All right, take your Bible and
let's turn back with me to Galatians chapter 6. Galatians chapter 6, our text
this morning will be found in verse 9. The apostle says, and
let us not be weary in well doing. For in due season we shall reap
if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity,
let us do good unto all men, especially unto them that are
of the household of faith." Last time we've been going over this
passage, I again reminded that the Apostle's desire is unity. Many had fallen into the deception
that salvation is by the work of Christ and the work of the
flesh. That salvation is a mixture that
you begin this walk with Christ by faith and you finish this
walk by your obedience to the law in some measure. The apostle
dealt with this extensively in four chapters and now he had
concluded this, that these two things are distinct covenants. The covenant of the law and all
its precepts and all of its offerings and sacrifices and commandments
is a covenant of works and you cannot superimpose that upon
the covenant of grace. These are two distinct covenants.
You are either under the law or you are under grace. There
is no mixture. And what he says when he says
this in chapter 5, he tells them, if you be circumcised, because
that was the point of contention. He said, we don't believe any
other part of the law, we're just saying this one thing. And Paul
said, if you be circumcised, listen, Christ shall profit you
nothing. It's a vital statement. It's
an exclamation point to his whole message. You are either under
the law or you're under grace. You cannot mix them. And yet he knew this, that those
who maintained their faith would look down upon those who failed. It is our natural tendency. He tells us that each one of
us, those that fail and those that believe and were steadfast,
both of us have this in common. We have two natures. We have
the nature of Adam that we are born with, which he calls the
flesh, and we have the spirit, the new nature, which is created
after God in true holiness, and these two are a constant warfare. That's true of you that maintained
your faith, and that's true of those that failed. We all have this struggle. And
so what is He doing? He's putting us on the same level
here. Look, you're no better because you maintained. Those
that failed, you're made of the same cloth. That's why He tells them, when
you restore your brother, you that are spiritual, restore such
and one. And how do you do that? You don't
do it by trying to destroy them, by trying to make them feel more
guilty. No, you restore them in the spirit
of meekness, considering what? Yourself. That you're just as
capable of that sin as anyone else. And so he tries to tell him to
restore one, like you would restore someone who had a dislocated
shoulder. How do you want your shoulder that's dislocated, how
do you want somebody to put that back? What kind of attitude would you
like? Somebody, well I told you not to do that, bam, just knock
your shoulder back in. No. He said with the spirit of
meekness, considering yourself, it won't be long, you'll probably
dislocate your shoulder. And so what he says is then bear
the one another's burdens. You can't bear their sin, but
you can empathize with them. You can understand what it is
to feel guilt, can't you? You know what it is to feel shame? Lots of people are sinners saved
by grace, and when a sinner is restored, when these that failed
came back, when they heard this message and they turned, they
repented, he said, look, bear under their burden with them.
Don't press down on their burden. That's not your business to make
them feel guilty. That's just not your business.
God does that all by himself, doesn't he? He don't need to
do that. What do you do? You come alongside
of it. Why? Because you know what it is to
be guilty. You know what it is to sin. And what do you do? You fulfill the law of Christ.
You said, what's that? The law of Christ is both faith and love.
You look at John chapter 3 verse 23, I think it is. He said, to
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and to love one another. These
are the commandments of God. These are the commandments of
Christ. We're under law, just not the law of Moses, the law
of Christ. And that is what? Two things,
faith and love. I love it when he's simple like
that. Law is complicated. You ever try to read the law
in like stereo instructions? You can't do it. Impossible. Well, these are something that
he gives us, faith and love. And he tells them to prove your
own work. What does that mean? Make your own calling election.
Sure, don't worry about somebody else's. I'm always worried about
somebody else's, the elect. The important thing is, are you? Are you the elect? Are you called? Why? Because everybody's going
to bear their own burden. Whatever works you have, whatever righteousness
you have, you'll bear that before the judgment seat of Christ.
And what's good news about us who are under grace is that Christ
already bore our sins. He already paid the penalty for
our sins, and all my righteousness is what? It's His righteousness.
