Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Galatians chapter 2. Galatians chapter 2, we'll continue
our study in this wonderful book. The name of the message is wrought
out. And as I was studying for this message and looking at this
text, I actually at first thought I was preaching the next text
after that, about James and Peter being pillars, and about halfway
through that message I realized, whoops, I skipped a verse. So
I went back to this one and started a whole new message and saved
that other one to be added to next week. Now Paul in this epistle,
he's writing to the churches in Galatia which had been established
by him and Barnabas during their time on a missionary journey.
The Lord had used them. The Lord uses instruments, doesn't
he? He uses instruments. He uses men. He uses his people. And Paul and Barnabas had been
used by God to establish these churches according to God's sovereign
will and according to God's sovereign purpose as well. And we've seen in the first chapter,
and continuing through to our text, that Paul's, he's contending
for the faith. The Galatians later on, he's
going to tell them they've been bewitched. There's like a spell
upon them. They've been bewitched by the
Judaizers. These false teachers come in with slick talk, and
they come in, remember we saw they came in privately, they
came in, they crept in unawares amongst the Galatian churches.
And then after a while they started spreading their poison, saying
you must be circumcised to be saved along with the work of
Christ. Well, something I noticed as
I was preparing for this study is that Christ, we already know
as believers, but we need to hear it again and again, Christ
wrought out a perfect righteousness for us in his life, and he wrought
out a perfect salvation for us in his death. And do you know
what he's doing now? He's routing out His work in
us now. He's conforming us to the image of Christ all through
this life until we will one day be a stone made ready. Remember
that study we did, the stones made ready, where all the work
was done off-site? And then when He brought those
stones to the temple, they fit in perfectly. Right now we're
being chipped away, worked upon by the Lord. And remember, it's
Him that's working on us. He'll never work on us where
we'll cry out in anger or pain, right? We'll always remember
He's working out things for our good and for His glory. For His
glory, remember that. He's good to us all the time.
So Paul's contending for the faith once delivered to the saints,
which is what? Salvation by the free grace of
God, right? Through Christ, plus no works by any man or woman
or child. Nothing. No works at all by any
human being other than the Lord Jesus Christ, who is God incarnate
in the flesh. And that work which he done,
it was perfect. His brother Travis said, and
I know I keep repeating it, but it's worth repeating, the work was
done by a perfect man. Therefore, it's perfect work,
right? You can't add anything to it. You can't add nothing
to it. It's perfect. And that's why
God accepted it, because it was perfect and it was done in our
Roman place. Praise be to God. So now let's read verses 1 to
10 of Galatians chapter 2 to get the context of our verse,
which will be verse 8. 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 that gospel which I preached among the Gentiles.
Notice the singular, that gospel. 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. Not because a false brethren,
unawares, bought in, who came in privately, despite our liberty,
which we have in Christ Jesus. that they might bring us into
bondage. You know, I turned on sermon
audio yesterday and right on the front page there's a message
about head coverings. Now I never dealt much with that
stuff. I know in the past there's been people here that had visited
more head coverings and then, well this fella, I turned a message on, and usually
I don't last longer than five minutes, but I wanted to see
what this guy had to say. For the first eight minutes,
he never mentioned Christ. Not once. Never mentioned Christ
at all. All he talked about was head
coverings. Then a few times he mentioned
Christ, and by that time I had put him on 2x speed. You know
how you can speed up the messages there? So he doesn't sound like he really
sounds in normal life, but I'm not going to listen to all that
junk. I just want to get to the points where he's at. He came
out basically saying that you had to wear head coverings. And
I thought, there it is. There it is. See how subtle it
is, beloved? And this is a man who, I went
to his website, he's Calvinistic. Believes the doctrines of grace
like we do, but yet yoking people under bondage. Hallelujah for
the free grace of God in Christ. And we are not antinomians. We
are not against the law, are we? The law is holy and righteous,
but I will never let someone yoke me under the yoke of bondage
like I was under when I was in religion, and don't you ever
let anyone do the same. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith
Christ hath made you free, and be not again entangled in the
yoke of bondage." That's Galatians 5.1. Don't ever let someone entangle
you. And that's what these teachers
were doing. Instead of head coverings, they
were saying, Well, you gotta be circumcised to be saved. Or,
Dave, you ran into people, you gotta be speaking tongues to
be saved. My wife's ran into those folks, too. Crazy stuff. You must be baptized to be saved.
