Well, you can turn with me and your Bibles to the book of Galatians, chapter 2. We continue our study through Galatians. Galatians 2, we're going to look at verses 1-10 this morning, and that's what I'll read for us this morning as well. Galatians 2, verses 1-10. Then after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and also took Titus with me. And I went up by revelation, and communicated to them that gospel which I preached among the Gentiles, but privately to those who are of reputation, lest by any means I might run or had run in vain. Not even Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in, who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage, to whom we did not yield submission, even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. But from those who seemed to be something, whatever they were, it makes no difference to me. God shows personal favoritism to no man, for those who seemed to be something added nothing to me. But on the contrary, when they saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised had been committed to me, as the gospel for the circumcised was to Peter, for he who worked effectively in Peter for the apostleship to the circumcised also worked effectively in me toward the Gentiles. And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised. And they desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do. Amen. Let us pray once again. Our God, again, we are thankful that you are the God of freedom, you are the God of liberty, O God. We are free from the guilt of sin, free from the curse of the law, free from the effects of the devil in this world, O God. Christ has purchased, Christ has defeated the devil, Christ has defeated the seed of the serpent. We're thankful, O God, that this is our Lord Christ, our mighty King, our mighty warrior, the one that we can look to, who is mighty and all-powerful. O God, we're thankful that we are released from the curse of the law, that we do not earn our way of salvation before you. Our right standing before you is only because of the blood of Christ, only because of the righteousness of Christ, who lived it perfectly and purchased it for us. Thank you, O God, that we are clothed and covered in Christ's righteousness for those who have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We're thankful, O God, for these wonderful truths. But, O God, again, help us to love you, Help us do that which is pleasing unto you, not to be right with you, but because we are right with you. Because we are right with you because of the Lord Jesus Christ. Help us to love you, not to be saved, but because we are saved, O God. And help us to do that which is pleasing unto you, for this is the blessedness of liberty, O God. That we are free to do that which is pleasing unto you, because Christ has defeated, or released for us, purchased us from the curse of the law. Thank you that he became a curse for us, O God, that we might not be cursed. We're thankful for these wonderful truths. Thank you for justification. Thank you for the liberty that is connected with justification, O God. These are important things for us to understand and think through and what that means and what that looks like, O God. God, we pray that you'd help us to be on guard all the time. For men do secretly try to come into your churches and infiltrate and seek to bring down the gospel of free and sovereign grace found in the Lord Jesus Christ by additions to your gospel, which are no additions at all, but are alternatives to your truth. So God, as we understand this, may your Spirit go forth, may your Spirit be with us, may your Spirit convict us, may your Spirit change us. O God, for we need your Spirit. We are weak and feeble, and we pray that your Spirit would bless the preaching and the teaching as it goes forth. May we see your might, may we see your power as your Word goes forth. We do ask these things in the name of Christ, we pray. Amen. Well, we're continuing our series in the book of Galatians. If you remember, Paul is writing to the churches at Galatia because some had infiltrated, some had come to Galatia and began to teach a false gospel. It's not just faith in Christ which makes someone saved or makes someone right. before God, but it's faith plus something. Faith plus, in this case, circumcision. To be saved, you had to be circumcised, or at least these men were teaching that. So Paul writes to the churches at Galatia to say, this is not the case. Justification, that is being right in God's sight, is not based on anything we do, but based on Christ's righteousness alone. Circumcision does not make one right before God, and any other sort of human addition to that does not make one right before God. And so he defends this very vehemently in verses 6 through 10. He defends his gospel. Why are you turning so quickly to a different gospel? Not really that there is another gospel. So he's vehement about the gospel. And then in verses 11 through 24, he's defending that his apostleship didn't come from man, but it was God-given. Acts 9, when Christ appears to Paul, gives him a special, certainly