So I'm gonna be judged by what He's given me, His righteousness. And so he says this in verse
six, and we've been discussing this. Those that are taught of
God, taught in the word. What does this mean? Everybody
that's believer, you're taught of God. You're taught of God. Well, our Lord Jesus said, no
man can come into me except the father would just send me draw
him. As it is written, as my brother said, it's settled. This
is settled from eternity. As it is written, they shall
all be taught of God. If you're a believer in Christ,
rejoice, for you are taught of the living God. Nobody knows Christ without being
taught of God. Our Lord Jesus said to those,
he just raised his hand to heaven and he said, Lord, I thank you,
Father. That you have hid these things from the wise and prudent. Why will men, listen to this,
God hides it from them. God hides it from them. And has
revealed it unto babes. Even so it seemed good in your
sight. And why are you taught of God and why is somebody else
not? Do you have any room to glory? Any room to boast? Any
room to brag? None. We have none. We are taught
of God. That's it. One day I was ignorant
and God came and taught me. That's it. Out of the blue, no
cause in myself. He said, I'll teach this one.
He taught me I was a sinner. I'm still learning that lesson.
He's still teaching me. I'm a sinner. And he taught me Christ as a
savior. And then gave me the strength to come to him. I came
to him. Nobody had dragged me. Nobody
had to make me. You didn't have to beat me to
come to Christ. I ran to Christ. Where'd that come from? Scripture says as many as received
him, to them gave he the right to
become the sons of God. Isn't that great? That's good.
Man, do you receive Him? How do you receive Him? As simply
as you receive water. I was thirsty. And what'd I do? I drank. Okay, now how'd I get
that strength? Same way I got strength to believe
in Christ. which were born, not of the will of the flesh. How
are you born? I was born of my will, not his
child. His children are not born by
will, not by the will of the flesh, nor by the will of man. Not some other man pronouncing
blessings on you. He can't give you life, but by
the will of God. That's why you were born. You
see, the glory belongs to God. And so you that are taught, what
does it say? Communicate to those who have taught you. Now, what's the means by which
we are taught? The preaching of the Gospel is
the only means. Get this, it is the only means.
It is the only means by which God communicates this teaching. The Apostle said, I came not
to baptize, 1 Corinthians 1, verse 17, the Lord sent me not
to baptize, but to preach the Gospel. Now the preaching of
the cross is to them that perish, what is it? Foolishness. Well, I think some other way.
I think there's a better way than preaching. Well, you think
it's foolishness. Now listen very carefully. God
said you're perishing. Why? Because you don't know what
it is. But to us who are saved, what is preaching? It is the
power of God. It's not the power of the preacher.
It's not the power of the hearer. It is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believe it. And we do this because this is
the chosen means. God ordained this means. He said, by the foolishness of
preaching, God chose to save them that believe. It's the means.
There's no glory in this means. There's no glory in the man other
than this. God chose it. So you that are
taught, what are you to do? Communicate to those that teach.
He said to give, and we've been over this several times, we do not give out of bondage.
We give out of love. Not just love for the preacher.
If you want to find an excuse not to give, you'll find plenty
in me not to do it. That's fine. If you're giving
because of me, don't. Please. We give for the furtherance
of the gospel. We give so that the gospel may
be furthered, that God's elect might hear it, that they might
believe it, that they might receive it as God ordained. This is what
we do. We give freely, not out of bondage,
and I've told you this. We don't tithe because that is
not a New Covenant theme. That is an old covenant that
is a law theme, a law of Moses. I told you that tithing in the
New Testament is only mentioned four times. And it's never mentioned
in the sense that believers are to do it. Never, never is it
mentioned that way. And so what do we give? We give
freely. We give freely. Why? Because this is an outpouring
of what's in us. What if you have a tree, an apple
tree, the apples are in there. And what is it? How do you know
that they're an apple tree? Well, and the apples come out.
That's the only way you know what kind of tree it is. And
so it is with this fruit of the Spirit. It is in us, and what
does He do? He works it in us, and it produces
out of us. Now, the apple don't make it
an apple tree. It was already an apple tree before it got apples.
The apple just proved what it is. And that's what are these
acts of love, these acts of restoration of our brethren, this bearing
under their burden, this giving to the ministry, all these are
outpourings of something God puts in a believer. And then
he says this, Be not deceived, God is not mocked. He desires full honesty here
because there are many who are deceived. There are many who
are deceived. There are many who make professions
of faith. Is that not easy? Is that not
easy to say we believe? I thought of this this week.
