I take your bibles and turn with
me to Galatians again, Galatians 6. The title of the message is in a
question. Are you something or nothing? Are you something? Or are you nothing? The Apostle Paul in our text,
our text will be found in verse 3. For if any man think himself
to be something, do you think yourself to be something this
morning, something special, something great, something good, something. that exalt you above anyone else. If a man thinks himself to be
something, when actually, what is he? When he is nothing, nothing,
what does he do? He deceives his own self. You think you're something. Paul
said this, you're just deceiving yourself. You're just deceiving
yourself. But let every man prove his own
work, and then he shall have rejoicing in himself alone and
not another, for every man shall bear his own burden." Now the
apostle here, as we've been studying this passage of scripture, this
church had fallen into a great error, a great heresy. that salvation
is a mixture of something you do with what Christ has done. Paul has dealt with this extensively
in this book, that Christ is all. Christ is
all in salvation. Now, some of these brethren had
been duped. Some of these brethren had been
deceived to believe that superimposing the law upon the gospel of God's
grace. They were duped. They were overtaken. Paul said if a brother be overtaken
in a fall, many of these had been deceived. Yet some of these believers had
not been deceived. Some of them were faithful. Some
of them maintained the faith. They stood fast in the liberty
wherewith Christ had made them free. And Paul knew this, that
the temptation then would be to look down upon those who failed. Those who failed. And so Paul
here begins in this sixth chapter, Brethren, listen, you that did
not fall, you that are spiritual, When your brother has repented,
when your brother has returned, restore him. Restore him with
the spirit of meekness. What? Considering yourself. Considering
yourself. What? That you too are a sinner
saved by grace. That's all you are. You're nothing
better than they are. You are a sinner. saved by grace. He said, restore them into the
fellowship with the spirit of meekness, considering thyself,
lest you also be tempted. In other words, we are prone
to the same sins, prone to the same sins. And then he said,
bear one another's burdens. When that believer comes in,
he's going to have a burden of guilt, a burden of shame because
of what he's done. We're not to press down on that
burden, but rather to bear under it with Him. And how do we do
that except to point them to Christ? If you feel, believer, when you
feel guilt for your sin, what is the only remedy for that?
It is to know that Christ bore your guilt, that Christ suffered
in your stead. This is, relieves the believer. And he said, so fulfill the law
of Christ. What is the law of Christ? It is to believe on Christ
and it is to love our brother. And so now with this idea of
considering thyself, Paul here warns those that profess faith
in Christ. Listen, if you think yourself
to be something, you think yourself to be someone
of some importance in the church, You see, you were faithful. Do
you think you're something because you were faithful? One that believes that they have
pulled themselves up. I used to have that saying, pulled
myself up by my own bootstraps. If you believe that you've pulled
yourself up to some spiritual standing before God, If you think
that by your works or by your obedience, by your goodness,
somehow you've exalted yourself to God above your fellow man. Paul said this, when in actuality
you that think you are something are really nothing. You just deceived yourself. You've
deceived yourself. These believers no doubt believed
all that Paul taught. They believed. They were feeling
vindicated. You've got to understand, when
these people brought in legalism, these guys under legalism always
exalt themselves. They're always better than you.
And so these legalists, they were in there and they were exalting
themselves. They said, you're just a horrible
person. You haven't been circumcised.
