If you want to turn with me to
my text this morning, you'll find it in Galatians chapter
2. Paul's epistle to Galatians chapter
2. I want to start on this this
morning, and then maybe next Sunday we'll finish this. I'm
trying to hold to my promise not to keep you all too long.
But to do that, I'm having to split my messages up. So I hope
you appreciate that. In Galatians chapter 2 and I
want to begin reading in verse 11. Galatians chapter 2 and verse
11. But when Peter was come to Antioch,
Antioch there in Syria, I withstood him to the face because he was
to be blamed. For before that certain, certain
men, certain Jews 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,
the Jews. And the other Jews dissembled
likewise with him, insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away
with their dissimulation." One of the definitions of this word,
dissimulation, is hypocrisy. They were literally being hypocrites.
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 live after the manner of Gentiles and not as do the
Jews, why compelst thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews, we who
are Jews by nature and 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 transgressor. For 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 lives in me. In the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by 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 bad and vain." Back here in verse 11, when Peter was come
to Antioch, I withstood him to the face because he was to be
blamed. Did you ever wonder? why the
Apostle Paul would pin something like this down? Isn't it really
embarrassing? If you had a dear friend and
you had really messed up, how would you feel about him if he
wrote it down and sent it to a multitude of people? That would
be embarrassing, wouldn't it? And here the Apostle Paul wrote
down what Peter and Barnabas and some of these other Jews
did, and you and I are still reading it today. Isn't that
amazing? Did you ever wonder why the Apostle
Paul did this to begin with? Those who don't know anything
about Scripture, those who don't know anything about the Apostle
Paul, may think Paul was just an arrogant man. In some way
or another, he was wanting to put Peter down and build up himself. But Paul wasn't that kind of
a man. He had some good reasons for rebuking Peter here before
everybody in this church at Antioch. And the first reason I want to
give you is this. And let's look at two or three
reasons why Paul would do such a thing. And first of all, and
probably the most evident reason was to defend the gospel of the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul wrote the gospel that Wayne
has been teaching us about in Romans. He wrote that epistle
to establish the gospel. That is why he spent so long
a time telling us that we are all sinners, going into great
detail about the death of Christ, the righteousness of Christ.
He wrote to establish the gospel. He writes here to recover the
gospel. He had gone there to preach to
them, they had received the gospel, but now they had all but lost
the gospel. Now he has to go back here and
recover this gospel that has all but been lost. And here Peter
is, has denied the gospel, as we'll see in a minute. So Paul
reestablishes the gospel, so he defends the gospel. And to
do that, he has to rise and say, Peter, you're denying the gospel. You are perverting the gospel
of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what does this tell
us? That there's something more important
than our friendships. That's important. But there's
something more important than that. There's something more
important than family members. There is something more than
my feelings that's important. There's something more than my
possession that's important. What is the single most important
thing, brothers and sisters, in this world? Is it not the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? And Paul, for that reason, even
rose to rebuke this great Apostle Peter. Because without the gospel,
well, let's just put it and be honest with it. With the chance
of being misunderstood, without the gospel, where's the redeeming
glory of God? We've lost it, haven't we? Without
the gospel, where is the salvation of any single sinner? There's
no salvation apart from the gospel. And here this church had all
but lost it. And now Peter had denied it through
this sudden temptation that he fell into. And so Paul says,
here's something, Peter, that's more important than you are.
