Well, back a few months ago, I started with y'all in the book of Galatians. So if you will, please turn with me now to the book of Galatians chapter six, book of Galatians chapter six. Lord willing, we'll get through this chapter today. So if you remember the book of Galatians, It's one of the very first books that Paul wrote. He was writing it to the provinces in Galatia, mostly the southern provinces, where he had visited many years earlier, before, many years prior. He set up a lot of churches, set up preachers all through this region. He proclaimed the gospel to them, but in the intervening time, the time between which this letter was and the time that he first spread the gospel to that area, some false brethren crept in unawares to try to bring them back under the bondage of the old law that was given to Moses. And the crux of this whole book has been that we are no longer under the law of Moses because we are under the law of Christ. The old covenant has been removed and a new covenant has taken that place. We are given a newer, a better covenant, one that is not a strict law where you have to keep all these ceremonies and rituals, and you can't eat pork or shellfish. It's very, very strict and nobody in the whole history that this Mosaic Law was given, not a single person was able to keep this law. Many years went by, nobody could keep the law. You look at all the great judges, you look at all the great kings of Israel, they always had a problem. It's said that they would They would follow after God. They were a righteous king, but they kept the high places. They didn't burn down the groves. Hezekiah said that he didn't turn to the left or the right. But what did he do? When he was recovered, he allowed the Babylonians to come in, and bragging to those Babylonians, showed them everything they had. And what was God's judgment? God said, because you erred, everything that you showed the Babylonians is gonna be carried away. You look at Samson was a great judge, but he was very troubled life. He did many wicked things. David, a man after God's own heart. He had Uriah the Hittite murdered and stole his wife. Some very terrible things. So not a single, if this was our way to salvation, if we had to keep the whole law, and remember, you do have to keep the whole law. Book of James says, if you offend in one point, you've broken the whole thing. that would be serious trouble for us. We would have no chance. We'd have no chance at salvation. We'd have no chance of seeing our Lord face to face. We would not be at peace with God. We needed a savior. We need a mediator between us and God. And so Jesus came in. He kept the whole law. He fulfilled the whole law to a jot and tittle. And then he was slain on the cross. He took on our sins. He bore our burden for us that we may be free, that we could be at liberty from the old law, that we could be at peace with God, that we could be justified in the sight of God so that now when God looks at us through the lens of Jesus Christ, we are white as snow. And these Judaizers came in, these weren't genuine brethren. It says in Galatians chapter 2, there were false brethren who crept in unawares. They wanted to, they looked at Christianity as a rogue sect of Judaism. And so they said, well, you know, yeah, you can talk about your Messiah and all that, but really, you still have to keep this whole law. You still, for salvation, you still have to not eat pork, you still have to observe the Sabbath the way we did in the old days, you still have to be circumcised, all these things. And Paul is writing that saying, no, that is not true. When you are saying that you have to keep this law, to be right with God, to obtain salvation, you are cheapening the work of the cross. You are looking at Christ and you're saying, you know what? Your sacrifice, your holy life that you lived perfectly, it says he was tempted in all points like as we were, yet without sin. He was tempted, he was tried, he lived a very poor life. He did not live a life anywhere near attaining to what the poorest person in America lives today. He didn't have a place to lay his head. And you're looking at him, and you're saying, Jesus, your life, your work on the cross, those stripes that you bore, that crown of thorns that was placed on your head, the wrath of God being poured out on you, that's not enough. That's not enough for me. You did not do enough, Jesus. So now I'm going to have to come in, and I'm going to have to carry this ball across the goal line, because you didn't quite make it there. And that is directly against what the Bible tells us about the finished work of Jesus Christ. Jesus finished the work on the cross. He said, it is finished. And Isaiah says, by his stripes, we are healed. Not by our own stripes, not by our service to the old law, but by Jesus Christ. And as we go through, we see that we're not going to be just licentious. We're not going to have a libertine attitude, just anything goes. We're not going to just be antinomian, as the theological word is called. We're not just going to do anything goes. We still have a law that Christ wants us to lead, although our salvation, our eternal salvation is not dependent on that law. We have a way that we are expected to act, and because of the work that Jesus has done for you, because of the perfect sinless life that he bore, because he took your sin upon him, because his righteousness has been imputed to us, that is the life that we should live. And if we want to be in fellowship with God, if we want to reap those blessings here on earth, we need to keep some of these, we need to keep these things that Jesus has taught us. Jesus said, if you love me, you're going to keep my commandments. And we should live up to that exhortation. And so now we come down to chapter six. Paul is kind of wrapping up everything that he's been talking about. He's gonna bring it all to a conclusion. And here in these first verses, he's going to just write some exhortations that he wants the church to keep with him. The church is here in Galatia. How he wants them to interact with each other. So we're gonna start in chapter six, verse one. Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, Ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted." You know, this is a very controversial verse in today's time. What do people tell you? They say, you know what, you cannot tell me that my lifestyle is wrong because you're judging me. You cannot tell me that I can't do whatever I want. You can't tell me that I can't go down to the bar every Saturday night. You can't tell me that I can't live my alternative lifestyle. You can't tell me that I can't do anything I want to do. If you tell me I'm wrong, that's judging. You can't judge me. What does the Bible say? If a brother is overtaken, if a man is overtaken in a fault, you need to restore him. You need to reprove and rebuke those that are in error. Jesus Christ himself in the book of John says to judge righteous judgment. So yes, we do have to have judgment. We do have to have judgment in these matters. You see many times and throughout the New Testament, Paul is saying, look, you need to be able to judge these small matters. If you're not going to judge things here on earth, how are you going to judge things when you get to heaven? You need to be able to work these matters out between yourself. But he says to restore such one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. So you need to check your own motivations before you go and restore this brother. Is this brother really overtaken in a fault? Or is this brother doing something that you don't want him to do? You say, you know what? Brother Emmett wears cowboy boots to church, and I think he should wear some classier shoes than that. I'm going to go reprove Brother Emmett because he's not wearing nice enough shoes to church. That's not a biblical error. I think cowboy boots are perfectly fine to wear to church, and we do need to have order in the service. But if we're going to reprove somebody, that's going to be, it needs to be something where they are an error. We need to make sure we are not going to them in a spirit of haughtiness, saying, well, you know, I'm so much more spiritual than you over there. I'm going to go and make sure you're getting in line. I'm going to make sure you're keeping in step. No, we're going in the spirit of meekness. in the spirit of restoration and reconciliation. We want to have that relationship with each other. We want to go in a spirit of love, not in a spirit of, I'm the police and I'm gonna go take you down. It's no, you are my brother in Christ. You are my sister in Christ. And I see you doing something that is wrong, that is against biblical teaching. And I want to help restore you. I want to work this thing out. Also, it says to consider yourself. Consider yourself. Do you have credibility to go talk to this person? Somebody I know said that when they were a teenager, an older man was with him, his neighbor, and he was telling him the errors of alcohol. Very good thing to tell him. You need to make sure you stay away from the bottle. Don't get caught up in all this drinking. And that's a very good thing to say, but his credibility was very low because at the time he told him he was wearing a Bud Light cap. It's not going to, you're not going to, you need to consider yourself. Make sure you're not being, that's called hypocrisy. You're going around doing something and you're telling others, well you need to live up to the standard yet. I'm not going to live it up myself. And when we're coming, when we're trying to restore each other, when we're going to them, we should go up to that person. We should tell them what our concerns are. We need to make sure there's not just a misunderstanding. And it is important when we see somebody that is going astray to bring them back. Many times if one person starts going down and going off the rails, it can lead many other people into sin. If you go back and we can go and look in Galatians chapter 2, I won't reread the passage, but to summarize it, Peter was over there, he was eating with the Gentiles, the Gentile Christians, he was communing with them. And he was having a good time with them. Well, when James and the other Jews came down from Jerusalem, he got scared and said, Oh, well, you know, I don't want to be seen with those Gentiles. I'm going to, I'm going to kind of push them away. I'm going to go over here with the cool guys from Jerusalem, these Jews, I don't want to be seen with those people over there, and it was causing a division. And many were, even Barnabas was getting swept away with it. Barnabas was one of the, him and Paul were the ones that first initially went and evangelized that area and spread the gospel to that area. Even Barnabas was swept away with it. So Paul had to go and reprove Peter to his face. You know, it says that he didn't go behind. What it doesn't say is that he didn't go behind Peter's back and say, you