Well, good morning to everyone. Welcome to June 1st in the UP. All my hoses were frozen this morning. It's supposed to be 80 this afternoon, so quite a day. It's sunshine, and we praise the Lord. Thank you, Mark and Diane, for leading us again. And welcome, Carl and Joanne Casabucce. I appreciate you guys coming, and good to have you here today. We look forward to the update for your ministry.

We are continuing our study of the book of Galatians this morning in chapter 1 into chapter 2. And we've seen already in our study that this epistle is all about the pure gospel of grace, that Paul is concerned because the believers in these churches are being influenced by a false gospel, which he says is not another. It's not good news at all. The legalistic Jews who professed faith in Christ were coming in behind Paul in his evangelistic missions and troubling the churches with a confusing false message of faith plus works. 

The method that they employ is to challenge Paul's message and Paul's authority, his apostleship from Christ. In our last study, we saw Paul begin to defend against each of these attacks by showing that he received his gospel directly from Jesus. He was called directly by God. In verse 15, it says, “but when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through his grace to reveal his son in me, that I might preach him among the Gentiles.” 

We know that Saul of Tarsus met Jesus on the road to Damascus. And I wanted to start there in Acts 9. If you'd turn to Acts 9 verse 1 with me, please. This is immediately after the stoning of Stephen, the first martyr. In Acts 9, 1, it says, “then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus so that if he found any who were of the way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.” As he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he said, “who are you, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do you want me to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

Now, Paul recounts this event as well in Acts 26. If you turn over to Acts 26, this is his defense before Agrippa. And I want to begin in verse 12. Acts 26, 12, “while thus occupied,” he’s referring to persecuting the church, “while thus occupied, as I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, at midday, O king, along the road, I saw a light from heaven brighter than the sun shining around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ So I said, ‘who are you, Lord?’ And he said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness, both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes in order to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me. Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.’”

Well, Paul explains that his call, his apostleship, was not from men, but directly from Jesus, and his gospel was the one given to him by Jesus himself. These Judaizers were a great trouble to Paul and to the churches he founded. And the threat is that they would pervert the very gospel itself. This false message of works plus faith, of religious ritual and law keeping, in addition to faith in Jesus and what he accomplished on the cross, would confuse and lead astray the believers. 

The heart of this letter, the main concern of Paul is that the church would lose the gospel, that the believers would no longer preach a clear message and therefore there would be no hope of salvation for the lost, and as we will see as we progress through our study, no hope of fruit in the church for the glory of God. 

And that's the essence of our text and our message this morning. If you look at chapter two at verse four, he says, “this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in, who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they may bring us into bondage to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.” 

That the truth of the gospel might continue with you. This is what matters most. And I'm afraid this threat has not gone away. Peter told us there will be false prophets among you. Paul warned that after his departure, savage wolves would come in, not sparing the flock, and imposters would rise up even from within. The church today is not exempt from this threat against the gospel of grace. Many who claim the name of Christ preach this exact same false message of faith plus works, grace plus law keeping as necessary for salvation or salvation by ritual. 

It was circumcision for the Judaizers. Today, it is baptism. But the same lie is impacting the true church today as well, and believers are confused. I've found that many Baptists do not understand the doctrines of the mainline denominations and that many of them teach the exact same gospel that the Judaizers taught. 

The bottom line application is this. If we, the believers, the church, do not have a clear understanding of the gospel, if we are not willing to stand against a false gospel and preach the gospel of grace through faith, then there's no way of salvation for the lost, for the people that God brings into our lives so that we might tell them the truth because faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, by a message about Jesus. 

It is the gospel that is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes. And Romans 10, 14 says, “'How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed, and how shall they believe in him in whom they have not heard, and how shall they hear without a preacher?'”