in our friendship, in your apostleship, and that is the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. So that is the first reason he
did it. The second reason he did it was
to defend his apostleship. Paul was being accused by some
of these Jews especially that he received his apostleship from
Peter and James and John and the other apostles there at Jerusalem,
and Paul should submit to them in everything. that he was inferior
to these other apostles there at Jerusalem. Well, he's going
to show them here that he's not inferior. He is going to rebuke
him who is basically the spokesman for all those apostles there
at Jerusalem, and that is Peter. I want you to know what he says
here in chapter 1. Look what he says in chapter
1 in verse 11 and verse 12. He says, I certify you, brethren,
that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of
man, neither was I taught it, not even by Peter, or John, or
James, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ." And then he
goes on in this chapter to say when the Lord saved him, he didn't
go up to Jerusalem. He never even knew who Peter
was. He never spoke to any of those apostles until two years
after the Lord had saved him. He said, I did not learn the
gospel from those apostles at Jerusalem. I was taught the gospel
by direct revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was not an apostle
because Christ had called him to be an apostle. He knew the
pure gospel of the grace of God because Christ had revealed that
gospel to him. The reason why Paul reproved
Peter here is also in verse 12. Look at this. For before that certain Jews
came down from James, he did eat with the Gentiles. But when
they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them
which were of the circumcision. Peter did two things here. He
was breaking the law of Moses in two different aspects. You
can find this in different places in the Old Testament. First of
all, Peter was sitting here with these Gentiles in Antioch in
this huge church. It was a large church. Not only
Jews were in it, but a lot of Gentiles were in it. A lot of
prophets were in it. And these apostles, some of these
apostles were in it. Peter was breaking two laws of
Moses. First of all, he ate. He eateth
with the Gentiles. And here's the first law he broke.
He was eating things that were forbidden of the Jews to eat. And here he was sitting and doing
it. Right here among these Gentile believers. You know, Peter had
observed this ceremonial law all of his life. You may not
think that an old fisherman like him was very strict in his lifestyle,
but he was. You remember when the Lord was
going to send him down to Carnelius' house, and Peter wasn't going
to go. The Lord knew Peter would kick
against it. So Peter was in this trance, and he saw this sheep
come down from heaven. And in that sheep was all kinds
of creatures, four-footed beasts and beasts of the earth, pigs,
camels, Creeping things like snakes and bugs. Flying fowls
of the air like chicken hawks and all kinds of creatures. And
a voice came to Peter and said, Peter, arise and slay and eat. And what did Peter say? Not so,
Lord. Nothing common or unclean has
never entered my mouth. He said, Lord, I've always ate
what Moses directed us to eat in the Bible. I've never ate
any pork. I don't know what chicken tastes
like, I've never eaten catfish, because we're not allowed as
Jews to eat of these things. But here he was sitting at Antioch,
and what was he doing? He was eating with the Gentiles,
eating those things that he knew was forbidden him to eat. Why
did he do that? God had taught him, hadn't He?
God had taught him that that old ceremonial law that he gave
to Moses in the Old Testament had been abolished. Now all meats
were clean. Nothing was to be refused if
it was received with thanksgiving to the Lord. It was sanctified
by the Word of God and prayer. And when Peter went down to Cornelius
and preached to him, And the Bible says he stayed there for
certain days. And you know he ate things that
he had never ate before. But here, here he's denying the
very thing that God taught him was nothing wrong with. He was eating And when he looked
down at his plate, he thought, oh, my soul, here comes those
brethren from up at Jerusalem, and the first thing they're going
to see is this big piece of chicken on my plate. And we're not allowed
by the law of Moses to eat chicken. And he got afraid. That was his
first thing that he was doing. He was breaking the law of Moses. And he knew it. Even though God
had taught him that. That's the first thing he did.
law that he had sinned against. And the second one was this.
He was eating, but look who he was eating with. The Gentiles. The Gentiles. What's wrong with
that? Well, Peter knew something was
wrong with that. Him, his own self. Remember when he went down
to Carnelius' house and God told him, don't you call that which
I've cleansed common or unclean? And when he went down to the
Gentiles' house, And Cornelius opened the door and Peter peeped
in and he saw a whole room full of Gentiles. He said, now listen,
you know it's not lawful for me to come in there. Because
it's not lawful for a Jew to keep company, intimate company
with those of another nation. The Samaritan woman knew that,
didn't she? She said even to the Lord Jesus,
why are you talking to me? The Jews have no dealings with
the Samaritans. They don't stand and converse.
