The sermon by David Green, titled 'The Law Of The Harvest,' is based on Galatians chapter 6, verses 1 through 10. It emphasizes the principle of sowing and reaping, which suggests that the actions and behaviors people engage in will yield corresponding results. The sermon stresses the importance of supporting church leaders, particularly those who labor in preaching and teaching the Word, and highlights the need for believers to bear one another's burdens, fulfilling the law of Christ. The principle of sowing and reaping is illustrated with examples from both the Old and New Testaments, such as the teachings in 1 Timothy, Malachi, and 1 Corinthians on tithing and supporting church leaders. The sermon warns against sowing to the flesh, which leads to corruption, and encourages sowing to the Spirit, promising eternal life. It underlines the need for patience and perseverance in doing good, as the harvest comes in due time, and urges believers to do good to all, especially those of the household of faith. The message is applicable not only to church life but also to personal and family life, emphasizing that one's actions now will determine future outcomes.

Alright, so Galatians chapter number six. Today we'll go ahead and start reading at verse 1. At verse we'll start reading at at verse 1 and we'll go all the way down to verse 10 today Galatians chapter 6 beginning Galatians chapter 6 beginning verse 1, we'll go down to verse 10. Brothers, Even if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, each of you looking to yourself so that you too will not be tempted. Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.

For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But each one must examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone and not in regard to another. For each one will bear his own load. The one who is instructed in the word is to share all good things with the one who instructs him. Do not be deceived.

God is not mocked for whatever a man sows, this he will 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. Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. So then while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people and especially to those who are of the household of the faith." As we continue on here in this book, in this chapter, in this letter that Paul wrote to the churches of Galatia, we're on the final home stretch. This is the last chapter.

Last week we looked at verses 1 through 5. Today as we continue on with our verse by verse exposition, we're going to look at verses 6 through 10 as our text and the title of the sermon today is the law of the harvest the law of the harvest or The law of reaping or sowing and reaping the law of sowing and reaping. In this text, beginning of verse 6, we see the duty that Paul lays down to the churches of Galatia that they had to support those who taught in the churches. Since the churches had been negligent in the teachings of the truth. They've been negligent in holding up the gospel.

They were falling for those who taught another gospel, those who would pervert the gospel. They had followed the legalists, Judaizers, And although it's not really clearly spelled out here, we know that they had done that. We know that they had disregarded Paul's teachings. They had rejected him, many of them had. And so, it ought not to surprise us that those churches had also neglected supporting those pastors who were preaching and teaching the truth of God's Word, those who had stood firm on the Gospel and the things that they had been taught.

Not only did they neglect the teaching, but they also neglected supporting those pastors physically as well. And I believe this is why this is here, when he says in verse 6, and the one who is instructed in the word is to share in all good things with the one who instructs him. They were to take care of their pastors. While it is true, for instance, as we have the complete Word of God, we have the completed canon of the Scriptures, and we're able to compare Scripture with Scripture in a way that they could not. We see this being taught throughout the Bible.

And so if you go with me to 1st Peter chapter 5 you can put a ribbon here in Galatians chapter 6 We'll be coming back to it. But in 1st Peter chapter 5 1 Peter chapter 5 verses 1 and 2. Peter also writing under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, same as Paul, he says this in 1st Peter chapter 5 verses 1 & 2, he says, Therefore I exhort the elders among you as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ in a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed. Shepherd the flock of God among you, overseeing not under compulsion but willingly according to God, and not for dishonest gain, but with eagerness." Verse 3 he says, not yet is lording it over those allotted to you, but being examples to the flock. And so the pastors are not to be men who are in it for the money they're not to be lovers of money and we see that being taught here but at the same time as we compare scripture with scripture they are to be men who are to be supported by the church in first Timothy chapter 5 first Timothy chapter 5 and verses 17 and 18 1 Timothy 5 verses 17 and 18, it says, The elders who lead well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor at preaching the word and teaching.

For the Scripture says you shall not muzzle the ox while it is threshing, and the laborer is worthy of his wages." And so the pastors, those who labor in the Word, those who labor at preaching the Word and teaching, they are to be supported by the church. How does that happen? Well, through the tithes and offerings, through the giving of the people. This is a concept that goes back into the Old Testament. That's why Paul, when he was writing to Timothy, he's quoting there from the Old Testament.