know, Peter shouldn't be doing that stuff over there. he withstood Peter to the face. And because he was doing this thing out in public, he went to him while he was doing out in public and said, Peter, you are wrong. There's no Jew or Gentile here. We're all one under Christ. We're not keeping this old law anymore. Don't shun these Gentiles because they're not Jews like you. And you know what? It didn't destroy their relationship. You go and you look, Paul and Peter still spoke highly of one of another after this, because sometimes you're going to be caught up in a fault. Nobody is going to be perfect 100% of the time. You know, even after you're born again, even after Christ has come in and regenerated you and given you a new heart, you're still prone to sin. You are still prone to do these things. And so as iron sharpeneth iron, we need to be talking to each other. We need to be involved in each other's life so that if one of us are being carried away and we may not even realize it, we need to help restore that. Go to that person in the spirit of meekness, considering yourself lest you be tempted. Verse two, bear ye one another's burden 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 he shall have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden. You see, we're going to, we need to bear each other's burden. Why? Because that is what Jesus did. You know, Jesus was constantly bearing others' burdens while he was here on earth. You go and look that he was constantly healing. He was constantly teaching in the synagogue. He was teaching on the mountainside. He was everywhere he went. People were following him out into the wilderness to hear him preach. Many were brought to him. He was doing miracles and healing people. praying for people. You see that he lived a life of service to others. Even when his cousin John the Baptist died, he went into a remote place to try to get alone and mourn his cousin, who was John the Baptist also being a follower of him and being the greatest of the Old Testament prophets, as Jesus says. He went to mourn his death and people saw he's going into a remote place. All these people followed him. He looked out on them. He had compassion. What he didn't say is, you need to get away from me because I need to be alone right now. I can't handle y'all. I can't handle y'all right now. I need to be alone. Did he say that? No, he looked at them with compassion. as if they were sheep without a shepherd. And he gave a big whole sermon to these people that followed him out here. He put himself aside, put his own needs aside and bore the burden of all those people here. And that's the same heart that we need to have. That's the same mindset that we need to have. If you see somebody else is struggling with their burden, if somebody is, and that you're bearing one another's burdens, that can, that's a very broad, that's a very vague meaning. Your burdens being you're bearing just the burdens of life. Maybe you're having trouble with physical needs. Maybe you're having trouble with spiritual needs. Maybe you're depressed. Maybe you're lonely. Whatever those burdens are, we need to be involved in each other's life enough to where we can see when somebody is struggling under the weight of their burden. And anything you can do, using whatever gift God has given you, you can go and minister to that burden. Say, brother, are you okay? Sister, are you okay? Let me pray for you. Do you have a need that I can help fulfill? Maybe somebody's just lonely. Maybe they just need somebody to talk to. Maybe somebody has a scripture that they're struggling with. Maybe somebody has had a tragedy, a death in the family, or whatever the case may be, and they just need some comfort. A lot of times, a simple, if you're thinking about somebody, and you know, God does talk to us today. He talks to us through his word, but he also impresses things upon our heart. You know, you're not going to hear the audible voice of God coming down of heaven. talking to you, but the Spirit does move in our heart. He does impress things. You know, if you get to thinking, you know what? I'm thinking about Jim today. I wonder how he's doing. Maybe I should send him a message. Or maybe I should call him. Don't suppress that. Don't quench the Spirit. If the Spirit has led you to think about somebody or thinking about calling or messaging somebody, whatever the case may be, go ahead and pick up the phone and call that person. Pick up the pen and write them a letter. Don't be afraid to write letters to people. It means a lot when you receive it. I know that letters are kind of outdated right now. Of course, I'm kind of biased towards letters being a mailman out in the world. But there's nothing more personal than you can get than a handwritten letter coming to you in the mail that you can read, that you can hold in your hands, that somebody has written with their own hand. It makes a difference. There's many stories that, there's stories that I could tell, there's stories that brother Zach could tell when somebody called him or perhaps he got it in his mind to write somebody a letter or call somebody. And it saved their life. They were about to do something very foolish and he saved their life in that moment. Don't quench the spirit. There's been many times when I've been having a terrible day and I've been having just caught up in my own ways and caught up in my own little problems. My cousin will, I'll get a call from one of my cousins or they'll send