What does it mean that God is not mocked?

We pass now to Galatians 6:7, where again we get the admonition, "Be not deceived." And as the point here is the order that God has instituted in His holy government, both in natural things surrounding us, and in the moral affairs of our lives, we are told that even if we do deceive ourselves we shall not be able to mock God by altering the results. In nature every seed produces, "after his kind," as is repeated ten times in Genesis 1. The Galatian saints were warned that the same law would operate as to their daily conduct, just as also it does with us today.

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. That on his right has in it the things of the Spirit. Everything practically depends upon his action. Into which basket does he dip his hand to scatter seed? Whatever he may think, he will reap according to what he sows, for he cannot mock God by altering or evading His law.

Let us not deceive ourselves into thinking that we can indulge the flesh and yet reap spiritual good and blessing. That will only be reached as we cultivate the things of the Spirit of God. It would be a profitable and healthy thing for each of us, when confronted with some trying and unlooked for event, to ask ourselves, Has there been on my part some sowing to the flesh, which has produced this distressing harvest? At any rate, if we do not deceive ourselves on this point, we shall live our lives with care and sobriety and in the spirit of self-judgment, and reap life everlasting as the result.

If you would lay down this book and take your Bible and read 2 Corinthians 9, you would find that the Apostle takes a whole chapter there for the subject of Christian giving. He tells how he could boast of the "forwardness" of the Corinthian Christians, and he compares this giving to sowing and reaping. In speaking of giving, he says: "He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully." 2 Cor. 9:6. Now as he speaks of the same subject of giving to the Galatians (though notice he does not once use this word, or tell them plainly they are selfish and miserly), he goes on: "Do not be misled!" This is the literal meaning of what the Apostle says, but it has come to mean: "Do not be deceived! God is not scoffed at." The word means to turn up our noses at God. The Apostle writes to the Galatians to share with their teachers, but as they listen to this command, Paul knows there are those who will turn up their noses and say, "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, and do not be misled, do not be deceived; if you turn up your nose at God and His Word, the harvest for you will be very, very bitter.

"Do not be misled, God is not scoffed at. For whatever a man may sow, that very thing also he shall reap." What solemn words are these. If a man sows rice, he reaps rice. If a man sows turnips, he reaps turnips. Day by day we are sowing — sowing what? We are sowing thoughts, words, deeds! What shall we reap? What will the harvest be?

There are three things the Apostle brings to our notice about sowing: What we sow: "Whatever a man soweth, that very thing he shall also reap." Where we sow: "The one sowing unto (in the interests of) the flesh …" "The one sowing unto (in the interests of) the Spirit …" How we sow: "He which soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly; He which soweth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully." 2 Cor. 9:6.

Verses 7, 8. "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap," etc. The frequency of the Spirit's warnings against deception, both of ourselves and as the dupes of Satan's emissaries, is truly remarkable, and should be taken well to heart. One thing at least is certain: God is not mocked. Though once utterly derided by the wise and prudent of this world in the person of His Son, God cannot be permanently set at nought. He is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed, with results to be declared openly in due time. For He will mete to every man according to his work. Moreover, in the counsels of His wisdom, men are themselves their own judges and the requiters of themselves. What men sow they must inevitably also reap, sparingly or bountifully, grief or joy, according to the manner of their husbandry. If, like the apostle, they go forth weeping, bearing precious seed, and sow beside all waters in the spirit of unflagging faith and love, they will reap fruit to life eternal at the coming day. No kind of labour in the Lord is vain, and the life here below is our sole opportunity of winning or losing in the things of God. We may sow to our flesh, seeking with an ill-bestowed diligence our own, with corruption for our harvest. Labouring only for the meat that perishes, and careful overmuch about the things of time, we shall find that not only is the labour lost which we bestow on vanity, but with it also the precious occasion of true spiritual gain. To regard what men call their own interests, and regulate our course of life with a chief reference to these, is wisdom and prudence in the estimation of the world, but folly and wasting in the sight of God. We lose our life by seeking it; we find it when we lose it for Christ's sake. To seek first God's kingdom and His righteousness is to secure for ourselves a double blessing; since godliness has promise both of this life and of that which is to come (Matt. 6:33; 1 Tim. 4:8). To perform grudgingly, and without the warmth of love, such duties only as are felt by the conscience to be necessary to its peace, is still to be sowing to our flesh. God owns no other work than that of faith, and accepts no motive of His children's acts but love.

