Thank you, Mark. Good morning to everyone. Beautiful day today, nice and warm. I saw a picture, you know, you get those things on Facebook. Bobby has Facebook, and it said, "so many years ago today," and I had on my Nanook of the North coat and everything, ready to go out to milk the cow, so it could be a lot worse right now. Be thankful for warm temperatures.

Well, we're continuing our study this morning in the Book of Galatians. We've come to chapter 6 now, and I want to tie some things together in the book, in our recent study this morning, with an important application that we find in these verses in 6, 1 to 5. Paul's been laboring in this epistle to point the believers to the life of faith, to the power of the Spirit, and away from the law as a rule of life. 

The churches were infected with an awful, pervasive heresy brought there by legalistic Jews who taught a faith plus works message, who taught that we must believe Jesus, but that we also must keep the law of Moses. And Paul has condemned this false message carefully, clearly, forcefully, and he's reminded the troubled believers that they have come to a life by grace, through faith, and also that they must now live by grace through faith. 

In Galatians 3:3, Paul said, "Are you so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?" This was the problem, and it's a problem for many churches today. We as true believers in Jesus Christ understand justification by grace through faith. We must understand this great truth in order to come to faith in Jesus, to be saved. 

We understand that we come to life by grace through faith, that I'm not saved by any work that I do, by my own strength, by my own power, or religious works, or rites, or rituals, but solely by the death of Christ in my place for my sins, fully satisfying the wrath of God and accomplishing my salvation in his one-time act on the cross. 

But when it comes to sanctification, I think we tend to get a little less clear in our understanding, and this is what was happening in Galatia. They were troubled by those who had perverted the gospel message, and they were going back to the law as a way of life, as a means to sanctification. And Paul says this is not acceptable; this is not fruitful. 

We who are believers are led by the Spirit, we now live by faith in Jesus, and he lives his life in and through us, and it is the Holy Spirit who produces the fruit of righteousness in our lives, love for God and love for men. We are in the Spirit and not in the flesh, Paul says, and therefore we must live by the Spirit and not by the flesh. 

We've seen in chapter 5 that he makes this application clearly and shows us that the Christian life is a supernatural life energized by the Holy Spirit as we walk by faith. Look back at 5:1 with me. "Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Indeed, I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing."

And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law. You've fallen away from grace. For we, through the Spirit, eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything but faith working through love.

Our hope of righteousness, righteous living, is through the Spirit, not by the law, not by the works of the flesh. It's not about religious ritual or ceremony, but all about faith working through love. In verse 13, he said, "For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use that liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another." 

The command of the new covenant is to believe Jesus and love one another. The law of Christ, as we'll see in our text today, is love. Jesus said, "Love one another as I have loved you." A true self-sacrificial love, serving one another through love. And my friends, there's only one way that this can be a consistent reality in our lives. 

Galatians 5:22 says, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." And then he says, "Against such there is no law." And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 

If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. We looked at this last time, walking in the Spirit and what that means. We find the same exhortation in other texts where Paul tells us to let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly. We're taught to abide in Christ, to walk by faith. 

The main point is that the fruit of love comes only by supernatural means. The life of service is only by the life of Christ lived out through me, as we see in passages like Ephesians 3. We must live by the Spirit and not turn back to the law, to the flesh, as a means of righteousness. 

In verse 18 of chapter 5, Paul said, "If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law." So the clear truth that we've seen throughout this epistle is that those who are in Christ, who have trusted Jesus and come to faith in Him, experiencing the salvation work of God, are in the Spirit, are led by the Spirit of God. 

And the clear admonition is to then walk by the Spirit so that we might experience the fruit of the Spirit. Well, now in chapter 6, we come to a tremendously practical instruction concerning the great truths we've learned in chapter 5. Let's look at our text together, Galatians 6:1. 

He says, "Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But 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."

Well, I've given you five points on your outline. First, overtaken. Second, restoration. Third, a spirit of gentleness. Fourth, all about the love. And fifth, bearing burdens. Well, I find this text really to be one of the most fascinating and intensely practical texts that I've ever studied. 