This is a principle that goes back to the old covenant. When he says, you shall not muzzle the ox while it is threshing, and the laborer is worthy of his wages. Indeed, in Malachi chapter 3, in Malachi chapter 3 Malachi chapter 3 you Verses 8 through 10 Malachi chapter 3 verses 8 through 10 says will a man rob God? Will a man rob God? That's a shocking statement isn't it?

For a man to rob a bank, that's pretty terrible. For a man to rob his parents, that's an awful thing to think about. But he says, will a man rob God? And he says, yet you are robbing me, but you say, how have we robbed you? In tithes and contributions, you are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you.

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse so that there may be food in my house and test me now in this says Yahweh of hosts if I will not open for you the windows of heaven empty out for you a blessing until it is beyond enough all know I don't preach on money very often, but it's clear. It's clear. The Bible does have a principle that is given from the Old Testament all the way through to the New Testament. And when a person is a member of a church, they need to give. Now obviously the principle is there but it is it is different in the sense that we're not Israel and lest someone should say well the the the old covenant is done away with and we're under the new covenant and the law does not apply to us, let's look over at 1st Corinthians chapter 16, 1st Corinthians chapter 16 in verse 2.

Well let's start with verse 1 and 2 because he mentions the churches of Galatia in verse 1. So it's all ties together, all of these directions that Paul is giving to the churches of Galatia, to the Church of Corinth, and so on and so forth. All of this is connected. And so, In verse 1, now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. On the first day of the week, each of you is to set something aside, saving whatever he has prospered, so that no collections be made when I come.

And when I arrive, verse 3 says, whomever you may approve I will send them with letters to carry your gracious gift to Jerusalem." And so he tells them that they were to collect, they were to take collection on the first day of the week when they were to assemble together as a church. It was the direction that was given to the churches of Galatia, the same direction given to the church at Corinth. And while it's true that in the New Testament we don't find a prescribed percentage given here, the fact is that this is to be done regularly, not just when one feels overly generous, not when one feels particularly led to do so or instructed for some special purpose. In fact, over in 2nd Corinthians chapter 9, St. Corinthians chapter 9 verses 6 through 8.

Verses six through eight. Sorry, six through seven here. Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. He who sows with blessing will also reap with blessing. Each one must do just as he is purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." There's freedom in Christ.

We give not out of fear of the law, not fear of condemnation of the law or anything like that, but as he says here, one must do as he is purposed in his heart not grudgingly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver. And so back into our text here in Galatians, Paul is instructing these churches that they are to support their pastors. They're pastors. The one who is instructed in the Word is to share in all good things with the one who instructs them. You know back in the old days, even in our own country, sometimes the poor farmers, they'd go to church and they didn't have money to give so they would give fruits and vegetables.

Maybe someone would bring some eggs, you know, whatever, and give, give it to church house and that would help to support the pastor and all of those sorts of things. And so the principle is there even if you don't have any Benjamins or greenbacks and all of that and again it's not about who is rich or who is poor but rather the all bringing a little something in order to help out. And then of course when we think about giving at church and so on, giving to the Lord, There are other things too that need support such as missionaries and The electric has to be on all of those things and so you know this is why this is God's financial plan for the church and this is his plan here of how the pastors are to be supported. So back into our text he says there in verses seven and eight he says do not be deceived God is not mocked for whatever a man sows, this he will 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.

The law of sowing and reaping, the law of the harvest, is a law that nobody can get away from. Indeed it's a law that the people of Galatia knew. They knew all about that 2, 000 years ago. And it's a law that you and I understand today. You can't sow an apple seed and expect that in a few years you'll have oranges.

It just doesn't work that way. So it is in a church. This was written to a church. It's the same way in a church. You cannot expect that there'll be a great harvest, great blessing, where there are seeds of discord, division, and slander going on.

That will not result in a good harvest. God is not mocked. The one who sows in his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap from the Spirit eternal life." To go back to the physical, I posted a picture on Facebook and put the text there, Galatians 6 and verse 7 on that picture, and the picture was of a cotton field. We're in Georgia and I thought, you know, the cotton field would be a good illustration of that. The cotton field was a field that is actually in Glenville, Georgia, right across from where Elligrove Baptist Church meets.

