a Roman custom, that when a man was to be executed for a certain crime, the crime he was accused of, was placed on a placard so that all could see the reason for his execution.
Remember when Pilate could find no fault in Christ for which he was accused, he wrote, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews". The chief priest was not pleased with what he wrote, and asked Him to change it. His response was, "What I have written, I have written". It was not changed.
We must be careful of the record we write with our lives each day, because it is unalterable. Many of us would like to go back and change our lives...but we cannot.
Illus: A young girl had lived a very sinful life. She was involved with many men. Later, she met a man who moved to town, and fell in love with him and married him. Once she met this fine, descent man and married him, she was worried, thinking someome might tell her husband of her past life. She sat in church with some of the men that she had been involved with, and she told a friend, “Every time I see those men I was involved with, I feel like a piece of trash.”
The fear and the guilt became so strong, that she begged her husband to move the family to another town, but his job would not allow it.
If you were to talk with this woman today, she would tell you that she would do anything, if she could go back and re-live her life. WHAT IS WRITTEN IS WRITTEN.
The things we have done are pressed upon our memory and our conscience, for as long as we live. God forgives us of our sins, but we have to live with the scars of sin.
Illus: A Christian man came to the pastor with a problem he had. He explained to the preacher that before he got saved he was heavy into pornography. He put his head between his hands, and gently squeezed his head, as he said, “Pastor, I have all this “smut” in my mind, and I can’t get it out.” He then went on to say, “Preacher, I can’t even have an enjoyable relationship with my wife. I keep seeing this stuff in my mind!”
The pastor read Philippians 4:8 to him, which says, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” It was the only advice he could give him.
But the fact is, when we choose to fill our lives with evil, we are sowing seeds that flash back into our lives over and over again!
• If you choose to hang around people that curse, or watch things on television that are filled with cursing, you are allowing seeds of cursing to be planted in your life, and one day those seeds will sprout, and you also will be cursing.
• If you choose to hang around with people who gossip, you are allowing seeds of gossip to be planted in your life, and one day those seeds will sprout, and you will be gossiping also.
• If you choose to hang around with people who are negative, you are allowing seeds of negative thoughts to be planted in your life, and one day, those seeds will sprout, and you will be as negative as they are.
Sin leaves permanent scars upon our lives, and we have to live with THEM until the day we die.
Illus: Joseph's brothers remembered what they had done to their brother, even though it had been done many years earlier.
Conclusion:
Each of us are given two kinds of seeds to sow.
(1) The devil gives us “EVIL SEEDS” to sow, and he tells us we can sow them and nothing but happiness will come from those seeds. But we have to remember, the Bible says he is a, “Liar and the father of all liars.”
(2) God gives us “GOOD SEEDS” to sow, and he tells us we can sow them and we reap blessings from those good seeds.
GOD HAS NEVER LIED, NEVER!
You can believe what he says. We can sow good seeds, and good things will come from those seeds.
IF GOD SPARES YOUR LIFE ANOTHER DAY, WHAT KIND OF SEEDS ARE YOU GOING TO SOW?
Whatever kind we choose to sow, we had better not forget what God’s Word says, “Whatsoever a man soweth, THAT SHALL HE ALSO REAP.”
I. A SOLEMN WARNING
II. A SENSIBLE WARNING
III. A SOWING WARNING
Note: You can hear Dr. Odell Belger preached these sermon on Youtube. Go to Youtube and type in the word LYKESLAND
