Don't Give Up On Seeing Christ Face to Face — James Jennings

The Call to Persevere in Galatians 6

Go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Galatians 6. Galatians 6. We're going to look at verses 6 -10 this morning. Maybe last week, the time with the kids in the evening, we were reading some verses and we were looking at verse 9.

I was feeling weary spiritually, and so I thought let's think of this verse with the kids. Paul says, "...and let us not grow weary of doing good. For in due season we will reap if we do not give up.".

But in order to understand this verse and Paul's arguments around it, we've got to look at the context. So we're going to look at verses 6 -10. But is anyone feeling weary? My wife is? Alright. If you're not feeling that today, it's going to happen.

I remembered Tim's two sermons from Hebrews years ago at the burger restaurant on the remedy for weariness in the Christian life. He did part 1, part 2. We're going to find ourselves weary at different points.

So let's pray for God's help. Father, Lord, I thank You. Lord, thank You for bringing us here today. Thank You that we're able to come here and meet together as a body. Meet together to stir each other up, to love in good works.

Meet together to use our spiritual gifts for the building up of the body. And Lord, we are eager for manifestations of Your Spirit. We're eager for You to work in our hearts. We're eager, as we sang on Wednesday night, to be more like You.

Lord, to be completely surrendered to You. Lord, we do ask You that we might grow in every way. Lord, I pray that You would help us to grow as being a church that is not easily trapped in habitual weariness.

Lord, would You let this message impart truth to my brothers and sisters, Lord, that in the future, we would not be so easily trapped in feeling weary and losing heart. And so, Lord, we just ask for Your help and Your blessing on this time.

And Lord, we pray as well, You'd help the three teachers back there that teach many of the children this morning. Lord, would You open our children's eyes to Your truth. So Father, we ask for more of Your Spirit.

We ask for Your help. In Christ's name, Amen. So Galatians 6. Let's go ahead and read starting in v. 6. Paul says, Let the one who is taught the Word share all good things with the one who teaches. 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. Why? For in due season, we will reap if we do not give up. If we do not give up. V. 10, so then, in view of this, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone and especially do good to those who are of the household of faith.

Understanding Spiritual Weariness

So let's think of this. Let's just think first about growing weary. It says right there in v. 9, let us not grow weary. When you hear grow, what does that communicate? It's something that progressively happens.

Today, you might be a little tired, and then you grow more tired. And Paul here shows you could grow weary and it leads to what? Giving up. So you're tired and you don't get encouraged. You get more tired, more weary, and eventually give up.

In the NASB, it renders this phrase right here. Let us not grow weary as not lose heart. So we're thinking about people who lose heart. Your heart was in it, and then what happens? You lose heart. Your heart is no longer in it as it was.

You lose heart. You're not as enthusiastic as you were. I mean, how many of us experienced that? There was some good from God for us to do, and we were doing it, and we lost a genuine enthusiasm. We lost heart.

We gave up on it. Paul here exhorts us to not fall into a state of spiritual tiredness that leads to decline and thus leads to giving up. Getting weary to the point where you give up. Paul doesn't want us to lose motivation and cool down.

And if you've been saved for any amount of years, you'll find this is constantly a battle. We don't live on the mountaintop as a Christian. We're not always at this great peak of joy and full of being zealous for good works.

There's different trials that happen, sufferings that happen, and then we get weary. We get tired. Maybe we start to lose heart. We lose some of that enthusiasm. And here Paul, he says, let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up.

Now we can find comfort here in the fact that since Paul is actually addressing Christians who were growing weary, what's that mean was happening 2 ,000 years ago? Were there Christians back then who got tired?

Yeah. So it's not abnormal. It's not out of the ordinary for the Christian to grow weary. And we find this throughout the Bible. Paul deals with the same thing with the Thessalonians. Don't grow weary in well-doing.

