Galatians 2:11-14 - The Realities of Hypocrisy

All right, well

It's me again. Go ahead and open your Bibles to Galatians chapter 2 this morning

Galatians 2 · chapter mention

We're going to be in verses 11 through 14 as we make our way through the book of Galatians

Let me ask you two questions

two questions number one, what is hypocrisy what is

Hypocrisy and number two who suffers from

Hypocrisy, those are my two questions number one. Let's go ahead and answer it. What is

hypocrisy

Well, Paul would define it for us in verse 14 as living out of step with the gospel

It's when we claim to believe one thing and our lives would demonstrate we actually

Think otherwise it's not living in alignment with what we profess and really who we are

Actually, the Greek word is a word used to describe someone acting apart

That's where that word comes from. It's playing a role. It's in the ancient Greek world

A an actor would wear a mask to play one part that same actor would wear another mask to play another part and another

Mask to play another part and the entire time they would not be revealing their true identity

It's it's not being who you really are that's hypocrisy

The harder question is this who suffers from hypocrisy?

The answer is all of us and

If you said not me you just proved my point

Didn't you all of us?

How does hypocrisy manifest itself in the life of a Christian well, I thought about this this week

Really? I came up with an extensive list and if I were to read that list, we'd be here all day

Let me just give you a few ways it does at least

At least in my life unforgiveness

You claim you know the gospel you've experienced the forgiveness

Of God he has covered and in a measurable debt that we could never pay

We know the Bible as forgiven people. We need to be forgiving people

But yet we harbor bitterness over a petty offense

That's hypocrisy

Hypocrisy is being the self-righteous Pharisee

We go around measuring ourselves

against someone else always looking at faults

Never once looking in the mirror to point out or to see should I say the log in our own eye while we

Constantly point out the speck and someone else's that's that's hypocrisy

That's hypocrisy or it's it's claiming to be a generous person because God is a generous God

Encouraging people to be generous with their time and their treasure and their talent. But but meanwhile behind the

Behind the scenes we put on another mask

And we're kind of greedy

Because our security is in our money and our stuff and our status

That's hypocrisy

Or hypocrisy is claiming to live in the freedom of the gospel

But meanwhile, you're not really living in the freedom of the gospel. You're really living in bondage thinking there's

There's something else you have to do to measure up to earn this thing that we call God's love. That's hypocrisy

And as we're going to see in our text this morning hypocrisy is not just dangerous because it distorts who we are

That's absolutely true

But hypocrisy is dangerous because it undermines the authority of the gospel

That's why hypocrisy is dangerous because if even peter the apostle

Struggled with hypocrisy guess who's going to struggle with hypocrisy

me

and you

and if

The gospel has authority over peter then the gospel has authority over

me and you

So our text this morning is going to address the an issue that we all

Have in common and that is our hypocrisy if I could title my sermon this morning. It would be this the realities of

hypocrisy

Let's read this confrontation between the apostle paul and the apostle peter in galatians beginning in verse 11

God's word to you this morning

but when sephus came to anti-october

I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned

For before certain men came from james. He was eating with the gentiles

But when they came

He drew back and separated himself

Fearing the circumcision party

And the rest of the jews acted hypocritically along with him so that even barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy

But when I saw their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel

I said to see this before them all if you though a jew

Live like a gentile and not like a jew. How can you force the gentiles to live like jews?

This is god's word. Let's pray

Father we come to you in worship

Now asking as we've communicated with you through the gospel

Now asking as we've communicated with you through song and prayers that you would communicate with us through your word. So would you

Speak to us and minister to our hearts revealing our inconsistency our incongruency our hypocrisy and showing us the cure

Applying the balm of the gospel to that area of our life so that we can

Live under the authority of the gospel as we declare the gospel our lives will display the gospel as you

As you long to see that in us for your glory and our good

So would you preach to your people this morning your word through me and jesus be magnified. It's in his powerful name

We pray these things amen

So why does paul include this?

Confrontation between he and the apostle peter in his letter to the galatians

This is nowhere else in the new testament. You're not going to find this in the book of acts. You guys do know that right?

