Opposing the Opponents

Transcript

GR 2085
05/14/2017
Opposing the Opponents
Galatians 2:3-52
Gil Rugh

We are studying the book of Galatians together so please turn in your Bibles to Paul’s letter to the Galatians, chapter 2. Paul is writing in defense of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, battling against corruptions that have already begun in that early church and the various churches that he had established in the region of Galatia. As we even heard in the testimonies of baptisms tonight, it is the Gospel that changes the life, the Gospel that makes a person new but variations of the Gospel, corruptions of the Gospel alterations of the Gospel nullify its power and render it ineffective. So Paul is burdened and concerned for the Galatian churches and what is taking place there.

Through chapter 1 he presented clearly that he had been called directly by Christ to serve as an apostle. Part of being an apostle was he would receive revelation from God. That is what would complete what we have as our New Testament giving us a completed revelation from God when put with the Old Testament, what we have as our New Testament, we have that completed work and revelation from God.

The Gospel focuses on the finished work of Christ. We noted in chapter 1, verse 4 he emphasized that “it is Christ who gave Himself for our sins that He might rescue us from the present evil age.” And then Paul went on to express the finality and certainty of the Gospel.

So we come into chapter 2. He is laying out something of the course of his life, his conversion at the end of chapter 1 and then verse 18 of chapter 1, after three years he went up to Jerusalem and spent about two weeks with Peter who was called Cephas. So it was a brief time. Paul is making the point. It is necessary that you understand, “I received the Gospel directly from Christ. I didn’t learn it from Peter. I didn’t learn it from other apostles.” That is not a statement that the Gospel is different from the Gospel that Peter preached. We have noted that Gospel in passages like Acts chapter 2, Acts 3, Acts 10 in his letters that Peter wrote. It is the same Gospel but it is important to understand that Paul received his Gospel directly from the Lord. That simply confirms that there is one Gospel.

Then he went out of sight for a while, if you will, and that is perhaps when the Lord gave him some of his information. In Judea he still wasn’t very well known. They had not had opportunity to have personal contact with Paul. Judea is down where Jerusalem is. Again, this separation of contact by distance; Antioch to the north which has become something of Paul’s headquarters. He is from Tarsus. We have seen on the map a little ways over west from there but you are 250 plus miles from Jerusalem. Judea being the region in which Jerusalem is located as you are aware. So Paul’s contacts there were minimal. So it is not a matter of he’s teaching what he was taught, what he had learned from others.

Then he opened telling us, “After an interval of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas.” We noted this may be 14 years after his conversion or it may be 14 years after his last contact there in any significant way in verse 18 with Peter which would have been 17 years after his conversion. Either way the point is clear that he has not had contacts of any kind over the years. During this time, 14 to 17 years he did his first missionary journey which carried the Gospel to the region of Galatia, southern Galatia in particular and that is when the churches that he is writing to were established, Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, those churches. The churches now that are being infiltrated by false teaching. He took Barnabas and Titus with him when he went up to Jerusalem in the opening verses of chapter 2 of Galatians.

Why don’t you just come back to Acts chapter 15. We have looked at this in our previous study but I believe this is what he is talking about when he says, “After fourteen years I went up to Jerusalem with Barnabas and Titus.” And we have some extensive unfolding in Acts 15 what this is about, the Jerusalem Conference. The chapter opens up “Some men came down from Judea.” They come from Judea to Antioch. As I mentioned this was 250 some miles north of Jerusalem but you come down from Jerusalem even when you are going from south to north in Scripture and these men came teaching the brethren, believers in the churches, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses you cannot be saved.” Now they come with a certain authority because Paul’s contacts in Jerusalem have been minimal. These men evidently come proclaiming to speak from the apostles in Jerusalem. They are really saying Paul doesn’t really have things straight. He is confused on some matters here. Perhaps he is over-reacting to his Pharisaical background. The fact that he persecuted the church, whatever they are implying, not disagreeing with what Paul has taught but they are saying it is not adequate to save you.

