Galatians chapter 2, a familiar
scripture with some of you who attend here. I want to look this
morning at Peter's fall. Peter's fall. This is the third
time that I'm aware of that Peter fell. And that's what I want
to look at this morning. Galatians chapter 2, in verse
11. When Peter was come to Antioch,
now that was probably 300 miles or so north of Jerusalem, they
had a church there. If you ever studied the book
of Acts, this was a prosperous church, a New Testament church.
Paul and Barnabas was there and prophets. good men and women
in this church. The Lord had saved it in multitudes
of believers, and they sent Paul and Barnabas out to do missionary
work. That's where they left this church,
to do the missionary work. Paul was here, and Barnabas,
and many believers, and Peter came down here for a visit to
these mainly Gentile believers. And Paul said, when he came,
I withstood him, I posed him to the face. because he was to
be blamed. For before that certain came
down from James, certain men came down from James, there at
Jerusalem, Peter 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,
they played the hypocrite with him also. in so much that even
Bartimaeus also was carried away with their hypocrisy, their dissimulation. And when I saw that they walked
not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto
Peter before them all, If you being a Jew, you live after the
manner of the Gentiles and not as do the Jews, why are you compelling
the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? We who are Jews by nature
are not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not
by the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified. But if while we seek to be justified
by Christ, We ourselves also are found sinners. Is therefore
Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. For if I build again
the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgression.
I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto
God. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in
the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace
of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ
is dead in vain." I like this epistle. It has not been long
ago. You and I went through it. And one of the things I love
about this epistle It not only tells us the importance of the
gospel initially. How important is the gospel to
us initially? How important is Christ to us
initially? Well, He comes to us and gives
us life, doesn't He? The gospel comes to us and finds
us dead in our sins and gives us life. The gospel is essential
to us. But the book of Galatians goes
on ahead and tells us the importance of the gospel in our Christian
life. How important is the gospel now
to you? Oh, we look back and we say,
it was everything. What did Christ mean to us when
He first saved us? He was everything. But the book
of Galatians tells us what Christ is to us now. What is He to us
now? That's what the book of Galatians
tells us. Well, what Paul is telling us here is this, that
Christ not only was our life, but Christ is our life. But he
goes one step even farther than that. He says, Christ is our
living. The life which I now live, I
live by faith of the Son of God. Paul is growing older. He's building tents. He's going
about preaching the gospel. He's establishing churches. He's
a very busy man. But he's a man who is living
his life and growing older. And this is the way, he says,
I live. The life which I now live. See
what he's saying? Oh, we know how he used to live,
don't we? He lived by the works of the
law. He lived by self-righteousness. I was better than everybody else.
I fasted twice a week. I paid tithes of all that I possessed.
He was a bragger, a self-righteous man, working out his own righteousness. But he says, now everything has
changed. I live a different life now.
Now the life that I live, I live by faith in Christ who loved
me. When he makes this statement,
and I love this, he said, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless,
I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. See what he's saying? Christ is our life, and Christ
is our living. The Lord said, I am the living
bread which came down from heaven. He that eateth me shall live
by me. See how He's our life? When you
need strength, what do you do? You eat, don't you? If you quit
eating, you die. What keeps you alive? Food, nourishment
keeps you healthy, keeps you strong. What is it that keeps
you spiritually alive? Who is it? It's Christ. He that
eateth me, even He shall live. by me. This verse 19 here is
so important because of the context it's in. I want you to look at
with me this morning, just for a few minutes, this controversy
that had gone on here at Antioch. And it was a controversy indeed.
And here was the controversy, and I read it to you. But if
you're not familiar with what was going on here, here was the
controversy. Could the Gentiles be saved by
Christ alone? Was Jesus Christ enough to save
them? You remember what Brother Scott
Richardson used to say when a person asked him if Christ was enough?
If He's all you've got, He is. That was the controversy. Is
Christ enough for these Gentile believers? Did they have to be converted
to the way the Jews lived? Did they have to go back under
the law and be circumcised and live this rigid lifestyle according
to the law of Moses? And that's what this controversy
is about. And you find it beginning here in verse 11. And Peter came
down here to Antioch. He was sitting and eating. Now
you get a picture in your mind of this. I don't know if it was
a room. It was a large room. It wasn't
anything like this because there were several hundred, maybe thousands
of people in this church. But they were eating. And Peter
came down and he left those dietary laws up in Jerusalem. He didn't
bring those with him. When he came down here to the
Gentiles to fellowship with them, they ate what we ate yesterday.
