Conflict Over the Truth of the Gospel

Transcript

GR 1146
2-28-99
Conflict Over the Truth of the Gospel
Galatians 2:11-14
Gil Rugh



We’re in the book of Galatians together in our study on Sunday mornings, and we’re in the second chapter, so turn in your bibles if you would, to Galatians, Chapter 2, a letter written by the apostle Paul to churches that he had established on his first missionary journey and then had revisited on his subsequent travels, churches that were being confronted by false doctrine and false teaching. And Paul is writing to encourage them, to challenge them, and to rebuke them. In the opening part of Chapter 2, the first 10 verses really, Paul has talked about a conference that took place in Jerusalem. It’s recorded in Acts, Chapter 15. It was a conference that occurred 14 years after his conversion, and he went there to settle a conflict that had arisen in the city of Antioch where his ministry was headquartered. And men had come from Jerusalem, had claimed to be representing the apostles at Jerusalem but were presenting a different gospel than Paul preached, and they were attempting to discredit Paul as an apostle and say that he did not have the correct and true gospel. They were Jews who wanted to add the works of the law to the gospel as a requirement for salvation. So Paul, Barnabas and others went to Jerusalem to resolve this issue.

Paul makes clear in Chapter 2, verse 4 that it was because of the false brethren that this conflict had occurred. Men who claimed to be believers in Jesus Christ had infiltrated in among believers and among the churches, men who did not know and understand the truth of the gospel, who had never themselves experienced God’s saving grace. And through their opposition to Paul and the true gospel, they had created conflict. At that conference in Jerusalem that Paul is talking about in Galatians 2 and is recorded in Acts, Chapter 15, the apostles agreed together that there was only one gospel, the gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Christ, the gospel that Paul preached and that was the gospel that Peter preached. It was the only gospel.

In fact, turn back to Acts 15 if you would, Acts, Chapter 15, back before the book of Galatians, a few books, to the book of Acts and the 15th Chapter, and you might leave a marker here, we will probably come back again to Acts 15. At that conference Peter himself had stood and declared that salvation is the same for Jew and Gentile alike. Look at verse 9. This is Peter speaking, Acts 15:9. And He, God, made no distinction between us and them. Us is us Jews, Peter is a Jew. God made no distinction between us Jews and them, Gentiles, cleansing their hearts by faith. Verse 11, But we believe that we Jews, are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they, Gentiles, also are. So here Peter steps up to agree with the apostle Paul, that there is only one gospel, there is only one way of salvation and the works of the law are not part of that gospel. The leading apostles at Jerusalem including Peter agreed that Paul indeed was a fellow apostle and God had commissioned Paul with the unique responsibility to take this true gospel and preach it among the Gentiles.

So you read in Galatians, go back to Galatians if you would, Chapter 2, verse 9, and recognizing the grace that had been given to me, James and Cephas, (Cephas is another name for Peter) and John who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship. Now that was a recognition. We recognize you as fellow apostles. We recognize the ministry that God has called you to in reaching Gentiles, and in that is the recognition that the gospel that will save Gentiles is the same gospel that will save Jews. The grace of God through faith in Christ.

Paul now is ready to deal with another issue that had come up, that further supported his contention. You remember the contention that Paul is arguing back in Chapter 1, verse 11. For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. My gospel is of divine origin. So the circumstances of his life are being presented to demonstrate that he is an apostle by the direct appointment of God. He has his gospel by direct revelation from God. So he is not dependent upon other apostles or men. He is not inferior or under the authority of others, but he has been directly called by God. The council at Jerusalem supported that. They did not add to Paul’s authority. They did not add to his gospel message. They simply acknowledged the truthfulness of those matters.

Another issue that came up followed that conference at Jerusalem. It occurred after Paul returned to the city of Antioch which became his headquarters, if you will, in his apostolic ministry. Peter came for a visit to Antioch, and during that visit he functioned in ways that were not consistent with the gospel that Paul was preaching. In fact it was an attack or a denial of the gospel, and Paul publicly and openly rebuked Peter for his behavior. And in doing this he demonstrated his independent authority as an apostle. He also demonstrated that the gospel which he preached superseded personalities and people and all must be submissive to the truth that God has revealed.

