So looking forward to that day when we'll stand before him and be with him forever and ever there in heaven because he's made the way for us. So thankful for that truth in song this evening. If you would join me in the sixth chapter of the epistle to the Galatian Church, Galatians chapter 6. We have arrived at the final two messages in this series on the epistle to the Galatians, in which we have focused on Paul's intent to declare the gospel of Jesus Christ, which proclaims that justification comes through faith alone, in Christ alone, by grace alone. And aren't you thankful for that this evening? Justification, being declared righteous before God, is a matter of faith in Christ by grace. If it were up to you and I, friends, we would be in a terrible place. Because there is no one, not one of us, not anyone in any place at any time, who could merit salvation on his own. No one. I'm so thankful tonight that salvation is through faith alone in Christ alone by grace alone. As we come to Galatians chapter six, this chapter opens with what may on the surface appear to be an assortment of applications. As you come to this chapter and you begin reading, it seems as if Paul is going a variety of directions. And you may think as you read it and as you study it that Paul is just getting in some last-minute subjects as quickly as he can in rapid succession because he knows he's getting long and needs to bring it to a close. We preachers never guilty of anything like that at all. Never dragging it out and needing to hurry up and finish. I know you don't feel that way at all. You may think that he is hitting some things, that he really feels he has no time to do justice. But instead, I believe that Paul is making pointed applications stemming from his discussion of the works of the flesh contrasted with the fruit of the Spirit in the previous verses. without expositing the verse just yet, I want you to notice the second clause of verse number one. Just the second clause. He says here, ye which are spiritual. Ye which are spiritual. Now directly and immediately, Paul is addressing this thought in verse number one to those who are spiritual. But I would submit to you that he is addressing all of the thoughts in the verses even following verse one to those who are spiritual. What does it mean to be spiritual? Spiritual is the translation of the Greek word pneumaticos, and it's an adjective. This word's stem is pneuma, a noun that is most often translated spirit. In fact, back in chapter five, verse 16, where Paul said, walk in the spirit. And then in verse number 22, where he said the fruit of the spirit. Those translations, spirit, come from that Greek word, pneuma. So this may seem very elementary to you, but someone who is spiritual, someone who is of the Spirit. So as Paul addresses ye which are spiritual, Paul is making some pointed applications in various situations for those who are walking in the Spirit. If you are walking in the Spirit and thus your life is producing the fruit of the Spirit rather than the works of the flesh, Paul says, here are some different situations where that should work itself out in different ways. If I were to present to you some hypothetical situations, your actions or reactions would be very revealing. If I said to you, in this case, or if you were ever faced with this challenge, or if you were ever involved in this experience or situation, how would you act? How would you react? Your actions and reactions would be very revealing about you. In verses 1 through 10 of Galatians 6, Paul gives three situations and shows us how the spiritual deal with them. He shows us how those who are of the Spirit act and react in these various situations. Let's read the entire text, and then we will identify and examine these three situations that we might recognize the Spirit's effect on the actions and reactions of the spiritual. Galatians 6, beginning in verse 1. The Bible declares, 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. 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. 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. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, and 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 have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith." Three situations in how the spiritual deal with them. Notice if you would, first of all, the spiritual and their dealing with sin. the spiritual and their dealing with sin. That's verse number one. Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such in one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. As the Bible presents this situation, the text describes the failure of someone who is a believer, who has failed with regard to something for which Christ died, from which he redeemed them. As you read this text, you find here the situation or the context being a believer in Jesus Christ. who has failed with regard to some activity in his life. And that failure was some sin for which Christ died and from which he redeemed them. The word translated fault in verse number one is translated in various passages as sin or sins or trespass or trespasses. Examples include sins, or excuse me, trespasses in Ephesians 2 in verse one, where the Bible says, and you have be quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. And then sins in Ephesians chapter two in verse number five, where Paul tells us that even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ by grace you're saved. And then it is translated, because it's used twice in Colossians 2 verse 13, as both sins and trespasses, he says, and you being dead in your sins, in the uncircumcision of your flesh hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you of all trespasses. So when Paul says, If a brother be overtaken or if a man be overtaken in a fault, you could say a sin or a trespass, some activity or action that Christ died for and has redeemed that one from. There's no indication in this text that there are sins included or exempted from this statement. In other words, the scripture seems to indicate that, number one, believers still