I've been very struck as I've
been preparing for this message for the last few weeks in Galatians
chapter 6 to contemplate the journey of the Lord's saints
in this world. The instruction, let us not be
weary in Galatians 6.9 and an instruction that's repeated in
many, many other places in the scriptures wouldn't be there
if the life of God's children here wasn't, in so many ways,
a wearying journey. And I thought often of Moses. What a remarkable situation Moses
was in. As we read some of these verses
starting in Numbers 11, we'll find that not only is Moses weary
to the people, but God is even weary. But in the weariness of
God's saints in Numbers is the solution to the problem. the
problem of lethargy, the problem of fainting, the problem of slackening,
letting down our sails, as it were, in this journey. When the people complained, it
displeased the Lord, and the Lord heard it, and His anger
was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burnt among them and
consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp.
And the people cried unto Moses when Moses prayed unto the Lord.
And when Moses prayed unto the Lord, the fire was quenched.
And he called the name of the place Taborah, because the fire
of the Lord burnt among them. So the people complained, they
complained in Egypt, they complained on the way out, they complained
all the way. But there's another reason for
the weariness of God's people in verse 4, and the mixed multitude
that was among them fell a-lusting and the children of Israel also
wept again and said, who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish which we
did eat in Egypt freely, the cucumbers and the melons and
the leeks and the onions and the garlic, but now our soul
is dried away. There is nothing at all beside
this manna before our eyes. There they were, brought out
of Egypt by a miraculous, powerful hand of God Almighty. Every morning
they woke up and a stupendous miracle. A great multitude, well
in excess of a million, possibly two million people were fed miraculously
every morning. And from the original descriptions
of manna, it didn't seem as if it tasted too badly. But here
they are. What do they say? Now our soul
is dried away, there is nothing at all beside this manna before
our eyes. And the manna was as coriander
seed, and the colour thereof was the colour of bedellum. And
the people went about and gathered it and ground it in meals and
beat it in a mortar and baked it in pans and made cakes of
it, and the taste of it was the taste of fresh oil. And then
Moses in verse 10 complains, then Moses heard the people weep
throughout their families, every man at the door of his tent,
and the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly. Moses also was
displeased. And Moses said unto the Lord,
Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant? Have you heard those
words before? Have any of those words ever
come out of your mouth? And wherefore have I not found
favour in thy sight that thou layest the burden of all these
people upon me? Have I conceived all these people? Have I begotten them, that thou
should say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom as a nursing father
beareth the suckling child unto the land with which thou swearest
unto their fathers? Where should I have flesh to
give unto all these people? For they weep unto me, saying,
Give us flesh that we may eat. I am not able to bear all these
people alone, because it is too heavy for me. And if thou deal
thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, and if I have
found favour in thy sight, and let me not see my wretchedness."
There is then the appointing of elders to take some of the
burden from Moses and the Spirit went out onto the others. And
in verse 31 of chapter 11, God said, And there went forth a
wind from the Lord, and brought quails from the sea, and let
them fall by the camp, as if it were a day's journey on this
side, and as it were a day's journey on the other side, round
about the camp, as if it were two cubits high upon the face
of the earth. Nearly a metre. And the people
stood up all that day and all that night and all the next day,
and they gathered the quails, and he that gathered the least
gathered ten homers, and they spread them all abroad for themselves
around the camp. And while the flesh was yet between
their teeth, e'er it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was kindled
against the people, and the Lord smote the people with a very
great plague, and he called the name of that place Kibroth. because there they buried the
people that lusted and then the people journeyed on I think the
Holy Spirit records for us that Miriam and Aaron spoke against
Moses because of the Ethiopian woman he had married. For he
had married an Ethiopian woman and they said, has the Lord indeed
spoken only to Moses? Has he not spoken also by us?
