Galatians 6, Paul begins with
this sweet word, brethren, brethren, same father, same savior, and
same salvation, brethren. Oh, the ties of grace, brethren. If a man be overtaken in a fault, if a man be overcome by some
sin, you know how easily it could
take place because you know how easily it could take place with
you. If a man be overtaken with some
sin, and it's obvious that it's of some kind of public nature
because it's something that everybody knows about. Now I can't express the importance
of living a life before this world without blame and without
fault. living in a way that honors Christ
before men. Amen. It's of great importance. But we also understand when someone
is overcome with a fault, overtaken with a fault, because we know
ourselves and we can't look down our nose at anybody. And we don't want our brothers
and sisters to feel anything but this. If a man be overtaken
in a fault, you which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit
of meekness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. Can't you readily understand
anybody being overtaken in a fault? Can't you understand that? Now, Paul says, restore such
a one. And the word means mend. set
the broken bone back in place, perfect them. As a matter of
fact, Paul used this word when he said he wanted to come to
the Thessalonians to perfect that which concerns their faith,
to bring it to its end. He says, restore such a one in
the spirit of meekness. And who is called upon to do
this? You which are spiritual. You which are spiritual, restore
such a one in the spirit of meekness. Now, I think it's interesting
how this word is used a lot in our day. Somebody says, I'm spiritual. No, you're not. No, you're not. You're not spiritual unless you're
born again by the Holy Spirit. unregenerate, you don't have
a spirit. Your spirit's dead. And when
someone is born again, they're given a new spirit. That which
is born of the spirit is spirit, and they're given a spiritual
nature. So he's calling upon every believer, you which are
spiritual, restore such and one in the spirit of meekness, considering
yourself. Oh, this is so important. considering
yourself, lest you also be tempted. You know that if you're tempted,
you are going to fall worse than that brother. You really believe
that. You know all you got to do is be tempted and down you
go. That's why we pray, lead us not into temptation. I don't
want to be tempted because I know what happens when I am tempted.
So I ask the Lord, don't let me even be tempted. And when
we see this brother who has been overtaken by this fault, by this
sin, We restore them in the spirit of meekness, humility, not with
a holier-than-thou attitude, but a spirit of humility, considering
ourselves lest we be tempted. Now, if I come to somebody censoring
them and rebuking them for their actions, all I'll do is offend
them and drive them away. That's all that will happen.
When you come with this holier-than-thou, self-righteous attitude, all
you do is draw people away. How do you restore people? Preach the gospel to them. What
is it that restores? The gospel. The gospel of grace. the gospel of Christ. You know,
he doesn't give any clear process of restoration. Well, first here
is what you need to do. You need to repent and come before
the church and ask for apology. And then you need to all these
different things that churches do. No, restore such a one in
the spirit of meekness by preaching the gospel to them, reminding
them of the freeness of God's grace, reminding them that we
will bring dishonor upon the Lord, apart from His grace, and
how greatly we need this grace. Now, if this is done in a holier-than-thou,
self-righteous manner, the person doing it is actually committing
a greater sin than the person who's been overtaken by the fault.
Do you believe that? Self-righteousness is the greatest
sin. The greatest. I hope we all believe
that. He says in verse two, bear ye
one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Now, the Galatians had demonstrated
some perverted desire to be under the law. Always wanting to hear
about the law and Paul says, I'll give you a law. If that's
what you want, let me give you this law. Bear ye one another's
burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Now, question. What is most burdensome to you? Now, if you're a believer, I
know how you answered that question. You say, with David, my sins
are gone over my head. They're a heavy burden, too heavy
for me to bear. Your great burden is your sin. Your sin against God. Moses even said in Psalm 90,
thou hast set our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.
Your sin, your personal sin, the sin you commit over and over,
the sins you commit over and over, what a grief they are to
you, what a burden they are to you. Paul says, bear one another's
burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Now we all have faults. We all have inconsistencies. We all have contradictions. Isn't that so? Is that so about
you? I know it's so about me. I know
it's so about you too. We all have these things. What are we
to do? That word bear means put up with one another, love one
another anyway. Turn with me to Colossians chapter
three for just a moment. Paul put it this way in Romans
chapter 15 verse one, we then that are strong ought to bear,
overlook. the infirmities of the weak.