sin, we know that. But a believer is, it's possible that a believer could commit any sin. Any sin for which Christ died and has redeemed us, it is possible for us to be overtaken, to fail in relation to that sin. You and I are privy to examples of this in our own lives and sometimes in the lives of others. What does Paul teach us here about how the spiritual are supposed to deal with this situation? How are the spiritual to respond when a brother or sister in Christ fails with regard to something for which Christ died, from which he has redeemed them? Notice if you would, we are not told to ignore, to excuse, or destroy. we are told to restore. It is not up to me as a believer in Jesus Christ to ignore the sin of a brother or sister in Christ, to excuse their sin, or to judge in the sense of destroying, but to restore. This word restore was used in secular Greek as a medical term for setting a fractured or dislocated bone. It's used in Mark chapter 1 and verse number 19 of Jesus' first disciples when they were fishermen to identify that they were mending their nets, this same word. It has the idea of to set up, to restore, to mend. A believer who has failed is down and broken. He needs to be lifted up and healed. When a believer in Jesus Christ fails in some action or activity, he sins. Something that Christ died for. Something that Christ has already redeemed him from. Those who are spiritual are supposed to see this brother or sister in Christ as one who is broken, one who is down, and it is our responsibility, it's our ministry to one another to seek to lift up and bring healing to the fallen brother or sister in Christ. The church is often guilty of either overlooking or overreacting in these situations. overlooking, by ignoring, or overreacting, by condemning. Neither of these responses is right or spiritual, and we need to work to do as the Spirit leads us to do. It's not my desire tonight to give every hypothetical situation, but I was struck by a statistic that was shared just a few nights ago at an event Stephanie and I attended. We attended the Sweet Celebration of Life hosted by the Your Choice Resource Center, the ministry here in Rocky Mount that we support and minister at. One of the staff members there shared this statistic. 64% of women who were churchgoers or are churchgoers who end up in an unplanned pregnancy report that they felt the church people were more likely to gossip about them than to help them. Shame on us if that is our behavior. Shame on us. If we see a brother or sister in Jesus Christ overtaken in a fault, involved in a sin for which Jesus died and from which he has redeemed them, it is not our place to ignore, to excuse, to destroy, to condemn, but to restore that brother or sister in Christ. Like Paul, I do not minimize the sin, Paul here is not minimizing the sin. He is clear. This is a fault. It is a sin. It is a trespass. And they're not to be left in that place. They're to be restored. So that is not minimizing the sin. It is stating the way to correctly deal with that sin. To bring counsel, not condemnation. To bring a lifting up, not a continuing to break down. Paul is clear, don't minimize the sin. However, overlooking or overreacting is a wrong response and is itself sin. I believe that overall the church as a whole needs to be better and do better than this. In 1 and 2 Corinthians, as a biblical example, Paul addressed a known sin in the church where a man was involved in an ongoing sexual relationship with his stepmother. I mean, in our perspective, from our viewpoint, this is a pretty serious matter within the church of Jesus Christ. In 1 Corinthians chapter 5, Paul dealt with it and he exhorted the church to spirit-led church discipline for the purity and protection of the body. However, in the second letter to the Corinthians, when that one repented, Paul declared he was to be forgiven, comforted, and loved. The goal of dealing with sin, even to the extent of church discipline, which biblically is a last resort reserved for the unrepentant, is restoration. It's not our job to ignore, to excuse, to destroy, to condemn, but to restore. And even if that means going to the extent again of church discipline, which biblically is a last resort for those who are unrepentant after they've been confronted at least twice, the goal is still restoration. Paul here tells us about how the spiritual deal with sin. Secondly, Paul speaks to us about the spiritual and their dealing with suffering. This is the point of verses two through five. Notice in verse number two, he says, bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfilled the law of Christ. And then jump down to verse five, for every man shall bear his own burden. Again, here the Bible speaks of a burden in verse 2 and verse 5. These verses may seem to contradict each other, where Paul says in verse 2, again, bear ye one another's burdens, and in verse 5, that every man shall bear his own burden. Is there a contradiction here? Of course, the answer is no. The burden in verse number two is translated from a word that identifies a weight that drags a person down, while the word in verse five identifies simply an invoice or a task that one is given to perform, a responsibility. In the first place, verse number two, the idea is that of suffering. We see a brother or sister in Jesus Christ who is weighed down by a burden, who is overcome with a burden. This suffering could be a result of failure within the context of verse number one. Isn't that true? Have you ever experienced as a believer in Jesus Christ being overtaken in a fall and God's Holy Spirit deals with you? Or perhaps you're even confronted by some other brother or sister in Christ about that sin and you are grieved. You are burdened by the guilt and the shame of your disloyalty to Jesus Christ, of how perhaps you have hurt the testimony of Jesus Christ in your life. I don't know about you, friends, but I know there have been times in my life where I've been guilty of a fall. I've been overtaken by a fall. I've been guilty of sin, and God's Holy Spirit has smitten my heart about