GALATIANS 2 THE BATTLE FOR FREEDOM IN GRACE2019 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Galatians 2 The Battle For Freedom In Grace

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2019. Well, this evening, though, we want to continue our journey looking at the foundations for Christian living and considering those foundational doctrines and really important things that will help us to live the life that God has called us to live. And here in the book of Galatians,

We're considering the specific doctrine of grace, and grace is a foundation for our lives as Christians. And it's something that we need to understand and walk in, but then also protect and make sure that we continue to walk in it. And that's what we'll be looking at here as we get started in chapter two of Galatians, looking at verses one through 10 this evening. And so let's begin by reading through that.

Galatians chapter 2 verses 1 through 10. I'll go ahead and read through that and then we'll jump into the message that the Lord has set apart for us. Galatians chapter 2 verse 1 says, Then after 14 years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas and also took Titus with me. And I went up by revelation and communicated to them that gospel which I preached among the Gentiles.

But privately to those who are of reputation, lest by any means I might run or had run in vain. Yet not even Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in, who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage.

to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. But from those who seemed to be something, whatever they were, it makes no difference to me. God shows personal favoritism to no man. For those who seemed to be something added nothing to me. But on the contrary, when they saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised had been committed to me, as the gospel for the circumcised was to Peter, verse 8,

For he who worked effectively in Peter for the apostleship to the circumcised also worked effectively in me toward the Gentiles. And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised."

They desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do. Here as we continue the study of grace in the book of Galatians, chapter 2, now verses 1 through 10, I've titled the message, The Battle for Freedom in Grace.

And here Paul is kind of recounting for the Galatians and for you and I a little bit of the battle that took place to help them understand what it cost and what it required and the need for this battle to take place. And it was a fierce battle for the gospel of grace. And it really goes hand in hand with what we read in Acts chapter 15, where

where Paul the Apostle is sent by the church of Antioch to Jerusalem to gather together the apostles, the elders of Jerusalem, and kind of hash out what is going to be required of Gentile believers. Must they become Jews in order to be saved and in order to be part of the church and walk with God? Or is there truly something different and new in this gospel message that does not require someone to become Jewish in order to be saved?

And Paul went to Jerusalem for this battle and fought for our freedom. I think in my mind anyways, I kind of liken it to our patriotism as Americans, right? We go back to and remember those who have fought for our freedom back, you know, from the beginning, the Revolutionary War, you know, when Kim and I were in Virginia, we got to see some of those monuments and we make sure as a nation to remember those

what it cost us and how we were able to become free. But then also we have holidays throughout the year and Veterans Day and Memorial Day. And, you know, we have as a society set up and tried to instill in us a reminder of those who have fought for our freedom. And it wasn't just a once and for all thing back then, but, you know, those who continue to serve in the military continue to fight and protect our freedoms. And it's a great blessing that we have in our society.

Well, in a similar way, we have the apostle Paul here and he, in a sense, started the revolutionary war. It was really Jesus, but Paul was that second wave and there was this need for this battle to be fought. And that's what Paul is doing with the Galatians again. He's reminding them of what happened in Acts chapter 15, but then also coming again because it's, well, it's fresh again and this battle needs to be fought once again. And so he's calling them back to Galatia

Grace, the freedom that is found in the grace of Jesus Christ.

In Galatians chapter five, verse one, when Paul moves into the application of all the grace doctrine in the first four chapters, in chapter five, verse one, he says, stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Don't go back to legalism. Don't go back to works-based relationship with God. Don't go back to that type of approach or trying to approach God by what you have earned or deserved. Don't go back to that type of approach

Stand fast and there's the need for us to stand fast and to remember the battle that was fought for our freedom and grace. But then also to remember so that we can continue to fight that battle ourselves within our own hearts, but then also within the lives of the people around us.

Pastor Warren Wiersbe says, centuries later, today's Christians need to appreciate afresh the courageous stand Paul and his associates took for the liberty of the gospel.