And the Lord heard it. Now the man Moses was very meek. above all the men which were
upon the face of the earth. And the Lord spoke suddenly unto
Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, Come out, ye three, unto
the tabernacle of the congregation, and they three came out. And
the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood in the door
of the tabernacle and called Aaron and Miriam and they both
came forth and he said, hear now my words. If there be a prophet
among you, I, the Lord, will make myself known unto him in
a vision and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses
is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him I will
speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, not in a dark speech. and in
the similitude of the Lord shall he behold. then were you not afraid to speak
against my servant Moses? And the anger of the Lord was
kindled against them, and he departed. And the cloud departed
from off the tabernacle, and behold, Miriam became leprous,
white as snow. And Aaron looked upon Miriam,
and behold, she was leprous. And Aaron said unto Moses, Alas,
my Lord, I beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us, wherein
we have done foolishly, wherein we have sinned. And let her not
be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh
out of his mother's womb." And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying,
Heal her now, O God, I beseech you. And the Lord said unto Moses,
If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed
seven days? Let her be shut out from the
camp seven days, and after that let her be received in again.
And Miriam was shut out from the camp seven days, and the
people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again." And they
move on again and the story in the next little part of course
is the story of the spies going into a land that the Lord had
promised. He promised to give it to Abraham. He promised Isaac that it would
be his. He promised Jacob that it was
his. He had promised the people that
this was to be the land. And you know the stories of the
spies, isn't it? And the spies came back and they
found the land exactly, exactly as God had described it to them. But Caleb in verse 30 of chapter 13, still
the people before Moses and said, let us go up at once and possess
it, for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up
with him said, we are not able to go up against the people,
for they are stronger than we. And they brought an evil report
of the land which they had searched under the children of Israel,
saying, the land through which we have gone to search It is
a land that eateth up its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw
in it have been of great stature. And we saw giants, saw the giants,
the sons of Anak, which come of the giants, and we were in
our own sight as grasshoppers." So we were in their sight. And of course they refused to
go in. In chapter 14 we have the answer to the issue of all
of this weariness and all of these things is that the Lord's
people are drawn by the trials around them to go to the Lord
and to go back to the Lord and remind Him of who He is. So there is a rebellion in the
camp. At the end of chapter 10 they wanted to stone Caleb and Joshua, and the glory
of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before the
children of Israel. And the Lord said unto Moses,
How long will this people provoke me, and how long will it be ere
they believe me for all the signs which I have shown among them?
I will smite them with pestilence and disinherit them. And this
is what he said to Moses, I will make of thee a great nation. and mightier than they." You
have the opportunity now to be Abraham and better. And I love
Moses' response. And Moses said unto the Lord,
Then the Egyptians shall hear it, for thou broughtest up this
people in thy might from among them. And they will tell it to
the inhabitants of this land, for they have heard that thou,
Lord, art among this people. and that thou, Lord, art seen
face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that
thou goest before them by day in a pillar of cloud, and in
a pillar of fire by night. Now if thou shalt kill all these
people as one man, Then the nations which have heard the fame of
thee will speak, saying, Because the Lord was not able to bring
these people into the land which he swore unto them, therefore
he has slain them in the wilderness. Now I beseech thee, let the power
of my Lord be great. according as thou hast spoken,
saying, The Lord is long-suffering, and of great mercy, forgiving
iniquity and transgressions, and by no means clearing the
guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children
unto the third and fourth generation. Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity
of this people, according to the greatness of Thy mercy as
Thou hast forgiven this people from Egypt even until now." It's
a beautiful prayer, isn't it? And the Lord said, I have pardoned
according to Thy word. Norm, we might sing one more
hymn and then we can Absolutely not. For his things of thee have spoken,
Sight of city, of outlaw, He whose word cannot be broken,
Formed before his own abode, From the rock of ages founded,
and shake thy sure repose. With salvation's walls surrounded,
thou mayst smile at all thy foes. See the streams of living waters,
springing from eternal love. God's sons and daughters, never
fear a wandering woman. Who can think when such a river,
fanny of flows and urns a-strain? Praise to Triton, Lord, the Healer,
never fails from age to age. Round each habitation hovering,
See that cloud and fire appearing, For a glory and a covering, Showing
that the Lord is near. The Spirit rising from heaven,
Glide by night, and shade by day, Straying me upon the manna,
Which He gives them when they pray. Blessed inheritance of
Zion, washed in the Redeemer's blood. Jesus, whom their souls
rely on, makes them kings and priests to God. His is love, His people raise. God has chosen to reign as King,
And as we sing solemn praises, He's sure of help that God him
brings. Let the world be ride o'er thee,
I will glory in thy name. None but Zion's children know Let's turn in our scriptures
to Galatians as we're drawing to the conclusion of this amazing
book which has been so powerfully used of the Lord in the life
of us here and in the lives of God's children throughout. this last 2,000 years. What a blessed, blessed portion
of Scripture it is. What a glorious description,
what glorious descriptions of the Lord Jesus and what remarkable
descriptions of the care of His people. Paul's writing knowing
that amongst these people are people who are children of God. And he knows that the children
of God in this world are going to be wearied at times and they
will find their faith and their love and their devotion and their
care of each other and their appreciation of the Lord flagging
again and again. And the essence of the glory
of the Gospel is that our great God promises and our great God
fulfils His promise. What a great description of the
Lord Jesus Christ. In Him are all the promises of
God, yea and amen. We read of the glory of that
church in Revelation, comes down beautifully adorned as a bride.
