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Well, good morning, church. Open
your Bibles with me, please, to Galatians chapter 2. Galatians chapter two. We're
gonna continue our study through this very pivotal letter of the
Apostle Paul, and this morning we'll be looking at verses 11
through 14. Galatians chapter two, 11 through
14. As a reminder, in our passage
last week, we saw Paul's unity with the Jerusalem apostles,
of which Peter, of course, was one. And in our passage today,
what we're going to see is Paul and Peter at odds with one another.
We see the apostle to the Gentiles confront and rebuke the apostle
to the Jews. And during this confrontation,
the legitimacy of Paul's apostolic office and message are confirmed
as he publicly corrects Peter with the authority of the gospel. Thus, Paul adds another weight
to this ongoing argument that he's making to the Galatians
regarding the divine nature of his apostleship and the divine
nature of the gospel that he preaches. However, there is a
theme so prevalent here in our texts that I think it will benefit
us today to focus our attention there on that theme, and that
theme is hypocrisy. So let me pray. Pray with me. Let us ask the Lord for his blessing,
and then we will read our text. Father, we come to you this morning
as your servants. We desire to worship you rightly.
And we confess that we cannot do that without the mediation
of your son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we pray that through his
merits and his mediation, you would pour out your Holy Spirit
upon us. That as I'm preaching, Lord, the word would be articulated
clearly and accurately. And as your people hear, that
the word would take its effect in their hearts, that it would
pass, as our brother Jesse mentioned earlier this morning, that it
would pass not only into their minds, but down into their hearts.
Lord, would your spirit work in such a way? We pray that you
would be glorified in all that we do this morning, in Jesus'
name, amen. Well, let us read our text. Galatians
chapter two, verses 11 through 14. Hear the word of God. But when Cephas came to Antioch,
I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned. For before
certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles. But when they came, he drew back
and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the
rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him so that even Barnabas
was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct
was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas
before them all, if you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and
not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews? Amen. Well, the title of this
sermon is Confronting Gospel Hypocrisy. And guided by our
text, I want us to explore three matters related to gospel hypocrisy. I want us to see the reason for
gospel hypocrisy. I want us to see the repercussions
of gospel hypocrisy. And I want us to see the only
appropriate response to gospel hypocrisy. And I would like us
to examine these three points so that, for the reason that
We might not cloud the truth of the gospel by contradicting
it with our actions, but that we might shine light on the truth
of the gospel by living a life that is more consistent with
the great truths that we profess. So once again, our three headings
are, firstly, the reason for gospel hypocrisy, secondly, the
repercussions of gospel hypocrisy, and finally, the response to
gospel hypocrisy, beginning first with the reason. for gospel hypocrisy. Look again with me to verse 11.
But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because
he stood condemned. Paul begins this final section
in defense of the divine nature of his gospel and apostleship
by telling of a visit the apostle Peter made to Antioch. As a reminder, Antioch was Paul's
home church, and they had sent him to southern Galatia along
with Barnabas to plant the churches there on his first missionary
journey. Paul begins this section by using
the word, but. And he does so because he's contrasting
his prior thought with a thought that he's about to introduce.
If we look back to verse 9, we see how Peter, along with James
and John, had given Paul the right hand of fellowship when
he had visited Jerusalem for the second time. And in doing
so, as we discussed last week, they had confirmed that there
was apostolic unity regarding the doctrinal content of the
gospel. Paul and the other apostles stood
together on the truth that salvation is by grace alone through faith
alone in Jesus Christ alone, apart from any works of the law.
