Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / December 8, 2024 | Galatians - Don't Give Up!

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December 8, 2024 | Galatians - Don't Give Up! · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we are uh continuing our series in Galatians, and we have two weeks left, including this week.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, as we wrap up this book, we are in chapter six.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: We were last week, we will be today, and um, it's always interesting when you get to the end of uh letters that Paul has written or in the New Testament, they always have some kind of meaning behind them that um is uh when they're closing out sort of the last remarks, what is it that they want us to know?
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um and uh there was uh this last two weeks I was on paternity leave.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, by the way, spending most of my paternity leave like that.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's what I was doing.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's pretty great.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: Pretty great, highly recommend.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: Great nap partner.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: But uh while Hannah has mostly been taking care of Ellie, Elizabeth, um, I've been on Dan Duty, our two and a half-year-old son.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: And uh one of the things he loves to do is play hide and go seek.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um but he's terrible at it, he's absolutely garbage.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: And he loves to play and he loves to go and run and hide, and so what we'll do is I'll count and he'll you know run off and he'll go into a room, and uh, you know, obviously you know immediately where he's at because he's talking the entire time.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'll go into a room and he'll just be standing right in the middle of it.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: No, no closets, no.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: So, anyhow, you you walk through the motions, you're like, you know, is he under the stand?
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Is he under the piano?
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: Is he under the where could he be?
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: And he's talking to you, right?
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like the entire time that you're looking.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: And he thinks that he is the best at hide and go seek because he's all it's always very easy to find dad, and it's very easy to find him.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and uh, you know, it's it's sweet, it's cute.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: I would be worried if that was his perspective as like a 20-year-old, though, right?
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like there is an element of being a child where you expect that their, whether it's their imagination or their sense of wonder or whatever it is, um, that they don't always live in the same reality that we do, right?
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: There are certain true things that they gleefully decide to neglect so that they can live in this own sort of beautiful world that they're in, where he is an elite hide-and-go-seek player.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna let him hold on to that for a while.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: But as adults, though, we we do have this responsibility, right?
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: That we are supposed to not live in an alternate reality, but live in the one that is filled with truth and to ultimately seek out that truth.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: Two weeks ago, Pastor Jim shared uh what it is like in Galatians 5 to uh live through the Spirit of God and not pursue the aims of the flesh, right?
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Not to pursue the idols of depravity, but to pursue things of virtue and value that God has given to us.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: And how even as Christians, this is this um battle that we find ourselves raging and waging, rather, that is raging within us.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's something we try and do.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: We all want to live like Christ.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: We all want to live through the Spirit, but so often we fail.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh this morning, though, what we're gonna look at is a passage that Paul gives to the Galatians where he says, you know, I don't want you to be deceived about the reality of what is coming in the future.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: That the battle that you are waging right now against the flesh as the Spirit empowers you, that that battle has a greater consequence or impact, maybe it would be a better word, a greater impact on your life and in fact your eternity than you might realize.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: That it is not just about, let's live for the Lord because it's good to do it and we've been told to do it, right?
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: That is great justification in and of itself.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: But ultimately that there is an eternal impact to your living by the Spirit.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: But that for some of us, we have taken the liberty that God has given, the freedom that the Lord has provided, and instead of choosing to follow after him as well as we can and trying to live for Christ in this life, we decided to exit the battle and just said, you know what, I'm saved.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: I've got that on lockdown.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: I know where I'm going at the end, and so therefore, it the rest of this stuff, it it doesn't really matter.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: One of the things I also did during uh my leave is I got a uh gigantic biography on George Washington.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um and uh I'm halfway through at like 450 pages right now, and um a lot of things to talk about.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: But when it c one of the things that I was not aware of, and I loved my AP US history class at Shawnee Heights, fantastic, but I was not aware of how ragtag our revolution was when Washington was leading the Continental Army.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um constantly he was worried about people falling away from battle and the militia that the states were raising, that the troops were just continually leaking away, they were deserting the battle, they were running back to home.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: And even though they supported the cause and the idea behind it, many of them would say, you know what, this battle is not worth it for us.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to go back to what we know and love.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that there are a lot of Christians today who love the idea of the battle, who love the idea of following after Christ, who love the idea of being somebody who is empowered by the Spirit and living that out.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: But when it comes down to it, we don't always have the motivation to fight in the battle.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so we get to what Paul was talking about in um Galatians chapter 6, verse 7 here.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Paul says, Don't be deceived.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: God is not mocked.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: For whatever a person sows, he will also reap, because the one who sows to his flesh will reap destruction from the flesh, but the one who sows to the spirit will reap eternal life from the spirit.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we like to believe, I like to believe, that we are the masters of our destiny, that we control our fate to some degree more than we really do.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that we are the ones with both hands on the steering wheel.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the things that comes with that perspective is the belief that to some degree we determine what is right and what is wrong, or another way to say it, what is true and what is false, right?