And it requires a fierce battle and it requires a solid understanding of grace so that we can fight that battle. You can't fight, you know, for something you don't know if you believe in it or not, right? You have to, you have to understand and grasp hold of grace and then join in the battle. It's an ongoing, it's a continuous battle, even 2000 years after, you know, those original battles took place. And so the battle for freedom and grace is what will be

Looking at here in chapter 2, we'll be looking at five points as we work our way through these verses. And the first one is found in verses 1 and 2. And that is that grace has been confirmed as the authentic gospel. So as we think about grace and the battle around grace, we need to recognize, we need to understand, we're talking about this doctrine of grace, the gospel of grace, and it has been confirmed. It's been authenticated.

a couple weeks ago as we were in chapter one, it's a similar point and it goes hand in hand because really there's no chapter division in the original letter. Chapter two flows out of chapter one. But there I was talking about how Paul had independently verified. He had got off on his own, heard from the Lord, received the gospel message, and then later on when he met up with the religious leaders, the apostles and disciples, he

that the message was the same. And so it had been independently verified and received from the Lord from two sources. Now, two witnesses, the same message, and that's what he is reiterating here as we look at verses one and two. Again, in verse one, it says this, then after 14 years, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas and also took Titus with me. And so here, as we're kind of jumping into the middle of this account that Paul is giving, he's

the Galatians of the timeline of events and the way that it happened, how he is an apostle, not by man's doing, but by direct revelation from the Lord. And so just to kind of brush you up on the history a little bit, here's a quick timeline of Galatians chapters one and two as Paul is recounting it. It takes us back to 36 AD where Paul was converted on the way to Damascus.

And the Lord appeared to him, knocked him off his horse, spoke to him. He was converted right there. Ananias met up with him in Damascus and laid hands on him and he received the Holy Spirit. He received his sight back.

But Paul at that time, called Saul, didn't then immediately go to Jerusalem and, you know, get trained by the apostles. And then after he graduated apostle seminary, they laid hands on him and said, okay, now you are officially apostle Paul and we send you out. That's not the way that Paul became an apostle. Instead, he goes on to describe, as we saw in chapter one, he spent some time alone. He goes out into the wilderness and

And he is out there, just as the disciples were three years with Jesus in his ministry, Paul was in the desert with Jesus for three years, relearning all the scriptures that he knew so well and rediscovering what it meant through the lens of Jesus is the Messiah and the message of grace is

Paul, you know, it was there in the Old Testament, but Paul had missed it his whole life. And now he goes back through and he's re-educated and understands everything that he has always known, but from a whole new perspective in Christ. And it was after those three years, after kind of those doctrine and that kind of seminary that he went through was already accomplished and established. Then he goes back to Damascus. He's not there for very long because as he begins to preach, he's

persecution rises up. They try to kill him. So they usher him out. He goes to Jerusalem. He's not there very long because as he is there, there is persecution and they try to kill him. And so then the disciples send Paul back home to Tarsus. And so in, well, up to about 43 AD, Barnabas takes Paul to Antioch.

um he's in tarsus for some time and then barnabas goes and fetches him so this is you know uh almost 10 years after his initial conversion he hasn't spent time in jerusalem he hasn't been to you know the apostle seminary he hasn't been trained by them he goes back later on with uh barnabas in 45 a.d to take a relief to take a love offering to the people in jerusalem and

but he doesn't spend much time there. And then we hit Acts chapter 13, where Paul goes on his first missionary journey. So here's Apostle Paul sent out, commissioned by the Lord, not by the apostles. And that's the whole point that Paul was making in chapter one. Well, now in chapter two, that brings us to 53 AD. So we're talking, you know, almost 20 years later is when Paul goes back to Jerusalem for what we read about in Acts chapter 15, where,

And Paul is saying here, 14 years later, I went to Jerusalem with Barnabas and I took Titus with me and we fought this battle. And so what Paul is doing here is he's establishing, look, the time that I really spent, you know, solid, serious time in Jerusalem was...

many years after I had been saved, after I had been already involved in the ministry and sent on the mission field. And the point of all this is not just to say, you know, it was a long time later, but the point is then when I came back, we compared our messages, we compared our gospels, and they were the same. The message that Paul had been preaching, the message that he is advocating here in the book of Galatians, is the message that the apostles received

We're preaching as well. In verse 2, it goes on to say,

Now picture the scene in Acts chapter 13, Paul goes out on the first missionary journey, right? And he goes all over the place and we read all about that. It's amazing things. Well, he comes back to the church in Antioch where he was sent out from and he begins to tell them that just the glorious things that God did in their midst on this missionary journey. But immediately right away, there was a challenge.

And the Judaizers, they were the real people causing problems here in Galatia, but they were also elsewhere. And so they rose up in Antioch and said, Paul, that's great that you did all this work, but you got to go back.

And visit all those churches again because you got to go back and tell them they have to be circumcised and they have to follow the law of Moses or they can't be saved. And so, you know, good job. You did half the work, but you know, you missed the point. You missed the message. And those people are not, you know, going to be in heaven unless you go back and circumcise them and instruct them to follow the law of Moses, right?