You're not obeying the law of Moses like I am. But now it's
flipped. The apostle came in and said,
that's just foolishness. And so what did he do to those
who legalized? By the gospel he abased them. And so now it's natural then
for us who have maintained to feel vindicated. Well, I was
right all along. Look at me. I'm something. They feel vindicated. And so
what Paul is telling them and telling us, that to restore our
brother and sister in meekness, we cannot think highly of ourselves. We cannot think highly of our
knowledge or our place or our standing. We're not to think ourselves
to be something. or someone of self-preeminence. And to those that refuse to restore
their brethren, to those who will not bear the sorrow and
hurts of a fallen brethren, this is nothing more than pride and
vainglory. If we are ever looking down upon
another brother, that is nothing but self-importance. Self-importance,
what Paul calls in chapter 5, 26, vain glory, empty glory. It's empty. This is the nature
of our flesh, friends, to think we are special. My kids used
to watch Barney when they were young, little purple dinosaur,
and he had this song, You Are Special, You Are So Special. This is our natural inclination
to try to think that we are special. I don't want to deal with this,
but there's a difference between having self-esteem and self-importance. You know, you don't have something
and then claim you don't have it and call that humility. That's
not humility. You have something God gives
you, you should be thankful for it and rejoice in it. You should
not deny that you have it, but you should not boast over anyone
because what you have is what? Given. Given. So rejoice in what you have,
but don't dare think it came to you because you're something. To think we deserve what we have
or what we've obtained, some spiritual excellence or knowledge
of our own power or our own power, that by our strength or determination
we have somehow achieved some spiritual standing, this is nothing
but vain glory. For someone to think highly of
themselves, for someone to think highly of
themselves, I tell you this, they think little of God. If
you think highly of yourself, you think very little of God. The more you think highly of
yourself, the less you think of God. God says man is not something
but nothing. Notice what he says here. If
a man think himself to be something, that's all you're doing. You're
thinking. You're just thinking. It's not real. When actually
in truth, what are you? Nothing. Nothing. God says man is not something
but nothing. We are nothing. Consider this,
that no man can do anything apart from the gifts of God. Now, let's
get real here. What can you do apart from God
giving it to you? Name something. The Apostle said this, Live, you living. Who does that,
you? Can you sustain or elongate your
life? Jesus said, how can a man add to his stature
one cubit by giving any thought? I tell you what, when I was little,
my brothers were real tall, and I was short. He looked up to
them and said, man, I want to grow too. I don't want to be
the shortest one. I'm the shortest man in my family. My brothers
were all taller than me. My dad was. And I thought a lot
about growing. I thought a lot about increasing
my stature. But no matter how much I thought
about it, I had no power over it. Couldn't do it. Why? Because everything I have, everything
I have is totally dependent upon God giving it to me. In Him we
live and move. You can't move. I tell you, you get older, it's
harder to move, isn't it? But yet you move. And who gives
you the motion to move? God does. And have our being. We have no being without Him. When this body dies, we still
have what? Being. We cannot breathe, we cannot
move, we cannot exist without the power and will of God. All
men are created by God and He gives them life. And listen,
He takes life at His command. Was it Deuteronomy 32, 39? And what God says about life,
he says, see now that I, even I, am he. There's no God with
me. I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. Neither is there any that can
deliver out of my hand. Can you take that out of his
hand? Can any one of us take that out of his hand? No. We are dependent upon Him. Wherefore
then does a man have any right to think he is something special
of himself? How can any man exalt himself
then above another? You remember that rebellious
thief on the cross? Man, consider his condition.
He was nailed to a cross and fixing to die. And yet he thought himself to
be something. You think at that point that
this guy might be a little humbled. He was guilty of a crime. He was being punished for his
crime, and yet worse than that, he kicked against the God of
glory, thinking he was something, to look down upon the Savior. If you be the Son of God, get
me off of this tree. Isn't this how men think about
Christ? If you're God, you do what I
want you to do. Why do you say that? Because
you think you're something. You think you're something. Psalm 100, verse 13, verse 3
says, know you not that the Lord he is God, not you. Don't you
know that? The Lord God is God. You're not. You're not. It is He that made us, and not
we ourselves. So then how then can anyone boast? You know, I've met some real
intellectual men, some very smart men, some very ambitious men,
some men that had drive and motivation, and they determined to go out
and do business, and I thought they'd just take off, man, I
thought they'd do it. They had every Talent! Then you take another person
over here, he's kind of lazy, doesn't have very much knowledge,
not very smart, and in his business, takes off, and theirs is destroyed.
What happened? You see, it's not our abilities,
friends, that get us anything. It's God that gives us what we
have. You have anything at all. It is a gift of God. It is a
gift of God. How then can we boast in any
strength in ourselves? Now, if this is true concerning
temporal things, how much more is it true concerning spiritual
things? If you are nothing in physical things, how then could
you boast in yourself in something higher, such as spiritual things? If we are believers in Christ,
how did you come to such knowledge? There were many people listening
to the same gospel you listened to when you believed and they
didn't. Why? How is it that you have
believed? How is it that you have this
knowledge? Have you believed while others still will not come? I'll tell you why, it was the
grace of God alone. The grace of God alone. I think
of Lazarus often. A good picture of conversion
is the resurrection of Lazarus. Lazarus was dead. What a good picture of us. Dead. What good is a dead man and how
could he help himself? Can't. That's exactly how we're
born in this world. Dead in sin. You and I are born
dead in sin. We have nothing to brag about.