It is important to understand these men are not being attacked because they deny that Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah of Israel that is not the problem. They don’t deny that He was crucified and raised from the dead; they ascent to all of that. That is what’s confusing to the churches but they are saying in verse 1, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses you cannot be saved.” Now we have an internal problem. People who claim to believe what we would say are the facts of the Gospel, the death, burial and resurrection of Christ but that is not all there is to the Gospel to bring about salvation. In addition to those things you must be circumcised. Down in verse 5, “But some of the Sect of the Pharisees who hadn’t believed,” they are declaring. Now Paul is saying that is a false declaration. We will see that when we get back to Galatians but I want you to note, they are from the sect of the Pharisees so how important their profession to conversion would be to the early church that is under intense persecution, suffering. So they come from the sect of the Pharisees which was Paul’s background, “who had believed, stood up saying ‘it is necessary to circumcise them to direct them, to observe the law of Moses.’”

Now we’ve got the potential for division and conflict in the early church because they have gone to Jerusalem because that is really the center. That is where the original apostles, Peter and others are headquartered, where the church began on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2. So this is where the conference is held. Well this is potential for splitting the church. What will happen here if we divide and come apart at the seams in this stage? So that is the conflict. But the Gospel is at stake. The danger is let’s see if we can’t paper this over, come up with some kind of compromise that will somewhat satisfy everyone. Not everyone will get their own way but maybe we can come to some kind of agreement here.

But as we see in Galatians, Paul, when he came to Jerusalem, had a private meeting with the leaders in Jerusalem which was very wise. So before this gets to be a public issue and people are stirred by the emotions and the presentations from one side or another, Paul evidently, probably Barnabas with him and Titus has met privately with the leadership. So when they come together in the public meeting they are clear on what the issues are.

You get to a public meeting and all of a sudden people are throwing out this and this and people get confused so they are ready here. Verse 6: “The apostles and elders came to look into the matter.” Paul had visited with them privately now they are hearing the other side if you will and there is much debate but then Peter stands up and takes the stand. That will be crucial here because he is recognized as one of the original apostles and if these Judaizers can’t get Peter and the other key leaders on their side in Jerusalem, they lose their authority. So that is what is going on. That is why they could come to Antioch 250 miles away in a Gentile center and claim to have some kind of authority. That would weaken Paul’s authority.

Come back to Galatians. So you have Paul, Barnabas and Titus that went to this conference. Paul said it was by revelation and in Acts 15 it said the church was in agreement that they should go there. So they go up and at the end of verse 2 Paul said that “he met in private presenting the Gospel that he preached to those who are of reputation for fear that I might be running or had run in vain.” Paul is not concerned that maybe he has made a mistake with the Gospel but he doesn’t want to cause a kind of conflict that would undermine the very ministry that he has because if the Judaizers can drive a wedge between Paul and the leaders in Jerusalem, you are going to end up with two separate churches here. Now the churches of Galatia then will be confused on the ones that they are to follow. The devil is clever, divide the leadership and then divide those who follow the leaders. Which leaders do I follow? And so it is a serious matter. We find here that Paul had met with the leaders and here evidently it was settled.

So we pick up in verse 3 of what is going on. Remember Barnabas has a background in Jerusalem as well. Maybe just come back to Acts 4 before we go on. Just so you are clear on the role Barnabas has here. In the very early church at Jerusalem Barnabas is a recognized godly leader in Acts chapter 4, verse 36 and they’re here because of the poverty and persecution and so on. The believers are coming up with resources that they can share with others. Verse 36: “Now Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth, who was also called Barnabas by the apostles” (which translated means, Son of Encouragement), “owned a tract of land, sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.” So he is not native to Jerusalem but he has been involved in the ministry at Jerusalem. He is well known by the apostles so his being a companion of Paul, he had traveled with Paul remember during the first missionary journey so he is well familiar with Paul’s ministry, the Gospel that Paul preached, the power of that Gospel in transforming lives and he has a connection with the apostles in Jerusalem that Paul would not have had because of his background going back to chapter 4 and he is also mentioned in chapter 11 as we have looked at previously.

