Never Give Up!

The Old Testament reading today is in Hosea, chapter 10, verses 9 through 15.

From the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel. There they have continued. Shall not the war against the unjust overtake them in Gibeah?

When I please, I will discipline them, and nations shall be gathered against them, when they are bound up for their double iniquity.

Ephraim was a self -trained calf that loved to thresh, and I spared her fair neck. But I will put

Ephraim to the yoke. Judah must plow, Jacob must harrow himself. Sow for yourself righteousness, reap steadfast love, break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the

Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you. You have plowed iniquity, and you have reaped injustice.

You have eaten the fruit of lies, because you have trusted in your own way and in the multitude of your warriors.

Therefore the tumult of war shall arise among your people, and all your fortresses shall be destroyed.

As Solomon destroyed Betharbel, on the day of battle mothers were dashed in pieces with their children.

Thus it shall be done to you, O Bethel. Because of your great evil, at dawn the king of Israel shall be utterly cut off.

The New Testament reading is Matthew 20, 17 through 34. And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them,

See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and deliver him over to the

Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. He will be raised on the third day. Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and kneeling before him, she asked him for something.

And he said to her, What do you want? And she said to him, Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.

Jesus answered, You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?

And they said to him, We are able. He said to them, You will drink my cup, but sit at my hand, one at my left and one at my right.

It is not mine to grant, but it is for those of whom it has been prepared by my

Father. And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers. And Jesus called to them and said,

You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.

It shall not be so among you, but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave.

Even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

And as they went up to Jericho, a great crowd followed him. And behold, there were two blind men sitting by the roadside.

And when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, Lord, have mercy on us,

Son of David. The crowd rebuked them, telling them to be silent. And they cried out all the more,

Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David. In stopping, Jesus called them and said,

What do you want me to do for you? And they said to him, Lord, let our eyes be opened. And Jesus in pity touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him.

You may be seated. Ask you to turn today to Galatians chapter 5.

As you're turning, I want to thank the elders of the Rue Baptist Church for inviting me to speak today.

Just so you know, the next two weeks I'm off, and then

August 8th, back in the saddle again, as it were. So, hopefully then we'll pick up again in Hebrews chapter 3.

Today we want to look at Galatians chapter 6, verses 7 through 10.

And I think it's appropriate, given the fact that we just finished VBS, which is usually some of you who, you know, weren't here this week.

It's a grueling week. And it's real easy after that to just say, man, this is hard, let's just quit, right?

Some of us have actually been bruised and bloodied in the process.

Of course, that's what happens when 66 -year -olds try to play ultimate Frisbee with a bunch of 16 -year -olds, but be that as it may,

I think this is a good reminder to us. Now, in order for us to get the context, I'm going to begin reading in chapter 5, verse 16.

We'll read through chapter 6, verse 10. You follow. But I say, walk by the

Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the

Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh. For these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now, the works of the flesh are evident.

Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.

I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self -control.

Against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.

Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be himself alone and not in his neighbor.

For each will have to bear his own load. One who has taught the word must share all good things with the one who teaches.

Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. 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. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up.

So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

Let's pray. Father, now as we open your word, we confess our dependence on your

Spirit, not only to give us the meaning of the text, but that that text would spring alive in our hearts.

That we might see where we fall short, where we need to grow, and that we need to look to you always.

And so now, as we come to the text of Scripture, we ask that you would do a work in us, for your glory and our good, in Jesus' name, amen.

I hate gardening. My father always put a garden out every year, and every summer he would come to my brother and I and say, boys, it's time to go out in the garden and start picking beans.

I hated green beans. They were always hard to find and hard to pick, and you had to pick them a certain way and all this sort of stuff, and I hated it.

I hated going out in the garden in the heat of the day. And Dad was always asking us to do that when it was time to play baseball.

That's the thing I think that bothered me the most, and I gave up. I became weary in the whole process of learning that, and I think because of that,

I've not been able to reap the fruit of joy that my dear wife has when she goes to the garden.

I will look out in the mornings, and there she is out in the garden, and the dew is still on the ground, and she's already in the garden, loving every moment of it, while I'm thanking

God that I am not there. Now, Paul talks to us about not growing weary, about not giving up, and that's what we want to look at today.

Now, up to this point, Paul has emphasized your freedom to serve others rather than using your freedom to serve the flesh.

We saw that as chapter 5 begins when he says, do not use your freedom to serve the flesh.

He's talking about the fact that no longer under all the code of the Old Testament we feel free.

