Galatians 6

CHAPTER 6THEME: Saved by faith and fruit of the Spirit presents Christian character; autographed conclusion; Paul’s testimonyThis final chapter of Galatians brings us to the third step in this practical section of sanctification by the Spirit. We have seen that being saved by faith and living by law perpetrates falling from grace. Also we have seen that being saved by faith and walking in the Spirit produces fruit of the Spirit. In other words, we have seen what it means to walk in the Spirit. It is something we are to begin, and though we fail, we are to keep at it. Now we will see how the fruit of the Spirit will work out in our lives. Here is where we see it put in shoe leather where it can hit the pavement of our hometown.

Galatians 6:1

SAVED BY FAITH AND FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT PRESENTS CHRISTIAN CHARACTERWho is the “man” mentioned in this verse? It is a generic term and refers to any man or woman who is a Christian. The word fault, taken from the Greek paraptoma, means “a falling aside or mishap.” It means “to stumble.” It may not refer to a great sin but to an awful blunder. Now what is to be done to a person who is overtaken in a fault? Well, the “spiritual” folk, and many think they are spiritual, interpret this as meaning they are to beat him on the head with a baseball bat because he has done something wrong. There is a danger of not really wanting to restore him. We would much rather criticize and condemn him. However, the believer does not lose his salvation when he sins. If a Christian is overtaken in a fault, a spiritual Christian is to restore that one in the spirit of meekness. Meekness is one of the fruits of the Spirit. The word used for “fault” in this verse is the same word used to describe the Lord Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane when He fell on His face and prayed (see Mat_26:39). It means “to stumble.” If a man be overtaken in a fault, he stumbles. He may commit a small sin or an awful blunder. One of the wonderful things said about the Lord Jesus in prophecy is found in Isa_63:9, “In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.” Now the better manuscripts say, “In all their affliction. He was not afflicted.” I like that much better. The Lord Jesus goes along with me through life, and when I stumble and fall down, He does not fall. He is not afflicted. He is there beside me and He picks me up, brushes me off, and tells me to start out again. It is a comforting thing to know that I have One near me who is not afflicted in my affliction. The word used for “restore” in this verse is a verb which means “to set a broken bone.” If a fellow falls down and breaks his leg, what are you going to do? Are you going to walk off and leave him in pain? God says, “You who are spiritual set the broken bone. Get him back on his feet again.” It is to be done in the spirit of meekness. One of the great preachers of the South was marvelously converted when he was a drunkard. His ministry was quite demanding and after a great deal of pressure and temptation he got drunk one night. He was so ashamed that the very next day he called in his board of deacons and turned in his resignation. He told them, “I want to resign.” They were amazed. They asked why. He frankly told them, “I got drunk last night.

A preacher should not get drunk, and I want to resign.” It was obvious that he was ashamed, and do you know what those wonderful deacons did? They put their arms around him and said, “Let’s all pray.” They would not accept his resignation. A man who was present in the congregation that next Sunday said, “I never heard a greater sermon in my life than that man preached.” Those deacons were real surgeonsthey set a broken bone; they restored him. There are some people who would have put him out of the ministry, but these deacons put that preacher back on his feet, and God marvelously used him after that. “Ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness.” Notice that you are to restore him in the spirit of meekness. A spiritual man will have the fruit of the Spirit in his life: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, and meekness. You are to restore him in meekness. “Considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” Don’t think that you are immune to what you are pointing your finger and blaming another brother for doing. You could do the same thing. So restore him in the spirit of meekness.

Galatians 6:2

This is a verse that caused me as a boy to wonder about the accuracy of the Bible. Most little towns of a bygone day had a character known as the town atheist, a free-thinker, generally a ne’er-do-well, although sometimes he was one of the leading citizens of the community. The little town in which I lived as a boy lacked many things. It didn’t have street lights. In fact, we didn’t have electric lights in our home, and I can remember using the lamp to study by in those days. Our little town didn’t have sidewalks; it didn’t have paved streets. It didn’t have running waterexcept what you ran out to the well to get; and we didn’t have inside plumbing.

There were many things our little town lacked, but we did have a town atheist. He called himself a socialist. Each Sunday morning, weather permitting, he was down at the street corner on the town square, speaking. Generally he had about a dozen listeners, who were also loafers. On my way to Sunday schoolI killed as much time as possibleI always stopped to listen to him. The thing that impressed me about this atheist was that his mouth was cut on a bias, and as he chewed tobacco an amazing thing took place.

