Peter Shows Prejudice at the Church @ Antioch

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. So the title of this morning's message is Living the Gospel, Living the Gospel. So we're going to continue in Galatians chapter 2, and we see that there's more than one way to deny Christ.

One could deny Christ in their words and say, I know not the man. Or a person, and we're talking about Peter here, a person could deny Christ through their actions by returning back to their old ways.

And we're going to look at this this morning where Peter, that's exactly what he did. He kind of returned to his old ways. He backslid for a time, signaling with his actions a return to the Old Testament law.

Peter's Hypocrisy at Antioch and the Gospel's Public Witness

So this morning we're going to be covering Galatians 2, verses 11 through 14. And this section is titled No Return to the Law. And it's probably best known as that passage that deals with the Apostle Paul rebuking Peter to his face.

Because as Paul puts it, Peter was to be blamed. Well, blamed for what? Peter feared man. He had a fear of man. And he wanted the approval of his fellow Jews. So because he feared man and he wanted the approval of others, he acted like a hypocrite.

So this was really a stunning act of hypocrisy because Peter, as we read, Peter wasn't living like a Jew. But he was demanding that the Gentiles live like Jews. So he was saying one thing and then doing another.

He was being inconsistent because he feared some of those from the camp of the Judaizers. Let's look at Galatians 2 starting at verse 11. We'll read this again. It says, Now when Peter had come to Antioch, this was a Gentile church basically.

When Peter had come to Antioch, Paul says, I withstood him to his face because he was to be blamed. For before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles. But when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision.

And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of everybody, if you being a Jew live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?

The Gospel Must Shape the Whole Life

So this is a pretty amazing passage because it teaches us something about the gospel. And here it is. The gospel should affect every area of our lives. Is that a new revelation for us? The gospel should affect everything.

So we know what the gospel is. It is salvation by grace through faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. But what was Peter guilty of? Peter didn't deny that truth, did he? No. He didn't stop believing that Jesus was the Son of God who rose again.

No. What Peter did was he violated a principle of the gospel. He violated a principle of the new covenant, which the new covenant brought in the Gentiles into the family of God. And then Peter was acting like he didn't want anything to do with them.

So he wasn't denying the gospel with his words. He did that once. Remember when he denied Christ. But he was denying the gospel in a sense with his actions. And don't you know that's true? There's a lot of people who profess faith in the gospel.

They would maybe even never deny the gospel with their words, but they deny the gospel by their deeds. So there are some serious implications in this passage. Peter's public conduct was not in line with the good news of Jesus Christ.

What does that tell you? The gospel isn't just something you believe in your mind. It should affect the way that you live. It should affect the way that you behave. Beliefs affect our behaviors, right?

I mean, the way we live, it depends on what you believe, because what you believe will affect what you do. And sometimes, let's face it, let's just get it out there. Sometimes a person's stated beliefs, their actions are not in line with those beliefs.

What's the word for that? It begins with an H. What's the word? Hypocrisy. Right, hypocrisy. If God were to show us, if God who knows the heart were to show us in a moment of time all of our inconsistencies, we probably wouldn't be able to handle it.

What God usually does is he shows us bit by bit, and he tries to lead us along and grow us that way. But if God were to just drop a bomb on you and show you all of your hypocrisy, all of your inconsistencies, because everybody has them, I don't know that we would be able to handle it, because we all at times act hypocritically.

There's not a man on this earth who hasn't said one thing and done another. You know this is what a lot of people say about church. Well, I don't want to go to church. I don't want to join church, because the people there are hypocritical.

You've heard this, right? Well, yeah, that's true to a certain degree, because we have this high calling, and we fail to live up to it. And that's true, but that's something we acknowledge, and that's why we see our need of God's mercy and God's grace.

So are there Christians who act hypocritically? Yeah. In fairness, are there non-Christians who act hypocritically? Yeah. They're everywhere, right? They're in Washington, D .C. They're in Hollywood.

And yes, they are in religious institutions as well. This is common to man. It is everywhere. Hypocrisy is everywhere. This week I heard about the climate change summit, and you had people flying in private jets to gather together to lecture others on their carbon footprint.

And it's like, are you serious? You use 10 ,000 times more of a carbon footprint than others. You have it, but that's another story. But it's everywhere. You've acted hypocritically. Other people act hypocritically.

