Galatians 6:7

The Spirit warns us again and again against deception. We deceive ourselves, and Satan's agents deceive us too. Take that warning to heart. One thing at least is certain: God is not mocked. The wise and clever of this world once mocked Him in the person of His Son. Even so, God will not be treated as nothing forever. He is a God of knowledge. He weighs our actions, and in due time He will make the results plain. For He will give to every man according to his work. What is more, in His wise plan, men judge themselves and repay themselves.

Here the point is the order God has set up in His holy government, both in the natural things around us and in the moral affairs of our lives. So we are told that even if we do deceive ourselves, we shall not be able to mock God by changing the results. In nature every seed produces "according to its kind," a phrase repeated ten times in Genesis 1.

The word means to turn up our noses at God. The apostle tells the Galatians to share with their teachers. But Paul knows some of them will hear this command and turn up their noses, saying, "Why should we listen to this man Paul? We have our new teachers from Jerusalem. Let us hear them." It is not Paul you are turning up your noses at. Far from it. Paul is only God's messenger, bringing you God's message. It is at God you are turning up your noses when you refuse to heed His Word.

The apostle goes on to show something about believers here on earth. Their lives fall under the general principles of God's government, just like anyone else's. Our souls are apt to forget this, and to act as if, because we are subjects of grace, we are free from responsibility. Not at all. Grace can never be lost. God will carry every believer safely through the wilderness and present each one in glory. But on the way there, God's unchanging principles of government touch us just as they touch anyone else.

"Whatever one sows, that will he also reap." God may forgive the sin of sowing weeds, but the reaping still matches the sowing. The former is grace, the latter is government. Each acts in its own sphere, and neither interferes with the other. As a subject of grace, David walked in the courts of the sanctuary. Later, as a subject of government, he had to climb the rough slopes of the Mount of Olives. And we may say that David's heart never felt divine grace more deeply than at the very time he was under the righteous action of divine government.

Though, as born of God, we have a new nature, the old nature — the flesh — is still in us. We pass through our lives like a man walking through a field with two baskets of seed. The basket on his left has in it the things of the flesh. The one on his right has in it the things of the Spirit. Everything depends on what he does. Which basket does he dip his hand into to scatter seed?

The question here is self-indulgence in one way or another. If someone has a heart for the Lord, he will soon find a way to serve Him. But that way often demands much self-denial. No circumstances set this aside… Someone might say to me: I understood you to teach that those who believe already have eternal life. But here it says, "the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life." Both statements are of the greatest value, but the point of view is different. If God is urging His people to a holy walk, He shows that everlasting life is the crown of that walk, and the end of it.