We're dogs. Here Peter was conversing with
these Gentile believers, fellowshipping with them, eating supper with
them. And he saw his Jewish brethren that were still sort of self-righteous
and legalistic, cleaving to the ceremony law. And they come down
and Peter got afraid and he left the Gentiles. left while he was
eating and ran over here and sat with a bunch of Jews. God taught Peter these two things.
The ceremonial law had been abolished. You could eat any meat you wanted
to eat, even if you were a Jew. He taught him something else.
The wall of petition that separated the Jew from the Gentile had
been broken down. Peace had been made not only
between the believing Jew and the believing Gentile and God,
but peace had been made between the believing Jew and the believing
Gentile one with another. You and I have no idea what that
meant, because we didn't live back in those days. But I'm telling
you there was enmity between the Jews and the Gentiles. The
Jews looked on the Gentiles as being dogs, and the Gentiles
looked on them as being self-righteous, stuck-up people. They hated each
other. But when Christ saved them, He
made them one. I want you to hold Galatians
chapter 2. Turn over here and read this. Wayne, in Ephesians,
just over to your right. The very next book to your right.
Brother Wayne referred to this this morning. And let's just
turn over and read it. Look in Ephesians chapter 2,
in verse 11. Look in verse 11. Wherefore,
remember, Ephesians 2 and 11, remember, I want you to keep
this in mind, that you being in time past Gentiles in the
flesh, and you were called uncircumcision, who called you that? Those who
were circumcised, the Jews. By them which were called circumcision
in the flesh made by hands. That at that time you were without
Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers
from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God
in the world. But now, in Christ Jesus, you
who sometimes were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For He is our peace, who hath
made both one, Jew and Gentile one, and hath broken down the
middle wall of division, petition between us, having abolished
in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained
in ordinances, to make in himself of two one new man, so making
peace, and that he might reconcile both unto God, both Jew and Gentiles,
in one body, his body, by the cross, having slain the enmity
thereby, and came and preached peace to you which were far off,
and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have
access by one Spirit unto the Father." Now isn't that wonderful?
Isn't that wonderful? But you know during this transition,
man, it was difficult. And our text shows the difficulty
of this transition. They were both made one in Christ
Jesus. Now here in verse 12, how did
Peter deny the gospel? I want you to look at this. He denied it in verse 12 by separating
himself, by not eating the meat. that these Gentiles were eating.
He separated himself from the Gentiles because he feared the
Jews, we're told there in verse 12. Now why did he fear the Jews? Well, you've got to remember
Peter's history. He had this weakness about him. One time
a little maid looked at him in the face and said, you're one
of the Lord's disciples, aren't you? And it scared him to death.
He had this disposition about him that sometimes he was afraid
of man. This is what happened to him
here. And you remember when he went down to the Gentiles' house
for the first time to preach to them? He was coming back home
to Jerusalem. And I bet you he was thinking
to himself, how am I going to tell my Jewish brethren why I
went down to these Gentiles? And they confronted him. And
I bet you they had a stern look on their face, and I bet you
they raised their voices, and they said, Peter, you went in
to uncircumcise men, and you ate with them? And you remember
Peter's answer? God told me to do it. And who
am I to withstand God? Why didn't He do that here? I
don't know why He didn't do it here. He was taken with this
awful temptation, sudden temptation. Then he said, I've got to separate
myself from these Gentiles, and I've got to quit eating this
chicken, and I've got to get over there with those other Jews
on the other side of the building. Scared him to death. What was
his sin? Peter knew that Christ, now listen,
Peter knew that Christ, by his death, had not only reconciled
the believing Jews to God, but the believing Gentiles and the
believing Jews won. He made them one. They had peace
with God, but they had peace one with another on the same
grounds. Not by the works of the law,
but in Jesus Christ, the blood of His cross. But now He fears. And he, through fear of these
men, denied what God Himself had taught him. What can we learn from this before
we get too hard on Peter? Let's learn two or three practical
things from this. And what's the first thing we
learn? The best of men. The best of men are men at best. Even this great apostle erred
in the gospel. He fell through an awful and
sudden temptation and denied what God Himself had taught him. If he can do it, what about you? And what about me? Let him that
thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. Paul marveled that
this church had been so soon removed from the gospel of Christ. If he marveled that these mere
Christians were removed from the gospel, how much more should
we marvel that this great apostle was moved from the gospel for
a time. No wonder the Lord Jesus taught
us to pray, Lord, deliver us from temptation. Deliver us from
evil. I bet Peter prayed this morning
before he went to church, don't you? And he probably prayed something
like this, Lord, keep me from the lust of the eyes. Keep me
from the pride of life. Don't let me covet what somebody
else has. But I wonder if he prayed against
this temptation that he fell into here. Lord, don't let me
deny the Gospel today. What might we do if God removes
His hand from us? There's nothing that we cannot
do. The worst of sins that we can commit, we will do it if
God removes His hand. That's the first thing that we
learn. Temptations come from many directions. They come in many forms. And
at the time when we least expect it is when they come. Don't it behoove us, brothers
and sisters, before we leave our houses in the morning to
pray and to seek the Lord's strength and aid How many dear saint of
God has left their beds and left their homes and went off to work,
and they were so happy, and come home that night and their life
was in shambles because they fell through a sudden temptation.