And we read of the Lord Jesus going to those who were His own
and wiping tears from their eyes. And Him being their God and dwelling
with them, It's good as done. It's a done deal. God's glory
demands that it must happen. And such is the confidence of
Paul. And such is the confidence of
Paul in the midst of the situation that lay before the churches
in what is now western Turkey, Galatia, that there was And there
would be, by God, a response to this Gospel. There would be
a separation, a separation of people to Him. The Lord would
do that winnowing. The Lord would bring His own
to Himself and the Lord would sustain them. I might go back
to chapter 16 of verse 5 just to give us some context. The
context of the big issue for Galatians is don't get entangled
in verse 1 of chapter 5. Stand fast therefore in the liberty
wherewith Christ has made us free and do not be entangled
again in the yoke of bondage. I Paul say to you if you be circumcised
Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every
man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole
law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are
justified by the law, you are fallen from grace." And Christian
life is summarised in so many glorious ways in verse 5, for
we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by
faith. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision
availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love. You were running well. Who did
hinder you that you should not obey the truth? This persuasion
cometh not of him that calleth you. A little leaven leaveneth
a whole lump. But see, Paul had confidence.
Verse 10, I have confidence in you, not in their flesh and their
activities. His confidence is in the Lord,
that you will be none otherwise minded than that he that troubles
with you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be. And I, brethren,
if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offence of the cross
ceased. I would they were cut off, or
even cut off which trouble you. For brethren, you have been called
into liberty. Only use not the liberty for
an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled
in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be
not consumed one another. This I say then, walk in the
Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the
flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh,
and these are contrary one to the other, so that you cannot
do the things that you would. But if you be led of the Spirit,
you are not under the law." And then he goes on in verse 19 to
describe the works of the flesh, and the fruit of the Spirit,
the fruit of God's Spirit is love. joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against
such there is no law. And they that are Christ, they
that belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, belong to Him in eternity,
His Father's gift to Him, those for whom He entered into that
surety arrangement in the eternal covenant, to bear their sins
and to take full responsibility to work in them faith and new
life. They, the Christ, have crucified
the flesh with the afflictions and lusts. If we live in the
Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous
of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.
Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual,
restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself,
lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens. and so fulfil the law of Christ. For if any man think himself
to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let
every man prove his own work, then he shall have rejoicing
in himself alone and not in another. For every man shall bear his
own burden. Let him that is taught in the
word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man
soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to the flesh
shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth to the Spirit
shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. and the verses we're looking
at today is letter and. And so the and links all this
together, doesn't it? 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
who are of the household of faith. Let's pray. Heavenly Father,
we thank You. We thank You that You, by Your
Spirit's work in the lives of Your people, cause us to see
that we are nothings, that we might see that the Lord Jesus
Christ is all in all. Oh, our Father, you have promised
to be the teacher of your people. Your blessed Holy Spirit takes
the things of the Lord Jesus and reveals them to your people. And we pray, Heavenly Father,
that that might be our portion this morning, that we might again
be allowed by your grace and your Spirit's work in our lives
to see the Lord Jesus high and lifted up. and that we might
find ourselves delightfully sitting at his feet and delightfully
being his servants and witnesses in this world. We praise you,
Heavenly Father, for the gathering of your people together and the
promise of your presence and your guiding hand upon our proceedings. Bless us, Heavenly Father, for
we come humbly as needy servants. For we ask these things in Jesus'
name. Amen. I love how the Holy Spirit has
caused Paul to again and again not put himself above his brethren,
Because he says here, doesn't he, he says, and, and let us,
and let us. As an apostle he had the right
to command and he does. But he says, and let us not be
weary in well-doing. And Paul, knows something of what
lies before these people as they stand as small remnant groups
in that part of what was called Asia, as witnesses to the Lord
Jesus. They will, like him, go through
battles and struggles And they're the battles and struggles that
all believers will share. And Paul has reminded the Galatian
believers of their history and his history with them. And he's
reminded them of his history and his calling, the calling
of God upon his life and that he had a gospel that came directly
from God himself. and that the apostles in Jerusalem
gave him the right hand of fellowship. And Paul speaks to them with
words that are so resonant, I trust with us. I don't know about you,
but I have, in so many, there are so many situations where
we find ourselves weary. We find ourselves thinking, how
can I keep on going? There are so many exhortations
about this in the scriptures because it is such a prevalent
issue with us. He's saying to the Galatians,
just hang in there, just hang in there. This is not going to
be easy. You are not going to get patted
on the back for standing for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and
Him crucified when there are false teachers and false churches
around who will, as history shows, predominate. We spoke last week
about the Lord's people being like that cottage in a field
of cucumbers in Isaiah Chapter 1, just a little shack, ignored
by everyone. a little shack where the Lord
meets with his people and guides and directs his people. And he
says to them in those verses that we looked at earlier, last
week, that part of their evidential, the evidential
work of grace in their lives, and the evidential fact that
God has led them to see that these words that they read from
Paul are the very words of God. And they would have, as Peter
was in Antioch, When he was rebuked by Peter, he would be caused
to be thankful to God. They would be caused to be thankful
to God that Paul had stepped in and God had sent his servant
to draw them back to himself. The question would have been
so difficult, wouldn't it? Who do you trust? Do you trust
Paul, who is not here and may not even come back to see us
at all, or do you trust these people who are here in our presence
and look very, very polished and shiny and very zealous and
extraordinarily knowledgeable of the Scriptures? There will be, for the children
of God, a need for these words, isn't it? Let us not be weary. Let us not be weary. There is
a wearying experience in the life of believers which is unknown
to those who are not of faith. There are things that bear down
on God's children that don't bear down on unbelievers in the
same way. Only God's children experience
what Galatians 5.17 says. The flesh lusts against the spirit
and the spirit against the flesh. These are contrary one to the
other so that you cannot do the things that you would. Only those
who have the Spirit know anything of that verse whatsoever. It is impossible for a natural
man to have any idea what that verse is saying. God's children
are made aware by the new birth of the sin that they are and
the sin that they do. Paul described himself in Romans
7 in remarkable terms, didn't he? He said, I was alive once.
I was alive without the law. I was alive. I was doing just
fine. In religion, I was esteemed.
