If you will, take your Bibles
and turn with me to Galatians chapter 2. Galatians, the second chapter. We'll be looking at verses 1
through 5 this morning. Galatians chapter 2, verses 1
through 5. And the title of the message
is, The Gospel Settled. The Gospel Settled. In the previous chapter, the
Apostle Paul makes it very clear that the gospel that he preached
is the only true gospel of Jesus Christ, and there is not another. It is the gospel that is not
revealed by men, nor received by men, but by the risen Christ
Himself. And so the Apostle Paul, in the
conclusion of chapter 1, he begins to show that the gospel was not
taught by men, neither was it taught by the apostles to him. And this was one of the points
that the Judaizers were making so that his gospel was to be
rejected. They were saying that his gospel
was not the same gospel. as the apostles. Or that he learned
his gospel from the apostles, and not from Christ Himself. But in chapter 2, Paul shows
us, and he shows the church at Galatia, that this conflict,
this discretion, this heresy that they were facing, was not
only done before at the church of Antioch, but it was settled
by the counsel of the apostles together." Paul said, I didn't
receive my gospel of them, but my gospel is the same gospel
as every other apostle. Let's begin in verse 1 of chapter
2. Then 14 years after, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas
and took Titus with me also. And I went up by revelation and
communicated unto them the gospel which I preached among the Gentiles." The first point I have is that
the council of Jerusalem and its gospel, which is Christ,
is all. That was the council of Jerusalem
where Paul went by revelation. Let's go back to Acts chapter
15. Acts chapter 15. In this chapter, we won't go
through the whole thing, but we'll look at several parts of
it. This chapter here was concerning the heresy of adding the law
to Christ. Read that in verse 1, "...and
certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren and
said, Except you be circumcised after the matter of Moses, you
cannot be saved." And so Paul, he goes down by revelation to
the church where the apostles were. He goes down 14 years. Some say 17 years after he had
received the gospel from Christ. And he goes down by revelation
to this to deal with this matter of heresy which is concerning
the law of Moses being added to Christ. And so Paul in chapter
15, as well as here, he said, I went by revelation and communicated
unto them the gospel which I preached. All Paul did was go down to the
apostles and communicate his gospel. He didn't go to receive
their permission. He didn't go to receive their
gospel and see if his was the same. No, he went to clarify
to everyone that their gospel was the same gospel. The gospel
of Peter, James, and John and the other apostles was the same
gospel that Paul preached. And Paul said, I went down there
and I preached the gospel to them. to show the church that
we are one body, that we preach one gospel. And he did not go to seek the
approval of the apostles, but rather to show the church the
message of the gospel is by the free and sovereign grace of Christ
without the law. And although Paul communicated
that salvation was by Jesus Christ alone, the gospel he preached
was the same as James and Peter. In Acts chapter 15, let's look
at verses 5 through 11. This is Peter. And there rose
up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying
that it was needful to circumcise them and to command them to keep
the law of Moses. And the apostles and elders came
together to consider this matter. And when there had been much
disputing, Peter rose up and said unto them, Men and brethren,
you know 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." He's talking about Cornelius. If you remember Cornelius
and his family, they were the first of the Gentile believers. And God, which knoweth the hearts,
bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as He did
unto us, and put no difference between us and them, 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? But we believe that
through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved
even as they." Now, is that not clear? That's the same thing
that Paul was preaching. He said, no, we're not talking
about adding the law to Christ. We're talking about preaching
the gospel of God's grace and not adding the law. Now, this
council was in agreement among the apostles. And you think that
that would have silenced all doubt. That should have silenced
everyone who would consider bringing the law into the work of Christ. But it has not silenced it, has
it? It has not silenced it then by
those legalistic Pharisees, and it has not silenced it even today. They still persist even today
among men to claim and preach, even those who claim to preach
the sovereign grace of God. Some of them are still trying
to add the law to Christ. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Just flip over a couple of pages
from your text. 2 Corinthians chapter 11, verses
3 and 4. Paul said, "...but I fear, lest
by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety,
so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in
Christ. For if he that cometh preaches
another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you have received
another spirit which ye have not received, or another gospel
which ye have not accepted, You might well bear with him." The
apostle here expresses his fear of the subtlety of the messengers
of Satan. Friends, the messengers of Satan
are not blunt, they are subtle. Satan does not come out and reveal
himself with a horns and a pitchfork. Satan comes as an angel of light
to try to move God's people from the simplicity of Christ. The simplicity of Christ. That
salvation is by faith in the one true Jesus whom we preach. We preach a Jesus who is the
God-man. God manifests in the flesh. We
preach the one true Jesus who has accomplished our salvation. Not made it possible. He accomplished
our salvation. We preach a Jesus and the Holy Spirit that comes
in power and regenerates the soul and gives life and faith
in Christ alone. And any addition to this gospel,
is nothing more than the cunning, subtle work of the ministers
of Satan. Any variation of those things. A Jesus that was not preached
of the apostles is no Jesus at all. The spirit that was not
received on the day of Pentecost is no spirit at all. And any
gospel that is not accepted and embraced by the apostles, we
must not bear with them. We must not bear with them. The
apostles uniformly rejected the necessity of the law of Moses
for any part of salvation, and so should all of God's church
reject them and stand fast in Christ. in the simplicity of Christ. What is that? Christ is all.
