Sermon: Justification: The Heart of the Gospel

All right, let's take a moment and let's pray for God's blessing of His word, read and preached.

We're thankful, our God, that you are God of blessing. You like to bestow good gifts upon your people. And we know that every good gift comes from above. So we pray even this morning as we hold the word in our hands, and then as we hear it with our ears and as we hear it explained and its sense made known to us through the preaching that you would be a giver of good gifts today, that you would bless us with the truth of your word, stir us

by your spirit, and that we would glorify you. And we pray all of this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. Galatians chapter two verses 11 through 16. This is a holy and errand sufficient word of God. But when Fus came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned for before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles. But when they came, he drew back and separated himself fearing the circumcision party.

And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said the Phis 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? We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentiles sinners. 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. Well, the grass withers and the flower fades. The word of God is forever. Thanks. Speak to God. Amen.

This morning we tackle the heart of the gospel, the doctrine of justification. The reformer is called justification. The material cause of the reformation, that it was the material or the substance of the gospel that is justification by faith. The doctrine of justification gives the news of what it is that is required of an individual to be saved.

And they thought this was of the utmost importance. How is an individual saved and it should be of the utmost importance to us as we sit here this morning in this room. And as they articulated it, and as we'll see in this passage, justification is by grace alone in Christ alone through faith alone. I'm gonna see that this morning and this, this doctrine, this heart of the gospel, you, you need to know more than anything else.

And you need to know more than anything else

We've seen in previous weeks that the question of whether Gentiles could be saved was settled. The question that now faced the church was whether or what this looked like as Gentiles were brought into the church and had salvation in Christ. And it may seem like a little bit of an unrelated and gossipy report that Paul gives here about Peter, or as he calls him CFUs in verses 11 through 14. But it brings home the, the very doctrine of

justification and the importance of the doctrine of justification by faith alone. So we're gonna look at it under three points this morning. Our first point, the danger of abandoning the gospel due to fearing men. The danger of abandoning the gospel due to fearing men. The scene that Paul tells us about is a scene of a dinner. It, it could have been the Lord's table, but most likely I think it was not, it was just a gathering

of the church there where they were eating together. And, and they are all there different members of that church in Antioch. Paul is there, Barnabas is there, and Peter has come up from Jerusalem and he is there and Antioch is north of Jerusalem and it is there in Gentile territory. And so you have Gentile Christians that are there, and you have Jewish Christians that are there. And so the issue arises, could a good Jewish Christian

sit down at a table and eat with a Gentile Christian? Because for strict Jews, this was not allowed because gentiles were ceremonially unclean. They didn't abide by the dietary laws. They didn't abide by the ceremonial laws. They, they weren't circumcised. You may remember that scene in Luke 15 where Jesus will sit down with tax collectors and prostitutes and the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the religious elite. And Judaism will look upon him.

And as they look upon him, these Pharisees and scribes, they will say, this man received sinners and eats with them. 'cause you see, Jews didn't do this. He didn't act like this, but one would think that the account of Jesus and then just the entire life of his, his ministry, life on earth, that this would've informed the apostles practice. But, but we see a hiccup in this passage, and the hiccup is Peter. And then Barnabas follows the lead of Peter.

It is interesting, I think, because as you know, many of you know Peter, of all of the apostles of everyone in the early church, he was the first to know that Gentiles were included among the people of God. It is there and Acts 10, where Peter has a vision that is sent from God, and it is a blanket that comes down from heaven. And on that blanket are all of these unclean foods. And the Lord tells him that he is to eat.

And, and, and Peter says, Noah, I've never eaten these things. I've never touched uncles. You were to eat. And Peter knows what this means. As then he's sent off to Cornelius. He, he knows that, that the gospel message salvation has been extended not only to the Jews but to Gentiles. And so it's for the barbarian and the sitan, it's for the slave, it's for the free, it's for the white and the black and the red and the yellow.

