Sow to the Spirit

So I have a question as we begin today. What have you been planting lately? I'm looking. Ah, nothing. What have you been planting lately? My wife and I planted flowers earlier this spring with COVID-19 happening. We couldn't do much else. Obviously we couldn't go to our favorite resorts, which we never do. But so, we kind of ran about way decided by default we planted a bunch of flowers, and we turned our little side yard into something prettier than we normally do. We're at home, certainly a lot more than usual, which can be good. It has its good sides too. So we planted earlier, and now the different sorts of plants are blooming, and we're enjoying it. It's pretty to us, because some of you are much better landscapers and gardeners than I am, but it's pretty to us. And we're enjoying all the beautiful fruit of our labor. We got the impatiens that are just really growing, and the petunias. We got really exotic plants here. We got snapdragons, and there are a few things. They're kind of strange looking, and I don't quite recall the name of them, but they're all growing. They're all spreading up and out and blooming. I just hope I can keep them blooming during the summer months as it gets hot. Now, I know not everybody plants flowers, do we? But some plant yams. This is the am capital of the world in Gilmer, in the Ambri. Up north, we call them sweet potatoes, or something akin to that. We plant them hill by hill. I know a number of you plant tomatoes. Mr. Stewart's very good at tomatoes, and some of you plant green beans row by row. Just about everybody can plant seeds for growth by sowing. S-O-W-I-N-G. That is scattering seed on the ground, either by hand, in this kind of motion, or a lot of us may sow by using a spreader machine, like we do when we're putting grass seed on our lawns. Until as late as the 20th century, and well into the 20th century, we were still doing it when I was a kid in parts of the ground. For millennia, farmers across the globe planted their grain fields of wheat, barley, oats, millet, other things by sowing them by hand. The practice of sowing is so deeply entrenched in our Western culture that it has become a rather solid metaphor of expression. Sometimes you might hear people say a figure's speech to sow doubt in someone's mind, or to sow confusion. We hear that. But there's a literal application, and now it's become metaphorical and figurative. And of course, we see examples of that in Scripture as well.

Now I began my message by asking that question, what have you been planting lately? And chances are some of you—I saw you nod your head—said, I've planted nothing. I've planted nothing.

That would not quite be true. That's not quite true. And I say that because all of us have been planting, or rather sowing, whether or not we're fully aware of it. We have been doing it. I base that assertion on the words of the Apostle Paul over in Galatians 6. Let's turn there, please. Galatians chapter 6, verse 7 through 8.

The Apostle Paul has something to say about this common human practice of sowing. In Galatians 6, verse 7 through 8, Paul wrote this. He said, Do not be deceived, God is not mocked—can't make fun of God, can't fool God. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption. But he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. You very wonderful scripture there. Based on what Paul states here and elsewhere, we give ourselves over to, or so to, two vastly different ways of life. The one way of life we sow to is almost, well, it's practically automatic. It's automatic, we really have to resist it on purpose. There are two different ways of life, and they're vastly different. Let's turn to Romans 7 now, chapter 7 of Romans, verse 19 through 23. And again, he makes this point, we're going to look at a few other points, where Paul describes these two quite contrary different ways of life. And in Romans 7, verse 19 through 23, what am I saying? Romans 7, I'm in the wrong chapter. Romans 7, verse 19. Romans 7 is 19. Here Paul describes this struggle to do good, that struggle we often undertake as we try to sow to the Spirit and not to the flesh. That's something we all experience, and it's often an experience of ours to our great frustration. Here Paul writes, You ever feel that way? You ever go through that. Verse 20, now if I do what I desire not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law that evil is present with me, the one who wills, who desires to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. The inward man is Christ in us through God's Holy Spirit. He desires, like we all do, to follow Christ in us. Verse 23. Paul continues, but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. Members reference to the body, our fleshly body, our carnal nature.