So come back to Galatians 2. We are told in verse 3: “But not even Titus who was with me though he was a Greek was compelled to be circumcised.” The case that Paul has been making that circumcision is not required for salvation is strengthened by Titus. Now remember, as we noted, it is somewhat of a non-issue for a Jew who professes faith in Christ, should they be circumcised or not? Well every Jewish boy was circumcised on the eighth day.

So you know it doesn’t become the same kind of issue if salvation is just among the Jews because if you are trying to convert them to Judaism they already have this key aspect of being a Jew. Titus is a Greek and a Greek is the general word that is used in other places in the New Testament as well, Jews and Greeks alike. In other words, Jews and everybody who is not a Jew so here a non-Jew. He is a Greek. He was not compelled to be circumcised.

Titus is a close companion to Paul. He is a trusted companion. We are familiar with Timothy perhaps a little more. Titus would be just like Timothy. In Titus chapter 1, verse 4 when Paul writes the letter to Titus he calls him, “My true child in a common faith;” a similar way that he refers to Timothy as his child. It is his spiritual child. So clearly Paul was the one instrumental in leading Titus to salvation. We are not given the information of when that happened, how that happened but through Paul’s ministry Titus is saved so Paul can refer to him as his “true child in a common faith.” He came to faith in Christ through my ministry. So we share now that common faith in Christ.

He becomes a companion to Paul, that he can trust enough to send as his representative and deal with complicated and difficult situations. The church at Corinth was an ongoing difficulty for Paul. It is not one of the Galatian churches now. Corinth is in Greece.

Come back to 2 Corinthians and come to chapter 2. You see Paul wrote a letter to the Corinthians. He’s concerned about how the Corinthians have responded. When Paul wrote to the Corinthians he says some harsh things to the Corinthians, I mean severe rebukes. “I couldn’t even write to you as a spiritual people because you are still fleshly and you conduct yourselves like unbelievers in your bickering and your fighting you are dividing and you are picking out personalities that you want to follow.” He really has some strong things to say. Well then he sends Titus to follow up there and find out how things are going.

So in 2 Corinthians chapter 2 Paul is wondering how things have gone. So he is traveling. He is planning to go over to Greece so he goes up to Troas. That is the seaport where you cross over to go over to Greece from Asia Minor. And in 2 Corinthians 2:12, “Now when I came to Troas for the Gospel of Christ and when a door was opened for me in the Lord.” As he preached the Gospel in Troas there are opportunities and openings and people are responding. For Paul that is usually an indication to stay a while. But he said, “I had no rest for my spirit not finding Titus my brother.” Paul is so concerned about what has happened in Corinth. He expected Titus would return and probably meet him at Troas but there is no Titus. So Paul, he is human, is concerned. Maybe there is enough trouble in the church at Corinth that Titus couldn’t leave. That would be bad news.

So he crosses over into Greece. “I went on into Macedonia,” which is more northern Greece. Corinth would be down in the southern region of Greece. So then you come over you will remember from our study of 2 Corinthians to chapter 7 and in between what we just read in chapter 7 Paul unfolds something of the wonder of the ministry, the grace of God, the way He works because we are told in chapter 7, verse 6, verse 5 we will pick up: “When we came into Macedonia our flesh had no rest. We were afflicted on every side, conflicts without, fears within but God who comforts the depressed comforted us by the coming of Titus,” because Titus brought good news. The Corinthians took your rebuke to heart. They have made the corrections. They have repented and all is well.

So you see Titus has been a man who is so trusted by Paul that he is sent into a difficult situation that Paul is not fully confident of what the outcome will be and that tells you something of the character of the man, Titus. You don’t send somebody there that you can’t trust, that will get caught up in the conflict himself. In that kind of situation you need someone who you have the confidence he is so firm and clear and trustworthy no matter what the conflict, what the battle, he will hold firm. That is the kind of man Titus is.

When you move along into chapter 8 of 2 Corinthians look at verse 6. And here Paul is coming to Corinth to take a collection. Now you’ve got money involved. In a church that can be trouble but he is comfortable sending Titus there to handle this matter. So in 2 Corinthians chapter 8, verse 6: “So we urged Titus that as he had previously made a beginning so we would also complete in you this gracious work as well;” of making the final arrangements for them to have the offering ready when Paul comes. So there is no offering taken on that occasion.

