Vindicating the Gospel (Galatians 2:1-10)
Vindicating the Gospel
Galatians 2:1-10
March 16, 2014
You are familiar with the opening theme of this book.
Paul has started on a rampage.
He pushed his foot onto the accelerator and has not let off,
Nor does he intend to.
He began by literally shaming the Galatians.
(6-7) “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.”
The Judaizers had come in and were distorting the gospel of God.
The problem was that the Galatian churches
Were buying their heresy “hook, line, and sinker.”
After pronouncing judgment on those who would pervert the gospel,
Paul immediately went into defense of himself and the true gospel of God.
Last week we learned how to spot a false teacher.
Their Motive (10)
Why do they preach? Is it to gain popularity, or is it out of obedience to Christ?
Their Message (11-12)
Do they preach a message that they received from God, or do they steal messages from other people?
Their Mission (13-24)
Is their mission to be faithful and obedient, or is it to make sure that everyone knows and loves them?
Paul was called by God to preach the message that God revealed to him, and that is precisely what he did.
And so last week we saw Paul give a little vindication to his ministry.
Tonight he continues on theme,
Except here he focuses more on giving vindication to the gospel.
Tonight, Paul is going to reveal why he knows that
The gospel he preaches is the gospel of God.
And what is Paul’s gospel?
We do not have time to go into great detail about it here tonight, but it does benefit us to hit the high points.
Depravity of Man (Romans 1-3)
Probably the easiest verse to see is:
Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
Paul was adamant that man is sinful. He has fallen short of God’s glory
And is need of forgiveness and salvation.
The Substitutionary Death of Christ (Romans 3)
Romans 3:23-26 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
The point being that sinful man didn’t pull himself up.
Rather it was holy Christ who gave Himself up.
Christ paid the debt of sinners on the cross.
Justification by Faith (Romans 4)
Romans 4:3 “For what does the Scripture say? “ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.”
Giving Abraham as the chief example,
Paul reminds us that no one is saved by his own religious efforts,
But by placing his faith in the sacrificial atonement of Christ.
And finally:
The Security of Salvation (Romans 5-8)
Paul actually spends his longest section defending that
Christ’s atoning work is complete, total, and enduring.
Romans 8:38-39 “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
That is really Paul’s gospel
• Man is sinful in need of a Savior
• Christ is that Savior who died in their place
• Man is saved when he places his faith in the Savior
• And that salvation is total, complete, and permanent
And the argument of this book centers on that third point,
Which is justification by grace through faith.
Paul did not believe a man could be saved by works of the Law.
Paul only believed a man could be condemned by the Law.
Romans 3:19-20 “Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.”
Paul believed that man could only be saved
By trusting in the saving work of Jesus Christ.
Romans 3:21-24 “But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;”
In short, Paul believed that to be saved,
You can not just trust in Jesus a lot,
You have to trust in Jesus alone.
You must reject all attempts at moral goodness as a means of salvation,
And rely solely upon the spilled blood of the Savior
As your means of righteousness before God.
Paul believed it so much that he was NOT requiring Gentiles to be circumcised, and that is what caused the heat of the debate.
According to the Jewish zealots, “Who was Paul to say we don’t have to do what God commanded Abraham to do?”
Certainly to stop requiring circumcision
Would be the blasphemy of all blasphemies against God.
But if you will remember,
Paul answered this question quite thoroughly in the book of Romans.
Romans 4:9-12 “Is this blessing then on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also? For we say, “FAITH WAS CREDITED TO ABRAHAM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.” How then was it credited? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised; and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them, and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised.”
Paul was clear there that salvation preceded circumcision.
Abraham was saved by faith – works never saved anyone.
There is no doubt Paul understands the gospel of God,
And this is what he preaches.
Yet it is this gospel that has come under attack.
The Judaizers have sought to throw the yoke of bondage around the neck of the Gentiles, and Paul is livid.
So tonight we study Paul’s defense of the gospel he preaches.
His desire is to prove that the gospel he preaches
Is not only the gospel that is endorsed by the leaders,
But that the gospel he preaches is the very gospel of God.
Tonight, as Paul recounts a past incident regarding this matter,
There are four points we will see.
#1 VISIT DEMANDED
Galatians 2:1-2
If you remember your timeline, after Paul was saved,
He was not interested in making a name for himself,
So it was actually three years before he ever went to Jerusalem.
Then when he did, he only stayed 15 days, and really only met Peter.
He then left and began preaching the gospel to the Gentiles,
For that is what God called him to do.