No ability in ourselves to save ourselves. None whatsoever. Just
like Lazarus. So then, when Christ came and
raised him from the dead, tell me what part Lazarus had in that
resurrection. Did the Lord make an offering
to him? Well, Lazarus, if you'll just do this, then I'll raise
you from the dead. Could he? No. Religion tells you, well, if
you'll do this, then God will do that. If you'll take the first step,
God will do the rest. I remember someone talking about
one of those Catholic saints that was beheaded. And the tradition was is that
he got up, picked up his head, and ran, I think, a mile or something
like that with his head in his hand. You know, I believe that
he could have run 100 miles if I believe he could have took
the first step. Friends, in this matter of salvation,
God has to do it all. You and I can't take the first
step, we're dead. Now listen to me, if you don't
believe in Christ this morning, it's because you're dead. You're
dead in sins. You have no hope. No hope. No hope of helping yourself.
No hope of ever picking yourself up and making yourself acceptable
with God. No hope. The only hope is this,
if God, by his grace, comes to you. If God, by his grace, like
he did Lazarus, says, Lazarus, come forth. Now, when he says
that, what else could Lazarus do? Remember, in Him we live
and move and have our being. There was nothing Lazarus could
do but get up. I always thought this was a wonderful
miracle. When Lazarus, when he was raised from the dead, they
used to bind them like a mummy in grave clothes. Now, when he
said, Come forth, his feet were bound. I don't know how he came.
I think he floated out. That's a miracle. It's the same
way with us in salvation. No man can come unto me, Jesus
said, except what? The Father which has sent me
draw him. And when the Father draws a man, He said, except
the Father which has sent me draw him, that man will come
because he has nothing else he can do. You believe on Christ? Why? Because I can't do anything
else. When he called me from the dead
and said, live, I lived. When he said, believe, I believed. Paul said in Ephesians chapter two, he says,
for by grace you are saved. The word grace means unmerited
favor. That's what it means. Merited favor. Now if you've
merited it, it's not grace. If you've earned it, it's not
grace. We are saved by grace. He said, for by grace you are saved,
listen, through faith. Never apart from faith, always
through faith. And listen, that not of yourselves. Where did this faith come? Well,
not of you. Faith didn't come from you. It, faith, is a gift of God,
not of works. Why? Lest anybody will brag on
themselves. Lest anybody think they're something. The view, then, of every true
believer concerning themselves is this. Christ is all. and I am nothing. Christ is all, and I am nothing. Now do you suppose the Apostle
Paul had something to brag about? Now the Apostle Paul wrote most
of the New Testament that we have before us. Very miraculous
conversion there on the, he was on his way to kill Christians
and the Lord himself came to the Apostle Paul. And he was
converted on that road to Damascus, and the miracles that he was
able to perform, and the things he was able to do, the churches
that he raised up, the word that we're reading now, he, by the
Spirit, wrote to us. Do you think Paul had something
to brag about? Look what he said about himself
in 2 Corinthians 12. Look at this. 2 Corinthians chapter
12. Look what Paul said. Now, the
church at Corinth had pushed him. A lot of people were denying
his apostleship. They were denying his authority
as an apostle. And what he had to do during
this book was confirm to them his apostleship. He had to confirm
that he was an apostle. And look what he says. He's kind
of upset about this. He doesn't want to do this. And
he said this, I have become a fool in glory. Now I told you the
truth, I am an apostle of Jesus Christ. I am sin of Him. I have
authority from Him. But look, now that I said all
that, look, I'm just a fool for having to say it. You have compelled
me, for I ought to have been commended of you. For in nothing
am I behind the very apostles of Christ. Though what? I am nothing. I'm
not behind in any of the gifts. I'm not behind those other apostles.
Those other apostles and I, we have the same office, the same
authority as the other apostles. But what does he say about himself?
