[0:00] But this morning we are in Galatians 2, starting in verse 1 and going through verse 10. If you're physically able and desire to do so, I'm going to ask if you'll join with me as we stand together and we read the Word of God found in the book of Galatians.
[0:13] Galatians chapter 2. Galatians is quite possibly one of Paul's earliest writings, written to the church at Galatia, written primarily before many of his other letters, especially the book of Romans, but it is a book of great importance as they all are, but we find in Galatians chapter 2, starting in verse 1.
[0:33] Then, after an interval of 14 years, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also. It was because of a revelation that I went up and 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.
[0:52] But not even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. 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 bring us into bondage.
[1:09] But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you. But from those who were of high reputation, what they are makes no difference to me, God shows no partiality.
[1:23] Well, those who were of reputation contributed nothing to me. But on the contrary, seeing that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised, for he who effectually worked for Peter in his apostleship to the circumcised, effectually worked for me also to the Gentiles.
[1:41] And recognizing the grace that had been given to me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we might go to the Gentiles and they to the uncircumcised.
[1:54] And they only asked us to remember the poor. The very thing I also was eager to do. Let's pray together. Lord, we thank you so much for your word. God, we thank you for this day, for the opportunity we've had to come and gather together.
[2:09] Lord, we have the privilege of opening up the pages of your word and reading them and hearing them. And God, we pray that they would open our lives and our hearts up. We pray, oh God, that your word would have its effect in each and every one of us.
[2:22] Lord, that we would see the truth of it. And that its truth would captivate us. But God, that we would go beyond the truth and we would also see the application that it has in each and every one of our lives for your glory and your honor.
[2:36] And we ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. We have been looking at the book of Galatians the last couple of weeks. And I introduce Galatians to you with the purpose of saying that this is Paul's defense for the true gospel.
[2:53] He is writing to the church at Galatia that has been influenced by Judaizers who have come in after he began that church. Unlike the church at Rome or some of the other churches in existence at this time, the church at Galatia was well known by Paul.
[3:08] And they knew Paul well because Paul was the leading agent that God used to start the churches in the regions of Galatia. Again, not writing to just one primary church in one location, but rather writing to a number of churches scattered throughout a region.
[3:25] And Paul was the man that God used to begin that church. And we read of the missionary travels of Paul in the book of Acts. And we see how Paul would go into a place and he would proclaim the gospel and he would train and disciple and raise up elders in those cities.
[3:41] And those elders would then lead the church, elders being another word for pastor or teacher. And there would be a number, a plurality of elders and a plurality of churches in each location.
[3:51] And that Paul was in the business of making disciples which made disciples and we called those churches. And Paul bore the responsibility and the concern for all churches. We read this and Paul said the daily pain or the daily burden of the care and concern for the churches.
[4:09] Paul didn't just begin a work and then leave it behind and forget about it. Rather, he began it, he instructed, he raised up leaders and he moved on, but still carried with him the weight of responsibility for that body of believers.
[4:21] And it's with that weight that Paul writes back to the church at Galatia and he says, What's going on? When I left you, you were in love with the Savior. When I left you, you were captivated by the free grace of Jesus Christ.
[4:33] And now in just a short time, you seem to be trying to earn his favor and earn his grace by the works of man. Because everywhere Paul would go, there would be a group of people that would follow him to try to not only just introduce Christ to them, but to introduce Judaism to them, to try to instruct them into the right way and the proper way.
[4:54] Paul taught you part, but now we're going to teach you in whole. And Paul writes back to defend the true gospel. This, again, is one of the major rocks that we have to have right, because all our hope, all our foundation, all our faith lies in the gospel.
[5:11] And if we don't have the gospel right, it doesn't matter what we do right after that. If the gospel is not right, everything else is wrong. If the foundation is unstable or the foundation is off level or the foundation is off kilt, then everything else, no matter how much you labor, no matter how much you try, no matter how much effort you put forth, everything else is messed up from that point on.