He not only defied the Word of God, he also defied the law of gravitation. You would think, according to the law of gravitation, that the tobacco juice would run out of the lower corner of his mouth. But it didn’t. It ran out of the upper corner. I used to stand there as boy and wonder how he did it. This man, I remember, always ridiculed the Bible, and he pointed out supposed contradictions. His favorites were these two verses in the sixth chapter of Galatians: “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ” (v. Gal_6:2). Then he would read, “For every man shall bear his own burden” (v. Gal_6:5). He would read both verses, then lift his head and leer at the crowd and say, “You see, there is a contradiction in the Bible. One place it says that you’re to bear one another’s burdens, and then it says you are to bear your own burdens.” None of us in the little town knew how to answer him, so we just stood there with our mouths open and listened to him. Actually, the answer was very simple, but we didn’t know it in those days. There are in the Scriptures eleven different words that are translated by our one English word burden. This means there are different kinds of burdens. There are some burdens that you can share; there are burdens that you must bear and you cannot share them with anyone. That is a very simple but a very satisfactory answer. Now burdens are those things that we all have in common. All of us have burdens. Not all of us have wealth, but we have burdens. Not all of us have health, but we have burdens. Not all of us have talents, but we have burdens. Some of us lack even physical membersnot all of us can see, not all of us can hear, not all of us have arms and legs, and certainly not all of us have good looks. We say that we all have the same blood, but it is not the same; it comes in different types. We do not have very much in common, but we all have burdens. There is a Spanish proverb that goes something like this: “No home is there anywhere that does not sooner or later have its hush.” Also the French have a proverb: “Everyone thinks his own burden is heaviest.” A woman in Southern California who has done a great deal of work with children said, “Even children have burdens.” Burdens are common to the human family. We all have burdens. However not all of us have the same burdens. We have many different burdens. What Paul is doing in this sixth chapter of Galatians is dividing burdens into two classes: burdens which we can share, and, and cannot share. Those of us in our little town didn’t know there were two different words used in the Greek. In verse Gal_6:2 you could translate it like this: “The burdens of each other, keep bearing.” The Greek word for burden is baros, meaning “something heavy.” Our Lord used it when He spoke about the burden and the heat of the day (see Mat_20:12). And for the early church, when it met in its first council in Jerusalem, made this decision: “For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things” (Act_15:28, italics mine), speaking of a burden they were to share with the church in Jerusalem.

Someone has said that a load is only half a load when two are carrying it. There are burdens today that we can share. A woman boarded a bus with a very heavy basket. She sat down beside a man and put the basket on her lap. After noticing her discomfort he said, “Lady, if you would put that heavy basket down on the floor you would find that the bus would carry both you and your load!” May I say to you, there are burdens that you can let someone else bear with you. Now burden (baros) means “fault"“If a man be overtaken in a fault.” That’s his burden. You could help him bear it. It also means infirmity, a weakness, an ignorance, a pressure, a tension, a grief. I think everybody has a fault. A man speaking to a group asked the question, “Is there anyone here who does not have a fault, or do you know someone who does not have a fault?” No one raised his hand. After he had repeated the question several times, a little fellow in the back, a Mr. Milquetoast type, raised his hand. The speaker asked him to stand. “Are you the one who has no faults?” “Oh, no,” he said, “I’m not the one.” “Then do you know someone who does not have any faults?” “Well,” he said, “I don’t exactly know him, but I have heard of him.” The man who was lecturing said, “Tell me, who is he?” The little fellow said, “He’s my wife’s first husband.” And I have a notion that he had heard of him quite a few times, by the way. All of us have faults, and that’s a burden. Many times we fall down, and many times we see a brother fall down. “Ye which are spiritual, restore such an one.” Then there is another burden that you and I can share: tensions. Now you can take a tranquilizer, but, my friend, that really won’t solve your problems. We are living today in a time of tension such as the human family has never before experienced. I don’t know about you, but I live in “Tension Town.” Many of us in these great metropolitan areas are under pressure and tension today. This is certainly a burden we need to bear with one another. Let me illustrate. A very dear man, in one of the churches I pastored, came to me and said, “Do you have something against me?” “No, I said, “why do you say that?” “Well, I met you down on the street and you didn’t even speak to me.” I was amazed. “I didn’t?” “No. You just passed me right by. You looked right at me.” I said, “I didn’t see you.” “You must haveyou looked right at me.” So I asked him what day that was, and realized it was the day the airlines got my tickets mixed up, and I was going down there to straighten them out. My friend, we are under tension at a time like that. And my friend was also under tension for assuming I had snubbed him.

