Not Justified By Works | Galatians 2:11-16

If you have your Bibles with you, can I invite you to please open them to our Bible reading

this morning. We will be reading from Galatians chapter 2 and we'll be reading from verse

Galatians 2 · chapter mention

11 to verse 16. Galatians chapter 2 from verse 11.

Galatians 2 · chapter mention

When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned. For

before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived,

he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of

those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy

so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.

When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas

in front of them all, you are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How

is it then that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs? We who are Jews by birth and

not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but

by faith in Jesus Christ. So we too have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified

by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law because by the works of the law, no

one will be justified.

Good morning church. It's great to be together today celebrating our Father in heaven through

his word. And I'm sure there's many things that we can be thankful for in sending the

Lord Jesus Christ to us. But before we come to the word and see what we have to see today,

I'd ask that you please pray with me. Let's do that now. Father, we thank you so much

that you have indeed gathered us together around your word, around each other this morning

to sing praises to you, to pray to you, to hear from you through the preaching of the

word, to come to you later at the Lord's table. And we know that this is all by grace alone

because of your mercy, but also because of your great love for your people. We ask this

morning that you would please teach us and that we would be changed by the gospel. We

ask for this in Jesus' name. Amen.

It was October 1987 when the world watched as dozens of rescue workers descended on a

small backyard in Midland, Texas to save the life of a little baby girl. Jessica Macure,

just a toddler at the time who will be forever remembered as baby Jess, fell down an eight

inch wide hole plummeting six metres underground. For more than two days, people all around

the world held their breath with everyone watching and waiting to see if this helpless

toddler could be saved in time. Trapped inside the tiny space, workers said that though it

was a tough task indeed, the people of Midland were just the ones to get the job done. Their

wealth of gas and oil workers provided the knowledge and the know-how to get this little

one to safety before any permanent damage was done. Now I draw your attention to that

event because it serves as a good illustration of the spiritual situation of the original

recipients in Galatia. They had somewhat fallen into a hole of their own and they were in

awful spiritual danger that they needed to get out of. Because though they had received

the gospel, false teachers had come into the churches and they were now falling for a Jesus

plus something else kind of doctrine. And so Paul was doing what he could to help rescue

his dear brothers and sisters out of the hole in which they have fallen into. And so we

might ask how has he gone about this task thus far? Well, it's been by reminding them

of the gospel that he first preached to them. As we've seen in this series so far, Paul

first started with where he got the gospel from. You might remember it, he didn't receive

his message from any one preacher or church. No, he got it from Jesus Christ himself. And

then he shared that it was this very gospel that saved him. In fact, Paul says that he

was in no way seeking Jesus, but in every way seeking the followers of the Lord to decimate

them. But by God's grace alone, God revealed his son in him, which transformed absolutely

everything about him. To sum it up, the gospel that Paul had preached to the Galatians,

the salvation he received wasn't because of his own works, but by grace alone, through

faith alone, in Christ alone. This was the gospel Paul preached and he was completely

transformed by it. Then a couple of weeks ago, Jared took you through Paul's meeting

up with the apostles there in Jerusalem, being Peter, James and John, where these pillars

of the faith were astounded with the ministry of Paul and how Jesus had really called this

man and deployed him to preach the message that they had received as well. We read that

they not only accepted him, but they endorsed him as one of their own, because the news

of Jesus that they preached was the same. And thus they decided to take what they'd

been given to where they had been called to go. Peter to the Jews and Paul to the Gentiles.

Absolutely amazing and wonderful things indeed. But now, as you may have noticed, as Stu read

our passage out for us this morning, there's a shift in the story, a shift in that we have

this wonderful high of these apostles there in Jerusalem celebrating what they have to

now see first, which is another name for Peter, when he went to Antioch, where Paul opposed

him to his face. Why? Because he stood condemned. What happened? What happened? Well, like the