saves him, but gives him a special commission to be the apostle to the Gentiles. So this is what he's saying in verses 11 through 24. It was by revelation, it was by the revelation of Jesus Christ that I might go and preach the gospel to the Gentiles, and I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood. But then when we come to Galatians 2, we're going to still see that even though he didn't go talk to the twelve immediately, he's still preaching a gospel in the same vein as the twelve. You see, there's kind of a bit of a tension we're going to draw out as we go. You see, he needs to maintain his own independence. I got it from Christ, but it's the same gospel that these ones are preaching as well. Because some of these false teachers were saying to Paul, Paul, your gospel is not, they were saying, first of all, it's from man. So he's writing in verses 11 through 24 to say, it's not from man, it's from God. But then also these Judaizers were saying, we got our gospel from the 12. So what's more important, the 12 or Paul? And then Paul is saying, well, I'm in line with the 12. You're wrong, Judaizers. You're wrong in this case, because they were seeking to add something to the gospel. A lot of things we've already seen, but more drawn out further in verses, or chapter 2, verses 1 through 10. That's the problem. Adding to the gospel. That's the problem we're seeing here. It's not just faith in Christ, but faith plus something. And if you don't think that's not alive and well today, it may not be circumcision. It might be something else. It might be our own personal obedience. It might be name anything to be right with God you have to engage in something in addition to the gospel which is wrong and false in this case with these ones it was circumcision so Paul's really writing in verses 1 through 10 to combat the false teaching and he's really highlighting in the showing that both his gospel and apostleship are affirmed by the apostles at Jerusalem. That's the focus. That's the point. It's the same gospel and the apostleship is the same or they have different purposes for why they're apostles but they're in the same vein as one another. That's really the focus. So really those are our two points. Paul's gospel affirmed in verses 1 through 5 and secondly Paul's apostleship affirmed in verses 6 through 10. So Paul's gospel affirmed and Paul's apostleship affirmed. So let's first look then at Paul's gospel affirmed in verses 1-5. Notice then after 14 years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas and also took Titus with me. So the 14 years here, remember he went up after 3 years in verse 18. Again, he's trying to highlight in verses 18-24, I was only up there for 15 days. There's no way they could give me all theological brilliance and knowledge in 15 days. I just went to chat with them. But then, here, I went up with them 14 years later for a different purpose, to affirm his gospel in this instance. But probably when he says 14 years here, probably refers to after his conversion, or 14 years from his conversion, they go back up to Jerusalem, he takes Barnabas, and notice they also take Titus with him, which will become important when we get to verse three. So they travel, they go there, and notice the reason or partial reason for why they go in verse two, and I went up by revelation. Same word we saw in verse 12 when he says, "...for I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ." And a similar word as well as verse 16, "...to reveal His Son in me." You see, this is a showing that he received a special revelation from God at that time to go up to Jerusalem. He received a special compelling by the Spirit to go for a specific reason, a specific purpose. Remember, this is a different time in redemptive history. They don't have the Scriptures for them. They don't have the Bibles in their phones and that sort of thing. So the Holy Spirit still guides, especially the apostles. And Paul, as we saw in our studies in Acts, is also a prophet as well. So he received divine prompting from God to go up to Jerusalem. We don't necessarily go up there. But the whole point of what he's saying here when he says, it came to me by way of revelation, he's just saying, I came on my own terms with the Holy Spirit. These apostles didn't compel me to come. I went up on my own terms with the Holy Spirit guiding me to affirm something. affirm where my gospel came from, but it was not the gospel that they necessarily gave to me. I got it somewhere else, but we're going to affirm it together. And this is kind of what he says, I went up by revelation, the way in which he was prompted to go to Jerusalem, and notice, and communicated to them the gospel which I preached among the Gentiles. In the very language here of communicated to them this gospel, the true gospel, not this one these Judaizers are teaching and preaching. The gospel that is Christ's life, Christ's death, and Christ's resurrection. Free grace alone in Christ our Lord and Christ our King. That's what he preaches to the Gentiles. And our studies in Acts, we saw this in Acts chapter 13. We spent some