The text for the sermon this morning is Galatians chapter 2 verses 1 and 2. And after 14 years, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas and also took Titus with me. And I went up by revelation and communicated to them that gospel, which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those who were of reputation. lest by any means I might run or had run in vain. Beloved congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul writes in Galatians chapter one verse 18 that he went up to Jerusalem three years after his conversion on the road to Damascus when it pleased God to call him through his grace and reveal his son in him that Paul might preach Christ and Him crucified among the Gentiles, the non-Jews who make up all the other nations of the world. The risen Savior and King, Jesus Christ, commissioned Paul and sent him as his holy apostle to the Gentiles. Galatians chapter 2 verse 1, Paul writes that he went up again to Jerusalem 14 years after his conversion with Barnabas and Titus. He went up by revelation. God revealed to Paul that he should go up to Jerusalem with Barnabas and Titus in order to confirm his teaching and preaching with the authority of God himself. The fact that he went up to Jerusalem by divine oracle, by direct revelation from God, should have been more than enough to overcome the obstinacy of those false brethren who were attacking Paul and claimed that he was no apostle of Jesus Christ and that the gospel he preached and taught was not the gospel the other apostles preached and taught. Paul communicated to the other apostles at Jerusalem the gospel that he preached among the Gentiles. He reported the substance of his preaching and teaching to them, and they subscribed and agreed to it. Without dispute or protest, the other apostles approved of his preaching and teaching. Paul did not want to preach the gospel in vain because people do not trust him, but oppose him and are not edified and led to Christ. It was a formidable, battering ram for shaking weak consciences when the impostors falsely declared that the gospel Paul preached is contrary to the doctrine of the apostles. and therefore many fell away. The certainty of faith does not depend on the agreement of men. We are duty bound to rest on the truth of God so that neither men nor all the angels may move or dislodge us. Yet it is a great trial for the ignorant and for those who hardly know any sound doctrine. when they hear eminent teachers of God's holy word disagreeing among themselves. Satan sometimes upsets the faith of even strong believers by showing them the strife and the division of those who ought to be one in mind, one in voice, and one in heart. It's hard to say how many have turned away from the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and have had their faith shaken and have made shipwreck of the faith by the disastrous fighting in the body of Christ when men of the highest authority contend against one another on a most important question. The agreement of all teachers is a powerful aid in the confirmation of faith. Since Satan was trying so hard to hinder the progress of the gospel, Paul confronts the wicked work of Satan. When Paul clearly showed that he agreed with all the other apostles in Jerusalem, every hindrance to the gospel was removed at once. Weak disciples were no longer perplexed by doubt as to whom they should follow. In order that he might not run in vain, Paul set at rest the doubt that was distressing many concerning whether Paul was right or Peter was right. Paul showed that he was in full accord with Peter in everything he ever taught and preached. If many today were as heartily desirous to edify the church of God as Paul was, they would take more care to be agreed among themselves. We read at the beginning of this letter to the Galatians that the gospel which Paul preached to the Gentiles was being challenged. It was being challenged by false brethren who had come in secretly. What exactly about the gospel which Paul preached was being challenged? Precisely, what aspect of the gospel was it that was being attacked or challenged? We have the answer in Galatians chapter two, verse four, where Paul is describing what the false brethren did. And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus that they might bring us into bondage. What is the epistle to the Galatians all about? What is the argument of it? What is the pointed issue in it? It is the liberty which Christians have in Christ. That is what is under dispute. That is what the false brethren were trying to challenge. The liberty that Christians have in Jesus Christ. Do you know what Paul is speaking about? Do you know what this epistle to the Galatians is all about? Why it is in the Bible? Do you know what it is to have a liberty, to have freedom? in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you do not, then this whole letter will mean nothing to you. Do you remember Jesus? When he was arguing and reasoning with the Jews and with the multitudes of people, he said on one occasion in John 8, verse 36, therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free. Indeed, have you discovered that freedom? Have you discovered that you can have a relationship with Jesus and that relationship frees you? It gives you liberty. That is what the gospel is all about. That is what this dispute in the churches of Galatia was all about, the freedom that Christ gives us. You may ask, what is this freedom? Jesus said, I will give you a freedom that is quite different from what you will get anywhere else in this world. What is that freedom? First of all, it is freedom from the curse of sin. When sin entered the universe, it did not enter it alone. brought something with it. It brought a curse, and that curse pervades not just your heart and soul, but it pervades the entire universe. When man sinned, it brought a disjunction into the whole function of the universe, so