Galatians chapter 2. Now let
me give this introduction before we look at verse 1. I'm going
to try to study down through verse 10. The main message that
is constantly put before us in this epistle is the salvation
of sinners is totally by the free and sovereign grace of God
alone in Christ Jesus through the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's
all of Him. Salvation is of the Lord. In Him, in Christ, dwells all
the fullness of the Godhead in the body, bodily. Please God
that it should be so. And believers stand absolutely
complete, justified, redeemed, and saved eternally in the Lord
Jesus Christ alone. Paul wrote to the Colossians
Colossians 3.11, that Christ is all and in all. He is all. He's everything in
salvation. Is He enough? Is the Lord Jesus
Christ enough in salvation? If He's all you've got, you've
got enough. He's everything in salvation. Justification by the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's the message here. Justification
without The works without the deeds, without the merit of the
law, justification by faith alone that looks to Christ alone. Notice in chapter 2, verse 16,
knowing, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of
the law, not justified by the works of the law, but by the
faith of Jesus Christ. by the faithfulness of Jesus
Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of and in Christ. Not by the works of the law.
Not by the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified in His sight. Sinners are justified,
He justifies the ungodly. That's what it says in Romans,
isn't it? He justifies the ungodly by His grace, and grace, grace
alone. These self-righteous Jews that
Paul calls down here in verse 4, false brethren, these self-righteous
Jews would not have the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace
alone in Paul's day. And you know what? They haven't
changed. Sinners who are going about to
establish their own righteousness by their deeds, they will not
in this day have grace alone, Christ alone, salvation by the
free and sovereign grace alone. They will not have it in our
day either. Well, preacher, how do you know that? Any time the
gospel is plainly declared in their audience, they will say,
well, but, but, but what about this? But what about that? You
know what? Sheep don't but. Sheep bow. Goats, they but. But, but, but,
but. Any attempt, any attempt to mix
law and faith, works and grace, Ceremony in Christ, Paul identified
here in chapter 1 of Galatians as a perverted message, as a
different message. And as my pastor used to say,
if it's not grace and grace alone, if you add any creature merit
to that message of grace, that gospel is another gospel that
cannot save a flea, let alone a sinner. Now look at verse 1
of chapter 2. Then he says, 14 years. 14 years
later, Paul went back to Jerusalem and he went back there over this
very issue that we read about in Acts chapter 15 verse 1. When they came back, Paul and
Barnabas from that first missionary journey, they came back to the
church there in Antioch and they declared all that God had done
with them. And as they were rejoicing in
God's mercy to sinners in Christ Jesus, God saved a multitude
of Gentiles. And the word got out to these
Jews down here in Jerusalem, and they said, ìWell, weíre going
to straighten those people out.î So they came to the church in
Antioch, and this is when they said, ìExcept you be circumcised,
except the Gentiles be circumcised for religious purposes, they
cannot be saved.î So Paul and Barnabas and others and Titus
went to Jerusalem to discuss this matter and to clear the
air. Notice verse 2, he says, I went
up. I went up. I went up to Jerusalem and I
went up by the revelation. I went up by the motivation.
I went up by the revelation of God. He declares the reason of
this trip was the purpose of God. God purposes. God brought this all about on
purpose that the issue might be settled among the church in
that day. Let's get it straight. Let's
get it right in the beginning. How does God save sinners? By
grace and grace alone. So I went up by the revelation.
I went up by the purpose of God and I communicated unto them.
I communicated. He preached to them. He declared
unto them. That gospel, notice how that's
written there, that gospel, which I preached among the Gentiles.
Now, if you'll turn back to the book of Acts and find chapter
13. In chapter 13 and chapter 14 is the record of that first journey
that Paul and Barnabas took. And the theme of their preaching
is found in chapter 13, Acts 13, verse 38 and 39. He said,
I went unto them and I declared unto the church that gospel that
I preached unto the Gentiles. Notice verse 38. Be it known
unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man, this God-man
who died for sinners, who was raised from the dead to justify
us, that through this man, the God-man, is preached unto you
the forgiveness of sins, and by him By Him alone, by His blood,
by His righteousness alone, by Him all that believe, all that
believe are justified from all things. from all sin which you
could not be justified by the law of Moses." That was the message
that Paul declared unto the Gentiles or unto the Jews and unto all
that he preached, he declared this message, salvation in Christ
Jesus. Now, look back at the text. He
went up and he declared this message, free and full remission
of sin by the blood of Christ, He put away the sin of God's
covenant people by Himself. He declared unto them justification
by the righteous obedience of Christ alone, by the faithfulness
of Christ. I'm not justified by my faithfulness,
I'm justified by Christ, His faithfulness, His obedience under
the law. I want you to find Romans chapter
3. This is that message that He
declared unto the people that day when He went to Jerusalem.