What's more, the apostles stood together in unity regarding the
practical outworking of the gospel in the case of Titus. And you'll
remember the Judaizers would have forced Titus to be circumcised,
but the apostles did not yield in submission to them even for
a moment. So Paul's second trip to Jerusalem
had certainly ended on a high note. It had ended with this
great spirit of unity amongst the apostles, but As is often
the case in our fallen world, the unity that the apostles enjoyed,
specifically the unity that Paul and Peter enjoyed, did not go
on uninterrupted. When Peter came to Antioch to
visit the church there, he finds Paul not extending to him the
right hand of fellowship, but rather he finds Paul opposing
him to his face. Now, other translations say that
Paul resisted, he stood up against, he withstood Peter. And Paul
says that he opposed Peter to his face. He stood against Peter
face to face. This was a public rebuke of the
chief apostle. And Paul resisted Peter. He opposed
him to his face because he stood condemned. Other translations
say that Peter was blameworthy, that he was to be blamed, that
Peter had clearly done wrong. And the sense here is that Peter
was demonstrably guilty of a grievous and public sin, so much so that
the apostle Paul was forced to oppose him to his face. Now we
can imagine the shock and the surprise amongst those Christians
at Antioch. Peter, the apostle to the Jews,
one of Christ's inner circle of friends, is opposed, and that
publicly, by Paul, the former persecutor of the church, and
now the great apostle to the Gentiles. This was certainly
not the type of confrontation that would go unnoticed. Now
looking to verse 12, we see what caused Paul to confront his fellow
apostle as aggressively as he did. Verse 12, for before certain
men came from James, he, that is Peter, was eating with the
Gentiles. But when they came, he drew back
and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. Now we
need to understand something about Peter. Peter had been taught
by God that the Gentiles were to be grafted into the people
of God through faith. Peter had been shown, as we read
in Acts chapter 10, that God shows no partiality and that
he had made Gentile sinners clean through faith in Christ. Years
before this visit to Antioch, where Paul would confront him
over his hypocrisy, Peter was taught by God that the Gentiles
were to be grafted into believing Israel. And in Acts chapter 10,
Peter receives a vision. You'll remember that he received
this vision three different times. There was a sheet being lowered
from heaven and on that sheet were animals of all different
kinds, animals that were unclean according to the ceremonial law.
And Peter hears three times a voice from heaven saying to him, rise,
Peter, kill, and eat. And Peter responds, by no means,
Lord. Not normally a good way to respond
when the Lord speaks to us, is it? By no means, Lord, for I
have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. And the
voice came to him again a second time, what God has made clean,
do not call common. As one commentator puts it, God
had shown Peter that there is no unclean food and that there
are no unclean men. At the same time, God was sending
Gentile men from the house of Cornelius, a Roman centurion,
to find Peter. And these men bring Peter back
with them to Cornelius' house, and Peter preaches the gospel
to them. And as Peter was preaching to
these uncircumcised Gentiles, we read this in Acts chapter
10, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers
from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed,
because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on
the Gentiles. For they were hearing them speaking
in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, can anyone
withhold water for baptizing these people who have received
the Holy Spirit just as we have? Peter acknowledges here what
Paul had said in our verses from last week, that God indeed shows
no partiality. Salvation in Christ is offered
freely to both Jew and to Gentile. Well, we then read in Acts chapter
11 about Peter leaving Cornelius' house and he goes up to Jerusalem
and he's excited to share with them all that has happened. And
Peter gets there and is immediately confronted by guess who? the
circumcision party. They had a problem regarding
his eating and drinking and fellowshipping with the uncircumcised Gentiles
at Cornelius's house. But instead of cowering in fear
to these men, Peter explains to them the vision of animals
that God had showed him, and he tells them how the Holy Spirit
fell upon the Gentiles at Cornelius's house as he was preaching to
them. And the circumcised brothers that hear him give this explanation,
they rejoice, they give glory to God, and they say this, then
to the Gentiles also, God has granted repentance that leads
to life. So we need to understand that
about Peter. He had been taught by God that the Gentiles were
to receive Christ by faith and to be grafted in to the believing
people of God. So when we come back to verse
12 of our text, Peter stood condemned because he feared these same
men, the men of the circumcision party. Now we need to understand
that when Peter first showed up to Antioch to visit the church
there, he ate freely. He fellowshiped freely with the
uncircumcised believers. Again, God had impressed upon
Peter the truth that under the new covenant, neither Gentiles
nor Gentile food is unclean. These distinctions having been
removed by Christ. And Peter was living in light
of this new reality that the gospel of Christ had broken down
this dividing wall of hostility that had stood between Jew and
Gentile. And he was living in that reality
that Christ had made one new man out of the two. He was enjoying
all the barbecue, all the bacon, all the ham that his heart could
desire. And not only was he enjoying
these foods, he was enjoying them with his Gentile brothers. Now, the word eating here in
verse 12 is given to us in the imperfect tense, and this would
imply to us that Peter was eating with the Gentiles not only at
official church feasts, not only at the Lord's table, but also
at every other meal that was going on during his trip to Antioch. And what an encouragement this
must have been to the uncircumcised believers. The Apostle Peter
was eating with them. He was having fellowship with
them. What a great unifying force and
a great unifying testimony to the power of the gospel. Peter's
behavior was that demonstrated clearly to everyone in Antioch
that the ground is truly level at the foot of the cross. All
are welcome. There are no genetic barriers.
