You can open your Bibles at Galatians 5. We will read from verse 16. And then the whole chapter 6. Galatians 5, from verse 16. And the whole chapter 6. During the sermon we will also go to Matthew 18. So you can, as long as there is something in there, you can easily get out of there. And now we will listen to the Lord's Word from verse 16. But I say, walk through the spirit, then you will never fulfill the desire of the flesh. Because the flesh desires against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. And they stand against each other so that you cannot do what you do not want to do. But if you are led by the spirit, then you are not under the law. And the work of the flesh is open-ended, namely, treason, adultery, immorality, unboundedness, adultery, deception, hostility, deceit, jealousy, treachery, adultery, duality, partisanship, abduction, murder, drunkenness, prostitution and such things, of which I warn you, As I said before, those who do such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, compassion, peace, tolerance, friendliness, kindness, loyalty, gentleness, self-control. The law is not against such things. but those who belong to Christ have crossed the flesh with their hearts and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become seekers of noble honor, which despise and despise each other. Brothers, if someone is attacked by one or the other crime, You who are spiritual, you must help one another with the spirit of gentleness, while you look after yourselves, that you may not be persecuted. Carry one another's burdens, and fulfil the law of Christ. For if one thinks that he is something, while he is nothing, he misleads himself. But let every one put his own work to the test, and then he will have a ground of glory, only as far as himself is concerned, and not as far as the other is concerned. for each will carry his own burden. But let him who receives education in the Word be a part of all the good things he is given in education. Do not let him go astray, God, do not let him go astray, for just as man sows, so shall he reap. He that sows in his flesh, he shall reap the flesh, but he that sows in his spirit, he shall reap the spirit of eternal life. And let us not be tired to do good, for at the right time we will be blessed if we do not go astray. Let us then, while we have the opportunity, do good to all, but most of all to the followers of the faith. Look at what great letters I am writing to you with my own hands. All that makes a beautiful display in your flesh, I offer you to be circumcised, just not to be persecuted by the cross of Christ. For even they that are circumcised do not keep the law, but they want you to be circumcised, that they may rest in your flesh. But as far as I am concerned, I shall never rest, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified for me, and I for the world. For in Christ Jesus, neither the circumcision, nor the incarceration have any power, but a new creation. and may there be peace and mercy on all who will walk according to this rule and over the Israel of God. No one else should bother me, for I carry the signs of the Lord Jesus in my body. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you, brothers and sisters. Amen. Amen. That is the word of the Lord. Dear community, we are still working on the principles for peacemakers. The first principle was to glorify God. The second principle, we looked at this morning. And it was, remove the beam from your own eye, that you have to pay attention to your own sins, and handle your own sins. And now, the third principle, command and patience. Command and patience. So, in verse, chapter 6, verse 1, he read to us, while you take care of yourself, so that you will not be sought after. Conceit and impudence. We live in a time where we are in a hurry to conceit, and also in a time where when someone is being conceited, they get very angry about it. The two good people work against each other. I wouldn't care if one of them is angry with me, would I? And so it also works in that way that people are hesitant to demand other rights. But dear ones, we believe that the Lord also keeps his children in the faith by means of demands. That he preserves them. So think about that a little bit. If we do not condemn each other for our sins, for one's sins, can we say that we were truly in love with each other in that moment? Were we truly in love with each other if we did not condemn each other? What do I do then, effectively? I release my brother or my sister into the sin. I said, you can stay in the prison. I'm not going to come and try to help you. Or as our text says, if someone is attacked by a crime, here is someone who has been attacked by a crime, and I see this, and I turn around, and I release him just like that, because he's standing there. We have to rediscover how precious and important is good biblical commandments. Where our people, our brothers and sisters, command about their sins. And so we also have to rediscover how precious it is when I am commanded. When I am addressed, when I receive a commandment. Then I don't have to be sensitive or have a thin skin and immediately try to reject it. I have to see that here is a brother or sister who is right for my love, who gives me so much, that they have made the effort to come to me and to come to me for me. The commandment in verse 6, It flows so beautifully from the part in verse 5, which we also read. In verse 5, verses 16 to 26, there is this contrast between the walk in the spirit and the walk in the flesh. In verse 16 it says, walk through the spirit, then you will never fulfill the desire of the flesh. It also says in verse 17, the two are enemies to each other. You can't keep both at peace. You can't keep the flesh at peace and the spirit at peace. One stands opposite the other. But the Christian, the Christian is called, walk through the spirit. Don't walk through your flesh. What is meant by the flesh, when it is said, walk through the flesh? Well, the flesh refers to the sinful nature, the remnants of sinful urges that have remained, even though you were born again. Is there still this sinful thought, sinful emotion, sinful urges, which every now and then comes back again? And the Christians were told, you are not allowed to walk in that, you are not allowed to live in that. Walking describes the totality of your