"For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption;" Gal. 6, 8a.
In plain and clear everyday English that means: Yes, God will forgive your sin. We know that. But you will reap a harvest from your dastardly deed (or your little compromise. Whatever you want to call it), anyway!
There is no such thing as cheap grace.
God will forgive you, all right, but you will still reap the effects of your sin in the form of problems. Your conversion and repentance buffer the blow, but won't eliminate it alltogether.
There's no escape.
Let's have a bible look at it:
The children of Israel sold their brother Joseph to be slave in Egypt.
What did they turn into in the subsequent centuries?
They themselves became slaves in Egypt.
A family curse?
No. Just the law of sowing and reaping in action.
Jacob was a good man. But before his conversion he was a liar, a fraud and a deciever! As a matter of fact, his very name Jaakub - in Hebrew - means nothing else than supplanter, cheat! And how he lived up to his name!
Remember: he tricked his brother Esau out of his double portion of the inheritance by selling him a mess of pottage. Sure, Esau forfeited this right of the firstborn out of his own volition. But Esau was driven by a strong natural desire: hunger. Esau was not really himself then. And Jacob's heart was full of treachery in the case.
He sowed deceit and he reaped deceit about ten years later:
At that time Jacob had a strong natural desire: for his fiancée Rachel, the daughter of his uncle Laban, his boss. Jacob was not really himself that night: he was soused. And cheaty uncle Laban sent his firstborn daughter Lea - the one with the homely face - into the bridal chamber instead of pretty Rachel. (This time the firstborn gets her due.(As compared to Esau.))
The next morning Jacob was as outraged as Esau had been.
His deed had come back upon him.
And he married Rachel anyway. Can you imagine! Having two wives? Them being sisters on top of that? That spells big time trouble!
He harvested disharmony in his own family, just as he had sown discord into his father's family. Before he was a believer even, because Jacob cheated Esau when he was still an unbeliever. (He met God at Bethel, when he fled from the wrath of his older brother. See Genesis 28.)
The harvest of deeds done before he became a believer extended into his faith days.
Thus we conclude:
Some believers suffer because of wild oats they have sown in their youth. (Gives me shivers.)
Job was one of them.
In his pre-faith days he had married the wrong woman.
Job had an unbelieving spouse. After the devil had stolen everything the man had she advised him: "Curse God and die!" (Job 2, 9.)
Hardly a pious wish.
And Job's children were rich kids given to riotous partying.
Job himself was in deep doubt about their spiritual condition. This is why he rose up early in the morning after each party and offered sacrifices for them, because they might have "cursed God in their hearts." (Job 1, 5.)
Job himself in his suffering suggests that God "writes bitter things against me, and makes me to possess (pay for) the iniquities of my youth." (Job 13, 26.) This conclusion is not entirely correct, of course. But this verse shows that Job had not always been an impeccable and stalwart believer. He had indeed sown iniquities in his youth. And his wife and children still breathed the spirit of those godless days.
He suffered a lot through them.
Sort of like Lot who lived in Sodom.
Back to Jacob.
Jacob wanted not only the material blessing of the inheritance. He also wanted the spiritual blessing of his father, which actually belonged to the favored firstborn son Esau, too. So Jacob deceived his blind father Isaac by slaughtering a goat, preparing it, and posing as Esau. Old Isaac fell for it and extended his hand in blessing over the supplanter.
Jacob deceived his old father!
In his own old age Jacob's children deceive him:
When Jacob was old he too had a favourite son.
His father Isaac's favourite had been big boy Esau. And Jacob used to be jealous.
Jacob's favourite is bright little Joseph. And his eleven brothers resent that big time. The big boys hate Joseph and sell daddy's favourite into Egypt. They deceive their father Jacob by presenting him with Joseph's coat, dipped into the blood of a slaughtered goat!
They say Joseph's dead.
Jacob weeps. He suffers.
But let's realize: his conversion and subsequent walk with God did buffer the blow: Joseph is not really dead! Rather God prepares him to take over Egypt as prime minister!
In those days of not knowing, though, Jacob reaps a harvest of bitter tears.
Sowing and reaping is an unbending, never failing, awfully rigid law of the spirit world.
And believers are not exempt from it.