Now that's what that means. Overlook one another. That doesn't
mean my sin is okay. It doesn't mean your sin is okay
either. But this is the law of Christ. Bear ye one another's
burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Turn to Colossians
chapter three, beginning in verse 12. Put on therefore as the elect
of God, holy and beloved, boughs of mercies, kindness, humbleness
of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another and forgiving
one another. If any man have a quarrel against
any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye." That's the command
of the law of Christ. Bear one another's burdens, and
so fulfill the law of Christ. Now here's what this looks like.
Listen real carefully. What's this look like when someone
bears somebody else's burdens and overlooks their burdens?
We should never expect concessions for our sins and our faults from
other people. And they ought to just overlook
this in me. They ought to overlook it. I mean, it's a constitutional
sin. Everybody's got their constitutional sins and just they're besetting
sins. Everybody's got sins like that. And I was raised in a certain
way and people ought to overlook the way I am because that's just
me. That's the way I am. And they
ought to be more thankful. I am like this and I'm not worse
than I am. They ought to just overlook all
this kind of stuff. No, no, no. I should never expect anybody
to overlook my sin or make concession for my inconsistencies. I'm to take full responsibility
for my sin and not expect any concessions from anybody, but
we are to be full of concessions for everybody else. Can you imagine
what kind of place this would be if everybody practiced that?
They'd make no, expect no concessions for themselves, but they'd make
nothing but concessions for everybody else. Can you imagine what kind
of place any place would be where that was continually put into
practice? Now, I'm to look at everybody's
burdens with empathy and sympathy, knowing that it's a burden to
them, and it's a burden to me, too. And I'm empathetic, and
I'm sympathetic, and I make concessions for them. Now, isn't that the
way everybody ought to be? And my dear friends, that's the
law of Christ, and isn't it a beautiful law? It's a beautiful law. bear
ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ."
Now what this is talking about is the law of love. I love what
the Lord said to his disciples. He said, you love one another
as I have loved you, so love ye one another. Now think about
what he says love one another as I have loved you, so love
ye one another." Now how does Christ love us? He said, you
love each other the way I love you. How does Christ love us?
Well, I thought about that scripture in Ephesians chapter 5. It says,
he that loveth his wife loveth himself. When Christ loved his wife, He
loved himself, didn't he? This is speaking of union with
the Lord Jesus Christ. When Christ loved his wife, he
loved himself. Christ loves himself. And what a beautiful love that
is. He loves himself. Oh, he ought
to love himself. He's altogether lovely. He's
perfect. He's glorious. Christ loves himself. And that's how he loves his church,
his bride, because his church is himself. Now, that's how Christ
loved us. He loved himself. And that's
the way we are to love one another as we are in the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
13 for just a moment. Though I speak with the tongues
of men of angels and have not charity, I am become as a sounding
brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of
prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though
I have all faith so that I can remove mountains and have not
charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods
to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned,
and have not charity, it profits me nothing. Now look at this
description of charity, and such a description of the Lord Jesus
Christ, you could put his name in it, it's even better. Charity suffers long, and is
kind. It's long-suffering, and it's
kind, it's not mean. Charity envieth not, Charity
vaunteth not itself, it doesn't push itself, it's not puffed
up with pride and conceit. It doesn't behave itself unseemly.
It's not rude. It seeketh not her own. It's
not self-seeking. It's not easily provoked and
touchy. It thinks no evil. It keeps no
records of wrongs, is what that means. It rejoices not in iniquity,
but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, and that
word meaning it covers all things. Love covers a transgression.
It believes all things. It hopes all things. It endures
all things. It never fails. Isn't that beautiful?