But, excuse me, you know, that farmer, he had to be intentional about his field in order to have a field full of cotton. There was work involved. And furthermore, when he went out and spread the seed, he had to make sure that he had cotton seeds. He didn't go out there with corn seeds and spread corn seed all over the field and expect to harvest cotton, did he? That just doesn't work that way.

Just like you can't get oranges from an apple tree, you can't sow corn seed and get cotton. And likewise, you can't sow seeds of the flesh and expect to have a great spiritual harvest. While it may be that in this life you may fool other people, but God is not mocked. In the context of this, he's talking about the churches, He's talking about church life. The paragraph, he's talking about the one who is instructed in the Word is to share in all good things with the one who instructs him.

Do not be deceived. God is not mocked for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap." If you've got a Bible like mine, you know it's not written with paragraphs, it's verse by verse by verse. It makes it easy to follow along. But, if you've got one like mine, you'll see off to the side there certain verses have the numbers in bold and so verse 6 is bold for instance, and then further on down, verse 11 is bold. What that is, is that's to let you know that these are paragraphs.

There's a paragraph here, and so it kind of helps with reading. And you can get a reader's Bible in which everything is set up in paragraph form and so on and so forth. So it's easy to follow that way, but I do like this format because it's easy to follow along in a church setting. But in the context here, he's talking about churches, He's talking about pastors, supporting pastors, and listen, if we take this into our modern day And think about this for a moment. For the one who sows, sorry verse 6, and the one who is instructed in the word is to share in all good things with the one who instructs him.

Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, this he will 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." You've got a good pastor, then support him. Not only just financially, we talked about that, but also encourage him and all that.

But what happens a lot of times in some churches is you'll see a pattern start to emerge. The pattern is this, a pastor comes he's there for two or three years and then he moves on. Another pastor comes he's there for two or three years, and then he moves on. Well, what's the problem? The problem is, and you know there's a problem because short-term pastorates are the exception and not the rule.

Nobody, nobody in this world wants to move their family into a place, into a community and stay just two or three years and then go and move on. It doesn't even make good nonsense. And so what's going on when that happens over and over and over again? Well it could be that church has a problem of picking out pastors and maybe those pastors are heretical, it could be that, but most of the time it's not that at all, because you find those other pastors at other churches, and They're preaching, they're teaching the Word of God without any problems at all in another place. And so you find out, oh, they didn't leave for doctrinal issues.

There's a problem in the church, you see. And Paul says to the Galatian churches, and by extension, the Holy Spirit is saying to us in our day, The one who is instructed in the word is to share in all good things with the one who instructs him. Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that he will 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." You see, the problem a lot of times is not the pastors. The problem is the people. The problem is that they've made a mockery out of church life. They've made a mockery out of the Scriptures. And there's something else going on.

And that's why this is here. This is the context, but consider the rule, the principle. It's always been this way, even again, as I mentioned, from ancient times. Go with me, if you will, to Job chapter 4. Job chapter 4 and verse 8.

According to what I have seen, those who plow wickedness, those who sow trouble, harvest it." So Eliphaz, one of Job's friends, he says the truth. He says the truth. According to what I have seen, those who plow wickedness and those who sow trouble harvest it. Over in Hosea chapter 8 What was the name of chapter 8? Verse 7.

For they sow the wind, shall reap the whirlwind, the standing grain has no growth, it makes no flower. Should it make anything, strangers would swallow it up. See, they sow the wind and they'll reap the whirlwind. Chapter 10 and verse 12. In chapter 10 and verse 12.

Hosea chapter 10 and verse 12, he says, so with a view to righteousness, Reap in accordance with love and kindness, break up your fallow ground. Indeed, it is time to seek Yahweh till He comes and reigns righteousness on you." And so the law of the harvest, the law of sowing and reaping, it's true. And it's always been true. And I would say to you and to me consider it in the life of the church that's the context of Galatians it was written to churches but also consider it in your own life someday someday there'll come a day when it'll be harvest time in this world you and I will stand before God No one will miss out on their appointment to stand before God. What have you sown in this life?

Before you can ever expect to end right before you can ever expect that there will ever be a good harvest You've got to start right. That's why I mentioned so much about the scenes And you know when we talk about spiritual life over in John chapter 14 John chapter 14 and verse 6 In John 14 and verse 6, Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me." There's only one way to get to the Father, there's only one way to heaven. And if that only way is through Jesus, That means all of the other ways that people have in this world, they're the wrong way. No amount of works or legalism.