Hebrews 12. It talks about not growing weary. So this is throughout the Scriptures. It is not an odd thing as a Christian to get weary and tired and you start to lose heart. And yet, at the same time, we don't need to be content there because here Paul, he's got a remedy.

He's got a course of action for us to take. Next question I was thinking about here is what good are you doing that maybe you're getting weary in it? What's something good that you're getting weary in?

And more importantly, what is Paul even thinking about here in context? He says right here, let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up. In the larger context of Galatians, what is the great good we're called to do?

Walking by the Spirit and Bearing Its Fruit

We're called to walk by the Spirit. Look at chapter 5, verse 16. Verse 17. Down into verse 18. And he says in verse 22, the fruit of the Spirit. You want to think about the great good to do. It's to manifest the fruits of the Spirit as a Christian.

Verse 22. 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 His passions and desires.

You know what some of us grow weary in doing? Being patient as Christ was patient. We grow weary in self-control. These are all good things to do. What else? Think about Hebrews 12. 5, he says there, if you've forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons, my son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by Him.

So sometimes you can lose heart when God the Father is disciplining you as a Christian. You grow weary. He says don't grow weary. We can grow weary when praying. Luke 18 .1 He told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.

So some of us, there's that specific thing we've been praying for for years. And we're knocking and knocking and knocking. And then guess what? You lose heart. Is God really going to answer? Don't grow weary.

Isn't that a good thing of praying for that specific thing? Some, it's parents. They grow weary with their children. Think about Proverbs 29 .17. It says, discipline your son and he will give you rest.

And the parents are thinking, I am disciplining my child. He's not giving me rest. He's making me more weary. Lord, is Your Word true? Well, don't grow weary in that well-doing of lovingly disciplining your children.

Weariness. Weariness in missions. Missionaries grow weary. Even our brother Tom. Some of the things he was saying, it sounded like he was growing weary in the midst of different trials and tests over there.

Weary. You start to lose heart. I've been reading Adoniram Judson's biography. Plucking the eye tooth out of a live tiger. I'm only around 200 pages in. But Judson started to lose heart before he ever even made it to Burma.

They were talking about sending him and the first stop that Judson had to go, it wasn't over to Burma. It was just going to London to meet with a missions agency. And you know what happened on his way to London to meet with a missions agency?

You know where he ended up? He ended up in France in a prison. He's not even to the missions field yet. And he's in France in a prison and he says this, sick, sorrowful, and discouraged. His thoughts went back to his old Plymouth home, then to Bradford, and finally to the Boston church.

It was the biggest church in Boston. They had asked him to pastor there prior to him deciding to go to the missions field. You're kind of thinking, man, I should have taken that offer. Now I'm in France in prison.

Listen to what Judson said. He became alarmed at the strange feeling that crept over him. It was the first moment of misgivings that he had known. So there he is in prison in France and he starts to have a little misgiving about going to the missions field.

He's not even made it there yet and he's in prison. He says, as soon as I became aware of the feeling, I prayed against it as a temptation of the adversary. And then weeks later, the same thoughts came.

Then his thoughts would wander off again to Plymouth, to Bradford, to the biggest church in Boston. But now, it was not with the feeling he had before. On the contrary, he wondered that he ever could have been discouraged.

So he's thinking, right, I'm not going to grow weary in well-doing. I've not even made it to Burma yet. Here I'm in prison in France. I'm not going to let this cause me to grow weary. I'm not going to quit.

I'm not going to give up. So weariness. Losing heart. Losing enthusiasm for that good thing that you've had opportunity, as Paul says, to do. And here he's saying, don't grow weary. I had to ask myself this question.

False Teaching and the Galatians' Weariness

Why were the Galatians growing weary in well-doing? Because here he's saying it to them. He's saying to them not to grow weary in well-doing. Why? What's going on? Look at chapter 5, verse 7. He says, you were running well.

That sounds like people who are taking opportunity to do good. Right? They were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion is not from Him who calls you a little leaven. All this teaching of giving in to Moses, putting them back on all this law.

