Join me in a word of prayer. Oh, Father, we thank you that you are not only almighty, but that you are all merciful. Oh, Father, we come with the saints that are gathered around thy throne, the cherubim, the seraphim, all the redeemed of every tribe and nation who owns thee as Lord and Savior. We come to thee today and we praise thee. that You have saved us, You have called us by Thy name. Father, it is not by works of righteousness that we have done. Oh, but Father, it is solely and completely based on Thy mercy. Father, awaken our hearts today. Anoint Thy Word. Meet with us in this time. Amen. Galatians chapter 6. We continue on. We're looking really today at verses three through six, although we'll read verses one to two, we're talking about the believer's self-watch. We've already really studied the first two verses of this text, although we'll read it again just to have the context in our mind. He says, Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore that one in the spirit of gentleness. Considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. Bear one another's burdens and by so doing fulfill the law of Christ, for if there is anyone who thinks of himself that he is something. When in reality, he is nothing. He's fooling himself. So let each one examine his own work and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another, for each one shall bear his own load. Let the one who is being taught the word fellowship. The word share there is the Greek word koinonia, speaks of a joint partnership. Let the one who is being taught the word come to the place of complete fellowship in all the good things of the scriptures and of Christ with the one who teaches. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, who was really known as the Prince of Preachers, who preached in London in the mid-1800s, after being in the ministry there at the Metropolitan Tabernacle for some time, began what he called the Preacher's College. And men from young men from all over the nation of England and Scotland and Wales would come there and study for the ministry. And he wrote a book. He put together a book compiled called Lectures to My Students, which is really a book on a manual on ministry. And it's very interesting that the first chapter of that book is called The Minister's Self Watch. The minister's self-watch. And he goes through in that chapter and he outlines all of the things and maybe the peculiar temptations and trials of the ministry that those who are in ministry need to watch for and they need to watch themselves. And he uses as a text for that message that he gave and now is in writing, preserved in writing. 1 Timothy chapter 4, verse 16, where Paul admonishes his young son in the faith, Timothy. He says, take heed to yourself. and to the doctor. Take heed to yourself. And from that, I want to build this concept this morning for us, for every one of us believers, that the Scripture is here admonishing us in Galatians chapter 6 and verses 3 through 6 towards this idea that we want to call the believer's self-watch. Jesus kind of alluded to this concept in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, chapter seven, when he says, why do you judge someone else? And Jesus goes on, he says in that text of Matthew, chapter seven, why are you trying to take the sawdust? So to speak. Out of your brother's eye when you've got a two by four stuck in your own. And Jesus says, why don't you first take the two by four out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother. And this is really what Paul and the Holy Spirit, writing through Paul, is getting at in what we are studying today in Galatians chapter 3. And so in verses 3-5, we really see an expansion of Paul's phrase in chapter 6 verse 1, when he says, you who are spiritual, restore anyone who has fallen into sin, restore him in a spirit of gentleness, and then this phrase, considering yourself. And that phrase in the original language to consider yourself literally means looking to yourself. Looking at yourself, considering yourself, restore your brother. And so Paul begins here by admonishing us as we think of this idea of self-examination and taking heed to ourselves. Paul really begins by admonishing us not to live in a fantasy world about ourselves. Notice what he says there in verse 3. If anyone thinks of himself that he is something, when in reality he is nothing. He is fantasizing. That is the Greek word there. He's living in a fantasy world. If we think that we are something above anyone else and that we are made out of different stuff than anyone else, we're fooling ourselves. We live in a make-believe world. And so the Scripture admonishes us in other places in thoughts like this. Let him that thinketh, he standeth. Take heed lest he fall. And Solomon in the book of Proverbs reminds us, pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before fall. You know, I think the phrases Something like this, you know, I could never do that. I would never make that mistake. Phrases like that coming and being uttered from our mouth