There's the simplicity of Christ. Christ is all. Colossians 3.11 tells us that,
that Christ is all and in all. There is no other salvation apart
from Christ. That's simple, isn't it? Simple. Number two, not only the council,
let's not just look at the council, but I want us to notice these
false brethren. Look at this in verse 4. And Paul said, and
that because of false brethren, unawares, brought in, who came
in privately to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus,
that they might bring us into bondage. These men mentioned were the
men mentioned in Acts 15, verse 1 and verse 5, who tried to bring
in circumcision to add to salvation. Now, when you say circumcision,
you say, well, nobody believes that today. Okay? But what they're saying is circumcision
to them was the center of the law. To them, circumcision was
the greatest outward thing that a man could have to prove himself
a servant of God, a child of God. You've got to remember that
the Jews had 4,000 years of learning concerning the law. But what
they missed was the law did not save them. Outward works did
not save them. But the law pictured Christ. That's what they missed. They
missed Christ in the law. These false brethren, they were
not true believers in Christ. In Acts chapter 15 it says, "...those
who were of the sect of the Pharisees which believed." They believed in Christ. Certain
of the Pharisees' sect believed in Christ, but that did not make
them true believers. That did not make them true believers.
The same is true today. There are many who call themselves
Christians. Someone took a poll and they
said that 83% of America are Christians. Now if you believe
that, I've got a bridge I want to sell you. If you believe that,
We don't believe that. We know that's not true. They
go under the name Christian, but that doesn't mean that you're
Christian just because you call yourself one. Just because they call themselves
Christians does not mean they are. That's not to say that they
don't believe in Jesus or the Trinity or Christ and His blood
for forgiveness. And that's not even saying that
they're not Calvinists. They may be Calvinists. But I'll
tell you, the moment we add works to the work of Christ, this is
not the gospel. The man who preaches it is not
sin of God, and the man who believes it is not of Christian. Is that
clear? We are not to accept any who
add anything to the work of Christ. They are false brethren. The law was never meant to save
anyone, but only to expose sin. Paul said, if I had not the law,
I had not sin. Why? Because the law is a mirror
to the soul. The law is a mirror to our sin.
It just reflects what sin we have. It does not save. Does
not save. I was on the phone the other
day and they had this little recording. I was getting something for the
church and it was so-called Christian Place. And this one recording
says, well, this little girl heard a tape or a CD of a man
about not lying and how even a white lie was a lie. And then
she vowed never to tell a lie again. She's a liar. She's a liar. I know the moment she left from
that vow, she already broke that vow. Why? Because we cannot obey the law
of God in ourselves. We have no power to. It only
exposes sin. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, Paul says, shall no flesh be justified in His sight. You try to obey the law for your
righteousness, God will send you to hell. Because you've not
done it. And neither have I. Therefore,
we don't trust in the Law to save us. We trust that the Law
pictured Christ who is our Savior. That's what we think about the
Law. When we read the Law, we want to find Christ. Isn't that
what you want to find when you discuss the Law? I want to find
Christ. He said, beginning at Moses and
all the prophets, He expanded the Scriptures in everything
concerning Himself. The Law is good and right. but
not for salvation. The law is that sin might appear
exceeding sinful. There is no joy in the law. There
is no peace in the law. There is only death in the law.
Why then do men preach the law of Moses, to go along with salvation. If it's so clear, if the apostles
were against it, if the gospel is against it, if the Word of
God is against it, why do men do it? Why are they trying to
add something to Christ? Because they long to bring us
into bondage. Look at that at the end of verse
4. It says, "...that they might bring us into bondage." That's
the purpose of these men. This message of the law always
appeals to the natural pride of man. The thought of the preacher
is this, well, if they're going to get them to come to church,
I've got to whip them with the law. That's what he thinks. It's
what they think. Nobody's going to come to church
if you don't beat them with the law. If you don't make them feel
guilty, they're not going to come. And I'll tell you, it's a shame,
but it's true, that feels good to the backs of the natural man. That whip of the law feels good
in the preacher's hand and it feels good on the backs of the
people, doesn't it? Why? Because it exalts man to
pride. It elevates man to some form
of glory that he can share in in salvation. What then must be our response
to these false brethren, to these preachers who mix works and grace?
What's to be your response? What's to be my response? What's
to be the church's response to these men? Look at verse 5. "...To whom we gave place by
subjection, no, not for an hour." Paul said, I didn't hear these
men, I didn't give myself to these men, and I won't hear.
