Reaping Eternal Life

And I want to touch on reaping this week. And we're going to start in Galatians chapter 6. And we're going to read verses 7 through 8. And in context, this passage in context is about, we're going to talk about different seeds that we could sow last week, the Word of God, spiritual gifts, material, we'll read all those things.

We talked about four or five last week. This is specifically in context about material sowing. In verse 6 it says, let him, who is taught in the Word, share in all things with him who teaches. Which means that if you're being taught by somebody, if somebody's teaching you the Word of God, that you should be sowing into them or their ministry.

And so even if the Apostle Paul says, don't think it's any big thing. If I've sown into you spiritually, and I reap material things. So that's the context of Galatians 6 verses 6 through 8. But the implications are greater than what specifically stated.

There's greater implications to sowing and reaping than as we look at last week, than merely just material things. And it goes on to say in verse 7, it says, be not deceived. I guess you have to bring your Bibles because it's not up here. But Galatians 6 verse 7 says, be not deceived.

Oh, there it is. God is not mocked for whatever. Say whatever. Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

Whatever. So it's beyond just material sowing. It's beyond finances. Whatever a man sows, that is what he will also reap.

He who sows unto the flesh, or his flesh, will of the flash reap corruption. But he who sows unto the spirit will of the spirit reap everlasting life. We will reap in due season if we do not lose heart or if we do not faint. Father, I thank you today for your word.

God, I ask that you would release the spirit of wisdom and understanding today. Father, I thank you that your word never returns void. I pray that it would be received into good soil today. In Jesus' name.

Amen. If we're gonna go back and slide the title of the message today is this. Reaping eternal life. You're like, well, what's that all about?

Reaping eternal life. I put the new American standard up here. It says this, the one who sows to the spirit will reap eternal life from the spirit. Well, a lot of times when we read that at first glance, we think of, well, that's talking about going to heaven.

This verse is not about going to heaven. Eternal life is not merely living forever. Now, I've explained this before, but for if you're new, I'll re-explain it. Everyone will live forever somewhere.

You're gonna live forever somewhere. You're an eternal being. So having eternal life is more than just living forever because everyone saved and unsaved, believers and non-believers will live forever somewhere. So what does it mean to reap eternal life?

See, here's what I found out, is there's a difference between receiving eternal life and reaping eternal life. There's a difference between having eternal life and harvesting eternal life. How many people today have eternal life? How many are not sure?

If you're not sure, you can leave here today, sure. The Apostle John says this in 1 John chapter four, verses five and six, he says this is the testimony. This is the testimony, what is it? Let's go down to the 3rd slide, guys.

It says this is the testimony that God has given us eternal life. So how do we receive eternal life? It's a gift. God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his son.

So where is eternal life? It's in Jesus. How do we receive it? You receive it by faith as a gift.

This is a testimony God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his son. Whoever has the son has what? Life, and whoever does not have the son does not have what? Life, right?

So if you've received Jesus, you have eternal life. You have it. But see, here's what I find out. So many believers have it, but they don't harvest what they have.

They've received it, they have it, they're holding it, they possess it, but because of the seeds that they've showed, they don't harvest the life that they possess on the inside. The eternal life that I have is not just meant for me to spend eternity in heaven. There's a reality of eternal life today that needs to, should be, must be harvested now. See, when we talk about eternal life, Jesus says this in John 17, three, he says this is eternal life.

So if somebody wants to argue about what eternal life is, you can always go to this verse. This is it. This is eternal life. That they may what?

Know the one true God and his son Jesus whom he has sent. Did you notice? It says that they may know. That they may know.

That word is in the subjunctive mood in the Greek, which means this. It's the mood of potential and possibility. It's a statement of that, that it may not or it may occur. It's not guaranteed, but eternal life is this.

The possibility exists. The potential exists that you may know the one true God and his son Jesus. That word know is the word genosco, which means knowledge that's gained through personal experience. See, it's not just, well, I know about God.

I know God's attributes. I can quote scripture. I know that God did this and God said that. That's a superficial knowledge of God.

How many people know my wife? How many people know my wife the way I know my wife? You better not. If you do, we got a problem.

That's a big problem for me. See, because I know her through intimacy. I know her through relationship. I know through her through personal experience.