I obeyed the law perfectly. Thoughtless is what he says in
Philippians 3, thoughtless. He says, I was alive once without
the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. When God's commandment was written
on his heart, When the Spirit of God illuminated Paul to see
what he really was, sin revived and he realized that all that
he had done in religion was nothing but sin. All that he'd done had
no faith no trust, no reliance on the Lord Jesus whatsoever. The world would have been amazed
by Paul's piety. And Paul said it was all done,
all of his history, all of his religious works. That's what
he says, isn't it? The law is spiritual, I'm carnal,
sold unto sin, that in my flesh dwells no good thing." What a
great, great transformation this apostle had, and such is the
transformation that will be the case for all of God's children. They will have this wearying,
they will bear this burden of sin, and they'll see sin in a
way that the world will never see it. They'll see sin through
God's eyes. They'll see sin in light of the
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's only in light of Jesus Christ
and Him crucified that you can understand anything of sin whatsoever. God's children have all of those
inward batters. He calls himself a wretched man. He says, I see a law in my members
warring against the law of my mind, bringing him into captivity
to the law of sin which is in my members, a wretched man that
I am. Who shall deliver me from this
body of death? For I know that in me my flesh
dwelleth no good thing, for to will is present with me, but
how to perform that which is good I find not." That is the testimony of God
the Holy Spirit about the activities of God's people. So not only is there a need for
us to do as Galatians 6.2, to bear one another's burdens. We
bear a burden internally, but in the mercy of God, because
we live with other people who have the same struggles that
we do, we have very, very good reason to be called upon by God
the Holy Spirit to bear one another's burdens. You have to bear my
burdens. May God give us the grace to
do so. It will. It will be wearying. There is a wearying experience
known only to believers. There's a wearying experience
of believers having people of religion around them. It's a
wearying thing. when people want to tell you
what good they have to do and what good they have done and
how they get into heaven by their deeds, and they want to pray
that. It's wearying for God's people
when the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified is not lifted up
before them. It's about Him, brothers and
sisters. It's about Him. He, He alone takes His people
into heaven. It is wearying. There are so
many, the word wearying can mean discouraged or disheartened. And the original word has this
idea based in to be loose, to be let go. I wanted to read some
verses from Hebrews chapter 12. This is verse 1. Wherefore, seeing
we are all so compassed about, surrounded with so great a cloud
of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which
doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the
race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured
the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right
hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured
such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied
and faint in your minds." The solution, again and again, isn't
it, to the problems of all of God's people is to go to the
physician. When you are ailing, you go to
the physician. See, the Great Physician, our
Great Sovereign God, rules over the weariness and uses the weariness
for His good in the lives of His people. Isn't that what Romans
8.28 says? He is working all things. Not
that He's sitting by watching things roll out in some sort
of creation that's run by luck and
chance. He rules all things. So we consider
him God's children. You have not considered him that
endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest
you be wearied and faint in your minds. There's so much wearing
and fainting. He's actually wearing and fainting
because for whatever reason, the sin, the world and the devil,
we have taken our eyes off him and we have our eyes fixed somewhere
else. And I love how Hebrews 12 goes
on. And you have not forgotten the exhortation which speaketh
unto you as unto children, My son, despisest not thou the chastening
of the Lord, and nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. There
is a wearying. There is a fainting. that comes
into the Lord's people when the Lord in love and mercy and grace
chastens them. For whom the Lord loveth, he
chasteneth, and scourges every son whom he receiveth. If you
endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what
son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But if you are without chastisement,
were of all upper takers, then are ye bastards and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers
of our flesh, which corrected us, and we gave them reverence.
Shall we not much rather be in subjection under the Father of
spirits and live?" for verily for a few days chastened us after
their own pleasure, but he for our profit that we might be partakers
of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present
seemeth to be joyous, but grievous, nevertheless afterwards it yields
the peaceable fruit of righteousness under them which are exercised
thereby. Therefore, on account of this,
on account of the fact that these wearying and troubling times
are from the hand of God in the lives of His people, therefore
lift up Verse 12, lift up the hands which hang down and the
feeble knees and make straight paths for your feet, lest that
which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be
healed. Follow peace with all men and
holiness. without which no man shall see
the Lord, looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace
of God, lest any root of bitterness bringing up trouble you, thereby
many be defiled." We look to Him. and we look to His hand
of sovereign grace and mercy and love and therefore the hands
will be lifted up that hang down and the feeble knees and the
straight paths will be made for our feet. It is, it is the hand
of God. which is the solution to all
that ails people, isn't it? It's a simple returning in faith
to Him, to lean on Him, to rest on Him, and to look in every
situation and say, what is the Lord saying to me here? This is His business. Moses' hands, as we saw, Later
on, in earlier in Exodus 17, Moses' hands were heavy. It's
just a sign, isn't it, that even those who were esteemed saints
needed hands to be held up by others. There's a great picture
in 1 Samuel 23 of David being pursued like a dog by Saul and
he finds himself in a forest, in a wood. And Saul's army's
camped there and they're gathering people to come and smite David
yet again. And this beautiful verse in Psalm
23, 16, it says, And Jonathan, Saul's son, arose, and he went
to David in the wood and strengthened his hand in God. He strengthened his hand in God.