[5:37] So Paul writes back to defend the gospel. And what we see in Galatians 2 really is an account, Paul's personal account, of one of the most pivotal things in church history that transpired.
[5:52] It is actually the record. It's Paul's personal account of what happened in Acts 15. Now, it's been some time since we went through the book of Acts together, and some of you weren't here, so I'll just kind of refresh you and tell you what happened in Acts 15.
[6:05] Acts 15 is the first church council, if you will, or the church meeting. Church history shows us that because of a number of church councils, we don't have them as often anymore.
[6:16] As a matter of fact, we don't have them on the biblical scale or on the church history scale ever anymore. But at this point in time, when the churches were constrained to one area or contained to one area, they would often meet, the leaders of those churches would meet, and they would try to decide and decipher what it is, how it is God was leading them.
[6:32] We see a lot of the early church creeds coming out of those, a lot of the early things that we still celebrate today coming out of those things, the church councils. But the very first church council was the council at Jerusalem.
[6:46] And it's recorded for us in Acts 15. And the question that was being addressed in Jerusalem in Acts 15 was the very thing that Paul is defending in Galatians.
[6:57] The question that was being addressed is, do the non-Jewish people who are coming to faith in Jesus Christ, do they have to become Jewish in their practice?
[7:09] Really? To us it is this. Since Jesus was a Jew and he came first to the Jews, and since the Jews were the first ones to acknowledge who the true God was, and since the Old Testament was giving to the Jews, and since God raised up a people for himself to display his glory, now that that is being taken outside of the Jewish nation, do we require those people to convert to Judaism?
[7:37] Now to us it doesn't seem like a major thing, but at this point it is, because the question was, is faith in Jesus enough? Or do they have to be circumcised?
[7:49] Do they have to adhere to our sabbatical law? Do they have to adhere to our food laws? Do they have to adhere to all of our festivals?
[8:00] Do they have to practice all of the things that we practice to be accepted? Or is faith in Jesus enough? My friend, listen to me. That's the same question that we ask today.
[8:11] Is faith in Jesus Christ enough? Or is there something we must do in connection with faith in Jesus Christ?
[8:22] It would seem absurd to us if I said that you must accept Jesus and become Jewish today, but we don't argue in those terms. Today the term is, well you have to accept Jesus and, and anything that comes with an and is in connection to that faith in Christ.
[8:39] And the question is, is the gospel primarily about faith in Jesus Christ alone? Or does it contain other requirements?
[8:51] And this is why it's essential. Because all of the Bible rests on this truth. And this is Paul's personal account of that event.
[9:02] Now he doesn't give it to us in great detail. We get it in a little bit more detail in Acts 15. So to really understand Galatians 2 verses 1 through 10, you need to go study Acts 15.
[9:12] But we're not going to do that this morning, so don't worry about it. I just want you to see a few things from Galatians 2 verses 1 through 10. This morning as we look at a formal defense of the gospel.
[9:23] A formal defense of the gospel. This is Paul literally taking his stand, and he is saying, I'm going to defend the gospel in a formal setting with the Jerusalem council, and this is how he defends it, and this is what happens as a result of that defense.
[9:39] Okay, first of all and foremost, we see the testimony of multiplication. The gospel comes with a testimony of multiplication. We find here, then after an interval of 14 years.
[9:52] Now that doesn't seem very important to us, but it should. Then after an interval of 14 years, what Paul is saying is this is what happened. I met Jesus on Damascus Road.
[10:03] When I met Jesus on Damascus Road, my life got flipped, turned upside down, and I didn't know what happened to me. I was going around trying to persecute the way. Now all of a sudden, I'm a believer in the way. God sent a man named Ananias to come and to speak to me, and I followed the Lord in believer's baptism, and everybody kept hearing that now I am a defender of the faith.
[10:22] I used to persecute, and I left. Nobody knew anything. We get that in Galatians 1, the end of Galatians 1. Paul said, God disappeared. All they knew is they didn't know me by faith. All they know is that he who used to persecute us now is for us.