are really an appeal for divine testing, aren't they? Think with me of Peter. Right before Christ's crucifixion, Christ says to all of the disciples who are gathered in the upper room, he says, tonight you will all be offended because of me. And Peter steps up to the plate and he says, even though everyone will forsake you, yet not I. Before the cockroach, son. A haughty spirit goes before. And so Peter's great fall was preceded by an arrogant assertion that he could never do something like that. Our spirit should always be like that of D.L. Moody when he was asked concerning himself and concerning those who were trapped in sin. And the great evangelist just uttered these words. He says, but there by the grace of God go I. And that is true of every one of us. And Moody used to say of ministry, that ministry is simply one beggar telling another beggar where he found bread. So a better than thou, Pharisaic spirit is completely incongruent with a heart that is transformed by grace. And so he tells us here, notice with me in the text in verse four, he comes to the central command in these verses. Let each one examine his own work. Let each one examine himself. In first Corinthians chapter two, Paul tells us there, no man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man who is in him. You know yourself like no one else in the room besides God. Right. You know your faults. You know your frustrations. You know your difficulties. And the Scripture tells us here, examine yourself. There are three synonyms in the New Testament that are related to this concept. There are different words and different texts that kind of really bear out the same type of understanding. This word is the word to examine, and the word to examine is like putting your life under a microscope. It really carries with it the concept of a close scrutiny, putting something to a close examination. There's another word in the New Testament sometimes used. It is the word to test. And the word to test is actually a word which in their concept was the word to refine. And so they would test metal in a furnace and it would be refined in the process. And so this word many times speaks of how God is refining us in the trials of afflictions of life. And He is siphoning off the dross from our life as He refines us. The third one is the word to judge. And that just simply means to evaluate. So, for instance, in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, where we were looking this morning at the Lord's table, we are told there that when we come to the table, we are to examine ourselves. And in the very next set of verses, He says, if we judge ourselves, then we will not be judged. So, judging ourself Examining ourselves for sin is all synonymously linked in this concept. Now, when we look at this in Galatians chapter six, he tells us to examine. We are to scrutinize ourselves. You know, the Bible tells us in First Thessalonians 5.21, we are to examine everything. There shouldn't be one area of our life that is not open to scrutiny, not only of others, and ourselves, but even more importantly of the Lord. Examine everything, hold fast to what is good. This is a present active imperative. I always like to stress that when we think of verbs. This is a verb in the original language, and this verb is a command. It is an imperative. He is telling us this is something you must do. It is a command from God. It is a present tense, which means it is something that we must be continually doing. It must characterize our life. And then it is an active verb, which means this is something I must do. It's not something that is done to me. I actively engage this. I actively am to scrutinize myself. And so he is telling us that our life is to be characterized by considering our own faults, knowing ourselves, bearing our own load in the text, which then in turn produces gentleness with others, and humility before God. Because you know as well as I know that no man who rightly understands himself thinks of himself as better than no one. Correct? Now, typically in Scripture, the Lord is the subject with this verb. So in many places in the Scripture, the Lord will tell us things like this, I, the Lord, examine the heart. I, the Lord, examine the heart. Have you ever gone for an exam to the doctor? That's kind of intimidating, isn't it? The Lord, he examines us. I, the Lord, test the heart. This word means to scrutinize. It means to scrutinize in a way that establishes the genuineness of an article. The expectation is that upon close scrutiny, it will be found out that that which is being examined is genuine. For instance, if you go to the cash register, and you're in Idaho Falls, or you're shopping here in the valley, and when you go through the line, you bring out a big bill. What do they do immediately? They hold it up to the light and they look for the watermarks and they maybe have that little pen. And they're scrutinizing the bill. They are looking for an imprint that was put upon that bill by the minter for a proof that the bill is genuine. The expectation is that