Galatians chapter 6, the title
of our lesson is Our Attitudes Under the Law of Christ. Now
Paul spent most of this epistle telling us how the believer is
free from the law. We have no relationship to the
law whatsoever. We don't have a relationship
with the law as a way of earning a righteousness through our obedience
to the law. The believer has no relationship
to the law as our rule of life. because Christ fulfilled the
law for his people and his obedience is our only obedience to the
law. That obedience, that righteousness
does not depend on us keeping the law in any way. However,
don't be mistaken. Scripture does not teach that
a believer has no works of righteousness or no obedience to Christ. We
do. And if you think you have no
works to do, then you're just as lost as the person who thinks
that his works contribute to his righteousness. Neither the
person who has no works or the person who thinks his works save
him, neither one of those people has any saving faith. Saving
faith is seen by my works. It's not obtained by my works,
but saving faith is seen by my works. That's what James said.
I'll show you my faith by my works. Well, what works are we
talking about? Well, it's what we looked at
at the end of chapter 5, verse 22. The fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, and temperance. These are the things, our works
of the law, the obedience that a believer is to strive for. We're to live in obedience to
the law of Christ. Not the Old Testament law, not
the law of Moses, but the law of Christ, which is the law of
love. And this is what we're going
to see in our lesson today. That obedience is most clearly
seen in our attitudes. Why we do what we do. This is
what's important. And a believer's works are seen
in several different attitudes in this chapter. We're going
to look at five of them this morning. The first one is this. The believer's
attitude toward the weak. In Galatians 6 verse 1. Brethren,
if a man be overtaken in a fall, ye which are spiritual, restore
such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou
also be tempted." Now this brother that Paul is writing about here,
he's overtaken in a fault. He's not living in a pattern
of sin and rebellion and just obstinately will not seek to
quit this pattern of sin. He's overtaken. The word means
by surprise. Something came up he didn't see
and he stumbled and fell into this sin. And the word has to
do with a broken bone that's out of place, and it's causing
the whole body pain. Now, how should we treat that
brother or that sister? Well, not by beating them up
like the law would do, right? We're free from the law, so we're
not to beat them up with the law. We're to forgive that fallen
brother, as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven us. Now, a
believer. Who is a believer? A believer
is a sinner. who's saved by grace. A believer
is a new man who cannot sin, who's carrying around an old
man who can do nothing but sin. Well, then a believer will do
anything an unbeliever will do. He's got the same sin nature.
He's got the same flesh. And a believer will do anything
that an unbeliever will do unless God stops him from doing it.
So we're going to have to deal with our sin and the sin of our
brothers and sisters as long as we live. on this earth. Well,
how are we to handle that? Well, Paul says, you that are
spiritual, restore such a one. Now, who is spiritual? Well,
the person who is spiritual is a believer who walks after the
Spirit, not after the flesh. And that's all believers. But the person who is spiritual
is the person who, by God's grace and God's power, has not fallen
at this particular time, at this particular moment. And that spiritual
man, he knows he stands only because of the power and will
of God. Well, that spiritual man, you know what he will do?
He'll restore his fallen brother. And the word restore, it means
to mend. That fallen brother, remember,
is like a broken bone. Well, you mend him and you mend
him carefully and you mend him lovingly. You don't treat a broken
bone roughly. You treat it carefully and tenderly.
You put that broken bone back in the right place because, listen,
it's going to cause a lot of pain until you do. So you put
that broken bone back in place. Don't destroy him. He's already
fallen. He feels bad enough. Don't destroy
him. Mend him. Bind up his wounds
and bring him back in. Sympathize with him. He's fallen.
Sympathize with him. Like God sympathizes with us.
Christ sympathizes with His people. We have a high priest who's touched
with the feeling of our infirmity. Be touched with the feeling of
your brother's and sister's infirmity. And make it easy for Him to come
back. Make it easy for Him to come back into His place in the
family. He's fallen. He's embarrassed. He's hurt.