time in 13, two sections in 13 that show how the Old Testament points forward to the coming Christ. And he preaches Christ from the Old Testament using Psalm 2, Psalm 16, Isaiah 55. He also brings in Habakkuk somewhere in there, Habakkuk 1. And then when they turn to the Gentiles, he brings in Isaiah 49, all showing and pointing forward that salvation is for the Gentiles as well by faith alone in Christ alone only. And so he goes up to communicate with them. And so even this language here of communicate, it's not the typical word we see for say or communicate. It really carries with it the idea of requesting some sort of consideration for what he's saying. It's kind of like someone who accuses you of something, like these Judaizers were doing to Paul. And he goes up and says, hey, Peter, John, Cephas, or Peter, John, James, hey, is what I'm preaching right? Is what I'm preaching actually true? Because I'm pretty sure it's right. Now, Paul knows that it's right, but you know what I'm saying. It's kind of like one of those instances, the word carries with it the idea. You're going to say, hey, is this right? I just want to make sure that this is the right thing. And so that's what he's doing. And what's interesting is when you and I do that, usually it's usually for vindication, right? Hey, I'm right. You're wrong. Ha ha. See what this guy says. But Paul is a little bit nicer than we are and a little bit more godly than we are, because notice what he says. But he went privately. to those who are of reputation." Probably this refers to the apostles, probably specifically James, John, and Peter, which we'll see in verse 9, in conjunction with one another. So he goes up to Jerusalem, chats with them privately, asks them these things. Why? Verse 2, "'Lest by any means I might run or had run in vain.'" He's concerned with the advancement of the gospel. He's concerned with the truth of the gospel. He doesn't want to preach something that the apostles don't affirm. He wants to preach the right truth, the right way of salvation, because let's be honest, salvation is pretty important, isn't it? Faith in Christ is important. And so he wants to make sure he gets that right. And certainly God is prompting him to do that by revelation. But even he says, hey, I don't want to run the race in vain. That's what he says there. Lest by any means I might run or had run in vain. He wants it to be right and in line with them. Salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. That's what he wants to preach. And thus they affirm this. Then notice this interesting verse in verse 3. Yet not even Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. So again, what's going on? The Judaizers come, these men who claim to be Christians, but say that it's faith plus circumcision. And they say, we're in line with the apostles. So Paul goes up to affirm that his gospel is right, and James and John and Peter don't even compel Titus, who's a Greek guy, to be circumcised. And the important word there is that word compelled. Because if we're thinking about circumcision in and of itself, is it wrong to be circumcised? Are there other instances in the life of the Apostle Paul where he does circumcise someone for a specific reason, not to offend someone? Because he wants to engage in brotherly love? Acts 16. Who does he circumcise? He circumcises Timothy. But when people come and say and want to compel someone to be circumcised to be saved, that's sinful and that's wrong. Because it takes away from the gospel. One of the key words throughout this text is that word compelled. Because these false Christians were going to other churches and saying, in order for you to be saved, in order for you to be a Christian, you have to be circumcised. It's not based on faith alone, by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone, but it's based on some ethnic badge. They were essentially saying you had to be a Jew to be saved. That's what they were saying. That's what's going on. But that's really not the thrust and point of really the New Testament. You don't come by faith because you're a Jew or become a Jew. I mean, certainly, we believe that Christ is the true Israel. Those who come to faith in Him are true Israel. But we don't come based on sort of some ethnic badge, but based on faith alone in Christ alone. You see, the wonderful and blessedness of the New Testament, there's no ethnic barriers in Christ. Every tribe, tongue, and nation. How does one come and be part of the people of God? Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And Peter, in 1 Peter chapter 2, calls the people, calls New Testament believers, the people of God, drawing on wonderful Old Testament imagery. Verse 9, but you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you might proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Notice verse 10, who once were not a people, but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Do you guys know where that is in the Old Testament? Hosea chapter 2. The prophet Hosea, remember he talks about the children of Hosea? And he calls two of them. He calls one, no mercy, and the other, not my people. And then Hosea chapter 2, when he's prophesying about the new covenant era, what does he say? He says, those who are not my people will be called my people. Those who I have not had mercy upon will obtain mercy. And so Peter is applying it here to refer to the people of God, the church, Jew and Gentile together. And even Paul refers to Hosea chapter 2 in Romans 9 to describe the Gentiles coming in to faith in Christ. So there's no ethnic distinctions in the people of God. We come in by grace alone, through faith alone. That doesn't mean we can't have ethnic distinctions. If you come from a different part of the world and you have some Wonderful food we can try? Wonderful! But you're not saved because you have different ethnic foods. That's the difference and that's the point. So it's by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone, there's no ethnic barriers. And then notice we see the reasoning in verses 4 and 5. And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage. Now the words here are very much that of a spy. This is like espionage. This is what they're doing. They're going into churches. Maybe they weren't pretending to be Christians, or pretending, but they were still going in, but the word spy really does have that connotation. They were going in, pretending, not really saying who they are. This is why we need to know the truth, because that's going to happen. People are going to come in and infiltrate and perhaps want to teach and preach false things, but that is not so. These men, these false ones came in and noticed twice false brethren secretly brought in who came in by stealth. to spy out. They came in and pretended to be Christians. And I've heard stories of brethren around the world in restricted countries who have governments pretending to be Christians coming in and saying that they're Christians to spy out and make sure they fit. We read this morning about that, those people going into various churches, filming, documenting, and coming back and arresting them. This happens today around the world. And so this is what happened. In the churches, the Gentile churches, the Judaizers go in and say, hey Gentiles, you need to be circumcised. Or they're spying out what's going on, and then perhaps when Paul leaves, that's when they can go back and hopefully try and persuade some people. But notice the point, one of the important things we see in verse 4. By stealth to spy out what? Our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus. This is a very key theme and an important theme in the book of Galatians, because he's going to come back to liberty beginning in chapter 5, verse 1. And when we think about the blessedness of the gospel, there's a lot of freedom, liberty type imagery, isn't there? When Paul talks about us being slaves to sin, and then when he talks about the idea of redemption, where do you think the word redemption comes from? Redemption has with it a slave connotation at that time, being refrained from sin, being freed from the curse of the law, being freed from these things that we're in bondage to, that we might serve the God of heaven and earth in, get this, freedom. The gospel is important. Even John 8.32 says, Christ says, the truth shall set you free. Ephesians 1.7, in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. What's liberty? It's tied to justification, brothers and sisters. And honestly, the reformers had a high place for Christian liberty. Calvin says it's of prime importance. Usually we think of reformation, justification, and we should. But connected with that is the view of Christian liberty. Even when we think about our confession of faith, chapter 21 of our confession, this is our summary of what we believe, what our church believes, chapter 21 actually is in an interesting spot. You'd think if Christian liberty wasn't that important, it might be towards the end, right? But Christian liberty precedes what? It precedes things like worship. It proceeds things like vows, things like marriage, things like... I mean, there's some things to think through with there when we think about what liberty actually is. Because it's an important place, and perhaps it governs those things. Even when we think about with respect to worship for a moment. Let's take that as an example. Sometimes people come into our churches and think we're kiboshing liberty, don't they? And when they say liberty, they mean I can do just whatever I want. That's what freedom actually means. That's actually not liberty. Liberty is we're bound to the Word of God, not what other people think. And what's interesting is the way in which we worship actually preserves liberty. Do you want to know why? There are many times growing up where I went to a Pentecostal school, and they would say, if you love the Lord, come to the front. And of course, I didn't want to go to the front because I was a shy guy. but then I felt sub-Christian because I didn't go to the front. Does that make me less of a Christian because I don't go to the front? Or in other cases where people are like, oh, we just don't want