I'm trying to put myself in Peter's
place. If one of you stood up and rebuked me in front of everybody
and called me a hypocrite in front of everybody, I would be
so embarrassed I would be so humiliated. I would be distraught,
particularly if I knew it was true. Then I'd really feel bad. Now, this is what happened at
this time. I've entitled this message, Why
Did Paul Rebuke Peter? I could just as easily have entitled
it, When Peter was to be blamed, because that's what Paul said,
he was to be blamed. Or I could entitle it, The Components
of Compromise. Now this is the story of Paul
publicly rebuking the Apostle Peter, and how embarrassing that
must have been to Peter. and how difficult it must have
been for Paul. I can't imagine having to do
something like that with any of you all, where I'd call you
out in front of people and embarrass you and expose certain things
about you because I thought it was bringing so much danger into
the church. I mean, this is a very intense
story, isn't it? That's the only way I know to
name it. It's intense. There's nothing
like this in the New Testament. One apostle rebuking another
apostle. Now let's read these verses again,
verse 11. But when Peter was come to Antioch,
I withstood him to the face. I didn't talk behind his back.
I withstood him to the face because he was to be blamed. For before
that certain came from James, now James was the pastor of the
church of Jerusalem. Some say he was the Lord's brother.
And in Acts chapter 15, we read about some people that came from
that church and taught the brethren, except you be circumcised after
the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved. They were mixing law
and grace. But We read, for before the serpent
came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles, but when they would
come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them, which
were the circumcision. He was being controlled by the
fear of man. And this had a spreading effect.
The other Jews dissembled likewise also with him. They played the
hypocrite in so much that Barnabas also was carried away with their
hypocrisy. But when I saw that they walked
not uprightly, According to the truth of the gospel, I said unto
Peter before them all, if thou, being a Jew, livest after the
manner of the Gentiles and not as do the Jews, why are you compelling
the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? Complete hypocrisy. Now what Peter was doing at this
time was compromising the gospel. That's why Paul acted in such
a swift, stern way. Peter was compromising the gospel. Compromise. A compromise is a
settlement reached by mutual concession. Management wants
to pay $12 an hour, labor wants $14 an hour, so they make a concession
and they pay $13 an hour. both parties being somewhat happy,
but a concession had to be made. In any human relationship, there
must be compromise for people to get along. Show me somebody
who never compromises, and I'll show you somebody who doesn't
have any friends. Not going to happen. In order to get along
with anybody, there's going to have to be concessions made. An uncompromising individual
is a self-centered, narcissistic jerk who thinks of no one but
himself and is indifferent and uncaring about the thoughts,
the feelings, and the needs of others. Compromise is important. And if you're an uncompromising
person around all human beings, you're going to be a person without
friends. That's just the way it is. Compromise is a good thing. But the word compromise also
means exposed to risk, doesn't it? It doesn't simply mean mutual
concession, a meeting in the middle. It means to expose to
risk. You can do something that compromises
your health, can't you? You can do something that compromises
the safety of you or others and bring them into danger. You compromise
the gospel by making concessions to make other people pleased.
You don't want to preach it quite so strongly, so you make concessions.