Why is this?

colossal

confrontation in galatians

Now it's at this point in our series in galatians where I do not have time to go back and recap the entire book

We're five sermons in but I can briefly recap why that's our recap paul's argument to explain why this

Is where it's at remember paul has been trying to prove a point

He didn't get his gospel from man. He got it from

Jesus

Jesus

And he proved in the end of chapter one that to be the case

The entire time after paul's conversion. He was independent of the other apostles

He didn't he didn't receive the gospel from them. He wasn't taught it from them

So therefore he didn't manipulate it or twist it as he's been accused of by the judiizers in the church churches of galatia

But though he's independent of the other apostles because he's been sent to the gentiles

His gospel has been affirmed by the other apostles

We saw that last week in chapter two verses one through ten

They extended to him the right hand of fellowship and they added nothing to his gospel

So it's not like paul's preaching a different gospel this law-free circumcision free gospel. This is the gospel

It's the same gospel that james and peter and john are preaching in jerusalem

And as we'll see today the gospel that's under attack in galatia that gospel has authority

over our lives

It has authority over the lives of the other apostles

How can they discredit paul and say you're not preaching the gospel?

As he proves today he is because that gospel has authority over everyone's life even the apostle peter

Peter's hypocrisy is glaring

And paul's going to confront it

And as paul confronts it what I want us to see are five realities of hypocrisy

Of our inconsistency of of saying the truths of the gospel believing them, but not living them

five realities

I'm just going to go ahead and tell you there's one perverse and then we're going to jump out of galatians and get the fifth one

the first

the first

the first

Hypocrisy warrants loving confrontation

But when sephas came to antioch I opposed him underline this please to his face

And paul tells us why

He stood condemned

paul records for us an event that took place after

His second visit to jerusalem. He just recorded for us in chapter 2 verses 1 through 10 his second visit to jerusalem

First visit he was only there 15 days only saw peter and only saw james. No one gave him a systematic theology class

No one gave him a a doctrinal class on on the new testament and the gospel that wasn't the case

He learned his gospel from jesus

but then remember we saw in acts 11 that that

That paul and barnabas and we know titus were sent to jerusalem by the churches of antioch

To go and deliver a gift to the poor churches in jerusalem and

He told us there was also this revelation that took place where he needed to lay his gospel before them

So he brought titus the gentile and barnabas the jew and titus wasn't forced to be circumcised

Well, he goes back to antioch with barnabas and with titus

Later we know the churches in antioch send him out as a missionary

That's when he goes to the churches of galatia and plants those churches and then he and barnabas come back in acts 14

The end of that text were told they come back and they minister for a long season

They're in antioch and antioch is kind of like paul's home base, especially the early part of his ministry

Now we don't know exactly when this took place, but we know it did take place peter the apostle sephas

That's his aramaic name goes and visits with paul and barnabas and ministers. Therefore

I would imagine we don't know how long but but an extensive amount of time

He goes to antioch

Will you put the map of anioch on the screen?

Antioch, uh, I have a slide. There you go. There's two aniochs in the new testament. There's anioch of pesidia

Well, that's in the territory of galatia. This anioch is the antoch of syria on the bottom of the screen

You'll notice jerusalem and then that's about 135 miles

north

Now remember it was barnabas that was sent to antioch. We saw last week in acts 11

To to support the the work that was happening there

Do you guys remember how steven was persecuted and the lord used persecution to spread the church and it was in anioch where?

There was a group of jews

That were being ministered to and there was also some greeks that were being ministered to so we have this revival

That starts in antoch barnabas is sent there by the church in jerusalem barnabas goes to tarsus

You see tarsus at the top left to get paul because he's heard of his reputation

Paul comes back and ministers in antoch for a season for a long extensive time. Now. What's so important about antoch

Antioch is primarily

Gentiles

Jerusalem was primarily

jews

Antioch is the first new testament church

That's really a diverse church

Yes, there's a sizable jewish population in antoch, but it's predominantly gentile

This city was the third largest city in the ancient roman empire the population was a quarter of a million people

It was a very cosmopolitan city and so god is doing a work amongst the gentiles in this city

So here we see this issue

raised how are jews

and gentiles

And gentiles supposed to fellowship with one another

That that was never a problem in jerusalem. Why because there were no gentiles

So now it's an issue that's on the table

How are jews and gentiles two polar opposite people groups, how are they to fellowship with one another and get along?

with one another

Through the gospel

So peter shows up and we see the problem

It doesn't take us long. I mean I read it for you. It's an easy problem to see he's a hypocrite

He knows the gospel at one minute. He's eating with the gentiles. He's eating the pork

He's eating the bacon right pass me the ribs and then when these men come along, what does he do?