That's the law of Christ, the law of charity, the law of love. Now, this is the most beautiful law
in the world, the law of Christ. And if you're like me, you're
thinking, well, people ought to treat me that way. They ought
to treat me with that kind of love. Now, if that's the way
you're thinking, you're thinking wrong. No, that's the way you
ought to treat others. Not the way you ought to be treated,
but the way you're to treat others with this charity that he speaks
of. Now, back to our text in Galatians 6. Brethren, if a man be overtaken
in a fault, You which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit
of meekness. Considering yourself, lest you
also be tempted, bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill
the law of Christ." Now, do you know what prevents a man from
fulfilling the law of Christ? He tells us in verse 3, if a
man thinks himself to be something. That's what happens when a man
thinks himself to be something. That's what prevents him from
fulfilling the law of Christ. When a man thinks himself to
be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. What prevents a man from fulfilling
the law of Christ is a high opinion of himself and a low opinion
of everybody else. if a man thinks himself to be
something. You know, the Apostle Paul, turn
back to 2 Corinthians chapter 12. Look what Paul thought about
himself. And this was not a false humility. He said in verse 11, I've become
a fool in glory and you've compelled me for I ought to have been commended
of you for nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles. What's
he say next? Though I be, what? Nothing. Paul the apostle saw
himself to be nothing. And he was the very, he said,
and he was speaking with understanding when he said, I'm not a whip
behind the very chiefest apostle. As a matter of fact, Paul was
the chiefest apostle. He was the man God used more
than anybody else to expand the gospel. And yet, what does he
say about himself? Though I be nothing. Now, it's a good thing to be
nothing. It's a real good thing to be nothing. I love that Matt
sang that song, Christ is all. When is Christ all to you? When
you are nothing. When you are nothing, he's all. You know, I love that, just to
be able to say this, I'm a poor sinner and nothing at all. that
Jesus Christ is my all in all. Now, I realize I have nothing
to bring to the table. I have no thing in me that God
could accept or be pleased with. I have nothing. Oh, how easy
it is to trust Christ as my all. He's all I have. He's all I want.
He's all I need. He's all. He's all. It's so easy
when you're a nothing for Christ to be all. But if you're something,
now listen real carefully, if you're something, you know what
you are? You're a self-righteous, arrogant jerk who's always very
easy and lenient upon yourself and very self-righteous and judgmental
toward others. That's what that person is who
is something. He has concocted this view of
himself that is false. He's deceived himself. He's lied
to himself and made himself believe the lie about himself. And you
know, you ever done that? I have. I've been able to lie
to myself and make myself believe the lie. And that's what he warns
us of. If a man thinks himself to be
something when he's nothing. He deceives himself. He's told himself a lie. He's
concocted this self-image that is purely not real and said,
this is me, when no, it's not. I love the way Paul handles that.
He says in verse four, 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. Now what's that mean
when he says bear, one another's burdens, and then he says, every
man shall bear his own burden. Now, I think it's interesting
when Paul is dealing with the brother overtaken in a fault,
he gives a whole lot more instruction about the person who restores
him than he does about the brother overtaken in a fault, doesn't
he? He gives a lot more instruction. And he, first of all, he says
in verse four, he says, let every man prove his own work. Don't
compare yourself to somebody else. Never compare yourself to somebody
else. That's the religion of the Pharisee. Lord, I thank thee that I'm not
as other men are. Particularly, don't compare yourself
to this brother who's been overtaken in a fault and think, well, at
least I haven't been overtaken by this fault. Don't compare
yourself to anybody else. Forget the sins of everybody
else and put yourself under scrutiny. May God give me the grace to
do that. Now, do you, let's just forget everybody
else right now. Do you look to Christ right now
as all you have in salvation? Just forget everybody else. I'm
asking you. Do you look to Christ as the only righteousness you
have? His shed blood is the only sin
payment you have? His intercession is the only
reason God wouldn't cast you off. You really believe that
Christ is all in your salvation, and you really are resting in
Him. I mean, I'm not asking you if your faith is perfect. Of
course it's not. You always have unbelief. It's always there,
but you really do. I'm asking you, do you really
look at Christ as everything in your salvation? And let me
ask you this. In the context of this passage
of Scripture, Paul had been talking about the fruit of the Spirit.
Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, gentleness, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Now, I
want to ask you, I know that you don't feel good about the
fruit you bear, but do you love God as He is? Now, you can answer
that question. Do you love His holiness? Do
you love His sovereignty? Do you love His justice? Do you
love His grace? Do you love the way He saves
by grace? Do you love God? Do you love
the fact that He's immutable, that He'll never change? Do you
love Him as He's eternal, never had a beginning? Do you love
God? Do you love His Son? Do you love
the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you see Him as altogether
lovely? Do you see Him as everything in salvation? Now you can answer
that question. You can see whether that's in your heart when we
talk about the fruit of the Spirit. You can see evidence of the fruit
of the Spirit. Do you have joy that salvation is really all
together by grace? Does that give you joy? Does
that give you peace that salvation's all together in Christ? Does
that give you peace? You don't have any peace if you
think God requires anything from you, but that He looks to Christ
for everything. You have peace, don't you? You're
rejoicing that. Longsuffering. You see His longsuffering
to you. You see His, oh, how long-suffering
has the Lord been with you. And by His grace, when you see
His long-suffering to you, you can be long-suffering toward
somebody else. And His gentleness, His kindness. You want to be
gracious, don't you? You want to be gracious. That's your great desire is to
be like Him, to be like your Master, to be gracious. Goodness,
that's a capacity for mercy. Faith! You really do believe
the gospel, don't you? It really is gospel to you. You
really do rely on the Lord Jesus Christ. You really have faith. Meekness? Oh, do you think you're
meek? No, I'm proud. That shows you
do have some humility. The person who doesn't have any
humility is the person who thinks he's got it. Nothing more irritating
than phony false humility. But you do feel low before God,
don't you? You really do. You don't feel
proud and haughty and arrogant before the Lord. You feel love
for God. Temperance. Oh, the control from
within, and it's the fruit of the Spirit that keeps you from
being what you would be. You know what you would be if
God the Holy Spirit didn't keep you from it and preserve you
from it. Now, every believer can see, in some measure, the
fruit of the Spirit. Now, in that, you can have rejoicing
in yourself in what the Lord has done for you. Has he given
you faith? You can rejoice. Has He given
you the fruit of the Spirit? You can see whether He has. If
He has, you can rejoice. The Lord has done something for
you. You can rejoice in what He's done in you and not by comparing
yourself to somebody else. You don't want to do that. You
see, if you compare yourself to somebody else, it's a corrupt
standard. And if you compare yourself to
somebody else and think you come out better, you're blind. It
just really is that way. It's just not so. The only thing
to do is to see what the Lord has done for you. Do you really
believe the gospel? Do you really have his work in
you? Now, verse four, let every man
prove his own work, then shall he have rejoicing in himself
alone and not in another, for every man shall bear his own
burden. Now, while you want to bear others'
burdens with him and fulfill the law of Christ, you're not
seeking to throw your burdens on somebody else. Every man shall bear his own
burden. Now, the burdens people bear,
don't you want to be a help to them? Whatever that burden is,
you really want to be a help. You want to be a burden bearer
with people you love. You want to help them in whatever
way you can. Well, we should. But we're not
to try to throw our burdens on somebody else. Now, may the Lord
help me. I bear the burden of original
sin. I was born with that burden of
original sin, and I bear it. I don't blame Adam for it. I
take full responsibility for it. Somebody says, well, I wouldn't
have done what Adam did. I would have. I have no doubt
about that. And I bear the burden of original
sin. And it's a burden, isn't it?
This evil nature that we have. And I bear the burden of my actual
sins. Oh, they're ever before me. They're
ever before me. What a burden they are. And they're
all my fault. I can't blame anybody else. I
can't blame my raising. I can't blame my circumstances
or what that, no. All my sin is all my fault. And I bear that burden and I
don't place it on somebody else. That's my burden that I bear. And you know, I have a burden that only I can
bear. Nobody can bear it for me. I
have particular responsibilities that only I can do. Nobody can
believe for me. I myself must believe the gospel.
I can't believe because my mom and daddy do. I must repent. Nobody can do that for me. I
must forgive. Nobody can do that for me. I
must give. Nobody can do that for me. I've
got responsibilities in the gospel that only I can do. Nobody can do them for me. And
I'm to bear the burden myself. Now, For every man shall bear his
own burden. I think it's interesting. You
know, we, in one sense, we're isolated. We bear our own burden. Nobody can bear it for us. And in another sense, we bear
one another's burdens, don't we? Because we love each other
and we want to fulfill the law of Christ. Now, this is the thought
I want to leave you with. The law of Christ. The law of
Christ. I like that. The law of Christ. This is good law, isn't it? The
law of Christ. Now, in the New Testament, There
are six different laws mentioned, all of which define what a believer
really is. When God said, I'll write my
laws thorough in their heart and write them in their minds,
he's not talking about the Ten Commandments. You see, everybody's
born knowing the Ten Commandments. Everybody knows it's wrong to
lie. Everybody knows it's wrong to steal. Everybody knows it's
wrong to kill. That's why I personally have
a real hard time when people start talking about, I want to
be taught how to live. You already know how to live. Now, you do. You
do. You know what's right. You know
what's wrong. I want to be taught how to live.
