Of Law Or Grace?
Part Three of The Sermon Series

Galatians 2:1-6  "Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also. [2]  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. [3]  But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised: [4]  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: [5]  To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. [6]  But of these who seemed to be somewhat, (whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth no man's person:) for they who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me:"

One of the greatest attacks coming on the Church today is not attacks from the outside world. You might think this to be a strange statement, especially in light of the recent killing of Christians in Texas and elsewhere, killings that often come into the very sanctuary of the Church.

Television attacks the Church by promoting violence but, as common sense dictates, people can turn off the television or refuse to attend the violent movies. Video games also attack the Church, but we as parents can forbid our children to play games that are unworthy of the Christian household.

In fact, if we view the situation realistically, the Church in America is in the best position that it has ever been when compared to past history. In the early Church it was acceptable to imprison Christians, to martyr Christians, to mock and kill Christians. The governmental laws not only allowed for such persecution, but often mandated the same. When was the last time you had a century of soldiers break the doors of your house down and haul you off to be fed to the lions? America itself was colonized because England persecuted Christians who failed to follow the dictates of the King and Church of England. When was the last time someone told you which Church you had to worship at, and cast you into the stocks if you failed to obey?

Yes, the world is still the world, and we should have learned long ago that it will always be driven by it's Master, Satan. This should not shock. It is a reality that will only be replaced when Jesus Christ Himself splits the skies and establishes His millennial throne. Yet the world outside doesn't threaten the Church.

It is the world that has crept inside the Church that threatens us, just as it threatened the early Church of Galatia. We must be on the lookout for this worldliness lest it tear apart the fabric of our local Churches.

Galatians 2:1-6  "Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also. [2]  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."

"Grace" (found 170 times in Scripture) is the basis of God's relationship with man, from the creation of Adam and extending beyond time and into eternity. When Adam sinned and God killed animals to clothe both he and Eve (Genesis 3.21), this action was done because of the Grace of God. Justice demanded that Adam pay the penalty, Grace allowed another to stand in as substitute. The Scripture begins with Grace, and the last verse of the Bible ends with Grace:

Revelation 22:21  "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen."

If the beginning and the end of Scripture declare Grace, and Grace is evident in every dealing that God has with man, then we need to place the same emphasis on Grace that God does if we want to be in fellowship with Him. And if we twist Grace, are we not twisting something Divine to our own detriment? Are we not twisting something Divine to the detriment of the Church?

Galatians 2:1  "Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also."

Paul ministered the Gospel, as God called him, for "fourteen years" before he returned to Jerusalem. This is significant because the Apostles, with Peter as their apparent leader, were based in Jerusalem. The Lord Jesus called Paul to be an Apostle, not Peter, not James nor John. In fact, as we discussed before, Matthias (who the Apostles chose to be Judas' replacement) was chosen by the eleven, but ignored by the One who should have called him in the first place. Paul felt that, if he had presented himself before the Apostles before his ministry was proved, then it would seem as if he were asking their approval to be an Apostle. Yet God our Saviour only had chosen Paul to be Judas' replacement, and both Paul and God wanted him to be proven before he went before the Apostles.

When Paul went to Jerusalem, he carried two witnesses with him, "Barnabas, and took Titus with me also". This was in keeping with God's Law, as well as with the teachings of our Lord:

Matthew 18:15  "Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. [16]  But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established."

These witnesses had seen Paul in operation for fourteen years. They stood ready to testify that he had done the work of an Apostle in establishing Churches and spreading the Gospel of Christ. These witnesses were there also to witness what Paul said to the Apostles, particularly Peter, about those who would inject the Law into the Gospel of Grace. Such injections are blasphemous, contrary to that which Christ accomplished for us on the Cross, and should be an offense to any believer who is saved by that Grace.

Galatians 2:2  "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."

There were those in the Church, particularly those "which were of reputation", Apostles and highly regarded ministers, who were pressing the need of adding rituals and rules to the already completed Gospel of Salvation.

The greatest attack that the Devil can bring on the Church is to convince its leadership that Salvation = Grace + Works. When the leadership falls into this error, the flock of God follows the same error. Paul was trying to reach the Gentiles, who were uncircumcised, with the Gospel message. Yet Church leaders were teaching that Grace that results in salvation must be added to to be effective. When you presuppose this, you denigrate that which Christ finished on the Cross as something unfinished that I must add to.

This is a heinous attack of Satan on the Church from within the Church.

The minister must not "run, in vain". When the minister preaches Salvation = Grace + Works he destroys the standard that God has established between Himself and His Creation. You cannot take God's formula, which is Salvation = Grace = Works, twist it, and build the Church. If the foundation of a house is rotted, the rest of the house is just as surely suspect. What says the Scripture?

