I invite you to take your Bible and turn with me to the book of Galatians chapter 2 as we continue our study of Paul's epistle to the Galatian churches. I've taught of the message this morning, contending for the faith. Perhaps it could have been contending for the gospel. And it's a very fascinating passage that we'll look at today. I subtitled it The Clash of Two Titans. You have in this portion of Scripture that we will read today where Paul, the apostle, ends up rebuking publicly Peter. the Apostle. And it's a very fascinating study. There are some wonderful things to learn here, not only the recognition that the doctrines of our faith are worth fighting for, without any apology, that what we believe is that we are all sinners, and that there is none righteous, no not one, And yet we believe that God in his love, who is holy and mighty, a God who is just, has made a way of salvation that is not by works of righteousness, which you or I have done. But our salvation is according to his mercy. His grace extended to us through the very substitutionary sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ, the only begotten perfect Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary, God and man. It is that grace that Paul will now take Peter to task, not just for his conduct, responsibility that Peter had as an apostle to be unapologetic about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Would you stand with me as we read in the scriptures? Galatians chapter 2. We're going to begin looking at verse 11. I'm not sure that they can find it, but if you have your Bible, there you go. Thank you so much, Benjamin. Let's follow. Galatians 2 beginning at verse 11. And I'm going to invite you to read it with me through verse 15. Let's read together. Galatians 2 verse 11. But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. For before that, 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. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him, insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with this dissimulation. 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, Good. 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. Thank you for standing. You may be seated. Let's pray. Father, we come before your presence today. We have thoroughly enjoyed the worship of the hour in music and in fellowship. But Lord, now we would pray that that which is preeminent, the Word of God, and your display of grace and mercy that we find here, may it be that which causes us to pause and all at such love as this. The Lord bless now. May you stir our hearts with conviction where it's needed, with encouragement where it is necessary. and with faith where one might be here today who doesn't know you as Savior. Lord, may they realize in the Scriptures today the reality of our hope that is eternal in Christ and in Christ alone. In His name we pray. Amen. I hope you have your outline. I want to give you somewhat of a quick review. Galatians chapter 2 gives us two dramas. The first drama took place in Jerusalem. Paul and Barnabas had returned for their missionary journey, and I believe probably some 14 years, according to the first one, had passed by. As Paul had moved on from the church of Galatia in which there were many Gentiles that had come to save in faith, he moved on and there were Judaizers. These Jews who were preaching the obedience to the law in the sense of the Pharisees' tradition. Particularly according to Acts 15 in verse 1, they had been teaching that a man must be circumcised in order to be saved. As a result of that, the Gentile believers were in some disarray. Not only did the Judaizers attack the gospel of grace, but they also attacked Paul as an apostle. They began to sow discord that Paul really was not a man of credibility. And therefore his teachings were suspect. In fact, they ultimately led the people to believe that Paul did not have the authority of an apostle. Paul's letter to the church at Galatia is dealing with that. We've already seen that in chapter 1. In chapter 2 we've seen where Paul and Barnabas and a Gentile named Titus actually traveled up to Jerusalem. And in Jerusalem they met privately with the apostles and they met privately with some of the leaders of the church. Out of that meeting came this. the recognition that as Peter surely was called to preach the gospel to the circumcision, that is to the Jews, that they also saw in Paul the call of God to be an apostle to the uncircumcised or to the Gentiles. After that private meeting, there was a public meeting. In that public meeting, the Judaizers, these Pharisee-type Jews who claimed to be believers, actually came to this public meeting, this council of the church. And there they challenged the very gospel of Jesus Christ. They defended their position that the Gentiles might be saved, but they could only be saved if they were willing to follow the traditions and the ordinance, if you would, of the Pharisees and their teaching, and that particularly one of circumcision. The decision was made after Paul spoke. that James, the half-brother of Christ, who was one of the