[10:36] And they were rejoicing at my testimony of accepting Christ. But here's the question. So what? I accepted Christ, and after 14 years, I came back.
[10:54] And here's the so what. What difference did Jesus make in the life of Paul for 14 years? Because the gospel always bears fruit.
[11:07] Paul disappeared for 14 years. No one in Jerusalem saw him for 14 years. He was gone for 14 years. But when he came back, not only did he have faith in Christ, look at what also he had.
[11:21] He said, And after an interval of 14 years, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also. Now this, to me, is a testimony of multiplication.
[11:32] And I'll show you why. We know, historically, from reading the book of Acts, that in those 14 years, Paul wasn't just still. Paul didn't say, Well, I've got Jesus, and that's all I need.
[11:42] Paul said, I accepted Jesus Christ. He has changed my life. And as a result of that change, my life is radically different. And now I used to live this way. Now I'm going to live this way. And because of the gospel, my life is going to bear new fruit.
[11:58] There's going to be fruit that is displayed because of the truthfulness of the gospel in my life. It is a testimony. Jesus says that you will be known by your what? Fruit. And so Paul disappeared from Jerusalem for 14 years.
[12:11] We know that in those 14 years, he went back and he was back in Joppa making tents because he was a tent maker by trade. The gospel went to the church at Antioch or went to Antioch on the backs and on the feet of some laymen.
[12:23] They took the gospel. I'm knocking stuff down. That's what happens when I put new stuff up here. They took the gospel to Antioch and a man named Barnabas, by the way, Barnabas is a great guy in scripture. If you ever want to have someone to follow in scripture, please look at Barnabas.
[12:39] Okay. I have more of a Peter tendency and I need to be more like a Barnabas. Okay. I'm more of a walk on water than sink in water. Cut your ear off and ask the Lord, forgive me that. And I have to ask God to give me more of a Barnabas spirit because Barnabas literally means son of encouragement.
[12:55] And Barnabas is always there to encourage believers. And it is great to have Barnabases around you and it's great to be a Barnabas to others. And Barnabas goes to Antioch to see what God is doing.
[13:07] I'm giving you a quick rundown of what happens in the book of Acts. And things are going so well, rather than Barnabas saying, man, this is fertile ground, I'm going to start up church here. Barnabas goes to Joppa and finds Paul and brings Paul back to Antioch and says, Paul, we've got a lot of people that need to be disciples.
[13:25] So he gets Paul and they start making disciples and then Barnabas and Paul go on the missionary journey. This is all over an interval of 14 years. But what I want you to see is the testimony of multiplication that the gospel made a difference in Paul's life for 14 years.
[13:39] If you want to defend the gospel, if you want to defend the gospel, friends, stay with me, the greatest apologetic, that is a defense, the greatest apologetic for the gospel is not what history shows it to be, but what your life testifies that it has been.
[13:57] It is what difference the gospel has made in your life. That is the greatest apologetic you will ever give anyone you come into contact with.
[14:09] You can show them history and they'll say, well, the historical records have been skewed. You can tell them of all the archaeological data that proves the reality of scripture and they say, well, those are people from different vantage points.
[14:21] You can show them with historical accuracy the truthfulness of Jesus Christ and they will doubt it. But when you show them a life that has been changed consistently over and over and over and over again, you cannot deny a changed life.
[14:38] You simply can't. Someone once said, the greatest apologetic for the gospel is love because man cannot argue with genuine love. And we see here in Paul's life the testimony of multiplication because Paul was gone for 14 years, but when he came back to Jerusalem, he not only had a connection with the church past, Barnabas, because Barnabas started in Jerusalem, but he also had a connection with the church moving forward, that is Titus.
[15:04] Titus is a representative of all of the churches Paul had started prior to this time. Titus is a Greek representative of every non-Jewish believer that Paul had seen come to Christ during this span of 14 years.