That's another gospel. You must attend a certain church
to be saved. That's another gospel. You see, anything that man adds. You know what, I heard, who was
it I was listening to this week? I think it was Donnie. You know
the gospel's a person? It's Christ. The gospel's about
a person. It's about Christ. It's about
what He's done. Because you take Christ out, there's no good news,
is there? No. It's all about Him. So instead
of focusing on all these other things that people have to do,
we have to focus on Christ, don't we? Keep our eyes upon Him and
Him alone. Look at this, to whom we gave
place by subjection, no, not for an hour. I'm not even giving
them the time of day, Paul's saying. Some people say, that's
harsh. No, it's not. No, he's protecting
the flock. He's protecting the flock. No,
I'm not going to let them even speak. That the truth of the
gospel might continue with you. But of those who seem to be somewhat,
whatsoever they were, it make it no matter to me. God accepted
no man's person. For they who seem to be somewhat,
in conference, added nothing to me." The thing that I like
about this is this issue had come up and Paul didn't say,
well, I'm going to keep it secret from the saints at Jerusalem. No, he didn't. He went to Jerusalem,
right? We don't keep things secret that
happen within the grace movement, do we? We ought not to, because
it can cause damage down the road. We are a group of churches
in loose fellowship, right? Because each one of us is independent
churches, right? We're not under a net like the
Southern Baptists or other groups. We're each independent churches
that preach the gospel. Our fellowship is around Christ.
That's where our fellowship is. So Paul, he didn't say to the
Galatians, well, that's a matter between you and me and the Galatians,
and we're going to work that. No, he went right to Jerusalem,
didn't he, to the other apostles, got letters from them, came back,
and said, here you go. And the matter was probably settled.
You see the wisdom in that with what Paul's doing? There's such
wisdom in that. It says, but of those who seem
to be somewhat whatsoever they were, it maketh no difference
to me. God accepted no man's person. where they seem to be
somewhat in conference, added nothing to me." Some people will
read this verse and think, well, he's slighting the apostles.
No, he's not at all. He's just saying they didn't
add anything to the gospel I preached. They preached the same gospel
I preached. He's not slighting them. It's not a disrespectful
comment. He's just saying they didn't
add anything to what I preach. Nothing at all. Nothing at all. And look what it says. Now here,
as a result of that, Look at this, but counterwise, when they
saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the
gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter, and now here we see
this verse is automatically connected to that upper verse right there
in verse 7 because it's got parentheses. For he that wrought effectively
in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was
mighty in me toward the Gentiles. And that will be our text today,
look at that. For he that wrought effectively in Peter. You know,
he's wrought his salvation. He's doing his work in us that
he has purposed and planned to do. We're going to find out that
he's the one who works in us. He's rotting out who we are to
be. It's amazing. Because we can't
do it on our own, can't we? It's the fruit of the spirit,
right? It's not the fruit of Wayne. Right? Put your own name in there. It's not our fruit. See, religion
says you gotta do this, you gotta do that. It's the fruit of the
spirit. It's God working in us. And yet we're put in circumstances
where we can react, aren't we? And I believe sometimes those
circumstances are to show us how weak we are in the flesh. How weak we are. You know, the freedom of the
spirit is joy, peace. How quickly we can get mad when
someone cuts us off. Right? How quickly we can get
upset when we see something on TV. Peace. Where does peace come from? Peace
comes from God, doesn't it? It's a peace that passes all
understanding. Now, I never heard anybody say, well, thank you
for cutting me off. I never heard anyone say that,
right? Because it's not in us, is it?
It's not in us. We should shake a little fist.
Do you see how weak we are, beloved? See how weak we are? Oh, my.