See, it says that eternal life is that, is that I can come to a knowledge of Jesus Christ and his father, the one true God, is through an experience of a personal relationship with him. And as I have that personal experience with God, the Father and Jesus, I'm gonna start to demonstrate the effects of that life. See, there's a life in Christ that's in me, but it's not meant to stay in me. It's meant to be harvested.

It's meant to manifest. What's on the inside needs to be on the outside. And see, so many believers. I see so many believers.

Are you saved? Yes. Do you have eternal life? Yes.

Like I want you to be certain. Jesus says this in John 10, I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. No one shall pluck them out of my hand or my father's hand, my father and I are one. I want you to be certain of that, but certainty is not the end all be all of eternal life.

Harvesting eternal life, manifesting eternal life, releasing and reaping that which God has placed in you is what he wants to see in your life today. Like what good is it to carry it around? You have it, but are you harvesting it? We're gonna look at some scriptures today.

Eventually, I wanna get to the fruit of harvesting eternal life. I wanna get to what that looks like. I wanna look at, I probably had 10 things, but from three o'clock this morning, I've narrowed it down to three. Cause I felt like, yeah, it's no way, whatever.

But three things, if we get to them, the first thing is gonna be this, is that the manifestation of eternal life demonstrates itself in liberty, liberty. Number two is this unity. And number three, if we get to, it will be maturity. Everybody likes the first one, liberty.

Unity, eh, maturity, eh, not so much. But if you're sowing seed to the spirit, there will be a harvest. You're gonna harvest the very thing that God has placed in you. You're gonna harvest eternal life.

You're gonna reap, not just go to heaven. You're gonna reap that life now. So what is that life? When Jesus says, I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly or abundant life.

What's that life? This eternal life, abundant life. In the Greek, there's three words for life. So a lot of times when you, if you just read and you see life, it's like the word love.

There's four words for love, but life, the Greeks thought of this, bios, which had to do with the physical life. And we get the word, anybody wanna take a guess. The study of life is called biology. Suke refers to the soullish life.

If any man will lose his life for my sake and the sake of the gospels, that's the word, actually the same word as soul. Soul has to do with the soullish life. It's where we get the study of psychology. Bios, physical life, souke, soullish life, but this is not those two, this is zoe.

This is zoe life. Now I've heard people say this before, zoe is the God kind of life. That's a bad description. Because it's not just a kind of life that's like God's, it's the very life of God.

What he injects into you is his life. It's God's life, zoe means this. Life in the absolute sense. The conclusive fullness of life, life as God has it.

Life which belongs to God, that which the Father has in himself in which he has given to the incarnate son, Jesus. And incarnate just meant God in the flesh. That God has zoe in him. When Jesus came, it says in John chapter one in the beginning was the word, right?

And then in verse three or four it says, in him was life. In him was zoe and that life was the light of men. Like when Jesus came in the flesh, he had zoe in him. And so when he gives you eternal life, he's giving you the very life that is in God.

Now think about that. You have, you just don't have some, like, isn't that better than living forever? We're talking about eternal. So eternal can mean three things.

Eternal can mean something that has no beginning. In the Greek eternal can mean something that has no end. Or eternal can be in something that has no beginning or no end. That which has always been and that which will always continue to be.

See when you receive the zoe life of God, it's eternal in that it has always been and it will always be. That's more than just living forever. You're receiving eternity in itself, in you. And the God places that in you, eternal life.

So let's look back at this passage again. Go to the next slide. Zoe provides the believer. Here's what it does.

It affords the believer. It provides the believer the capacity or the ability to live like and function like Jesus. Anybody wanna live like Jesus. Anybody wanna function like Jesus.

Zoe life is what affords you the capacity, the ability, the potential to live like and function like Jesus function when he was on the earth. Now it also takes in that we have to consider another day the topic of being full of the Holy Spirit. But this is where it starts. Zoe life, it gives you that capacity.

It doesn't do it for you, but you have the ability. You now the ability to live like Jesus. Galatians chapter six, next slide says this. It says be not deceived or do not be deceived.

If God's words telling me to not be deceived, what is possible? Deceptions possible. It's telling me to not be deceived. God's not mocked, which means God is not, the word means actually sneered at or laughed at.