to be together, lying together at the front, or whatever. Being at the front is one thing. I've had instances where people are flailing in the middle of the aisles, or praying at the back, or praying at the front. And what happens is some people think, am I less of a Christian because of that? Am I sub-Christian because I don't want to go to the front, or dance in the street, or whatever, or pray at the back? You see, when we come together for our worship, what do we do? We come together, we stand together, we sing together, we sit together, we pray together, we hear the Word together. So we might actually get this preserved Christian liberty in that instance. Because, as our confession says, God alone is the Lord of the conscience. We can only do things which God prescribes in His Word. There are other things that are called indifferent, or adiaphora, if you want to use the Reformation term of it, indifferent, that are not prescribed by God that we still have to have wisdom and think about. That's why it's important that we know the Word of God well, know what God commands us in His Scriptures, that we don't necessarily bind people in unnecessary ways. And this is what these men were doing with respect to salvation. We're going to draw on this more in just a moment, but this is what's going on in this instance, especially as it ties to salvation. Because when we think about justification, we're free from the curse of the law, These ones want to go back under the law, so they're going back under bondage. So it's very important. And Philip Rikens says, Paul is the freedom fighter. And this is really what he's doing in Galatians here. So they want to bring him under the law, they want to bring him under the mosaic to be right before God. It's not saying we don't have a right and proper place for the law of God. Paul's going to talk about this in Galatians 5.13. For you, brethren, have been called to liberty. Only do not use your liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, so liberty doesn't mean I get to live any way I want to, but through love serve one another. Verse 14, for all the law is fulfilled in one word, even this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. How do we love God? Love God. We have it spelled out for us in the Ten Commandments for us. That's probably what he's referring to in Galatians 5 with the law. A robust understanding of the law of God. Not to be right with God, but because we have been saved and God has revealed in his word what he requires of his people. And again, that actually protects people in that instance, because we know what God says, not necessarily what man thinks. So this is a problem in Galatia. And Paul, in verse 5, "...to whom we did not yield submission, even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you." Not even for a second. So he's probably sitting at church one time, and then these guys walk in, and he's like starting to think, mind's going off, he knows the truth. No, that's not going to be the case. The truth of the gospel remains the same, so we're going to continue in that truth. And so we see these men were adding to the gospel, and sadly, brothers and sisters, this is where we're going to apply a little bit more, is we can have our own additions to the gospel, can't we? It may not be necessarily for salvation, but for some people it is, and for some churches it is, and for some different men, if we're not careful, it actually is. And in various evangelical churches, people are preaching and teaching this. It's not just faith. to be right with God, but it's faith plus works. You've heard of N.T. Wright, right? I didn't mean to do that, N.T. Wright, right, but he actually teaches faith plus works. The Roman Catholic Church teaches faith plus works. And if you're not careful, you can hear and see and smell those things from a while away in other places. This actually happens and occurs. That's why even when we think about the historical men or the historical church that our confession, our brethren, had in mind when they wrote this was probably the Roman Catholic Church when they talk about Christian liberty. And the beauty of Christian liberty is we're freed from the curse of the law, free from sin, free also from the consciences of men. Christ God alone is that Lord of the conscience. He has that exclusive right. And when we think about the historical examples going on at that time, poverty in the Roman Catholic Church, and celibacy. You had to vow to be poor. Now I'm going to ask you a question. Is it wrong to be rich? It's wrong to be greedy, but it's not wrong to be rich. Is it wrong to get married? I sure hope not. I mean, marriage is a wonderful and blessed thing, but the point is, if you don't want to get married, that's fine. But if you want to get married, that's wonderful too. But the problem is when the Roman Catholic Church was enforcing it on the priests, that they had to vow to be celibate. Now, there's some terrible things that go on in the Roman Catholic Church with abuse, and it's wretched, and it's terrible, and it's awful. Maybe there's a correlation. Making