The apostle goes on to show that saints in their walk on the earth are as subject to the general principles of the government of God as any. "Be not deceived God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting" (vers. 7, 8). Our souls are apt to forget this, and to act as if because subjects of grace, we are free from responsibility. In no wise. Grace can never be forfeited every believer will infallibly be carried safely through the wilderness and presented in glory; but on the road the unchangeable principles of God's government touch us even as others. Flesh is not to be indulged: they that are Christ's have crucified it with its passions and lusts. It is to be treated as an evil thing — neither place nor quarter is to be given to it. This is our solemn responsibility all the way along.

"Whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap." The sin of sowing weeds may be forgiven, but the reaping must be according to the sowing. The former is grace, the latter is government. Each acts in its own sphere, and neither interferes with the other. The lustre of the grace and the dignity of the government are both divine. David was permitted to tread the courts of the sanctuary as a subject of grace (2 Sam. 12:20) ere he was called to climb the rugged sides of mount Olivet as a subject of government (2 Sam. 15:30); and we may safely assert that David's heart never had a deeper sense of divine grace than at the very time in which he was experiencing the righteous action of divine government.

Paul now brings in the principle of God’s governmental dealings. Here it is man’s responsibility, but it is God’s government. I will just give one example of many that could be quoted. When David confessed his sins, he received forgiveness of his sin with Bathsheba and also for causing her husband to be killed in the war, but in God’s government he lost four of his sons. So it is not that the believer can lose his salvation, it is a matter that he can lose the enjoyment of fellowship with God. Whatever action we take, we will have to face the consequences. David’s sin was forgiven, but in God’s government he had to face the consequences, the death of four sons, including Bathsheba’s baby. So this is a very solemn principle, every action is scrutinized by God; we are under His government.

This sowing and reaping is a very general principle in Scripture and could be developed in more detail. Here we see there is either what the flesh produces or what the Spirit produces; what line do we want to follow? If we want to be on the line of the flesh, the result is corruption. I repeat again, this does not mean loss of salvation, but it does mean a great loss. If we follow the line of the flesh, we lose fellowship with God now, and we lose a reward in the age to come, whereas when we now sow to the Spirit we enjoy fellowship with the Lord, we enjoy eternal life because here, for it is presented as a present position. Eternal life in Paul’s ministry in general is presented as what is to come, but in 1 Timothy 6:12 he says to Timothy that he should “grasp”eternal life, we reach out to lay hold of it in order to enjoy eternal life in its riches now. This is, however, more the topic of John’s ministry, the present enjoyment of eternal life. Perhaps I can state it in this way: sowing to the Spirit will result in fellowship with the Lord, enjoying eternal life now, and it sets us on a path that leads us to eternal life. This is not a contradiction. We have received eternal life, but we are also on the way to eternal life, the realm of eternal life.

