Relationships Among Brethren: Part 2

Okay, today we're going to continue on with this part in Galatians 6. So if we turn to Galatians, actually I'd like to go back and read starting in Galatians 5 and read, if I could get someone to have their Bible, if they could read Galatians 5 starting in verse 22 and then read down through Galatians 6.5, which is down to our last verse here today.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.

Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.

Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Each one should treat his own Each one should test his own actions and he can take pride in himself without comparing himself to somebody else. For each one should carry his own load.

Alright, so the last part of Galatians chapter 5 kind of flows into Galatians 6 here and we see basically that it talks about the fact that let us not become, the last verse in chapter 5, let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.

And it starts into verse to verse 1, says brother, and even if a man is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore him. So people have labeled that verses 1 and 2, Operation Rescue. That's how we're to come alongside our brother and seek to restore him. And also with a warning that we might be tempted by that. And then in verse 2, it talks about bearing one another's burden and thereby fulfilling the law of Christ, which is to love one another. So today we're going to move into the next part. So we had Operation Rescue and these verses have been labeled by some the perils of rescue. Because in rescuing a person, what might happen?

What might happen to you if you, let's say you help a brother or sister and You know, they just really, they were, whatever the issue was, what do you think, this is a rhetorical question, it's in the verses, but what do you think is a possible outcome of that, a negative consequence of that? It might be a positive consequence, you praise the Lord, thank you that I was allowed to work in their lives. Okay, okay, that's one thing we talked about that's that's where you're you might be tempted and you might be sucked in so to speak Right and that's what this is this these verses address that issue you think wow Well, it wasn't the Lord used me wonderfully in this person's life. And you know, hey, I really I And I got this Christian life figured out. All you got to do is come alongside a brother and help him and say, you know, this is really great.

There's a tendency that that might happen. Or maybe it's even more subtle. Maybe you don't even verbalize it. You think, boy, you know, I know. This is easier than I thought. Anyway, so these verses address that issue. So let's just kind of start into verse three. For if any one of you thinks he is something when he is nothing. So basically the conjunction four, it's a conjunction, kind of connects the previous verse, which the last verse was bearing one another's burden. So kind of implied in that is that you might think yourself to be more than you really are.

And actually this is a conditional statement. If, and then is implied, if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, then he deceives himself. And this is what's called, you know, there's four classes in the Greek of conditional sentences. This is what's called a first class condition, assumed to be true for the sake of argument. So basically, and you could, some have said, you know, really, this statement is true. It seems like it's, you know, with the if in there, you think, well, there's some doubt in that. Well, this is a true statement.

Anyone who thinks He is something when he is nothing there's a problem there, and you know your first thought is well. I'm I'm I'm something I'm I'm God's child I'm I've been saved by grace, so I'm I'm something in that sense, but this is seems to apply something that is It's boastful or prideful kind of in there. It doesn't say that and that that's kind of struggle I haven't went through it didn't really actually say those words, but it's kind of implied in the context of I looked across a lot of people that talk about these verses and and it seems like that if you connect back with a previous verse that there is Some pride that might come along with that, but it doesn't actually directly state that so that's always and I always It's nice when it states it because then you can absolutely guarantee it. This is Looking at the context it sort of assumes that Okay, anyone thinks he is something I So this word thanks is to be of an opinion, just with the word thanks. You have an opinion about yourself, about other things. And there's some verses that I'd like to look at.

So let's look at 1 Corinthians 3.18. 1 Corinthians 3.18.

Can I get someone to read that? Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seems to be wise in this world, let him become a fool that he may be wise. Okay. So kind of a similar thought here. What I kind of discovered as I went through this, you notice in our verse, we haven't gotten to the second part, he deceives himself, but the idea of thinking you're something and then deception kind of go together. Those words kind of show up in pairs.

