Galatians chapter 6, and tonight
we'll be looking at verse 3 through 5. Galatians chapter 6, verses
3 through 5 tonight, and the title of the message is, Something
or Nothing. Something or Nothing. We read in our text, it says,
For if a man think himself to be something, When he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let
every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing
in him alone, and not in another. For every man shall bear his
own burden." Now Paul here warns those who profess faith in Christ. that if they think themselves
to be something or to be someone that is one of self-importance,
one that believes that they have pulled themselves up by their
own bootstraps, one that believes in their own ability, that by
their striving they have made it to a certain point of Christianity,
that they've done this all by themselves. He's saying this because some
of the believers there in the church of Galatia, after hearing
the report of Paul, after reading this epistle, they had become
vindicated. Although a very small portion
of these people in Galatia may have believed the truth, yet
some did believe. And so when they were being persecuted
by these legalists, and now Paul comes in, he tells them the truth,
and these Christians that believed the truth all this time, they
said, Aha! We were right and you were wrong.
We were right and you were wrong. You see, there was a tendency
for all of us in that kind of situation to exalt ourselves
above our brethren. And so this was the temptation.
And so Paul warns them, if you think yourself to be something,
when you are absolutely nothing, you deceive yourself. And so
Paul, telling these Galatians as well as us, that if we are,
as Christians, we are to restore our brethren. He said that, we
learned that last week, that we're to restore our brethren
that's dislocated, that's out of place, that has fallen into
some sin. We are, as Christians, to restore
our brothers and sisters. But he tells us that if we are
to restore them, we must do it in meekness of spirit. in meekness
and lowliness of spirit. But if we think highly of ourselves,
if we think highly of our knowledge or our place. In the church,
if we think that we are prominent in the church over our brethren. If we think ourselves to be something
or someone of self prominence, And Paul warns us, Paul warns
against such thoughts of self. Now to those who refuse to restore
their brethren, to those who refuse to bear under the sorrows
of their brethren, but rather ridicule them or put them beneath
their feet and refuse to restore their fallen brethren, this is
nothing more than pride, self-promotion and vainglory. But you see, this is the nature
of our flesh. This is who we are by nature. We are always seeking self-promotion. The flesh is always looking for
that little edge above somebody else. You see, we have a problem. We all think that we are special. We are special above somebody
else. We think that by nature. We think
we're special. We think we deserve what we get. You know, if I get something
good, I deserve that. I worked hard for that. That's
mine and I earned it. I'm special. That's what we think. We think that we've obtained
some kind of spiritual excellence or knowledge by our own power,
for someone to think so highly of himself. Let me tell you this,
if we think so highly of ourself, if we think that we are better
than any other believer because we have some kind of special
understanding or special knowledge or special gifts, then, my friends,
we think very little of God. You see, you can't think highly
of yourself and think highly of God at the same time. It can't
happen. You will either think highly
of God and esteem yourself low or you will think highly of yourself
and esteem God low. There is no middle ground on
this. God will not share His glory with you. He won't do it. God, what does God say about
man? That's what we think about ourselves. We think we're special.
What does God say about us? Isn't that more important than
what we think? Of course it is. Of course it is. Paul says here
in our text, if any man think himself to be something, when,
that means the fact, this is the fact now, when he is nothing. You see, we may think ourselves
to be something, but the fact of the case is we are nothing. Man is as nothing. Doesn't the scripture say that
the inhabitants of the earth to God are as grasshoppers? What
is a grasshopper to you? He's nothing. Grasshopper can't
help you. You don't go ask Grasshopper
to help you around the house, do you? No, he can't. He's nothing. He has nothing to give you of
any value. And that's exactly what man is
in the estimation of God. He is nothing. Nothing. Paul says in Acts that apart from anything in and
of ourselves, we are nothing. He says, in God, we live and
move and have our being. In God, we live and move and
have our being. Friends, we cannot breathe, we
cannot move, we cannot even exist if it is not for the will and
power of God to give it to you. I know that you determined to
come here tonight. Who allowed you the strength
to get up to do such a thing? Did we muster it up ourselves? Did we determine to breathe in
and breathe out at our will? No. God is the only reason we
can do anything. My friends, we are nothing. You
see, all men are created by God and He gives life to whom He
wills and He takes life from whom He wills. God does all things according
to His own pleasure. You see, we cannot think, we
cannot learn, we cannot feel, we cannot eat, we cannot work,
we cannot sleep without the very hand of God moving on us. You see, some people think God
to be set up this world in certain laws. And like a clock, He wound
it up and let it go. And some people like that idea
of God because they're not accountable to it. But God is nothing like
that. My friend, God is a personal
deity with all of His creatures. If anyone is to live, God must
give him life. And he cannot produce it himself.
