Alright, go with me back to Galatians
chapter 2. Galatians chapter 2, the theme of the book of Romans, the theme of that book is The
establishment of the gospel. That's the theme of that book.
The establishment of the gospel. The theme of the book of Galatians
is the recovery of the gospel. They were losing it. They were
losing it. And Paul said through this letter,
let's establish this again. Let's go back and establish this
again. Let's recover the one and only
true gospel. Let's come back to the foundation
of grace. Grace. I'm telling you, that's
the foundation of the gospel. Grace. People sing amazing grace,
how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me, and they have
no idea what they're singing. No idea at all. Grace is the
foundation. Let's never leave the foundation
of grace. We're not going to build on any
other foundation. No other foundation can be laid
than the foundation of grace through the blood of Jesus Christ. That's it. Now Paul proves three
things over and over throughout this epistle. He repeatedly proves
three things. Number one, he proves that sinners
are saved. Sinners against God are saved
by faith in Christ alone. And he very clearly proves in
this chapter, and we're not going to get to those verses tonight,
but this is where he stresses it's the faith of Christ. It's God's faith. God does all
the giving. It originated with him. It's
given by him. It's God which worketh in you.
He's the one who performs it and it's all back unto him. So he proves that sinners are
saved by faith in Christ alone, without any works, none, without
any law, without any ceremonies, without
any ordinances. What Christ starts, Christ finishes,
and he does it alone. He does it by himself, right?
That's the first thing. The second thing he proves is
that he is just as much an apostle as Peter, James, John, or any
of them. And we saw last week, that's very important. That is
very important that we know that, that we know he is an apostle. And the third thing he proves
is that God chose him. to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. And these Galatians were Gentiles. That's what he's telling them.
You all are Gentiles. And just so you know, God chose
me because they were saying, these false brethren came in
and they were saying, don't listen to Paul. Don't listen to Paul.
He said, just so you know, God chose me to bring the gospel
to the Gentiles. So verse one, he says here in
chapter two, Then 14 years after, 14 years after his first meeting
with Peter and James, he described that to us in chapter 1, which
he said in chapter 1 was 3 years after the Lord came to him, right? 17 years after he came to know
the truth. Verse 1, he said, I went up again
to Jerusalem. with Barnabas, and took Titus
with me also." And this trip is recorded in Acts 15, and we're
going to look at that in just a minute. Verse 2, he said, and
I went up by revelation. No man sent me. God sent me. God commanded me to go. I felt
led of God to go. Verse 2, I went up by revelation
and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the
Gentiles." I told them exactly what I'm preaching to the Gentiles. But he said, I did it privately,
to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run
or had run in vain. He said, I went up there to have
a private conversation with the other apostles. on this issue
of salvation being totally by grace. Totally by grace. It doesn't require any ceremony,
any ordinance. Now Paul did not go to ask them
if they thought he was right. He did not go up there to confer
with flesh and blood. He went to declare, and whenever
God puts a message in a man and God convinces him, this is my
word that you are to declare. He convinces that man, this is
the message God has given me. And so he went up and declared
that to the other apostles. This is what God told me to preach
to the Gentiles. And it's the only message I'm
determined to preach. If salvation is not by grace
alone, what he said is, then my ministry is in vain because
I'm not preaching anything else. This is it. I'm determined to
know nothing but grace. Salvation by grace. Now turn
with me over to Acts 15. Acts 15, here is the meeting
that he was describing to the Galatians. Acts 15 verse 1 says, And certain
men which came down from Judea taught the brethren and said,
Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you cannot
be saved. That's what happened in Galatia.
Paul left, those false brethren came in and they told the Galatians
the exact same thing. They said the exact same thing.
They had learned grace. Paul taught them what grace was.
And then some men came in and they said right here, verse 1,
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. 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 unto the apostles and elders about this question. Titus
was one of the others who went. And being brought on their way
by the church, they passed through Phenicia 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 things that God had done with them.
But 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 for to consider of this matter. And when there
had been much disputing, Peter rose up and said unto them, Men
and brethren, you know 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. 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?" What he said is, why
try to put this yoke of bondage on them when our fathers couldn't
bear it and we couldn't bear it either. Verse 11, but we believe. that through the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved even as they." He stood up and he said, this
thing is by grace. That's what he said. This is all by grace. It doesn't have anything to do
with the law. It doesn't have anything to do
with ceremonies. It doesn't have anything to do
with ordinances. This thing is totally by grace,
totally by grace. Verse 12 says, Then all the multitude
kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring
what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles
by them. And after they had held their peace, James answered,
saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me, Simon, that's Peter,
hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles
to take out of them a people for His name. And to this agree
the words of the prophets, as it is written." He said, what
Peter just told you is in the Word of God. That's what he's
saying. So verse 23, they wrote letters
by them after this manner. The apostles and elders and brethren
send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in
Antioch and Syria and Cilicia. For as much as we have heard
that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words,
subverting your souls, saying you must be circumcised and keep
the law, to whom we gave no such commandment." We never said that.
