sing hymn number 17. Hymn number 17. Come Thou Fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing Thy grace. Strings of mercy never ceasing, Call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet, Sung by flaming tongues above. Praise the mount I'm fixed upon it, Bound up by redeeming love. Here I raise my heaven-easier, Giv'n by Thy help I'm come. And I hope by Thy good pleasure, Safely to arrive at home. Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God, came to rescue me. Me from danger gave to boast His precious blood. O to grace, how great a debtor Mainly I'm constrained to be! Let thy goodness, like a fetter, Bind my wandering heart to Thee. Be seated. We'll sing hymn number 258. $2.58 A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord, A wonderful Savior to me. He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock Where rivers of pleasure I see. He guided my soul in the cliff of the rock that shadows the dry, thirsty land. He guided my life in the depths of His love and covers me there His hand, and covers me there with His hand. A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord He taketh my burden away He holdeth me up and I shall not be moved Be kind in my soul in the cleft of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. Be kind in my life. In the depths of His love, and covers me there with His hand. And covers me there with His hand. With numberless blessings each moment He crowns, And filled with His fullness divine. I sing in my rapture, Glory to God, For such a Redeemer as mine. Be kind, my soul, in the cleft of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths of His love, And covers me there with His hand. And covers me there with His hand. When clothed in His brightness transported I rise To meet Him in clouds of the sky. His perfect salvation, His wonderful love, I'll shout with the millions on high. He guided my soul in the depth of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty lake. He guided my life in the depths of his love, and covers me there with his hand. And covers me there with his hand. Galatians chapter 2. Galatians chapter 2. Galatians chapter 2. I'm going to read just 1, 2, 3, 4 verses this evening. But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face. because he was to be blamed. 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 the other Jews dissembled likewise with him, insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If you, if thou, being a Jew, live after the manner of Gentiles and not as do the Jews, why compelst thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? Oh, our blessed, blessed, blessed Father, our great glorious God of heaven and earth. Lord, you say in your word that the heaven of heavens can contain you. that the stars are not pure in your sight. How much less is man than the Lord who drinks iniquity like water. And yet, Lord, here we are in your presence, knowing you know us, knowing you see us, know that you know everything about us, and yet we come. We come as we are, but we come in the merit, the worth, the blood, the righteousness of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who put away our sin by the sacrifice of himself. So, Lord, we come on his account, on his blessed, glorious redemption. And, Lord, I thank you. bless you, that you've allowed us to gather again. And I thank you that you kept our dear sisters safe going and coming, and that they're with us this evening. And Lord Jesus, we pray that the gospel run well here tonight. For those who don't know Christ, may you be in sovereign mercy, open their hearts. And Father, we pray for our families, our sons, our daughters, our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren. Lord, time is going by so fast, and yet they have no need of you. But, Lord, please create a need in them. Be with us tonight. Save your people. Bring glory to yourself in the preaching of the gospel. For Christ's sake, amen. Game number 290. 290. you Be still, my soul, the Lord is on thy side. Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain. Leave to thy God to order and provide. In every change, ye faithful will remain. Be still, my soul, the best I can be free. Through lordly ways, leads to a joyful way. Be still, my soul, thy God at undertake To guide the future as he has the past. By hope, by confidence, let nothing shake. All now mysterious shall be bright at last. Be still, my soul, the graves and graves to hold His voice to hold, and while He dwells below Be still, my soul, the hour is hastening on When we shall be forever with the Lord When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone Sorrow for God, love's purest joy Be still, my soul, when change and tears are past. All safe and blessed, we shall meet at last. Be still and know thine God. All right, let's go back here to Galatians chapter 2. We see how an apostle, Simon Peter, failed miserably made a grave, grave move. And Paul, it says there, but when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face because he was to be blamed. Now, here is the youngest apostle among them. Peter had been in the inner circle. He had been one that had been with Christ But yet he did something that Paul just stood up right in his face and withstood him, looked him in the eye and said, you have done a grievous harm to the gospel. You have done grievous harm to the truth of salvation by grace through faith. Well, what did he do? Look what it says. Before that certain came down 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, them Jews that came down. And this James is the Lord's brother. He's the one that wrote the book of James. And it was such a horrendous thing that he done, and other Jews dissembled likewise with him, insomuch that Barnabas, Barnabas is the one