They fixed up a big pig. And Peter said to him, and he
said, you know, if I was up in Jerusalem, I couldn't eat this.
Because Jews aren't allowed to eat this. The law of Moses forbids
Jews to eat pork, you know. But Peter said, I just love this.
This is wonderful food that you eat. And he enjoyed eating this
pork and he enjoyed fellowshipping with these Gentiles. He felt
so free. He says, you know, I'm not saved
by the law of Moses. All the law Moses did was accuse
me and condemn me. I'm saved by Christ. I live by
faith in Christ. And he did indeed. Well, somebody
come in and said, Peter, you've got some friends coming down
from Jerusalem. Some of your Jewish friends.
Some of your friends that still believe that you've got to eat
what the Jews eat. They're these strict Jews. They
regulate their lives by the law of Moses. Peter, your friends
are coming down. And boy, fear struck through
his heart. And he thought, oh no, I'm in
trouble. I'm in trouble. They're going
to see me sitting here with these Gentiles. They're going to see
me eating this pork. And they're going to say, Peter,
what in the world are you doing? So what does he do? He gets up
and he takes off. And there's a little group of
Jews over there by themselves. And he sits down with them. And
he leaves his plate over here with the Gentiles. And he gets
him some lamb, some sheep meat and sits down and eats it. And
Paul corners him, boy. Paul calls him out right to his
face. And Paul says, Peter, you're
a hypocrite. You're a hypocrite. Do you believe Christ alone saved
you? Do you believe the grace of Christ
is enough to redeem you and save you and take you to heaven? If
you believe that, then why are you telling these Gentiles Christ
is not enough for them? That now they have to leave their
pork, they have to leave their way of living and be converted
to this strict lifestyle that those Jews up there in Jerusalem
live. And Paul says here, and you notice
this, Paul says, when I saw that they walked not uprightly according
to the truth of the gospel. What an accusation to bring against
Peter. Peter of all people, the apostle.
When I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth
of the gospel. He said that about the apostle
of the Lord. Peter, you're a hypocrite. You've forsaken the Gospel. Ain't
that what he's saying? You walk not uprightly according
to the truth of the Gospel. Now, I don't say this this morning
to stir up any enmity or any ill will in any of our hearts
against the Apostle Peter. But he did sin. He did leave
the Gospel. And Paul calls him out to his
face about it. And why I stress this is because
if a man like this left the gospel, how careful, brothers and sisters,
you and I have to be not to leave. How careful you and I should
be of this gospel to be jealous of it. And not only know it,
but know it better. and guard it with our lives.
At the very instant you think, I'll never deny the gospel, is
probably when you're going to deny it. And if you think in
your heart, I'll never deny the gospel, you don't know yourself
as you ought to know it. I can say this for myself. There's
nothing that suits me any better than the gospel of Jesus Christ,
my Lord. There's nothing that cheers my
heart in this dark world as Christ does as I find Him here in this
gospel. But you know something I've noticed
about myself? I have to keep going back to
this book. I have to have a message preached
to me that's plain concerning the gospel. To keep reminding
me what the gospel is. And if I don't get that, I leave
the gospel. You say, Bruce, you leave the
gospel? I never know if you'd leave the gospel. The reality
of it in my heart. See, we can go through the farms.
You and I can go to worship. We can read our Bibles at home.
We can pray at home. But if we're not careful, we
just go through this farm of religion. But we lose the reality
of it in our souls, in our heart of hearts. I don't know how else
to explain sometimes when I get so down, I get so sad in my soul,
I get so discouraged, I get so impatient, I start judging other
people for doing things that I do myself. Sometimes I get
ashamed of Christ. Did you ever get that way? What
causes this? We lose the gospel. We lose the
reality of it in our hearts. That's what Peter did. That's
what he did here. He lost the living reality of
it. The same man that stood before the Sanhedrin, those 70 men in
that council, and said, I'm not careful to answer you. about
who I believe and what I believe. Christ alone saved sinners. Isn't
that what He said? There's no other name under heaven.