It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to
send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul.
men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ. We have sent therefore Judas
and Silas, and that's Jude, Jude and Silas, who shall also tell
you the same things by mouth. And verse 30 says, so when they
were dismissed, they came to Antioch, and when they had gathered
the multitude together, they delivered the epistle, which
when they had read, they rejoiced for the consolation. Oh, they
rejoiced, those Galatians, they were under that bondage. Well,
in this case, he was telling the Galatians about this. But
they rejoiced, this thing really is by grace. This thing really
is by grace. So go with me back to our text. Galatians 2 verse 1, Paul said,
Then fourteen 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 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 privately 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." Now what Paul is telling
the Galatians is, Titus was with me when I went up to that meeting. He went with me up to meet with
the other apostles. And Titus was a Greek. That means
he was a Gentile. And he was uncircumcised. All the apostles accepted him. All of them. None of them believed
that he needed to be circumcised in order to be counted as a brother.
None of them. As a matter of fact, he said,
he and I refused for him to be circumcised because of those
false brethren that came in demanding it for salvation. Demanding it for salvation. They
were making an issue out of it. Now, look with me at Acts chapter
16. I meant to have you hold your
place there. That's one chapter over from where we just were.
Acts chapter 16. Now this is right after this
meeting, this meeting that Paul just had. Acts 16 verse 1 says,
Then came he to Derbe and Lystra, and behold, a certain disciple
was there named Timotheus, Timothy, the son of a certain woman, which
was a Jewish, she was a Jew, and believed, but his father
was a Greek, he was a Gentile. which was well reported of, this
man Timothy, by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium,
him would Paul have to go forth with him. And took and circumcised
him because of the Jews that were in those quarters, for they
knew all that his father was a Greek. And as they went through
the cities, they delivered them the decrees for the keep that
were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem.
There was no issue being made with Timothy. Timothy was uncircumcised. There was no issue being made.
Paul knew that all of the Jews in that area knew this young
man, knew his father was a Greek, so he had him circumcised to
take away any hindrance. He thought this could be an issue
come up, this could be a real stumbling stone for everybody.
Let's have you circumcised and we'll remove any issue. No big
deal. But the false prophets were demanding
that Titus be circumcised or else he can't be saved. Big difference. Big difference. And Paul said
as soon as they did that, we refused. We refused. This was a confusing issue for
the church. Paul went and had a meeting with
all the apostles over this. And the brethren in Galatia and
in these other places, they were torn up about this stuff. Circumcision
is not an issue for us today. It doesn't mean anything to us.
We don't even think twice about it. We have no spiritual conviction
over it at all. If it's done, if it's not done,
it doesn't matter. It's just not an issue. It's
not one of the New Testament ordinances that God gave to us
to observe. But I tell you how this does
apply to us. This will really bring it into a relevant term
here. The ordinance that weighs on
the hearts and the minds of believers today that is so confusing and
so convicting and so is baptism. That's the one that really affects
believers. Baptism. Now, I'm going to start
by saying this. If baptism is something that
has questioned the heart of any believer, if it has gone through
the heart and the mind of any believer. And I want to emphasize
believer. An unbeliever, a person who does
not rest in the blood of Christ alone. I mean, an unbeliever
who's not looking to Christ for everything. He shouldn't even
consider baptism. We've got a, the city built a
nice big pool at the Y. There's plenty of water there.
All that person would do is go swimming. That's all he would
do. He could go swimming in every church in this town. And that's
all he's doing is going swimming. But if a believer, a believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ, a believer on the Lord Jesus Christ, if
a believer who really says Christ is all, I mean, if it's not Christ,
there's no salvation. There's no salvation. If a believer
has ever contemplated the ordinance of baptism, I'll give you three
reasons to be baptized. Alright, three reasons. Number
one, God said so. Alright, turn with me to Acts
chapter 10. Acts chapter 10 verse 44 says, While Peter yet spake these words,
the Holy Ghost fell on them which heard the word." Now, we know
what our precious Holy Ghost does. He brings the faith of
Christ to a center. He will not speak of Himself.
