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Welcome, everyone, to Steadfast Baptist Church. If you'll please find your seats and grab your song books, and we'll turn in our hymn also song 147, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms, 147, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms. Song 147, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms, sing it out nice and loud. What a fellowship, what a joy divine, leaning on the everlasting arms. What a blessedness, what a peace of mind, leaning on the everlasting arms. Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms. Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms. Oh how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way, leaning on the everlasting arms. Oh how bright the path grows from day to day, leaning on the everlasting arms. Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms. Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms. What have I to dread, what have I to fear, leaning on the everlasting arms. I have blessedness with my Lord so near. Leaning on the everlasting arms, leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms. Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms. Good singing, let's open up in a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you for this evening and just for everyone that's gathered here together as a church. Pray that you'd please bless those that are driving down to Matamoros, that you'd please bless our missions trip there this week and bless the service. We love you in Jesus' name, amen. All right, for our second song, go to song 165, O Worship the King. One hundred and sixty-five, O Worship the King. Song 165, O Worship the King. O Worship the King, all glorious above, And gratefully sing his wonderful love. Our shield and defender, the ancient of days, A villain in splendor and girded with praise. O tell of his might and sing of his grace, Whose robe is the light, whose canopy's space. His chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form, And dark is his path on the wings of the storm, Thy bountiful care what tongue can recite. It breathes in the air, it shines in the light, Its streams from the hills it descends to the plain, And deeply distills in the dew and the rain. Fraile children of dust and feeble as frail, In thee do we trust, nor find thee to fail. Thy mercies, how tender, how firm to the end, Our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend. Good singing. Steadfast Baptist Church, if you need a bulletin, lift your hand nice and high, and one of our ushers can come by and get you guys a bulletin. We have on the front Bible memory passage, John 1, and we're on verse 51. So we're getting really, really close to getting this one finished. And I wanted to get a tally. Who's already completed this one? You've already quoted this entire chapter. Keep your hand up nice and high. Okay, so we have four in the evening. I think we have a few more that are usually a Sunday morning. So we're going to go ahead and start getting those prizes. Most likely what's going to happen is we're going to reward all those that have already completed it when we're done. And then those that finished on that grace week, we'll give you a grace week still. We'll get you later when you after you've completed it. So that way we have an accurate count. Our children that are able to quote the verse of the week are still able to get ice cream following the evening service. And then we have our service soul winning times, our church stats. Is there any soul winning that was not already ported to a soul winning captain the last few days? Okay, who's that with, Sunny? Okay, great. Anything else I missed? All right. Oh, two. Who's that with? Just your family? Okay. Great. On the right, we have the list of our expecting ladies, which we do have one of those that needs to be crossed out because the Holdens have their baby. So congratulations to them. That's exciting. And we have one that wasn't in the bulletin, but I wrote in is pray for the Good Winds. So they're expecting in July. Also, our prayer list. We go over this on Wednesday nights. If you have any other prayer requests, always try to send those in via email and we'll try to get them added. But continue to pray for the Negaris for upcoming. When is that exactly? A couple of weeks. Okay. All right. So the next couple of weeks that's coming up. So continue to pray for Brother Negar on that and his family. Pray for Miss Lucy's mother's tumors. Pray for Brother Cameron Hall up in Oklahoma City, his leg. We've been praying for his healing. We've been praying for someone named Matt Pendleton. He's a church member of Faith Ward Baptist Church. And unfortunately, he's dealing with brain cancer. He has a lot of young children, and so we're just praying for him and his family. Also, pray for Brother Goodwin's brother-in-law, David. We're praying for his salvation and cancer treatment. We've been praying for Brother Tobias Job Search. Also, please pray for the Gilhams, Brother Chris and Miss Brianna and their family. Pray for the Goodwin family for their health. And I think that's all I have as far as prayer quests. Let's just go ahead and say a quick word of prayer as a church family for those that were mentioned. Thank Heavenly Father for giving us this opportunity to be meted together to sing praises and to have church tonight. I pray that you would be with our church family that's not able to make it this evening. I pray that you would help our church family that's struggling with various health concerns, that you could just give them just favor and peace. Please, if they need a miracle, we just pray that you just help them with that. I pray that you would just also bless our church family with their various requests that they've made with their jobs and with travel. And I pray that you'd bless our soul-winning trip that's coming up tomorrow and that you would be with us as we go out. That you'd help us to lead a lot of people to the Lord, plant a lot of seeds, and for everything to go safely and for everyone to return back safely. We just thank you for all that you give us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. As far as the hold-ins, it is Haley Elizabeth Holden. And she was born November 8th, 2-44 p.m. Five pounds, five ounces, and 18 and a half inches long. So that's exciting. I think there's a meal train that was set up online in one of our social media groups. You can see Mrs. Milstead, usually she or my wife, they could probably give you the details as far as how to find that information. And we have another baby shower coming up for Mrs. Cooley and her baby girl. It's November 19th, and they are registered at Walmart. If you'd like to get them a gift, please also ask repeated Ms. Milstead for that. And if you're planning on bringing something, please let us know, just so that way we can accommodate the food for everybody. On the back, we have just church reminders. Please pay attention to these. So we have no running in the church, of course. We want to make sure everybody's safe, and it can get kind of tight in here. No children should be playing on the stage before or after service. Also, children should always be under the supervision of their parents. Please don't let them just wander around. Also, the mother baby room, we have one on the other side of this wall. It is for mothers and their children only. So men aren't supposed to be using that area. It's just mothers and their children. While in that area, we want the children to always be accompanied by their mother. That way, it's safe. Also, if you do choose on using that for some of your younger ones, please make the older children still sit with you in the mother baby room. So it's kind of designed for 0-, 1-, and 2-year-olds to be able to walk around safely. It's just if we let the older ones run around, then the babies and toddlers can't use it as effectively. And so please just be mindful of that. Also, please don't let your children get into our ice machine or refrigerator. Of course, that's in the back for anybody if you ever need one. We have water, and we have ice, and we have everything back there if you'd like to get anything. If you ever need something and you're unsure, just ask an usher. They can get that for you. Also, please make sure the gliders are being used by pregnant and nursing ladies. Also, children should just not be roaming the church during the service. That's pretty much all I have as far as church reminders. Upcoming events. Again, tomorrow, I'm going to be flying out, and some of the rest of our church family is going to be flying out to Brownsville area and going into Matamoros. We had a group in our church van leave this morning or leave this afternoon, and so they're already on their way almost to that area. I think we had around 22, 25 people that are going to be joining us down there, so we have a pretty decent-sized group. The only thing I know for sure is we've lined up some really good food to eat at. But I believe that God's got some spiritual food for us to consume as well, and that's, of course, where we're going. Reminder, please bring your passport. Please bring your passport just to make its smooth transition coming and going from one country or the other. Otherwise, Biden's got your back, so you can get over. November 19th, that baby shard. November 23rd is the Thanksgiving dessert fellowship. December 2nd is the ladies' Christmas party from 6 to 9. All ladies are welcome. It is nursing's only. So if you are a lady, really, this is an announcement just for the men. You've got to watch your kids, okay? It's one night of the year. I think you can do it. You can survive. You can figure it out, all right? Also, December 6th is our Christmas caroling. That's always a lot of fun. If you've never participated, it's no pressure. It's a lot of fun. Everybody always really enjoys it. You go out in a large group, so we won't knock on the door and run away from you or something and just leave you there to sing by yourself or something. But it's honestly one of the coolest things. I really enjoy it, and so that's going to be December 6th. I think that's pretty much all I have as far as announcements are concerned. We're going to sing one more song. We're going to sing our psalm. Psalm 148 is kind of our psalm of the week. Follow along in our separate handouts as Brother Dylan leads us. Psalm 148. Again, that's Psalm 