It's the 29th day of November 2015, the year of our Lord at Zion Baptist Church. We continue where we left off in Galatians 2. And because of our other things that we have to do today. I will not do much in way of review. The title last week was Because of False Brethren and if I had gotten into it, beware of the example you portray. And that's where we'll take up this morning is beware of the example you portray. And that comes from Galatians 2 starting at verse 11 And we will not make it through the end of the chapter, and so we're only going to read down through verse 14. Galatians 2 verse 11, the scripture says, 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 their 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, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compelst thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? Our God, we thank you for the reading of the Word this morning. Pray your blessings upon it. Pray, O Lord, that you'd be my dear mother, sick and afflicted and in the bed. And for all these others, Lord, that are on our prayer list, our dear Pappy got to go tomorrow, my mother got to go tomorrow, still continue to pray for Brother Thomas, Sister Brenda, Mark, many others, Lord, that are on our prayer list. Lord, during this season of holidays that people celebrate, families getting together, Lord, we pray your mercy upon them and upon the families, especially upon the Christian people in those families, that they forget not to set a good example. We ask it in the Lord Jesus' name. Amen. You see here that what had happened, and we've explained this before and read over this before, is that when these Jews that it says here came from James, which meant they came from Jerusalem or came from Judea, these are Christian Jews, so-called. They may have been Judaizers, like the ones that came to Antioch stirring up the trouble, and these Jews that came from James, James being the pastor at Jerusalem, the head of the church there, a pillar in the church at Jerusalem, they came from there, and before they came, Paul and Peter and Barnabas and all of the Jews, Christian Jews in the church at Antioch, ate with, fellowshiped with, talked with the Gentiles in the church. Meaning they went to their houses and sat with them and ate with them, ate regular meals with them. It's got nothing to do with eating the Lord's Supper. It's just talking about eating with them and having conversation with them and going in, sitting down with them and living not like they lived before, meaning the Jews, because before the Jews were not to have conversation with and not to interact with the sinners of the Gentiles. But since Peter had his revelation and was in his vision that he saw come down from heaven, he understood that the old covenant was abrogated. that it was done away with, that the ceremonial law, circumcision, calling the Gentile believers unclean, all of that was set aside and so he was living like he should have been living amongst the Gentiles there at Adioch with Paul and Barnabas and all the other Jews in the church. along with the Gentiles. But when these people, these Jews, supposedly Christian Jews, came up from Jerusalem, he withdrew himself and separated himself, fearing the Yoma. fearing them which were of the circumcision, not afraid they were going to do him any harm physically. He wasn't afraid of them in that manner. He was afraid that they may go back to Jerusalem and tell them that Peter was sitting down and eating and going into the homes of these Gentiles and eating with them. Because if you'll remember and go back over there in Acts and read, he caught the devil about going into Cornelius' house and eating with him. They gave him the fifth degree on it. Wanted an explanation. What was you doing in there? And of course, he explained to them the vision that he saw and that God said, doubting nothing, you go with him, you go with these three men to Cornelius' house, you preach the gospel to them. And the Holy Ghost fell upon them. and they were given grace just like the apostles were and so it was very evident to Peter what had happened but as most believers and having 1500 years of traditions of the elders and keeping the ceremonial law and not having fellowship with Gentiles, even though these Gentiles were believers, which made a big difference, but not so much You still got to have contact with them, even the sinners, even the unconverted. How are you going to get them converted if you don't have contact with them? I'm not saying you participate in their evil deeds or in their vulgar talk or in their dirty jokes or any of the other trash they carry on, but you got to have conversation with them. You got to interact with them in some way or another. Not just separate yourself and keep yourself separated from them as though they are less than you are and not qualified to hear the gospel or to be preached to. And so, if you're going to wait for them to come to church, we may be a long time away. Sometimes you have to go eat with them up at the local store. Sometimes you have to listen to things that you'd rather not listen to. But at the same time, they're going to have to listen to things they might not like to listen to, like the preaching of