Hallelujah means praise you the
Lord. Praise you the Lord. To Him be
all the glory. Amen means so be it. That's how
I want it to be. Back in Galatians 6, I mentioned to you the last time
that we were in Galatians that the Apostle Paul very, very clearly
set forth in this letter What it is, he took many chapters
clearly laying out what it is that makes a sinner a child of
God. Very, very clearly. And it is not that sinners works.
He very clearly stated that. Salvation comes by grace alone. Do you ever get tired of hearing
that? Salvation is by grace alone. Grace alone. We are born again
by the blood and the spirit of Jesus Christ. Born again. It's God's doing. Just like we
had nothing to do with our birth. We had nothing to do with our
birth. It's all of God. It's all of
God. Every bit of it. Now that he
has established grace alone, he has some things to say to
those who have received grace alone. He said in chapter 6 verse
1, 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 fulfill the law of Christ. Now let's start right here. If a brother is overtaken in
a fall, if we're overtaken in a fault.
Right here, if you have a sinner reference in your Bible, if says
although. It means although a man be overtaken
in a fault. There is not a soul in this room
that has not been overtaken in a fault. There's not a soul in
this room. I mean a true fault. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. And we forget that from time
to time. We forget that. But the fact
of the matter is, is all have sinned. Our Lord said, He that
is without offense, let him cast the first stone. Whatever it
is we're talking about. He that is without offense, let
him cast the first stone. Man sinned in the garden. Man sins every day. He sins every
day. So how could any of us point
the finger at any of us? Really? How could any of us point
the finger at any of us? Considering Christ, that's what
all of this is based on. Considering Christ, who the scripture
calls our elder brother, the one who is spiritual, the one
who possesses the spirit, it's his spirit. We were overtaken
in a fault and he restored us, didn't he? We were absolutely
overtaken in a fault, couldn't hide it, I mean, we were flat
out and out, in the open, overtaken, in a fault, and He restored us. We lost it all. We had it. Okay? We had it. We were sitting
with the saints of God, glory, and we lost it all and he restored
us, didn't he? He restored us and he did that
in the spirit of meekness. He humbled himself all the way
down to the grave. If he did that for us, what he's
saying is we need to do it for each other. And that's not just
a figure of speech. That's not just a good idea.
That's something that we as his children, as his followers, as
believers on him, need to do. If he did that for us, we need
to do it for each other. He said, this is what he said,
and this really was emphasized to me a little bit more this
time, but this is what he said. Take my yoke upon you. Take it upon you. Take my yoke. Take what I have done myself. upon you." He said, learn of
me. What I have done for you, do
it for each other. He said, I'm meek and I'm lowly
in heart. He did this in the spirit of
meekness. He saved us in the spirit of
meekness. And because of that, the commandment
is in verse one, brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault,
ye which are spiritual, you who God has done something for, you
who have personally experienced the gospel of grace, you who
can say, I was the one at fault and he restored me. Restore such
in one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou
also be tempted." Now to emphasize this, let me contrast the attitude
of a man who's not spiritual. He said if a man is spiritual,
then you restore your brother in meekness. Now the contrasting
attitude of a man who is not spiritual, this is what he says,
I'm done with you. You ever had that man rise up? You know, chapter 5 is when he
was talking about that old man and that new man, two natures
warring in here. That old man, that's what he
says, I'm done with you. I'm done with you. I see you've fallen. You'll be fine with me if you
just stay there. Let me give you a little, let me shove you
on that way. Done. That is exactly what this flesh
naturally leans to. That's exactly what the flesh
naturally wants, especially if the fault is against me. Especially. But if a man is spiritual, if
a person possesses that new nature, if God's Spirit has come, the
Spirit of Christ, His spirit will see a brother who has fallen,
and his spirit will say, Restore him. Restore him. Restore him, considering thyself,
lest thou also be tempted. Restore means, the word means
repair. That's what it means, repair.