That's the first lesson we learn. The second lesson we can learn
is this. How easily we can influence others
to do evil. Look in verse 13 again. And the
other Jews dissembled themselves likewise. Peter left. The other
Jews followed him. And look at this, insomuch that
Barnabas also was led away with their dissimilation. Ain't that
amazing? You remember Jim Jones. Most
of us remember Jim Jones. He went down. What was that he
led those people down to? Some workplace? Work? Gone. Down in South America somewhere,
ain't you, John? I think down in there somewhere. You know
where that fellow lived at? Yeah, right over next to Richmond.
Right over in Linn. Just a stone's throw from where
some of us live. That's where he started. He was
a nobody. Then he went to Indianapolis
and got a little church there. And then he went out to California.
And look at the influence that man had over hundreds of people. He took them down there in South
America and before it was finished, what was it, 600 or so people
that committed suicide. Every one of us has influence
over other people. It's our children. It's our spouses. Sunday school teachers have influence
over the Sunday school class. Pastors have influence over the
congregation. We all have influence over people. And you know how easy it is sometimes
to influence good people to do bad things. And that's what the
Apostle Peter did here. What we say. How we act. What we do. Our attitude can
affect people in an evil way, even good people. And you say, Bruce, I ain't said
a thing. Peter never said a thing either, did he? He never said
a word. It's not always what we say,
is it? Sometimes it's our attitude. I've often wondered, How far
this would have gone if Paul hadn't stood up and stopped this
and corrected it. I wonder what devastation this
would have done to this church at Antioch if God had not had
Paul there to stand up and correct this and rebuke Peter and these
men. They would have probably lost
the gospel, wouldn't they? Probably lost the gospel. Somebody
says, the Lord is going to defend His gospel. Yes, He will. Thank
you. Bless Him for it. But others
will say, we've got nothing to be concerned about. Oh, brethren,
we do, don't we? We do have something to be concerned
about. There is nothing so easily lost as the gospel. Did you know that? I wonder. If the seven churches
of Asia ever made that statement, we've got nothing to be concerned
about. Where are they now? There used to be a strong church
in Germany and in France. France, southern France is where
Calvin taught so long there in Switzerland. There's nothing
there now. And look at London. You can't
hardly buy a King James Bible in London. You can't get over
15 or 20 people all over the city to stop and worship the
Lord on the Lord's Day. And the churches, there used
to be so many grace churches in our country. You could find
them every place. But where are they now? Where's
the gospel in our country? Some of you know how hard it
is to find the gospel. Some of you drive a long way
just to get here to hear the gospel. Why do you do that? Because the community you live
in has lost it. There's a church almost on every
corner, but go there and see if you can hear the gospel of
the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel would not even be
welcomed there, would it? You know that as well as I do.
Oh, how easily the gospel can be lost. Here in verse 14, I wonder what
Peter and Barnabas thought when they read this epistle. And when
I saw, look at this, and when I saw that they walked not uprightly
according to the truth of the gospel. I saw that they walked
not uprightly. Well, I tell you, that's embarrassing.
