Thank you, Mark and Diane, for leading us again. Good morning to everyone. A little frosty on the farm first thing this morning, but beautiful weather we're having and so appreciative of that. You have no idea how appreciative we are that it's not raining and snowing. It's like we're going to get one more week to get ready for winter.

Well, as many of you know, for many years around this time of year, I guided bow hunters from Sweden and Norway. And while I was studying the text before us this week in Galatians 6, I thought of one of those bow hunters, a man named Gunnar, who was a pig farmer from Sweden. He was a kind and gracious man, a simple man, and his life dream was to hunt white-tailed deer with his bow. His grandfather had read to him the old Louis L'Amour short stories about the Old West when he was young, and one of those stories fascinated young Gunnar, a story about bow hunting white-tailed deer. And it became his dream to come to America and to hunt deer with a bow and arrow. He saved up and planned, and he was able to connect with my friend Anders, and he came over one year to hunt. 

We had many different hunters come over the years. Some were excellent hunters, great shots with bow and arrow, had tremendous hunts and success. And others had many opportunities but could not make the shot, sometimes wounding deer, and I would spend much of the night on my hands and knees crawling through the briars looking for spots of blood while they told me, “Well, I made a good shot.” 

The reason I thought of Gunnar this week is because he had a passion to hunt deer with a bow. And he spent the previous year before the hunt every day in an elevated stand behind his pig barn shooting a 3D white-tailed deer target. He could envision the hunt in his mind as he had thousands of times, and he shot that target so many times that he tore it in two. He was ready. 

And when my nephew Joseph put him in an excellent spot between two strip pit ponds down in southern Indiana and got him set in his tree, Gunnar's dream was about to come true. When they got back to the camp, Gunnar came out of the truck beaming. He came up to me and he said, “Look at what we have in the truck.” I walked over and looked, and he followed me saying, “I shot it. Me, I shot it. Yo says it is very, very big.” And it was. It was an impressive 12-point buck that didn't go far after the perfect shot that Gunnar made with his bow. 

The reason that hunt was a success was because it was Gunnar's great desire, his passion to kill a white-tailed buck with his bow. And he went back and he travels around now giving speeches and telling his story at hunting events and sportsman's clubs, and he's actually making a living doing that apparently. But he practiced and he practiced and he prepared himself and envisioned the hunt and made all the necessary preparations for that moment. 

We're coming to the end of the book of Galatians, and we're studying some very practical admonitions here in the sixth chapter. And what strikes me as I study these words is the importance of disciplined Bible study in order to come to the right conclusions to rightly divide and apply the word of truth. We talk often about these things, but if we really want to know what God says in His word, it has to be a passion of ours to do just that. 

I remember years ago there was a couple who came to church here and they left the church, and the man called me. I was working for APHIS and I was over in Mellon at the gas station when my cell phone rang, and he said, “I just want to give you some advice. You need to pick a man and follow that man, and you'll be okay.” That's bad advice, friends. That's bad advice. We have to spend time. We have to think and ponder and study and pray. We have to pay attention to the words, set them in their context, remember the time, the author, the audience, his intent. 

I know Bobby's working through 1 John with the ladies on Thursday mornings, and she and I were discussing these very things this week, the importance of understanding the context of the book, the historical context. We must keep emphasizing these things in our study and in our minds as we seek to know what God is saying as we go verse by verse through the books. 

You have to have a fervent desire to know the truth and seek to know that truth through the study of God's word if you're going to come to the right conclusions and understand the doctrine and apply it in your life. We saw this last week in the first part of chapter 6. 6.1 says, “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness.” And we notice that the word overtaken speaks of someone being taken unaware, surprised to find themselves in such a circumstance. 

What strikes me is that you could take this verse or the verses in our text this morning concerning doing good, twice it says in our text to do good, and you could go just about anywhere with them. “Do good to all.” Well, you could design a thousand different sermons from those words if you ignore the context, the flow of thought, and the intent of the author. 

We saw in 6.1 that the sins that were taking the believers unawares, showing up as a surprise in the lives of some, were a result of those believers choosing to go back to the law as a means or a way of life, of living the Christian life. You see, these practical verses are not divorced from the context and intent of Paul throughout this letter and specifically in chapter 5. 