Somebody comes across an old piece of furniture in an antique
store. And it's, you know, it's worn out, it's faded, it's scratched, it's dented,
it's broken. So he buys it, he takes it home. And somebody says, what are you
going to do with it? I'm going to restore it. I'm going to restore
it. He said, if you see a brother
overtaken in a fault, restore him, restore him. Listen to what
Charles Spurgeon had to say about this verse. He broke it down
into different lines. He said, brethren, if a man be
overtaken in a fault, he said, if he travels so slowly that
his faults catch up to him and knock him down, we are all fleeing
to Christ, aren't we? We're all fleeing to Christ.
Our faults happen every second of every minute of every hour
of every day, and we're just trying to get to Christ. We're
running to Christ. But if a brother is not running
to Christ fast enough, and his faults, Spurgeon said, if he
travels so slowly that his faults catch up to him and knock him
down, Ye which are spiritual restore such in one in the spirit
of meekness. He said set his bones for him
if they have broken. Put him in his proper place again. Make a splint for him. Make a
cast for him. Care for him. Considering thyself,
lest thou also be tempted. He said, what would you wish
others to do to you if you were in the position of this fallen
one? The apostle did not say, considering thyself, lest thou
also be overtaken in a fault. He didn't say that. He said,
lest thou also be tempted. As much as to say the temptation
only needs to come to you and you will yield to it. And that
is so true. If a brother's overtaken in a
fall and we have no heart to restore him. The temptation only
needs to come to us and we will yield to it. We will. But for
the grace of God, there go any of us. May God remind me of that. But for the grace of God, there
go any of us. And if we restore a brother when
he needs it, he'll restore us when we need it. We will need
it. Verse two says, bear ye one another's
burdens. and so fulfill the law of Christ."
Again, that's exactly what Christ did for us. That's exactly what
he did for us. He bore our burden, didn't he?
He carried our sorrow. He acquainted himself with our
grief. And in doing that, he fulfilled
the law of God. Now we, in turn, are commanded
to bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. What is the law of Christ? Look
back at chapter five, verse 14 says, for all the law is fulfilled
in one word, even in this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love beareth all things. Love bears all things. That's
what love does. That's what it does. Love bears
all things. Spurgeon said, help your brethren. If they have a heavier burden
than they can bear, try to put your shoulder beneath their load
and so lighten it for them. May God give us a heart to seek
each other's burdens and be a help in whatever way we can. May God
give us a heart to truly care for each other, set each other,
support each other, bear one another's burdens. One man said,
don't desert. You know, problems will come. We're all flesh. And they will
come, some more severe than others. And there'll be times when we
need this instruction. He said, don't desert. He said,
don't withdraw fellowship. Don't condemn. Bear. Bear. Look with me at John 13. John 13 verse 34 says, A new commandment I give unto
you, that you love one another as I have loved you, that you
also love one another. By this shall all men know that
you are my disciples, if you have love one to another. By this right here. Shall all
men know that I have come to you? I have done something for
you. I've done an operation on your
heart. I chose you. You belong to me. You follow
me. This is how all men are going
to know. By this shall all men know that you're my disciples.
If you have love one to another. Love bears all things. It just does. Go with me back
to Galatians 6. Verse one says, brethren, if
a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore
such in one in the spirit of meekness. Considering thyself,
lest thou also be tempted, bear ye one another's burdens and
so fulfill the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to
be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. Now, do
you know what that verse does not say? It does not say, if
a man think himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth
others. It doesn't say that. It does
not say that. Usually other people can see
us for what we are. Usually. Other people can see
us for exactly what we are. If we think we're something,
when we're nothing, we are not deceiving anybody else. Other people can see right through
us, but we cannot see through our own selves. We just can't. For that reason, may God in mercy,
may he bring us to a state of humility. May he convince us
that man at his best state is altogether vanity. Altogether,
that's what'll make us want to help a brother in need. That's
what'll make us want to bear each other's burdens. But for
the grace of God, there go I. He needs me, I need him. In my
flesh dwells no good thing. So I shouldn't expect too much
more out of anybody else's flesh. Look with me at 1 Corinthians
4. First Corinthians 4 verse 7 says,
for who maketh thee to differ from another? And what hast thou
that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it,
why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? Everything
that I am. Everything that I have, every
bit of it is owed to God. We're just saying all to Him
I owe. All to Him I owe. If He leaves
me to myself, I am nothing, I'll have nothing. Where would I be outside of the
mercy and grace of God? Where would I be? Where would
I be had God not restored me? Where would I be had Christ not
borne my burden? I'd be crushed under it. That's
where I'd be. I'd be crushed under it. I owe it all to Him,
every bit of it. Back in Galatians 6 verse 4 says, But let every man prove his own