And so this is what the Judaizers were saying. Paul was saying, no way, that is not the gospel. That is not the message of the Lord. And so he goes to Jerusalem in Acts 15. He communicates to the leaders at that time, 15 years after his conversion, this is what I've been preaching among the Gentiles.

And as you read on here in chapter two, the message is the same. There's no correction. Oh, Paul, that's pretty good. But you know, Peter says, here's what you have to add on or here's what you have to take away. Here's where you got it wrong. No, the whole point of chapter two here is it was the same message. It's been confirmed. This is the authentic gospel. This is the way of salvation, the means of relating to God and walking with God. In verse two, Paul says, I went up by revelation and

That is, God orchestrated this trip to Jerusalem. The council meeting that we read about in Acts chapter 15, God orchestrated this and God led this. And at the end of this council in Acts chapter 15, verse 28, the council writes back to the churches and says, it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no other burden, holding fast to the message of grace.

That salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ. And it's because of God's grace that we're saved. And there's not a additional step. Believe in Jesus and then, you know, do extra stuff. Then this is required. But they said it seemed good to the Holy Spirit.

And so from beginning to end, God orchestrated it. He led it, he put it together, he brought them to the right conclusion so that we could have this freedom in grace that comes from approaching God and walking with God and knowing God, not by our efforts, not by our merits, but by the work that God has accomplished on our behalf. Pastor Thomas Constable puts it this way, James, Peter, and John did not seek to change Paul's message. They agreed with it.

They shook hands in agreement over the gospel, even though the focus of their ministries were different. They had different roles, different ministries, and different things that the Lord had tasked each one of them with.

But the message was the same. That's the point that Paul is making here and sharing with us. Now, think about how kind of incredible that is. I mean, in our day and age, we can communicate like never before, right? We can email, we can text message, we can Facebook chat, we can instant message, we can WeChat, we can, you know, talk on the phone, we can meet in person, we can drive, you know, even just a couple hours and, you know, cover hundreds of miles to meet together. We can meet up and talk and discuss things

And yet, how often do we have miscommunications? How many times, you know, do me and Kim talk through a situation, talk through a discussion, you know, decide what we're going to have for dinner, and then, you know, we could do that in person and by phone and by text message and maybe by email too, and then walk away. And each of us have a totally different perspective on what we decided to have for dinner, right? Like, it's just, we can so easily miscommunicate.

But here, the amazing thing is, 14 years apart, independently, Paul received from the Lord the gospel of grace. And when he met up with the apostles in Jerusalem and had real time with them, he shared the message, this is what I teach, this is what I preach, and it was the same message.

This is confirmed. This is the way of salvation. This is the way to have a walk with God and relationship with God. And it's incredible that God has provided this means of salvation by grace. He designed it that way. It's by faith so that it could be according to grace so that every one of us has the opportunity to know God and walk with him. Well, moving on to verse three and four, here we get point number two, and that is grace has always been under attack.

So that's the message, that's the doctrine, that's the truth, but there's always been opposition to this doctrine, to this teaching. In verse three, Paul goes on to say, "'Yet not even Titus, who was with me, "'being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. "'And this occurred because of false brethren, "'secretly brought in, who came in by stealth "'to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, "'that they might bring us into bondage.'"

So Paul says, look, we went down there, me, Barnabas. Now remember Barnabas and Paul, they're both Jews. Titus is different. Titus is a Greek. And so Titus becomes the test case. You know, he's exhibit A for Paul's, you know, challenge to the elders at Jerusalem. Look, you know, he kind of pushes Titus in front of them. Look at Titus. Consider him. He's a Greek. And

he is saved he believes in jesus he's walking with the lord he's filled with the holy spirit talk with him you can tell you know he has been changed and transformed by the lord he's a gentile are you telling me that he has to be circumcised in order to be saved he became you know exhibit a the test case for them to consider and yet titus as a greek there in jerusalem where if there was going to be the enforcement of this concept well it would be there in jerusalem right

but not even Titus was compelled to be circumcised, he says. He wasn't forced. They didn't, you know, issue an authoritative command. And Peter says, you know, listen guys, I'm the Pope and I decree that Titus must be circumcised. You know, that didn't happen, Paul is explaining. And in fact, the only reason why it's a question is because of these false brethren that have been brought in.

It's a question because these guys, the way that Paul describes it is interesting, right? They kind of sneak in. They pretend to be part of the group. They pretend to walk with the Lord. They pretend to be believers in Jesus, but they're false brethren, he says. It's a pretty bold declaration. These guys are not believers, right?

They're not saved. You go back to chapter one, right? If anybody preaches a different gospel, Paul says, let him be accursed, set apart, you know, cast away from the Lord for all eternity. Let him be accursed if they preach another gospel. That's what the Judaizers were doing. And by deceit, they snuck in, pretending to be believers, pretending to believe in Jesus, but not in reality. Because they believed, they taught, they wanted to enforce on others, but

Believe in Jesus if you want to, that's cool, but you must become Jews. Like that's the important thing. And so the gospel of grace was under attack from the very get-go, from the very beginning, from the early stages of the church. Judaizers would come in and say it's the gospel plus the law. The law begins with circumcision. That's why circumcision is kind of the focus here.

It begins with that, but that's not all that they were saying. It's, you know, you must keep the law in order to have relationship with God. And so again, Paul is giving the report of what happened on the missionary journey. And these guys say, no, that's not enough for them to just believe in Jesus. And grace was under attack. In Acts chapter 15, grace was under attack. Here in Galatians, during the time as Paul is writing this letter, grace was under attack.

And that is always the case. I've shared a couple times, but I think for us, the doctrine of grace is probably one of the most difficult doctrines for us to believe. And not because it's complicated or not because it's complex, but because it's contrary to our nature.

We gravitate towards works, towards trying to relate to God on the basis of what we do and on the merits of what we've earned, or we stay away from God because we haven't earned anything. We've been such miserable failures. And we gravitate towards that. Even though we understand the doctrine, we so easily slip into that tendency, right?

And so there is the outside forces that sneak in, you know, to try to attack grace, but there's also those internal things that sneak in and fight against the concept of grace. And that's why it's important. That's why I'm talking about it in the sense of this battle for freedom and grace, because it's an internal battle that we must fight. It's under attack in your heart. It's under attack in your mind. You need to know that.

There is a work afoot. And I like the way that Paul describes it because it's kind of military terms, right? They came in by stealth to spy out our liberty, right? It's like, you know, the enemy sent in the spies, the troops, and, you know, they're trying to trick the people into believing something that's false. And that is something that is happening against us as well.

It happens, you know, generally speaking upon the church that there are false doctrines and false brethren and false teachings and those kinds of things that go through as, you know, movements and are preached from pulpits. But then also there is that internal dialogue and that internal recognition of where we are with God and our walk with God. And there is this kind of attack. The enemy is seeking to sneak in, catch you off guard and trick you

into trying to relate to God some other way apart from the grace of God. Again, Pastor Warren Grisby says this, ever since Paul's time, the enemies of grace have been trying to add something to the simple gospel of the grace of God. They tell us that a man is saved by faith in Christ, plus something. Good works, the Ten Commandments, baptism, church membership, religious ritual, and

And you could go on and on and list the things. And Paul makes it clear that these teachers are. So I want to call this to your attention that you would be able to recognize there is a battle afoot in your own heart and in your own mind to persuade you away from grace. And don't let Paul's words be true of you. Where Paul would say, I marvel that you are so quickly turning from the gospel of grace to another gospel, which is no gospel at all.

Grace has always been under attack. It is under attack in your heart, in your mind, in our society, in churches around the world. But speaking very personally, it's attacked in our hearts and we need to be on guard against it. And so as we continue into verses four and five, it gives us point number three, and that is that grace is worth defending. There is an attack that's going on. We don't have to initiate the attack for us to be in the battle. We're

We're the subjects of the attack and it's coming against us and it's worth defending because going back to point one, it's been confirmed as the authentic gospel. There is no other way of salvation. There is no other way of walking with God and knowing God and receiving from God. There is no other way.

And so grace is worth defending. It's worth fighting for. It's worth fighting against whatever forces might be trying to move, you know, move us away from the grace of God and into anything else.

Again, in verse four, it says, this occurred because of the false brethren secretly brought in who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage. You see that objective there? Here's the end result of something that's not grace. It brings us into bondage. To whom we did not yield submission even for an hour that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. So,

These false brethren sneak in. They began to try to persuade and convince and trick people back into bondage. Let's go back to the law of Moses. For us, there's not a lot of temptation to go back to the law of Moses, but some people do. Some people do go back to the law of Moses, but there's all kinds of legalism. There's all kinds of works-based relationships, and that's always happening. And Paul says when these false brethren rose up and tried to convince people, they

that they needed to be circumcised. He says in verse 5, we did not yield submission even for an hour, not even for 60 minutes. Do we say, um, maybe we should, okay, let's talk about that. What do you mean? Tell me more about what you're thinking here, you know?

Not even for an hour do we entertain this idea, entertain this concept, because this is one of those doctrines, this is one of those truths that is not negotiable, and there's not gray areas where, well, you know, maybe you feel a little bit differently, and that's okay, so we'll just kind of, you know, agree to disagree agreeably. You know, that's, we could be like that. Paul is not, he's not indicating that at all. He is saying, no, no, no, this isn't up for discussion.

This isn't up for, well, you have your interpretation, I have mine, and we'll just kind of sit with that. No, no, no. This is not one of those doctrines. This is one that is worth defending and dividing over. And so not even for an hour would we yield to them and say, okay, yeah, maybe you're right. Let's think about it some more. Let's pray over it. No. And he says at the end of verse five that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. Notice the focus of Paul's battle here.

Paul wasn't on a mission, well, these people think differently than me. Let me go chase after them and convince them to think the way that I think. We need to be careful of that kind of approach. Sometimes God calls us to do that, and so of course we follow that. But Paul didn't seek out this battle. He didn't sneak into the Judaizer meetings and, you know, try to

fight them, you know, in that way. No, this came about because they snuck in to the church and sought to convert people. And so Paul in this fight, it's a defensive fight because he's defending the Gentiles. He's defending other people. He would not have had this battle if the Judaizers had been content to believe this themselves and, you know, just walk in their own way with the Lord. He wasn't chasing after them.

I think it's important to consider. There are things worth fighting for, and there are things worth dividing over. But that doesn't necessarily mean that we seek out the fight. But when the fight comes to us, we need to be ready and willing to fight, especially, who does Paul have in mind here? That the truth of the gospel might continue with you. He's protecting the people that God has entrusted to him. When the fight against grace comes to your family, and you have authority in your family, you have responsibility for your family, you have the right to fight.

You need to be willing to fight that fight. You need to be ready and equipped to fight that fight and defend the grace of God and hold fast to the grace of God. That doesn't mean you have to go chase out after everybody who, you know, tries to approach God by works. But when the battle comes to you, you need to be ready to defend it. And if you have authority in ministry or, you know, some other capacity, you fight for those people that God has entrusted to you.

The grace of God, the doctrine of grace, the gospel of grace, it's worth defending for the sake of those who might be deceived if that thought is allowed to continue. Remember that any other gospel keeps people from God. Any other gospel keeps people from God. It might sound good. It might sound okay. Well, what could be wrong with, you know, people trying to do good, you know? What could be wrong with people trying to make commitments and, you know, we're going to

follow these things and be real holy and, you know, be real strict in our discipline. And, you know, what could be wrong? It sounds pretty good. Any other gospel keeps people from God, because here's what happens. Trying to approach God by merit doesn't work. We cannot earn God's presence, God's blessing, God's favor, God's work in our lives. We can't earn it. We will never deserve it. And so we're trying to approach God in a way that he is forbidden. Don't even try it.

We're saying, I don't care what you say, God. I'm going to come to you on my terms. I'm going to approach you based on what I want, what I like, and what I feel. That you're not going to have a relationship with God by ignoring what he says. And so any other gospel keeps people from God because trying to approach God by merit, you're not going to draw near to him. It's a different gospel. On the other side of that, there are

The other side of legalism and any other gospel is you stay away from God because of failure. And here's one important reason why grace is worth defending. When you fail, when you mess up, when you are, you know, you're always undeserving of God's work in your life, but when you're keenly aware of how undeserving you are, that's when you need God's presence the most. I mean, that's when you need to run to God. But any other gospel in that condition, you're

It causes you to stay away from God. I can't come to God. I can't pray to God. I can't ask God for help. I can't ask God to bless. I can't ask God to heal. I can't ask God to work. I can't. There's feelings of condemnation. There's feelings of guilt. There is all this pressure to stay away. Any other gospel keeps people from God. And this is why we must defend it in our own hearts. We must hold fast. We must fight that battle so that we never try to approach God on the basis of our works and

And so that we never stay away from God because we failed. We need that. We need the presence of the Lord more than anything else. And we need to be willing to fight and defend this doctrine of grace for the sake of others that God has entrusted to us so that they won't be kept from God.

Any other gospel inevitably leads to people. No matter how good it sounds, no matter how put together it is, no matter how convincing the arguments are, it will keep people from God. Because when you're trying to approach God by merit, first of all, it will never work and you will always fail and then you stay away from God because you failed. That is not what God wants. That is not why Jesus Christ died. Grace is worth defending.

We need to fight that battle and hold fast to it in our own hearts and specifically for the sake of those that God has entrusted to us. Moving on to verse six, we get point number four, and that is grace means all people are on the same level before God. The doctrine of grace is really incredible because it puts every single one of us in the same position before God.

exactly the same position. In verse 6, Paul goes on to say, but from those who seem to be something, whatever they were, it makes no difference to me. God shows personal favoritism to no man. For those who seem to be something added nothing to me. This is kind of a recap of what Paul has been sharing here and in this passage. Pastor David Guzik puts it this way. Paul summarizes his point in

His gospel or apostolic credentials did not depend on any sort of approval or influence from men, even if they are influential men. They're the apostles. These are the guys who walked with Jesus for three years during his earthly ministry. And his authority as an apostle wasn't from them. His credentials didn't come from them. He had his own encounter with the Lord, confirming, authenticating the message that he preached and that the apostles preached. It truly is by faith.

But I find it interesting the way that Paul is talking about the people of Jerusalem, the apostles here. They seem to have influence and authority. They seemed to be something. Paul's, he's not being disrespectful. They do have authority in the Lord. They do have, you know, unique positions as apostles, as leaders of the church in Jerusalem, that they did have a role that God had given to them.

But at the same time, Paul is recognizing they don't have all authority and they don't have God's authority. The reality is men do not actually have authority to declare apostleship. I mean, I know, yes, we read about in Acts chapter one, the disciples decided, you know, we need to pick someone to replace Judas. And so they cast lots. And for 2000 years, there's been debate on whether or not that was the right decision because men don't actually have that authority to declare this is an apostle, right?

You know who has the authority to declare an apostle? God does. He's the only one. We're praying for Zach. He's going to be ordained this coming Sunday. Men do not actually have authority to ordain. We don't get to say, you're going to be in ministry. You're going to serve as a pastor. You're going to, you know, we don't have that authority. The only thing that we can do, and this is true in the case of Zach, so just in case you don't

might think something different, you know, but what we do is we recognize what God has called a person to. And all we're doing is agreeing with God and saying, yes, we agree. God has raised this person up and called them for this role. Just like in Acts chapter 13, when the Holy Spirit said, lay hands on Paul and Barnabas and set them apart for the work that I've called them to. It's the same thing. It's the Holy Spirit, you know, is leading us to understand what God is doing. And so we're just recognizing in ordination that

but men don't have that authority. Even if you're, you know, Pope Peter, you don't have authority to declare who is an apostle. How did Paul become an apostle? Galatians 1.1, he says, Paul, an apostle, not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God, the father who raised him from the dead. Only God can appoint an apostle or any other role within the body of Christ.

And as Paul is appointed as an apostle, it's an act of grace because only God can do it. And because men don't get to do it because it's the way that God works. God works and he relates to us on the basis of grace. Do you think Paul earned the right to become an apostle? Do you think he deserved to be an apostle?

He didn't. Paul recognized that himself. In 1 Timothy 1.12, he says, I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has enabled me because he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. All I can do is thank God because he enabled me. I didn't earn or deserve or, you know, have the talents and techniques and abilities to serve in ministry. I wasn't faithful. He counted me faithful. He gave me what I needed. And then he commissioned me and put me into the ministry.

It was an act of grace. All Paul could do is receive it. He could never earn it or deserve it. And that's true of all of our positions and roles within the body of Christ. If I have any authority in your life, it's not because I've earned it. And it's not because I deserve it. If you have authority in anybody else's life, it's not because you've earned it. And it's not because you deserve it. If you have a call of God to

Exercise spiritual gifts, which you do. It's not because you've earned it and it's not because you deserve it. If you have spiritual gift, which you do, it's not because you've earned it or deserved it. It's grace. Grace means that all of us are in exactly the same position. Notice what he says right in the middle of verse six. God shows personal favoritism to no man. Now that's mankind, ladies. Okay. That doesn't mean God does show favoritism towards you, just so you know.

God shows personal favoritism to no one. Try to just let that sink in a little bit. In fact, maybe just tell your neighbor, God shows personal favoritism to no one. Go ahead. You can tell someone. Say it out loud. Boy, you guys. I got to work on this, huh? Okay. Listen. Hear your own voice. Say it. God shows personal favoritism to no one. Thank you, Richard. God does not treat you better than others.

Just think about that. Just let that settle in a little bit. God never treats you better than he treats anyone else. And at the same time, God never treats you worse than anyone else. God relates to us on the basis of grace. You go back to Abraham, Moses, Billy Graham, Richard Bueno. You have the same access to God.

You have the same opportunity to walk with God and God always has the same objective in all of our lives. He wants what is best for us in eternity. We all have different roles and so this is one of the ways that it kind of becomes confusing and we mistake God's working in our lives for God's treatment of us, but that's not the case. Remember in Hebrews, the author of Hebrews says, look, God disciplines those he loves, right?

