Galatians chapter two. I got about halfway through this
and I thought I'm going to go ahead and do it again. Galatians
chapter two. Now this is when Paul rebukes Peter and his speech
to Peter is not over to the end of this chapter. And it's going
to take three different lessons to consider what's being said,
but look in verse 11. But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him. to the face because he was to
be blamed. For before that certain came
from James, he did eat with the Gentiles. But when they were
come, he withdrew and separated himself. fearing them which were of the
circumcision. And other Jews dissembled likewise
with him, insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their
dissimulation. The word dissimulation means
hypocrisy. But when I saw that they walked
not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto
Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the
manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compelst thou
the Jews or the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? Let's pray. Lord, how thankful we are that
all that you require of us, you look to your dear son for. How thankful we are for him.
How thankful we are for the completeness that we have in him. How thankful we are for the complete
forgiveness of sins. How thankful we are for the gift
of his righteousness. How thankful we are for the gift
of faith and repentance. Lord, we so desire to hear from
you, deliver us from hearing the words of a man, but be our
teacher. And what we're asking for ourselves,
we ask for all your people wherever they meet together. Bless us for the Lord's sake.
Those that are going through sickness and whether of the body,
the mind, we pray for your healing hand upon them according to your
will. Give us grace truly to love one another as you have
loved us for Christ's sake. In his name we pray. Amen. Peter is sitting at a table with
the Gentiles at the church at Antioch, and he's eating lunch
with them. He's eating pork, shellfish,
foods that have been deemed unclean. under the law and Peter understood
that it was now okay to eat these foods. Do you remember in Acts
chapter 10 when the Lord caused him to have a vision and a great
sheet came down from heaven filled with unclean animals and the
Lord said, rise Peter, kill and eat. Peter said, not so Lord.
Nothing has ever touched my lips that was common or unclean. What
God has cleansed, call not thou common. So Peter understood that
all of these things had been cleansed, but yet, look what
it says in verse 11, but when Peter was come to Antioch, I
withstood him to the face publicly. Can you imagine how embarrassing
that was? What if I was speaking And one
of you stopped me and said, what you're doing and what you're
saying is contrary to the gospel. You stood up and embarrassed
me like that and humiliated me like that in front of everybody.
I guarantee you don't ever do that. But I guarantee you, I
would be thinking about it. I would be embarrassed by it.
I would be humiliated by it. I would be thinking, did you
have to go that far? Couldn't you have talked to me
privately and pointed this out? Did you have to make this a public
spectacle where I look so bad? I know I'd be thinking that way.
Come on, give me a break. Give me some benefit of the doubt. I'm an apostle, Peter could have
been thinking. I'm an apostle. I'm somebody the Lord has used
and you're doing this to me? Withstanding me face to face? Embarrassing me? Look what it
said, verse 12, for before that certain came from James. Now
this is interesting. He doesn't say before some came
from the church at Jerusalem. That's where James was pastor.
James is not the James of the 12 disciples. This is James, the Lord's brother.
He was a physical brother of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was
the pastor at Jerusalem. He's the one who wrote the book
of James. I love the book of James. And Paul doesn't say before
certain came from the church at Jerusalem. He said before
certain came from James. I think that he is blaming James
for what took place in Acts chapter 15 when these people came from
the church at Jerusalem and taught the brethren. Paul calls them
false brethren. He taught the brethren and said,
except you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you can't
be saved. They came from James and perhaps
Paul thought This is ultimately James fault. He shouldn't have
let this taken place. Now, whether it was James fault,
I don't know, but Paul was looking at it that way. As a matter of
fact, turned to Acts chapter 21. This is after that event took
place in Acts chapter 15. Verse 15. And after those days, we took
up our carriages, this is Luke speaking of him and Paul and
whoever was with him, and we went to Jerusalem. There went
with us also certain of the disciples of Caesarea and brought with
them one nation of Cyprus, an old disciple with whom we should
lodge. And when we were come to Jerusalem,
the brethren received us gladly. This is the church at Jerusalem.
This is the church at which James was the pastor. And the day following,
Paul went in with us unto James, and all the elders were present.
And when he had saluted them, he declared particularly what
things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry.
This is Paul speaking. And when they heard, they glorified
the Lord and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands
of Jews that there are which believe and they are zealous
of the law." How's that sound? They believe. And they're zealous
of the law, the law of Moses. Uh, the 10 commandments. Yes. Uh, the Sabbath day. Yes. Uh, even, uh, certain sacrifices
were still taking place with these people because that's what
they're going to try to get Paul to participate in. Now, if you
think about it, why would you call certain Jews which believe,
which are also zealous of the law? Why not just call them believers?
