Sola Gratia (Grace Alone)

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. Once again, let's open up to the book of Galatians, Galatians chapter 2. Galatians chapter 2, and as I've said before, as far as the context of the book and what's happening, the apostle Paul is writing to a group of churches in the Roman province of Galatia.

Justification by Faith Alone in Galatians

Paul is writing in defense of the true gospel, that a person is justified before God by faith alone and not the works of the law. Salvation by grace through faith, as Paul wrote to the Ephesians, it is not of works lest any man should boast.

The problem was, however, in these churches, people were being deceived by this group of false teachers known as the Judaizers. Who basically were teaching works, works salvation, that you are saved. Yes, you need to believe in Jesus, but you need to obey the law of Moses and be circumcised and do all of these other things.

And Paul says, if you buy into that, because many had, he said, you have fallen from grace. So defending the gospel, that's what this book is about. And this has been the most important issue within Christianity from the beginning.

The Protestant Reformation and the Ongoing Threat of False Teachers

In church history, if you know your history, you know that things really came to a head during the 1500s in the Protestant Reformation. Where the Roman Catholic Church took a similar view to that of the Judaizers.

While the Protestants, they held to the Pauline view of grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Because it's Christ alone that saves, not what you add to it. And lest you think this issue has been settled, I mean it has been settled, it is settled.

But there will always be false teachers. There will always be false prophets. There will always be people trying to lead others astray, like the Galatians were led astray. So before we start reading in chapter 2, this is why the church always needs to say, why do we keep talking about this?

Because it's the most important thing. Well, you preached about this a few weeks ago. Well, preach about it again probably a couple weeks from now. I mean, this is the crucial issue. And if we stop preaching on it, if we stop emphasizing it, after a while, people start to think maybe it's not so important.

Nothing's really been said. Do we still believe this? What about this other view? So it's that essential that we understand. Okay, before we read from chapter 2, let's go back and get a little context to chapter 1.

So we'll pick up in chapter 1, verse 22. Paul says, and I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea, which were in Christ. But they were hearing only that he who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith, which he once tried to destroy.

And they glorified God in me. Chapter 2, verse 1. Then after 14 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 preach among the Gentiles.

But privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means I might run or had run in vain. Yet not even Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. And this occurred because 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 these who seem to be something, whatever they were, it makes no difference to me. God shows personal favoritism to no man.

For those who seem 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, that is God, who worked effectively in Peter for the apostleship to the circumcised, the Jews, also worked effectively in me toward the Gentiles. And when James, Cephas, and John, Cephas is another name for Peter.

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, to the Jews.

They desired only, this was their advice, that we should remember the poor. The very thing which I also was eager to do. So Paul's point here is that the gospel he is preaching, it's the same gospel the apostles were preaching.

The same gospel given by Christ himself. That a person is justified before God by believing in Christ Jesus, not obeying the law of Moses. Because what? What's the problem with that? Nobody ever has obeyed the law of Moses except Christ.

So you can't be saved by doing all these other things. You can only be saved by Christ. Christ alone. Nobody is justified before God because they're such a good person. We know this is the common general view that the average person has today.

Well I'm going to be okay because I'm a good person. By what standard? By what standard? Society's standard? What the standard we have right now or the standard from 20 years ago? Which is it? Justified before God because of our goodness?

Based on what standard? God's the standard. Perfection is the standard. So Paul tells of his journey to the city of Jerusalem where he met Peter, James, and John. And he was accepted by them because his message was the same as theirs.

I know that's obvious to us, but it wasn't obvious to the Galatians because they were being taught otherwise by the false teachers. Paul's teaching a different gospel. He's teaching something else. So the church members in Galatia, they had bought into what we call legalism.

Legalism. Legal refers to law. It's the law of Moses. So it's salvation by the works of the law. That's what legalism is. So let's just go through these verses quickly. And then we're going to turn to the book of Acts because when Paul talks about how he went to Jerusalem, it's almost certain that he's talking about the Jerusalem council when the church in Jerusalem settled all of these disputes.

A very important moment in church history. So we'll look at that a little later on. But let's just go through these verses, verse by verse. Then after 14 years, Galatians 2 verse 1, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas and also took Titus with me.