leaders of the church, stood and he said in front of all the church that the gospel of grace was the only means of salvation. And that Peter, who stood also, recognized that God is no respecter of persons, whether it be Jew or Gentile, whether it would be Greek or it would be Spanish, whether it would be American or it would be Middle Eastern. The means of salvation is only by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Now that brings us to the second drama. Look with me at verse 11, the passage of Scripture that you read today, and I want to give you some thoughts to go on your outline. Here's the first. The first is the cast of characters. Who was involved in this dynamic, this drama that we see in Galatians chapter 2? Well, we know two of the principal characters was this. The first was Paul. Paul, the one that the church in Jerusalem had already decided, he indeed shows the blessing and the anointing of the Holy Spirit on his life and ministry. So Paul is the primary character here. But there's another character, and his name is Peter. Peter the apostle. Peter, the beloved one whom Christ said he would give the keys of the kingdom, that is, the keys of the gospel, as he would begin preaching on the day of Pentecost. He was often the spokesman for the apostles. He was known for his boldness. Well, Peter arrives in Antioch. And he begins to eat and fellowship with the Gentiles. He's sitting at the table with them, things that an Orthodox Jew would have never done, particularly one of the Pharisees. Then there are four others that I want to give you as well. The first would be this, the Gentile believers. Look if you would in your Bible in verse 12. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles. Now those are Gentile believers. In verse 13 you see a second group of characters. And we read them in verse 13. The other Jews, being other believers who were members of the church in Antioch, uses a word that you may not have known, dissembled. That is a word that means a hypocrite. One who departs from where they said their doctrine stood, and they dissembled, and they went to a different position. There's another one we find in verse 13, and his name is Barnabas. Who is Barnabas? Barnabas was the close companion of Paul. He had been anointed and ordained by the church in Antioch just like Paul was at the same time. Barnabas went on that first great missionary journey. Barnabas had seen the Gentiles come to saving faith in Jesus Christ. And as a result of his ministry and Paul's ministry, there were churches that were started throughout what we call today modern Turkey. Barnabas also is that man that we will see is one that is easily moved aside. And we're going to see that in a few weeks. But I want you to go back and consider this then. Barnabas was the heartbeat of Paul. They were men who shared faith and preaching and persecution. They had known what it was to suffer for the gospel. And then the next one that you find also are the adversaries. And you can see them in the Scriptures here, going back to verse 11. Peter was come to Antioch, and I withstood him. Verse 12, for before that certain came from James. Those are the adversaries. Let me walk you through just a little bit. Where is Antioch? Antioch is an ancient city about 300 miles north of Jerusalem. We would probably put it in today modern Syria would have been the location. It was about 60 miles inland from the Mediterranean Sea. And so that is the setting. It was a very prominent city. And in the Scriptures, apart from Jerusalem, in the first century, Antioch is the hub from which missionaries are being sent, a vibrant church. But in Galatians, It is a church that was divided. Divided over what? Divided over these enemies of the gospel that had come in, and they had been sowing discord in that ministry. Now that brings me to, on your second point on your outline, what I'm calling the chronicle. Or if you would, the history of Peter's visit to Antioch. It's important to know when did this happen? When did Peter decide to go to Antioch? Here's a few things that we do know. the Jerusalem council. So Paul, Barnabas, Titus, they had gone to Jerusalem. They had presented the gospel that they were preaching. They had received the blessing of the apostles in that church, and they had gone back to Antioch. We also know that it was before the second missionary journey. You might know in the scriptures over in Acts 15, I think it is, that sometime after what we're reading here, Paul and Barnabas have a little bit of a falling out. over a man named Mark. Remember Mark? Mark wanted to go on the missions trip with Paul and Barnabas and Paul said no. He's already departed once. We're not going to take him again. And Barnabas and Paul divided over that. And so now we've got a little bit of the timeline when this is occurring. Now I want to give you the second thought and that is this delegation that comes. And so on your outline, the first is the timeline after the Jerusalem Council. The second is before the second delegation. And letter B, the trouble. So we've got the timeline. Now verse 12, we're going