Let's revisit some of those words in chapter 5. At verse 1, Paul says, “Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” Indeed, I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. Verse 4, “You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law. You have fallen away from grace. For we, through the Spirit, eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.” 

Verse 16, “I say then, walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” Verse 24, “And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” 

Those who were going back to the law as a means to holiness, as a protection against sin, were surprised to find themselves manifesting the works of the flesh, giving place to indwelling sin through the law, and yielding their members to that sin. This is the context. This is the rule for understanding Paul's words, and he implores the believers who were spiritual, that is, walking in the Spirit, living by grace through faith, who were still on the right path, focused on Jesus and not on themselves or on any law, to pick these believers up, to set them back on the right way, like old Bob Spangler, you remember him from up in the Boundary Waters, I told you that story. Pick them up, encourage them, put them back on the right path. The grace, faith, way of life, walking by the Spirit. 

So when Paul writes, when a believer is overtaken by any sin, he has this very thing in mind, and we know that by the context. We see the same thing in our text today. Look at verse 6 with me. “Let him who has taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.” 

Now I'm sure lots of good preachers could take these words and craft an endless variety of good biblical sermons, but what is Paul talking about in the context? What is his concern? What is he trying to tell the believers there? We're going to study these verses together this morning, but I'd like for you to think about these things because we want to be Christians who are no longer tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, by the cunning craftiness and deceitful plotting of wicked men. We want to be discerning; we want to rightly divide the word and know the truth. 

We want to be able to understand why we believe what we believe. And the reason for this is not just so we can know it, but that we would apply it, reckon it in our lives so that God's will would be done, that we might be fruitful and bring Him glory in all that we do. And if you and I, if the believers of Living Hope Church would have the passion that Gunnar had to kill that buck that he thought about all of his life, day in and day out when he was feeding those pigs and cleaning those pens, he's thinking about that white-tailed buck; if we had that passion to know God's Word, to know the God of His Word, to know Jesus and make Him known in our sphere of influence and the opportunities that God designs for us, I think we would be astonished and overwhelmed by the fruit that God would produce through us by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

I believe we would be able to say with Paul in Galatians 5:5, “I am eagerly anticipating moment by moment what God is going to do next through me for His glory.” What a life that would be. I want that for myself. It's not that way for me a lot of the time, right? But I want that for myself, and I want that for you, and I believe that begins with diligently studying God's Word, seeking to know Him. 

So let's look at our text together in verse 6. “Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches.” Do not be deceived, God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.

Well, we have four points on the outline this morning. First, share in what is good. Second, an inviolable law. Third, do not grow weary. And fourth, do good to all. 

Well, first we see in our text, share in what is good. “Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches.” Take just a moment to ponder those words. What are your thoughts? If I asked you to come up here now to the pulpit and explain to me what Paul's talking about in Galatians 6:6, how would you understand these words? 

Let him who is taught the Word share in all good things with him who teaches. My mind should immediately be rolling over the context, the intent of Paul, what he's been talking about, what application he's trying to make here for the believers. I wonder when I look at it immediately about this phrase, all good things. Share in all good things. What are the good things in the context? They must be revolving around grace and faith and living by the Spirit, right? 

I want you to listen to Weiss' comments on this verse and see if it helps because I always like to give you, you know, so you know I'm just not out on my own here somewhere. He writes on verse 1, the Galatian saints who have deserted grace for law are exhorted to put themselves under the ministry of the teachers who led them into grace and are warned that if they do not, they will reap a harvest of corruption. 

Paul's exhorting the believers to stay close, to share in all good things that the preachers and teachers were teaching them before the Judaizers came. They should reject those false teachers and their doctrine and correct any teacher who's been influenced by them and share in the good things of the faithful teachers, the ones who hold fast to what Paul taught, and they should support them. They should listen to them, encourage them, share with them in these good things. 

It also means that you should be studying, you should be preparing, you should be contributing, especially when you come to Bible study, or encouraging the, you know I had someone call me last night and they went, they were a little bit nervous, and they went through this whole thing about something they thought they had discovered in a text they were studying and obviously had spent a lot of time thinking about and a lot of time studying, and I, and it was just right on, it was good. 

And I was so encouraged by that because I know this person is at home studying, working, thinking, right? Seeking to know what God says, and that's good. That's what we want. We want to be growing together, sharing in the good things. 