when they examine it at the register, you're not carrying a counterfeit. The expectation is it's genuine. And here he is simply saying that we are to scrutinize our life. We are to put it under the searchlight of the word of God that we may see the marks of genuineness. The same word is used in first John, chapter four, verse one, where we are told that we are to examine the spirits. For not every spirit that has gone out is from God, he says. So he says, examine the spirits, whether they are from God. And then the mark of whether the spirit is from God is what does that spirit say concerning Christ? How does the spirit testify of Christ? There is a mark upon the spirit. Now, turn with me on 2 Corinthians 13.5. Let's take a minute with this. The Bible here says examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. And then he uses that second synonym that we were talking about, the refining thing. He says, test yourselves. Do you not know you yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you? Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. We are to look at our life and we are to see if there is the mark of Christ imprinted upon us that testifies that we are His. This is important. I spend time seeking in my mind to pray for the children in the room. Because, you know, young people, I want you to listen to me for a minute. Kids, many of you are being raised in Christian families. But for some of you, I fear for you. For I see not the marks of Christ upon your life. Young person, if you're in the room, you need to examine yourself. Do you love Christ? Do you love the Word of God? Or do you love sin? Where is your heart? Your mother and dad will not save you on the Great Judgment Day. Christ must be your Savior. Now, what is the mark? The mark that He points us to is do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you? In 1 John 5 and verse 13 going on from there where He talks about assurance of salvation, He says, He that has the Son has life. When you look at yourself, how do you examine yourself? You are looking for the mark of the imprimatur of Christ upon your soul. He who has the Son has lights. Self-examination is a lot like a pre-trip inspection, isn't it? I remember when I went and got my CDL driver's license, when I was studying for the test, one of the big things they told us to do is when you get over there and you take the driving part of this, you better remember all the different parts of the pre-trip inspection. And you've got to walk around the bus and kick the tires and look at this and look at that and tell the person that is analyzing what you're doing what you're inspecting. And there's this pre-trip inspection. And you know as well as I know that many wrecks can be prevented by examination. And the same is true of the human heart. Many wrecks of human lives would be prevented if we would simply examine ourselves. It's like taking a personal inventory. It's like making an assessment. Why examine yourself? Let's look at a couple of things this morning. Let's just analyze this quickly. Why should I examine myself? First of all, if it is by examining myself that I learn to set aside the present weights that encumber me. In Hebrews chapter 12, 1 and 2, we are there reminded that we are running a race that is set in front of us. And He says there, as we run that race, we are to set aside the sins and the weights that encumber us. And we are to take an analysis of ourselves that we can see by the Spirit of God those weights that are carrying us down and set them aside. Say, I don't need that in my life. That's only tripping me up. That's not helping me in my life. I don't need that. And we set it aside. What thing in your life is holding you back from Christ? What thing in your heart is dearer to you than Christ? That is the point of battle where the Spirit of God would draw you today. That thing. And He says, set it aside. So it is in that examination that we see those present weights that encumber us. Secondly, it is in that examination that we can chart a course for future growth. I was reading in a magazine this week where it said of a sailor, every sailor knows that the first and most essential part of charting a course is determining exactly where you are today. Where are you today and where do you want to be tomorrow? And effective people live with the end in view, don't they? Where do I want to be? And you begin to chart a course for where you want to go. And all of that happens when we quit living haphazardly and we begin to live by personal inventory. Self-examination produces three results. Notice them in the text. The first one is it gives us a proper estimation of ourselves. This is in verses three and four where he says, if you think you're something when in reality you are nothing, you're living in a fantasy world. And so he says, let each one examine himself so he can rejoice. And we'll look at that phrase in a few minutes in himself alone and not in what another is doing. So it is in the place of self-examination that we get a proper estimation of who we are. We are nothing. Yes, we are dear to God and God loves us, but we are nothing in and of ourselves. Secondly, it is in self-examination that we begin to learn to take personal responsibility. This is the bane of 21st century America. We live in an entitlement culture and someone else will take care of it. Someone else will do it. But when I really begin to turn my focus on myself and I analyze my strengths and my weaknesses and I am looking to Christ to help me, it is then that I begin to take personal responsibility. And so he says, each one shall bear his own load. Are you taking personal responsibility for yourself? The third thing that it does is as we take self-examination, we look internally, there is a grasping after growth. And this is in verse six. We'll study it a little bit more in depth next week when he says, let him who is being taught the word fellowship, koinonia, in all the good things that the one who teaches is teaching. And so there is to be a grasping after growth as we sit under the teaching of the Word of God and we are analyzing how that relates to ourselves. There is a hunger that is produced in us. And so assessment leads to aspiration and then aspiration leads to acquisition. And these things are a direct antidote to the apathy of the human heart. Now, in our self-examination, There are some things that we need to do. The first thing that we need to do is we need to be repentant for our faults, don't we? That word to repent is a change of heart is what it literally means. It's not a word of action of deeds of penance. We talked about that last week. Rather, the word repentance simply means to have a change of heart about what we are doing and how we are living. And we are to be repentant in our fault. Secondly, we are to be realistic about our gifts. Thirdly, we are to be reasonable in our appraisals of ourselves. Fourthly, I would say we should be resistant to the evil one who would accuse us before the throne of God in our self-examination. And then lastly, and this is to me very important and most important, is we must be in our self-examination, restful in Christ's finished work. Listen to me. There's always room to beat yourself up in the private closet of self-examination. An introspection can lead to despair. If you examine yourself and you look deeply enough, you will find in yourself plenty of blemishes. And this is where you must learn. We must learn to rest in Christ that he who began the good work in us will carry it to completion. It is not ours to do. We must rest in him. He is our salvation. The second thing I would say to you is when you examine yourself, don't just listen to every voice you hear talking in your ear. Because this is where we get into this concept of being resistant to the evil one. A guy named Martin Lloyd-Jones, one of my great heroes in the faith, great mentor, used to say, he used to talk to people and he'd tell them, when you are introspecting of yourself and you are examining yourself before the Lord, you don't listen to yourself. You talk to yourself. You must talk to yourself. Because it's when we just listen to ourselves, our self-talk becomes saturated with ourselves, we must have a self-talk that is Scripture saturated. The evil one would love to accuse our conscience. This is why ultimately we must flee to that city of refuge, which is Christ. We must also be realistic about our gifts, correct? We shouldn't put on an act of false humility. We also should not flaunt ourselves thinking that we are the source of any good. In Romans chapter 12 and verse 3, right after he tells us to present ourselves to God, a living sacrifice, he says, for I say through the grace given to me to everyone who is among you, that's each of us, stop thinking of yourself more highly than you ought to think. But think soberly. The word soberly there is realistically. Be realistic about your gifts. Think soberly as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. I think Moses is a tremendous illustration to us of this in the scripture. He is the illustration of a man who allowed his weaknesses that he perceived of himself. To limit his usableness to the Lord. He said, I am slow of speech. I can't do that. God says, I want you to go to Egypt and I want you to, I'm going to use you to bring my people out. And he says, I can't do that, God. I can't speak. I can't do any of that stuff. And God says, who made your mouth? Who will empower you? Is it not I, the great I am? And so we must be realistic about that which God is calling us to do, not just groveling in what we think of as our own weakness. Self-examination is grueling. Pastor Matt and Tyler and Monty and I were at a men's day up in Jackson Hole yesterday, and a big part of the day was in each one of the teaching sessions to, at the end, to sit down with a piece of paper and say, oh, this is me. This is how I look. This is what I'm to do with that. That is not fun. Especially when you write it down, you say, well, this is what I will do with that. This is how I expect to change that by the grace of