There are no cultural barriers, no linguistic barriers that would
prohibit sinners from coming to Christ. All who would turn
from their sin and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ by faith are
welcomed by him. And so we get this sense of a
great peace and unity that exists in Antioch in the first half
of verse 12. For before certain men came from
James, Peter was eating, he was fellowshipping with the Gentiles. But the peace and unity did not
last forever. Look again to verse 12. But when
they came, the men of the circumcision party, he drew back and separated
himself for fear of the circumcision party. Now, you know, Peter has
a history of vacillating from one extreme to the other. It's part of his personality.
And although Peter was made a new creation in Christ at his conversion,
like you and me, Peter's old sinful patterns must be continually
put to death. If not, what are they gonna do?
They're gonna pop back up. They're gonna rear their ugly
heads. And we remember about Peter that in just a matter of
moments, he would go from confessing Jesus as the Christ of God to
then trying to correct the Christ of God and keep him from going
to the cross. Or the evening when Peter would
boldly declare that even if all the other disciples abandoned
him, Peter would never abandon Christ. And just a few short
hours later, what was he doing? He was cowering in fear to a
servant girl who was asking him, do you know him? Certainly, you
know him. And what did Peter do? Three
times he swore, I do not know the man. So this is Peter's personality. He tends to go from one extreme
to the other. And we could also look at an
example of his boldness. The same man who cowered to the
servant girl, he would go on to preach Christ regardless of
the consequences. We remember he would declare
to the authorities that he must obey God rather than men. So
this is Peter for us. He's either hot or cold, and
he tends to go between the two very quickly. And brothers and
sisters, I don't think I'm stretching this too far to say that we know
something of what that is like to go from hot to cold and back
to hot again. Peter's sanctification, just
like our sanctification, it's not on a straight line upward. There are moments, there are
even seasons when that trend is downward, when temptation
springs up and we sin against the Lord, but we can give the
Lord thanks in spite of that. that because of his grace, when
we back up and we view our sanctification from a bit of a distance, the
trajectory is indeed upwards. So let us give God thanks that
even when we transgress against him, he is faithful to bring
us to repentance once again. So here in Antioch, we see Peter
going from one extreme to the other. He's going from eating
and drinking with the Gentile believers to drawing back and
separating himself entirely from them. And this change in behavior
would hardly go unnoticed by the uncircumcised believers. And we need to notice also here
that Paul doesn't say that Peter changed his beliefs, that his
confession of faith changed. It didn't change. Peter, he still
believed the things that he had believed. He still confessed
the same gospel truths that led him to extending the right hand
of fellowship to Paul just a few verses before this. Peter still
believed that salvation was indeed by grace alone, through faith
alone in Jesus Christ alone, apart from any works of the law. Yet Peter stood condemned because
his actions totally undermined his beliefs. What he did overshadowed
what he said. Peter was, as we read in verse
13, acting hypocritically. Hypocrisy can be defined as acting
in a way that is inconsistent with one's character, belief
system, or speech. And once again, why does Peter
act hypocritically here? Why does he act in a way that
is inconsistent with his character, belief system, and speech? Well, the text tells us that
it is out of fear, specifically for fear of the circumcision
party that Peter draws back and separates himself. The fear of
man is what causes Peter to commit gospel hypocrisy. And it's the
fear of man that causes many professing Christians to do the
same today. Now, the fear of man is driven
by a desire to be approved by men first and foremost, even
before being approved by God. And I would suggest to you as
an example, the fear of man is what leads many so-called Christian
politicians to say things like this. Well, I personally believe
that marriage is between one man and one woman, but I'm not
going to legislate that way. I wouldn't want to impress or
impose my beliefs on anyone. Now they know that if they took
a stand on God's definition of marriage, they would lose, by
and large, the approval of their peers, that they would be called
scary names like bigot, or fundamentalist, or worst of all, Christian nationalist. And so out of fear of men, they
act in a way that is inconsistent with their beliefs. But brothers
and sisters, the fear of man can take many forms. Being fearful
of disrupting relationships at home or with close family members
can lead us to deny the gospel with our actions. Being fearful
of offending a friend can lead us to deny the gospel with our
actions. Being fearful of losing a job can deny us, or excuse
me, can lead us to deny the gospel with our actions. Being fearful
of what wicked men and women who hate God might do to us if
they find out that we love God and we serve God, this can lead
us to deny the gospel with our actions. John Bunyan wrote this,