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that there is a matter of perspective at hand which determines what is right for me and what is right for you, even though our perspectives might be different, right?
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: That means that you can believe something different than I believe because the way I'm viewing the situation, because my experiences, because of my life, because of these different factors, that has changed what I think is true, and that I can hold to something which is true, and you can hold to something which is true, or that we believe is true, and they can oppose each other, and yet we can still at the same time say what we believe is true, even though they are mutually exclusive.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: This is relativism, if we want to attach a word to it, that the world lacks objective truth in many ways.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yet those who believe that, and even myself, when I bleed into it, we are surrounded at all times by other elements of our life that we know to be true for all people, right?
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: Gravity keeps me on the ground.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: I can't breathe underwater, right?
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: If I fly off a building, or if I jump off a building, I can't fly.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: Energy cannot be destroyed or created, it is conserved.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like there are laws of nature that apply.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: You can, nobody has ever stopped at one Oreo.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: It has never, ever happened.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: You must eat two or more, like me in high school.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: I would eat a sleeve at a time, okay?
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: And there are just things that we recognize without even thinking about.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: We go, yeah, well, that's true for everybody.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: But when it comes to these certain areas, this is true for me, even if it's not true for you.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: There's a reason why uh C.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: S.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: Lewis, when he wrote Mere Christianity and was sharing uh his faith and uh the Lord with the entire nation of England during World War II, which is what comprises the book Mere Christianity, it's those radio talks.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: There's a reason that his opening remarks on what it means to know and to love and to follow God and Jesus Christ, he doesn't begin with the cross.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: He begins with the simple idea that there is such a thing as objective truth, that there is such a thing and that it is not impossible to know, that is true and that is false, and that it should apply to every single person.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: And yet, for many of us, we either are deceived, or in fact, we like to deceive ourselves.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so this is what Paul is getting at here.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: The whole statement begins with this concept of do not be like those who have been led astray.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: In the churches, you have maybe believing something else, but he says there is truth here.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: And the truth is that God is not mocked.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: You can't pull the wool over his eyes, you can't dupe him.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: He sees every single thing.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: And for those who know and love Christ, this is actually a beautiful thing, right?
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: We worship and follow after an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-merciful God.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: But it also applies to the way that we live this life and the things that we choose to spend our time on, and the way that we want to carry out the short moments that the Lord has given to us before Christ calls us home.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: There's two paths here that he recognizes.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: One is truth, and one is ultimately a lie.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: And the sad part of that is this path of self-deception is oftentimes paved with the bricks of pride.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: Pride is what makes us believe that there are certain parts of what God has said that are true and certain parts that are not, and that we are the ones who get to determine which things those are.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's nothing else but sort of a brazen idea of rebellion, even as it's couched under the concept of Christianity.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: Paul is writing to Christians here.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: This is not for those who are outside the church.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, hey, those of you within the church, sitting in the pews and the chairs and all of those, don't be deceived.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: Don't be deceived and don't be fooled.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: There's this concept that you need to be aware of, and he says, you need to think like a farmer.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: You need to think like a farmer in the way that you understand the Lord looking at your life.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: And thankfully for us as Topekins, the idea of farming is not something that's too detached from us.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: You can drive around our city and see this a couple months ago, the harvest for the corn that had been planted in the spring, or here, what, like an October winter wheat that is taking hold and barring good seasons and attention from the farmer is going to come up in the spring.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: The idea of sowing and reaping is not just a concept for those driving like green or red tractors, right?
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: But this is something that applies across the board to every single person.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe a coach back in high school or college told you the same thing, like you get in what you put out.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: No, I messed that up.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: You get out what you put in.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's what the coaches say.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: I guess I never had a coach who said that.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: You get out what you put in.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: But it's the concept of sowing and reaping, right?