that now on earth there are weeds growing in the garden. There were no weeds in paradise before, before Adam sinned. There were no storms. There was no disorder, no disjunction in the universe until sin. There's a curse on the whole universe, not just on us. Why is it that there seems to be one family on the street or one family in the neighborhood that suffers all the deaths? One woman lost her father, she lost her mother, she lost her daughter, she lost her husband, all in such a short period of time. And the person next door lost no one. Why is that? That is part of the curse on society. It is not that that person is more wicked than anyone else. It is that the whole of society is under a curse, the curse of sin. Anyone who knows anything about the Christian religion and about the Bible knows that the penalty, the curse on sin, is that those who die unforgiven land in a lost eternity in hell. Christ says, I will free you from that burden. You do not need to have that hanging over your head. If the Son makes you free, He will make you free from the curse. The curse of entering a lost eternity after this world is gone. Part of the curse is that there are difficulties and problems and trouble in this life. And the curse on unbelievers is that everything that happens in this world eventually turns out for their ruin. Even the good things turn out for their destruction in the end. But Christ says, you come to me, you put your faith in me, and everything that happens to you in this world, even the bad things, will eventually turn out for your benefit, for your good. Christ says, I will free you from the curse of sin. But he also says, I will free you from the pleasure of sin. In the last analysis, why do we sin? Do you get up in the morning and say, I have to sin today. Whatever I do, I have to sin. Do you? No, you do not. But you still sin. Why? Because sin has promised you pleasure. You think you will be happy if you do it. And we sin because in the last analysis we want to. But Jesus says if the Son makes you free, you will be free. I can free you from wanting to enjoy the pleasure of sin. I can take away the pleasure of sin. There's a third aspect of the liberty Christ gives us. When the angel came to Joseph and to Mary and announced that she was going to have a son, he told both of them, you shall call his name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. He will save them from the curse of sin. He will save them from the pleasure of sin, which in the last analysis is why we sin. It also means He will save you from the power of sin. The power of addiction to sin. Have you ever met somebody who says, I no longer enjoy this, but I cannot stop it. I have this addiction, and it has this power over me, and I cannot free myself from it. Christ says, I know that. Come to me. I will give you this freedom from the power of sin to dominate and control your life. If the Son makes you free, You will be free indeed, Christ said. One other aspect of this freedom is that Christian freedom is actually freedom to enjoy worshiping God. None of us enjoy worshiping God by nature. You can be made to worship God. You can go to church. You can be made to go to church. You can be made to read the Bible. You can be made to pray. But Jesus says the freedom that I give you is a freedom to enjoy and to love worshiping God and serving Him. Christian freedom in the last analysis is freedom to serve God. The gospel which Paul preached, the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, promises this freedom in Christ immediately when someone turns to Christ in faith. That is the gospel which Paul preached. That gospel which I preach is a gospel whereby anyone, the first moment they turn to Christ in faith, receives that freedom. There is no exam to take. There is no course to study. There is no waiting. Immediately they have this freedom the moment they turn in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the gospel which Paul preached. And Paul preached that you receive this freedom instantly. Free. It is free. There is no small print. There are no exclusion clauses. It does not say after the first 30 days you have to pay something. Companies like to give you something for free for the first 30 days, and then you have to pay for it every month. The freedom that Christ gives is freedom that is truly free, and it is for anyone. You do not have to be special. You do not have to have a change in you first. The Gospel is offered to everyone, Jew or Gentile. The argument here in the book of Galatians about the Jews is not that they could not have it. It was not that the Gentiles could not have it. That was not the argument. Paul preached this freely and he said anyone without fail, Jew or Gentile, can have this freely. The heresy in Galatia had nothing to do with that. They accepted that, all that was true. They maintained even the Gentiles could have that freedom in the Lord Jesus Christ instantly, freely, as long as they were circumcised first. They had their little plus. They had their little addition. They said, yes, that is right, Paul. That is true. The Gentiles are allowed. They can be Christian in a moment, but they must be circumcised first. That was the argument. That was the difficulty. That is why this letter to the Galatian churches is in our Bible. That is why we need to study it today, because there's always this attack on the Christian faith, on the Christian gospel. That gospel which Paul preached was by faith alone, not faith as long as you are something else, not faith plus anything else. Churches today have to be careful. It is not faith plus your view on versions of the Bible, It is not faith plus your view on the sacraments. It is not faith plus what you think of the Reformed faith. It is not faith plus your view on tongues or the charismatic movement. Simply faith alone in Jesus Christ liberates, frees, from the bondage. But these people had infiltrated