148. Praise ye the Lord, praise ye the Lord from the heavens. Praise him in the heights, praise ye him. All his angels, praise ye him. All his hosts, praise ye him. Sun and moon, praise him. All ye stars of light, praise him. Heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens, let them praise the name of the Lord. For he commanded and they were created, he hath also established them forever and ever. He hath made a decree which shall not pass, praise the Lord from the earth. Ye dragons and all deeps, fire and hail, snow and vapor. Stormy wind, fulfilling his word, mountains, and all hills, fruitful trees, and all cedars, beasts, and all cattle, creeping things, and flying fowl, kings of the earth, and all people, princes and all judges of the earth, both young men and maidens, old men and children, let them praise the name of the Lord. For his name alone is excellent, his glory is above the earth, and heaven he also exalteth the horn of his people, the praise of all his saints, even of children of Israel, a people near unto him, praise ye the Lord. Good singing. As the offering is being passed around, please turn your Bibles to Galatians chapter 2. Galatians chapter number 2. Galatians chapter 2. We'll read the whole chapter as is our custom. The Bible reads in Galatians chapter 2, starting at verse 1, then 14 years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas and took Titus with me also and I went up by revelation and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run or had run in vain. But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. And that because of false brethren, unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage. To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. But of these who seemed to be somewhat whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me, God accepted no man's person. For they who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me. But contrawise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter, for he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles. And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship, that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision. Only they would, that we should remember the poor, the same which I also was forward to do. But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles. But when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him, insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, if the manner of Gentiles, excuse me, if thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compelest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. But if while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also were found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor, for I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father God, we thank you for Galatians chapter 2, and for the opportunity we have to listen to the man of God expound on this chapter. I pray that you fill him with your spirit now and give him clarity of mind to teach us and help us to pay attention so we can be more edified and learn more about your word. And we love you, we thank you for salvation by grace through faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ, and in Jesus' name I pray, amen. Amen. We're here in Galatians chapter number 2, and the beginning part of this chapter is kind of the continuation of a thought that he had started in chapter number 1 a little bit. So just to kind of remind ourselves, it says in chapter 1, if you kind of look back at verse 15, but when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace to reveal his son in me that I might preach him among the heathen, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood. So the apostle Paul is bringing up the fact that his conversion story, once he got saved, he kind of withdrew himself from the other Pharisees, from the other Jews. He was raised a Pharisee, he was raised with the Jews, but he's basically saying as soon as he got saved, he didn't like go back home and hang out with the rest of his Jew buddies and all the other Pharisees. It says in verse 17, neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me, but I went into Arabia and returned again unto Damascus. So he's saying, I didn't just go back home, I didn't hang out with the Pharisees anymore, I didn't hang out with the Jews anymore, I essentially went straight into Arabia, I just started preaching the Gospel and like reaching people with the Gospel. It's kind of what he's bringing up, it's kind of the context of his thought. He says in verse 18, then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter and abode them 15 days, but of these apostles saw I none save James the Lord's brother. So he is bringing up the only time he's really gone to Jerusalem is like one time he just saw Peter and James and it was kind of just a short little trip where he just kind of interacted with them very minimally. And he says in verse number 20, now the things which I write unto you behold before God I lie not, afterwards I came in the regions of Syria and Cilicia and was unknown by faith unto the churches of Judea which were in Christ, but they had heard only that he which persecuted us in times past now preached it the faith which once he destroyed and they glorify God in me. So the context of Galatians chapter one that we kind of read here is that the apostle Paul is trying to explain to the Galatians how his doctrine on the Gospel didn't come from man, it didn't come from studying in Jerusalem, he didn't go to Bible college as it were, he didn't get plugged in to this group and they radicalized him or anything like that. He's saying like I got radicalized by revelations from Jesus, like I learned a lot of the Bible just simply from reading the Bible and studying and Jesus giving me a lot of revelations and me just putting a lot of Christianity into practice is kind of what the context is that he's bringing up and he's trying to say that he didn't really go to Jerusalem at all except for this minor little trip. Now he's going to bring up in verse one of Galatians 2, then 14 years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas. So he's saying this is another trip that I'm taking way after having done ministry for a very long time because he brought up three years and now he's bringing up 14 years so this has been a long time into his ministry. He's saying he went to Jerusalem with Barnabas and it says he took Titus with me also and I went up by revelation and communicated unto them that gospel which I preached among the Gentiles but privately to them which were of reputation lest by any means I should run or had run in vain. So the apostle Paul is kind of bringing up the fact that he never really checked or talked to anybody in Jerusalem until like you know several years later 17 years later approximately from even getting saved and he's been preaching the gospel for a really long time you know reaching all kinds of Gentiles church plants and all kinds of stuff are happening and not until this point is he kind of going back to Jerusalem to convert people. Now this is actually a story found in your Bible. Go to Acts chapter number 15. Go to Acts chapter number 15. Remember here he said he had taken he'd gone with Barnabas him and Barnabas go and and they're coming back to Jerusalem and they're coming by revelation. Now it says in Acts chapter 15 verse 1 it says in certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren and said except he be circumcised after the manner of Moses you cannot be saved. So Antioch if you kind of understand is a hub of Christianity and it's kind of like the primary first centralized location of Christianity apart from Jerusalem. This is where a lot of Christianity is as originated. That's where the kind of the powerhouse players are. This is the big church but certain individuals from the Jerusalem church have gone to Antioch and they're now bringing this new doctrine out. If you kind of study the book of Acts it kind of seems like at first Antioch's almost like a church plant of the church of Jerusalem in the sense that that's where they're coming from and in fact they're often giving instructions to Antioch and so Antioch's kind of following the lead of Jerusalem and so while I believe that they're quote unquote independent churches they still kind of have a mentorship from the church of Jerusalem and they kind of look to Jerusalem as a leader and it's kind of the person that they're going to get their doctrine from and kind of follow their pattern and their lead. So when certain people are coming from there and then preaching something different well it causes a problem because theoretically it's supposed to be authoritative. I mean if it's coming from Jerusalem it's supposed to be legitimate. We're supposed to kind of obey this but there's a problem. This is not what they believe. So in verse 2 it says when therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain other of them should go up to Jerusalem and the apostles know about this question. This is what the apostle Paul's kind of talking about when they went to Jerusalem and they're going to kind of bring up this this question of why are why are people coming from your church and teaching that salvation is not by faith alone but rather you're adding circumcision and saying you have to be circumcised to be saved. Says in verse number 3 and being brought on their way by the church they pass through Phineas and Samaria declaring the conversion of the Gentiles and they cause great joy with all the brethren and when they come to Jerusalem they receive to the church and the apostles and elders and they declared all things that God had done with them. So when he comes there they're kind of excited but you have to think about this for most of these people this is the first encounter they've ever had with Paul. They've only really ever heard of Paul and and some of them are probably even a little bit nervous or skeptical because I mean he used to persecute them time passed and they're like well okay that's great that he's preaching but you know it's kind of a it's kind of one of those nervous encounters where you're kind of like meeting the in-laws the first time or something you know it's like uh all right you've heard that he's killed other boyfriends before but you're you've heard that he's changed his mind now you know like he's not going to do that this time