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: There's there's in a perfect world, there's not really any of us who think that when we put effort and we put time and attention into some activity, our expectation is that it produces good results.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: And when that does not happen, we think, man, there is something wrong here.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: Because it is baked into our identity and ultimately this concept of justice that the Lord has given to us, that when good things are done, good things should happen, and when bad things are done, bad things should happen.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: It is part of God's character, in fact, that he has this concept of sowing and reaping.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: There's a reason that the prophets and the and the wisdom literature and the psalms and God's judgments upon Israel, over and over and over again, one of the greatest things that he is frustrated about with the nation of Israel back in the Old Testament, is that they are an unjust people and they have unjust leaders.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: The wicked prosper and the righteous suffer.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: And the psalmists over and over and over again, they say, This is not right, this is not the way it should be, this is not what it looks like in God's kingdom, and yet it still happens.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: In the book of Job, this is his friends' lament as they go, Job, you are righteous.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: Why have you experienced such things?
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: And the answer that many of them come up with is, we don't really know.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: Or they have a wrong answer, and they say, Well, Job, it's because you've God says, No, it's a product of this world.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: That perfect justice does not reign.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: It is ultimately what is supposed to be seen in our justice system as a government, is that God's righteousness is given to them to be able to punish criminals and lift up the innocent.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so this is an aspect of God's character, and the way that the Lord frames it is he goes, Well, you've seen farmers, haven't you?
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: You've seen the work that they put into their crops.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: You've seen that when it comes time for harvest, if they have not done the work beforehand, there's no expectation that they're going to get anything in return.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so what God says is that if you sow in righteousness, and remember, this is following from Galatians 5.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: We've been talking about living for the Spirit and not for the flesh.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so we go, if you sow into the Spirit, if you plant these things from the Spirit of God, you will receive beauty and wonder.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: And in fact, what he's going to talk about here in a moment is eternal rewards.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: But if you sow into the flesh, and if you plant into the flesh, you are going to harvest bitter disappointment, even as Christians.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: How's that possible?
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: How is that possible?
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: Well, because what God is talking about here is a different kind of judgment than the one that you might be thinking of.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: You see, there are um two kind of main judgments that we think of.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: One of them we would call the great white throne judgment.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: And when most people think of the end of all things and God settling accounts, that is what they are thinking of.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: They are thinking of, this is in Revelation 20.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: You can read about it.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's the final judgment of mankind, and specifically for those who have rejected Jesus.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: Satan is included in this.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: And those present will receive the just penalty for their rebellion against God, which is eternal hell.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: This is all that business about God opening up the lake of fire and sending his enemies down there, including those who have rejected Christ.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: That is not the judgment, though, that Paul is talking about.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: Paul is speaking of a different judgment, one that is creatively called the judgment seat of Christ.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: Some people call it the Bima seat, which is the name for the kind of type of seat that Jesus would sit on when Christ is the one that brings judgment to the world, in fact.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so both of these people are walking before Jesus, who is sitting on the throne in judgment.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: But in the second one, this is a different kind of judgment for mankind, specifically for those who have trusted in Christ.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: Those present will receive the just rewards for their good works for God, which make the experience of eternal heaven even better, which is kind of a wild thing to think about.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: You go, what do you mean heaven gets better?
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: But it does.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: There is over and over again in Scripture this concept that heaven is where we go and we are in unity.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: There's no more sin, there's no more suffering, there's no more pain, there's no more loss.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: We are with the Lord once and for all.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: The cobwebs are cleared, like the scales have fallen from the eyes.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: We're rejoicing with the angels, we are in a renewed earth, like on and on and on, all this beauty and wonder and majesty in God's renewed kingdom.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: And yet, even still, there are many places in Scripture where God alludes to the idea that yes, but for some it will be even better.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: There will be some who receive those rewards for their faithfulness.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: A classic example of this is when we talk about martyrs.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: Revelation loves to bring them up.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: Those who have died in faith, and because of their faith, the Lord loves to lift them up high.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: But you can think also of like the Sermon on the Mount, when Jesus says, like, the first will be last and the last will be first, and the meek will inherit the earth.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like, do we think he is just sort of talking out of the side of his mouth?
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: Is he just saying this would be neat?
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: Or does he have some kind of concept in mind?
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: For in the future, those who have trusted in him, the ones who have lived for the Spirit, they are ones who will receive even greater rewards.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: That is what Paul is talking about here.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: And it's so interesting that this comes at the end of Galatians.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: Because Galatians, as you are probably weary is not the right word, but you are used to me saying, and Jim saying, and Jeremy saying over the last couple months, it's like you are not saved by works.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: It is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: You are justified because the blood of Christ covers you, not because of anything that you have done.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: You are made righteous in God's kingdom because you know and love Jesus.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: You believe in him.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: When you go and stand in front of his throne and he's sitting on it, and he says, Do you trust in me?