cannot reproduce it himself. We are all the same. Wherefore
does any man have any right to think he is something special
of himself? What right do we have to think
we are special? You see, if you could give life
to yourself, you might have something over everybody else, but you
don't. I don't! We don't have anything
to give of ourselves. You know what? If I give you
something, it's not really mine that I'm giving it to you. God
gave it to me. And nothing we possess is ours. Why? Because we are nothing. We are nothing. Psalm 100 verse 3 says, Know
ye that the Lord, He is God, it is He that made us and not
we ourselves. And my friends, I just explained
to you some things that are very physical and temporal. Life,
we talk about things. If it's true of the temporal
things, Then my friend, is it not true of the spiritual things? If we are believers in Christ,
how did we come to such knowledge? How did we come to such a level
to understand that God is and He is the rewarder of them that
diligently seek Him? How did we know that? How did
we come to know Christ? How did we come to know our sin
and His blood and His righteousness while thousands refuse Him daily? Millions upon millions of people
pass by, hear the gospel, and refuse Him. How is it that we've
come? Was it by our own strength? By
our own will? By our own power? By our own
works? My friends, if we can't do the
things that are the most simple, which are physical, how can we
do the most impossible, which are spiritual? Let me ask you this, when Christ
raised Lazarus from the dead, what part did Lazarus have with
this resurrection? He had the dead part. He had
the dead part. And what can a dead man give?
What can a dead man contribute to a resurrection? Absolutely
nothing. And that's exactly what we contributed
to our salvation. Absolutely nothing. We contribute
nothing. Although we are to walk in the
Spirit, although we are to love one another, although we are
to fulfill our Christian duties, my friends, these things add
nothing to our salvation. They add nothing. Why? We are nothing. Nothing. We have done nothing to save
ourselves. Even our faith, which is necessary. A man must have faith. He must
believe. But my friends, even our faith
doesn't come from us. It is a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. The view of every true believer
concerning himself is this, is what Paul says in 2 Corinthians
12, 11. He says, I am become a fool in glorying. You have
compelled me that I ought to be commended of you. For in nothing
I am behind the very chiefest of the apostles, though I am
nothing. That's the Apostle Paul. My friends,
the Apostle Paul says this, I am nothing, although I am not behind
the best of the apostles, the cheapest of the apostles, yet
I am nothing. If there was any Christian that
could ever have boasted of anything, the Apostle Paul could have.
He was given more of the gifts of the Spirit than any man ever. He was given more understanding
of God than any man has ever had. He wrote the Word of God
for us in most of the New Testament. If there's anything to glory
in, you imagine that the Apostle would find it. But the Apostle
Paul said, I'm a fool to glory. Why? I'm nothing. I'm nothing. You remember in Philippians,
he gives that list of things. And what did he say about that?
He said, I was a Jew. I was circumcised the eighth
day. I was followed a pharisaical law. And I was self-righteous. And none of you could ever find
a sin outwardly to accuse me of. What'd he say? He said, I count
that but done, that I might win Christ and be found in his righteousness
and not my own. Oh, for the grace to see more
of my nothingness. Oh, for the grace to see more
of my nothingness and to see Christ as my everything. I long for that, don't you? I
long to see more than I am nothing and can do nothing to add to
God. But I see that my all is in Christ,
that everything I am is in Christ, and everything I have is in Christ,
and in myself there is nothing but sin. It is only in this view,
my friends, it is only by having this view of self and this view
of Christ, nothing, me, Christ, everything, it is only in that
view can we come and really restore our Christian brothers and sisters
that have fallen. It is only in humility of heart,
only seeing that we too are sinners and yet Christ had mercy on us,
it is only then we can come along and bear under the burden of
guilt and hurt of our brothers and sisters when they fall. But if you still think you have
something, I pray that I think I've taken everything. I pray
that the Scriptures have taken everything from you. But if you
still think you have something to offer God, if you still think
there's something special about you to offer God, then let me
tell you what the Apostle says about you. You are deceived. You're deceived. You're blind. You can't see. You don't understand
what I'm saying. You're offended when I say you're
nothing. Believers, I'm not offended. Praise God, I'm nothing. But
to a lost person, you're just saying, boy, what are you doing?
