Turn to Galatians chapter two. I want to look at verse five
before I read the first five verses. He says, to whom we gave
place by subjection, no, not for an hour, that the truth of
the gospel might continue with you. And that is what I'm calling
this, that the truth of the gospel might continue. Now, look in
verse one. Then, 14 years after I went up again to Jerusalem
with Barnabas and took Titus with me also. Now, he's talking
about what took place in Acts chapter 15, and Titus is not
mentioned in the Acts account, and he's giving us this information
now. Verse two, and I went up by revelation
and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the
Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest
by any means I should run or had run in vain. But neither
Titus, who was with me being a Greek, was compelled to be
circumcised, and that because of false brethren, unawares brought
in. who came in privily to spy out
our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might
bring us into bondage. To whom we gave place by subjection,
no, not for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue
with you. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
truth of the gospel, the truth of your son, the truth of the
salvation that's in him. And Lord, we pray by your grace
that the truth of the gospel might continue with us. Lord, we're so completely dependent
upon your favor, your grace, your mercy. We pray that you'd
extend your mercy to us even now, according to your will,
that we might be enabled to see the glory of thy dear son and
the salvation that's in him. Bless us for Christ's sake, meet
with us for Christ's sake. We pray for your blessing on
those of our number that are sick. We pray for your healing
hand upon them according to your will. In Christ's blessed name, we
pray. Amen. The truth of the gospel continuing. The truth is eternal. It never
changes. It's always the same. What it
was, it is. What it is, it will be. The truth is eternal. Aren't you thankful for that?
It's not gonna be modified. It's not going to change. It's eternal. But notice what
Paul says in verse five. He says, to whom we gave place
by subjection, we didn't submit ourselves to their wishes, no,
not for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue
with you. If we would have submitted to
Titus being circumcised, the truth of the gospel would not
have continued. Now that's a very sobering, solemn
thing to think about. In this place, if I would have
submitted to Titus being circumcised, we would no longer have the truth
of the gospel with us. It would have left. Now, when he says, Then 14 years
after, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas and took Titus
with me also. He's talking about what took
place in Acts chapter 15. Would you turn with me there
for a moment to Acts chapter 15? Now I say this fearfully. I have seen the truth of the
gospel leave. I've seen it leave churches.
I've seen it leave individuals. I say that fearfully, but I know
it's so. You know, you think of a local
church. Kristen was just at those places
in Corinth and Ephesus, places where these churches were, but
where are they now? There's no church from the New Testament
that has continued up until this day. Local churches never continue. If this one at some point, if
the Lord tarries and we're left in place here, This church at some
point will go bad. Every local church at some point
does that. The truth does not continue. That's a sobering thought, isn't
it? Turn with me for a moment to Acts chapter 20 while you're
in chapter 15. Just go over to chapter 20. Look what Paul says
to the church at Ephesus. Verse 29, for I know this, that
after my departing, shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not
sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall
men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples
after them. Therefore watch and remember
that by the space of three years I cease not to warn everyone,
night and day, with tears. Now that was his attitude about
this, and this is such a sobering, solemn thing to think of the
truth of the gospel not continuing in a place. And Paul says, if
I would not have done something, if I would have let this Go,
Titus being circumcised. And they were evidently insisting
on this, these Judaizers, these false brethren. He said, if I
would have let this happen, the truth of the gospel would have
left. Now let's look back to Acts chapter
15. And really the whole book of Galatians is built around
this event that took place in Acts chapter 15. Verse one. And certain men, I think it's interesting Paul
calls these men false brethren in Galatia, false brethren. And certain men which came down
from Judea, that's the church at Jerusalem, taught the brethren. They came to help out. They came
to make things better. And here's what they taught.