You know Chapter 2 deals with two conflicts. In the first 10 verses the conflict with the conference at Jerusalem revolved around a conflict caused by unbelievers, caused by false brethren who had infiltrated the church. The conflict that Paul now will talk about in verses 11 really down through verse 21, was a conflict caused by one of the leading apostles in the church, the apostle Peter. And what you see in this is first of all that the issue in both situations is the truth of the gospel. Look at verse 5, Chapter 2, verse 5, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you. The issue in the conflict with the false teachers was the truth of the gospel. Look at verse 14. When I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel. His conflict with Peter was a conflict about the truth of the gospel. We see here Paul is willing to stand against his friends as well as his enemies when the truth of the gospel is at stake.

Look at verse 11. But when Cephas came to Antioch. You remember Cephas is the Aramaic form of the name Peter, which is Greek, both mean stone. But when Cephas or Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. Note the contrast that exists between verse 11 and verse 9. In the middle of verse 9 James and Cephas and John gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship. There’s warmth, there’s friendship, there’s recognition of common apostleship and common gospel. But when Cephas came to Antioch, I stood against him. A contrast, as Paul unfolds this. We don’t know how long lapsed between verse 10 and verse 11. This is a later event, not a great deal later, but a little bit later.

In fact go back to Acts 15. The time is probably related here at the end of Acts, Chapter 15. The conference at Jerusalem ended with verse 29 and verse 30 tells us, so when they were sent away, they went down to Antioch. They returned to Antioch, this is Antioch and Caesarea, north of Jerusalem. They gathered the congregation together and delivered the letter that James had written. Judas and Silas, in verse 32, being prophets themselves, encouraged and strengthened the brethren with, I love it, a lengthy message. Underline that in your bible, please. And down in verse 35 we’re told, but Paul and Barnabas stayed in Antioch, teaching and preaching, with many others also, the word of the Lord. And evidently, it’s during this time when Paul and Barnabas are ministering together in Antioch that Peter makes his visit, because in verse 36 we’re told about Paul’s plans for a second missionary journey and that brings about a conflict and a parting of the ways with Barnabas, which would indicate that the timing is probably in verses 30-35 that Peter made his visit. So a little bit after the conference at Jerusalem, but not a great deal of time has elapsed.

Come back to Galatians 2. But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face. That word opposed means to stand against and it implies a response to an attack, a term you would use in a military setting where one army was attacked by another. So the army that was under attack would stand against the attack. And the picture here is that Peter was guilty of launching an attack against the gospel. This will come out more clearly down in verse 14 when Paul writes, when I saw they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel. Well, Peter says I had to stand against the attack of Peter, if you will. I had to oppose him, because he stood condemned, because he was not walking straight in regard to the gospel, the truth of the gospel. Withstood him to the face doesn’t mean it was harsh in the sense of unkind or brutal. But it was a face to face kind of conflict. And the language here indicates there was intensity. This was serious. In fact again the church was in danger of being swept away from its foundation, and it was caused by the inconsistency of one of the leading apostles of the day, the apostle Peter.

You know, I have to say as I read this, just coming out of the conference at Jerusalem, which was a major conflict, in Antioch there had been a battle. Paul and Barnabas and others had gone to Jerusalem to seek resolution of the conflict. At Jerusalem, according to the account in Acts 15 and the first part of Galatians 2, there was conflict and disagreement. They leave on a happy note, on agreement, shake hands, get to Antioch, Peter comes up for a visit, and there is conflict. Now as I study a passage like this I try to put myself in Paul’s position, and I have to say there were probably many excuses Paul could come up with not to confront Peter on this occasion. Keep in mind Peter had been very kind and hospitable to Paul.

Go back to Chapter 1, verse 18. Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem. So Paul is a relatively new believer, three years old in the Lord. He went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas and stayed with him 15 days. So Peter had opened his home to Paul as a relatively young convert, had him stay with him for a little over two weeks. We already saw at the conference that concluded not too long ago at Jerusalem, Peter had stood up and firmly declared his agreement with the gospel that Paul had preached, and was a key figure in the resolving of the conflict and disagreement and being sure that the church was anchored in the truth of the gospel. Peter had given him the right hand of fellowship, in verse 9, at that conference, which showed public support for Paul’s apostleship and agreement with the gospel he preached. And after all Peter is just visiting Antioch. I mean we’ve had enough conflict, enough disagreement. It would be easy to think I can straighten things out after Peter leaves if it’s necessary. Let’s just show everybody in Antioch how we can get along, that apostles aren’t always arguing and fighting. We love one another, and we’re able to get along and have unity and not always be fighting over one doctrinal issue or another.