the fear of man is the fear of losing man's favor, love, goodwill,
help, and friendship. It's an idol of approval. And
like any sin, if it's indulged, if it's not intentionally put
to death, it will suck you into its vortex and have you leading
the most ineffective, the most miserable, the most awful example
of a Christian life that there is. So brothers and sisters,
do you fear man? Have you compromised the truth
of the gospel because you're afraid of losing man's favor,
love, goodwill, help, or friendship? Now the truth is all of us to
varying degrees are guilty of this. And I would submit to you
that the principal reason for this, the primary cause that
we tend to fear man is because we have a low view of God. We fear men because we have forgotten
God. Now friends, we must hear and
heed the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to what he says
from Matthew chapter 10. Do not fear those who kill the
body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, fear him who can destroy
both body and soul in hell. Friends, the most powerful men
on the planet, the most influential men in all the world, they are
but pawns in the hands of our God. Well, after Jesus gives
this warning, he continues in Matthew 10, he says this, are
not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall
to the ground apart from your father, but even the hairs of
your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore, you are of
more value than many sparrows. So everyone who acknowledges
me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me before
men, I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven. Brothers
and sisters, far better is it for us to acknowledge Christ
here on earth with our affections, with our words, with our actions. Far better is it for us to walk
in step with the truth of the gospel here on earth and be rejected
by men but received by God. Far better is it for us to do
this than to deny Christ and to deny his gospel before men
by our hypocrisy. So may God give us grace not
only to believe the right things. We tend to be really good at
that in the reform world. We're really good at believing
the right things. But may God give us grace to
not just believe them, not just to say them or post about them
on Facebook or Twitter, but to actually do them because he is
worthy of that. Well, so we've seen under this
first heading, the reason for gospel hypocrisy. Next, let us
see the repercussions of gospel hypocrisy. Look with me please
to verse 13. And the rest of the Jews acted
hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led
astray by their hypocrisy. like leaven permeating an entire
loaf of bread or a drop of poison contaminating an entire glass
of water, Peter's sin spreads to the other Jewish believers
in Antioch. They looked at the spokesman
for the apostles and they said, well, he's the rock, isn't he? He was one of Christ's closest
friends. We ought to do what he's doing.
So they imitated his behavior. Now, no doubt, these men had
heard Peter's preaching. They weren't wondering what Peter
believed about justification or the sufficiency of Christ
alone to save. They had heard him preach and
defend those truths before. But you've heard the saying,
if you really wanna see what a man values, look at his bank
account. And in this case, Peter's spending
did not line up with his budget. Peter's actions totally betrayed
his confession of faith. And the Jewish believers in Antioch,
they were more influenced by what Peter did than by what Peter
said. Brothers and sisters, your children,
your family members, your neighbors, your friends, your coworkers,
they are 10 times, they are 100 times more influenced by what
they see you do than by what you say to them. That is just
the truth of the matter. The majority of lessons are caught,
not taught. And that is exactly what we see
happening here in Antioch. Paul says, the rest of the Jews
acted hypocritically along with him. Now this word translated
here as acted hypocritically, it's a verb that literally means
to commit hypocrisy with, or to pretend together. Other translations
say the Jewish believers played the hypocrite along with Peter,
that they acted insincerely along with Peter. And what made their
behavior insincere? It was the fact that their outward
actions were contrary to their inner convictions. They were
hiding their real beliefs through their behavior. They were playing
the hypocrite. And it's not just the immature
Jewish believers, the babes in Christ that are drawn into hypocrisy
by Peter's actions, even Barnabas. was led astray by their hypocrisy.
Barnabas is one of the pastors at the church in Antioch. He
is a tried and true Christian. Barnabas was the son of encouragement.
If anyone would stand up for the Gentile believers in the
midst of their being abandoned and treated as unclean, it would
have been Barnabas. But no, even Barnabas was led
astray by their hypocrisy. Other translations say that Barnabas
was carried away And this, I think, better captures the force of
what Paul is saying. Peter's behavior, followed by
the rest of the Jewish believers, it was like this powerful riptide
that pulled with amazing power even Barnabas along with them. He was carried away by their
hypocrisy. If you've ever set up dominoes
before, I know my children do that from time to time. You know
that all you have to do to knock all of them down is to what?
Just tap that first one. And then there is this chain
reaction that occurs. And that's what's happening here.