Certain men, which came down from Judea, taught the brethren
and said, except you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you
cannot be saved. Now there had been conflict in
the church before this. You'll remember in Acts chapter
six, where the Jewish believers were showing partiality to the
Jewish widows and gave them more money than they did the Gentile
widows. And there was a murmuring in
the church. This was not fair. This was not right. There was
an actual conflict. And that's when Peter appointed
deacons to take care of that matter. So there had been conflict
in the church before, but not like this. The issue here is
the gospel. There were certain men from the
church of Jerusalem. I think it's interesting. Paul
says certain came down from James. He was the pastor of that church,
and I think Paul was probably in conflict with himself, perplexed. Why did these guys come from
here? How did this happen? Because
these men were from James. They were from the church of
Jerusalem, and they came down and taught the brethren except
you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you cannot be
saved. Now, the issue is what is needed
for salvation. Now, these men were not denying
the necessity of Christ and his work. They were not saying Christ
is not necessary. They were not saying his blood
shed is not necessary. They were not saying his righteousness
imputed to the believer was not necessary. He was not saying
faith or repentance is not necessary. They weren't saying that at all,
but they were adding something else. Something other than Christ
is necessary to be saved. Now, listen to me. The only thing
that's relevant in my salvation is who Jesus Christ is and what
he accomplished. Nothing I've done, but they were
adding to this as we're going to see. Let's go on reading. Verse two, when therefore Paul
and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with him. Now
they couldn't agree to disagree. There was a fight that took place.
There was an argument. It was no small argument. Paul
and Barnabas were very upset about this. And we know from
the account in Galatia, in Galatians chapter two, that Titus who's
with them, and he says, we took Titus on this journey, Barnabas
I, and Titus was a Gentile. And they were saying, Titus needs
to be circumcised. Now, I think it's very interesting
that in Acts chapter 16, looking verses three and four, Well, let's look at verse one.
Then came he to Derbe and Lystra and behold, a certain disciple
was there named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman, which
was a Jewess and believed, but his father was a Greek, which
was well reported of by the brethren that were in Lystra and Iconium.
Him would Paul have go with him. And he took him and circumcised
him because of the Jews, which were in those quarters for they
knew all that his father was a Greek. Now he had Timothy circumcised. And yet he refused to have Titus
circumcised. What's the issue here? Is Paul
speaking out of both sides of his mouth? No. Paul was a very
accommodating man. He knew that Jews would have
a hard time listening to somebody that wasn't circumcised. It wasn't
a salvation issue at this time. It was he just knew that the
Jews would lose respect for someone who had not been circumcised.
So he said, why not go ahead and get rid of that obstacle
and circumcise him? And you think of Timothy submitting
to this. I mean, he's an adult. And yet
he did it so those people would be able to hear the gospel easier. Now, I admire that. What a wonderful
attitude. Titus, it was different. They
said, you need this to be saved. And they had no small argument. I mean, there was a big fight
going on about this issue. No small argument. I look back to Acts chapter 15.
When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation
with them. They determined that Paul and
Barnabas and certain other of them should go up to Jerusalem
and to the apostles and elders about this question. Now, Paul
was not going to Jerusalem to find out if maybe he was mistaken,
and the apostles may have differed with him. That's not why he was
going to Jerusalem. the gospel. Christ had taught him the gospel
directly. Remember how he said in these
opening words in Galatia, I certify you, brethren, the gospel was
preached to me. It's not after man. It's not derived from any
human source. He wasn't going back to Jerusalem
to find out if maybe his gospel was wrong. Here's what had taken
place, and I'm reading between the lines, but the men who brought
this doctrine, circumcision, And that's adding anything to
the work of Christ. It's not just circumcision, it's Christ
plus, it's Christ and. They said, this is what the apostles
preach. We came from Jerusalem. This is what the apostles preach.
We're preaching what they preached. And the church in Antioch said,
well, let's send them back to Jerusalem and find out. Now we're
going to find out that Paul didn't go because of that. He's going
to go on saying Galatians. I went down by revelation because
the Lord told me to do this. He revealed to me that I'm supposed
to do this, but he wasn't going to see if his doctrine lined
up with the apostles. He knew God had taught him the
gospel and he knew that what this was was an attempt of salvation
by works and that the truth of the gospel wouldn't continue
if that took place. Now, verse Three, in Acts chapter
15, being brought on their way by the church, they passed through
Pharnasi and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles,
and they caused great joy unto all the brethren. And when they
were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church,
and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all the things
that God had done with them. But, now they're going to tell
what took place. There rose up certain of the
sect of the Pharisees which believed. Now that ought to give us a red
flag right there. Why don't we just talk about believers? The
believers know the sect of the Pharisees, which believed. We see what he thought about
them, don't we? The sect of the Pharisees, which believed. They
were not believers, truly. They were Pharisees who said
they believed. But there rose up certain of
the sect of the Pharisees, which believed, saying that it was
needful to circumcise them. It was necessary to circumcise
them and to command them to keep the law of Moses. Now, it's true
salvation by grace. It's true salvation by Christ.