That this is such a certainty that you can be deceived into thinking that it's not true. But what's God's word say? Let God be true and every man, a liar. Like when God says it, when it's established in God's word, be not deceived.

To be deceived means to be led into error. To be led into error. The word error in the Bible comes from, I'm sorry, the word deception comes from the word error. And deception is to be led into error.

See what happens sometimes is we can be led into error to think that the seeds that we're sowing are not going to have a harvest. Or that we're gonna get different results from the seeds we sow. I think what I see a lot of time is I see believers trying to sow spiritual seeds into the flesh. Did you catch that?

I see believers trying to sow spiritual seeds into the soil of the flesh. You cannot sow deception and reap truth. If you've been deceived, what you sow will be a lie, and what you reap will be corruption or destruction. It doesn't mean you lose your salvation, it doesn't mean you're going to hell.

It means a believer that sows to the flesh and reaps corruption lives a ruined life. I don't know anybody that wants to live a ruined life. See every seed you sow has the ability to produce results. Seeds sown to the flesh produce, seeds sown to the spirit produce.

One produces consequences, the other produces benefits. You know which one produces which? He who sows to the flesh will of the flesh reap corruption. There are consequences to the seeds that you sow.

He who of the spirit sows to the spirit will of the spirit reap eternal life. There's results or benefits to sowing that way. But what happens is I see the people take the seeds we talked about last week, oh, I've got good seed. Well, I'm gonna take spiritual seeds, but I'm gonna plant them in my fleshly lifestyle.

Do you realize the sperm of an animal will not germinate the egg of a human? The egg rejects it because there's a chromosome mismatch. There's a protective thing around the egg that God built in that won't allow anything in. And that's what happens when we try to take seeds of the world and sow them into the spirit.

They're rejected. Or that we try to take seeds of the spirit and sow them into the world. You can't sow lies into the soil of truth. It doesn't produce.

And so he says, don't be deceived. You might think you've got this down. You might think you know what you're doing, but you have to sow spiritual seeds into the soil of the spirit in order to reap everlasting life. Otherwise, if you've been deceived, if you've been led into error, you're only gonna be able to sow deception into the soil of the flesh, and the results of that are corruption.

Whatever a man sows, that will he also reap. Next slide says this. See, deception starts here. Deception starts here.

And you gotta ask yourself, have I been deceived by the words that I've been entertaining? John says this, he says there of the world, therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them, we are of God. He who knows God hears us. He who is not of God does not hear us.

By this we know the spirit of truth. You realize the Holy Spirit is called the spirit of truth, but there's also a spirit of error. There's a spirit of deception. And when someone has been deceived, it starts with what they hear, but it's demonically inspired.

That there's a spirit of deception that's trying to lead you from the path of truth to run you down this path of error, and it's demonically inspired. And so you gotta ask the Holy Spirit, have I been deceived? Have I been deceived into thinking that I can sow this seed, spiritual seed, but live this way and operate this way and expect to get reap eternal life, harvest the zoe life of God. So it's not just sowing seed, it's sowing the right seed into the right soil.

Verse eight says this, it says, he who sows to the flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the spirit will of the spirit reap everlasting life, who wants to reap everlasting life? Like I do, I do. You can't sow seeds into the soil that you refuse to step on. You can't sow seeds in soil you refuse to walk on.

How do you sow seed in the natural? The kingdom of God is as if a man would sow seed in the ground, where do you have to be to sow seed? You gotta be in the ground that you're gonna sow into. You can't sow into soil that you don't walk in.

So when you're walking in the flesh, you cannot sow seeds to the spirit because you're walking in the wrong soil. It says this, Paul, when he wrote the Galatians and talked about sowing to the flesh, sowing to the spirit, just prior to that, he talked about walking in the flesh versus walking in the spirit, just in the preceding chapter. So when I talk about flesh, let me just clear this up for a minute, when we talk about flesh in the Bible, flesh can mean this, flesh can mean my skin, the body that I live in, but flesh for a believer is different than the flesh for an unbeliever. See, once you accept Christ, the old nature dies.

And so once you're, when you receive Jesus, the old nature dies, you get a new nature, but what's left over are the residual effects of the old guy. Like there's still some, anybody got some residual effects, they're still trying to work out. Yeah, I got a few, right? But the new me is brand new, the old me is dead.