The same message that he had declared unto all those Gentile
places, all those Gentile people, where he went and declared the
gospel, free and full remission of sin, the forgiveness of sin. Now you think about that. You
know who's interested in having all their sin forgiven? Sinners. Can you get a hold of
what's being said there? By him, all that believe are
justified from all things, all my sin Our sin's gone. Look at Romans 3. Justified. Not by law, by grace. Now we
know that what things whoever the law saith, it saith to them
that are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and
all the world may become guilty before God. Romans 3, 19. You
got it? Therefore, the law declares us
guilty. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in His sight, for by
the law is the knowledge of sin." Not the removal of sin. The blood
of bulls and goats took away and atoned for how many sins?
Zero. None. None at all. By the deeds
of the law shall no flesh be justified in His sight, for by
the law is the knowledge of sin. The law exposes sin, but it doesn't
remove sin. Now, let me give you an easy
illustration to remember that. You go into a dark room, and
you flip on the light. The light exposes the cobwebs,
the dirt, and whatever's in that room. The light exposes the dirt,
but the light doesn't remove the dirt, does it? And that's
what the law does. It exposes the guilt, it exposes
the filth, it exposes the sin, but it does not remove it. Therefore,
by the deeds of the law, There shall no flesh be justified in
insight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Now look at
verse 21, but now, now the righteousness of God without the law. Now I'm interested in that. Notice
it's the righteousness that's of God. That means it's a righteousness
that's from Him. Now, if it's a righteousness
that's of God that He freely gives to me, then I know it will
be accepted in His sight. Only that which God gives will
He accept. And we are accepted in the Beloved.
But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested
being witnessed by the law and the prophets. They all declared
to Him, gave all the prophets witness to Christ. Moses, Abraham,
they all rejoiced in Christ. Even the righteousness of God,
which is by the faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all
them that believe, there is no difference. There is no difference.
For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Verse
24, underscore this, committed to your heart, being justified
freely by His grace. That's one of my favorite verses.
Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus alone. Now back to Galatians 2. So Paul
went by the purpose of God, by the revelation of God, and he
preached that same message unto that church that day there in
Jerusalem. He preached that message to The
same message that he preached to the Gentiles, he preached
to the church there in Jerusalem. But look what it says there,
"...but privately, or to several others, to them who were of reputation,"
now he's talking here about Peter, James, and John, "...lest by
any means I should run or had run in vain." Now what's he saying
here? Here's what he's saying, if his
message, if my message, the gospel, that I preached, that he preached,
needed something more than Christ, more than grace. He said my ministry,
my mission, would have been useless and fruitless. I would have run
in vain if my message needed something more than Christ alone,
something more than grace alone. He said my message and my ministry
would have been in vain, but we know it was not. It was owned
of God. and blessed of God. God owned
it and God blessed it. Now look at verse 3. So he declared
this message publicly to the church. He declared this message
privately to the big three, Peter, James, and John. And then he
said, they came to this conclusion concerning circumcision. Remember
what Peter said? We believe through the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved even as those others
They were so unanimous and in harmony over the gospel of God's
grace, they determined there was no point whatsoever to circumcise
Titus or anyone else. But neither Titus, who was with
me being a Gentile, was compelled to be circumcised. There's no
need to circumcise Titus. Their agreement over the gospel
was complete, unanimous. They all agreed that there was
no purpose, no purpose at all, to have any Gentile circumcised
for religious purposes. They received him as a brother
in Christ and as a preacher of the gospel. Now Paul wrote a
letter to Titus, remember? And in that Titus letter, chapter
3, verse 5, declares not by works of righteousness which we have
done, but according to his mercy he saved us." Not by works, by
mercy. By mercy in Christ Jesus. Now,
look at verse 4. Here's the key point in verse
4. Because of false brethren, false brethren, these Judaizers
who came and said, Christ is not enough. Now that's what they
were saying, is it not? Christ is not enough. false brethren,
they came in and they came in in a sneaky way, privily, to
spy out our liberty which we have in Christ, that they might
bring us again back under the yoke of the law, back under the
curse of the law. Now we've just been set free.