men, enforcing something on men that they can't do. You see, this is very important, why I'm vehement about Christian liberty a lot of the time, because it's about who is the one in over all things, who is the one who we must submit to. It's God Almighty. So if I come to you and say, brethren, in our Christian life, not to be right with God, we struggle with sin, we battle with sin, I say stop sinning, here's why. That's not legalism. Even if you think about it, stop committing adultery. That's not legalism. But if I say to you, you have to be married to be a Christian, that's legalism. And that's wrong. And if I say, you can't, in order to be a Christian, you need to not be married, that's wrong. It's very important, John Fesco says, to allow someone or an institution such as the Roman Catholic Church to command things beyond the word of God and then have people submit to them is tantamount to becoming a slave to that person or institution. You see, I do my best, my jurisdiction as a pastor is only with what the word of God says. That doesn't mean we don't have wisdom, and I don't think through other things that are indifferent, like what school you go to. There are different reasons to go to different schools, or for various reasons, financial reasons, maybe there's location, like, there's things to think through with that. And that's just fine, and that's just okay, but we have to use our minds sometimes. We like, man, we're like the Canadian government, or we want everyone to be like the Canadian government, we have everything picked out for us. We actually have to take the things we apply in scripture, and things that God doesn't say anything about, have to think through that for a moment. And that's fine. It's okay to be different than someone on these things that are indifferent. Because if I come along and say, you must have a beard like me, I'm putting you under my own personal slavery. It's wrong. And it's terrible. And we do other things like this as Christians. Don't think there's many more worse things. than what I'm saying, but celibacy and poverty is a pretty bad one. Because even when we think about it, when we think about this whole issue, it can cause Christians to waver in their assurance of faith because they are adhering to your preference and counsel rather than the gospel of Christ. Do you get what I'm saying there? If you say to someone, you can't do this, you can't do that, and it's your own personal preference, and they begin to do this and that, you might cause them to lose assurance by your own teetotaling kind of way. That's not right, brothers and sisters. See, in things like that, again, it's not wrong to have different opinions. If you don't want to do something, fine. But if someone else does want to do something, let them have their liberty to do that. Now at the same time, we're not supposed to cause a brother to stumble. If someone stumbles, don't be a jerk and be like, ha ha, my liberty. Especially when it comes to things like food and eating, especially as Romans. You know, I like meat. If you don't like meat, that's fine. But if you really have a major problem with meat, if you want to come over, we may not have meat in our house just that day. You see, we still have to love brethren and care for them and think about those things. You see, liberty isn't just, haha, I get to do whatever I want. That's not what it is. It's about submitting to what? To Christ and Christ alone. I know I spent a lot of time on that. We're going to draw on this more in Galatians 5 as well, but we add things to the gospel. That's why we have to have a right view of the gospel, a robust view of the law, a robust view of the scriptures, that we can use our minds to think through what is prescribed by God and what isn't. So we shouldn't add to the gospel. It's important that we don't. So that's Paul's gospel affirmed. Let's then look, secondly, at Paul's apostleship affirmed. Notice verse 6. But from those who seemed to be something, whatever they were, it makes no difference to me. For God shows personal favoritism to no one. For those who seemed to be something added nothing to me." It almost sounds a little bit derogatory, doesn't it? Like he's saying, hey, they didn't really add anything to me. It makes no difference to me what they think. No, what he's saying is God shows no favoritism. That's what he's saying. It doesn't matter by, you know, they're preaching the same gospel. They didn't add anything to me. It's the same gospel that I've preached throughout. And even the language is probably the favoritism. There's probably a bit of a kick to the Judaizers. They were cultural favoritists. Jews were elite. And as Rykin says, the church cannot exclude people from salvation on the basis of race, gender, class, age, or anything else. And that's the point of Galatians 3.28. You cannot exclude based on those things, which is what the Judaizers were doing. So they didn't add anything to the gospel. They didn't add anything new to Paul's apostleship in verse 6. Serious concerns in the Old Testament about this. You can look at Deuteronomy 12. Also in