There's things that you can leave out to keep people happy. You know something God never
does? He never compromises. He has no need to. Why should
he? God make concessions. He's God. He's in absolute sovereign control
of everything. He's all-powerful. He doesn't
negotiate with sinners. God has no need to make concessions
or to compromise. Now, in many areas, compromise
is necessary and good. I think you see that, but here's
one where we cannot compromise the truth of the gospel. Paul
told Peter that what he was doing was calling into question, he
was not walking uprightly according to the truth of the gospel. Peter compromised the truth of
the gospel. Now earlier in this chapter,
in verse 3, you remember some people had been saying you also
need to be circumcised along with faith in Christ. Verse 3,
but neither Titus, who was with me being a Greek, was compelled
to be circumcised, and that because of false brethren. unawares brought
in, who came in privily, to spy out our liberty which we have
in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage, to whom
we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour, that the
truth of the gospel might continue with you." If we would have given
in, if we would have compromised, Paul says the truth of the gospel
would not have continued. Now, can a true believer do such
a thing? Can someone who's truly a believer
do such a thing? I only ask you to look within
your own heart and you know the answer to that question. Peter was an apostle and Peter
did such a thing and you and I could do it easily and will
do it if not prevented from doing it by the grace of God. Do you
believe that? It's so. Now, Paul says in verse 11, when
Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face. I didn't talk
behind his back and tell other people about him and warn other
people about him. I withstood him to his face. Such sin had to be dealt with
publicly. He was leading others down a
wrong road. You read where even Barnabas
was carried away with his dissimulation. So what he did, he had to do
publicly. Now that scripture in Timothy
that says, then that sin rebuked before all that others may fear,
That's not saying if I hear about something you do, I'm to rebuke
you in front of people so other people be afraid. That might
happen to me. I don't want to do that. What if he embarrasses
me? That has nothing to do with what that passage of scripture
means. That's talking about preachers who miss the gospel. Preach another gospel. you rebuke
him before all that others may fear. That's not talking about
if you find out somebody did something, go ahead and bring
it up publicly so you can humiliate somebody and everybody will be
afraid of being humiliated. That's fleshly tactics. You know
that. There's no truth to that. But he did feel a need to rebuke
Peter publicly. Now look in verse 12. For before
that certain came from James, and this is talking about the
Church of Jerusalem, and there's some kind of tension between
Paul and James. I don't know what all is behind it, but you
remember there in Acts chapter 21 what took place, and he points
out certain came from James. He wasn't real happy with James
somehow. He didn't say certain came from the Church of Jerusalem.
He said certain came from James. And he said before that certain
came from James, Peter did eat with the Gentiles. They were
having pork chops. They were having all kinds of good food
and he was fellowshipping with the Gentiles and having such
a good time and he knew that he was free from all the dietary
laws of the Old Testament. You'll remember In Acts chapter
15, he said, why do you seek to put a yoke upon the brethren
which neither we nor our fathers was able to bear? Talking about
the law. He said, we believe that through the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved just like them. He doesn't
say they'll be saved like us. He says, we'll be saved like
them. How's a Gentile saved? The free
grace of God. And before these men who had
some kind of emphasis on the law came, he was having a good
time eating with the Gentiles. But when he saw them, verse 12,
for before the 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." Now this is Peter. This is the
Apostle Peter. But he was cowing down to the
fear of man. He was fearing them of the circumcision.
He was very afraid of what they would think about him when they
saw him eating at the table with the Gentiles. So he merely got
up and moved tables. He didn't say anything. He just
got up and moved tables. Now, Peter, what happened? You
know better than this. Without saying a word, all he
did was move tables. He stopped eating with the Gentiles
and went to the table of Jews. And perhaps he thought, I don't
want to offend any of my Jewish brethren. I realize that there
are weaker brethren who still put emphasis on the law, and
I don't want to offend them. Nobody up and says, I'm going to compromise
the gospel. They always dress it up somehow.
I don't want to offend them. There's no point in needlessly
offending them. So what I'm going to do, I'm not going to say anything.
I'm not going to do anything real bad. What I'm going to do is just
get up from this table, walk over, and sit down at this table.