to look at the trouble. Let's look at the trouble. Galatians 2 verse 12. Peter has arrived in Antioch. He's been fellowshipping with the Gentile uncircumcised believers in the church. He's been breaking bread with them. He's been eating with them. Paul will say, Peter, you've been living like a Gentile among the Gentiles. So what happens when a second delegation comes from the Jerusalem church? Let's look at verse 12. And before that, before certain from James, all right? Now, question in history. We know that this James is the half-brother of Christ. He is the leader of the church in Jerusalem, one of the leaders that's there. James the apostle is already a martyr. And so in verse 12, certain came from James. Now, did James send them? Did James send them knowing that they were going to teach a false doctrine? And my thought is no. But I do believe that they came presuming the authority of James. Now let's read and see what happens here. Verse 12 then. For before that, certain came from James. Before men came from James, here's what we read. Peter. He did eat with the Gentiles, uncircumcised believers in the church in Antioch. But when they, these certain Jews from Jerusalem, from James, when they were come, Peter withdrew and he separated himself. From whom? From the Gentiles, fearing them which were of the circumcision. Let me walk you through that, all right? Delegation has come from Jerusalem. They've traveled 300 miles. They are coming, saying that they are coming with the authority of the Jerusalem church. They arrive in Antioch. Here's Peter. Peter's breaking bread with the Gentiles. He's eating with the Gentiles. He's worshiping with the Gentiles. He's a brother with the Gentiles until certain Jews come to Antioch. A couple of things then you'll notice. The first one is this. Look at verse 12 again. And I want you to notice the failure. Peter's failure. What did he do? When these outsiders, these Jews from Jerusalem came, we read that Peter withdrew himself. Here's the meaning of that. He shunned the Gentile believers. He separated himself from them. I'm going to put it in our culture, if you would. I'm young enough that I don't remember many of the prejudices of America. I don't remember separate water fountains, and I don't remember separate bathrooms. That was before my time. But I'm often amazed in our culture, how did the churches who know the scriptures, how were they ever a prejudicial group towards different races. And here we have many cultures. We have different races that are represented here. We come together and we worship without any thought. But turn the clock back to the 50s or before in the South, and it would have been a whole different matter, would we all agree, from what we know about history. But we know biblically that type of prejudice can never be justified. We are brothers and sisters in Christ. Amen? Now, the difference between the Jews and the Gentiles was not one of just race. It was one of religion. These Gentiles in Antioch would have worshipped many gods. In fact, the Jewish culture was very unique in this monotheistic one God worship. And the thought in the Jewish mind of breaking bread and eating with Gentiles who had been idolaters was something that they looked upon with abhorrence. And so these Jews arrived in Jerusalem. And what does Peter do? His failure is he withdrew himself. And another word we see there, and he separated himself. He separated himself from the very ones that he loved and he fellowshiped with. Make it in a more personal way to me. I'm the son of a cotton mill worker. My dad went up through the company. He ended up being a supervisor and did well in life. But I grew up a country bumpkin. My southern would have been so thick, some of you would not have understood what I said when I went off to school. And so I get my education, right? Speech, singing, trained in how to shape my vowels and how to consonants, and all of a sudden the farm boy is now speaking. Then my mom and dad visited me my sophomore year. Remember, I've got, I got education now. But my mom and dad were Southern. And I was embarrassed. There's a difference in culture. There was a clash of who I believed I had become. And from whence I came. Have you ever had that prejudice in your life towards someone? Let's keep going. So we understand Peter, don't we? Eating with the Gentiles. and then separating. Notice the motive though, and I want to draw your attention there. Galatians 2 verse 12, For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles. But when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself. And then notice the phrase, fearing them which were of the circumcision. You know why I was foolishly as a 17-year-old sophomore in college, why I foolishly was embarrassed Not because I didn't love my mom and dad, but because I feared the others who had become my friends. That's what Peter did here. He became more concerned about what the Judaizers from Jerusalem thought about him than he did his love and his affection and his oneness with his brothers and sisters in Christ who happened to be Gentiles. Let me give you a