Though I have this office, what am I? I am nothing. I am nothing. Does it say 2 Corinthians
12 verse 11? I hope so. Somebody was looking
for it. I want to make sure I got it
right. He said, though I be nothing. Of all men, the apostle could
have boasted in his office, his knowledge, his morality, and
yet he says this, I am nothing. Therefore, what are we to say
as believers? Are we something or are we nothing? Nothing. In Philippians, he doubles
down on this. And he said, look, if anybody's
got any room, Philippians 3, you can read it later, if anybody's
got room to brag, I'm over. I got more room to brag than
anybody else. But what does he say? He said, those things that
I counted gain to me, those things that seem to be gain to me, I
count them but loss, done. You believers, is that not what
you count your works? your religious deeds, your efforts, your abilities,
your own self, you count it what? Done. It's worthless for this
purpose that I may win Christ and be found in Him. I who am
nothing desire to be found in Him who is something. Jesus Christ,
not having mine own righteousness. I don't want my own righteousness.
I want His. If I'm going to stand before God, I don't want my righteousness. Do you? Name something you want to take
before God and say, here. If you name anything, you're
a fool. You're a fool. I think of that man at the wedding
feast. The Lord called the wedding feast. And the guests were assembled.
And you remember in that day that the king had prepared all
of the wedding garments for his guests. Yet there's one fellow in there
who had brought his own garment. One fellow. He brought his own
garment. King's looking, everybody else
looks the same, except for this one man. He stands out. He stands
out. I'm thinking that his mama made
that robe, or daddy, or he might have put it in his own hands
and sewed it all together and he thought the king would be
so proud of his garment. You know what the king did to
that man? He threw him out into outer darkness. It's a picture of a man bringing
his own righteousness. If you bring your righteousness
to God, thinking you're something, when you are actually nothing,
you will be cast out. But the believer desires not
to bring his own rope. Please, I don't want to add anything
I've done to the work of Christ. If I stand before God, I want
to stand before God in His righteousness and not mine. I want to stand before God with
His offering for sin, not mine, because my righteousness and
my offering are nothing. His righteousness and His offering
are acceptable to God. That's what I want. That's what
I need. I need Him. Oh, for the grace
to see this, that we are nothing and Christ is everything. that to know Christ by faith,
to believe that He is my all, and see myself as nothing. I'll give you another illustration
of this. Mephibosheth. Now Mephibosheth was a son of
a fallen king, Saul. He was a grandson of a fallen
king. And David had ascended to the
throne. And as king, he had the right to kill his rivals. This man Mephibosheth was a rival
to his kingdom. There was something about this
man Mephibosheth that was different from all his brothers in this.
He was lame on his feet from birth. In other words, when he
learned that David had taken the throne and his grandpa was
killed, And his dad was killed. When he learned that, you know
what he couldn't do? He couldn't run. And yet, here's David. He sends
his men down to fetch this man, Mephibosheth. And there's the
soldiers. He comes to the door, and they
grab this man who can't run. They arrest him. They bring him
back before the king. This guy thinks he is a dead
duck. And he says David has him sitting
there, laying there at the feet. He prostrates himself before
David. And David said, Mephibosheth, I am going to not kill you, but
I'm going to show mercy. What Mephibosheth didn't know
is that his dad and David had made a covenant before he was
born. Before he was lame on his feet,
a covenant was made to save his life. What a picture of divine
election. God and his son made a covenant
with his people for his people before they ever fell. And when He fell, we all fell,
didn't we? We all were lame on our feet.
Our Father had fallen, Adam had sinned, and we were dead. We
could not revive ourselves. And by the grace and power of
God, one day He came and fetched us. Not to kill us, but to show mercy
to us. You know why God's going to show
you mercy? Because a covenant he made with his son had nothing
to do with you. Isn't that astounding? Salvation
has nothing to do with you. Nothing. Nothing to do with you
at all. It is a covenant between God
and his son. And when God comes to get you, he's just fulfilling
his covenant. And you that are believers, you
understand when Mephibosheth said these words. You identify with this. Now listen
to what Mephibosheth said. He said, Behold, what is thy
servant, that you should look on such a dead dog? You think this is popular in
modern religion, what I'm saying? Just make you feel good about
yourself. If it don't, that's the point. Because you shouldn't. All you can do is sin. That's
all you can do. You can't save yourself. You're
like Mephibosheth. You can't run. You can't run from God.