Galatians, Peter too had fallen into a spiritual hole and he was in serious trouble. And that's

what we're going to look at this morning. Paul tells us a few things here that we all

need to be aware of in our own Christian walk. And that's that we must be cautious of other

things than the gospel that can come in and grip our hearts, which will cause us to fall

into our own so-called ditch. First, I want us to explore this theme by looking at the

problem and how Peter got himself into this situation in the first place. Second, I want

you to see how Paul approached his dear brother in his sin. And then third, how the gospel

is the solution that pulls any of us out of the so-called hole. And so first, why did

the apostle Peter stand condemned? What was the problem? Well, if you have your Bibles

with you this morning, read with me verse 12. We read, for before certain men came from

James, he being Peter, used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began

to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles. Okay, so on first glance in 21st

century Australia, this is a bit weird because we're tempted to see this whole problem as

being things over like a manners or something like that. Like Peter was a guest from another

city, but he didn't like the company and he moved tables kind of thing. Well, understanding

the context of this whole situation is going to really help us out with what's happening

here. You see, this whole thing is over the place of the mosaic law in the Christian life.

In the law that was given to Israel, there was a whole bunch of rules that the Jews were

to keep to show that they were different in that they belonged to God. And this is the

thing in the law, who you ate with was really important because you shared something. You

were in unity with them. We see this in Leviticus 11. Now, as we've seen in the previous verses,

both Paul and Peter agreed that belonging to God didn't come through following these

rules, but by faith in Jesus Christ. And thus, because Gentiles or non-Jews had received

the same faith as them, the old rules that taught what was to be considered clean and

unclean were fulfilled in Jesus and no longer applicable in the same way. To put that as

simply as I can, Peter was happy to eat with the Gentiles because what united them was

Christ who made them all clean in the sight of God by faith. In other words, these were

his brothers and sisters in the Lord, and he was delighted, delighted to be in fellowship

with them. Now, we know this to be the case because not only did Peter know and preach

the gospel as we saw in the previous scene, but God himself in Acts 10 actually revealed

to Peter that the Gentiles who have faith in Jesus are in no way to be considered unclean.

You might know the story. Peter was praying one day and God gave him the vision of all

sorts of animals that Jews were forbidden to eat. Then a voice came and told Peter to

partake. He couldn't believe what he was hearing, but the voice said to him, well, God has made

clean. Don't you dare consider unclean. This was all in preparation for Peter to take the

gospel to a guy named Cornelius, a Gentile whom Peter shared the gospel with, whom he

saw as this man was filled with the Holy Spirit as he put his faith in Christ alone. Astoundingly,

it was this very event to which Peter gave evidence at the Council of Jerusalem in Acts

15 to prove that the Gentiles are saved by faith alone and not to force them to live

under the stipulations of the ceremonial laws given to the Jews. This was a guy who was

appointed by Jesus on earth. This was a guy that we read in Acts 2 preached powerfully

on the day of Pentecost, a guy that knew that the gospel is the power unto salvation for

both the Jews and the Gentiles, not the works of the law. So what on earth happened here?

Why did Peter go back to an old Jewish ceremonial rule and draw back and separate himself from

the Gentiles? Well, it's as Paul tells us here. It was because he was afraid of those

who belonged to the circumcision group. Now just a quick reminder here, the circumcision

group weren't a metal band, though it sounds like one. No, they were the teachers who we

have heard about that were going about to all the different Gentile churches, telling

them that they needed to do more to be accepted by God. Like, well it's in the name. You get

the picture. This is what's coming out here. You have this pillar of the faith, this appointed

apostle of Christ and he comes and he fellowships with his brothers and sisters in the faith,

but then these other guys rock up and why did he back off? Why did he separate himself?

Because he feared what others thought of him. That's why Peter backed off, because something

other than the gospel gripped his heart and that was fear which caused him to not walk

in line with the truth. You may have experienced something like this in your own life. I most

definitely have. You know the gospel. You love Jesus. You love, you adore his people,

but you're in a situation where something happens that causes your actions to not line

up with what you know to be true. Now granted in this day and age we might not find ourselves

in this exact situation over keeping ceremonial laws, but thinking more practically here,

there's other ways in which we go back, we draw back from showing the truth of the gospel

in our actions. Maybe it's been in the workplace. Maybe it's been at university or at a family

event where you know that people need to hear about Jesus and someone asks you, why are

you religious? And you fear their opinion. Fear of their opinion grips you. So instead