Well, you already know. And that's just a smokescreen
for something else, really, when it comes right down to it. That's
a smokescreen. Everybody knows how to live. You all know it's
right. You've got to pay your bills, shouldn't you? You ought
to pay every one of them. You ought to pay them gladly. You should never
steal. You should be honest. You should
be upright. You know what sin is. You read
the Ten Commandments. Sin is the transgression of the
law. You know what sin is. So when he's talking about writing
these laws in the heart, he's not talking about the Ten Commandments.
Even the heathen, every heathen born in the darkest recess of
the third world country is born knowing the difference between
right and wrong. They're born with the law written in their
heart according to Romans chapter 2. And what they do is either
excuse one another or accuse one another. So what are these
laws? Well, we read in Romans Chapter
7, verse 23, of the law of sin, which is in my members. The law of sin, which is in my
members. Now this is the experience of
a believer. At all times, I'm aware of a law of sin, which
is in my members. It is there. Paul said, when I would do good,
evil is present with me. I find in a law that when I would
do good, Evil is present with me. Don't you find that as a
law with you? I think of what John said in 1 John 1, verse
8. He said, if we say we have no
sin, we deceive ourselves. And the truth is in us. Now there
he's talking about a sinful nature. At all times I have that sinful
nature. The word is a noun at that time. He's not talking about
actions. He's talking about what I am. And then he said in verse
10, if we say we've not sinned, and there's a verb, with regard
to anything I do. It's sin. Doesn't matter what
it is. If I did it, it's sin. That is the law of sin. And then we read in Romans chapter
9 verse 30 of the law of righteousness. Do you know a believer can never
be satisfied with anything short of a perfect righteousness before
God's holy law? That's the only thing that can
satisfy your conscience for God to look at you as being perfect
before his holy law. Now, you can rest in that, can't
you? But you can't be satisfied with anything else. And then
we read in Romans chapter 14, verse 23 of the law of faith. the law of faith. Now, while
you have unbelief, your new nature cannot not believe, can it? You can't think Christ is not
enough. You can't. You've got a law of
faith that causes you to believe the gospel, and you can't do
anything but that. You believe the gospel. You always have unbelief. I believe. Help my unbelief.
You always have unbelief. But you always have real faith.
And you cannot not believe. You cannot think that Christ
is not enough. You know he is. You have the
law of faith. And then in James 2.12, we read
of the law of liberty. The law of liberty. The law of
freedom. I cannot deal with bondage. I can't deal with law. I can't
deal with works. Can't deal with it. I've got
to have freedom. Freedom free from the law, O happy condition! Jesus hath bled and there is
remission. Cursed by the law and slain by
the fall, Christ hath redeemed us once for all. Oh, what freedom
there is in having all my debts paid. And that's the only freedom
I know about. Completely justified in God's
sight. No requirements for me to perform.
If you give me something that I have to do in order to be saved,
you've taken away all my liberty, my freedom, can't deal with it.
Can't deal with it. The law of liberty, the law of
love. James speaks of in James 2.8, the royal law of love. It's natural for a believer to
love God, to love Christ, to love the gospel, to love God's
people. It's natural. And then the one
we looked at here in Galatians 6.2, the law of Christ. And they
were so enamored with the law. Paul says, okay, here's a law,
and I'll give you a law. Bear ye one another's burdens,
and so fulfill the law of Christ. Isn't that a beautiful law? Let's
pray. Lord, we realize how easily we
can be overtaken in a fault, and we pray for deliverance and
cleansing. And Lord, if someone in our midst
is overtaken in a fault, we pray for your gospel to come powerfully
and fresh to them, that they might be restored and mended
and put back in place. And Lord, how we thank you for
your gospel, how we thank you for the freeness of it, Lord,
enable us by your grace to be quick and willing to bear one
another's burdens, to overlook one another's faults, and to
be lovers of each other's souls as you have loved us. Bless this
message for your glory and for our good. In Christ's name we
pray. Amen.