Fight For Freedom - Galatians 2:1-10 | Benny Ho

well we love the word of god and we're gonna go continue our series in the book of galatians so if you have your bibles we're gonna go to the next portion hallelujah i'm going to invite you now to pray with me and then we commit this time to the lord i have a important message to share with you today entitled fight for freedom we need to fight for your freedom let's about have a with a prayer father thank you for these wonderful brothers and sisters that are gathered physically here online in city campus as well to hear the sound of your word and i pray this this morning that you will anoint your servant so that i may deliver your word not just as a not just as a sermon but as a message from your heart i pray that your word will come alive and you'll become relevant to us grant your servant a prophetic action so that i may speak the words that are relevant to the people that are listening so we commit this time now to you in jesus name amen amen in april 2002 the national papers in chile reported an interesting story about a family who narrowly escaped death when their roof collapsed okay and the reason why this roof collapsed was because that's the interesting part now why did this roof collapse it collapsed under the weight of pigeon droppings collected over 15 years you know but my point is this you know the family knew all along what the birds were doing on their roof but they did not take any action they just left it alone until it was too late and i think this is what failure to act can do to all of us now sometimes we see stuff that are fundamentally wrong um compromises with truth errors in behavior and we never address them we just let them be we do nothing about them then life goes on the daily effects may not be seen but suddenly it collapse on us and then we are left with one stinking mess you understand what i'm saying and that's what happens you see and some somebody put it this way an inch of action is greater than a mile of intention it can have all the intention in the world but as long as you don't take action nothing happens and i want you to know that the apostle paul who wrote the book of galatians he was not just a teacher of truth but he was a fighter for truth he not only believes in our freedom in christ but he is willing to fight for it and he is adamant about standing firm in the liberty of the spirit and he was very firm about that he was prepared to take on anything and anybody who seeks to pervert the liberating truth of the gospel and what we're going to be looking at this morning is where we're going to be studying his first fight for christian liberty which actually was recorded for us in galatians chapter 2 but it took place at what is commonly known as the jerusalem council and that was recorded in details for us in acts chapter 15. this watershed event in the christian church is recorded for us galatians 2 verse 1 to 10 which we're about to read and then acts chapter 15 and i thank god for the courage of the apostle paul to engage the jerusalem leadership and defend the gospel from becoming a mixture of law and grace and because of paul's willingness to stand up for the truth the gospel was kept free from legalism because of what paul did thank god for paul i don't need to go through circumcision hallelujah and from that defining moment in galatians 2 and acts 15 the gospel bursts beyond the jewish world and into the gentile world and that is why you and i are here today now with all that as a backdrop let's dive into our passage this morning i'm going to read for you now galatians chapter 2 verses 1 to 11. so if you have your bibles whether electronic or hard copy please follow along with me then after 14 years paul said i went up again to jerusalem and this time with barnabas notice who he brought along with him okay the with i brought barnabas i took titus along also i went in response to a revelation and a meeting and meeting privately with those esteemed leaders i presented to them the gospel that i preached among the gentiles i wanted to be sure that i was not running and had not been running my race in vain yet not even titus was with me titus was a greek right and he was a gentile in other words not even titus was with me was compelled to be circumcised even though he was a greek this matter arose because some false believers have infiltrated our reigns to spy on the freedom we have in christ jesus and to make us slaves we did not give him to them for a moment so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you as for those who were held in high esteem referring to the apostles whatever they will make they will make no difference to me god does not show favoritism they added nothing to my message on the contrary they recognize that i have been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised just as peter had been to the circumcised for god who was at work in peter as an apostle to the circumcised was also at work in me as an apostle to the gentiles james c first was peter and john those esteemed as pillars gave me and barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me and they agreed that we should go to the gentiles while they do the circumcised in other words day to the jews all they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor the very thing i have been eager to do all along the apostle paul informed us in galatians 2 verse 1 that he went up to jerusalem a second time after 14 years how many of you know that's a pretty