Well, I never shall forget, he put his arm around me and said, “I’m glad to know that.” You see, he was helping me bear the burden of tension. That’s something we can share with each other. Now I come to the third burden you and I can share. That is the burden known as grief. The burden of tragedy, the burden of sorrow, the burden of disappointment is inevitable in the human family. If it hasn’t come to you, it will come. And when it comes we need somebody, a friend, to stand with us. The three friends of Jobwe criticize them because they began a talking marathon, but actually they first spent seven days sitting with Job and sorrowing with him. In a book of natural history there is a statement that reads: “Man is the only one that knows nothing, and that can learn nothing without being taught. He can neither speak, nor walk, nor eat. In short, he can do nothing at the prompting of nature but weep.” All that you and I know to do when we come into this world is weep. We come into this world with a cry, and we need comfort. From the very beginning and all through life we need comfort because of the fact that we have been born into this world of woe. Ruth could say to Boaz, “Thou hast comforted me” (see Rth_2:13). She was a stranger, an outcast, who had come from a foreign country and expected to be kept on the outside, but into her life came someone who showed an interest in her and extended to her certain courtesies. With appreciation she said, “Thou hast comforted me.” Mary broke an alabaster box of ointment upon our Lord. She did this shortly before His crucifixion because she knew what was going to take place. No one else seemed to realize what was happening, but she knew. Jesus said, “Let her alone; for the day of my burial hath she kept this” (see Mat_26:12). She alone entered into His sufferings. And He said, “Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her” (Mat_26:13). And the fragrance of that ointment has filled the world. Grief is a burden that you can share. There will be those who will come to you in your sorrow. Our faults, our tensions, our griefs are some of the burdens that you and I can share. Is thy cruse of comfort failing? Raise and share it with a friend, And thro’ all the years of famine It shall serve thee to the end. Love Divine will fill thy storehouse, Or thy handful still renew; Scanty fare for one will often Make a royal feast for two. Lost and weary on the mountains, Wouldst thou sleep amidst the snow? Chafe that frozen form beside thee, And together both shall glow. Art thou wounded in life’s battle? Many stricken round thee moan; Give to them thy precious ointment, And that balm shall heal thine own. Author unknown There are burdens that we can share. Now let’s look at the other verse that tells us there are burdens which we cannot share.

Galatians 6:4

I think he means that we are not to run around getting everybody to carry our burdens.

Galatians 6:5

The word burden here is the Greek phortion, meaning “a load to be borne.” This word is used to speak of a ship’s cargo. Actually, it is used to speak of a child in the wombonly the mother could bear it, you see. This is a load that is impossible to share. While I never recommend J. B. Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English as a translation (it should not be called a translation), it is a most excellent explanation. Many times it throws light on a passage of Scripture. He gives this paraphrase of Gal_6:5: “For every man must ‘shoulder his own pack.’” That’s it. Each man must shoulder his own pack. There is an old bromide: “To every man his work.” And another, a rather crude one, “Every tub must sit on its own bottom.” In other words, there are burdens today that you and I cannot share. Every life, in one sense, is separated, it is isolated, it is segregated, it is quarantined from every other life. Dr. Funk, of the Funk and Wagnalls Dictionary, has compiled a list of words in which the saddest word in the English language is alone. There are certain burdens that you and I will have to bear alone. I will mention just a few of them hereyou will think of others. The first one I want to mention is suffering. You will have to suffer alone. No one can suffer for you. You are born into this world aloneand it’s a world of woe; you will suffer alone. You will have to face certain problems alone. There will be physical suffering that will come to you. You will get sick, and no one can take your place. When my daughter was a very little thing, we were coming back from Texas, and she started running a high fever. We took her to the hospital in Globe, Arizona. A doctor gave her certain medication and told us, “You give her this and the fever will go down. It is getting late in the afternoon so keep driving to California and get out of this heat.” So we started out. In Phoenix we stopped for gasoline, and my wife took her temperature. It registered 104°her temperature hadn’t gone down.

We were frightened. We went to a motel, called a doctor, and told him the situation. He said to continue the medication and to bring her to the hospital in the morning. Never shall I forget my feelings as I carried her to the hospital and laid her down. Never in my life had I had that experience. I would have gladly taken that fever in my own bodygladly would I have done it.

But, my friend, I could not do it. We have to suffer alone. You cannot get someone to substitute for you. Suffering is one thing that we cannot share. Mental anguish is another type of suffering that you cannot share. Oh, the number of folk who are disappointed.

