Love Worth Finding

Adrian Rogers: What are we to do with our burdens? Listen to Adrian Rogers.

Adrian Rogers: You see, the Bible says, "Bear one another's burdens." Do you know if a person is truly a child of God? I'm not talking about a person running to sin. I'm talking about a person who was running from sin, who's been overtaken. If he is truly a child of God, you can put it down big, plain and straight. If that person is truly saved, truly born again and is out of fellowship with God, I can tell you, he's carrying a big burden.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Love Worth Finding, featuring the powerful insights and messages from acclaimed pastor and Bible teacher Adrian Rogers. We're in a series called, "How to Weather the Storms of Life." Whether we're saved or lost, we will all carry burdens at some point in our lives. But as believers, we don't have to bear them alone.

If you have your Bible, turn to Galatians chapter 6, as Adrian Rogers shares, "What to Do With Your Burdens."

Adrian Rogers: Everybody has burdens, sooner or later. Why, it almost starts the day we're born. We are born crying, and then the doctor gives us a whack. And from there on, it just goes on and on and on. We have burdens. We have problems. But I want to tell you today, what to do with your burdens. If you don't have burdens, really the problem is you're probably not a thinking person.

The Bible says, "Man that is born of woman is full of trouble as the sparks that fly upward." But thank God, we don't have to bear our burdens alone. Saved or lost, we're going to know burdens. Look if you will, in chapter 6, and verse 1, "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted."

"Bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden."

Now there are three kinds of burdens I want to talk to you about today. There are burdens that we willingly take up. There are burdens that we faithfully endure. And then there are burdens that we wisely lay down. First of all, there are certain burdens that you're not to try to escape. As a matter of fact, there are burdens that you are to take up. And what are those burdens? Those are the burdens of another brother, another sister. When somebody is hurting.

Now what Paul is writing about here is primarily the burden of the backslidden person, the man who has gotten away from God. Look if you will, in verse 1. "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault." Now, the word here is to a Christian. Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault. He is talking about somebody who is our brother. Somebody who is our sister. Somebody who's gotten away from God and somebody who needs to be restored. Now notice the word restore.

He's saying, "Here's a person who was once in fellowship, and now that person has gotten out of fellowship." Why? Because he's been overtaken in a fault. Now, this is not the person who is not saved. It's not the person who was running to sin. Actually, here's a person who was endeavoring to get away from sin, but sin overtook him.

Somewhere years ago, I read that in Africa, each morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up, and that gazelle says to himself, "If I cannot outrun the fastest lion on these plains, I will be devoured." And somewhere that same morning a lion wakes up, and that lion says, "If I cannot outrun the slowest gazelle, I will starve." And so both the gazelle and the lion wake up running.

Now, folks, every morning you and I need to wake up running because we are running from sin and Satan is running for us. And sometimes we're overtaken. Sometimes we stumble and fall. You see, when you get saved, that doesn't mean you can't sin anymore. Say, "Amen." You know that to be true. When you get saved, it doesn't mean that you cannot sin anymore. Sometimes we're overtaken in a fault.

You know the difference between my life before I was saved and after I was saved? Before I got saved, I was running to sin, now I'm running from sin. But we can sometimes stumble and fall, so he's talking about brothers. He says, "If a man be a brother, brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault." That is, run down by Satan, trapped and snared by a fault, then we are to restore him.

I want you to begin to think, can you think of somebody that you used to have sweet fellowship with? Maybe a soul-winning partner, maybe a prayer partner, somebody that maybe you sang in the choir with, somebody that maybe you served on a committee with, and they truly, as far as you know, knew the Lord Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior and know Him today, but they're out of fellowship? This church is filled with them and so is every church.

They are brothers, they are sisters, who are out of fellowship with God. And God has called upon us to restore these people because they're living a life that the Apostle Paul calls a burdened life. They are brokenhearted. Now, the scripture today that I'm reading is hope for that kind of a person. If you're that kind of a person, away from God, yet in your heart of hearts you've been saved, you know the Lord, you're a brother, you're a sister, this message is a word of hope for you.