We're now free to do things that were once prescribed by the law, and he says, be careful because you can use that freedom to serve the flesh.

By the way, what is the flesh? Here's the best definition I've ever seen of the flesh. The flesh is the incurable addiction of self, the incurable addiction of self that is serving you as opposed to serving

God and loving your neighbors. And so he has told us about the fact that we need to live by the spirit, and he's given us all these qualities of what the spiritual, what a spirit -indwelled person is like.

And then he goes on to talk about keeping in step with the spirit, and you keep in step with the spirit not only by pursuing those kinds of qualities, but you keep in step with the spirit by bearing one another's burdens, particularly those who are trapped in sin.

He even talks about keeping in step with the spirit by sharing with those who teach you

And finally, he says, you keep in step with the spirit as you persevere in serving others.

Persevere in serving others. So here we are again, we've come full circle. Paul began by saying, you're called to be free, but do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh, rather serve one another in love.

And so now he ends by saying the same thing. Now, persevere in doing good to all people, serve them.

Let's look at our text again, verses 7 through 10. Galatians 6, 7 through 10.

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.

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

When it comes to serving others, he says three things. Don't be deceived, don't grow weary, and don't miss any opportunity.

Don't be deceived, don't grow weary, don't miss any opportunity. Now, in verses 7 through 8, then he says, don't be deceived.

Now, too many people have been deceived when it comes to the Christian life, when it comes to walking by the spirit.

Yeah, Paul, thanks for the suggestion. Thanks for the suggestion, but I have neither the time nor the inclination to serve other people.

I mean, frankly, you know I'm not a people person, right? Paul replies, don't be deceived.

Thinking like that and acting like that will land you in the pit of destruction.

If you do not keep in step with the spirit, you will march straight to destruction.

And keeping in step with the spirit includes persevering and serving other people.

Wow, that's pretty strong, Paul. How can you say that? He says, because you don't want to be deceived.

Don't be deceived, you will reap what you sow. One summer we were in Iowa, like we always went, you know, we always joked about our vacations were always on the sunny shores of Iowa.

But one summer we were out there and Weldon Swigert, who was a neighbor to our family there,

Weldon was sick and someone needed to drill his oats. Drill means plant. So I was given the job of drilling

Weldon's oats. So I went over to his place and I got the drill out and I loaded it up with oats and I drilled his oats for him.

That fall we went back and I went over to Weldon's and you would not believe what

I saw in the field. You know what I saw? Oats. Of course there were oats.

That's what I put in the ground, right? You reap what you sow.

Now suppose you live your life serving yourself, never really breaking free from that addiction to self.

You live for your schedule. You do what you want. You pursue your ambitions, serving others when it's convenient, seeking fulfillment apart from God and his commandments.

And then when the harvest of judgment arrives, you should not be surprised at the verdict of destruction that you will hear.

You have sown to the flesh. And so you shouldn't be surprised when it yields destruction.

You shouldn't be surprised. If you sow to the flesh, you should expect a harvest of destruction.

Now some might say, but I'm no great sinner. Someone might object. And right away we look at the marquee sins, the sexual immorality, debauchery, drunkenness, orgies.

Those are the big marquee sins. But what Paul's talking about here is concentrating on limiting yourself to the horizons of self -interest.

Only doing those things that you want to do. I remember many, many, many years ago, or may not have been,

I forget so many things, but many years ago there was a family here. The children were coming, the parents were not, they were poor.

And so we chose to, a number of us, to get into a rotation where we would have a lunch.

This is before our dinners back here. We would have lunch for those kids every

Sunday. They were hungry. And I forget what one woman said to me. She said, well, you know,

I prayed about it and the Lord just hasn't, and the Spirit just hasn't laid that upon my heart.

It's like, well, what do you mean the Spirit hasn't laid it upon your heart? The Spirit's saying right here, serve other people.

Right? I just can't. I just can't do that. Well, you sow to the

Spirit and you will then reap eternal life. A life of pursuing love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self -control.

And you will reap life eternal. Bear one another's burdens and you'll reap life eternal.

Share with those who teach you and you will reap eternal life. And not just at the last day, but you'll enjoy part of the harvest already.

You'll know the joy of all that. And so he says to us, don't be deceived.

You will reap what you sow. Now someone says to me, but that doesn't that destroy grace?

It seems then that you're working for eternal life. Look over at chapter five again, look at verses two through four.

Look, I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you.

I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law.