me a passage, they'll say, hey, go read Psalm 31, go read Psalm 94, I'm praying for you. And that uplifts my spirit, that gets me back in the right mindset. Just the little things like that that you can do can make a big impact. It says, let every man prove his own work and then he shall have rejoicing in himself alone and not another, for every man shall bear his own burden." So we are to bear one another's burdens, but our first calling is to bear our own burdens. We are to bear our own burdens with dignity and with courage. We're not to just say, you know what? Well, it says, bear you one another's burden. So that must mean that everybody else is going to bear my burden. I don't have to do anything. No, there's still, the Bible teaches personal responsibility. You still have to make sure you've got a house, a roof over your head. You got to make sure your children have a bed to sleep in, food on the table. You still yourself have to come to Jesus in prayer. You still have to read your own Bible. But you know what? Our burdens can be heavy. Our burdens can be heavy. Many times they're going to be too heavy for us to bear. That's why we need to come to Jesus. Jesus says in Matthew chapter 11, my yoke is easy and my burden is light. So he's saying, I can help you bear that burden. You know, when you, a yoke is, you got this, when they would plow back in the old days, they would, or when they would hitch two animals together, a yoke, And so he's saying, look, come here, you yoke yourself to me. My yoke is easy. It's not going to be, you know, hard on you. It's not a overbearing yoke. And my burden is light. My burden is light. And what that means is that, look, I'm going to carry, I'm going to share the load for both of us. So you come to Jesus when your burden is too heavy for you to care, when the cares of life are weighing you down, yoke yourself to Jesus and he will help you with your burdens. And you know what, it says to glory, rejoice in his own work and not in another. You know, that's not calling people to, you know, the verse four, it says, if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. If you get to thinking that you're a high-class Christian and, you know, well, you know what, I'm top tier and, you know, old Joe over there, he's second tier. Or, you know, they're third tier Christians, I'm on a higher plane. You know, if you think you're something, you're really not. Because whatever you are, you are there by the grace of God and because of the work that he's done in you. You're not going to say, when it says rejoice in himself alone, not in another, that's saying you're not going to rejoice in the fact that, well, at least I'm not doing as bad as that guy over there. That guy over there is really bad. Compared to him, I'm not all that bad. You know what? It's all sin before God. It's all enough to send you to hell. God still can't hold any sin in his sight. He can't behold sin. That's why Jesus had to come and take it away, but you're going to rejoice in your own works. And, you know, even Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians 15. He says, but by the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace, which was bestowed upon me, was not in vain. But I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God, which was with me. You know, he goes through and he lists earlier in that chapter, and again in 2 Corinthians, he lists all the things that he endured. Beatings, whippings, being left for dead, being stoned, having to be let out in a basket through the window to escape the people that were coming for his life. Imprisoned? You know, at one point there was 40 men that were coming after Paul. They vowed a vow saying, we are not going to eat or drink until Paul is dead. You know, I don't know about you, but if somebody said, if 40 men said, we're not going to eat and drink until Jacob McAvella is dead, I'd be pretty scared about that. But you look at Paul, and even in 2 Corinthians, he says, I'm going to glory in my infirmities because when I am weak, that is when I am strong. God works even through your infirmities, even through the challenges that you have in life. He is burning away that dross. But even the own fruits that you produce, the many fruits that Paul produced. You look at Paul, he wrote 13 books in the New Testament. He went and started churches, many churches all over, going to all the Gentiles, went on several trips. And even when he was imprisoned, When he wrote these other books, some of the four other books, when he was imprisoned, he was even converting people that were of Caesar's own household. These guards were chained to him and he was preaching the gospel to them. And talk about a captive audience, you know, they're not going anywhere if they're chained to you. Preach to them and there was He converted Romans, and those Romans then, using their road system, spread it to the rest of the known world at the time. But he didn't glory in himself. He didn't think that he was higher class. And even though he was caught up into the second heaven, you know, it says that God sent the messenger of Satan to Buffenham. So he's not being too lifted up. So Paul always knew that it was nothing of himself, but all of God. As brother Zach always says, he says that everything bad that I do is of myself, but everything that I, every good thing that I do is of God. Because it is the spirit of God that works within you and not just your inherent righteousness that you were born with or your inherent goodness. It is It is God that is working with you. Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things. Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. So we're seeing, if a brother is overtaken in a fault or storm with meekness, considering yourself, bear one another's burdens. Let him that is taught communicate all the good things to him that teacheth. So what is this? This is talking about discipleship. You know, if you're, this is talking about having a close Christian walk with the assembly of saints that you have joined with. When you join yourself to a church, you need to be, we need to be involved in each other's lives. There needs to be an open line of communication. You know, the Bible says that iron sharpeneth iron, so we need to be sharpening each other, you know, sharpening away those dull spots that we might not see if you're you know, trying to put an edge on a knife, or you're trying to put an edge on a lawnmower blade, or whatever it is, you're over there and you're just kind of shaving off all the dull spots, all the rough spots, to have that nice clean edge on your blade. And that's That's how it works with us. We're going to be sharpening each other. We're going to be, you know, what Him that is taught in the Word communicate unto Him that teacheth and all good things. You know, we need to, those that are teaching others, we need to make sure they know what they're talking about. We need to make sure we have communicated to them that are going out and preaching and teaching to others. He says, Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. But he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. As we therefore have opportunity, let us do good unto all men especially unto them who are of the household of faith." God is not mott. Whatever you're going to sow, you're going to reap. People all the time in their early 20s and their late teens, even some people older than that, they'll say, you know what, I'm going to go out and I'm going to sow my wild oats. This is the time I'm going to live for me, and I'm going to go out and I'm going to do what I want. They call it, you know, I'm going to sow in their wild oats. Well, you know what, you sow those wild oats, you're going to reap them later. You know, when you go out and you plant a seed, whatever you plant, that's what's going to pop up. And some of you in here have a lot more experience in gardening and farming than I do. I'm sure the Wilfrids here can tell me if I go out and I plant a tomato plant, I shouldn't be mad when I don't get a watermelon. You know, whatever you sow, that's what you're going to get. So if you're sowing to the flesh, if you're sowing yourself in debauchery and fornication, you know what? That's what you're going to reap. There's many natural, real-world consequences that you can reap from that, many diseases that you can reap from that. You might reap cirrhosis of the liver or many other unseemly things that you do not want to have. You're going to reap broken relationships, broken families. You're going to reap just regret and many of these things. No matter what age you are, whatever you sow, you're going to reap. So think about what you're doing now, especially the young folks in this room. When you're going out and you're doing these things early in life and you feel like, well, you know what? I'm a man now. I'm a woman now. I'm going to be out on my own. I'm going to do whatever I want. I'm just going to throw away what my parents told me. I'm going to throw away what the Bible says. Lots of young people do that. Don't do that. Use wisdom and sound judgment and stay away from the things that you have been taught to stay away from. There's ample evidence in the Bible to teach many things. And a lot of people that say, look, you stay away from this. I did the same thing. And you know what? It messed me up. But believe that person when they tell you, because it will. You know, somebody I know was going through a really tough time lately, and they said, you know what? Why do I have to do it like this? All my friends and everybody out there in the world, they just go and they drink their problems away. Why can't I just do that? Why can't I just do like everybody else? Why can't I just try to drink the problems away? And you know what? Tell them, look. what you sow, you're going to reap. If you're sowing in alcohol, or in drugs, or in other things, you're going to reap the consequences of that. And, you know, the time has not been long since then, and thankfully they've turned away from that attitude, and they're starting to see what kind of things can be reaped from that, even in the short term. You know, especially when you get into the world of drugs, you know, it doesn't take but one time and that can be the end of it all for you. You never know what people are putting in these things these days, you know, and so God is not going to bless you when you're living in sin. God's not going to bless your debauchery and your sinful ways. So when it says to reap those spiritual things, that's talking about going, you need to be doing what the Bible tells you to do. Living by the commandments of Jesus, living a life of service, keeping yourself pure until marriage, not being carried away in drunken riotousness. You're sowing these spiritual things that says you'll reap life everlasting. You know, you're not doing these things so that people have a, some people have a misconception. You're not going to reap life