of telling them about Jesus and what the good news actually is, you say nothing or you change

the subject as quickly as you can. Maybe you've done the opposite. Maybe people know that

you're a Christian, but they've wanted you to do something that you know doesn't line

up with what you know would be pleasing to our God. But because you fear missing out,

you go with the crowd. Whatever the case may be, when something other than the gospel grips

our heart, we won't live out the truth. Fear, fear is a powerful motivator, a powerful motivator

to take us from knowing one thing, but doing another. And as we see in our text this morning,

that wasn't just true of Peter, but all of those that were with him. As we read, the

other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy, even Barnabas was

led astray. Church, let me drive home how serious things are here. Antioch wasn't in

a Jewish region, which means that this was more than likely a church full of Gentile

converts who had experienced the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives and their newfound

freedom in Jesus Christ. Then one of the rock stars of the faith, he comes to the church,

they're eating together, they're sharing together in their mutual love and affection of who

Jesus is and what he's done. And then these others rock up, and then one of their leaders

gets up and sits somewhere else, then they notice that their newfound brothers and sisters

in the faith, one by one, start to get up and then even the one guy in the Bible that

is known as the happy chappy, Barnabas, the son of encouragement, picks up his plate and

leaves as well. All because they feared what others would think of them if they were to

be seen not following the rules of and listen to this, following the rules of what made

them clean and acceptable before God. Imagine that for a moment. Imagine how these people

felt. They've heard by grace alone, in Christ alone, through faith alone, they've heard

that that's what makes you clean and acceptable before our heavenly father. But then their

church show them by their actions that they have to do more before they would really be

considered part of God's people. To put this as simply as I can, these Gentile believers

had been witnessed to by these people's actions, but they hadn't had the gospel witnessed to

them. Now they'd witnessed hypocrisy. That's what Paul calls it here. They'd witnessed

being told one thing, but seeing another. That's what hypocrisy is. And this disease

had entered the church there in Antioch and people were sick. They truly believed, we

know they truly believed one thing, but because of fear, because it had gripped their hearts,

they practiced another. Paul was in a ditch. His fear drove him to it and Paul could see

exactly what was going on. And because Paul saw the gospel being compromised on, because

he saw where this whole thing was heading, instead of joining in and being driven by

the fear of what people would think of him, if he called out this great, well-known apostle

of the faith, he approached the whole thing so as to help them out of the ditch in which

they had fallen. We read in verse 14, when I saw that they weren't acting in line with

the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas, again that's Peter, in front of them all,

you're a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it then you force

Gentiles to follow Jewish customs? Now church, notice this, if you will, notice how Paul

approaches all of this. He doesn't say, you hypocrite. He doesn't say, look what your

fear is driving you to do. He could have. It's a temptation for any of us when we're

mad at a brother or sister. But that wasn't really going to get to the heart of the matter.

That wasn't going to really drill down to the hole that they found themselves in. No,

Paul saw it for what it was. He saw that fear had gripped Peter's heart in that moment because

he wasn't living in accordance with the gospel. And so in great wisdom and love, Paul points

out a couple of things for us to consider here. First, he rightly points out that Peter's

not walking in a straight line. That's what's meant there in verse 14. I saw that they were

not acting in line with the truth of the gospel. Brothers and sisters, what Paul is saying

here is absolutely profound. The gospel leads us to walk on the straight and narrow, which

means its truth has vast implications for every part of our life. And so for the gospel

to not be the governing principle in our lives, we will walk in a wonky, staggered, and even

backwards fashion. In this particular situation, Peter knew that he was united to the Gentiles

because they had both received the awesome gift of faith in Christ. Peter knew that the

dietary and food laws of what makes one clean and unclean before God were torn down in Christ.

Paul will say it later where there is no Jew or Gentile when it comes to our status in

Christ. That's the gospel he knew. That's the gospel he proclaimed and preached. That's

why he was happy to come to Antioch and fellowship with his brothers and sisters in the faith

in the first place, because he knew what the gospel had achieved. He was walking in a straight

line. But when Paul saw that Peter was going wonky, that he was now in this so-called ditch,

he knew something other than the gospel was governing his walk. He knew fear was governing

his heart and that it was causing him to revert to something that we might call legalism.