Down in verse 16: “Thanks be to God who puts the same earnestness on your behalf in the heart of Titus for he not only accepted our appeal but being himself very earnest he has gone to you of his own accord.” He is saying, “Titus is a man who has a heart for you, for the work of the Lord as I do;” so great commendation for Titus.

Down in verse 23: “As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker among you.” Can you get any higher commendation from Paul than “Titus is my partner?” He is a fellow worker. Paul has absolute confidence in Titus and his commitment to the Lord and his trustworthiness in ministry.

Chapter 12 of 2 Corinthians, verse 18 and Paul is talking here about the trouble in the church at Corinth. Some of this will parallel what we are going to in Galatians because Paul tells them in chapter 11, “You have been infiltrated by workers of Satan who are disguised as true believers, masquerading an angels of light, declaring themselves true apostles.” And what does he want? You come to chapter 12, verse 18: “I urge Titus to go. I sent the brother with him. Titus did not take any advantage of you did he? Did we not conduct ourselves in the same spirit and walk in the same steps? I give Titus as an example. You trusted him, didn’t you? You saw his work. We are of the same mine, the same heart.”

So come over to Titus chapter 1. We need to look at his letter. Just after the letters to Timothy. We call them the Pastoral Epistles, I and II Timothy and Titus. Remember Paul left Timothy at Ephesus which is in Asia Minor to set in order the things there in the church. Then he writes a letter to Titus and he has had a similar ministry in Crete. In verse 4 of Titus 1 you had what I just quoted you earlier “To Titus my true child in a common faith.” Then he says, “For this reason I left you in Crete that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you.” Then he goes on to give some of the qualifications of elders which he gave also to Timothy in I Timothy chapter 3.

So you see again something of the character of Titus. You can leave him in a position of great responsibility to finish up what needed to be done. Paul had to move on. He can’t just leave the churches. They have their young and you want godly men to be put in charge to have the oversight, appoint elders in all the churches in every city as I directed you. He believes Titus can be entrusted with such responsibility.

Back a page or so to Paul’s last letter and it is addressed to Timothy, 2 Timothy and just look at chapter 4. “Make every effort to come to me soon” he tells Timothy, “For Demas having loved this present world has deserted me, gone to Thessalonica,” sad. There was a former trusted co-worker with Paul. We don’t have time to look at other passages but he finally caved. He had a love for the world, the pressures and the cost got too great. “Crescens has gone to Galata, Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me.” Now Titus didn’t abandon him. Demas abandoned him but other workers had to go to other places and you see Titus has been sent off to a ministry in another place. Paul is in prison now awaiting execution. It is important that believers in other places in the churches be solidified as the ministry will be passed on to others. All of that to indicate what a faithful man Titus is. He is going to be brought into a difficult situation now that he travels with Paul to this Jerusalem Council.

Come back to Galatians 2. He is a Greek but he was not “compelled” (a strong word denoting pressure to be circumcised.) There was pressure going on but you resolve, circumcise the Greek you know let’s have peace in the church. If it will help these Jewish believers as they are presented in Acts 15 as they presented themselves, Pharisees who believed, who said they have to be circumcised to be saved. Is that such a big issue? Circumcise them and we will have the benefit of having these believing Pharisees be part of our church. But you know what they would have opened the door? To unbelievers disguised as believers getting ahold of the churches. What would happen then? So it is an issue that cannot be compromised.

The issue of circumcision, that goes back to the beginning of the Jewish people. It begins with Abraham, the Father of the Jews. Come on back to Genesis chapter 17, Genesis chapter 17. Now in Genesis 17 you have the establishing of circumcision as the sign of the covenant that God established with Abraham and his physical descendants. Chapter 17 opens “That when Abraham was 99 years old the Lord appeared to him and said, ‘I am God almighty, walk before Me and be blameless. I will establish My covenant with you. I will multiply you,” and on he goes. Verse 7: “I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed, your descendants after you through the generations.” It is an everlasting covenant. There should be no debate on this among Bible believing Christians but there is. It is an everlasting covenant and verse 10: “This is the covenant which you shall keep between Me and you and your seed, your descendants after you. Every male shall be circumcised. It will be the sign of the covenant,” verse 11.