life. It should not be where through, where from, what you live for. It is for your flesh, it should not be like that. The all-pervading thing in your life, then God must be the Holy Spirit. He must be the one from whom you walk. Then we can also ask ourselves, but how do I do that? How do I walk through the Spirit? Can I get that right? And here, the Reformator for us, is so beautifully worded, that you can never separate word and spirit from each other. Many of the delusions that arise, and still arise today, arise as a result of the fact that word and spirit are separated from each other. That you can grow in the spirit in a way, without growing in the word. But that is not how the Spirit works. The Spirit works through His Word. Through the Word that He has given Himself. So if you want to grow, if you want to say, I want to become full of the Spirit, which is also taught to us in the catechism, where we have to pray, Lord, give me your Spirit. The Lord wants to give his Spirit to him alone, with heartfelt prayers, without abstaining from praising and thanking for it. We have to pray that God will take the Holy Spirit more and more into account in our lives, where it will make it more holy. That the Spirit will come more and more into my life and say, this part of this man's life, or this woman's life, or this son's or daughter's life, I will control it. It will be different. I will renew it. I will move it in a new direction. I will give new emotions, I will give new thoughts, I will give new beginnings. I will give a new attitude. That is what the Christian is after. To be so under the control of God the Holy Spirit. Now, how does it happen? How can I be filled with the Spirit in that sin, that the Spirit reigns over every little part of my life, if I am also filled with the Word? So, it is through prayer where I say, Oh Father, give me this Spirit, take control over me through the Spirit, But while I pray, my nose is in this book. I am trying to become full of this book. Think of your soul as an ear, which must be filled every day with the words of God. And as you do that, you receive the dominion of God the Spirit. He renews you, He changes you, through this, through the Word of God. It is when you want to flee, becomes full of the Spirit and the Word, that you can walk in the Spirit and no longer fulfill the desires of the flesh. In verse 19, the works of the flesh are described to us. It is said that it is public, it is for everyone to see. It is for everyone to see and to say that it is scandalous, it is ugly, it is devastating. Think of a society that is absolutely, in totality, given over to these things. And then you're going to see a society that is rotten and falls apart. Here you see a life of living death. The works of the flesh. And listen carefully, there are some of them that you're going to listen to and say, yes, I think I've already gone down that path. But I think you will get from this list what you say, I have already done this. I have already done these works of meat. So let's read from this list. Overplay. Hearing. Impunity. Unboundedness. Abandonment. Deceit. Enmity. Disappointment. Jealousy. Stubbornness, superstition, duality, partisanship, abomination, murder, drunkenness, prostitution, and such things. When I say such things, this is not the full list. There are still things I can add, says Paulus here. But here is an idea of what the works of the flesh are. These are works that... that will destroy you. And not just you, but also the people around you. Look at this list. This sin is never something that can be limited to an individual. It is the sin that overflows from the individual to the community. And that will affect and destroy and harm the people around you. Think of something as murder. You can't commit murder that will only hurt yourself. Even if you are committing suicide. Because most people want to see it that way. It's not suicide, it's suicide. You committed suicide. You took a life that is not yours to take. Suicide. But also that is not something that just affects you. There are many people around you who are also affected by suicide. Each one of these sins is a sin that hurts, that destroys. Not only to your own soul, but also to the people around you. The works of the flesh. And here a person sees, what is it that brings peace? If we could still understand this in the context of peacemakers. What are the things that destroy peace? It's a sin. Sin is what destroys peace. And any sin damages the peace that exists. We want to live in peace with God, and we want to live in peace with those around us. And my sin is... harm and destroy peace with God and peace with my neighbor. So I need the great peacemaker, my Lord Jesus Christ, to restore my relationship with God and to awaken me to a new relationship with my neighbor, so that I can live in peace again. This is what He does through His Holy Spirit, the Spirit that comes and grabs a soul that has been handed over to sin, to bring it back to life, and to make it not be handed over to sin any more. It is beautifully illustrated in verse 25. If we live through the Spirit... Excuse me, verse 24. but those who belong to Christ have crossed the flesh with their hearts and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. What a beautiful description of what it means to be a Christian. It is that you belong to Christ, you are His, you are given to Him. The Father gave you to the Son, to Christ. He also bought you with His blood. You are His. On more than one ground, you are His. But what happens then? The flesh, with its passions and desires, is crucified. Together with Christ, something of me is being crucified. something of me will be hanged to death, hanged to death, hanged on the cross to die. That is how united the Christians are with Christ. That is something of the Christians that together with Christ must die. And that is called the flesh with its lusts and desires. But together with Christ, something of the Christian is also being raised up in a new life. Together with Christ, the Christian has died. Together with Christ, the Christian has risen up to a new life. If we live through the same spirit, the same spirit that went and raised Christ up from the dead. We can read in different places that Christ himself has risen up. He has the life in himself to rise up. But in other places we also read that he was