But God is great, and he's so forgiving, and he's so merciful,
and he's so faithful to us. And then he says here, when James
and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the
grace that was given unto me, they gave it to me and Barnabas,
the right hand of fellowship, that we should go unto the heathen
and lay unto the circumcision. Only they would that we should
remember the poor, the same which I also was forward to do. Now
God is conforming us to the image of Christ. We don't feel it. We don't feel it. As a matter
of fact, we see ourselves as more sinful. You know what that
is? That's called growing in grace. See, the self-righteous don't
see themselves as sinful, do they? Well, I'm getting better. I'm doing better. Yeah. But see, God's people go,
oh man, I'm such a sinner. I remember calling Donnie up
one time, I've told you many times, I'm going to say it again,
it's worth repeating. I said, Donnie, I'm getting worse instead
of better. He goes, you're growing in grace,
brother. Paul, I'm the least of all saints. And he says at the end of his
ministry, I'm the chief of sinners. See, the more you grow in grace,
the more you see yourself as a sinner, and the more you see
how wonderful Christ is in delivering you from your sin. It's wonderful, beloved. And
every born-again believer is equipped with gifts from the
Holy Spirit of God, which are to be used in the service of
the King. Every one of us have giftings. I can't tell you how
many times I've been with you all, individually even, and being
edified by just being with you. Just talking with you. And my
spirit's been lifted up. That's wonderful, isn't it? Oh
my, it's wonderful. And so we all have giftings that
we'll use in our service to the king. And how do we serve the
king? Just in the local assembly, coming and fellowshipping with
one another, being with one another, serving, supporting the work. We're just
here together, aren't we? Now, in this verse we'll look
at today, verse 8, chapter 2, it's a parathetical statement. And what that means is it confirms
the contents of the preceding verse. namely that that God had
commissioned Peter to go to the to the circumcision and committed
or commissioned Paul to go to the Gentiles. Look at verse 7
again, but cauterize when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision
was committed unto me as the gospel of the uncircumcision
was unto Peter. My oh my. And then again look
at verse 8. For he that wrought affectionately
in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was
mighty in me toward the Gentiles. Now remember who the true author
of these words are. It's God the Holy Spirit, right?
He's the true author of these words. He's inspired Paul to
write these words. And we see then that Peter and
Paul's apostleship both had the same source. It came from God. Their authority came from God.
Every sent gospel preacher, their authority doesn't come from man,
their authority comes from God. This church here is here by the
authority of God. Isn't that wonderful? We're all
part of the work here. We're commissioned to be here.
Brother Tom, you were stationed in Korea. We're stationed in
Elmont, Michigan, as soldiers of the Lord. Every one of us,
too. This is where we're stationed.
This is where God has us. And all around us is the world,
right? It's like we're in an outpost
in the middle of nowhere. A refuge. in Oasis. I told Vicki, ah, it's my favorite
day of the week. I get to see God's people and
be with them. I can't wait. Oh my. So Peter and Paul, their apostleship
came from the same source and they had the same message, the
gospel of salvation in and through Christ alone and the redemption
of his people by his shed blood, right? They both had the same
gospel, didn't they? They preached the free grace
of God in Christ. Now, I want us first to consider
what Christ has wrought. He's wrought a work in us, hasn't
he? But what did he do first? What did he wrought for us? Consider the great work of salvation. Consider what Christ did for
us, for you and I. Consider how our salvation was
wrought on Calvary's cross. Consider they beat him and they
plated a crown of thorns upon his head. He was so bloody and
they took those nails and they nailed him to that cross. But
you know, that wasn't the most painful thing. The weight of all the sins of
all the elect upon him was the thing that made him sweat great
drops of blood. Oh my, and he wrought out our
salvation, didn't he? There was those three hours of
darkness. I don't even begin to look into that. God's working out the salvation
of His people by the death of His Son. My, oh my. Do you know He suffered
like no man will ever suffer on this earth? He suffered like
no man had suffered, and He suffered like no man will ever suffer. Men can suffer in this world,
can't we? But no one comes close to suffering what Christ did. as he died with the sins of his
people placed upon him. And then the wrath of God fell
on him. I can't even imagine that. I
can't even imagine that. That the wrath of God do me,
an eternal wrath, fell upon him, not just for my sins, but for
yours and for all the elect of all the ages. And consider that our sins were
placed upon the sinless one. He who knew no sin became sin
for us that we might be made the righteousness of God. Then the wrath of God fell on
him. And you know what he did, beloved?
He extinguished the wrath of God that was against us. It's gone. How do we know it's
gone? How do we know? As far as the
east is from the west, I'll remember your sins no more. They're gone,
beloved. What a work he wrought out. That which was against us, he
bore it in our place. And then consider that in his
life, he lived the perfect, sinless life. Perfect. We sin in our heads all the time,
don't we? We sin so much, we don't even
remember the sins that we do. He never had a sin thought, never
had a sin in deed or action. Nothing, no sins of the heart,
no sins of the mind. We can't fathom that, can we?
But it's true. The just one died for the unjust. That's us, the unjust. And Father had given him a number
that no man can, do you know no man can number the amount
of people who the Lord has saved? That's a lot of folks, isn't
it? That's a lot of people. Spurgeon used to say, he thought
there'd be more people in heaven than there would be in hell.
I tend to agree with him on the number that no man can number.
If we can't even come close to numbering that number, that's
a lot of folks. That's a lot of folks. It's all
in God's hands, isn't it? We don't have to worry about
it. I'm just thankful I was included in that number. Oh my. So consider the perfect life.