So you come down to verse 24. If you haven’t read this recently you could read this chapter. It is an everlasting covenant that is established. It will be with Abraham passed on to Isaac, passed on to Jacob. Important, you have to be a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. The covenant was established with Abraham but it is not with everyone of Abraham’s children because he has others but it is Abraham’s son, Isaac that the covenantal promise comes through; from Isaac to Jacob even though Jacob has an older twin brother, Esau. It only comes from Jacob and then the 12 sons of Jacob.

Then you come down to verse 24: “Abraham was 99 years old when he was circumcised.” Verse 25: “Ishmael, his son was 13 years old when he was circumcised.” Remember Ishmael was the son that Abraham fathered with the concubine, Hagar. Now the line doesn’t come through Ishmael but he is also circumcised because he is a physical descendant here.

Now it is important to note the timing here. Back up to Genesis 15. We will do this while we are here. It becomes an issue in the whole issue of circumcision. In Genesis chapter 15 God tells Abraham to go out and look at the stars. You are going to have your own son. Verse 5: “Look toward the heavens, count the stars. If you are able to count them so shall your descendants be.”

Then you will note verse 6 which becomes a key passage. Because this is not the first time people are saved by faith but the first time you have this clear declaration. “Abraham believed in the Lord and he reckoned it to him as righteousness.” Abraham believes the promise of God and because he believes God, it is credited to him as righteousness. That becomes the pattern of how God saves people through Scripture.

Now what becomes important in this, this is before Ishmael is even conceived. Chapter 16 records the conception of Ishmael in Abraham’s relationship with Hagar. Then when we got to chapter 17 we find that now when circumcision is instituted Ishmael is 13 years old. Well chapter 15 was before Ishmael had even been conceived. Then we are told Abraham believed God, God credited it to Abraham as righteousness. So now before he was conceived so you have that year before he is born. Now he is 13 years of age. There has been 15 or more years after Abraham is declared righteous by God through his faith that Abraham is circumcised. That becomes a key issue in the issue is circumcision necessary for salvation? When God declared Abraham righteous in Genesis 15:6 and then 15 or so years later he gets circumcised. That means circumcision can’t be necessary for being declared righteous by God. It is just through faith.

While you are here you may want to turn over to chapter 21. Isaac is born and we know that Abraham is 100 years old when Isaac is born and then in chapter 22 Abraham takes his son Isaac to offer him as a sacrifice according to the instruction of God. Verse 2 of chapter 22 God tells Abraham, “Now take your son, your only son,” but he’s not his only son. He already had Ishmael. But this is the only son in whom and through whom the promises, the covenant that God established with Abraham can be fulfilled. “You take him to the land of Mariah and you offer him as a burnt offering.” You sacrifice, you kill the line. How is the covenant going to be fulfilled? You sacrifice as a burnt offering your only son meaning the only son in whom my covenantal promised can be fulfilled. Now what I want you to note here – they get to the place where God specifies. They have carried the wood with them. Verse 3: “Abraham rose early in the morning saddles his donkey.” There are not 20 verses here with Abraham trying to tell God, “You’ve got to be making a mistake.” Early the next morning Abraham is up to do what he is told to do because God told him. God has to solve His own problems if I can say that with respect. If He has Abraham kill his only son in whom in the promise is going to be fulfilled then God has to figure out how He will solve the problem He has created. We get caught up in trying to figure out. All we have to do is what we are told. Life could be so simple.

Verse 3: “Abraham rose in the morning.” Note in the middle of verse 3: “He split wood for the burnt offering” so they have cut the wood that will burn enough of a fire that could consume a sacrifice. What I want you to pick up, when they get to the place of sacrifice and they are going to leave the servants behind, verse 6: “Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac, his son.” And then takes the fire in his hand. You know you didn’t have matches so you carried the fire. You keep something burning that you lit from the previous fire and they walk on together. Isaac is not a little baby. He is mature enough to have the wood that is going to be the fire placed on his back, that bundle and he can carry it. So he is not a three or four year old, 12 or 12- 15, we don’t know but he is old enough that Abraham can place the wood that would have been carried by the servants if they were coming but they were not on his back and carry it. So the years have gone by here. Another ten years, I don’t know. We don’t know how old Isaac is. That all becomes important.