It says, let no man deceive himself. If any man thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become foolish that he may become wise. It also talks about, for the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God, for it is written, He is the one who catches the wise in their craftiness. And again, the Lord knows the reasoning of the wise, that they are useless. So man's wisdom, man's evaluation of himself, outside of God, is foolishness or deception. So that's kind of a basic thread that goes through scripture.

You take man's wisdom, man's thinking, we see it in our world today. Man thinks he's pretty smart. I figured this out. I figure global warming out. Hey, that's going to be really bad, and he just goes crazy with those things. Even the natural man in this world thinks, this global warming thing, is that really an issue? We're looking at something, we're looking at just cyclical change.

So man thinks he's wise, and God says, no, your wisdom is not very good. So this, applying to this situation, a person thinks, you know, and this is where the thanks and the deception kind of go together, you know, that really says that he is not looking to God for his wisdom, he's looking to man for his wisdom.

Well, you know, right here, this is such a killer for me too, because there's such a sense in the old man that you'd be validated by others. Others would validate who you are in some capacity. So the focus always goes back to yourself rather than to the Lord.

Right, I know. I know like in the workplace, it would be highly unusual for you to want to be thought of as being kind of a bozo. You want to be thought of as being, well I kind of know my job and I kind of figured this out and I want to I work hard, and you want to get praise for that. Otherwise, you feel uncomfortable. Because if people are saying, you've done a good job, you say, okay, I have some feedback in what I'm doing. A lot of times, in the workplace, there'll be things, and you won't agree with them, but you probably just don't say anything, because it's not the place that the Lord hasn't provided that.

Tom? keeper this time. Okay all right well no I would agree hard times I was I was watching a thing on Charles Kuralt. Have you heard of Charles Kuralt on CBS? He traveled around the country in his little van or whatever. This is from Netflix. We went into this thing. It was kind of cool to watch. I was watching one last night about the construction of the San Francisco Bay Bridge, the beautiful one with the big things. That was built during the Depression. I'm thinking the 30s maybe, something like that.

The guys are talking about there were so many people out of work It was a very dangerous shot. People lost their lives. This thing is 600 feet in the air and all these big things that come down. There were men camped out around the construction site waiting for somebody to die so they could take his job.

It was that bad. It was that bad. So the guy said, this one guy broke his back. He was in the hospital for six weeks. He got back to the job as soon as he possibly could, even with a broken back. He recovered as best he could and got back on the job. It was just amazing. So anyway. I'm not sure. Maybe I'm getting a little bit far here. What was my point? How did this connect back? Oh, yeah. A hard time taking more of yourself. I don't know. All right. OK.

And then in 1 Corinthians 10 and 12, let's look at that one. Let's go over the chapter. In 1 Corinthians, verse 10 and verse 12. Therefore, let him who thinks This is more in a spiritual sense. I think this is more in a spiritual sense. It could be a physical sense too. Up there at that bridge. Okay, we'll cross that bridge. Okay, Tom. All right. Okay. Okay, so let's go on to the second part of the verse.

When he is nothing or being nothing, being no one, he deceives himself. So basically, deception is this idea of deceiving in one's mind. It's actually a compound word that the first part of the word, P-H-R-E-N, that's friend, that is mind. And the last part is to deceive, to deceive the mind. And we're going to see some very similar, let's look at a couple of these verses here, in James. We're going to see thanks and deceive kind of coupled together again.

James 1.26, if someone could read that.

If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. And this one is kind of convicting to me. I find sometimes I don't bridle my tongue. I speak out when I should be quiet. Once again, if anyone thinks himself to be religious, so he's thinking, and then what happens is, he's deceiving himself because he thinks himself to be one kind of person but his simple nature reacts in a different way in the way it reacts and he's deceiving himself.

