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Galatians 6:7-8 ESV
Do not be deceived. Do not be led astray. Do not go astray or get off course. Don’t deviate from the correct path. Don’t roam into error, wandering. Don’t be misled. Don’t listen to those who are telling you that if you confess Jesus as Lord of your life that your sins no longer matter to God. And don’t accept a gospel message which makes no requirements for repentance (turning away from sin) nor for walks of obedience to your Lord Jesus Christ.
Don’t believe those who are telling you that you can make a one-time decision in your life to believe in Jesus Christ and now all your sins are forgiven (past, present, and future), and that heaven is guaranteed you when you die, end of story, or regardless of how you live your life while you are still on the earth. For how you choose to live your life on this earth absolutely does matter for eternity. For we live what we truly believe.
So, don’t be those who mock God and his commands and his teachings in the New Testament under the New Covenant. Don’t turn your nose up at his teachings just because they disagree with how you want to live your life, or because they contradict the gospel message you want to believe in. Don’t show contempt to God and to his Word and to his messengers who are bringing you the truth of God’s Word, because you don’t want to obey it.
For whatever you sow (spread, scatter, plant) that also will you reap (secure, obtain, receive in return). So this has to do with our works. For whatever we do in this life, how we live, the things we do and say, and our attitudes and our actions, they all reveal who we are inside, i.e. what is in our hearts. So, if we waste away our lives entertaining and being entertained and/or in walking in sin, and not in obedience to our Lord, hell is what we will reap.
But if we use the time we have been given on this earth to believe in Jesus Christ, and to walk in his holiness and righteousness, in obedience to our Lord, and not in sin, then we will reap eternal life with God provided that we continue steadfast in those walks of faith until the day we die or until Jesus returns to take us to be with him for eternity. For God did not put us humans on this earth to live for ourselves, but to live for him and to do his will.
So if we are living to the flesh (to our human and sin nature), living to self, indulging in what our sinful flesh desires, doing actively what pleases self, and not what pleases God, but independent of God, then from that same flesh we are going to reap decay (death, corruption) and not eternal life with God, regardless of what faith in Jesus Christ our lips have confessed. So, we will die in our sins and heaven will not be our eternal destiny.
But if we are living to the Spirit, doing actively what the Spirit desires and requires of us in the way of holy living and in walks of obedience to our Lord, then from the Spirit we will reap life eternal. Heaven will be our eternal destiny because we were crucified with Christ in death to sin, and we have continued to die daily to sin and to walk in obedience to our Lord, according to the will of God and in his power and strength and wisdom.
But this has nothing to do with works salvation. This is not us trying to earn our way into heaven by doing “good deeds.” This is us either walking in the faith we profess, by the Spirit, or it is us walking in the flesh, by the flesh. It is us either living out our salvation, by the Spirit, or it is us continuing to live according the flesh. For genuine God-given and God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ is not giving lip service only, but it is faith in action, by God’s grace.
And our salvation from sin is not a one-time thing and now we are good to go to heaven. Our salvation and our faith to believe in Jesus Christ are progressive and continuous and we must continue in these walks of faith until the very end to receive salvation from sin and eternal life with God. And our salvation won’t even be complete until Jesus returns and he takes his faithful ones, his bride, to be with him for eternity.
So, please take these words to heart. It is not enough just to make a confession of Christ as Lord. He must be our Lord (Owner-Master) in practice, by the Spirit, and we must, thus, now walk in his ways and in his truth in his power and strength and wisdom. For if we choose to continue walking according to the flesh, and not according to the Spirit, then we will not have eternal life with God but a fearful expectation of raging fire.
[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer
Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897
Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897
Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.
Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,
Seeking the wandering sinner to find.
O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,
Holy and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing to suffer others to save.
O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,
Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;
Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
Fit me for life and Heaven above.
Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,
Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.
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“Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he 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.”
Do not be deceived. Do not be led astray. Do not go astray or get off course. Don’t deviate from the correct path. Don’t roam into error, wandering. Don’t be misled. Don’t listen to those who are telling you that if you confess Jesus as Lord of your life that your sins no longer matter to God. And don’t accept a gospel message which makes no requirements for repentance (turning away from sin) nor for walks of obedience to your Lord Jesus Christ.
Don’t believe those who are telling you that you can make a one-time decision in your life to believe in Jesus Christ and now all your sins are forgiven (past, present, and future), and that heaven is guaranteed you when you die, end of story, or regardless of how you live your life while you are still on the earth. For how you choose to live your life on this earth absolutely does matter for eternity. For we live what we truly believe.
So, don’t be those who mock God and his commands and his teachings in the New Testament under the New Covenant. Don’t turn your nose up at his teachings just because they disagree with how you want to live your life, or because they contradict the gospel message you want to believe in. Don’t show contempt to God and to his Word and to his messengers who are bringing you the truth of God’s Word, because you don’t want to obey it.
For whatever you sow (spread, scatter, plant) that also will you reap (secure, obtain, receive in return). So this has to do with our works. For whatever we do in this life, how we live, the things we do and say, and our attitudes and our actions, they all reveal who we are inside, i.e. what is in our hearts. So, if we waste away our lives entertaining and being entertained and/or in walking in sin, and not in obedience to our Lord, hell is what we will reap.
But if we use the time we have been given on this earth to believe in Jesus Christ, and to walk in his holiness and righteousness, in obedience to our Lord, and not in sin, then we will reap eternal life with God provided that we continue steadfast in those walks of faith until the day we die or until Jesus returns to take us to be with him for eternity. For God did not put us humans on this earth to live for ourselves, but to live for him and to do his will.
So if we are living to the flesh (to our human and sin nature), living to self, indulging in what our sinful flesh desires, doing actively what pleases self, and not what pleases God, but independent of God, then from that same flesh we are going to reap decay (death, corruption) and not eternal life with God, regardless of what faith in Jesus Christ our lips have confessed. So, we will die in our sins and heaven will not be our eternal destiny.
But if we are living to the Spirit, doing actively what the Spirit desires and requires of us in the way of holy living and in walks of obedience to our Lord, then from the Spirit we will reap life eternal. Heaven will be our eternal destiny because we were crucified with Christ in death to sin, and we have continued to die daily to sin and to walk in obedience to our Lord, according to the will of God and in his power and strength and wisdom.
But this has nothing to do with works salvation. This is not us trying to earn our way into heaven by doing “good deeds.” This is us either walking in the faith we profess, by the Spirit, or it is us walking in the flesh, by the flesh. It is us either living out our salvation, by the Spirit, or it is us continuing to live according the flesh. For genuine God-given and God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ is not giving lip service only, but it is faith in action, by God’s grace.
And our salvation from sin is not a one-time thing and now we are good to go to heaven. Our salvation and our faith to believe in Jesus Christ are progressive and continuous and we must continue in these walks of faith until the very end to receive salvation from sin and eternal life with God. And our salvation won’t even be complete until Jesus returns and he takes his faithful ones, his bride, to be with him for eternity.
So, please take these words to heart. It is not enough just to make a confession of Christ as Lord. He must be our Lord (Owner-Master) in practice, by the Spirit, and we must, thus, now walk in his ways and in his truth in his power and strength and wisdom. For if we choose to continue walking according to the flesh, and not according to the Spirit, then we will not have eternal life with God but a fearful expectation of raging fire.
[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer
Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897
Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897
Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.
Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,
Seeking the wandering sinner to find.
O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,
Holy and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing to suffer others to save.
O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,
Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;
Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
Fit me for life and Heaven above.
Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,
Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.