If God is working with us, of course, if God is working with us or in us, then we will understand, I think, the gist of Paul's meaning. One way of life, one way of sowing, promotes works of the flesh, leading to sin, corruption, and death. And the other way promotes the fruit of God's Holy Spirit in eternal life, ultimately. Eternal life, ultimately. So what have we been planting lately? What have we been planting lately? Are we sowing to the spirit, yielding ourselves to God's influence, or are we sowing to the flesh, yielding ourselves to the influence of our carnal human nature? In today's sermon, we will consider these two ways of life and so be reminded to keep sowing to the spirit. The title of my sermon is, So to the Spirit. So to the Spirit.

Now let's turn a little more attention, a little more attention to the understanding more about these two contrary ways of life to which we sow. Let's turn back to the book of Galatians, chapter 5. Paul makes clear the presence of these two starkly contrasting ways within us. And let's read Galatians 5, 16 through 26. Galatians 5, 16. Paul writes again here, he says, I say then, walk in the spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

For the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. And he makes quite clear here, these are contrary to one another. They're constantly at odds against each other, and we feel that in our lives. And these are contrary to one another so that you do not do the things that you wish. And that's exactly what Paul said in Romans 7. We just read. Now verse 18, But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now under the law here doesn't mean, as some would interpret it wrongly, that we don't need to keep the commandments.

We can just, there's nothing we can do that God won't dislike in all this. Not under the law refers to how we are no longer under the law's penalty of death for sin. We're no longer under the law's penalty of death for sin. And that's because, through repentance and baptism, we now exercise faith in Jesus Christ's sacrifice. We exercise faith in His shed blood for our sins. Then in verse 19-21, still in chapter 5, Paul lists the works of the flesh. We're probably just a little bit familiar with this list. Now these are things that we are naturally prone to do due to our human nature.

But we must no longer give in to them. We must strive not to sow to them. And here we read verse 19. Now the works of the flesh are evident. They're easy to see, he says. It's quite obvious. They are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, battling one another, jealousies, outburst of wrath. Chances are that happens in your life. Happens in all our lives. Selfish ambitions, dissensions, divisions, rebellion, heresies, envy, murders.

We can murder with how we think and our attitudes. Drunkenness, revelries, and the like. And the like suggests this is not a complete list. It's sort of like an etc. There's many other works he could list here. And he says, of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, so he's been preaching this, he's been saying this over and over again, and we're going to see evidence of that today, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. If we practice these things, we're not going to inherit the kingdom.

Because we are still in the flesh, and because we are weak, we will sin. And perhaps even commit some of these very works of flesh that Paul describes here. But if we do, the remedy is to then quickly and sincerely repent, turn around, get back close to God, seek God's forgiveness. We must not allow ourselves to become so discouraged when we sin, and even when we sin and sin and keep doing the same sin several times a day, we can't let that keep us from turning to God.

We can't let that keep us from turning to God and sowing to the Spirit and asking God for mercy, for forgiveness, for strength of repentance. We must not allow ourselves to be so discouraged when we prove ourselves to be exactly what Scripture says, to be weak, that we're sinful. We mustn't allow that fact to ever make us want to quit and just give up.

We don't want to ever give up. You see, that's just what Satan would like for us to do. He wants us to give up. He keeps trying to wear us down so we'd give up. We must remember when it says those who practice these things, those who practice these works of the flesh, these things, it really refers to their practicing that way as a way of life.

This is the way they live, the way of adultery, the way of hatred. It's a practice all the time. It's as if they're not even really trying to resist. They're totally sowing to that flesh, and they live it day in and day out with little hesitation.

Our task is to continue the fight to resist the flesh and to continue our struggle to stay repentant always before God. And then in verse 22, still in Galatians 5, Paul lists the fruit of God's Holy Spirit. These are the things we must yield ourselves to be practicing. Here's what we must be practicing as a way of life. Here are the things we must be growing in and sowing to. Verse 22, but the fruit of the Spirit is love.

Not the icky gooey love, but God's love of self-sacrifice, love even for your enemies. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And don't we all want more of those fruits?

