I want to speak this morning upon a subject which I have entitled, What To Do With Life's Burden. I have three texts of Scripture. The first two you will find in Galatians chapter 6 and verse 2. Bear ye one another's burden, and so fulfill the law of Christ. The same chapter, Galatians 6 and verse 5, For every man shall bear his own burden. And then in that great psalm which we read, Psalm 55 and verse 22, Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved." First of all, Galatians 6, 5, for every man shall bear his own burden. That's the burden shouldered, taking it up, carrying it, discharging the burden of service. I want to talk first of all, then, upon the burden shouldered. Then in Galatians 6 and verse 2, we read, Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. That is the burden shared, the sharing of the burden. mutual burden-bearing whereby, as believers, we share the problems and the difficulties and the life's problems and burdens of others. And then when we come to verse 22 of Psalm 55, cast thy burden upon the Lord. There we have the burden shed. the shedding of the burdens, the complete rolling of the burden, casting it upon the Lord. So we are going to talk simply about the burden shouldered and the burden shared and the burden shed. Looking at this first scripture, Galatians 6 and verse 5, For every man shall bear his own burden, the burden shouldered. Life is very much an isolated thing. We enter this world alone. We fight many of life's greatest battles alone. In the end, we pass unaccompanied, humanly speaking, out of time into eternity. And in a very real sense, each individual is isolated and separated to himself. This is true also in regard to the work and to the service which is ours. The Bible says to every man His work doesn't say to every man a work, or it doesn't say to every man some work. It says to every man His work. And there is a particular service, a particular duty, that you and I personally, as individuals, must perform. There's no shirking from it. We have got to face it. And in this sense, every man must bear his own burden. We have to shoulder this burden. The particular duties that are yours, no one else can do. The particular duties that are mine, no one else can perform. There are circumstances in Christian service which we personally have got to carry for ourselves. That's what Paul says when he says, for every man shall bear his own burden. So we have got to fearfully shoulder the burden of service. There are many people who would like to roll their own responsibility onto others. There are many people who would like other people to carry the burden that they must carry. There are many people who would like to find some way of escape from facing up to the imperative duties which are theirs as believers in Christ and as members of the church of Jesus Christ. But as a Christian and as a church member, you have to shoulder your burden. You have to carry your own particular load. You have to face up to your own particular duties. And failure to do this will not only bring a spiritual blight upon yourself, but will bring a spiritual blight upon the church. and congregation in which you are associated. Now let us turn to Galatians 6.2. Here we have a different truth. Here we have the burden shared. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. If you look at the previous verse, you will find what the apostle is giving. a case of backsliding in the church. Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such a 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. Some time ago, in the session room of this church, there was a gathering of our own, Kirk Session, and a gathering of the office bearers of one of our churches. A dear man in that church had been overtaken in a fall. I remember as we knelt to pray, there was a very difficult atmosphere. Anybody that has ever tried to handle cases of discipline will appreciate what I am saying. And at the end of that prayer meeting, a dear man overcame by repentance, shed some bitter tears. And the following Lord's Day in the church to which he belonged, he stood up. He requested the preacher for a moment to speak. And he put right publicly what had been wrong. And the minister rang me up, and he said, Ian, we had a great meeting this morning. The Spirit of God breathed upon the congregation as that man put everything right. We didn't meet in that room to condemn that man. We met in that room to restore him in the spirit of meekness, considering ourselves that we also could. be tempted. You know, among fundamentalist believers, there is a very harsh spirit when a brother is overtaken in a fault, and this ought not to be. And some people think it is their duty to gossip about another man's to give it the largest amount of publicity possible, and it is their duty to tread such a one into the ground. This is not the teaching of the Word of God. There is a pairing of one another's burdens in the case of discipline in the church. We need to stand in that man's shoes. We need to look at the temptation that overcame him as he looked at it. We need to put ourselves into similar circumstances. And instead of adjudicating in a self-righteous, arrogant manner, we should have the spirit of meekness considering ourselves lest we also repent. There are burdened souls in every congregation. They do not require your criticism, my brother. They require your help. They do not require an arrogant indictment of self-righteousness. They need your hand to help them carry the load. I read a story the other day of a little girl, and her mother was an invalid. And every day it was this