You're stepping on my toes. Nothing? How dare you say such
a thing about me? Friend, if you think you have
something, I'm telling you this, you are deceived. You are deceived. Any man thinks he has some part,
some small part in himself to earn or merit God's favor, he
is deceived. He is deceived. If a man thinks he has something
to offer God, he will see himself, my friend, as superior to other
men. If you think you have something
better, if you think that you are better than someone else,
you will always think yourself superior to someone else. This
is deception of works religion, is it not?
Is this not the deception of works religion? Works religion
tells you that you're something, that you're special, that God
needs you. And if you'll just do this for
God, He'll accept you. That's works religion. You see, friends, if I could,
if I could by my righteous behavior, earn or make God look more favorably
to me than to you, then I would have room to boast over you,
wouldn't I? I would probably put on a robe.
I'd put on a robe and a big metal cross right on my chest, and
I would be able to stand out above everybody else because
I'm special. You see, worse religion, it has
a tier you have to follow. You climb the ladder of success
in worse religion. Worse religion allows men to
glory in themselves. But how can you do that when
you're nothing? when you're nothing? How can you glory in yourself
when you're nothing? We cannot perform one righteous
deed. Tell me one righteous deed that
you performed. I had a guy I was talking to
the other day, and he was talking about drinking and smoking and
how wicked and evil that is and what a sin that is. And I said,
do you lie? And he said, well, no. And I
said, you liar. You liar, you just lied. I know
you lie. And don't even think about it.
I saw you looking at pretty girls, so I know that one. I saw it.
Anyway, he didn't understand what sin was. Sin is mixed with
all we do, friends. So then, if we are to be saved,
If we are the elect of God, if we are children of God, if the
Spirit of God does indeed dwell in this feeble house of clay,
it is because of the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ
alone He has given us and not because of ourselves. For we
are nothing and Christ is all. We are nothing and Christ is
all. One with this type of view of
self is one that's spiritual. Paul said, you that are spiritual,
restore such and one. A person with an abased view
of self and a high view of Christ is a person that's spiritual.
that's strong in faith and able to help his brother. So then,
let's look at verse 4. Let's go on in verse 4. Verse
4. Paul then calls us to self-examination. If this is true. If a man thinks
he's something when he's nothing, he's deceived. Paul then calls
us to self-examination. He says, but let every man prove
his own works. Paul is saying, stop pointing
fingers at other believers. Take the finger and turn it inside
and point it back to yourself. Paul is calling for each and
every one of us to know if we are deceived or do we know the
truth. Are we deceiving ourselves? Do
we think we're something? Or do we really know that we're
nothing? The only way you're going to know that is self-examination. You're not going to know that
by looking at other people. You're not going to know that by looking
at other people's faults. It's not going to work that way.
We'll only know by examining ourselves, carefully examining
our hearts to see clearly if our own condition before God. Otherwise, we can't help our
brother. Remember what Jesus said when He was talking about
the one who had the mold in his eye and the other one had a beam
in his eye? If your friend had a splinter
in his eye, And you had a big old 2x4 coming out of your eye.
Don't you think it's feasible, before you try to take out the
splinter in your brother's eye, you need to get rid of that beam
out of your own eye? That calls for much self-examination. To look at your heart. To look
inside. To see what's really there. Friends,
Let us prove ourselves to be in fellowship with Christ before
we try to restore someone else to fellowship. What good would
it do if you restored someone to fellowship and you yourself
weren't in fellowship with Christ? What good would that do you?
No good at all. We're to examine ourselves to
see if we're being... Paul says, examine yourselves
to see whether you be in the faith or not, to prove yourselves. Prove yourselves. Know ye not your own selves,
how that Jesus Christ is in you, except you be reprobate." Don't
you know that there's only Christ and nothing? If you have
Christ, you have salvation. If you don't have Christ, you
don't have salvation. There's no middle ground here.