But there's some residual left here. There's some patterns, there's some mindsets that need to be renewed. There aren't quite there yet. So when we talk about the flesh in the life of a believer, we're talking about the residual effects of the old man that are still resident, either in your unrenewed mind, or habits that exist in your body, but we're not talking about the old sin nature.

You don't have an old nature and a new nature. You have a new nature and you have the residuals that reflect what you're called the flesh. But Paul says this in Galatians 5, 16, he says, walk where? In the spirit.

So you can't sow seeds in soil that you don't walk in. So walk means to live the entirety of your life. It literally just doesn't mean to walk. It's the word peripiteo, which means the entirety of your life.

Walk in the spirit. Live the entirety of your life in the spirit. The thoughts that I think. The words that I say.

The attitudes that I display. The actions that I do. My motives. My intentions.

My value system. My identity. Everything about me needs to be walking, living in the spirit realm. When I walk in the spirit, I will not fulfill the desires of what?

The flesh. So people are like, why don't you preach against sin? Because I've got something better than overcoming sin. It's called walking in the spirit.

It doesn't say overcome the flesh and then you'll walk in the spirit. It says live your life in the spirit and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh. It says that the spirit and the flesh are contrary. They both have desires.

The spirit of God has desires for you. Your flesh has desires for you. Guess what? They don't agree.

They don't agree. It says they are contrary. It means they're adversarial toward one another. The things that your flesh wants you to do are completely opposite of what the spirit of God wants you to do.

Without getting into too much about what it means to walk in the spirit, I want to give you the very easiest way to identify. Anybody like easy? Easy. To walk in the spirit is to walk in agreement with God's word.

That's the, that's the, like we could add a lot more to it. But if I wanted to give you one thing today to walk in the spirit is to walk in agreement or alignment with the word of God. Do you realize that Jesus, it says in the beginning was the word, that Jesus is what? His name in all of eternity is the word.

He's the word. He said, I will pray the Father in it that he will send you another comfort or another one just like me. So when the Holy Spirit came, he was just like Jesus who was the word. And it also says the word is truth and the spirit is truth.

We've talked about this before, but I think some people still don't get it. Like, well, I just feel that God told me to do this. Okay, great. So I'm going to line up with God's word because if the spirit of God told you to do it, he will only tell you things that align with what he wrote in his word.

Truth always agrees with truth. So if the spirit is truth and the word is truth, they will always agree. So if I want to know if you're walking in the spirit, all I got to do is say, okay, I see this attitude in your life and no, that's not the attitude of Christ. Well, that's just how I am.

Well, that's not how he is. And there's room to repent of it. You can repent. You can change your mindset.

You can bring that attitude into alignment with God's word. My thoughts do the way I think, the thoughts that I think align with God's word. Do the habits in my life align with God's word. Do my motives align with God's word.

Do the things that I value in life align with God's word. So you can put the test to any area of your life to see God, am I walking in the spirit or am I walking in my flesh? The spirit will never lead you to do anything contrary to this. You might justify it.

You might find people to cosign it. You might feel good about it. You might have your conscience seared about it, but it doesn't change the truth of God's word. God's word never lies.

So he says walk in the spirit and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh. The flesh lust against the spirit, the spirit against the flesh and they are contrary. One to another. See, if I'm going to sow the, if I'm going to sow seeds to the spirit, I need to be walking in the soil of the spirit.

I can't walk in flesh soil and sow spiritual seeds. It's going to reject it. I can't sow deception into truth and expect to reap eternal life. You're going to reap exactly what you sow.

Let's not go, let's just skip this. So if you read through Galatians 5, it talks about walking in the spirit, walking in the flesh. As I walk in the flesh, what becomes evident? What the Bible calls the works of the flesh.

And it lists a whole bunch of bad stuff there. And then if you sow the, walk in the spirit, you produce the fruit of the spirit, which is the nature, the character of Jesus. And so the seeds that I sow by the soil that I walk in determine on what manifests in my life. Let's just read them.

Let's go back. Let's just read them. The works of the flesh are evident. Sexual immorality, impurity.

So if you're harvesting these seeds in your life, it's because you're walking in the wrong soil. Impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, emmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger. I had to get over that one many times. Rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies.