Against such, there is no law. Again, there's no condemnation. There is no penalty for practicing these things, these spirits, these fruit of the Spirit. Verse 24, and those who are Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. And we do that again upon our commitment at baptism and as we continue in faith with Christ. I appreciate the sermonette we had earlier by Mr. Crane. I had a feeling it was going to fit pretty well with what I'm going to say today. And we did not do that together. We know where that comes from.

And so, verse 25, if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. And so again, our task is to sow to God's Spirit. It means we must be submitting ourselves willingly to Him, to His will in our lives, not our own. And that's something we must always do. Over in Romans 8, verse 5 through 8, now please, Romans 8 and 5 through 8, Paul makes clear, as part of this distinction between these two ways of life, Paul makes clear this distinction between these two ways and the consequences of sowing to one or the other. And as we, I'm sure we all know, it is a matter of death on one hand, or eternal life on the other. Romans 8, verse 5, for those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. But those who live according to the Spirit, they set their minds on the things of the Spirit. Add a few words there. Verse 6, for to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because, why is this? It's because the carnal mind is enmity against God. It hates God. It's rebellious against God. Its whole purpose is to resist God and disobey God. It is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. It can't even be subject to God's law. So then, those who are in the flesh, who live for the flesh, who sow to the flesh, who practice the living of the flesh totally as their way of life, they cannot please God. They cannot please God. And so Paul makes clear that if we sow to the flesh, we're going to get death. And that happens when we give our thoughts and efforts to the works of the flesh, that list we read. We must, with God's help, turn our thoughts and efforts to Him, to practicing His ways of true life that bear the fruit of His Holy Spirit and of true righteousness. And to understand what that is, we have to study God's Word. We have to study God's Word. And finally, still in Romans 8, verse 13 through 14, Paul rather succinctly summarizes these two contrary ways of life. Verse 13, for if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many of us are, as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.

So yes, we must be striving to put to death the deeds of the body, to truly live through sowing to the Spirit, through practicing repentance. We practice faith in Jesus Christ, diligently so. We must sincerely repent and seek God's forgiveness, and God our Father will forgive us. God also gives us the help of His Holy Spirit to fortify us with the will and the desire to please Him and to obey Him. We need to turn to God and ask for the strength of the faith of Jesus Christ in us. Ours is not strong enough. Our belief alone is not strong enough. We need the belief, the will, the faith of Christ in us too. And He will readily help us and give us that. We can never and could never conquer sin and death on our own. And when we stay true to our commitment to believe and obey God and to be led by God's Spirit until the end, as Paul says here, then we shall be in God's kingdom as sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father. That's something we should all keep alive in our hearts and pray for and focus on. And so we've seen already scriptures emphasize that we can and must be working with God's Holy Spirit. We can and must be working with God's Holy Spirit to make those right choices. When we sow to the Spirit and keep sowing until our lives are done continually without end, then like the farmer who has sown his seed and now must wait patiently to reap that bountiful harvest, we too will reap, but not grain, we will reap everlasting life. We will reap everlasting life and receive the reward for our diligence and endurance, our time well spent, and energy well spent with God. This is really good news. It's very encouraging news. But now, with that underpinning, I'd like for us to turn our attention more squarely on what we need to be doing. This is the application part. What do we do? What do we do with this knowledge? In what areas of our lives might we find ourselves needing to strive harder to sow to the Spirit?