They want to bring us back under the law? No way! Paul said, to whom we gave place
by subjection. No! No! That's pretty strong, isn't it?
No! Not for one second, minute or hour. I'm not going to put
up with that. That the truth of the gospel
might continue with you. With you. These false preachers
would have Titus and every Gentile brought back under the law. Now, let me show you a scripture
here. Right here in Galatians. Turn to chapter 4. And we're
going to get to this eventually in our study here. In chapter
4, verse 21, Paul writes this to these people. He says, tell me, tell me, you
that desire to be under the law, you want to go back to the law?
Do you hear what it says? Do you hear what the law demands?
Do you know what God requires of you? Perfection. We can't
produce it. So he says, do you want to go
back under the law? Well, here's what the law says.
Turn to Galatians chapter 3 verse 10. Galatians 3 verse 10. For as many are as of the works
of the law. Are you going to go the law route? To offend in one point is to
be guilty of all the law. You who are seeking to be justified
by the works of the law, You're under the curse, for it is written,
Cursed is everyone that continues not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. And then in chapter 2,
verse 21, I think this is one of the most powerful statements
in all of Scripture concerning the necessity of Christ crucified.
He says in chapter 2, verse 21, I do not frustrate, distort,
or confuse the grace of God. For if righteousness come by
the law, then Christ is dead in vain. That's saying a whole
lot, isn't it? If I can do it myself, if I can
justify myself by the deeds of the law, I don't need the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's what he's saying. And
I tell you what, I can't honor the law of God. That's why it
says here that we have been set free. Look what it says in verse
4 again. We are liberated in Christ Jesus. Believers are liberated. Our liberty which we have in
Christ Jesus. Believers have been set free
from the curse of the law. Galatians chapter 5, look at
verse 1. Galatians 5 verse 1. Now look what he says here carefully.
Now stay with me. Stand fast therefore in the liberty
wherewith Christ hath made us free. He's made us free. Who did this? Christ did this.
He set us free. Whom the Son set free, He is
free indeed. He said, You shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free. Stand fast therefore in
that liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not
entangled again with the yoke of bondage. You remember that
verse from Acts 15? It says, Why do you tempt God
to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither we
nor our fathers were able to bear? They wanted to go back
to the law. It's much like the children of
Israel who had been set free from Egyptian bondage, and when
the way got tough and got hard, and they wanted to stone Moses
and said, let's go back to Egypt. You want to go back to Egypt?
Back to bondage? Back to slavery? Stand fast in
the liberty with which Christ has set us free, and be not entangled
again with the yoke of bondage. Behold I, Paul. Behold I, God. This is God's Word saying to
you that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. Now, we can expand this. If you
bring something in your hand, something you do, something you
think you can add to the Lord Jesus Christ, He shall profit
you nothing. Nothing. For I testify again
to every man that is circumcised, he is a debtor to do the whole
law. You're going to go the law route, you're going to do it
all. That means you better go out and get in the livestock
business. That means you better get some
lambs and some bullocks, and you better find you a high priest
of the tribe of Levi, and you better start sacrificing unto
God morning and evening, and on the day of atonement, you're
going to go that law route, it's not partial, it's either total
or none. Thank God and salvation is all
of God's grace and God's grace alone. You see, we've been set
free. Turn to Galatians 3, verse 13.
Galatians 3, verse 13. It says, Christ hath redeemed
us. That word redeemed there is delivered.
Christ hath redeemed and delivered us from the curse of the law.
How? Now, the law has to be honored. The law has to be satisfied.
I can't do it. Who did? My substitute. He became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. It says in
Isaiah 42, 21, He shall magnify the law, He shall make it honorable.