long time right 14 years again he went to jerusalem that's a pretty long time so the question is what was happening during this time what was the apostle paul doing and what made him return to jerusalem and that was what this narrative is all about and in this narrative that we just read i want to break it up for you into three scenes if you like just watching a movie okay there are three different scenes here scene one is where we see a private consultation okay paul tell us he had a private consultation now from last week we learned after the damascus road experience where paul was converted and then after he spent three years in the arabian desert where he received the gospel directly from jesus after that what happened after that he went back to his hometown in tarsus and then he continued to preach the gospel that christ gave to him in texas but until when until barnabas came along barnabas came and recruited him to go to antioch how do we know that acts 11 verse 25 and 26. listen to this now when you piece galatians and acts together you start to see a bigger picture then barnabas went to tarsus which is where paul was and to look for him and then when he found him he brought him to antioch which is a gentile city and for a whole year vanderbilt and saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people the disciples were first called christians at ntl so paul tall was taken to antioch and he spent one whole year ministering to the the new converts the gentile believers in antioch and after one year of discipleship the church in antioch began to grow and begin to mature that was x11 by the time we get to x 13 they were already a missionary sending church they were not just receiving they wanted to send and how do i know this is because they sent paul and barnabas out from antioch to go to the other regions okay how do we know this is acts 13 verse 1 to verse 3. listen to this in the church of antioch there were prophets and teachers barnabas was there simeon called niger lucious of cyrene maniam who had been brought up with herod the tetra and saul and while they were worshiping the lord and fasting the holy spirit says set apart for me vulnerable and soul for the work to which i called them so after they have fasted and prayed they laid hands on barnabas and saul and then send them forth so what were they becoming a missionary sending church they sent paul and barnabas out and that became their first missionary journey so we read after that from antioch they went to cyprus brazilian antioch iconium lystra derby and then back to antioch and when paul and wherever paul and barnabas went from city to city they planted churches and all of a sudden there was a mushrooming of gentile churches all over the world at that time okay and after that paul and barnabas returned to ntl they went one round came back to antioch excited that god has opened the door of faith for the gentiles but then the problem began what happened was this some false believers from jerusalem they heard about what's happening and they didn't like it and this was mentioned in galatians chapter 2 verse 4 they were not happy so what did they do they went to antioch and that was when the problem started so you read acts 15 verse 1 here's the problem certain people came down from judea to antioch and were teaching the believers unless you are circumcised according to the custom taught by moses you cannot be saved how many of you know that is fundamentally wrong you cannot leave that alone you cannot sweep that under the cupboard because this is going to change the whole essence of christianity and paul and barnabas will not stand for this because submitting the circumcision means accepting the law and once you do that you will go back to the rest of the law that's how it works you the ten commandments it's like the laws are it's like the 617 laws that were all written in the torah in the old testament they are like one string you know you break one you break everything you see and you take one you have to take it all and they knew that once we allow one part of the law to come in the rest will have to follow and i like this old arabic parable you know it talks about a man who pitched a tent in the desert and spent the night there with his camel and then it was so cold in the night and this guy was of course in his tent keeping warm it was so cold the camera turned to the master and said this master it is so cold can i just put my head inside the tent to keep warm and the master look at the tent and say there's enough space okay come he put a head in and after a little while the camera spoke to the master again master it is so cold can i just put half my neck in as well and then the master look at it all right and then the next thing you know it is the whole neck and then it is one leg and then it is both leg by the time you reach morning you'll find the master outside the tent and the camera inside and the master is outside frozen to death you get the point it's a little bit at the time a little bit at a time you take one and it starts to come in and that was what happened when we start to let down our god the moment we start compromising with truth we will lose it and paul and barnabas would not allow that and they knew that the true christians have already experienced circumcision do you know all of you already circumcised hello you're already circumcised you already experienced the full meaning of circumcision how through the circumcision of the heart not the physical body is