It's true salvation by faith. But there's something else needed.
That's the bottom line. There's something else needed. Now, the issue of The Bible,
salvation, is that Christ is all in my salvation and nothing
else is needed. Are you willing to stand before
God when all you have is Jesus Christ? I wouldn't want to stand any
other way. But they were saying, no, something else is needed,
Christ and. Verse six, and the apostles and
elders came together for to consider this matter. And when there had
been much disputing, Peter rose up and said to the men and brethren,
you know, had that how that a good while ago, God made choice among
us that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel
and believe. You can read about that in Acts
chapter 10. And God, which knoweth the hearts, beareth them witness,
giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us, but no difference
between us and them, the Gentiles, purifying their hearts by faith.
Now therefore, why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of
the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able
to bear? This is hypocritical, is what
he's saying. We couldn't bear it, and now
why are you trying to put it on them? Now here's the true
apostles' creed. Verse 11, but we believe that
through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved
even as they. How's a Gentile saved? By grace. Gentile dog, that's how they
looked at him. The only way a Gentile can be
saved is by grace. It's the same way we're saved. No difference
between the Jews and the Gentiles. I think it's interesting people,
preachers particularly, they act like God's got two different
programs, one for Israel and one for the church. And somehow they blend together,
but there's going to be some kind of giant revival in the
end days where the Israel is going to be saved and converted.
And the church is kind of, no, God doesn't have two programs.
There's only one church. one of group of God's elect that
he's going to save. Now. Okay. Go back to Galatians. This was the issue that was taking
place. Verse two. The first one, then 14 years
after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus
with me also." He's talking about this event in Acts chapter 15
when he took Titus. And I went up by revelation.
He didn't go here because the church told him to see if your
doctrine is the same as the apostles. He said, God revealed to me,
I was impressed that this is what I needed to do. That's why
I went up. I wasn't shaky about the gospel
I was preaching. Maybe I was wrong. He's not saying
that at all. He said, God revealed to me that
I was to go to Jerusalem for wise and holy purposes that I
might not have understood at that time, but God knew. And
the reason I went up is because I did so by revelation. And what
did he do? I communicated unto them, the
apostles, that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles. Probably a good thing to do this
week is read Acts chapter 13, that sermon that he preached
to the Gentiles at the church at Antioch. You'd find out exactly
the gospel he preached to the Gentiles by reading that passage
of scripture. And I went up by revelation and
communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles."
He wasn't saying, now, I want to compare my gospel with yours
and see if maybe I'm wrong somewhere. No, he said, I let him know exactly
what I preached to the Gentiles, but privately to them which were
of reputation. That's talking about the apostles.
It's talking about the men in leadership. He said, I didn't
make this a public thing. I did this privately. Now, the reason he did it privately
is he didn't want to make a public fight at this point. He wasn't
real sure what the apostles were saying because he was perplexed
by these guys coming from James, but he didn't want to make it
public. He wanted to give these fellas a chance to save face.
