The Gospel has been under fire ever since that first resurrection morning when Jesus rose from the dead. We are told about this first attack on truth when the Chief Priest went and paid off the soldiers who were on guard, telling them to stick to the story that the Disciples had stolen the body of Jesus. They were trying to stop the Gospel before it even got off the ground. However, when Jesus came back and hundreds of people witnessed that He had risen. Their attack was quickly thwarted but that didn’t stop them. All throughout the book of Acts we see these same people trying to attack the Gospel over and over again. Each time they attacked they were quickly shut down. These attacks didn’t end in Biblical times, but rather they continued all throughout history. If we look at church history we see what these attacks looked like. Sometimes they were attacks on the humanity of Jesus, the divinity of Jesus, and even over the existence of Jesus. All of these attacks have been defeated time and time again, and the reason they are is one of my favorite parts of following Jesus. Jesus did not call us to follow Him or believe in what He says by blind faith. Instead God has provided proof after proof of His existence and the truth of the Bible. If you are interested in these like I am, there is an entire category of Biblical studies called apologetics that deals with these proofs. Despite all the evidence these attacks keep coming and that is why we are commanded in 1 Peter 3:15 to always be ready to give an answer to those who ask about the hope that is in us. The attacks on the Gospel we see nowadays are nothing new. They are the same attacks we have seen all throughout history. They just take a little different shape. I'm sure the first and second century churches didn’t have to deal with a friend who found a Tik Tok that claims they found something that proves Christianity wrong once and for all. When you actually examine those claims you will see it’s an argument as old as time and it has been defeated many many times over the centuries. However, there is one attack that keeps showing up more than most of the others and it’s one that Paul defeated for the first time over 2,000 years ago. It’s also an attack that is happening right here in Bloomfield as we speak. It is probably the attack we will experience more than any others as we have Gospel conversations and that is an attack on the Gospel of Grace. Therefore this morning, we are going to pick up our sword and learn how to not only push back against this attack, but utterly defeat it with the greatest weapon ever given to mankind — the Word of God. If you have your sword, turn with me to Galatians and we will start in chapter 1, as we look at how Paul dealt with this kind of attack in a very young church and learn how we can defend and proclaim the Gospel of Grace when grace comes under fire.
The Seriousness of the Battle - Galatians 1:6-9
I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ. Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you. I say again what we have said before: If anyone preaches any other Good News than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed.
Usually as Paul writes his epistles, he follows a distinctive pattern. He opens by identifying himself, speaks of his identity in Christ, and praises God. He begins by encouraging those to whom he is writing to carry on doing the good things they have been doing. However, in this letter he takes a totally different approach. The problem the Galatians are experiencing is so severe and has upset him so greatly (and rightfully so), that immediately after his introduction he jumps right into the reason that he is writing the letter. His departure from his normal writing niceties should start to hint about how serious the problem is in their church. As he begins addressing the problem, it removes any doubt we might have had to his reason for cutting right to the chase. He begins by telling the church that he is shocked at what they have done, because they have abandoned God. They had left everything God had done for them for something that was lesser than God. Immediately he explains why he is making such a serious accusation. It's because they have been fooled by false teachers. The word fooled here doesn’t really do justice to what Paul was accusing them of because when we use the word fooled in today’s language. We tend to put the blame on the fooler and not the foolie. That’s not what Paul is doing here for he is putting the blame on the church who has entertained such foolishness. The foolishness was brought in by the enemy. He used false teachers, or the Judaizers in this case, to try to persuade the church to leave the truth. These false teachings that were being shared were not just a secondary or tertiary theological issue — like did Adam & Eve have belly buttons. Instead they were primary issues because these false teachers had brought in a false Gospel. On the outside what these people were saying probably didn’t look too bad because heresies hardly ever look bad. That's a part of their selling point. I’m sure when those false teachers came into the church they would say something like, “Yes we love Jesus, but we have something new to add”. Then these Judaizers would try to add small parts of the Law of Moses back into the Gospel, usually it was circumcision. Even though this might not seem like that big of a deal, Paul is saying that ANYTHING added or subtracted from the Gospel of Grace makes that a “new” Gospel and any “new” gospel that adds to the Gospel of Grace is a false Gospel. We will talk more about this later. Paul continued to show the church the seriousness of this assault on grace by not only telling them they had deserted God and perverted God’s Gospel. He also tells them they are cursed when they do this. This word “cursed" is a very extreme word. It's not just telling them they are bad or down on their luck. The Greek word here (that is pronounced anathema) is used to describe something that is evil and an object for the wrath of God. It brings something Paul wrote a little later in this letter. In Galatians 3:13 Paul's says “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree”. When we were sinners we were objects of God’s wrath because of our sin. Jesus took that curse upon Himself and the wrath of God was poured out upon Him on Calvary because He bore our sins there. These few verses alone show us the seriousness of this attack of the Gospel of Grace. However, Paul isn’t done yet. He wants to make sure the reader doesn’t think he is just picking on the Judaizer so he tells us who else will be cursed if they change and pervert the Gospel of Grace. He says that it doesn’t matter if it is himself or even an angel from heaven. If they bring another gospel than the Gospel of Grace they are cursed. Paul wanted to make sure that the church understood this warning was for everyone. The Gospel of Grace that Jesus brought to us is a very precious and powerful thing, and when it is distorted, it loses its power because a gospel that is changed is not a gospel at all. Once it’s changed, grace no longer becomes grace and it no longer has the power to save. Once we understand the seriousness of this battle we are going to have to fight this battle. That’s going to take courage.
