Watchman Radio Hour

David Shaltier: Welcome to the Watchman Radio Hour. Coming to you from Portland, Oregon, here in the beautiful Northwest. This is David Shaltier, your announcer. The Watchman Radio Hour is a production of Watchman Radio Ministries International, an evangelistic ministry reaching out to the peoples of the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And now here is our speaker, Alex Dodson, to bring you this week's message from God's word.

Alex Dodson: For our scripture reading today, let us turn to Galatians chapter 6, and we'll be reading verses 7 and 8. Let us hear the word of God. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction. The one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

Abba Father in heaven, we thank you for the Bible that you have given to us. We thank you that it's your infallible word and that we can put our full confidence in everything that it says. And now, oh Father, as we come to study your word, we pray that you will send forth your Holy Spirit in great convicting power. In Christ's name, we pray. Amen.

Great strides are being made in this country in things that bring corruption to individuals and the nation. We are sowing to destruction in so many ways. Gambling is at an all-time high and saturates much of the country. Gambling casinos can be found almost everywhere you go. Gambling has become so sophisticated that it's no longer called gambling, but gaming. I just noticed a whole section of our local newspaper devoted to advertising gambling resorts.

Not only does gambling corrupt individuals, but it corrupts the nation. We have become a nation of sensuality. We are sowing to sensuality and we will reap the destruction that comes from such sowing. Advertisements use sex to sell. Fashion promotes sensuality. Yet the Bible says such is not right. Ephesians 4:19 says, "Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity with a continual lust for more."

Sex outside of marriage is rampant in this nation. We have elevated sports to such an extent that Sunday, which used to be the Christian Sabbath in this country, has become sports Sunday. We're sowing to our sinful nature and we will reap destruction. Our text for today is Galatians 6, verses 7 and 8, which says, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction. The one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life."

Sowing to sinful living will reap destruction. Our greatest need today is not to revamp the economy. Our greatest need is a national spiritual revival. Such revivals have come in times past and they can come again if God sees fit to send them. And yet our sins are piled up to heaven and we will reap destruction if we do not repent as a people and as a nation. God's wrath is upon us even now, and it will increase. Yet we must pray for mercy and ask for revival to come before it's too late.

Now, let us see in the first place that God is not mocked. Verse 7 says, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. A man reaps what he sows." God is holy and true, and God will not be mocked. He is holy and he hates sin, and he will keep his word. In Romans 3:4, it says, "Let God be true and every man a liar." William Hendriksen writes, "This rule holds not only for church members, it holds for everybody. God is not mocked. He does not permit anyone to make light of his gospel or of the exhortations that are implied in it. To sneer at him, thinking God is dead, will not go unnoticed. On the contrary, every person will be rewarded according to his works."

This also means, of course, that the manner in which anyone reacts toward the present letter in which the doctrines of justification by faith apart from law works is defended against its detractors, be they legalists or libertines, does not escape God's notice and will definitely be taken into account. Herman Ridderbos writes, "God requires an account, and he is not mocked. He does not permit man to make light of or to toy with the preaching of grace that comes to him and with the obligations that accompany it."

Whatsoever a man soweth, that is putting the thing as generally as possible. It holds for everybody and for everything he does. The whole of earthly life is regarded as the sowing time. The harvesting God's verdict in the judgment will correspond to the sowing. There is a natural intimate relationship between them and this relationship is not disturbed by grace. Precisely the way in which man hears the gospel and the way in which in his practical life he deals with it is determinative of his eternal future. God is not mocked. He is true, he is holy, and he will do what he says.

And then let us see that he will punish sinful living. So many people live today as if there were no God. They do what is right in their own eyes, not realizing that what they do is contrary to the will of God. People sow in sin and they will reap in ruin. God will punish sinful behavior. We can build more and more casinos. We can promote sinful lifestyles and make such lifestyles look glamorous, but we will reap what we sow.

Ridderbos writes, "The flesh is designated as the field from which corruption is harvested. That which is natural and native to man, his own flesh, is different from the spirit. And he who lives for the flesh shall reap of it. It has its own kind of fruit, namely corruption. Corruption is not the cessation of human existence, but is the positive existence of grief and woe, temporal and eternal. That nothing less is meant is apparent also from the second clause."

Today, we have become a nation where sin prevails, whether it's sexual immorality or idolatry or Sabbath breaking. Sin is having a heyday in our land. God will punish sinful living. No nation of people will prosper if they give themselves over to sinful living. Why should we expect God to bless our economy if we continue in our present state of living to ourselves and not to God? No politician will heal the economy if we keep on rebelling against God. Nations that know and serve the true and living God will prosper, but those who reject him will go down to destruction.

Let us see in the second place, living a sinful life will bring ruin. Verse 8 says, "The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction." Sowing to sin. There is such a thing as sowing to sin. When we give ourselves over to sensuality, we are sowing to sin. Whether it's women giving themselves over to immodest dress or men giving themselves over to pornography, it's sowing sin. When people have sex outside of marriage, they mock God and they are sowing to sin.

