Well, let us again hear a portion of God's Word read publicly in Galatians 6, verses 1 to 6. If you consider verse 1, verses 2 to 5, I think relates to the same subject. We can seek to consider these as well, where they will drive home how we are to relate to others. Let us hear these verses again, Galatians 6 verses 1 to 5. Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which your spirit shall restore, such as 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. 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. God help us to understand these verses this afternoon. As I return your attention to the closing chapter of Galatians chapter 6 this afternoon, with my intention of considering verses 2 to 5 of this last chapter, I begin by saying something that hopefully you all agree with, have seen, and I believe is clearly illustrated by verses 2 to 5 of Galatians chapter 6. And that's something that I am referring to is the fact that the Bible is a unique book. There is no other book like the Bible in existence. The Bible stands alone. Now, one should expect this to be true about the Bible simply from the perspective that there is no other book that can legitimately claim to be the truth of God, of being the infallible and inerrant Holy Spirit-inspired written Word of God. Now, there are woefully and inadequate false imitators, like the Koran and the Book of Mormon, but anyone who has carefully compared these demonic deceptions with the Bible should easily be able to see that there is no comparison. But the Bible shows itself to be a unique book in a number of ways beyond its infallible inspiration. In fact, it is because of its infallible inspiration that enables it to approach every subject it addresses absolutely correctly. Not the least of which is how it instructs you, believer, as to how you are to relate to those who have sinned. This unique approach is seen in verse 1 of Galatians 6, the verse I directed your attention to this morning, but I believe it is also seen in verses 2 to 5. For example, in radical contrast to how the Bible instructs you to approach someone who has sinned or is sinning, what are two of the ways that non-believers, whether religious or rebellious, approach the sins of others. Now, by a religious non-believer, I am referring to a person who is looking to their religious ritual or law-keeping as the reason that God will accept them, rather than to the finished work of Christ as their only hope of acceptance with God. And by a rebellious non-believer, I am referring to a person who thinks that all he is here for is to eat drink and be merry, even if living out such depravity means rebelling against the revealed will of God in his conscience and what he hears from the scriptures. Now, how do these two groups of unsaved humanity respond to the sins of others? Well, in the case of the religious, they condemn, or look down upon others. since they foolishly think that they are superior to others because of what they are doing. An example of this is seen in the Lord's parable of the Pharisee and the Publican in Luke chapter 18. Just reading verses 9-12 that illustrates this incorrect attitude of the religious to their sinful neighbors. Luke 18 verse 9, and he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a public, and the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. I love that. He's not praying to God, he's just talking to himself. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God I thank thee that I am not as other men are. Extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even, is this, publican, I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. He looks down. That's not the right attitude to have. Whereas on the opposite side of this incorrect approach to the sins and faults of others is the condoning and acceptance of them, as in the case of the rebellious sinner. And a verse that is often misused to justify this flawed and faulty attitude towards the sins of others is the Lord's statement in Matthew 7.1, Judge not that ye be not judged. The rebellious sinner misinterprets this verse to mean that any biblical criticism of the things that he is doing that are wrong is seen as wrong because he does not want to face the truth about his sin. But the fact that Jesus is not condemning all judgment against sin is seen by what he goes on to say about making sure you have judged yourself carefully and more critically first, which is what is reinforced by verses 2-5 of Galatians 6. For the problem with the unsaved religious person's condemnation of sinners is that he errs in one direction, and the unsaved rebellious sinner's condoning of the sins of others errs in the opposite direction. But both are ditches on opposite sides of the pathway that Scripture lays out that need to be avoided. If you are seeking to approach the fact that others sin, even your yet-to-be-glorified brothers and sisters in Christ. Oh, if you are going to approach the subject of the sins of others correctly, you must approach them biblically, which means you must know what the Scriptures teach, as I said this morning, as to what is and what is not sin. But you also must know how You are to approach your unsaved loved one or brother or sister in Christ who has succumbed to some sin. And Paul continues to teach on this correct approach in verses 2 to 5 of Galatians 6. And it is here that the scriptures are so different. It is here that the Scriptures are so different than the response of the unregenerate heart of man that is not being guided and transformed by the Word of God, that the Holy Spirit uses in your heart, believer, to show you how you are to relate those who are either in bondage to their sin, in the case of your unsaved loved ones, or those who have succumbed to some sin in some way, in the case of an erring brother or sister in Christ. And this biblical and therefore correct approach involves you considering both them correctly and yourself correctly. You cannot consider the sin of another person correctly unless you see yourself correctly. And this necessary two-pronged approach, I think is seen by how Paul begins