And actually Titus verse just kind of talks about the rebellious man or the the rebellious and he's a deceiver, empty talker. We'll just skip that one for now. So I thought actually the Amplified Bible had a good rendering of this verse in 3, it says, 4, if any person thinks himself to be somebody, too important to consent to shoulder another brother's load. So connecting it back up with the previous verse, previous two verses, when he is nobody of superiority except in his own estimation, He deceives, deludes, and cheats himself. So I thought actually that the last little part there, they kind of expanded the word of deception there. The idea that actually when we don't evaluate ourselves rightfully, we're actually cheating ourselves. Being honest with yourself is one of the greatest things there is. Be honest about who, what, you know. who you are, and also being honest about who Christ is. That's also key. Being honest about that is really very important.

Thoughts or questions on this verse? Alright, so let's go on. Verse 4. But each one must examine his own work. Examine is the verb. Each one, every believer, every one, examine, this is this word, documazo, and actually it's the idea of put to the test. So we're to put to the test our works, we're to be work inspectors. Works, is it furl? I don't know. It's both singular and, Tom? Can that be viewed with regard to, you know what, this looks more like wood hay and stubble, so God burn it up, I don't want to have to fool with that later on.

Well, we're going to see some verses that talk about God's work, that He has planned for us, and it's important to evaluate that. I had a lot of verses today, I apologize, I just kind of stuffed them all in here. So let's look at Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5. Can someone read 7 through 10?

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. The fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth, providing what is acceptable to the Lord. Okay, that's interesting. Does someone have a different reading? Yes, Dan, you read your verse 10. Okay, that doesn't sound the same. And find out what pleases the Lord. Okay, alright. So actually, believe it or not, that's the same. A mind head is trying to learn. It's actually our word here. It's examining. It's putting to the test. You're putting to the test what the Lord wants you to do, basically. It's an interesting way that that's phrased. So we're going to be examining our words.

And then in Philippians, Philippians chapter 1 and verse 9 and 10. Philippians 1, 9 and 10. In this I pray that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment, that you may approve things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ. Right. Thank you. So, in verse 10 here, it's may approve, put to the test again, examine.

So, we're to examine our work, and work is ergon, deeds, acts, actions. And there's just a ton of things here, but it talks about the believer's works. Actually, the first one is actually on the negative side, right? It talks about, this is back in Galatians again here, I'll just read that, it talks about the things that we, in the negative sense, now the deeds, now deeds are works of the flesh, we went through those in the past, are evident, and all this laundry list of very terrible things. Those are deeds, and if we examine those deeds, we find we're not walking in the spirit, we're walking in the flesh.

On the positive side, in Ephesians 4.4.12, it talks about the works in terms of service. in verse 11, and he gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors, some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work, here's the word work, or deeds of service to the building up of the body of Christ. So there's kind of the positive sense of that. But I think the best one here, well actually there are two that are really good.

Just go down, actually go back up to Ephesians, back a verse, back to Ephesians 2.10. which says, For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So what's wonderful about this is that the Christian life is not us trying to Crank out. Crank out, thank you. Crank out these good works.

God has prepared them beforehand, right? So what our job is, as we're examining our works, is to say, Lord, what would you have me to do? I'm available for what you'd have me do. If he's prepared them beforehand, then it should be something that's obvious to you, something that you are already suited out for.

So we don't need to be threading and pulling our hair out. What Lord? Should I go to Africa? Should I go to here? Help this lady across the street. Now some things are obvious. We should be... I'll stay in my house and wait until the Lord tells me what I should do, right? Knock on the door and say, Tom, come out. But I think it's a great relief to to see that God has planned the works beforehand. So He's planned the works and we're to walk in them. That kind of speaks of the walk of faith. We're to walk in those works and accomplish those works. Roger?

Yes. It's not really that much different than what was required even under the law. Because what happened was, as I've said before, they took their focus off God and they put their focus on their own works. Right. And I emphasize own. Because God was doing works through them as well. In fact, he said David would do anything that God asked him to do. He was a man after his own heart. So that's the example. Well here, even after the law, it's still through faith. It's through faith with a focus on God.

