Crucified and Alive - Part One

May 20, 2012 Preacher: Randy Smith Series: Galatians

Scripture: Galatians 2:1–21

Transcript

Crucified and Alive-Part One

Galatians 2:1-21
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Pastor Randy Smith



From a human perspective what keeps someone from following Jesus? In other words, if you were to ask a hundred nonChristians on the streets of Monmouth County why they have not embraced Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, how do you think they would respond? I believe for many it would not be a disbelief of His existence, but rather a fear of His requirements. They know that embracing Christ would require a dramatic change in their lifestyle. In a nutshell, they believe Jesus would limit their freedom and impose an unwanted bondage.

According to the Bible nothing could be further from the truth. And according to observation, you don't have to go far beyond all the fake smiles to observe the discontent, despair and general displeasure with life. People are not happy, and that is because they live with the guilt and misguidance that comes from living without Jesus Christ. They profess freedom, but they are really slaves to sin. That is why Jesus said, "If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed" (Jn. 8:36). True freedom will only exist when we become a slave to Jesus Christ. There is a paradox here.

There is another paradox that is spoken of in our passage this morning. Without Christ the Bible says we were dead. We may walk and eat and work but spiritually speaking we are dead. We are unresponsive to God. Room for religion? Of course! Desire or ability to serve God on His terms? It's not there! People professing to be alive who in reality are dead. The Bible teaches that the only hope for life is through death, death to self and then alive to Christ. It is only when the old man dies that any person will experience true life. Paul put it this way in verse 20 of our passage this morning: "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me."

It's like an ugly tulip bulb - nothing attractive about it and for the most part useless. But bury that bulb in its own grave never to be seen again and then watch it emerge as a beautiful flower.

In today's message we will see Paul's passion for God expressed in his passion for the true Gospel. For Paul as it should be for all of us, Jesus Christ was not tacked on to an already overcrowded life. Rather, Jesus Christ was his life, and the life he lived revolved around his relationship with the Lord. As the Gospel should transform all of us from bondage to freedom and from death to life, so it did for Paul, and that transformation is seen in the way he lives and in the way he defends the accuracy of this glorious message.

This morning we'll start off with a brief review, fly through verses 1-10 of chapter 2 and then begin the heart of the message when we arrive at verse 11.

It has been two weeks in Galatians so you know how the story goes. On his first missionary journey Paul with Barnabas brings the Gospel just north of the Mediterranean to the region of Galatia (now modern day Turkey). The message of salvation through faith, free grace and Jesus Christ was clearly preached and well received by many in the area. Several churches were planted and the two missionaries returned to Antioch excited.

Unfortunately not long after their departure a sect of false teachers known as Judaizers (Jewish heritage and professing to be Christians) infiltrated the area and began to instruct these new converts in a different Gospel. After they first destroyed Paul's character, they taught that salvation was not through free grace alone. They taught that one must also do works, specifically; follow the Jewish ceremonial traditions of the Old Covenant, circumcision in particular.

News gets back to Paul and he is infuriated! So with a combination of shock, concern and outrage he writes and fires off this letter to the Galatians.

First Paul had to reaffirm his authority. He was not on the same level with the false teachers. On the contrary he was, 1:1, an apostle called by Jesus Christ. To reject his teaching was the same as rejecting the teachings of Christ Himself.

Second, he had to dance around this issue of apostleship. Since the Judaizers claimed he received all his information from the other apostles (a second-rate apostle at best), he needed to distance himself from them. In 1:12 he claims the Gospel he preaches came not from man, but from a direct "revelation of Jesus Christ." In 2:6 he says "those who were of reputation contributed nothing to me." Even his short fifteen day visit to Jerusalem was, 1:18, only to "become acquainted with [Peter]." But lest the Judaizers twist this and then say he was in opposition to the apostles, he makes it clear in 2:7-9 that the apostles affirmed the message he preached recognizing it was the same as theirs and they "gave to [Paul]…the right hand of fellowship."

Third, Paul in 2:1-5 provides a test case to validate the Gospel he preached. Again Paul returns to Jerusalem fourteen years later (2:1), this time taking Titus along with him. Titus, a Greek, was pressed to get circumcised, and 2:5, Titus did not yield to the pressure. He held his ground. He made no concession to compromise the message of free grace. Nothing wrong with circumcision for other purposes, but when it is done in an effort to earn our salvation we torpedo the Gospel of salvation through grace alone. Had Titus bucked under the pressure it would have implied that Christ's death in and of itself was insufficient to pay the full penalty for our sins. For the sake of the Gospel, Titus stands firm.