verse 2, with the statement, bear ye one another's burdens, and then he ends his infallibly inspired correct approach to the sins of others with what he writes in verse 5, for every man shall bear his own burden. Now some may incorrectly say or think that Paul is teaching two contradictory things here. For in verse 2 he says, bear ye one another's burdens, and then he says, each man is to bear his own burdens. to think that there's a contradiction in the word of God just as a reflection of a woefully inadequate understanding of who infallibly inspired Paul to write these two statements. The Holy Spirit of God does not and cannot contradict Himself. These two statements do not contradict themselves if you correctly understand them. They reinforce one another and they complement one another. For if you correctly understand what verse 5 is saying, you will understand and be willing to apply what verse 2 says you are to be doing. In fact, if you are not doing what Paul says in verse 5, He will not be able to do what he says to do in verse 2. So rather than outright condemnation of sinners, or the foolish condoning of sinners, what does Paul say you are to do, believer, in verse 2? Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. You are to be willing to bear the burdens of others. Now, what is the greatest burden that afflicts anyone, whether they're believer or non-believer? Well, if you've ever read Pilgrim's Progress, you know what that burden is. That burden that fell off of Christians back at the cross. It was that burden of sin. It's the burden of sin. Oh no, he's preaching on the subject of sin again. Yes, I am. Because unless you see sin as the greatest burden facing all mankind, you will not understand this world, you will not understand yourself, and you will not understand others or the biblical gospel correctly. And it is seeing sin for the burden that it is that will keep you from the unloving responses of the religious and rebellious as seen in the ease with which the self-righteous righteous but lost religious sinner will condemn others, with which the self-righteous but lost rebellious sinners will condone the sin of others. When the Word of God clearly condemns, it is wrong. And I use the word self-righteous for both the religious and the rebellious sinner, not because the unsaved religious and unsaved rebellious sinners approach sin from the same direction, for one condemns and the other condones. But I use the word self-righteous for both of them because of the way both approach the subject of sin. Their approach is right in their own eyes, but clearly wrong from the teaching of the Bible. They are both self-righteous because their attitude towards sin is right in their eyes. But it's wrong according to the teaching of Scripture. But what does the first part of verse 2 say you are to do regarding the sins of others? Bear ye one another's burdens. You're not to condemn them, and you're not to condone them. You are to bear them. Now, this bearing of the sins of others cannot refer to the satisfying of the justice of God for them. That is something only Christ could have done, and something Christ did do for all the sins of His elect sheep. There are no co-redeemers, regardless of what the apostate church of Rome teaches. There is only one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. But bearing the burdens of others means relating to their failures and faults and sins the way the Lord has and the way the Lord continues to relate to your continuing faults and failures and sins. And how does the Lord continue to relate to your sins, believer? How does the Lord continue to relate to your offenses and your trespasses? He continues to forgive you! He continues to intercede for you. And it is easy to see that Paul is being guided by the Holy Spirit and not by the flawed and fallen thinking of the religious or the rebellious, because how does he describe what you were to bear? Bear ye one another's burdens. The sins of others, dear people, are their burdens. Even in the case of the non-believer, they refuse to see their burdens correctly. Their life is all messed up, but they don't want to face the reality that it's because of their sin. But you, believers, see the sins of others correctly if you are being guided by the Holy transformed by the written Word of God to see sin correctly. For you know what the sins of others in the case of the non-believer will result in. Unless he comes to true and saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, his sins will sink his never-dying soul down into hell forever. Is there any greater burden? I know of none. Such a reality? Elicit your bearing His burden through your being compassionate and concerned for Him and not condemning Him even as He refuses to listen to what you might say to Him and may even reject you, may even persecute you? Because I ask you, dear people, what did the Lord Jesus Christ say from the cross? Father, forgive them! for they know not what they do. Impenitent, unbelieving sinners don't know what they're doing. Impenitent, unbelieving sinners think they are the wise ones, but they're the fool, biblically defined. Impenitent, unbelieving sinners are blind to the if they die in penitence. But you are not a believer. And in the case of your erring brother or sister in Christ, bearing their burdens is being willing to forgive them, even as Christ has forgiven you. Ephesians 4.32, And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Colossians 3.13, Forbearing one another and forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. When you forbear the sins of your brothers and sisters in Christ, when you forgive the the sins of your brothers and sisters in Christ, when you bear the sins of your brothers and sisters in Christ, you are not treating them with the condemnation like the religious are condoning their sin as something that is not serious. You are approaching their sin correctly with the understanding that they, like you, have not yet been glorified. This is the truth that Jesus is teaching, but He washed His disciples' feet. John 13, starting to read at