who were looking to take this position. One said, I'll ask the difficult parent question. Someone else said, I'll ask the homework question. Someone else said, I'll ask the integration question. I said, I'll ask a theological question, being the pastor. I said, it won't be a hard one. So everybody started asking their questions. And because I'd been going through Galatians, and because the heart of Galatians is, how is a person right with God? I thought, I want to ask this to see if these candidates know what they're talking about. They're coming to a Christian school. And the theme that year was God's grace and coming from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. That was the theme for the school year. So when we had the candidates before us, each one, I said, so I have a question for you. You're going to be a teacher in a classroom. How would you communicate to one of your students the way how a person goes from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. How do you go from being far from God to being near to God? How do you go from not knowing Christ as your savior to having Christ as your savior? How does that happen? How do you go from being not forgiven of your sins to being forgiven of your sins? What has to happen? It's interesting, the first two candidates kind of hemmed and hawed, well, you got to be careful, you know, you want to make sure that the kids are going to church, and you want to make sure that they're good, and that they obey their parents, and that they are reading their Bibles, and it was all works, righteousness, being good kids. That's how they went from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. Now the third, they were all, candidates had been to Christian college, actually. The third candidate said, it's by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. I was like, pfft. She said, I like to communicate that to students with a box, a gift, and say this is like the gift that God has given us, that it can just sit there, but we need to open it, we need to We need to see what it is. We need to believe that it's for us and take it for ourselves. It was a wonderful illustration. But two of them failed completely. It was all, you gotta be a good kid. You gotta obey your mom and dad. You gotta make sure you don't talk back to your teacher. Those are all nice things, but that's not how you go from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. The core of the book of Galatians is answering that question. How is a person right with God? Just a little review before we begin here. Most of the letters of the New Testament here are written to churches in various cities. The letters of Paul are places mostly where Paul had been or where he wanted to go. The letter to the Philippians is to the church in the city of Philippi. The letter to the Ephesians is to the Christians, the church in Ephesus where Paul had been a church planter. The letter to the Romans was to the church in Rome. Now Paul had not been there but he wanted to go there. He was praying he could go visit them. He didn't know he was going to go visit them in chains under arrest and in a dungeon when he got there. The letter to the Galatians, what we have tonight, is not to one city but to a region. Galatia was a region. It would be like writing to the Floridians. to the churches in Galatia. This letter is about the essence of the gospel, that is, the fundamental core of the message of God's saving work in Jesus Christ. You find that right off the bat at the very beginning of the book of Galatians. Paul says that he is an apostle, that he's not sent by men or from men, but he's sent by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Jesus from the dead. He says, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins. He gave himself for our sins. to deliver us from this present evil age. According to the will of God, our father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Now, Galatia was a Roman province. It was a portion of the Roman Empire that spread throughout much of what is modern day Eastern Turkey. Paul went there, traveled on two missionary journeys. The reason for this letter, as we find later in chapter one, is because the gospel that they believed has been altered. They started believing a different message. He says in verse six of chapter one, I'm astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel. You know, not everybody who calls himself a Christian believes the same message. He says, I'm surprised you're turning to a different gospel. Not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. And listen to what he says, how serious this is. If even we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preach to you, let him be accursed. As we've said before, I'll say it again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, Let him be accursed. You see, false teachers, false teachers had come into the churches in Galatia. They accused Paul of being the one who had altered the message. His point in chapter two is that his gospel message is not different than the rest of the apostles. No, he was preaching the same message. He proved that as he stressed that he went up to Jerusalem and the rest of the apostles there endorsed his preaching and his message. Paul is writing here against legalists, against those who have altered the message. Paul and all the apostles had the same message. Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and he rose again on the third day. Here in chapter two, Paul comes and explains for all the churches down through the ages, preserved by the Spirit of God, to one of the most tense and dramatic scenes in the New Testament. I've said this before, I wish I could have been a fly on the wall of this argument, this scene, between the Apostle Paul and Peter. Peter is described as a fisherman. He was probably a larger, bigger guy. Paul is, from what extra biblical accounts, a man of shorter stature, you know, normal stature, and one who had, probably didn't have much hair. Oh, it would have been a fly on the wall to watch this. The two leading apostles going toe to toe in a passionate, emotional conflict. Now this argument happened in the city of Antioch. which is where the Gentile ministry began. For those of you who are not familiar, Gentiles were those who were not Jews originally, Roman citizens, Greeks, Hellenists, who had heard the gospel about Jesus Christ, about this Jewish Messiah, and believed for themselves that Jesus was their savior. So Antioch is where the Gentile ministry began. When Paul first goes to Jerusalem, he was given the right hand of fellowship by the apostles, by Peter, James, and John. And he says in verse 9 of chapter 2, when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me that we should go to the Gentiles and that they would go to the circumcised, meaning to the Jews. So they decided we're going to divide up the labor. We'll go to the Jews and tell them about Christ being the Jewish Messiah. They will do that. And Paul will go to Gentile communities, to those who are not in the synagogue, and tell them about Christ. Well, in Antioch, there was a whole slew of Gentiles who'd come and become Christians and Jews who'd become, it was the first time that it was evident that the wall was broken down between Jews and Gentiles and they all worshiped together. Well, later, Peter comes to Antioch, as well as some others who come to visit from Jerusalem. Others who actually intimidated Peter. So that Peter fell into his old ways. And Paul had to oppose him and set him straight. In verse 11, it says, I opposed him to his face. Now both were godly men, both were used by God. In fact, the book of Acts is divided into telling the story of Peter and telling the story of Paul's ministry. The crux of the matter here is that Peter had been teaching in the past, that God permitted, God allowed for Jews and Gentiles who had become Christians to eat together, that we're all one in Christ, and that God had set aside the dietary laws. You find that in Acts chapter 10. No longer call anything unclean. And Peter was permitted to eat in the house of Cornelius. But listen, when intimidating Jewish Christians came from Jerusalem to visit Antioch, Peter fell back to his old ways and the fear of man. Peter's conduct was wrong. Look there in verse 11. When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, or at least saying they were from James, he was eating with Gentiles. But when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted, that is Jewish Christians, acted hypocritically with him. So even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. So again, Peter comes to visit Antioch. He's excited about this church. Look at how many people are here, both Jews and Gentiles, all part of one body. He considered them brothers. He ate at the same table with them. He observed the Lord's Supper with them. He worshiped with them. He probably went into their homes. In fact, we find in Acts chapter 10 that Peter himself was given special revelation and he eats with Cornelius in his home. But now some men from James that is claiming to have authorization came down to Antioch from Jerusalem and said, oh, you Gentile Christians, you need to go through the law of Moses first before you can be saved. You need to observe the sacrament of circumcision or the rite of circumcision. And they taught the Jewish Christians, you can't hang out with these uncircumcised Gentile Christians. They're not really saved yet. They said the Jews who'd become Christians should not fellowship with the Gentiles who'd become Christians without them becoming Jews first. They weren't really saved yet. All those Gentiles who have not jumped through the hoops need to become Jews first. Why did Peter give in? Why did he give in to these visitors? Well, what does the text say? Verse 12. He feared them. He was afraid. This wasn't a decision prompted by truth, but by fear of man. You see what's coming out of Peter? It's the old man. This is the old Peter. This is the old nature that came out when he betrayed Jesus there in the courtyard of the high priest. Remember when people asked him if he was a, you're a disciple of Jesus. Oh, no, no, no, I'm not a disciple of Jesus. Three times. He was fearful. Well, who else was affected by Peter's behavior here? Verse 13, it was Barnabas. Barnabas even. Why is that significant? Well, it's because Barnabas was the one who brought Paul to Antioch in the first place to teach these Gentile Christians. Well, secondly, tonight see Paul's clear response. Paul's clear response. When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned. I opposed him to his face. Because he was clearly in the wrong, verse 11. He stood condemned, meaning Peter was condemned by his own actions. So did Paul have a one-on-one private little discussion with Peter? Apparently not. Look at verse 14, he said, I said to Cephas, that's another name for Peter, I said to Cephas before them all, in front of them all. Why didn't he do it one-on-one? Well, it was a public scandal. It was a public scandal from one of the leaders of the church. And the leaders in Jerusalem had already given them the green light, given Paul the green light to go to the Gentiles. Well, what's at stake here? Paul says it clearly there in verse 14. The truth of the gospel. Peter was straying. He said, we didn't want to yield in submission even for a moment so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved. He said, when I saw their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel. What's Peter doing? Peter is denying the truth of being justified by faith alone. Peter is