[1] #285, On the Battlefield, 08-26-2007, Pastor Mark Boucher

Text: Galatians 6:1-5
Theme: If you’re going to help you must be healthy.

INTRODUCTION:

1. My Father in law in the battle. (1950)
   1. God used fellow soldiers to bring him to safety. They were healthy, caring and courageous.
2. The world of Bible day was full of soldiers, war.
   1. Roman soldiers were scattered across the empire.
3. The Apostle Paul often used military imagery.
   1. He challenged Timothy to “be a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”
   2. At the end he said, “I have fought a good fight …”
4. Paul recognized he needed the help of fellow soldiers.
   1. He wrote a letter to the Galatians.
   2. He spoke about helping one another in the battle.

Let’s look at some battlefields

1. People are going to get hurt, wounded.
   1. Life is not an amusement park.
   2. There is good, evil … light, darkness.
   3. The sin nature and Holy Spirit are opposed.
   4. “For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other …” Galatians 5:17
   5. Sometimes a soldier goes down.
   6. “if someone is caught in a sin” (v 1)
   7. This should not shock us beyond belief.
   8. Abraham and Sarah – used deception
   9. Moses – struck the rock
   10. David – committed adultery and murder
   11. Samson – visited prostitutes
   12. We are all capable of falling.
   13. “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” 1 John 1:8
   14. “We all stumble in many ways.” James 3:2
   15. We don’t have to fall, even though we stumble.
2. We have a responsibility to help each other.
   1. “The local church is an army base for saved sinners, not a moldy museum for perfect saints.” (When someone falls, we don’t leave them behind.)
   2. The challenge goes out to “you who are spiritual.”
   3. This doesn’t just mean pastors.
   4. Every believer can help restore others.
   5. Your part must just be to pray and stay strong.
   6. What does the Bible mean by restore?
   7. This comes from a word meaning to set a broken bone in place.
   8. This is to be done gently.
   9. Restoration can only occur after repentance.
   10. We must be willing to allow the broken to be set right.
   11. As we restore we are “carrying each others burden” (v 2)
3. We have to first be willing to get help ourselves.
   1. How can we help ourselves so we can bless others?
   2. Watch yourself in the area of temptation.
   3. We are tempted to feel superior.
   4. “If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing he deceives himself.” Galatians 6:3
   5. We are tempted to fall into the same sin.
   6. Test yourself, specifically your actions. (v 4)
   7. Examine, scrutinize, to see whether it is genuine.
   8. Are there compromise activities in my life?
   9. “Compromise won’t kill me” … but it makes you sick, weak.
   10. Am I allowing the fear of God to clean me?
   11. “The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever.” Psalm 19:9
   12. Is there anything in my house, room that would bring shame to Christ?
   13. Do I have the boldness to change?
   14. “Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds.” Acts 19:18

CONCLUSION:

I’m so grateful some fellow soldiers saved my father-in-law.