Well, Paul’s approach is not to do whatever is necessary to keep the peace. Paul’s number one concern is the truth of the gospel, and the truth of the gospel supersedes friendships, supersedes apostleships, supersedes unity. The truth of the gospel is most important of all. So I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. An expression here would imply that Peter was condemned and the context would indicate he’s condemned by his own actions. What Peter did was self condemning. He did not walk straight according to the truth of the gospel and in doing so he condemned himself. You know Paul takes no responsibility or blame for the trouble. When anybody disagrees with the truth of the gospel, they’re the cause of the conflict. Paul doesn’t write now years later and say you know, I wish I hadn’t been so harsh with Peter. I wish I hadn’t come down on him in front of everybody. No, he says this is the way it had to be. Why? The truth of the gospel is a stake. He didn’t walk straight according to the truth of the gospel. He condemned himself. He was condemned by his own action.

What happened? You know, there’s a part of you that your heart goes out to Peter. Here’s good old Peter again and you know, he not only had to endure this at Antioch, here he is at Antioch, comes up, gets lots of attention, leading apostle from Jerusalem, and Paul rebukes him before the whole church. And if that’s not enough then Paul writes a letter that will be circulated throughout Galatia, will be preserved in the eternal word of God where he will tell everybody what Peter did. The blessing in all of this and the indication of Peter’s genuine character is he made the adjustment. That’s always a mark of a person who is genuine in their walk with the Lord. Doesn’t mean that you never get off track, that you never error, that you never sin, but in being confronted with that sin and that error, the correction is made. And we say that to Peter’s credit and we’ll see more of that in a moment.

What he did, verse 12. But for prior to the coming of certain men from James. Now James is the James up in verse 9. He’s the brother of the Lord. He is the leader of the church at Jerusalem. There are men who come up to Antioch from James. We’re not told why they came. They’re Jewish believers. We’re told they are of the party of the circumcision at the end of verse 12. Perhaps they were sent by James to meet Peter and accompany him in his journeys and travels and ministry. For whatever, these men from James arrive in Antioch. Now before these men arrive from James in Jerusalem, Peter used to eat with the Gentiles, and that used to eat, in perfect tense, denotes it was his regular habit. This was his practice. So Peter had spent a little bit of time in Antioch. How long, we don’t know, weeks, whatever, and it was his practice to eat regularly with Gentile believers, and he had no problem with it. But, when the men from James, these Jews came from Jerusalem, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision. Now the problem here was how the Jews viewed the Gentiles, and we all know traditions die hard.

Some of you come from Lutheran backgrounds, Roman Catholic backgrounds, different backgrounds and if you were thoroughly entrenched and taught in the doctrines and practices of that particular religious group, you come now to a church where the word of God is the focus and the forms and traditions and practices are not observed, it’s an adjustment. You can sit here studying the word of God and feel guilty about it. You think well, we should be standing up at this point and reciting the Lord’s Prayer. I don’t feel like I’m worshipping, or this should be going on or that should be going on. Well for the Jews they were from birth taught certain things about being pure and acceptable before God, taught that the Gentiles were unclean and defiling. One commentator noted several of the different kind of regulations. They had the law of unclean food, so there were certain foods you couldn’t eat. These are developed in Leviticus, Chapter 11, like pork. Pigs were out of bounds, you couldn’t eat them. That would defile you, make you unclean before the Lord. They had laws for how animals had to be killed. The blood had to be drained, because you were forbidden to eat blood so you had to be careful that the blood was drained properly according to the instructions in Leviticus 17 for example.

Then there were additional things. The Gentiles made a general practice of eating food that had been sacrificed in idol temples and then sold in the market place. Paul deals with this in I Corinthians, Chapter 8-10. And then with this there were all kind of regulations that had been developed over the years by the Jews for ritual purity. Back up to Mark, Chapter 7. Matthew, Mark, second book in the New Testament, the gospel of Mark and the 7th Chapter. And the Pharisees and some of the scribes, Jewish leaders, gather around Jesus. In verse 2 they had seen that some of His disciples were eating their bread with impure hands, that is unwashed hands. Now note this, verse 3, For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they carefully wash their hands, thus observing the traditions of the elders; and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they cleanse themselves; and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the washing of cups and pitchers and copper pots. In other words, they had all these detailed regulations, so naturally Jews couldn’t eat with Gentiles. The Gentiles wouldn’t have washed their hands appropriately. The utensils that they would eat from wouldn’t be clean. The food that they would eat wouldn’t have been cleansed appropriately and furthermore the Gentiles themselves were defiled, so while I’m eating the food and rubbing shoulders, so to speak, with the Gentiles I’m getting defiled. So this is built into them, like I say; from birth. Peter had to have a special revelation from heaven, in Acts, Chapter 10 and then at the house of Cornelius, I believe it’s about verse 48, but just check it, he said God has taught me that I should call no man unholy or unclean. You see how the Jews viewed the Gentiles. They’re unholy, they’re unclean. So of course you wouldn’t eat with them. It’s an intimate time and you must maintain your purity and holiness before God in these external ways.