And like, well, you didn't list mine. I like how you put it. And things like these. Right?

So if yours isn't up there, it's in there and the things like these. Right? So we got you all covered. So whatever seeds you sow to the flesh, harvest the fruit of the flesh or works of the flesh.

When I sow to the spirit, I harvest the fruit of the spirit. Love, joy, peace. Right? Galatians 5, 22, and 23.

Long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. It starts with the seeds that you're sowing, but then it goes to what soil am I sowing to my flesh? Or am I sowing to my spirit? Or the Holy Spirit?

All right. So what I want to look at today is this. Next slide. Next.

We'll skip that one. Liberty. Liberty. I just feel like saying liberty, liberty, liberty.

What commercial is that? Liberty, liberty. Huh? Liberty insurance, yeah.

I've never figured out the one that says liberty though. Liberty. Liberty. One of the first things that will harvest in your life if you harvest eternal life is freedom.

So here's what I know, whom the sun sets free is free indeed. So no matter what you're struggling with in life, you are free as far as spiritual realities go. But not everyone who is free harvests freedom. See, if you've been set free, you're free.

When you receive Jesus, the old man dies. It said sin no longer has dominion over you. You're free. But not everybody who's free walks in freedom.

Not everybody who's free harvests the reality of eternal life. One of those realities is called freedom. Romans 8, let's read through this. And we might just stop here today.

I don't know. We'll see. Romans 8, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Now the rest of this verse doesn't appear in most other, most Bibles.

It does in this translation, but not most. So we'll go ahead and read it. It says, therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. We just talked about what?

Walking according to the spirit versus walking where? According to the flesh. See, one of the things that harvest when you walk according to the flesh is condemnation. But in Christ, there's no condemnation.

There's none. There's no damnatory sentence. There's nothing that says you're no longer useful. There's no condemnation.

It says, here's the verse I like, for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has done what? Made me free from the law of sin and death. I want to come back to that. Let's just read through here.

For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending his own son the likeness of sinful flesh. I want to count of sin. He condemned to sin in the flesh. That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.

Those who live according to the flesh set their minds, verse five, on the things of what? To walk in the flesh is to set your mind where? The things of the flesh. Every issue in life starts here.

Your life is going the direction of your mindset. Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. But those who live according to the spirit, where do we set our minds? The things of the spirit.

For to be carnally minded, carnal means fleshly. To be fleshly minded is what? Death. What do you reap when you sow to the flesh?

Corruption. Death is all the effects that death brings and sin breaks. It's the consequences of what you reap or what you sow. It says to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is what?

Zoehueh life. To be spiritually minded is zoehueh. I release the reality of zoehueh life based on where I set my mind. Back in verse two it says this.

The law of the spirit. Everybody say that. The law of the spirit of life. Guess what word that is?

Zoehueh. The law of the spirit of life. Where's it at? In Christ.

It says that your life, Colossians 3, is in Christ. Your life is hidden in Christ with God. The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from what? Law of sin and death.

There's two laws in operation. There's a law of sin and death. There's a law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. The flesh never goes away.

The flesh, you cannot cast out the flesh. You can render the flesh ineffective, but you can't cast it out. If, yeah, unfortunately, if I step off of this stage, what's going to happen? Why?

And that's called what? There's a law of gravity, right? Every time I step, what's going to happen? If I stand on this chair, what's going to happen?

I'll probably break your leg, right? I'm going to stick to two steps. But there's a law of gravity that is always in operation. Even when you get 250 miles from the earth and you experience weightlessness, the astronauts still experience 90% of gravity.

Even at a million miles from the earth, the effects of gravity are still present. Now they're diminished, but it never goes away. But there's another law called the law of lift. And if I get in an airplane, the law of lift frees me from what?

The law of gravity. Until what? Until we run out of gas. Or the engine dies.

Now as long as there is motion and as long as there is wind passing over top the wings, the law of lift is a higher law. Did the law of gravity go away? No, it's still there. Just cut the engine and find out.

Because as soon as you stop the engine, what happens? Yeah, you might drop fast, you might drop slow, but you will drop because that law is still in operation. It's the same in the spirit realm. The law of life in Christ Jesus has freed me from the law of sin and death.