They are even bitter today because of some great disappointment. Suffering is a burden that we have to bear alone. There is another burden that you and I cannot share with anyone else. It is death. We cannot share this with another. There will come a time when each of us will go down through the valley of the shadow of death, and we will go alone. Thomas Hobbes, an agnostic all of his life, a very brilliant man, said when he came to his death, “I am taking a fearful leap into the dark!” And then he cried out, “Oh, God, it is lonely!” Yes, it is. Death is a burden you cannot share. John Haye, at one time Secretary of State, was quite a writer. He wrote a poem portraying death entitled “The Stirrup Cup,” having in mind the cavalrymen who used to drink when they mounted their steeds. This is the way he began: My short and happy day is done, The long and lonely night comes on: And at my door the pale horse stands To bear me forth to unknown lands. And, my friend, when death comes, you and I will be riding alone. Death is a burden that you will have to bear alone. We come now to the third and last burden that I shall mention. It bears an unusual name, by the way. It is the Bema. The Bema is the judgment seat of Christ. It is not for the unsaved; it is for Christians. Oh, yes, there is a judgment for the unbeliever, the Great White Throne Judgment described in the twentieth chapter of Revelation.

But the Bema Seat is for the Christian. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (2Co_5:10). Everything that we have done in the flesh as a Christian is to be judged to see whether or not we receive a reward. Salvation is not in questionthat was settled for the believer at the cross of Christ. It is the works of the believer that are to be judged at the Bema Seat. “So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God” (Rom_14:12). Then Paul puts down a principle which is applicable to every avenue of life but is specifically given to believers: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (v. Gal_6:7). This principle is true in the realm of nature. You sow cotton; you reap cotton. You sow wheat; you reap wheat. And as a Christian you will reap what you sow.

We like to sing “The Old Account Was Settled Long Ago.” In a believer’s life this is truebut what about the new account? What about the account since you were saved? What has your life been since you accepted Christ? Do you have sin in your life? Have you confessed it? We are all to appear before the judgment seat of Christ. “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1Jn_1:7). Somebody will say, “I’m a Christian. I don’t have any sin.” You don’t? Then you are not in the light. If you will get in the light you will see the sin that is in your life. The lightwhich is the Word of Godreveals what is there. Try this one on for size: “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin” (Jas_4:17). Does that fit you today? I think it will fit all of us. He that knows to do good, and does it not, sins. Your life as a child of God is a burden that you carry, and you will have to bring it before Him some day. Now there is another type of burden which you can neither bear nor share. It is a burden the Scriptures speak of: the burden of sin. Paul speaks of it in the first part of Romans. David in the Psalms says: “For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me” (Psa_38:4). Sin is a burden you cannot share with anyone else. And sin is a burden you cannot bear, my friend. “My iniquities,” David says, “are gone over my head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.” Also from the Psalms comes this longing: “And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest” (Psa_55:6).

Have you ever felt like that? Sometimes the doctor recommends that we get away from it all. The psalmist says, “If I could only run away from it.” But you and I cannot run away from it because we have a guilt complex. A psychologist out here at the University of Southern California tells me that the guilt complex is as much a part of us as our right arm. The psychologists have tried to get rid of it. They have not succeeded.

Everyone has it. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the writer of detective stories and creator of Sherlock Holmes, liked to play practical jokes. At one time he sent a telegram to twelve famous people in London whom he knew. The telegram read, “Flee at once. All is discovered.” All twelve of them left the countryyet all of them were upright citizens. May I say to you, my beloved, we all have a guilt complex.

Sin is that burden which we can neither share nor bear. It is too heavy for us. There is only one place you can get rid of it, and that is at the cross of Christ. “Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved” (Psa_55:22). The Lord Jesus said “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Mat_11:28). He alone can lift the heavy burden of sin today, and it is because He paid the penalty for it. He alone can lift it; He alone can take it from you. There are two famous pieces of sculpture that depict this. One is the “Dying Gaul” and the other is “The Laocoon,” which is in Rome at the Vatican. “The Dying Gaul” depicts a man who has been brought down as a captive and slave to Rome, then put into the arena as a gladiator and mortally wounded. He is lying there, his life blood flowing from him, and he is looking up for help. He is in a strange land, and there is nobody, nobody there to help him. A dying gladiator. May I say to you that this is a picture of any man today without Christ.