You are severed from Christ. You would be, you who would be justified by the law, you've fallen away from grace.

Now, Paul can't possibly contradict himself within the space of a few verses, right?

He's just made the point. If you think that you're going to get eternal life, that you'll be justified by your record of keeping the law, you're mistaken.

No one is justified by that. They're justified by grace. They're justified by faith in Christ.

So he's not calling you to do some kind of extra work in order to earn eternal life.

He's not doing that. But you must see that God cannot be mocked.

In other words, you can't outwit God. You can't outwit

God. You cannot treat his commands with contempt or even indifference.

You may profess to be a Christian. You may profess that you are saved. But then you believe that you can live any way you want, that you don't have to serve other people.

That's just not your thing. Don't mock God. He is not fooled by such a vain profession of faith.

It's a serious mistake to think that you can ignore God's commands with impunity. God will not be mocked.

Don't deceive yourself. God's not going to be mocked. Always remember this. Grace does not change

God's justice. Grace changes you. Grace produces a particular kind of faith.

Back up again to chapter five. Look what he says in verse six.

For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

A true faith will work through love. A true faith will express itself in love.

So that grace produces a particular kind of faith, a faith that serves other people. Grace gave you the capacity to live by the

Spirit. So by his grace, in faith, you sow to the Spirit. So don't be deceived.

That's the first thing he says. Do not be deceived. You can and you must sow to the

Spirit by serving others. He goes on, verse nine.

Don't grow weary. Don't grow weary. Boy, I'm telling you all the things

I hate this morning, but I hated baling hay. I worked for a guy who raised cattle, and I don't think

I would hate baling hay if I got to go out on the wagons, but I didn't.

I was stuck in the hay mound. Now if you've never done that, there is nothing hotter than working in the mound.

You're on the second floor. You're up in the barn, and you're to stack the hay, the bales up there, and it gets hotter than hot up there.

And so two wagons would come pulling up, and they'd pull it up to the elevator, and then the tractor would hook on to the other two wagons and take off for the field again.

And these bales would just keep coming up the elevator, boom, boom, boom, boom, no end to them.

And I was the guy who had to pick them up and throw them to the guy who was stacking the bales, and it just would go on forever.

And you'd think, is there, how many more bales are there? And you didn't have time to even look out the window, right?

Well then they'd seem to stop, you'd stack the rest, and you'd go, oh man, you're dying of thirst. You're hot.

You're sweating. You feel like you're going to drop. You poke your head out the window to get a breath of fresh air, and the next two wagons are pulling up to the elevator, right?

Now I don't know about you. Some of you are superhuman, but I would get weary and I would want to give up.

I'd want to go home. I'd want to go home. But Paul says when it comes to doing good, don't give up, don't grow weary.

Now, he says here in verse 9,

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up.

So we don't give up. Don't become weary. Don't give up. But what does he mean by doing good? Again, it means such things as bearing the burdens of those entrapped by sin, paying the pastor, pursuing the fruit of the

Spirit, serving others. We can feel like giving up on all of those. But it also has a broader meaning of all that God expects of a

Christian, especially when it comes to serving others. The great law of God is what? Love the

Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind and love your neighbor as yourself. Anything that falls under those categories, do those, right?

It's not that difficult to figure it out. And so we're to serve others.

That's loving my neighbor, right? It includes helping those in need, right? You know of a need.

Give of your resources. Give of your time to those who are in need. It means volunteering somewhere.

It means things like volunteering at the school or the hospital. It means helping your neighbor.

It means ministering the gospel. Anything that shows your love for God and your love for your neighbor, anything that shows that, do it, right?

Do it. But too often, and I fall into this problem as well, too often we think of all the things we shouldn't do.

We have to spend more time thinking about the things we could do and should do. The opportunities seem endless.

And he says, don't become weary. Don't give up in doing good.

You know what? We are fond of ease. And so we lack staying power.

We're too fond of men's approval. And so we get discouraged when people don't applaud, right?

And so he says, don't give up. Don't grow weary when you don't get the applause.

Don't give up. In fact, when it seems like your ministry isn't getting anywhere, you don't give up, right?

I knew a man by the name of Pastor Elmer Eubank. He's gone to be with the

Lord. He was a sprightly old fellow. He was a missionary to Jewish people in LA.

And he was out at Creston, where Beck's from, in the church there, and he'd retired.

And he was living there in Iowa now. His family was there.

And he was in a nursing home. And I went to see him. And he told me a story.