Come over to the New Testament, the book of James. In James chapter 2 some people get confused because verse 14 says and if you have discussed and debated with some different religious groups they will use this. Verse 14: “What use is it my brethren if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?” That kind of faith, the faith he just talked about, a faith that does not produce works. Verse 17: “Even so faith if it has no works is dead being by itself.” Verse 18: “Someone will say ‘you have faith, I have works. Show me your faith by your work. Without your works I will show you my faith by my works. You believe God is one. You do well. The demons also believe and shudder.’” “Are you willing to recognize you foolish fellow faith without works is useless?”

We say well, the whole argument then. Can we be saved by faith alone? Yes. What James is arguing for, saving faith transforms a life; makes you new. Remember what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5? “If any man be in Christ he is a new creation, (a new creature). Old things pass away new things have come.” In Ephesians 2:8 and 9 when he says, “By grace you are saved through faith not of works lest anyone should boast.” But we are saved for good works which God foreordained in Ephesians 2:10 “That we should walk in them.” The result of saving faith is a changed life. Thus you live differently. You now live for the Lord.

Look at the example, verse 2: “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?” Wait a minute. He goes on here. You see faith was working with his works and as a result of the works faith was perfected. “The Scripture was fulfilled which says, ‘Abraham believed God. It was reckoned to him as righteousness.’” Whoa!

Remember now if we are familiar with the Old Testament account Abraham was “declared righteous” in Genesis 15. He was righteous. God declared him righteous. Now then you have Ishmael born and when he is 13 years old he is circumcised and then Isaac is conceived and he is born and gets old enough to carry the wood to the sacrifice and now we are told, “Wasn’t Abraham justified by works when he offered?” We are years away here, folks from when God declared him righteous. All he is saying here, verse 22: “Faith was working with his works as the result faith was perfected, brought to its goal.” Saving faith always has a goal but we will now have a life, remember the instruction? “You shall be holy for I am holy.” You are not saved by your works added to your faith. But when you are truly saved, there will be results. So we keep in mind because we pull these passages of Scripture out and sometimes we are caught off guard and there have been times I have discussed with people, well wait a minute. Do you have any idea how many years have gone by between the time of verse 23 in James said, “God declared Abraham righteous.” And he went up to sacrifice his son? We will go back and take it through the highlights of the process here. Now are you saying God lied in Genesis 15:6 when He declared him righteous?

Come back to Romans chapter 4, verse 11. When we get this all done then it will be easy just to pull Galatians together here and wrap up. Romans 4:11 and this is in the context of how we are saved. It is by faith. We have gone through our Bibles from chapter 3, verse 21 down through chapter 5, verse 2 and circled or highlighted, marked all the references to faith or believe. We talked about the noun and the verb forms here. So you note what he says in chapter 3, verse 30: “Indeed God will justify the circumcised by faith (that’s Jews) and the uncircumcised through faith” because He is one. There is only one God. There can only be one way of salvation. That is the argument. Now it is not saying Jews have to be circumcised to be saved and Gentiles don’t. For the Jews it is a non-issue. Every Jewish boy had been circumcised at eight days. It is done but God saves people through faith because the Jews were never saved through circumcision and that includes the father of the Jews, Abraham because he had been declared righteous by God 15 years before he was circumcised. This is not an issue for salvation.

So there is only God. There can only be one way of salvation. It is through faith. For Jews, you can have Jews who were circumcised but they are not saved because they don’t have the faith of Abraham. That is the argument.

So he comes down to show what we have just been through. Chapter 4, verse 1: “What shall we say then, that Abraham our forefather according to the flesh has found. If Abraham was justified by works he has something to boast about. What does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor but what is due. To the one who does not work but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly his faith is credited as righteousness.” He uses Abraham as an argument. Abraham believed God. God credited it to him as righteousness. You can’t say now, oops, now 15 years later we are going to require something else. His faith is credited as righteousness. That is the pattern God was establishing when He made that clear declarative statement.

