Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 3355
“For every man shall bear his own burden.” Galatians 6:6.
IN pondering Scripture Truth, we must not strain metaphors, nor use figures of speech as though they were literal statements. You have an instance of the truth of this remark in this Chapter. In one verse the Apostle says, “Bear you one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the Law of Christ,” while in the verse of our text, he says, “Every man shall bear his own burden.” Still, he is not contradicting himself. He would be if he were speaking literally of burdens, but he is speaking metaphorically and, consequently, he uses the figure first in one way and then in another. It may be useful to us, Brothers, to learn never to draw arguments and doctrines from metaphors. Many do and there are many supposed doctrines which really have no better ground-work than mere metaphors. I remember hearing one contending against the chastening of God’s people and he urged that the Church was the bride of Christ and that it was impossible that Christ, as the Husband of the Church, should in any way chasten or strike His own spouse, which would be a very reasonable thing to say of a man. If the metaphor ran on four legs, the argument might have been correct, but as no metaphor is intended so to do, and is only to be understood in the sense intended by the person employing it, the argument is fallacious and valueless! I have heard others say that true Christians are citizens of Heaven and, consequently, we ought not to exercise our votes in political matters! This is another piece of utterly illogical reasoning because we might as well say to Christians that they ought not to eat animal food as they form the Lord’s flock, and sheep must not, and cannot, eat animal food! The fact is, the reasoning from metaphor is always risky and sometimes proves quite absurd!
I mention this because I am quite sure that very much of it does prevail in the Christian world and that people use the language of Scripture in a manner in which they would not use the same language if found in other books. The Word of God is, however, not to be treated with less, but moreveneration in our reading and study of it, and yet in the same simple, common-sense fashion as that in which we would treat any other book. The truth is there are burdens which may be shared and which should be shared. The burden of grief, the burden of pecuniary need, the burden of heart trouble may sometimes be borne, but on the other hand, there are burdens which no man can share with his fellow, nor ought he even to thinkof sharing, but where each man must stand apart and alone before God—and no one can assist him.
Of these burdens we shall speak tonight, and they shall be our first point. Then, lest we should become burdensome to you, we shall offer a few considerations which may tend to take out the weight of the burdens which we must unavoidably carry, each one for himself. And then we shall close by endeavoring to find something practical to be done tonight as the result of the text. First, then, we have to speak of—
I. Certain Burdens Which Each Man Will Be Quite Certain to Have to Bear for Himself
In speaking of the first three burdens which I shall have to mention, I shall address myself to you all, whether saints or sinners, for there are some Truths of God which are common to all men as men. And such is the first burden—the burden of original sin. The burden of our natural depravity, the burden of our fallen nature, the burden of our constitution which is perverted by evil—these we shall, each one of us, have to carry for himself. It may be said that this is not our burden, but Adam’s—but the burden of the father, if he brings the whole household into poverty—becomes the burden of the family and each individual member of it. If the head should ache, it is no use for the hand to say, “It is no business of mine.” There is, too, so vital and intimate a connection between the whole body of humanity, between Adam
the head, and all the members of the body corporate, that Adam’s Fall becomes ours, Adam’s ruin our ruin and the taint in the blood is to be found in us all. Some of you are “dead in trespasses and sins” and, therefore, this burden is no more a burden to you than the heavy clods of the churchyard are to the bodies that lie beneath them. But if ever you are quickened by Divine Grace, you will soon find that “the body of this death,” as Paul calls indwelling sin, is a very heavy burden to battle with and you will have to personally fight out the conflict within your own soul. You will have to call in the aid of Divine Power, or you will never get the victory, but—mark you—in the conquest of your own corruption, in the overcoming of your own besetting sins and of those evils which are more powerful in you than they are in others because you are constitutionally inclined to them—in that battle you will have to fight for yourselves! You may get some assistance from other people’s experience, but still, the struggle and the conflict must be with you.