I would point out to you as we begin that this text is not divorced from the context of chapter 5 or the whole of the epistle or the main intent that Paul has in writing this letter to the Galatian saints, and I want to reiterate the issue at hand. 

I think the text bears it out. The issue was false teaching leading the believers astray, and Paul's main concern was the impact that law teaching was having on the way believers were living their Christian lives. We’ve talked before about the mistake of preachers of this epistle in assuming that the issue at hand was justification and that the problem was going back to the ceremonial and civil laws. 

The truth is that the heart of this epistle is sanctification, how it is that we are to live the Christian life, and the impact that law teaching was having on that understanding. The issue was not exclusively ceremonial and civil law, but it was also the moral law of God being set as a means of life for the believer in Jesus Christ. 

We've demonstrated this truth throughout our studies of Paul's words, but I want you to keep this in mind as we come to our text this morning. Our first consideration is the word translated overtaken in verse 1. "Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass," this is really an instructive and interesting word. It literally means to take by surprise or to take unawares. 

So what we see here is we're talking about falling into sin. We're talking about sins that overtake us. It's passive in the verb here. It's overtaking us. It's surprising us. Paul says, "You who are spiritual," that means to walk by the Spirit, as he's talked about, just as he's described in the previous verses in chapter 5. 

And now he's contrasted the man who walks by the Spirit with the man who walks by the flesh. So the one overtaken by the sin is no longer walking by the Spirit, but walking by the flesh. He is still in the Spirit, you understand that? As a fact, as a truth. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of God is not his, Paul says in Romans 8. 

His status, the truth of who he is has not changed, but the method by which he is choosing to walk has changed. He's in the Spirit, but he's not walking by the Spirit, and thus he's been overtaken by sin. So we have one who is spiritual here, you who are spiritual, Paul says, walking by the Spirit. 

It is your job, in fact, it's your opportunity to help the one who has fallen, who has been taken by surprise and is now walking by the flesh and thus exhibiting the fruit of the flesh. In this context, particularly and closely tied to what Paul taught in chapter 5, what we see is that as a result of the false teaching of the Judaizers and the perverting of the gospel, some of the believers in these churches had chosen to go back to the law as a rule of life, as a means to holiness. 

Certainly, there's an application here for any sin. Notice Paul says if a believer is taken, overtaken in any sin. But there's a more specific meaning here, I think, in Paul's writing, as we'll see. It's interesting to me that we do not find any of Paul's words impugning the motives of the believers. 

A lot of harsh language, a lot of hard words in this epistle, but we don't find Paul impugning the motives. It's not that they were licentious, it's not that they were indifferent, they all were interested in leading a holy life. They all had a great desire to glorify God and to be holy, but the issue at hand was how. How does God intend that we should live a holy life, that we should experience the fullness of our salvation? 

And the coming of the false teachers presented them with an option. Remember, Paul called it a "heteros," a different way than the one way that they had known, the one way that Paul had taught them in consistency with the gospel they had believed and had been experiencing as they lived the Christian life. 

In verse 7 of chapter 5, he said, "You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion does not come from him who calls you." These people were primarily pagan Gentiles before Paul came. This region, he brought the gospel; they were living their pagan lives and their pagan religions and all kinds of debauchery, being strangers and aliens from the law of God, the promises, the covenants, and were without God, with no hope in the world, as Paul says in Ephesians. 

But when Paul came, he preached to them the gospel of grace through faith in Jesus alone. And he taught them the life of faith by the grace of God and freedom in Christ to now live for him because of regeneration, because of the life of Christ in them, because of the Holy Spirit living in them and empowering them as they walked by faith. 

And they were experiencing this reality in their Christian lives. They were running well. It was all that they knew. Think about when Peter came down there and they were all dining together, having pork chops and ham and bacon, and everybody was happy, and they had fellowship and they were producing fruit and being witnesses. 

But then when the Judaizers came preaching a different gospel, one of faith plus works, this brought tremendous confusion, another way to live the Christian life. And some of them were swayed to this persuasion, had begun to put themselves under the law of Moses and were attempting to keep it as a way of life, a way of holiness. 