So, you go help somebody else and something good happens, okay, you shouldn't take credit for that. I mean, we can't heal anybody, we can't do miracles, we can't, you know, we can't be successful in much of anything without God's help. And once you lose the focus of God, then it goes back to you, which is exactly what happened to the Pharisees. And they become bloated with their own self-worth.

Right. So the warning here is, as you help your brother in Christ, your sister in Christ, don't think that just by doing that, that gives me a couple more notches up on my, you know, well look at all the people I've helped. I've helped this brother and this sister, and well I must be really, you know, it's the same kind of danger. The same kind of nature is unchanged. from Old Testament and New Testament, still there, still wanting to puff up self and saying, I'm pretty good because I helped this person. Right, and that's what faith is, right?

Faith is the focus on God first, or vertical, then the horizontal, instead of the horizontal, and maybe I'll think about God in the process. Okay, and then the last verse here, Colossians, look at that just for a sec, Colossians 1, Can someone read Colossians 1? Sure. 1 to 10? 1 to what? 10? 1 to 10, yeah. I've got it here.

Okay. The print's getting smaller. Okay, alright. Hopefully it lasts until the end of the class. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God. Yeah. I really like the last part of this. It talks about kind of a two-fold thing going on here.

It says, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. So as these good works were prepared beforehand, we're bearing fruit because it's actually God is the one that's in control here, but we're increasing that allows us to increase in the knowledge of God, that helps us in that process. Roger, it's also interesting if you ever want to do a word study, if you've got extra time, look up the ones who pleased the Lord, or the Lord was pleased with this person, and you can almost go to the Hebrews chapter 11 saints chapter. Just about everybody who's listed in there comes under, they please the Lord. Like Noah and Abraham and Mary. I mean, it's amazing. It was that desire to please God.

Alright, so let's go on. All right, so now this becomes an interesting part of the verse here. And then, so we have, but each of us must examine his own work. And then, let's just go down here. Then, based on the examination of his works, we're to do something. And actually, what's interesting in the examination, that's just not a request, that's actually in the imperative mood, that's a command. The commands that are sprinkled through, this is the command.

We're to examine his own work. He will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone and not in regard to another. So what's being said here? Can I give an example? This is something that happened last night. I was looking at this verse you had before. It said 1 John 4. For one, yeah.

Try now. The love of men do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. Wasn't the descendants of Esau just jumping up and cheering when the temple was being wrecked and people were being deported to Babylon? They'd say, tear it down all the way down to the foundation. Where to be wise, where to examine.

The reason I didn't actually do that, after I wrote it down, I said that's actually... This is talking about more examining our own work. I thought, well, that verse, which is a good verse, is not really speaking to that point. So I put these verses down, and I go back and look at them again, and I think, well, is that really?

So that one is a good verse about being careful, but as far as this is a self-examination, whereas that's speaking about Okay, what's out there? What's in this world system? Which is, we need to do both. But this is speaking of a personal examination. That's why I kind of didn't cover that verse. And you may notice that as I go through it sometimes. I'll pull these verses down and I'll look at it again. Maybe not quite.

Roger. Okay, so actually to the point, what's going on here? So it says we're going to boast about ourselves and we're not going to boast in regards to another. What's it saying here? I found this is actually just reading it in English without any other help. I mean, you look at that and you say, you scratch your head. I don't know, I asked Bonnie, I said, Bonnie, what does this mean? She looks at that. What I would say is, two statements that Paul made. One is, I am judged by no man.

So in other words, he's being judged by Christ. Right. Okay. Okay. And once he lives his life in a manner where he feels that he's been judged by Christ and he's okay with that, he's walking in the spirit. Okay. Okay. And then the other comment that he made was, which we all know is to live as Christ to die as Cain. Right. Okay.

So in other words, if you're going to live, then you're going to live for Christ. And I think that he's saying that once you make that discernment, once you have your focus down, once you're living by faith and through the Spirit, then you can, not that you're going to go out and boast to anyone else, but you can feel good inside of yourself. That's what I see. That you're walking in the light and that you are striving to please the Lord. That's your goal.