You see, any effort to add our works to the Gospel is legalism. In 2:4 Paul calls it "bondage." In 2:5 he says it is breaking away from "the truth of the Gospel." In 1:6 he says it is "deserting [God]." And because this issue involves the eternal destination of human souls he adamantly says in 1:8, "But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!" There is only one true Gospel and we had better not mess with it! It's the message that favor with God can be obtained only by receiving the work of Jesus Christ on the cross where He paid the full penalty for sin. It is a free gift offered by grace and received in faith.

Now with that as a background we should be able to track with Paul for the remainder of the Gospel.

1. Peter's Blunder

Our first point I'm calling "Peter's Blunder" and it is found in verses 11-13 of chapter 2. Allow me to break it up out of sequence to lay out the chronological progression.

First, Peter (or as he is called here, Cephas) comes to Antioch. Antioch was the home base for the Gentile church. While in Antioch verse 12 reports that "he used to eat freely with the Gentiles." Peter understood that God accepts all people regardless of their nationality and the Old Covenant laws of separation were now abolished. While a Jew would have feared dining with a Gentile (ask the woman at the well!), Peter knew a new era had dawned where all are one in Christ. All are equally accepted by God on the basis of grace alone. God accepts the Gentiles as Gentiles - so he should do the same. So why did Peter come to this conclusion and the Judaizers fail to accept it?

Because something radical happened to Peter shortly before this event. Acts 10 says that Peter when hungry received a vision from the Lord. A sheet was lowered by four corners to the ground. All kinds of animals were on the sheet. A voice came from the heavens, "Get up, Peter, kill and eat!" (Ac. 10:13). Peter responded, "By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything unholy and unclean" (Ac. 10:14). The Lord responded, "What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy" (Ac. 10:15). It happened three times and immediately the object was taken up into the sky. Right after that memorable day, Peter went to meet with the Gentile, Cornelius. He entered his house! He dined with him! And he witnessed God bring him salvation! Peter returns to Jerusalem. The Jewish Christians take up issue with him, "You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them" (Ac. 11:3). Peter responded, "And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as He did< upon us at the beginning… Therefore if God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?" (Ac. 11:15, 17). Their response? "When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, 'Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life'" (Ac. 11:18). Gentiles were saved without having first to be Jewish. Since God had accepted them, Peter accepted them. He's enjoying a ham sandwich!

But then something happened. Verse 12 says that "certain men from James" arrived. The verse says they were called the "party of the circumcision." There had been a lot of speculation as to who these men were. What matters is that some Jews professing Christ came from Jerusalem and verse 12 says Peter "fear[ed]" them. Did he fear that a bad report would get back to James? Did he fear they would smear his reputation as a lead apostle? Who knows? All we know is that Peter rightly broke away from his Jewish traditions, but when the Jews arrived, out of fear he ran right back into them (opposite of Titus in 2:1-5). The old Peter that denied Jesus to a young girl was back. Peter was scared.

Verse 12 says Peter's fear caused him to withdraw from eating with the Gentiles. Peter was more concerned about man's approval than he was about God's approval. He pulled away and the dominos started falling. Verse 13 informs us that "the rest of the Jews joined him" to the point that "even Barnabas was carried away." Jesus had declared that all food and all people were clean. Peter knew this. He caved in under fear. His actions were beginning to unravel the Gospel of free grace. His actions implied that works and nationality were necessary to be accepted by God. Twice in verse 13 Paul calls it "hypocrisy." In verse 11 Paul says "he stood condemned."

Paul observed what happened and knew that the church had a major problem on their hands. He knew as he said in verse 11 that he had to "oppose [Peter] to his face." As John Stott remarked in his commentary, "This is important. If Paul had not taken his stand against Peter that day, either the whole Christian church would have drifted into a Jewish backwater and stagnated, or there would have been a permanent rift between Gentile and Jewish Christendom, 'one Lord, but two Lord's tables'" (Galatians, p. 52). Prepare yourself for a tense head-on collision.

2. Paul's Rebuke

As we move to the second point of the sermon, verse 14, "Paul's Rebuke." Paul speaking, "But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all…" (stop right there). We have to again ask why? Why a public rebuke of Peter? Staying within the context of the letter - the true Gospel must be defended at all costs, even if it means censuring an apostle of the church! Peter caused a public scandal and therefore had to be opposed in public. Why did Paul mention this episode in this letter? Staying within the overall context - as accused, Paul was not inferior to the apostles. They didn't guide him, as a matter of fact on this occasion he needed to guide one of them!

Here is what Paul said to Peter. Continuing in verse 14, "If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?"

In other words, "Peter, you are a Jew. You grew up observing the strict traditions of Judaism. Then by God's grace you realized that all of them are not necessary and are actually detrimental to the Gospel of free grace. You began to live like a Gentile, enjoying the freedom of the Gospel. Why, Peter, why are you now compelling these Gentiles to live like Jews? Why are you by your behavior imposing upon them old Jewish rules and regulations that are destructive to their new faith? Why the inconsistency, Peter?"