I won't. I didn't subject myself to anything
they had to say. And so should we. Friends, I
know we live in an age where separation is bad. Isn't it? Isn't our age an age of unity? Let's just all get along. Let's
just all come together. Why do you have to be so divisive?
Why do you have to preach that particular portion of Scripture
concerning election? Why don't you just skip that
and we'll just all join together? Why can't we all just get along? Unity is everything today. Men
in our religious age will tolerate any religion for the sake of
unity. You ever see those bumper stickers that they got going
around town with all the religious symbols on it? I saw one of those. Man, I couldn't figure out what
that thing said, and then finally I got it. It said, Coexist. And it had all of the religious
symbols marking out the letters that spell Coexist. What are
they saying? Well, hey, the Muslim, the Christian,
the Buddhist, hey, we can just all exist together. We can all
just get along, can't we? We all believe in God, so why
don't we just put aside our differences and just come together? But the Christian that does this,
friend, is no Christian. I don't have any association
with anybody who believes like that. And neither should you. We shouldn't have any association
with them. Salvation is either by grace or by works. It cannot
be of both. Cannot. Paul says this in the 2nd chapter
in verse 21 in Galatians. He says, "...I do not frustrate
the grace of Christ. For if righteousness come by
the law, then Christ is dead in vain." In other words, if
there's any other way of salvation but grace, Christ is dead in
vain. God is a monster for killing
His Son if there was another way. That's what Paul says. We know God is not such. We know
that Christ is the only way. The only way. And we reject anybody
who says otherwise. Either righteousness comes by
grace or by the death of Christ, or Christ's death is meaningless.
Let us therefore give no place to such men who would add law
and grace. Why are we to be so discriminating?
Does that sound harsh to you? In our age, that sounds kind
of harsh, doesn't it? Do you realize through church
history how men have been persecuted for this gospel? That they would not yield to
one aspect of false religion and they died for it? Are we
any different than they? Are we to give up and compromise
with any of those people just for the sake of unity? Absolutely,
completely not. We're not to compromise in any
part of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know some people are just sincere
and they want that other person just to feel good. You know,
they want to be friendly with that person. And so they immediately,
after hearing that they're worshiping another Christ, another gospel,
after hearing that, they just continue to give that person
hope and say, well, we're just both Christians. How can we continue
to let that person off and fall off into hell? Just for their
feelings. We cannot get along with this
world because the gospel of Christ is at stake. Because where there is compromise,
there is no truth. We must be faithful not to give
place to such men so that the truth might remain in this place.
That's what Paul's object was. His object in not compromising
was that the truth may continue." Look at that in verse 5. He says,
"...they gave no place for not an hour, that the truth of the
gospel might continue with you." If we give place to these false men, know this,
the gospel will not continue. You remember the church of Ephesus
in Revelation chapter 21. They had a lot of good things,
didn't they? They were very zealous for the
gospel. They were zealous and haters
of those people that Christ hated, the false teachers of the Nicolaitans. But they had one thing missing,
wasn't it? You have left your first love. Friends, the Gospel that we preach,
the Christ that we hold, we are not to hold it in zealous hatred,
but in zealous love to Christ. That's how we hold the Gospel.
I don't compromise the Gospel because I love Him. I don't compromise
the Gospel with other men because He is my first love. I know some
men take the gospel, take the doctrines of grace, and they
use it as law, don't they? They use it as a law to beat
men with it. That if you don't do this, exactly
like I say, then... No. We don't beat people with
the gospel. We don't beat them over the head.
They won't learn it. We can't do that. We just tell
it in love for Christ and love for the souls of men. That's
how we become zealous. Don't compromise with those people,
but yet have a heart that God may turn them, that God may use
the Gospel to save them. I know some men that are really
zealous to witness the Gospel. There are some men that will
go out there and they're on fire, man. In their workplace and all
the places they go, And yet they have no love to hear the gospel.
How can you say that zealous for the gospel when you have
no love to hear it? There's something wrong with that type of person,
isn't it? Something wrong with that. I know people who are zealous,
but they've left their first love. We ought to be zealous, but never
to leave our first love. Never leave the simplicity of
Christ. Friends, we're not preaching
a doctrine without Christ. We are preaching a doctrine that
adorns Christ. He is the message. He is the gospel. And anything
added to Him is not the gospel. Anything added to His work is
not the gospel. And we shouldn't compromise it. You know that
Charles Spurgeon, the great man of God, I love to read his sermons
and works. Minister Spurgeon had a fault,
very evident. He compromised and allowed other
men who were not sin of God to come in to his church. He gave his consent to some Arminian preachers, and
the day that Charles Spurgeon died, his light at that church,
that light at that church went out. Don't think that God can't put
the light out here in this place. He can. We're not to be haphazard about
the gospel. We're to continue in the simplicity
of Christ, in the love of Christ. Worship Christ. I hope that's
why you come this morning, to worship Christ. If you come to
hear me, you won't come alone. But if you come to worship Christ,
you'll be where the gospel is preached. I pray that God blesses to your
hearts.