Mighty Lord, Foolish Galatians (part 2)

The Lord Jesus we thank you that we get to celebrate the Lord's Day the resurrection and ascension of our

King We thank you for we are able to understand truth and believe in truth

Because you loved us first and because you worked by Yourself for the glory of your name

For our redemption and our eternal life. We thank you. We praise you We pray that you'd be with us in this

Sunday school and all the Sunday schools around the church today That we would proclaim Christ and rest in him alone and that as many as you have chosen

Would come to the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ In whose name

I pray. Amen Last week we started to look at the book of Galatians.

We did an introduction and we finished chapter 1 If I'm going to my wife is reminding me if I go at the pace

I'm going right now It will be to the end of the year till I finish the whole book of Galatians So I'm going to speed up a little bit more while touching the main points that I'm trying to touch

So we looked last last week at how important the book of Galatians was in the life of the

Reformers Anybody remember the two Reformers we briefly touched upon? anyone

Luther Martin Luther was one and John Calvin we noticed that as Luther was a

Catholic monk and as he was studying the book of Galatians One day in his study.

He screamed the word freedom To which his wife ran into the study and said what's wrong? I have finally understood what the law was supposed to do and he turns to Christ and Becomes one of the foremost thinkers of the

Protestant Reformation He was also known as he also called Galatians my own epistle

He loved the book as a professor of biblical exegesis at the University of Wittenberg He often taught and lectured on The book of Galatians and he turned to it regularly as a source of strength

But also to help him think through the laws that the Catholic Church were putting on him and all around people all around him during the 14th and 15th century

We also looked at Galatians chapter 1 when where we saw That the

Judaizers were attacking Paul Because they thought he was preaching a different gospel

They didn't want him to preach a different gospel as opposed to what the Jerusalem Apostles were preaching

We looked at how the Jerusalem Apostles preached the whole gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ But they but Paul preached the gospel exclusively leaving out

Circumcision and Jewish law We also saw that Paul after his introductory section which was in Galatians chapter 1 verse 1 to 5

He went into the longest rebuke section in the in the New Testament Which is chapter 1 verse 6 all the way to chapter 4 verse 11.

It is a long rebuke section And He says this in 1 6

I'm astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel

Paul had preached the Galatians about the about the exclusive powerful work of the

Lord Jesus Christ and the Galatians listened to the Judaizers who were saying that you need to be circumcised and you need certain elements of the

Jewish law in order to Be fully saved and they were confused Paul expresses his shock

Throughout this book, but he begins right at chapter 1 We also looked at how

Paul was exclusively called by God Commissioned by Christ on the

Damascus Road to preach to the Gentiles That was not what the

Judaizers were saying. They claimed that he got his Right his authority his commission from the

Jerusalem Apostles and that he was going in his own direction To preach what he wanted to do as we look at Galatians chapter 2

Paul is still in his autobiography section and he starts by saying

After 14 years, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas taking Titus along with me

What he's trying to say here is 14 years after his conversion He met with the

Apostles So, how is it that he could get any authority from them in the first place to preach the gospel or to talk?

about the gospel to the Gentiles He's already told us that his commission has been from Christ from God in chapter 1 verse 1 verse 12 and verse 16

He is deeply concerned about the Galatians Because they are not listening

They can't they can't remember anything that he said they forgot what he said and they're living a life of confusion right now

But what is the first thing he does? if you look at chapter 2 and If you study verses 2 to 10

He talks about the relationship he has with the Apostles while there are some differences in the gospel message as proclaimed by both and The difference being that Paul Left out circumcision

Jewish law mosaic law from any proclamation that he gave the

Jerusalem Apostles being Peter James and John Preached the same message as Paul did the life of Christ the death of Christ and the resurrection of Christ verses 3 to 7

Paul tells us that he did not submit to the pressure of the Judaizers and They had pressured him to change his mind

They had questioned his apostleship. They had questioned the Lord Jesus Christ. They had questioned his authority and The Judaizers attacked the

Jerusalem Apostles as well But what does he say here?

What does Paul say in 3 to 7 and why is it important for us to understand this here today as well?