but you're still a little nervous right it's that awkward energy but the problem is look at verse five but there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees believed saying that it was needful to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses so there's a segment of this church that is hooked on this false doctrine and it's kind of what you would refer to as Judaizing. Judaizing is the idea or the language behind adding all of the Old Testament principles and ordinances into the New Testament and it's kind of what's called or considered Judaizing and there's kind of two different ways to look at this some people add Judaizing on to the gospel meaning that you have to do it to be saved that's a false gospel that's a damnable heresy another group though they might say well you don't have to do that to be saved but you should still do it and you kind of have both movements even existing in our world today where you have people adding to the gospel and then you also have these these groups called like tor observing Christians where they're like oh we're observing the Old Testament law and everything like this and they're trying to bring us back under these customs and rituals which is funny because no one ever does that no one observes all of the Old Testament practices they're not consistently blowing the shofar and observing all the new moons and they're not offering sacrifices on the Passover and they're not I mean it's kind of silly for anybody even try to pretend like they're following all of the Old Testament law because no one is not even the synagogue of Satan that claims that they're trying to observe that no one's following the Old Testament law whatsoever it would be ridiculous for someone to claim that they are what they like to do is it's funny these tor observing Christians they pick out all the parts of the New Testament says are done away and that's the only ones they do they basically only get the funny hats and the prayer shawls and blow shofars and try to observe certain days and Sabbaths or whatever it's like those are all the things the New Testament says have been fulfilled in Christ and then they're they're trying to bring all those ones back or it's like if you were going to bring it back you'd have to bring back the Passover sacrifice too are you eating the bitter herbs and you know are you killing the Passover lamb and I mean how's that all working for you you know and of course they're not observing it where's your Levite you know I mean where's the Levitical priest priesthood yeah but Hebrews makes it clear we don't have a Levitical priesthood anymore we have the priesthood after Melchizedek and it's been replaced and since there was a changing of the priesthood there was also changing of the law is what the Bible says so we don't observe those rituals obviously that's bad but what's way worse is when you then add that to the gospel and so you have to do that to even be saved at this time and even well into the first several centuries of Christianity this was a real threat you know I was looking at some research today and studying like the Roman Empire the Roman Empire I think you know it's it's it's kind of debate I was like trying to see like when it collapsed or when it finally fell and there's lots of different ideas exactly it's kind of like late 300s early 400s it's kind of when they put that timeline but as it kind of divided and changed there became the Byzantine Empire and the Byzantine Empire was more favorable to Christianity in fact it wasn't it's kind of like America in a sense they allowed religious freedom but they kind of preferred Christianity so you still had paganism and some of this other stuff but it wasn't common wasn't what most people did politically kind of had to be Christian or whatever but even within those groups there were a lot of Judaizing going on and one of the first people to really preach against the Judaizing was John Chrysostom so Saint John Chrysostom was was getting up there and just ripping face on the Jews and making it clear like this is the synagogue of Satan these people are wicked why are we bringing their practices in and and he had to try and get a lot of that out of the church now I don't even know John Chrysostom saved I don't know I don't care frankly speaking the only thing that I thought was interesting is that well into several hundred years after you know Christianity they still have this problem Judaizing where people are trying to mix the two and trying to bring in the circumcision and bring in all this other stuff for us today it's not as big of a threat it's not very often that you'd probably even find anybody trying to add circumcision to salvation I mean I've never I don't think I've ever heard of that has anybody ever heard of that I've never even heard of it but here's here's we have to understand about circumcision what does circumcision kind of ultimately represent circumcision ultimately represents a following of the law or the following of Christ or the following of God in a sense like we have this picture of circumcision in the Old Testament and I believe that it's it's a parallel in the New Testament is baptism because if you understand the Old Testament you would get saved by faith but then your outward public profession and and how you kind of converted to the nation of Israel was through circumcision was physical circumcision and it's just this outward symbol of how there's been a change on the inside you know you're you're putting away the flesh because it's not what's on the outside that matters what's on the inside and so it's kind of the same thing with baptism where in baptism you're kind of you're dying to your old self and you're going to walk in newness of life so it's kind of the same elements of hey we're not walking in the flesh we're going to walk in the spirit so they kind of have these same principles same practical applications and of course what does baptism symbolize in fact you're going to serve God you're going to follow in his commandments you're going to do right so I believe that a modern equivalent to this doctrine that they're bringing in would be like the Church of Christ that's saying you have to get baptized to be saved and there's all kinds of other variations that exist like this where they'll say well you have to you know make a change you have to go to church you have to be really sorry you have to start turning from your sins they just start adding all this junk to the gospel and the apostle Paul later in this epistle in the book of eglatians he's going to bring it out like hey if you're going to do that part you're going to do the whole thing and it's like if you're going to add any of the law you got to add the whole package and when you start adding the whole package well no one can do that and of course it's so silly because these people be like oh well you got to do some work and it's like well how much all of it and they're like well you don't have to do all of it because they realize how stupid that sounds but the apostle Paul is making it clear like well if you're going to add one one item from the law you have to add the whole thing and if you're going to add the whole thing well now it's works based salvation and so you can't even add one thing you can't just add circumcision salvation is not faith plus circumcision it's not plus baptism it's not plus anything it's just a free gift that's the best way to word it you say well why do you word it as a free gift because that's how the bible words it in romans it calls it a free gift folks it doesn't say you get it if you're naughty or you're nice it doesn't say it doesn't say oh if you're sorry enough if you go to church enough if you've been baptized by the right person you know of course when you get into baptism doctrine not only the church of christ you get the the baptist writers who say not only have to get baptized you have to get baptized by us you know because if you get baptized by the wrong church that's not even the right baptism and you're not even the right faith and it's just it just starts getting into just weird heresy after weird heresy and so that's why we have to make sure that we're always believing the gospel is a free gift and and here they're bringing this uh doctrine up to this church and notice that some of these people are mixed up now i want to draw a difference in verse five it says that there is a sect of the pharisees which believed and there's they're saying hey we need to command them to keep the law of moses notice that they're not saying here like bring up circumcision only so i believe that this group in verse five is different than the group in verse one okay because number one as described in galatians keep your fingers we're coming right back actually go to galatians chapter two again and look at verse four or verse three but neither titus who was with me being a greek was compelled to be circumcised and that because of false brethren unawares brought in who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in christ jesus that they might bring us into bondage so he's saying that the people that came to them in where an Antioch and and notice that hey titus isn't circumcised which is like what a bunch of perverts anyways all right that's how you know it's a false brethren when they're they're spying out your your or they're privily spying out your liberty okay if you get a little too close to me the bathroom it's over okay you're a false brethren all right that was weird right but for whatever reason they figured this out and by by noticing this they started teaching a workspace salvation now i believe that's different than the group here in x15 for a couple reasons number one is calling a false brethren in galatians so they're not safe and in acts 15 is bringing up this group is saying they believe but let me show you further evidence of why i believe there is a distinction between these people and it's it's in this chapter that they're going to bring up how they didn't say this this junk or whatever um let's just read i want to read a decent section of this and then and then i'll kind of explain that point it says in verse six and the apostles came together for to consider this matter verse seven and when there had been much disputing peter rose up and said and the men and brethren you know how that a good while ago god made choice among us that the gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel and believe and god which knoweth the hearts bear them witness giving them the holy ghost even as he did unto us and put no difference between us and them purifying their hearts by faith now therefore why tempt god to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear but we believe that through the grace of the lord jesus christ we shall be saved even as they then all the multitude kept silence and gave audience to barnabas and paul declaring what miracles and wonders god had wrought among the gentiles by them and after they had held their peace james answered saying men and brethren harken unto me simian at the cleared how god at the first did visit the gentiles to take out of them a people for his name and to disagree the words of the prophets as it is written after this i will return and will build again the tabernacle of david which is fallen down and i will build again the ruins thereof and i will set it up that the residue of men might seek after the lord and all the gentiles upon whom my name is called sayeth the lord who doeth all these things known unto god are all his works from the beginning of the world wherefore my sentence is that we trouble not them which from among the gentiles are turned to god but that we write unto them that they abstain from pollutions of idols and from fornication and from things strangled and from blood for moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him being read in the synagogues every sabbath day so it says i'll pause for a second i want to continue my thought of why i think there's a difference here but both peter and james are bringing up how this doctrine makes perfect sense the gentiles are saved and in this he's calling them gentiles and that they're saved by faith not by following the law because no one could follow the law he's saying we can't follow the law why would we expect gentiles to follow the law okay now he brings up a list of things that they're they should do i'm gonna i'm gonna mention that again in a moment verse 21 for moses of old time oh sorry verse 22 then it pleased then pleased that the apostles and others with the whole church to send chosen men of their own company to anioc with paul and barnabas namely judas surname bar sabbath and silas chief men among the brethren and they wrote letters by them after this manner the apostles and elders and brethrens in greeting unto the brethren which are of the gentiles and antioc and syria and silicia for as much as we have heard that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words subverting your souls he must be circumcised and keep the law to whom we gave no such commandment it seemed good unto us being assembled with one accord to send chosen men unto you with our beloved barnabas and paul so what they say is they say hey whoever that was that came from here saying all this junk we didn't tell them that they weren't really sent from us we didn't give them that kind of a commandment so i believe would you understand what they're kind of saying here this draws a difference between these false brethren that went there of their own accord and the brethren that are there which believe and what probably happened is that there was some judas iscariots in this church who started kind of taking aside certain people of the church and teaching them their little false doctrine privately and a secret manner and they got a little bit they got some people mixed up and then they moved on to antioc to try and get all of them infected with their garbage a little leaven leaven at the whole lump so whenever paul and barnabas come down here they're running into people that are saved but really mixed up on this issue now of course some people don't necessarily like this but i personally do believe that someone who's saved can get a little bit mixed up on the gospel now otherwise the whole book of glations wouldn't make sense if you can't even get even a little bit mixed up then he would just tell me you guys need to get saved because you have the wrong gospel i believe that someone can get a little bit mixed up start saying the wrong things there's some kind of an issue here and this is how i personally reconcile it if someone's off on the gospel but you know like they believe right in the past or they they've had the knowledge or they've said the right things in the past then basically when confronted and strongly rebuked they're going to immediately repent and get the right doctrine again they're not going to resist it they're going to be like oh yeah you're right oh no you're you're of course that's right and you can even see that sometimes there's churches out there where pastors will get up and they'll say weird things like you got to repent of your sins to be saved and then you're like what does that mean and i'm like well you know you gotta be like sorry for your sin and you're like well do you have to be sorry or do you just have to acknowledge you're a sinner like well i guess you just have to acknowledge that you're a sinner it's like i don't think that guy's unsaved just because he said something wrong or was kind of mixed up or saying some weird stuff you know and then you say well actually the bible is saying a free gift you're like no you're right that is what the bible says yeah i agree that i think that person's saved i don't think that they need to get resaved or something weird like that okay but when someone's saying you gotta repent of your sins you're like what do you mean by that and they're like well you gotta have a change in your life and you're like well show me that in the bible and then they start showing you like weird parables and they start showing you all this stuff out of context in the bible and you're like and they start misinterpreting everything you're just like whoa that this person is just actually just not even saved okay that's where you kind of see the difference between these two people now of course if someone's mixed up on the gospel and they're unwilling to change it doesn't matter to me if they're saved or not i'm gonna have no fellowship with that individual you know after the first and second admonition i'm gonna reject that heretic you know man that is in heretic after the first and second admonition reject the bible doesn't say whether they're saved or not it doesn't say what you think about them it's just saying look when someone's just way off you want to get away from these people and even the apostle paul kind of alludes to that in the book of galatians he's like he's like rebuking these people saying like i'm afraid of you now why is he saying i'm afraid of you because he's saying like i don't know if you're the mixed up kind or you're just an unsaved reprobate and when you read the bible this makes sense because there's a lot of places where paul kind of brings these things up you know he brings up how you have to know that christ is in you except you be reprobate and he's he's kind of alluding to the fact that there's possibly people in the church that have been faking and they're just actually reprobates or whatever and there's people that you don't know and of course it's easy to think about this when you understand there's a lot of new believers right and when you have new believers come into a church imagine having a lot of judices a lot of weirdos they take them aside they teach them weird soul-winning techniques and all kinds of stuff and they end up just kind of being weird at first but it's not really their fault entirely they've just been kind of led astray and taken aside and and we have to kind of correct that bring them back into the fold and look you know even taking over this church there was a few issues that you know there were some weird people in the church that were teaching some weird junk taking people aside and you know after laying out what the bible says a lot of people changed and got things right and kind of figured out okay this is the right doctrine and it it's just what happens you know when i went to faith board baptist church strangely enough there was a whole group that started denying the trinity but they were doing it privately they weren't open about it they weren't saying that that's what they believe they're kind of like doing in their little group well amongst that group there was still other people that were kind of off or or didn't know what they believe you're kind of confused in the time but then after pastor anderson preached like three sermons in a row on the trinity a lot of those people were like oh okay yeah you're right and they kind of cleaned it up they figured out what's going on and all the people that just didn't agree with that just left the church and were heretics and it was it made it really manifest what happened so that's what i'm saying like when the apostle paul shows up and then they just like salvations by faith this is a false doctrine all the people that believe are going to just straighten up you know they're going to get it right they're going to get back in line and all the people that are heretics whatever are going to be manifested among the group and they'll get cast out and whatever and you'll kind of figure out where everybody shakes down but sometimes this happens in a church you know if you're not preaching consistent doctrine if you're not laying down all the fundamentals on a regular basis and you're reaching a lot of people especially or your new people are being added you could get just small groups or small pockets that believe we're junk and i personally believe right now if you went to a lot of these large independent fundamental baptist churches if you started preaching really sharp on some of these fundamental doctrines you would notice there's some people that don't believe them it's that typically sometimes churches they get really lax and lazy and take for granted certain doctrines and so it affords people with all kinds of viewpoints and even unsaved people to be attracted to the church or whatever and you know it's my my belief that the best way to run our church is to just constantly just hammer all the fundamentals over and over be really sharp and be really unwelcoming to false doctrine be really unwelcoming to stupid ideas like the flat earth theory now i get this false accusation that i throw people out for believing that i've never thrown anybody out for believing that but i want you to feel really uncomfortable like to where you'll throw yourself out okay