Well, come back to Galatians, Chapter 2. When the Jews came from Jerusalem, Peter began to withdraw himself and it would indicate he did this over a process of time. He began to withdraw himself and separated himself. So it happened over a period of time where he began to move away from the Gentiles and not eat with them until he had separated himself from them and wasn’t eating with them at all. Perhaps there was criticism, pressure brought to bear by these Jews. You know, it’s one thing to come to an agreement on a doctrine in a vacuum. At the council of Jerusalem we agreed that the gospel that brings salvation and cleansing before God is simply faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Well you know the Jews in Jerusalem didn’t have to live that out very much because they just continued to eat as they had always eaten. I mean the gospel didn’t say you weren’t allowed to do that. But now they travel from Jerusalem to Antioch and I’m in the real world, so to speak. Well, you know, I just can’t sit down and eat with Gentiles. Besides, you know, the gospel is the gospel and you have to believe in Christ, but if you are not ceremonial pure you are defiled before God. So they were still stuck on this mixture. I think we have a further progression. You had the clarification of the doctrine at the council of Jerusalem, but now you have the putting of that doctrine into practice, and if the doctrine is not correct, the truth of the gospel is sacrificed. If the practice is not correct, the truth of the gospel is sacrificed also.

But Peter is on the spot. He’s from Jerusalem. That’s his home, his headquarters. He’s got to go back and live with these Jews. Now they’re bringing pressure to bear. Peter, you’re not being consistent with what’s required and would God have given these regulations if He didn’t tend for them to be followed. Now you note, he’s not just saying well we as Jews ought to follow these, but in withdrawing from the Gentiles he is saying what? The Gentiles are unclean. The Gentiles are impure. You will be defiled by eating with Gentiles. In other words the gospel didn’t do a complete job. The Gentiles are still defiled and defiling. Now Peter has the pressure. Paul can stay at Antioch. I have to go back and live with these guys, and he’s afraid. And we’re told at the end of verse 12, fearing the party of the circumcision. That’s his motivation. He didn’t act out of personal conviction. He didn’t act out of theological conviction. He acted out of fear. What would they think? What would they do? How would they treat him when he got back to Jerusalem? So he becomes a hypocrite.

One thing you have to appreciate about Paul, he always gets right to the issue. He doesn’t say, well, Peter may have made a little mistake. You know what he says, Peter was a hypocrite. Verse 13, The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy. And what’s clear through this is Paul sees Peter as the leader and the one who is primarily responsible for what is taking place here. The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy. The rest of the Jews would be the Jews that lived in Antioch, not the Jews that came up from Jerusalem, but the Jews that had been saved up in the region of Antioch. They were in the habit of eating with the Gentiles who had been saved up there. Paul had been preaching the gospel there, and they ate together as Jews and Gentiles, and when Peter came up he joined them. But now all of a sudden you’ve got Jewish influence from Jerusalem.

He joined him in hypocrisy. Joined in hypocrisy comes from a word, it’s the word hypocrisy with to do something together. So the picture here is together they play a role. The word hypocrite came from the Greek theater or stage and the hypocrite was somebody putting on another face, pretending to be something he’s not. He was an actor, comes to have the negative meaning now, and when you’re being a hypocrite, you’re what? You’re acting like something that is not true. So when I’m pretending, I’m being a hypocrite. Here Paul acknowledges that Peter is a genuine believer. That Peter knew and understood the genuine and true gospel. Peter was being a hypocrite. Peter was not living according to his true convictions and knowledge and neither were these Jews in Antioch, because Paul had taught them the gospel also. They were joining together, putting on another face out of fear of the Jews from Jerusalem.

