The Law Of Sowing And Reaping

The Law Of Sowing And Reaping

Text: Gal. 6:7

Intro: The Law of Sowing and Reaping is universal. It works the same way regardless of the part of the world in which one lives. No one would ever plant a field of corn and expect to harvest cucumbers. Nor would one plant peas and expect to harvest persimmons. One always expects to harvest what has been planted. It is a universal law.

The principles of the Law of Sowing and Reaping operate in every area of life. However, we are most concerned today with how it affects our spiritual lives. After all, the Law of Sowing and Reaping is first and foremost, a spiritual law, given by God.

I want to speak to you today about three principles involved in this spiritual law. These principles can operate on a positive or negative level. If our lives are lived for self and sin, these principles will bring forth a disastrous harvest. On the other hand, if our lives are lived for the Savior, these principles will produce a delightful spiritual crop.

Let’s examine this law today and see how its principles affect our spiritual lives.

Theme: This law involves a principle, which says…

I. WE REAP ACCORDING TO WHAT WE SOW.

NOTE: This law became all too evident in one man’s experience:

Sir Robert Watson Watt, the inventor of the radar was arrested himself for speeding. He had been caught in a radar trap. Shortly after this irony he wrote this poem:

Pity Sir Robert Watson Watt

Strange target of his radar plot,

And this, with others I could mention,

A victim of his own invention.1

A. Sowing The Seeds Of The Flesh Produces The Fruit Of Corruption.

Gal. 6:8a “For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption…”

1. This is seen in the sensual sins of our day.

Gal. 5:19 “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,”

NOTE: [1] The word “fornication” (porneia) refers to “…illicit sexual intercourse.”2 It is this Greek word from which we derive the English word “pornography.”

[2] The term “uncleanness” (akatharsia) makes reference to “moral uncleanness in thought, word, and deed.”3

[3] “Lasciviousness” (aselgeia) is the act of “…lawless insolence and wanton caprice…It speaks of one who acknowledges no restraints, who dares whatever his caprice and wanton petulance may suggest.”4

[4] The sensual lifestyle seems to be the rule of our day. And whether the proponents of the hedonistic persuasion realize it or not, there will be a heavy price to pay. Oscar Wilde once confessed:

The gods had given me almost everything. But I let myself be lured into long spells of senseless and sensual ease...Tired of being on the heights, I deliberately went to the depths in search for new sensation. What the paradox was to me in the sphere of thought, perversity became to me in the sphere of passion. I grew careless of the lives of others. I took pleasure where it pleased me, and passed on. I forgot that every little action of the common day makes or unmakes character, and that therefore what one has done in the secret chamber, one has some day to cry aloud from the housetop. I ceased to be lord over myself. I was no longer the captain of my soul, and did not know it. I allowed pleasure to dominate me. I ended in horrible disgrace.5

2. This is seen in the satanic sins of our day.

Gal. 5:20a “Idolatry, witchcraft…”

NOTE: [1] The word “witchcraft” comes from the Greek word “pharmakia, which word speaks in general of the use of drugs.”6 This is the same word from which we derive the English word “pharmacy.” However, the word is used in the New Testament to make reference to witchcraft, sorcery, or the magic arts.

[2] Witchcraft is still alive and well in America and the world today, as the following would indicate:

Recently, the Department of Defense recognized Wicca—a pagan religion of witches and warlocks—as an official religion. At Army base Fort Hood in Texas, 20 witches attend covens.7

3. This is seen in the social sins of our day.

Gal. 5:20b “…hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,

21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”

NOTE: [1] “Variance” refers to “contention, strife, fighting, discord, quarreling, wrangling.”8

[2] The word “emulations” speaks of “jealousy.”9

[3] “Strife” is from a Greek word which means, “…self-seeking, selfishness, factiousness.”10

[4] The words “seditions and heresies are kindred terms. The first suggests division, and the second cliques caused by a party spirit.”11

[5] “Revellings” simply refers to “unrestrained indulgence in any activity,”12 whether in drunken carousing or illicit sexual activity.