In what areas of our lives might we need more help to strive harder to sow to the Spirit? Where are we weak? Where are our greatest weaknesses? Where are our greater proclivities to give into the Spirit? Excuse me, to give into the flesh, the carnal nature that gets the best of us? And sometimes, of course, carnal nature, we might say, gets the best of us, but it's really making the worst of us when that happens. We're going to look at some parables today. Thankfully, Mr. Crane did his, and I have mine, so to speak, and it worked. Beautiful. It worked. Through the parables of Christ, the ones we're going to look at in this message, Christ offers to those who have that spiritual ear to hear valuable life-saving instruction and insights about our human nature and about those potential areas in our lives where we are perhaps particularly prone to the flesh. So let's turn to a few parables. We're going to read them as examples and also as warnings of where we need to be vigilant and more vigilant in sowing in the right spiritual direction to the Spirit. Let's turn to Matthew chapter 18. Matthew chapter 18 verse 23 through 25, because here, in what's commonly called the parable of the unforgiving servant, here we find Christ offering us instruction about the consequences for what we sow and about the value of forgiveness. Forgiveness is something all of us must keep working on. That's an important part, critical to reconciliation. Matthew 18 verse 23, we begin with a king who wants to balance his books, who wants to balance his financial accounts, get his books in order. Verse 23, therefore, Jesus speaking, the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him 10,000 talents. But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold with his wife and children and all that he had and that payment be made. The servant, therefore, fell down before him, right before his feet, saying, master, have patience with me and I will pay you all. And then the master of that servant was moved. He was moved with compassion. He released him and he forgave him the debt. Okay? And so we see that this king is compassionate and he's also very generous in being willing to forgive his servant, who in essence had sinned against the king by racking up such a huge debt that he could never hope to repay. He could never repay it. I'll tell you why.

Just how generous was the king and just how great was this debt?

Other Bible translations, one in particular, the NIV, other Bible translations note that a talent was worth about 20 years of a day laborers wage. So I guess that'd be like minimum wage. I don't know. Less than minimum wage, actually. So that source, that scholar said a talent was worth about 20 years of a day laborers wage. Okay, take 20 times 10,000 talents. Right. Is he ever going to repay that? No, he can't live that long. Now to further impress upon us the size of this debt and the generosity of the king, I did some more research and a little bit of math. I tried to do it right. It's never been my fort. A little math I came up with to give us a little comparative value in US dollars today. I always find this interesting if I can make it a little more real for myself. And here's part of what I found. The NLT New Living Translation notes that 10,000 talents is equivalent to 340 metric tons, 340 metric tons of silver. Okay. Using the price of silver as of May 29th, 2020, yesterday, the amount forgiven, and by the way it was like $17.95 an ounce for silver. It's gone down. Since whenever. But using that amount and 340 metric tons, my calculations led to a number that 10,000 talents of silver was worth $196.2 million. Yeah. Ouch. That's a substantial debt. Now based on the price of gold, these talents could have been gold, based on the price of gold, the amount would have been about $19.1 billion.

That's a stunning amount of debt, a stunning amount of forgiveness, absolutely stunning amount of generosity on the part of this king, wouldn't you say?

So now that we have a better understanding of just how great a debt the king had forgiven his servant, perhaps we can better appreciate the same servant's outrageous action towards his fellow servant who owed him a debt. All right. Let's continue on, verse 28. But that servant, the one that's been forgiven, went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat. That's pretty violent. Very violent. He laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, pay me what you owe. And so his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, have patience with me and I will pay you all. Those words sound familiar, don't they? And he would not. The forgiven servant would not. But he went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servant saw what he had done, they were very grieved and came and told their master all that had been done. Again, let's put things in perspective. The fellow servant owed the forgiven servant 100 denarii. A denarius was the equivalent, some scholars say, of one day's wages for the common labor again of that time. Some scholars think that amount owed then would be the equivalent of about $2,000. And I went ahead and figured what would it be according to minimum wage? $15. I don't know if that's what they pay around here, but let's say $15. Well, then that figure would be closer to $12,000. That's what this fellow servant owed the forgiven servant. The forgiven servant had been, what, forgiven millions, if not billions, worth of debt, dollars worth of debt. So it seems to me, any way we look at it, the forgiven servant's hardness of heart, his harsh and hateful unwillingness to forgive his fellow servant, just as he had been forgiven, makes very clear with clarity his lack of justice, his lack of mercy, his lack of compassion, his lack of love, and pretty much any of the fruits of the Spirit. Now verse 32, then his master, if you had called him, called him back in. And he said to him, you wicked servant. You are wicked. You are evil. I forgave you all that debt because you baked me.

So should you not also have compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity, I had pity on you. His master was angry, and he delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due him. How long would he be with the torturers, do you suspect? Yeah, forever and a day. Forever.

