you. Yeah. you you Yeah. You. Good morning and welcome, welcome to all. It is good to be in God's house, to come before him in worship and to come to him to hear his word to us. People of God, as we begin, let us open with a moment of silent reverent prayer before him. You. If you would stand, people of God, our call to worship coming from the Gospel according to Matthew. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, that is Jesus. For I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Indeed, people of God, directing your attention to the bulletin, I ask you, where does your help come from? Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Let us receive then God's greeting this morning. to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ, grace and peace to you from God our Father, amen. Let us open in song, our opening song of praise, 164, 164, let us sing all the stanzas together. let us God is in his temple All within peace, silence God's straight line with deepest reference Him alone, God, we own Him, Lord, God, and Savior Praise his name forever is with us hear the hearts resounding hear the hymn ascending angels sing their voices you. ♪ To behold thy glory ♪ May I ceaselessly adore thee ♪ And in all greatness all ♪ Sing to those dearly ♪ God thou lovest dearly Amen, let us come now to the reading of God's will for our lives reading this morning from Exodus chapter 20 And God spoke all these words saying, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male servant or your female servant, or your livestock or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Honor your father and your mother that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's. Summarizing the law in two parts, our Savior has said, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. and we might appropriately say that bridge between that 10 part mostly stated in the negative summary of the law and that two part positive summary of the law, we might make a bridge between that in part using the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5 through 7. And that would also be a useful place to go if we ever have any doubt that we ought to read God's law again and again, pondering His perfect, His revealed will to us, that which God desires that we would do. People of God, as those who know God's law, who know that in light of this law, we are sinners, let us come in a prayer of confession this morning. Lord God Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, upholder of truth and justice. Lord God, we are not just people. A tendency to look at our own interests before the interest of others prone to wander, to fall away from that which you have clearly revealed before us. Lord God, may the reading of the law and the knowledge of all that the law entails be a constant reminder to us of our sinfulness, of our need of you. So Lord, we pray in the name of our sinless Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Let us also, people of God, turn and song together the Psalms, giving us expression of our need of God. 139B, 1, 2, 3, and 11. Stanzas 1, 2, 3, and 11 of 139B. Yeah. ♪ The sun has come so bright ♪ ♪ And heaven, heaven, heaven is here at last ♪ ♪ Here at last ♪ ♪ Here at last I come, your spirit be ♪ ♪ Here at last I come, your presence be ♪ ♪ I will walk with you ♪ ♪ Searching on, my heart is turned ♪ ♪ And trying on, my thoughts to learn ♪ ♪ Then lead me in, in sin I strayed ♪ Since we are all sinners, what can we do? Where can we look? Isaiah 53, describing the suffering servant, the words which the apostles so clearly ascribed to Jesus himself. These words in the middle of Isaiah 53, surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted, but he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all." Iniquities. transgressions, sins, all ways of describing the same thing, our sin, our guilt before God, guilt removed by the suffering servant, Jesus Christ. So people of God, we come as sinners, but we come to the throne of grace as saved sinners. A number of notes for prayer. I'll highlight two of those before we come in prayer. First of all, note there's an announcement in the bulletin Today is the 25th anniversary of the URCNA, our federation. Our church is not quite 25 years old, although we're getting close, but our federation is. And so we give thanks for that, we celebrate that. One other note regarding our members, that is at the age of 86, Charlie Jansma passed away. That's Garrett's brother, he passed away on Wednesday. He was ready to go, believer in the Lord. Garrett and Marsha talked to him the day before he passed away. He passed from COVID on top of the other ongoing health concerns that he had. So we'll be in prayer for Garrett and Marsha, also for his wife, Catherine. who that's Ed Holman's sister, who many of you may know. So we'll be in prayer for the Charlie Jansma family as well. People of God, let us come before our Lord in prayer. Lord God Almighty, you are our Father in heaven. How is it that we are even noticed by you? The stars are the work of your fingers. We are so small, yet Lord God, you are mindful of us all. Your eyes are over everyone upon the earth. And your special hand upholds your sons and daughters such that we really are adopted as sons through Jesus Christ and his work. And when we call you father, it is no mere image. It is the reality, the reality of our position through Christ to you. Help us to know this, to be in awe of this, to be humbled and yet even at the same time emboldened by this, that as a child can go and sit, can sit on the lap his