if you still believe that nonsense because you just show you're like such an idiot that you make everyone else look bad and i never and then of course that's the only thing we want to talk about and i don't want to talk about that so it's just like it's oil and water folks you know we just want to get that person out here by preaching the right things you're gonna get the wrong people out and and of course any church can have this happen anytime because no one's perfect no one's always seeing every angle sometimes you just you just take things for granted and you don't realize how you need to constantly hammer on all this stuff and it finally got brought out it finally got manifested and that's what happens usually false false doctrines gonna eke out eventually and then you just hammer it down you know you're just like no this is wicked get out of here and you lose people or whatever and that's fine if they're the wrong if they're the wrong kind of people you don't want them anyways okay now in this chapter he brought up in verse 20 but that which we write unto them that they abstained from pollutions of idols and from fornication and from being strangled and from blood now I've heard different interpretations of this verse I personally believe that the way to interpret this verse is that they're not saying this is the necessary for the Christian life because otherwise he'd have to be like oh yeah I just want to give you the whole Bible again but he doesn't need to do that why does he not need to give them all of the instructions we'll look at the next verse he says for Moses of old time have in every city them that preach him being read in the synagogues every Saturday he's like I don't need to bring up thou shalt not kill I don't need to bring up honor thy father thy mother I don't need to bring up you know all the different idol passages and all the I mean they already got the Old Testament let's just hammer a couple of things that are really important to the Gentiles and of course if you think about what are the Gentiles biggest sins isn't it gonna be sacrifice the idols and fornication I mean if you're gonna think about like what are the two biggest sins they're probably affecting the most people it's probably these things he's bringing up right idols fornication and eating these weird animal things or whatever so I don't believe that this is James bring in other Judaizing or anything he just he's just reiterating hey here are some stuff you shouldn't be doing you know here's some other stuff to avoid here's some big big ticket items just like a sermon sometimes in a sermon you're not gonna cover everything you need to do you cover one topic at a time right you're gonna write a letter to these people you're gonna bring up certain things think about the letters we even have first Corinthians Galatians Ephesians think about Philemon that doesn't cover every topic in Christian life it's covering one topic so of course some epistles are only gonna bring up certain things that are really important really relevant at the time issues people are dealing with you look at the seven churches which are in Asia what's a really common issue in those churches people preaching to eat things sacrifice and idols and fornication you got Jezebel involved in that kind of junk you got another church that's involved in that kind of doctrine and that kind of false talk so of course this is a common theme you find in the Bible that's why they're making such a stressed element about this okay and I believe that it's right what they're saying it even says in verse 28 for it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things the abstained from meats offered idols and from blood everything strangled and fornication from which if you keep yourselves you should do well very well she's basically saying like look guys get the idols and the fornication out of your life and you're gonna be doing pretty good and of course aren't those two things listed in first Corinthians chapter 5 is things that will get you thrown out of church so he really wants to clean up those items and he's just like you get these ones right you're gonna be doing pretty good you know it's it's of course again they're not gonna write a letter saying here's every commandment folks okay and you'd have to almost believe they're lying when they said here very clearly that it seemed good under the Holy Ghost and unto us what does the Holy Ghost do brings all things to remembrance does it not something so when they say it seemed good on the Holy Ghost what are they saying they're saying we sat down and we prayed and said Lord what what do you want us to tell these Gentiles and verses flooded their mind about fornication and eating things sacrifice and idols and then that's kind of it and they're like okay so then they're writing this business saying hey it seemed good on the Holy Ghost and unto us these are the only burdens we really felt necessary to tell you right now but you know they're not bringing up circumcision you know they're not bringing up blowing the shofar you know they're not bringing up silly hats okay they're bringing up things are actually commandments found in the scripture and of course it's not to say that you have to follow that to be saved it's just saying the Christian life right go back to Galatians chapter number two so I think it's important to kind of explain acts 15 a little bit because it helps us with Galatians chapter 2 in the context okay and I know I've preached through acts but I think I preached it at pure words so you know maybe some of y'all didn't hear some of my acts preaching but Galatians chapter number two it says in verse number four and that because of false brethren unawares brought in who came in privilege of spider liberty which we have in Christ Jesus that might bring us into bondage to whom we gave place by subjection no not for an hour that the truth of the gospel might continue with you it's like how tolerant are you of false preaching pastor Shelley not for an hour and again I preach this before but it's like you go to a church service and they start preaching works just get out of there just leave like he's saying the pasta pasta and I won't put up with this for an hour you know and and of course an hour makes sense think about this don't we put up with with work salvation for about 15 20 minutes at the door yeah I mean we walk we're trying to get unsaved people saved I don't expect them to give me the right gospel they're gonna give me work salvation at first but then you give them the first admonition and then you give them the second admission here's the thing if you have been preaching at the door for over an hour you're doing something wrong right because what is he saying hey I'm not gonna get placed this for an hour so notice that that even almost confirms to you how soul winning is not like this super long process you know I've heard Paul washer who's a false prophet and false teacher he talks about how it takes him hours to get people saved like he has to sit them down they have to feel really sorry and just really bad and really want to turn their sins whatever I'm gonna be talking about he went to Alaska or something he sat with a guy for 24 hours and they just read John 3 16 like forever he's just like that's a weird process bro like it shouldn't take an hour okay if it takes over an hour the person is probably not interested at the time you just move on okay you give plant the seed move on right sometimes preaching the gospel might take 30 minutes 40 minutes in a real rare circumstance in my opinion but if you're taking much more than 20 25 minutes you're probably not doing something right or your weight you're like wasting time with someone that's not interested and so that's just something to kind of keep in mind I've noticed especially in years past like people come up to me like oh this person's gospel presentation is 45 minutes every time and it's like that's kind of a red flag I'm not saying that person's a bad person but there's some kind of an issue there and that should probably be addressed now of course we're not trying to give the gospel in five seconds I get that it should take 10 15 minutes but at the end of the day it should take about 10 15 minutes it shouldn't take you know an hour if it's taking an hour there's some kind of an issue he says here also in verse number six but of these who seem to be somewhat whatsoever they were I make it no matter to me God accepted no man's person for they who seem to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me now what what the Apostle Paul is trying to say here is he's saying hey even though those guys I talked to privately that were of reputation he's like it doesn't matter to me that they were in reputation or not because I'm not a respecter of persons if you're in reputation and you're preaching a false gospel I don't want anything to do with you he's basically saying like it doesn't matter to me if you're a reputation or not if you're wrong you're wrong okay and he's also saying those that were of reputation though I did talk to them and and we were in conference but they didn't add anything unto me meaning the Apostle Paul since you know he'd never really talked with other people about all this he's just going straight from the Bible he kind of he obviously believes that he's right otherwise he wouldn't be doing what he's doing but the same time the Bible says in the multitude of counselors there is safety right so he's kind of also it's nice every once in a while to have other people tell you the same thing you know it happens to me I'll I'll think of something and it kind of seems newer to me like it's something I hadn't maybe thought of or an interpretation or something and I'll call someone else and I'll ask them what they think and I'll admit this there's been times where I've called and asked the pastor what they think about something after I preached it okay and it's not that I changed my mind it's just nice to have other people tell you what they think and it's nice to hear oh yeah that's what I think too yeah I think you're right or whatever and and that's kind of I think what the apostle Paul's doing here he's just basically saying like yeah I kind of check with these people making sure I didn't do anything weird but it ends up everything I said was right everything I'm doing is right they didn't add anything to me they didn't say oh yeah you