This was so bad, you know the pressure can build, that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. And this is put like it’s almost the last straw. You know, Paul really was shaken by this, so to speak, even Barnabas. Barnabas had traveled with Paul in the first missionary journey through Gentile regions. They had shared the ministry together in Antioch. They had sat and fellowshipped with Jew and Gentile alike. Barnabas had gone with him to Jerusalem to defend the gospel against Judaizing attacks and now even Barnabas is swept away by this hypocrisy. Shocking. You realize the impact that this kind of thing can have. You know, it invariably happens. We succumb to pressure, often even when we’ve got the gospel, we’ve got the truth of the word of God clear, what happens? Yea, we agree on that, we agree on that. I remember years ago, 20 years ago, on a conflict that happened, perhaps the first major conflict of note in my ministry here. I remember a man coming into my office in the midst of that conflict and said, I want you to know you’re right, you’re standing for the truth and I am 100% behind you. Within two weeks he was gone. You know why? It was one thing, yea, we’re agreed on this, another thing when family and friends begin to be swept away. I may be left here alone. What are they going to think of me? Am I going to get invited over to their house on Tuesday night now? What am I going to do when the family gets together? Swept away. Peter, the Jews at Antioch, even Barnabas, clear on the gospel, standing in Jerusalem for the gospel when he’s there, now swept away.

You know, it’s sad, but in this context I want to remind you. Paul doesn’t go on to say, you know, Peter got both feet back on the ground. You know, we sometimes think if we don’t tell the whole story, what Paul tells here is what we need to know, what the Galatians needed to know. But later Peter writes a letter that indicates he adjusted to what Paul said and accepted it.

I want you to turn over to II Peter. That’s toward the back of your New Testament, almost to the end. So if you get to the book of Revelation, back up, start forward and you’ll come through the epistles of John and you’ll hit II Peter. If you hit Hebrews you’ve missed it, go back the other way. II Peter, Chapter 3, this is Peter’s last letter. He says when he writes it, God had revealed to him that his execution was imminent. So he is going to face death soon. And in Chapter 3 of this final word he refers to Paul in verse 15 as our beloved brother Paul. Any hard feelings on Peter’s part? He had to be humiliated and rebuked before everyone and then Paul wrote it down in a letter that he sent to churches that would still be circulating around. No! Any self defense on Peter’s part? No. In fact what does he say about Paul’s letters, verse 16. In Paul’s letters there’s some things hard to understand which the untaught and unstable distort as they do the rest of scripture to their own destruction. You know what he says? If you don’t agree and submit to Paul’s gospel and the message he preaches, you’re on your way to destruction.

Then note the word of warning he gives, verse 17. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men. He uses the same word there Paul uses in writing about the account to the Galatians. Even Barnabas was carried away. Now Peter writes and right after talking about our beloved brother Paul, and watch out for anybody who doesn’t submit to his message. Be careful you don’t get carried away, and Peter could write from first hand experience, that danger, getting swept away. For Barnabas it was almost like, you know, a tide, a wave that comes on and he just couldn’t resist it any longer, pressure was too much. That is one thing, we all agree on the doctrine, it’s another thing when the person sitting next to you here on Sunday morning won’t be here next Sunday. And the person who sat in front of you won’t be here next Sunday, and half the people in our bible study won’t be there next week, and all of a sudden we think, wait a minute, I’m not going to get left behind. I mean, you know, this just can’t happen, and what happens, we get swept along.

You’re in Peter, back up a few pages to the book of Hebrews, toward the front of your bible, to Hebrews, Chapter 13, verse 9. Do not be carried away. That’s not the same Greek word that we have in Galatians or Peter, but it’s the same idea. Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods. Same kind of conflict the writer of the Hebrews is having to deal with. It’s the grace of God that makes you all that you must be before God. It’s not observing certain regulations about food and so on.