The word translated overtaken here, overtaken by sin, speaks to those believers who had turned to the law as a way of life. And again, its meaning is to be taken unawares by surprise. Think about this. I think it's important for us to note that the ones he is addressing here, these believers who are overtaken in sin, were not apathetic concerning holiness. They had an earnest desire to live a holy life, to please God, to be a good Christian. 

I don't see anything in the words that questions their desire or motive. The problem was with the effect of the false teaching and their turning back to the law of God rather than living by the Spirit of God. And what Paul is saying is that now they were experiencing the fruit of that decision, that means for living the Christian life, and they were surprised. They were taken unawares. 

In the context, the command here is for the ones who are spiritual, who are still walking by the Spirit, the ones who still saw the truth that Paul had taught them, who had never been drawn away by false teaching and law living, the ones who were walking by the Spirit, these believers were to help the ones who had fallen. They were to pick them up and set them back on the straight path. 

I have to tell you, these words speak directly to my soul because God has given me a great passion, a fervent desire to help believers understand these truths, to teach and preach and by the grace and power of God to live out as an example the life of faith, of grace, of walking by the Spirit. I'm better at the first two than the last, I'm afraid. 

But this is the heart of my ministry, my great desire and I believe my calling by God to teach the truth of the gospel as the way to life and the way of life. I love that passage in Galatians 2 where Peter withdrew himself from the Gentiles and snuggled up to the legalists. 

And Paul said that in this act, he was not being straightforward about the gospel. You see, the gospel's not just justification. It's not just coming to salvation, being saved. The gospel is also sanctification; it's how we walk. But the point here is that there were those believers who had succumbed to the false teaching, were influenced by it, taken captive. 

The comparisons made back in chapter 5. And now because they were seeking to live by the law, by their own power, they were exhibiting the fruits of the flesh. Look back at 5:16. Paul says, "I say then: walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, the Spirit against the flesh, and these things are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law." Now the works of the flesh are evident, and he lists those. And we talked about this last week, but the flesh here refers to the body controlled by indwelling sin as opposed to this body controlled by or filled with the Spirit of God. 

What is amazing to me is that Paul ties the law to the flesh. And we know this. When the law comes, it arouses the sinful desires in us and causes us to bear fruit unto death, the fruit of the flesh. The law cannot give us the desire nor one ounce of power in order to keep it. 

In verse 22 he says, "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." 

Against such there is no law. If we walk by the Spirit, see the fruits of the Spirit summarized in love, and the law is not the means, it's not the way to the fruit of love, this can only come by the power of the Spirit. And if we walk by the Spirit and have the fruits of the Spirit, then against such there is no law. 

So contextually here, in the flow of thought of the epistle and the intent of Paul, what we see is a command for the spiritual Christian, the one who understands his liberty in Christ, the power of the Spirit and the grace of God, to restore the one who has been overtaken by sin because of his choice to live by the law and work out his holiness by the flesh. 

And again, this is a brother or sister who's seeking or desiring a holy life, just by the wrong means, and they are unawares, they are taken by surprise. I think they're stunned that they're seeking to keep the moral law of God as a rule of life and ending up in sin. You've known people like that; maybe you've been that person. 

Right? I'm going to try really hard; I'm going to do this thing, I'm going to do this and this and this, I keep trying, and then I keep failing; I'm finding myself in sin. It's not my desire. But the law cannot give us the power to keep it. So what does this restoration look like? 

Galatians 6:1, "Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." Well, the main verb here is to restore. This is the command to the spiritual. 

And it literally means to make sound, to make fit, to restore to full functionality. Here, the idea is that the believer who has turned back to the law, to the flesh as a means or power to live a holy life has stumbled, been overtaken, and must be picked back up and set on the right path, pointed back to Jesus, pointed back to the Holy Spirit. 

We have so many scriptures that speak to this as the purpose and role of the believer within the body. I want to read several of them to you now; there are many, many more. Notice in Romans 15:1, "We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak and not to please ourselves." 

Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification. Makes me think of Ephesians, "speak words necessary for edification." First Thess 5, "Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the faint-hearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good, both for yourselves and for all. 

Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit." Hebrews 12, "Strengthen the hands which hang down and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated but rather healed. Pursue peace with all people and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord."