Forever and a day.

So my heavenly Father, Jesus said, also will do to you if each of you from his heart does not forgive his brother, his trespasses.

And so it's really a tragedy, the story. After the servant had expressed the concierge, more she put an attitude for his debt. The king had compassion, forgave his debt, billions, millions of dollars. The king, by the way, absorbed that entire debt. He didn't have somebody coming in to cover his expenses. He absorbed that entire debt unto himself. That's something to think about, too. He willingly took it upon himself. Why? Because he had pity, because he had compassion for the servant who was very unwise, and had, what are reasons, racked up quite a debt. Of course, we should understand Christ's meaning here. Christ here highlights how he, as our Savior, did take upon himself, looking at backwards in hindsight now, we see this story about how he took upon himself, or would take upon himself, the debt of humanity's sins against God, including our sin. He willingly paid our debt of death with his own most precious life and blood. How much is that worth? 19.1 billion dollars? Much more to us. And as Christ lives in us through God's Spirit, we must be yielding ourselves to him, allowing him to reign over our hearts and our minds. And we must then be willing to practice what this forgiven servant failed to practice. We must practice forgiveness towards those who sin against us. And the sin against us is minuscule compared to what we in all humanity have committed against God. We sow to the Spirit. We give ourselves to God's way of life when we practice forgiveness. That might be an area in our lives we need to focus on.

What else? What else must we be doing in our effort to sow to the Spirit? Well, vital to our efforts is to resist giving into our selfish, self-centered, me-me-me nature, our attitudes. And a good way to resist giving into the self in such a wrong way is to use the blessing God gives us all for good works to be shared and given to others, all for God's glory, and to the benefit of others. It's to love God and to love neighbor. So let's now consider a lesson from the parable of the Talents, Matthew 25, verse 14 through 30. Matthew 25, verse 14 through 30.

What does this parable offer us about? What advice lessons does it offer us about sowing to the Spirit and not to the flesh? That's what we're looking at. Well, beginning in verse 14, Matthew 25, we read, Jesus speaking, for the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And so we see right away, we see the master of these servants entrusting to his servants a good amount of money. In essence, it seems, he wants to see how they would use it. How are you going to use this money while I'm God? Are you going to invest it? What are you going to do? And so verse 15 tells us, he gave one five talents to another two and another two one. Again, talent meaning amount of money. And to each, according to his own ability, he did not give them more than he knew they could handle. That was beyond their capability of using well. He gave them a fair chance at this. And then immediately he went on a journey. Verse 16, and we're told what's going to happen, he had received the five talents went and traded with them and he made another five talents. He made use of it. And likewise, he would receive two, gained two more. These gates, they're doubling. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground and hid this Lord's money. He just went out there and dug a hole in the ground and dumped it all in, packed it in. He planted his money, didn't he? He didn't sell it. He didn't scatter it, but he planted the money literally in the ground. Money doesn't grow that way. Have the children figured that out yet? I know your parents tell you this. Money doesn't grow that way.

Not in my house. Anyway, so when their Lord and Master returned, He learned how they had used his money. And to the first two servants who had used their Master's money wisely and doubled it, he praised them. And in verses 21 and 23, in the New King James version, he essentially says the same thing. Others, he does say the exact same thing. He said, "'His Lord said to him, "'Them, well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things.'" Don't we all hope to hear that one day? God saying that to us. "'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord.' And so both had made good use of their time. They made good use of their energies, their intelligence, all their skill sets, and they earned him even more money with which he had entrusted to them." But we know it. Third servant, right? He blew it, frankly, to use vernacular. The third servant failed his Master. He failed him. Verse 24, "'Then he who had received the one talent came and said, Lord, Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you had not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. And look, here you have what is yours.'" He gives it right back to him. "'The Master was angry. He was angry with the servant.'" And verse 26 explains why. "'But his Lord answered, said to him, You wicked and lazy servant. You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed.'" In other words, it almost reads like he's suggesting, is this your excuse?