a circumcision of the heart do you know when that took place for you it already happened to you it happened on a particular day or so do you know when that happened it was the day when you were baptized into christ that was the outward symbolism of something that took place on the inside the day that you got circumcised in your heart and you truly belong to god you truly belong to jesus that was the day how do i know colossians chapter 2 verse 10 to verse 12. listen don't miss this you know these are things that you and i go through sometimes we go through all these you know important sacraments of the church without even realizing that that's what's happening in the spiritual realm see you how many many of you gone through water baptism right you were circumcised on that day now let me read for you colossians 2 verse 10 to 12 now in christ you have been brought to fullness he is the head of every power and authority in him you were also circumcised with the circumcision not performed by human hands your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by christ having been buried with him in baptism in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of god who raised him from the dead hallelujah in a just as physical circumcision is a sign of a jew cutting himself in the flesh connecting to god so our baptism was an outward symbol of the inner consecration we have towards god and it happened the day you were water baptized and just like the jews sometimes we can forget the spiritual significance and then we reduce water baptism to just a outward ritual without inward significance but that's not true if you understand what you've gone through in water baptism you belong to god you belong to christ acts chapter 15 verse 2 this is what hap describing a bit more detail he says this brought paul and barnabas into a sharp dispute and debate with them so paul and barnabas were appointed along with some other believers to go up to jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question in the end they decided the only way we can resolve this infiltration of the law back into the gospel was to escalate it to the corporate leadership in jerusalem so who went to jerusalem notice paul went barnabus went and they represented the jewish apostolic leaders and then there was titus a spiritual son of the apostle paul and a few other gentile converts from antioch now it is these are all very important players because they are the test cases all these gentile believers were the ones who were saved apart from the law they were saved under the preaching of the apostle paul so the question is when they go to jerusalem how will they be treated and please listen to me people it is not about representation it's not about protesting it's not about politicking paul was not summoned to go to jerusalem like a kid you know being summoned to the principal's office because he was naughty it was nothing like that why did paul go to jerusalem he tell us in no uncertain terms he went in response to god's revelation in other words he was led by the lord to go there right let me read for you what he says in galatians 2 2. paul says i went in revelation in response to a revelation but when he went there he also met privately with those esteemed as leaders and he presented them the gospel that i preached among the gentiles i wanted to be sure that i was not running and had not been running my race in vain now i'm painting all of you this picture so that you get the full picture then i can make my application and help you to see what is going on here now here you see when you read galatians 2 2 a beautiful tension that is held between revelation and reason between spirit and structure listen carefully to me the apostle paul i think really is a good model for us he shows us how to hold the balance between revelation and reason or if you like spirit and structure paul received a revelation to go to jerusalem and so he obeyed but you notice that when he got to jerusalem he did not immediately call for a town hall meeting and then tell everybody what he thinks he didn't do that he saw it wise to actually call for a private consultation with the key jewish apostles peter james and john in this case now when he met with them it was not to say that he was paul was unsure about his ministry or his message because after all he received it direct from our lord jesus christ so he knew exactly what he was doing but why did he want to do this why did he want to have this private meeting it is so that he can present his message to the pillars of the jewish church and get their endorsement and then when they come into a public space they can have one united front are you with me then there will be is not us against them it is both the gentile and the jewish leadership coming together and said we have one united front and here i think you see the interplay between revelation and reason and you know what god often used both to bring about his plans and purposes i think we need revelation we need the leading of the holy spirit in everything that we do but we also need to engage our mind and to have an understanding what does the word say and then we have a we hold that tension between revelation and reason paul was led by the holy spirit but he also respected structure and that's why he is not impressed nor intimidated by positions but yet he recognized protocol so you read galatians 2 verse 6. listen to what paul says here brothers and sisters don't don't miss this these are important