Make it easy for Him to come back to worship with the family. How's He ever going to be mended?
How's he ever going to be fed? How's he ever going to be strengthened?
He needs to be in the worship service. Make it easy for him
to come back and feel that fellowship so he can worship. Don't build
a wall to keep him out. Make it hard for him. Don't make
him meet certain conditions. Have to climb over the wall to
come back. He's got a broken bone. He can't climb over the
wall. Tear down the wall. You tear it down and make it
easy for him to come back. Did God make it easy for you
to come to Christ? He sure did. He removed every
barrier. Then you remove every barrier and do the same for your
brother. Now, our obedience in this matter is seen in our attitude. We're going to restore that brother. Don't do it with a holier-than-thou
attitude. Well, look how we're forgiving
you. Now, you follow our example. Look, we haven't fallen like
you, but we're going to forgive you. You've embarrassed us, embarrassed
yourself. We're going to restore you anyway,
but now you just Don't do it with a holier-than-thou attitude.
Our attitude is an attitude of humility, considering yourself
lest you also be tempted. The only reason I'm spiritual
and haven't fallen is God hasn't allowed me to be tempted. If
He allows me to be tempted, I'm going to fall every time. Without exception, if He allows
me to be tempted, I will fall. Didn't our Lord teach us for
that reason to pray, deliver us from temptation? Because if
the Lord allows us to be tempted, we're going to fall. So we understand
the need for tenderness and forgiveness, don't we? Now, we're not excusing
sin, we're not excusing bad actions or attitude, but we're to show
tenderness and forgiveness at the same time. Verse 2, this
is our attitude toward the fallen brother and toward one another.
Bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.
Now Paul says, bear ye one another's burdens. Do you know what he
means? Put up with one another's faults and do it quietly and
patiently. Remember, your brother has a
broken bone. He's fallen and he's got a broken bone. He's
in the body of Christ, but he's not a weight bearing bone right
now. So you bear the weight for him with this attitude. Don't do it. Well, I'm going
to do this because I have to. No, do it with this attitude. He ain't heavy. He's my brother.
I'm going to bear his burden. And that's what we will do if
we love. If we love Christ and we love
one another. And now 1 Corinthians 13 says, love beareth all things. Well, you'll bear one another's
burden if you love one another. Love beareth all things, believeth
all things, hopeth all things, and endureth all things. How
long do I have to bear my brother's burden? As long as it takes.
Love endures all things. Now the Galatians had fallen
into this fascination with the law, the law of Moses. And Paul
had written to tell them, you're not under the law. Well, you
want a law? I'll give you one. How about
fulfilling the law of Christ, which is the law of love? The
law of Christ is far more reaching than the law of Moses because
it's the law of love. Look at John chapter 13. I'll show you how this is the
law of Christ. Outwardly, I would do everything the law of Moses
tells me to do. Paul says, if I have not love,
I'm nothing. I'm nothing. The law of Christ
is the law of love. John 13, verse 34. A new commandment I give you.
Now, this is the law. The law delivered from Christ.
A new commandment I give you. That you love one another. As
I have loved you. That you also love one another.
By this shall all men know you are my disciples. This is the
distinguishing mark of the disciples of Christ. If you have love one
to another. Now you fulfill that law. The
law of Christ by loving one another. And love covers a multitude of
sins. Love is going to heal a multitude
of sins. Love will heal a multitude of
broken bones. Your medicine is good when I'm
sick. rule in our house, you can't
complain about a headache until you've taken some Tylenol. The
other day, Janet said, I've got a headache. She said, you've
taken some Tylenol? I said, no. I said, you want me to get you
some? Because you can't complain about it until you've taken some
Tylenol. Medicine's good when I'm sick, but give it to me with
compassion. Don't go get the Tylenol and
throw it at me. Give it to me with compassion. I'll feel a
whole lot better whole lot sooner if you give me the medicine with
compassion and a teaspoon of sugar." Now, I really will. That's
our attitude toward our fallen brother. Compassion, forgiveness
in an attitude and spirit of meekness, lest thou also be tempted. Because we know we'll fall if
we're tempted. Now, secondly, here's our attitude about ourselves.