Christ alone can help us, for that is the reason He came into the world. He said: “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luk_19:10). He also said: “…The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Mar_10:45). Christ paid the penalty for your sin and my sin. Like the dying gladiator, we can look to Him and be saved. The other piece of sculpture is “The Laocoon.” A priest of Troy looked out and saw two sea serpents come and coil themselves about his two sons. He went to their aid, but he could not help them because the sea serpents also enmeshed him in their coils. There they areall three of them going down to death. To me this illustrates the fact that personal sin is a burden that we cannot cope with. It will take us down to deatheternal death. What do you do with your burdens? There are some burdens that you can share. There are others that you must bear alone. But the burden of personal sin is a burden too heavy for you; it is the burden you cannot bear. Over nineteen hundred years ago Christ took the burden of your sin, and He bore it on the cross. Today your burden is either on you, or by faith you have received Christ as your Savior and it is on Him. It cannot be both placesyour sin is either on you or it is on Christ. And Christ does not share itHe bore it all.

Galatians 6:6

This is probably the bluntest verse in the Bible. Paul is really putting it on the line. The Greek word koinoneo, translated “communicate,” means sharing, taking partsharing the things of Christ together. Paul is bluntly saying this: “Pay your preacher. If someone ministers to your spiritual benefits, minister to him with material benefits.” If God has blessed you materially and you are being blessed by someone spiritually, then you ought to minister to that person with material benefits. This is put on a grace basis of sharing, but believe me, friend, if you go into a grocery store and buy bread and meat and go by the checkout stand without paying for it, you are in trouble.

There are many people who are ministered to spiritually, but when they go by the checkout counter, they don’t share. No one thinks anything about it. The Word of God says that you are to share with those who minister to you.

Galatians 6:7

This is one of those remarkable verses in Scripture. This is an immutable law that operates in every sphere of life. In agriculture and horticulture if you sow corn, you get corn; if you sow cotton, you reap cotton. In the moral sphere you also reap what you sow. In the Book of Matthew, chapter 13, the Lord Jesus Christ told about a sower that went forth to sow. He also told us about a reaper that went forth to reap. One day a visitor in a penitentiary passed by a cell where a man was patching his prison garb with needle and thread. The visitor, wanting to begin a conversation with the prisoner, said, “What are you doing? Sewing? The prisoner looked up and replied, “No, reaping!” That is the point of this verse. The principle stated here is immutable, invariable, unalterable, and cannot be revoked. It cannot be changed one iota, and it is applicable to every sphere and field of life.

When you sow wheat, you will get wheat. You will never pick a squash off of a walnut tree. Sometimes a watermelon vine extends out twenty feet in one direction, but it has never been known to make the mistake of putting a pumpkin on the end of it. It always puts a watermelon out there. There is wheat being found in tombs in Egypt that was put there five thousand years ago. They planted it and it came up wheat.

In five thousand years the seed did not forget that it was wheat. What you sow you will reap and that will never change. There are many men in the Bible who illustrate this principle. One of them is Jacob, whose story is told in Genesis 27-29. Jacob deceived his father, Isaac. He put on a goatskin and pretended to be his brother Esau, who was a hairy outdoorsman, in order to receive the blessing given to the oldest son. After deceiving his father, Jacob ran away and lived with his Uncle Laban for several years. He thought he had gotten away with deceiving his father.

But remember, God says that what you sow you will reap. You won’t reap something similar; you will reap the identical thing that you sow. What happened to Jacob? He fell in love with Rachel, Laban’s youngest daughter. He served seven years for her. They had the wedding, and when he lifted the veil, what did he have?

He did not have Rachel, the younger daughter; he had Leah, the older daughter. I have a notion that Jacob learned a real lesson on his honeymoon. He had deceived his father by pretending to be the older son when he was actually the younger son. Now his uncle gave him the older daughter when he thought he was getting the younger daughter. Believe me, chickens do come home to roost! In 1 Kings 21 we find the story of Ahab and Jezebel and their murderous plot to take Naboth’s vineyard. Ahab coveted Naboth’s vineyard, but Naboth did not want to sell his land. But since Ahab and Jezebel were king and queen, they usually took what they wanted. Jezebel had Naboth killed and Ahab took possession of the vineyard. They thought they would get away with their evil deed, but God sent Elijah to them with a message: “…Thus saith the LORD, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine” (1Ki_21:19). Later Ahab was wounded in battle.