Come back to Galatians. Ephesians, Chapter 4, verse 14 gives the same kind of warning, using the same word as Hebrews 13 does, that is we’re not to be carried away by every wind of doctrine. We have to be careful. It can be the doctrine that carries us along, it can be the pressure of friends, contacts, family that threaten to carry us along. Either one is disastrous. Don’t you think Paul might be shaken here in the sense, look, if Peter is doing this, if the other Jews that have been here are doing this, if even Barnabas is going along, I probably shouldn’t be the one to make an issue here. Verse 14, but when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel. You know what you have to do? You have to take your eyes off your friends, off your associates, off your fellow apostles. You have to say what is the truth of the gospel? What is the truth of the gospel? Are they walking straight according to the truth of the gospel? That word translated straightforward literally means to walk straight and it means you don’t veer off the course. That comes to mean straightforward, honest, functioning with integrity. Are they living according to the gospel? That’s the issue. Paul, Barnabas has been your close friend and associate. He was not walking straightforward according to the gospel. Peter, he was a friend, you were a guest in his home, he stood with you at the Jerusalem conference, he gave you the right hand of fellowship. He was not walking straight according to the gospel. We blur our vision by all these excuses, and you know what that all will result in? You get swept away, because now I don’t make my decision according to what is consistent with the gospel. I make my decision on what is Barnabas doing, what is Peter doing, what are the other Jews doing, and people who begin to look at those things get swept away.

When I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel. What are they declaring? You say, no, they believe the same gospel we do. Well sure they do. We know Peter does. That makes him a hypocrite. That makes Barnabas a hypocrite. That’s not very nice. How are you going to build unity in the church if you’re going to run around and call everybody who doesn’t agree with you a hypocrite? Well the unity in the church is to be produced by the truth of the gospel, and walking straight according to the truth of the gospel. We don’t want any other kind of unity. We’re not the Kiwanis, we’re not the Optimist Club, we’re not one of the country clubs. What unites us is the truth of the gospel, and if you don’t walk straight according to the truth of the gospel, you are in trouble. And Peter is the leader here. Barnabas was a leader. Those two men are named by name. You note, not all the individual Jews who got swept along with this are named by name, but Peter is because he was a leader, he’s an apostle. Barnabas is because he’s a key figure. That’s one of the prices paid when God places you into that kind of position. Paul wrote to Timothy and said the elders who sin rebuke before all. That makes me uncomfortable. What did Paul do with Peter?

When I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas, privately, with no one around so no one would know, you shouldn’t do this Peter.
No, I said to Cephas in the presence of all. The whole church gathered together. It would be like here we are and Paul would be here and he’d say, Peter, I want to talk to you.
What do you think of that? If I stood up here and said, Don, I want to tell you something, whew! wow! You understand, the whole church, he had the whole church’s attention I bet when this happened. Paul’s got something to say to Peter and it’s not good. If you, being a Jew, and he goes on. You know, what about Peter’s feelings. You know, this always comes up when you’re dealing with an issue. I want you to note, if any of the pastoral staff gets off track, they will have to be dealt with. The errors we have made have not been publicly dealing with staff who have gotten off track, the error we have made is when we have not dealt publicly and allowed them to go on with their subterfuge, even if they left. The pattern established here is the health and well being of the church, not whether Peter feels bad or is embarrassed. The solution is don’t get off track. I’m not saying that any of us are perfect. We got serious issues here. The gospel is under attack. This is no time to worry about is Peter going to be embarrassed if I bring this up before the whole church. I hope he is, because if he’s not, then he is in a grievous and serious situation. I said to him in the presence of all, if you being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews. Peter was born and raised a Jew and yet at Antioch he had been living like a Gentile. He had been eating with the Gentiles. He wasn’t being worried, he didn’t think he was getting defiled by the food he ate. He didn’t think he got defiled by the Gentiles he ate with. I mean God had showed him in Acts, Chapter 10 that he should call no man unholy or unclean, and he told that in a public statement at the house of Cornelius. Well, if you’re living like a Gentile and you were born a Jew and raised a Jew how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews. What kind of logic is that? And he was compelling them to live like Jews because he was declaring they were unclean, they were defiled. He couldn’t associate with them at dinner, because it would defile him. What is he saying? You’re going to have to adopt Jewish practices, you’re going to have to adopt Jewish traditions, you’re going to have to be cleansed according to the Jewish way if we’re going to eat together.

Wait a minute, what about the gospel. Oh, we agree on the gospel, you have to believe in Jesus Christ to be saved. You’re just not clean yet. You see the denial of the gospel. And the same issues come to attack the gospel. It’s the sufficiency of the work of Christ that is at stake here. I say this but yet when we get into the battle people get blurred, it becomes personality, its Paul versus Peter. No it’s the truth of the gospel. It’s Gil versus fill in the blank. No, the decision must be made on what is the truth of the gospel. Traditions die hard. Not easy when friends, fellow works get off track. It’s not easy when it becomes a tide and you wonder will any body be left. But the only issue that has to be grappled with is what is the truth of the gospel.