or her father. So Lord God, we come into your throne room and onto your lap, bringing our cares and concerns and praises and thanksgivings before you. Lord, as we think of reasons to give thanks, there are many. We give thanks that we can openly proclaim your word this day here in your house. We give thanks that we are not alone, that we share a fellowship with all who profess and teach the good news of life in Jesus Christ, and that we even have a special bond of organic fellowship with our sister churches in the United Reformed Churches of North America, 25 years. as a Federation, Lord, 25 years of your guiding hand, of you building your church by your word and spirit. May we as an individual congregation and may we as a Federation be those who would be united in truth. those who would look to you from one generation to the next. Indeed, we think of 25 years as, we might say, a time of one generation. Lord God, be with your church. Raise up a new generation of faithful leaders. May there be those who also come into the fold as first-time believers. Lord, build your church, strengthen your church, mature your church in every way, keeping it always only focused upon you and rooted and grounded upon only the truth of your word. Lord God, we give thanks also for a good harvest season. We give thanks for even some wonderful weather for those last days of harvest. We give thanks for this. We know that you make not only the wild grass to grow, but Lord God, you alone give the increase in every place. We give thanks to you. Lord, we give thanks for the work of those who would protect, of those who would serve. We think of a Veterans Day celebration in this last week. We think of those who have served or are serving within our own congregation. We think then particularly of Jocelyn and Andre, but Lord God of others who have served in the past, many within this very congregation. We give thanks for that service and we pray that you would be with those who serve in the military, that it would be that it would be work done to protect, work done to serve in the name of freedom. Lord, we pray that you would be not only with, again, we have mentioned Andre and his service and his being in Hawaii now. We think of others who are removed from us geographically. We think of Thomas. We pray that you would bring him back soon. We think of Francois and his travels, his year of rest and recuperation with family and friends in Europe. Lord, give him a family of faith. Give him brothers and sisters in Christ to fellowship with as he is abroad. Lord God, be also with Melissa and her ongoing studies in Iowa. Bless her, strengthen her. Lord, we pray that you would be also with our elderly and those who suffer from sickness. We think particularly of Keith, Dee by his side, of Cal and Bernie. The Lord God be with all those who suffer from chronic pains, from various maladies, reminders of the curse upon this earth. Give patience and perseverance, give healing and remove pain. We pray for, again, the elderly, not only Cal and Bernie, but all those who we could say can struggle from increasing difficulties just in general and broad ways, Lord God uphold them. We give thanks for the strength and mental strength you have given to many of our older members and we pray that you would uphold them in the measures of health, which they do have. Lord, we know also that sometimes elderly believers pass away. We think of Charlie Jansma's passing this past Wednesday. We give thanks that he was one who passed away in the Lord, one who passed away with a trust and hope in you. And we pray that you would always remind your people then that the morning is not a morning without hope. But Lord God, there are still those who are left behind. We think especially of his wife, Catherine, and we think also of his brother and sister-in-law, Garrett and Marsha. Lord God, give them measures of peace at this time. And so Lord, once again, we give thanks to bring before you matters great and small, matters joyous and difficult. And we lay it all at your feet. and we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. People of God, let us stand now and sing Psalm of Preparation for hearing God's word, 46B125, stanzas 125 of 46B. ♪ Our refuge and our strength ♪ ♪ Forever present day ♪ ♪ In earth our home we will remain ♪ ♪ We will not be afraid ♪ ♪ O'er hills, amidst the seas we pass ♪ ♪ O'er rolling waters roar ♪ the city of I know that I am God for all, exalted high. The Lord of hosts is on our side, our safety to secure. Amen. We come now to the reading of God's word this morning. Galatians chapter two, Galatians chapter two, verses one through 14, page 1,236. In most of the pew Bibles, Galatians chapter two. As you're turning there, I'll note, I'll make a couple of references to this throughout the sermon. The end of Galatians one, or specifically Galatians 1 verses 18 and 19, after three years I went up to Jerusalem. There's really no disagreement as we read through Acts and try to see, oh, where are we at in Acts? Galatians 1, 18 and 19. lines up with Acts chapter 9, the end of Acts chapter 9. Well now, Galatians chapter 2, we're either lining up with Acts 11 or Acts 15. We don't have enough details to know which of those two chapters, so we'll make some reference to that as we go. Galatians chapter 2, beginning at verse 1. Then, after 14 years, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. I went up because of a revelation and set before them, though privately before those who seemed influential, the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles in order to make sure that I was not running or had not run in vain. But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in, who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery, to them we did not yield in submission, even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. And from those who seemed to be influential, what they were makes no difference to me. God shows no partiality. Those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised, for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles. And when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me They gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. Only they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do. But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles. But when they came, he drew back. and separated himself fearing the circumcision party and the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, if you though a Jew live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews? So far the reading of God's holy word, the grass withers, the flower fades, the word of our Lord endures forever. Dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, remember the military image of the church. Jesus is our shepherd, Jesus is also our king. We are sheep, foolish and wandering. sheep in need of repentance. We are also soldiers who must put on the full armor of God in service to our king. And that warfare imagery, which requires us to be watchmen, which requires us to be ever alert and careful to examine who is our friend, who is our foe? That's the kind of imagery which we have inserted into our text. this morning, that we would not engage in friendly fire, but rather find our allies, that we would not give an inch to our enemies, but rather defend against them and root out those who are, and here's a word which is in our text, root out those who are spies in our midst. And we see that especially in our first two points, the gospel investigations of verses 1-5 and the gospel conversations. Are these our allies or not? In verses 6-10. And then we need to have this defense of the gospel at every station, in every fort, in every city. And so then our text moves from that careful investigation and those conversations in Jerusalem to another investigation. What does Paul see? What does Paul see going on in Antioch in verses 11 to 14? And in those verses, we'll see an investigation which quickly reveals open and public sins. Open and public sins which must be publicly rebuked. And that's our third point. Corrections. Putting it all together, surely there is a need for us to be proactive and protective soldiers of the kingdom of God. Sometimes making allies, sometimes finding enemies, and sometimes correcting our allies even in public. So let us come now to our first point, the gospel investigations in Jerusalem. Another visit to Jerusalem after much time. Again, 14 years, Paul has his own mission focus, his own ministry. But after 14 years, he comes again. And now he meets privately, we see in verse two, with the apostles. But he didn't come, again, he is emphasizing his independence which we saw in the second half of chapter 1. He didn't come because they summoned him to call. He didn't come because of an apostolic summons, an apostolic commission. He came because of a revelation. In other words, he came because God directly told him to go. We see that at the beginning of verse two. Even in that language, Paul is emphasizing his independence. I didn't just come to Jerusalem because the 12 apostles had more authority than me and they said, come, we need to talk to you now. No, he came because of the revelation of God. And so he comes to Jerusalem again. And who does he come with? And what is the purpose for which he comes? Well, he comes for the purpose of investigation. He comes for the purpose of seeing, the end of verse two, if the work that he has been doing is in vain. In other words, I have been preaching, Paul says, for at least 14 years amongst the Gentiles. Is all my labor amongst the Gentiles in vain? Is the church in Jerusalem going to be so Jewish-centered that they cannot see the glories of the gospel going forth to the nations, to the Gentiles, as I've already been laboring for 14 years? That's a long time to labor in something, isn't it? Imagine 14 years of harvest just burning up all at once. You don't even ever see 14 years of harvest all in the same place all at once. But that's the kind of image that Paul is speaking of. Is all my work gonna be in vain? Is the church in Jerusalem not going to accept this? Is the church in Jerusalem going to be opposed to the gospel going forth to the Gentiles as it ought to go? This is a critical time, a critical investigation with critical conversations upcoming in our second point. This is a moment, again, this is one of, if not the earliest letters written in the New Testament, and it's a critical early moment in the history of the New Testament church. And so that's the purpose for which he goes, and he brings two companions with him. We see that at the end of verse one, and in verse three, he brings Barnabas and Titus. Barnabas, the encourager, Barnabas, the Jew, who has spent many years laboring with Paul amongst the Gentiles, and Titus, the test case. He brings Barnabas, the encourager, and Titus, the test case. Why is Titus the test case? because Titus is part of the fruit of those works among the Gentiles. Titus is a Gentile. Titus is a convert to Christianity from the Gentile nations who has not been circumcised. What will they do with Titus when I bring