Life or Death

Review

Raise your hand

Who remembers what scripture we went over last night?

Galatians 6:7 “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.”

Who remembers one of the main points

Expectation

Preparation

Great job!

Again tonight I want to really stick with our camp theme of “Sown” and talk about what we are sowing on our prepared soil from last night

Our next verse in Galatians is

Galatians 6:8 “Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”

My 2 points tonight are Death and Life

first lets talk about death or destruction

Death

Whoever sows to please the flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction or death

Wow that’s an intense statement

Are you saying if I do bad things I will die, or I will go to hell?

Hopefully not or else we’re all doomed here including myself

We have to be really careful here not to misinterpret what Paul is saying.

He does not say whoever sows fleshly things will reap destruction

He says whoever sows to please the flesh will reap destruction

Don’t get me wrong if you play stupid games, you get stupid prizes

meaning if you sow foolishness you will reap foolishness

For example, If you are lazy, you won’t get a job and you’ll live in a van down by the river

Which I knew a few of you would think was cool, but the point was it’s not cool.

When the freezing temps of winter hit your minivan and the water is frozen and your our of gas and money your toes are falling off one by one you may rethink that

So there is a general point here that if you sow to please the flesh you will not reap anything good for your relationship with God.

Aside from the general point Paul has a very specific point we find here in Galatians 6:8

Paul (who is writing this letter) is trying to combat a group of Jews trying to hold everyone to certain parts of the law perfectly so they could be saved. Yet the true gospel is not about our righteousness, but the righteousness of God on us because we are not, nor could ever be righteous on our own.

Paul even goes on to say in chapter 6 that those wanting you to keep the physical letter of the law cannot even keep it themselves. They are hypocrites!

Matthew 23:25 ““Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.”

What is so interesting in this verse in Matthew is that Jesus is not talking to those who claim to not know God, but to those who are suppose to be the religious leaders of God’s people.

The religious leaders were trying to obtain righteousness for themselves and others by trying to clean the outside, by trying to be good enough people according to the law. The problem with this method is the only way to appear righteous is to lie to yourself and to others.

This lie is what Paul is talking about sowing to please the flesh.

When my actions try to make me righteous they will always fail. There is nothing I can do or laws I can obey to become righteous.

If I continue to try to look good on the outside, I am lying to myself and to the world and sadly I will reap death, eternal separation from God, hell.

Sadly this is many people in the church, in youth group. They think they can show up on Sunday, or Monday and act like a good Christian. Maybe they even show up for church events every day of the week and try to do all they can to be good. No good actions can save you from death. Death is something we have sown and will reap because of sin.

Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death...

You can try all you want to clean up your life to be a good person, but righteousness is perfect and sin has affected your ability to ever be righteous on your own.

So what’s the answer? How do I have eternal life?

The rest of Romans 6:23 Tells us“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Through Jesus and Jesus alone

He is the way the truth the life and no one can come to the Father without Him

tonight's verse tells us, “Sow to please the Spirit and reap eternal life”

My first point was death, my final point is life

Life

In order to reap eternal life I must sow to please the Spirit

In order to sow to the Spirit, I must have faith in Jesus, I must understand the gospel

the gospel is the good news message that Jesus has paid the price for my sin.

He came to earth, lived a perfect life, was hung on a cross, was buried in a tomb, and after 3 days rose again forever defeating death

2 Corinthians 5:21 “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

My righteousness is not my own, it is God’s own righteousness, if I place my faith in Jesus

Faith in Jesus means I believe Jesus died on the cross, was buried, and rose again in 3 days and that I have acknowledged my sinful state before God, Asked for His forgiveness, and submitted my life to Him as the King!

There is nothing I can do for my righteousness. I can try to look good all day and do my best to look clean, but at the end of the day it will never fix the state of my sinful heart. I will only ever reap death and destruction with the flesh. I must be born again

Only God can make you a new creation

Only God can take something dead and give it new life

Only God can give you a new heart

Only God loves you so much He would give His one and only Son to die for you, in order to have a relationship with you.

To sow to the Spirit you must be born again. You must place your faith in Jesus and receive His grace, His undeserved favor.

Only the Spirit can sow to the Spirit. When you place your faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit lives in you and begins to change you.

So tonight I want you to spend a few minutes during this next song to assess where you are.

Are you trying by the flesh reap eternal life?

Are you trying to be good enough for God on your own and feel like you always end up short?

Every time you mess up and sin are you devastated and run away from God?

Have you been faking it?

When asked in small group or at church, “How are you?”

You say good, when really you are anything, but good

Stop lying to yourself and others

You will not trick God, What you reap you will sow.

Flesh or Spirit, you decide

Come to God broken and in need of Him every day to give you His righteousness because you know you have none of your own?

When you mess up and sin you can run to God broken in need of Him, receiving His forgiveness.

Sing Amazing Grace

Paul ends chapter 6 of Galatians by saying, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit...”

Grace is giving you something for free you don’t deserve. Grace is God’s salvation through the Sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. You do not deserve it, but you can have it and it’s free.

Do you want God’s grace tonight, do you want to receive salvation through Jesus?

If that is you tonight, there is no magic prayer. It’s your genuine heart placing your faith in Jesus.

With every head bowed if you want to give your life to Jesus tonight you can repeat this prayer in your heart after me.

God I recognize I am a sinner

Forgive me

I believe Jesus came, was crucified on the cross

Was buried, and rose again.

I submit my life to you.

Make me a new creation..

In Jesus name Amen

Maybe you have already placed your faith in Jesus, but you want to recommit your life to Him tonight. Take some time in our last worship song to be honest with Him and give Him all of your heart.

Don’t hide from Him.

Let pray and sing one last worship song before small group