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Who Do You Consider Unworthy Of Grace? (Galatians 2:11-16)
GIST: The gospel alone has the power to justify, so if we keep it from anyone, we stand condemned.
As we move through our study in Galatians this morning, we’re catching the end of what has been a narrative section demonstrating the difference the Gospel made in Paul’s life. We’ve seen he was saved on purpose with a purpose, just like all of you who have experienced God’s amazing grace. We’ve also seen that he enjoyed fellowship with the other apostles who had walked with Jesus because they were saved by the same gospel and were pursuing the same mission. This last section of the narrative leads us into what is more the “teaching meat” of the letter, and it picks up after he’s left Jerusalem and returned to Antioch, which was his home base during the missionary journeys. Here, he recounts a time when Peter came to visit. Before I say anything else, let’s just read what happened in verses 11-16.
“11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. 13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?" 15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”
Peter comes to visit, and everything is going really well at first. See, if you were with us when we studied Acts, you might remember that Peter had a dramatic experience that confronted his prejudices. He saw a sheet descending from Heaven with all kinds of animals the ceremonial laws forbade him from eating and heard God’s voice telling him to kill and eat. He refused, and God told him not to call anything common or unclean that He had made clean. Still yet, this happened three times in a row… and Peter kept saying, “no”. Then, a messenger came from Cornelius the centurion who had seen a vision telling him to call for Peter. Cornelius was an “unclean Gentile”. I’m not sure at what point Peter started connecting the dots, but he went and preached the gospel to Cornelius and his whole family, and they were saved! In fact, to make sure Peter didn’t miss the significance of this, they all started speaking in tongues just like Peter had at Pentecost!
He knew the truth of the gospel, and he knew it transcended his personal prejudices. That’s why when he first arrived in Antioch, which was one of the first (if not the first) Christian fellowship that had both Gentile and Jewish Christians fellowshipping together, he was partaking in that fellowship. But then...things changed when a group from Jerusalem showed up who held the same prejudices Peter had grown up with. This leads to Paul having to call Peter out for his hypocrisy.
As our driving question this morning, I want us to be asking ourselves who we consider unworthy of grace. Because, well, here’s our gist: The gospel alone has the power to justify, so if we keep it from anyone, we stand condemned.
I know that was a longer introduction, but I’ll try to be concise as we develop these points. First→
I. The Gospel Alone Has The Power To Justify (15-16)
We’re actually going to take the passage backward a bit and look at why this was such a big deal before we look at the specifics of what happened. Look again at verses 15-16: “15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.” There is really one huge point being made here, but it is one we absolutely have to get ahold of→
We Are Justified By Faith, Not Works. To be justified means to be declared righteous. I’ve heard it explained as to ‘make my heart just as if I’d never sinned’. Being justified is the only way we can ever enter Heaven because our hearts aren’t naturally clean. We aren’t innocent. We’re guilty and deserve punishment. We can’t make ourselves clean enough. Jesus did that. He came. He took our punishment. He endured Hell in our place. He rose again victorious over sin. And, as we’ll see even more next week, He offered to cover us in His righteousness. That’s how we’re justified. If we come to Jesus and surrender control of our lives, stop trying to clean ourselves up, stop running from His grace, we are covered by His grace. When God the Father looks upon us, He no longer sees our sin-stained hearts. He sees the righteousness of His Son.
What Paul is confronting here is a denial of that amazing grace. Remember, these Judiazers would have claimed to believe in Jesus, but by adding to grace they were nullifying it. I heard it explained this week by someone, but I cannot remember who now, like this. If we look at the order of salvation it should look like this: 1. Believe in Jesus. 2. Receive Salvation. 3. Live like Him. See, because we’ve been transformed by His grace, we will want to obey Him. We will want to be more like Him. However, the Judiazers were flipping that order to this: 1. Believe in Jesus. 2. Strive to Keep the Law. 3. Then, if You’re Successful, Receive Salvation. Though they were putting Jesus into their formula, His role was meaningless because salvation was still dependent on human action! Paul minces no words here. “... a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ,” and in case we missed it, he repeats himself: “by works of the law no one will be justified.” The law does not save anyone. It points to our need for salvation. That’s a need shared by everyone— regardless of ethnicity or social status. →
II. So If We Keep It From Anyone, We Stand Condemned (11-14)
Now, let’s look again at what happened in Antioch. “11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. 13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?"” Peter was essentially→
Condemned For Limiting The Gospel Because of Discrimination. Though he knew better and even believed in his heart that Gentiles could be saved and were declared righteous just like Jews, he gave in to the social pressures he had honored all his life. That’s why it’s called hypocrisy. In so doing, he made a public statement that grace wasn’t really enough to change “Gentile sinners” which is exactly the opposite of the gospel he was preaching. What’s even worse is that his example→
Caused Others To Do The Same. Listen, peer pressure isn’t just a “teenage issue”. We spend so much energy telling young people not to be drawn away by negative peer pressure, but sometimes I think adults feel they’ve outgrown the need for that advice. We haven’t. Peter was a well-known person. His words carried weight. His actions were watched. So when he behaved hypocritically, others followed suit. Paul points out that even Barnabas, who had taken Paul in when no one else would, fell victim.
Ok, let’s try to apply this a bit in our→
TAKEAWAYS
You need justified, and this only comes by faith in Jesus. Period.
No one deserves grace, but anyone can receive it. I want to be deliberate about what I’m saying here. You don’t deserve grace, but Jesus loves you enough that He died for you anyway. This is true for any who will come to Him. No, not all will. But woe to us if we take it upon ourselves to determine some are unworthy of grace! Take a moment to think about your prejudices. We live in an area steeped in years of racism. It’s there, guys. You know better, but when you’re around certain people, do you catch yourself falling into the hypocrisy of discrimination? What about “special sins”? Are their groups of sinners you know in your heart can be saved, but if you happen to be around them you keep your distance? That is, if your actions speak louder than your words, what are they telling the lost? From my observations, there are sins we’re quick to overlook when we should be calling them out for what they really are, and there are sins we treat as though they were unforgivable. Here’s the deal. Everyone needs salvation because we’re all naturally trapped in sin and going to Hell. Just as an example, let’s not treat people who are sleeping together before they’re married or getting drunk on the weekends, or watching filthy movies like they have nothing to be forgiven for while treating homosexuals and drug addicts like unforgivable “Gentile sinners”. They all need grace. Just like you.
Be an ambassador for Christ. Peer pressure, or social pressure, or whatever you want to call it is real. We need to keep our eyes open to that and pray our hearts are kept from it pulling us away from Jesus. We also need to realize that everyday people are watching us. We’re part of that invisible social pressure for someone. What are they seeing when they look at your life? They should be seeing Jesus. Pray that you can shine His light wherever He sends you this week because those people need to experience His grace. Show them what it’s done for you.
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