him before them here in Jerusalem? It is a time to investigate what is going on because there are false brothers here. Verse four, they have slipped in. They are spies in our midst. There's the military imagery of verse four. They are seeking to take away from the truth that life in Jesus Christ for those who repent and believe is for the Jew and also for the Gentile. They are spies. This is no small error. This is reason to call someone a false brother. They claim to be part of the new Christian church, but they are not true brothers, they are false brothers. And they're trying to infiltrate our camp. But the apostle says, to these we will not yield, not even for a moment. I'll say a note about who these false brothers are here. A word often used is Judaizers. What is a Judaizer? It's a Judaizer. A Judaizer is one who would hold that we're still saved by the ceremonies and or even the pharisaical additions of the law. Basically, you can keep being a Pharisee, just throw Christ on top of it. Or you keep being a Jew, maybe not a Pharisaical Jew, and you just throw Christ on top of it. And then there are different stripes within the Judaizers, right? So one Judaizer might say that Gentiles have no place at all among the people of God. That would be an extreme view, a view which was already wrong in the Old Testament. That would be an extreme Judaizer position. Or a Judaizer might say this, Gentiles must be circumcised according to the law. So we as Jews, we still need to be circumcised. That's still the sign of our being believers. That's still a part of being a true believer. You must be circumcised. And not only Jews, but also Gentiles. Okay, so that's a second second thing that a Judaizer might say. That's the second stripe of Judaizer. A third stripe of Judaizer, and one which we'll see as we work through our text in our third point, is one who says that Gentiles do not need to be circumcised, but Jews still do. So those Gentiles, okay, they can come into the faith, but they come in as kind of second-class Christians. They don't have to be circumcised, but we still do because we're Jews. And that's still part of our very salvation. In other words, we're not just doing it for health reasons or cleanliness reasons. We're still being circumcised according to the law on the eighth day for our salvation. Judaizers will return to this. This is basically the end of chapter two through the beginning of chapter five. That's the broad overview. And this is, various stripes of this are a big problem throughout the New Testament. This is basically what all of the book of Hebrews is written about. A few verses where we see this, where we see these ideas. If you would turn with me to Acts chapter 15, it summarizes that. Galatians chapter 2 is written about events that happened either shortly before or shortly after this council. And here's the Jerusalem council and we see in verse 1 and verse 5 some of these ideas of the Judaizers summarized. Judaizers, by the way, is not... that's a term we use to describe all of this. It's not actually used in Scripture. In Scripture it says things like the circumcision party or something like that. Judaizers is just the broad term that we use to help pull it all together. Acts chapter 15 verse 1, But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. and then verse five, but some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees, so in Galatians two they're called the circumcision party, in Acts 15 five they're called the party of the Pharisees, so we might say this is even a stricter stripe of the Judaizers, but some who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, it is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses. These different stripes, these different ideas, and they're all adding things on top of Christ that no longer can be added on top of Christ. Our salvation is not Christ plus circumcision. Our salvation is Jesus Christ alone. He has fulfilled the law. He is the one in whom we have life. He is the one whom we look to for forgiveness of our sins. Our sins are not wiped away by continuing in circumcision on the eighth day according to the law of Moses. And these various Judaizers are spies, false brothers seeking to infiltrate the early New Testament. church. But, anticipating our second point, Paul has already said in verse 3, Titus was not forced to be circumcised. There's good news in the conversations. There is agreement, essential agreement amongst Paul and the twelve apostles and the influential leaders of the church in Jerusalem. And that's our second point. Gospel and gospel fellowship, gospel conversations. What must we not yield to? We must not yield to the false teachings. What must we seek fellowship in? We must seek fellowship in where there is true believers, where there are true brothers and sisters. And so now Paul moves away from those spies, away from those whom we did not yield to even for a moment and into gospel conversations and gospel fellowship. and to those who seem to be influential. Why is the apostle using this seem to be influential language? Well, it's because the Judaizers in Galatia were overemphasizing the position of the 12. And so he's using this language here. He's saying those who seemed to be influential. In other words, paraphrasing it, those who you perceive to be the only super apostles and supposedly who are over and against me. Well, you wanna know what actually happens when I sit down and talk to them? This is what actually happened. He's communicating the truth of his relationship to these apostles. To those who