the gospel. So there's going to be interaction there. But these Jews were Christian Jews, and Peter separated himself from them, fearing the Jews that had come up from Jerusalem. Now, Proverbs 29, 25 says, the fear of man bringeth a snare. We are not to fear man, nor what man can do unto us. For the gospel's sake, we preach the truth no matter what. No matter where, when, and how, we preach the truth always. You always tell people the truth. Now I have learned as I've aged a little bit that there are different ways of telling the truth. You can be ugly and tell the truth, or you can be gentle and tell the truth. What good does it do you to make enemies of family, of acquaintances, of neighbors. What good does it do for you to make enemies of those people so that they will not even listen to what you have to say? What good have you done? There's some common sense here that you can use and there's scripture. I'll show you scripture in just a minute to back up exactly what I'm saying here now. You can tell them they're going to hell, they're sorry no good trashy thugs. You can run them off. What good have you done? How are you going to preach to them now? How are you even going to set a good example before them? When you've run them off? When you've called them all sorts of names? When you've treated them as lesser than you are? And by the way, That's not how we are to treat anybody as lesser than we are. What did Jesus tell the apostles? The least among you will be the greatest. And the apostle Paul was always careful to be sure that he made sure everybody understood that he was the least of the apostles and he was the worst of sinners. that he was the least of all the saints. So it does us no good to try to make ourselves look better than other people. We only have God as our judge. Doesn't matter what the rest of the world thinks of us, says about us, or talks about us. What difference does that make? As long as I can communicate with them, they have an opportunity to hear the gospel. Not that I'm going to pound them with it, and not that I'm going to preach to them every time I see them. If I did, I wouldn't ever see them. If I went to the store every morning, which I do, and eat breakfast, except the Lord's Day, if I went up there preaching to them men every morning, I'd either have to quit going or they'd quit coming. And I wouldn't get to preach to them at all. I wouldn't even get to set an example before them. That is very important, to set an example before them. Just by being in their presence. And them seeing me ask the Lord to bless the food. Something as simple as that. And to see that I'm unwavering with it. And watch my food sit before me and get cold until they shut up long enough for me to say, excuse me, men, while I ask the Lord to bless the food. They know that I'm not going to eat until I ask the Lord to bless the food. They know that. Well, you may not think that means anything, but it does. It means something. So what good are you doing? if you run them off, if you make them feel like nothing, they won't hear you, they won't listen to you. And he was fearing them that his reputation might be harmed, that his influence amongst the Jews down there in Jerusalem might be affected. If these Jews that came from Jerusalem went back and told them that he was going into Gentiles' houses and living and eating and doing the things that he was doing and fellowshipping with them Christian Gentiles. I told you last week that just as the Jews' world was turned upside down by the abrogation of the Old Covenant, so the modern-day so-called churches of today's world would be destroyed if the truth of the gospel were preached instead of a false gospel, self-righteous gospel, whereby men accredit their salvation to something they have done instead of attributing all to the grace of God. if they just preach the truth of the gospel. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him, insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. Now Paul points out that Barnabas also, even Barnabas, all of the other Jews in the church now, these are the Jews that were in the church, They were carried away with Peter and Barnabas too that had been with Paul now all this time that he was going from place to place and preaching the gospel and was at Jerusalem with him and heard him tell and preach and understood that justification was by the imputed righteousness of Christ alone and nothing else. He understood that. but because of Peter being whom he was and the great influence that he had over all the Jews, Barnabas was carried away also with their dissimulation. Have you looked up that word dissimulation? Hoop, hoop, it means the Greek word, I probably won't pronounce it correctly, but it's Hoopakrisis. Hoopakrisis. That's number 5272 in your Strong's Concordance. Hypocrisies. It's only translated one time as dissimulation. It's translated five times as hypocrisy and one time as condemnation. It's used seven times in the New Testament. one time as condemnation, one time as dissimulation, and five times that same Greek word hypokrisis is translated hypocrisy. Now you can translate it hypocrisy here. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with them, insomuch that Barbas also was carried away with their hypocrisy. They were being hypocrites. They were preaching one thing, but now they were setting an example of another thing. That's a hypocrite. We could title this message preacher. Are you a hypocrite? Or preachers, are you hypocrites? Or church members, are you hypocrites? Do you preach one thing? Do you talk one thing, but then you live another? By your example, you set another truth or another whatever than what you are talking. That's hypocritical. That's being a hypocrite. And that's what he says here. And that's what Paul was doing. Let's see what he says. But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou being a Jew livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compelst thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? Now Paul wasn't telling the Gentiles to live like the Jews was. said nothing about it to them. What was he doing? By his example, he was compelling the Gentiles to live as do the Jews. By the way, he was acting when the other Jews came from Jerusalem because he feared what they may tell somebody. You see, this Replacement of the old with the new was going to happen. And God's always got a way that he does it. He's always got a way that he accomplishes his will to be done. Always. He's got different ways of doing that. Sometimes it's just by his great power, sometimes it's by using the means of other people, and sometimes it's even by using his own people and their stupidity and having somebody else point it out to him. Now, Matthew 18 says, if a brother offends you, go to him. And if he will not repent, then you take a brother with you, or two brethren with you, and go to him. And if he still don't, then you bring him before the church. That's got nothing to do with what happened here. He was not dishonoring the commandment of Christ in Matthew 18 when he did what he did here. Because what Peter did here was before the whole church. And he drew the other Jews off with him, including Barnabas. He did this openly and publicly. And Paul had to address it openly and publicly. And besides that, Paul was the apostle also. We're not and you're not. So be careful what you say and how you do. But it was by his example you say, why compel us out of the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? But when I saw they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, In other words, when he saw that there was something not right with the gospel, the truth of the gospel, with somebody that was as well respected and even to some degree reverenced as Peter was, he meant to set it right. Peter, by his example, led all the Jews in the Antioch church, including Barnabas, into sin and hypocrisy by his own example that he was setting before them. But Peter was delivered from his hypocrisy by a loving brother Paul who pointed out to him the error of his ways by reminding him of the truth of the gospel. He didn't do it in an ugly way. He didn't holler and cuss and kick and throw a fit. He didn't do anything unscriptural, but he did it with great love towards his brother Peter in such a way that Peter would understand that this is not the truth of the gospel that you're doing. This is not what we've been preaching. And now you're doing right opposite of what you've been preaching. And he tells him that. Even though he uses his own self as an example, and puts it in the personal pronoun there, on down there in verse 20, or no, in verse 17, he uses a personal pronoun as though it's himself he's talking about, but he's not. He's talking about Peter. But let's see what Peter says about it later on. And it's turned to 1 Peter chapter 3. 1 Peter chapter 3. I know some of you is going to say, where is that preacher going with this? Is he chasing rabbits or what? No, I'm not chasing rabbits. The same subject. Likewise ye wives, be in subjection unto your own husbands. Notice the word likewise. You're fixing to see it again. Likewise you wives be in subjection to your own husbands that if any obey not the word they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives. Are you talking about setting a good example? Be careful what kind of example you set. And notice the word one. They also may without the word be one. by the conversation of the wives. Now the conversation word used here in the old English language means the manner of living. It doesn't mean you and your wife talking back and forth. It means that in the manner of living of the wife, living with an unbelieving husband, just by the way that she lives. If he will not hear the word, be in subjection to your own husband, even though he's an unbeliever, he's got nothing to do with it. Be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word, He's an unbeliever. They also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives. In other words, she's going to set such an example before him as a Christian woman, a godly woman, that he may be won. Boy, that kind of gives some light to things, doesn't it? But preacher, I thought you said people are only going to be saved by the Spirit of God birthing them and making them alive and that until the Spirit of God birthed him and made him alive, made him see himself a sinner, he couldn't be saved. I did say that and I