the church and taught that you must have something else with faith. And in this case, it was that you had to be circumcised. They knew that the Gentiles could not be born Jewish, but they said they could be circumcised. Why is it that we can only receive this liberty, this freedom, which Christ promises by faith alone. Because it is faith which unites someone to the Lord Jesus Christ. All the blessings of the gospel can only belong to you and to me if we are united to the Lord Jesus Christ by faith. It is interesting to listen to some people give their testimony and try to find out the exact moment their sins were forgiven, the exact moment they had peace with God, the exact moment they were on their way to heaven. It is not always possible to know the exact moment. The trouble is that we cannot identify it, but the exact moment is the moment that you are united to Jesus. How does one get united to Jesus? Just by believing on Him. Simply by believing on Him. The faith that believes in Christ unites us to Christ. We have forgiveness of all our sins because we are in Christ and Christ is the eternal Son of God. We are sanctified because Christ is sanctified. We have the Holy Spirit because Christ has the Holy Spirit. We have eternal life because Christ has eternal life. We are considered sinless because Christ is sinless and we are united to Him. The moment you go away from Christ, You do not have any of these things. If you are not in Christ, then you do not have these things. But if you are in Christ, you have these things because Christ has these things. There's no sin in Christ. So God looks at you and he sees Christ. He sees Christ's sin. He sees Christ's purity. He sees Christ's holiness. So you are pure, you are holy in God's sight. Not because you have not done anything wrong, but because you are in Christ and you can only be united to Christ by believing in him through faith alone. You have none of these things if you are not in Christ. Are you in Christ? Are you united to the Lord Jesus Christ by true and living faith? Are you clinging to him? Are you at one with him? The whole argument here in Galatians is only faith unites to Christ. Galatians 2, verse 16 spells it all out. Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law. For by the works of the law, no flesh shall be justified. Justified simply means declared. made right with God and therefore being forgiven all your sins and being at peace with God and possessing the Holy Spirit and having eternal life and on your way to heaven where you will enjoy the favor and the blessing of the presence of God forever and ever without end. This is what Paul says in verse six, those who seem to be pillars in the church, those who seem to be something added nothing to me. They added nothing. But simply believing by faith. Makes you right with God. Paul struggled with this very issue. Verse one points out, even after 14 years, he was still wrestling with this issue because of the false brethren who kept attacking him. So he decided he would go up to the church leaders in Jerusalem, to the apostles, and sort this out with them. That gospel which he was preaching, he received by revelation from God. Paul says, I did not receive it from a man, I received it from God. But he says, I wanted to know whether this gospel that I received from God that I was preaching, was this what Peter and James and John and the church at Jerusalem believed? He says, I went out privately to them. Privately I went to those of reputation. I did not want a different gospel from what was being preached in the Jerusalem church by the apostles of the Lord Jesus. He says, they gave me the right hand of fellowship and they said, yes, that is the gospel. That is the only gospel there is. Paul himself said it was proved by the fact that Titus, who was not circumcised, was accepted by the apostles in Jerusalem. This gospel that I preach, that a man is justified by faith alone, is the truth of the gospel. And it was confirmed when he went privately to those who were seen to be pillars, not that that is important, he says, but I went to them, I sought their blessing and their agreement. That is what the argument and that is what the proof was all about. Faith alone in Jesus Christ unites us to Christ. And if we are united to Him, we have all these blessings. Be assured that although it is faith alone that unites us to Jesus Christ, faith is not alone. It will bring along with it fruit. It will bring about a new lifestyle. It will bring about a new heart. The only thing they said in verse 10 is they desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do. Paul was eager to remember the poor. It was not all just theology in Paul's head. He was eager to remember the poor. This whole issue with the false brethren was about the glorious truth of the gospel that faith alone unites to Jesus Christ. Faith alone forgives. Faith alone gives the Holy Spirit. Faith alone gives us a title to heaven. Faith alone gives us eternal life. That was what this whole issue was about. It is a very important issue. We must understand that it is faith that unites us to Jesus Christ, and it is because we are in Christ that we receive all these blessings. The closer you keep to Christ, the more the enemy goes away. The more you wander away from Christ, the closer the enemy comes. As long as we are close to the Lord Jesus Christ, the enemy is afraid. The enemy cannot touch us. The devil has no power over us because he has no power over the Lord Jesus Christ. But if we wander away from Christ, the devil sees his opportunity and he draws near and he tries to put a wedge between us and Christ. What a lesson that is for us all, every one of us, to abide in Christ. As long as we are abiding in Christ, we are safe. Jesus says, if you abide in me, then you ask what you will and it will be done. If we do not abide in Him, if we do not stay close to Him, we are so vulnerable to the