Verse 3, where if a man thinks himself to be something when
he's nothing, he deceiveth Now, our attitude about ourselves
is very closely tied to our attitude about others. How do we start
thinking that we're something when we're nothing? Well, it's
not by reading God's word, is it? You can't read God's word
and think you're something. No, when we read God's word,
we know we're nothing. We just think that we're something
by looking at God. You can't look at God and who
he is and what he's done and think that we're something. You
can't do that. We didn't think we're something by looking to
Christ. We can't think we're something
when we look at the Savior. How can we think we're something
when we compare our weakness to His strength? We can't think
we're something when we compare our rags of righteousness to
His perfect righteousness. We can't think we're something
with our weak love to our brethren when we look at His perfect love
for us. No, the reason that we start to think we're something
is we looked at our fallen brother. and compared ourselves to him.
I said, well that's shame. Shame he did that. I'd never
do that. Now wait a minute. The only reason we haven't done
that is God's not allowed us to. Now is that right or isn't
it? Now it is. That's exactly right. God just
has not allowed us to be tempted like that. And if you don't think
you wouldn't do that, now you don't know the weakness of your
flesh very well. You don't know the sinfulness
of your nature. very well. You don't know how frail and
weak that we all are by nature. You know the reason the Pharisee
in the temple thought he was something else? He compared himself
to that publican, didn't he? He said, I'm not like that guy
back there. That's why he thought he was something. That publican
thought he was nothing, was ashamed because he looked at himself.
That's the difference. So instead of comparing yourself
to somebody else and what you've done, what somebody else is doing,
What Paul's saying is, mind your own business. Do what God's given
you to do. I promise you that's a full-time
job. Do what it is God's given you to do, then you won't have
time worrying about what your brethren are doing. That's what
he says in verse 4. He 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. Fulfill your own responsibilities that God's given
you to do. And stay out of what God's given
somebody else to do, you know. And when Paul says, bear your
own burdens, that means your own faults, your own burdens.
You bear them yourself. Don't be putting them on your
brother. Don't be putting the burden of the law on your brother
with your judgmental attitudes and your harsh attitudes when
he's fallen. And don't put your sin and your bad attitudes on
them and say, Well, they've got to bear it. I mean, no matter
what I do, they've got to bear it. Don't put that burden on
me. The burden God's given them is
enough. It's heavy enough. Don't add
to it. You bear your own burden. That's our attitude towards ourselves.
Third is our attitude about giving in verse six. Let him that's
taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all
good things. Now, you who are taught. You've
taught God's Word. And you're blessed by it. You
feed upon it. You who are taught, you support the one who teaches.
You're to support your pastor. He preaches the Word. He teaches
the Word to you. And not just here, but other
places. We're to support missionaries
and other causes, as the Lord enables us to, with this attitude. Remember, we're looking at attitudes.
Now, you give with this attitude. Because God's given to you. Everything
you have, God gave you. And God's given you who believe
the unspeakable gift of His Son. Now you give with that attitude
freely for the glory of Christ and for the good of His people. And I was studying this lesson
this week. And, you know, of course, I'm thinking of you all.
You all do this so well. God's given you a generous heart,
a gracious heart. And I'm just I'm so thankful
for you. I wouldn't be with anybody but
you. I'm thankful to God for you. But now we're going to see this
in a minute. Don't quit. God has given you a generous
heart. You're famous for your generosity and your giving. But
don't quit. That's why we're going to see
this in a minute. And you know, all of us give to support the
ministry. I do. I give to support the ministry.
And I'm not the only one blessed by your giving. You get a blessing
when you support your pastor financially. And here's how,
because you give to pay me a salary. I don't have to become entangled
with devoting a bunch of time that all the time, you know how
much time is required to earn a living. I don't have to go
out in the world and first spend time earning money to pay the
electric bill and buy food and make the house payment and stuff.