He refrains

He cowers not only does he stop eating with them. He distances himself from the gentiles

And so this has to be confronted

Because here's the deal peter knew better

No, he didn't paul was the apostle to the peter knew better number one peter walked with jesus

Go read the gospels. How many times did jesus dine with the unclean?

a lot

How many times did he minister to gentiles?

a lot

Peter witnessed with his eyes the work of jesus jesus showing that the kingdom is not limited to jews

But god had always had a promise he made a promise to abraham at the beginning of the bible through you

All nations will be blessed

Not only that but he witnessed the holy spirit fall on the gentiles with his own eyes

Go to axe 10

So after paul becomes a christian we kind of what axe does is shift a little bit to peter and kind of show us what's happening with peter during this time

And in axe 10 we're told that peter has this vision

This jewish man

From israel has this vision about how gentiles are now made right solely based on the work of christ not their ethnicity

And that hodietary thing that was so big to the jews. Well in christ

That's not me

In christ that's not necessary

It's not that it's bad just like circumcision but it's not needed

So he has this vision right let's pick up in axe 11 verse 12

Uh verse 11 and I saw the heavens opened in something like a great sheet descending being let down by its four corners

upon the earth

So peter has this vision by the way

He's in japa a gentile city and he has this vision and here's what he sees

In it were all kinds of animals reptiles and birds of the air and there came a voice rise peter kill and eat

But peter said by no means lord

For i've never eaten anything that is common or unclean and the voice came to him again a second time

What god has made clean do not call common and this happened three times god was communicating that whole dietary thing that

Distance you from the gentiles

That's been abolished in jesus what god has called clean

You can't look and say that's common. That's unclean

Clean

And then what god is also doing is he's bringing this

Gentile corneal yes to peter and peter's gonna preach the gospel to him and then he's gonna preach the gospel to a lot of

Gentiles we see at the end of chapter 10 look while peter this is verse 44

While peter was still saying these things the holy spirit fell on all who heard

And the believers from among the circumcised that's the jews who were with peter were amazed because the holy spirit was poured out even on the

Gentiles

And then in acts 11 he goes and reports this to the church

At first they didn't like it. They they criticized and questioned him and he was like no listen

I saw with my own eyes and they all agree look at chapter 11 verses 17 and 18

If then god gave the same gift to them the gentiles as he gave to us the jews when we believed underline that

the lord jesus christ not when we

obeyed the dietary restrictions

not when we

Cirque were circumcised but when we believe the lord jesus christ who was i that i could stand in god's way and when they heard these things

They fell silent they glorified god and said then to the gentiles god has also granted repentance that leads to life peter knew better

He had experienced this and by implication

Peter knew that one was made right with god not based on their ethnicity

Not based on their dietary restrictions

Dietary restrictions, you don't get a closer seat to the table because there are certain foods you refrain from

Peter knew that

Peter knew the unity now

Between jew and gentile because of the finished work of christ he understood that as a result of jesus's death and resurrection

There was a new era that had been ushered in

But he's not living that way

And that's the problem

So paul confronts him now

Question why was this public?

Because i don't want you to think that every confrontation you're to have is you're to come up on stage and publicly humiliate

Another christian because they're walking inconsistently with the gospel right why was this public?

Well number one again this was a very very important time in redemptive history we have the first truly

Jewish

Slash gentile church in human history

So the the gospel for the church to come was on the line

Secondly, we're dealing with two public figures

paul and peter not just preachers, but

Apostles we've talked about that a lot in galatians

and thirdly

their behavior

Influences other people how do I know look at verse 13 because of peter's inconsistency

He influenced all of the people

Consistency he influenced all of the jews even barnabas

The republic implications

Now what we do need to see is paul's not doing this to shame barnabas humiliate barnabas

What there's like a lot of details we don't know

i'm led to believe that

Paul was probably gone and he comes back and he sees this because if this was a pattern of behavior that paul witnessed it

He probably would have stopped it pretty quickly now. I don't want to impose on the text what's not there. Okay, I don't know

But he does confront it

Why well number one he loves peter

Number two, he loves the people of the church the jews and the gentiles and number three he loves the gospel

So he has to

And as believers

Like if you when you say i'm a member of this church

Don't look at the pastors and say well, you're the ones that are responsible for confronting everybody and that's not true

In fact, we tell you all the time most of the time we shouldn't even know about it

Unless it's in our group unless it's around people that you know, we're in groups too and we see those things

But you're the ones that should handle it first

Because god has given and I know confrontation is such a negative word in the eyes of the world