work And then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another. For every man shall bear his
own burden. There's a song that says, take
your burden to the Lord and leave it there. Take your burden to
the Lord and leave it there. If God has enabled us to do that,
God has to cause a sinner to do that. I was. thinking on all
this and the sad state of poor souls in religion is they cannot
let go of their burden. You know, Pilgrim had that burden
on his back and he said, if you get to the foot of that cross,
you look up and your burden will fall off. They cannot let go
of that burden. They carry that burden around
with them everywhere they go. And it takes the grace of God
to come to a sinner and show him that Christ has borne the
burden. And if the Lord has done that,
if he has revealed that to a person, if he gives that sinner faith
in Christ, then the burden of sin is not ours to bear. He'll
reveal to that person that the burden of sin is not ours to
bear. I believe he's revealed that
to us. I believe we've been freed from that. I believe that has
fallen off of us. The burden of sin is not mine
to bear. He bore it, right? But with that
being said, there is a burden that every single child carries
Because of the burden that he bore for us, because of the fact
that he bore that sin for us, there's a burden of gratitude.
There's a burden of thanks that we carry to him. There's a burden
of service and a burden of obedience that every single child carries. That's exactly why Paul is writing
what he's writing. There's a burden for men's souls. There's a burden for others'
souls, our own souls and the souls of others. Our Lord said,
to whom much is given, much is required. And we carry a burden
the Lord has given us and given to us and given to us. And we
carry a burden for the souls of others. There's a burden of
this word. All of those Old Testament prophets
wrote about the burden of the word. I enter into that. I feel it. You do too. You want
others to come to this gospel. You want others to hear this
message. You want others to bow the knee.
You beg God to show mercy. That's the burden that we carry.
Every single child carries it. But it's a burden that we gladly
carry, don't we? Gladly. We're honored to carry
the burden. And the reason is because of
everything he's carried for us. We're happy, happy to serve him. We want to serve him. We do. When God goes to work on a heart,
that heart does not say, I would really prefer it if you would
serve him for me. That heart says, I want to serve
him. I want to serve him. I won't be happy until I do.
I love him. I love him. Now, verse six says, let him that is taught in the
word. The one who the Lord has taught
the gospel to by sitting under the preaching of the truth, the
one who's had Christ revealed to him. Let him that is taught
in the word communicate unto. The word communicate means share
with, support, provide for, care for. Him that teacheth in all
good things. He's saying support and provide
for the one that teaches you in all good things. Now, we come across verses from
time to time that talk about giving. The last time, though, that we
talked about specifically supporting the pastor was when we were going
through 1 Corinthians in our Bible study. It's been a while,
been a little while. And we came to that verse of
scripture that says, even so hath the Lord ordained that they
which preach the gospel should live of the gospel. He had just told them in that
portion there that the whole reason the Lord ordained a tithe,
the reason he started 10% was to support the Levites. 10% of everything. If you had
corn, they needed some corn too. If you had lettuce, they needed
lettuce too. If you had spices, they needed
spices too. Every good thing. All right? When we came to that verse, you
all had just bought me an automobile. And it was so clear and it was
so easy for me to say, you are doing exactly what he is telling
you to do. Exactly what he's telling you
to do. He said, communicate unto. All right, well, here we are
again. Here's the next time. Verse six
says, let him that is taught in the word Communicate unto
him that teacheth in all good things. Paul is telling them
take care of the one who teaches you. Love him, care for him,
support him, communicate unto him. I was informed last Wednesday
night after the service that you all have purposed in your
heart to relieve me of another financial obligation. I'm so
thankful. I am so thankful. I'm so humbled. I'm just grateful. I'm just so
so grateful. I can't. I can't describe all
the reasons why I'm thankful. For my family. But I'm thankful
for my family. It is such a good sign. that God is moving on the hearts
of His people. And you're doing it. You're doing
it. Just like I said last time, I
say it again. This is talking about being kind
and good and helping and being followers of Christ and obeyers
of what He's told us to do. And I am so encouraged by what
I see the Lord doing. God is doing it. It is God which
worketh in you both to will and do of His good pleasure. every
single thing that he has mentioned up to this point, if God would
enable us to do it, all glory and praise be unto Him. Isn't that right? It's God which
works in us to do all of these things. And I'm so grateful for
the fact that When the Lord moves on hearts,
it's a sign that He will continue to make His grace grow. That's what it is. And I'm just,
I'm grateful to you. I'm grateful to Him. I want you
to know that. I sincerely want you to know
that. And I do believe He will cause it to grow. I believe He
will cause His grace to grow, His goodness. And here's why. He said in verse
7, Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man
soweth, that shall he also reap. If a man sows to wealth, he'll
reap wealth. And you all need to, you need
to go do what you need to do. you know, to support the ministry
and do the things you're doing, you're called to go to work.