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made sin for
us. A curse for us. He was cursed
for us, bearing our sin and His own body on the tree. For it
is written, Cursed is everyone. that hangeth on the tree. He
was made sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him." My friend, we are free from the
condemnation of that law. There is therefore now no condemnation
to those who are in Christ Jesus. Turn over here to the book of
Romans once again. Romans 8, 1. There is therefore now no condemnation
to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus, watch it, verse 2, hath made me free, free
from the law of sin and death. I've been set free. So much so
that he says over here in the same chapter, Verse 32, ìHe that
spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall anything
to the charge of God elect? It is God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us.î Now who can separate
us? No condemnation and no separation. No separation. Our sins have
been separated from us. Therefore, there is no separation
to those who are in Christ Jesus. Now, find Romans 10. See, we're
set free from the curse of that law. Well, preacher, what's your
position on the law? Dead? Dead. I'm dead to the law. I'm dead
to the law through the body of Christ. Now I have to be careful
here because I know I'm in Tennessee. The laws of the state of Tennessee,
if a man is convicted of a capital crime, let's say murder in the
first degree, I don't know if you have the death penalty in
this state or not, do you? I don't know. You do. Okay, well that's
good. I'm for it. Amen. I'm for it. I'll pull the
switch. I'm for it. God's Word teaches that. It teaches
that. But now listen, if you're convicted
of a capital crime, Murder in the first degree, the law of
the state of Tennessee can condemn you and execute you how many
times? One time. In the Lord Jesus Christ,
I'm crucified, dead. The law has already exacted its
full penalty on me in Christ. That's why he says here in Galatians
2, verse 20, turn over there. Verse 19 says, "...I through
the law am dead to the law, dead to the law, that I might live
unto God." Now does faith, now listen to me carefully, does
faith make the law void? No. It honors it in Christ Jesus. But I'm dead to the law. It has
no, who can lay anything to the charge of His elect? We just
read that. I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless,
I live, yet not I, Christ liveth in me. In 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." Okay. They came in to spy out our liberty.
So what is Paul going to do? What's he going to do? Look at
verse 5. Galatians 2, verse 5. What's he going to say? Well,
you know, let's just compromise, get along. Can't we just get
along? Can't we compromise a little
bit and find some kind of way to reconcile this group and that
group, and let's just get along? You know, the truth's not really
important. What's more important is that we get together. That's what they say. Well, what's
Paul going to do here? To whom we gave place by subjection,
no. No. Not for one second. that the truth of the gospel,
it must continue. It must continue. God give us
this zeal of stubbornness. I want to be stubborn for the
gospel. They have another word for that.
They call it being dogmatic. I'm going to be dogmatic on how
God saves sinners and I'm not going to compromise. And I don't
care whose feelings I hurt. I'm more interested in God's
glory than somebody getting upset. The last time I preached through
the book of Galatians, four or five years ago, I had two families
where I pastor in Zebulun. Two families quit. Well, that's
fine. I mean, I'm sorry that they left,
but the truth exposed them for what they were. to whom we gave
place by subjection. Well, pastor, why don't you just
compromise a little bit and say that works, a little bit of works
is okay. Why don't you pacify a little
bit and pat him on the back and say, well, you know, your works
are okay. No, no, I'm not going to do that. We're not going to
compromise. He says that carefully over here
in chapter 1. He said, if I seek to please
men, I'm not the servant of Christ. Is that what he said? That's
exactly what he said. God give us this stubbornness. What is more important? Compromise
for peace or steadfastness for the truth and divisions? Didn't our Lord say, I didn't
come to give peace among men, but a sword that divides brother,
sister, father, son, Boy, I know something about that. Mother,
daughter, mother, son, I know something about that too. But
I'm not going to compromise. We are to contend for the gospel.
I didn't say be contentious, but we are to contend for the
gospel. Well, how much so? Let me show you. Find 2 John. 2 John. Now, there's just one
chapter, so we'll say 2 John 1, look at verse 9. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth
not in the doctrine of Christ..." That's the gospel of Christ.
"...hath not God. And he that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. Now if there come
any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into
your house, neither bid him good day." God's speed. "...for he that bid him God's
speed, is a partaker of his evil deeds. Our Lord called him workers
of iniquity. So, you see what Paul is doing
here? Now we need to contend exactly
the same way Paul did. Not compromise whatsoever. To whom we gave place by subjection,
know not for an hour that the truth of the gospel might continue
with you. Now look at verse 6. But of these
who seem to be somewhat, whatsoever they were, it does not make any
difference to me. For God accepts no man's person. For they who seem to be somewhat,
in conference, in our meeting, and talking here about the big
three again, the pillars, Peter, James, and John, those who seem
to be somewhat, and they were, they were God's apostles, they
were chosen specially by the Lord. But he says here, they
added nothing to me. You know what he's saying here?