But to a christian, it's a beautiful gift

He's given the gift of church discipline

And you hear discipline or immediately you think it's bad. Believe it or not every christian is being disciplined right now

You're being disciplined. That's called formative discipline

through the word

Through one another

Through preaching through i mean we're convicted by the spirit god's shaping us into the image of christ slowly. It's just part of sanctification

But there comes a time

And jesus has given this gift for the good of the church for the preservation of the good of the church

For the preservation of the gospel

A very gracious gift. I mean if you read it the world does not operate

The way that jesus get this way of confrontation you guys know that the world changes and humiliates jesus said no

We're going to keep this thing private. We're going to keep it in the family. We're going to deal with it lovingly

It's called church discipline go go to matthew 18. I don't have time read about it for your homework

The point of this is to really show you guys if you see someone out of step and they call themselves a believer

You have the privilege. It's a privilege of graciously and lovingly confronting them, but let me tell you this don't do it pridefully

Don't do it without first looking at your own self and saying is that in me too

Right jesus did say how dare you go and point out the speck in someone else's eye when you have a massive log sitting there

So don't put the police hat on and say it's my it's my job to keep the purity of the church in check when you can't even keep yourself in check

But do know that you do have a privilege and there's a way to handle it

And there's a way to handle it go to them privately one-on-one gently lovingly and if if they don't receive it if they don't repent then bring someone else that knows the situation

And it escalates the more non-repentant the person is I guess that's the best way to put it

But let me ask you this. Why do we not like confrontation?

You know why we don't like confrontation?

It's because we're like peter

No, i peter got himself into this mess because he was seeking the approval of man. We don't like confrontation because we want the approval of man

It's going to jeopardize a relationship

Or

We don't really believe that jesus is going to use this as a tool to restore and and renew

Which is what discipline is right? It is not a punitive tool. It is a resource to be used

A tool so to speak for the restoration and health of the body

We don't really believe that but we should

So so here's what we need to see hypocrisy

warrants

loving

Not abrasive loving confrontation and secondly hypocrisy has a deeper cause

Look at the next verse because what paul's going to do is I take my sip of water. He's going to explain in one verse the problem

Look at what he says

For before certain men came from james he was eating with the gentiles but when they came he drew back

Separated himself fearing the circumcision party

now

I know we live in a very fast-paced fast food culture

We probably all have door dash somewhere

On our phones right we can find it in an instant

Some of you're nodding no, but you guys know what i'm talking about right if we want food in an instant we can we can basically

get food

wherever whenever

That wasn't the case in the ancient world they really

really

Loved their table fellowship

It's a big deal

It showed unity it showed

It was a it was a sign of worship

To to to god by the jews so it was an intimate thing

So so the problem is peter is fellowshiping with the gentiles

Now why was this a big deal for a jew remember remember we talked about it last week

There were certain aspects of being a jew that were elevated during this time because of pressure from the helenized culture

You have greek influence and so how did the jews push back especially the Pharisees that are in leadership?

Well now i'm going to elevate everything and and push it even make it even more strict so circumcision

Well that was something that was pressed now you have these dietary laws and restrictions that god did give his people

We would say these were part of the ceremonial laws for a certain time and they were

To display his holiness to display their distinctness but ultimately we know we read the bible with a

Jesus lens that these were fulfilled in jesus

They were pointing to the fact that you can't be pure

But there's someone who can come and be pure for you and that was jesus, but obviously we know some of the jews missed it

So so they pushed it

And they pushed it and they pushed it and they pushed it and they pushed it and they pushed it and they pushed it

So so they pushed back with these strict rituals to distinguish themselves from the gentiles in fact

It was frowned upon

During this time if you were a jew to even eat with gentiles much less eat their food

Drink out of the same cup, but peter knew the freedom he had in the gospel

Peter knew that his dietary restrictions

Merited him no favor before god he knew they were fulfilled in jesus and that he had a freedom

That he could eat the pork

Not only that he could sit at a gentile's house and eat you guys do know

They didn't have a potluck like we had last sunday after church, right?

