Love Worth Finding

Guest (Male): As Christians is there any hope after failure? Listen to Adrian Rogers.

Adrian Rogers: And I've got wonderful news for you. If you have fallen, if you once walked with God and you have fallen into sin, God is the God of a second chance. And with a Christian, listen to me, failure is not final.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Love Worth Finding featuring the comforting and convicting lessons of pastor, teacher, and author Adrian Rogers. Everyone of us will fail at some point, and failure can be heavy. Carrying burdens is an inevitable reality in each of our lives, but we do not have to bear them alone if we're followers of Jesus. Galatians chapter six shows us what to do with our burdens. If you have your Bible, turn there now as Adrian Rogers begins part one of Burdens.

Adrian Rogers: Would you be finding in your Bibles, please, the book of Galatians chapter six? And when you've found it, look up here. Galatians chapter six and in a few moments we're going to read together the first three verses. But I want to talk to you today about burdens. About your burdens. I know you have burdens.

The strangest thing in the world, the most rare thing in the world, would be to find a thinking person without a burden. And every preacher needs to understand when he preaches that on every row in his congregation is a burdened heart.

Now, the question is this: What do you do with a burden? What do you do with a burden? Well, look, if you will, please, in Galatians chapter six, verse one: "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an 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."

We're going to see really that there are three kinds of burdens. There are the burdens we willingly take up, there are the burdens we faithfully bear up, and there are the burdens we wisely give up. And it's very important that you understand the distinction in these as we think together on: What do you do with a burden?

Now, the first burden I'm going to talk about is the burden we share. That is, the burden we willingly take up. Look in verses one and two again. He says here, "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an 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."

There are certain burdens that we willingly take up. These are the burdens that we share. They're not our burden; they're someone else's burden. And what is the burden that our brother has? He has been overtaken in a fault. We're not talking here about a wicked man, a bad man.

We're talking about a good man, a good woman who has been sabotaged by sin. You see, the word "overtaken" means someone who has been tripped up, someone who has been trapped by temptation, someone who has been sabotaged by sin, somebody who has been overtaken in a fault. And if you'll think, you know somebody just like that.

Somebody who is a good man or woman who gave his or her heart to the Lord Jesus Christ and was saved and walked with our Lord in victory and joy, and then something happened. That person fell. That person tripped up. That person, as the young people would say, blew it. And he's carrying a burden, and that's the burden of his sin.

Now, what is my ministry? What is your ministry? There are certain burdens that we're to take up, that is, there is the ministry of restoration. Look, if you will, here in this passage of scripture and see in verse one the Bible says, "restore such a one."

The word here for "restore" is a Greek word that was used to mend a bone, like a doctor would put a bone back in place, to set that bone that has been broken. And that is the ministry of reconciliation that God has given to us.

Do you know someone like that? I mean, think right now. Don't you have someone in your family, or don't you have someone in your office, or don't you know someone in your neighborhood, someone who has been ambushed by sin? Let me tell you what the message today is.

If you are that person who has fallen, there's hope for you. If you're that person that has not fallen, there is a warning for you. And whether you have fallen or whether you have not, there's a call to action by all of us, and the Bible says if we're spiritual, we're to restore such a one.

Now, I've got wonderful news for you. If you have fallen, if you once walked with God and you have fallen into sin, God is the God of a second chance. And with a Christian, listen to me, failure is not final. I was thinking recently about all of the saints of God in the Bible who fell, and yet, by the grace of God, they were restored.

Jonah was a prophet, a man of God, and we criticize Jonah so often, but the Bible says the word of the Lord came to Jonah. That means Jonah was in contact with God. He was the kind of a man who could hear the word of God. He was the kind of a man that God would choose to preach a message.

The word of the Lord came to Jonah, and Jonah was commissioned to go and preach to Nineveh. And you remember that Jonah ran from the presence of the Lord. You know the story, how he spent the night on a foam blubber mattress. And then God restored Jonah, and he preached the word of God, and God used him to hold a great city-wide crusade. Thank God he's the God of a second chance.