God. Self-examination is grueling. It is difficult because it is hard to be objective about ourselves, isn't it? It is hard to be objective about ourselves. I was reading, Jera and Nina gave us a bunch of magazines a few months ago called Horde's Dairymen. Now, that's not a Christian magazine. That goes to the other great pursuit of my life, which is I love cattle, which is part of my Christian walk as well. But anyway, I was reading in Horde's Dairymen. And there was a quote from a calendar from 50 years ago, and in that quote it said this, the average farmer does not read, he does not travel, but he stays on the farm. And then it says this, and he measures himself by himself. And the result of that is he always is misled. That's a powerful statement. He measures himself by himself. And the result of that is he is always misled. Scripture tells us that comparing ourselves by ourselves, we are not wise. This either leads to pride. I'm better than him. I may not be better than anybody else in the room, but at least I'm better than that person. And there's a subtle pride or it leads us to despair when we say of ourselves, I'll never be as good as them. And we forget that we are accepted in the beloved one. And Christ is our identity. Our self-examination must be by the Word of God. In James 1, we are taught there that the Word of God is a mirror that we reflect in. And as we look in that mirror, we are changed. And so it is a mirror that shows us our faults. And then it unleashes a power that changes our hearts. This is a mystery we cannot comprehend. It's like Snow White. Mirror, mirror on the wall. Mirror, mirror. How ugly am I? And then Christ. I see him in the word and he changes me into what he desires me to be. I was reading, as I said earlier, a book, a great book on the heritage of faith, the Scottish church, a guy named Thomas Chalmers. He lived a century after the Reformation. You know, during the Reformation, the fires of the Spirit of God swept over Scotland through the preaching of a man named John Knox. powerful revivals came down on the land of Scotland. A hundred years later, the blistering winds of German higher criticisms had descended on the land, and by and large, the fervor of the faith of Christ's churches had been lost, and it had been traded in for a moderatism that simply stressed, be good to your neighbor, moral reform, and it really demeaned the regenerating work of the Spirit of God to change the heart of the human. demeaned that. It wasn't a miracle anymore that God would save us. So it was just kind of a religious thing. It was into that time that a man named Thomas Thomas was born. He was born in 1783. He was raised in a religious home, but they were unbelievers. They were unconverted. They had never been born again. It's kind of the respectable thing to go into ministry, so he went into ministry. He went into the church as a minister, as a rank apostate unbeliever. He used to pride himself on the little bit of time, the minutia of time that he could take to be ready to preach on Sunday. He used to write it out in his journal. In fact, he would admonish other preachers on all the fox hunting and other things they could do in the week. And he told them, if you do it right, you only have to work on Saturday evening. And then the great revolution, he called it, began. His favorite sister was living in Amstradter and she was struck dead. A month later, one of his uncles, whom he loved dearly, who had been converted was found in his bedroom dead over his word praying. Leaving from that funeral, Thomas Tommers was traveling in inclement weather and he was struck with an illness. For four months, his life hung in a balance and for four months he did not leave his room. But when he did, he came out a different man. God had saved him. He began to preach the word of God and his congregation immediately noticed a difference. There were new themes to his messages. In fact, one day, one of his parishioners came to him to engage him in a discussion on science. And he said to Chalmers, he said, what, sir, is the object of mathematical science? And Chalmers replied, magnitude and the proportions of magnitude. And then he said this to the man. But then, sir, I had forgotten two magnitudes. I thought not of the littleness of time, nor of the greatness of eternity. One of his friends, who used to visit with him all the time before the great change, said to him, I never found you at your studies for the Sabbath. But he said to him, Now, I never come. But I find you at your Bible. Chalmers reply. All too little, John. All too little. It is the word of God that changes us. It is the word of God that molds us, that examines us, and so we are to examine our own work. If I truly examine my life and I work by God's word, I cannot help but realize that anything, yea, everything that happens through my life for any eternal good or earthly gain is God and completely His grace. There is no boasting. When you look at the last phrase of verse four, and this is where we'll close this morning in this phrase, Paul says here, if