everlasting because you were so great and the sense that that's what your eternal salvation is dependent upon, but you're going to start reaping some of those eternal blessings now here in time. When you are following the word of God, when you are serving him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and a spirit of humbleness, and a spirit of meekness, you're going to reap those things like joy and love, the peace that passes all understanding, comfort. I've been through some pretty significant trials in the past couple of years, and I know that I could not have made it if it not for the grace of God. It was all those things that I had taught and that I had lived out very imperfectly. But by the grace of God, I was brought through those things. I had that peace that passes all understanding. And I always think of that verse in two different ways. It's just this peace that you can't comprehend, this peace that you can't even describe, but you just have this peace that comes over yourself. You know what, it comes in a completely, a time that is, you don't understand why, how can you even have peace in a time like this? It passes my understanding that I'd have peace in a time like this, and the peace that I do have is indescribable. And you know what? You're going to go through tough times. You're going to go through trials. You know, you read the Psalms, and many times it says, you know, my God, why have you forsaken me? You know, why have you hid your face from me? And God never forsakes you, but sometimes it is harder to see his face than at other times. And you just have to keep plugging away, keep living righteously, and keep hoping in Christ and not on yourself to bring you through that. So if we're going to sow to our flesh, we're going to reap corruption. If we sow to the spirit, we're going to reap life everlasting. So therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good unto all men. especially to them who are of the household of faith. You're going to have certain opportunities presented to you in life. You're going to meet people at different stages in life. Certain trials are going to come when you're in a certain time. So as you have opportunity, do good because sometimes the opportunity might pass. You might have the opportunity to help somebody out now, but 15 years from now you might not have the opportunity because they could have moved away, they could have cut everybody off and lost communication with them, or they could be asleep in the ground waiting for the Lord to come back. So as you have opportunity, do those good things. Don't be a coward, have courage. This is an area that I do struggle in. Sometimes when I have an opportunity to minister to people that I don't know, I get scared because I don't know that person. What if they think I'm weird? And that's not the right mindset to have. We need to be courageous and put our own cowardly spirit aside and say, you know what, as we have opportunity, let's do good. Do good to all men, even those who are unregenerate. People that have shown no evidence of being born again, if we can be a blessing to that person, then we can be. I'm not telling you to enable somebody that you know that is living a terrible lifestyle and I'm not telling you to go and give them money to support their bad habits, but there are many ways that you can help those that are in need. And especially we have a focus on those that are in the household of faith. We need to go the extra mile for those that are, we need to be extra involved, you know, not just kind of a pass, you know, with people that you don't know, the people that are outside of the household of faith. You might just kind of meet them in passing, you might be able to do something for them here or there. That shouldn't be the mindset that we have for those that are in our household of faith. For our brothers and sisters, we should be constantly seeking out ways that we can help each other. What are some ways that we can edify and build up each other? That's the purpose of having this church here, is we're not meant to be alone. The Bible says that we are the body of Christ. The church is like a body. And if somebody is struggling, that's why if somebody is struggling, we need to bear their burdens. That's why if somebody is overtaken in a fault, we need to restore that person. If there's one part of the body that is ailing, it's going to affect every other part. You know, if you smash your pinky finger, you know, it's not just going to be, you're not just, oh, well, that pinky finger is, you know, that's hurt, but I can, everything else is just fine. No, you're going to be feeling it all through your nerves. You're going to be getting it in your brain. You're going to be consumed with thinking about that pinky finger that you just smashed. And you're going to make sure you go, if you go out and you break a hand or you, You break an arm or whatever, and there's just a broken bone protruding through the skin. You're not to say, ah, well, that arm is just, I can see the bone sticking out through my skin right there. It's fine. I'll just leave it. No, you're going to do everything you can to restore that to its proper place. And you know what? In some cases, if you don't do that, if you just let a wound fester, you're going to develop infection. And that can poison the entire body. known people that were, you know, in my time in law enforcement and working in the jail, people that had simple infections and they