He told his chariot driver to take him out of the battle, and the blood from his wound ran out into his chariot. After the battle, he was brought back to Samaria, and there in the pool of Samaria they washed the chariot, and the dogs licked up the blood. Another example is the apostle Paul. He was a leader in the stoning of Stephen, and after his conversion, when he was over in the Galatian country, he was stoned. You may think that, because he was converted and his sins were forgiven, he would not reap what he had sown. But it is a law of God that “whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” I remember well hearing Mel Trotter, the evangelist who was a drunkard before his conversion. I had invited him to Nashville, Tennessee, to hold evangelistic meetings. One night after a meeting we went to a place called Candyland and everybody ordered a great big sloppy banana split, or a milkshake, or a malt. All Mel Trotter ordered was a little bitty glass of carbonated water. Everyone began to rib him about it, and asked him the reason. I shall never forget his answer, “When the Lord gave me a new heart at my conversion, He did not give me a new stomach. I am paying for the years I spent drinking.” May I say again, “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Don’t be deceived. God is not mocked. You won’t get by with it. I wish young people would realize the truth of this principle. Many of them are taking drugs. Many are trying to satisfy themselves by indulging in easy sex, free love. Some of them are already beginning to reap the results of what they have sown. Venereal disease has reached epidemic proportions in many states in America, and there is an alarming rise in mental disorders. Why? God says that you will not get by with sinregardless of how many pills you take. God says you will reap what you sow. God will not be mocked. When you sow corn, you reap corn. When you sow sin, that is what you will reap. Someone may say, “I got converted.” That is wonderful, but you are still going to have a payday someday. You will still reap what you have sown.

Galatians 6:8

Reaping “life everlasting” includes the fruit of the Spirit in this life and the glorious prospect of the future. I think many Christians really ought to be fearful of the return of Christ for His own, because it is then that we shall go before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account of the things done in the flesh. My friend, you may be saved, but it may still be very embarrassing for you in that day when you give an account of your life to Him. John mentions the fact that it is possible to be ashamed at His appearing (see 1Jn_2:28). If you are going to live in the flesh, you will produce the things of the flesh. That does not, however, mean that you will lose your salvation, but it does mean that you will lose your reward, which will make it a day of shame and regret when you stand before Him. God has put up a red light; now He puts up a green light. Here are words for your comfort and encouragement.

Galatians 6:9

A father said to me some time ago, “I’m concerned about my boys.” He is a doctor, and he said, “The tide is against me. The schools are against me. Other parents seem to be against me, and even some friends are against me. But I want to raise my boys right.” If that is your concern, my friend, let me encourage you to sow the right seed. Be patient, and you will reap what you have sown. In Kansas you can’t go out and cut grain in January.

You have to wait until the time of reaping comes. So just keep sowing. You may have problems and difficulties today, but just keep sowing the Word of God. The Lord has promised: “For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (Isa_55:10-11). Remember that Abraham believed God and walked with Him in the land of Canaan. At that time the Canaanitewicked and idolatrouswas in the land. A son, Isaac, was born to Abraham. When Isaac became a young man, Abraham took him to the top of Mount Moriah. In obedience to God’s command, Abraham prepared to offer his son as a sacrifice. God, however, did not let him go through with it. Abraham sowed to the Spirit and he reaped life everlasting. Jochebed was the mother of Moses. Because of the terrible times in which they lived, she devised a plan to save his life, and he was adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter. By God’s wonderful arrangement, Jochebed was able to be his nursemaid while he was young. Undoubtedly she taught Moses about God and His call to Abraham and about His purpose for Israel. Then she saw her boy grow up like an Egyptian. All Egypt was against herthe culture of Egypt, the pleasures of Egypt, the philosophy of Egypt, and the religion of Egypt. But there came a day when Moses forsook the pleasures and sins of Egypt and went out to take his place with God’s people. Jochebed reaped what she had sown. We also have an illustration of this principle in the life of David. His sin was glaring, and many folk think of him as being a cruel, sinful man. But sin did not characterize David’s life. It is interesting that a drop of black ink on a white tablecloth can be seen from a long distance, but a drop of black ink on a black suit would never be noticed. Other kings during that period of time were so bad that, when they committed a sin such as David did, it would not be noticed. But in David’s life it stands out like a horrible blot. David had a heart for God. Even in his confession, he reveals his hunger and thirst for God. But David sowed sin and reaped a terrible harvest in the lives of his own children. We reap what we sow, my friend. “And let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”

Galatians 6:10

Now Paul moves on. He says that we ought to be do-gooders. Now I recognize that the entire religion of liberalism is one of “doing good.” I believe in doing good, but you have to have the right foundation under the good deeds. The right foundation is the gospel of the grace of God and walking in the Spirit of God. When you walk in the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit is produced. Then, my friend, you are going to do good. You will do good for all men, especially for other believers.