The men of the circumcision party, they show up, they intimidate
Peter into fear. Peter falls and the rest of the
Jewish believers, even Barnabas, fall along with him. And Peter's
gospel hypocrisy started this chain reaction in Antioch, largely
because of his reputation as a leader in the church and as
an apostle of Christ. As a teacher of God's word, Peter
not only carried a greater responsibility before God, he carried greater
influence before men. And in this instance, his influence
was used for evil rather than for good. Those who once followed
Peter's good example of sharing unbroken fellowship with the
Gentile believers now follow his evil example of withdrawing
from them and working to undo the work of Jesus Christ who
had made one new man out of the two. This is a real life tragedy. My friends, imagine if Certain
men came to our church from Pastor Kurt Smith's church, and I'm
not meaning to pick on Pastor Kurt, we love him. But imagine
if certain men came to us from his church and that these men
were extremely zealous for things indifferent, for matters of Christian
liberty. As we established last week in
the New Covenant, circumcision is a matter of Christian liberty.
But these men, imagine, come to us, they're extremely zealous
about alcohol. And they show up here and they
say to us that if we wanna have fellowship with them, if we wanna
be true Christians like they are, then we need to sign a pledge
that we will never let a drop of alcohol touch our lips. Now imagine if Pastor Jerry and
I signed that pledge and followed along after them. Think of the
damage that that would do to the Church of Christ here at
Berean. And even this illustration does
not adequately capture the gut punch that the Gentile believers
in Antioch would have felt. They had been grafted in. They
had been adopted into God's family by grace. They had been made
into one body with the believing Jews. That long-standing dividing
wall of hostility that had separated Jew and Gentile had been removed. And they were now one in Christ
with their Jewish brothers. And Peter had greatly encouraged
them and befriended them as he first arrived at Antioch, eating
with them and fellowshipping with them, treating them as true
brothers and sisters in Christ. And then one day, all of that
changes. This group of men show up, men
who wouldn't extend the right hand of fellowship to the Gentile
believers, but they made a beeline to Peter. And after they talked,
well, Peter, he seemed, he seemed different. He seemed troubled. When it was time for dinner,
Peter was nowhere to be found. Maybe he's not feeling great
tonight. Maybe he's tired. He just needed some rest. Breakfast
the next morning, still no Peter. Where is he? As a matter of fact,
some of the other brothers who were used to eating with, they're
not here either. What's going on? Lunch comes around. Where's Barnabas at? Has anybody
seen Barnabas? And they look around and they
notice something. Everyone sitting at the meal is uncircumcised. Everyone sitting at the meal
is a Gentile. The joy of being one in Christ
with their Jewish brothers, for the Gentiles, this joy was replaced
with the sadness of being treated like unclean men, like outsiders
in the kingdom of God. Friends, there are repercussions
for living in hypocrisy, for professing the truths of Christianity
with our lips, yet denying them with our actions. And at least
two of the repercussions as seen here in Antioch is one, leading
astray other believers, especially when the one living in hypocrisy
is a leader or someone with influence within the church. And the other
repercussion we see is the placing once again of the yoke of the
law onto the necks of men and women who had been set free by
Christ. Gospel hypocrisy has great repercussions
that extend far beyond the one who is acting hypocritically.
I appreciate the words of one Swiss reformer who comments on
this passage. He says that it teaches us how
harmful the examples of great men can be if what they do is
not carefully determined by the rule of God's Word. I'm gonna
pause the quote here because this week, to say that it is intimidating,
to be reading this text and thinking about hypocrisy, especially as
a leader in the church, to say that that is intimidating and
daunting is an understatement. Because I can see in my life
so many things that need to be corrected, that need to be put
in step with the truth of the gospel. So don't, I'm not coming
at this from some ivory tower where I have it all figured out,
but when I read this, that it teaches us how harmful the examples
of great men can be if what they do is not carefully determined
by the rule of God's word. I cannot help but think men,
husbands, fathers, we set the tone in our houses. What we do,
how we love our wives, how we care for our children, this must
be ruled by the word of God. This means that there must be
discipline in the home, but there must be love and tenderness and
gentleness and patience in the home. Again, I don't have this
all figured out, but the Spirit of God, I trust, is working in
me, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. And so,
men, what you do in your house must be ruled by God's word. And this commentator continues,
human beings are naturally more inclined to follow examples rather
than teachings. And because they're evil by nature,
they're more likely to be influenced by bad examples than by good
ones. If bad examples are backed up
by the authority of a famous person, or a father, or a mother,
or someone with influence, then chances are that many people
will think that they can get away with them too. Nothing more
absurd can be imagined than the sight of uninformed and ignorant
people who think that they can get away with anything because