I'm going to quit identifying myself with the Gentiles, and
I'm going to identify myself with the Jews. And I'm not going
to say anything. It's not going to hurt anything. Now, for this
action, he was publicly rebuked by the Apostle Paul. Now, I want
us to notice the words Paul uses, because if you want to understand
what compromise is, and here's where we'll go bad if we go bad
in this thing of compromise. Notice he says, for before that
certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles, but when
they were come, he withdrew. He withdrew. Now that's a nautical
term. It means let the sails down, so you don't go quite so
fast. This word is actually translated
kept back. I kept back nothing that was
profitable to you. It's same word is translated
I've not shunned. I've not shunned to declare unto
you all the counsel of God." Now here's the first component
of compromise. You know, the gospel we preach
is impossible to believe. For a natural man, it's impossible. It's offensive to the natural
man, the gospel we believe. It's offensive to the natural
man. The only way someone can believe the gospel is if God
gives him the grace to believe it. But what we do not dare do
is think, well, I don't have to say everything to offend people. I don't have to, you know, I
could, there's, I don't have to say everything. I don't, I
don't have to bring out divine election. I don't have to bring
out certain doctrines. I can just preach the gospel
and I take the sales in so I don't drive so fast. Now, what that
is, is removing the offense from the cross. Making the, packaging
the gospel in a way that makes it more attractive to the natural
man. That's all that is. It's removing the offense from
the cross. He withdrew himself. He shunned. He kept back. That's the way
those two words are translated. He shunned. He kept back. He wouldn't come out with the
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And he separated
himself. It says he separated. He no longer
identified with the Gentiles. He didn't say anything. He simply
moved tables, got up, walked across the room, and sat down
with the Jews. And Paul says that act was an
act of separating himself. Now, any time I separate myself
from identification with the message of the gospel, what I'm
doing is compromising the gospel. You know when we're warned to
forsake not the assembling of ourselves together as the manner
of some is? That's not talking about missing church every now
and then. I'm all for everybody being in church every time they
can, but that's not what that's talking about. That's not talking about
missing church every now and then. That's talking about forsaking
yourself from identification with this message. He separated
himself. And what was the motive behind
all of it? Look in verse 12, he withdrew
and separated himself fearing them which were of the circumcision. It was the fear of man that was
behind all of this. That's what caused it, the fear
of man, the lust of the eyes. Proverbs 29 verse 25, the fear
of man bringeth a snare. Now, what he was saying Although
he didn't say it, but what he was saying when he got up and
moved tables, he denied that Christ is all. He said you can
be a little bit more pleasing to God, a little bit more sanctified,
No doubt these Gentiles are saved, but you can be more saved over
here in the Jewish camp. And what that was, without any
question, was a denial that Christ Jesus is all in salvation. When he got up and moved over,
he was saying, Christ is a whole lot, but it's just a little bit
better to be over here with the Jews and to practice these law
things. That's what he was saying, and that's why Paul publicly
rebuked him. Now, look, verse 13. You know,
any time I compromise, I'm going to lead others to compromise.
Anytime you compromise, you're going to lead others to compromise.
Look in verse 13. and the other Jews dissembled,
that's plague the hypocrite, likewise with him, insomuch that
Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation, with
their hypocrisy. He got on the bandwagon with
Peter. Hey, Peter's doing it, I'm going
to do it too. And I'm sure none of these people thought, I'm
compromising the gospel. It wasn't a, I'm going to, no,
they just, it just happened. They got caught in the wave and
there they go. Because anytime one person compromises,
somebody else is going to compromise. And Barnabas was carried away
with this dissimulation. Now, verse 14. But when I saw
that they walked not uprightly, this walk from one table to another
was a crooked walk. It was not walking uprightly
according to the truth of the gospel. Now, here's my question. What is the truth of the gospel? This is the second time we read
that phrase in this chapter. You remember when he refused
to let Titus be baptized, he did it that the truth of the
gospel might continue with you. What is the truth of the gospel? Well, this whole book is about
justification. Now turn with me to Luke chapter
18. Luke chapter 18. Verse 9, And he spake this parable
unto certain which trusted in themselves, that they were righteous. And what always goes along with
that, they despised others. Two men went up into the temple
to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a publican. And the
Pharisee, the religious man, stood and prayed thus with himself,
God, I thank Thee. He gave God the credit. I thank
Thee, not for Your mercy, not for Your grace, not for the blood
of Christ, but that I am not as other men are. Now here is
the religion of the Pharisee. I can always find somebody that
I'm a little better than. I can always find somebody. I thank you that I'm not as other
men are. Now, the fact of the matter is
he was worse than other men are. But he didn't think so. I thank
thee that I'm not as other men are. I'm not an extortioner. That's a lie. I'm not unjust. That's a lie. I'm not an adulterer. That's a lie. Well, I'm not like
this publican. Now he told the truth there.
He was not like the publican. He said in verse 12, I fast twice
in the week. God never commanded anybody to
fast twice in the week, but he did. He went over and above the
commands of God. This man was something else.