[15:25] Paul could defend the gospel because he could say, look at this. Not only do I believe in Jesus Christ, but there are a multiplication or multiple others who have acknowledged him as well.
[15:42] My friend, the question we need to ask ourselves is this. After a number of years, what difference has the gospel made in others' lives through us?
[15:54] Because the gospel that does not move through us to touch others really is not the true gospel. I know that sounds harsh, but it's not.
[16:10] Because if we're proclaiming a gospel that's good for me, but it doesn't do anything for everyone else around me, that's not what I find in Scripture. What I find in Scripture is those who love Jesus tend to love others.
[16:24] And as they love Jesus and they begin to love others, others begin to love Jesus too. And it's just this flowing, Christ says, I want to move through you.
[16:35] You are my hands and feet. And it is the testimony of multiplication. One of the greatest testimonies the church ever has to the truthfulness of the gospel is the fact that other people are finding freedom in Christ as well.
[16:54] And it is the testimony of multiplication. Number two, not only do we see a testimony during this proper defense or formal defense of the gospel, not only do we see this testimony of multiplication, we see a time of accountability.
[17:07] Paul says that he came to Jerusalem, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas taking Titus along also. And it was because of a revelation that I went up. Now this is astounding to us because when we read in Acts 15, we find that there is a point of contention between the Jewish and non-Jewish believers.
[17:23] And the Jewish and non-Jewish believers said, well we're going to settle this once for all, let's have a meeting in Jerusalem where this whole thing got started, right? Let's go talk to the leaders of the early church, let's go talk to the apostles that are still alive, let's go talk to Peter, James, and John.
[17:35] I mean they were with him on the Mount of Transfiguration, they were there during all of these times, right? They've seen these great things, they understand this stuff, let's go ask them what is going on here, let's ask them about what Jesus taught.
[17:49] They walked with him, they know him, they've seen all these things. So they want to go there and then, now some of you, wait a minute, let me just stop. Some of you should have threw a flag up real quick because I messed up.
[18:02] Peter, James, and John, two of those three were with him on the Mount of Transfiguration because that James that was up there had already been beheaded by this time, this James that is there is Jesus' half-brother.
[18:14] Did anybody catch that? We need to catch that, right? Because it matters. The Bible tells us in the book of Acts that James the apostle had already had his head cut off for the gospel. He saw the Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration so Peter and John were with him on the Mount of Transfiguration but James, the Lord's half-brother, he came to faith after his resurrection so he is the leader of the church at Jerusalem and they said we want to settle this.
[18:37] Let's go and ask the leaders, the important people, right? That's what the Jewish and non-Jewish believers are saying. Paul didn't go up because everybody thought it was a good idea. Paul says, I went there because of a revelation.
[18:49] This shows us that it was Jesus himself that set up this meeting. Okay, that's important. Jesus said, Paul, I want you to go there. Paul, okay, I'll go. So he went by way of revelation. The Lord was leading him.
[19:00] The Lord established this meeting and everything that follows this is important. He says, I went by way of revelation and I went up and I submitted. Wow, that's a hard word, right? 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.
[19:20] What is Paul saying here? There was a time of accountability. Well, this is a word we don't like a lot. Submission, accountability. We don't like those. Those words make us uncomfortable.
[19:31] But Paul, we want to put him on a pillar sometimes and we shouldn't. Paul was a man just like us but Paul had accepted Christ. Christ had radically changed his life. Paul had been used by Christ to start a number of churches, was carrying out the gospel, was seeing people come to faith.
[19:46] Paul had Titus beside him and Barnabas beside him and Paul said, I went behind closed doors and said, men, I want to ask you something. This is what I'm preaching. Am I right? Wow. If Paul needed to go in private and submit the gospel which he had preached in fear that he had been running or had run in vain, then shouldn't we also make sure we have matters right?
[20:15] Now, I want you to understand. Paul did not submit to them because of his great fear and respect of them. Follow me, okay?