little girl's duty. to go across the roadway to a shop and bring over a peel of milk for the household in which he lived. And this day she got across the road and got the peel of milk and she came running back and she tripped and she fell. And all the milk spilled out on the roadway. And when she picked herself up, there was a big man standing there and he let a great laugh. And he said, My, won't you be severely beaten when you get home to your mother? And the little girl looked at him and she smiled. She said, No, sir. My mother always gives me a second chance. My mother always gives me a second chance. Let me tell you, friend, there's more than a second chance with God. God doesn't treat His people harshly. Do you remember Peter was told to forgive over and over and over again? And hallelujah, Jesus forgives us over and over and over again. Bear ye one another's burdens. We need to go out after those that are burdened, and there are many of them. In this congregation today, there are those that have burdens that are tugging at their heartstrings that no one else knows anything about. My dear burdened Christian, I would like to help you with the promise of God and with the comfort of the Scriptures. I would like to go to you, my brother and sister in Christ, and say, let me share your problem. Let me hear of your sorrow. Let me talk to you about the promises of God. This week, a member of this congregation came to see me in my study, a woman with a great burden. She sat down, she burst into tears, and she started to tell me of the hard, bitter fight of the last six weeks that she had had because of a problem in her life. It was my great joy to comfort her from the scriptures, to not only comfort her from the scriptures, but then to help her with this problem, a problem that had become to her a veritable mountain. But when faced in the sympathy of Christianity was easily solved, you would have seen that dear believer going from my office. She came in burdened, tears in her eyes, sorrow upon her soul. She went away light-hearted. The burden was lifted. She had shared it with a fellow believer and things were different now. She said to me as she left the office, she said, I feel so changed now. I came in worn out and tongue out, but you've given me hope. You've given me strength to go out and fight again the battle of life. This is the Judaic friend of the people of God. Let this church be a church where believers share one another's burdens. Let us be a people who help to carry someone else's load. Let us be a people who will bear sympathetically the burdens and the problems of others. You know, the greatest thing in the world is a word of encouragement. You husbands know that. When your wife encourages you, you go out stronger than ever. And you wives know that. When your husband encourages you, you're a different woman. You know, there are some people in God's house and in God's church, and they're just like peels of cold water. They throw cold water over everything that people would attempt to do. They deal and peddled discouragement. You know, encouragement is the greatest thing in the world. I was reading the other day the account of a fire in an hotel. And everybody had been saved. And the firemen thought that they had done their work completely. And then there appeared on the top floor a pale-faced, trembling woman. And she looked through the window, surrounded by the smoke and the flames. And again, the ladders were put up, and a fireman breathed the heat and the smoke, and he got to the window, and he put his arms through the window and seized this woman and brought her out. And then it seemed as if, overcome with the flames, he was going to stumble, and both of them were going to fall to the ground. And you know what the fire chief said? He said to his men, let's give them a great hearty cheer. And all the firemen stood round the end of the ladder, and they cheered. And up yonder among the smoke and the flames, that cheer brought encouragement to that man, and he steadied himself. And he came down the ladder safely, and he rescued the woman and rescued himself. To encourage someone who's fighting a hard battle is our task. some brother who in the loneliness of the task is almost going to stumble. And God knows there are some Christians about Belfast and at that time they would just kick you. But what are we to do? We have to speak that word of encouragement, that word of cheer, that word of help, the very word that is needed. There is a member of this church A man, a hard man, when he was in his sin, you know how he got saved? He got saved because a member of this church, traveling on a bus one day, spoke a word of encouragement to that man. And he said to her, he said, What church do you go to? She said, I go to Mr. Paisley's church. And that was all he said. And the following Lord's Day, he came and he got saved. And he said to me, You know, that member of yours, she spoke a word of encouragement when I was right down in a dark valley. And I said, That's the sort of members that church has. There must be something in it. And he came and found this Savior. And today he's rejoicing in the power of the blood of the Lamb. Would you help to share somebody's burden this week? Would you go out and try to find someone who's downcast and depressed and disappointed and overcome? And would you go and take an end of that heavy load and help to carry it for them? And please, God, if they're a believer, you'll give them fresh hope. And if they're not saved, your very action could bring them to Jesus Christ. But let us turn to this last great verse, Psalm 55 and verse 22. We have looked at the burden shouldered and the burden shared. Now we have the burden shan. Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee. You know, this is a great psalm. If you look with me at it, you'll find what the psalmist wanted to do when he was in trouble. And there are things you shouldn't do when you're in trouble. But the psalmist was just a man of like passions as we are. And what did he do? Look at it, verse 2, he complained. He complained. How many of us, when we're in trouble, we're filled with self-pity. And we say, poor me, nobody else ever suffered the way I suffered. Nobody else had trouble like me. Nobody else was mistreated the way I've been mistreated. And he complained, a Christian should not be a complainer, because we have to cast our burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain me. How many complainers have we? Is that what you do? Grumble the whole week through? Complain and mourn in your complaint? You know, there are some Christians, and when I see them in the street, I beat a hasty retreat, for I have enough problems of my own than to hear their complaints. And I'd be happy to share their burdens, but they're not burdens at all. They're complaining against their circumstances. Paul said, I have learned. And you have to learn. In whatever state I am, therewith to be contempt. Why? Cast your burden upon the Lord. He complains. And here is another thing he did. He lost hope. Look at verse 5. He was overwhelmed. Many a Christian allows problems, difficulties, burdens to overwhelm them. And when you look at them, instead of seeing their selves, you only see their burden. Their burden becomes bigger than their own self. They're overwhelmed. Is there some Christian allowing a burden to overwhelm? The answer is cast your burden upon the Lord. But that's not at all. Verse 6, some Christians want to run away. Oh, that I had the wings of a dove, that I might fly away and be at rest. I was at a wedding the other day, and a man told a story. He said, this man and his wife, when they had a bit of a row, they always prayed. And he said, this day, both of them had a terrible row. And Mary said, we'd better get down to pray. So they got down to pray, and this foolish woman quoted this text. She said, Oh, that I have the wings of a dove, that I might fly away and be at rest. And her husband said, Lord, feather her and let her go. Yes. My friend, let me tell you, you can't run away. The answer to running away is cast your burden upon the Lord. He complained. Many times we've grumbled when we shouldn't have. How many times we have been overwhelmed when we shouldn't have. How many times have we said, oh, that I could run away. Oh, for the wings of a dove that I might fly away and be at rest. My friend, there's a whole lot of us, and we've been guilty of this sin, haven't we? You know what the Lord said. Cast your burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. There are two things God does, sustenance and sufferance. Two good words. He sustains and He suffers. You cast your burden upon the Lord, what will He do? He'll sustain you. He'll give you strength to carry the load. It is good, says the book, to bear the burden in your youth. Those that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. So don't be a complainer. And don't be overwhelmed. And don't say, I want to fly away and run away. Cast your burden upon the Lord and He'll sustain you. there was a dear man, and he had one darling little girl, just five years of age. And very suddenly, his dear wife and partner was struck down by death. He was a believer. And after the simple funeral service, his friend said to him, you know you should leave your home and come and stay with us." And he said, no, I've got to go back and get the victory with the circumstances all around me in my home. So that night he returned with his little one to his home. The little girl was heartbroken. He undressed her and put her nightdress on and laid her and her little cot as her mother had always done. But her little heart was broken and she sobbed and she cried for many an hour. The father too retired for the night and he put out his hand and he put it through the cot reels and he held the little one's hand. And in a short time the little one stopped crying. Then again she started to cry. And she said, Daddy, the night is very dark, and I feel very lonely. And the father said, my pet, don't feel lonely. Come in beside me. And he took her into his own bed, and he held her to his own bosom, and very soon she was asleep. And as she lay sleeping on his bosom, God spoke to this dear man, and he said, For you, the night is dark, and there's a great sob in your heart. But you can come into the Father's bosom, and there in the warmth and comfort, loneliness will give place to fellowship, and healing will give place to the sorrow you experience. And that man lifted his eyes to God, and he said, Thank you, Lord, for teaching me the lesson. And he cast his burden upon the Lord, and the Lord sustained him. My mother used to sing an old hymn, If your body suffer pain and your health you can't regain, and your heart is almost sinking in despair. Just remember in His Word how He feeds the little bird. Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there. Leave it there. Leave it there. Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there. Friend, just cast your burden today at the Savior's feet. And if you're not a Christian, bring the burden of your sin to Jesus, and he'll cleanse and forgive you, and send you away with every burden lifted, and salvation the portion of your heart.