nuances in the scripture it goes like this galatians 2 6 says as for those who are held in high esteem then there's a parenthesis right hyphen it goes like this whatever the world makes no difference to me god does not show favoritism in other words as far as paul is concerned he is not intimidated nor impressed by position but at the same time he recognized protocol he recognized authority and so he said i went to see them i disgusted them and they added nothing to my message are you with me there is a place for spirit but there's also a place for structure and what's the outcome the outcome is the apostles and the elders approved paul's gospel wholesale they added nothing to his message and the best thing is his test case in this case titus passed with flying colors they did not ask him to be circumcised thank god and this when we talk about titus you've got to understand that this guy was an uncircumcised bacon eating barbecue pop addicted greek believer just like all of us here you know but yet they did not insist that he had to be circumcised or keep the law which seals the case for them how many of you know titus was the happiest guy on the team that day thank god and nothing works better than the testimony so galatians 2 3 says yet not even titus was with me was compelled to be circumcised even though he was a greek the private consultation turned out to be a huge success the test case of titus passive flying colors and that take us now into the next scene scene two scene one was a private consultation scene two was a public convocation now they call together the rest of the leadership and then they discussed this this public convocation was a very pivotal event in the history of the church it is recorded for us in greater details in acts chapter 15 verses 5 to 21 okay and what was the problem they needed to resolve in this convocation it is found in acts 15 verse 1 certain people came down from judea to antioch and were teaching the believers unless you are circumcised according to the custom taught by moses you cannot be saved so that was the issue now what is the symbol of a person becoming a jew how do you how do you know if a person has converted to judaism or become a jew it would be circumcision that was the rights that belong to the jewish people right from the beginning and it was unique to them okay and in acts 15 verse 5 some of these jewish believers who belong to the party of the pharisees stood up and said this the gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of moses but what's the problem with circumcision it's just a cut off the you know the yeah yeah it's just circumcision okay don't know how to describe but what's the problem i tell you what the problem was here's the problem behind the issue of circumcision is a bigger issue of judaism because it is not just a physical act it is a religious act the moment you circumcise it is linked to judaism and behind the issue of judaism is an issue of salvation of how you get right with god and behind the issue of salvation is a bigger issue of our freedom in christ it is a critical doctrinal issue that will determine the very heart of the gospel is the gospel we preach one that is based on the human effort of keeping the law or is it one that is based on our faith in the finished work of christ on the cross that is the issue see and what happened then at the jerusalem council here's what happened let me summarize it for you it's important the apostle peter was the first one to speak up as a leadership gather you can read this in acts chapter 15. he stood up and then he testified about how god sent him to the gentiles and cornelius in particular to preach the gospel to them and then at that moment in acts 10 the holy spirit fell upon the gentiles just as he did to the jews and because of that peter concluded in acts 15 verse 8-11 listen to what peter said here he said god who knows the heart showed that he accepted them by giving the holy spirit to them just as he did to us he did not discriminate between us referring to the jews and them the gentiles for he purified their hearts by faith now then why do you try to test god by putting on the next the gentile a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear which is the law no we believe it is to the grace of our lord jesus christ that we are saved just as they are so peter said because of the work of the holiest of the of god pouring out the holy spirit i think we should not require them to keep the law then paul and barnabas stood up they chimed in and they begin to testify about how god authenticated the gentiles by moving powerfully in signs and wonders amongst the gentiles acts 15 verse 12 the whole assembly became silent as they listened to barnabas and paul telling them about the signs and wonders that god has done among the gentiles through them and when they all finish testifying then the leader of the jerusalem church in this case james stood up and he brought apostolic closure to the entire conference by saying this in acts 15 13 to 18 when they finish james then stood up and he says brothers listen to me simon has described to us how god first intervened to choose a people for his name from the gentiles and that's peter the words of the prophets are in agreement with this now he begin to bring up the word of god and he said yes i think the word of god agrees with this and he started to quote amos chapter nine after this i will return and rebuild david's fallen tent his ruins i will rebuild and i will restore