Verse 15, "We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles."

In other words, "Peter, we of all people because of our Jewish heritage know what it is like to live by a system of rules. We tried it Peter, and we know we could never do enough to please God. Peter, you know I was as righteous as they come, but I threw away all my works knowing that they kept me from God and put away my self-righteousness knowing it fails every time. I now live on the basis of grace. Why, Peter, why are you imposing rules for salvation on the Gentiles? Remember they were people we called 'sinners?' They were people who never even had the ceremonial law. How can we expect them now to comply when we with the law never could? Now even we know, Peter, that one is saved by grace."

Verse 16, "Nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified."

In other words, "Peter, I can't make it any clearer! The Gospel to obtain God's favor must be kept from contamination. We know that to be justified before God we must cling to faith in Jesus Christ and not the works of the Law. I'll say it again, Peter, we are justified by faith in Jesus Christ, period! For if anyone seeks to be made right with God on the basis of works they will steal glory for Jesus Christ by diminishing the sufficiency of His work and forfeit any hope of obtaining salvation, since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified. Peter, we agree on these things, right?"

Verse 17, "But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be!"

In other words, "Peter, if the Judaizers are correct and salvation comes from following the ceremonial works of the Law, we are in their minds indeed sinners. But if we go this route, we have a major problem on our hands because Jesus taught just the opposite. So if we follow the Judaizers false Gospel, we have to admit that Jesus promoted sin. He taught in a way that was inconsistent with the Father. Are you willing to say Jesus was a minister of sin? I know, Peter, that their system may appear more righteous. But we know righteousness with God comes not by our works, but rather by the work of Christ. Peter, are you going to follow the Judaizers or are you going to follow Jesus?"

Verse 18, "For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor."

In other words, "Peter, as I said earlier, very few if any could exceed me on observing and holding fast to Jewish ceremonial traditions. Yet I considered it rubbish that I might gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ. I threw my works-righteousness away in exchange of the all-surpassing beauty of Jesus Christ that He in me would be my sole hope of glory. Why in the world would I want to go back to where I was, to a legalistic works-righteousness as it is preached by the Judaizers? I destroyed it and if I try to build it back up again I prove myself a transgressor in the worst degree. I am in effect tasting Jesus Christ and then turning my back on Him as if He failed to deliver me and satisfy me completely. I am back to where I started, only worse. I have abandoned Jesus. I have abandoned grace. And in an effort to follow my laws I have become a transgressor by ignoring God's Law which shows His only means to salvation through faith."

If I can break away from taking the place of Paul and bring Randy back up to this pulpit, I think an illustration that I heard from John Piper at this point will help to explain all that we have been covering.

Think of the Gospel as a train, specifically a locomotive pulling a caboose. The locomotive is the power source that represents God and His grace. We are the caboose and the coupling that connects us to God is faith. The tracks are the narrow road that leads to life. As long as we are connected to God through faith, the engine pulls us in its strength on the tracks that lead to heaven. That is the true Gospel that Paul was fighting for!

The Judaizers did what every legalist does today. They don't want a power source from outside themselves to get them to heaven. They want to contribute to their salvation. They want to take credit for their self-righteousness. So what they do is disconnect themselves from God's grace and pull up the tracks with the ties and then use the tracks as a ladder to climb into heaven by their own effort. And in doing so, they transgress the Law by trying to use the Law to get into God's favor, a purpose for which the Law was never intended.

And that sets us up for my all-time favorite verses in Galatians. Beginning in verse 19, "For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly" (Gal. 2:19-21).

And my all-time favorite verses in Galatians will have to wait for next week because we are out of time! As the Lord permits we will cover these three verses next week, and next week I'd also like to try something different. Here's a hint: you'll need to come with a question and your cell phone. A lot to look forward to, right?

Let's remember the paradoxes: The doing of legalism produces death and bondage. The resting in grace produces life and freedom.

I leave you this morning with a great quote that I came across this week from Spurgeon spoken to all people who abuse the true Gospel of free grace through legalism: "It would appear that God does not know the best way of saving men, and men are so wise that they amend His methods! Is not this a refinement of blasphemy? It is a hideous farce to see a rebellious sinner suddenly become jealous about good works and greatly concerned for public morality. Does it not make laughter in hell to see licentious men censuring the pure gospel of the Lord Jesus and finding fault with free forgiveness because it might make men less mindful of purity? It makes one sick to see the hypocrisy of legalists."


More in Galatians

October 14, 2012

Harvesting Peace and Harmony

October 7, 2012

Sowing and Reaping

September 23, 2012

The Spirit-Filled Church