Looking carefully, lest anyone fall short of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled. Romans 14, "Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or cause to fall in our brother's way. Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace, and things by which one may edify another." 

"Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another according to Christ Jesus. Therefore receive one another, just as Christ also received us to the glory of God." 

"Be kindly affectionate to one another, with brotherly love and honor, giving preference to one another. Be of the same mind. Do not set your mind on high things but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion. Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law." 

"Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, submitting to one another in the fear of God, bearing with one another, forgiving one another."

If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." 

Notice all those one another's in there? "'Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit and sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart. Be of one mind, having compassion for one another. Love as brothers. Be tender-hearted, courteous, and above all things have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins.'"

You've been called to liberty. Serve one another through love. Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. 

We're here in this body for the edification of one another. We're here to restore one another, to set a brother who has stumbled back on the right path in a spirit of gentleness and love. As I studied this text, it reminded me of an event in my life when I was about 14 years old. 

Beginning back in 1984, my brother and I joined up with a local scout group to start going up to the Boundary Waters canoe area up in Ely, Minnesota. This was a big adventure in my life. At the age of 12, we traveled 10 guys in a van 15 hours from the farmlands of Indiana to the ends of the earth north of Duluth, Minnesota. 

I remember rolling out of that van after that long trip the very first time in Ely. It was early in the morning. We went into this little café. The waitress came over to take our order. She said, "What will you have?" And I, half asleep, said, "I'll have the biscuits and gravy and two eggs over easy." 

She put on her most pathetic southern accent and said, "And you want grits with that too?" I was a long way from home. By the way, they never had biscuits and gravy up here until I came, so just be thankful. 

It was a long physical day, canoeing, portaging into Horse Lake to our campsite, but what a beautiful place. And the fishing was amazing. About our third or fourth year traveling up to the Boundary Waters, we had a family friend named Bob, and Bob wanted to go on this trip. He'd heard the stories. He'd seen the pictures. He wanted to go with us. 

But we were all a little concerned because Bob was not in the greatest physical shape, and we cautioned him about the physical nature of this trip. Well, in preparation over that next year, Bob lost 75 pounds. He worked out, he walked, he trained so that he could go to the Boundary Waters. 

And I remember the first portage was this massive hill, rocky, steep, 90 rods up to the peak and then treacherous down the hill to the next lake. And Bob made it okay, and I thought, "Oh, Bob's doing okay." We paddled across the next lake to a flat portage across a swamp, but it was long, about a half a mile. Bob had someone help him get his pack on and his canoe on his shoulders, and he was going down the trail. 

I was a little ways behind him, and I came around the corner, and about halfway, I could see a canoe off to the side laying in the swampy moss in the woods, and under that canoe was Bob. He'd fallen off the trail. He’s just laying there with his mosquito head net pulled down, breathing heavy. 

I said, "You okay, Bob?" And he said, "Yep, just resting." I ran down to the end of the portage at the next lake. I got my brother. We went back and got Bob still laying there. We took the burden off his back, shouldered his pack, got the canoe, helped him, set him back on the path so that he could walk down to the lake and start out again. 

At the end of the week, Bob sold all of his fishing gear to all of us for whatever he could get. He burned all of his clothes because they wouldn't fit any of us. He talked his son into carrying the canoe, and he walked out of that place carrying nothing, vowing never to go back. 

When I think of Paul's command here to restore the brother who has been taken by surprise, captive by sin, I think of Bob laying in that swamp with his pack on his back and his canoe rolled over to the side. He needed help. We weren't going to judge him or mock him. He'd fallen off the straight path, and he needed to be picked up and encouraged, and we needed to bear his burden with him to get him to the goal, to the end of that portage and on to our campsite on Horse Lake. 

This is why Paul says in verse 2, "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." A brother has gotten off on a wrong path. In this case, law-keeping by the flesh for holiness. He's surprised at the sin in his life. He was trying his best with the right motive to live a holy life by the law, and he's been overtaken. 

Restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Set him back on the right path of grace, faith, and life by the Spirit. And how do we do this? Sound doctrine, truth teaching from the Word of God, encouragement, love, gentleness. 