verse 3, Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands and that He was come from God and went to God, He riseth from supper and laid aside His garments and took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel over which He was girded. Then cometh He to Simon Peter and saith, Peter saith unto Him, Lord, dost Thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter said unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter saith unto the Lord, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus saith unto him, He that is washed needeth not say it to wash his feet, but is clean every whit. And ye are clean, but not all. For he knew who should betray him, therefore he said, Ye are not all clean. So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me Master and Lord. And ye say, Well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you. Now if you understand the book of John, you know that it is spiritual teaching. The words that I speak to you are spirit and they are life. The flesh prophets you nothing. Jesus is not instituting some new religious ritual in these verses as some in the church have incorrectly taught. Because, dear people, you can wash someone's feet every day and still not be bearing their burdens by harboring unforgiveness towards them. No, you want to fulfill the law of Christ regarding the burdens of others? Then forgive them like Christ has forgiven you. even up to what? 70 times 7? Hold up, that means 70 times 7, that's 490. So I'll get a book out. And once 491 comes along, wow, that's it! That's not what Jesus is teaching. He's saying you have the spirit of forgiveness. You bear with one another's No, you want to fulfill the law of Christ regarding the burdens of others, then forgive them like Christ has forgiven you. And if you are then apply the teachings of verses 3 to 5 to yourself, and then if you have correctly applied them, you will have no problem, or should have no problem, in coming back to verse 2 and doing what it says. For if you have trouble bearing the burdens of others, remember who you are. Verse 3. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. Now what is Paul teaching here? He is teaching the truth that one of the reasons that a person often has difficulty bearing the burdens or faults or sins of others is because they do not have a correct understanding of themselves. What was the problem of the Pharisee in the Lord's parable? He thought that he was better than the publican. See, men deceive themselves when they think that they are incapable of committing the sins that others commit. I would never succumb to the sin of lust. I would never succumb to the sin of envy. I would never succumb to the sin of covetousness or grumbling or intemperance. He who thinks he is standing firm, be careful that he does not fall. Believers, you don't do all things that can be done to the glory of God in your own strength. You do them through the strength that the Lord alone can give you. I can do all things through Christ who strengthened of me. And one of the clearest signs of the deception that rules in the hearts of the unsaved is the idea that they are totally independent of the Lord. They're deceived. They refuse to accept the reality that they are totally and absolutely dependent upon the Lord for everything. What do you have that you have not received? What does any of us in this meeting place have that we have not received from God? Yet the non-believers say, ah, I did it my way. Oh, you stop and you start thinking, what am I? What's a creature? A creature is someone made by God in whom I live and move and have my being. He is the one who has given me breath. He is the one that enables my heart to beat. So the ability to forgive as Christ has forgiven you, believer, is not something natural to your fallen heart. What's natural to the fallen heart? I don't get mad, I get even. But to forgive, as Christ has forgiven you, to bear one another's burdens, is something that only the Holy Spirit can cultivate in your redeemed soul. So if you find yourself having difficulty bearing the sins of others, remember who you are, and second, rather than focusing on their sins incorrectly, examine your own heart But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another." Notice, prove his own work. If you are unwilling or unable to bear the faults of others, put your own thoughts, your own deeds, your own words through the fire. For the word prove is the word used for the assaying of metals to determine how pure they are. And how does an assayer prove the purity of a metal? He puts it through the fire. Well, what fire do you subject your thoughts to, believer? What fire do you subject your words to, believer? Fire, do you subject your deeds to, believer, the purifying and illuminating fire of the risen Word of God? Why was it so easy for the Pharisees to condemn the actions of others because they had diluted and redefined what the Word of God taught regarding sin? But what does Jesus do in the Sermon on the Mount? He shows the depth and the breadth of the Law of God. A truth captured in Hebrews 4.12, for if you are listening to the incarnate word, the Lord Jesus Christ, you will realize the power of the written word of God. Hebrews 4.12, for the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. If you are having difficulty bearing with the faults of others, try all your thoughts, all your words, and all your deeds by the infallible searchlight of the Word of God. Cry out to God, Search me, O God! And try my thoughts, and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. And if you have honestly done this, If you have honestly done that, you will be thanking God for the ability to do anything to His glory and will not be so unwilling to bear with the failings and sins of others. You will be able to bear and see the faults and the sins of others correctly because you see them through the lens of your own failures and your own sins. A truth that Paul brings out in verse 5. for every man shall bear his own burden." When you are aware of how much the Lord has forgiven you, when you are aware of how