would not get it treated or they would not, you know, somebody had blisters on their feet. They didn't get it treated. You know, they didn't restore those, that foot back to its rightful place. They didn't treat it. It wasn't restored. And what happened? It became infected. They still didn't get it treated and take any antibiotics or anything like that. They let it fester and eventually they developed gangrene and they died, you know, just from a blister. They never took care of it. So we need to be helping each other and taking care of each other so that we're not ailing the whole body. You know, if you're trying to lift something, Let's say you're trying to lift a heavy, let's say you got a 100-pound bag of feed and you need to pick it up. Are you going to lean down there with your index finger and try to pick it up that way? Are you going to try to pick it up with your toes? No, the whole body's going to get involved. You're going to lean down there. You're going to use both arms. You're going to bend your knees so you can engage your leg muscles, the strongest muscles in your body. You're going to use your whole body to complete the task. So if we have heavy burdens, we need to be using the whole body to help lift that burden. If we have, if somebody needs restoration, we need to help restore that person in the spirit of meekness. And there's a whole process for that. If you go and you read Matthew 18, there's a whole process of somebody's overtaken in a fault. That's the process you should follow, not any other way. That's the way that Jesus laid out a specific, you know, line-by-line way. This is the exact process that you go through, and I won't preach that right now, but if you want to know what I'm talking about, go and read Matthew 18, verse 11. You see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand, and as many desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised, only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. It says some of you are making, desiring to make a fair show in the flesh. They're getting themselves circumcised and they're getting you to try to get you to get circumcised because they're afraid of persecution that they might receive from the Jews for not following the law. It says, only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law, but desire to have you circumcised that they may glory in your flesh. So they don't even keep the whole law themselves, but they're trying to get you to keep the law so they can have glory in you. Say, well, yeah, you know, we're all circumcised. We're all following the law. But of course, nobody can follow the law in its entirety. And if you're going out, if you're killing God's people, or if you're persecuting God's people, I can tell you for sure you're definitely not following the law in that case. But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." So Paul doesn't glory in himself, he doesn't glory in the fact that people that he has mentored are doing well. He's not saying, well look how great I am. You know, these Judaizers, they're going around and they're, look how many people I've gotten to be circumcised. Look how many people I've convinced to not eat bacon anymore. You know, we have the liberty to eat bacon. Circumcision doesn't profit anything, neither does uncircumcision. He says, I'm not going to glory in anything but the cross of Jesus Christ. I'm not going to glory in anything but the finished work of Jesus. I'm not going to glory in my own self and my own actions. I'm going to glory in Jesus Christ. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. So we're not circumcised. It doesn't matter whether you're circumcised or whether you're not. It doesn't matter whether you were born a Jew or a Gentile. It doesn't matter whether you grow up to be 5 foot 1. It doesn't matter whether you grow up to be 7 foot 1. It doesn't matter whether you're black or white. These things of the flesh don't matter. What matters is that Jesus is that the God is coming in he has taken that cold stony heart out of your flesh and he has given you a new a soft warm heart of flesh in you he's given you that new heart he has saved you by his grace you are a now a new creature you're not the same as you were before when Jesus Christ comes into your heart When the Holy Spirit regenerates you, moves upon you, you're a new person. You're not the same anymore. It has left an indelible mark on your heart. Your soul has passed from death unto life. And as many walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy upon the Israel of God. From henceforth let no man trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ. Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. And you know what? That's really what he's saying there at the end. That's really the whole point. I'm going to glory in the cross of Jesus Christ. I'm going to rest in the finished work that Jesus did for me. I'm going to rest in his grace. I'm going to rest in his salvation. I can't add to it. I can't take away from it. But I'm going to live for Jesus because if Jesus has done all these things for me, if Jesus has borne the cross for me, if Jesus was crucified for me, then I can live for him and I can do my best to turn my eyes to him and to fix my eyes on him. And you know what? Peace be upon all those who are going to follow after Jesus Christ because circumcision, the law doesn't work anything for you, it is Jesus Christ and thank God that he has moved upon us and that he has saved