We remember Samson, the heavyweight champion of the Old Testament. Yet he lost his testimony. He lost his purity. His eyes were put out. He's grinding in the mill. But the Bible says the hair of his head began to grow again. That's just another way of saying that God gave him a second chance.

I think of Simon Peter, the big fisherman. What a wonderful man was Simon Peter. He loved God. He had courage. He had zeal. But he tripped up and he fell. He was overtaken in a fault. He cursed and swore and denied the Lord Jesus. And what a field day the gossips would have had.

"There's old Simon Peter, Reverend Peter, that old hypocrite. The rock; he's nothing but grains of sand." And yet he was the mighty apostle of Pentecost because Jesus looked at him and said, "When you're converted, then you strengthen your brethren."

I think of David. David was a man after God's own heart. What a man of integrity and love and wisdom and skill and courage was David. And yet David fell into temptation. He sinned egregiously against Almighty God. But while David was a great sinner, David was a great repenter.

And God used David in the latter years of his life. God restored the bones that were broken in David's life. As a matter of fact, David prayed this prayer: "Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice."

If you ever read the gospel of Mark—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—remember that the gospel of Mark was written by a man whose name was John Mark. John Mark started out to be a missionary, and he became a failure. He was a turncoat. He was a dropout.

He failed so miserably that the apostle Paul said, "I can't use him again in the missionary journey. I don't want him around me. He's a failure." And yet he was restored by a man named Barnabas, who was an encourager. And later on in Paul's ministry, he said, "Bring John Mark; he is profitable unto me for the ministry." He was the man, John Mark, who wrote the gospel of Mark.

Now, look up here and let me tell you something. There is a ministry of restoration. Our God is a God of a second chance. And the Bible says if a man be overtaken in a fault, we are to restore, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness.

I say it again, if you have fallen, there's hope for you. If you have not fallen, there is a warning for you. And there's a call to action for every one of us. We are to restore such a one. And again, the word "restore" has the idea of mending a broken bone.

I was raised in West Palm Beach, Florida. One of the things that we loved to do in the wintertime, my brother and I, was to collect coconuts and sell them to the Yankees. I could get a whole dime for a coconut. And of course, you know the coconuts, a coconut tree is different than other trees.

It doesn't have limbs on it, but it has fronds at the top. We learned how to climb a coconut tree like a monkey. I could go up a coconut tree just like that and collect coconuts. Now, I was up a coconut tree. Must have been 30 feet tall.

I had my left arm around the palm frond, and I had my right hand disconnecting a coconut when that palm frond let go. It was yellowed and it was ready to fall. The coconut fell, the frond fell, and the boy fell. I fell about 30 feet.

I fell on the grass, but my left arm fell on the sidewalk. And then the palm frond came down and fell on the boy, and the coconut came down and fell on the frond. And there I was with my left arm mangled with a compound fracture and the bone actually going right through the skin, protruding. It was a bad situation.

Now, my brother was there and he saw what happened to me. Now, I want to ask you a question. As I was lying there, having fallen—and by the way, it was my fault. I was careless. I didn't look. I didn't pay attention that the limb was weak and yellowed.

It was really something that I got myself into. But what did I need? What did a boy squirming on the ground with a broken arm, what did I need? Well, I didn't need a lecture, not at that time. What I needed was restoration.

I didn't need my brother to say, "Adrian, didn't you see the limb was yellow?" I tell you something else: I didn't need my brother to ignore me and walk away and leave me there in agony and pain on the ground. I tell you something else I didn't need: I didn't need my brother to go around in the community and say, "Did you hear about Adrian? He fell out of a coconut tree."

I tell you something else I didn't need: I didn't need for him to come along and shoot me to put me out of my misery. And I tell you something else I didn't need: I didn't need them to amputate that arm. Now, I had that arm in a sling for a while and you can't tell it, but it's still just a little crooked.