forgot this really important thing to getting saved or you didn't you forgot to tell the Gentiles to do this thing or something saying they didn't add anything to me says the verse 7 but contrary wise so instead of telling me I did something wrong they're basically gonna commend me they're gonna say wow this is great contrary wise meaning the opposite when they saw that the gospel the uncircumcision was committed unto me as the gospel the circumcision was unto Peter for he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles so they're saying actually they were like impressed of how many Gentiles got saved and all the works that God had done through me anything they kind of noticed that how God really used Peter to reach Jews and to reach the circumcision it was like Paul had the same gifting but towards the Gentiles and what he's basically saying is even though it's not really man that makes the difference it's God inside of you but the more that you're filled with the spirit the more effective God is gonna be in your life and they're just saying they're just noticing like Peter was a more effective evangelist a more effective preacher than the other apostles okay he was doing the most works getting the most people saved most people baptized the most effective sermon like every everything was just Peters just you know rocking it you know Peters is doing great and they're saying they kind of think it's limited to Peter like Oh Peters the greatest but then they notice like oh wow actually Paul is doing the same kind of numbers the same kind of effect but amongst the circuit the uncircumcised you know the Gentiles and in fact in reality we know Paul is doing more and even Paul says he labored more abundantly than they all so they're thinking like oh wow actually Paul is having the same he's very effective that's what it means by effectual effectual is that same root word of effect effect cause and effect and he's basically saying if think about this effective that's kind of what it's saying it's saying hey Peter was really effective with the Jews and Paul was really effective with the Gentiles meaning he really did a good job reached a lot of people ought to be converted it worked things were working you know and let me say this Christianity works if you have a Christianity that's doing nothing there's something wrong and and really it's not so much you that's wrong it's that you're not being filled with the spirit because the spirits the one that's going to produce all the fruit and all the works and so really when someone is doing a lot of great works for God are reaching a lot of people it means that God's spirit is coming out of that person more than other people and and again all the glory then goes to God because it's it's not me that special it's not any person that special it's not my flesh it's not like oh I did extra push-ups today so I'm gonna get more people saved or you know whatever carnal things that I do but rather it's a person that's allowing the Lord Jesus Christ allowing the spirit to work through them and it's just basically a willing vessel you know that's all that God ever wants is a willing vessel it's not like you know when we think about men in the Bible it's not like Moses it's not like Abraham it's not like these guys are just something special carnally speaking it's just they were willing to be used that's all that God wants and you think about some of the people God used think about Peter Peter whenever he was approached by the Lord Jesus Christ he said depart from me Lord for I'm a sinful man he didn't say like of course you're picking Peter because in reality it's not like God's just looking down from heaven and just like oh here's the guy that has the least amount of sin I'm gonna use him the most I don't believe that's exactly what that's not how it works if the person has the most faith and is most willing not the least sinful now of course you know our sin has some relevance to this right of course when we're sinning we're quenching the spirit we're sinning God can be unpleased with us and God you know may not use us as much but just generally speaking it's not like some quantity of sin or something balanced it's more about being a willing faithful servant I mean that is gonna help you understand the Bible it's like why is God constantly using Samson Samson sleeping with whores like Samson just going from like prostitute to prostitute to whore and God's still using him you're like why it's not because he's just so much more righteous than everybody else necessarily it's because he has so much more faith and is a willing servant of God he's willing to go out there and fight the battles and to do right and let me tell you something you know what no matter where you are in Christianity you just need to be willing to be used by God you know some people I've heard this stupid doctrine taught by fundamental Baptist they would say like oh you're preaching a false gospel if you sinned really bad this week and then you go soul-winning and I'm thinking like what kind of stupid junk is that and think about the logic like number one let's say you did sin bad okay what are you supposed to do just never serve God again like what do you want that person to do wouldn't you want them to get back into church and to go back to serving God right away why would I be like hey you sent you need to cool down buddy stop serving God for a while because you're a little too sinful it's like no no no no get right back on the horse you know I get back out there and separate you know to say that someone's preaching a false gospel by being sinful and then going soul-winning they're like you're a hypocrite and I'm like actually you're a good example because we believe salvation is by faith it's like oh how are you you're a hypocrite to go out there and sin and then preach a free gospel no no no it's free that's what you believe I believe it's free so it doesn't matter how bad of a sinner I am I should just always be a soul winner if you screw up and do wrong and you're thrown in prison soul went in prison you know it doesn't really matter where you find yourself you can preach the gospel and that's the cool thing it's like no matter how bad you screw up you could always preach the gospel you can always be so and that's the only thing that really matters is being someone that's that's sharing the light and getting people saved and you know the Apostle Paul let's think about him was he really a some of those never sinful he calls himself something the chief of sinners I believe that's tongue-in-cheek because he's not a reprobate psychopath okay folks but he's just saying in general he's like I was one of the worst sinners but then didn't God use him one of the greatest people ever so it's like I don't care how bad your past is why don't you start serving him now why don't you start doing good now says in verse number nine when James Sivas and John who seemed to be pillars perceived the grace that was given unto me they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship that we should go into the heathen and they under the circumcision now think about just think about this for half a second okay James Sivas which is Peter and John when they encountered Jesus they immediately left everything and followed Jesus they for you know I don't know the right time I'm just throwing out the three-and-a-half years I don't know if that's biblical or not whatever the amount of time ministry they're there they follow the Lord Jesus Christ these people saw Jesus Christ on the Mount Transfiguration they saw with their own eyes they were there at the mouth of Jesus is spoon feeding them doctrine they saw all the miracles and they were faithful and they were there they were there to carry the bag and do all the work what was the Apostle Paul doing well he was Saul and he was in the false religion and then even started killing Christians and then started hailing people it's like but then who does more Paul and you would almost think like how is that fair that the guys that were really faithful and plugged in ended up doing less than the guy that was screwed everything up and was wrong for so long and you say why because Paul was willing to get the Gentile saved and you know who wasn't willing James is they're not as interested to go to the Gentiles they're not they're kind of like Gentiles and you'll see even in this passage when James comes up to Antioch he won't even eat with the Gentiles let alone give him the gospel what would be the worst soul winner to go to the Gentiles is someone that won't even eat with them you know whereas Paul has no problem going in there and doing the dirty work and doing it and I think you know it's probably there's a reason why God gave Paul that background is that Paul is not going to look down on Gentiles for being sinful because he was sinful it's like what a hypocrite for Paul would be like oh you guys are a bunch of sinful jerks or whatever it's just like you know sometimes God gives you a rough past so you have empathy and you'll extend grace unto people that need it instead of having this pious self-righteous attitude of like oh why don't you just come up to my level and get the gospel you know the Calvinist that expects everybody to just fall down at their knees at church and ask them how to get saved it's like a lot of people are gonna do that you're gonna have to go to the ghetto and not only just American ghetto how about the world's ghetto because I'll tell you something the ghetto of this area is not the ghetto of Mexico and lots of people are like well I don't have to go there you know well God's not gonna use you there then you know God's gonna use there someone who wants to go and let me tell you this there are plenty there are millions and millions of people on this planet that speak Spanish better than me and Dylan way better but you know what we're gonna get more people saved in Spanish than a lot of those people for one reason we're willing they might have it's like why spend my whole life learning Spanish and it's like I'm a gringo and I know enough to get them safe but you know why I'm gonna be used better than them because I'm willing to go you know what God is gonna use those who are willing to serve him who are willing to do the right thing you know we just need to get plugged in and say hey here my Lord send me now he says in verse 10 only they would that we should remember the poor the same which