seemed influential, they added nothing to me, the end of verse six. In other words, Paul again saying, I was already preaching the true gospel. I did not learn it from them. But on the contrary, When they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised, I to the uncircumcised, Peter to the circumcised, all these details, we extended the right hand of fellowship, middle of verse nine. Once we sat down and talked to each other, they didn't add anything to me. I was already independently preaching the true gospel. Oh, and by the way, these who seem to be influential, who you appeal to as being over and against me, I sat down and talked with them. And you know what? We have fellowship with one another over and against the false ideas of the Judaizers. Gospel fellowship. It's right here. We shouldn't think of the right hand of fellowship in verse 9 as some mere handshake. This is no mere handshake. This is a binding agreement. This would be the kind of language that you would use for a binding, essentially an oath-making agreement. In this case, an inclusive agreement. You know, some of our confessions are written as a defense against false teaching, primarily. That would be the canons of Dort. Others are written primarily to unite, to say, this is what we stand upon together. Now, those two overlap. But this is an inclusive agreement. The right hand of fellowship, we are preaching the same gospel. We're preaching it in different places, some primarily to the Jews, some primarily to the Gentiles, and therefore we have some different emphases, but we're really preaching the same thing. This is so beautifully summarized for us by the apostle himself in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15, we see the summary of this. in verses 3 through 7 and then also 11 for I delivered to you as a first importance what also I received that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures that he was buried that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, to one untimely born, he appeared also to me." And what does he say about the preaching of this essential truth that we are delivered from our sins by our risen Savior Jesus Christ, by his death and his resurrection? What does he say? He says in verse 11, whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believe. There is essential unity. fellowship, even official oath-making fellowship between Paul and the 12 apostles, between those who are making their ministry primarily to the Gentiles and those primarily to the Jews. This is reason to rejoice, to give thanks. Let us pause here and note three benefits. There are more than this, but let's note three benefits of official fellowship, because that's what we have here. Again, verse 9 is not just talking about a handshake. It's the right hand of fellowship. It's a binding agreement. One is that it promotes fellowship. That's pretty clear on the surface. If you're extending the hand of fellowship, it's going to promote fellowship with one another. Another is that it opens the avenue for support to be officially and more easily given. Now the Apostle Paul was actually already supporting the churches in Jerusalem. That was his first visit and Acts 9 included that. It included relief for the poor. Acts 9 tells us that. But now, he's encouraged to do this, to remember the poor, we might say in the context of Acts, to continue to remember the poor. And he says, that's the very thing I was eager to do. And what do we see in the later letters of the Apostle? Remember, this is probably the first letter the apostle wrote, or one of the very first. We see things such as the directions for the collection in 1 Corinthians 16, verse one and four. We see a summary of that collection being taken in many of the Gentile churches. In Romans 15, verse 26, where we read, for Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. And then if we think back to Acts, remember we're parallel to either Acts 11 or Acts 15. What do we read later in Acts? Getting more towards the end of the Apostle Paul's life in Acts 24, 17. Now after several years I came to bring alms to my nation and to present offerings. And you see, to have official fellowship, it opens the avenue for support to be more easily, more officially given. That's a good thing. It's a good thing. And the churches in Jerusalem with the various persecutions and famines were in special need of assistance from the Gentile churches. And this helps to promote their unity even further in the days of the early church. A third thing, so it promotes fellowship, it promotes and opens the avenue for support to be more easily given. It also promotes mutual accountability. This is a third benefit of official union. It promotes mutual accountability, and we'll see that in our third point. More could be said, but let us say at least these three things. And so people of God, these are things that please God. They bring honor to his name. This is the kind of thing which Jesus prayed for in his high priestly prayer of John 17. That was very much a prayer for church unity. Considering all of these benefits, let us be wary of individualism, of being independent. But let us also note this. We never throw caution out the door. We just read verses six through 10, this right hand of fellowship being extended. This is something which brings blessings and we see that concretely in the New Testament. These were the apostles of Jesus Christ. Did they exercise some caution in doing this? They had a conversation with each other first before they extended that hand of fellowship, didn't they? You see, church fellowship is a great blessing, but uniting oneself to every and all church without caution is not at all what scripture teaches. On the contrary, the Apostles themselves investigated each other before they extend the right hand of fellowship. And the reason why Paul came to Jerusalem was to root out the spies who were who were infiltrating the church in the process. You see church unity official fellowship is a great blessing. And let us at this point pause and give thanks for the fellowship that we do have. The fellowship in our Federation, celebrating its 25th anniversary today. Our fellowship within the broader NAPARC churches, North American Presbyterian and Reformed churches. Our fellowship with churches throughout the world that we have in various ways, and perhaps the most visible way to see that is our prayer map and our fellowship hall. These are reasons to give thanks. These are reasons to rejoice, but we never throw caution to the wind. As great as these benefits, as great as these blessings are, the apostles investigated each other before they extended that hand of fellowship. Let's not throw caution to the wind in these things. That, people of God, brings us to our third point, gospel corrections. Note that we are now in a new city, with different circumstances. So we might say investigation again and then gospel corrections. Because now he comes to Antioch and we see the investigation actually in verse 14. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step. And so here the Apostle Paul comes. He's spoken about how he is independent from the 12 apostles, especially in the second half of chapter one. He's just spoken about how he has a central agreement with them over and against the false brothers, but he also has the authority to even call out the leader of the 12, the spokesman of the 12. And so we see that now here in Antioch. Why was Peter wrong? He's wrong because of the fear of man. Because, the end of verse 12, he feared the circumcision party. Notice then how the word hypocrisy is being used here. It's actually in a sense, the opposite way of how we usually use the word hypocrite. Usually when we speak about hypocrites in the church, we're speaking about those who are outwardly trying to look like Christians on the outside, trying to look like faithful members of the church on the outside, but inwardly, their heart convictions are all wrong, and their heart is full of sin, and their heart has no love of Christ and no desire to repent. does not know the truth. Now here, we actually are using the word hypocrite, which means false face, in the opposite way. Peter has the right convictions, but because of the fear of man, he is too cowardly to carry out his convictions. And so he has become a hypocrite who believes the right thing, but is too afraid to act in the appropriate manner. The Apostle Peter has become a hypocrite in this sense. He is afraid of man. Now let's work through some of the context for where the three men named in these verses are at. So we'll look at some of the context for Peter, some of the context for Barnabas, and some of the context for Paul. So first of all, for Peter, this is written about a time either shortly before or shortly after the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15. And this was the very kind of thing that they had discussed in Acts 15. So Peter is quite possibly turning away from that which they have just discussed together. But even if we're parallel to Acts 11 or Acts 15, either way it's before, either way it's after when Peter received his vision three times. And you remember perhaps the vision of Peter with the sheet coming down with all kinds of animals and the voice speaking to him saying, rise, Peter, kill and eat all these reptiles and unclean animals together with all the clean animals, rise, Peter, kill and eat. And Peter says, no, Lord, I have never done this. I cannot do this. And the voice speaks to him three times. And then the next day he sees Cornelius, the centurion, the Gentile, and brings the gospel in the beginning of Acts chapter 11 to Cornelius and his family. In other words, Peter has been taught better, even in a vision from God, and Peter knows better. But he is afraid to stand up for the truth. All the examples of David and Peter. David, the classic Old Testament example of a saint who can fall into great sin. And we get specific examples of that for David, don't we? The episode of Bathsheba, the false arrogant census that David carries out. And then Peter, the New Testament example of a saint, can fall into great sin. And we get more than one example of this. We have the example right here. We have Peter who denied Jesus three times, we see in the Gospels. Even as no one is immune from sin or without sin, Including the greatest king of the Old Testament and including the spokesman of the Apostles in the New Testament So also there was no one beyond the reach of the blood of Jesus Christ when there's a heart of repentance and we see that so clearly in the tears of repentance shed by David and also by Peter and And that's some of the context for Peter here in this episode, Galatians 2, 11 to 14. What about for Barnabas? Even Barnabas was led astray into their hypocrisy, the end of verse 13. Barnabas, who has labored with Paul amongst the Gentiles, certainly eating with the Gentiles during that time for years. Barnabas, by the fear of man is also pulled away. Fear of man, this, what stumbling block? Fear of man. Be careful how your friends might influence you. Right, this is for all ages. A