The Bravery That is Needed - Galatians 2:11
But when Peter came to Antioch, I had to oppose him to his face, for what he did was very wrong.
Paul was not only defending the Gospel of Grace by writing a letter to a young church, he was fighting this battle in person as well. If you continue to read the letter to the Galatians you will see that Paul visited Jerusalem. While he was there, he visited some of the Apostles. He notes as he shared the Gospel, he preached to the Gentiles with them and they said it was perfect. The true Gospel was being preached to both Jew and Gentile alike. Then Paul tells of a problem he had to address in the most unlikely of places. Paul had to confront the leader of the Disciples and Apostles — Peter. There is no doubt that this took courage. I mean it was Peter after all, but Paul knew it was something that had to be done. It wasn’t that Peter was preaching a different Gospel, but rather he was living a different Gospel. You can preach a truth all day long, but if you do not live it, do you really believe it? If you continue to read Paul’s explanation of this event in Chapter 2, you will see Peter acted one way around the Gentiles when only Paul was present, and then another way totally when James’ friends were around (These people seemed to be Judaizers). Paul tells us that it was fear that caused this hypocrisy in Peter’s life (something we saw from him in the Gospels as well). Jesus brings us freedom through His grace, but fear threatens that freedom. Peter was worried about what those who wanted to add circumcision to the Gospel would think. Therefore, his actions showed he had separated followers of Jesus into two categories — those who followed the Jewish customs and those who did not. It seemed like his behavior was saying there were two Gospels — one for the Jews and one for the Gentiles. However, Grace tells us there aren’t two groups. There is only one because we are all sinners who can be saved through faith in Christ alone! Paul knew this had to be confronted no matter the position that Peter held. Now in this letter we are not told of the outcome of that conversation. All we are told is that Paul was being obedient to Jesus’ command in Matthew 18:15 where Jesus says, “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over.” If we read Peter’s two letters that are included in the Bible, we will see that grace is a major theme in both. It seems like Paul’s courage and boldness paid off and a brother was won back from hypocrisy. Generation after generation have been blessed because of it. We understand the seriousness of this problem and we understand the courage needed to stand against the attack. How do we fight and defend grace?
In Defense of Grace - Galatians 2:16-21
Yet we know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified. “But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker. “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!
As Chapter 2 continues, Paul builds an argument to help the people in Galatia understand why the Gospel of Grace and grace alone is such an important thing. He begins by telling the church something that they should already know. You cannot be justified by following the Law of Moses. Justification is a legal term and it happens when God declares a person righteous and pardoned for their sins. This cannot be done by following the rules of the law, but only when you put your faith in Jesus Christ as Lord. If you keep reading in Galatians you will see that not only can the law never justify a sinner (Galatians 2:16), it can not give anyone righteousness (Galatians 2:21). It cannot impart the Holy Spirit (Galatians 3:2). It cannot give you the inheritance that God has promised His children (Galatians 3:18). It cannot give life (Galatians 3:21) and it cannot give you freedom (Galatians 4:8-10). The only thing that the law does is show us we are dead in our sins (Romans 3:20). When we try to add anything to the Gospel of Grace, we are trying to go back to the dead system that Jesus came and fulfilled (Matthew 5:17–18). They were abandoning freedom for legalism. Why were they abandoning such a wonderful thing as the grace of God for the bondage of the law? I think the key might be found in the beginning of Chapter 3 when (as a humorous Biblical scholar put it) Paul says, “My dead beloved idiots, why are you so fascinated with the legalism that does not save.” That’s an interesting thought, because legalism does fascinate because it appeals to the flesh. It does so in many ways: through the rules it observes, the pride in religious achievements, and the ability to measure ourselves to other followers of Jesus. If any of that could save us then Jesus died in vain, but Jesus was crucified for us and we were crucified with Christ, so it’s no longer that old self that lives but it’s Christ who lives in us. We are reborn to walk in the newness of life and since we are then living in His resurrection power we do not need any help from the law or rules because it’s the grace of Jesus Christ alone that saves and sustains us. The law says do! However the grace of God that is available through the power of the resurrection says, DONE! It was finished once and for all on Calvary.
When you add any law to grace, it no longer becomes grace because then it is a reward. Grace is the unmerited and unwarranted favor of God and it’s what we are saved by (Ephesians 2:8-9). Not only is grace the foundation principles of our salvation, Grace is also what we live by (1 Corinthians 5:10), it is what we stand upon (Romans 5:1-2). It gives us the courage to stand against the enemy (2 Timothy 2:1–4), and what allows us to suffer without complaint for the Glory of God (2 Corinthians 12:5-10). If we were to leave grace, we would have to do all of this in our strength and we would fail. However, because of the grace of Jesus Christ in which we stand and in which we live, we can fight the good fight, holding His Word high and declaring thus saith the Lord. You are saved by grace alone!