raised. Here we see a deed of the Trinity God, when Christ rose from the dead. And the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead, is the spirit that also raises Christ to a new life and a new walk. Verse 25, when we live through the spirit, let us also walk through the spirit. You don't belong to the flesh anymore. The flesh is no longer your master. You have a new master, and that is God the Holy Spirit. Then walk according to what your master urges you to do. So, let us read in contrast with the works of the flesh. He tells us about the fruit of the Spirit, verse 22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, happiness, peace, tolerance, friendliness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things. You've probably heard it many times, how it's said, pay attention, it's in a single sentence. It's not fruits, it's one fruit of the Spirit. And this one fruit of the Spirit is described in this way. Many times people will say, the fruit of the Spirit is love, double point, and the rest of the list that follows. It is becoming visible of the love, of the fruit of the Spirit. However you want to understand it, if you want to say love is a double point, or if you just want to say, here is a unity, a whole, where the Holy Spirit works in every faith, it is the fruit where the Spirit will work in order to bring divinity back to life. Love, happiness, peace, long life, friendliness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. What changes your spirit is your character, is your nature. That you become a man, you become a woman, you become a son, you become a daughter, which is characterized by love, which is characterized by happiness, which is characterized by peace. Then we hear again, He is a pacifist. If we go back to the Holy Sermon, where Christ describes to you how the citizen of the kingdom looks like. How does he make a citizen of the kingdom who was once an enemy of him, a pacifist? Why is that so? Well, because, among other things, God, the Holy Spirit, comes and renews him so that he also has the fruit of the Spirit, which is peace, longsuffering, friendliness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Now, from this I came to verse 6, verse 1. You will hear from the language that has been said in the Bible. Brothers, if someone is attacked by a crime, if a brother or a sister or a fellow believer is attacked by a crime, If they fall back into their faith and do some of the work of the flesh again... Paul is teaching us that if you want to learn something about survival, that what I want to do, I don't do, and what I don't want to do, I do. In this time, before our Lord comes back, the Christians have this constant battle against sin, to no longer do the work of the flesh. To always remember yourself, no, this one has crucified himself with Christ, I have been raised to a new life and I now have to walk in the Spirit. This is the constant battle, the constant war of the Christians. Whatever we do, we will fall into sin. In your thoughts, in your heart, in what you do, then you do the work of the flesh again. And see how the Spirit teaches us what we should do for each other. How should we look at each other? How should we treat each other? How should the fruit of the Spirit also become visible in this situation? We have to see that we are truly in love with each other. It's as if I see that a brother in crime is being attacked. Those of you who are spiritual, again the language of the previous chapter, those of you who have the fruit of the spirit, those of you who walk in the spirit, those of you who are spiritual, you have to help one another with the spirit of gentleness. Again, the fruit of the spirit, the spirit of selflessness. It was part of the fruit of the spirit. So while you go, you don't go while you stand on your own two feet. You think, something is not coming to me. You go in gentleness, you go in leniency, you go in patience, you go in love, you go in faithfulness, you go in self-control. The fruit of the Spirit must become clearly visible, just as you go to your brother or sister, which you then have to fulfill. Let's see, what is the heart of this? The heart of this is not to cover my nose. The heart of this is to heal my neighbor. You realize, but my neighbor is living in the flesh and that is destructive. That is devastating. And I am loving to her and that is why I want to heal her in mercy. I want to reconnect them for each other, for Christ. carry each other's burdens and fulfill the law of Christ. Our Lord Jesus said in Matthew 18, you can stay there now. Then he teaches us many of the same things that he also writes here through his spirit through the pen of Paul. But again, it is very useful, when you come to Matthew 18, to read the context first. Before you start with verse 15, and then if your brother is sinning against you. So go back a little bit, and then read from... 18 verse 8, 18 verse 8, 18 verse 8, 18 verse 8, 18 verse 8, 18 verse 8, Pay attention that you do not despise one of these little ones. This reading is actually in verse 1 to 7 of the little ones, we will not go into that now. Because I say to you that their angels in heaven have always seen the face of my Father who is in heaven. Because the Son of Man has come to save what has been lost. Where is that important verse? The Son of Man has come to save what has been lost. What is it that the Son of Man does? When He has lost a son, He comes to save him. That is what He has come for, to save the one who has been lost. And then this parable is told, because what do you think, if someone has a hundred sheep and one of them is lost, will He not leave the ninety-nine and look for the lost one in the mountains? And when he receives it, I say to you, that he is happier about him than about the ninety-nine who did not perish. So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones will perish. And then you hear, He just told us about the son of man who came to save the one who was lost. He told us about the likeness of the farmer who was left behind to look for the one who was lost. And then he was happy about the one who was gone when he got him back. He got him back for himself. He was happy about that one, about all the other 99. And then he came to us and he gave us this commandment in verse 15. And if your brother is sinful to you, will punish him between you and