And they said, we're going to whip you. Peter said, go ahead
and whip me. I'm going to obey God and not man. That's the same
man that now turns around here and Paul says, he walked not
uprightly. He left the Gospel, the reality
of it, in his heart. I don't know how else to say
it. Paul says it here that Peter and Barnabas Even Barnabas. Remember
what was said about Barnabas. He was that good man. Barnabas
was a good man. And Paul just got through calling
Peter a pillar in the church. And he turns around and says
he denied the gospel. I don't know how else to say
it. That good men can do some awful things. Good men can err
in that thing which is most vital. That's the gospel. And not only
can they err themselves, they can lead other good men astray. Barnabas was led astray, and
these other Jews were led astray by one good man. They lost the
gospel. You say, Bruce, it was only lost
for a while. That's long enough, ain't it?
Look at the damage that would have been done if God in His
providence had not had this Apostle here, the Apostle Paul. What
would have taken place? You talk about confusion. The
whole church would have lost the Gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. So what does Paul say? Paul says,
I withstood Him to His face because He was to be blamed. Boy, that blame is a very strong
word. It not only means to disapprove of, it means to reprimand. It means to call out, to rebuke
openly, to censor, to condemn. Paul called this man out and
he said, you've left the Gospel, Peter. You're not walking uprightly
according to the truth of the Gospel. I tell you, it's a great
sin when a man doesn't do that. It's a great sin when a man doesn't
do that. Okay, here, let's look at it real quickly then. First
of all is this. Why did he do it? You see what
he did. You see what he did. Why did he do this? Well, he
tells us here in verse 12 that Peter feared the Jews. It was out of fear. See that? He was afraid of these Jews.
He denied the Gospel out of fear. What was he afraid of? I can't
believe he thought they were going to physically whip him.
That they were going to take me outside and beat me up. That
wasn't what he was afraid of. He wasn't afraid they were going
to excommunicate him. He knew they couldn't do that.
Peter could out-argue these fellows. You read the 10th and 11th chapter
of Acts and the 15th chapter. He did it there, didn't he? Why does he deny the gospel here?
Out of fear. Out of fear of what? You know
what's out of the fear of? The offense of the cross. The
humiliation. The shame of the cross. Well, Peter had trouble with
this. I want to show you a couple of places. And I'm going to stay
in Matthew. Look in Matthew chapter 16. Peter had trouble. with the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He had trouble with the offense
of it, the humiliation of it all. That's the thing that caused
him to fall every time he fell. Two places here in Matthew. Look
in Matthew chapter 16. Matthew chapter 16. The Lord's here in verse 13, had asked his disciples, Who
do men say that I am? I, the Son of Man, am. In verse
14, they said, Well, Lord, some are saying that you John the
Baptist, you Elijah, or you Jeremiah, one of the prophets. He said
unto them, Whom say you that I am? Simon Peter answered and
said, Thou art the Christ. You are the Son of the living
God. Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon
Bar-Jonah. For flesh and blood hath not
revealed this unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven."
Look on down now in verse 20. He charged his disciples they
should tell no man that he was the Christ. In verse 21, from
that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how he
must go into Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and
chief priests and scribes and be killed. and raise again the
third day. And look at this, Peter becomes
very defensive. He becomes very adamant. And
look what he says, Peter took him, took him aside, rebuked
him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord, this shall not happen unto
thee. What was wrong with Peter? How
dare him rebuke the Lord Jesus Christ? The Lord Jesus said,
I have to go into Jerusalem. I'm going to be betrayed. I'm
going to suffer. I'm going to be humiliated. I'm
going to be killed. And Peter said, Lord, that can't
ever happen to you. You can't be betrayed. You can't
suffer. You can't die. Quit talking that
way. Peter loved our Lord, knew Him,
called Him to Christ, the Son of the living God. He had high
thoughts of Him, didn't He? The Lord? You're the Lord of
glory. You're the Son of the living
God. But you know what this did? He had such high thoughts of
Jesus Christ. When the Lord said something
about me suffering, about me dying, He couldn't get a hold
of that. He couldn't get a hold of that.