Now if you've never heard that word before, legalism is looking to something other than

Christ alone in order to feel accepted by God. Legalism is usually fueled by the fear

that you need to do more before God will really approve you. The fruit of this is usually

pride in our own works and fear of what other people think of us. Thus it causes suspicion

of others. It usually ends up with people separating themselves from others that don't

quite act like them. The problem, it plays itself in all manner of ways in things like

nationalism, elitism and in horrid cases racism. But I don't think we're immune to this in

Christian circles. I think this sort of thing works itself out in denominationalism. Denominationalism,

sorry I'm trying to say that, denominationalism, what do I mean by that? What I mean is that

when the gospel isn't governing the heart, which declares that we are saved by faith

in Jesus, brothers and sisters in the faith start to become suspicious of one another

and exclude others because they might have Baptist, Methodist, Salvos or whatever in

their name. What lies at the heart of it all is that our own tradition is the defining

factor that makes us acceptable before God. And so as a result we back off to make us

feel like we have God's approval for not mixing with Christians that just aren't as Christian

as us. We all have to be aware of this in our lives and congregations. So we might ask,

are we looking to something other than the gospel to define us before God? Are we looking

to something other than the gospel to define others before God? Do we look at our brothers

and sisters in the faith and say well they're not really of our status because they haven't

yet become Presbyterian? Be aware of that kind of thinking. It can take root in the

church. It's the result of fear and legalism. And that's the sin that Paul was calling out

here. Fear had gripped the Apostle Peter's heart and driven him to something other than

the gospel. Fear had driven him into legalism and he was acting like a hypocrite, which

secondly preached to these people that they had to do more as well. Like follow the Jewish

customs to be fully accepted. That's what Paul means here. When he asks him in front

of all, why do you force the Gentiles to follow Jewish customs? By his actions he was. I just

want to say something here that I think is very important. It's incredible that in Peter's

pursuit of trying to find acceptance by the works of the law, that he actually broke one

of the most important ones. And that's to love your neighbour as yourself. Notice it.

Peter's hypocrisy spoke louder than words to his brothers and sisters in Christ. You're

not like me. You're not clean. You have to do more to be accepted. Brothers and sisters,

that's why legalism causes so much hurt and frustration in the body of Christ. Because

we know that our works are never good enough. So as a result, we have to look at others

and their faults to feel better about ourselves. This will only ever end up making us hypocritical

and exclusive. Legalism is a horrible disease. And we as the people of God must be aware

of it and pulled out from it when we fall into it. And there's only one way for that

to happen. That's exactly where Paul takes it next. He's pointed out the great big problem.

He's pointed out his approach to it. And now he takes us to the wonderful balm of the solution.

And that is the gospel. Paul brings it to us here in verses 15 and 16 saying, we who

are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person's not justified by the

works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we too have put our faith in Christ Jesus

that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law. Because by

the works of the law, no one will be justified. Church, this is pretty much a summary of the

book of Galatians. A person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus

Christ. That is central to everything we've been looking at so far. A person isn't made

completely right in the eyes of God for all eternity by the works of the law, but by faith

in Jesus Christ. That was the whole problem with these false teachers that had come into

the churches of Galatia. They said Jesus plus keeping the law. That's the problem with Peter

here. He said Jesus, but just to be safe, I better do this. And that's our problem when

we fall into legalism. We say we need to do more for God to truly see me as his own. Paul's

words are so profound for anyone that finds themselves at the bottom of that there ditch.

You can't get right with God by doing more things. You can't get right with God by your

own works. A person isn't made right with God by their own efforts because by the works

of the law, no one will be justified. Faith, faith in Christ makes all the difference.

That's what our apostle wants us to get here this morning. Doing better, trying harder,

working more won't make you innocent from the stain of sin. That's what Paul reminds

us of here in our passage this morning. He wants that to grip our hearts yet again because

when the truth of the gospel is leading and guiding the body of Christ, everything changes.