What's Peter doing? He's acting hypocritically. So this kind of thing is common. Now, the reason why this is important to cover this passage, the reason why it's so damaging is because in this case it's undercutting the gospel, right?

Again, the gospel is more than an idea. The gospel is a way of life. And we are to act in accordance with our stated belief. And when we don't, it harms not only our testimony. When people see it on full display, it can harm the faith of others.

So remember from last week we read about the Jerusalem Council and the victory over the Judaizers, right? Paul and the other apostles, they stood firm on the gospel, grace alone, through faith alone. And that was at the church council in Jerusalem.

And it was a wonderful thing. It was a high point. It was really a high point. However, Peter, while on the side of the truth, then he visits the church at Antioch. And he really was like a different man.

Peter in Jerusalem at the council was one man in Antioch. He was acting differently. So Peter played the role of the hypocrite. He said one thing, the Gentiles, they're brothers and sisters in Christ.

Now he's treating them as though they're not. So we see what's happening. There's a lot of inconsistencies in people's lives in the Bible, right? Have you ever read about David? What does the Bible say about David?

He is a man after God's own heart. And then you read about some of the things that David did. And you say, how do you reconcile the two? It can be hard to reconcile the two. But is it really hard or is this just the common experience?

Another example, Noah. What does the Bible say about Noah? He was the most righteous man on earth. And then after he got off the ark, he planted a vineyard and basically turned into a drunk. Abraham, the father of the faithful.

He slept with his maidservant. Can you imagine the father of the faithful today doing something like that? People wouldn't look too kindly on that kind of a thing. Moses killed an Egyptian, buried him in the sand.

Moses committed murder. And of course, David and now Peter has been said to err is human. So, this is why we need a proper... See, I'm just acknowledging the truth, right? This is what we kind of already know, but we're just kind of acknowledging the situation.

This is why, though, it's important to have a proper theology. That human beings, Christians, are both at the same time sinners and saints. If you're saved, you're a saint, but you're also a sinner. Here's one point, one takeaway.

Don't ever put anyone on a pedestal. I don't care how godly they are, how godly you think they are. Do not ever put anyone on a pedestal. We have the new nature in Christ, but we also are dragging around the old man, right?

This person that you can feel. We're dragging around the old man with us. What did Jesus say? The spirit is indeed willing, but what? The flesh is weak. So, when we become Christians, we don't become perfect.

We don't become sinless, but we do sin less. So, we are to grow in grace, walk in the spirit, overcome temptation, get victory over sin and bad habits and all of that, but there is no guarantee that you will not fall into serious transgression.

If it happened to Peter, it can happen to you. It never happened to me. I would never do that. You remember what Peter said? Lord, all of the others will forsake you, but not me. I'll never do that. What do you do?

He denied Jesus three times. Don't ever think it can't happen to you. You know, just as the leadership of this church, we're always praying for people that, you know, haven't seen in a long time or people that it looks like they've abandoned the faith.

We don't really know what's in a person's mind or in a person's heart. And you say, well, how can someone do that? How can they have a testimony and serve in the church and just be so faithful? And then, and then this, well, it happens to people and it can happen to you.

It could happen to any of us. The Bible says, let him who thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall. If you think it can't happen to you, you're setting yourself up for failure. If you think it can't happen to you, you're in big trouble.

Proverbs 16, verse 18, pride goes before destruction in a haughty spirit before a fall. You think of Peter, the great apostle, leader among the 12, pillar in the early church. It was Peter who made that great confession of faith, right?

Remember when Jesus said, who do men say that I am? Who do you say that I am? Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And that brought the response from the Lord, you are Peter. And on this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Right after that, when Jesus tells the disciples of his death and resurrection, what does Peter do? He starts rebuking the son of God. And Jesus said, I've heard that before. Peter says, you will not die.

And Jesus said, you're basically now acting like a mouthpiece for the devil. So we know Peter, he did that. He rebuked the son of God. He denied knowing Jesus three times. He denied Christ with his words.

He's trying to save his own skin in that situation. Now he is denying Jesus really with his actions because he's traveling to this church, a predominantly Gentile church in Antioch. And everything was just fine until the Jews showed up.

And once the Jews showed up, Peter, basically in practice, he puts himself back under the old covenant law. And he wants to separate himself from the Gentiles. He doesn't want anything to do with the Gentiles.

People that he previously claimed were brothers and sisters in Christ. Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornick Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, morriscornickchurch .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.