But the essence of it is to put themselves back under the teachers of grace and faith and reject this Judaizing law teaching. Turn over to Titus 3:8 with me, please. Titus 3:8. “This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly.” I like it when Paul says things like that. “I want you to do this constantly, right? All the time.” 

“That those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men. But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law, for they are unprofitable and useless. Reject the divisive man after the first and second admonition, knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned.” 

Now these verses would certainly apply to the Judaizers and also to the false Christian denominations of our day who preach a false gospel of faith plus works. We should reject such men, such churches, such doctrines, and avoid them, Paul says in Romans 16:17, to mark them out, to note them publicly and warn the brethren about them. 

But as we have seen many times through our study in this epistle, it was the influence on the believers that this false message was having which was the real concern of Paul. “Who hindered you from obeying the truth?” he said. It was the false teaching that convinced some, perhaps even some teachers in the churches, to attempt to live the Christian life by the law as if the law of God were a protection from sin or a means to holiness. But Paul has made so very clear that the one who is led by the Spirit is no longer under the law. He has stated that the strength of sin is the law, that the law can only bring wrath, that believers no longer live under the law but by grace, by the Spirit through faith. 

So Paul's exhorting the believers to get back on track in verse 1. Put themselves under faithful teachers who teach only grace and faith as the means of the Christian life and share in all these good truths with them. Paul addressed the same issue in Ephesus when he wrote to Timothy in 1st Timothy 1. You can look up 1st Timothy 1:3. He says, “As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, remain in Ephesus. What was Timothy's charge? That you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine.” What doctrine? The doctrine of grace by faith. 

“Nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith. Now the purpose of the commandment, what commandment? The commandment to teach no other doctrine. The purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, from sincere faith, from which some having strayed have turned aside to idle talk, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm.” 

But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous person. And he goes on to say that the law is made for murderers and manslayers and so forth. The error is persistent even to our day. How much of the church today has been affected by the false teaching of mainline denominations and theologians dead and alive who teach a faith plus works salvation, a sacramental salvation? 

And there are many within the true church who would not succumb to the false gospel, but they make the same grave error that they were in in Galatia, adding law to grace for sanctification in the Christian life. This is perhaps more prevalent in our day than it was in Paul's. So Paul encourages them to stick with the grace faith teachers and share in all good things with them. 

And then Paul gives us an inviolable law. Verse 7, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.” 

In the next three verses, Paul uses several farming words to illustrate his point. He first speaks of sowing and reaping. He says we can either sow to the Spirit or we can sow to the flesh. And then he states this inviolable law concerning sowing and reaping. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. 

So again, in the context, how is it that a man sows to his flesh? The flesh is contrasted with the Spirit consistently throughout the New Testament. We've read Romans 8:7 before where it says, “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God, but you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you, now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.” 

We see again that believers are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. However, we also know from Paul's writings that believers do not always walk in the Spirit, but sometimes walk in the flesh. That is, they yield their members to the sin that still dwells in them. Sowing to the flesh is synonymous with walking in the flesh. 

So how was that happening in Galatia? In verse 7 he says, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked.” For whatever man sows, that he will also reap. And the construction here is present imperative. It's prohibiting something. Paul's telling them, “Stop doing something that they were already doing.” The thought of the Galatians was that it wasn't important which teachers we listened to—Paul and his associates or the teachers of the law—and so Paul was saying they were already deceiving themselves and leading themselves down the wrong path. 

I hear this quite often from elders of other churches, and you hear it from pastor, “It doesn't matter, right? I mean, you can believe this, we've got elders that believe this, and we've got elders that believe this, and they both teach Sunday school, and they just teach what they believe, and you can believe what you want,” and I'm confused just thinking about it. 

Back in chapter 5 at verses 17 to 18, we see Paul tie walking in the flesh with the law. If you put yourself under the law as a rule of life, you give place to the flesh, to the sin that still dwells in you, as we see in passages like Romans 7 as well, but Paul states clearly that if you are led by the Spirit, you're not under the law. So sowing to the flesh was putting themselves back under the law as a way of life as the Judaizers were teaching them. 