saying, oh no, you got to do other things. You guys aren't doing it right. You haven't done enough. You're not accepted by God yet, and so I can't accept you. Peter was denying That you're saved by faith alone in Christ alone. So out of loyalty to the gospel, Paul opposes Peter. Because Peter's conduct betrayed the gospel. Paul's reasoning is found there in verses 15 and 16. He's quoting what he said to Peter. He said, if God justifies Jews and Gentiles on the same terms, that is faith in Jesus, how can we put conditions on our accepting of the Gentiles? We can't say, yes, God accepts you, and God accepts you, and then we say, no, but we don't accept you. If God has accepted them, he says, how can we reject them? How can we not sit down and eat with them? How can we not fellowship with them? If God welcomes them, how can we say we won't associate with them? And besides, Paul says to Peter, you've been living like a Gentile all this time. You've been eating in their homes. You've been eating non-kosher food. This is hypocrisy, Peter. Peter had started applying extra conditions on the Gentiles. And again, even though he himself had received special revelation from God in Acts chapter 10 when that sheet came down to heaven and he said, I can't eat that. And God said, oh, yes. Nothing is unclean anymore. One 19th century commentator from the 1800s said there was no question of love or charity here but a question of principle. To eat with Gentiles was either right or wrong. In the light of the gospel it was right. but to shilly-shally on the matter and to let it depend on the presence or absence of certain people was clearly wrong. It was monstrous that a Gentile convert should at one be treated as a brother, at one time be treated as a brother and another time shunned as though he were a pariah. That's what Peter was doing. He was shunning his brothers. So Paul goes to the heart of the issue. What's the heart of the issue? The heart of the issue is what is it that makes a person right with God? That was the question I asked these candidates on that committee to be teachers. How is a person made right with God? How are you declared forgiven before God? Is it when you've done enough? Or is it when you've looked in faith to the one who's done it all? Paul says in verse 15, we ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners. And we know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. So we've believed in Jesus Christ in order to be justified by faith and not by works of the law. Because by works of the law, no one, no one will be justified. So he introduces a new word here in this point. Justified, he uses it three times in verse 16 and once in verse 17, and then he uses the noun in verse 21, justification. Paul brings into focus here the good news of the gospel. Listen, sinful men and women are brought into acceptance by God, not by their obedience, not because they've been good, not because they got their shoes shined on Sunday, They're brought into acceptance by God himself, not by works, not by their own obedience, but through the simple means of trusting that Jesus Christ died for my sins on the cross, looking in faith to him, turning from sin and turning to Christ. Believing that Jesus did it all for us. He did the work. He obeyed in my place. He died because I was disobedient. Full redemption is therefore given to me. See, justification is a legal term. It's the opposite of condemnation. To condemn someone is to declare them guilty. To justify someone is to declare them not guilty. Paul said that's the good news, that it's all by grace. God puts a sinner, a rebel, an unworthy person right with God, pardoning them, forgiving them, accepting as righteous by his grace alone as they look in faith to Christ. And you know what? The same issue is critical today. Nothing has changed. God is righteous and holy. We are not. God is pure and we are unclean. We are unrighteous. How can a man or a woman be made righteous and acceptable before God? How is it that God can be declaring someone righteous and acceptable to him? Well, for these people that came down from Jerusalem, the only way is by sheer hard work. Gotta do everything right, get cleaned up first, show God you're serious, follow all the ceremonial law, do all the works of the law, you gotta earn it, you gotta earn your wings to go to heaven. You ever heard anybody say that? You gotta do what the law commands, you gotta refrain from what it forbids, you must observe all the moral law, and then maybe you'll squeak in. For these Judaizers, you gotta observe all the ceremonial law. They were trying to establish their own righteousness. It's the same religion today. Most people, most people think, how is it that you go to heaven? Well, you got to do the right thing. You got to be good. Whether you even don't go to church, many religious people still think, it's all because of what I do. In the end, have I done enough? I've heard many people say, I just hope I've done enough to go to heaven. No. You can't. You cannot do enough. It's not possible to do enough. The wages of sin is death. It's not possible to become justified, declared innocent in God's sight by our accomplishment. It's impossible. That's why we need Christ. We know, Paul says, this is how a person is justified, verse 16, by faith alone. And Paul doesn't leave it there. Fourthly, and briefly, he gives an important objection. He knows there's gonna be people who say, verses 17 and following, Does this promote sin? In our endeavor to promote justification by grace alone, through faith alone and not by works, does this give us just a free pass to go and sin and do all that we want to do? Is Christ a servant of sin, he says in verse 17, meaning is Christ just promoting a sinful lifestyle that you can just do as you please? What does Paul say? Certainly