No amount of, of Well over in Matthew chapter 7 Matthew chapter 7 Begin with verse 21. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, In your name did we not prophesy, and in your name cast out demons, and in your name do many miracles. Then will I declare to them, I never knew you, depart from me, you who practice lawlessness." practice lawlessness. Harvest is coming.

And our text says it very very plainly, The one who sows to his flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. The one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Don't sow to the flesh. There's no future in that, but rather sow to the Spirit. If you'll remember in Galatians chapter 5, we were there just a week or two ago, I guess it's been two or three weeks now, but in Galatians chapter 5, chapter 5.

He laid out the differences between the flesh and the spirit very very clearly. Beginning at verse 16 and going down to verse 26, he says, But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. For these are in opposition to one another, so that you do not do the things that you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus crucified the flesh with its passions and desires if we live by the Spirit let us also walk in step with the Spirit let us not become Those with vain glory challenging one another, envying one another. You see, there's the flesh and there's the spirit.

And you can as an individual, you can sow to the flesh, but there's no future to be found in that. When harvest comes, you'll not have a good crop. Some people say, well, oh let the young people sow their wild oats and all that. There's no good in that. There's nothing good that can come of that.

But rather, so to the Spirit, so to the Spirit. So as it is in the physical realm, so it needs to be as a church, so it needs to be in your personal life, so it needs to be in your family life. All of these things. And in Galatians chapter 6 as we move on, he gives them encouragement. Encouragement.

Verses 9 and 10 here. Verses 9 and 10 here, let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. So then while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who are of the household of the faith. Anybody who has ever planted a tree, worked in a garden, knows that you don't reap the same day you sow. There's work involved and not only work but also time, patience.

The seed has to be sown, there's got to be some watering There's gotten to be you've got to pull the weeds out all that sort of thing. There's labor involved. And if you grow weary in that, guess what happens? I'll tell you what happens. You plant a garden and you say, well you know what, I'm tired this is taking too long it's too hot and you leave it guess what will happen the weeds will grow but your harvest will be terrible.

You won't have good tomatoes, you won't have good lettuce, you won't have good corn. It'll be a terrible disaster. If you want to have good harvest, you can't grow weary. He says, let us not lose heart in doing good. You've got to start well, but you've also got to finish well.

In due time we will not we will reap if we do not grow weary. We'll have a good harvest if we don't grow weary. If you've sown the proper seed it's going to take time for it to grow. The seed gets put in the soil. Sometimes you go out and you look, the next day you don't see anything.

The day after you go out and you don't see anything. Sometimes it can take a couple weeks or longer before you ever see anything come up out of the soil. Because a lot of that growth is happening underneath the soil. It takes time. When I was in Ohio I heard a saying and it makes sense.

It says, do you know the best time to plant an apple tree? The best time to plant an apple tree was 25 years ago. That was the best time to plant an apple tree. You know when the second best time is to plant an apple tree? Today.

You can't do anything about the past if you haven't planted the right seed. But, but as long as we're alive, there's opportunity. He says, he says here, don't lose heart in doing good for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. So then while we have opportunity, When do we have opportunity? As long as we're breathing, as long as we're here, let us do good to all people and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

It is indeed something to be considered. In the context, in the context here, yes, he's talking about those pastors who have labored well in the Word and taught and preached the truth of God's Word. Yes, that's the context. But in a broader sense, Let us also make sure we are doing good to everyone, especially to those who are of the household of faith. God's people who love the word, those who love the Lord, those of our brothers and sisters, everybody.

It's more blessed to give than to receive. To open up our home to people, to put another potato in the pot, to have somebody over for dinner or whatever, you know, to help out somebody however way we can, to be hospitable. We can to be hospitable. We're known as Christians by our love. This is what we find throughout the scriptures.

You want good friends? Be friendly. You want a church that's doing well? Support your pastor. You want a church that's doing well?

Be friendly to the other church members. Invite others to come. You know, all of those sorts of things. Witness to folks. We have a short time on this earth.

Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, This he will also reap. And all of these principles, they follow us, not only in the garden, not only in the church, but also in our families, in our marriages, in our relationships with others. All of this is the truth.

And so may God help us to take these things and apply them as we live from day to day. Thank you for your attention today and let's have some let's have a season of prayer.