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: You will say yes, and you get a go-in, right?
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: But Paul is finishing Galatians.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: This is why I say the end of the letters are so interesting, because he says, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: But hold on.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: There's still a purpose here for being empowered by the Spirit for the rest of your life.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: You have something that God is drawing you towards and wants you to have this deeper experience both now and in the future.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so this is what we're looking at.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: This is the judgment that Christ is speaking of, that Paul is telling us about, and he says, in order to prepare for it, you need to think like a farmer.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: This cuts two ways, though, and this is what I want to spend the last bit of our time on here.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: There are some who are going to be very pleased at the end of all things.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: And there are some, even Christians, who are going to, I believe, be somewhat disappointed.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: Not because heaven is not majestic or because uh being with Christ is somehow less than we could all imagine.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's going to be far more than that.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: But I believe there are going to be some, and this would be like Luke 19, the parable there, where the king returns after having given his servants time to do good with the money he had entrusted to them, and he comes back to see the servant who goes, I buried it.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't do anything with the money.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: And he goes, Wow, I don't know if that was the best use of your time.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: The story finishes there.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: How did the servant feel?
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: How did the servant feel about the king coming back and saying, I don't really know if you spent your time the best way that you could have.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: Now, but think about the servant at the very beginning of the story, where the king comes back and says, Well done.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: Well done, good and faithful servant.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: I gave you some and you multiplied it.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: You did great things with what I entrusted you with.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: Now I'm going to hand you the rest of the kingdom, and he is rewarded.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's the concept that we're getting at here.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: So let's let's dip into for a moment this sort of weird idea of what does it mean to be kind of disappointed at the end of all things, even if we have trusted in Christ and we are saved.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: What does that look like?
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: First Corinthians three talks about this.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: It says, According to God's grace that was given to me, I have laid a foundation as a skilled master builder.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: Paul's using the illustration of construction.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Here and another builds on it.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: But each one is to be careful how he builds his life on it, for no one can lay any foundation other than what has been laid down.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: In context, he's speaking of the gospel message here.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: He says, that's our foundation.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, now you notice the transition, wood, hay, or straw, each one's work will become obvious.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: For the day will disclose it, the judgment seat of Christ, because it will be revealed by fire.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: The fire will test the quality of each one's work.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: If anyone's work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: But if anyone's work is burned up, he will experience loss, but he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so the idea is that these different building materials are the types of works that we do in this life empowered by the Spirit.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: They are things done for God's kingdom or done for our own kingdom.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: That would be this hay and the straw and things even less than that.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: And at the very end, the one who knows all says, Let's open the accounting book.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: Let us see what is here, and that there will be some who are left as the fire sweeps through everything that they have built and invested their life upon, the foundation of Jesus Christ, it remains and heads into eternity.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: And they are rejoicing because how they spent their time was wise and glorifying to God.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: But then there is the other side.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: And notice what he says at the end.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: He says, They will be saved.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: This is not salvation we are talking about.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: Those who trust in Christ are going in to be with him.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: But it will be like those who feel the flames licking at their heels.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: They will say, Man, by the skin of my teeth, right?
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want you to be in that last category.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to know what it means to live for Christ and ultimately to have this motivation.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: And you say, Well, what motivation is this, right?
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: Why would God set this before us?
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: Is it not something that we should just sort of discover at the end?
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: Why would he want Christians to know this information?
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: Well, because to some degree, it should not be the main reason we do anything for the Lord.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: But God wants you to know this.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: Do not be deceived.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: God's not mocked.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, that word mocked in the Greek, it means to turn your nose up at something, to think you're better than it, and to ridicule it or make fun of it.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: You can't do that to God.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: At the very end of time, there's going to be an accounting, even for Christians, based upon the work that they have done.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: And God wants you to know and be motivated by those two things.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: One, that those who live for the spirit will see eternal rewards, and those who live for the flesh will not see eternal rewards, and that that is something you should consider in the way that you are living your life.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: Many of you know I used to live down in Texas for a bit while I was going to school, and uh I worked for an organization called K-Life, which is kind of like Young Life, and we had this event for middle school kids called Progressive Riot, right?