They added nothing to my message. They didn't bring something new
and improved. They didn't say, well, Paul,
you know, you've got this right and this right, but you need
to add this and this and this, or you need to alter your message.
They added nothing, nothing to my message. That's what's being
said there. But verse 7, on the contrary, when they saw that
the gospel The gospel, that is the gospel of God concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. God's gospel. When they saw that
it was committed, that gospel of the uncircumcision, that gospel
that was, God said, go into all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature. That gospel was committed to
me. You remember what Paul said, I know whom I have believed and
I'm persuaded he's able to keep that which I've committed unto
him. But that gospel was committed and given to him and in turn
Paul committed to God to preach that gospel. He said, woe is
unto me if I preach not that gospel. When they saw the gospel
of the uncircumcision, that gospel that was to be preached to the
Gentile was committed unto me, just the same way that this message
was committed and given to Peter to preach to the Jew. The same Lord, Jesus Christ,
called both Paul and Peter, and they both preached one and the
same message, the Jew or Gentile salvation by grace. Now look
at verse 8. But he that wrought, and I underscore
these two words, and I love this phrase here, God works effectually. He, who is he talking about?
He's talking about God Almighty. God Almighty works effectually,
irresistibly, wonderfully, powerfully. And he worked that in Peter.
Oh, Peter, that old rough cut fisherman, had so many faults
and failures and different things. But God wrought in him effectually,
wonderfully. And he made him an apostle to
the Jew. And Paul said, the same God who
worked effectually in Peter is the same God who saved me by
His grace. He works mightily in me, and
He works mightily in me that I might preach this gospel to
sinners, to the heathen. As he says in verse 9, when James
and Cephas, Peter, now that's who Cephas is there, Peter and
John, who seemed to be pillars, and they were, they were pillars,
they were supports. God raised them up in a special
time, gave them special gifts, when
they perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave
to me in Barnabas with the right hand." They extended their approval
of our ministry, of our missionary efforts, that we should go unto
the heathen and they should go to the circumcision. God works
affectionately through the means He has ordained. And I mean by
that, the means that He has ordained, the means that He has ordained
to call out His people, to call out His sheep. He said, My sheep
will hear My voice, I know them and they follow Me. The means
that God has ordained to call out His people is the preaching
of the gospel. That's why we make so much, so
much about preaching, preaching, preaching. Not just words, but
Christ preaching Christ. You see, it pleased God to establish
these means. Now, turn over here to 1 Corinthians
chapter 1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. God works effectually through
the means He has ordained. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
by the Word of God. Look what it says. 1 Corinthians
chapter 1, verse 21. For after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by its wisdom doesn't know God. Please God. Please God. Through preaching. This world calls it foolishness.
Those who were perishing, Christ crucified is foolishness. But
through the preaching of the gospel, the Lord Jesus, it pleased
God to save them that believe. The Jews require a sign, the
Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ. We preach Christ. Remember he said in chapter 2,
I'm determined not to know anything among you but Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. We preach Christ crucified. Unto the Jews, the religious
man, it's a stumbling block. Unto the Greeks, it was just
foolishness, nonsense. But unto them which are called,
Them who are called with that gospel, Jew or Greek, Jew or
Gentile, Christ the power of God and Christ the wisdom of
God. Well, look back at the text,
and I'll wind this up. The apostles gave full support
and approval and endorsement of Paul's missionary efforts,
his apostleship to the Gentiles. Verse 10, one final request the
big three had, James, Peter and John, Peter, James and John,
only they would that we should remember the poor, remember the
poor, the same which I also was eager, I was eager to help those
who were in need. One final request, remember to
help all believers who were so impoverished And the reason they
were impoverished there in Jerusalem, you remember Paul went around
those other Gentile churches and he took up a collection,
you remember that? For the poor saint in Jerusalem,
and you know why they were impoverished? For taking a stand over the gospel. They were kicked out of society,
kicked out of the family, and they had nothing but God. And in God they had everything. They had an extended family.
And Paul was eager to take up a collection from those churches
and give to these believers in Jerusalem. I was eager to do
so. And my friend, God's people are
zealous of good works. We are His workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works. Good works are not the cause
of salvation. But they certainly are the fruit
of it. They certainly are the fruit of it. Well, we'll pick
up there next week.