You've been humiliated? Oh, he said, I don't believe
that for a minute. You suffering? You dying? That can't be. These high thoughts that he had
of the Lord Jesus Christ kept him from believing this other
great truth. The humiliation of Christ. The
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters, you and
I have to be careful of this. While we hold to one great truth,
it causes us to deny another great truth. Peter would have
never denied the death of Christ, the holiness of Christ. He would
have never denied that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. But
you know what he was ready to deny? The humiliation of Christ,
the sufferings of Christ, the cross of Christ. They have some
people in the New Testament, and this is what they believe. They said they denied the incarnation. They said that the Son of God
came down from heaven, and He just took a body. He wasn't really
barned for the virgin. He just took a body to occupy.
And they said it would have been impossible for the Son of God,
because He was so holy and pure, and flesh is so corruptible and
fallen, it would have been impossible for Him to have a real body and
a real human soul. They couldn't see how that would
be possible for that to ever happen. So they denied it. They
said, that can't be. And you know what John called
them? John called him Antichrist. And you know why he called him
Antichrist? Because he said they denied that Christ has come in
the flesh. They held to this one great truth
that the Son of God is holy. He's eternal, and since flesh
is so corrupt, it's impossible, therefore, that Jesus Christ
should be incarnated. That He should be a real man. They couldn't understand how
a virgin could conceive and bring forth a son. He yet be the Son
of God, and yet be man, and yet be holy. So they denied it. That's
what Peter was doing. He had such high thoughts of
the Lord Jesus Christ, and rightfully so. He's the Son of God. He's the Lord of glory. And when
the Lord Jesus said something about being humiliated, about
my sufferings, about my cross." He said, Lord, I can't believe
that. Oh, he said more than that, didn't he? He said, far be it
from you that you should do this. See where he stumbled and fell?
It was at the cross, wasn't it? The cross of Christ. The cross
of Christ. Brothers and sisters, Jesus Christ
is the Son of God. But to have Him as the Son of
God, we must have Him also on a cross. The Son of God in heaven
will do us no good. The Son of God in our humanity
will do us no good. It's the Son of God being betrayed. It's the Son of God being crucified,
suffering for our sins. That's the only thing that can
save us. But here's where Peter fell. Here's where he's done.
And the Lord went on here, and He went on in Mark chapter 8,
to say, Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and
take up his cross and follow Me. What is it to deny oneself
in this context? These opinions that we hold of
Christ. That's unscriptural. We have men even today, and I
fear some good men that have erred greatly in saying that
Jesus Christ could not have actually taken our sins into His own body.
He could not have done that. You must have substitution or
you can't be saved. You can't have a holy Christ
hanging on the cross without a Christ with our sins in His
own body. Peter said, Lord, you'll never
wash my feet. You're too good for that. Ain't
that what he said? The Lord? You ain't going to
gird yourself with a towel and get a pan of water and wash my
feet. I'm nobody. You ain't going to do that for
me. That sounded awful having awful high thoughts of the Lord,
didn't it? But you know what the Lord told us? If I don't
gird myself and take this pan of water and humble myself, to
wash your feet, you don't have any part of Me, Peter. Peter,
I can't save you in My deity. It's going to take Me and My
humiliation to save you. It's going to take My blood.
It's going to take My sufferings, giving up My life upon a shameful
cross. That's what's going to save you.
And if you don't have that, you don't have any part of Me. So
there's the first place that Peter fell. Look over here in
Matthew chapter 26 and let me show you another place right
quick. Matthew chapter 26. You remember this. This is the
night of the betrayal. The Lord Jesus had been teaching
His disciples what was going to happen to Him.
He was going back to the Father. He was going to the cross and
going back to the Father. The Holy Spirit would come. Judas
went out to betray Him to these chief priests and scribes and
so on. And it was night. They were leaving the upper room
and coming here to the Garden of Gethsemane. And that's the
context that we find here in Matthew chapter 26. And look
here in verse 31. And Jesus said unto them, His
11 apostles, All of you shall be offended because of me this
night. For it is written, I will smite
the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered abroad. But after
I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee." And look what
Peter said. Peter answered and said unto
him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet
I will never be offended. Verse 34, Verily I said to you,
Peter, that this night before the cock crow, you shall deny
me three times. Peter said unto him, Though I
should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also
said all the disciples. Peter said, Lord, I'm never going
to stumble because of you. Well, what would make me stumble?