much the Lord continues to forgive you in your life, it's that two verses from Psalm 130, O Lord, if Thou were to mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand Lord, if you were to mark my iniquities from the beginning, I arose off my bed today. I couldn't stand in your presence. There is forgiveness with you that you might be When you are aware of how much the Lord continues to forgive you in your life, as you are more aware of the areas in your life in which you have sinned and fought in word and in deed against God, as you bear that burden before the Lord again, Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner! Then you will be able to bear the burdens of others, as the law of Christ teaches. As I said, Lord, if you were to mark my iniquities, Lord, if you were to mark my iniquities, if I was to stand before you unprotected by the blood of Christ for even one day, I could not stand in your presence. Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner, then I will be able to bear the burdens of others as the law of Christ teaches. Forgive me of my sins, as I also forgive those who have sinned against me. And so fulfill the law of Christ. And so follow the example of Christ. As I quoted earlier, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Even as Stephen, even as Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, bore that burden as he was being struck by the very rocks that would kill him. Acts 7.60, and he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. He bears that burden of his own death. Don't lay it to their charge, Lord. Oh, believer, the approach you take towards the sins of others will be radically different If you are guiding your approach by the Word of God, you will not be condemning or condoning. Why do I need to condemn them for their sins? They are condemned already. They are condemned already if they are outside of Christ. And if they are my hearing brother or sister in Christ, the chastisement of the Lord is something they will face. Oh, study the life of Christ. Study the life of Christ as He walked in this religious and rebellious world, if you want to have a correct attitude towards the sins of others. Jesus didn't stand on the roadside leading to Jerusalem with a sign saying, God hates fags! What He did was warn sinners. and consequences of going on in their sin. For what was the word that Jesus addressed to the self-righteous religious Pharisees and Sadducees more than once? What was the word He used? It was the word, woe. It was the word, woe. The word, woe, is an interjection. It reflects disaster. How horrible it will be for them if they continue to embrace their religious ways rather than the saving revelation of God. Whoa! And when the Sadducees who doubted the truth of the Word of God tried to trip Jesus up regarding the truth of resurrection, what did He say to them? You err, not knowing the power of God. coming when he's going to raise everyone from the grave. You err. You go on in that foolish idea. And God's not going to say, well, they don't believe that I've got the power to resurrect. He's going to say, come forth. He was bearing with them. When he was confronted with the consequence of sin in the physical death of others, he did not use this time of immediate personal grief to say that this was a sign of the judgment of God upon Israel for its sins. As the Westboro Baptist cult does at military funerals. No, he wept. He wept. at the grave side of Lazarus. But does this mean that Jesus was soft on sin? Not at all! For no one was more clear on the consequences of going on in sin than Jesus Christ is in the Gospels. So when people, most likely not directly related to those who have suffered these tragic deaths, come to Jesus, possibly trying to question the sovereignty of God, and caused tragedies. He did not shy away from declaring what these people needed to hear, as seen in Luke 13 verses 1-4. He bore with their incorrect focus in questioning the ways of God. There were present at that season some that told them of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered, Answering, said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell ye, Nay. But except ye repent, ye shall alikewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? Oh, if you want, then I tell you, Nay. But unless ye repent, ye will alikewise perish. Where was God when this happened or that happened? Who are you to question God? Because there's a day coming when you're not going to question God, but He's going to question you. He's going to say, who do you say that my Son is? Is He your Lord and Savior? Oh, why do I need Him as my Lord and Savior? Because He's the only way to enter safely into the presence of God. Oh, if you want to know if you are bearing the burdens of others like Christ did when He walked this earth, does the other person sense that the reason that you are saying what you are saying is because you are aware of what the consequences of their sin are for them? And because you are coming with the awareness of what the consequences would have been for you? If the Lord Jesus Christ had not had mercy and grace upon you. Colossians 2.13, And you being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses? O believer, you will have no problem in bearing the burdens of others if you have a right understanding of your own sins. and a right understanding of what the Lord Jesus Christ alone could have done and did for those He died for. Think of the Apostle Paul. Think of how he was treated by his unbelieving Jewish brethren. And what was his prayer to God for them? His prayer to God was for Israel that they might be saved. God grant you and me such a witness. to the truth of the saving gospel of Christ today and every day, that men, even as they reject the truth, might go away with the reality that there's one thing that this person wants to see in my life. That is faith in Christ. Because if that person has faith in Christ, it doesn't matter what happens in this life. Oh, God, give you and me the ability to bear the sins of others, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Let us pray.