It's for the curd, it's for the Korean, it's for all.

Peter knows this. In fact, Paul says in verse 12, he meaning Peter was eating with the Gentiles. This was his practice, but then it stopped being his practice. Why? But Paul says verse 12, certain men, it's derogatory. Certain men came from James. And, and when they came, Peter quote drew back, he, he separated. He, he no longer ate with the Gentile Christians. It appears that James the Apostle had sent some of the Jewish Christians from Jerusalem up to Antioch,

and James was the most important apostle in those early days. And the early church had a, an authority that seemed pretty palpable as you see there in Acts 15 at that Jerusalem council. And these were men, men that were judaizers. You have example of such men in that Acts 15 passage where Luke reports this. He says, some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers. Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses,

you cannot be saved. And in this account, Paul tells us that Peter, when these certain men showed up that he feared these men, verse 12, these are men of some standing. They, they have some reputation. They were connected to the apostle, the Apostle James who had this great influence. And Peter a abandons, the gospel due to fearing men, he once ate with gentiles, and now he no longer eats with Gentiles.

He was either gripped by fear of what they would think of him or maybe what they would report back to Jerusalem about him. And he coward.

It's not so strange in many ways, Peter, like all men was a flawed man. But it's still surprising, or at least it is to me. You think out of everybody, Peter has been through this before where he's being questioned and his reputation and even his life is threatened. And you remember, he denies Christ three different times because he feels a threat to his person and his reputation. He lies he, he lied to that servant girl.

He lied to a man who said he rightly believed Peter had been with Jesus. He lied in the face of another man who was a Galilean who said that he must have followed Jesus. And now he's in troubling circumstances. Again, his reputation is under threat. And so he lies this time not with words, but by his actions. And he abandoned the gospel due to fearing men.

And a mentor once, say, if you preach for their smiles, you'll be held by their frowns.

And that's true wherever you serve in the kingdom. That's true of a preacher. It's true of a pastor, it's true of an elder, it's true of a husband, it's true of a mother, it's true of a wife, it's true of a father, it's true of a brother, it's true of a sister.

If you're serving for smiles, you'll be held by frown.

It's not for men's smiles nor to avoid men's frowns that we live. And Peter knew this. You remember, it's the same Peter who in Acts five, he goes out and he is preaching and he is preaching the name of Jesus. And he is arrested by the high priest and by the guard, and he is taken to prison. And then he is let out of prison by an angel. But he has been charged by the high priest, not to preach Jesus anymore, but as soon as he is let outta prison by an angel,

he goes right to the temple and he starts preaching Christ again. And the high priest sends out the guards and they bring Peter back. And you have that wonderful, beautiful statement by Peter when the high priest says, didn't I charge you not to preach Jesus?

And he says, we must obey God rather than men.

And yet here he does not in the face of his enemies, there's boldness and yet the gaze of friends. And he shrinks in fear.

We never quite master the fear of man. It is just, it just seems to be part of being a fallen human. Some overcompensate for it, some under compensate for it. Some are always bold because they're fearful of what people would think of them. Some are always shrinking because they're fearful of what people would think of them. You and I have to be on constant guard against the fear of man.

Paul, he doesn't mince words. Verse 13, he says, Peter and Barnabas, he says, we're hypocrites. The language comes from the theater where you put one mask on and you take it off, and then you put the other mask on.

Peter and Barnabas, they preached that the gospel was inclusive of Gentiles. And now they acted as though Gentiles were second class citizens in the church. We can undo our words by our living. But let's be clear what we're talking about here. As one commentator pointed out, hypocrisy isn't simply failing to live up to what we believe. That's sin. And we all sin. But that's not the particular sin that Paul was addressing with Peter.

It's not that when we live out our gospel convictions in one situation, but then cover them up in another. That's hypocrisy. And that's what Paul is accusing them of. We do it when we play the Christian on Sunday morning, but then in the office, we're in the classroom or in the neighborhood. We act as though we're not a Christian

to hide them and to act differently as hypocrisy. Example that's often given is of a man that is married, that when he goes into a bar, he takes off his wedding ring and he jams it in his pocket.