See, there's a law that you can operate, that sin and death is still there. But I can operate free from it. I can operate in such a way that the law of sin and death doesn't affect me. But as soon as I quit operating in the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, guess what happens?

This law is still there. And guess what? This law will take over. But as long as I'm here, see, there's a law higher than this law.

See, a lot of times we, how can I say this? Saying no does not necessarily mean you're free. See, a lot of times we confuse endurance for freedom. Just because you can say no doesn't mean you've been freed from something.

I might step on some toes, but we confuse enduring something. I just received my one year token, endurance with freedom. Sometimes we confuse substitution for freedom. Well, I don't do heroin anymore, but I'm just using gummies.

You're not free. You've just substituted one thing for something else. Well, I'm not having adultery, but I watch porn and masturbate. You've substituted one thing for something else, and you're not free.

Pornography is viewed by 75% of the church. 22% of Christians watch it once a week. Well, I'm not cheating on my wife, but you're not free. Substitution is not freedom.

See, there's a law that will free you. It's called the law of the spirit of life in Christ. And when you operate at that law, the effects of the law of sin and death go away. See, what happens is we try to walk on the earth and fight the effects of the law of sin and death by just saying no.

Saying no is just good until the next time that you don't. Well, I said no. I said no. Oh, man, I just made it to four years.

I got to go back to square one. Because I said yes. There is an ability to live completely free without relying on, see, usually endurance is just another way to manage your reputation. I'm doing this, so people think a certain thing about me when I'm really not truly free, but it looks like I am.

Freedom is not reputation management. Freedom is that thing does not have the effects on me that it once did. I can walk by it. I can walk past it, but it does not affect me the way it used to because I'm at a different.

I've risen above the effects. See, grace has the ability to raise you. To raise you. Freedom, liberty.

But it starts on what seeds you're sowing and the soil that you're sowing them into. So to the flesh, you will reap of the flesh corruption, destruction. You're going to live a ruined life. So seeds to the spirit and of the spirit, you will reap zoe life.

And one of the indicators of zoe is are you really free? Not has God set you free, but are you living free? There's a difference. There's a difference.

Number two, liberty. Number two, unity. Unity. First Corinthians chapter three.

Anybody feel uncomfortable yet? Good. Look, we're family. We love you guys.

I'm not telling you anything today that I have not walked through myself and I'm still walking through. So there's no guilt. There's no shame. Jesus took that when he died 2000 years ago.

If you're feeling condemnation, it's the enemy. Conviction of the Holy Spirit, conviction picks you up and pulls you in. Condemnation pushes you down and pushes you away. So if you're feeling pushed away, that's the devil.

If you're feeling that you're being drawn in for more, that's the Holy Spirit. Somebody needed to hear that. The devil says, and I brethren, so who's he talking to? Believers.

Could not speak to you. Remember, deception starts where? Here. The spirit of truth, the spirit of error.

Are you here in the world or are you here in God's word? He says, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but as carnal. Guess what that word is? Flashly.

So I couldn't talk to you like spiritual people, but as fleshly people. These are Christians. As babies in Christ. So they're 40 years old and they're sucking on a bottle.

I was going to say something else. They're 40 year old and they're drinking from a bottle. He says, I fed you with milk and not with solid food, for until now you are not able to receive it. And even now you're still not able.

This is a sad state. These are believers that have accepted Jesus. They are spiritual people, but he can't speak to them as spiritual people, which means who they are on the inside is not who they are on the outside. They're spiritual in, they're babies without.

He says, for even now you are still carnal or still fleshly. Now he's going to tell us what was evident in their life that allowed them to see what seeds they were sowing because seeds always produce, right? They produce after their kind. What's interesting, the three things he mentions here, strife, envy and division, all three of those are listed in Galatians 5 verse 20 as works of the flesh.

You can check it out. All three of these are in Galatians 5, 20. He says, for even now you're still carnal, where there are envy, strife and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? For when one says I'm of Paul and another says I'm of Apollus, are you not fleshly or carnal?

See, identity determines unity. Identity, seeds of identity will facilitate and foster unity. He says you're carnal, you're fleshly because one of you says hey, I'm an Apollonian, I'm of Apollus, I'm an Apollonian believer. Somebody else says, well I'm a Paul-lean believer, I believe in Paul, I follow Paul, I follow Paul.