And, if you have not been overtaken in a fault, thank God for it, but this message is a word of warning for you. And it's a call to action for all of us. Now, a brother can be restored. That's good news. If you've gotten away from God, our God is a God of a second chance. If you read the Bible, the Bible tells about men who got away from God and who got back to God, because the Bible does not mistake the moment for the man.

And the Bible is a picture of people who've gotten away from God and yet have gotten back to God. There was Jonah. Now, we criticize Jonah for running from the Lord, but the Bible says, "The word of the Lord came unto Jonah saying." Does God speak to you that intimately? Jonah must have been a great man that he was in such contact with God, he could hear the word of the Lord. He was such a an instrument that God wanted to use him.

And yet, Jonah got away from the Lord, you remember? Spent the night on a foam rubber mattress. You remember the story. Swallowed by a whale. But yet Jonah came back to God and Jonah was used of God to bring an entire city, Nineveh, to Jesus Christ, to repentance, toward faith. I remember reading in the Bible about Simon Peter, the big fisherman.

He loved God. He was the one who said to Jesus, "Thou at the Christ, the son of the living God." Yet Simon Peter cursed and swore and denied the Lord Jesus. I imagine the critics that day had a field day. They said, "Oh, Reverend Simon Peter, did you hear what he did? He cursed in front of a teenage girl. I never did have much confidence in Reverend Simon Peter. I'm finished with him."

I'm glad God wasn't finished with him because that same Simon Peter who stumbled and crumbled, and when the rock turned to sand, God made him a rock again, and he became the flaming apostle of Pentecost. There was a man who wrote a book in the Bible called the Gospel of Mark. You have the Gospel of Mark. That man's name was John Mark. He was a young man. He started out with Paul and Silas on a missionary journey. He must have been a remarkable young man for the great Apostle Paul to say, "John, come and go with us on this missionary journey."

But on the missionary journey, John Mark got frightened. He got homesick. He got discouraged, and he went back home. And the Apostle Paul lost confidence in John Mark. When they got ready to go on another missionary journey, somebody said, "Let's take Mark with us." And Paul said, "No, siree, we're not going to take him. He's a failure, he's a quitter, he's a slacker, he's a shirker. He's not going."

Old Barnabas said, "Well, I'll take him with me." And do you know what? God restored John Mark. Later on, John Mark wrote the Gospel of Mark. And later on the Apostle Paul said, "By the way, when you're coming to see me, bring Mark, he's profitable." You see, God wasn't finished with John Mark. David, the man after God's own heart. What a mighty, wonderful man was David. I've got a son named David. David got away from God. David committed a horrible sin.

You say, "He was only human." No, I say he was desperately wicked. He was overtaken with a fault. And yet, he prayed that prayer and God brought him back. He prayed, "Lord, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation." And thank God, God did, and God gave him a second chance. Our God is a God of a second chance. Do you know somebody who's been overtaken with a fault? Well, the Bible says you're to restore him.

Now, I want you to look at that word restore. Look at it. Restore such a one. Do you know what that word means? It's a technical word. It literally means to set a bone that has been broken. And it literally means to mend a net that has been torn. It's restoration, putting back in place that which is broken or that which is torn. Have you ever had a broken bone? I have.

I was raised in Florida. And down where I was raised, coconuts grow. And we didn't have money to spend at a 7-Eleven because we didn't have a 7-Eleven, but we had coconut trees. And if you wanted some refreshment, all you had to do was be part monkey, shinny up a coconut tree and and get a coconut. And I was up a very tall coconut tree one time, trying to expedite a coconut.

And I had one arm around a palm frond, and I'm up there and I'm twisting that coconut. And when I gave a yank on the coconut, I put pressure on the palm frond, which was turning yellow. The palm frond came loose, the coconut came loose, and I came loose. And we all fell together. And I fell on the ground, the palm frond fell on me and the coconut fell on it and my arm fell on the sidewalk. And I had a horrible compound fracture in that elbow.

Now, at that moment, I needed restoration. I had a bone that was broken and I can tell you some things I did not need. And I'm going to tell you what some people who are out of fellowship today do not need. At that moment, I did not need a lecture. I didn't need somebody to come and say, "That was a dangerous thing you were doing. Hey, didn't you have enough sense to see that that palm frond was turning yellow? You did a stupid thing."