I wonder when they read this, if it so embarrassed them. They denied the gospel. Didn't
walk upright. How many parents have denied
the truth of the gospel before their children? Not in word. We never deny Christ in word,
but by our actions, by our attitude. There are so many ways. You sure
sometimes you hear a little child when it gets big enough to talk.
I wish my daddy wouldn't be so mean. I wish my daddy wasn't
so hateful. Your dad professes the gospel.
Your dad's a good man. Yes, and he's denied the gospel
by a bad attitude. How many ways can we do that?
And Paul wrote here and said Peter did it, and Barnabas did
it, and a whole bunch of people did it. One man said when we
cease to be perfectly honest as Christians, when we lay aside
our integrity, And when we cease to be sincere, we're given an opportunity to
cease to walk uprightly according to the truth of the gospel. And look here how Paul handles
it. In verse 14, the last portion of verse 14, I said unto Peter
before them all, I said to Peter before them all, I tell you,
It's sometimes difficult. If somebody's done something,
it's somewhat difficult to go to them and talk to them about
it in private. But I tell you what, buddy, it's
tough. When you stand up before the congregation and you call
somebody out, can you imagine how tough this was to this man?
It's tough on the man that's calling the fellow out. It's
tough on the man that's called out. It's tough on those who
sit in around listening. It's tough. Why did the Apostle
Paul rebuke Peter to his face before them all? If somebody
has sinned publicly, sometimes you have to call them out publicly,
don't you? You don't want to, but sometimes you have to. And
that's what the Apostle Paul did here. What was Peter's error? Look at the last portion of verse
14. The very last portion. If thou, being a Jew, liveth
after the manner of the Gentiles, and not as do the Jews." And
that's what he was doing. He was living like the Gentiles
lived. He was eating chicken and pork and snake and all these
other meats that weren't lawful for him to eat. And he liked
it. He was living just like the Gentiles
lived. Paul said, if you live, Peter,
like the Gentiles are living, why are you turning right around
now and compelling the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? And I say again, Peter knew that
this was wrong. If you want to read some history
behind this, read Acts chapter 15 sometimes. And this very same
thing that happened. There were some Pharisees that
rose up and said, if we don't circumcise these Gentiles and
command them to keep the law of Moses, they can't be saved.
And boy, I tell you, Paul walked horns with them, didn't he? And
he said, let's go up to Jerusalem. That's where you fellows are
from. We'll go up there and we'll settle this once and for all.
They went up to Jerusalem and had a sovereign grace conference.
And Peter stood up in the midst of them. And here's what he said.
Why put a yoke upon the necks of these disciples, these Gentiles,
which neither we nor they were able to bear. We believe that
through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved,
just like they are. He knew that, didn't he? But now he was denying all of
that. He was denying the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And here's what Peter was saying.
If you do not forsake the way of the Gentiles and be circumcised
and adapt the rigid lifestyle of the Jews and live as the Jews
do, you can't be saved. That's what he was saying. You
guys got to quit eating this chicken. You can't eat no more
pork. And you got to go be circumcised. And you've got to keep these
holy days and these feast days. Your life has to become very
rigid, very burdensome. You've got to keep the Sabbath
day now. That's what Peter was teaching. And Paul said, Peter,
you've denied the Gospel. You have denied the Gospel. And
here in verse 15, look at this. One of the reasons why I think
I like this passage of Scripture, I went for years and I could
not understand what the Apostle Paul was saying. But look what
he's saying here in verse 15. We who are Jews by nature and
not sinners of the Gentiles. What does he mean here? He surely
don't mean, and he can't mean, and he doesn't mean that there's
a difference in the essential nature of the Jews and the Gentiles. The Jews were just as fallen
as the Gentiles by nature. They were all children of wrath
by nature, just like everybody else. Then what's he talking
about here, we who are Jews by nature and not sinners of the
Gentiles? Well, the Jews had a second nature. And it was second nature with
them to keep the ceremonial law of Moses. It began when they
were just eight days old. There was no devout Jew that
would even think of not circumcising his male child. And every year, they labored
to take them up to the feast days, the Day of Atonement, and
all of these other days, the feast days and Sabbath days.