You're gonna face God. Whether you want to or not, you'll
face God. But if God's ever chose you and
Christ has redeemed you, the Spirit will come to you and you
will see this, I am nothing. And Christ is everything. This
morning, when these people make their profession of faith, that's
exactly what they're saying. They are being baptized to confess
something. They are confessing that all
their salvation is dependent on something someone else has
already done. All of it. that they were represented by
someone. And that someone is Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
He represented them. When they stand in that water,
they are identifying that they were in union with him, that
he represented them. And when they plunge into the
water, they are confessing this, that when he died, they died. When He died, He washed their
sins. He justified them. He sanctified
them. He redeemed them. When they come
up out of the water, they're confessing this, that my sins
are gone and I stand with Him in righteousness. I stand with
Him. He is all and I am nothing. Now as you grow in the grace
and knowledge of Christ, Do you think then that you become better
and better? Is that how this is going to
work? You think you guys are going to get better and better,
right? I know that's your desire. It's every believer's desire
to not sin. But I'll tell you the true measure
of a man's growth is this. His absolute nothingness. That He contributes absolutely
nothing to His salvation. And that everything that is done
in eternity and in time is Christ doing it for us, in us. through us. But conversely, if a man thinks
he has something to offer, he's what? Deceiving himself. He's
deceiving himself. Anybody who thinks they're superior
and look, this is the temptation. You believers listen. This is
something that is tempting to our flesh that we can fall into.
This is why he's warning us of this. That there's no way we
can be useful and think anything of ourselves. This is why God causes trials
and troubles and difficulties. To constantly put down pride. And so this is this deception
then of works religion is to think men are something. In fact,
that I could by my own righteous behavior make God look more favorably
upon me than someone that is less moral than myself. This
is nothing but vain glory. But all men are truly nothing
and we cannot think one righteous thought. We cannot perform one
righteous deed. So that if we are saved, if we
are the elect of God, if we have the righteousness of God, if
we possess the spirit of God in this feeble vessel of clay,
it is because of the blood and righteousness of God, it is because
of the power and grace of God. Now you believe, if you are a
true believer, this is one thing that's going to happen to you.
You will continue to believe. There are many things that are
going to tempt you to not believe. There are many things that are
going to pull you away from the gospel of Jesus Christ. The world
is not going to get brighter, it's going to get darker. I don't know how else to say
it. I'm not a used car salesman. As we grow in grace, we suffer.
He said tribulation. Tribulation worketh patience.
Anybody want patience? Anybody pray for patience? Anybody
want patience? You know the only way you get
that? Tribulation. I'll tell you, to be honest,
sometimes I say, Lord, please have enough patience. I'm done.
Please, no more patience right now, please. I'm begging you. Tribulation with patience. Patience,
what experience? I experienced the pain, I experienced
the trouble, but I also experienced the deliverance. Tribulation
where patience, experience, experience, hope. I have hope of being delivered. And hope doesn't make us ashamed.
I'm not ashamed of Christ. Hope make us not ashamed, for
the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. I tell you, I
want to skip from tribulation to the love of God, don't you?
I want to skip all that in the middle. Patience, experience,
hope. I want to skip all that. Just
skip tribulation, just give me the love of God abounding in
my heart. It doesn't work that way. No,
believer, it doesn't. And this tribulation, patience,
experience are constantly coming. And yes, the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts. We do have those moments of relief
and comfort. And then what? Tribulation comes
again, and patience, and experience, and hope. It's the same constant
cycle throughout the believer's life. And what does this constantly
do? It constantly affirms this, I
am nothing. Jesus Christ is everything. Everything. Look back at your text. He said,
let every man prove his own work and then he shall rejoice in
himself alone and not another. One cure of self-importance is
this, self-examination. Stop examining other people. If you're examining someone else, this will lead to the pride we're
talking about. So what does Paul say? What Paul
is saying here is exactly what Peter says in his epistle. He
said that we should examine our own selves, that we should prove
our own calling. Make your calling and election
sure is what Peter said. Make your calling and election
sure, not someone else's, yours. Examine our own selves. Judge
our own selves. Condemn our own selves. You know that verse that says,
Judge not lest you be judged? You ever hear lost men try to
use that verse? They're doing something really,
really bad and you're saying, Hey, that's evil, that's sin.