verse, and I don't believe it's on this PowerPoint. Proverbs 29, 25. You might want to write this down. Proverbs 29, 25 says this. The fear of man bringeth a snare. But whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be saved. I wonder how often we are silent in this culture. when we live in a society that desperately needs to hear the truth. We live in a society that needs somebody to have the courage and the fortitude to say when something is a sin, that it is a sin. And when something is a great wickedness, it is a great wickedness. We need believers who have the fortitude and the courage to speak the truth even if it means being alone in the process. Someone has said this, that courage is fear that has said its prayers. I like that, don't you? It's not that I'm more courageous than somebody else, it's that I just prayerfully went into the lion's den and I faced Let me take you further. Number three on your outline, not only the cast of characters of the Chronicle of Peter's visit, but now let's look at this confrontation between titans, this confrontation between Paul and Peter. And I find it fascinating when I read it. Look at Galatians 2 again and go back up to verse 11. In verse 11 we read this, the public censure, I withstood him, Peter, to the face. I could imagine some of the Judaizers were thinking, who, what gives you the right, Paul? I mean, after all, Peter's one of the disciples. Peter is one of the apostles. Peter's one of the great preachers. Who are you, Paul? And that is the point. You see, when we look at verse 11, I withstood him to the face, we understand that there are two dynamics here. The first dynamic is this. The Judaizers had challenged the gospel of grace that salvation is by faith through grace, through faith in Christ and in Christ alone. And so that was one of the reasons that there has to be something publicly that is said. And the other is the confrontation of Paul to Peter. It proved that Paul was Peter's equal. I know what the Catholic Church teaches, but this portion of Scripture alone isolates the fact that Peter was just a man. Chosen of God, but he was just a man, a man who could be at fault. We'll come back to that, though. Notice in verse 13, the crisis, I'm calling it, of compromise. In verse 13, the other Jews, Jewish believers, they dissembled. They acted like hypocrites with Peter. In so much, Paul writes, that even Barnabas was carried away, literally seduced with their hypocrisy. I can imagine Paul saying to Barnabas, What are you thinking, Barnabas? I mean, we just went over this in Jerusalem. We took our stand. We know that the Jerusalem church and the apostles and the leaders, they have said that salvation is by grace through faith in Christ alone. And now you're siding with Peter, who is being a hypocrite himself. And so that's the crisis of compromise. But number four, and I want to get to this, the central issue. You know, all the other things I've shared with you today, they're true, they're important, and there are things that we should consider. But I want you to consider what I'm going to call the main thing this morning. And notice it in verse 14. And I hope that you have your Bible for this point. Paul's controversy with Peter. Let's look at verse 14. This is one of the great moments in church history. Paul writes now to the church at Galatia. He's telling the churches in Galatia, listen, we've already gone over this. Let me tell you what happened in Jerusalem. Now let me tell you what happened in Antioch about this matter of salvation by grace through faith. And so here's what happened to the churches in Galatia. Look at verse 14. Paul writes, But when I saw, or I understood, now notice how Paul writes this, that they walked not uprightly. Now I put on the PowerPoint what the literal meaning of walked is. It is to walk a straight path. In other words, this is what I believe. Here is my conviction. This is where I stand. The churches affirm that. The scriptures have affirmed that. Peter has preached that. The Jerusalem church has sided with the salvation by grace through faith. It is what Paul and Barnabas have been preaching in their missionary journeys. And now he says of Peter, Barnabas, and of the other Jewish believers. And he says they no longer walk the straight line. turned aside. In fact, going on in verse 14, when I saw that they walked not a straight path, not uprightly. The word uprightly means sure-footed. Think about a goat. Do you ever see pictures of goats up on a cliff on the hillside? And the first thing you wonder is, how did they get there? The second thing you wonder is, how are they standing there? And the third thing you wonder is, how are they going to get down from there? sure-footed. But Paul says of Peter and Barnabas and the others that they're no longer sure-footed. They are wavering in their doctrine. And what is that doctrine? Look again at verse 14. But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel. And so the main thing here is the gospel. and its truth. Judaizers have arrived in Antioch, and they immediately, by their very presence, began to pressure Peter and