I also as for to do so he says the only thing they brought up the only thing they brought up hey remember the poor and then Paul says hey I was already doing that so doesn't that add to the fact that hey didn't add anything they didn't bring up something that I was just like oh yeah the poor I forgot about them he's saying no no I remember the poor I was helping them to verse 11 but when Peter was come to Antioch so this is a difference this is it he's now telling them about a different story and again why is he bringing up all these stories he's trying to remind the Galatians like look folks I got you guys saved I gave you the gospel even when I checked with every single one of these people from Jerusalem they all agreed with me you guys are the ones that are wrong okay and let me even top it off I don't only just rebuke you guys let me tell you somebody else who I rebuke it was Peter look at verse number 11 but when Peter was come to Antioch I was stood him to the face because he was to be blamed for before that certain came from James he did eat with the Gentiles when they were come he withdrew and separate himself fearing them which were of the circumcision and the other Jews assembled likewise with them in so much that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation now the simulation is kind of deceit it's it's something that's you know not on the up-and-up and so he's just saying hey these other Jews are being tricked and deceived and kind of caught away and this this stupidity of thinking that they can't now eat and we see that Peters a little bit of respect their persons which is that really hard to believe that Peter cares what other people think the guy who won't even confess Christ before the damsel I mean if you if you can if you look at Peter consistently throughout the Bible he struggles with being a people pleaser he struggles with caring what other people think about that's something Paul didn't struggle with Paul doesn't really care what anybody thinks about him whereas Peter is a little bit more you know Peters a great character because he's more like us you know the apostle Paul's like this unattainable person I feel like you know none of us are probably never be as great as the apostle Paul but we can all like we can all be like Peter and you know we struggle we sin we were sinful we have these problems we can respect as a persons we have you know we can all have these kind of issues at times and he basically Peters kind of afraid of people looking down on him or getting you know people to not like what he's doing and it the peer pressure gets to Peter peer pressure can get to all of us there's always that there's always that time where you're around your family friends or someone and they bring something up and you kind of want to like you like watch the sodomite deception you know but you're like no yeah whatever are you just you're afraid is you're afraid to speak up you know are you gonna vote for that woman governor no it's like well she has some good policies yeah I could see what you're talking about it's like no get back in the kitchen and make me a sandwich it's like oh are you so worried if all the women governors don't get elected and in the next few days I don't care do you really think that God's gonna save our nation through a woman governor it's like what faith you even have and it's like well we need Republicans to win all these elections or our country's gonna go to hell in a handbasket it's already hell in a handbasket folks you really think the Republicans it's like it's gonna be good I mean Sean Hannity has drag queens come on Fox News he had Caitlyn he had that Caitlyn freak or whatever Jenner Bruce Jenner come on there and pretend like he's a girl and Sean Hannity acts like he's a girl that's Fox News for you oh if you get the Republicans back in there you know then we won't have child you know surgeries without the consent of a parent for a while oh wow that was that's a big stand you took I mean what is what even the stand of these Republicans anymore it's like you can't you know give surgeries to minors unless the parents and the kids sign off or something it's like what's next you know child sacrifice if the child signs a waiver you know it's like what I mean what's the next step in Satanism I don't even know anymore but no I'm not I'm not gonna sit here in Caltech but of course couldn't that peer pressure you're in the work everybody else is saying you know I'm gonna vote for the woman or whatever and just like you just don't want to say anything or you get carried away or you get you allow yourself you know like oh did you hear about this church steadfast what's that's a weird spelling who spells a church like that you know it's like it would be easy to get carried away and something like that and of course we shouldn't but even Peter at times gets a little chicken you know he's a little bit afraid to kind of do the right thing and frankly speaking this is in front of other Christians you know I think there's a lot of Christians I'll say that I think there's a lot of churches that like us and like our doctrine but they're terrified to tell their friends that they like us because they don't want to be they're like oh I won't be invited to conferences or I'll be ostracized or all get defunded or whatever whatever happened just by saying they like our church you know it it's stupid you know hey we might be Gentiles but we're saved okay we're not lesser Christians or something like that you're still supposed to love the brethren you know I don't have a problem liking Christians that are mixed up or wrong and other things if you ever know anything about our churches or my church or our friends churches we're not the ones that like ostracize from everybody it's them they don't like us we try to like people it's just they don't want to like us oftentimes and you know I think that that's silly and and they should be called out for it frankly like Paul's calling out Peter here and and notice how he does it verse 14 when I saw they walked not uprightly according to the gospel I said unto Peter before them all if thou being a Jew liveth after the man of Gentiles and not as do the Jews why compel us now the Gentiles to live as do the Jews he said hey you live like a Gentile what are you doing buddy he's calling him out on the carpet and notice what does before them all you know people get mad they'll be like Oh pastor Shelley why'd you have to call that pastor out online on YouTube it's public I don't like it it's like well you don't like the Bible because the Apostle Paul called people out publicly and honestly you don't like being called out publicly because you're wrong with you're not right with God because anybody that's right with God if they're called out legitimately can take that why not you know I if someone made a sermon or made a video clip it's like pastor Shelley's wrong about X Y & Z and I'm wrong you know maybe it might hurt at first you know when they've made all the memes of me or whatever but I'll just be like you know what hey praise God that that's the right doctrine I can just be like you're right that's right why not why do I why do I have to be like you know just so afraid of someone calling me out or something like that it's like if you're wrong you're wrong just fix it there's nothing wrong with having to fix something or being wrong about something or someone even calling you out on something you know the worst is when you can't be called out the worst is when someone came out you say hey you're wrong on this and you're like yeah that's me you know it's kind of it makes me think of how all these celebrities and people online are saying like oh the Jews control of Hollywood and they're like that's anti-semitic and it's like but is it true it's like why do they never say it's it's a lie it's like if it's true you know the truth won't hurt you the truth is your friend what will hurt you is lies you know the Bible says faithful are the wounds of a friend it would be embarrassing to be called out publicly for anything of course and you know my personal opinion is that if if it's something that can be done privately it should always be done privately but when it affects a lot of people it sometimes has to be a public thing it's not like Peter's sitting by himself and no one else notices noticed by Peter doing this he drew a crowd he drew everybody else with them so Paul doesn't need to fix Peter Paul needs to pick Peter Barnabas and all the other Jews so what is he doing he's calling him all out so it's like someone that puts their sermons out online is affecting a lie a large population or a large segment of Christianity or my church their church where if they do something wrong it almost has to be a public rebuke because we need everyone to get that right we need everybody to fix the problem not to just be like hey whisper you get it right so that's that's the that's the con to putting yourself out there is that sometimes you get called out sometimes what you do is public but you know it's not a shame to do something wrong it's a shame to not get it right in my opinion because we're all gonna do things that are wrong no one's perfect you know it's when when I see someone do something wrong get called out I'm usually only care about the response the response is so much more important than what they did in many cases and and of course you know for Peter here he just needs to get it right says in verse 15 we who are Jews by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by the faith of Jesus Christ even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law for by the works of the law so no place we justified so the Apostle Paul this context of this verse he's saying look if we who actually were following the law and were Jews were only saved by faith then how much more than Gentiles he's saying like this doesn't even make any sense we know that we were saved by faith so then why would we expect someone who's not part of the law to believe something we don't even believe to do something that we're not even doing you know he's saying hey yeah we're Jews but we're living like Gentiles and we're believing it's by faith alone why would we expect them to believe faith plus Judaism though we're not even doing and you know what I think is in verse 14 he says if thou being a Jew live is after the manner of Gentiles someone brought this up to me say hey in Acts chapter 10 