When a nation gives itself over to gambling, it's sowing to sin. When a people drag the Sabbath day in the mud and do all sorts of things on that day that our forefathers didn't do, they as a people are sowing to sin. When Hollywood fills their films with sexual immorality and all kinds of filthy language, we as a people are sowing to sin. We go see these movies and approve of things that God says are wrong, and we are sowing to sin. And sowing to sin ruins lives, both now and in the future.

When we sow to sin, we bring ruin on our individual lives and on our nation. If we continue to sow to sin, we will go to an eternal punishment. Matthew Henry writes, "That whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap, or that according as we behave ourselves now, so will our account be in the great day. Our present time is seed-time; in the other world there will be a great harvest. And as the husbandman reaps in the harvest according as he sows in the seedness, so we shall reap then as we sow now."

And he further informs us that as there are two sorts of seedness, sowing to the flesh and sowing to the spirit, so accordingly will the reckoning be hereafter. If we sow to the flesh, we shall of the flesh reap corruption. If we sow to the wind, we shall reap the whirlwind. Those who live a carnal, sensual life, who instead of employing themselves to the honor of God and the good of others, spend all their thoughts and care and time about the flesh, must expect no other fruit of such a course than corruption. A mean and short-lived satisfaction at present and ruin and misery at the end.

Alan Cole writes, "To him corruption is not only or even primarily moral decay; it is that physical decay which inevitably awaits this mortal frame and fitly reminds us of the fallen state of our human nature. Indeed, since to the Hebrew mind death was so closely connected with sin, it is doubtful if he would have made the distinction between moral and physical corruption which we find so congenial to our thought patterns. The physical death and decay are but the consequences of the spiritual and moral death and decay that are present already."

We can sow to sin all we want, but we will reap ruin in the end. As a nation, we can bow down to our idols. We can kick God out of our schools and the public sector. We can do all this, but we will reap ruin in the end. We can continue to devalue human life by killing unborn babies. The government approves of it; it's legal. But if we continue to kill millions of unborn babies, we will reap ruin in the end.

We can redefine marriage and say it's okay for men to marry men and for women to marry women. We can do that. The majority may say it's okay, but in the end we will reap ruin. We cannot mock God and be okay as a society. When we mock the laws of God and make up our own laws to please ourselves, we will reap ruin in the end. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. And if we sow to destruction, we will reap to destruction. No nation that forgets God and turns their back on him will prosper. That nation will go down to ruin and that people also will go down to ruin.

Now, let us see in the third place, sowing to the spirit brings blessing. Verse 8 says, "The one who sows to please the spirit, from the spirit will reap eternal life." Living life in the presence of God. Sowing to the spirit is living life to please God. When we live our life in his presence to please him, we will be blessed. Matthew 6:33 says, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you."

This applies to individuals and to nations. When our politicians sweep the great moral issues of our time under the rug and concentrate only on the economy, they are putting the cart before the horse. If we want to prosper in our nation, we must seek first the righteousness of God. We don't realize that nations prosper who honor God. We can't dishonor God and expect to have a great economy no matter what we do. Blessing comes to those who seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And when we put the Lord first in our lives, then blessing will come.

Sowing to the spirit brings blessing in life now and in the future. If we sow to the spirit and live to please God, we will be blessed in this life. And if we follow the Lord Jesus Christ in our lives, trusting in him alone for salvation and following him as Lord, we will have eternal life. If a nation seeks first the righteousness of God, that nation will prosper now and for generations yet to come.

John Calvin writes, "But he that soweth to the spirit, by the spirit I understand the spiritual life, which to which they are said to sow whose views are directed more to heaven than to earth and the whole life is regulated by the desire of reaching the kingdom of God. From their spiritual employments they will reap in heaven incorruptible fruit. Those employments are denominated spiritual on account of their end, though in some respects they are external and relate to the body."

Though eternal life is a reward, it does not follow either that we are justified by works or that works are meritorious of salvation. The undeserved kindness of God appears in the very act of honoring the works which his grace has enabled us to perform by promising to them a reward to which they are not entitled. And William Hendriksen writes, "Sowing to the flesh means to allow the old nature to have its way. And so also sowing to the spirit means to allow the Holy Spirit to have his way."

The one who does the latter is walking by the spirit and is being led by the spirit. What happens to these contrasted representative individuals? Already in this life, but especially in and after the resurrection at the last day, he who has been sowing to please his flesh will from the harvest field of the flesh reap destruction, decay. On the other hand, he who has been sowing to please the spirit will from the harvest field of the spirit reap life everlasting.

Herman Ridderbos writes, "Whoever sows in the spirit devotes his life to him and lets himself be governed by him. He shall reap eternal life from the spirit, for the spirit is the grand life giver and preserver operating through an inner law of life laid down by God. Eternal life speaks of the whole of life, both of body and soul, the glorified life of the resurrection on the new earth."

And Matthew Henry says, "But on the other hand, those who sow to the spirit, who under the guidance and influence of the spirit do live a holy and spiritual life, a life of devotedness to God and of usefulness and serviceableness to others, may depend upon it that of the spirit they shall reap life everlasting. They shall have the truest comfort in their present cause and an eternal life and happiness at the end of it." Note: those who go about to mock God do but deceive themselves. Hypocrisy in religion is the greatest folly as well as wickedness since the God we have to do with can easily see through all our disguises and will certainly deal with us hereafter, not according to our professions, but our practices.