What would make me be offended in you? I know who you are. I've been with you for three
and a half years. I'm not ashamed of you. Well, I was with you
in that ship when you spoke to the waves and they just settled
down and there was a calm. I was with you when you opened
the eyes of a man that was born blind. Nobody ever did that before. I saw you raise men from the
dead. I was there, Lord, when you raised
Lazarus that was stinking from the dead. You're not like we are. Oh, you're
eternally different than we are. We're poor sinners, but you're
the Son of God. You're holy. Why would I deny
you? I could never deny you. I'll
die with you before I'll deny you." And the Lord Jesus said,
Peter, it's got nothing to do with my miracles. It's got nothing
to do with my sovereignty. It's got nothing to do with my
power or my holiness. No, you'd never deny me of those
things. You would indeed die with me
for those things. But he says, Peter, here is what's
going to cause you to stumble. You're going to be offended at
me this night because of this. I will smite the shepherd. He quotes Zechariah, chapter
13, verse 7. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd. Against the man that is my fellow,
smite the shepherd." What was that talking about? That was
talking about Christ there upon the cross. Hanging upon the cross. Smitten, stricken of God, and
afflicted. Not only smitten of men, but
smitten of God. with a sword piercing his precious
heart and letting all the blood out. Smite the shepherd. He says,
Peter, here's what's going to cause you to stumble. Here's what's going to cause
you to stumble. No, Lord, I'll never do it. Well, we'll see.
We'll see. And you just read on just a few
more verses. The Lord comes to him again and
says, Peter, you disciples, You sit here and watch. You watch
and pray. Because my soul is exceeding
sorrowful, even unto death. Peter never saw the Lord Jesus
Christ like this in all his life. He saw a weakness in him that
he never discerned before. My soul is exceeding sorrow. And his lips were quivered. His
tears had welled up. Eyes had welled up with tears.
And Peter was even afraid to ask Him, Lord, what's the matter?
What's going on? I've never seen you like this
before. Look at your countenance. Your soul is exceeding sorrowful.
You look so afraid. Why is tears running down your
cheeks? Why is your lips trembling? Oh
Lord, what's wrong?" Peter had never seen him like that before. Oh, that was the side of a man
he didn't know anything about. And the Lord went off just a
few steps and fell on his face, the Scriptures say. And I wonder
if Peter didn't see that. His eyes were heavy. But I just
wonder if he didn't lift his eyelids up to see the Master
laying there on his face in the Garden of Gethsemane. And heard
him pray, Oh my Father, my Father, let this pass from me. Let this
cup pass from me. There he was in this awful agony,
in such an agony that this sweat that was running from his body
on a cold night became as great drops of blood falling down to
the ground. And he came back and Peter was
asleep. And he said, couldn't you watch one hour? And he goes
back and he prays the same thing again. What was wrong with him? What was ready to happen? This
cross, brothers and sisters. This cross of humiliation. The
cross of sin-bearer. The cross of shame and spit.
And Peter's standing there, and these men with sticks and swords
came to the Lord Jesus, and they start to bind Him. And He doesn't
stop them. Before, He'd go through the midst
of them. He'd escape them. But now, they begin to bind his
hands. Peter jerks out his sword and
says, every man defend the master. And he takes the swipe at one
of those men and cuts off his ear. And the Lord Jesus said,
Peter, put up your sword. Put up your sword. You ain't
going to be able to fight anymore with that sword. And Peter had to lower his sword
and drop it in the dust. And he saw them bind the Lord
Jesus and lead Him off. He began to follow at a distance,
close enough when they took Him in to the high priest's house. He may have well saw them slap
Him, saw them begin to pluck at His beard and spit upon Him
and smite Him. And a little maid came out and
said, Aren't you one of His disciples? No, I don't know that man. You
know something? He didn't know that man. He didn't know him. He knew that
man in his sovereignty. He knew that man in his great
miracle working power, but he didn't know that man in his humiliation.