the other Jewish believers according to the Pharisees' interpretation of the law. And so that would be that a good Jew would not eat with a Gentile. A good Jew would not worship with a Gentile. A good Jew would recognize that a Gentile is uncircumcised. And on that basis alone, we will separate. And unfortunately, Peter was drawn away from the truth. Now let's continue in verse 14. If thou being a Jew... Now here is where he begins to reason with them. Peter, we're going to direct it to him even though Barnabas and the others are there. Peter, I said unto Peter before them all publicly, Peter, if you are a Jew and yet you've been living like a Gentile, and yet now as the Jews arrive here from Jerusalem, You've not been living as the Jews, you've been living as the Gentiles. Why then, Peter, are you compelling the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? Peter, how could you suddenly separate from your brothers and sisters in Christ who are Gentiles? And then come over here and fellowship with these Judaizers that are teaching that you can only be saved if you obey the law apart from grace. And now you're over here fellowshipping, and the message you have sent to the Gentiles is that they are not counted as a brother in Christ. How could you do that, Peter? Thou being a Jew, you've been living with the liberty of a Gentile. Now you've rejected that liberty, and now you're over here just with those who are the Judaizers. A couple of thoughts here, and I don't know if it's on the PowerPoint. It was the truth of the gospel, that central doctrine of our faith, that salvation is by grace through faith in Christ. Paul was defending. Peter betrayed it. He dissimulated. He became a hypocrite. Notice a couple of verses just for someone that might be here today and might be visiting. Here's what the Bible teaches about salvation. Titus 3 and verse 5. Not by works of righteousness, any good that I've done, keeping the law, being a good son, being a member of the church, being baptized, being gracious and giving, not by any of the works of righteousness which I have done. I'm not going to be saved by any keeping of a law because salvation is not my works. It's God's grace. It's His mercy. And so we recognize this. We're not saved because we merit God's favor. We're saved because God is merciful. Ephesians 2, Paul writes, for by God's unmerited favor, grace, are you saved? When I came to know Jesus Christ as Savior, the preacher had to get me lost. He realized I was a sinner. And then He had to convince me that the wages of sin is death. And then He took me to the good news. And that good news was this. Travis, salvation is not what you can do for God. It's what He has already done for you through the sacrifice of His Son. So as you sit in this auditorium this morning, there's not one of us that can stand and say, let me tell you all the good that I've done and how I earned God's favor. Not one of us. Let's continue though. Notice then if you would, the controversy, but notice the compromise. And I've already covered that pretty much. I'll just give you two points under that. The first is the argument and Peter failed miserably by his conduct. He really betrayed the gospel, separating from Gentile believers. And then the second is Paul's assertion. And the assertion is this in verse 14. Peter's preaching and his practice were in conflict. He was preaching the gospel of grace. He arrived in Antioch and he and Paul and Barnabas and the others and they're fellowshipping with these Gentile believers who came to know Jesus Christ as Savior. And it's a wonderful time of fellowship. But as soon as the Judaizers, the legalists arrived, Peter's hypocrisy comes out and he no longer will eat with them. Paul's concern, and I've already walked you through this, but let me walk you through it a little bit towards the end. Paul's concern was the gospel of Christ and the grace of God. Peter had compromised, and in the compromise he had failed the gospel. Listen, he had actually taken the side of Paul's adversaries. They were enemies of the gospel of grace. They were enemies of Paul. And they were heretics in their teaching. Look at verse 15 and verse 16. And then we'll draw some applications as we close. Now notice this continues, this reasoning and this public challenge. I don't know how many are watching. We know that Peter is there. We know that Barnabas is there. We know the other Jews are there. We know that the Judaizers are there and perhaps the Gentile believers. They're all listening to this very public confrontation. Look at verse 15 then. And so the reasoning continues. All the Jewish men that were standing there, Paul and Peter in particular, we who are Jews by nature, literally we are the lineage of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. We are birthed Jews. We who are Jews then by birth and not sinners or heathen are the Gentiles. Verse 16, here is what we know, Peter. Knowing that a man is declared innocent is justified, not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. He's continuing to expand on how a man might be saved. Verse 16 