The Apostles agreed on one thing That they were commissioned to go to the gent to go to the

Jews by God to preach the whole counsel of God that Jesus Christ was the

Messiah that Jesus Christ is the one to through whom there is eternal life and Paul was commissioned to the

Gentiles Jerusalem Apostles commissioned to the

Jews Apostle Paul commissioned to the Gentiles Now as we move and as we look at chapter chapter 2 verse 9

He says this and When James and Cephas and John who seemed to be pillars perceived the grace that was given to me me being the

Apostle Paul They gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me that we should go to the

Gentiles and they to the uncircumcised The Judaizers were saying there's a rift

There's a fight between the Jerusalem Apostles and Paul that Paul is going in the wrong direction preaching what he wants to preach they were saying that Paul was preaching to the

Jews a message which included circumcision and to the Uncircumcised the

Gentiles he preached a message that did not include the circumcision they accused him of being a man pleaser and Not someone who pleases

God That's where he comes. That's where he defends his apostleship from verse 1 to 10 in chapter 2

Now, what is the meaning of the word or the sentence right hand of fellowship? We do it here at BBC.

Remember after the we make the announcements and after we welcome newcomers We do this thing called give each other right hand of fellowship.

Well, what does that mean? Come on, somebody should know this we do this every week To what?

To greet one another. Okay, why not greet with something else on some other mechanism way that particular way?

I'm not trying to give you a hard time Bob good getting close Anyone else

Brian? Very good. So from when you look at contextually Brian, I think you're you've got it, right?

What what is the right hand of fellowship? Is it just a Jewish thing or a Roman thing? Anyone has any idea? It was used commonly at that time

It was not just Jewish. It was used in Rome as well a right hand meant mutual agreement about something

At BBC sometimes when you listen in on conversation sometimes when people Give me the right kind of fellowship the conversation quickly moves to weather

So I think we're mutually agreeing that the weather is really bad in New England Or that Tom Brady is awesome.

So so but sorry folks. That's not what it really means We're not talking about the weather or Tom Brady we are agreeing that We believe in the

Lord Jesus Christ That there's only one way to salvation. That is the Lord Jesus Christ That our works and that our rule -keeping can never improve our standing with the

Holy God That's what we're agreeing on. That's what we shake our hands to saying

Jesus Christ is King. We belong to him praise God Apostle Paul like Brian said

Gave the right hand of fellowship to Jerusalem Apostles When people did this in the political realm when leaders did this in Rome?

It meant that one would offer security for another and that there was a mutual agreement without within them

Paul is saying here Opposing the Judaizers, by the way That the

Jerusalem Apostles fully and vehemently agreed with Paul that the

Apostles were commissioned to preach the gospel to the circumcised and that he Paul Was commissioned to take the gospel to the uncircumcised

They were agreeing to this And they also agreed on the life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and on the very

Exclusivity of the Lord for all of them. The gospel was not different. The Judaizers were wrong again

But things are about to take an interesting turn Can someone read Galatians 2 11 to 14, please?

Galatians 2 11 to 14 who is Peter anyone? the the

Apostle Peter He is one of the leaders probably among the disciples He is one of the heads of the

Jerusalem Church in In terms of his position. He's probably one of the most important disciples

What is Paul rebuking Peter for here and and we'll get to why it's so important in the book of Galatians and to us today

Why is he rebuking He went back to Judaism, how did he go back to Judaism?

Now he didn't say be circumcised of what did he do he was eating and dining with the Gentiles and suddenly he

Stops eating with them, but it's a lot more He went after the he went back to the dietary rules when you look at the context of what's happening and based on The harsh tone that Paul uses here at one point in time.

Here's Peter he's eating and dining and fellowshipping with the Gentiles and And he's getting pressure from the

Judaizers not to Peter listens to the Judaizers.

He doesn't just stop eating and dining with them He abandons all fellowship with the

Gentiles He fully separates himself from the

Gentile brothers and sisters as if they were some untouchables Something that the

Jews did a lot Now last week we spoke about Jewish nationalism Nationalism is when you have a love and an appreciation for your nation for your country

But there's an extreme form of nationalism, which is called xenophobia Which is an irrational fear of people or international fear and irrational dislike of people from other countries

Jewish Nationalism was at its highest at the time of Galatia It was at one of the highest you can say

They were extremely Annoyed at any Gentiles. They were extremely harsh with people who preached even the gospel to them

So at a time like this Peter Is struggling and we're going to see why?