that, and I've been grieved. I've wept over the guilt and shame of my sin against the Lord. But this could go beyond that. It could relate to a challenge or a circumstance that is presented to one in this life that is burdensome, that weighs them down. Paul states it this way in Romans chapter 15 and verse number one, we then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves. You and I, as believers in Jesus Christ, should have our eyes open and be sensitive to our brothers and sisters in Christ that are around us, to the burdens they are carrying. And as we have opportunity, do what we can to lift that burden with them. One wrote it this way, this is a simple command to obey. Look for a brother or sister with a burden and help them with it. It isn't complicated and it doesn't take a huge program or infrastructure to do it. Just look for a burden to bear and bear it. Sometimes this can be a simple word of encouragement. I can't tell you the times when I have been under the weight of a burden and just the words of encouragement from a brother or sister in Christ have lifted me up and helped to carry that burden a bit. Perhaps it was just a written note, perhaps a text message or an email, a phone call. Been many times that I've experienced that in my life and perhaps you have too. It may be something more. As you see a brother or sister under a burden that they can't bear, it may be that God leads you just to a simple word of encouragement. It may be to something much more that God leads you to do. The spiritual do as the Spirit leads them in such cases. But Paul speaks to this further in verses three through five. The remaining verses indicate that pride and indifference hinder us from fulfilling the law of Christ, which is also described in Philippians 2, 1 through 8. He tells us that to bear one another's burden, verse two, is to fulfill the law of Christ. What is the law of Christ? Philippians chapter two speaks to us. If we've experienced the mercy of God and salvation, then we need to look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. We're to be of one mind, we're to be in unity as brothers and sisters in Christ. and he says let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation took upon him the form of a servant was made in the likeness of man and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself became obedient unto death even the death of the cross. This is the law of Christ, to humble oneself, to look on others, to even see others before self. And Paul tells us that pride and indifference, this attitude in verse 3 of a man thanking himself to be something when he is nothing, that is to be above such tasks. to be above bearing another's burden. And then he says in verse four, but let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden. Here, as he speaks of this burden in verse number five, he's speaking really in two senses. One, that we're personally accountable to the Lord. Two, that's connected with that. We're personally accountable to the Lord for what he has placed on us. The word burden in verse number five is the same as we find in Matthew 11 in verse number 30 when Jesus tells us, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. And that was after he exhorted us to come unto him. All ye that labor and are heavy burdened, I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. What is his yoke? Well, we could say in part it's this law of Christ. to bear one another's burdens and fulfill that law. But when you and I are lifted up with pride, when we're indifferent to the reality that we'll one day personally stand before God to give an account for what he has given us to do, if we're indifferent to that, it will hinder us from fulfilling the law of Christ. Paul speaks to us here about how the spiritual deal with sin. We don't ignore, excuse, destroy, condemn, we restore. He speaks to us about how the spiritual deal with suffering, we bear one another's burdens rather than being lifted up with pride and indifference. And then notice thirdly and finally, the spiritual and their dealing with sowing. the spiritual in their dealing with sowing. Verses 6 through 10. In these verses, we find that Paul first states a principle. And you've seen these before, I've preached on these before, found in verses seven and eight. Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, and he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. These are the principles, the laws of sowing and reaping that are found in the scripture. Anyone who's been involved with agriculture, gardening, or planting and reaping of any kind would understand these laws. That you always reap more than you sow, you always reap later than you sow, and you always reap what you sow. And that is the scriptural principle that Paul declares here. Don't miss the principle, as you sow to the flesh, you'll of the flesh reap corruption. As you sow to the spirit, you'll of the spirit reap life everlasting. Now don't confuse what Paul is talking about here. He has spent an entire letter describing that justification comes through faith alone, in Christ alone, by grace alone. Don't think now that Paul is saying anything about earning justification. He is not. He is speaking here about equality. He is speaking here of a sense of reward and return. If your investing, if your sowing is primarily carnal, primarily of the flesh, then what you reap in return will be carnal and of the flesh. If your sowing, on the other hand, is of the spirit, is spiritual, if you're sowing for eternity, your reward will be of the spirit. It will be eternal. He gives us a promise. In verse number nine, this is the recompense for faithfulness. And let us not be weary in well-doing. Friends, can I share with you a secret that perhaps you've not yet learned? That if you are involved in well-doing, there are going to be challenges and circumstances that may lead you to become weary. The Bible nowhere paints the picture that doing right is an easy path, an easy road. It's not. One writer wrote of verse nine this way, it is easy for the servants of God to become