But I can use it because what I needed was somebody at that time to realize that I'd fallen. I needed somebody to come and help me. Now, what do we do when we have a member, a brother, or sister who's overtaken with a fault? What do we do with broken brothers? It's a good question. Do we ignore them?

Let me tell you something. If there's a member of this church that has fallen, do you know what the member of this church is? He is a member of this body. And when one member suffers, what happens? Every member suffers with him. That brother, that sister is a member of this body.

We are members one of another. And when your arm is broken, you're supposed to hurt all over. What do you do when a brother has a burden? What do you do when a sister has fallen? Do you say it's none of my business? What do you do? Do you condemn him?

Let me tell you this about the church, and it breaks my heart to say it. But sometimes people in the church have this tendency: we crucify living saints, we worship dead saints, and we shoot fallen saints. May God have mercy upon us.

What do we do when a brother falls? Do we report him to somebody else that somebody else might minister to him? What do we do when a brother falls? Do we lecture him and tell him he ought not to fall? Do you know what Jesus Christ said about the Pharisees, the legalists?

These people who were quick to point out the faults in somebody else, some fallen brother. Jesus said of them in Matthew chapter 23 and verse four, "For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers."

They push a person further down. They put burdens on men's shoulders rather than lifting burdens. What do we do with a broken brother? What do we do with a fallen saint? I'll tell you what we do according to this verse: we restore him in the name of Jesus.

Now, I'm going to tell you something else, folks. Don't think I'm talking to you about what the church staff ought to do. Look at it again. Look at it. "If a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such a one." Now, if you don't care, or if you don't feel qualified, you're just admitting that you're not spiritual.

If you claim to be a spirit-filled person, the message is for you. It is your responsibility. God called me as the pastor to equip you to do the work of the ministry. And if you're a spiritual person, and God has laid someone on your heart, you have a friend, a neighbor, a brother, a sister, somebody that you know who has been tripped up, someone who has fallen into sin, it is your solemn responsibility before Almighty God to restore such a one if you call yourself a spiritual person.

Now, that, friend, is the ministry of restoration. And I want you to notice the manner of it. Notice how you're to do it. Look at it again in verse one: "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such a one"—remember that means to set a bone—"in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens."

Now, how are you to restore him? Well, number one, you're to restore him gently, gently. Now, that's in the spirit of meekness. You're not to be belligerent. You're not to be bellicose. You're not to be judgmental. You're to do it in a spirit of meekness.

Do you know what a person with a broken arm needs? I'll tell you one thing from experience: he needs a tender touch. He needs a tender touch because he's broken and he hurts. You're setting bone. And if you are harsh and overbearing and judgmental, God can't use you.

I tell you something else. Not only are you to restore him gently, but you're to restore him humbly. Now, look at what it says here. The Bible says here that you are to consider your own self also lest thou also be tempted. Remember you also have feet of clay.

You also are subject to temptation. And the Bible says if a man thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall. And when you're going around trying to mend a broken brother, just consider yourself because one of these days you may be the one who needs to be restored.

You may not understand the possibility that you might fall out of a coconut tree, and it'll happen to you real suddenly. Do you know what sin is? Sin is an undetected weakness, an unexpected opportunity, and an unprotected life. And you put those things together and down you go.

You think, well, I'm just sailing along fine. You may be in serious trouble this time next week. If you have an unprotected life, if you have an undetected weakness, an unexpected opportunity, you may fall into sin.

I've told you before, there are three persons who are sitting in the seat that you occupy this morning: the person you are right now, the person you could be for good, for God, and for his glory, and the person you could be in depravity and sin if you take your eyes off of Jesus Christ.

And few of us dare realize how high we may rise or how low we may sink according to what we do with Jesus Christ. But I'm telling you that when you go to restore a brother or sister in the name of Jesus, number one, you're to do it gently with meekness.

Number two, you're to do it humbly, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. And number three, you are to do it sympathetically. Look, if you will, in verse two: "Bear ye one another's burdens." I can tell you from experience that a person with a broken bone is hurting.