He says it leavens the whole lump. I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view. And the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty. So what's one way they were growing weary and they were no longer running well?

In short, false teaching. False teaching leads you to be very, very weary. Get your eyes off Christ. Get your eyes off the mission. It leads to verse 15. What was happening? But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you're not consumed by one another.

So false teaching, it's bringing up all these passions in the flesh, disunity, and now there's biting and devouring one another instead of serving one another through love. If you're biting and devouring one another, are you taking every opportunity of good to serve one another?

No, you're not. You're not. You get discouraged with disunity. Or, it could be on the opposite spectrum, v. 13 in chapter 5, for you are called to freedom, brothers, but don't use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh.

You know what we should use our freedom for? As an opportunity, chapter 6, v. 10. So then as we have opportunity, do what? Good. What are they doing with their opportunity? Some of them were using this freedom in Christ as an opportunity for the flesh rather than through love serving one another.

So why were the Galatians growing weary? It seems like part of it was this false teaching here of getting back under Moses was really getting their eyes off of the truth. They were biting and devouring one another.

Then on the opposite end, you had other people who took the true teaching and they turned it into something abusive and rather than use it as an opportunity to serve one another, they used it as an opportunity to sin, to give into the flesh and justify themselves.

And you know, we find this in other places. 1 Corinthians 15. Some are saying the Christian's not going to resurrect. And you know what that created? As Paul said, some were misrepresenting God. That created weariness.

Because in the end of that chapter, what does Paul say? He says, therefore, pointing back to all of his arguments, therefore, in view of the fact the Christian will rise, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

Paul is saying in view of the truth, you will be resurrected. You should be steadfast, immovable. Your work is not in vain. So, one thing that can weary us? Yeah, false teaching. If we are so focused on law and some list we've got, or we're teaching you in a way where it's putting you under some type of bondage, you know what you're doing?

You're constantly looking at, am I keeping all of these check marks? Rather than seeking to serve one another, you're introspective. So false teaching, that will damage people. They will not look for opportunity for good.

So, people get weary. They lose heart. Some give up. And we looked at maybe why the Galatians were weary. Maybe a lot more could be said on that. Maybe some of you have other insights in this letter on why Paul said what he said to them.

Those are just a few thoughts I have. False teaching is destructive to kill zeal. So now I've got to ask this question. How does Paul help those who are losing heart, who are getting weary? How does he help them?

What logic, what argument does he have to help them out? Because if you're weary, or when you get weary, what's Paul use here? What does he point to? So, first, I want to consider this in our verses. If you just got here, Galatians 6.

We're in Galatians 6. First, I want to consider Paul's warning. Because Paul puts the warning first before he gets on to what to do in this solution. He actually puts a warning. Look at your Bible. V. 7, 6 -7.

Sowing and Reaping: Paul's Warning

Don't be deceived. So there's an area they could be misled, misguided, and duped in, and Paul doesn't want that to be the case. Don't be deceived. God is not mocked. Wow, that's pretty strong. How is God not mocked?

What is true? What should I not be deceived about? For whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For whatever one sows, that will he also reap. Verse 8, 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. In other words, some people were not wanting to take responsibility for their actions as if those actions were going to be something that they would one day have to reap from.

In other words, they were scattering. They were planting. And they're deceived to think it's not really going to matter what I gather from what I've sowed. And I was thinking about our brother Brandon DeVoe.

Brandon manages a blueberry farm in Canada. Okay? Imagine if Brandon just kind of looks at the farm. He's thinking about fertilizing it. He's thinking about what he sows. Plucking the weeds out. He's thinking about taking care of this crop.

What if he looks at that and he says it doesn't really matter what I do. I'm going to get paid from my boss in the end no matter what I do and how I take care of this crop. What would you say to Brandon if that was his attitude?

You'd say don't be deceived, Brandon. Do you think you're going to just let that crop die? And in the end, he's going to pay you this full amount of money? No. So here Paul is saying to them, don't be deceived.