My brothers, my sisters in Christ, we're all in this together, and we all need a lot of grace. We all need encouragement and edification, and unfortunately, we sometimes fall into a law mindset. We become self-righteous, judging one another, comparing ourselves with ourselves and among ourselves. 

That's why Paul cautions, “Take heed to yourself that you don't fall as well.” If anyone thinks himself to be something when he's nothing, he deceives himself. But 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. 

We're all so weak. We're all so vulnerable concerning the tendency to go back to our own strength. When we see a brother stumble, we can become judgmental. When someone doesn't see things the way we do, we can become critical. Paul uses a bit of play on words here, let each one bear his own load, examining his own fruit. 

Don't think you're something deceiving yourself. This is so interesting. You see that we first must understand our own need, our own dependence on Jesus, our own desperation for the grace of God continually, our own necessity for the power of the Spirit and the life of Christ in us in order to bear fruit. 

Jesus said, "Without me you can do nothing." So, if we're going to be useful to the body for edification, if we're going to be able to help a brother who's been overtaken in sin, then we must first be spiritual. We must first be walking by the Spirit, and our attitude must be one of humility, knowing our own need, seeing God produce fruit in our own lives, examining our own work and saying, "Look at what God's doing." 

So the focus of the Christian life is Jesus. We keep our eyes on Jesus, looking unto the chief example, the one who took the life of faith to its fullness and trusting himself to the one who judges righteously all the way to the cross. We must live by grace through faith, trusting, looking to, abiding in Jesus by faith, walking in the Spirit by faith, bearing our own burden if we're going to be able to help a brother bear his.

And knowing this, being constantly reminded of our own weakness, of our own need for the grace of God, for the power of the Spirit in my own life, I have no judgment for a brother; I do not elevate myself in any way. But my only goal and motive is to lift a brother up, to encourage him, to edify him and point him back to grace and faith, to the Spirit life. 

Though for brothers fallen in sin, I am here, yes, to confront that sin, but in a spirit of gentleness, in grace, to point them back to Jesus by my words, by my heart, by my motive, by my witness. And thus I must be mindful of myself and my need for grace and for Jesus every day. 

You see the contrast, the grace, Spirit-filled life as opposed to the law, self-righteous, fleshly attitude. Those who had been taken captive by false teaching of a law life in Christ were now bearing the fruits of the flesh, and they were useless; in fact, they were damaging to the churches there, speaking, living a false way with fleshly fruit, and they needed to be restored to the truth, to the gospel, to grace, in a spirit of gentleness. 

This is the heart of Paul, and this must be my heart in the body, whether I am the one who is spiritual, coming alongside the one who has fallen off the path to pick him up and restore him, or if I'm like old Bob, just laying in the weeds, miserable, suffering, surprised at my state of sinfulness, living by my own strength and power, seeking righteousness through the law. 

When that brother comes to me who is spiritual, in love, in a spirit of gentleness, and corrects me and points me back to Jesus, I must receive this uncomfortable correction in the spirit in which it was given, and I need to repent, and I need to turn back to Jesus and His grace and His spirit as the only way to holiness and fruit for my good and for the good of my brethren, for the witness to the lost, for the glory of God. 

I want you to listen to these words again of the New Testament epistles as we close. "Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God and Christ forgave you, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, submitting to one another in the fear of God, bearing with one another, forgiving one another." 

If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching, admonishing one another, in psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 

Since you have purified your souls, love one another fervently with a pure heart. Have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins." 

You've been called to liberty. Serve one another through love. Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ, the law of love. We live now in the new covenant time under the law of Christ, the law of love. Let us bear one another's burdens and restore the brothers. Let's all love each other and work together for the cause of Christ, so that we might be a witness to the outside, that we might bring glory to God in all that we do. 

Let's close in prayer. Father, we thank you for your grace, for your mercy. We thank you that you continually teach us, that you're so patient with us. Thank you that you're working through us, that you're giving us wisdom, that you're conforming us to the likeness of Christ. Thank you for the Holy Spirit that imparts strength to our inner man and Jesus who lives in us. 

Help us to believe you. Help us to know your word, to trust you, to believe you, just to abide and see your power and life poured out through us as you do abundantly, exceedingly more than we could ever ask or thank for your glory. We love you, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen.