For those of you that may not know, this past week I had surgery on my shoulder to remove hardware that had been installed from an injury many years ago. And by God's grace, I survived that surgery. I'm here this morning. Thank you for your love, your prayers, your cards. It feels better to have that hardware out of my shoulder. Some of you asked if I was able to keep the metal plate and the nine screws that they took out of my shoulder, and I was. They gave me the screws. Here's one of them here. No, this isn't. This is a little different. Can you imagine that, though? It felt like this. So they claim that they'll be sending me those nine screws after they clean the bone fragments and the blood off of them in a special sanitization process or something. And so maybe those will be forthcoming. But if you'll allow me to preach this morning here in this sling, I think we'll be okay. In your Bibles, Galatians chapter number two, Galatians chapter two this morning, as was read just a moment ago. Two men who lived in a small village got into a terrible dispute that they could not resolve. So they decided to talk to the town sage. The first man went to the sage's home and told his version of what happened. When he finished, the sage said, you're absolutely right. Well, the next day, the second man called on the sage and told his side of the story, and the sage responded, you're absolutely right. Afterward, the sage's wife scolded her husband. Those men told you two different stories, and you assured them both that they were absolutely right. That's impossible. They can't both be absolutely right. The sage turned to his wife and said, you're absolutely right. You see, we hate conflict and we hate confrontation and we don't like to experience the strain and the pain of disagreements and we wish that everyone could just get along so that we could avoid conflict whenever possible. We just try to smooth things over. Am I right? I'm absolutely right, of course. And on the other hand, we love to hear about conflict. Did you hear what so-and-so did to so-and-so? Let me tell you about those two. He insulted her cooking, and so she ripped up his baseball card collection, and they haven't talked to each other in days. We love to hear about conflict. We also love to watch conflict. TV programming is full of conflict and reality shows and talk shows and courtroom dramas where we can watch the conflict unfold. In fact, sometimes we will even pay money to watch a fight. We purchase, of course, Minnesota Wild hockey tickets, right? So that we can watch a fight and we love when a fight breaks out. and to watch that conflict this morning in Galatians 2. There is a conflict, a confrontation, a showdown between two high-profile apostles, the apostle Peter and the apostle Paul over the battle between grace and legalism. But unlike the ruling of the sage in my little story, they both can't be absolutely right. In this case, I submit that grace wins. Grace wins. I prepared a message this morning from Galatians 2 verses 11 to 21 titled, Grace Wins. Let's pause for prayer. God in heaven, I pray that your Holy Spirit might be our teacher now as we study this text. I pray, Lord, that you would give me freedom and liberty as I preach. Lord, please relieve me of any unnecessary pain in these moments. I pray God that you would give clarity to our mind and our hearts so that we might be able to celebrate the grace of God that has appeared to all men, bringing us salvation by grace alone. I pray that you would go before us now in this study, I pray in Jesus' name, amen. Galatians 2, you have your Bibles open before you, I trust, verse number 11, now when Peter, had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, Paul says, because he was to be blamed. For before certain men came from James, he, that is Peter, would eat with the Gentiles, but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. Let me give you some background here to this account. Peter traveled from Jerusalem. up to Antioch and remained there for some time, enough time, to establish the practice of regularly eating his meals with the Gentile Christians. That is, Peter eating Gentile food at a Gentile table in Antioch. That was perfectly acceptable because God had taught Peter in Acts chapters 10 and 11 that it was no longer necessary to keep the Old Testament dietary and ceremonial laws, namely that the Jews must separate themselves from the Gentiles. Because you might not be familiar with Acts 10 and 11, let me tell you what happened there in Acts chapter 10. Peter was given a vision of a sheet being lowered from heaven, and in that sheet were unclean animals. God commanded Peter to kill and eat those unclean animals, but he objected. Because as a Jew, Peter would never eat food that was common or unclean. It was at that point that God explained to Peter a new Christian liberty in Jesus Christ, liberty from the Mosaic Law. Now as Peter was processing this new Christian liberty from the Mosaic Law, he was summoned to the home of a Gentile named Cornelius, an unclean Gentile. Peter went in and Peter ate with Cornelius, eating unclean Gentile food at an unclean Gentile table, and he gave Cornelius the gospel. By the grace of God, Cornelius and his household were gloriously saved. The Holy Spirit came upon them, just as the Holy Spirit had come upon the Jews on the day of Pentecost, confirming the work of the Lord. And all of this was offensive to the Jews. So, in Acts chapter 11, Peter had to defend this new Christian liberty and the grace of God going to the Gentiles. In fact, Acts chapters 10 and 11 are so fundamentally important to our understanding of Galatians 2 that I'm going to ask you to go with me there. Go with me to the book of Acts. Acts chapter 11, and follow as I read. I want to read an extended portion here, because this background is so important to us. Follow as I read Acts chapter 11, beginning in verse one. This is the defense of God's grace, and this is exactly what I just shared with you. Acts chapter 11, verse one. Now the apostles and brethren who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision, that's the Jews, contended with