Then he quotes David, verse 7: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, whose sins have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.” Is this blessing then on the circumcised or the uncircumcised? When we say faith was credited to him as righteousness, when He declares him righteous that means his lawless deeds have been forgiven, his sins have been covered. The Lord will not take his sin into account. It is done! Then he goes back and quotes Genesis 15:6 again, “Faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it credited while he was circumcised or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised but while uncircumcised. 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 being credited to him.” And he goes on.

The whole point is there is no other way of salvation. It can’t get any clearer. That is why we have nothing in common with those Protestants who think you are saved by keeping the Ten Commandments or your good works. That is not the Gospel. Roman Catholics who say, “Yes, we agree with so much.” Yes, they believe in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. They believe in the virginity of Mary, the virgin birth. They believe the deity. Oh, we have so much in common. We have nothing in common, no more than Paul had with the Judaizers. They are accursed. Why? They add works to faith.

Alright, now come back to Galatians. These are the issues Paul is battling for. That he had succumbed and said “alright, let’s not make an issue here. I’ve got enough stuff on my plate. I’ve got enough conflicts, enough battles. Let’s circumcise Titus and move on.” We would not have the Gospel anymore from Paul and it would have been a victory for the devil at that point.

Note verse 4 of chapter 2. Paul is unrelenting when he is dealing with this issue. “But it was because of the false brethren, secretly brought in who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus in order to ring us into bondage.” Paul here, you don’t emphasize, oh this we agree on. It is what we don’t agree on and what we don’t agree on like he said in chapter 1 makes all the difference between being saved and being lost, being cursed to hell and having all your sins forgiven and being declared righteous by God. We are so close. No, we are not. Paul wasn’t close to the Judaizers, closer to the Judaizers than the Gentile pagans. In fact he sees them as a greater threat because they have the potential to infiltrate among believers and it is hard for believers to take a stand against those who profess to believe and we want to see everything else. They claim to believe in the death, burial and resurrection. Some people can’t get over that we can’t have more fellowship with Roman Catholics. They claim to believe and we have so much in common.

That’s where Paul would have been with the Judaizers. There are no other people on the face of the earth at this time who are not truly saved that Paul has more in common with than the Judaizers. They believe the Old Testament. They claim to believe the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. My goodness we have a whole world of people to battle with. We don’t have to fight these people. Yes, we do! They are a great danger to the purity of the Gospel. It becomes the greatest of dangers like Paul had to deal with it at Corinth. A little different version but the same battles. Satan masquerading as an angel of light getting in.

He calls them “false brethren.” In Acts 15 and we won’t go back there because of time, they are opposed to the Gospel of grace so if it is not the Gospel of grace, the purity of grace, if it is by works it is no longer of grace he writes to the Romans. You can’t mix it. Don’t be confused. That is what he is telling them.

Paul only uses this expression, ‘false brethren’ one other time and that is when he is talking about all the opposition and difficulties and trials he had in his ministry for Christ. In 2 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 26 he said “He has been in danger among false brethren.” So he doesn’t say, “Well, at least we agreed on enough to get by.” They were a danger to him. They were a danger to his ministry. They are those he is talking about in chapter 1 that are accursed, anathema, condemned to hell for preaching contrary to the true Gospel. They are false brethren secretly brought in.

2 Peter chapter 2, verse 1 Peter writes about “There will also be false teachers among you who will (and here is the same basic word) secretly introduce destructive heresies.” I mean the devil is a master. He doesn’t change his methods but he is brilliant in using them and he continues to use them.

I am amazed. I read commentaries. I was visiting with someone here this past week. You know I used to read commentaries and they would quote German theologians as an example of those who were corrupting the truth. Now I read the evangelical commentaries being put out today and they pride themselves in quoting the Germans. Those German theologians haven’t changed their theology but now we have become enlightened to learn from them. All it does is corrupt the truth. We have to be scholarly. We don’t. We have to be faithful and we have to be viewed as fools for Christ’s sake.