[20:28] Paul didn't submit it to them because he held them in high esteem. Because Paul later writes, they were reputed to be pillars of the church. What they are didn't matter to me because God is not a respecter of persons.
[20:39] We'll find that later in Galatians 2 where Paul looks at Peter and he calls him Cephas but it's Peter. He says, Peter, you're wrong. He confronts him. We'll get there because Peter was wrong.
[20:49] So again, we don't put anybody on a pillar. But Paul didn't say, I went to them because they were such great and mighty men and they knew more than me so I thought I would ask them if I was right. No, he didn't do it because of his great respect for them.
[21:01] He did it because of his great fear for his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He knew that brother to brother would be like iron sharpening iron. He knew that there was this thing of accountability where they could talk among one another and they could discuss the great truths and he knew that he had like-minded brethren which he could bounce things off of and they could make sure that he was running right and they were running right and that everybody was going.
[21:24] He said, we were behind closed doors. I wasn't making a spectacle out of this. I just wanted to have a time of accountability. My friend, this is why discipleship is so important in churches.
[21:36] This is why discipleship for anybody that comes to faith in Jesus Christ is so important to have discipleship, okay? This is why. We have had the privilege of seeing our baptismal waters stirred.
[21:48] We have had the privilege of seeing them over the last few weeks. Our baptismal waters stirred. We will see it again next week where we have seen people come to faith in Jesus Christ and we're seeing them acknowledge Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and now the burden of responsibility no longer rests with those who have professed faith in Christ but rather it rests with those of us who already have faith in Christ because we need to be clear about this.
[22:13] It is quite possible to put your faith in Jesus Christ, to accept Him as your Lord and Savior and then open up your Bibles or to try to get in stuff and when you walk alone and when you're trying to grow alone it is quite possible to grow wrong alone.
[22:31] I don't know how many things I've looked back Bible and said, man, I had that completely wrong. There are some old sermons of mine that I have in a filing cabinet. I've got every sermon I've ever preached.
[22:41] I have the filing cabinet and I've looked at some of my old sermons from when I first started preaching and I went, wow, did I mess that passage up. Why?
[22:54] Because we are all fallible human beings and we all see things from a different situation of life. So this is my challenge, friend.
[23:07] Who are you going to for a time of accountability? who are you going to and saying, this is what I see in scripture, what do you think?
[23:18] This is how I'm reading it, what do you think? Because it is absolutely essential that we have the gospel right and who are you doing that with? Who are you discipling?
[23:33] Please, by all means, do not say that is my job. It is my job on a personal level and there are those I should be discipling and there are those I am walking with in discipleship but I cannot disciple all and neither can you.
[23:47] So I'm asking you just to take one or two and disciple them and to grow with them and to mentor them and allow them to mentor you and grow together in the faith because one thing I have found, new believers see things in new ways and sometimes the way they see things changes the way I've always seen it.
[24:05] And it is not that we are in argumentative spirit, it's just this, a time of accountability. Why? Because we have to have the gospel right. Friend, listen to me, personal preference has no place in gospel truthfulness.
[24:22] I don't care what it is you want the gospel to say. The gospel only says what it says. Again, I know these are hard truths.
[24:35] There are some things I wish the gospel didn't say and there are some things I wish it said in a different way. I mean, if it was me writing it, there are some things I would change.
[24:48] But it is not me writing it. My personal preferences have no place. But if I'm not careful, I will make the gospel say what I want it to say. And if I do not hold myself accountable to other people, I will make the gospel say whatever it is I want it to say so that I can live however it is I want to live.
[25:09] This is why there must be a time of accountability. Number three, not only does a formal defense of the gospel come with a testimony of multiplication, not only does it come with a time of accountability, number three, it also comes with a test of confrontation.
[25:26] A test of confrontation. In the world we live in, in today's time, it is very different than any time in the past. Maybe not so much in War Trace, Tennessee, but you do not have to get very far out of War Trace, Tennessee to really start to get into these problems.