they've seen those with whom they honor and revere as demigods
doing the same thing. And those of those of you who
joined us this past Wednesday, you heard it in the lectures
on assurance that we've been watching together, one of the
most dangerous things that we can do as Christians is to base
our theology on our experience, or in this case, on the experience
or actions of some other person in the church, even a respected
leader like Peter. Yes, our practice must be guided
by our theology, but our theology must be drawn from the word of
God, not from watching and imitating the sinful actions of other fallen
men and women in the church, lest we be led astray, lest we
be carried away by their hypocrisy. Well, so we've seen so far the
reason for gospel hypocrisy and the repercussions of gospel hypocrisy. Under our final heading, let's
see the only appropriate response to gospel hypocrisy. Look with
me to verse 14. But when I saw that their conduct
was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas
before them all, if you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and
not like a Jew, How can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews? Paul sees their conduct. He's
observing what is happening. He sees how quickly all of this
has happened. The men from the circumcision
party, they show up in Antioch, they pull Peter away with them,
and just like that row of dominoes, the other Jewish believers, even
Barnabas, are led astray. They're all carried away. Paul
sees this and he recognizes that this behavior, the segregating
of Jewish Christians from Gentile Christians, he sees that this
behavior is not in step with the truth of the gospel. Other translations say that the
hypocrites were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel. And there are important parallels
here with what we looked at last week. So just look up a few verses
with me here to verse five. Paul concludes that when the
Judaizers slipped into his private meeting with the Jerusalem apostles
and tried to force Titus to be circumcised, he states adamantly,
to them, we did not yield in submission, even for a moment,
so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. That same phrase, truth of the
gospel, it's the same exact phrase in verse 14. but when I saw that
their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel."
And Paul is drawing a parallel between the Judaizers wanting
to force Titus to be circumcised and the genuine Jewish believers
in Antioch separating themselves from the Gentile believers. Now,
this may seem a bit extreme to us. to compare the actions of
the Judaizers, the false brothers, with the actions of the chief
apostle Peter. But that's exactly what Paul
does. By drawing back and separating themselves, by refusing to have
table fellowship with their Gentile brothers, the Jewish Christians
in Antioch were participating in the work of Satan himself. They were siding with the Judaizers,
not by their theology, but by their actions. By their behaviors,
they endorsed the false gospel of the Judaizers, and they were
claiming, again, through their behaviors, that something needed
to be added to the finished work of Christ for salvation, for
reconciliation vertically to God, but that's not all. by separating
themselves from their brothers in Christ, they were also saying
that something must be added to the finished work of Christ
for reconciliation horizontally, one man to another. The finished work of Christ wasn't
good enough for that either, and there needed to be circumcision
added to it. Turn with me in your Bibles,
please, to Ephesians chapter two, Ephesians chapter two. I want us to look at this together. Ephesians chapter two, starting
at verse 11. The apostle says this. Therefore,
remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called
the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which
is made in the flesh by hands. Remember that you were at that
time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel
and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and
without God in the world. Verse 13, but now in Christ Jesus,
you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood
of Christ. For he himself is our peace who
has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the
dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments
expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself one
new man in place of the two. So making peace. and might reconcile us both to
God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.
And he came and he preached peace to you who are far off and peace
to those who were near, for through him we both have access in one
spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers
and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and
members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the
apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief
cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together
grows into a holy temple in the Lord. Through Christ. the Gentiles,
the ones who were, as Paul says, without God. Through Christ,
they were reconciled to God. But Paul goes on to say that
not only did the gospel of Christ reconcile them vertically with
God, it reconciled them horizontally to their fellow believers. Paul says the Gentile believers
were once alienated from the commonwealth of Israel. They
were once on the outside of God's family looking in, but all of
that changed when Christ, who Paul says is himself our peace,
that all changed when Christ made both Jew and Gentile alike
into one new people, a people united to him by faith. Now to be clear, The gospel did
not and does not erase ethnic distinctions. The gospel did
not and does not change the fact that Jews were Jews and Gentiles