discouraged. The opposition they meet is so constant and the good they are trying to do is so hard to accomplish. Paul tells us, let us not be weary in well-doing. It can be easy to grow weary in well-doing, but the exhortation is don't be weary. Don't faint. Why? For in due season we shall reap if we faint not. If you are faithful, if you press on through the difficulties and the challenges, remaining faithful to the Lord, remaining faithful to the work that he's given you to do, There is a promise which is the recompense of faithfulness. And then as an application, he gives us the practice. In verse number 6, if I could say it this way, it's doing good to the preacher. And then in verse number 10, it's doing good to all. He tells us in verse number six, let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things. If you've been taught from the word of God or ministered to by the word of God, the Bible says do good, communicate good things to the one who has taught you or ministered to you. And then in verse number 10, he says this, as we have therefore opportunity, what does that mean? If we see a need and have the resource to meet the need. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. As you see a need and have the resources to meet the need, that is the opportunity. He says, do good to all men, especially to those who are of the household of faith. Remember this truth. When you invest in eternity, your investment always produces a return. I shared with a few this morning, so some of you may hear it again, in the meeting for our children and youth ministry workers. Several years ago, when I was serving as the youth pastor at the campus church, I and Stephanie hosted one of the guest speakers, Dr. Pittman. He's been here previously to preach for a missions conference. At the time, he was already elderly and on in his ministry, but he had served for many years as a senior pastor, before that as associate youth pastor. And as Stephanie and I picked up he and his wife to take them on to a meal, a young adult lady approached the vehicle and stopped he and his wife and began speaking with them. After they talked and caught up a little bit, Dr. Pittman climbed into the vehicle, we headed on to dinner, and he shared with Stephanie and I that many years previous, when he was serving as a youth pastor, this now young lady was a child, was a young person. And while at their church, that family whose family was involved in church, the dad had left the family and run off from the family, deserted his family. Pastor Pittman and his wife had the opportunity to minister to that family and to those children. And all of these years later at Pensacola Christian, girl who was now a young adult approached him to thank him again years later for the ministry that he and his wife had poured out into that family. Friends, when you invest in eternity, your investment always produces a return. In a manufacturing town in Scotland, a young lady began teaching a Sunday school class to poverty-stricken boys. The most unpromising youngster among them was a boy named Bob. After two or three Sundays, he did not return. So the teacher went to look for him. Although the superintendent had given Bob some new clothes to wear, they were already worn and dirty when the teacher found him. This was his excuse for not returning to Sunday school. So the teacher gave him more new clothes, and he came back to Sunday school. But soon he quit again, and the teacher went out and found him once again. When she did, she discovered that the second set of the clothes had gone the way of the first. They were dirty, they were torn. It was his excuse for not returning to Sunday school. So she met with the Sunday school superintendent and shared with him, I'm completely discouraged about Bob. I guess we must give up on him. The superintendent encouraged her, please don't do that. I believe there is still hope. Try one more time. So they gave Bob a third change of clothes. And this time he began to attend faithfully. It was not long until he became a Christian and eventually even taught in that same Sunday school. Who was that obstinate, ragged boy who for a time seemed so unreachable? It was none other than Robert Morrison, who later became the first English missionary to China. He translated the Bible into Chinese and brought the word of God to countless millions of Chinese people. Friends, when you invest in eternity, your investment always produces a return. The spiritual. Paul speaks to us about how they deal with sin. They don't ignore, excuse, destroy, or condemn, they restore. He speaks to us about how the spiritual deal with suffering. bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. He speaks to us about how the spiritual deal with sowing. They recognize the biblical principle and invest in eternity knowing that that investment always produces a return. As you think about how the spiritual act and react in these different situations, it causes us to take a step back and reflect on ourselves. How do we act and react in situations like these? How do we deal when it comes to sin? How do we deal when it comes to suffering? How do we deal when it comes to sowing? The spiritual. Those who are of the Spirit, are led of the Spirit, act and react according to God's design and desire. What about us? If you would, bow your heads and close your eyes with me this evening and for just a few moments as we wait before the Lord. Perhaps God has spoken to your heart this evening about how the spiritual deal with these situations, how they act and react in different situations of life. And maybe you need to respond to the Lord. Maybe God has spoken to your heart about reacting and acting. Led by the spirit. In different areas in your life. In different situations that you have faced. If the Lord is speaking to your heart, I'm going to ask Daryllyn to begin to play just as soon as she is ready. And as she plays, if God is speaking to your heart, would you respond to the Lord right there? If the Lord leads, you can come to this altar and bow before the Lord and pray out to him.