So if you have a goal, it makes no sense to have a goal if you don't feel good about achieving that goal, or sub-goals, as you're getting to the main goal, right? And so Paul's main goal, to me, is to please Christ. So any sub-goal in that process is pleasing to God, but it's also pleasing to the one who's doing it, because he knows he's doing the right thing.

If you can ever get to that point, I mean, gee whiz. have the opportunity to be used as a vessel, that you are glad that you were available and to be used, but not necessarily in and of yourself, but that you were... And you would thank the Lord, you would... But you would say, you know, yeah, I'm glad that I was available and that the Lord chose me to be used as a vessel at this time for this person. OK. All right, that's good. Other thoughts? OK.

So, you know, the key word here, I think, is this word boasting. And actually, what I found here, actually the word in the Greek means that in which one glories. The word rejoicing comes from this word. So what I found, which is interesting, is that boasting can be used like the word glorying. There's something called vain gloryings, and there's glorying in the Lord. So this word actually has several synonyms. Boast is one. Glory is one. Rejoice is one. Exalt is one. So if you look at the range of English words that are translated by the same Greek word, it's interesting. And this is a noun form. There's also a verb form.

So what I think is going on here is that this is rejoicing, boasting. boasting, rejoicing, glorifying, are all the same idea in what God's grace is accomplishing in a believer's life. And I think several of you said that kind of life. It's saying, Lord, thank you for what you're doing in my life. And it's not a sinful action. It's thankfulness, actually. You're thankful.

You're glorifying God in what He's doing in your life. And I was thinking about that. you might be so thankful that you've come to understand some part of scripture and say, wow, I never saw that before. I never understood that. And that's just helped me to understand God so much better. And you would be boasting or glorying in the Lord.

So that's a positive. Now there are a bunch of negative examples in scripture, but this is a positive thing. So we're going to see how this kind of plays out here. So could we say when we're undergoing a trial, consider it all joy? That's one of the verses we're going to look at.

So what was Paul? Paul glorified the Lord. He boasted. Praise the Lord! You know, I'm having this difficulty. I think about Brother Hal so many times. Hal lived that idea that trials I could glory in the Lord. He was so excited. This was the last weeks and months of his life in the hospital. He was so excited about being in the hospital so he could share Christ. It was such a great place where people would come to him. to try to comfort him, and he would have the opportunity to talk to him about the Lord.

I mean, it's just, and I believe that's exactly what's going on here. It's glorifying what God is doing in your life. And it may, from a human perspective, it may not be all that great. I mean, you think, well, I'm, I mean, humanly, I'm, but it's glorifying God and His work through you. Okay, so, So actually I have two, so actually based upon that, I kind of try to give a little more liberal, literal, not liberal, literal translation for the middle part and the last part of that verse in four. He will have rejoiced in regards to himself alone. In that aspect, you're thanking the Lord, and we're gonna see some verses here shortly.

You're thanking the Lord for what he's accomplished in your life, not that it may be Easy, but you're you're rejoicing what he's doing and then the other side of that He will not rejoice in regard to another and that's the one that kind of hangs you up here And what what I found is this word in regard? It means concerning so we're not to rejoice or Glory with regard to another you say well, what does that mean? So here's my thought on that and We as believers are not to rejoice or glory by comparing ourselves to other believers.

This is a typical thing I've talked about before. You say, well, I'm more mature. I wouldn't have done that. I wouldn't have gone there. But your standard is that the other believer, well, they did this and you wouldn't do that. That's the negative part. We are not to rejoice in regards to another. That's what's going on here.

We're not to rejoice by comparing ourselves to God, but we rejoice in what God in Christ is doing in our life. So I have a bunch of verses here that amplify that point. So let's look at Romans chapter 5. So these are all going to be verses that, actually I couldn't find many verses where it talked about, and maybe there are, and I just didn't look hard enough, the C part of that verse. This is the B part. This is to rejoicing in what God is doing in our lives.