That's not how it works. They didn't have a big open building

They sat in each other's homes they fellowship and then after the fellowship they would take the lord's supper together

So peter was in their homes

eating their food

Sharing the same cup and utensils with them

Because he knew the freedom he had in the gospel and he wasn't going to impose his diet on them

That's not to say that peter didn't eat

A kosher when he was away maybe he did

But he knew it wasn't salvific

So he wasn't going to do that but when the the these men from james now who are they

Well, we're not exactly sure

But acts 15 verse 24 you can go write that down

Acts 15:24

That implies that these men claim to be sent from the jerusalem apostles

But they were not supported by the jerusalem apostles

remember

Jerusalem didn't have to deal with the issue of jew gentile

At least not to this level as the church in antioch

So so these men are elevating their jewishness

And they come and they're seeking out these gentile churches

Wearing their police hats

Wearing their police hats and they see peter

And they're pressuring peter peter. You can't give up your diet for these gentiles. You're a jew

You got to push back your jewishness means something

And so what does peter do he compromises?

It's important to note in private paul didn't compromise chapter 2 verses 1 through 10 in public. What does peter do?

He compromises over food

Over food over food

The text seems to indicate that this was a progression those verbs those verbs separated himself

Drew back those are in the imperfect which means that happened over a a period of time

So you gotta you gotta let's paint the picture you gotta understand like what was happening

Peter's showing up to the men's breakfast eating the bacon right eating the pancakes

The next week they have the men's breakfast peter's a guest speaker

I'll speak but I don't know if I can eat

What do you mean you can't eat peter?

The next week they got the men's breakfast or the next month they might have done it weekly in antioch, right?

He doesn't even show up

Peter where have you been you didn't come to small group haven't seen you where have you been and you start to notice peter's only hanging out with jews

You can imagine what the gentiles were thinking did we do do we have to be like you peter?

Like is there a a closer seat to jesus because we're a jew

The text doesn't tell us what the men from james said

But it does tell us why peter acted the way he did

He feared them

I believe the circumcision party

And the men from james are the same people i'm sure

And the men from james are the same people I think that's the best way to interpret this

And that word is actually used throughout the new testament sometimes good sometimes bad

But these men are exalting their jewishness putting pressure on peter

Peter you you can't eat with him. You can't you can't eat pork kosher bro kosher

And peter compromises

But paul's clear why he did he feared them my mom when I was writing this summer my mom was taken back to middle school

Recall your middle school days like the lunch room in middle school for me was a very anxious time

I would look at my clock and like when is the 30 minutes going to be over right because you're a middle schooler

I sat with the non-cool kids because I wasn't cool but if a cool kid came and asked me to sit with them guess what I would do

I would bounce on those friends in an instant because I wanted their approval. I wanted to sit with the cool kids

This is exactly what peter's doing. This is so childish

He is looking for approval when it says he feared the circumcision party he didn't fear for his life

What did he fear he feared that he would lose respect from them

He feared he would lose their influence. He feared he would lose his status. He feared he would he would lose their approval

That's what he feared

You peter's problem is this has been peter's problem the whole time his eyes are in the wrong place

Will you throw that slide up of peter's problems?

Think about peter in the new testament

The first time we see peter kind of with this problem of eyes in the wrong place

Is when he's walking on water right you guys remember that story?

And I'll put the references there and and jesus is walking on the water and he gets out he starts walking on the water

Until what his eyes do what?

Until his eyes are taken off of jesus

Right and then then the the next time is jesus tells him you're going to deny me three times

I'd never do that and all it takes is a little girl

To get peter's eyes off jesus and he denies jesus and then jesus lovingly restores peter

And I love this little story. It's in the end of john

It's at the end of john and jesus i'm sorry and jesus is talking to peter and he's talking to john and he's leaning back

And he's talking to john and peter's like what what did he tell you john like what?

Jesus what's gonna happen what's gonna happen with this guy

Jesus what's gonna happen what's gonna happen with this guy?

And jesus is like what does it matter what's gonna happen to him

You get your eyes on me he gets his eyes he's comparing himself worrying about about someone else instead of focusing

On jesus and then we see it here his eyes are off jesus his eyes are on

These these men and what does he do he shrinks back and he divides the church

Hypocrisy always has a deeper cause that's the symptom

And here it's the fear of man

What is that?

It's it's it's there's a simple way to define the fear of man that doesn't mean you're feared for your life

It means you're seeking validation in the approval of someone else other than god. That's the fear of man

You want to feel validated so you look out here instead of up there and the gospel says

You're already approved if you're in christ god doesn't have an approval meter on you

If you're in christ you couldn't be more approved or accepted even on your worst day

Why because jesus did the work you're in jesus and now his perfect righteousness has been accredited to you

So you couldn't be more approved or accepted the problem is when we forget that we start looking out here

That's when we start fearing man and walking inconsistently

Let me think about it

Let me think about it. How many times do you act one way around a certain group of people because you want their approval?

