{"id":8171,"date":"2020-08-05T21:16:19","date_gmt":"2020-08-05T21:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=8171"},"modified":"2022-01-12T17:28:16","modified_gmt":"2022-01-12T17:28:16","slug":"scriptural-red-flags-no-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=8171","title":{"rendered":"Scriptural \u201cRed Flags\u201d No. 4"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Views: 0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\">[<strong>Note<\/strong><strong>:\u00a0 <\/strong>This MS is available in larger font on our <strong>Brief Articles 2<\/strong>\u00a0 page.]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\">In Galatians 6:7 we find another \u201cred flag\u201d of warning: \u201cBe not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.\u201d This is a statement of inexorable law that applies with equal force in both physical and spiritual matters. God set it in motion at the Creation (Gen. 1:11\u201312, 21, 24\u201325). A man will be sorely disappointed if he thinks he can raise a corn crop by sowing sunflower seed or produce beef cattle by pairing rabbits. In the context, Paul applies the principle to spiritual matters (v. 8). What may we learn from this warning?<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\">This principle is one about which men are easily deceived. Thus the warning, \u201cBe not deceived.\u201d Few men dispute the physical application of the principle. The grave danger lies in deception about sowing and reaping in spiritual affairs.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\">God cannot be mocked. This means that men will ultimately be forced to submit to His will. This means that although men may appear to prevail against God, they can neither overthrow this law nor any of His other laws. In reality, men do not <strong>break <\/strong>any of God\u2019s laws. When they <strong>violate <\/strong>His laws they actually <strong>break themselves <\/strong>on His law, which is not lessened in force or application at all. The only way to deal with God so as to please Him is to live in submission to His law. Any other approach to life is \u201cliving against the grain\u201d (Acts 26:14).<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\">We cannot be carnal, fleshly, and materialistic and hope to escape the necessary consequences of such life-emphasis. Such a life brings moral corruption and sometimes physical destruction here and eternal separation from God later on (cf. 1 Cor. 6:9\u201311). Many have become convinced that they can actually have what Balaam desired\u2014to live in rebellion to God, but \u201cdie the death of the righteous\u201d (Num. 23:10).\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">It cannot be done. If one dies in sin he cannot go to Heaven (John 8:21). Regardless of how badly one wants it otherwise, one cannot die as a \u201csheep,\u201d having lived as a \u201cgoat.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol start=\"4\">\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\">Though men almost universally live by this principle in physical applications, multitudes foolishly deny its application in spiritual\/religious matters. Just as the Book of Mormon does not produce Baptists, so Baptist doctrine does not produce Christians. Yet many sincerely hold that they can believe and obey false doctrine and still be accepted by the Lord as if they believed and obeyed His Truth. To thus believe is an attempt to mock God, because He has stated that this is not possible. It is only when we continue in the Word of Christ that we are genuine disciples; only the Truth (not error) makes us free (John 8:31\u201332). We will be eternally lost if we do not obey the Gospel (2 The. 1:8\u20139). God\u2019s children remain in fellowship with Him only as they \u201cwalk in the light\u201d (1 John 1:7). One does not trust what God has said if he thinks error is just as good as the Truth and that God will not really call men to account for what they believe and practice.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\">[<strong>Note:<\/strong> I wrote this article for and it was published in <em>The Lighthouse, <\/em>weekly bulletin of Northpoint Church of Christ, Denton, TX, June 21, 2009, of which I was editor.]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;\"><strong>Attribution:<\/strong> From <em>thescripturecache.com<\/em>; Dub McClish, owner and administrator.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Views: 0[Note:\u00a0 This MS is available in larger font on our Brief Articles 2\u00a0 page.] In Galatians 6:7 we find another \u201cred flag\u201d of warning: \u201cBe not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.\u201d This is a&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"easywp-readmore\"><a class=\"read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=8171\">Continue Reading&#8230;<span class=\"easywp-sr-only\">  Scriptural \u201cRed Flags\u201d No. 4<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[130,394,105,210,464,465,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-creation","category-error","category-hell","category-materialism","category-physical-laws","category-spiritual-laws","category-uncategorized","wpcat-130-id","wpcat-394-id","wpcat-105-id","wpcat-210-id","wpcat-464-id","wpcat-465-id","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8171"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17484,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8171\/revisions\/17484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}