it and the rest of mankind and then seek the lord even all the gentiles who bear my name says the lord who does these things known from long ago notice this james brought apostolic closure to the entire convocation by bringing together three things number one the works of god of how he poured out the holy spirit on the gentiles secondly the wonders of god the signs and wonders he performed amongst them and then thirdly the word of god in amos chapter 9 verse 11 and 12. he put them all together and he says this is the conclusion in verse 19 acts 15 19 now he says it is my judgment therefore that we should not make it difficult for the gentiles who are turning to god the word authenticated by the acts of god really bring conclusion to this matter and because of that the truth was established and the message of the gospel is preserved how many of you know we should be thankful for the jerusalem council because it preserved our faith and now we know we are saved not by keeping the law it is by our faith in the finished work of jesus christ and because of that it takes us to scene three which is the most important one the most the one that is applicable to every one of us there was a personal confirmation listen to me people what the devil has meant for harm god turn it around for his redemptive purpose he literally did the false preachers at that time they did not succeed in their scheme to pervert the gospel in fact the jerusalem council added nothing and took nothing away from paul's message and ministry they ended up affirming the message that paul preached and confirming his ministry to the gentiles so you read galatians 2 7 and 8 now on the they realized that i've been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised just as peter has been to the circumcised see the jerusalem council i think started with the danger of dividing the church but in the end it actually brought greater agreement greater alignment greater unity now tell you why it's because of what paul did today we are the liberty in the spirit we have freedom in christ and it is because our apostle paul recognized that god did not call him to be safe god called him to be brave please hear me brothers and sisters god did not call us to be safe god called us to be brave and paul was courageous enough not to substitute harmony for unity please hear me brothers and sisters this is a common thing that we all do you know we all are too quick to give up unity for the sake of harmony and particularly so in a culture where we all want to be harmonious with one another and it's important to live in harmony with one another but my point is this we cannot accept harmony in exchange for true unity and that is why because people mistake harmony for unity therefore we end up doing things like this in order to make so and so happy we just strip things under the cupboard let's just avoid this difficult conversation so that we can keep everybody happy everybody harmonious so as long as we don't need to talk about it there will be no conflict so let's just shoot for harmony instead of shooting for true unity are you with me i think that harmony can be achieved through compromise how do you get harmony you can compromise a bit but true unity can only be achieved by standing on what is right and understanding on the truth that's where we get through unity if we compromise true for the sake of harmony then we have no unity all we have is harmony harmony that is not rooted in truth never last unity is not peace at any price please never accept that unity is not peace at any price it is not about being inclusive all the time in exchange for truth is at the expense of truth are you listening to me people hear me hear my heart on this right now there are so no the issues we fight today in the church may not be about circumcision or not circumcision but there are many many many many social issues that are going on there are gender identity issues there are racism atheism marxist ideology pro rights issue and all those things that actually pitch themselves against our biblical worldview every single one of us here my friends we are engaged in a ideological war that attacks and assault our biblical foundation this war this ideological war i'm talking about is first wage on social media and then it gets into the schools and then it gets into the public square and now it is even getting into our families because even family members are divided over such issues and in the work culture that we live in today it is easy very easy to let inclusivity override truth because we want inclusivity because we want harmony because we want acceptance whatever we cannot afford that what do we do then we i think like the apostles of all we need to contend for the truth how do we do that i tell you how we arm ourselves with the truth of god's word and then we engage in meaningful conversations in order to contend for the truth and this thing is real we may think that it's not affecting us but this thing is real i'll tell you why for example right now there is a battle raging for religious freedom in australia there is a charity law firm charitable law firm by the name of uh human rights law alliance you know i i um we hardly hear about it it's based in victoria and what this law firm does is that it actually provides pro bono legal representation for christians in trouble over religious freedom right here in australia we hardly hear about them but since the year 2019 until now this law firm has handed 250 cases both for individuals