who went with him to Jerusalem. Barnabas was his friend and companion for years. And when Peter left the Gentiles and went down and sat down with the Jews, even Barnabas also was carried away with dissimulation. But when I saw that they walked not uprightly, Talking about some bad works, this is bad works. But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the gospel, truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, if you're a Jew and you live like a Gentile and not as do the Jews, why in the world do you compel the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? Here's an apostle rebuking another apostle. the younger rebuking the elder, and doing it publicly. Can you imagine how embarrassing it was to, Peter, how embarrassing it was to be shamed, to be called right before everybody of what you did, and doing it publicly, and then writing it down for the whole world to see it, for everybody to see it. And I'll tell you what, if salvation had been the invention of men, they'd have left this part out. They would not have one apostle rebuking another. It wouldn't have happened. Now Christ, if Christ rebuked him, had been a different story. But here's one apostle rebuking another apostle. And there's some lessons I think we need to learn here that the best preachers, even an apostle, often make great, great, great mistakes. The second thing I think we can learn from this is to keep the truth of Christ and his gospel is more important than it is keeping the peace. The gospel and being true to the gospel is more important than keeping the peace. And third thing is, there is no doctrine about which we should be more jealous and more zealous than Christ, salvation by grace through faith in Christ and Christ alone. Be zealous for that. Never back up from salvation being by Christ. Salvation being by Christ alone. Salvation being by justification by Christ alone. Never back up from that. without the deeds of the law, without the deeds of the law. And oh my, you know, Peter was one of the great apostles, the inner circle. And he was with our Lord on the greatest, greatest occasions. You know, and he stood up in Acts chapter 15, stood and defended the Gentiles when no one else would. But here we see him in Galatians 2, withdrawing from the Gentiles and getting up and going to another table. Sitting at one table eating, getting up and just going over sitting with another table. And Peter said, by that very act, you denied the gospel. They denied the gospel. And you know, that's an awful thing. And many followed his example. And there's Jews that came down from Jerusalem. And you know, Peter made some great errors. He made some great errors. And oh my, he tried to keep the Lord Jesus from going to the cross. Remember that? He said, Lord, be it for, he said, I must go to Jerusalem, be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, and rise again the third day. And then Peter said, no, no, no, no, it ain't gonna happen. That can't happen, and he rebuked the Lord himself. And he denied the Lord three times. Not once, not twice, but three times. And little old maids, little girls, little women, young women, was the one that questioned him. And he's, oh, I don't know, I don't know him, I don't know him. And here he is at Antioch, endangering the very foundation of the gospel. which is salvation by Christ and in Christ alone. And if this don't teach us that the greatest of men, I don't care how great they are, that they're still flesh, man at his best state is altogether vanity. And unless the grace of God keeps us, keeps us, and saves us and preserves us, and keeps us, we'd make some of the most horrible mistakes that you can imagine. In fact, I've made my share, and I hope the Lord never exposes me for it. Oh, my. And I tell you what, here's the second thing about this business that I said. You know, the great men, best of men, an apostle, can make an awful, awful mess out of things. And the second thing is to keep the truth of the gospel is more important than keeping the peace. Now, peace is wonderful. He said, Psalm 133 says, how wonderful it is that brethren dwell together in peace. How wonderful it is that brethren dwell together in peace. And peace is a wonderful thing among the brethren. What a wonderful thing it is. And you know, when you have peace among the brethren, it makes everything good. But if there's a contention or an argument or something like that, then it gets ugly. We don't like it. We all want peace. And the gospel causes us all to be in agreement. And that's why we're at peace with one another. And oh, that's why Paul said, I became all things to all men that I might by any means win some. Now, what did he mean by that? He meant if I was a weak believer, I became a weak believer. I understood his weakness because I know how weak I am. He said, if I was around a Jew, I understand how Jews think. So I could be identified with a Jew and what he's going through and what he's doing. And if he got around somebody else, he'd know how to make himself available to men. He never set himself above them, never set himself better than them. He even said he was less than nothing, though he's the least of the apostles. So what he would do, if he'd come across a weak believer, he'd say, oh, I know exactly who he is. He'd say, I've been a weak believer. I know what it is. I'm weak in myself. And oh my, and then he goes around somebody else and they're going through trials and that. He'll say, listen, I understand the trials you're going through. So he could identify with people on about any level. God made him, gave him the wisdom to do that. Not very many people got that wisdom and that ability to do that. And oh my, here's the apostle Paul. And why is he willing to cause division and cause trouble in light