Now we could think, oh, I'm being disciplined. God's treating me worse than others. No, he's not. He loves you. And so he disciplines you. And then we experience times of blessings and we think God's treating me better than others. No, God loves you. He's always doing good.

and working towards what is best for you for all eternity. That is always the case for every person, no matter if you're the Pope or the chief of sinners, whatever level you wanna find yourself in there, we are all on the same level before God. Grace means that all people, that is what this doctrine is. It means that we all approach God on the same basis. The work of Jesus Christ, none of us are more righteous than each other.

in the sight of God. We are righteous by faith in Jesus Christ, and you cannot be more righteous than believing in Jesus and having his righteousness credited to your account. You can't be more righteous. It's not that, you know, God got you 90% of the way, you know, with the righteousness of Christ, and, you know, some of us give that extra 10%, some only give us, you know, some of us only give 5% righteousness, you know, so we're just a little bit more righteous than others. No, no,

We have the same access to God, the same opportunity to know God, the same opportunity to walk with God, different roles, different responsibilities, different lives, different callings, different, you know, lots of variables in our life, but the same objective. God loves you. He wants what's best for you. And he is inviting you to walk with him that you might experience the blessed eternity that he has in mind for you. He never treats you worse than anyone else. And he never treats you better than anyone else.

He treats you the same. Everything he does, he does out of love. Now, this is difficult. And again, grace, this doctrine of grace is tough for us. It's so different than the way our mind works and the way we're naturally inclined. And so sometimes we may feel like God relates to us on the basis of our performance. I would say maybe even more than sometimes. Like most of the time, we feel like God is relating to us on the basis of our performance.

But it's never the case. God's purpose is always what is best for us. Think about Adam and Eve. Kicked out of the garden, right? Because God was angry at how they had messed up and God wanted them to suffer. Is that why they were kicked out of the garden? Is that why God put an angel there with a flaming sword to keep them out of the garden? Is that why? Because God wanted to hurt them and harm them and wanted them to suffer? No. No.

God kicked them out of the garden and guarded the garden so they couldn't go back in because that's what was best for them at that point. Because if they would partake of the fruit and live forever in their sinful lost condition, they would be forever lost. They would suffer greatly.

It was no longer best for them to partake of the tree of life and live forever in that way because of sin. It was no longer what's best for them. And so God changed the plan, kicked them out of the garden, not because he was trying to make them suffer or he hated them or he didn't like them as much. He loved them just as much before and as he did after. And he moved them out of the garden because he loved them the same before and after.

It's God's grace that closed the way to the Garden of Eden. It's always true for us. God treats us the same. His objective is always the same, even when it doesn't feel like it to us. Sometimes it feels like I shouldn't ask God for this because...

Insert performance issue here. You know, I can't ask God for this. I can't pray to God. I can't, you know, look to God to help and performance issue. I haven't been reading that much or maybe I've been involved in sin, you know, and whatever performance issue, whether you're not measuring up or you've, you know, run the opposite direction and so you think, I can't. I can't approach God. I can't ask God. That's the issue with any other gospel, any other approach to walking with God.

It keeps us away from God. We might feel like God's punishing us more than we deserve or more than he does other people. Why isn't he answering my prayer? Listen, God might be saying, if I answer this prayer while you're in the condition that you're in, then you will continue in this harmful condition. And it's going to be worse for you. So I'm not answering the prayer, not because I'm upset with you and I want you to suffer.

I'm not answering the prayer because it will be worse for you if I answer that prayer. I want what's best for you. I don't want what's worse for you. God is always relating to us on the basis of his grace. Every decision that he makes is not to harm us and hurt us. Even discipline is not to harm us and hurt us because he loves us and he wants what's best for us. Grace puts us all in the same plane. We all have different roles and different lives and it looks different in our lives.

But here's the reality. Here's what you can know. God loves you so much. And he is treating you as best as you can possibly be treated. Working out what's best for you, expressing his love towards you, working you towards the eternity that he has in mind for you. It's incredible, this doctrine of grace. We're all on the same level. Peter didn't have greater access to God than Paul did. Paul didn't have greater access to God than you do. God shows personal favoritism to no one.