I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar
off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but
smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a, or
the sinner is actually in the original, the sinner. Now, he
wasn't just asking for general mercy. This man knew who God
was, and the word in the original is actually God be propitious. He knew enough about God to know
God couldn't just up and sweep sin under the carpet. He's holy. He's just. He can't accept me
the way I am. Something has to be done about
my sin. He needs to remove the reason for anger. The only way
He can accept me is if He's propitious toward me through the sacrifice.
He knew that. He wasn't just asking for general
mercy. God be propitious to me, the sinner, the worst man to
ever live. Do something about my sin. I
can't do anything about it. Take it away. Cause it to be
washed away through the bloody atonement. He knew that was his
only hope. He wasn't just praying for general
mercy. He had some knowledge and some understanding of the
character of the living God. You see, that's what happens
when God saves somebody. They find out who God is. And
they can't be satisfied with any of this religious mumbo-jumbo.
They know God's got to be propitious toward me. He's got to remove
his reason for anger, and only he can do it. This publican understood that.
Now, verse 14. The Lord says, I tell you, I
love it when the Lord says that, don't you? I tell you, there's
just something powerful about that. He spake as one having
authority, not like the scribes. I love that scripture, don't
you? I mean, everything they said, it wasn't authority to it. I mean,
it was just religious mumbo-jumbo. But he said, I tell you, this
man went down to his house, what's that word? Justified. justified rather than the other. For everyone that exalts himself
shall be abased, and he that humbles himself shall be exalted.
Now, please listen very carefully. About everybody believes in justification
if you ask them. You ask, I'd say probably if
you go into almost any church in Lexington and said, do you
believe God justifies sinners? I said, yeah, you know, Bible
says that. Here's the issue. How does God justify sinners? That is the issue. How does God
justify sinners? Now, does God justify sinners
because they believe? Does God justify sinners because
they pray? Does God justify sinners because
they asked him into their heart? Does God justify sinners because
they've humbled themselves and asked for mercy? Does God justify
sinners because of anything the sinner does? Can you say God
justifies the sinner because the sinner fill in the blank,
whatever it is? Not everybody believes in justification,
but how does God justify sinners? He does it outside of them. It
doesn't have anything to do with what me or you do. Do you know
that? God's justification of you has
absolutely the reason it's found completely outside of you. It's not because you did anything.
It's outside of you. It's because God took your sin
and put it in His Son. And He took the very righteousness
of His Son and gave it to you, so where it's yours. And He justified. This is so simple. It's God that
justifies. That's what the Scripture says.
God doesn't offer you justification. He doesn't say, okay, do you
want to be justified or do you want to be condemned? It's up to you.
You can take your choice. No, that's foolishness. It's
God that justifies. It's His work completely. And that is the very heart and
soul of the gospel. That publican, that evil, ungodly
man went down to his house justified by what Christ did for him. Now that is the truth of the
gospel. Justification is by Christ. Justification by grace, that
means it has absolutely nothing to do, it's not God's responding
to you in any way or me in any way. Justification is by the
blood of Christ, being justified by his blood. Justification is
by work or by faith. I get the works of men, but justification
is by faith. What's the evidence that God's justified? Do you
believe the gospel? That's the evidence. Justification is by
works. You know, you remember James
says, by works a man is justified, not by faith only. And people
say, well, what James is talking about is justifying your faith
before men. That's what that's talking about.
He's talking about something different than Paul. He's talking about
justifying your faith before men. Let me ask you a question. When that
work Abraham performed, there on Mount Moriah. Was there anybody
there to see it? Was he trying to show anybody? He was there
by himself with Isaac. He wasn't trying to show anybody.
He, I mean, he wasn't trying to show men his faith. He was
obeying God. What proved he really believed
God when he lifted up his knife? His works proved the reality
of his faith. Justification is by words. By your words, you'll
be justified. By your words, you'll be condemned.