of another apostle, an apostle of Peter? And why did he do this? Well, he hated false doctrine. That's what this whole book's about. Look back over there in verse 8 of chapter 1. Look what he says over here. This is what he's talking about. A little leaven leavened the whole lump. He said in verse 8 of Galatians 1, But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that we which have preached, let him be accursed. Now listen. And you know, he knew that truth was more important than peace. And he said, what do you say there in verse 14 here of Galatians 2, When I saw When I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said before all of them, before Peter and everybody there, before those that come down from Jerusalem, he called those that come down from Jerusalem, James, he called them false brethren. He said, these are false brethren. They've come in here to try to spy out my liberty. They come in here to try to change, make people go back under the law. And he says, not going to happen. Not going to happen. And oh, my. And lots of preachers, you know as well as I do. They compromise. Oh, how they compromise. Oh, my. Oh, they ain't going to preach election. If they preach election, it's going to be a Jewish nation that's elected instead of individuals being elected. They're not going to, they deny, they won't peace so much that they're not going to preach the sovereignty of God. I seen a little message the other day, it says, I believe in the providence of God. Well, how could you not believe in the providence of God? If he's sovereign, he has to be the one govern everything. But these fellas act like they've got something special. But I'm telling you something, beloved men, deny the sovereignty, absolute sovereignty of God. Oh, I don't, listen, I know that, but I'm gonna, you deal with God's sovereignty, I'm gonna deal with men's responsibility. Well, you go ahead and deal with men's responsibility. I tell you, Henry Mahan used to say this all the time whenever he'd be called to go to a place he'd never been before. He said, you sure? Make sure you want me to come. Because he said, I'm not going to compromise for nothing. And if you want your church split, you go ahead and have me. But now you better be willing to pay the consequences. And when I first started preaching the gospel, I went to five or six churches and every one of them split. And some come out and some stayed. But that's what the gospel does if you don't compromise it. Don't compromise it. Don't compromise the substitutionary death of Christ. Christ, who did he die for? He said, I'll lay down my life for the sheep. And don't try to preach that the whole world, God loves the whole world. He said the whole world lies in wickedness. And the whole world went after John. Which world is he talking about then? The world lies in wickedness? You got to understand what words mean in the Bible. And they take one world and John 3, 16 and base a whole ministry on it. Oh, don't compromise justification. Don't compromise perseverance. All that most folks know about grace is once saved, always saved. That's the only thing it means to them. Oh, my. And it was for truth's sake that he rebuked. Peter before everybody. Oh, my. And it was for truth's sake that our Lord rebuked the Pharisees. And it was for truth's sake that Paul withstood Peter. He was not willing to compromise the truth for unity's sake. Peace is precious. Unity is precious. But it's not worth compromising the truth over. It ain't done it. It ain't. And I tell you, you can't make the truth acceptable to a natural man. Can't do it. And then the third thing is, there is no doctrine of which we should be more zealous and jealous for than the doctrine of salvation and justification by Christ alone. By Christ alone. That salvation was accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ. But what had Peter done? What had Peter done? Now, you think, let me see if I can explain this. They're at a place and they're eating. They got a couple of tables there. And Peter's sitting at one table with a bunch of Gentiles, eating with Gentiles, eating pork, probably eating some something that the law forbid him to eat? But do you remember that when God was going to send Peter to Cornelius' house, he had to give him three visions, the same vision, to make him understand that what God hath cleansed call not thou coming, because he said it's not lawful for a Jew to be around a Gentile. It's not lawful. And that's what they said. It's not lawful. And God said, He let down a sheep, and on that people were all four-footed beasts and creeping things. He said, Rise, Peter, slay them and kill them and eat. Not so, Lord. There ain't never nothing unclean cross these lips. And that happened three times. And he went out and preached to Cornelius' house, and the first thing he told them was, you know that it's not lawful for a Jew to come in the Gentiles' house. But he preached the gospel to them. So he knew, he knew exactly what he was doing. He's sitting there eating with a bunch of, he's eating the things that Gentiles would eat. You know, shellfish, shrimp. Jews never supposed to eat a shrimp. Not supposed to eat pork. Not supposed to eat anything with any fat in it, with anything that had blood in it. If you'd put a big steak on there and the blood starts coming out of it, said, don't eat that. Well, I'll tell you what, them Jews fixed it. Them Gentiles fixed a big old steak. Oh, give me some of that. And so he sat there and he's eating with them Gentiles. But here comes some men from Jerusalem. James sent them down there. I believe Peter, Paul, believed James done this. They called them false brethren. Some men wanted to say there in verse 12, for before that certain came from James. While he was sitting there