as well as institutions right here in australia involving christian doctors teachers university lecturers pastors business owners and others who are facing investigation sanctions discrimination hostility claims court hearings etc for expressing their christian view and i'm not talking general i'll tell you specific cases right now being heard in court right here in wa there is a christian couple who were banned from fostering why because they were interviewed about their views on homosexuality and they just shared because they was interviewed they just said that we hold a christian view to this and then as a result they were banned from fostering why because they are considered unsafe in the meantime we have thousands of australian kids that are trapped you know in abusive unstable home environments and then the christian couple who's trying to do something for society is bad from fostering these are issues we have to contend for you see and i'll tell you another one just to add fire to this that's the case real quick still in canberra this time there were two ladies this really weird case there were two ladies one um one of the ladies have autism okay and and they were and they were friends and so these two ladies were having a meal they were and they were just enjoying lunch in the cafe then after they finished their meal they decided to read the bible together and then they prayed and then they finished then they were going to pay their bill at the counter when the owner turned to this lady and said to her that you are trying to brainwash your autistic friend and then he told them you are not welcome to come back to this cafe again don't you ever come back here what is that i think there's religious discrimination it's a disability discrimination and if the church does not speak up against the erosion of religious freedom we might just end up in slavery to the kingdoms of this world and i think the gospel we preach is sufficient not just to deal with our personal salvation to go to heaven but to deal with the kingdom of god here on earth as it is in heaven i think that's the gospel we preach and the same way the apostle paul was willing to engage in difficult conversation to contend for the truth so must we we will know the truth and the truth will set us free you know what's the outcome at the end i love the way it ended in galatians 2 verse 8 and 9. for god who was at work in peter as an apostle to the circumcised was also at work in me as an apostle to the gentiles james peter james and john those esteemed as pillars gave me embalmers the right hand of fellowship and they recognized the grace given to me and they agreed that we should go to the gentiles and they to the circumcised the only thing they ask for is remember the poor now this does not mean therefore that peter and and paul and peter were preaching to two different gospels no they were preaching the same gospel but to two different people groups they have two different spheres of ministry one to the jews one to the gentiles same different ministries but the same grace the same gospel they serve the same cause so here's my point they were united not so much by common practice they were united by a common purpose and that common purpose is the proclamation of this glorious gospel of jesus christ this gospel that transcends ethnicity whether you are jew or greek it transcends gender whether you're male or female transcends age whether you're young or old it transcends social status whether you're rich or poor transcends culture even whether you're western asian or african and perhaps that was why the jerusalem council ended with just one request that whatever their ministry may be remember the poor and needy the disadvantage and the marginalized because this gospel has the power to change life transform society and set people free paul contended for this gospel then he passed it to us it is now in our hands and we need to contend for this gospel defend it and then we pass it on to our children and our children's children without diluting it at all amen i think that's what we need to do and we need to stand up i think we need to stand up and defend this gospel that we preach and declare it with all of our hearts wherever god has planted us amen why don't you stand to your feet and as the worship team comes thank you jesus you know i think today it is not about us receiving something from god but it is about us giving ourselves to god and say god use me as a soldier of the cross so wherever i am lord you will use me to speak up for truth you know and to be armed ourself with truth so that we can then have meaningful conversations wherever god has planted us and let the gospel of jesus christ go forth without any delusion amen thank you lord thank you lord i want you to take a few moments right now wherever you are why don't you lift your hearts to god and you talk to god you do business with him and you allow the holy spirit to speak to you thank you lord that you and i we will never substitute harmony for unity but let our unity be rooted in the word of god in who god is and what god says let our unity be rooted around the purposes of the lord it's not just about trying to have harmony it is about unity unity will bring harmony but harmony may not bring unity but let the lord direct us let's worship you

Channel: Faith Community Church Perth

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Length: 40min 32sec (2432 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 29 2021