the New Testament, Revelation 22. We cannot add anything to it. We cannot add anything to the gospel. For God shows no partiality. And God actually says this This probably refers back to Deuteronomy chapter 10. You can turn to Deuteronomy 10. Deuteronomy 10. Paul, or Paul. He's not even alive yet. Moses. Moses in Deuteronomy 10. He gives and describes the second table of law, calls them, he writes up the second table, describes them. Then he describes the essence of the law in verses really 12 through 22. Now Israel, what does the Lord our God require of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and the statutes which I command today for your good? But then, excuse me, notice verse 17, or sorry, verse 16. Therefore, circumcise the foreskin of your heart and be stiff-necked no longer. For the Lord your God is God of gods, and the Lord of lords the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe. God shows no partiality based on race, based on gender, based on status. We come to him by faith in him. He shows no partiality and we are not supposed to show partiality either, especially in those things that are of indifferent. And so they didn't add anything to the gospel, and then verses 7-9 we see the team effort for the advancement of the gospel. But on the contrary, when they saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised, that is, the Gentiles, had been committed to me, just as the gospel for the circumcised was to Peter, So you see what's going on. Peter goes to the Jews. Paul goes to the Gentiles. Team effort for the strength of the gospel. The apostles see this. Verse 8, they see the effectiveness of this. For he who worked effectively in Peter for the apostleship to the circumcised also worked effectively in me towards the Gentiles. We've actually seen this in our studies in Acts. Acts 13 and 14 actually resemble Acts 3 and 4, because Paul is preaching the same message as Peter. God is with Paul just like He is with Peter. They're preaching the same thing, just to different groups. Paul to the Gentiles, Peter to the Jews. And so that's what they're doing. And then verse 9, And when James, Cephas, or Peter, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship. It just means they formally recognized their gospel and what it is. They formally recognized what they were teaching, and notice their pillars of faith. John Gill says they are called so for their constancy and stability in preaching the gospel, and suffering for the sake of Christ. They were steadfast and immovable in his work, nor could they be shaken or deterred from it by the menaces, reproaches, and the persecutions of men. pillars of the faith, pillars of the truth, and Paul has thus received the right hand of fellowship that they have the same gospel. Now a bit of an aside here, does this mean James and Paul are at odds with one another when it comes to the doctrine of justification by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone? Clearly not. So how do we think about James and Romans? They're dealing with different things. In James, James is dealing with hypocrites. Those who profess to be believers, but are living like the devil. That's what they are supposed to be. Faith without works is dead. And even when James quotes Genesis 15, where it says Abram believed and it was counted from his righteousness, it's in the context of what Abram did in Genesis 22. Genesis 22, when Abraham offers up Isaac, it's actually a confirmation, affirmation of Genesis 15. So when it says, James says he's justified by works, we could say, or his works evidence that he was justified. You see, works, again, not to be right with God, we're not, we don't, work to be right with God, but works are an evidence we are being sanctified, an evidence that God is with us. It can be an assurance for us that God is with us and helps us and strengthens us. So again, we've got to know that. Justification, sanctification. Justification, we're righteous before God's sight. Sanctification is that lifelong process by which God makes us holy. We're only ever right before God because of Christ's righteousness, but thus we are making and being made more Christ-like in our daily lives. That's so important. And that's what James is dealing with, those who don't have any view of sanctification. And Paul is just highlighting in Romans 4 and Galatians 2. I mean, Galatians is all about the gospel of Christ and the importance of being right with God, not by works, but by faith. But they have the same gospel. discrepancy between the two, clearly from Galatians 2, 9. So they gave them the right hand of the fellowship. Again, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. And then notice verse 10, an interesting addition. They desired only that we... Sorry, addition, an interesting piece of information. Addition, not in a bad way. Verse 10, they desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do. Paul really does care for the poor, doesn't he? We especially see this in Acts 11, verses 29 through 30, when there's famine in Judea. They go up. They want to help the brethren there. I think