So Romans, can someone read 5, 2 and 3, and then 11? On chapter 5, verses 2 and 3 and then 11. By whom also we have access by faith into this grace, wherein we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but the glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation work with patience, and patience experience, and experience hope. What was the other verse?

And 11. And not only so, but we also join God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. Okay. Alright, so this talks about exalting. My translation is exalting, but it's basically the same word. It's this word to glory. Or it's the glory and the fact of what God's doing. You notice here that it says we're to glory or exalt in the hope, in this hope of the glory of God. Then in verse 3 it says we're to glory in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance. So this is a proper kind of boasting or glorying.

Okay, so the next verse I want to look at is in 2 Corinthians 10.8. 2 Corinthians 10.8. Someone to read that one? Actually, let me just change that.

Let's look at 2 Corinthians 12.9.

And he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in witness. Therefore, most gladly, I will rather boast in my infirmities than that the power of Christ may rest upon me. I would rather boast, or glory, or exalt in my weakness that the power of Christ may rest upon me. So this idea of glorying is glorying in what God is doing in our life, which may be a negative thing, but it brings glory to God if you're suffering on His behalf. And then the last one I'd like to look at is, we can skip over Philippians passage right now. Let's look at James chapter 1 and verse 9. Can someone read that? Okay, that's a pretty simple one.

But let the brother of humble circumstances glory in his high position. That's kind of neat. So we're to glory? So what's proper boasting or glorying? So if God has you in a humble circumstance, that's okay. So we're actually in a high position. If we're in Christ, we're in the highest position we could be.

So I told my kids, they said, well dad, if you do this, we could win the lottery. We could do this. And I said, we already have everything. Why do we need to worry about, why do we need to have the lottery? I said, that's only probably going to corrupt us, all that money. Probably.

That's good, Sam. Before we do this verse, it's a tough verse. The fact that we're to boast our glory in regards to himself alone, which basically means we're thanking God for what he's doing in our lives, but we're not to rejoice our glory by comparing ourselves to another brother or sister. We're not to say, I didn't have that problem, therefore I'm somehow more spiritual. Actually, we're to come alongside, right? And to bear with them and to say, I could have been there too. I could have had that problem just like you. That's a proper attitude. The idea of boasting or glorying that I have somehow attained a higher status is not wise. It's foolishness. OK. All right.

The last verse is basically, for each one will bear his own load. I actually mentioned this verse last week a little bit. So let's go ahead and look at Galatians 617. From henceforth let no man trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the word Jesus. Okay, so this word bear basically talks about, in this case it talks about where to bear, let me just go ahead and put the rest of it up here.

It's to bear his own load. We're to bear our own load. This is actually in contrast to the first we have in verse 2 where it says we're to bear one another's burdens. As we saw before, the believer is going to have trials and tribulations. We're going to have difficulties. just comes with the fact that we're in this world, in this world system. It's a fallen world. We have a sin nature. We're going to have trials and difficulties.

So there's a sense in which we have burdens which are normal. And that's where this idea of the load is something carried. It's a common word for a man's pack. Those are the normal situations in one's life. As contrasted with the one back in verse 2, Galatians 6-2 where it talked about these burdens which are weighty and heavy and a person was weighed down and this pressure on them and that's when a brother or sister was to come along and to help bear that load with them. This is speaking of the fact that each believer is going to have a load to carry.

You know, the life in this world comes with, you know, it's a fallen world. We're going to have difficulties. So in a sense, we are to bear our own load. And also, doesn't it kind of give you the sense that it's sort of an accountability, that you do have a load, and it's your load, and you are going to bear it. Right. And you know, as you said, because this word means a regular load.

It's a regular load, right. Actually, this is a little off the subject. I listen to talk radio when I'm driving my car. I listen to Dennis Prager sometimes. He's a Jewish guy. He actually has some wisdom. He's not a believer, obviously. But he talked about... I thought about this while I was driving, studying this verse. He talked about the fact that his estimation on many young people today is that they don't want anything that gives them additional burdens.