Isn't that what a believer is? He's a believer. Why does he
make this distinction? Now let's go on reading verse
21. And they, this is James speaking. They are informed of thee that
thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake
Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children,
neither to walk after the customs. What is it therefore? The multitude
must needs come together, for they will hear that thou art
come. Do therefore this that we say to thee, we have four
men which have a vow on them." This is the vow of Nazarite.
You can read about it in Numbers chapter six. Them take, verse 24, and purify
thyself with them, and be at charges with them, that they
may shave their heads, and all may know that those things whereof
they are informed concerning thee are nothing, but that thy
thyself also walkest orderly, and keepest the law. Now, there's
a lot of problems with that. Somebody said, well, this is
inspired. Well, it's an inspired history. Yes, it's inspired and
James really said this, but to say they kept the law. No, they
didn't. But that's what he's saying. Verse 25 is touching the Gentiles,
which believe we've written and concluded that they observe no
such thing save only that they keep themselves from things offered
to idols and from blood and from strangled and from fornication.
Then Paul took them in. with the next and the next day
purifying himself with him entered into the temple to signifying
the accomplishment of the days of purification until then an
offering should be offered for every one of them. That's a blood
sacrifice. After seven days when you've taken this vow, a blood
sacrifice was to be offered. Now how in the world can that
be consistent with him who offered up himself and it was accomplished
what he did. But James is introducing this.
Somebody says, how could that be? I don't know. I don't know. I can't explain that. I can't
explain James. James was an inspired writer
of the scriptures and everything in James is perfect. But here
James is showing some serious problems in his thinking. And
Paul, that's why Paul says certain came from James and taught the
brethren. And look what verse 27 says.
And when the seven days were almost ended, The Jews, which
were of Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all
the people and laid hands on him, crying out, Men of Israel,
help. And you can go on reading, but
here's the point. The Lord had Paul arrested before he could
do this. Aren't you thankful for the restraining
grace of God that Paul would have done this? And what he did
here might have been worse than what Peter did in Galatians chapter
2. This shows how all of us are so liable to giving in, compromise. You get tired of conflict. Uh, maybe Pete, maybe
Paul was just so tired of the conflict, constant conflict.
He thought, well, I'll do it. And the Lord had him arrested
before it could be done. Now go back to Galatians chapter
two, verse 11. Once again, when Peter
was come to Antioch, I was stood him to the face. publicly because
he was to be blamed. For before that certain came
from James, you can almost feel the tension. He doesn't say from
the church of Jerusalem, he kind of puts the blame on James. Right
or wrong, I don't know, but that's what he does. Before certain
came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles. He was having a
good time, eating pork, eating shellfish, eating shrimp. rejoicing
in the gospel with the Gentiles. But when they were come, these
people from James, he withdrew. He didn't say a word. He simply left that table, walked across the room and sat
down at the Jewish table. Now, these were Peter's works. And I've entitled this lesson,
Works Matter. These were Peter's works. He didn't say anything. He didn't
say anything with regard to an actual denial of the gospel of
Christ. He just got up and moved tables. And that's when Paul
publicly rebuked Peter in front of everybody saying this is an
act of pure hypocrisy. That's what dissimulation means.
Back then, they called actors hypocrites, and it wasn't considered
a derogatory term. It's what you call actors, stage
actors. They were hypocrites. And a good actor is someone you
can't tell they're acting. It seems very real. And Barnabas
was actually carried away with this. Barnabas was Paul's traveling
buddy. And he's actually carried away
with this hypocrisy. So he starts acting the way Peter
does. And they leave the table. Now, Peter was guilty of compromising
the gospel. Compromise. A lot of times compromise
is a good thing in dealing with people. Compromise. Somebody says, I
never compromise. I bet you don't have any friends then. You're
a jerk. We ought to be quickly willing
to compromise our own thoughts. We ought to. There's no question
about that. I mean, compromise. Management
wants to give $10 an hour. Labor wants $12 an hour, they
reach a compromise, $11 an hour. Not everybody's totally happy
with it, but it's better than it was. Compromise. Life is full
of compromises. You can't get along with people
if you are not willing to compromise. It's a good thing. But with regard
to the gospel, it is an evil thing. The gospel is never to
be compromised. God doesn't compromise. Why should
he? He doesn't negotiate with sinners.