However, “after an interval of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also. It was because of a revelation that I went up;”
My Bible has an alternate translation to verse 2
Which says, “according to revelation I went up”
Which means,
• You could look at it as though God gave Paul a supernatural revelation to go to Jerusalem and straighten this mess up.
• Or you could look at it as though Paul was fed up with the debate, and decided to go to Jerusalem to seek clarity and to settle the situation once and for all.
Acts 15:1-2 “Some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” And when Paul and Barnabas had great dissension and debate with them, the brethren determined that Paul and Barnabas and some others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders concerning this issue.”
• It may have also been that the brethren wanted Paul to go, but he did not want to until God convince him otherwise.
Either way Paul headed off for the great meeting of the minds to get a final verdict from the leaders of the Church in Jerusalem.
After Paul got there,
(2) “I submitted to them the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but I did so in private to those who were of reputation, for fear that I might be running, or had run, in vain.”
Acts 15:3-4 “Therefore, being sent on their way by the church, they were passing through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and were bringing great joy to all the brethren. When they arrived at Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them.”
While it is not reported in Acts, it is apparent that before the open council was convened, Paul first met with the big wigs in private to submit “to them the gospel which [he] preach[ed] among the Gentiles.”
Paul said why he did this.
“for fear that I might be running, or had run, in vain.”
Paul was afraid that if he didn’t have time
To make sure his gospel was clearly presented,
That the Church at Jerusalem might compromise
And thus undo his entire ministry.
You see the setting.
The tension and debate over whether or not
A person could be saved apart from works was at a boiling point.
The battle was so hot, that Paul and the pillars of the Church
Are called to hammer this out.
WE SHOULD BE THANKFUL FOR SUCH A MEETING.
This meeting was vitally important to our understanding of the gospel.
Now let’s see what the pillars or the Church decided.
Could a man be justified by faith alone,
Or was there some extra form of obedience required first?
A Visit Demanded
#2 VERDICT DELIVERED
Galatians 2:3
It is certain that Paul preached with passion to the pillars of the Church,
I would even expect there were some tremendous times of discussion.
However, when the discussion ended, and the word of God was revealed, the verdict was clear.
“But not even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.”
It is obvious that the verdict was unanimous that
Salvation is obtained by faith and faith alone.
There is no additional work that need be done.
And the hymn writers got busy!
“Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe, sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.”
“What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh precious is the flow, that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus.”
And although the verdict is not explicitly stated,
The decision of one man leaves the verdict blatantly obvious.
Titus, even though a Greek, and obviously a man who desired to pleasing to God left that meeting with a conviction.
He determined that he would not be circumcised.
In other words, Titus left that meeting determined
To place his entire eternity solely upon the sacrificial work of Jesus.
Titus was not a Jew, Titus was a Greek.
He had no Abrahamic covenant…
He had no Mosaic covenant…
He was willing to bet his entire eternity upon the work of Jesus.
If Jesus blood was not enough, then Titus is going to hell.
The decision was made.
And you can read Acts to see that the verdict was then made public.
READ Acts 15:5-21
And there you learn that the gospel endorsed by the Church
Is that man is saved by grace alone through faith alone.
NO OTHER ADDITIONAL WORKS ARE NEEDED
TO SECURE A PERSON’S SALVATION.
That was the decision rendered by those who walked with Jesus.
That is the official gospel of the Church of God.
The Visit was Demanded, the Verdict was Delivered.
But the pillars of the Church went even further than that, as does Paul here.
#3 VILLAIN DESCRIBED
Galatians 2:4-5
Paul could have just relayed the gospel that they all agreed upon
And then went on, but he knew that there was more that must be done.
There were some usurpers, there were some deceivers,
There were some false brethren that needed to be exposed.
You see, there is only one gospel.
Therefore you are either a preacher of the gospel,
Or a false prophet preaching a man-made gospel.
And false prophets must be exposed, which Paul does here.
And look at some of the characteristics he gives.
“false brethren secretly brought in”
That means that someone else was behind what they were doing.
Of course you and I know who, it is Satan.
He is constantly trying to bring in “false brethren”
To contaminate the body of Christ.
Matthew 13:24-25 “Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. “But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away.”
So Satan plants them.
Or at least it is him that gives them to urge to come.
And then, once they have been convinced to come Paul says, they “sneaked in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus”
So the first mission of the enemy is first one of surveillance.
He first wants to know if you really believe the true gospel or not.
If you don’t believe the true gospel, then he has no need to mess with you.
If you do believe the true gospel, then he goes a step further,
Which is “to bring us into bondage.”
He starts working to convince people for their need of legalism,
Or they will not be able to please God.