Your words will line up with justification. Now, this is the
heart and the soul of the gospel. And Peter was blurring that line,
wasn't he? He was denying justification. He was adding a work without
saying a thing. He didn't say anything. All he
did was move tables and he was denying the truth. Now, by this
act of compromise and hypocrisy, the line between law and grace
was blurred and he led others down that road. And how embarrassed
Peter must have been when Paul asked this question, Peter, Peter,
you're a Jew and you live like Gentiles. You eat pork. You know
you're not under the law. What is this thing about you
expecting the Gentiles to live like the Jews? Isn't this what
we call hypocrisy? Can you imagine how embarrassed
Peter was. I try to put myself in his place
because I'm, listen, I'm not looking down my nose at Peter.
I'm knowing that's me, unless the Lord prevents it. That's
me. And he was embarrassed, and I think of how difficult it must
have been for Paul to say this. And can you imagine all the things
people said about Paul for saying this? Paul, really? Really? Is
this that big a deal? Paul, are you so inflexible that
you're going to publicly embarrass somebody for not doing exactly
as you think they ought to do? You're one of those my way or
the highway guys. You're so self-righteous and
judgmental. You're narrow-minded. You're unapproachable. What arrogance
to pick out a quarrel with Peter in a public setting like this.
How insensitive to embarrass the church at Antioch that way.
Can you imagine how everybody was embarrassed when Peter, try
to put yourself, how embarrassed would you be right now if this
happened to even somebody else? You'd be just sitting there and stinging
and just thinking, man, this is awkward. This is uncomfortable.
I wish this hadn't happened. You just wouldn't know what to
think. How insensitive to embarrass
the church at Antioch that way. How narcissistic and egocentric
to place your convictions above the feelings of others. You shouldn't
do that. You shouldn't be such a hard-nosed
Paul. Nobody can deal with Paul. Man, he's gonna condemn anybody
that's not just like him. I can imagine all the things
people would have said about Paul. He makes no effort at unity. I'm sure Paul was judged harshly
for this action, but Paul understood that this action undermined the
truth of the gospel. You can be sure that he didn't
want to do this, but he had to. And don't you admire his courage
in doing this? He didn't want to do this, but
he had to. If he didn't, the truth of the
gospel would not remain. But through this, we are given
a glorious rest of Galatians because of what took place. I
love the book of Galatians. And through this horrible, difficult
event taking place, we're given the book of Galatians. Now, let
me close by reminding you of what I've already said. How easily
can you and I compromise the gospel? You believe that? How easily you and I can compromise
the gospel, and we won't know it when we're doing it. As a
matter of fact, we'll be vindicating ourselves. We'll be justifying ourselves.
I'm sure that Peter had good reasons to move tables. He wasn't
thinking, I'm going to do this just to compromise the gospel.
He had good reasons for this. He was looking out for people,
so he thought. And anytime you and I compromise, I guarantee
you we'll be justifying and vindicating ourselves the whole way through.
That's the way it always works. But here are the components of
compromise, and I fear this. I fear this, because if we compromise
the gospel, the Lord will leave. We'll have the mechanics of religion
without the Spirit of God, and I don't want that to happen.
That happens in every church. It'll happen in this church one
of these days. It's happened to every local church that's
ever been, where the gospel is compromised. And what happens? Well, number one, Peter was said
to withdraw himself, to hold back, don't be quite so plain. You can preach the gospel and
you don't have to bring out certain doctrines. Now that is keeping
back, that shunning declare the whole counsel of God. Now, I
can't, every time I preach, I can't, well, it's not that I know that
much, don't get me wrong, but it'd be very difficult for me
to preach everything I know. Matter of fact, I mean, can't do it,
can't do it. But I do know this, if I hold
back something, if I hold back something to keep people happy,
I've compromised the gospel. That's what it means to withdraw. It means to shun, to hold back. And then he speaks of separation,
no longer identifying yourself with the message of the gospel.
You separate yourself. You don't want to be identified.
You know, something was a blessing to me. Somebody wrote me and
they said, your church And I don't know where they got their information.