He enters now upon the subject, which this opens, of divine government, a thing which is not, as we know, in the slightest contradiction with divine grace. These are things which are sometimes put as if in some sense contrary to one another; but, on the other hand, the government of God for us is expressly a Father's government, while it is, none the less, that of One who, without respect of persons, judgeth according to every man's work. This is, of course, a thing of the present, not of the future. The future judgment, whether with regard to saint or sinner, is in the hands of Christ. "God hath committed all judgment to Him because He is the Son of Man," but there is a government which is, none the less, the government of grace, because it is one absolutely intolerant of evil. We may repeat again that the toleration of evil is never grace. It would be a perversion of the very thought of grace to imagine this. "Be not deceived," he says, therefore, "God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap, for he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption and he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." These are principles of absolute necessity. Nothing can alter them. If a man sows a certain seed, he knows, or he should know, that he can get of that seed nothing but what is proper to it. If a man sows to his flesh, he sows, in fact, the corruption which he reaps. The very principle of self-will which must, of necessity, be in it, is a principle which is essentially that of sin. Every form of sin will come under this, and God may allow, in fact, such seed to come to harvest, in order that we may recognize its character, as we otherwise would not do. In the opposite way to that of the man who, bearing good seed, goes forth even weeping, but returns with joy, a man in this way may sow his seed rejoicing, but it will be the return that will be sorrowful. It does not follow that God cannot come in and deliver us from what would otherwise be the necessary fruit of such sowing, if only there be the true self-judgment of it in the soul; for to a Christian, the reaping of it is but in order to self-judgment, and if we will judge it first, there may be no need of reaping at all. Judge it first or last we surely must, or the thing will develop for what it is and be manifest, not to ourselves alone it may be, but to others also. On the other hand, "He that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." Blessed and wonderful reaping! The life is looked at here, of course, in its practical character, in its fruits and activities. The life itself, the life which produces this, is no matter of reaping at all, it is what we must have to be Christians. Nevertheless, we can reap it as a practical thing, and the witness of it is that, even though reaped here upon earth, it is something which has eternity in it. All that which in us here is the fruit of the divine work has necessarily its link with eternity. It is for eternity that we are preparing. There is not even just that sharp division between the present and the future for us which we are apt so to imagine. It is eternity that God has before Him, it is the things eternal with which we are conversant day by day. It is eternity, therefore, that imprints its character upon the present. It is the life everlasting which we live practically now, and let us not then, says the apostle, be "weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not." The path is through a world of trial, and therefore, though in itself all well doing has its own delight, yet the opposition to it from the world through which we pass will surely give us need of such an encouragement as this. "As we have, therefore, opportunity, let us do good unto all men, but especially," he adds, "unto them who are of the household of faith." This ends very much the practical test which he has been making of the two principles which we have seen in opposition all the way through the epistle. All the way through it is a controversy, and one from which we need not expect to escape while we are here. God's principles lead into conflict, and, alas, not merely with the men of the world, but, it may be, as here, with the children of God themselves.

Thus, though it may seem strange to those who little understand the ways of God, and it will be thought strong wherever there is carelessness, and anything allowed in our ways that is contrary to God, yet it is most wholesome and needed for our souls that we should remind ourselves of such a scripture as this: "Be not deceived: God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap." It is, be assured, universally true, whether of the unbeliever or of the believer — "whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap." The unbeliever sows to self and nothing but self, and reaps the judgment of God on self — and of self where there is not a single good thing — nothing that will stand before God. But what about the believer? There is where the difficulty comes in. The believer has the mingled crop of good and evil. For just as we know with Christianity; the field where good seed was sown and where there was good soil, yet all was not good seed — tares were sown by the enemy; so Satan may take advantage of the unjudged evil of our hearts in order to lead into sin. It may not be always a question of gross sin; but it is the lawless evil of our nature, that prefers a little present gratification of self to the service, the uniform obedience and glory, of Christ. But what do we gain by it? Can you tell me of a soul that ever departed from the will of God that did not suffer in that very thing in which he pleased himself? Can you look back on any one thing in which you went contrary to God, that gave you satisfaction as a Christian? Wherever we indulged ourselves, in that itself God dealt with us. The very thing for which we spare ourselves becomes the keen rod for our correction. And let us thank God that it is so. "God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."

"And they said unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? for the sea grew more and more tempestuous." The matter is being pressed close home to Jonah now. "What shall we do unto thee?" Well Jonah knew that the awful storm about them, every moment getting worse and worse, was all his fault. Though Jonah had not "feared exceedingly" when he ought to have done so, now he began to find out that God is not mocked, and that it is no light thing to try and trifle with Him. I suppose that most of us are not in any position to say very many words of blame to Jonah. Have not most of us had to learn the same bitter lesson? How natural to the heart of man is the thought, and how eager the enemy is to tell us, that we may sin with impunity and "get away with it." No, beloved fellow-Christian, whether it was Jonah, or whether it is you or I, "God is not mocked." "Be sure your sin will find you out." (Num. 32:23) Sin will surely bring bitter, bitter fruit.

I do not know everybody here, maybe there is someone who cannot say ‘The Lord Jesus died for me.’ It is very simple. If you think you do not need a Saviour then it is very bad for you, because you will have to do with God as a sinner. When you will appear before God as a sinner you will be speechless. You could have known Him in the Bible, but you did not like the Bible, did not read it; you are wilfully ignorant and must be judged. There are different kinds of ignorance. A little baby has an innocent ignorance, but a grown person who says, ‘I do not want to have anything to do with the Bible or with Jesus’, is in a state of wilful ignorance. For such a state there is no pardon. Do not forget that. God is a God of grace, but He is also a holy God. You cannot mock God, and that is what people do who refuse to read the Bible but who want to speak to God. You cannot mock God.