He's representing himself as single when the real story is he's married

Peter and Barnabas, they've changed their mass. Peter drew back, but not Paul. He confronted Peter.

The second is the gospel is worth fighting for. The gospel is worth fighting for. No one should like conflict. Most don't, some do, and that's unfortunate. And yet, conflict is sometimes necessary. I told you before, if we are always fighting, there's a problem. If we're never fighting, there's equally a problem The gospel is worth fighting for and upsetting people over. But you gotta be careful because everything is not the gospel.

Be sure that you know what the gospel is. Paul was willing to enter conflict when the gospel was at stake. He says, verse 14, when I saw that the conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, not simply sin, but they're denying the very heart of the gospel. And so he approaches him and he rebukes him. And so Paul says in verse 11, he opposed Peter to his face. Not easy. It's seldom easy to confront someone in their sin or to know how.

Most often it can be done graciously and winsomely. Sometimes it need to. It needs to be direct and firm. It's a wise person that knows when and how and how often.

At a young husband come to me probably 15 years ago, and we've been married for a little while, and he came in, he sat down and he said, pastor, he said, how often should I be correcting my wife?

I said, oh, brother, a lot less than you think.

When how? How often takes wisdom? Paul's an interesting case study. If you read his letters that they're filled with Thanksgiving, he constantly builds up those he writes to, even when he writes to that church in Corinth, which is a mess. I mean, there are divisions in that church. They are saying, Paul is not a true apostle son of them. You got a man that is sleeping with his father's wife. And Paul will say about them, I give thanks

to my God always for you. Really? Yeah. He's liberal in his thanksgiving and his encouragement, and yet he's willing to speak directly in correction when it's needed. So the question is, why here? Why is such boldness here? Because he doesn't do it everywhere. Why here? Well, he has three concerns. One, he was concerned for Peter personally. Paul says verse 11, he stood condemned. Peter was denying the very salvation that he was proclaiming

that salvation is by grace alone. He stood condemned. And this is a reference to the fact that Peter is under the judgment of God. He has concern for Peter personally. Two, he was not only concerned for Peter, but he was concerned for the gospel. And we'll come back to that three. He was not only concerned for Peter in the gospel, but for others because if this apostle was going astray, then the gospel message would be corrupted

and then others would not receive the true gospel that has been given to us. And so out of concern for others and the gospel, and for Peter, he rebukes him. The issue at stake here with his corruption of the gospel was Christian liberty was at stake. Christian liberty was being frowned upon. And it's at the very heart of the gospel.

Has Christ in the gospel truly set people free? That's the question. Has Christ in the gospel truly set people free?

Peter was saying by his actions that Gentiles are not free. They're second class citizens in the church.

They had Jesus. But to truly have the full gospel, to have Jesus all the benefits of Christ and all the benefits of his people, they needed more than Christ.

And that's no gospel. So that leads us to reflect as Paul is led to reflect upon the great truth that underlies his issue with Peter here. And that's our third point. The heart of the gospel, the heart of the gospel, this is worth fighting for. This is worth upsetting people for this. We can't abandon due de fearing men, the heart of the gospel, the doctrine of justification.

There's some discussion about whether verse 15 continues Paul's words to Peter. And depending on what version of the Bible you're using, you'll see the quotation marks end at different points because there's no quotation marks in Greek. They don't have them. And so some of your Bibles, you'll have that quotation beginning in verse 14, and it goes all the way to verse 16. There are others of you that it ends there in verse 14,

the ESV, it ends in verse 14, regardless verses 15 and 16, if they weren't part of the quote that Paul said to Peter, they were the underlying message of what Paul was communicating to Peter. So let's look at it. The heart of the gospel, Paul notes, he says, we ourselves, it's, it's emphatic. He's doubling down. We ourselves, we who are Jews by birth, even we know that a person is not justified by works of the law. Now, justification, it's a legal term.