Brothers and sisters, the gospel preaches that you're accepted in the sight of God for

nothing that you've done. Not because of your behaviour or background, but only because

Jesus Christ obeyed and bled and died for you. It's faith in Jesus that you're justified,

that you're made right before God. It's faith in his works that you're completely embraced

and loved and accepted. God reached out and he revealed Christ in you. Not because you

cleaned yourself up first, but because he chose you and he loves you. You can't be any

more accepted than you are right now because of the blood of Jesus that has washed you

clean and made you God's beloved child. This was all a free gift of undeserved love and

none of our doing. When the truth, the truth of the gospel really grips our hearts, it

will set us free from the need to seek acceptance from others. When the truth of the gospel

is guiding us in a straight line, we won't focus on our works and wonder if we're doing

a good enough job. Yes, we'll struggle with this. Yes, we'll always be tempted to see

ourselves in the light of what other people think. Yes, we'll always be tempted to separate

from people who we deem to not quite measure up to our standards that we put up for ourselves.

It was the whole thing that had happened to Peter. Something other than the gospel was

directing his decisions, but it's here that we see the solution for when those temptations

come. Church, the gospel reminds us that we belong to Christ. The gospel reminds us that

we've been accepted. The gospel reminds us that we are the beloved of God, beloved by

Him, despite our sin, loved not because of our obedience, but by the obedience of Jesus

Christ in our place. Church, when we remind ourselves of the truth of the gospel, that

we are forgiven and accepted because of the work of Jesus in our place, when that sinks

in, when we walk in line with that truth, we are free, free from the approval of others,

free from looking at our own works, we're free from looking down on others. We're free

from the ditch that we so easily fall into time and time and time and time and time and

time again. As we bring this to an end this morning, are you trusting in Jesus Christ?

Or are you trusting in your own good works? Paul is clear, no one is made right by trying

harder and doing better. We are justified, we are made right by faith in Jesus Christ.

And so hear this this morning, the Bible says, whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will

be saved. If you call out from whatever hole you find yourself in today, Jesus will in

no way cast anyone from him who cries out in faith. I might also ask, has fear of others'

opinions gripped your heart? Has fear of others' acceptance caused you to go a bit wonky and

live for their approval over what you know to be true? And hear the gospel loud and clear

this morning, because of Jesus, you have the approval of your heavenly Father. You can't

be any more accepted than you are at this very moment because of your status in Christ.

God looks at you this morning and he sees his precious child. His promise is that he

will never relent on that. Do you believe that? I just want to point to one other thing.

Do you see others in trouble? Do you see others around you in trouble? Do you see your brothers

and sisters in Christ not walking in line with the gospel? Well, wisdom calls in the

streets to remind us not to whiplash the actions, but to be faithful servants of Christ and

hold the truth of the gospel to them. Paul's love for his dear brother and his brothers

and sisters in the faith drew him to not draw back from helping them out of that ditch,

but to go to them in love and truth. We might say he is a great example and what he does

is a great example of how to love your neighbour as yourself. The gospel, my dear brothers

and sisters, the gospel is the solution for the heart when other things threaten to come

in and grip it. Would you please pray with me? Father God, we are in awe of the gospel.

We are in awe of what you have done for us in the Lord Jesus Christ. By your Holy Spirit

you have revealed the Lord in us so that we might have eternity with you. None of this

was our doing. None of this was something that made you draw close to us, but by your

unmerited favour, your unmerited love, your undeserved passion for your people, you came

after us. Father, we want to be a people that live in light of that. We want to be people

that live in line with the gospel in all areas of our lives. Lord, we know there's bits and

pieces, we know there's big things and small things that aren't in line with the gospel

in our lives. I ask that you would please help your children to trust you, to know that

the cross, that the sacrifice of Jesus, the perfect life in our place is indeed sufficient.

Lord, would you make us a people that are able to hold the truth out in love, to not

be clashing symbols to those around us, but to be people that truly love our neighbour

as ourselves and hold the gospel out to them. Lord, we ask that you use this congregation

here in Armidale, that you use the church in Armidale, in Perth, to be a place that

real hope is held out, real truth is held out, and that disciples of Jesus are made.

We ask this in Jesus' name and for your glory. Amen.