So if that were true, "'So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers. And at my coming, I would have received back my own with interest.' And so he condemned the servant for doing nothing. He did nothing with it. He calls him lazy, not even trying to make good use of his money. And he was wicked." Scholars suggest this is what's kind of going on here. It seems he was wicked for suggesting that his Master was this kind of monstrous, harsh, and stern person. And again, if that were true, that doesn't excuse why he didn't, out of fear then, put the money in the bank and let it draw interest. That's a little bit better than doing nothing, especially in today's interest rates.

I don't know if their interest rates were then, but they must be pretty good. So in actuality, if we look at this, we might say the servant was uninterested, uninterested in making good use of his Master's money. And he made bad excuses when his Master suddenly returned. It's as if he didn't expect him to come back quite at that time. The servant learned that there were profound consequences for being wicked and lazy. And just as we read earlier, beginning in the message, Galatians 6-7, it says, Do not be mocked for whatever a man sows that he will reap. And this servant's going to reap.

The Master took the one talent then, gave it to his most profitable servant, and then he added these words of warning and judgment. And these are words and warnings our ears need to perk up to. Verse 29, To where to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance. But from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.

New Living Translation reads this way. It says, To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given. And they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what they have will be taken away. I don't know about you, but this makes me want to make sure I'm doing something with what God has given me. We don't want to do nothing. In verse 30, here's what he reaped. The servant reaped, and he cast the unprofitable servant unprofitable here. In other words, we could have used worthless, useless, good-for-nothing servant into the outer darkness. And there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

So again, this servant really had been unfaithful to his master. He had done nothing to increase, advance his master's investment. So I have this question, and I want to read about his example. Maybe you're thinking this too. What had the servant been doing while his master was away? His master was away for quite a while. The others doubled. What was he doing this whole time? You ever thought about that? What was he doing? What was he doing?

It seems the third servant certainly wasn't sewing to the spirit. He wasn't sewing to his master's best interest. It may be fair to say he was sewing to the flesh, sewing to his own personal self-centered interest instead.

One more parable. And don't turn the page. I don't think you need to. We need a little more guidance, I think, as to what more we must be doing in sewing to the spirit. And we can read more about what we need to be doing. Right here, Matthew 25, third parable, Matthew 25, 31 through 46. It's another parable of sorts. It's often simply called the sheep and goats. The sheep and goats. And so this talks about a time yet in the future. Again, Jesus is still speaking. He's talking about when he, the Son of Man, Christ has returned to reign on the earth, about how he will separate the sheep from the goats. Verse 31. When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them from one, separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And he will set the sheep on his right hand. That's the hand of power, honor, and authority. But the goats he will sit on his left hand. Verse 34. Christ the King will welcome the sheep we see. The righteous ones of God will be treated as sons and heirs of the kingdom. Verse 34. It says, then the King will say to those on his right hand, again, that's the sheep, come, you blessed my Father, inherit the kingdom. Your heirs of the kingdom, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Now why? This kind of explains why, in again, summary fashion. Verse 35. Why? Why inherit? For because I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you, you took me in. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick. I have sickness going on around us. And you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. Verse 37. Then the righteous will answer him saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you, a stranger, and take you in? Or naked and clothed you? When did we see you sick or in prison and come to you? They don't understand it. They don't remember doing that for the son of man, the King.

And the King will answer, and here's his answer. He will say to them, assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.

And so again, here we're learning that the heirs of the kingdom, I'm going to put it this way, they're very much like the King of the kingdom.

Christ is also called the Lamb of God. These are sheep. These are sheep. They are like him. They have his same spirit, the same Holy Spirit, the same love, same compassion, kindness, humility. They have the same concern for people, just as he has. And here, his concern and love, and all these, is especially for his brethren, the brethren.