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, which was an amazing 12-hour block of time where we took the kids, uh like 50, 60 middle schoolers, in a big coach bus, um, started at 8 p.m., not a 8 p.m., and we went until 8 a.m.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: And the idea was that we would go around sort of the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex and just have as much fun as we possibly could.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um we would rent out bowling alleys, we'd rent out arcades, we would um rent out restaurants.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: One year we rented out Great Wolf Lodge for all the kids, and we just spent like two of the 12 hours there, right?
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: It was an awesome experience.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody on staff looked forward to it every year.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: And as you might imagine, and this was also part of our demographic, was the tickets for progressive riot were kind of expensive.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: I don't remember exactly, but maybe like$90 for this period of time.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, didn't stem the flow of kids, but it wasn't nothing.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the saddest things was to see the kids whose parents had paid for them to go on this progressive riot and to see them on their phones all night long.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like just sitting on the bus, not interacting, not playing, just doing whatever, not engaging with anybody.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: And it was heartbreaking because you're like, man, I want you to have, I want you to have lots of fun here.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we've rented all this stuff out.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: We want you, like, don't you want to come and hang out with everybody and do all these things and just have a blast?
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we're gonna dump you off to your parents at 8 a.m.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: after you haven't slept.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like, let's take advantage of that, right?
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: Let's have a great time.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: And yet there were still so many kids who didn't use that time well.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm just worried that sometimes our faith looks that way, you know?
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just worried that sometimes God has paid this great price for us to have an amazing experience on this side of eternity and in the future.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: And we've taken advantage of part of it like we're on the bus.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: But we're not doing anything with it.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: We're not living for Christ, we're not really experiencing all the joy that he has for us, we're not um being fulfilled because we're seeing other people come to Christ, we're not discipling anybody, we're not sharing the gospel, we're not giving, we're not just we're just on the bus.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't I don't want that for you.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that Paul doesn't want that for the Galatians either.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: He says, I want you to use your liberty and your freedom well, so that at the end of time you hear, well done, good and faithful servant, and not anything else.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_00: So without exaggeration, this is teaching us that living for Christ not only has the power to change our current life, but will positively change how we experience eternity in heaven.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_00: So to make sure that you are not deceived, just give me a few moments.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: I want to share three things with you about what we should keep in mind from this passage.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: Number one is that walking by the Spirit brings eternal rewards.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: It brings rewards now, but this is about the future.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what are those rewards?
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think it's like a really nice company Christmas party where it's, you know, like a new watch or vacation days or a different parking spot, right?
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like we have to have a more fulsome idea of what it means to have rewards apportioned by the divine creator that are um fair and just rewards for those who have um lived by the Spirit and made the decision to do that.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'll talk more about what those might be in the podcast, but we can sort of summarize it by saying, hey, it is probably greater intimacy with the Lord, it is probably greater responsibility or service in his kingdom, and it is probably greater glory and honor.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_00: And those things should get you fired up because those are things that we should want in abundance.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: When the disciples were like, What will we get?
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_00: Those were the kind of answers that Jesus gave them for their service.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um walking by the Spirit does bring eternal rewards, but living for the flesh brings no eternal rewards.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: Keep in mind this judgment, this is not punishment.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: We are not getting punished because we have not lived by the Spirit.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: There's not punitive measures.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: Christ has covered your sins, both the sins of willful neglect and just the uh, what we might say is not pursuing the things that we should be pursuing, not taking advantage, the sins of commission and the sins of omission that the Bible would talk about.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_00: You are not punished for those because Christ's blood covers you.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_00: You are saved, but you don't get any benefit from doing them, other than the small amount of pleasure that might be derived in this world.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_00: Not neglecting that.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: That is true, it's why people do it.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: But man, let's tip the scales, right?
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: Look at what is coming in the future.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: The word in the passage we were in, in the Greek, for what comes about, what is the harvest for those who pursue and sow in the flesh, is the Greek word, this is gross, that describes a decomposing body.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_00: The stench of decay is the way that Paul describes the life of those who have Christ, have the Spirit, and yet do not live for Him.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: Finally, God is aware of all our works.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like everything else, this cuts two ways as well.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: Man, there are some who are hiding their affair, embezzling money, uh, lying to their friend, doing any number of things that are going unnoticed and might continue to go unnoticed, right?
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_00: That's part of the reason why we do things in secret in the dark.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, God knows.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_00: My wife has this t-shirt that she brings out at Christmas time, and it's this, she's had it for a long time, and it's has a picture of Santa Claus on it, and the words he knows at the top, which is terrifying when it comes from Santa, right?