Or you don't want them to know certain things about you

So you hide them that's hypocrisy and then over here you act a totally different way

Look at social media social media for most of us in this room is is like our greatest hits album

I've heard a pastor say that before what we want everybody to think everything going on is so good today

It's so great. Look at everything that happened

But you don't show them the time that you argued with your wife in the car

You don't show them the time where you totally botched it disciplining your kid. You don't show them that why you're putting on a front

You're seeking likes that feels good

That's why

We are hypocrites because our eyes are in the wrong place just like peter

And don't miss this about peter don't miss this

If you're taking notes

The sins you may think are long gone

Can never be forgotten

We're years from that time that jesus restored peter

I mean peter's been crushing it for the gospel

Surely he's overcome this seeking the approval of man thing

But he hasn't

He's not a Christian in the room. Maybe it's lust or maybe it was your struggle with alcohol. Maybe it was your

battle with bitterness or discontentment and maybe for a season it seems like it's

Extinguished but as a christian you have to know the severity of indwelling sin that still remains and will remain

Until christ comes back and be vigilant vigilant to see to it that you constantly put it to death

Or just like peter it will rear its ugly head years down the road

thirdly

hypocrisy

Hypocrisy is contagious

dangerously contagious first 13

It spread to all the jews

and even

barnabas

So don't like we we public school our kids don't shame us

Okay

But we public school our kids and here's if you public school your kids, you know this

As soon as the note goes home and it says somebody in the class got the stomach bug today

It's just a matter of time, right?

You get the lysol can out and you just start going everywhere and you homeschool folks

It's the same in your house too because you're just closer, right? It's the same concept

Hypocrisy is like the stomach bug

It spreads

That word

that word

Hypocritically

It's it's mentioned two times hypocrisy

It means what I said at the beginning it means to play the part it was a word used for theater

One person played many roles. They'd wear wear a mask here play this role. They wear a mask here play this role

Well barn, that's that's what peter is doing

And what has peter done? He's divided the church

all the jews

So you've got the jewish people eating their meals over here and this looks like the church in corinth now antioch

Remember the church in corinth

But they're not they were divided over their favorite teachers. This church is divided over jews and gentiles over ethnicity

How dare we do that because of hypocrisy

Even barnabas

Why don't you say that even barnabas because didn't barnabas just go with paul to jerusalem?

And and he stood beside paul and and he he

Attested to what god had done through paul and said yes the gospel he's preaching the law free

Circumcision free dietary free gospel is the gospel i've seen it with my own eyes

He was sent to minister to the church in antioch. He was the first

Uh man from jerusalem that was sent really to support them from the jerusalem church

He knew just like peter and even he was led astray two eyes

No one is immune

No one is immune if peter and barnabas

If peter and barnabas can fall prey to hypocrisy

Don't think that you're above hypocrisy

Don't think you're immune to hypocrisy

There's always in in the life of a christian

We should always be evaluating our hearts. I would I would argue every day like am I living

Consistently with what I believe

That should probably be a regular habit either at the beginning of your day or the end of your day

and then secondly

influence

influence

Your actions influence others

Here we see when you walk out of step with the gospel

Whether it's public and I would argue even in private

Didn't paul say to the church in corinth a little leaven leavens the whole lump

It doesn't just have private implications

It spreads

It will cause division

And you're saying well, that's a leader what

I would argue this all of us are

I would argue this all of us if we're a christian have some influence over someone parents

You have influence over your kids. You say i'm not a parent. You should have relationships with non-believers

You've got influence over them. You've got you've got influence in your work. You've got influence when you go serve our kids up

You've got influence

As a leader I like I have influence

This is why james said not many of you should want to be pastors

Yeah, of course because you got to guard what you say, but you have to also guard how you live

And every single one of us me tyler tony zack. This is a weighty text

Because my actions matter

If you're a leader in this church how you live actually matters

And even if you're not a leader you don't consider yourself a leader your actions do matter parents

Preach the gospel to your kids

Teach them god's word

But let me do warn you this and I don't say this because i'm the expert parent god has given us

Almost 20 years of parenting

experience

And I have failed so many times people say what did you do?

I didn't do anything

Right, if you want to if you want me to write a book, I'll write a book. This says how not to parent

But there's one thing that i've learned

That's the law will transform no one i'm not telling you not to discipline your kids. Of course you should

But when you tell your kids it's grace alone through faith alone and jesus is forgiving and all you do is hammer them hammer them

Hammer them hammer them hammer them. What are you teaching them?