you examine yourself, then you will have a cause to rejoice in yourself alone. And not in another. Many commentators believe that Paul is there writing and he is he is talking to them almost ironically. He is almost speaking sarcastically when he says here, rejoice in yourself alone. It is almost like he is sarcastically reminding us that if you truly examine yourself, then you will be confronted with the reality that there is no rejoicing in yourself and yourself alone. It's almost like he is just speaking tongue in cheek. Kind of like the Pharisee in Jesus's story. Who is standing in the temple in the scripture says he was praying to himself What a foolhardy thing is that? And he is praying to himself and he says, God, I thank the God that I am not like so and so. I've never done this. I've never done that. But I do do this and I do do that. And then there's a tax collector and he's over here in the corner. And he is beating upon his breast. And he is looking down from heaven. He will not even lift his eyes to heaven. And he is crying out and he is saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And Jesus Christ says, and it is that man who went to his home justified. And so the Scripture says in 1 Corinthians 1, let him who boasts, boast in the Lord. True self-examination always leads us to the apex of where this entire book is going. In verse 14 of chapter 6, the Apostle Paul says to us, but God forbid that I should glory, that I should boast in anything except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world been crucified to me, and I to the world." God forbid. We should never glory in self. Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord. In Psalm 16, David says, my goodness is nothing apart from you. The story of the Bible record. is how that God is establishing His glory. It is the story of the glory that accrues to the Lord and the Lord alone for the salvation of the sinner. And so we read in Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, it is by grace you are saved and not through faith. It is not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. There is no one in heaven today, there is no one on the gospel road who is glorying in anything that they have done. In terms of salvation, go with me to the Red Sea. And the Lord says, stand still, see the salvation of the Lord. Think with me of Gideon against the Midianites, when God tells Gideon, you have way too big an army. He says, we got to whittle this thing down. He says, the people who are with you are too many for me to give them the victory. If I give it into their hands, then Israel will claim the glory for itself. And they will say my own hand has saved me. So it is the God of the universe, born of a virgin, spit upon and mocked as we sang this morning, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He was crucified for me. And in that and that alone will I ever glory. And make him my boast. And so with the reformers, we cry out sola de gloria, O cross of Christ, what matchless worst That Christ my Savior stooped to earth to save a wretched soul like mine. What wondrous love induced this. That God Almighty became a man and then for me He died. Died to save me from my hell. All glory His. Never mind. I'll praise Him now and by and by. Oh Father, we thank You. Oh Lord, you tell us in your word repeatedly to examine ourselves. And Father, when we do, we see our failures. Lord, we're confronted with the many times that we fail you in any given day, let alone the magnitude of the guilt that we have accrued over a lifetime. Father, there's no rejoicing in anything that we have done. Father, there's no hope and trust in the sacraments. There's no trust in any tithing. There's no trust in memberships in churches. Father, there is Christ and Christ alone. Father, may he ever be our hope. If you've never received Christ as your Savior. My friend, this is not a simple prayer you pray just to go through the motions and kind of. Get your fire escape from hell. My friend, it is a turning of your life over to Christ. And glory in the cross and a recognition that he died for your sin and by trust in him and him alone, you will be eternally safe. Would you examine yourself this morning? Are you in the faith? If you are not, Will you have doubts about your state before the Lord? Will you seek him? Will you come to him on his terms and just simply believe and trust in the gospel that he has given? Look to him and be saved. Do so while we sing. But let us examine our lives. Matt, would you lead us? Heavenly Father, as we examine our own lives, as we test ourselves to see if we are of the faith. Lord, we pray that you would reveal to us the sin in our own lives that needs to be taken care of, that needs to be sent to the cross, that it may be nailed there, that it may be done away with. Lord, help us to turn from our sin, to not just repent, but to turn and to walk against where we once were. Lord, use this church, use this body. May you yourself bring glory from our lives. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.