He will speak the things concerning Christ. He will point centers
to Christ. When the Holy Ghost falls on
a center and brings that center faith in Christ, That is that
sinner's moment of conversion. Salvation took place from the
foundation of the world, but if we want to put it at a moment
in time, that's the moment that a sinner is saved, as soon as
he looks to Christ, as soon as God sends His Holy Ghost to him.
Verse 44, While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell
on all them which heard the words. And they of the circumcision,
which believed, were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because
that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy
Ghost. For they heard them speak with
tongues and magnify God. Then answered Peter, Can any
man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which
have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded
them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they
him to tarry certain days. He didn't ask them if they wanted
to. He didn't say, would you all like to be baptized? It's
a commandment of God, God's apostle. Every word written is God's word. And he commanded them. to be
baptized. Ananias said to Paul, why tarryest
thou? Arise and be baptized. It's a
commandment of God. Alright, now the second reason
is, it is the God-given and it is the greatest confession that
a believer can make to his brethren. We confess our God, don't we,
in baptism. But our God knows what He did
for us. He's the one who did it. And it's the greatest confession
that we can make to our brethren, the confession that the true
Christ of Scripture is all my hope. All my hope. It's the greatest display that
I renounce all of my former religion. Everything that I had, everything
that I thought, I renounce it all. I was confessing everything
under the sun, but Christ alone. I was confessing my works. I
renounce that. I was confessing the fact that
I wanted to be saved. That's not a good enough reason. Our Lord said many are going
to come and say, Lord, Lord. That's not a good enough reason.
And so it's the greatest display that I renounce all of my former
religion and beliefs and I confess this Christ, this gospel. Look
with me at Acts 19. Acts 19 verse 1 says, And it
came to pass that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having
passed through the upper coast, came to Ephesus. And finding
certain disciples, he said unto them, Have you received the Holy
Ghost since you believed? And they said unto him, We have
not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And
he said unto them, unto what then were you baptized? And that's
a, that's a wonderful question for every soul. Unto what then
were you baptized? And they said unto John's baptism. Those Pharisees said they have
to be circumcised after the manner of Moses circumcision. Well,
everybody else gets baptized after the manner of John's baptism.
John did it and he said, do it. And we're, we do want to go to
heaven and we want to, everybody does it. Verse 4, then said Paul,
John barely baptized with the baptism of repentance. That's
a changed mind about who God is, that's a changed mind about
who I am, and that's a changed mind about who Christ is. The
baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should
believe on him which should come after him. That is on Christ
Jesus. When they heard this, they were
baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. They had no idea why they
went under that water the first time. No idea. No idea. Once they heard the truth, once
they heard Christ, the person of Christ, once they knew my
salvation is not a doctrine, my salvation is Him. They said,
we're ready to truly make a confession for the first time in our life.
I'm ready not only to confess salvation and all these things,
I'm ready to confess a person. like a wedding ceremony. I confess
him and him. I know whom I have believed.
I'm ready to tell everybody. Now I know whom I have believed. Believer's baptism is the greatest
display of openly identifying with this gospel, this truth,
this God, this Christ. It's taken a stand for all of
our brethren to see. That's what it is. And it allows
them to rejoice with me in what God has done for me. It's a wonderful
thing when God moves on the heart of a sinner And when we openly,
truly confess that to our brethren, it lets them in on it too. And
it's a wonderful thing. All right, here's the third reason.
Turn with me to 1 Peter chapter 3. 1 Peter 3 verse 20 says, Which sometime were disobedient,
when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah,
while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls
were saved by water. The like figure the like figure
whereunto even baptism doth also now save us, not the putting
away of the filth of the flesh." That tap water doesn't wash away
one sin. It doesn't do anything. Not the
putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of
a good conscience toward God. by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ, who has gone into heaven and is on the right hand of God,
angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. It is the answer to a clear conscience. Until a believer confesses Christ
in the way that God has ordained for Christ to be confessed, God
ordained this. until a believer confesses Christ
in that way that God ordained, which is baptism. As long as
a believer puts it off, it'll eat at him. It'll weigh on him. He'll question it. He'll struggle.
So baptism is the answer to a clear conscience. That's all it is.
Now, that's the precursor. I said all that to say this.