What did he do to him? He reminded him of the promises
of God. You will be chased and pursued
like a dead dog all over this nation, but God's hand is upon
you, David, and I am with you despite all of what goes on.
He strengthened his hand in God. Some little time ago we looked
through the book of Nehemiah and it's just an amazing picture
of the Lord building his church, building that city, that dwelling
place for His name. And they were pursued on every
side, trials and troubles, within and without, in all sorts of
open and deceitful ways. And then Nehemiah said that they
all made us afraid. there was serious reason for
fear. There they were, this little
band, and surrounding them were nations that were hostile to
them. Surrounding and in those nations were Jewish people who
should have been their supporters and they were on the outside.
And Nehemiah says, and they all made us afraid saying, their
hands shall be weakened from the work. That's the purpose
of this wearying from the outside, isn't it? The hand shall be weakened
from the work that it be not done. And Nehemiah prayed to
God. Where was the strength to stand
in all of that to come from? He says, Now therefore, O God,
strengthen my hands. O God, strengthen my hands. The Sama said, Be of good courage
and he shall strengthen your heart, all you that hope in the
Lord. Strengthen you the weak hands
and confirm the feeble knees. It's again and again throughout
the scriptures, it is just so common. We exhort you, says Paul
to the Thessalonians, warm the unruly, comfort the feeble-minded,
support the weak, be patient toward all men. The answer, as Moses' answer
was, is go to the great physician and get your tonic for here. throughout the scriptures and
throughout our lives, things that cause us to be weary, to
be weary in well-doing. There are those remarkable letters
to the churches in Revelation, and each of them, in almost all
of them, there is an encouragement for them, a warning and an encouragement
to hang in there, The Ephesian church in Revelation 2 had forgotten,
they'd left their first love. And I love how the Lord describes
the church in Smyrna. He says, I know thy works, Revelation
2.9, I know thy works and tribulation and poverty. And then how does
he describe it? But thou art rich. And I know the blasphemy of them
that say that they are Jews and are not, and are the synagogue
of Satan. the church in Pergamon, he says,
I have a few things against you that there are hast there them
that hold to the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast
a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things,
sacrifice to idols and to commit fornication. Balaam was just
encouraging people. to compromise, wasn't it? Spiritual
compromise. The church in Tharatara, notwithstanding
I have a few things against you because thou sufferest that woman
Jezebel which calleth herself a prophetess to teach and seduce
my servants to commit fornication and eat things sacrificed to
idols. The church in Sardis, The Church
in Sardis, what a sad description of a professing believer. I know
thy works, thou hast to name that thou livest, but, and art
dead. The Lord said the same thing
of the Pharisees, isn't it? They worship me with their mouths,
but their hearts are far from me. The Church in Philadelphia
had similar struggles, and the Laodiceans, a well-known in the
East, said, of me gold, tried in the fire,
that thou might be rich, and white raiment that thou might
be clothed, that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear,
and anoint thy eyes with aleso that they may see. As many as
I love and I rebuke and chasten, be zealous therefore and repent."
See, what were they saying? They were saying, I am rich and
increased in goods and have need of nothing. and knowest not that
thou art." They really were wretched and miserable and poor and blind
and naked. Their riches had made them lukewarm. As I said some little time ago,
to be lukewarm is to be comfortable. To be cold is to be uncomfortable. Graham and June are going to
experience some of that down south. To be cold is to be uncomfortable,
to be hot is to be uncomfortable, to be lukewarm is comfortable. The deceitfulness of riches,
they choke the word. and they cause unfruitfulness.