So “They secretly introduce destructive heresies. They secretly bring in error.” Jude in verses 3 and 4 what? He says I was going to write to you about our common salvation and things we share but what happened? I had to write and remind you to contend earnestly for the faith. Why? “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed who deny our only Lord and Master, Jesus Christ.” How do you get in to Bible believing churches with teaching and doctrine that ultimately denies our only Lord and Master? Jude had to deal with it. Peter had to deal with it. Paul had to deal with it. It is relentless and yet it hasn’t changed. Peter said it’s just like the false prophets that infiltrated Israel and their history.

We read the Old Testament and we say, “What was Israel thinking? How could they be so foolish?” Look at the church today, constantly looking for a way to fit in.

“These false brethren secretly brought in.” What do they do? “They sneaked in.” I like that translation. “They sneaked in to spy out our liberty.” They are the devil’s spies looking for weak spots, looking for ways that they can subtly turn us away from the truth. Anybody can recognize a huge lie against the Scripture but they bring it in. The Bible is not sufficient here. This is not all God has. It is a misunderstanding. We are not denying. We all believe the same thing.

Talking with someone on the phone this week from another state talking about a denomination that he had attended. He said, “You know I noticed it is going to happen again with the next thing that is up. Every few years they make an adjustment in their doctrinal statement. They take something out. So the doctrinal statement becomes less and less specific which allows for more and more freedom of doctrine. They don’t come and say “We no longer believe this. We just don’t think it is necessary to put that in our doctrinal statement. It just makes an issue. We don’t have to be in the face of people. We are trying to draw people.” So the church there are less and less doctrines we really have to stand for, less and less truth it is really that important and the way you interpret Scripture there has got to be some freedom.

“They sneaked in to spy out our liberty.” They were viewed as those who have come in as Satan’s spies and they are looking for the weak spots. They are looking for ways to begin weakening the church, to corrupt the doctrine. They don’t come barging in and say “We don’t believe the Bible is the Word of God.” Of course not. They are more subtle than that.

What does Paul say in verse 5? We will wrap this up. “We did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour so that the truth of the Gospel might remain with you.” That is what is at stake. We have to stand. That’s it. Paul said, “It is the truth of the Gospel that is at stake.”

It is the same battle, the same conflict I have shared with you many years ago. A couple came to see me, dear people and they said, “We just get tired of the conflicts. We are looking for a different kind of setting to raise our children.” I don’t know. The devil hasn’t yet been chained. He is not yet bound. I don’t know. He won’t quit the conflict so you know what it means if we quit the conflict we have yielded. You win. We are tired. You win. We have had enough. The devil just doesn’t wear down. That is his great tactic. Sort of like your kids you know. If they just did what you told them it would be easy but they can wear you down.

I remember thinking with our kids, they had some of Marilyn’s traits so they weren’t perfect. I said to Marilyn, you know they are relentless. You feel like maybe you just ought to give in. That’s the way the devil is. He just keeps working. Well then you begin to look for ways and spaces we can give in and the devil will give you one. Well you could give in here. You could give in here. Paul said, “We didn’t give in for an hour.” “That the truth of the Gospel would remain with you.”

We will have to leave it there but that is why we stand so that the generation coming will get the true Gospel, the purity of God’s Word. If we yield, what will they be left for a church? What do these kids do that are raised in a compromised church, then they compromise more and within a generation the church rolls over and it doesn’t believe much of anything. So the battle is worth battling and we are privileged to be part of it.

Let’s pray together. Thank You Lord for the riches of Your Word. Thank You for calling us to salvation in Christ. Lord a salvation we could not earn, we couldn’t work for, we couldn’t contribute to but You provided bearing the cost Yourself, paying our penalty with the death of Your Son. Lord, You could offer us the free gift of life in Christ. All we had to do was believe what You had said, what You have accomplished. Thank You for that grace, that grace that continues to sustain us, enable us, provide for us. Lord may we be alert. May we stand in line of those who have stood for the truth and been faithful to You so we can pass on the pure Gospel that was passed on to us we pray in Christ’s name, amen.