What if Abraham, God told Abraham to pack up and leave his kindred,
leave his country, and just go? Didn't tell him where to go,
just told him to go. Now if Abraham just said, you
know, I believe God, and then just sat there. Did he? No, he didn't. If he just sat
there. You see, the evidence that he really believed God is
what? That he obeyed. That was just the evidence. Now,
his obedience didn't manifest, didn't make God love him. His
obedience to God didn't save him. He didn't have anything
to glory in his obedience. But yet it was an outward manifestation
of what has taken place inside. And so is this matter. And he
says this, God's not mocked. That word means disappointed. Because men are deceived, God
is not. I'm disappointed all the time. I'm disappointed. I'd love to see many come. And when I don't, what do I get?
I get disappointed. Listen, God is never disappointed. Whether men give or they don't,
that's not anything. Why? Because it all belongs to
him anyway. It's all his. He said, I made man upon the
earth and I made man and beast on it. I did it by my power,
my great power, my outstretched arm, and I give it to whomsoever
I will. Whatever you have, you got that?
Who gives it? God does. It's all his. And then he says,
God is not mocked, and the proof of this is this maxim. Look what
he says, God's not disappointed at anything, whether men give
or whether men don't. Whether men are deceived or whether
they believe, God's never disappointed. Why? He says this, God is not
mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. This is a true maxim in the natural
world. If you sow wheat, you will not
reap grapes. Whatever kind of seed you sow,
that's what you should expect. Is that right? Whatever quantity
you sow, that's what you should expect. You sow much, you should
expect much. If you sow little, you should
expect little. And if you sow bad seed, what
kind of What should you expect? You should expect a bad crop.
If you sow good seed, you should expect a good crop. And he says
this, those who sow to the flesh. This is the kind of seed. If
you are sowing to the flesh, and what this has to do with
is those who were deceived to think that salvation is by the
work of Christ and by the work of their obedience to the law.
He's saying if you sow your flesh, what are you going to reap? What
do you expect? If you sow to the law by your
flesh, you should expect not a blessing, but a curse. Why? Cursed is everyone that continueth
not in all things written in the book of the law to do that.
You should never expect a blessing trying to obey the law. You should
never expect a blessing. Why? You're sowing to the flesh.
You shout of the flesh, reap corruption. And so by the grace of God that
is given to us in Christ, we who walk not after the flesh,
but after the spirit, we should expect something. We who have
sown this have the seed and notice this, it is the seed is not of
us and neither is the fruit of it. If you sow to the spirit, where
do you get that seed from? Is that yours? No, it's a seed.
It's a seed of the spirit. It is the Word of God that is
applied to our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit that
produces the fruit which produces the seeds that we sow. And so we sow to the Spirit even
because we receive it of the Spirit and what we reap is of
the Spirit. And so as we restore our brother,
are we doing it to merit something in the flesh? Are we doing it
as an outpouring of what the Spirit has put in our hearts,
love? It should be out of a spirit
of love. And then what should you expect? You should expect
the Spirit to do His work, and He will. He'll restore His people. He'll care for them. He'll use
it. For what else can the Spirit
do but good? And so then let us examine ourselves.
so that we are not deceived to have any confidence in the flesh.
This morning, do you have any confidence in your flesh? If you're giving, and you're
giving out of a sense of wanting to get something physical in
return, that's all flesh. We give so that the Lord might
use it for the furtherance of His ministry, that the Spirit
might use it for the salvation of His elect. Are we fully trusting in Christ?
Have we fully set our hope and our salvation on Him? Do we love Him? Do we love His
gospel? Do we love His people? God's people say this and mean
it, Christ is all. Christ is all. Are we faithful to love one another
and give to the ministry for the good of the saints? Do we love and give that we may,
that the Lord may increase our love and faith? And we might have cause to rejoice
because our salvation, if it's in Christ, it's secure. It's
secure. Why? It's not of the flesh. It's
not of the flesh. And now then, this business in
our text, let's look at this together. And so we come up to
this point. He says, let us not be weary
in well doing. Now, all those things that I've
talked about, that the apostles talk about, restoring your brother,
bearing under their burden, giving toward the ministry, all of these
things, Every believer knows that at times we become weary
in these things. These are good things. They're
great things. They're necessary things. But
often we become weary in doing good. I know that this world,
its religion, Satan, and especially my own nature are totally opposed
to all those things I just mentioned. They're constantly opposed. They're never in favor of these
things. And so then we must fight against
these things constantly. And we become what? Weary. We
become weary. These things fight against you,
but in these afflictions, in these trials, in these troubles,
in these griefs, in these things that are opposed to you. Listen,
God knows the resistance you face. Listen why He knows it. Because He ordained it. The resistance
you are facing is not surprising to Him. It is because He ordained
the resistance. Go to Matthew chapter 14. I'm
going to give you an illustration of this. Matthew chapter 14,
verse 22. And get the scene, the Lord had just
fed 5,000 people. He just fed them with those few
loaves He fed them. And He does something very strange,
something that none of us would have ever done. He sent them
away. He said, straightway, right after
he fed them, straightway, Jesus constrained his disciples to
get in the ship and to go before him to the other side while he
sent the multitudes away. How confusing is that? Isn't
he trying to establish his kingdom? Isn't he trying to establish
his church? This was a good start. 5,000 men, besides the women
and children, roughly more than 10,000 people attended this thing.
And he fed them all. But instead of them remaining,
Jesus said, boys, get in the boat and leave. And I'm going
to send them away. That's confusing. I'm not going to mince words.
Most of what the Lord does is to us confusing. Doesn't seem
to be productive. Seems counterproductive as to
what he wants to do. It's not. But it seems that way.
so look what happens now, and when he sent the multitude away
he went up into a mountain apart to pray and when even was come
he was there alone but the ship was now in the midst of the sea
tossed with waves for the wind was contrary to them, wait a
second we're obeying you, You told us to get into the ship.
We got into the ship. We're sailing across the sea
to the other side. And all of a sudden, there's
storms and waves stopping us from getting to the other side. But I want you to see how faithful
these men were. They rowed for three hours. Some say six. Some say six hours they were
rowing and going nowhere. And in the fourth watch of the
night, Jesus went to them walking on the sea. When the disciples
saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is
a spirit. And they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus
spake to them, saying, Be of good cheer. It is I. Be not afraid. See then how the Lord constrains
us to love He constrains us to forgiveness. He constrains us
to restore our fallen brethren, to give to the service of the
ministry, the preaching of the gospel, to attend it. And all
of these are good things. And as we seek to do these things,
we expect the way to be clear. We expect all obstacles to be
removed from our path. The Lord said to go this way.
Obviously, it's got to be easy. It's going to be well. And we
start skipping along and thinking and we hit a brick wall. And
you say, what is this brick wall doing here? Why is it contrary
to me? Our Lord calls us to bear under
these things. He calls us not to a life of
ease. This is totally opposite of what
the world is telling you about Christ and his religion. Christ
didn't call you to ease. He called you to suffering. I don't like that. There's a door. I don't know what to tell you.
It is not only given, Paul said, in the behalf of Christ that
you should believe on his name, but that you should suffer for
his name's sake. There's always going to be opposition. and doing what the Lord commands
us to do. And he calls us. He calls us
from a place of stability. Into the sea, you know, his anybody
be a good sailor on the shore. And I can sail that ship. Oh,
yeah, that's easy. I got that. Until when? Until
you're actually on it and the storm comes. You read this later in Psalm
107. I just came to my heart this morning. Psalm 107 talks
about the mariner. He says, there are they that
those that do great business in great waters. Listen to me,
believer. We are doing business in great water. God has called
us from the shore, set us on the vessel, which is Christ,
and we are doing business in great water. And says the sailor
sees wonderful things. We have sons. I've seen wonderful
things. You know what that is? That's Christ. I've seen wonderful
things. I've seen God, by faith, I've
seen God become a man. It's a wonderful thing. I've
seen Jesus Christ bear my sins away so that there's therefore
now no condemnation. Those are in Christ. I've seen
wonderful things. I've seen wonderful things in this, that Christ is
risen again, that he is seated on the throne of God, and that
he is absolutely sovereign in all things. And so as I sail
upon smooth waters, this is wonderful to me. But the scripture then
says, God lifteth up the waves to heaven and brings down to the depths. Isn't this our life? up to the
heavens, down to the depths, up to the
heavens. And that sailor, you know, I
can just see him trying to tie all the knots he can tie, all
the things that he has learned as an experienced sailor. These
guys were experienced sailors. It's what they did for a living.
I'm sure they did everything they could to keep that ship
from sinking. And in that Psalm 107, it makes it as though the
sailor has tied his last knot, he's done his last thing with
the sail, and he just sits there in the middle of the ship. No
hope. Even when we're doing the things
that God has commanded us to do, sometimes he brings us again
to the end of our sail. often he brings me to the end
of my sin. I have no more nostatia, no more
sails to hoist, no more hope in myself. And the scripture
says, then he cried unto the Lord and the Lord heard him. These disciples were commanded
to go into the storm, and everything was opposed to them. Now, notice
this. Scripture tells us then in, let me see, look at this again. In Mark, I believe it's in Mark.
Mark's account to this and the scripture says, and he saw them
toiling and rowing. He saw them toiling and rowing.
He's Mark, I can't remember, he's 14, I think he is, but anyway,
it says he saw them toiling. This is the good and comforting
word, that when we are toiling in the things that God has commanded
us to do, When we are weary in well-doing, this is my hope. He sees me toiling. He sent the storm. He sent the
resistance. He sees me. This should comfort
us. But not only that, when he saw
them, he just didn't see them and say, okay, what else did
he do? He came to them. And so as we
do the things that God has commanded us to do, these things that do
cause us to be weary, here is our hope. He will in due time
come to us. Now that word, he said, we shall
reap if we faint. Now in due time, in our text,
in due time, when is that? Whatever time he deems is right. These disciples were three to
six hours rowing straight. I think they were pretty determined
to do what the Lord told them to do. How far did they get? Nowhere. How far are you going
to get? All your toiling, all your rowing, how far are you
going to get? You don't get anywhere until he's in the ship. It's like, you imagine this,
they saw him walking on the water. I mean, one of the scriptures
says as though he would pass him by. He was just walking as
though he was gonna, he was just gonna walk on by him. And they
cried out in fear. And he said, be of good cheer.
It's me. What strikes me as this is that
he was walking on the very thing that was stopping them. The very thing that they could
not overcome, he walked on it as though it were nothing. You
know why? Because it was nothing. Your
trouble to you is great. To him, it's nothing. He walked on it. He has power over it. Oftentimes I think he'll just
walk on by me. But I know this, he never has. In all my years, he's never walked
by me. He always tells me, it's all
right. Be of good cheer. It's me. Your friend. Your savior. Your God. It's me. And as soon as he entered the
boat, I was gone. And it's just you toiling. There's
no peace. But the moment he enters in, there's peace. You believer,
I'm gonna ask you this, and I know the answer. Do you believe God's
sovereign? Absolutely sovereign. Got this in my study. I had this for many years. I need constantly to remind myself
all things are of God. Let me not preach sovereignty
and then complain of my lot in life. Let me not talk of divine purpose
and spend my days murmuring about my trials. It is totally inconsistent
with faith in a sovereign Christ for me to question his good providence. Is God sovereign? Then you know whatever it is
you're facing. is not by accident. I'll tell you this, that's not
comforting to someone outside of Christ. That's only comforting to those
who are in Christ, to those who know Christ. And just as he came
to these believers on this toiling expedition, I know this, he comes
to his people. and he brings peace in our hearts. Now listen, just because he can
calm the storm doesn't mean he will. All right? What I'm talking about is peace
inside while the storm rages around you. There can be calm
in the midst of any storm as long as he is there. As long as He is the object,
so then as we are doing these things, these good things He
commands us to do, there's peace to do these things so long as
we keep His love in view. So long as we keep His blood
in view, His righteousness in view, these things, there's no
toiling in them then. But the moment we take our eyes
off of Him and put them on our own strength to do these things,
that's when it begins to be toiled. And he says, be not weary in
well doing. Be not weary in well doing. For in due season we shall reap
if we faint not. In due season, his time, we shall
faint if we faint not. That word, if we faint not. This
always reminds me of this. True faith, true faith in Christ
always endures. If it's God-given faith, it will
never fail. It will always endure. It fluctuates
our faith. Oftentimes, we feel like we have
no faith at all. But true God-given faith is never
extinguished. I always like that Pilgrim's
Progress. You remember when he came to
the counselor, and the counselor was showing him that this man,
he was trying to pour water on this fire, but it never went
out. And the Christian was amazed. And he said, well, let me show
you how this happens. He goes to the other side of
the wall, and there's another guy pouring oil into the fire. It's a picture of the Spirit
of God. Satan, the flesh, the world is constantly, to a certain
extent, trying to put out this fire. But the supply of the Spirit
is constantly making it ignitable by those things. What do you
do when you put water on grease? Ignites the fire, makes it grow.
That's what happens when trials in the believer's life is it
causes the fire to grow, not to be put out. So God uses these
trials. He uses these difficulties that
cause us to be weary. Why? So that we don't rely on
our own strength. He told the Apostle Paul, he
said, my grace is sufficient for thee. That's enough. Isn't it enough to have the grace
of Christ? If you have the grace of Christ, what are you lacking? You have his blood to cleanse
you from all your sin. You have his righteousness. You're
justified by God. You're sanctified by the Spirit.
What else do you need? My grace is enough for you. My
strength is manifest perfect in your weakness. When you're
the weakest, you got nothing else, but it magnifies his strength. It magnifies it. So you see why
he calls us to be weary. And I know I'm... I've got many other things to
say, but I'm gonna say this. As we are doing the things of
God, I just told you earlier it's not gonna be smooth. Just
because something's smooth doesn't mean it's God's will. Just because something's rough
doesn't mean he's opposed to it, and vice versa. Jonah, the
illustration of that, Jonah. God said, go to Nineveh, and
where'd he go? Went to Tarsus, opposite way. Now, on his way,
everything seemed to be going all right. Well, obviously, God
must change his mind because everything's going well. Oh,
look, there's a ship to Tarsus. You know, if God really wants
me to go the other way, he won't let me get on that ship. Sure
enough, he gets on the ship. See? God's doing it. It's all
right. He gets on that ship. We know
what ends up happening. God hands that thing and sends
it to the bottom of the ocean. Many times, Like those disciples we are commanded
to go into the storm, God's sending us into trouble and strife and
sorrow. But our joy and peace is that he sees us and he is
ordaining this. So don't think something smooth
is the way, is always proof of God's will. How do we know that
we are toiling and rowing in the right direction? How do we
know we are doing the good things? that God commanded us. His word. If anything we are
doing, and it may be good, outwardly, but it also may not be the will
of God. I'm thinking about giving, just
giving on this instance. If we give to somebody that's
hungry, that's good, right? What if we give to somebody that's
hungry, but don't give them what they really need, the gospel?
What good have we done? Very little. And so God commands
us to do these things, and I tell you, we become weary in these
things. He said, don't be weary in well-doing, for you shall
reap. If it's of the Spirit, you shall
reap in due time. If we faint not, and true faith
never faints, it continues. Why? Because it is a gift of
God. Like I said, I've got much more
here. We'll continue next time. I don't want to tell you, I ran
out of time again. I pray God will bless this to
you. Don't be weary in well-doing. Don't be weary in restoring your
brother that's fallen. Don't be weary in bearing under
his burden. Don't be weary in giving for the things of Christ.
Notice if we are getting weary, it's because we're looking to
ourselves. May Christ give us peace. I pray you bless this to your hearts.
Let's stand and be dismissed in prayer. Father, dismiss us with your
blessing and mercy, I beg you. I do pray you forgive our sins,
even in this time of worship, to set all our hearts and minds
upon Christ. As you command us to do these
things, as we seek to do those things that you have put inside
of us, I pray, Father, that you would help us in this with always
keeping our eye on Christ, never taking our eye off Him. who is all our hope at standing
before God. I pray you do this for your own
glory in Jesus' name.