three-year-old can pick up bad language from daycare. A 10-year-old can learn inappropriate things in the neighborhood and repeat them. A 15-year-old can be influenced by the unchristian thinking of a classmate. A 35-year-old can be influenced by the unbiblical worldview of friends and coworkers. A 45-year-old can be influenced by the celebration of sin on digital media. Those aren't even real people. They're people acting out fictional characters in movies and shows and whatever. A 55-year-old can drift with the preaching and attitude of a church no longer holding on to the full counsel of God's Word, increasingly being influenced by the world instead of influencing the world. An 85-year-old can be brought to despair by the narrative of the 24-hour news cycle pronounced by newspersons invited into their living rooms. Fear of man can drive us to all kinds of unbiblical behavior at all different ages. Now what about the context for Paul? Remember that one of the benefits of fellowship, even organic, official, extending the right hand of fellowship, fellowship, is that it promotes mutual accountability. You remember that was the third one? Let's imagine a hypothetical for a moment. Imagine that this was after Paul first came back. That this is one of the very first times Paul has seen Peter. Do you think this would have gone over very well? Just imagine that for a moment. Paul, preaching the gospel for a few years, comes back, sees the apostle doing what he clearly ought not to do in Antioch, and says, Peter, how can you fall into such hypocrisy, such open and public sin that I must openly and publicly rebuke you? And Peter says, who are you? Aren't you the guy that was persecuting us and killing us three years ago? You see, if they hadn't had these gospel conversations, if they hadn't already been celebrating their unity, it's very hard to imagine this going over very well, isn't it? That's one of the reasons why we need to unite ourself in fellowship to sister congregations. When an independent church falls into error it is very hard to find correction. Very, very hard. Now, it's hard to stand up and correct because of the fear of man, even when we do have organic fellowship. But when an independent church falls into error, it's lost, it's gone. It doesn't have an avenue of mutual accountability to be brought back to the truth. After extending the hand of fellowship, Now Paul can stand up and speak boldly and be heard. And, you know, it kind of ends abruptly. It doesn't say, and Peter heard Paul and repented, but every, every single indication is that Peter heard this and they're completely reconciled. I mean, there's, let's say it this way, there's no hint of any disagreement between Peter and Paul in the rest of the New Testament, and that includes most of the rest of the New Testament, including 2 Peter 3.16, which is written probably at least 30 years after Galatians. What does Peter say there? Does he say, you know, Paul's a tough guy to get along with, he's a guy that, you know, I disagree with all the time, that he's obstinate, that he's stubborn? No, the only thing that Peter says is, he's hard to understand. It's hard to understand sometimes. 2 Peter 3, 16. We'll begin at verse 15. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given to him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand. which the ignorant and unstable twists to their own destruction. Does that sound like a man who hasn't reconciled with his beloved brother? No, not at all. Peter hears this correction. The blessings of mutual accountability are that the New Testament Church in its early infancy is not split apart, but comes together more strongly in the unity of preaching the true gospel that for Jew and Gentile alike, salvation is in Jesus Christ alone. His death on the cross. confessing our sins before Him. Amen. Let us pray. Lord God Almighty, may we be your sheep who hear your voice and your soldiers who would fight boldly under your banner. May we, Lord God, even be willing to stand up, to stand up in front of everyone and publicly rebuke public sin. Lord God, hold us together as an individual congregation and as a part of the body of Christ, of the people of God throughout the world. This we pray in the name of our one king, our one head, our one great shepherd, Jesus Christ. Amen. Let us, people of God, stand to sing number 438. Let's stand to sing number 438. To tell the story of ones he brings above Of Jesus and his glory It satisfies my longings as nothing else can do. I come to tell the story, to leave my theme in glory, to tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love. I love to tell the story. And that is just the reason I tell it now to thee. I love to tell the story, tell thee my theme in glory, to tell the old, old story of Jesus' death, I love to tell the story of I love to tell the story, to be my theme in glory, to tell the old, old story of Jesus and His life. will be the only I love to tell the story, which will be my name and glory, to tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love. Amen. People of God, our gifts and offerings this morning for the Muslim outreach, Reverend Brian Zegers. Again, different emphases of telling the same story to Jew and Gentile, to atheist and Muslim. That's the focus of the work there in Canada. That's the offering this morning for Reverend Brian Zegers. Following this, our benediction and doxology 571. to withstand, people of God, the parting blessing of our God. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Amen. Yeah. I'm not sure if I'm ready. You.