Peter, saying, you went in to uncircumcised men, Gentiles, and ate with them, namely Cornelius. But Peter explained it to them in order from the beginning, saying, I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, an object descending like a great sheet let down from heaven by four quarters, and it came to me. When I observed it intently and considered, I saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air, and I heard a voice saying to me, Rise, Peter, kill, and eat. But I said, Not so, Lord, for nothing common or unclean has at any time entered my mouth. But the voice answered me again from heaven, what God has cleansed you must not call common. Now this was done three times and all were drawn up again into heaven. At that very moment, three men stood before the house where I was having been sent to me from Caesarea. Then the Spirit told me, go with them, doubting nothing. Moreover, these six brethren accompanying me, and we entered the man's house. And he told us how he had seen an angel standing in his house who said to him, send men to Joppa and call Simon, whose surname is Peter, who will tell you words by which you and all your household will be saved. And as they began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them. This is Cornelius and his household. As upon us at the beginning, back at Pentecost, then I remember the word of the Lord, how he said, John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit. If therefore God gave them the same gift as he gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God? When they heard these things, they became silent, and they glorified God, saying, then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life. And this is a most significant account here in Acts chapters 10 and 11, the story is repeated, because it recounts for us how the gospel of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, came to the Gentiles. Okay, now go back to Galatians chapter number two now. In Galatians 2, Paul is confronting Peter to his face, in Galatians 2 verse 11, because Peter is now flip-flopping on this same issue. Peter is going backwards from liberty to law. Galatians 2 verse 11, Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed. This is a confrontation. For before certain men came from James, from Jerusalem, Peter would eat with the Gentiles. But when they came from James, from Jerusalem, the Jews that came, Peter withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. What's going on here? Number one, the cause of the conflict. The cause of the conflict, a delegation of Jews, arrived in Antioch. They had come from James. James was the senior pastor of the church in Jerusalem. And at mealtime, the Jewish Christians from Jerusalem ate by themselves, separate from the Gentile Christians from Antioch. Peter, who had previously been eating with the Gentiles, who had previously been eating with Cornelius and his household, remember what we just read in Acts, Peter now decides to eat with the Jews. Now, at first that might appear innocent enough. The Jews were Peter's friends. The Jews had come to the city of Antioch for a visit. Peter wanted to catch up on all that was happening. What's the big deal if Peter stopped eating with the Gentiles and began eating with the Jews? Well, the text tells us in verse number 12 that Peter withdrew and separated himself fearing those who were of the circumcision. You see, the first cause of this conflict is letter A, fear. And Peter's behavior was motivated by what others might think of him. And Peter didn't want them to see him eating unclean food with an unclean Gentile. And he was afraid. Folks, this is the principle, you might jot in your margin there, Proverbs 29 verse 25. Proverbs 29, 25 says the fear of man will bring a snare. And when we allow fear to drive us or self-preservation to control us, we compromise our integrity and we say things and do things that will only create conflict and cause conflict. I would say this to us, I would say peer pressure isn't only a thing for adolescents, for teenagers. Peer pressure is an issue for all of us and many times we become intimidated by another or overwhelmed by many others and so we go with the flow or we compromise our convictions or we toss out the truth in an effort to agree with everyone else like the sage in our story. I don't know that he was a great sage. And so because of fear there was another reason or cause for the confrontation between Paul and Peter. Look at verse 13, Galatians 2 verse 13. And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with Peter. so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. This would be letter B, hypocrisy, another cause. The hypocrisy, the situation now is compounded for the other Jews that were part of the Gentile church of Antioch, followed Peter's lead, joined in Peter's hypocrisy, even Barnabas traded tables. Now let's be careful here. To charge them with hypocrisy is to charge them with wrong motives. And that's a pretty heavy accusation. That's a slippery charge. But folks, that is not my accusation. That is not my charge. That is what the Bible, the Scripture charges in verse 13. You see, the intent of Peter and the other Jews, even Barnabas, was not to visit with their Jewish guests and reach out to them and show them kindness and welcome them to the new city upon their visit. If that would have been the intent, this may not have been a problem here. But the motive of Peter and Barnabas and the other Jews was to appear to be something or someone other than what they were. And this is nothing more than religious hypocrisy, pretending to be what I am not. I'll illustrate it in this way. A brief story that came across. The proprietor of a French restaurant came up with a gimmick that doubled his clientele in a matter of weeks. And this is what he did. When a man would come into a restaurant with a date, A smiling waiter would hand each an ornate menu. They looked alike, the two menus, but the one given to the man had the genuine prices listed for each item, while his lady friend's copy showed the same dishes at fictitious and highly inflated prices. As the orders were then