“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will 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. Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.” (Galatians 6:7-9 NASB1995)
We live in a day and time when many people are being deceived by a false grace gospel which is largely being taught by charlatans (fakes, impostors, swindlers, pretenders) and “wolves in sheep’s clothing” (false prophets and teachers who are leading many people astray). Outwardly they may appear harmless when, in truth, they are truly dangerous and malicious in nature and in character. And those who follow them, and who believe what they teach, may unknowingly be spreading their lies and their deceptions.
The ”bad guys” may or may not have an outward appearance of righteousness, but inwardly they are full of all sorts of wickedness and evil devices. For while they profess faith in Jesus Christ, to get other professers of faith in the Lord to trust them, they do not know the God they claim to believe in, because they do not obey his commandments, and they refuse to put sin to death in their own lives. For their mission (their goal) is to lie, to cheat, to steal, to kill, and to destroy via teaching a false gospel message.
So, while they promise the people freedom from sin, they are teaching them lies which keep them bound in sin and not walking in freedom from their addictions to sin. For so many of them are teaching a false grace which forgives people of their sins, and which promises them heaven when they die, but which does not teach the necessity of dying with Christ to sin and walking in obedience to his commands as God’s requirements for what constitutes biblical faith in Jesus Christ which delivers from slavery to sin.
But God’s grace, which is bringing us salvation, is training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for Jesus’ return. For Christ “gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (See Titus 2:11-14; Ephesians 2:8-10)
And Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).
So, contrary to popular opinion, we cannot just make a verbal profession of faith in Jesus Christ and then continue living in addictive sin against God, deliberately and habitually, and then expect God to forgive all our sins and to guarantee us heaven when we die. We cannot just wander aimlessly, doing whatever our flesh wants to do, while ignoring the teachings of Christ and of his New Testament apostles who teach us the critical nature of us dying to sin and obeying our Lord, by God’s grace, and in his power and wisdom.
And so Paul is warning and cautioning the professing Christians here against being deceived, thinking that how they live and what they do with the lives they have been given won’t matter for eternity. For how we live and what we do with our lives will matter for where we end up for eternity. So, if sin is our practice (habit, addiction), and not obedience to God and to his commands, we will not inherit eternal life with God. But if death to sin and obedience to God are how we live, in practice, then we are promised eternal life with God.
Now, while I have been writing, I have been watching a lady bug crawling around on my desk, wandering in circles, going back and forth between coming in the direction of where I am writing about the gospel, but then immediately turning around and going the opposite direction. And she has been doing this repeatedly for the past two hours. And sadly there are many people like that today who profess faith in Jesus Christ but who are still wandering in their sins, unwilling to die to sin and to obey God, in practice.
But, by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. So we are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23). So please believe this. Don’t be deceived!
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]
As the Deer
By Martin J. Nystrom
Based off Psalm 42:1
As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after You
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You
You alone are my strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You
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We Reap What We Sow
An Original Work / December 13, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