There's no middle ground. You are either saved or you are
lost. You see, and I can't tell you
what you are. I can't tell you what you are. My friends, you must know that
yourself. You must prove that yourself. There's no middle ground
here at all. Who else can know you but you? You're going to show me what
you want me to see from you. Aren't you? See, only you know you. Only
you can see what's in your own heart. See what's in your own heart.
Do you believe that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior? Is He
your God and King? Have you heard His Word and been
raised from the dead? I'm not talking about acknowledging
some facts about the Bible. I'm not talking about just saying,
oh yes, I believe Jesus died. I believe Jesus rose from the
dead. I believe God is sovereign. I believe there's an elect people.
My friends, that and your sin will get you a place in hell,
if that's all you know. If you just acknowledge these
facts, that's not faith. My friend, what I'm talking about
is a resurrection of the soul. I'm talking about new life. Whereas
once I was dead, now I am alive to God. I'm not talking about
just acknowledging facts. Look inside. Are you dead? Or
do you know Christ? Self-examination and humility. It is true self-examination and
humility. It is only by this can we find
that there is true joy and peace and assurance. True self-examination
and humility to see that any Anything we do that's good doesn't
come from ourselves. Isn't that right? Is there anything
that we've done good that's come from us? Not one thing. Everything that
I've done that's been good has come from the Spirit of God dwelling
in me. If I've done anything good, if
I've ever preached a message that's touched one person, if
I've ever said anything that was good, it is coming from God
Himself and not from me. Why? I'm nothing. I'm nothing. Christ is everything. And it's
in Christ we are able to rejoice. Examine yourselves. And Paul gives us the reason
for self-examination in the next verse. Look at that in verse
5. 4. Every man shall bear his own burden. Paul gives us the
reason for self-examination, that why it is everyone should
examine ourselves, because you will bear the burden of your
guilt. You will bear the burden of your
sin. Whatever you deserve, that's
what you'll bear. Whatever you deserve, that's
what you'll bear. When God comes in judgment, the
Scripture says that He shall judge every man according to
his works. Now, those who profess to know
Jesus Christ and are found out to be liars, they will bear the
burden of their works and they will suffer for their sins. They will pay the penalty of
their sins and they will bear the burden of that sin themselves. I can't tell you how many times
I hear people blaming their mommies and blaming their daddies about
all the bad things that they've done. Oh, I'm a wicked man because
of how I was raised. No, you're a wicked man because
you were a child of Adam. You're a wicked man because you
want to be. You won't blame God in that day, my friends. And everyone who is outside of
Christ will suffer eternal, everlasting, unquenchable death, forever dying
with no end. Isn't that a good reason for
self-examination? And I'm talking to believers
as well. Do you not think Demas thought he was a believer? Do you not think he thought all
that time that he was ready for eternal glory? And he just went away. Examine
yourselves. See whether you be in the faith
or not. But all who are in Christ, All who are nothing, all who
are nothing in themselves and find Christ to be all in all,
they shall bear not the burden of their sin, but they shall
bear His righteousness and His glory. That's the yoke we will
bear in the day of judgment. Come unto Me, all you that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take upon you
My yoke. It's easy and it's light. Why? It's righteousness. It's glory. And all those who come to God
by Jesus Christ will bear this. Why? Because He's already bore
our sins away in His own body on the tree. He's already taken
our sins away. And so that we will never bear
them anymore. Therefore, my friends, I will
gladly take my place before Him as nothing. I gladly own him as my all in
all in salvation. And the burden I'll bear is the
burden of his righteousness which will yield to me eternal life." Isn't that worth rejoicing in?
Christ is wonderful. I'll tell you this, I pray that
every one of us would go away from this service tonight examining
ourselves. Do we think we're something? Or are we nothing? It's an all or none principle.
If you have a little something, you think yourself all of something.
If you are nothing, then my friends, that's exactly what you are,
nothing. But those that are nothing receive everything. And those that are something
receive nothing. Which are you? Let's stand. We'll
be dismissed in prayer. Bob, would you dismiss us in
prayer, please? Thank you for this day. Thank
you for the privilege of coming before the throne of heaven.