God isn't mocked. If what you sow is biting and devouring one another, if what you sow is taking opportunity not to do good, but for the flesh to serve your own selfish desires, don't be deceived. You're going to have to reap what you're sowing.

So Paul's wanting to correct this false idea that there are no consequences for what you plant. The idea that works in your life, they're irrelevant, it doesn't matter. In some ways, I view this as a warning against the carnal Christian teaching that you can live in sin, that grace may abound, and it doesn't really matter what I do, because in the end, you say, well, I've got Jesus and so it's really not going to matter what I'm sowing.

Paul says don't be deceived. He says God is not mocked. You're mocking God if you hold this idea that works are totally irrelevant and it does not matter. Some, it appears, were wrongly thinking they're exempt from the consequences of what they planted, what they scattered, that they wouldn't have to gather that one day.

So, Paul is making sure. His first thing is I want to make sure you're not misled. I want to put some healthy fear in you that you recognize what you do with your time because we're always sowing. It's going to matter.

You're going to have to gather in what you're sowing. He's first wanting them not to be misled in this area. He's establishing what you sow that you will reap. You're going to give an account for it. He's not letting professing believers go on and think all is well, does not matter what I do.

Eternal Life, Judgment, and the Evidence of Works

And then, the next thing Paul does is he narrows down this gathering into two possible things we're going to gather. Look at v. 8. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption.

Now, we've got to define corruption, but what's going to help us define corruption is if we keep reading. But, the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. So if Paul on one end puts reaping eternal life, how do you then define corruption?

What's it got to be referring to? Yeah, eternal death. So you've got eternal life and you've got eternal death. As you're sowing, you're going to reap one of the two. At the end of all things, you're going to get eternal life or you're going to get eternal death.

You're going to get heaven. You're going to get hell. One of those two is going to be gathered by every individual in existence in the human race. Matthew 25, verse 46, and those will go away into eternal punishment.

But the righteous into eternal life. Now, as I was studying this, at this point it hit me that the truths here are very, very similar to everything Tim just taught on two weeks ago about on what basis will we be judged on judgment day.

I mean, Paul's saying right here, what you sow is what you're going to reap. Your works go hand in hand with whether at the end you've got eternal life or you've got eternal hell. And yet what's so obvious is where's Paul saying this?

What letter? Galatians. So anyone who takes that and starts to think this is a works-based justification, you already know that can't be the case. Paul says things in Galatians 2 .16. Look at what he says there.

Yet we know the person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. So we also have believed in Christ in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law.

Because by works of the law, no one will be legally declared righteous in God's courtroom. We don't merit salvation based upon works. But, as Tim's message is, the Bible, more importantly, teaches works and what you sow are a great evidence.

Not a great. They're evidence of what is true of you. So clearly, he's not talking about having your sins forgiven, but the evidence. Look at chapter 5, verse 19. Now the works of the flesh are evident.

Evident. Sexual immorality. Impurity. Sensuality. Are these the things you're sowing? Is this what you're scattering in your life? Impurity? Idolatry? Is that the habitual pattern? Sorcery? Enmity? Strife?

Jealousy? Fits of anger? Rivalries? Dissensions? Divisions? Envy? Drunkenness? Orgies? And things like these, I warn you. He just said, do not be deceived. Down earlier, here he says right here, I warn you as I warned you before.

Those who do such things, those who sow a life of such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. And then he talks about what the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience. I mean, right there, we've got a guy sowing to corruption.

We've got a guy sowing to eternal life. So, works salvation? No way. Is that what Paul is saying? But is he saying works are evidence that you are a true Christian? Is he saying that you will be held accountable for everything you have done in the body, whether good or evil, and on that day, it will reveal the evidence of whether or not you were truly born again, you truly had the Spirit?