Let me summarize what we’ve gone over here with you quickly. I want to give you a couple of quotes and we’re done.

l. The word of God is the standard by which all are measured. The word of God is the standard by which all are measured. Peter is not above the word. Even the apostle Peter, Paul opposed him to his face because he stood condemned. When you don’t walk straight according to the gospel, you’re condemned by your own action. Don’t blame Paul for disrupting the unity. Peter is the one who is condemned by not walking straight according to the gospel. The word of God is the standard by which all are measured. That has to mean this preacher. That has to mean the pastoral staff. It has to mean the elders. He has to mean you.

2. We must oppose believers who are condemned by not being straightforward with the gospel. We saw the Judaizers condemned in Chapter 1 and the first part of Chapter 2 and they are accursed, they’re lost and on their way to hell. They don’t even understand or preach the gospel. But we must oppose believers who are condemned by not walking straight according to the gospel, verse 11 and verse 14. He stood condemned. Why? Verse 14, he wasn’t straightforward with the gospel.

3. Note this, there are no acceptable reasons for being hypocritical with the truth. No acceptable reasons for being hypocritical with the truth. Well, you know Peter, he’s got a good heart, he means well. I mean, look at all the good that Peter has done. Read the opening chapters of Acts. Who stands in the counsel at Jerusalem and stands firm for the gospel. Look at Chapter 12. Who was within hours of being executed into God supernaturally intervenes. It’s Peter. I mean you just don’t embarrass this man before the whole congregation because of a slip up here. The truth of the gospel supersedes the man. There are no acceptable reasons for being hypocritical with the gospel. And you have to hold my feet to the fire on that too.

4. Unfaithfulness with the truth spreads. That’s why leaders are held to a high standard. When Peter moves here the rest of the Jews in Antioch move. When Peter moves and the rest of the Jews move with him, Barnabas moves. Unfaithfulness with the truth spreads. Where would we be but for the grace of God giving Paul the willingness to stand when his closest associates were swept away. We’d be preaching what? You can be saved today if you’ll believe in Christ and adhere to all these other regulations that are necessary if you’re really going to be clean and pure before God. Same kind of mess that’s being proclaimed and I was reminded by reading something of a former staff person this past week, where the gospel is great, the gospel is good, it’s not enough for the difficult problems, and if you will bring in these insights and these understandings then you can deal with the really tough situations of life. That’s a denial of the truth of the gospel.

If the gospel we preach does not provide for deliverance from the tough sins I don’t want anything to do with it, because I can deal with the easy ones. Is that not a denial of the truth of the gospel? Yet people get swept away. Unfaithfulness with the truth spreads.

5. To reiterate, leaders who are not straightforward with the truth need to be rebuked before all, for their well being, for the church’s well being.

Let me read you two quotes, one from John Stott. Paul is determined to defend and uphold the gospel at all costs, even at the expense of publicly humiliating a brother apostle. And Martin Luther, he commented on this passage. It is written, he that loves father or mother or his own life more than me is not worthy of me. For defending the truth in our day, we are called proud and obstinate hypocrites. We are not ashamed of these titles. The cause we are called to defend is not Peter’s cause or the cause of our parents or that of the government or that of the world but the cause of God. In defense of that cause we must be firm and unyielding. We must be straightforward with the truth of the gospel. The eternal destiny of men, women, and young people is that issue. There is salvation in no one else and nobody else except faith in Jesus Christ alone. There is cleansing and forgiveness in no other way but in Christ alone.

We must be willing to suffer the loss of family and friends if need be, because the glory of God and His honor is at stake. For it is not Paul’s gospel. It is not Peter’s gospel. It is the gospel of God and for that we must suffer the loss of any and all if necessary, that He might be honored.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the truth of the gospel. Thank you for your grace at work in the hearts and life of the apostle Paul, for his willingness to draw upon your strength and enablement to stand when closest friends and associates were swept away, so that we might have the truth of the gospel with us today. May we as a church take this truth to heart. May the leaders of this church, the staff, the elders, the deacons, the teachers take to heart their solemn responsibility to walk straight with the gospel, and the members of this church be committed to the truth of the gospel. May we stand together no matter what the cost, all for the honor and glory of our Lord and Savior and the salvation of the lost. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.