enemy. I want to emphasize three points in conclusion this morning. First, the truth of the gospel is lost by adding anything to faith. That is amazing. The gospel is the only thing in the world that you lose something by adding to it. Add anything to just faith in Christ, and you've lost the whole thing. How's that for arithmetic? Add to it, and you subtract from it. You have nothing. You lose everything. That is the lesson of the epistle of the Apostle Paul to the churches of Galatia. Faith alone unites to Christ. Faith alone forgives. Faith alone blesses. Add to it another condition, and you have taken away from it. You have destroyed it. You have lost it. That is not natural for us to accept. We think, surely there must be something else. There is nothing else that is the condition of God's blessing. It is true that fruit will follow. Fruit must be there, but not as a condition, not as a basis. The only reason we have the blessing is we are one with Jesus. We are one with Christ. A second lesson and conclusion is the simplicity of the gospel disappears if you begin to look anywhere else but to Jesus Christ on the cross. Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. Look anywhere else, begin to analyze things, begin to examine things. Oh, you get so confused. And I tell you, you will get so depressed. You will get so discouraged. You can only look at one place for liberty, one place for freedom, one place for blessing from God, and that is to the place called Calvary, where God dealt with sin. He dealt with it in His only begotten Son. He treated His Son as sin, the sin offering upon whom all the sins of all His people were made. He was merciless on His Son because He was merciless on sin, but it has all been paid for on the cross. It is all over. Now Christ offers you and me freedom in the glorious gospel. It is the only freedom there is. It is simple. Do not complicate it by looking anywhere else. Just look at what the Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished once and for all at the place called Calvary. It is the safest place in the world to be. Go there in your mind. Go there in your spirit. Lean upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Depend upon him and receive the freedom that Christ gives to those who believe on him and enjoy that freedom. The last lesson is the freedom of the gospel cannot be separated from a relationship with Jesus. You want this freedom? get a relationship with Jesus. It is all to do with being united to Him through faith. It's really all about Christ Jesus and Him crucified. He is all our salvation. He is all our desire we read elsewhere in the Bible. Christ must be everything. He must be all things. He must be all in all. He must have the preeminence. We must put our trust alone in Jesus Christ. We must have this relationship with Him. Christianity is not the acceptance of a certain code of practice. It is a relationship with Jesus Christ. How is your relationship with Jesus doing? How are you today with Him? Are you friends with him? Have you spoken to him? How long did you speak to him? With him this morning? That tells you everything about our Christianity, how we are getting on with Jesus. He's very difficult to fall out with. He is for sinners. He is for sinners. He's not for self-righteous people. He's for sinners. How are you with him today? That will tell me whether you are a Christian. That will tell me whether if you die today, you will go to heaven and be with him. How are you with Christ? It's all about a relationship with him. Let us pray. that God, the Holy Spirit, will make his truth, the truth of the gospel, that gospel which Paul preached to the Gentiles, to the nations, that he will make it effectual to every one of us here today. If you are not united to Jesus Christ this morning by true and living faith, pray that God, the Holy Spirit, will show you the loveliness and the beauty and the power of the risen Christ. and Him crucified for sinners. And set you free. And ask the Spirit of God to give you a new heart to believe in Jesus. To receive and to rest upon Jesus alone for salvation and for life and for righteousness for eternity. He is the only one who can save you from your sin. Jesus is the only one who can make you free indeed in this life and the life to come for all eternity. Amen. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gospel that Jesus Christ, your only begotten Son, took to himself our human nature And as the God-man took our sin upon himself and suffered and bled and died on the cross in our place, he might pay the full price and satisfy the penalty, the curse that rests upon us because of our many sins. He has taken all of our sin away. And he gives to us his own perfect righteousness and obedience as our own, as if we had never committed nor had any sin. What a glorious Savior. What a wonderful Redeemer. What a mighty and sovereign sin-bearer you have given us in the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we thank you that the Apostle Paul preached that gospel. We thank you that the Apostle Peter preached that gospel. And the Apostle John and the Apostle James. We thank you that our Lord Jesus Christ proclaimed that gospel. We thank you that all the prophets, ever since you spoke to Adam and Eve and Satan in the Garden of Eden at the fall, have proclaimed that gospel. Lord, give us ears to hear that gospel. It was hearts to believe in Jesus Christ that we might be united to him by true and living faith and be set free from the curse, from everlasting condemnation, from the love and the power and the pleasure of sin to love you with all of our heart and to worship and serve you with all the strength and the breath that you give. All the days of our life until you bring us home to glory. We pray for your mighty power and work in the lives of those who are addicted to sin, to idols, who are in bondage and in slavery. We pray in Jesus' name.