I don't have to do that because of your giving. So that I give
all my time to prayer and to study, to study God's word, to
seek his message, So that on Sundays and Wednesdays, I've
got a message worth hearing. You ought to be able to come
here and have a message that's worth hearing. The message of
Christ that your soul can feed upon. You get that blessing from
your giving. And believers love to give. We
receive a blessing when we give. We love to give. Don't miss out
on the blessing of giving. Don't miss out on that. Give
generously. And don't hold back because you're
afraid you won't have enough. God will bless. He will supply
your need. You give generously because you'll
miss a blessing if you don't. Look at verse 7. I'll show you
that. Be not deceived. God's not mocked. For whatsoever
a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that sows to his
flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. For he that sows
to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. Now don't
be deceived, and that applies to several things that Paul has
been writing about in this epistle. First of all, don't be deceived
by these false prophets. Salvation is a hard work. Salvation
is a supernatural work of God. It doesn't have anything to do,
it's not contributed to by our works. You may have some works
that impress men outwardly, but your heart's wrong and your attitude
is wrong if you think those works contribute to your salvation
or your righteousness or your standing with God. If you're
looking at how you keep the law instead of looking to Christ
alone, your attitude's wrong, your heart's wrong, and God's
not mocked. God's not going to bless that.
He's not going to save that person. And this also applies to all
these other attitudes that we've looked at. If you don't forgive
generously and lovingly, but you have a legalistic attitude,
well, I can't believe they did that. Why should we have to forgive
them? Law forbids that. Well, I don't know why we'd have
to put up with that. A believer wouldn't do something
like that. God's not mocked. God's not going to bless that
legalistic attitude. And in this matter of giving,
if you don't give out of generous heart, you say, well, I'm going
to calculate this out and I'm going to give 10% because that's
what the law requires. God's not going to bless that.
He's not going to bless giving of that poor attitude. Now, listen,
you hold back all you want to. Whatever it is that you think
you need to provide for your flesh, you hold it back. It's
your money, you do with what you want. You know, someone asked
me once, I brought a message on giving, and it said, did that
make you nervous, was that awkward, you know, because you're the
pastor? No, I'm not begging for your money. Keep it, it's yours.
Keep it if you want it. It's up to you. But Scripture
says, if you sow to the flesh, you'll reap to the flesh. Well,
what's the end of all flesh? The end of all flesh, all flesh,
is death and corruption. Sow to your flesh if you want
to. You know what you're going to reap? Death. Just a big old
pile of corruption. That's what you're going to reap.
Whatever it is that you hold back, that you could give, it's
going to breed worms and be worthless. That's sowing to the flesh. That's
what it's always going to amount to. But sowing to the Spirit's
different. Now when you sow to the Spirit,
you're sowing, you're giving, you're earthly things, you're
not only your material things, but your time and your energy
towards spiritual good, towards goals that are spiritual. If
you give of your earthly goods and your time and your talents
with this attitude for the glory of Christ, for the spread of
the gospel, God will bless that. If you sow like that, you'll
reap spiritual blessings. You'll reap eternal happiness
that'll never rot and never decay. And I'll give you a couple of
examples, hypothetical examples. Suppose there's a congregation
and it's their attitude. They give, but it's not generous
at all. They could give more. God blessed them materially,
but they're just not going to give generously because they're
going to provide for themselves a home. And they're going to
provide for themselves a vacation home at the beach. Both of them
big, nice places, you know. Well, I got that home down here
at the beach. I've got to have me a big boat,
too. Not just a boat. I'm going to have a big boat.
And well, I've got this boat, but I've got to have a jet ski.
Well, better get me two for me and my wife both, you know. I've
got to have all the toys. I've got me a car, and I'm a
wife of a car. Mama, get me a sports car, drive
around in the spring, you know, top down. And then they keep
their pastor poor, because they think, well, man, God, you know,
He's got to have a life of poverty. Don't be surprised when the Lord
doesn't bless that ministry. Don't be surprised in the least.