when the Apostle Peter was told to eat unclean beasts because it says rise slay and eat you know rise Peter kill and eat depending on which chapter you're looking at killer slates same thing and someone asked me this you think Peter's like eating bacon and I'm like yeah I mean that was the new it's the better testament Peter showed up and they're like have you had a bacon cheeseburger and he's like no but I'm ready yeah I've been waiting my whole life for this you know it's like I believe he probably was eating unclean meat I can't I can't prove it a hundred percent but in some ways he wasn't following the Jewish law because notice what the Bible clearly says if thou being a Jew live is after the manner of the Gentiles and what was he doing he was eating with the Gentiles therefore it's a pretty logical conclusion to think Peter probably ate pork he probably ate you know unclean beast quote unquote in the New Testament but you know he got he's eating a bacon burger and all these people come to Judaism and they're like this isn't kosher and he's like oh okay yeah I'm not gonna eat that you know bacon and and and Paul's like bacon you're gonna eat that bacon all of you you know this is this is silly verse 17 but if while we were while we seek to be justified by Christ we ourselves also have found sinners is there for Christ the minister of sin god forbid so he's saying in verse 17 this okay Peter if we have to follow those old customs then how come you and me have been not following them all this time through the spirit we were we were walking in the spirit and eating bacon and we didn't feel bad about is then Christ a minister of sin was Christ leading you to eat the bacon was Christ leading you to not live after the Jew because he's like saying if he was then you're making Christ a minister of sin you're saying you knew you're walking in the spirit when you did those things and then you still you're still thinking that that's somehow wrong it's like then you would be making Christ the minister of sin and you say that's that's exaggerated to say eating bacon was walking the spirit but wait a minute wasn't the Apostle Paul all things to all men that by all means I might save some and wasn't he saying how he was gonna eat whatever set before him so that he would you know basically able to reach many people so yeah they said they go to their house they said bacon before he's tearing that up so that he can give that guy the gospel and you know he's walking in the spirit when he does it because by his faith he knows that there's no thing that's unclean of itself it's sanctified by the Word of God and prayer and you know it is sanctified through that faith in their heart so yeah they were eating those meats through faith in the spirit so they could get people saved so they could reach people with the gospel and he's saying hey if you were doing that and realizing what you were doing and now you're saying it's wrong you're making Christ a minister of sin but he's not a minister of sin God forbid for if I build again the things which I destroyed I make myself a transgust so he's saying hey I go back to all those things that I've already considered done I'm gonna be a transgressor because I'm not doing that you're not doing that so are we gonna sit here and condemn ourselves you know that's what he's kind of bringing up to Peter for I through the law I'm dead to the law that I might live unto God I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live not yet not I but Christ live within me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me I do not frustrate the grace of God for if righteousness come by the law then Christ is dead in vain so he's saying Peter if what you're doing is right you're you're then teaching a false gospel you're mixing up the gospel here even by trying to insinuate that you can't even eat with these Gentiles no Christ has made us one where we've been made one in one body and one spirit we don't have to follow this law I'm dead to the law that's it's the end of the law of righteousness meaning what I'm already righteous it's the end what's the goal what's the conclusion I was made righteous the moment I believed and I fulfilled all the law through Christ Christ fulfilled it for me I believe in him and that's what gives me righteousness and now I'm dead to the law so if I'm dead to the law it has nothing I don't have to do anything anymore okay let's prove that a little bit further go to Romans chapter 7 for a moment Romans chapter number seven and the Bible brings up another analogy to explain being dead to the law okay Romans 7 verse 1 know you not brethren for I speak to them that know the law how that the law hath dominion over man as long as he liveth for the woman which hath and husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth but if the husband be dead she is loose from the law of her husband so then if while her husband liveth she be married to another man she should be called an adulteress but if the her husband be dead she is free from that law so that she has no adulteress though should be married to another man so the Bible saying is just like a woman who's married as long as the person's alive she's married to that person in God's eyes so it doesn't matter how many divorces remarriages and all the nonsense you go through as long as you have someone alive you're married to you're an adulterer when you get remarried or you lie with another person so you have to wait till they die now when they die or you die you're no longer under that law anymore and the same is with the Old Testament in the sense that the moment you believe in Jesus Christ you're it's dead to you it's no longer a husband over you so you don't have to obey any of it now this is where people get confused okay and I want to take a second else it's we're out of time but I'm just to explain this concept okay when it when it means you don't have to do any of it what that means though is a similar way is if if a woman's married to a husband as soon as he dies she never has to obey him ever again in anything but let's say she gets remarried now she has to obey the new husband don't you think that those two husbands had some similar rules like don't commit adultery I mean don't you think it's pretty universal from all husbands like don't commit adultery don't steal don't lie don't do all of these things that's how it is in the old and the New Testament it's like yeah I'm dead to the Old Testament but here's the thing a lot of those things carry over in the sense that I still don't lie steal cheat commit adultery and do whatever but technically it's dead to me and then there's gonna be there's gonna be new differences right the old husband liked Indian food ranch dressing and tea but now that he's dead praise God you have a new husband and he likes brisket you know he likes bacon and and he likes things that are good he's not taking to McDonald's is taking out back okay and so it's the better Testaments the better husband okay and and that's basically to illustrate those differences that are there but what the Apostle Paul is trying to say is I'm I'm technically dead to that law so you can't bring that that junk up to me anymore because Christ isn't telling me to do that Christ in the New Testament and Hebrews and everything else is explaining for us that those things were filled in him so he never he no longer does that like your new husband saying you I fulfilled Indian food okay you don't have to you don't have to go to that health I went there for you okay and now that I'm risen I'm never gonna die anymore you know it has no more power over me you know I've conquered and you don't have to go there you don't have to taste of death okay he tasted death for us so you don't have to taste it you follow my analogy it works really well but you know the the essence of this chapter is that we don't want to mix up the gospel and and we still want to make it clear yes some people are doing this they're just not even saved but then there could be some people that just mix up the way I differentiate is you you rebuke them sharply and if they fix it okay restore fellowship they're safe if they're not have nothing to do with them I don't even care if they're safe I don't think they are I'm just saying treat them as an unsaved heretic Paul's prophet you want to you want to keep distance from that individual because you don't want them to affect you in a negative way and a little 11 11th all up Paul saying I don't frustrate the gospel and you know what's frustrating adding works you know it's frustrating adding repent of your sins you know it's frustrating adding baptism you know it's frustrating adding all of your junk to the gospel it's a free gift and let us never forget that let's close in prayer thank you only father so much for the Word of God thank you for giving us the New Testament the better testament that we're dead to the law that we don't have to suffer the consequences of the law that we've been made free that we get to go to heaven based on the righteousness of your your son the Lord Jesus Christ I pray that we would never allow corruptions of the gospel to affect us or affect our family or our church but we wouldn't even tolerate it that we would keep it sharp in our minds and our hearts and we wouldn't even just let the Judaizing and and the weird doctrine even come in we would just we would all just be crystal clear on that free gift you gave us your unspeakable gift I pray that you would bless us as we go this week in Jesus name we pray amen all right for a final song this evening we'll go to 169 come now fount 169 come now fount song 169 come now fount come now fount of every blessing tune my heart to sing thy grace streams of mercy never ceasing call for songs of loudest praise teach me some melodious sonnet sung by flaming tongues above praise the mount I'm fixed upon it mount of thy redeeming love here I raise mine Ebenezer hither by thy help I'm come and I know by thy good pleasure safely I'll arrive at home Jesus saw me when a stranger wandering from the fold of God he to rescue me from danger interposed his precious blood oh to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be let thy goodness like a fetter bind my wandering heart to thee prone to wander Lord I feel it prone to leave the God I love here's my heart Oh take and seal it seal it for thy courts above thank you all for coming god bless you are dismissed you