Stand Firm In Your Gospel Freedom

Sermon on Galatians 2:11-21

Text: When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. 13 The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.
14 When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?
15 “We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles 16 know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.
17 “But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! 18 If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker.
19 “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

As we grow closer to the Fourth of July, you will begin to hear a number of different people talking about freedom. As Americans, we value our freedom. Men and women have died fighting to protect our freedom. Our freedom has been summarized in this way. We have Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear. Lately, people have been talking safeguarding our religious freedom. This is in light of some of the policies that have been sent down. We want to make sure that we have the ability to clearly stand up for the clear truths of God’s Word. All of the freedoms that I have mentioned are, indeed, very important. However, the freedom that we are going to look at is far more important. If we didn’t have it, it would not matter what other freedoms we might have. This morning, we are encouraged to STAND FIRM IN YOUR GOSPEL FREEDOM. 1. Stand Firm Against Faithless Fear. 2. Stand Firm In God’s Grace.

Our text begins by giving us some background that led to a confrontation between Paul and Cephas, or as we better know him, Peter. “When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.” (Verse 11) Antioch was north of Palestine. It was the place where Jesus’

followers were first called “Christians.” The congregation was the first one known for its Gentile believers. It was a mixture of Jews and Gentiles. Antioch was the launching pad for doing mission work among Gentiles. They had commissioned Paul and Barnabas to go on what we call Paul’s First Missionary journey.

Peter arrived at Antioch and, it says, “He used to eat with the Gentiles.” (Verse 12) When it says that he ate with them, this was more than just sitting down for a meal together. It was a public expression of an intimate relationship. The fact that Peter was eating with them was a sign that he recognized them as fellow believers.

Everything was going along just fine until some visitors came up from the church in Jerusalem. The church in Jerusalem was mostly Jewish. It says in verse 12, “But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.” Peter withdrew from the Gentiles, which gave them the impression that they were second-class believers. It, unwittingly, gave the impression that these Gentile believers also had to observe all of the Mosaic laws that are found in the Old Testament. The effects of Peter’s actions were far-reaching in the congregation. It says in verse 13, “The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.” Because Peter was deemed to be a leader in the church, his actions influenced the other Jewish believers in Antioch. They began to pull away from the Gentile believers, solidifying the impression that they were less. It surprises us that even Barnabas was led astray by Peter’s actions. After all, he had spent the time with Paul, proclaiming to the Gentiles in south-central Turkey the good news of Jesus Christ. Yet, because he saw Peter act this way, he followed suit. It is true, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5:6, “Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough?”

What makes these events even more surprising is the fact that Peter knew better and had proclaimed the same at different times. Peter was given a vision by God himself, showing him that the Gentiles were just as much a part of God’s kingdom as were the Jews. He had noted that the Old Testament laws, such as clean and unclean foods, were no longer in effect. What would make Peter act like he did?

Paul tells us in verse 12, “he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.” For all of Peter’s boldness at so many times when he was with Jesus and after Jesus ascended into heaven, we find Peter being afraid to speak up for the truth. Think of his encounter with the people in the courtyard of

the high priest while Jesus was being questioned. It didn’t take a soldier to make Peter deny knowing whom Jesus was. It only took a servant girl saying to the others there, “This man was with him.” (Luke 22:56) Now, in Antioch, when these people from Jerusalem came, Peter is afraid. He is afraid of the difficulties and unpleasantness that might result for him if word of his eating with Gentiles got back to a troublesome element in Jerusalem that insisted that the Old Testament laws still had to be observed. He was afraid, so he began to act in a very unchristian manner.

Sound familiar? Has this ever happened to you? You were with a group of people and you were doing all the right things. You were giving a clear testimony of the fact that you were a Christian, until something happened. It might be that a coarse joke was told or someone started gossiping or some other sinful action occurred. What did you do? Did you speak clearly about what was right and wrong? Did you, instead, either keep quiet about it or join in with the group? Why do we do that? It is for the same reason that Peter was led astray. We were afraid. We were afraid that it might cause tension in the room. We were afraid that the others might make fun of us or shun us. We were afraid of alienating a family member or losing a friend. We were afraid that we would lose a customer or a promotion. This is exactly what the devil wants. When we act or speak in a way that is contrary to what God says, it puts a barrier in the way of the gospel message. People get the impression that our faith is not really all that important. It is something that we can take or leave. The idea of sin is really not something that is taken seriously. Then, it follows, if sin isn’t really all that bad, there really is no need for a Savior. Our faithless fears that God will not take care of us and bless us end up getting in the way. The devil wants you to be afraid. May God help us to stand guard against these faithless fears.