What does it mean to sow to the Spirit then? Well, this is consistent with Paul's teaching all along; it's based in regeneration by God's grace through faith and the truth that we're no longer in the flesh, no longer under the law, no longer live in fear of death. We are new men, new creations, and now the Holy Spirit witnesses with our spirit. We are in agreement in our hearts because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts by the Spirit who was given to us. 

Therefore, we no longer live by the letter, the law, but we live by the power of the Holy Spirit, the life of Christ in us as we abide in Him by faith. So to sow to the Spirit is synonymous with walking by the Spirit, living by the grace of God, by faith. Remember the key verse in this epistle is Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. In the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith, by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.” 

So what Paul's saying here is that they must stop listening to the Judaizers. They must quit looking to the law to promote holiness in their lives, which only results in corruption, which to their surprise only led them into various sins. They must get back to the teachers who are steadfast in grace and faith and teaching who teach no other doctrine for life and godliness and share in all good things with them, otherwise, they will run into this inviolable law, for he who sows to the flesh will reap corruption. Just as if a man plants carrots in his garden, carrots he will reap; he will not reap eggplant, each after its own kind since the creation. That is the law of God; it is forever true. Never is there a change of kinds. 

The illustration is if you sow a seed—if you sow a corn kernel, it will die and then it will grow into a corn plant. I've told you that story before about when we planted all those apple trees by our barn there and Guy and Aaron were over and I was telling them, “This is an apple tree,” and Aaron said, “It's a cherry tree,” and I said, “No, it's an apple tree,” and he reached in he pulled out a cherry. That was the end of the argument, right? It's a cherry tree, but why? Because it makes cherries, and apple trees don't make cherries. So this is the illustration, and likewise spiritually when we look to ourselves, when we focus on the law and seek to be righteous in our power, to our surprise we will find ourselves in all kinds of sin and corruption in the works of the flesh. 

But if we walk by the Spirit, we will see the fruit of the Spirit summarized in love. So our focus should not be on ourselves, on our performance, on some law to keep and measure ourselves by, but rather our eyes should be fixed on things above, on Jesus. We should, as Hebrews 12 says, look off and away from everything else and look only unto Jesus as we run this race. And this means knowing Jesus through His word, choosing to believe what He says is true about us, about how we live the life and bear fruit for His glory, and depending on His grace and His Holy Spirit to impart strength to our inner man as we walk by faith. 

This is what it means to sow to the Spirit, and when we sow to the Spirit, we shall see the fruits of the Spirit in our lives by His grace and power. Now Paul uses two very interesting and descriptive words in verse 9 of our text. The word translated weary speaks of a farmer who is tempted to grow lax in his work because of the toil of prolonged effort. The word faint is from Ekluo, which is used of reapers overcome by heat and toil. The word means to relax effort, to become exhausted physically. Bobby's saying amen. 

The incentive to keep on going, to keep on working, is that at the right time they would gather the harvest. I can so identify with these words. You know farming is hard in Iowa. There are so many things against you in this cursed world from weather and disease to markets and failed crops, but farming in the UP—well, you have to either be born a Finlander or be a little touched in the head to farm in the UP. So many things can go wrong, and according to Murphy's Law, they do, but what you didn't know is what my friend Anders from Sweden told me: Murphy was an optimist. 

Sometimes the grind, the list of struggles, the hardships and disappointments, and just plain long hours every day, every day can become overwhelming. I remember many years ago we had a Jersey cow who was about ready to have her baby to freshen, right around the end of February, the first of March, and I'd go out before bed and check on her in the barn, then I'd get up in the middle of the night and check on her, and then go out about 5 in the morning and check on her. We had a stretch of cold weather those two weeks, 30 to 40 below at night, and I can remember bundling up and walking to the barn in the night, looking up at those stars so clear, so powerful, a display of the creation of Jesus, but so cold. 

And I get to the barn and Lily would just look at me, frost all around her muzzle, steam pouring out from her nose, chewing her cud, and she'd look at me like, “What are you doing out here again?” And this went on for a couple weeks, no calf, but the cold persisted, and one morning, 37 below, I went out about 5 a.m. and Lily was laid out flat on the barn floor, a calf steaming a few feet from her, and everyone looked dead. I ran to the house; I woke everyone up. Ashley came and carried the calf to the house to warm by the fire. Bobby and I tried to get the 1,100-pound Lily upright before she bloated and died. We got her up a little bit, and Bobby kind of made herself into a wedge, pushing herself under Lily, holding her upright as best she could while I called the vet. 