meant every word of it. What's that got to do with anything? Go read Jeremiah chapter 25 and see what God did with Nebuchadnezzar. He said, I'm going to take my servant, Nebuchadnezzar, and I'm going to kill you people. You bunch of adulterating, idolatrating, God breaking every commandment, I got Jews, I'm going to kill you. And I'm going to use Nebuchadnezzar, my servant, to do it. And then 70 years after that, I'm going to kill him and destroy the whole bunch of them for doing it. How do you like that? Well, that just don't seem fair, preacher. You mean God was gonna move Nebuchadnezzar to go destroy his people, burn Jerusalem, steal all the stuff out of the temple, kill them people by the thousands, haul the rest of them away, and then 70 years later, he's gonna destroy the Babylonian empire because of what they did to the Jews? That's right! That's exactly what it says. Go read it for yourself. Just because he moved their evil deeds and directed them towards the Jews had nothing to do with them not being evil. They were still evil people. And ungodly people. And God used them to whoop the tar out of his people. And then he destroyed them for it. That's the God we serve. That's the God of the Bible. We're in his hands. He created us. He does with us as He pleases. Now most unbelievers are going to say, I just don't like that. I don't care if you like it or not. That's the God of the Bible. And if God so chooses to take a Christian woman and by her example of living a godly life in front of her unbelieving husband, to change him, to cause him to see the Lord Jesus Christ through a believing woman. What business is it of mine or yours? It's a wonderful picture. Isn't that what he says? Did I read that wrong? Let's read it again. Likewise, you wives, be in subjection to your own husbands. Likewise. We'll get to that in a minute. That, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word. We don't have time to get into that without the word, what that talking about without the work. be won by the conversation of the wise, while they behold your chaste, hognose, that's the Greek word, clean, pure, modest, conversation coupled with fear. That's the way Christian women are. That's the kind of lives they live. Ladies, you can kind of, well, men too, you can kind of look at yourself and judge yourself and say, well, if that's the way Christian people are, then am I a Christian or am I a hypocrite? Who's adorning? What does that word mean, adorning? Adorning. What does that mean? Have you looked up that Greek word? I told you I spent over half my time looking up the meanings of words. You know what that word is there? Same word used over in John 3.16 where it says cosmos. That's right. The world. That's what it means. Who's adorning? That word is Cosmos, same one used over in John 3.16, for God whosoever loved, for God whoso loved the Cosmos. Well a preacher, how does that, what is that? Put that one out of place, didn't he? Now you just think about it ladies. For some people that's their whole world, isn't it? putting on their face and putting on their earrings and doing the hairdos and getting everything. It's their whole world. Whose world? Let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair and of wearing of gold or of putting on of apparel And ladies, he didn't say for you not to get fixed up a little bit. He didn't say that. Lord knows some of you need all the adorning you can get. Some of you don't need any. You better not spend too much time at it. You better not spend too much money at it. Or you'll become vain in it. You want people to see Jesus in you. You don't want people to see you. If you're fixing yourself up in such a way that you want people to see you and look at you, you've got a problem. You better go to the cross. Let it not be that outward adorning the plait of the hair and the wearing of gold and the putting on of apparel. And that don't mean go around naked either. Don't be stupid. But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and a quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. Yeah, ladies, that's what he's saying. Sometimes being a godly wife means being quiet. when you'd like to kick and cuss and act like your husband does but that's not what Christian women do that's not what they do for after this matter in the old time the holy women also who trusted in God adorned themselves being in subjection to their own husbands What did they do? They did the same thing. The women of old, they put the hidden man of the heart. They let the adorning of themselves be the hidden man of the heart, which is not corruptible like the plaiting of the hair and the silver and the gold and the apparel that you put on. They put on a meek and a quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. Now if it's a great price in the sight of God, who wouldn't want it? My grandmother had one of them kind of spirits about her. Meek and quiet. You never heard her loud. Never heard her talk back to my grandpa. She wasn't perfect. She was Armenian, the way she was brought up. But she understood things like that. It wasn't hard to read and see what a Christian woman is supposed to live like. And she wanted to live like a Christian