It was for this reason that Paul writes, “When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.” (Verse 11) Paul continues in verse 14, “When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, ‘You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?’” We live in a culture that is keenly aware of not forcing their culture or customs on others. We speak of diversity. However, the customs that Paul speaks of are more than just special celebrations or foods. Paul says that the customs that were being advocated would mean a loss of salvation. That is why Paul speaks of them “not acting in line with the truth of the gospel.”

The heart of the gospel message is spoken of in verses 15&16, as Paul continues to address Peter, “We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.” In essence, Paul is saying, ‘Come on Peter! Even we Jews don’t trust in our keeping of Moses’ ordinances and ceremonies, because we know that our salvation rests solely on Christ’s merit. And, if even we know to whom the law was given don’t rely on it for our salvation, why should we pressure the Gentiles to keep it?’

The basic message of the Bible is found in these verses. A number of times, Paul uses the phrase “works of the law.” By nature, all people, whether Jew or Gentile, believe that they must and can be saved by following the law. Do this and you will live. In reality, that is true. If you were to keep all of the commands of God, you would live. You would have earned your eternal home in heaven. However, there is no way that we can ever do this. Remember earlier when we spoke about the many times that we do not speak up clearly for the truths of God’s Word? That is a sin. That is just one sin in the list of the many that we commit every day. Now the law serves a different purpose. Paul writes in Romans 3:20, “Through the law we become conscious of our sin.” Because we are by nature sinful and commit sins every day, the law cannot save us. It can only stand there and point out all of the ways that we have fallen short of God’s perfection that he demands. This is an important thing for us to remember. There is that little part of us that thinks that we, at least in some way, contribute to our salvation. Paul shows us that there is no way that we can save ourselves by what we do. He writes, “By the works of the law no one will be justified.” (Verse 16)

There is only one way to be saved, which Paul tells us, “we . . . have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law.” The word “justify” means to “declare ‘Not Guilty.’” We have been declared “Not Guilty” by faith in Christ. Faith is trust. We trust in Christ. This means that we trust in what Christ has done for us. Jesus did everything for our justification. He began by becoming a human being so that he could live a perfect life for us. While you and I so often have not, Jesus did everything that his Father commanded. That means that he lived his entire life without sin. It was his Father’s will that he continue on to the cross. While he was there on the cross, he paid for all of our sins. He spent three hours in hell so that you and I would never have to spend a minute there. Christ’s resurrection means that his task was complete. Through faith, the justifying work of Jesus becomes our own. It completely comes from outside of us, with us contributing not a single thing. Driving this point home, Paul concludes with the words, “I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

This is a glorious truth and freedom that we must guard carefully. The devil is going to trick us. He wants us to get this wrong. He wants us to rely on ourselves. It makes sense to us. It appeals to the idea that you have to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps. However, anytime that we are tempted to think that we helped out in our salvation, that there is just something a little better about ourselves than someone else, we must squash that thought immediately. For, to hold to it, would mean that we lose our salvation. The precious freedom that is ours, the freedom from sin, must be guarded carefully. If we don’t do so, it can so easily slip from our fingers. As Jesus said in John 8:31&32, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” May God help us to stand firmly in his grace.

There was a country song a number of years ago that had the refrain, “You’ve got to stand for something or you’ll fall for anything.” The idea behind that song was that you don’t compromise. That was a nice sentiment for that song, but in the case of our salvation, it is absolutely true. The moment that we allow other ideas about how we are saved into our lives, we lose everything. We have something that we need to stand firm in. There can be no compromise. Again, Paul put it so well when he said, “We . . . have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law.” On our own, we would lose this precious truth. That is why we pray that God would help us to hold onto it. He strengthens us through his Word and through the Lord’s Supper. There are many things that try to tug this truth from our hands. So, we pray that the Lord would help us to stand firm in our gospel freedom. Amen.