They kept these days and feasts, they kept them holy. They burned
their life down with them. What about the Gentiles? They
didn't care. They just didn't care. They said,
we'll eat whatever we want to. We don't have any dietary laws.
God's never given us any laws. We're not going to keep any feast
days. Don't talk to us about the Sabbath. We have no regard
for it. We're sinners of the Gentiles. We don't regard the law of Moses. We don't live with the ceremonial
law like you Jews do. So see the difference in those
two? Boy, if we lived back then, we'd have saw the difference
in the Jew and the Gentile. But this was such a yoke on the
necks of these Jews. They couldn't bear it. It was
a burden to them. If they found any yeast in your
house, you were subject to be excommunicated from the nation
on certain days. It was bad. It was terrible.
I sometimes wonder when they said on the bottom of the garments
of those priests that went into the holy place that he had bells
on and he went in there with a rope tied around one of his
feet. Now this is what John Gill said.
Just in case, instead of sprinkling the blood seven times on the
mercy seat, he sprinkled it six times, or sprinkled it eight
times, and God killed him. What a burden it was. What a
burden it was. And Paul is saying, can the Gentiles
be saved by Christ alone? Can the Gentiles be accepted
of God in Christ alone? Can these Gentiles who are sinners
against the law of Moses be justified by faith in Christ alone without
their own personal obedience to the law of Christ? Boy, that
was the issue. And he answers it here in verse
16. Look quickly at verse 16. I'm
going to mess around and keep you too long again. Look at verse
60. 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. No flesh can be justified. How
is a man justified? Wayne taught us this morning
so aptly. It's not by man's own obedience
that he's justified. But it's by faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ alone. You know, most people, when they
talk free will, talks about being justified before God. We have got so far away today
that really they don't even talk about being justified to keeping
the law of Moses. It's mainly now our obedience
to convictions. We've got all these convictions.
We obey our personal convictions. The Pharisee was up in the temple
and he said, I'm not like other men. I fast twice a week. Where
did he get that? God never told him to fast twice
a week, but that's where his confidence was. He was obedient
until his conviction. And he had this conviction, you
need to fast twice a week. So he said, I'm fasting twice
a week. And Paul said, you can't be justified by that. It's by
faith in Christ alone. Not by the works of the law. There's only two covenants in
this world. Just two covenants. Always has been and there always
will be just two covenants. One is the covenant of works. And the other was the covenant
of grace. From the beginning of time, there's only two covenants.
Adam was under the covenant of works. You obey what I tell you to do.
And by your personal obedience, you shall live. You shall continue
to live and prosper, and we'll associate one with another. We'll
fellowship one with another. What did Adam do? He sinned,
and he broke that covenant. And God cursed him, didn't He?
And ran him out of the garden. And now every lost person is
under a broken covenant. Every lost person is. And we
cannot be saved by our obedience to that covenant of works because
the covenant has already been broken by the deeds of the law. What
does that mean? Thirty-two times in this little
book of Galatians that word law is used. Thirty-one of those
thirty-two times it's used in the legal sense. And what this
word, by the works of the law, means is by our obedience. It deals with the whole principle
of the heart. By our obedience, we cannot be
justified before God. Why? Because Adam, on our behalf,
has already rendered disobedience to that covenant. Now it's broken. And here we sit cursed. Here
we sit condemned under this broken covenant. There's another covenant.
The covenant of grace. And it's based upon what Jesus
Christ has done for all of those who believe in Him for it. It's
His obedience. It's His righteousness. By one
man's disobedience, many were made sinners. Even so, by the
righteousness of one shall many be made righteous. Justification
comes freely to us, eternal life, forgiveness of sins, and all
the blessings of the gospel come to us through our faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And I'll say with you, Wayne,
isn't that wonderful? Without lifting a finger, brothers
and sisters, without our obedience even being considered, it's the
obedience of another. Look what he says in verse 17
right quickly. But if, while we seek to be justified
by Christ, we ourselves are found sinners, is therefore Christ
the minister of sin? God forbid. What does he mean
by this? We know what he means at the
beginning of that verse. We seek to be justified by Christ. I tell you my own personal experience
this morning. This is how I feel right now.