Because if you have the Spirit, what's going to be true? You're going to have, overall, there's going to be evidences of the fruits of the Spirit in your life. If you've got the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is bringing that about.

God is causing you to walk and obey His statues. So if your life is not full of the fruits of the Spirit, then you don't have the Spirit. If you don't have the Spirit, what does Romans 8 say? You do not belong to Him.

And even the text we finished reading at was v. 10 and chapter 6. If you go on, look what Paul says in v. 14. But far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. So Paul is completely boasting in Christ.

V. 15,. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision. What matters is are you born again? But a new creation. Because unless a man is born again, he won't inherit the kingdom. Unless a man is born again, he doesn't have the Spirit.

If you don't have the Spirit, you don't even have the ability to serve with the strength that God supplies. And so, the fruits of the Spirit in your life and this goodness. So, Paul shows, what we sow, we're going to get eternal hell.

We're going to get eternal life. And again, this is not teaching we're saved by our works. But it is teaching our works will reveal the evidence if we're really saved. And anyone who says that's not true, Paul says don't be deceived.

What you sow, you're going to reap one day. Don't deceive yourself. He doesn't say in the warning in chapter 5, don't be deceived. I warn you as I warned you before. But you know what, when you go to 1 Corinthians 6 and he's got a similar list, he says do not be deceived.

Paul loved people so much, he didn't want them to be deceived. Yet at the same time, Paul recognized Christians get weary and he didn't want them to lose heart and give up. So he's seeking to encourage the Christian.

But in encouraging the Christian, Paul doesn't want the false convert to be deceived. So he's trying to do multiple things at the same time. Get the false convert facing the truth and get the true Christian encouraged and pressing on.

He doesn't want to let either off the hook. Now, one question comes up with this. You know, gathering eternal life or eternal hell, and we say, well, wait a minute, don't I already have eternal life? Well, it's just like salvation.

We were saved in the past. We're being saved and there's a final salvation. The Scriptures talk in a similar way about eternal life. John 3 says whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. John 10, I give them eternal life and they will never perish.

Romans 2 says for those who seek glory and honor and immortality, He will give eternal life. Romans 6 .22, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end. What's going to happen? Its end? Eternal life.

Its end. Eternal life. And if you think about Romans 6, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end. Eternal life. The Christian is progressively with the strength that God supplies bearing fruit throughout their life.

And in times of weariness, they're being encouraged. They're pressing on. So, Paul has now told people not to be deceived. Don't mock God by believing that your works have no consequences. If they're fleshly, you get hell.

If they're Spirit-led, you reap eternal life. What can be more serious than this reality? So how does Paul continue to speak to these believers? So Galatians 6, he just said this statement, the one who sows to his own flesh, verse 8, will from the flesh reap corruption.

But, the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. I mean, what a weighty reality. He's just said that, and then he follows it up with verse 9, and let us not grow weary of doing good.

The Eternal Reward of Seeing Christ Face to Face

For in due season we will reap if we do not give up. So this statement from Paul about not growing weary comes off of just making it clear what's at stake. He's just made it clear what's at stake. What you sow, you reap.

What you scatter, you gather. And then he leads it into don't grow weary. Don't lose heart. Don't give up. You can kind of feel Paul saying, look, this is what's at stake here. If you give up on doing good, and doing good is sowing according to the Spirit, then giving up on doing good is giving up on sowing according to the Spirit.

And if you give up on sowing according to the Spirit, that's the same thing as giving up on seeking to walk by the Spirit. And if you give up on walking by the Spirit, what's that show? That one did not actually have the Spirit and in the end, they gather eternal destruction.

Our life is a vapor. One day we will reap. Now, Paul says here to not grow weary of well-doing, why? Why should I not grow weary in well-doing? Verse 9, "...let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up.".

In due season we will reap what? He's already answered that. What are we going to reap if we don't give up? Eternal life. So you can add that in there. In due season, we will reap eternal life if we do not give up.