him alone. If he listens to you, then you have won your brother." Hear again the language of what he just said. The scapegoat that was lost, that he went in search of, that he wants to give back again, and that when he found him, he won him back, he got him back. Here it is the same thought, but think about what does Christ say? It is a weighty thing here, it is a big thing that happens. If we are busy looking at each other, not only to our physical needs, but also to our spiritual needs. If I am so enlightened that I see that here my brother or my sister is about to go astray, is about to walk away from Christ, is about to sin, and I'm going to look for them, I'm going to convince them, and one of them comes to the wrong way. Who actually has that person will come again. It is Christ. It is Christ that the one who has been lost, comes again in search of Him and returns from Himself through the means of faith that comes to Him. He does that immediately. He is immediately busy to go and search for His lost sheep and to bring them back. But here the Lord teaches us, what we have seen in Galatians 6, Where it is said what we should do and what our family should do with self confidence. Here a lot more is said about how to do it practically. How should I do it if someone is sinning against me? Step 1. Punish him between you and him alone. Go to your brother, go to your sister, alone. Don't wait until you drink this coffee and then in the big group you talk to him or her. Then you are not doing what our Lord commanded here. Make an appointment with your brother or sister alone. And punish him between you and him alone. Be very specific. Don't be vague and general. Be specific and say, this is what you did, this is how you sinned. And show the Scripture. This is what the Lord says we should do. And you have transgressed, you have sinned. But then lay on your heart about how you did it. Why are you doing this? Because you want to get used to your brother, you want to get used to your sister. You want it to be about hair or hair, about their cry. That's what your heart wants. It's about your love for this one. It's not about you wanting to shave, because you were too close. Then you haven't properly taken the second step. You haven't properly removed the beam from your own eye. Your attitude is wrong. Work in your own heart, before you will deceive your brother or sister. That you will do it with the right attitude. But bring the deception between you and him alone. Try to get used to your brother or sister again. We read in verse 16, if he does not listen, take one or two with you. So, if you had the conversation, the person For the heart, the heart doesn't want to listen, doesn't want to refuse. And then you don't say, well, I've done my part, I've done what I had to do. No, no. The Lord gives you a further task. He says, take one or two songs. Here you already have to do with a complaint that begins to form. One or two, so that in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word can be established. It is a case that is being formed. You now take more believers together, with the hope that where there are more believers, what this person means from the word, that this one will come to the contrary. That they will revert. If they still do not revert, then you say this to the community, verse 17. Only then, only then, Then you come to one of the elders with your written complaint, with the details, his name on it, and you submit the complaint to the church council, so that the church council can investigate it. You are not allowed, if someone came to you, to immediately run to the elders and say, Jan did this and that to me, or Sanne did this and that to me. Then you are not obedient to Christ. And if the elders in that moment are obedient, they will say to you, good, he did this to you, what does Christ say, what should you do? And then they have to point you back to this part, which the Lord prescribes for us. If the elders immediately take the complaint on their table and start investigating, then they are not obedient to the commands of the Lord. There are other things that need to happen first. So if there are further orders from the municipality, and they still don't listen to the municipality, then there is this terrible, heartbreaking moment, where the person is considered a traitor and a crook. So, here you have the path of TIG. TIG is, when it is done right, when it is done with the attitude that the Lord gives us, then it is love. And it starts with the first commandment. It can start where you just step on the path, and you two address each other, or one speaks to the other, and then the TIG starts. But to see again, what must have been set in me. It must be to turn my nose again to Christ. So if you think of someone who has recently come to you, then you have to ask yourself, and it is the type of sin that you have to address, then you have to ask, have you already done it? With whom have you already talked about it? It is not your right to talk to a bunch of people about what this person has done. To spread all these bad stories about what this person has done. Then you are being a scoundrel. You are being sinful towards your brother. Then you should also be punished. You are also acting. No, the right path the Lord has written for us here. And see, beloved, how the Lord is good to you. If someone comes this way with you, it is Christ who calls you back to Him. If you have sinned and He is asking someone to come and speak to you with His Word, Then see that Christ is calling you back to Him. And do not let your heart betray Him. May it happen that we are more and more willing to help each other with kindness, to encourage each other with kindness, to want to love each other again for Christ. We need it so much. Every one of us is sinful, and we need to watch out for each other. We need to look out for each other. It's an aspect of what it means to be a community. We need to hold on to each other. They look at each other like they see each other, but this one is trying to get further and further away. But I love him. I love her. And that's why I'm going. And I'm going to call them back. And I'm going to call them back. May the Lord wake us up to do this more and more with the right mind. And may we see the Lord's work in this. that He is keeping His community, also by means of the commandments. Amen.