really the focus here, when we think about the idea of poor here, probably does refer to people within the church. I mean, it's important to have benevolence for those who are suffering want. When it comes to daily needs, it just highlights being generous for the church. And there's very much a historical idea in the background. Is that famine in the land? They had this famine in the land. They were not able to provide for themselves. So the church, Gentile churches, were able to provide for them, provide for their brethren. They literally could not eat. They literally had no food. This is bad times. He's saying, care for them. And even in Acts chapter 2, when he talks about the duties of the brethren, the duties of members of a church, this idea of fellowship there, we've talked about before, is talking about financial aid. to help brethren in the church. Because again, probably at that time in Acts 2 at Pentecost, as many would have come out from the outlying countries, would have had different jobs, or outlying regions, had different jobs, came into Jerusalem, and would not have been able to support themselves. But there's no church in the outlying areas, so they still came anyway. And so God helps them through the generosity of the brethren. So we need to care for the brethren, as John Gill highlights this well. And this may design the poor in general, everywhere, in the several churches where they should be called to minister, and particularly the poor saints at Jerusalem, who will become such, either through the frequent calamities of the nation, and a dearth of scarcity of provisions among them, and which affected the whole country, or rather through the persecutions of their countrymen, who plundered them of their goods for professing the name of Christ. Or it may be through their having given up all their substance into one common stock and fund, as they did at first, and which was now exhausted, and that in great measure by assisting out of it the preachers, who first spread the gospel among the Gentiles. So it's caring for the churches, and Paul does this. 2 Corinthians 8, Romans 15, 1 Corinthians 16, he speaks of collecting for the Jews, that he might provide for them. Because there's going to be poor in our midst, brethren, and we need to care for them, to help them, to make sure that they do have ends meet. And certainly As Paul highlights in 1 Timothy, there's guidelines involved in that, but he wants to help and care for the poor. He's eager to do so. He's eager to help the brethren. He's eager to help the churches at Judea, which, as we clearly see in Acts and in Paul's epistles, as, well, a clear evidence and indication the gospel is spreading. So we praise God for that. So he's all about the gospel. His gospels affirm team effort to bring the gospel out to the ends of the earth. Jew and Gentile, in faith alone, in grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Well, as we conclude then, brothers and sisters, the key application that we need to take away is freedom and unity in the true gospel of Jesus Christ. How are we all united together? How are people from around the world united together? It's through faith in Christ. We're all sinners. There's no unrighteous, no not wanting. You see, sin is the great, it doesn't discriminate. Sin is the great leveler, but Christ is the great savior, bringing sinners into saving knowledge of him. It's grace that we're brought in. And that's the union we see of this message of Paul and Peter and James. They have the same message of proclaiming freedom in Christ. No circumcision required, no personal righteousness required, but faith in the Lord Jesus, who is perfect. And if you're an unbeliever here today, come believe by faith, as that, I'm sure, you know, if God in his goodness is showing you sin, showing your wretchedness, as he's bearing down upon you, there is freedom in Christ. Come and believe, come and look, come have that burden lifted, and you shall find everlasting freedom and hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. There's one gospel, there's no additions required, but faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Come, believe, and be free. Let us pray. O God, we are thankful for your grace and for your goodness. Thank you for all the ways in which you have freed us, O God. We're thankful, O God, for Christian liberty and what that signifies. It's not just what I get to enjoy, but, O God, it's that we're free from the guilt of sin, free from the wrath of God, free from the curse of the law, free from this present evil age, O God. that we do not serve you out of slavish fear, but childlike love, O God. Even more so for us under the New Testament, O God, that we don't have the ceremonial laws we must seek to engage in. We come to you by grace through faith. We can come and engage and come to your church and sing your praises, O God, in freedom. Thank you for these truths. Thank you for these realities. Thank you for your goodness to us. O God, continue to be with us, help us, strengthen us, we pray. We pray that you help us now, we pray in the name of Christ. Amen.