And that applies to us on an individual basis too. This is
more important and more applicable to us. This congregation is known
for giving. But if each of us as individuals
We don't give to support the ministry. We don't give to the
cause of Christ as much as God has enabled us to. Don't be surprised
when God doesn't bless us, when He doesn't bless the preaching
of Christ to our heart, like it seems others around us are
being blessed. Don't be surprised. If you don't put forth the effort
to be here for the Bible class, and you don't put forth the effort
to be here on Wednesday nights, and you don't put forth the effort
to be here on Sunday morning, well, you know, I'll come on
Sunday morning. That's pretty important. Unless something else comes up.
Well now, don't be surprised if the Lord doesn't bless you
with growth and grace. Because this is where God's people
are fed. And if you don't treat your worship
service seriously, you don't make an effort to be here, don't
be here carefully and prayerfully, don't be surprised if the Lord
doesn't bless His Word to your heart while others seem to be
being blessed. And also don't be surprised if
others aren't blessed by you. Sowing and reaping. are good
examples of what we're talking about here. A farmer goes out
in the spring and sows corn seed. You know what he's going to reap
in the fall? Corn. He's never going to reap cotton.
He's always going to reap corn. Well, if you sow to the flesh,
what are you going to reap? Corruption. Flesh. And if you sow to the
spirit, what are you going to harvest? Spiritual blessings. If the farmer goes out in the
spring and he says, to get rid of all this corn, I'm just going
to sow a little bit of corn. Well, come harvest time, what's
he going to have? He can have a small harvest, didn't he? But
if he goes out there and sows a bunch, sows everything God
gave him, what kind of harvest is he going to have? He's going
to have a bountiful harvest because he sowed it. Same thing is true
spiritually. If you sow a bunch, God, there's
going to be a large harvest of spiritual blessings. But now
listen, we're talking about attitudes here. Give with the right attitude. Don't give thinking, well, you
know, Scripture says if I sow much, I'm going to reap much,
you know, I'm going to give a bunch, so God's going to bless me more
than I gave. That's investing. That's not giving. That's the
wrong attitude. That's making God a debtor to you to pay you
back what you invested. That's not giving. That's the
wrong attitude. How are we to give? What's our
attitude in giving? Out of love. Out of love. God's blessed me. God has blessed. I truly consider myself to be
the most blessed man on this planet. I got a wife. She's a treasure to me. We talk about the Lord. God saved
my wife. She and I can talk about the
Lord together. We just enjoy it. I've got two daughters. The
Lord saved them both. We get together Daughters, kids
in their 20s. You know what they like to talk
about? They like to talk about the Lord. What more could I ever
ask for? God's blessed me. Oh, I'll be
happy to give. I'll be happy to. How He's blessed
me. Out of love. Out of love for
God's people. I want to help somebody. I want
the Gospel to be able to go forth in power. Somebody here's in
need. It'd be my joy to give to you.
If I've got it, I'll give it to you. It'd be my joy to do
that. Out of love. That's our attitude in love.
We give because we desire to see a spiritual harvest. And
not just for us. But anywhere the Lord might be
pleased to bless. We send money down there to the
missionaries in Mexico. Wouldn't it be wonderful? The
Lord's going to bless that. He has all these years. Don't
you reckon He's going to continue to bless it? I think He would.
We give. Anybody here interested? and
seeing a spiritual harvest for our children? I believe I give. I like to see that. How about
our community? Do you like to see God save His
people of our community? If it's going to spread the gospel
to them, I'd be happy to give to that. It's out of love. See that? If we sow our material
things, our energies and our times and our talents, Roy's
going to sow his talents. I'm going to keep him from looking
at these heat pumps. Because why? We want a spiritual harvest.
You know, it's a... I mean, Aaron's comfortable.
Aaron Bell's probably like to worship in a little bit of a warm...
Well, you know, he's going to sow his time, take care of that.
I promise you this, from God's Word, he's going to give a far
greater spiritual blessing than whatever it is that we've sowed.