woman. Even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement. We don't have time to get into all that, but don't be afraid of your husband, nor men, nor anything else. God is your God. And don't be like the Apostle Peter over there. Be afraid of men, or your husband. There's that word likewise again. Likewise! Ye husbands, In verse 1 he says likewise because he's talking about Christ. And the church being in subjection unto Christ. And likewise ye wives be in subjection unto your own husbands. And likewise ye husbands! In the same manner! In the same way! The husbands dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife. You know, they say you never know what goes on behind closed doors. Y'all don't know what it's like at my house when it's just me and my wife. Y'all don't know that. I don't know what it's like at Brother Guy's house when it's just him and his wife. Or at Brother Gerald's. Or at Brother Randy's. Or at Pappy's. Or Brother Thomas Ray's. I don't know what it's like. And you don't either. But you can get a pretty good idea of how you are yourself. What it's like at your house. Are you doing what this says? Husbands. Verse 24 of chapter 2 says, talking about Christ Jesus, let's start at verse 21. For even here unto where ye called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow in his steps. Men, your Christ's wife, how does he treat you? Does he cuss you? Does he holler at you? Does he live ungodly in front of you? Is he mean to you? He left us an example that you should follow in his steps. Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. That means deceit. Who when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened not, but he committed himself to him that judges righteously. Oh, come on now, judge yourselves here. There ain't no need for me to go to meddling and get too personal in your business, because I don't know what goes on behind the closed doors, and I don't want to know. All I know is this. Leaving us an example that you should follow his steps Now you hypocrite Are you for real? We all make mistakes Had to ask my wife this morning forgive me Because I'm not to Let's know your business what I'm not to I'm not as faithful to do some things that I ought to do. I had to ask my wife to forgive me. We all make mistakes. But when you make a mistake, what do you do? You go ask the person that you made the mistake towards to forgive you. Jesus never had to do that. But we do. husbands, if you mistreated your wife, if you have not honored her, if you have not treated her like Christ treats you, you ask your wife to forgive you and ask her to pray for you, to help you. Look what he said, when he was reviled, he reviled not again, just because she may And besides that, she's the weaker vessel, the Bible says. Let's finish reading. Likewise, ye husbands dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered. Now what does the Bible say about the weaker vessels? about the weaker Christians. What does it say? You stronger ones, bear the burden of the weak ones. Now what it says? Bear the burdens of the weak ones. So if she may get a little weak and fed up with your stupidity, man, and lose her control just a little bit, does that mean you're supposed to be like a rooster and crow? No, Jesus didn't do it. When he was reviled, he reviled not again. What did he do? He did what he was supposed to do. What did it say he done? When he suffered, he threatened not. But what did he do? Committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands. Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and being heirs together of the grace of life. Let your prayers be not hindered. Are your prayers hindered? Have you treated your wife some way other than you should have? Are you causing her prayers to be hindered because of the way you live and the example that you set before her? Wives, are you causing your husband's prayers to be hindered? And worse than that, are you causing your prayer life together to be hindered? where you both kneel before the Almighty and pray every day. Has that been hindered because of the example that you've set before your spouse? If your prayers have not been answered about your children, and look, don't tell me If you think you're so smart that you say, well, God's going to save him, he's going to save him, there's nothing I can do about it. That's not what he said here, was it? What? If you've got an unbelieving husband, you live a Christian life before him and you may win him to the Lord. You may cause him to take another look at the gospel. You may cause him to want to hear some more just because he sees Jesus in you. You see what I'm saying? If you shun people, if you cause them, if you drive them away from you, how are you going to set that example before them? How are you going to be meek and lowly, Jesus said? You remember what Jesus said? Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. My burden is light, my yoke is easy. How are you going to set that kind of example before them if you drive them away? Sometimes it's good just to shut up and just be a good example. Just live a good example before them. And shut your mouth. Don't drive them away. We'll stop there for today. Ask the brethren to come. We'll have the Lord's Supper.