And then he sheds his own blood. The blood of the God-man. Not
our blood, but His blood. To redeem us. To purchase our
eternal souls. Oh my. And then consider the
fact that God was satisfied with His sacrifice. Christ's call,
it's finished, right? Consider this. Remember we've
been looking in John 17? He came to do the work that the
Father sent Him to do? which was to save us from our
sins. And he did it. Praise God he did it. It's finished. That's the words from the God-man.
That's just not our words. That's the words of the God-man.
That's the word of the Son of God. The King of kings and the Lord
of lords. Do we believe him? By God's grace we do, don't we?
By God's grace we do. And then he's raised from the
grave for our justification. To show that God is satisfied
with that work that Christ brought out. And we'll be with him forever,
beloved. Oh, when we consider the work
of salvation, when we consider that Christ was sent to this
world 2,000 years ago, over 2,000 years ago to save
my soul? What can we say but praise his
mighty name? Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord, for saving my
soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me whole. Thank you, Lord. I can only glory and boast in
you, and that's all I want to do. Let's read our text again in
verse 8. For he that wrought effectively
in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was
mighty in me toward the Gentiles. So Paul's bringing forth that
God has wrought this effectively. He won't fail. He's the what?
The author and the what? Finisher of our salvation, right?
So he won't start a work in us and just say, well, sorry, Wayne,
you're too much of a sinner. I'm just going to toss you away.
No, praise be to God. I'm so thankful he don't do that.
Yeah, oh my. He's the author, and he's the
finisher. He doesn't say, let's see how you do out there. Not
at all, does he? Amen. He'd never leave us. Isn't
that wonderful? Wonderful, isn't it? Just absolutely
wonderful. My oh my. So Paul's bringing forth here
that God has worked effectively in him and Peter for these two
commissions. Do you know he's done the same
for us? We are right where he wants us to be. Isn't that amazing? It's wonderful. God's grace is
so amazing. Peter and Paul were recipients
of the blessing of laboring for the Lord. All of us are here together,
as I've said many times, for the furtherance of the gospel.
I have the honor of preaching, but I know we're all on level
ground, beloved. We're here for the furtherance
of the gospel. That's why we're here. That's why the Lord has
this work here in Elmont. So the gospel will go forth out
into the world in into the people in our lives too, right? As we
talk to them about Christ. My oh my. And people say, well what can
I do? Please pray. Do you know I cover your prayers? Oh my. Pray, pray, pray for the
work. Pray for the messages as they
go forth. I know a lot of you do already, but please just keep
lifting me up, lifting up the messages, lifting up the work
here. Asking God to glorify himself
in the midst of us. And he does, doesn't he? I've
seen an amazing change here with us. The unity that we have is
absolutely stunning. Amazing. Well, it's God who wrought
that, right? It's not us. It's God who's done
that. It's God who's done that. And I'll tell you this, pray
for those who are no longer with us. Keep lifting them up. Ask the Lord to work in them. Right? Amen. Oh my. So the text is bringing
forth that it's God who works through them. Right? It's God
who works through them. Just like it's God who works
through us. Right? And it's God who's blessing their
preaching. You know, Noah never had a convert for however, however
long, right? But he still kept being faithful
and preaching the gospel, right? Jeremiah, as far as we know,
who had no converts, he just kept preaching the gospel. See,
God's preachers, we got a commission. We're just going to keep preaching
the gospel. Oh, until the day the Lord takes
our breath away. So God's seal of approval was
rested upon the work of Peter and Paul and upon their apostleship. Remember again the scenario is
that Paul's absolute authority is being questioned. Turn with
me if you would to Isaiah chapter 26. You know I even cut this
message down to six pages and I'm still gonna have a couple
pages left. Next week. I keep saying that. Oh my. Isn't the Lord so good?
There's so much. There's just so much. So good
for us, isn't it? So good for us to hear this.
What Christ has done for us. Now the Lord Jesus Christ must
do a work in us. He's done a work for us. And then he must do a
work in us. Right? You must be born again.
You must be born again. We were dead in trespasses and
sins. We couldn't make ourselves alive, but always remember to
rejoice, beloved, because the scripture declares it is God
which worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
You see? He's doing what he's pleased
to do in us. Look at this in Isaiah 26. We start in verse
3. And the context of this is that God will keep us in perfect
peace when our minds are stayed upon him. I found that to be
true. When my mind gets on other things,
my peace just disappears. I'll tell you, I'll be honest.