not. Absolutely not, may it never be. Because justification not only changes our standing before God, our status before God, but it also changes us. Because we die to the law. The law demanded death. We were under condemnation, but Christ paid the penalty. And he freed us from the penalty and the bondage of sin that we might live for God now. Paul says, I died to the law because Christ satisfied the demands by his death. And now I can live for God. So it's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. I'm a changed man. I live by faith. And Paul says there in conclusion that I'm not the one setting aside the grace of God. Peter is the one who set aside the grace of God by saying you had to jump through all these hoops of the law. And then he gives this zinger at the end. He says, if you promote the idea that righteousness is obtained by works of the law, then why did Jesus have to die? He died in vain. If you can get to heaven by your own works, then why did Jesus come? Why did he die on the cross? Reminds me and I've mentioned this a couple different settings before, this attorney that I met one time up in Grand Rapids. I used to swim every morning at a swimming laps at a pool and I was talking to a man putting on a nice suit and I said, oh, what do you do? He said, I'm an attorney. I said, oh, what kind of attorney? Oh, I'm in contract law. I said, oh, that's interesting. He goes, what do you do? And I said, I'm a pastor. The face changes completely. And he said, well, the way I see it, I didn't ask anything. He said, the way I see it, I'm just gonna give it my best shot. And if that's not good enough for God, then so be it. Okay, all righty then. See how that works out for you. That's what most people think. I'm just gonna give it my best shot. And we'll see how that works out. As we close this morning, remember the bottom line. This is the essential core of the Christian message. This is what we're to preach. This is what we tell the world. Romans chapter four, Paul says, this is the message of the whole Bible from beginning to end. Abraham even believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. David said, God bless those who look in faith. David speaks of the one whom God counts righteousness apart from works. The Apostle Paul wrote these words here 2,000 years ago. The same gospel is true today. There's a quote at the back of your bulletin. Martin Luther, part of the Reformation, he held high this doctrine 500 years ago. He said, every week I preach justification by faith to my people, meaning his church, because every week they forget it. We fall back into, oh, I haven't performed enough. Maybe I won't go to heaven now. I haven't done enough, I've sinned again. How does this apply to us today? Well, every week we are so prone to fall back into works righteousness that the motive for what we do is to earn salvation rather than to say thank you to God for what he's done for us. This is the gospel. Jesus Christ died for our sins, for all of them. He who knew no sin became sin so that we might become the righteousness of God. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. How do you become in Christ Jesus by calling out on the name of the Lord saying God have mercy on me a sinner. You know this this is not a message that the world likes to hear that there's only one way. And it's not a message you hear in many churches today. So many churches are preaching works righteousness. Just as we close, I saw a quote earlier this week, or maybe it was the end of last week, that Pope Francis spoke recently to children in Singapore. He said to them, all religions are paths to reach God. They are, to make a comparison, like different languages, different dialects to get there. But he said, God is God for everyone. If you start to fight saying my religion is more important than yours, mine is true, yours isn't, where will that lead us? There's only one God and each of us has a language to arrive at God. Some are Sikh, some are Muslim, some are Hindu, some are Christians. They are all different ways to God. Meaning just be a good Hindu. Just be a good Muslim. Just be a good Sikh. Just be a good Christian. They're all ways. It's all salvation by works. That's what he's saying. So what, Christ died in vain? If you can go to heaven anyway, you please? We have to have our gospel message right, and we have to apply it as well. We must keep going back to it. Lord, have mercy on me today, a sinner. I ask you as we close, are you right with God? Do you know that Christ has paid the penalty for all of your sins? Have you been justified in God's sight? I promise you, from God's word, you have if you've cried out to God for mercy and said, Lord, have mercy on me, forgive me, cleanse me, wash me. I need Christ. There's only one way, and that's by believing that Christ died for your sins and rose again from the dead. And as a response now, we pursue God. And we go wherever He is calling us to tell others the good news. We live our lives in grateful service to the King and following His ways. Yes, we follow His law, His commandments. That's how we show God we love Him and live a life pleasing to Him. Praise be to God for His grace. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we bow before you and thank you for your mercy to us in Christ. Thank you that you've not dealt with us like our sins deserve. Thank you for every blessing that you've poured out upon us. And pray now that as we go from this place, we would truly go wherever you call us, that we would live lives of grateful obedience. And we pray you'd also bless our tithes and offerings tonight and our fellowship meal, that we would encourage one another and build each other up. Thank you, oh Lord, for this opportunity to be together and to hear your word. We ask for your blessing in Jesus' name, amen.