It comes from the courtroom. And each of us will eventually stand in a courtroom, maybe not in this life, but you will upon death. We stand in a courtroom and to be justified in the courtroom of God is to be declared righteous. It's a, it's a, it's a verdict. You're, you're declared righteous. And each of us wants to be justified to be declared righteous. But as Paul says, that does not come by quote, works of the law, that is the sinner

by virtue of being a sinner, cannot be justified by works of the law. Every work we do, it's it's sin, stained trash because we are sin sustained. The heart is deceitful above all else and desperately sick. There is none who does good. No, not even, even one Isaiah was saying in Isaiah 64, we have all become like one who is unclean. And all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. King James will famously translate that

as our righteous deeds are as filthy rags, just filthy.

There are no righteous deeds before faith. They're just filthy rags.

Then why is it that we think we can offer righteous deeds for our justification? Calvin's wrestling with this in the institutes, and there's a wonderful little section there where he's thinking through this and this idea of what we might call works righteousness, that by our works we can be declared righteous before God. And he says, well, why is it that you and I as sinful human beings, that we gravitate towards that thinking that we, we have something to offer God?

And he says, in essence, is because you and I don't understand the justice of God. And then let me read a quote to you from him.

He says, let us contemplate for ourselves that judge not as our minds naturally imagine him, but as he's depicted in scripture by whose brightness the stars are darkened. Job three, nine, by whose strength the mountains are melted by whose wrath the earth is shaken. Job nine five through six, who catches the wise in their craftiness job? Five 13 beside whose purity all things are defiled. Job 25, 5 whose righteousness not even the angels can bear.

Job four 18. Let us behold him. I say sitting in judgment to examine the deeds of men. And then he asks, who will stand confident before his throne? Who can dwell with this defi devouring fire? Who?

And I ask you, how are you?

Are you gonna stand before a holy God whom even angels have to hide their eyes before

and reach out your hands and say, this is what I bring for my justification.

Look at my good works for acceptance.

Martin Luther, the great reformer of the 16th century, he was a, a man committed to works righteousness before he was saved. And Luther said about his works righteousness. He said, outwardly, I kept myself chased, poor, obedient. I was much given to fasting, watching, praying, saying of masses and the like. We might convert it to our day and say, we have done our daily Bible reading. We have come to morning and evening service.

We have volunteered wherever we could. And yet he says, under the cloak of my outward respectability, I continually mistrusted, doubted, feared, hated, and blaspheme God. My righteousness was a filthy puddle.

And then he says, let me paraphrase. Sudden, Satan loves such people. They are his darlings. Is that what you're going to reach out with? Or maybe it's not that. Maybe it's I Lord, haven't you seen the good deeds just I've done in the world around me? I planted flowers in my neighborhood. I I served at the homeless shelter. I did Meals on wheels. I, but you remember that, that I recycled and even separated the plastic from the aluminum.

Remember that time I was in the drive through line at McDonald's and paid for the person behind me? I didn't know I paid it forward.

And we chuckled because it's, it's so trite all of that. But it's worse than trite. It's offensive to him. Apart from faith.

They're not righteous deeds.

Luther said that Satan loves such people. They are his darlings. Why? Because such people are opposed to God

and are opposed to what he has given in his son.

Opposed? Clear, clear. We're not. Paul says, justified by these works of the law of verse 16. But through faith in Jesus Christ, he says, we ourselves, how were you Paul? How were you Peter? How were you? Barnabas justified. And Paul says, we also believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ. He says in one verse verse 16, he says it three times. You'd almost think he was trying to press it home.

He uses the same phrase three times, not justified by works of the law, we Paul, me, Peter, you Barnabas, you not justified by works of the law. How do you know Paul?