Paul sees Peters actions can as both confusing and as hypocritical to the believers

He is so disgruntled so annoyed with Peter he publicly rebukes him just when you think he can't rebuke anybody more or be more disgusted with anybody because He's rebuking the

Galatians Paul make sure that he lets Peter know what he's doing is wrong

Why is Paul so harsh with Peter? Why is he so harsh

West? Yes, that's one reason Barnabas is so precious to Peter to Paul and he leads him astray

There you go, there you go Yes, the verse says that if you go back to the verse to let me go back to that Verse two he says and the rest of the

Jews acted hypocritically This is verse chapter 2 verse 13 and the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him

So that even Barnabas was led astray. I think it's safe to say that there were a lot of people who were led astray Why is

Paul so angry with Peter? Yes, he has led astray even Barnabas somebody who's dear to Paul, but he's the leader

There are people actually following Peter. There are people who actually listen to what Peter is saying and doing and He Peter Peter's actions to flee the

Gentiles To abandon fellowship with them Led others astray.

Amen. Excellent Peter is held to a higher standard and he will be judged harsher and we know from history that Peter by the grace of God does turn the his

Removal or his abandonment of the Gentiles was temporary and we praise God for that Peter's behavior was bad.

It was unacceptable Now, why did Peter succumb to the pressure of the Judaizers when you look at it?

It could be because of the increased persecution of the Jerusalem believers at the time

If you know the state of the Jerusalem Church the Jerusalem believers at that time They were extremely depleted

Financially physically they were in pretty bad shape Further persecution would make their lives even worse specifically the lives of the

Jewish believers so as a result of the rise of Jewish nationalism as a result of Christ's resurrection and the message of the gospel

Jewish leaders had grown more Antagonistic towards the Gentiles any pro -Gentile behavior any pro -Gentile affiliation affection was severely frowned upon by the and ridiculed by the

Jews and just to just to Add to that this antagonism was not just temporary.

It was persistent. It was deliberate So when they heard about what

Peter and the Jerusalem Apostles were doing aka or that is mingling with the

Gentiles the Judaizers probably further persecuted the Jerusalem Church So for the sake of the

Jewish believers in Jerusalem Peter decided to distance himself from the Gentiles Was Peter right?

Sorry before that I Am an excellent had this been a secondary matter.

I don't think Paul would have been so harsh with Peter This wasn't a low tier matter. This was the gospel.

This was the person and work of Christ that Christ had fulfilled the law and now the the

Peter was literally falling back into The dependence on the law which meant

Christ's work was useless This was a serious issue, that's why he went after him in the way he did

Peter's withdrawal from the Gentile if you look at verse 14 according to Paul threatened the truth of the gospel

It had great theological consequences It had great evangelical evangelicalism evangelism

Consequences as well. It would affect the spread of the gospel Peter's actions were confusing and damaging and That's why

Paul refuses it Addresses it so harshly And we don't know when or how the matter was resolved by the

Bible doesn't say it But we know it was and we're very grateful that Peter and Paul reconciled Now we're going to come to the main theme of the book of Galatians.

I spoke about this briefly last week Can someone read Galatians chapter 2 verse 15 to 21, please?

Galatians 2 15 to 21 This is the main proposition of Galatians It's the central theme of the book if you're worried

There's too much packed into six or seven verses Like I said last week Paul does us a great favor and he expands this section 15 to 21 in chapter 3 verse 1 all the way to chapter 4 verse 11

He gives us a lot more information and helps us to understand what exactly he's trying to say in these verses

So from chapter 2 verse 15 all the way to chapter 5 verse 15 Paul Defends the law -free gospel of Jesus Christ up until this point chapter 1 verse 1 to chapter 2 verse 14 he was defending his apostleship

Now he shifts to defending more vehemently the law -free gospel of Jesus Christ If you're a new believer or if you're someone who's struggling with some of the fundamentals of New Testament theology like law grace justification

Sanctification the person and work of Christ the resurrection and what it means to be justified by faith in Christ alone

This section is is important for you to study This section is a good place for you to study these fundamental theologies or theological terms

That is 2 15 to 5 15 and will help you love the Lord more It'll help you grow as a believer and rest more in the person and work of Christ so in verses 15 and 16

Paul first Tells us what he agrees with the Judaizers about so that's that's funny.