It may have something to do with TV, even if they must have known
somebody else, too. He said, your church, here's the problem
I've got with your church. Your church thinks you're all
the only people that are saved in Lexington. I don't think that. I never said
that, but I do say this, if you don't believe the gospel I preach,
you're not saved. Now, we do believe the gospel. The gospel
that's preached in this place is the only gospel, and somebody
that doesn't preach this gospel does not preach the gospel. So,
you know, it didn't really bother me. They figured out something.
We really do believe our gospel is the only gospel, don't we?
This is the gospel that saves. This is the gospel we rejoice
in and glory in and love. Now, you're not going to hear
me say, well, we're the only safe people in Lexington. I can't say that unless I've
heard everybody preach, can I? I can't really say that. There's hundreds
of churches. I don't know what they believe.
So I shouldn't be saying something like that. I don't like it when
preachers do that. But I do know this. This gospel is the only
gospel, and I'm not going to separate it. I'm proud of the
gospel we believe, aren't you? I want to be identified with
it. Birds of a feather flock together, don't they? And we
want to be identified with the gospel of Christ. We love it.
We don't want to separate ourselves, but that's what happens when
compromise comes. You kind of separate. You kind
of separate. You withdraw, you separate, and what's behind it
is the fear of man. The fear of man that bringeth
a snare, being too concerned about what other people think.
would to God that all we care about is what God thinks. Now,
I don't mean by that being insensitive about everybody. You know, sometimes,
take the back seat, take the lowest seat. I'm not saying try
to knock everybody out, but with regard to the truth, oh yeah,
do it. Don't be controlled by the fear of man. And also, whenever
the gospel is preached, we have the practice of hypocrisy. It's acting. It's not even real. The practice of hypocrisy is
going on. It's not walking uprightly according
to the truth of the gospel. And look once again back in verse
14 of Galatians chapter 2, look what it caused Peter to do. 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, being a Jew, livest after the
manner of the Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compelest
thou? Why are you trying to force people
to do what you really don't do? You talk about them needing to
keep the law. You don't keep the law. Why are you trying to compel
people? Why are you trying to put pressure
on people? Why are you trying to force people to do things?
It is absolutely wrong. But that's what happens when
the gospel is compromised. Now, I realize that you and I
will be no different than Peter if the Lord doesn't prevent it.
Don't you know that? But I want us to think about
Peter's attitude. Would you turn with me for a
moment to 2 Peter chapter 2? Because when I was thinking about
this, I thought of several times that I've been publicly humiliated.
and publicly embarrassed. And you know, even now when I
think about those things, I start stinging. I can't stand to think
about him. And I think about Peter was humiliated
by this. He was embarrassed by this. Who
wouldn't be? But I want us to look at his
attitude towards Paul. Verse 15 of 2 Peter chapter 3. And account that the long suffering
of our Lord is salvation Even as our beloved brother Paul,
don't you love that? Even as our beloved brother Paul,
also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto
you. And I have no doubt that Peter
was thinking, you know, he was so wise when he did that. I'm
so thankful for it. Let the righteous smite me. It'll
be of kindness to me, David said. Oh, what an attitude Peter demonstrated. What grace he demonstrated, our
beloved brother Paul. As also in all his epistles,
speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard
to be understood. I think he's almost saying, man, I don't know
what Paul's talking about all the time. I mean, some of that stuff's
hard to understand, what he's talking about. I know it's true. I can't grasp it all. I know
it's true, though. which they that are unlearned and unstable
twist, rest, as they do also the other scriptures under their
own destruction. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing you know these
things before, beware, lest you also, being led away with the
error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness, but grow
in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. To him be glory, both now and
forever. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you would save us, that you would cause us to be justified
before you through thy son. Lord, we ask that you'd be propitious
toward us. We ask that you would teach us
what it is to preach the gospel. Lord, deliver us from a Letting go. But Lord, cause us
to be determined to preach your gospel. Deliver us from compromise. For Lord, we will compromise
if you don't prevent it. Deliver us from compromise. And
Lord, may your gospel go out of this place. Lord, we ask that
you would open up doors, open up ears, open up hearts to hear
your gospel and enable us, oh Lord, enable us to be faithful
to preaching thy message. Now bless this word for Christ's
sake. In his name we pray. Amen.