He didn't know that man in his shame. That's what caused him
to stumble. This smitten Christ. This suffering
Christ. This humiliated Christ. I don't
know that man. I don't know that man. Brothers
and sisters, somewhere or another, somewhere or another, you and
I are going to face this. This humiliated Christ. This cross of Jesus Christ. And
you'll probably not deny His sovereignty. It won't be that
that gets you at all. It will be the humiliation, the
shame, the offense of the cross. There's two things about this
cross of Christ. It exposes our very core of what
we are. It reaches into our uttermost
being and exposes us like nothing else could. What else could expose
Peter? Nothing but this cross. It's
a fence. I used to say it was like this.
That it was like pulling the shades back. They're pulling
the blinds up and letting the light come into the room. But
it's more severe than that. It's like taking the top off
the house. And then suddenly the sunlight lightens up everything
that's in the room. There's no cracks or crevices
or corners that's dark. Everything in the room is exposed
by this light. You see all the spiders, you
see all the serpents, you see all the filth that before you
were unaware of. There it is in your heart. You
have no idea that it was there. It had gone unknown and unconfessed. There's nothing like the Gospel,
the light of it, that will show us what we are. He'll expose
sin in us. We never dreamed that we had
before. Who would have ever dreamed that this man who loved the Son
of God, who went with Him for three and a half years, left
his family, left his home to follow Christ. Who would have
ever dreamed that this great Apostle would say, I know not
that man. I deny that I know Him. I tell
you the Gospel exposed it. The gospel exposed it. The shame
of it. The humiliation of it. The gospel
comes to us and it exposes us, our high thoughts of ourselves,
our high opinion of ourselves, and it lays us even with the
ground and forbids us to get up. There we lay. in our vileness, in our uncleanness,
and all we can do, and all that the gospel will allow us to do,
is lift this sad and needy eye to the Son of God hanging on
the cross of Calvary in His shame, in His nakedness, in His humiliation. That's where it brings us to.
And you'll never get up. until you can say this in your
heart, there hangs my shame and there hangs my glory. There
hangs my sin and there hangs my righteousness. There hangs
my darkness and there hangs my light. There hangs my despair,
forsaken of God, and there hangs my hope Accept it. There hangs my hell, and there
hangs my heaven. Can you say that? When we look
at the cross, brothers and sisters, it's a bloody mess. It exposes us like nothing else
exposes us. It brings us down into the dust
and says, lay there. That's where you came out of.
And you'll return to it. You have no hope. You're a sinner
in yourself. You're deserving of the wrath
of God. It brings us down. And all we can do is lift our
hopeless and helpless eyes to the Son of God, dying for sinners. And when we come there, in our
humiliation and in our shame, He saves us. Have you ever been
humiliated? Have you ever been broken? Have
you ever been ashamed of yourself? Have you ever been ashamed of
your sin? Have you ever been ashamed out of it and say, I'm
finished with it? I'm finished with it. And there
you lay until you look to see He tuck it from you and bore
it in His own body and you're saved. And you get up from there
and you go outside the camp bearing His reproach. And somewhere or another, somewhere
or another, you'll be confronted with this. I'll be confronted
with this. This humiliation, this offense
of the cross. It may be your neighbor across
the fence. It may be a co-worker. It may be some family member.
But you're going to be confronted with this, just like Peter was. You're going to deny me? Why,
Lord, no. Oh, I can't deny You. You're
the Lord of glory. No, no, no. I'm talking about
this offense of the cross. My shame. My blood. My nakedness. My death. There's something else about
this cross, too. And here's where Peter got into
his trouble in our text. The nature of this gospel, the
nature of this cross is such that the only place that we can
retain it in the reality of it and live by this gospel is in
a pure conscience. You can't retain the reality
of the gospel except in a pure conscience. You know what a pure conscience
is? It's one where everything is exposed. You're walking in
this light. There's nothing hid. That's what
Peter was doing. Hypocrisy means you're pretending. Things aren't really like you're
presenting them to be. You're a hypocrite. You can't
retain the gospel that way. The reality of it and the joy
of it. Peter said, I'm going to insulate
myself from this suffering of this gospel. I'm not going to
bear the shame of it, the offense of it. I'm going to insulate
myself from it. And the instant we do that, we
lose the reality of it. That's what Peter did. That's
where Peter fell. Is Jesus enough, Peter? Is Christ
and His cross enough? Is Christ and His cross enough?