And what do they say? Well, judge not lest you be judged.
And I have no clue what that means. It means this. Don't judge unless you're ready
to be judged. Are you ready to be judged? The Lord uses that illustration.
He said, you got a brother with a little splinter in his own
eye, and you got a two-by-four sticking out of yours. And you're
out there trying to pick that splinter out of your brother's
eye. No, no. Remove the two-by-four
out of your own eye so you can see clearly. You get it out of
your brother's eye. In other words, if you removed
it out of your eye, then you would be what? You would be empathetic
towards your brother then. You would know that his little
splinter wasn't near as bad as your two-by-four. So self-examination, we are prone
to pride, so let us prove our own fellowship with Christ before
we try to restore our own brother. There's no middle ground, friend.
You're either in Christ or you're not. Are you in Christ this morning? I would have you examine yourself.
Are you in Christ? How do I know that? Do you believe
on the Son of God as all your salvation? It's really the only mark that
we can assume to know. Do you believe? Don't look at
your fallen brother and question his faith. Question yours. Do
you believe? Then what? If we prove this,
then we can have rejoicing. Only then can I find any rejoicing,
any peace, any joy of the Spirit if I know this, am I His or am
I not? Oh, that you'd ask yourself that
question, are you His or are you not? Why? Because of verse 5, every
man shall bear his own burden. One day the Lord is coming in judgment. And every man will be judged
according to his own work. God is a just judge. We've never
seen one. We've never seen a just judge.
We've seen some try to be, some intending to be, but we've never
seen one really just. God is a just judge. He will
give you exactly what you deserve. Scripture tells us that one day
the books will be opened and you'll be judged out of these
things. Every thought, every word, every action, every deed
that you've ever done is written. You'll be judged based on these
things. His works. You read that later
if you want in Revelation 20. But seeing we all have sinned, how
then are we who are saved, how are we that believe on Christ
going to be released? I'll tell you how. There's another book that was
open. That book of the covenant that I talked about earlier.
Those whose names are written in that book. Friends, there
are sins and iniquities. God says this, I will remember
them no more. He said, I will blot them out
as a thick cloud. So when he opens the book and
sees my name with all of these sins that I've committed, you
know what he's going to see? Nothing but blot marks. They're
all blotted out by the blood of Jesus Christ.
And therefore, when God gathers all men together, I like that
illustration. I'll close with this. I like the illustration
of what our Lord used. He said, when the Lord, when
he said, I come again, I'm going to gather all men and divide
them into two groups. One on his right hand and one
on his left. The sheep are going to be on his right hand. The
goats are going to be on his left hand. And he's going to
say to his sheep, come, you blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world. When I was hungry
and thirsty, you gave me meat. You gave me drink. When I was
naked, you clothed me. When I was in prison, sick and
visited, you visited me. And you know what their response
is? When did I ever do any of that
for you? What are they saying? I am nothing.
I've never done one thing for you. He said, you've done it unto
the least of these, my brethren, you've done it unto me. He said, it
is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Come
on in. So what does he say to those
who are nothing? They receive everything. Eternal life. an eternal inheritance,
eternal bliss, joy, peace. That's their reward. Why? Because
Christ earned it for them. Then the other ones who think
they're something, listen to this. Then the goats, he said,
depart from me, you that work iniquity, I never knew you. And
he said, when I was hungry, you didn't feed me. When I was thirsty,
you gave me a drink. When I was naked, you didn't
clothe me. And they say this, Lord, when
did we not do that for you? See, they think they were something. What are they going to receive?
Exactly what they deserve. Hail. Hail. This morning, I hope that you
would consider this. Are you something? Or are you nothing? Depends, you're looking at the
biggest nothing. There is. That's just honest truth. There's
nothing. Nothing. No, I boast in no gifts, no power,
no wisdom. I boast in Jesus Christ, His
death and resurrection. He's something. He's something. Is He not something to you? I pray he is.