I did, but that's not what I needed then, right? And your friend right now doesn't need a lecture. I'll tell you something else I didn't need. I didn't need for them to ignore me. I'll tell you something else I didn't need. I didn't need to be reported. I'm glad my brother didn't run all over town saying, "Did you hear what happened to Adrian?" Here I am down there on the ground, squirming, crying. "Did you hear what happened to Adrian? Adrian fell out of a coconut tree. Adrian fell out of a coconut tree."

That's what we do sometimes, isn't it? A brother, a sister falls away, and rather than going to love that person, to restore that person, to bring that person back to sweet fellowship, what do we do? We just go around talking about them. And sometimes our little prayer sessions are nothing but gossip sessions under the guise of being prayer sessions, praying for sister so-and-so, praying for brother so-and-so.

I'll tell you another thing I'm glad they didn't do when I broke my arm. I'm glad they didn't shoot me. "Well, he's got a broken arm. Blam." We fixed it. Somebody said that the church is the only army in the world that shoots its wounded. But sometimes we do that. I mean, here's a person with a a broken bone. They didn't shoot me. I'll tell you something else I'm glad they didn't do. I'm glad they didn't amputate that arm because I need that arm, so I can point at you.

I need that arm. God gave me that arm. They didn't just say, "Well, that that's not important to the body. The body can get along without that arm." They did not amputate the arm. What they did, they put in place a broken bone. They restored it. And that's what the Apostle Paul said that we are to do. You know, listen, folks, there was one thing I could not do when I broke that arm. And that was ignore it.

Do you know why I couldn't ignore it? Why? Because the rest of my body said, "Don't ignore it." You see, the Bible says, "When one member suffers, every member suffers with it." That's the way God made us. We need to be as sensitive spiritually as we are physically. What do we do when a brother fails? Do we say, "It's none of my business?" Folks, it is your business. He is in the body. Do you condemn him? Then you're condemning yourself. He's a part of you.

Christians have a way of crucifying living saints, worshipping dead saints, and shooting wounded saints. What do we do when we have a brother who is wounded, a sister who's wounded? Do we report him to the church? You'd be amazed how many people will say to me, "Pastor, I am so burdened about thus and such a person. God has laid him on my heart. Will you go see him?"

Now, you think about that. "I am so burdened. God has laid him on my heart. Will you please go see him?" Well, if it is so strategic, so necessary, yes, if I can, I will. But why do you think God laid him on your heart? Why do you think God put him on your heart? Because, friend, you are the one that has that relationship. You're the one that God is burdening and you're the one that God wants to go. They don't need a lecture. They need love.

If you know somebody like this, I am here to tell you today that that person is your responsibility. My job is to teach you to minister, so that you can be a minister of the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Well, you say, "Pastor, pastor, that's well and good, that's just not my gift. I'm not qualified." Well, maybe you're not, because let me show you the qualifications. Look in chapter 6 and verse 1.

"Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one." Now, if you say, "That's not my gift. That's not my calling. That's not what I'm inclined to do. That's not what I'm supposed to do." You know what you're saying about yourself? "I'm not spiritual. I'm not spiritual." If you are a spiritual person, a person who loves God, a spirit-filled person, then you're going to have all the qualifications you need to restore such a one.

Now, I've talked about the ministry of restoration. Let me talk about the manner of this restoration. If you say, "All right, Pastor, I'm I'm going to do it. I have somebody right now in my heart and in my mind, some man, some woman, some boy, some girl." All right. Let me tell you how you're to do it. First of all, you're to do it very gently. Look if you will, in chapter 6 and verse 1. "Restore such a one in the spirit of meekness." Do you see that?

Now, folks, when you're setting a broken bone, what do you need? Gentleness, isn't that right? In a spirit of meekness, tender loving care. You can't restore somebody if you're harsh and overbearing. You've got to be gentle. By the way, those of you who are parents, do you know what I've noticed about dads whose children love them most? They're gentle. Every child wants a strong dad. They want a dad that they can look up to. But they want a dad that's gentle.

