“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap”

Verses seven and eight explain verse six.

Do not be deceived,

The word “deceived” means to lead astray. Legalism will lead us astray from grace. That is why we must carefully listen to pastors as they teach us the principles of grace (Galatians 6:6). False teaching always comes in the form of false doctrine. Religion is Satan’s trump card. Those ignorant of God’s Word are always susceptible to false doctrine.

God is not mocked;

Paul somberly cautions that we cannot mock God. The word “mocked” literally means to turn up one’s nose. The idea is to treat God and His grace with contempt by turning our nose up at it. We sneer at God’s grace. If we sin as if God does not exist, we mock the absolute being of the universe. We ridicule God’s grace by self-help and self-effort.

for whatever a man sows,

Paul gives an agricultural illustration of the principle of an unbreakable law. If we plant oats, we will harvest oats. We will not harvest potatoes. Each seed produces after its own kind.

People determine what they reap by what they sow. If we sow for time, then we will reap in time. If we sow for God, then we will reap eternal reward. The previous verse talked about fellowship with our pastors as they teach God’s Word. If we sow time listening to God’s Word, then we will benefit spiritually. If we turn up our nose at God’s grace, we will reap the result of that.

Principle:

God always blesses us on the ground of grace.

Application:

Fellowship with your pastor while God’s grace is taught will result in eternal reward.

God always blesses us on the ground of grace. He will never change that principle. He blesses us despite us, not because of us. God does not bless us because we made a deal with Him. He blesses us because He already made a deal in Christ.

This is difficult for us to understand because it is outside our normal culture. It is normal for us to say, “I will do something for you because you did something for me.” God does something for us, regardless of whether we do anything for Him.

If we reject God’s unadulterated grace, we turn up our nose at Him. Everything He does for us, He does it out of grace, not because we earned or deserve it. He always blesses because of what Christ did for us. Now that we belong to Jesus and that we are children of God, we receive His grace – all of us, not most.

God blesses us because of Christ, not because of some performance we do for Him. God does not give to us based on what we deserve. God does not bless us because we keep our nose clean, stay in line, and live respectable lives. No, He always blesses us because of Christ. Grace starts and ends with Christ. God always blesses us because of Christ.