eating, some people came down from James, these false brethren. But when they were come, what did he do? He got up, walked away from that Jewish table, and walked over there and sat down with them Jews. And you know why he did that? Look what he says. He withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which of the circumcision. He feared men. He feared being ostracized. He feared being made fun of. And so he said, listen, I'll go over here. Now, he never said a word against the gospel, never said a word against Christ, never denied blood redemption. Never did I do anything. He never said one word. Not a word against Christ. Not a word. All he got up and changed tables. He went from being with Gentiles and went over here and sat with the Jews because he was scared to death of them Jews. He was afraid of the Jews. He was scared to death. And you know, can you imagine how they said about Paul, said, this man is intolerable. He will not, he's just, he's just a bigot. He said he's the only one thinks he's right. He is so hard and harsh. He's so strict. Oh my. And I'll tell you what, he just got up and moved from the table, never said a word, never opened his mouth. But look what happened. And the other Jews that were sitting there eating with him, enjoying the fellowship of the Gentiles, and eating with the Gentiles, dissembled likewise with him, insomuch that Barnabas, Barnabas left with him to come to Jerusalem. The church sent me and Barnabas on the way. Oh, my. And then, oh, And that word dissembled means to play the hypocrite. And that's what Peter's doing. He's playing the hypocrite. And dissembling means also to be a play actor. What these fellows was doing, they were play acting. They were play acting. So they said over here, so they can move over here. So they're play acting. They're dissembling. They're playing the hypocrite. And hypocrite comes from actors, that's what they used to call people who would act in plays and stuff, because they would be so real in their character that they would say, boy, them guys are the best hypocrites of all. Well, that's what these fellas was doing. They was play acting. They was acting something that they really weren't, and they moved to that other table, and they put on a, it's called two-faced, being two-faced. They set in judgment on the Gentiles by just their very actions, getting up from one table to the other. And men came down from James. Paul called them false brethren. And you know, I want you to look with me in Acts chapter 21. Look over here in Acts chapter 21. This is one of the... really something over here. And let's start down here in verse. Started verse 16. Now this is how he ended up down in Jerusalem. And they went with us also, certain of the disciples of Caesarea, and brought with them one Manasseh of Cyprus, an old disciple, with whom we should lodge. And when we were come to Jerusalem, listen to this now, the brethren received us gladly. Over there in Galatians 2 it says they gave us the right hand of fellowship, and they glorified God in us. Now look what they said. And the day following, Paul went in with us unto James and all the elders that were present. I mean, they had the whole shooting match. Oh, everybody's anybody in the church at Jerusalem. 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. And when they heard it, They glorified the Lord and said unto him, seest thou how many thousands of Jews there are which believe, and they're zealous of the law? Now wait a minute. How can you be a believer and be zealous of the law? Now wait a minute, I'm telling you. These fellas, and this is actually what they thought, that we We've accepted Jesus. We believe on Jesus, but we're zealous of the law. When they say they're zealous of the law, they don't mean just the Ten Commandments. They mean their dietary laws. They meant their ceremonies, their Sabbath days. It meant everything that the Jews did. And look what he says now. And they are informed of thee that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles, that they forsake Moses, that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after their customs." He said, that's what they're telling about you. They're saying you're over there telling everybody it don't have nothing to do with Moses. You know, the law can't justify it. And look what he says now. What is it, therefore, the multitudes must come together for to hear that thou art come. There'll be a whole bunch of people glad that you've come. They'll hear about it. Do this, therefore, that we say to thee. We have four men which have a vow on them. This is a Nazarite vow. And will they shave their head, then take 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 were informed concerning thee are nothing. but that thyself walkest orderly, and keepest the law. And as touching the Gentiles, which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep them things self-offered to idols, and from blood, and strangled, and fornication. Then Paul took them in, and the next day purifying sat with them, entered into the temple to signify the days of purification." You know what? He was fixing to go in there. He was fixing to go in there and offer sacrifices. They still offering that sacrifices at the altars back in those days. And he was fixing to go in there and you go to number six and you'll find out the, the uh, the, the, the Nazarite vow that they take on. They shave their head and they, and they offer sacrifice. They don't drink no strength, no grapes, nothing had nothing to do with the grape in any way. But Paul done that because he, But you know what happened to him? God kept him from doing that. You know how he kept him? Had him arrested. God works in mysterious ways. And he had Paul arrested. Ain't you grateful for the grace of God