"DON'T BE DECEIVED"

June 16          Don’t Be Deceived   Galatians 6:7-9

Good morning from Pastor Glen Brock, BaptistTabernacle Church, Wendell, North Carolina…  "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."   (Galatians 6:7-9)

When you were a child did you ever have a special place, a secret place where you could go & be all alone?  I know a boy who did. On the back of their property was an old fruit tree. It had lots of leaves, but it had produced no fruit in years. High up in its branches, hidden from view by the leaves, there was a perfect spot for this little boy to sit & dream away the hours. There he was a space ship commander traveling to galaxies unknown. He was Tarzan, living in a jungle world. And he was a philosopher, solving the riddles of the ages. There, too, he would go when he felt mistreated, or misunderstood, or when he felt all alone. Little boys feel that way sometimes. That tree was his hideaway, special to him & to his best friend, another little boy down the road. So you can imagine how he felt when he heard his daddy telling his mother, "I think I’ll cut down that old fruit tree. It hasn’t produced any fruit in years." What could the little boy do? If he begged his daddy not to do it, then he would have to say why, & his secret hideaway would be a secret no more. Then he hit upon a wonderful plan. Since there were a number of apple trees in a field, just down the road, he & his best friend got a whole basket full. That night, while his parents were busy inside of the house, he & his friend climbed the tree & tied the stems of the apples to almost every limb of the old fruit tree.  Well, the next morning his daddy went out & looked at the old tree, & was amazed to see that it was hanging heavy with big, fat apples. And the little boy waited to see how his daddy would react. His daddy came back inside & said to the mother, "You’re not going to believe this, but a miracle took place last night. That old fruit tree is full of apples. There are fat, juicy apples on almost every branch." His wife said, "That’s remarkable." "Yes," the daddy said, "& it is even a double miracle because that’s not an apple tree. It’s a pear tree." We laugh at that, because apple trees don’t produce pears & pear trees don’t produce apples. When you sow apple seeds you expect apples. When you sow pear seeds you expect pears. When you sow wheat you expect wheat, because we learned a long, long time ago, that what you sow is what you will reap. Now this principle that the apostle Paul shares w/ us in Gal. 6 has been around for a long time. In fact, Paul was not the first to say it. Jesus taught that principle in His parables. You remember the parable about the farmer who went out & sowed good seed in his field? Then as he slept, an enemy came & sowed bad seed among the good. No one knew about it until the two kinds of seeds started to grow. One day a servant discovered that there were “tares” growing among the wheat. He rushed in and told the master that wheat and tares were growing side by side. They concluded, "If wheat and tares are growing side by side it means that two kinds of seed have been planted." Wheat seed do not produce tares, & tare seeds do not produce wheat. The principle of sowing & reaping is as old as life itself. What you sow is what you reap. But Paul preceded his statement of this eternal principle with some very disturbing words, "Do not be deceived, God cannot be mocked." Why did Paul add those words? Is it possible for us to be deceived?  Maybe, we think we have pulled the wool over God’s eyes; that God doesn’t see what we are doing, or know what is going on inside our hearts & minds. But Paul says, "You must not deceive yourselves. You are not deceiving God.”  God knows what kind of seed you are sowing, and whatever kind of seed you sow, that is the kind of seed you will reap when the harvest day comes."  If you are sowing seeds of disharmony and confusion, you will get disharmony and confusion.  Amazingly, we simply don’t get the principle and we continue to sow seeds of one kind and expect fruit of another kind.  There was a lady that lived in the community that I was brought up in, and she was a “Pistol!”  She was the most negative and grumpy individual that God has ever allowed to exist!  Amazingly, she was the first one to arrive at church, on Sunday and, usually among the last to leave.  This precious soul always complained that people didn’t like her and that nobody ever called to check on her and that, when people did interact with her, they seemed distant and “GRUMPY!”  I had the dubious pleasure of mowing her grass and keeping up her yard.  Well, one day, she came out of the house, walked across the yard, with the intentions of paying me…or at least, I thought so!  Instead of handing me ten dollars, she asked a question.  “Glen, be honest, why don’t people like me?”  Keep in mind, I was taught to respect my elders and to be as polite as possible, however, she was 2 weeks late on my money and I wasn’t feeling “charitable!”  Before I could answer her, she barked at me, “Well, are you going to speak?”  I gathered up as much “politeness” as possible and I replied, “I think it is because you are so blame grumpy and hateful!”  This grumpy and hateful woman began to cry.  What had I done?  What was I to do?  She walked away without saying a word.  I put away the tools, gathered my stuff, mounted my bicycle and went home.  What was I to say to Mama?  Had I been as hateful to this lady as she was to me?  About seven, that evening, there was a knock at the door and I went to answer it.  There, on the porch, was “ole grumpy,” herself.  She asked if she could speak to me.  I stepped out on the porch, not expecting what was about to happen.  She threw her arms around me and hugged me, and at the same time, told me that she had thought about what I had said to her earlier, and she realized that she was just what I had said.  The next thing out of her mouth, was a “life’s lesson” for all.  She said, “How can I expect people to be nice to me when I am not nice to them?”  How many of us think that we can actually live according to the world and still inherit heaven and be obedient to God? Paul says, "Do not be deceived. God cannot be mocked." Now, here is the best news. If you’re not very proud of the seed you have sown, then the best news is that Jesus Christ came to die for your sins and for mine, and to cleanse us with His own precious blood. And when we accept Him as our Lord & Savior, are obedient to Him, then we are promised that all our bad seeds of the past, all our past sins will be forgiven and forgotten by God.  YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW!!!  What God does with you, depends upon what you do!  It Always has, It Always will!!  To God Be the Glory!  Stay Strong, Stay Focused…Remember, THE BEST IS YET TO BE!