Of course, Barnabas and Titus were men who assisted Paul in the ministry. And Paul was kind of like a spiritual father to these men. Verse 2. And I went up, Paul says, by what? By revelation. Somehow.

And he doesn't explain it, but God told him. God told him to go. I went up by revelation and communicated to them that gospel, which I preached among the Gentiles, but privately to those who were of reputation.

These are the pillars, right? Lest by any means I might run or had run in vain. So God told Paul to go, which he did. And before he met or sat in the Jerusalem council, before he met with the group, with the larger group, he met privately with the apostles who were of reputation.

Peter, James, and John. Why would he do that? Why would he meet privately first? Because he wanted to make sure that they're all on the same page. Now he knew they were, but he wanted to just, hey, let's just double check.

Let's meet privately and discuss this before we move to the next step. Because if, if, if the apostles opposed Paul or there's some problem, then all of his work might've been in vain. You can't be doing something that the apostles of Jesus Christ don't approve of.

So this is all about getting on the same page. He wanted unity. And you know, that's so true today that Christians and churches have unity. That our church and the other evangelical churches that we're all on the same page.

Because if we're not on the same page, what does that do? It really undercuts the message. Because people look at, yeah, well this church is saying one thing. This church is saying something else. What does that do?

It creates confusion and the average person says, well, who really knows them? So unity is so important. So Paul and the apostles, they were on the same page. Hey, are we all on the same page this morning?

About the gospel? About who Christ is? What he came to do? Amen. So Paul met with them prior just to confirm the unity which they had. And the proof that they had unity is that the Judaizers were wrong.

Okay, we're together. They're the ones who are the schismatics. And the proof of that is that the apostles didn't require Titus to be circumcised. Look at verses 3 and 4. Because that's what the Judaizers said, this needs to be done.

And the apostles said, no, it doesn't. Verses 3 and 4, yet not even Titus who was with me, being a Greek, he wasn't Jewish. Not even, they did not even make him be circumcised. Verse 4, 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.

Let's ask a couple questions here. First of all, who are the false brethren? Well, we know they're the Judaizers. But what is a false brother? Well, basically they said they were Christians. But to borrow a phrase from the book of Jude, they crept in unaware.

So, they said some of the right things, but they were really there to infiltrate the church so they, as wolves in sheep's clothing, they could devour the flock. They were there to come in, spread their false message, and this would just create havoc in the church.

They wanted to destroy the unity. They wanted to destroy the gospel. They wanted to destroy the liberty the Christians had. And let's ask another question. What about this liberty? What is this liberty that Paul refers to?

When you hear the word liberty, what do you think of? Freedom. Right. Liberty and freedom. So, what is this freedom? It's faith alone. Faith alone in Christ. That you are freely forgiven of all of your sin.

If you have repented and placed your faith in Jesus, there should be no more guilt and shame. No one can come in and try to bind heavy burdens on you because you're free. You have freedom. You have liberty to walk in the full assurance of your salvation.

Because your sins, the Bible says, have been separated as far as the east is from the west. That's a freeing thought, isn't it? That's a freeing feeling. But the Judaizers went, I don't think so because you're not doing this.

You need to do this. And I don't really think you're safe because you're not doing this. It's like, no, we've been set free from the penalty of the law. But notice, he says liberty, not license. Right.

So, they have liberty, but they were not to practice license. Because here's the danger. What's license? It's when you say, well, I believe in Jesus. I believe Jesus has saved me from my sin. But I still love sin.

And I still walk in sin and promote sin and defend sin. And Jesus has forgiven me. So, hey, let's live it up because we're forgiven. That's license. That's just as bad as the legalism. So, this is one of the most common false doctrines in the modern church.

You've heard of cheap grace. Right. Cheap grace. Well, here's the thing. Cheap grace, there's no such thing. Jesus paid too high of a price for you to call it cheap grace. But here's the thing. It's not.

Grace isn't cheap. It's actually free. Grace is free. You're freely forgiven. But when we see what Jesus has done for sin, we don't want to live in it any longer. Now, do we make mistakes? Yes. Do we sin?

Yes. And when we sin, we confess that to God. And we're striving for victory. We're not looking to make excuses for it. Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Corner Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message, or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, MorrisCornerChurch .com.

And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.