Is Jesus Christ and His glorious person enough to save us in Him? In His office, in His work, is
He enough? Peter said, no, not quite. Not
quite. There's this law, you see. There are certain things, you
see, that we've got to be converted to. This law of Moses, you see. We've got to keep it. We've got
to add this to Christ. You can be more saved. You can
be better saved by keeping this law. What did Peter just do? He was so afraid of the offense
of the cross that he denied the cross. Paul said, God forbid
that I should glory in anything save the cross of Jesus Christ.
He said, if I yet suffer, if I yet preach circumcision, if
I add something to Christ, why am I yet suffering at their hands?
Then is the offense of the cross ceased. The offense of the cross
is this, Christ is everything. Christ is all. You add something
to Him and the offense ceases. And when you say Christ is all,
He's enough, somebody is going to say, oh, you're a lawless
person, aren't you? You're an antinomian, aren't
you? You just believe, live like the devil, don't you? You can
tag whatever description onto us that you want to, and we'll
bear the shame of it. We just say this, the Son of
God is enough to save us. He's enough for us to live by.
He's enough to cheer our hearts. He's enough to make us holy and
present us to God our Father without spot or blemish or any
such thing. And if we try to insulate ourselves
from that, we're just not walking upright, according to the truth
of the gospel. Look back over in Galatians right
quick, and let me say this in closing. Galatians, look here. Look in
chapter 2, verse 20. Paul uses this word four times
in this book. I am crucified with Christ. Now,
ain't this a marvelous thing? Can you just think about this
a minute? We've got words that we describe
this by, but ain't this a wonderful concept? I am crucified with
Christ. Isn't that wonderful? That's
why these Judaizers, these self-righteous Jews, they mock Paul so much.
They read this verse and they say, I am crucified with Christ.
And they would say, Paul is crucified with Christ? Well, I saw him
just the other day. I know he's well alive. Why are
you guys listening to that fool, they say? He's such a foolish
person. He's not crucified with Christ. Is Christ still crucified? I thought Paul said he was in
heaven. And now he said he's crucified with Christ? You know
what this is telling us, brothers and sisters? This is telling
us of that vital union. that every believer has with
Christ. When Christ was crucified, every
believer was crucified with Him. He's dead with Christ. Where is Christ now? Well, He's
in heaven. Well, you're there with Him,
dear child of God. That's the union that you have with Christ.
You're one with Him. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless,
I live. No, he said, Christ liveth in
me. Christ is in me. That's my life.
That's union. And he uses it again here in
chapter 3, verse 1. Look at this. O foolish Galatians,
who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the gospel, the
truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ have been clearly, evidently
set forth, crucified among you. And if you read the context,
what the Apostle Paul is saying, I came to you and I preached
Christ to you. I preached Him so clearly to
you. It was just like He was crucified right before the eyes
of your understanding. And you believed in Him. You
heard this Gospel and you believed, and he tells them there in verse
2, that you received the Holy Spirit. That lady told me the other day,
she said her daughter got saved and later on she received the
Holy Spirit. She said, you know, she just received the Holy Ghost. I've never heard that in reality. I've heard people claim that.
But Paul said, you received the Holy Spirit when you believed
in Christ. You heard me preach Christ and you believed and you
received the Holy Spirit. What does it take for a man to
be saved? Curing of a crucified Christ. That's all it takes. That's all it takes. Forget this
tongue business. Forget this, you've got to come
back later and get the Holy Ghost. You've got to come back later
and get sanctified and then you're saved. Forget all of that. Paul
said, as soon as you heard me preach Christ, your heart went
out to Him. You believed Him and you received
the Holy Spirit in your heart. A crucified Christ. Look what
he says over in chapter 5. He mentions this two more places
in chapter 5. So what is it then? Is Christ
enough for a man to be saved? Preaching Christ and hearing
of Christ and believing in Him, is that enough to save a man?