Grace changes you no, I don't really believe that the law will change you

Just beware

Beware

And it's not just how we treat our kids

It's how we act with non-believers. It's our entire life. We influence others

Whether you want to know it or not or whether you believe it or not we do

Do you realize that?

Fourthly

It's a serious contradiction

It's a serious contradiction

verse 14

But when I saw

Their conduct was not in step underline that with the truth of the gospel

I said so he saw something and therefore he said something

What did he see misalignment

I saw you're not walking in accordance with the gospel. So listen to me that word

Not in step. That's where we get the word orthopedic

Orthopedic alignment walk straight

The gospel is something you believe it's something you profess it's something you declare

But you know that you know what else it is. It's something you live out

You do live out the gospel whether you want to believe it or not

It has authority over your life as a christian if you believe in the gospel that the only way to salvation is through

The finished work of of god in the person and work of christ that we're all bankrupt sinners at the foot of the cross

And the only way the only way to be made right with god is by his grace alone through faith alone in Jesus

Alone that changes everything

It changes the way you parent it changes the way you deal with non-believers

It changes the way you view your finances. It changes the way you engage with with your co-workers. It changes everything

And if it hasn't changed then maybe you didn't believe the gospel

So that's what he saw they he was walking out of step

And what did he say?

He goes to peter in front of them all because peter's

He's the leader

And he says how can you if you though a jew

Live like a gentile and not not like a jew. How can you force the gentiles to live like jews?

What is he saying? How can you peter?

A jewish man live in the freedom of the gospel knowing that your diet or your ethnicity

Your circumcision doesn't marry anything. How can you now force these gentiles?

To adopt these same practices and think there is a way that makes you want a better christian by living like a jew

In other words peter, how can you live in the freedom of the gospel?

But by your actions force these people to live under the bondage of the law

That is inconsistent

There are two things that peter is contradicting we saw him last week

The freedom of the gospel

the freedom of the gospel

and the unity

of the gospel

Peter might be not he might not be saying it

Not with his lips, but with his life. He's implying that jesus isn't enough

You got to have jesus and jewishness gentiles

I think you gotta be like me like a jew your food

You want a closer seat stop eating that

Circumcision

That's not freedom that's bound to the law and then

In addition

He's contradicting the unity that jesus purchased in ephesians 2

I don't have time to go there. You can write down verses 13 through 17. I was going to go there, but i'm running running short on time

After tony just read the first part go read the second part

There's a vertical reconciliation that we have because of the gospel

But there's also a horizontal reconciliation we have because of the gospel

Jesus broke down the barrier between jew and gentile

God shows no partiality based on ethnicity or skin color

Or gender socioeconomic status last name those don't matter

Peter knew that peter knew at the foot of the cross all humanity is headed for one place

rightly

But god did something

He condescended

He became a man. He lived where we failed

He'll he'll obey the law to the t and then he died for every

One who would look to him by faith all of our failures

He took on himself

Not just to make us right with god, but to make us one with one another so that those barriers don't divide us

He's contradicting that

He's like i'll use an illustration from sports because it's college football season now, right?

Think about the coach that you had that really preached teamwork and discipline

And fairness which all coaches should

And I won't throw any names out, but there's some scandalous coaches. We we know that they're coming to your minds now

But then that coach goes behind the scenes because there's a big gang coming up and he pays off

one of the referees

And the players find out

It's a serious contradiction

How do we contradict the gospel with our hypocrisy?

Number one how dare we say that jesus's cross

Reconciles the worst of sinners

His blood was so strong it covers the most heinous of sins

His work is sufficient

To make me right

Forgive me all my mistakes no matter how bad

they are

Not just my past mistakes

but my future mistakes

And we walk around

Under condemnation and guilt and shame thinking there's something we've got to do to manipulate god

Instead of resting in the freedom of the gospel. That's one way

Secondly how dare we

Say that god shows no partiality that jesus's cross forgives anyone from anywhere

No matter what they look like

No matter how much money's in their bank account no matter what last name they have

But yet there's still something in us that wants to look on somebody else and say I will never

Hang out with that type of person. I can't go near them

How dare we harbor prejudice towards someone for how they look

Or where they're from?