So Paul points for us the motivation to not give up is that in due season, we will reap what? Eternal life. Now, we've got to think about that. Eternal life. Reap eternal life. What could be something better that you could reap than eternal life?

Nothing. Nothing gets higher than that and we're going to think about it more because this needs to hit you. Because this is what Paul gives. Don't grow weary in view of the fact in due season, you're going to reap eternal life if you don't give up.

He's giving that as a reason. As a motivation. What is eternal life? You could think of one angle. You could think of the Revelation 14 text and it talks about what's going to happen one day and the Spirit will say that we will rest from our labors for our deeds follow them.

See, what you sow is what you reap. Deeds are going to follow us, but rest. When you think about eternal life, you can think about eternal rest. Now for someone who's getting weary, and Paul's encouraging, keep doing good, brother.

Keep doing good, sister. One day, you're going to have everlasting rest. So are you tired right now? But what's going to come one day? Everlasting rest. And this is but a vapor anyways. So that's one way to look at it.

Eternal life. One of the things in regards to eternal life is eternal rest. Or Paul says to the Thessalonians, eternal comfort. Right? Some go to eternal destruction. Some to eternal comfort. So, there's a day coming where there's eternal comfort.

So no matter how uncomforted I am right now and losing heart, I need to take heart that one day there's going to be this eternal comfort. But you know what? There's something so much more. If we just think about eternal life as eternal rest, eternal comfort, this will not motivate you like it should to not grow weary.

We know this verse. John 17, verse 3, this is eternal life, that they may know Me, or know You, the only true God, and who? Jesus Christ whom You have sent. So one aspect of eternal life is forever and ever intimately knowing the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now think of what Paul says in 1 Corinthians. For now we see in a mere dimly, but then what happens? Face to face. He goes on. Now I know in part, then I shall know fully. There's some full knowing that the Christian experiences then.

I wouldn't say that literally we know every single intricate thing about God because He is so complex, advanced, all-knowing. He surpasses understanding, but even there in that glorified state, to some degree, I shall know fully, and I shall see Christ face to face.

So now in part, but then, when we read, you know what you're going to read? This is the title of this message. Don't give up on seeing Christ face to face. Don't give up on seeing Christ face to face.

Here Paul says it. Let us not grow weary of doing good. In due season, we will reap eternal life if we do not give up. And if eternal life is intimately knowing the Lord Jesus Christ, and you fully knowing Him and seeing Him face to face, Paul is saying, look, in view of that coming in due season, don't give up right now.

The greatest experience you could ever have to see the Lord face to face, to have intimacy with Him, all the veils removed, that's coming one day. So why grow weary now when you've got this glory coming now?

What are the momentary afflictions and sufferings compared? How does that text? The momentary affliction is nothing compared to the glory that awaits for those? Eternal weight of glory. Eternal. There's an eternal weight of glory.

We're reaping eternal life. We're reaping. So the believer is in the gathering business of gathering intimacy with the Lord Jesus Christ and knowing fully and seeing face to face. So think about it. Don't give up.

The wedding day is coming. And Christ is there waiting for you. And He's doing everything He can to help you to get you to that day. He's giving you the Comforter, His Spirit, so that you might have the fruits of the Spirit, and then you might have the strength that God supplies so that in everything, God may be glorified.

And you might walk in the works He's prepared beforehand that you should walk in. My God will supply all of your needs according to His riches and glory in Christ Jesus. He's getting us to that day to walk the aisle as the Bride of Christ and experience His glories in a way we don't have right now.

We see dimly. Then face to face. So reaping eternal life is reaping a face to face encounter with the Lord. It's gathering in intimacy and the love of Christ and knowing Him that you don't have now. And Paul is saying in due season that's going to happen.

Don't give up. Don't quit. The One who chose you before the foundation of the world and sent His Son to die for you, the One we've read glimpses of here and look as in a mere dimly, we're going to see face to face, we're going to know fully, we're going to get a full history of His love for us.