He talks about being in LA and ministering for one year, and there was one convert, ministering the second year, and there was one convert.

And it was like that for a long time. And they did all kinds of things. They provided meals and things, and did all sorts of things.

And he kept on sharing the gospel and providing those meals, even when no one seemed to respond.

Do you know what he was doing the day I visited him? He was writing his newsletter.

Here he is in the nursing home. He's writing his newsletter, putting together some thoughts from 2

Peter chapter 1. Who's going to read this thing, right? I don't know.

So why was this little old man, Elmer Eubanks, still writing his newsletter, sharing thoughts with whomever would read that little page?

Why was he doing that? Because God promises a harvest.

That's why he kept at it. Because God promises a harvest. He says, and let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

We'll reap if we don't give up. He's looking to harvest, a harvest at the proper time.

God promises that harvest, so you don't have to give up. God will promise a harvest.

We don't know when that harvest will be, but it will come at God's appointed season.

It will come because God promises there'll be a harvest. I remember

I would come home at night and there would be my dear wife, burnt, ankles hurting, knees aching, because she had spent the entire day in the garden.

This is a weekday, by the way, and I was at work, so just expel that out of your mind.

Where were you, you lazy lout? She was in the garden, picking all the tomatoes and the beans and everything that was out there.

The next day I would come home and she would be just exhausted from working all day in the kitchen.

Doing what? Canning all that stuff. I would say, would you just relax?

She wouldn't. You know why? Because she knew that come winter, we would have plenty of tomato sauce for chili and pizza, and we would have beans, nice beans to eat in the winter.

She didn't give up because she knew there was something that was coming. The payoff, the harvest, and you won't give up or grow weary if you keep your eye on the promised harvest.

So where are you today? What does the ground look like that you have to work? What does it look like around you?

Maybe you have a husband who's not what you think he ought to be, right?

No one ever struggles with that. What if you have a husband who's not what he ought to be, not even by God's standards?

Are you sowing to the Spirit by loving him, by being patient, kind, serving him?

You don't know. You don't know what kind of man I live with. Hey, sow to the

Spirit, right? There's a harvest coming. Maybe your parents are mean to you.

Let's just assume for sake of argument that your parents are as mean as you tell me they are. Well, what are you going to do in response?

Are you planting seeds of kindness and goodness and peace in the face of that cruelty?

Maybe your neighbor's threatening you again because he's just one mean old cuss, right?

He's always arguing with you about the property lines, and he's always threatening you with this, that, the other thing.

Are you planting the seeds of service and gentleness with him? You see what he's saying here?

Don't grow weary in sowing to the Spirit. Don't give up. There's a harvest coming.

Keeping in step with the Spirit means persevering in doing good by keeping your eye on the harvest.

A harvest is coming. It's coming. So don't give up.

Don't grow weary. And the last thing he tells us is don't miss any opportunity.

Verse 10, so then as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

Don't miss any opportunity. Take every opportunity to do good because the harvest has not yet arrived.

Seize every and any opportunity to do good. Do you know a brother who's trapped in sin?

Listen, do you know a brother who's trapped in sin? Help him! Help him.

Too many think, well, that's the elder's job. Well, a lot of times the elders don't know.

You know what I tell folks? Here's what happens. When you know about it, they're knee -deep in trouble.

When we know about it, they're up to their neck in trouble. And it's hard to take people by the hair and pull them out of the mire.

You know sooner. When they're knee -deep, you step in. You get involved.

Don't miss any opportunity to do good. And that includes helping a brother who's trapped by sin.

Do you find yourself in a difficult marriage? Seize the opportunity for love and peace and kindness.

You know what? In the counseling ministry the Lord has given, shepherding ministry, the

Lord has given me, there are so many times where I've sat with women who have cruel husbands.

And one of the things I say to them is this. You've got to get out of the survivor mentality.

You can't be a survivor. You've got to be a warrior. You've got to overcome evil with good.

You've got to go to war. And so in your difficult marriage then, you sow to the spirit.

You go to war with good. Does your neighbor need help with his roof?

Seize the opportunity to serve him. While the sowing season is here, you have opportunity.

Seize the opportunities. And take the opportunity to do good to all people.

You know what? God expresses his goodness to all men every day, all the time. That's what we need to be doing.

We should do the same. But always keep this distinction in mind, he tells us.

Do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

Now, he gives us a priority here, does he not? He says, take every opportunity to do good.

But you know what? When you've got to work through, when you've got to be wise, you've got to make decisions, make sure that you take care of the household of faith first.