Paul said it was, didn't he? You receive the Spirit that way. What about while we live our
daily lives? What about that? Is that enough
to live our daily lives about? Is Christ, the Spirit of Christ
in us? Look at what he says in verse
17 of chapter 5. He says in verse 16, walk in
the Spirit, in the Spirit of Christ. He's in you. He came
to your heart when you believed in Christ. And you will not,
you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh wars
lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh,
and these two are contrary one to the other. You cannot do the
things that you would. Oh, there's a man in you, a new
man. He wants to love Christ perfectly.
He wants to worship Him and follow Him fully. Then you've got this
old man. You don't want to follow him
at all. He's a lustful fellow, a corrupt fellow. So you can't
follow Christ fully like you want to, but you can't quit and
go back to your sins like the old man wants to. You've got
a warfare going on. Verse 18, But if you be led of
the Spirit, you are not under the law, Peter. You're not under the law, Peter.
Don't try to convert us to the law of Moses. We're not under
the law. Somebody says, Christ can save
you, but you've got to go to Moses to stay saved. You mean
Moses can do for you what the Spirit of Christ can't do for
you? Moses can lead you. Moses can keep you. But the Spirit,
the Holy Spirit, the Sovereign Spirit cannot. Paul said the
Spirit of Christ in you is enough. Just walk in Him. And if you
be led of Him, you're not under the law of Moses. Oh, don't that
just give your conscience so much rest? Then he goes on to tell what
the works of the flesh is. Then he goes on in verse 24,
look at this. And they that are Christ's, they're Christ's by
calling, by regeneration, by faith. They have crucified the
flesh with its affections and its lusts. You notice He's not
dead. They've crucified Him. Other
places it's called mortified, dead beneath the body. But here
Paul says He's crucified. The flesh is crucified. But He's
not dead, is He? He still hangs there on the cross
and He's mad. He's mad because He's been crucified.
He cusses. He screams. He lusts. But He
can't get down. He won't die, and He'll never
die until you die. Until you lay Him down in the
grave. But He's crucified. How is He crucified? Look in
verse 25. If we live, know that word, the
life which I now live. How do you live, Paul? If we
live in the Spirit. Oh, what a life! What a life! You want a life of joy? A life
full of cheer and graciousness and mercifulness? You want to
live a happy life? Live in the Spirit. Live in the
Spirit. You'll never find a man who lived
any better than the Apostle Paul. And he said, the life that I
now live. I live in the Spirit, the Spirit
of Christ. That's the way I live. This old
flesh is crucified. He's put off. He can't have his
way fully. And I'm walking in this inward
man, this new man, the Holy Spirit of Christ. Use it one more time
and this will close. Verse 14 of chapter 6, look at
this. by whom the world is crucified
unto me, and I am crucified unto the world." See, this word crucify, it just
covers everything. We have this perfect union with
Christ. We are crucified with Him. We are saved by hearing
of this cross. Christ and Him crucified. We
crucify the old man because we have the Spirit of Christ in
us. And now Paul said, how do you view this world? As you walk
through this world, how do you view the world? And how does
the world view you? He said, here's the way the world
views me, and here's the way I view it. The world looks at
me and they say, you're criminal. That's all you are. You've come
among us and you've disturbed our peace. And we hate you. And we've crucified you. We'd
do it literally if we could get by with it. But we've done it
in our minds. We've crucified you. You're a
criminal among us. We hate you. Paul says, here's
the way I feel about you. I've crucified you too. I don't
like your God. I don't like your religion. I
don't like your self-righteousness. I don't like your high opinions
of flesh. I'm a criminal to you and you're
a criminal to me. We've crucified each other. Brothers
and sisters, walk in Christ. If you receive Christ, walk in
Him. If you found life in Him at the beginning, then let Him
be your life always. You need nothing else but Christ.
More of Jesus would I know. More of His grace to others show. More of His saving fullness see. Ain't that what you want? We
don't need less of Christ and more of something else. We need
more of Christ and Christ alone. The life I now live, I live by
faith in the Son of God. And Paul said, I'll live by faith
until this faith ends in sight. And then I'll live by looking
upon Him with these dimmed eyes and an unsinning heart. Lord bless his message. Let's
pray.