That's interesting Paul and the Judaizers agreed about something verse 15 and 16 we see that Justification comes through faith in Jesus Christ alone

That's right The Judaizers did believe in that that no one is declared righteous by their works or by Attempts to keep the

Jewish law at least at face value or at least in the looking at them listening to them

They did believe that salvation and justification was through Christ alone But is that it?

We will look at it. Please be patient What about points of disagreement between Paul and the Judaizers that's easy we see that throughout this book

But he gives us a cogent Argument right here in 17 to 20.

His question is this how can a person be alive to Christ and to the law?

How can one who is living? Having rested in the finished work of Jesus Christ and continuing to rest in the work of Christ How can that person depend on the law again

How can they depend on the very law that Jesus Christ rendered? Useless when he fulfilled it when he rose from the dead and where he is right now seated at the right hand of God the

Father Paul explains these terms and the situation very well in chapter 3 verse 1 to 4 11

But in 2 in chapter 2 verse 15 to 21, we see two ideologies and I touched upon this last week legalism and nomism

What is legalism and then what is nomism? anyone if you can if you can

Define it for me. There you go. There's nothing wrong living by the law. I mean a law but The problem is living by the law in order to gain

Favor from God for salvation Any attempt to gain favor with God by means of Torah observance if you look at the

Galatian context That's what legalism is if you think or if the Judaizers were thinking that you can be justified

You can be made right with God by merely keeping all of the Torah Then you're

Legalistic or you fall into legalism Charlie agreed, which is cars and movies. That's funny Well, I interestingly

I get I get to some of those points too, but excellent, right? it's it's adding or putting more rules because We believe because legalists legal those who abide by those those the law of legalism or the doctrine of legalism

State that by adding more rules You can keep a check on people and you can use that to be right with God In the context of Galatians, it was essentially

The Torah observance that you could be saved you could be made right with God by Torah observance

How about nomism? Have you heard this term before? and Or maybe

I'm pronouncing it wrong nomism You guys pick one. Well, what is the definition of nomism nomism?

one of those two Bob Law -keeping in what sense law -keeping because legalism has law -keeping in it, too.

How is it different from nomism? So that by definition

Nomism was the response of faith to a God who has acted on one's behalf

By living a life that is governed by the Torah In essence, the only way to please

God who justifies by faith alone In Christ alone was to daily submit to the

Jewish law I said two things last week about what was pressuring the

Galatian Church one was internal one was external Anybody remember what those two things were? What was internal?

What was affecting them internally false gospel

Judaizers attacking them internally with adding to the person and work of Christ. What was external?

What was happening external? libertinism

Excellent Libertinism they were called religious freethinkers no bounds absolutely nothing on them to They want a total freedom in every way they lived they thought they didn't want anything to affect them

So the cultural thought of Galatia was affecting them externally and then internally within the church.

They are the false. They are the false Gospel, so what was the Jewish response to all this unethical living around them?

Over correction That they start they stated that in order to be fully blessed

In order to be fully saved while Christ is a good place to start You need to be circumcised and follow the other tenets of the

Jewish law That's gnomism Now understanding the difference between legalism and gnomism is important for us even today much of Galatians deals with legalism with gnomism

And if we don't see this We can be half Judaizers, and I'll explain more but as we go back to 15 and 16 what does it mean to be justified?

if you've been in this church for any period of time you've You've heard it at least defined once what is justification?

In the biblical context declared righteous who declares whom righteous

Brian, okay? Can I go back to Mark's thing on declare who?

Who declares whom righteous? Mark sorry about possible

Amen God forensically declares the sinner

Righteous he's he's declared right because of the substitutionary obedience of the

Lord Jesus Christ In verses 15 and 16 Paul is clearly contrasting faith in Christ versus work of the law

How did how do Catholics look at this verse? the worse on justification We're in New England.

We've got to know this one, too How do Catholics look at yes this verse to 16?

Excellent Andrew and Charlie exactly right, but what is the thing that they say? In order to get over the finish line.