placed, the woman would be impressed with her date's nonchalant generosity and assume that money was no issue for him. This is brilliant, right? When I was dating, I always had to use coupons, you know, the buy one get one free, and it was do we want the chicken nuggets or the cheeseburger, right? But the duplicity there of two different menus, two different prices, and folks, did you know that God reserved his greatest criticism in both the Old and New Testaments, God reserved it for hypocrisy. And I might just add, this isn't just an issue of divided meals in Antioch. It was also a matter of divided worship among the believers in Antioch, for most often the Lord's table or the communion ordinance that we observe was observed as part of a common meal at that time. And so it wasn't just about eating a meal, it was about the partnership, the fellowship in worship around the Lord's table. Folks, know that hypocrisy will cause conflict. If you are a two-faced, phony baloney, a fraud, a fake, a hypocrite, you can count on conflict. There's a third cause for the conflict here beyond fear and hypocrisy. Look at verse number 14. Verse 14, but when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, What's at stake here is the truth of the gospel. I said to Peter before them all, if you being a Jew live in the manner of the Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews? You can write down letter C, legalism. The gospel in practice was violating the gospel in principle because inferences were given by Peter's behavior that diluted and destroyed the truth of the gospel of grace. So here's the short of it. The Mosaic Law and all of the rabbinical traditions that were added to it could not justify anyone. And to suggest that Jewish dietary or ceremonial laws or any other law for that matter were a means of salvation was absolute legalism. Legalism is salvation by law keeping. Now, let me qualify. An institution may have a practical policy, or an individual may have a personal standard. Don't confuse institutional policies or personal standards as legalism. Many times we're prone to label every code of conduct as legalism, every rule as legalism. Legalism is salvation by work, salvation by law keeping. Whereas salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone apart from the law. And that isn't just the cry of the Reformation, that is the New Testament gospel of Jesus Christ. And in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek. And Peter was not straightforward about the truth of the gospel in verse number 14. He confused the matter by refusing to eat with the Gentiles and was eating only with the Jews. Okay, so what would be then some cures for the conflict? Number two, cures for this conflict. Initially, we might not think of confrontation as a cure. for conflict, but rather we think of confrontation maybe as compounding the conflict, but sometimes confrontation is necessary, and that's what I think we're reading of here is letter A, the confrontation. In the event that there are issues that are not issues of sin, for example, maybe you don't like the color of the carpet, or maybe you don't like the time of the services or the way that so and so does such and such, I would say confront yourself. Confess your selfishness. Confess your pride. It isn't about you. It doesn't matter if you can do better or think that it ought to be different. Pray that God will change your heart, confront your heart to be more loving and gracious regarding that issue. There's so much conflict that would not only be cured but would be prevented if we would confront ourselves first and foremost. All right? So there's the first part of confrontation. But then, in the event that there is a sin issue, or a truth issue as we have here, the truth of the gospel, then it's necessary to confront one another. And there are many scriptures that speak to this matter, Matthew 5, Matthew 18, 1 Corinthians 5, Galatians 6, and many more. The Bible does not say that you confront the pastor about the other. It teaches us to go to the other and confront the other regarding an offense, a sinful offense, or a point of error or heresy perhaps. You can read the one another passages in the Bible. And so one of the cures for conflict is to go to the other and confront that matter. And in short, when the stakes are high, we must address the issues. And here in Galatians 2, it was a battle for the gospel. At issue here in this conflict between Paul and Peter is the truth of the gospel, grace versus legalism. That's the battle. A second important cure is secondly truth. Truth, of course. Since Peter and the others were not, and I'm looking here at verse 14, they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, Paul had to review the truth. And so Paul does that in verses 15 and 16. And here's what I want to do. I want to read verses 15 and 16 as a Pastor Matt paraphrase. So you look in your copy of the English Bible, verses 15 and 16, and allow me to read. You listen to my summary. These are my own words, verses 15 and 16. Even we who are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners, that's like a pejorative, even we who are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners know that a man is not justified by keeping the law. We tried that. Rather, a man is justified by faith in Jesus Christ. It is believing in Jesus Christ that justifies us not obeying the law, is what Peter is saying, I'm sorry, what Paul is saying to Peter. Peter is confronting Peter with the truth of the gospel. Let me read that one more time. This is my paraphrase, verses 15 and 16. Even we who are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners, Know that a man is not justified by keeping the law. We've tried that as Jews. Rather, a man is justified by faith in Jesus Christ. It is believing in Jesus Christ that justifies us not obeying the law. Now, jump to verse 21. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. Folks, verse 21 is a truth bomb that Paul gives to Peter. Here's what I drafted in my notes. To dismiss the grace of God or diminish the grace of God is to say that Christ's death on the cross was a waste. That's sobering. Of course, it's fundamentally important that when truth is presented, it's presented in love. We don't need to be ugly about it or rude about it, but we can be clear about truth. Unfortunately, many times in our human conflict, the truth becomes blurred as each side tells a different story, right? And memories fail us and emotion inflames us and superlatives are used and exaggerations are made. Personal attacks are hurled. I know that because I've erred in that way. I know that you've been there as well. I know I have, and many times, in times like those, sometimes it's difficult for truth to be established. In verses 19 and 20, Paul then explains the practical implications of this. Verse 19, for I, through the law, died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ positionally. I have died. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live. but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. These are perhaps some of the most familiar verses in all of the book of Galatians, but we come to appreciate these verses in their context of Paul's confrontation with Peter over law and grace. If I am dead to the law, And if Christ is alive in me, then my living is to be an evidence of God's grace in my life. And so, positionally and practically, the gospel changes my life. I've said this before over the last few weeks, and perhaps I need to copy it for you in your notes, but the gospel of grace was not just a message which, if believed, granted salvation. It certainly does that. The gospel of grace was the guiding principle which governed men's lives. To Paul, the gospel of grace was not only an invitation to unbelievers, but it had implications for believers also. And the implications of this text are we are dead to the law. We are alive in Christ. God's grace has quickened me, Ephesians chapter two. I do not need to fear. I do not need to play the hypocrite. I do not need to impose law on anyone else. I need to live in the grace of God. So then there's one more cure for conflict, and it's this, it's reconciliation. Reconciliation. And whatever happened here in the end between Paul and Peter, did Peter start the Catholic Church? Did Paul start the Christian church? Well, certainly Romanism teaches legalism, that is, earning and maintaining salvation by works. Christianity, New Testament Christianity, teaches grace, salvation by God's grace through faith. But I believe that Galatians, Chapter 2, occurred before the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15. Remember the case that I made for us last week? I believe that the Apostle Paul wrote this letter, this epistle, to the Galatian churches before Acts 15. It was in Acts 15 where Peter then gave the first and great defense of the grace of God apart from the law. We've got to go there. Forgive me. Go back to Acts chapter 15. Following Galatians chapter two, I believe Acts 15 happened, and here Peter is able to articulate that grace wins. Acts 15, let's pick up in verse number six. Now the apostles and elders came together to consider the matter. The matter was a question of law keeping, namely circumcision, verse seven, Acts six, verse seven. I'm sorry, Acts 15, verse seven. And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them, men and brethren, you know, a good while ago, God chose among us that by my mouth, the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. When was that? Acts 10 and 11, when Peter went to the house of Cornelius. We read that earlier. Verse eight, so God, who knows my heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith, not by law. Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we are able to bear? The law. But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved in the same manner as they. Jews and Gentiles are saved by grace. Then all the multitude kept silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul declaring how many miracles and wonders God had worked through them among the Gentiles. And after they had become silent, James answered, this is now the senior pastor in Jerusalem saying, men and brethren, listen to me. Simon, that is Peter, has declared how God had at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. And with the words of the prophets, and I could continue reading for the sake of time, I'll stop there. Folks, the confrontation that happened with the truth bomb in Galatians 2 brought reconciliation between Peter and Paul so that in Acts 15 they could clearly articulate that grace wins. Now, at the end of his life, Peter Affirmed Paul again when he wrote in 2 Peter chapter 3, you don't need to turn there. It's before you on the screen. This is Peter now. Consider that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation as also our beloved brother Paul. according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, even in the book of Galatians, that was embarrassing, that was awkward. Speaking in them, speaking in his epistle of these things, in which some things are hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, Peter is saying, I was guilty at a time of this very thing, as they do also the rest of scriptures. But in the battle between grace and legalism, Grace wins. The battle wasn't the personalities of Peter and Paul. The battle was over the gospel of legalism or the gospel of grace. And folks, grace wins. The forgiveness of our sin, our eternal salvation is by God's grace alone. And we then live in that grace. There may be institutional policies. There may be personal standards. We ought to be pursuing holiness. But, folks, may we never err like Peter in fear or in hypocrisy, may we never confuse the gospel of grace alone. Let's pray. God in heaven, thank you for the confrontation between Peter and Paul. Lord, I thank you for the reconciliation between Peter and Paul. That, Lord, is also a fruit of the gospel of grace. Lord, in the humility that you granted those men to contend earnestly for the faith, Lord, I pray that you would find us to be a people who celebrate salvation by grace alone and to then be gracious toward one another in the exercise of our Christian walk. I pray this in Jesus' name, amen.