The gospel eradicates that that is inconsistent

We should never despise someone because of their skin color their last name their bank account their socioeconomics

None of that matters before god

Thirdly how dare we say god is sufficient we have all we need in christ, but we walk around

In constant anxiety wondering if he's going to provide for me today

How dare we say all humans are made in the image of god worthy of dignity value and respect

But we use another human being

selfishly

To fulfill our sin

To be the object of our sinful pleasure

How dare we

Do you see that that is a question

Do you see that that is a contradiction?

But i'm not going to leave us there

Because I don't think that paul left peter there. There's a lot that's not said

I want to leave us with a cure because there is a cure

What is the cure?

It's the fifth reality

There's a merciful cure

The only cure for hypocrisy can be found in someone who wasn't a hypocrite

I've proven we're all hypocrites and i'm the chief of hypocrites so if you came to church thinking

I'm not going to find any hypocrites here. You're wrong

But we worship one who was not a hypocrite

Go to mark 2

His name's jesus mark at the beginning of his gospel records this story

Verse 13 jesus went out beside the sea and the crowds were coming to them and he was teaching them and as he passed by

He saw levi that's matthew sitting at a tax booth and he called to him and he said

Follow me and he did and so they go to matthew's house and he's reclining at the table. He's fellowshiping over a meal

With many tax collectors and sinners reclining with jesus and there were many who followed him in the scribes of the pharisees

They took note

They saw that he was eating with the sinners and the tax collectors and they said to jesus his disciples

Why does he eat with them? Why does he eat with sinners and tax collectors?

He's defiling himself a similar message to what the circumcision party was saying to peter

And jesus when he heard it said to them those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick

Did not come to call the righteous, but I came to the sinners

The pharisees how could you do that jesus?

Jesus said don't you know who I came for?

And jesus was showing it through the intimacy of a meal

That's why it was scandalous to the pharisees how could you dine with gentiles and the unclean and the tax collectors and the sinners and the hypocrites

But what mark was doing at the beginning of his gospel

Was pointing us forward to something so much more scandalous that jesus would do at the end of mark's gospel

Yes, jesus would eat with sinners and tax collectors and he would fellowship in an intimate way with hypocrites

But what would he do at the end of the gospel of mark

He would become one with them

The one who was without hypocrisy or sin became sin

In love and in mercy he did the unthinkable

He didn't just eat with us he took our sins on himself. He became

Us to a degree and the father right the father poured out his wrath towards sin on jesus

So it was the it was unthinkable that jesus would even swallow a cup that a gentile had put his lips on

What's even more unthinkable is that jesus would swallow the cup of the father's wrath that he didn't deserve

That's what he did. He didn't deserve

The father's wrath that he didn't deserve that's what's unthinkable for hypocrites

And then what would he do he would die he would go into the ground and he would rise securing our freedom

You know what peter is searching for he wants freedom. You know our freedom is found

It's found in jesus. The main point of the sermon is this we're all hypocrites, but freedom from hypocrisy is found in one place

jesus

Jesus he doesn't leave us in our hypocrisy

The band will come up i'm running out of time

I've shown you plenty of application. Hopefully let me leave you with this if the gospel is what frees us from hypocrisy

And we're constantly living in hypocrisy

What do we do?

What did peter and paul do what did paul do to peter he confronted him

We need constant confrontation with the cross and the word of god to realign us

I go and take my car in what once every three years to get it aligned we need more than that

Every day because we're tempted every day we go to god's word through his spirit

He confronts us we remind ourselves of the truth of the gospel and we readjust our step to walk in consistency

Instead of walking in hypocrisy

That's what you do

That's what you do. So this is what we're going to do, right?

We're going to close we're going to do something a little different number one. We're going to confess our sin of hypocrisy

I'm going to give you a moment

Right your hypocrisy might look different than my hypocrisy, but it's still what hypocrisy and it undermines the gospel

You're going to take a moment to confess it and then we're going to pray a prayer of sanctification

The holy spirit would realign us to walk inconsistently our inconsistency

Should I say inconsistency with the gospel? Let's pray father

Father forgive us. Just take a minute and confess our sins of hypocrisy to you

Maybe it's unforgiveness. Maybe it's

Not walking in freedom. Maybe it maybe it's prejudice

those sins are not too deep for jesus's blood to

To cover

We thank you for the mercy

Found in jesus that just as we are we can approach him and throw our sins on him and he forgives us

So thank you for that we confess those

To you

We pray this morning your spirit would do a readjustment a realignment in our heart so that we can be a people

That not only declare the gospel, but we live out the gospel and our lives align with what we say

We love you. We thank you for the gospels in jesus name. Amen