She had milk fever, and after the vet arrived an hour or so later, he gave her some IV calcium; she stood right up, shook a little while, and then she was fine. We named the heifer calf Joy because Psalm 30:5 says, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” That was a difficult winter, and I remember calling my friend Jeff and saying, “I don't know what to do. It's just so hard, so many problems, so much snow, so cold,” and Jeff said, “You just keep going. That's what you do, you just keep going.” 

Paul's making a parallel to the Christian life here with these agricultural words. He's saying it gets really hard farming: the heat or the cold, the endless hours, the problems, the failure that may come, but you just keep going. You don't become weary; you don't slack because your hope is in the harvest. Spiritually, we have a much more certain harvest coming, but the Christian life can be like that. It can be overwhelming to be in this world, to live among the pagans, to doubt, to fear, to grow weary in the battle. 

In this particular context, I believe Paul has in mind the battle of the believers to maintain and hold on to the truth, to keep error and false doctrine at bay. Just as he said in 2 Corinthians 11, after listing all of his sufferings, his physical turmoil, he said, “And with all these things, what comes upon me daily is my concern for all the churches.” That is pure doctrine, no other doctrine to lead the believers astray, nothing but the truth of grace alone and a life of faith in and dependence on Jesus. 

So he writes, “Do not grow weary; do not grow slack in this worthy battle for truth, and do good to all men, particularly the brethren.” Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. 

What is the good that Paul speaks of here? What's the good that we're to be seeking here? It's the good of sticking with the teachers of truth, encouraging them, listening to them, following their example, rejecting lies and false doctrine and those who teach it. It's the good of restoring a brother if he gets off into some other teaching and is confused and deceived. It's the good of encouraging the brethren by pointing them to Jesus, singing His praises, talking about His promises, speaking words necessary for edification. It's the good of living by the Spirit and continually reinforcing the life of grace by faith and warning against the law of life for sanctification. It's the good of preaching the gospel to the lost and persuading them to believe Jesus. 

And let me tell you, my brother, my sister in Christ, this battle can be wearisome in the church today. It seems that there's a constant barrage of false teaching, of undermining of the truth, of those who would place the believers in bondage to the law, and it comes on radio and books, now on podcasts, from many pulpits. Sometimes it can grow downright hard to continue, to keep saying the same things again and again, and yet see believers taken captive by these errors. But it's necessary, in Paul's day and in our day. 

We shall reap if we do not become enfeebled through exhaustion and faint. And this is why it matters that each one of you has a passion to know Jesus through His Word, to know what God says. And this is why it matters that we keep saying these same things again and again about context and intent, and what was going on in the world of Paul in Galatia, and what he was trying to say. Paul says in Philippians 3:1, “It's not tedious for me to write the same things to you again and again, but for you, it is safe.” These things matter.

So that I don't miss the message that God has given me in any given text. I could write a sermon about doing good and come up with all kinds of things, and some of them could be great truths, biblical truths. But what I would miss is that I need to be diligent to listen to good teachers who do not try to make the law a rule of life. I need to help my brothers who are confused about these things. And I need to focus on Jesus and the hope of His coming, so that I don't grow weary in continually speaking the truth about the new covenant life of faith, walking by the Spirit and not by the letter. 

These things matter to how I live and the fruit that I bear, to the purposes of God for me. Not the fruit of the flesh under the law, but the fruit of the Spirit, by grace through faith. Ephesians 3:20 says, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.” That's the power that raised Jesus from the dead. That's the Holy Spirit of God. “To Him be glory in the church, by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” To Him who is able, not to me who is able, to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly, more than you can ask or think. 

Seek Him, my friends. Seek to know Him. Make that the pursuit of your life. 

Let's close in prayer. Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You that You keep telling us the same things again and again. We just pray that you'd help us to really understand and take these things for ourselves, to trust You and believe You and to live in light of them. We trust You to work Your will in our lives, to give us opportunities to make all these things work. We just want to be a servant; we want to be available to men, and we want to love them as You love them. It's in Jesus' name we pray.