What's that thing you need to get over the finish line? There's this thing that happens after life according to Catholics, which renders one fully justified.

What is that thing? purgatory Purgatory they look at verse with super for 15 and 16 and they believe that a full final justification

That is a declaration of righteousness Can only take place after purgatory this is what

Martin Luther had a problem with This is when when God opened Martin Luther's eyes and he looked at the law and he looked at all the additional laws as Charlie Was saying by the time we're in the 14th century 15th century 16th century the

Catholics had a lot of laws These laws were burdening people especially like monks who lived their life in self -denial in order to be righteous and God opens

Martin Luther's eyes to see Even looking at this worse what they were believing was completely wrong

How about Protestants? What do we believe about justification? What do we understand about justification?

So it is the work of Christ. It's a full and final justification. It's a full and final declaration

Made holy by the person in work of because of the person in work of Christ As Larry said because of the substitutionary obedience of the

Lord Jesus Christ It's only through his meritorious work that we are fully justified.

There's no looking back Paul attacks the

Judaizers He looks at the Mosaic law as a religious system His his anger against them is not against necessarily the law

But in the way, they were using the law as a means to obtain favor from God That's where his problem is the

Judaizers were trying to push a Jewish no mystic lifestyle to the Gentiles and In doing so they themselves became legalistic

Paul wants the Galatians to know that a person is declared righteous only by the work of Christ Holy by faith in Christ There's no other way you can be justified.

It's a common theme in the New Testament It being justified also means we have union with Christ and when you look at chapter 3 verses 1 to 8 and When you look at even the remaining part of chapter 2, you'll see that he stresses justification and union with Christ a lot a lot now watch what he says in even 2 as he as he

As he ends as he begins chapter verse 17 If in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners is

Christ then a servant of sin What is he saying here?

What is Paul saying there? Do Christians sin if Christians sin does that mean the work of Christ is useless?

Why or why not Amen. Amen. Do you realize that's the time when

Martin Luther understood that one point? He screamed freedom from his study Isn't that wonderful That it has already been established by the person in the work and meritorious work of Christ That's Steve.

Oh, sorry. I thought you sorry. I thought your hand went up. Oh Boy The Christ's work cannot be nullified because of our sin

Because we're not saved by law -keeping Paul will address libertinism more throughout this book even in chapter 5 verse 13 to 26

But I have to tell you what that says at least at least in essence when he tells a

Galatian converts that Their ethical perversions cannot be checked by more rules and by more laws.

He also tells them what? Can keep them in check? What is the new

Entity that keeps believers in control or I'm or brings them under the

Lord. What is that new thing? If it's not the law, what are we to be controlled by?

The Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit and in verse 5 chapter 5 verse 13 to 26

Let's let's let's look at it briefly chapter 5 verse 13 to 26. I won't read the entire

Thing but I will read Okay, let me read 19 and I won't read all of 19 either the works of the flesh are evident sexual immorality impurity sensuality

Idolatry sorcery enmity and then in the end of verse 21

He says that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God Verse 22 chapter 5

Galatians, but the fruit of the Spirit is love joy. Peace patience kindness Verse 24 and those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires

There's two entities here one controlled by the flesh and by the law and the other controlled

By the Lord Jesus Christ because believers are found in him controlled by the Holy Spirit Essentially what

Paul is saying is if you're trying to live by the law Controlled by the flesh. Here's how your life is going to look impurity sensuality

That's all you are capable of doing if you're trying to live by the law. That's all you're capable of doing

Nothing good can come out But those who are redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ through the work of Christ they

By the power of the Holy Spirit for the glory of God are able to produce

Certain good works none of us were saved on Tuesday immediately in hip you know show all of these qualities perfectly and I don't think we will show any of these qualities perfectly ever but the best humankind can do under the law is

Horrible and not sufficient to meet the requirements of a holy God Charlie and I think that's why and I have an example of a

Baptist minister here from Alabama, which will be very helpful, but that's the that's the that's

Paul's argument here if that is if you're Trying to live a new mystic lifestyle and stressing on that eventually you will fall back to legalism

Eventually, you'll fall back into dependence on the law, right? No, but what that means is when we're at the core of what we believe we're not saved because of what we do

And when we evangelize we don't start by saying don't smoke, right?