He didn't want to humiliate them publicly. He didn't want to start
a fight publicly. Now, he would start something
publicly with Peter as we go on reading in this chapter, in
Galatians chapter two. He said, I said to Peter before
them all. Something public did take place,
but he wanted to prevent this if he could. That's why he went
to them privately. because he was giving them a
chance to save face. Now, always do that. Always do
that. Don't try to humiliate somebody
publicly. But Paul was saying, if they've
gone bad, I'm not going to change my gospel because of what they've
said. So he goes to Peter and John and James and the fellas
in Jerusalem in a private manner and lets them know exactly What
I'd preach, but privately to them, which were reputationalist
by any means I should run or run in vain. I didn't, if I'm,
I don't want this to be turned into a fight is what he's saying,
but verse three, but neither Titus who was with me being a
Greek was compelled to be circumcised. Now, evidently they were compelling
him to be circumcised. And what does Paul say about
it? But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled
to be circumcised. And that because of, and look
what he calls these men that came with this message, false
brethren, not true brethren, wolves in sheep's clothing. false brethren who came in, what
does he say? Privily, in secret, to spy out
our liberty. Now one thing false brethren
hate is liberty. They hate it. You know why? Because when they hear the message
of the liberty that's in Christ Jesus, the complete salvation
that's in Christ Jesus, there's nothing I can do to add it, they
think, Why? Because people live in sin. I mean, you're taking away all
motivation when you talk about this liberty, that this is given
a license to sin because that's what that's the way they respond
to it. If I believe that, I live like a demon. We got to stop
this. They came in privileged to spy
out our liberty. You know, Paul goes on in the
same chapter. Epistle to say, stand fast in
the liberty where with Christ has made us free. Liberty means I owe nothing and
I'm doing what I want to do. I love the saying, trust Christ
and do what you want to do. I love that. People say that
will lead to sin. Might to you, but it won't to
a believer. Trust Christ and live as you
want to. You want to follow him. That's
what you want. But these fellows couldn't handle
this thing of liberty. They came in privately, covertly
to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, that
they might bring us into bondage. Salvation by works in any way
is nothing more than bondage. If you give me something that
I've got to do before God can do something for me, oh, what
bondage, because I know I can't come up with the goods. I know
that. I'm sure of it. But here's what
these fellows wanted to do. They wanted to bring them into
bondage. To whom? Verse five. We gave
place by subjection, no, not for an hour. We didn't listen
to them for a second. Now, like I said, he circumcised
Timothy, didn't he? There was a different dynamic
going on. He was just wanting for Timothy
to be able to preach the gospel to these people. And he said,
let's take away this roadblock. Let's go ahead and circumcise
him so they'll listen to him. But this was a different issue.
They're saying this is necessary for salvation. And it's not just
talking about physical circumcision. Now, as difficult as physical
circumcision would be, what's easier, to be circumcised or
never tell a lie? To never have an evil thought?
Circumcision, as difficult as it might be, is the easiest part
of the law. It's the easiest part. And if you put any work
that you must do before God can bless you, I think of what the
Lord said, all that ever came before me are thieves and robbers. If you put anything before Christ,
you had to do this before he could do something to you, it's
a thief and it's a robber. And this is what the issue is
in Galatians chapter two, and he's talking about what took
place. He said, to whom we gave place by subjection, no, not
for an hour. And here's why, that the truth
of the gospel might continue. with you. If we would have submitted
ourselves to their wish and go ahead and circumcised Titus,
guess what? The truth of the gospel would
not have continued. Now that is what is so sobering. He says, if we would have done
this, truth would have left. It wouldn't be here anymore.
The truth of Now, I love that phrase, the truth of the gospel. John said in verse John 2, 21,
no lie is of the truth. That's a very comprehensive statement,
isn't it? No lie is of the truth. The truth of the gospel, all
else is a lie. Christ said, I am the way, not
a way, the way. I am the truth. I am the truth. I think of any
other human being saying that, and you'd think, oh, no, you're
not. No, you're not. If I said to you, I am the truth,
oh, what a lie that would be. I'm a sinful man. So full of
sin, I'm aware of that. But he said, I am the truth.
I am the life. The only life that God will accept
is my life. The only life that's pleasing
to God is my life. No man comes to the father, but
by me. The only way you're going to
be able to come to father is if you're in me. And when I go
to the father, you come with me. All other ways are excluded. Now that's the truth. I love
the scripture, the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth
came by Jesus Christ. And the word was made flesh and
dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the
glories of the only begotten of the father, full of grace
and truth. Grace is the truth. Amen. Grace is the truth, the grace
of God, and the only way God's grace can be defined is by putting
every attribute of God before it. If it's contrary to any of
the attributes of God, it's not the grace of God. grace of God,
this eternal grace of God, the sovereign grace of God, the saving
grace of God, the just grace of God, the righteous grace of
God. Every attribute of God defines his grace. And that is the truth. And if I would have submitted
to this act of circumcision, the truth of the gospel would
not have remained. We're bound to thank God always
for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from
the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth. There's something you can't separate.
Belief of the truth and sanctification of the spirit. Of his own will
begat he us through the word of truth. Sanctify them, the
Lord said in his great high priestly prayer, through thy truth thy
word is truth. Let me close with this statement
by the wise man in the book of Proverbs, buy the truth and sell
it not. Only then will the truth of the
gospel remain.