He uses guilt
He uses pride
He uses people’s ignorance of the truth
And he does it for the purpose of enslaving others.
No doubt it is a confusing and tempting argument.
But it is a destructive one, and look at what Paul said,
(5) “But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour; so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.”
• There was absolutely no tolerance here.
• There was no compromise here.
• There was no agreeing to disagree here.
Paul would not yield, he would not submit.
HE STUCK FAITHFULLY TO THE TRUE GOSPEL.
I love the Adrian Rogers quote:
“Adrian, if you don’t compromise, we’ll never get together. I looked at that dear friend and I said, ‘We don’t have to get together. The Southern Baptist Convention doesn’t have to survive. I don’t have to be the pastor at Bellevue. I don’t have to live. But I’m not going to compromise the word of God.”
That is where Paul was.
He wouldn’t compromise.
Paul knew that if he gave an inch, the gospel could be perverted,
And without a true gospel, man could not be saved.
WHAT A DANGER.
It is no wonder Jude said:
Jude 3 “Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.”
If you lose the gospel, people will not get saved.
And so after revealing the true gospel,
Paul then exposes the villains of the gospel,
So that the Galatians will no longer be deceived by them.
And Paul was not the only one.
Even the pillars of the Church did the same thing.
In the letter they wrote to the Gentile churches, look at what they said:
Acts 15:24 “Since we have heard that some of our number to whom we gave no instruction have disturbed you with their words, unsettling your souls,”
Visit Demanded, Verdict Delivered, Villain Described
#4 VINDICATION DESERVED
Galatians 2:6-10
And now Paul gets to the main point.
Certainly he wanted the Galatians to know that the gospel he preached was the official gospel of the Church.
But that was not good enough.
For certainly the Judaizers would not hesitate to label
Peter, James, and John heretics too.
Paul wanted to give the gospel the vindication it deserved.
And so look at what he says here.
What Paul is going to reveal is that when the verdict was rendered,
And the decision was reached.
THIS DECISION WAS NOT MADE
BECAUSE JAMES, PETER, AND JOHN CONSENTED TO IT.
THIS DECISION WAS MADE BECAUSE GOD MADE SUCH AN OVERWHELMING CASE FOR HIS OWN GOSPEL THAT JAMES, PETER, AND JOHN HAD NO CHOICE IN THE MATTER.
Look at what Paul says:
(6) “But from those who were of high reputation (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality) — well, those who were of reputation contributed nothing to me.”
Notice Paul says, “those who were of reputation contributed nothing to me.”
In other words, their agreement with me
Was NOT what made us agree that this was the true gospel.
Their consent that I was right had absolutely nothing to do with the decision that this was the true gospel.
READ 7-9
WHAT DID MAKE THE DIFFERENCE?
(7) “seeing that I had been entrusted”
(8) “for He who effectually worked for Peter…effectually worked for me also…”
(9) “recognizing the grace that had been given to me”
WHAT COULD NOT BE DENIED WAS THAT GOD’S HOLY SPIRIT
WAS ALL OVER THIS GOSPEL.
• Paul, apart from any training at all, showed up preaching the same gospel God had told Peter to preach.
• And just like God was showing up to supernaturally help Peter, God was showing up to supernaturally help Paul.
1 Corinthians 2:1-5 “And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.”
Paul’s gospel was vindicated by God.
And since it was obvious that Paul was preaching God’s gospel, because God vindicated His own word, then Peter, James, and John had no choice but to, give “to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we might go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.”
In fact, the only thing they urged Paul to do at all,
Was something he already had on his agenda.
(10) “They only asked us to remember the poor — the very thing I also was eager to do.”
PAUL’S POINT IS THAT WHAT HE IS PREACHING
• Not only is his gospel…
• Not only is the churches gospel…
• BUT ALSO IS THE VERY GOSPEL OF GOD
God’s gospel stood the test of all scrutiny,
And even if it looked as though it was in danger,
The Holy Spirit was not about to let His gospel fade away into oblivion.
God’s word will endure!
Isaiah 40:8 “The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.”
THE MESSAGE TO THE GALATIANS:
If you yield to the Judaizers, you are not just going along with those who see things a little differently.
If you follow those who pervert the gospel,
You are straying from the gospel of God.
You are wrong, your beliefs are wrong, and you are trusting in something that has absolutely no power to save.
In short, you are the brink of apostasy,
And in danger of eternal destruction.
No wonder Paul said in chapter 1:
Galatians 1:6 “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel;”
Do not let someone smooth talk you away from the truth.
Trust the gospel of God that man is saved
By grace alone through faith alone.
It is all about the blood of Jesus!