Because it's by His grace, not by our effort. See, that's the
right attitude. Then, fourth, here's our attitude towards God's
providence, verse 9. Let's not be weary in well-doing.
For in due season we shall reap if we faint not." Now, don't
be weary. Here's what Paul's telling us
in this verse. Don't quit. Don't quit. The word weary means
discouraged. So discouraged that you just,
you can't go on. You just say, well, what's the
point in being loving and forgiving? And what's the point in having
a meek and humble attitude? And what's the point in giving?
Nobody else is. Why do I have to be the only
one doing the right thing when nobody else is? Don't be weary. Don't be discouraged and don't
quit well-doing. Now, we'll see this more next
week, but doing well, well-doing, has to do with worshiping through
the right sacrifice. Well-doing has to do with coming
to God in worship through the right sacrifice, with the right
attitude. And it's easy to get discouraged. I understand. We get discouraged
when our brother falls. I mean, you know, I understand
he doesn't do the right thing. We get discouraged. We get discouraged,
we get disgusted when we look at ourselves and we just our
thoughts and our actions, but don't quit. Keep looking to Christ. Keep running your race with patience.
Peter said you do well to take heed to a more sure word of prophecy.
You do well to continue the believing the gospel. I know you forgave
somebody and they did it again, but don't be discouraged. Don't
quit. Forgive them 70 times, 7 times.
And whatever that is, 490, it doesn't mean 490. That means
with perfection, always. I know people are ungrateful
and they did wrong with what you gave them. Don't be discouraged. Keep giving. When we were on
vacation, I stopped at a rest area in a park beside this couple.
I noticed them. And went in and come back out
to get in the car and he came out and stopped me and he said,
he said, broke down here. My alternator went out and he
said, they got to have cash. They won't take, he said, I don't
have a credit card and they won't take a check. They don't have
cash, you know. And I gave him some money to get his alternator
fixed. And I noticed him, his wife in the car and she looked
like she had a day. They had a little baby in the
back seat, you know. I thought, I wish they'd get
on the road. I gave him a little bit of money. He hopped in his
car and told his wife, will you get on the road again? Started
up his car and zoomed off. And Janet said, his alternator
is bad. Did you just waste that? No. Maybe he spent all the money
he had getting his alternator fixed by a regular gas man. I
don't know. Don't worry about that. Don't be discouraged. God
laid it on your heart. He gives it. Don't be discouraged.
I know they did wrong with it. People do that, you know. Don't
be discouraged. It may seem like nobody else
is faithful. Don't be discouraged. You keep
being faithful. You will reap in due season.
It may be a while. Maybe you'll not see it in your
lifetime. But you'll reap in due season. You know, when a
farmer sows seed, he doesn't go out the next morning and reap,
does he? No. Not next week. Not next month.
He's got to wait a long time. It's going to take months. And
yet during that time, that farmer not sitting on his hands, he'd
been faithful to the farm God's given him to do. He's out there
weeding. He's keeping up his equipment. He's fixing his barn.
He might have some cattle or chickens or somebody to take
care of. He's working. And in God's time, he's going
to reap. Harvest time is going to come
in the fall and the fruits going to be ripe and he's going to
reap in due time, in due season. Don't quit. In due season, you'll
reap once God's time. Listen, Christ is never served
in vain. You'll reap in due season. And
then last, here's our attitude toward all men, verse 10. As
we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men,
especially unto them who are of the household of faith. Now
this is our attitude toward all men. Do good to them. Be helpful to them. You know,
be helpful to your neighbors. Be kind and gracious to all people,
even your enemies, every time God gives you the opportunity.
And not just to you and yours now, to everyone, everyone. You just don't know. You may
entertain angels unawares. That's our attitude toward all
men. And especially, be especially aware of this to the family of
God, to the household of faith. You look around you. These are
your brothers and your sisters. Take care of them. They're all
you got. Take care of them, especially
those who are of the household of faith. That's our attitude
toward all men. All right, I hope the Lord will bless that too.