were Gentiles. The gospel did not and does not
take away the natural affections that one has for his own people
according to the flesh. but the gospel did and does destroy
the hostility between the two groups, both of them now being
reconciled through a common faith in Christ. This is a statement
of fact by Paul. The gospel of Christ reconciles
men to God, and it reconciles men to men through faith in Christ
alone, not through faith in Christ plus circumcision or any other
work of the law. Friends, the basis of all true
Christian fellowship and unity is the law-free gospel of Jesus
Christ. And this was being denied in
Antioch by those Jewish believers who following Peter separated
themselves from the Gentile believers. Their behavior was not in step
with the truth of the gospel. By their behavior, they were
not being straightforward about the truth of the gospel. So Paul responds in the only
way that he could. Verse 14, when I saw that their
conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said
to Cephas before them all, if you though a Jew live like a
Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to
live like Jews? And note that Paul confronts
Peter before them all, before the entire church. Peter's sin
was a public sin, therefore his rebuke is a public rebuke. Calvin comments here, those who
have sinned publicly must be chastised publicly so that their
unpunished sin will not harm the church by its example. And
this is one of the principles that undergirds Christ's command
to his church to exercise discipline. And Paul explains it this way
in 1 Timothy 5, as for those who persist in sin, rebuke them
in the presence of all so that the rest may stand in fear. And this is exactly Paul's purpose
in publicly rebuking Peter. It's not a matter of Paul's ego
or temper, far from it. In fact, this is the most loving
thing that Paul can do, and not just for the victimized Gentile
believers, but for Peter and the other hypocritical Jewish
believers. So Paul corrects Peter. He points out his gospel hypocrisy. If you, though a Jew, live like
a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles
to live like Jews? Peter is a Jew, but he lived
like a Gentile. He enjoyed the company of Gentile
believers. He enjoyed Gentile food. Yet
despite this, when he reacted in fear of the circumcision party
and withdrew himself from his Gentile brothers and sisters,
he was telling them loud and clear with his actions, again,
you aren't good enough for me. I can't be associated with you.
If you wanna eat with me, if you wanna fellowship with me,
then you need to live like a Jew. You need to be circumcised. You
need to observe the feast days. You need to observe the dietary
laws. Friends, this is the insanity of hypocrisy. One minute, Peter
is enjoying the Gentile fellowship that Christ had purchased with
his own blood, and the next, he's shrinking away, claiming
that the Gentiles must become Jews if they are to fellowship
with him. Peter is acting in a way that is contrary to his
beliefs. He's acting in a way that's contrary
to his own preaching. John Stott says this, Peter knew
perfectly well that faith in Jesus was the only condition
on which God will have fellowship with sinners. But he added circumcision
as an extra condition on which he was prepared to have fellowship
with them. thus contradicting the gospel. Peter knew what made sinners
right with God. And he said, that's a good start,
but they need something else to be made right with me. And Paul confronts him publicly
for acting contrary to his beliefs. Notice the word force at the
end of verse 14. Some translations say compel
here. Regardless, it's the same word that we see back in verse
three. Again, there's a parallel, so
just look up to verse three, if you will. But even Titus,
who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he
was a Greek. When the Judaizers burst into
Paul's private meeting with the Jerusalem apostles, demanding
that Titus take on the sign of the Old Covenant, he was not
forced to be circumcised. walking in step with the truth
of the gospel. The Apostle Paul with Peter right
beside him, remind you. stood firm against the Judaizers
and would not yield to their demands, even for a moment, so
that the truth of the gospel might be preserved. That Peter,
the one who did not yield, the one who stood firm against the
Judaizers as they would try to force Titus to be circumcised,
this same Peter arrives at Antioch, he cowers in fear to certain
men of the circumcision party, and he, by his actions, seeks
to force his Gentile brothers to live like Jews. The Peter
in Jerusalem walked in step with the truth of the gospel. He acted
consistently with the doctrine he professed and preached, but
the Peter in Antioch acted hypocritically. He walked out of step with the
truth of the gospel, and Paul finds himself here once again
standing firm, not yielding in submission even for a moment
to Peter, his co-labor, his co-apostle, so that the truth of the gospel
might be preserved. And in fact, Paul's public rebuke
of Peter is an example of Paul walking in step with the truth
of the gospel. To not rebuke Peter would be
for Paul to commit gospel hypocrisy himself. And certainly Paul must
have been tempted to cowardice. Remember, Peter gave him the
right hand of fellowship. Peter had endorsed Paul as an
apostle called and commissioned by Christ. So you can certainly
see Paul wondering, maybe I should let this one slide. Maybe, maybe
I'll just talk to Peter later on the side in private. We can
work it out behind closed doors. Maybe I don't have to challenge
him publicly in front of everybody. Maybe we can just deal with this
quietly. You can certainly see Paul considering that. Honestly,
I would have been tempted to take that approach. As Pastor