No negotiation with God. He does not Now look in verse
3 of this same chapter. But neither Titus, who was with
me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. And that because
of false brethren, unawares, brought in. These are the people
he describes in Acts chapter 15. He calls them false brethren.
He doesn't say they were brethren who were just off, he says, they
were false brethren. They were phonies. They were
not true believers. But neither Titus, who was with
me, being a Jew, was compelled to be circumcised, and that because
of false brethren, unawares brought in, who came in privileged to
spy on our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, that they
might bring us into bondage, to whom we gave place by subjection,
known not for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue.
Now, what Paul is saying is if we would have compromised here
and went ahead and said, okay, we'll circumcise Titus, the truth
of the gospel would have left. It would no longer be there.
But he did not compromise. Now, if you look in the next
chapter, in Acts chapter 16, he had Timothy circumcised. I
think that's a concession he made. a compromise he made. I know the Jews. Nobody told
him he had to do it, but the Jews are not going to listen
to a man that's uncircumcised. Everybody knew Timothy's dad
was a Gentile. They would have a hard time listening.
So Paul said, let's get you circumcised. That's amazing that Timothy was
willing to go through that in order to preach the gospel. That's
a concession. But when they said, you need
to be circumcised to be saved, you need to keep the law to be
saved. No. We didn't give subjection to
them that the truth of the gospel might continue. It would not
have continued had they done that. Now look at these three
words Paul uses to describe what Peter was guilty of. Verse 12,
for before that certain came from James, he did eat with the
Gentiles, but when they were come, Three things he did. He withdrew and separated himself fearing
them which were of the circumcision. He withdrew. You know, it's the same word
Paul uses in Acts chapter 20 when he said, I've held back
nothing that was profitable to you. I've held back nothing. To withdraw. I think the best
way to illustrate this thing of withdrawing, Paul said, I know whom I believed
and I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've committed
to him. Paul committed the entire salvation
of his soul in every way to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if he
withdrew from that, it was a failure to commit. Peter is withdrawing
from Christ being all in salvation. He's withdrawing from that at
this time. And that's why he's rebuked the way he is. He separated
himself. Jude speaks of these are they
which separate themselves, having not the spirit, sensual, fleshly,
having not the spirit. This was a sensual, fleshly move
saying there's a difference between me and them. It's a denial by
his works, by his actions, that Jesus Christ is all in salvation. He's saying, well, he's all for
the Gentiles, but you can be a little bit more pleasing to
God. You can be a little bit more sanctified. You can be a
little bit more saved. I'm not saying the Gentiles are
not saved, but you're more saved. by eating with the Jews and keeping
these Jewish regulations and food. He was denying that Christ
is all in salvation. He said there's something other
than Christ. Why did he do this? Fear. Fear. Fear of man. More concerned
about what men think than God thinks. That's why the natural
man does what he does to be seen of men. I want to be seen of
men. I want them to respect me. I've
got to get away from the Gentiles because I know I'll lose esteem
in their sight. Therefore, I'm going to leave."
So that's what he does. He withdraws, he separates himself,
and he does this out of the fear of man. Verse 13, and the other Jews dissembled
likewise with him. acted like a hypocrite, just
like Peter was doing at this time. And this is what Paul is
calling this. And that's a hard thing. You know, hypocrite. You
know, when you get mad at somebody, you call them a hypocrite. We all ought to be very careful
every time we use this, because every one of us are hypocrites
to one degree or another. Isn't that so? We all are. And when They're accused of hypocrisy.
It was the right thing to do at this time, though. He's saying
you're hypocrite and you're leading others into your hypocrisy. And the Lord hated hypocrisy
and hates hypocrisy. Look what all he says about it
in the Gospels. But. Paul tells us, and the other
Jews dissembled likewise with him, insomuch that Barnabas,
Barnabas was his traveling companion. They were best friends. And even
Barnabas was carried away with Peter's hypocrisy. Don't think
that what you do doesn't affect other people. It does. And here,
Peter's hypocrisy affected all these other people so that they
followed right along with him. Verse 14, but when I saw that
they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel. Now,
when Peter got up and walked over to the other table, Paul
says they're not walking uprightly according to the truth of the
gospel. Now, the truth of the gospel is that everything God
requires of the sinner is found in Jesus Christ. That's the truth
of the gospel. That justification, a standing
before God of sinlessness, having never sinned, perfectly kept
the law. That's what justification means.