that keeps us from doing the things that we would? Keeps us from going, and you know, he was ready to do it. God had him arrested. Oh, how thankful I am for the grace of God. That's why he says, oh, by the grace of God, I am what I am. And oh my, so he goes up to Jerusalem. Goes up to Jerusalem. And oh my, and Peter, back over in our text, These important men came down from Jerusalem. And what he's saying here is that these Gentiles are less holy and less acceptable to God. And I'm going over here and be with the Jews. They're more holy. They're more righteous. They're more acceptable to God. That's what he's saying. The Gentiles does not as good and not as holy as these Jews over here. And by that move, He denies Christ himself by that move. He's saying, Christ's not sufficient enough. We've got to keep the law. Go over here and say, if these Jews, these law keepers, got to go over here and sit with these people, they use the law. Got to go over here and let people know you're more holy over here because we got the law. We've got the ceremonies. We got the rituals. We got the sacrifices. Oh, my. And by his actions, And I'll tell you, by his works, if you think works ain't important, you better think again. It'd just be like me, if you caught me doing something like that, you'd say, I just never believed Brother Don would do that. Well, I'll tell you what. And oh, he went over there and he said, you know that these Jews are holier and the Gentiles are lacking something. They're lacking something. And these Jews, whatever they're lacking, these Jews has got it. And in a word, he was adding to Christ, adding the keeping of Jewish ceremonies to faith in Christ by his actions. If you want to be accepted, be a holy one with whom I can fellowship, you got to be, believe like I do and be circumcised. Keep the law. And Paul would not endure it. He would not endure it. And I tell you what, look what he says. And even Barnabas dissembled with him. Even Barnabas did. And that word, oh, dissembled. Oh, it's pretending to be something they're not. And that's what he was doing, pretending to be something he's not. And let me say this. And that's what he said in verse 14. When I saw that they walk not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel. What's the truth of the gospel? What is the truth of the gospel? I preached on that, I think, last week or a couple weeks ago, the truth of the gospel. The truth of the gospel is that everything God requires of us, Jew or Gentile, everything that God requires us to do, He gave it to us and provided for us in Christ. Every ceremony, every sacrifice, every law, every ritual, everything that God requires of absolute perfection, He gave it to us in Christ. And that's the truth of the gospel. And when He moved over to that other table, He denied the truth of the gospel. And Peter said, Paul got his fingers in his face, said, Peter, Peter, I want everybody here to know that what you did, going to this table and that table, you denied the truth of the gospel. You said Christ is not sufficient when you walked away from them Gentiles and you was living like a Gentile and eating with Gentiles and living like a Gentile and then you got scared to death when you seen a bunch of Jews and went over there and sat with them and said that Jewish being a Jew was more acceptable and more holy than them Gentiles has got. Oh my. And he said, and I said unto Peter before all of them, how can you being a Jew You're a Jew. You live like a Gentile. You live like a Gentile. And you're not living like a Jew does. So why then do you compel that the Gentiles live as do a Jew? How did he do that? Just going from one table to the next. That's all he did. Didn't say anything. You think people... I tell you, it don't take much to make a mess out of things. It won't take much. But let me say this. Oh my, look in Colossians 2.9. This is where we're at. Colossians 2.9. Look what he says over here in Colossians 2.9. Oh my. This is the gospel right here. For in him, in Christ, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead in his body. And listen to this, and you are complete in him. The word complete means perfect. Perfect. Peter, you're not perfect. What'd you do? I just got up from one table, walked over to another one. He denied the truth of the gospel, and I want everybody to know that that's what I'm going to put up with that. And I believe Peter was so embarrassed and so ashamed of what he did. The Gentiles heard him tell that. The Jews heard him say that. Everybody there heard him do it. And can you imagine how embarrassed and how ashamed Peter became after that? Huh? Oh, my. They've never said a word, just moved. Just moved. And that's all it takes is to walk not according to the truth of the gospel, it's just to add a hair's breadth to Christ and you've lost it all. Take something away from Christ and you're denying the gospel. So the gospel, the truth of the gospel is Christ is all and in all. Right? Our Father, thank you for the truth of the gospel. Thank you for your precious word. Lord, we see that we don't have to say anything or do anything, but by our actions, by our actions, We can deny the gospel. So help us, O Lord, to walk according to the truth of the gospel. Walk according to Christ as all and in all, that we're complete in Christ, that Christ is our salvation. Salvation's in a person, not in works, not in deeds, not in the law, but in a person, our Lord Jesus Christ. God bless these dear saints as they go their way. Meet the needs of their homes, meet the needs of their heart. Bring glory to yourself through this congregation of believers who ask these things in our Lord Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to me thy great salvation, so full and free. See you Sunday, God willing.