Jerry has said here, it's not my idea of fun to take a stick
and ram it into a hornet's nest. But confronting sin in this manner,
it can be exactly like that. You know you're going to get
stung. That's not the question. The question is how many times
before it's over. But again, Peter's sin is public, and it
demands a public rebuke. And more than that, it was an
opportunity for Paul to once again preach the true gospel
of grace to a mixed congregation of Jewish and Gentile believers,
to remind them all, once again, that by works of the law, no
man will be justified before God. Now, we won't get to it
today, but Paul's public rebuke and correction of Peter's gospel
hypocrisy, it actually extends to the end of chapter two. Now,
depending on the translation that you have, the quotation
of what Paul says will end in verse 14. Other translations
will carry it through to the end of the chapter. I believe
that all of this is a summary of what Paul is saying to Peter
in that situation. And Lord willing, I'll get to
preach those verses to you soon. But what we see when we get to
those verses, 15 through the end of the chapter, is that Paul's
argumentation moves as he's defending the divine nature of his apostleship
and gospel, it moves from that to a theological defense of justification
by faith. And even though we're not gonna
get there today, I want us to see now the reason for Peter's
behavior in Antioch, excuse me, I want us to see the reason that
it's hypocritical. And Paul's gonna point that out to him as
he continues through the end of chapter two. And the reason
is because Peter, again, knows better. Peter knows better. Look quickly to verses 15 and
16. Paul will say this to Peter. We ourselves are Jews by birth
and not Gentile sinners. Yet we know that a person is
not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus
Christ. So we also have believed in Christ
Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by
works of the law, because by works of the law, no one will
be justified. Paul reminds Peter, We know that
a person is not justified by works of the law, but through
faith in Christ. Paul reminds Peter, we also have
believed in Christ Jesus. Peter, we know, we also have
believed. Peter, you yourself are justified
by faith and not by works of the law. To force the Gentiles
to observe the law plainly contradicts the gospel that saved you. "'the
one that saved you freely, "'apart from any works of the law, "'to
force Gentiles to live like Jews "'is to walk out of step with
the truth of the gospel.'" That will be Paul's continued argument
to Peter in the following verses. Well, so we've seen this morning
the reason for gospel hypocrisy, the repercussions of gospel hypocrisy,
and the only appropriate response to gospel hypocrisy. I have one
final application for you. Brothers and sisters, strive
to walk in step with the truth of the gospel. We are all hypocrites
to one degree or another. And the truth is that none of
us lives up to the standard of what we profess to believe. That
standard is too high, amazingly high, so high that only one person
ever lived up to it. So the truth is, is that we are
all hypocrites to one degree or another. And so what we need
to do is to be honest before the Lord, we need to seek his
illumination as we take inventory of our lives and look for those
areas where we are walking out of step with the truth of the
gospel and where we see gospel hypocrisy in our lives. Brothers
and sisters, what do we do with that? What do we do with sin
as Christians? We repent. We repent. We continually trust in, continually
rest in the perfect righteousness of Christ, and we turn from our
sin. And we turn to him who never
acted hypocritically even once in his entire life. And by the
grace of God working in us, may we strive to walk in step with
the truth of the gospel. And I'll just add for the unbelievers
here, do not use the excuse of hypocrisy that so-called hypocrisy
that you see in professing Christians lives as a reason for your unbelief. There is no excuse for your unbelief. There has only been, as I said,
one perfect man to walk this earth, and his name is Jesus
Christ. And he offers to take from you
your sinfulness, your wickedness in the sight of God, and give
you in its place his perfect life of obedience. And he offers
this to you freely because he loves sinners, because he's merciful
towards sinners. The only question is, will you
receive it from him? Or will you stare at it and say,
no, I'm not interested. I'd rather stand over here and
point out how people are acting hypocritically. Receive from
him this gift of righteousness. Turn to him in repentance and
faith. Do not die in your sins as you
stand around pointing out the hypocrisy of others. Let us pray. Father, bless your word to us,
we pray. We confess that we all have acted
hypocritically. Help us to see those areas in
our lives where we are walking out of step with the truth of
the gospel. Help us to see these areas in
our lives and to genuinely repent of these things. Lord, we desire
to live a life that glorifies you. So help us to do that, we
pray. Thank you for the gift of Christ. Lord Jesus, thank you for your
condescension. Thank you for your perfect obedience.
Thank you for your sacrificial death for sinners, for those
who would trust in you, that we might be saved from the consequences
of our hypocrisy. We ask as we move to observe
the Lord's Supper, that you would meet with us in a great way.
We pray in Jesus' name, amen.
Confronting Gospel Hypocrisy
Series No Other Gospel
| Sermon ID | 72824174801817 |
| Duration | 56:39 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Galatians 2:11-14 |
| Language | English |
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