How do you know that? What's the last clause? Because by works of the law, no one will be justified. No one

salvation is by grace alone

through faith alone in Christ alone. It's by grace alone. It's poured out that grace, it's been purchased for us by our savior. And you receive it by faith. We say in theology that, that faith is, is the instrument. It's the instrument by which you and I, we, we receive that grace. And it's not faith. In faith. It's faith. He says faith in Christ. He's the object of our faith. Why? Because all of our salvation is caught up in Christ.

It's all Christ

a great trap. Oh, it's such a great trap. Works righteousness. Some of you are dwelling in this right now.

You think, God, I'm just gonna, I'm gonna do better and I'm gonna keep doing.

And what a burden you've laid on your shoulders because you'll never do enough. You'll never do enough to please God because you can't.

And you're just weighed down with this burden.

And Jesus says to you, come, come to me. All you who are weary and heavy laden, I will give you rest. You just come

unburden ourselves and let us never burden others. And Christ is all we need for salvation.

I just received Christ

or two passages that were going through my mind this morning on the drive in, been both of them. I think we tend to delight in and we also kind of recoil from

the one is that parable that Jesus tells of the workers in the vineyard in Luke's gospel where the master goes out and he goes out into the marketplace and he issues a call for workers at the very beginning of the day. And those workers come and they, he sends them out into his vineyard to work. And then he goes out of the third hour and he calls more at the third hour to come work in the vineyard. And then he goes out of the sixth hour

and then at the ninth hour and then at the 12th hour and then, or at the 11th hour, just right before the day is gonna be over. And those that were called the beginning of the day have worked all day. Those at the 11th hour have only worked for an hour. And the master, when they all come at the end of the day, he, he gives them the same pay.

And we recoil at that so that that doesn't seem fair. That doesn't seem right. The men in the parable that began working at the start of the day that they will cry out and say, this isn't right. We've been under the sun all day. We, we, we, we've worked all day. They only came at the 11th hour and we get what they get. And the master's response is, I have done you no harm.

What's the point? It's all of grace.

It's all of mercy. It's all just a gift.

But we recoil at it because there's this works righteousness. Even those of us that are in Christ, we, it still lingers. Think about the other that I was thinking about on the drive in this morning. There's a thief on the cross. We delight in that and we recoil at it. Here's a man that is a robber and a thief. He's so incorrigible that the Roman government decides to put him to death. That's how much of a robbery he is.

And he's on the cross next to Jesus and he's joined in with the other thief and they're, they're boy both hurling insults at Jesus. And they're both mocking him as they hang there with him. That's what an awful man.

And yet all of a sudden in a moment, he has the thought, I'm here justly. That man's not here justly. And he rebukes the other thief. I'm justly condemned. He's not justly condemned.

And then he makes a request of Jesus when you come into your kingdom,

can I be there with you? That's it.

And when that thief died upon the cross, he immediately went to paradise, heaven and was with Jesus part of us. That recoils of that. This doesn't seem right. He did nothing. He could do nothing. He was on a cross for goodness sakes. But salvation is by grace alone through faith alone and Christ alone.

Imagine he got to heaven. You can imagine getting to heaven. And he had family members there and he had some friends there, maybe people that he had stolen from there. And they walk up and they, you how'd you, you stole from me. You. It's grace

that is to delight our souls. Just delight them that we have a salvation that is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone,

that he gives us his righteousness, imputes it to us. It adorns us as a garment so that when we stand in the courtroom of God, the father looks upon us and he sees the beauty of a son and he declares righteous

given no debt here, righteous right standing. Come enjoy the favor of your master.

Great salvation. The heart of our salvation. Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, that's worth fighting for and that's worth upsetting people over. Let's pray.

Father, we are thankful for this gospel, which is so offensive to works, righteousness minded, fallen creatures, that it's just of grace.

We're thankful that it is not by our works, but it is by the work of our savior. And we find that we're delighting more and more in this great salvation for sinners. In Christ's name. Amen.