then, Peter, we know that no man is ever justified by keeping the law. We know that. We know that circumcision will not save. We know that all the guidelines and the laws of the Pharisees, we know that keeping all those things will never save a man. But here's what we do know in this verse. but by the faith of Jesus Christ. The word faith there is the belief, the trust, the conviction. Do I believe that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God, crucified for my sins, buried and raised from the dead? Do I believe that faith in Christ? Then Paul goes on and he writes, Peter, we have believed in Jesus Christ. that we might be justified, that is literally declared innocent, not by my works but by my faith in Christ. Why? Because Christ's death and His shedding of His blood and His suffering, it paid my debt. It paid what I owe. I was born into this world a sinner. I lived a sinner's life. I had the nature of a sinner. And the Bible says in the wages of sin is death. Not just physical death, but that separation from God. But I have faith. I have faith that Christ's death on the cross is sufficient for my sin. Peter, we know that. We know that to be. I want to close by giving you some thoughts that are more personal in the application. Look again at verse 11. And on your outline, Peter's public failure demanded public correction. Look at verse 11. When Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face. And then these words, he was to be blamed. Notice in that rebuke a couple of thoughts. The first is this, Paul's rebuke of Peter was public and it was direct. He openly opposed and reproved Peter. He didn't begin a whisper campaign. talking to other people about how much of a hypocrite Peter was being. He didn't begin whispering among the ladies of the church who were then whispering to their husbands about what a hypocrite Peter has become. No. He was, notice on your outline, he was public and direct. Notice in the reproof, he was specific. Again, verse 11, he was to be blamed. Why? Because Peter's actions were hypocritical and everyone could see it. Let me say this to you. We live in a day today when you say anything boldly that everybody ends up having a hissy fit. If the preacher says something bold and direct, well, he's just being mean-spirited, right? And we end up with preachers all across America that are afraid of their congregations, when they should be more afraid of a God who is holy. And so I love you, but I don't know that I ever mince my words. Let's look at Peter's actions here. He wants to be blamed. I want to give you three thoughts that go with that. It's found in verse 14. The first is this. Peter was dishonest. In verse 14, we read this of Peter and the others. Paul writes, And when I saw that they walked not uprightly... They weren't on a straight path. They lacked integrity. Peter preached the gospel, but now he's practicing something different. The very ones that Peter was breaking fellowship with Gentile believers to fellowship with the Judaizers were the very ones in Galatians chapter 1 that Paul had said, let them be accursed. The Judaizers were the ones that Paul had said, they're preaching another gospel, and it's not another gospel. And those are the very ones that Peter, the apostle, he is now fellowshipping with them. Peter lacked integrity. He was dishonest. Here's another. Peter's actions were destructive. By the way, I just hit a point, and I've got a moment in doing this. Some of you are members of churches, or you were, where you called in a new preacher, and that new preacher came in the door. Maybe he subtly did not even tell you, I'm going to go a different way, but he did. And you sat there and you watched your music change, you watched the preaching change, because the man in the pulpit lacked integrity. It's one of the things that I've said about Christian colleges, Dr. Eustra. We've got men taking over Christian colleges who do not go in the door as a president and say who they are. And then they take the college in a different direction. At some point, as God's people, we have to stop being silent lambs, and we have to start being vocal lambs. That was free. Look at the destructive part, if you would. Again, verse 14, what was the destruction? Well, let's look at it. 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 compelst thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? Peter's actions were an offense. It was an offense against the truth, the doctrine of the gospel, and it was an offense against the brethren who were Jewish. And then thirdly, Peter's actions were also a failure in conduct, not doctrine. Somebody would say, well, Peter hasn't said anything that's wrong. Well, no, he hasn't. It wasn't what he said. It was what he was doing that was the problem. Paul took him on not because he had preached that the gospel is no longer by grace through faith. Paul took him on because by his actions he had denied the truth. And then that brings me to another principle. And I've got a little bit of time. Letter B on your outline. Are you awake? Yes. Strong message. Yes. Principle, error demands