So why get married? Why have children? I was thinking about this first, bearing your own load. There's a load that comes with having a family, having children, having a job. All that stuff, you have a load that you have to carry with that. You have to get up and be there for the job. take care of the kids. All these things, there's a load. He was just saying he was observing our society that young people didn't want to bear that load. They wanted to just go have a good time. And I thought that's kind of interesting, that kind of stand.

I think it's also a contrast to a lot of things in the Jewish religion because of their tradition, for one thing, they always talked about that they were Abraham's children. They talked about the sins of the generation. They talked about, you know, a lot of things that your forefathers were unpleasing to me and you're the same way, kind of blaming the forefathers. And if you go to Ezekiel, I think it's 14.14, it talks about, says something to the effect that if it was, what, Daniel or whatever, he names Job and somebody else, that they're responsible for their own lives and their own salvation.

They're going to have to to live out their own lives and it's not because of their forefathers or anything else. I see your point. We have our own responsibilities and it's up to us to carry through on those responsibilities. It's not our fathers, it's not going to be our children, it's us.

Going along with that, in terms of salvation, let's look at John chapter 1 for a second. When you were saying that, it just kind of occurred to me. It's in terms of salvation. I hope I can find it here. And you're right, that is salvation when I talk about it. This may be more after salvation in the water, right? Yeah, exactly. But you kind of keep my idea. Okay, let's go down to verse 12. Gospel of John, chapter 1, verse 12.

But as many received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God. even those who believe in his name who were born not of blood nor the flesh nor the will of man but of God so and and i was thinking about born of blood you know that's basically a bloodline it's not because you grew up in a Christian home, each person has to individually accept Christ as their Savior. So in a sense, there is a little bit, not exactly matching up, but the concept that God requires each person to interface with him and he's provided the Holy Spirit to illumine them and they are to individually accept. You don't come in as a group. And you know, you come in individually. And then in the Christian walk, this is speaking of the Christian walk, we have a, there's a load to carry. There's a load to carry and it's normal for the believer's life.

But what's really cool is, and I didn't actually, this very last verse here, let's look at Matthew 11. But when the Lord talks about this, it's the same word. Matthew 11 talks about this load. And I thought this was kind of a fitting kind of wrap up to this. So how does the Lord, how does the Lord evaluate the load we have to carry? What does he say about that load?

This verse will answer that. Well, the same words used many times in the prophets. Jeremiah and Isaiah, when we studied those, that same word is given so many different times. you know, and it's also talked about in Corinthians, I mean, not to be unequally. Right, exactly, yoked, you mean, yeah, okay, yeah, you're talking about yoked, okay. So actually 11, 1130 says, pretty familiar verse.

Oops, actually, did I get that right? I'm on the wrong, that's good. Okay, 11, For my yoke is easy and my load, this normal pack, is light. So God's estimation, it's interesting, from God's perspective, which is what we're to have, he says this load is light. for the load.

Right, and he talks about trial, he talks about not, we won't be tested by what we're able to bear. He knows, he knows our load. He bore, actually, he bore the penalty of our, you know, so there's just so many parallels you could draw. I mean, it's just, you know, but it's neat. He calls this load that we have to bear life. So I thought it was kind of, kind of neat. So that's perspective we're doing. We'll say, okay, yeah, there are, you know, I have family this, I have jobs, and all these things are issues. And maybe I have troubles with some of those. Anyway. Alright, so that's, any last thoughts or questions? Alright, well let's close then.

We thank you, Father. We thank you for this day. Lord, thank you for the blessings we have in the Lord Jesus. We thank you, Lord, that you tell us that our load, the load we carry as we walk the Christian life is light. sometimes seems that it's not, but we pray that we would see it in terms of a heavenly perspective. And we thank you that we can trust you in all things. In Christ's name, Amen.