are
contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness,
indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of
man that doeth evil." How careful we should be of our actions in all
departments of our being, physical, moral, intellectual! The deeds
we do, the words we speak, the thoughts we harbor, are all recorded,
and shall meet their just reward, for God is no respecter of
persons.

And it must not be overlooked that _the harvest comes as a necessary
consequence of the sowing_. It has been said that God is not a sort
of a moral despot, as He is so frequently regarded. He does not sit
on a throne, attaching penalties to particular actions as they come
up for judgment. He has laid down certain laws, of which the law of
sowing and reaping is one, and punishment is the natural outcome of
sin. There is no escape. It must be borne; and though others may
have to reap _with_ you, no one can reap _for_ you.

The text teaches, further, that _the harvest is one or other of two
kinds_. There are two, and only two, directions in which the law
leads: Sowing to the flesh, and a harvest of corruption--sowing to
the Spirit, and a harvest of everlasting life.

Sowing to the Flesh.

"Sowing to the flesh" does not mean simply taking due care of the
body. The body was made in the image of God, and the body of a
believer is a temple of the Holy Ghost, and we may be sure that due
care for the image is well-pleasing to God. The expression refers
rather to pandering to the lusts of the body, pampering it,
providing gratification for its unlawful desires at the expense of
the higher part of a man, indulging the animal propensities which in
their excess are sinful. "Sowing to the flesh" is scattering the
seeds of selfishness, which always must yield a harvest of
corruption.

"When we were in the flesh, the motions of sins did work in our
members to bring forth fruit unto death." And what does Paul say are
the works of the flesh? "Adultery, fornication, uncleanness,
lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations,
wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness,
revellings, and such like."

I was at the Paris exhibition in 1867, and I noticed there a little
oil painting, only about a foot square, and the face was the most
hideous I have ever seen. On the paper attached to the painting were
the words "Sowing the tares," and the face looked more like a
demon's than a man's.