And all these good works they did help us to understand God's love and the love we are to be developing and sharing and giving to one another. And we do that. We do this as we yield to God and as we sow to the Spirit. This is the natural outcome. Well, supernatural outcome because you're being helped by God's Spirit. Now what are the goats whom he has separated from the sheep? Verse 41. And then he will say to those who are on the left hand, the goats, Depart from me, you cursed, enter the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food. I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger and you did not take me in, naked and you did not close me, sick and in prison, and you did not visit me. Well, then they will also answer him, same way. They'll say, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and not and did not minister to you? And then he will answer them saying, Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, my brethren, you did not do it to me.

And these the goats will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous, the sheep, into eternal life.

I doubt if any of us want to be among the goats. The contrast between sheep and goats, it seems to be, may we put it this way, it seems to be the sheep did perceive the dire needs of their brethren. They sowed to the spirit and they knew what they needed to do and they did it. They acted with love and compassion to help and serve their brethren. Yes, we're still of all people, but especially the brethren. The goats, however, though they seem to perceive the need and even had the same opportunities to help and serve, they did not help the brethren. I'd like to know why. Why didn't these goats not do that? Why did they not help? Why didn't the goats do good works like the sheep did? The implication is that they were sowing to the flesh. They were sowing to the flesh, to their corruption and not to the spirit.

And it's interesting because when you read this, we see that in essence they were intermingling with the sheep. They were among the sheep.

They likely ate and drank with the sheep. But they ultimately failed to be like the sheep. They failed to become sheep.

Perhaps the goats are akin to those James speaks about, those who are hearers only of God's Word, but not doers. James 1, James 1, 22. He says, but be doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. We're tricking ourselves if we hear but don't do. And the goats will be cursed and destroyed forever.

Now, of course, a positive thing to consider here is that what Christ described here is yet still a future event. This separation hasn't happened yet.

And so if we fear that there may be a little too much of the goat in us, we have a little more breath and space of time to repent and start sowing less to the flesh, to that goat-ness in us, and more to the spirit. Try harder to be like sheep. There's a song like that. Be like sheep. 23. We must repent so less to the flesh and more to the spirit as we have opportunity. As we have opportunity, it takes us right back to Galatians 6, 7-10. Let's turn back there. Galatians 6, 7-10. Because we're going to read a little bit more there. Two more verses there with Galatians, what we read earlier.

Galatians 6, 7-10. So, we read this, and now a little more. Again, Paul said, Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. We're never going to fool God. Don't even try it. For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. We've been seeing that in these parables. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption. But he who sows to the spirit will of the spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good. For in due season, just the right time, we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith, our brethren.

Yes, we must love all people. But we also tend to love our family members, right? I see you sitting close to your family member.

You love your family member more than just strangers out there, though we don't wish anybody harm. In the church and our spiritual family, we are also to love one another more. And as we saw in this description, the sheep and goats, we're supposed to be very much aware and perceptive and try to do what we can to help one another in our need. That's part of sowing to the Spirit, especially to those who are of the household of faith.

And so it is, throughout our walk in life, we've seen the battle, the struggle we're going to have, but I've tried to paint for us from Scripture, from God's Word, some things we need. I'm sure we all do to keep working on. We will be constantly pulled in two opposing directions, just as Paul has explained, between the way of the flesh and the way of the Spirit. And so from right now until the day we die, we will have innumerable opportunities to resist the pulls of our fleshly nature and to yield to God instead. And we can do this, and we will do this, as we exercise faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and yield to God's Spirit in us.

Through Jesus Christ, God allows to all of us all we need to overcome the flesh, all we need to mature and become more like He is, all we need to endure to the end. The fruits of sowing to the Spirit are abundant, not just in the kingdom, but right now in our lives, as we sow, we can reap those fruits even now. And so the more we yield our will and our ways to God, the more we sow to the Spirit, the more God and Christ through the Holy Spirit will then reign in our lives. And so we will grow in grace and knowledge, and we will be found worthy of receiving God's gift of salvation. And so my exhortation to us today, my challenge to all of us today and forever, is to sow to the Spirit, to sow to the Spirit, and with that assured promise, that if we do, we will reap everlasting life in the coming kingdom of God. So again, sow to the Spirit.