He says, use discernment. Now, you might think that this is a priority of resources.

And it is that. Our resources are limited. And so we have to make decisions.

We have to take care of the household of faith first. What if you came to my house and found my children in ripped, raggedy clothes, and my wife struggling to get the laundry done with a wash tub and a washboard?

You'd probably say to me, hey, pastor, what's the deal? We pay you a whole lot better than what this looks like.

And I respond, well, have you seen the neighbor kids? They're really,

I mean, look at how well they're dressed. How do you think they got that? You would not think highly of me at that point, would you?

Why? Because you take care of your family first, your own household. And so we are a household of faith.

And frankly, we have to make that priority. Take care of the household of faith first.

Now, by the way, can I say this to you? Of course I can, because I'm the one who's determined what I'm going to say to you.

So many of you don't know the ministry that our deacons have is unbelievable.

And you just don't know about it because they can't tell you. But they minister to so many people.

And most of the time, it's to outsiders because the need here is not as great.

But they do know this. When it comes to helping people, the people of the household of faith are who we have to look to first.

And they're careful about that. And that's what they do. But it's not just a priority of resources.

It's a priority of testimony. Turn over to John chapter 13 for a moment.

John chapter 13. John 13, verse 34.

A new commandment I give to you that you love one another just as I have loved you.

You also are to love one another. By this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.

There's a priority of testimony here. Our love for one another is going to speak volumes to the world.

In a world where people are filled with malice, I don't know if you've noticed it.

And you guys have all heard me say this. And my children are telling me now, when you say let me tell you a story, we're going to try to figure out which of the 10 we've already heard you're going to tell us.

I know you've heard this. But the world is filled with people who are malicious.

That's the way of the natural man. So go to a Burger King, sit down, listen, in a godly way, listen to the conversations around you.

And you will hear all the time people saying, well, you know what? She said this, but I said, she's not going to get away with that.

And over here, you hear the same conversation. Over here, you hear the same conversation. The world is filled with malicious people.

And what has to happen is that the light of God's people loving one another, solving their problems, taking care of one another, should be like a beacon in a dark world of malice.

Jesus said, they'll know you're my disciples by the fact that you love one another.

Now think about that for a moment. When, you know, I was brought up with the idea of people will know that we're followers of Jesus if we don't smoke and we don't drink and we don't go to movies and we don't go to dances.

Oh my goodness, don't do that. Do not show up at church with your prom clothes on, right?

Don't do it. That's how people are going to know that you're Christians, by the fact that you don't do this stuff or the fact that you protest about that.

Listen, there are things we can't do. There are things we ought to speak up about, but that's not going to tell people we're Christians, they're going to think we're just a bunch of religious fanatics, which is fine.

Okay, I'm all right with that. But Jesus says the one way they'll really know you're my disciples is if you love one another.

Don't grow weary of doing good, especially to those in the household of faith. Why? Because people will know that we are disciples of Jesus when we love one another.

That will shine like light in the darkness. And so there's a priority of testimony here as well.

So, what ought we to do? What ought we to do? Well, don't be deceived, don't grow weary, don't give up, or make every opportunity.

Don't miss any opportunity. Now listen, there's one who's done that. There's one who's done that.

His name is Jesus. Now you think about it, did

Jesus grow weary in doing good? No, he certainly was not deceived, and he certainly didn't miss any opportunity.

And what did he get for it? He got nailed to a cross, isn't that right?

Yeah, that's right. But you know what? He's been exalted to the right hand of God.

He's been exalted to the right hand of God. None of it was in vain.

And the scriptures tell us that what happened to Jesus will happen to us. We too will be exalted.

So don't be deceived, right? Don't grow weary, don't miss any opportunity.

We have a Savior who did it. And the Savior who's by his death has destroyed the power of sin over us, so we can do those things.

And so that's what we need to do. At the end of Bible school week, we're all going, this is exhausting.

And you start thinking, do we wanna do this? And the answer is yeah. If not that, other things.

Point is, don't grow weary. Take every opportunity.

Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for a Savior who has conquered the power of sin over us, so that we can walk a life that isn't one of deception, so that we can keep going and not grow weary, so that we can take every opportunity.

We confess to you, Father, that we missed the mark, and yet we thank you for a

Savior who has died for that, and then who says, keep going. Help us to do that.

Thank you for your word to us this morning. We need to hear it.

Thank you for being a kind father and directing our steps. And Father, help us to continue to take those steps, we pray.