And so those who sow to the spirit will reap eternal life. And then let us see the need for spiritual revival in this land. A land prospers when the people of that land know and serve the Lord. This land has prospered in the past because God was honored and served in this nation. In the early part of the 19th century, for up to 50 years, great revivals were sent by God to this land. You will not learn about this in our public schools and secular universities. Yet our true history includes great revivals in the past. Because of these, the nation sought God and prospered.

Any prosperity we have today is the fruit of former generations who honored God. In his book, Christianity in the United States, Daniel Dorchester in 1888 writes about what happened in the Second Great Awakening. He says, "The two decades from 1830 to 1850 are among the most important in the history of American Christianity. From 1841 to 1850, the subject of Sabbath observance was kept prominently before the attention of the country and very great improvement in the habits of the people was everywhere visible."

Dorchester continues, "The statistics of the churches from 1800 to 1850 show a surprising increase, reduplicating upon the population and exceeding any previous ecclesiastical growth in ancient or modern times." He calls this period the grandest advancement of his kingdom since the apostolic age. And concerning the revival of 1799 to 1803, which was called the Great Revival, Dorchester writes, "At this time a great revival of religion commenced, the influence of which extended into almost all portions of the country, quickening and multiplying churches, turning back the dark and desolating floods of infidelity and immorality and giving birth to numerous powerful religious and reforming agencies."

Concerning the revival in Kentucky, he writes, "The revival encountered opposition, but it went on, and Sabbath breakers, profane swearers, drunkards, and skeptics were transformed." He writes of the revivals that followed the initial Great Revival, "Since the great quickening of 1800, revivals of religion before so rare have been a more frequent occurrence affording some of the brightest pages in religious history. Modes of divine operation characterizing Christianity in the apostolic age have become more common and large masses of people have been wonderfully moved and changed."

Concerning the churches, he writes, "It has been estimated that during the period of ten years, 1815 to 1825, not less than 50,000 additions were made to the Presbyterian church as the fruits of these revivals." And concerning all the churches, he wrote, "Nothing like such an increase had ever before been known, though it has since been paralleled and even exceeded for the new revival era has continued to our times. In the space of three years, 1800 to 1803, the communicants of the Methodist Episcopal church increased from 64,890 to 104,070."

Summing up the Second Great Awakening, Dorchester writes, "Thus was the spell of worldliness, formalism, and unbelief effectually broken." And again he writes, "From 1826 to 1832 revivals of religion were very common and of unusual power, considered by some the most general and remarkable work of grace recorded in the annals of the American church."

And speaking of the revival at Yale College in the early 1800s, he writes, "The revival exerted such a powerful influence in breaking the power of infidelity of that period that it never recovered." Dr. Gardner Spring wrote in 1841, "From the year 1800 down to the year 1825, there was an uninterrupted series of these celestial visitations spreading over different parts of the land. During the whole of these 25 years, there was not a month in which we could not point to some village, some city, some seminary of learning and say 'behold what hath God wrought'."

And writing about mid-century, Dr. Heman Humphrey wrote concerning the Second Great Awakening, "It was the opening of a new revival epoch which has lasted now more than half a century with but short and partial interruptions and blessed be God the end is not yet." The country was at a low ebb spiritually and morally in the late 18th century. And then something happened that changed everything. God poured out his spirit on this nation in a mighty way and great things happened. And it can happen again. We must pray without ceasing for the Lord to visit America again with a great revival period.

But what about you today? Are you sowing to your sinful nature or are you sowing to the spirit? Those who sow to their sinful nature will reap ruin, but those who sow to the spirit will be blessed. And so we invite you today to come to the Lord Jesus Christ, to repent at once and come to the Lord Jesus Christ and receive him as your Savior and Lord. Come to Christ. Come to Christ. Don't delay.

Our Father in heaven, we thank you for these great revivals that took place so many, many years ago in this land. Oh Lord, we're living in a time of great moral and spiritual decay, such as the time before those great revivals took place. We pray, oh Lord, that you would visit us again like you did back then. We pray, oh Lord, that you would pour out your spirit now in our time and that you would send another great revival period, that this moral and spiritual decay might be ended. In Christ's name, we pray. Amen.

David Shaltier: We hope this week's broadcast has been a blessing to you. If you have any questions about Mr. Dodson's message, please write us. You may email us at info@watchmanradio.org. Our mailing address is Watchman Radio Ministries International, Post Office Box 13251, Portland, Oregon, 97213. That's Watchman Radio Ministries International, Post Office Box 13251, Portland, Oregon, 97213. You may listen to this broadcast at any time on the internet at www.oneplace.com. In the list of ministries, just select the Watchman Radio Hour. This week's program and previous programs are always available there for listening. Our web address is www.watchmanradio.org. That's w-a-t-c-h-m-e-n-radio.org. www.watchmanradio.org. From David Shaltier, goodbye.