Galatians 6:11

AUTOGRAPHED CONCLUSIONThis brings us to the last major division of the epistle to the Galatians. Three handwritings are mentioned in this final section. The first is Paul’s own handwriting. “How large a letter” doesn’t mean a long letter. This Epistle to the Galatians is only six chapters, while his Epistle to the Romans (which deals with practically the same subject) is sixteen chapters. This could not be called a long letter. But Paul is saying that he has written with large letters, which is characteristic with folk who have poor vision. This, I believe, bears out the theory that Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” was eye trouble (see 2Co_12:7). As you recall, he had said to them earlier, “…I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me” (Gal_4:15). I am sure that Paul had a serious visual problem. When Paul wrote his Epistle to the Romans, he dictated it to a secretary. And at the conclusion of the letter, Paul said to the secretary, “Now if you want to put in your greetings, go ahead and do it.” So in Rom_16:22 we have the secretary’s salutation: “I Tertius, who wrote this epistle, salute you in the Lord.” However, when Paul wrote to the Galatians, he was angry. He had heard that they were mixing the gospel with lawand when that is done, the gospel of the grace of God is absolutely destroyed. He couldn’t wait for a secretary to arrivehe just sat down and wrote to them himself. Because he didn’t see clearly, he wrote with large letters. I studied Shakespeare under a very skillful scholar who was partially blind. During class he would put the book right up to his nose and move it back and forth as he read. When he graded our papers, he would write his comments in large letters in the margin. His comments were brief because the words he wrote were so large. Apparently, Paul’s writing was like that.

Galatians 6:12

PAUL’S TESTIMONYBy exerting pressure and stressing circumcision among the Gentiles, the Judaizers hoped to escape the anger and wrath of Jews who were not believers. The Judaizers were the legalists of the day. Actually, you never get in trouble preaching legalism. It appeals to the natural man because law is given to curb him. A great many of us certainly feel that the old nature of the other man should be curbed. I was talking to a man in a public place the other day when a boy drove about seventy-five miles an hour right through a dangerous intersection. This man wanted that boy arrested and put in jail. He wanted the boy to be forced to obey the law. This man rejects the grace of Godhe is an unsaved manbut he certainly is for legalism. Every man wants the other man to obey the law. Frankly, we also like a law we can obey. When I was a boy in school, I did some high jumping. In those days we started off with a three and one-half foot jump. When I jumped four feet, I had some difficulty. So when I practiced jumping, I always kept the bar at the four foot level. That is the way most people are about legalism. They want to be able to clear the hurdle, but they don’t want it to be too high for them. Legalism is popular. The grace of God is unpopular. The human heart finds it repulsive. It is the offense of the Cross.

Galatians 6:13

By forcing the Gentiles to be circumcised the Judaizers would gain the credit for bringing them under the Law. It is interesting that those who claim they live under the Law are not actually living by the Law. Many people who say that they live by the Sermon on the Mount are hypocrites. I know that to be true because of the experience I have had in the ministry. Let me cite an experience I had many years ago at a luncheon at the Chamber of Commerce in Nashville, Tennessee. When I was a pastor in that city one of the elders in my church, who was a banker, was president of the Chamber of Commerce that year and invited me to speak to the group. I was a young pastor thenin fact, I was not yet married; it was my first pastorate. I arrived early and one of the officials was already at the speaker’s table. He began talking with me, and I have never heard a man swear more than he didand I’ve heard some who are experts at it. I didn’t rebuke him, I just let him talk.

Finally, in our conversation he asked me, “By the way, what’s your racket?” I told him I was a preacher. He looked at me in amazement and asked, “Are you the speaker today?” When I said I was, he immediately began to tread water fast! He said, “Well, we’re glad to have you, and I want you to know that I’m a Christian.” That was certainly news, because I would never have suspected it by the way he was talking. Then he enlarged upon it. He told me he was an officer of a very fashionable church in Nashville. He told me about all the wonderful things that he did, then he concluded by saying, “The Sermon on the Mount is my religion.” I said, “Fine.

That’s great!” I shook hands with him, then asked, “How are you coming with it?” He looked rather puzzled and asked, “What do you mean ‘how am I coming with it?’” So I explained, “Well, you say the Sermon on the Mount is your religion, and I’d just like to know if you are living by it.” He said he tried to. “But that is not what the Sermon on the Mount is all about. It puts down a pretty severe standard and it hasn’t anything there about trying. You either do it or you don’t do it. Now you say it’s your religion so I assume you do it.” He told me that he certainly tried. Then I began to push him a little. “Do you keep it?” He said, “I guess I do.” “Well, let’s see if you do. The Lord Jesus said that if you are angry with your brother you are guilty of murder.