If somebody commands it, saying it's an issue of salvation, we're not doing it. I mean, we're not doing it. We
are not doing it. If the thought is rolling through
my mind, if it's rolling through your mind, if it's rolling through
anybody's mind, Yeah, but if he doesn't get baptized, then
he's not officially saved. Saved people are baptized people. If in the heart or in the mind
it becomes a condition for salvation, we're not doing it. I get Paul's dogmatism here. We're not doing it. If somebody
comes to me saying, I want to be baptized so I can be saved,
I'm not performing it. I'm not performing it. And I
say that, you understand how I'm saying that. One thing is salvation. One thing is salvation. The blood of Jesus Christ. One thing. If a person wants
to be baptized, And that's between a person and the Lord. If a person
hears His commandments and is convicted in the heart and that
person wants to be baptized, it needs to only be for the purpose
of confessing that blood. That's it. If a person desires
to take the Lord's table, It needs to only be for the purpose
of confessing that blood. That's it. We partake of these
ordinances. He's given them to us and we
partake of them to confess to God. We are confessing to Him.
We're confessing to our brethren and we're confessing to ourselves
that our hope is in the blood of Christ alone. That's the reason. That's the foundation for every
ordinance we partake of. And we must never add our confession
to His finished work, or else we're not confessing His finished
work. Isn't that right? Oh, Christ did it all. Now I'm
going to put the seal on it by getting baptized. Well then,
what saved you? Christ's finished work and my
baptism. We must never add our confession to His finished work,
or we're not confessing His finished work. That's what we're saying. If the Lord laid it on my heart,
and He did, to confess Him, what I was saying is, this baptism
is not my salvation. That's what I was saying. This
baptism is not my salvation. I died in Him. I was buried in
Him, and I rose in Him, whether my hair got wet or not. We believers, we not only have
good reason, I am for God's ordinances. Don't misunderstand me. Our God,
everything he said is good and right. When a believer wants
to confess baptism, I rejoice. Oh, I love it. I thank God that
he would move on a heart. And we have good reason to partake
of these ordinances of confession. We have a commandment to partake
of them. But as soon as it's no longer
just a confession, we're not doing it. We're just not doing
it. Back in our text, I'm going to hurry here. Back in our text, verse 3 says, But neither Titus, who was with
me being a great, was compelled to be circumcised, 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. to whom we gave place by subjection,
no, not for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue
with you." Yeah, but to be saved, you really need to, Paul said,
no. That's what he said, no, no. Is salvation by grace? Yes, yes
and amen. yea and amen. Is salvation by
the works of anything? No. No. Verse five, to whom we
gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour, that the truth
of the gospel might continue with you. He said, I won't even
hear this for an hour. I won't listen to this at all.
Verse six, but of these who seemed to be somewhat whatsoever they
were, it maketh no matter to me. God accepteth no man's person. For they who seemed to be somewhat
in conference added nothing to me." He's talking about the other
apostles. He's not talking about the false
brethren. He's talking about the other apostles and he's not
disrespecting them. He's just saying it doesn't matter
to me what any man says. God's word holds true. That's what he's saying. God's
word holds true. Back in chapter 1 verse 8, he
said, Though we or an angel from heaven tell you anything other
than what God said, let him be cursed. Let him be cursed. It doesn't matter what his name
is. Especially if it's Gabe Stoniker. It doesn't matter. God's word
holds true. But what he's saying is, I went
into that meeting with the other apostles on the grounds of grace,
and none of them had anything to add to it. They didn't add
anything to it. Verse 6, of these who seem to
be somewhat, whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to
me. God accepteth no man's person. For they who seemed to be somewhat
in conference added nothing to me. But contrary wise, when they
saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the
gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter, for he that wrought
effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same
was mighty in me toward the Gentiles. When it was proven to them that
this was of God. The same God who worked in Peter
toward the Jews worked in Paul toward the Gentiles when it was
proven. Verse 9, And when James, Cephas, that's Peter, and John,
who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto
me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship. They acknowledged, you are an
apostle. You are an apostle." They gave
the right hand of fellowship that we should go unto the heathen
as they unto the circumcision. And the only thing that they
had to say, the only thing that they urged of us, verse 10, only
they would that we should remember the poor the same which I also
was forward to do. They went out and as they were
going they said, be generous. Be generous. Go out to God's
people and be generous. If you see a brother in need,
be generous. And the motive behind that is
always as God, for Christ's sake, has been generous to us, right? Paul said, the same which I also
was froward to do. That means eager, speedy, diligent,
prompt. That's exactly what I had in
heart to do anyway, and that's exactly what I did. If this thing
started by grace, it needs to continue in grace. It needs to
continue in grace. Grace gave, and grace gives. It gives. We give the gospel. We give our all to promote the
gospel to those who need it, don't we? Every bit of this.
Start all the way through, all the way to the end. It's all
by grace. OK, let's stand together.