[25:43] If you really want to have a confrontation, I mean, if you want, I'm not saying pick a fight, but if you want to have an argument, find a busy street corner somewhere and tell them you know the truth.
[25:58] Tell them you know what is absolutely, beyond a shadow of a doubt, true. And somebody's going to argue with you. Why? Because nothing brings about confrontation greater than a proclamation of truth.
[26:16] And Paul had the truth of the gospel. Paul knew that faith in Jesus Christ was enough. And he had the proof of that. We don't want to make him a poster child, but Titus is sitting here and Paul says Titus wasn't even compelled to be circumcised.
[26:33] Now I know that Timothy was circumcised, but Timothy's of a different place, okay? Timothy was half Jewish, half Gentile and had a ministry to the Jewish people, so to minister to the Jewish people, so that it wouldn't be a hindrance to his ministry, he was circumcised.
[26:47] Titus was no part Jew, he was all Gentile, he was completely Greek, he had no ministry with the Jewish people, so he didn't look at it. Paul says, I will submit to circumcision when it proclaims the gospel, but I'm not going to submit so that I will be saved, I'm not going to submit so that I have to be saved, he said, faith in Christ is enough, he says in verse 3, but not even Titus, who is with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.
[27:12] Now here's the confrontation, look at verse 4, 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 bring us in to Paul says the confrontation came because he had the truth of the gospel, was defending the truth of the gospel, and anytime we proclaim truth, there will always be those who want to come in and proclaim falsehood.
[27:38] Remember this, Satan always has his messengers because this is his world right now. He has the keys to this world presently.
[27:53] He has freedom in this world. presently. And he always has his messengers. And Paul says that these false brethren came in because of their liberty.
[28:03] Paul says the thing that bothered them was that I was free in Christ. Not only did he know the truth, he knew freedom. And another thing that we see historically and we see personally is people that are enslaved long to enslave others.
[28:19] When you found your freedom in Christ, I mean, when you know that Jesus is enough, when you understand that in Christ I am free and those who have been set free in Christ are what?
[28:30] Free indeed. And that through faith in Jesus Christ, I am completely forgiven. Through faith in Jesus Christ, I have been freed from all my enslavement to sin. In faith in Jesus Christ, I have been blood bought and blood purchased and I am completely and eternally saved.
[28:47] Then someone who still has the bondage of works on them will long to reach out to you and try to put their works on you as well. Because those enslaved have a problem with the freedom.
[29:04] They don't want someone else having it better than them. That's just our natural tendency. We understand that. Well, if I have to do it, you have to do it too. Well, the truth is, you don't have to do it.
[29:16] But I think I have to do it. Again, your personal preferences have no place in the gospel. One of the hardest times I've ever had in proclaiming the gospel is I would just share the gospel.
[29:27] People look at me and say, it just seems too easy. And they simply would not accept it because it was too easy. Now, if I would have given them a list of do's and don'ts, then they would have gladly done all the things on that list.
[29:43] But they could not accept it because it was too easy. I have to have something I need to do. Friends, that's not the gospel. So we see here this test of confrontation.
[29:55] Paul says that they came in because of our liberty which we have in Jesus Christ and they wanted to bring us into bondage. But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour so that the truth of the gospel will remain with you.
[30:07] Just very quickly, what I want you to see here is we do not have to subject ourselves to human beings because we are in subjection to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Paul says, since I have already pledged my allegiance to Jesus, I do not have to pledge my allegiance to any other man.
[30:25] And how I respond to the confrontation of the gospel affects whether other people hear the gospel so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.
[30:41] God has chosen to use mankind as his messengers of proclaiming the gospel. And if we allow others to skew that truth, then that truth will always be skewed as it goes through us to others.
[30:55] And the only way the truthfulness or the purity of the gospel stays the same is if we do not yield in subjection to man, but we yield in subjection to Christ. We say, Lord Jesus, show us what it is you want us to see.