When the people of Israel did not believe the good report of the two reliable spies which Moses had sent into Canaan, God's anger welled up, white and hot. He wanted to eliminate Israel right then and there. In Numbers 14, 18 Moses prays for Israel and stays God's hand.
He prays and says: "The Lord is longsuffering and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing (hebr.: by no means leaving entirely unpunished) the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation."
And the Lord said: "I have pardoned according to thy word."
He forgave them.
"But ..."
"... because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened unto my voice; surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it."
God forgave their sin but decided to let them harvest a crop anyway. They wandered around in a barren desert for the rest of their lives. Even though their sins had been forgiven!
That right there gives you a strong incentive to shun sin. It gives you a tangible, material advantage: you'll have less problems.
Just ask David.
This greatest king of Israel was about 50 years of age when he fell into sin with Bathsheba. Later he ordered her faithful husband Uriah to be murdered because he was in the way. (2 Sam. 11.) David did not repent for a very long time until God finally sent the prophet Nathan to confront him. Only then did the king confess and acknowledge the enormity of his crime.
God forgave him.
However, David reaped the whirlwind for the rest of his life.
Be not deceived. God is not mocked. Face that fact. Read 2 Sam. 12.
David as much as raped Bathsheba, who could have been his daughter, agewise.
His son Amnon did rape his daughter Tamar.
David had Uriah murdered, who could have been his son.
Absalom has Amnon murdered, who is the son of David.
David destroyed Uriah's family, Absalom destroys David's family. He desecrates ten of David's wives on the roof of the palace on which David had first spotted Bathsheba.
David ravished another one's wife. Absalom ravishes ten of David's.
David offered up Uriah in war maneuver. Later Absalom makes war on David.
It goes on and on.
Scary, isn't it?
You might argue: "But that's all in the Old Testament!"
Yes, but Galatians is in the New. Also consider 1 Corinthians 10, 6: "Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted."
And what about Judas Iscariot? And Ananias and Sapphira?
I say: "Let's work out our salvation with fear and trembling." (Phil 3, 12.)
You say: "But if I still collect a harvest even from deeds done before I was a Christian, how can I escape? What can I do to minimize the bad crop and maximize the good?"
Good question. Ephesians has the answer.
In Ephesians 4, 22 ff Paul writes: "You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; ..."
The bad crop coming. Nothing new here. That's what we studied so far.
"... to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."
Sounds pretty abstract. How do I do that?
"Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor."
Here's the evil-crop-destroyer: steer counter!
Engage forcefully in the opposite of the wrong thing you used to do.
If you were an old liar, make it a top priority to speak truthfully to your neighbor. This way you plough up the crop of lies coming your way.
Regard verse 27 and 28: "And do not give the devil a foothold. He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need."
If you were a thief, your remedy is to work with your hands and to share, to give freely and with a willing heart!
Become an expert in the opposite of your former area of weakness.
If you lied, work hard to acquire a reputation for honesty.
If you stole, become an ardent giver.
If you were God's gift to women, work at becoming an exemplary family man.
If you were a professional dissenter, become a consensus-builder.
If you were a proficient mocker, become a even more proficient praiser!
Steer counter to your old ways. Plow up those old crops. Do yourself something good.
Paul did just that: he used to be the worst persecutor and destroyer of the church. But he reversed his ways and became the greatest evangelist and builder of the church.
There are not just bad crops to dread of course. There are also good ones to look forward to.
"...but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." Gal. 6, 8b and Verse 9.
How do I sow to the spirit? Just regard verse 10:
"As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith."
You sow to the spirit by going good.
You bless a lot and soon you'll be so blessed that you'll have a hard time to contain yourself. You'll live in an oasis of perpetual revival. Just you and God, if nobody else will join you.
But if you sin, you WILL suffer. Remember: there's no such thing as cheap grace.
Sincerely,
Gert Hoinle, Editor of Teaching News
P.S.: The Lord himself was the kernel sown into the ground of the tomb. Three days later in his resurrection the first sprouts of the church plant became visible. Forty days later the flower burst into full bloom.
One Christ was sown, and a multitude of christians grew out of that one stem!
Glory to God.
© by Gert Hoinle