So we say believe in the Lord Jesus Christ he is the only one who can appease the wrath of God that is pointed against you and Then little by little

Lord willing God willing may be smoking Is it a sin? Well, you damage your body.

Sorry. I was thinking out loud There is a fine line, but can you add more rules to make the situation better?

I don't think so Amen conscience issue

It's a it's a it is a conscience issue Paul's argument here and and my point in particular is that when we

Evangelize we tend to add more rules and more laws even by mistake We see ourselves that are certain things that we do very well seep into the gospel

They they get added into the gospel now what go ahead Paul's Paul argues about Sinful living in Corinthians 1st

Corinthians 1 1st Corinthians to how you behave inside the church How there were people who are exalting certain gifts?

While they were clearly sitting against others elsewhere while they were living in a certain way inside the church and then outside they had several wives

For instance Paul addresses this very clearly he talks about who we are in Christ and the control we have by the hope through the grace and the power of the

Holy But I'm looking at it from Paul's angle in the book of Galatians alone for a purpose and I actually

I don't know how I always Find examples, but I found an example, which I will say after pastor Steve What about and because I'm out of time

I need and I want to close with this with this Thought okay.

There's a Baptist minister from Alabama and it comes back to the things that Charlie and Andrew and pastor Steve We're saying as well, but it's from another angle

There's a Baptist minister from Alabama. He often you find them often on cable news channels he is he's somebody who praises conservative thinking he praises

Republicans and Subsequently praises President Trump nothing wrong with any of those things, but I was really curious after listening to him a few times

What is this guy believe about the Lord Jesus Christ? I was curious. I want to know what what do you believe about Christ?

What do you believe about salvation? So after much searching I found his church website You might want to be sitting for this

Everybody sitting okay This is what his church website and he had to say about salvation Number one repent and believe in the

Lord Jesus Christ any problems with that Not yet Believe in number two and vote only for the

Republican Party any problems with that yet. I think yes

I think maybe I don't know BBC's looks confused right now number three Follow conservative and right -based laws

And at the end of this he writes this you need to do all of the above to be a born -again

Christian My problem is not This my problem is this

I think that's what Paul is addressing in Galatians 2. I'm not saying the two are equal But that's what that's what he's saying here

Obviously as just like many of you my blood pressure went up to the roof as well This is what he says on his website

And this is what I believe he believes will the gospel if you say this can the gospel be preached in Japan?

Where there is no Republican Party? Where there might be no right based or conservative laws, how about India?

You can't preach the gospel there You just you just completely cut the gospel off from any other nation, but America What would

Paul say about him Galatians 3 1 foolish Because you've abandoned the gospel you've you have a different gospel

Galatians 1 9 He would say a curse because this is what Paul said as we've said before so I know now

I say again if anyone is Preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received that is the one that Paul preached

About Christ in Christ alone. Let him be accursed Let him come under the judicial wrath of God It's easy for us to see the problem with his

Baptist minister, isn't it? Because we know the gospel we know the truth

But my concern is this and so is Paul's because Paul was concerned about all the

Libertine thinking around him in the Galatian culture and And how the

Jews were using? Circumcision to control that kind of thinking in the church.

We should be concerned about the same thing to some extent Do you add to the gospel when you're sharing it with others?

Do you add to the work of Christ? The things like pro -life Following the

Republican Party Homeschooling dressing in a certain way come into the into the gospel little by little then you have added to the work of Christ We preach

Christ alone him crucified and there's no other way to be made right no laws No rules

Christ in Christ alone, and that's what we must proclaim And Lord willing

I will continue next week any questions before I close Let's pray

Lord. I thank you for the person and work of Christ, and I thank you Lord that you've opened our eyes

You've regenerated us So that we can even understand these things. Otherwise, we are blind.

We are wretched we were lost But you have redeemed us and you loved us first and we're so grateful for that.

I Pray that if there's any who does not know you here today that they would repent and believe on the

Lord Jesus Christ That they would turn away from Dependence on the law and look to Christ in Christ alone

For those of us who you have redeemed. I pray that we would be encouraged and refreshed and That we would evangelize focusing on Christ and Christ alone