reproof. Public error demands public reproof. Got that? In other words, you deal with the sin to the breadth that that sin has an effect. particularly with this here, an elder. Let me walk you through this. 1 Timothy 5, you might want to turn there. It might be on the PowerPoint. Let's look at these two verses. Here's the thought. Accusations should be addressed appropriately. Appropriately. Let's look at 1 Timothy 5, verse 19. Against an elder, received not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses. Now let me pause there. What is an elder? Elder can be an older man, but in this context in 1 Timothy 5, it is a pastor. Okay, and so let's walk this out. What did Peter, or what did Paul do to Peter? He rebuked him in public. Why did he rebuke him in public? Because Peter's sin was not only a public sin, dissimulation, hypocrisy, but he also had other Jews and Barnabas himself even followed Peter into the air. 1 Timothy 5 verse 19 then is the principle. When there is a public sin or when there is an accusation brought against an elder, receive not the accusation but before two or three witnesses. Now let me pause there. If Peter's sin had been private, Paul would have dealt with him in private. But Peter's sin was public and it was known by the church. But there are times that somebody will make an accusation against a pastor, might be this pastor, might be another pastor, and they'll start a whisper campaign, and they'll start talking. And as a result of that, problems start to arise within the church itself. A few years ago, I had godly men on the deacons here, and I still do, praise the Lord. But I had staff that began a whisper campaign, and I had to step back, Doc, and turn it over to the deacons to get to the bottom. The witnesses, two or three, are witnesses to the accusation. So let's say somebody brings an accusation against Pastor Justin. As a member, that accusation should not be received unless three others are there to validate the accusation. Why? They are there to validate not only Pastor Justin's defense, but what was said. and the manner in which it was said. Go to verse 20. Verse 20 then we see this. Them that sin, rebuke before all that others also may fear. Now this is still dealing with the pastor. If the pastor's sin is egregious, that it is a sin that must be dealt with publicly, as hurtful and humbling and humiliating as that is, it is the only path for righteousness and truth to be established. So let me ask you this morning, and I've got one more point. When you hear things about me or one of the other pastors, The first thing you do is say, stop right there and let's either go to the pastor or let's get two or three others who are going to hear what you're about to say. If you don't do that, you can destroy good men and their ministry because of your sin and your failure. Do you understand that? And then I close with this last one, and I know this has been a little bit of a long message, but let me take you to Galatians 6.1. Two sides to correcting and restoring a sinning brother or sister. One is reproof, and let's look at it. Galatians 6.1, it's on the PowerPoint. Brethren, if a man is overtaken in a fault, that is, in a sin, You which are spiritual, and we have four points here in this verse. The first is the qualification of the person who seeks to go to somebody about their sin. One, you must be spiritual. Spiritually minded, spiritually discerning. Number two, your goal in going is not to be vindictive, but it is to restore them. restore them to fellowship, restore them to service, restore the bridge that has been burnt, if you would, by sin. The third is the manner. The matter is in the spirit of humility, the spirit of meekness, that restraining the strength and having a mildness in how you go. And then the fourth is the spirit in which you go. Considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. That's how you solve problems. And so you know someone in the body of Christ, they're sinning. They're tripped up in their sin. The spiritual ones are the ones that have the responsibility to go. The goal for going is to restore them. The matter in going is meekness. And then finally the spirit in going is humility. Because I know I'm not perfect. And I know how easy it would be for me to be sitting with Peter and breaking bread. And then I close with one last one. Not only the reproof, but then the restoration. You know the passage doesn't say here how Peter responded. But I can look at the epistle of 1 and 2 Peter, and I can come to the conclusion when Paul was finished rebuking him in public, that I believe Peter put the gospel of grace above himself. And I believe Peter humbled himself, yes, before the apostle to the Gentiles. We're going to close this morning. The main thing was what? The gospel of grace. And if you're here today and you know Jesus Christ as Savior, Confidence in Christ is not meriting His favor, but it's recognizing who He is and recognizing all that He has done for you on the cross. He died for our sins. Aren't we glad that His shedding of blood, His suffering and death is sufficient to cover our sins?