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's all of the things about the songs that you know he sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're away, and you think about it, you're like, wow, that's kind of odd that he's omniscient.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it's 'tis the season, right?
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like we are, this is the same concept though that we have, but now from our creator, and he's not coming down a chimney, he's delivering judgment on high.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_00: And he says, like, I see those things, I know your mind, I know what you're thinking.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: And for some of us, that should be a sobering and humbling thought, right?
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_00: But let's talk about the other side, where so many of us are, so many of you are, which is there are things that you are doing in this life that you have not gotten recognition for, that you have not received praise for.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you're not doing it for recognition and praise, but still, you uh people don't know it.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_00: You're giving in secret.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: You've taken care of a family member or a loved one as they have gone through sickness, and nobody knows how hard it has been for you, right?
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: You have spent hours on your knees in prayer and the quiet of your own home.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_00: You have given to the needy and helped the poor.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like you have done the things that the Lord has called you to do, and nobody's giving you medals for it.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody's doing, and in fact, it's exhausting.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: It is, you're wondering, is there any impact to what I'm doing?
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_00: Is there any um work that is coming out?
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_00: Is there any growth that is coming out of all of the time that I'm spending with this person trying to tell them the truth of Scripture, trying to lead them closer to Christ, so on and so forth, right?
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: It is all the work that has been done, the sowing and the sowing and the sowing, and you're like, when is the harvest coming?
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_00: And to you, you also need to hear that God knows the work that you are doing.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_00: God sees the toil in the land that you have been making, and he is going to reward you for that.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: That is why Paul finishes out this whole passage by saying, Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don't give up.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_00: Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_00: By that he means Christians.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_00: Don't give up.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_00: Do not give up.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_00: For your reward is coming.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_00: And if you have been living a life that maybe sounds a bit more like the flames licking your heels, man, God still has given you time.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_00: God has given you time to do amazing, great things for his kingdom, and you have all the power that you need to do it because the Holy Spirit lives within you.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_00: There is nothing that God has called you to do that you cannot accomplish by the Spirit.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_00: Not a thing.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_00: Not saying it's not hard, but there's not a thing that you can't do.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_00: He hasn't given you impossible tasks.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_00: But he has called you to live a life that is worthy of the calling.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_00: He has died so that you might be saved.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_00: And what I want is when I get to heaven, I want to hear well done and good, faithful servant.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_00: I want to hear that.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: I have no problem saying that.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: I want to do that.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_00: I want to live that life.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it is appropriate that God has given me part of my motivation is that I could possibly hear that in the future.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_00: But I also think that there is a possibility that that is not what I hear.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_00: And that the works that I've done in this life are not ultimately going to receive that commendation.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_00: And though that is not the ultimate reason why I move forward, that is one of the reasons, and I want it to be one of your reasons as well.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_00: I want all of us to hear, well done, good and faithful servant.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_00: When we get to heaven, the Lord goes, Man, what was going on there in Topeka?
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_00: Pretty proud of that.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: Pretty happy with what was happening there.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_00: By God's grace we can do this, and by his power we can achieve it.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_00: It is not salvation, but it is something that we should look forward to with anticipation.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, we come before you today as your people, as those who love you and know you.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_00: God, recognizing that we don't want to be deceived.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_00: We know you are not mocked.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, you uh we live within the world that you have created.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_00: And it is not ours to determine what is right and wrong, but it is yours.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_00: And Lord, you have given us this principle of sowing and reaping.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_00: May we live our lives by it.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_00: God, give us the, as one prayed, Lord, I have faith, strength in my faith.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, help us to draw deeper into uh the truths of your word and our lives.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_00: Help us to see the things that you have called us out to do.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_00: And Lord, help us to run after them.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, not just to walk, but to run after the commands of your word, so that we might live a full and joyous and peaceful life on this side of eternity.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_00: And Lord, that we will hear the commendation and receive the rewards that you have promised to your servants who have lived a faithful life.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_00: God, we deeply desire that when your fire comes, our work and our building on the foundation of your gospel would stand firm.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, we do not want to see it burned away like the chaff, but rather like precious stones to shine in the light of heaven.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_00: God, help that to be our story.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_00: And God, wherever we are in our journey, even if it is just beginning today, Lord, let us be motivated by the idea that you love justice and are fair and treat your servants far better than they deserve.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Lord, for these things.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_00: And it's in Jesus' name we pray.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.