How do you make out on that one?” He hesitated, “Well, I might have a little trouble there, but I think I get by.” “All right, let’s try another commandment that the Lord Jesus lifted to the nth degree. He said if you so much as look upon a woman to lust after her, you’re guilty of adultery. How about that one?” “Oh,” he said, “that one would get me.” I thought it would. I said, “Look, you’re not keeping the Sermon on the Mount. If I were you I’d change my religion and get one I could keep.” Do you see what he was? That man was a hypocrite.

He went around telling others that he was living by the Sermon on the Mount and he was breaking it at every turn. He needed the grace of God. And there are multitudes of people just like him in many churches today. Paul mentions that with this tremendous statement:

Galatians 6:14

Between Paul and the world there was a cross. That should be the position of every believer today. That will have more to do with shaping your conduct than anything else. You will not boast about the fact that you are keeping the Sermon on the Mount, or that you belong to a certain church, or that you are a church officer, or a preacher, or a Sunday school teacher. You will not be able to boast of anything. You will just glory in the Cross and the One who died there.

Galatians 6:15

This brings us to the second kind of handwriting mentioned in these final verses. Circumcision was the handwriting of religion and the Law. It was sort of a handwriting on the body. It served as a badge signifying that you belonged under the Abrahamic covenant. It never availed anything. Wearing a button or a pin, signifying that you belong to a lodge or a fraternity can become almost meaningless. “In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision"uncircumcision is of no value either. These things carry no value whatsoever.

There are folk today who like to boast of what great sinners they were before their conversion. Well, whether or not you have been circumcisedwhatever was your stateis of no importance. The essential thing is: Has the Spirit of God come into your life and made you a new creature in Christ Jesus? This can come about only through faith in Christ. You see, Paul would never have had any difficulty with the legalism of his day if he had presented the gospel as only a competitor in the field. Let me illustrate what I mean. We have an abundance of soaps on the market. Those who promote them tell us they will make you smell good or make you feel good or are kind to your skin. So let’s you and me get out a new brand of soap, and we’ll call it Clean, since getting you clean is the purpose of soap, and that seems to be the one thing the advertisers have forgotten. We’ll start advertising it by claiming that it is the only soap that will make you clean.

Our slogan will be “Buy Clean and get clean.” Now that will get us in trouble immediately when we claim that it is the only soap that will get you clean. Manufacturers of other soaps will really begin to howl. But this is what Paul was claiming for the gospel. If he had said, “Juadism is good but Christianity is better,” he wouldn’t have been in trouble, because that’s what advertisers say todayour product is better than other soaps on the market. That’s competition. No one would dare say that their soap is the only soap that would do the job.

Notice that Paul is not claiming that his soap is only a little better than the soap of Judaism; he is saying that Judaism is nothing, that circumcision is nothing, that whether you are circumcised or not circumcised is nothing. He is saying that only the writing of the Holy Spirit in your life, giving you a new nature, is essential. My friend, that is putting it on the line! Now we come to the third and final handwriting presented to us in this section.

Galatians 6:16

Notice the word marks. Paul is saying, “I bear in my body the ‘marks’“the Greek word is stigmatameaning ‘scar marks.’ If you want to see the handwriting of Jesus, look upon Paul’s body. In 2Co_11:23-27 he tells us, “Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.” The stigmata were the sufferings of Paul which he endured for the sake of the Lord Jesus. In Paul’s day stigmata was used in three ways. When a runaway slave was found and brought back to his master, he was branded on the forehead. Also soldiers who belonged to famous companies had the names of their commanders tattooed on their foreheads. Then, too, devotees of a pagan goddess (and there was much of this in Asia Minor and throughout the Roman Empire in Paul’s day) had her name branded on their foreheads. Paul says, “I have on my body the stigmata of the Lord Jesus.” He is saying this in effect, “I have written to you out of deep emotion and with great conviction. If you want to know if I truly believe what I have written and if these things are real in my own life, read my bodylook at my scars.” I lived as a boy in west Texas before there were many fences, and we used to identify cattle by the brand of their owner. My friend, circumcision costs you nothing. It is only an outward sign. Paul says it is nothing, although he himself had been circumcised. But he bore the brand marks of the Lord Jesus upon his body and upon his life. I believe that in our day the Lord Jesus still stoops to write, not upon the shifting sands of the temple floor, but he writes upon the lives of those who are His own. His branding iron is on our hearts for eternity. Do we proudly wear His stigmata, willing to bear reproach for Jesus’ sake?

Galatians 6:18

Paul concludes this marvelous epistle by commending the brethren to the grace of God.