The cares of this world, Mark 4, 19, and the deceitfulness
of riches, the lust of other things entering, and they choke
the Word, and it becometh unfruitful. Not only does the deceitfulness
of riches cause God's Word to be unfruitful, but entertaining
sin. Paul says in Hebrews 3.13, Exhort
one another daily while it is called today, lest any of you
be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. The deceitfulness of
riches and the deceitfulness of sin, it can only do its damage
if it's deceitful, when you don't realise that it's doing you damage.
That's why the chastening hand of the Lord is so good. It's so easy, and it's so sad,
isn't it? that in our walk of faith we
have in this world laid out so much before us and around us
with which to place our confidence. How many people have the great
confidence in their superannuation or the things that they can see
that they have. What does God say about riches?
It can take wings and We really ought to be mindful
that in judgement on this world that so scorns the Gospel of
the Lord Jesus, that God is preparing it for imminent and almost instant
destruction. There are people worried about
Donald Trump. And people worried about Hillary
Clinton and there'll be a lot of noise about it over this next
little while and it'll fill the airwaves. If people saw things
clearly at all, they'd be much more concerned about what the
Lord Jesus Christ is doing. and they'd be clinging to him,
because those things, those things will disappear in a blink of
an eye. And that house of cards, that
house of cards which Western civilization thinks that it has
built and labored and made it solid and secure is nothing but
a house of cards. I promise you, it will take a
tiny thing to bring it undone. from the hand of God. It is no
place, brothers and sisters, to build your nest in this world. It is deceitful. We have in Galatians, there is
going to be for these people, there is going to be for them
and many others, There are times when because of the frailty of
our flesh and the presumption of our wicked natures we take
for granted the preaching of the Gospel and we take for granted
the privilege of having access to the throne of grace in prayer
and we take for granted the extraordinary privilege of those who have the
Gospel, have the Word of God. It's remarkable to think that
not too many years ago, to be an Anglican minister in England,
you had to be able to recite the Psalms perfectly. So they'd
say to John Muell as he was about to be ordained, give me Psalm
86. And they would recite it perfectly. One mistake, go back to kindergarten. It's remarkable, isn't it? Our
busyness in this world is a busyness that invariably takes us away
from the things that are most precious to our souls, such is
the nature of our flesh. That's why we need to bear one
another's burdens. That's why we need to be kind
to one another. That's why when the opportunity
presents we actually bring the Gospel to one another. We remind
people that our God reigns over all of this and He is sovereign.
And that He, He alone, His work in the hearts of His people,
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. See, it's the fruit of the Spirit,
not the fruit of men's activities. It is ultimately the wonder of
saving grace is that it's the life of God. in the souls of
men that causes them to stand. There is a call endued to contend
for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. The only reason
he calls on God's servants to contend is because they'll have
to contend Let's not be weary in well-doing. Well-doing, of course. in this
situation, in this context, is well doing in terms of nurturing
and supporting and caring for one another and caring particularly
for the pastor of the church. These churches that were going
to be divided were going to have pastors there who needed to be
cared for. They needed to be cared for financially,
they needed to be cared for physically and emotionally in all sorts
of ways. God has ordained that those who preach the Gospel will
live off the Gospel. There are just so many things
that cause God's people to be weary and there is the remarkable
uplifting activity of the sharing of the Gospel. We have always
to deal with the lust of the flesh and the lust of eyes and
the pride of life. It's just a constant battle. There are the communications,
the time that we spend with unbelieving friends. 1 Corinthians 15.30
says, evil communications corrupt good manners. They will always
draw us down. and we will very rarely lift
them up. We have Satan as an enemy. He's
walking around as a devouring line, a roaring line, seeking
whom he may devour. And he's got plenty in all of
us to work with all the time. in due season. Let us not be
weary in well-doing. Well-doing is preaching the gospel
and supporting the gospel. It is the good work that the
Lord Jesus spoke about in Matthew chapter 5 in the Sermon on the
Mount. Let your light so shine before
men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father
which is in heaven. And I think our friend Don Fortner
is exactly right. The only possible good works that can glorify your Father
in Heaven is the proclamation of the Gospel. All other good
works will get their reward here. The preaching of the Gospel,
the hanging of God's people together, supported by Him, His Spirit's
work in the lives of His people energising them and causing them
to just stay there. We consider Him, as Hebrews 12
says, we consider Him Consider him, he was weary wasn't he?
I don't have time to read the story but you know the story
in John 4, the woman at the well in Sychar, the Lord Jesus was
weary from his journey. He knows what physical weariness
is like. He was weary from his journey
and the disciples had all gone and they had that conversation
with the woman and when they came back, how was he? How was the Lord Jesus? He was jumping for joy without
being irreverent, wasn't he? And what had given him joy? One
of his children coming home to him. That's why he went to Saikar. He says, I must go down there.
And so it's the Gospel response in the hearts of God's people
turning that woman who was a nothing in the eyes of that community
returning her and revealing that she was a very real something
in the eyes of God. So that's the due season, isn't
it? There is a time. It's called the time of love.
There is a time of the Lord's hand on His people. There is
a time of weariness. There is a time of recovering
from that weariness. But there is a time of reaping. For in due season we shall reap
if we faint not. There is a due season. It's God's
due season. It's God's time. His keeping
of us. We hold the beginning of our
confidence steadfast till the end. We faint not. There is so much that we're resisting,
so much that causes us to just flag and to be discouraged. And then the Lord sends someone
along like the woman at the well at Saikar, and we see the Gospel
doing its powerful work as promised, and we are invigorated. Many
of you have expressed again and again how wonderful it is when
you have opportunity to share the Gospel with someone. It is
just an energising and invigorating experience for God's people.
The weariness disappears. when the Lord's work and the
Lord's hand on situations is seen. There is so much, isn't
it? We shall reap. What a promise
from God. There is a time for sowing for
the farmer. There's a time for ploughing
and a time for sowing and there's a time for waiting. Reaping time
comes after waiting time. The Lord gives the increase.
He will provide. There are so many reasons for
giving up, and there are so multitudinous more for continuing on. There is, in a sense, the Lord
drawing His people, as He did in John 6 to those disciples,
to say, where else are we to go? Where do you go from here,
brothers and sisters? Where do you go? Where do you
go? There is no armour on the back
of God's people. All our armour is to the front. We shall reap. There is a time
of reaping. There will be a time when the
Lord in this Galatian Church and in His true churches throughout
this world, there will be a reaping, there will be a response to the
Gospel. God's promised there will be.
We don't see it now, it's only because the Lord has something
better for us. But in the hanging in there,
He is causing His people to stand by grace, to wait on Him. We shall reap if we faint not. Therefore, As we have opportunity,
as we have therefore opportunity, let us, see, let us all again
do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household
of faith. That word opportunity is a bit
like the word season in the previous verse. It means time. As you
have time, as you have time, let us do good unto all men. It is extraordinary, isn't it,
that our generation in this world has filled itself up so much
that we don't have time. May God cause this world and
its attractions to grow very, very dim in the lives of His
people as the glory of His Son grows more and more bright before
us. Let us do good unto all men. but especially unto them which
are of the household of faith." What a wonderful description.
A household of faith. A people in whom God lives and
dwells. That's Paul's hope for the Galatians
at the end of this letter, isn't it? That there are people who
will respond to the Gospel, they must respond to the Gospel, and
they will continue to respond to the Gospel, not because of
strength and wisdom and good works in them, but because of
the power of God. The power of God is required
to open blind eyes. The power of God is required
to strengthen flagging hands and feeble knees. The power of
God is promise. There will be a reaping. We sow
to the Spirit, we shall of the Spirit reap everlasting life. We shall reap if we faint not. And therefore let's do good to
all men. Let's try wherever to share material
things with those in need. But also let's pray that the
Lord might allow us to be a vessel for proclaiming Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. It is the power of God unto salvation. Jesus Christ and Him crucified,
in all of His glory, in all of His promised fulfilling power,
in all of what He's promised to do for and in His people now,
in His Church. The household of faith. What
a glorious description for believers. The household of faith. Let's
pray.