It's all by his grace. It's amazing. Well, we're going to finish up in verse 7 through 10. It gives us point number 5. Grace enables great fellowship. Paul says,

Instead of the apostles and leaders saying, okay, Paul, well, we heard what you're preaching and yeah, you got most of it right, but let me tell you, you know, the parts that you missed. No, no. On the contrary, instead of correction or addition, when they saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised had been committed to me as the gospel for the circumcised was to Peter. And how did they see that? Verse eight, for he who effectively or worked effectively in Peter for the apostleship to the circumcised also worked effectively in me toward the Gentiles and

And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. They desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do. As opposed to adding to or correcting the gospel, there was full agreement on the gospel message. Different missions, different roles and callings,

Peter, you're effective in ministering to the Jews. We could see God's working and we could see God's hand. They were looking at the evidence. Again, going back to this idea of ordination. No man can ordain. It's God who ordains. And all we do is just recognize, wow, look at what God is doing in that person's life. He who worked effectively in Peter towards the circumcised worked effectively in me towards the Gentiles, Paul said. There was a moving of the spirit. It was evident that God was at work and doing this work.

And so instead of some kind of opposition or correction, instead there was just a linking arms of fellowship. In verse 9 he says, Because we relate to God by grace, because God works in our lives by grace, because God commissions us and calls us by grace,

Even when we have different callings and different missions and different objectives and different things that, you know, we're participating in and going through different seasons of life and, you know, what we would consider highs and lows, regardless of all of those things, the doctrine of grace enables us to come alongside one another because none of us are better than each other. We're not at odds with each other. We're not fighting against each other. If we are, we need to repent because that is not the way that God has called us to operate as the body.

Grace enables great fellowship. It removes all boundaries and barriers and just puts us on the same field and we can link arms and say, God's working in our lives for our good. And we're experiencing that in different ways according to what we need, but it's the work of God in our lives. It's God loving us the way that God works and it unites us together. Pastor Warren Wiersbe says, we need to recognize the fact that God calls people to different ministries in different places and

Yet we all preach the same gospel and are seeking to work together to build his church. Now, there's an assumption here. We all preach the same gospel. Well, not everybody preaches the same gospel. That's the issue of Galatians. Some were preaching a different gospel. But when we're united on the doctrine of grace, there's a lot of other doctrines we might disagree on and have different views on. But when we're united on the doctrine of grace...

There is a unity there, a fellowship there. We can have different rollings and different callings and going through different seasons of life. We have great fellowship. Think about the apostles. How many reasons do you think they could come up with to not have fellowship with Paul? How many of their friends and family and disciples had been persecuted and tortured by Paul, do you think? How many grudges do you think Peter could have had against Paul? Paul, you know, I can't hang out with you. You know, my cousin...

I preached the gospel to him and then you went to his house and beat him and tortured him and he renounced the Lord. He's like way off and who knows where believing what these days. I don't even know where he's at and that's your fault. I can't have dinner with you or fellowship, but you know what I mean? Like Paul wrecked havoc amongst the church, right? That's what the book of Acts describes. If there was anybody who would have reason to not have fellowship, oh man, the apostles and the apostle Paul, they had great reason to not have fellowship.

But grace, not only does it remove those barriers between us and God, when we accept and fight for and defend and believe and walk in the doctrine of grace, it removes those boundaries and those barriers between us and others. It enables us to have fellowship, even with those that, well, yeah, we could have some pretty strong grudges against and we could fight, you know, viciously over things. But, oh man, the grace of God, we stand before God.

on the merits of what he has done. Grace impacts your relationship with God. And so we need to fight for it. We need to walk in it. We need to battle for freedom in grace and maintain that, stand fast in the liberty by which you've been set free. Grace also impacts your relationship with others. And we may not always recognize it that way, but when there is a lot of conflict between you and others, maybe you should stop and consider that you have gone away from the doctrine of grace.

You know, it's not unlike the parable that Jesus told of the servant who is, you know, forgiven of this huge debt and then went outside and was shaken. The other servant who owed him just a minor debt. That's a misunderstanding of grace. That servant was shown great grace. He received it and rejoiced at it in the sense that, you know, he's like, I don't have to pay, but he didn't accept it. He didn't walk in it. He didn't continue in fellowship with that authority that he had been indebted with.

He broke that fellowship by not walking in grace, by not showing that same forgiveness that he had been given. Grace impacts your relationship with God. Never stay away from God because of failure. And if you find yourself away from God because of failure, recognize you have departed from the doctrine of grace. But also don't try to approach God by how good you are and ask and say, God, you should bless me because look at how good I've been. Oh boy, you've departed from the doctrine of grace.

Let grace enable you to walk with God no matter what's happening in your life, to receive from God, to call out to God, to know God. Let grace enable great fellowship in your life, enable you to link arms with people in different roles, different callings, different nationalities, or, you know, whatever, backgrounds, or whatever. People who've offended you and hurt you. Oh, man, we can have such great fellowship because of the grace of God that's been at work in our lives.

The battle needs to be fought. The freedom that we have in grace. Amen?