Restoring Your Brother

Restoring your brother
Galatians 6:1

Sermon by Jack Nazary

Pleasant Hill Baptist - July 1981

Introduction:

1. Christ expects us to take a deep interest in one another.
2. Our special interests should be drawn toward the troubles of others.
Burdens of Sin
Burdens of Sorrow
Burdens of Care
Burdens of Doubt
3. It is our duty to bear these burdens
By sympathy
By active relief
4. To bear one another's burdens is to fulfill the law of Christ.

I. Restoration of fallen brother.
Overtaken - one surprised by the fault itself - hurried into sin - sinned before he thought it through

Sin in a Christian's life that is known and cherished causes the fellowship between the saint and God to be broken.

That which restores the fellowship is confession - 1 John 1:9 - This restoration is an act of God.

God sometimes uses another Christian as a channel through which he can work to bring the sinning saint to the place where he will confess his sin.

Restore - to reconcile factions, to set broken bones, to mend nets, to equip or prepare.

Paul in speaking here of a born again believer, a child of God.

As a believer - a member of the body, of which Christ is the head - Ephesians 1:22-23: 5:23, 30
1. Saint with sin in his life, not in correct relationship to the head and the rest of the body, as an arm out of joint. He is still a member of the body, as a dislocated arm.
2. Life of head still abides in the saint as life in human head still flows through the dislocated arm.
3. Dislocated arm useless to body and head and will obey neither. So the saint is useless and will obey neither.
4. Dislocated arm is a hindrance to the body and head. So the saint who is out of fellowship is a hindrance to the church and to Christ, the head.
5. The arm is a source of pain to both body and head. So is a Christian who is out of fellowship with God, a source of heart pain to Christ and the church.
6. The arm is extremely painful in itself, so a saint out of fellowship is a miserable Christian.
7. The longer the arm is out of joint the more painful it becomes and the harder it is to put back. So the saint becomes more miserable and harder to restore to fellowship.

Thank God we can be restored -
1. From the standpoint of cleansing restoration to fellowship is the work of the Lord as advocate - 1 John 2:1-2
2. Restoration here spoken of is bringing the saint to the place where he will confess his sin.

God uses Spiritual men
1. Putting arm back in joint is delicate work and should be undertaken only by a doctor who uses a gentle way.
2. Christian worker must be spiritual to do this work.
3. A spirit-filled saint who permits God to work through him, gently, tactfully, lovingly, wooing the saint away from his sin and to the place of confession.
4. The spirit filled Christian prays and speaks with him. The work is done by the Holy Spirit.
5. The spirit filled saint must work in an humble, meek and gentle way, remembering that he is subject to temptation.