[31:11] Fourth and finally, I want you to see this formal defense of the gospel, and I'm closing with this. We end on a high note. There is the thankful progression of the gospel. There is the thankful progression of the gospel.
[31:26] This is where we get to where Paul, we know he's not just a respecter of man. He loves all men, but he does not respect the position of man because he understands the authority of Christ. Verse 6, But from those who are of high reputation, what they were makes no difference to me.
[31:41] God shows no partiality. Well, those who were of reputation contributed nothing to me, but on the contrary, seeing that I have been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted, had been to the circumcised.
[31:55] For he who effectually worked for Peter in his apostleship to the circumcised, effectually worked for me, also to the Gentiles, and recognizing the grace that had been given to me. There it is, just a beautiful picture of Paul's response during this confrontation was that of grace.
[32:13] Recognizing the grace that had been given to me, James and Cephas and John, that's James, the half-brother of Jesus, and Peter and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we might go to the Gentiles and they to circumcised and they only asked us to remember the poor.
[32:31] The very thing also was eager to do. What do we see here? The thankful progression of the gospel. We see that because of the testimony the gospel had in Paul's life, the testimony of the presence of not only the fruit of his labor, but also the way he handled himself in confrontation, we also see the grace that is evident in his life.
[32:50] They extend the right hand of fellowship, and now there's this partnership rather than this confrontation, rather than this bickering and arguing, and now the gospel begins to progress because they don't see themselves in competition any longer.
[33:03] It is not like there are Jewish believers and Gentile believers. There's neither Jew nor Greek, Paul would later write. The Jerusalem council finally decided, we're not competing. It's not that Paul is over here building a church and we're over here building a church and we're no longer in competition.
[33:19] Rather, we are in this together. And what Paul is doing over here is the same thing we're doing over here. And rather than us building multiple churches, we are building one church. And the good news is, whether through Paul or Peter or whoever it is, at least the good news that is the gospel of Jesus Christ sounds forth.
[33:42] And we see this thankfulness that God is raising up Paul to work over here because Peter, Peter wasn't the man for the, Peter unlocked the door to the Gentiles, but he wasn't the man.
[33:54] But God had his man. His man was Paul. And then there are other, Paul thought he was the man to go to Rome. No, God had someone else. There was already a church in Rome by the time Paul got there. God has always got his people to take the gospel where it needs to go.
[34:08] And rather than bickering and arguing and fighting about it, the church just needs to rejoice with thanksgiving and that the gospel progresses and it moves forward. And we are in partnership, not competition, because the gospel is being proclaimed and people are accepting Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior.
[34:29] And people are coming to faith and people are finding freedom in Christ that they could not find in works. And people are finding freedom in him and they're being set free from all of Satan's traps.
[34:41] And there's this thankful progression that we don't all have to do it the same as long as we have the gospel the same. And when the big rock is the same, you may do it one way, Paul, and Peter may do it this way, and somebody else may do it this way.
[34:56] But do we have the fellowship of the gospel? And if we do, then we rejoice with thanksgiving. Let's pray. Lord, I thank you so much for this day.
[35:11] God, I thank you that you've allowed us to come and to gather together and to open up your word where we see the truth that it contains. I pray, O God, that we would be men and women, boys and girls of the gospel.
[35:23] Lord, realizing the freedom we found in Christ, that you are enough. Lord, that you've called us to yourself. You've set us free. Lord, if there's any here today who don't know that, I pray, O God, that you would minister to their hearts.
[35:38] Lord, that you would show them who you are for your glory. Lord, we just ask that you would be magnified. We ask that it would not be any man that is seen, but it would be your great work.
[35:51] And Lord, that you would move your gospel forward throughout this community and throughout this country for your glory and honor. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.
[36:45] Amen. Amen.
[37:15] Thank you.
[37:45] Thank you.
[38:15] Thank you.
[38:45] Thank you.
[39:15] Thank you.
[39:45] Thank you.
[40:15] Thank you.
[40:45] Thank you.