2 Timothy 1:9-10 "Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, [10]  But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:"

We are saved by Grace alone, "not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace". The minister who builds the Church according to God's directive, according to God's heart, builds a Church as if he were God's own hand. This Church will learns to apply Grace principles in all their dealing with one another and with the world. This Church will clearly reflect the light of Christ, crucified and resurrected, and not have that light dimmed by the shade of a works theology.

Let me ask you this question, and thus determine your heart and Grace. Is a minister a minister because he is better than you are, or a deacon a deacon because he is better? Was an Apostle an Apostle because he "worked his way" to the top of the pecking order? If you answer "yes" to these questions, then you do not understand the Grace of God at all.

Ephesians 3:6-8 "That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: [7]  Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. [8]  Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;"

Just as Paul was made an Apostle by the Grace of Christ, made an Apostle though he little deserved it, every true minister of God who stands before you is an example of God's Grace in action. We little deserve the role God bestowed on us. We realize our weaknesses. We are not intellectual giants who worked our way to the top of the heap, but we are God's chosen ministers, chosen because He chose, and in this place because He decreed it. This is a humbling thought, and a thought sorely missing in the Church where Salvation = Grace + Works is taught.

The minister who promotes himself as better than the flock builds a flock blinded to the true Grace of God. This is a house built on mud, sure to sink, or to be malleable to the forces of the world without.

Galatians 2:3-5 "But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised: [4]  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: [5]  To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.

What difference is there (now use common sense) if I say "you must be circumcised to complete your salvation" or if I say "you must be baptized to complete your salvation"? Noah was saved by Grace long before God directed Abraham to be circumcised. This is a fact of Scripture:

Hebrews 11:7  "By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith."

In fact, long before Abraham was circumcised (which was a sign only, not a facet of salvation) he followed after God's Grace, and received the blessings of God by faith. Abraham was circumcised because he was saved, not circumcised in order to be saved. The two are extremely different situations.

It is certain that the Christian should be baptized after salvation. In fact, I can conceive of no reason why a believer, a follower of Christ, would not want to follow the ordinance of His Saviour by submitting to baptism. But if baptism, a work, is introduced as a necessary element of salvation, then we have to make certain observations.

• How is the ordinance to be administered? As a Baptist, I believe that this should be accomplished by immersion in water, and can show you many proofs to support this. But what of our brethren who believe otherwise? Are those who were sprinkled with water yet damned? What about those who were baptized with the formula, "In Jesus' name", as opposed to those who use the formula "in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost"? Are they damned as well?
• Is the baptism to be done in a baptismal pool, or a natural body of water as the early Church did? Those who baptize apart from the early Church example, are these still lost to hell?
• How many times should the believer be immersed? Three times, or once? Those who are baptized according to the wrong formula, are they still unsaved?

Galatians 2:4  "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:"

Those who would introduce anything to salvation outside of God's Grace are "false brethren", PSEUDADELPHOS. These people were inside the Church rolls, members of the local Church outwardly, yet had never accepted Jesus Christ as Saviour in reality. When you add to Grace you pervert it, and destroy its saving power. Paul equates these people to the world, for they are the world:

2 Corinthians 11:26  "In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; "

And every bit as dangerous as the gunman who walks into the Church and opens fire. For, once the foundational truth of God's Word, Grace, is perverted, then the mission of the Church in reaching the lost is compromised. Those who add works to salvation "bring us into bondage", and ruin that perfect Gift that Christ procured for us on the Cross. We were not saved to enter into bondage, but to be freed so that we, supernaturally born people, could serve a supernatural eternal God.

Galatians 2:5 "To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.

Paul's solution to such people is no compromise, to refuse to give place to such a concept "no, not for an hour". We who have accepted Christ as Saviour are saved by Grace alone. We must operate in our lives by that same Grace, giving freely of ourselves to others, freely forgiving those who do not deserve that forgiveness. Grace and Grace thought should flavor every aspect of the believer's life. If the Church, the Body of Christ, has lost its flavor - if it offers only a man created gospel instead of the Gospel of Christ, that Church may grow - but it will not be the Church that Christ established on the earth. It will be a clubhouse, a place to gather, but not a place of supernatural power. Do not bring the bondage of the Law, or of the world, into the Church. To do so is to rob the Church of the true Gospel:

2 Corinthians 5:18-21 "And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; [19]  To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. [20] Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. [21]  For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."

If you do not know this Gospel, the Gospel of Salvation by Grace through faith in Christ Jesus, please accept Him today. Not because of who you are, for you and I are nothing. But because of Who He is, and He is able to save.
 

A British soldier, while fighting in the Battle of Inkerman, was struck by a bullet. He managed to crawl back to his camp and into his tent before he died.  When he was found, he had the Bible opened and stuck to his right hand by blood. When the Bible was pried away from his hand the text stayed on his hand, which read: "I am the Resurrection and the Life; he that believeth on Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." (The Advocate of Truth)

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