And I felt this way for 43 years. And God give me grace, I'll feel
this way till I die. I'm seeking to be accepted one
way. And that's through Jesus Christ.
I'm seeking that way. There's all kinds of people seeking
heaven. But they're seeking it in the wrong way. Many will seek
to enter in and shall not be able. The Jewish nation sought
righteousness by the law and not by faith. And brothers and
sisters, I am seeking to be accepted of God and justified by Jesus
Christ alone. All of my eggs are in that basket. And if I'm not accepted by Christ
and for His sake, you know something? I'm going to be lost for all
eternity. Because that's the only way I'm seeking to be saved,
is by Jesus Christ. And Paul says, if Christ has
taught us that He's the way and He's taught us to forsake the
law of Moses. Boy, can't you see the Jews are
rising on his back to make a statement? Forsaking the law of Moses? You
mean Christ is teaching you to forsake the law of Moses? Well, He did. Accept your righteousness. Exceed the righteousness of the
scribes and Pharisees. You shall in no wise enter the
kingdom of heaven. You've got to have a righteousness
that's given to you, and it does not come by the works of the
law. It comes by Christ alone. Forsake Moses and look to Jesus
Christ. Stop eating. Stop worrying about
these ceremonial law. Forsake all of that. And seek
to be accepted in Me alone. That's what Christ said. And
Paul said, is Christ teaching us to sin by doing that? Why,
no. God forbid. But surely, if I come here this
morning and tell you to forsake Moses and look to Christ, surely
that's a sin. No, it's not a sin. And here's
why it's not a sin. Christ has honored the law. He
has fulfilled its demands. He has borne the curse of it
in His own body upon the tree. Now the law has no problems with
Christ. It looks to Christ and says,
I find no fault in that man. He is holy. And He is just. And He has honored me. And He
has exalted me. And you know what the law says
to you when you look to Christ? I find no fault in you either.
You are in Christ. And you have fulfilled Me and
honored Me in your subsistence." But the poor Jews could not understand
this, could they? Forsake Moses? Freed from the law or happy condition,
Jesus has bled and now bears remission. Verse 18, I am closing
right here. This is it. Paul said, forsake Moses, forsake
this ceremonial laws and dietary laws and circumcision. Forsake
all of that and believe in Christ and be justified in Christ alone
without the deeds of the law. They won't mix, brothers and
sisters. They just won't mix. They won't mix. Paul found that
out, didn't he? Oh, he said, I thought I was
perfect. Remember Philippians chapter 3? Concerning the law,
I was blameless. Man, I kept all of these ceremonies
until he found out. He found out that his genealogies
meant nothing when he stood before God. Obeying the dietary laws,
keeping Sabbath days and the new moons and all of this meant
nothing. And what did he say? I count
all laws that I may win Christ." Ain't that what he said? And
be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is of
the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith. He said, I'm counting my works
and my own obedience as done. And now he comes here to verse
18 and he says, If I build again those things which I destroyed
I make myself a transgressor. He said, I've come to Christ.
I believe in Jesus Christ for all of my salvation. Now, if I turn back and grasp
that old law again, and those ceremonies and those diets and
that strict lifestyle again, I'm really a transgressor then. So we'll see next week. It's
not only being saved by Christ. It's not only having Christ to
be our life. It's Christ our living. It's
not only being saved one time to Christ. It's being saved continually
by Christ. And any time we turn from Him
to something else, we sure are a transgressor then. what the law could not do, and
that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, put sin to death
in His flesh. And next week in verse 19 and
20, we're going to see how we live. How we live as believers
in the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Lord bless you. Curtis,
would you dismiss this, dear brother?