Gentle. You can restore your children with gentleness, rather than whacking at them and screaming at them and criticizing them. Try some tenderness with your children. Try it. If you've got backslidden children, they need tenderness. Your neighbor needs tenderness. Restore such a one in the spirit of meekness. Do it gently.

I'll tell you what else to do. Do it humbly. Look at this passage. Restore such a one in the spirit of meekness. Now watch this. "Considering thyself lest thou also be tempted." You say, "Not me." Friend, there are three persons in your seat this morning: the person you are now, the person you could be for holiness and good in God, and the person you could be for debauchery and wickedness if you take your eyes off of Jesus Christ.

You say, "Well, it won't happen to me." Well, I want to ask you a question. It happened to Jonah. Are you better than Jonah? It happened to Elijah. Are you better than Elijah? It happened to Simon Peter. Are you better than Simon Peter? It happened to John Mark. Are you better than John Mark? No, the Bible says, "Let him that thinketh he standeth do what?" "Take heed lest he fall."

And so when when when we are there to restore somebody else, not only should we do it gently, that is with meekness, but we're doing it humbly, considering ourselves lest we also be tempted. I'll tell you a third way that when you do this restoration that you need to do it. You need to do it sympathetically. Sympathetically. You see, the Bible says in verse 2, "Bear one another's burdens."

Do you know if if a person is truly a child of God? I'm not talking about a person running to sin. I'm talking about a person who was running from sin, who's been overtaken. If he is truly a child of God, you can put it down big, plain and straight. If that person is truly saved, truly born again and is out of fellowship with God, I can tell you, he's carrying a big burden. Now, if he's not saved, he's not carrying any burden at all.

But he if he is truly saved, and out of fellowship with God, he is carrying a big burden. The most miserable man on earth is not an unsaved man. The most miserable man on earth is a saved man out of fellowship with God. Is that not true? That is absolutely true. David, when he got out of fellowship with God, said to the Lord, "Lord, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation." He didn't say, "Lord, restore unto me salvation," but "restore unto me the joy of thy salvation."

What is the burden that we ought to have sympathy for with these people? Well, first of all, they have a broken relationship with Almighty God. David prayed in that penitential psalm, "Against Thee and Thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight." This person who once walked in sweet fellowship with God, that fellowship with God is broken. One of the most wonderful parts of my life is the fellowship that I have with God.

When I woke in this morning, my first thought, when my eyes opened, was, "Good morning, Lord. I greet you, Lord. I bless you, Lord." Just the fellowship with Him, to be able to sing it and say it, "I come to the garden alone when the dew is still on the roses, and the voice I hear falling on my ear, the son of God discloses. He walks with me, He talks with me, He tells me I'm His own."

That person who's gotten away from God, that person who's backslid, that person who's been overtaken with a fault, he has a burden because that relationship with God has been broken. I'll tell you what else. He has a guilty conscience. David prayed in Psalm 32, verse 4, "For day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me. My moisture is turned into the drought drought of summer." That is where he used to be spiritually, uh, full of of joy. Now he's dry as dust.

Here's a man away from God. Folks, I'm telling you, he's got a burden. There's a broken fellowship with God. There is a guilty conscience. There's the accusation of Satan, and many times there's public shame. These people say, "Well, I don't dare show my face at church anymore. If I were to come down there, everybody knows what I did, where I've been. I they wouldn't receive me."

Friend, we better receive them. We better let them know you're loved and you're welcomed and come on home. Now, why do we do it? Why do we restore such a one? Well, first of all, he's our brother. Notice how this begins, "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one." Not only is he our brother, but we're members of the same body. When any member suffers, every member suffers with it. So, why should we restore such a one? We are brothers, we're sisters. Beyond that, we're members of the same body.

Guest (Male): And don't miss the conclusion of this message coming up next time here on Love Worth Finding. Do you have a prayer request you'd like to share with us? At Love Worth Finding, it's one of our great honors to come alongside you and pray with you and for you. If you can, go to our website at lwf.org/radio and scroll down to our prayer wall. You'll find the option to submit a prayer request or pray for others.

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