He goes on to say who's Paul, who's a Paulus? But ministers who gave you the gospel whereby you believe that I, I, Paul planted Apollus water but God gave the increase. What he's saying is your identity is not to be rooted in a person, your identity is to be rooted into the one who saved you, that your identity needs to be in Jesus Christ. You're like, well I'm not following any man, maybe you're not.

Well I'm a Pentecostal Christian, I'm a cessationist Christian, I attend a Republican church, I attend a Democratic church, we go to a Black church, we go to a White church. Anytime you put an adjective in front of Christian, you are rooting when you put an adjective in front of Christian, then it was Paul or Apollus, you fill in the blank. But when you define your identity in Christ, I'm a straight Christian, I'm a gay Christian. When you define your identity in Christ by an adjective, you're creating division in the body of Christ because your identity is rooted in something other than Jesus.

And when our identity is rooted in Jesus and who we are in Him, all of a sudden we have something in common, it's who we are in Christ. If you weren't uncomfortable, you probably are now. I'm telling you this in love. So Paul says, I am who I am because of the grace of Jesus.

Let's get rid of the facades, let's get rid of the adjectives, let's get rid of the division, the envy and the strife. And when we realize who He's made us to be, who we are in Him, that the one thing we have in common is we all have the zoe life of Christ in us. Paul says in Ephesians 4 to the believer, he says, maintain the bond of unity. Like there's already unity among us.

We create division when we sow seeds into the flesh and Paul says, operate like mere men. Do you want to behave like the world or do you want to behave like believers who know they are in Christ? And when we start to believe and behave like who He's made us to be and let Him define who we are, the division goes, the envy goes. If I see in Whitney the same thing I see in me, what do I have to envy?

Nothing. It's Christ. If you see in me the same thing you see in you, there's no difference. There's nothing to be jealous about.

The zoe I have is the zoe that you have. The Holy Spirit in me is the same Holy Spirit in you. Liberty. You can live free.

Unity. When our identity is rooted in who we are in Christ, those other things fall by the wayside. And the last thing is this, I'll just give it to you and then we're going to close maturity as if that wasn't enough, right? See, liberty comes by mind, the mind that's set on the word, right?

Unity who walks in the Spirit sets his mind to the Spirit. Unity comes out of a proper identity. Matureity only comes through faith. Galatians chapter 3 says this.

It says, foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? Remember I said like the spirit of error and the spirit of truth? These people had been bewitched. Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?

This only I want to learn from you. Did you receive the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? When you accepted Jesus and the Holy Spirit came to live in you, did you receive the Holy Spirit because you did a bunch of good stuff or because you believed? Because you believed.

You can't earn salvation. You can't earn the Holy Spirit. So here's what happens. The Galatians who received Jesus through faith now turned once they were saved, they tried to mature by effort.

Paul says, as you received Christ, so walk in him. So the same way that I receive Jesus by faith is the same way I live my life by faith. I won't grow trying to keep the law because all I can do is fail. The way that I grow to maturity is the same way that I received Jesus by faith.

Three times in the New Testament, Paul quotes a back, it says, the just, those who have been declared righteous, shall live, how? By faith. The just, that's us, live by faith. We walk by faith, set Corinthians 5 and not by sight.

The things that are seen are temporal. The things that are unseen are eternal. What are we reaping? Eternal life.

You do this. You grow by faith. It says, are you so foolish having begun in the Spirit? Are you now being made perfect?

That means mature by the flesh. Have you suffered so many things in vain if indeed it wasn't vain? Therefore he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you. Does he do it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith?

I want to read this out of the Amplified and then we're going to pray. Oh, there it is. You are now being perfect and being perfect and reaching spiritual maturity by the flesh. That is by your own works and efforts to keep the law.

We don't need the 10 commandments in school. We need faith in Jesus. I know that rubs people the wrong way. Jesus fulfilled the law.

God bless you. We're under a new covenant. It's called the covenant of grace. For by grace you have been saved through faith.

And that speaking of faith, not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. Grace is a gift. See what Paul says, Galatians 2.20, I have been crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but the life that I live in the flesh, I live by the faith.

Some translate to say of the Son of God. This one I think says in the Son of God. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and did what? Gave himself for me.

Let's pray.