If a man is truly a believer—I'm not talking about an unsaved person. I'm talking about a child of God. I'm talking about somebody who knows Jesus Christ as his or her personal savior—if that person has a broken bone, if that person is a child of God and has fallen into sin, that person is hurting.

Now, if he's not hurting, he's never been saved. Friend, if you're a child of God and you're living in sin, you're hurting. And what you need is some sympathy. Now, what is the hurt that this kind of a brother has? Well, first of all, he's out of fellowship with God.

He's out of fellowship with God. The fellowship with God is broken. That's what David said. He said, "Oh God, against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight." I'll tell you something else that burdens him: his conscience is smitten.

King David said in Psalm 34, verse four, "For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me." There's another burden. It's the burden of shame and humiliation. That's the reason that some people don't come back to church. They're ashamed to come. They're afraid of what the Pharisees and the legalists there at the church will say about them.

Broken fellowship with God, their conscience is smiting them, they are ashamed and humiliated. And then on top of that, the devil moves in with accusations. And the devil says, "See, you're no good. See, you never were saved. See, you deserve the judgment of God. You would be better off dead."

And the devil, the accuser of the brethren, moves in on this fallen brother. And then there's that inward misery that he carries within his heart. I've told you before, 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. A person who's known the Lord, a brother, a sister who's been overtaken by a fault, and he has a spiritual broken body. And the Bible says we which are spiritual ought to restore such a one in the spirit of meekness.

And why do we do it? What is the motivation for taking up somebody else's burden? Let me give you some reasons. First of all, he's my brother. He is my brother. That's what the Bible says. "If a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such a one."

And if he's in the body of Christ, just like my brother helped me when I fell out of that coconut tree, that person is your brother, your sister. Secondly, we're members of the same body. When one member suffers, every member suffers with him.

I'll tell a third reason. Look at it here. The Bible says, "Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ." What is the law of Christ? Well, just go left to chapter five and verse 14. Look at it: "For all the law's fulfilled in one word, even this: thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."

Would you want somebody to restore you? What is the law of Christ? The law of Christ is love. And if you're spiritual, the Spirit of God will produce that love in you, for the Bible says the fruit of the Spirit is love.

Guest (Male): Coming up on Monday, we'll hear part two of this important message. I hope you can join us then. In the meantime, maybe you have a prayer request you'd like to share, a burden that you've been carrying that you'd like others to get involved with.

At Love Worth Finding, it's one of our great honors to come alongside you and pray with you and mobilize others to pray as well. Go to lwf.org/radio and scroll down to our prayer wall. You'll find the option there to submit a prayer request or pray for others, or do both.

This resource is one of our favorite ways to keep the ministry and the community praying continually for one another's needs. We can't wait to hear from you today.

Guest (Male): Hi, this is Cary Vaughn, and this program has been brought to you by Love Worth Finding, a non-profit ministry showcasing the powerful preaching and teaching of pastor Adrian Rogers. We operate solely through the generous gifts of individual supporters just like you.

So to give a gift today, call 1-877-LOVE-GOD. You can also connect with us online by going to lwf.org/radio. There, we offer helpful resources inspired by the timeless teachings of Pastor Rogers. Or even write to us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38-600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183.

Thank you for listening today, and be sure to join us next time for more profound truth simply stated right here on Love Worth Finding.

Guest (Male): We were blessed to read this comment from a listener in Bolivia who said, "I love listening to this program because it is a way to connect with the word of God. I feel like every program is directed right to me." At Love Worth Finding, we love to inspire and equip you with messages and resources for your daily Christian walk.

And when you donate to the ministry this month, we want to send you a copy of "Discover Jesus." More than just a book, "Discover Jesus" is an invitation to encounter Christ, strengthen your faith, and share his truth with others.

Experience the life-changing message from Pastor Adrian Rogers today. Request this book when you call with a gift at 1-877-LOVE-GOD (1-877-568-3463) or give online at lwf.org/radio. And thanks for your generous support of Love Worth Finding.