I'm being honest. It just disappears. Look at this. Isaiah 26, verses
3 to 13. That will keep him in perfect
peace, whose mind has stayed on thee, because he trusts in
thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever,
for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. Look at that. We're
weak, aren't we? but in him is everlasting strength.
For he bringeth down them that dwell on high, the lofty city
he layeth it low, he layeth it low even to the ground, he bringeth
it even to the dust. The foot shall tread it down,
even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy. The way
of the just is uprighteousness. Thou most upright doest weigh
the path of the just. Yea, in the way of thy judgments,
O Lord, have we waited for thee. The desire of our soul is to
thy name and to the remembrance of thee. With my soul have I
desired thee in the night, yea, with my spirit within me shall
I seek thee early. For when thy judgments are in
the earth, the inhabitants of the earth will learn righteousness. Let favor be showed to the wicked,
yet will he not learn righteousness in the land of the upright, will
he deal unjustly and will not behold the majesty of the Lord. Lord, when thy hand is lifted
up, they will not see, but they shall see and be ashamed for
the envy at the people. Yea, the fire of thy enemies
shall devour them. Lord, thou will ordain peace
for us. Look at that. He's ordained peace for us, beloved.
Who do we have peace in? The Lord Jesus Christ, right?
He's ordained peace for us. Look at this. For thou also has
wrought all our works in us. O LORD our God, other lords beside
Thee have had dominion over us, but by Thee only will we make
mention of Thy name. Look at verse 12 there. Lord,
Thou wilt ordain peace for us. Oh my goodness, and He has in
Christ. For Thou hast wrought all our
works in us. Marvel at what Christ has done.
He's wrought out a salvation for us, a perfect salvation,
and then He's wrought out in us to be conformed to His image.
It's all God's work, isn't it? Do you see how man is just a
recipient of grace, how he's worked upon by the Lord? I'm
not a puppet. Are you a puppet? I'm not a puppet.
But people say, well, if you say that, then you're God's puppet.
Well, I'd rather be God's puppet than anybody else's puppet, if
that's the case, right? But I'm not a puppet. I'm not. I willingly came to Christ because
I was made willing. Is it the same for you? Amen. Amen. Oh, it's wonderful. It's wonderful. Marvel at what
Christ has done. It's all according to the purpose
and plan of God that he purposed in eternity. Marvel at the works that were
done by the Lord. Only He lived the perfect life, well-pleasing
to God. Marvel that any goodness in us comes from the Lord. Comes
from the Lord. We have no goodness by nature,
we're all a bunch of sinners. See, I was talking to my daughter
one time about this, and she didn't understand how. She says,
well, they're good people in the world. I said, yeah, but
their goodness is tainted by their sin. Well, no, but they're
good. No, there's none good, no, not
one. So any good that we do, I believe after we're saved,
comes from the Lord. Why do I serve the Lord? Because
I love Him. Why do you serve the Lord? Because
you love Him, right? You're grateful for what He's
done. Oh, the mic tugged? Okay, you're grateful for what
He's done. So any goodness, in us comes from the Lord. And
marvel at this, I was thinking about this. Think of all the
deliverances that's occurred to us through our lives that
we never even knew. Before we were saved, how the Lord delivered
us from circumstances. After we were saved, how the
Lord, that we'll never know, this side of glory. You know
He's so gracious, beloved? Oh, you know, I was driving down
the road and the truck just missed me. Oh, really? Yeah, I was so lucky. No, you weren't lucky. That's providence. Providence. Oh my. So all these things that are
being done for us and be done in us is all the work of God.
He gets all the glory. He's the one we boast in. We
don't boast in anyone else but Christ. Be amazed at what he's
wrought. Meditate upon that this week.
Meditate upon what he's wrought out for us. Salvation, a perfect
salvation, complete. So perfect that God says, I don't
remember your sins. Oh my, but I remember them, Lord. Well, I don't. Isn't that wonderful? Oh my, all forgiven. all cleansed by the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. So let us meditate upon these
things this week, beloved, that we who are the born-again, blood-washed
people of God, we've been redeemed from death. We've been redeemed
from our sins. My, oh my. We've been redeemed
to life, eternal life, all according to the mercy and grace of God.
election, redemption, calling, repentance, faith, sanctification,
eternal glory are all ours by the free grace of God in Christ
and through Christ. All spiritual blessings are in
who? Christ. Oh, let us just think upon our
wonderful Savior this week and let us think of what he's wrought
out for us and how he's working in us. Even though we don't see
it, we see ourselves getting worse, he's working in us. He's
working in us. Praise His mighty name.