It doesn't mean you're treated that way, even though you're
not. It means you've never sinned. That's the mystery of the gospel.
That's the glory of the gospel. Jesus Christ, by what he did,
has made it to where every believer has never sinned. They stand
perfect before God. He took my sin, he put it away.
He takes his perfect righteousness, gives it to me. That's the truth
of the gospel. Nothing less than this is the
truth of the gospel, that all God requires of me, he looks
to his son for, that I'm complete in Christ. Listen to this scripture,
Colossians 2.10, you are complete, full, lacking nothing. Now, when Peter got up and changed
tables, he said, well, you're not totally complete. You're
better off over here with the Jews. And he was denying the
truth of the gospel. But when I saw that they walked
not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto
Peter before them all, this was a public rebuke. If you being
a Jew and you live like the Gentiles, how is it that you require the
Gentiles to live like a Jew? Absolute, pure hypocrisy. That's what you're guilty of.
Absolute hypocrisy. Rough thing to say. And I can
imagine how Paul would be criticized for this. Paul, really? This is the Apostle Peter you're
criticizing. This is a man of weight and influence,
and you're going to publicly criticize him and humiliate him
before everybody? Is it really that big a deal?
He just moved tables. He didn't say anything. There
wasn't any false doctrine going on as far as his words. All he
did was move tables. Is it that big a deal? You're
a, my way is the highway type of man. You're inflexible, you're
narrow-minded, you're self-righteous, you're judgmental, you're unbending,
you're unapproachable. I can imagine all the things
they said about Paul because of this action. Make a public
spectacle of Peter before everybody? How insensitive to embarrass
him and put the church in a position like this. You're a troublemaker. You're not making effort for
unity, but discord. I'm sure Paul was judged harshly
for that action. I might've been one of the people
judging him. But understand that Peter's works
undermined the truth of the gospel. His works undermined in him dwells
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and you are complete,
completely saved. All that God requires you have,
you lack nothing. You're perfect in Christ Jesus. And Peter's action undermined
that and denied that. Peter is saying, I'm not saying
the Gentiles are not saved, but I'm saying the Jews are more
saved. They're more pleasing to God. And that action is a
denial of the truth of the gospel. Now, this event was a watershed
event in the New Testament. This Acts chapter 15 and what
comes out of it, Galatians chapter two. But what I want to leave
us thinking about right now is how easily you and I could compromise
the gospel. I don't want to look at this
as a, well Peter, what a scumbag for doing this. Peter was somebody
the Lord loved. And how easily Peter compromised
the gospel. I've heard people say, well,
they look at him, you know, when he denied the maid and denied
the Lord before the maid, they said, but after Pentecost, he
had such power. And he was, no, he wasn't a whole
lot different after Pentecost than he was before Pentecost.
Because here he is denying the gospel again. And what this lets
me and you know is, how easily you and I can do this. And that's why I want to pray
to the Lord, don't let me do this. I will, if you don't prevent
me, don't let me do this. Now, if I was Peter, how would I view Paul after this?
Well, let's see, turn to 2 Peter chapter three. Verse 15, 2 Peter chapter 3,
verse 15. And account that the longsuffering
of our Lord is salvation, even as our beloved brother Paul. also according to the wisdom
given unto him hath written unto you as also in all his epistles
speaking in them of these things in which are some things hard
to be understood." I don't think Peter was on the
same level as Paul and he looked at some of the things Paul said,
he said, they're hard to understand. It doesn't mean we're not to
believe them. Everything is to be believed. You might not intellectually
grasp it, but see, as we're going to go on reading, he looked at
everything Paul said as scripture. Look at this, which they that
are unlearned and unstable twist rest as they do also the other
scriptures. You see, he's, he's acknowledging
Paul's writing as scripture. and do their own destruction. But I, instead of being resentful,
he has nothing but good to say about Paul, our beloved brother,
Paul, speaking in them of these things, the things of the gospel,
which some things are hard to understand. That they which are
unlearned and unstable twist, as they do also other scriptures,
to their own destruction. We twist the scripture, and this
is one of the fearful things about preaching. We twist the
scripture, we do so to our own destruction. May the Lord teach
us through this. I don't want to do what Peter
did, and I know I will, apart from the grace of God, and I
want to have the attitude Peter had afterwards, our beloved brother,
Paul. Amen.