Don't feel guilty for that. But if a man sows to the world
in an unending way, then he's going to reap the world and reap
the world and he'll keep reaping the world and reaping the world.
If a man sows to friendship, he'll reap friendship. This word
right here says, if you want a friend, you must first be a
friend. Sow to it, that's what you'll
reap. If we sow to the gospel, we will reap the gospel. If we
take what the Lord has given us and sow to the Spirit, we
will reap the Spirit. We truly will. It's the promise
of the Lord. What are the things of the Spirit? Chapter 5 verse 22 says, But
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. I want that. I do. Don't you want joy and
love? peace. That's what we all want. We want the love of God. We want
the joy in this word. We want this word to bring joy
to our hearts. When nothing else does, we want
to come in here and find peace with God, peace with His people. That's what we all want. Back
in chapter 6, verse 8 says, For he that soweth to his flesh shall
of the flesh reap corruption. But he that soweth to the Spirit
shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be
weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint
not." Everything that he has mentioned to us so far is well-doing. Doing what's good and right according
to the Word of God. And he's saying if you restore
a brother, you'll have a brother. You'll have a true brother. You
help others bear their burdens, and they'll help you bear yours.
We have plenty of burdens, don't we? Plenty of burdens. You desire
the gospel, you sow towards it, you'll reap the gospel. Everything, though, is going
to be in his due season. Everything is at his time. So
this is what he's telling them. Don't faint. Don't faint. Keep going. Press toward the
mark. Press toward the mark. The Lord
has revealed the gospel of salvation to us. He has revealed His will
concerning us. And He says, be a doer of it.
And press toward the mark. And don't faint. And keep going.
And sow toward the things of the Spirit. Verse 10, he said,
as we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men,
especially unto them who are of the household of faith. I like what Spurgeon said about
this verse. He said, do good unto all men, all men, no matter
where they are, no matter who they are, do good unto all men. But our brethren in Christ, they
have a first claim upon us. Our brethren ought to come first. They are our nearest of kin. Let them have a Benjamin's portion. You know what that means? You
remember that Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery? And God
raised him up to be a ruler in Egypt and then God sent a famine
in the land and his brothers had to go to Egypt and beg food
from Joseph. He gave food to all of them. But if you go back there and
read it, it says he gave five times as much to Benjamin. He
gave something to all of them, but he poured it on Benjamin
five times as much. As Christ has been so kind to
us, so, so kind and generous to us, may we be that way towards
each other. May God truly, truly, I mean
in practice, in heart, give us that exact way with each other
for his sake, for Christ's sake. Verse 10, as we have therefore
opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them
who are of the household of faith. We are continually overtaken
in a fault. continually. May our Lord give
us a heart to never ever stop restoring and loving each other. I don't want to ever stop loving
you. I don't. I don't want it to ever
be over. I really don't. I don't want
us to go our separate ways. I don't want us to divide. I
want us to stay like this unto glory. and will never come apart
in Christ. May God give us that front of
our minds. Let's restore each other. Let's
love each other for Christ's sake. Okay, let's all stand together.