I just got a text this morning when I was milking the cows from a pastor in the UP near us there, and it was an invitation to Pentecost Sunday baptism at Sunday Lake in Wakefield. And the appeal was to all the people of the UP in northern Wisconsin to come and be baptized in Sunday Lake, and it said, we're going to bring all the churches and faiths together. And there's several churches up by us that are participating in that. And I thought, if I was a lost person in the UP, probably with a Catholic influence, Lutheran influence in my background, because that's about what we have in the UP, what would I think about that? And if I decided to go, why would I go? It must be because I think that being baptized in Sunday Lake is going to do something for me in a spiritual sense. 

This is a cloudy gospel, my friends. This is a message that's not clear, that brings confusion around this idea of baptismal regeneration and so forth. So we still have this going on today. The preacher must bring a clear gospel message. 

Let's look at our text, Galatians 1.15. But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through his grace to reveal his son in me, that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went to Arabia and returned again to Damascus. 

Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter and remained with him 15 days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord's brother. Now concerning the things which I write to you, indeed before God, I do not lie. Afterward, I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, and I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea, which were in Christ, but they were hearing only, “he who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy,” and they glorified God in me. 

Then after 14 years, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas and also took Titus with me, and I went by revelation and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those who were of reputation lest by any means I might run or had run in vain. Yet not even Titus, who was with me being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. 

And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they may bring us into bondage to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. 

I've given you five points on your outline. First, Paul's gospel by revelation. Second, Paul's apostleship from Jesus. Third, Paul's transformation. Fourth, Paul's ministry. And fifth, that the truth of the gospel might continue. 

Well, one of the accusations of the Judaizers was that Paul's call came from men, that he was sent by men, that he went of his own desire and volition and sought the approval of men. We saw this back in verse 10 where Paul said, “do I now please men?” I just pronounced this damning curse on those who are preaching a false gospel. “Do I please men or do I please God?” 

What Paul wants to show in these first few verses of our text is that his call, his gospel, and his ministry was not associated with the apostles in Jerusalem or any other men as his authority or those who commissioned him or sent him out, but it was God, when it pleased God, he said, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through his grace to reveal his son in me that I might preach him among the Gentiles. 

He said, “I did not go and confer with flesh and blood. It was God who did this. It was God who called me.” When it pleased God, and even after I was called by Jesus, he said, “I didn't go up to Jerusalem to the apostles, but I went to Arabia.” Now, this is interesting. Paul, after his conversion, went to Damascus. Then he says he spent three years in Arabia, and it was in this time when Jesus prepared him for his ministry. 

We read in Acts 26 earlier that Jesus promised that he would show him all things, that he would reveal much more to him than he did just at his conversion. We also know that Paul immediately began preaching Christ in Damascus, proving that Jesus is the Christ, reasoning from the scriptures and witnessing in the synagogues, and then on to the Gentiles. 

In Acts 9, we read this. It says he immediately proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “he is the Son of God.” And all who heard him were amazed and said, “is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon his name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priest?” But Saul increased all the more in strength and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ. 

We know from 2 Corinthians that Paul escaped the city by being let down over the wall in a basket, and then he went on to preach to the Gentiles. So Paul's ministry in his time in Arabia does not appear to be the hermit seclusion in the desert type of experience, but it was a time when Jesus was giving him further revelation, and he was also very active in ministry, preaching Christ. 

Even in Galatians 2, when Paul went up to Jerusalem much later, it says, “I went up by revelation and communicated to them the gospel, which I preach among the Gentiles.” Paul was directly commissioned, called, and given the gospel by Jesus, and it was Jesus who prepared him for his ministry, who showed him all things that he must suffer for Jesus' sake. 

And Paul's gospel and his apostleship came by revelation from Jesus. This was his authority. Paul was not sent by men, nor was it his goal to please men. He was a bond slave of Christ. 

Well, next we see in our text his transformation, and this is perhaps some of the greatest evidence for his apostleship, for his authority, for his gospel. Let's go back to verses 13 and 14 in Galatians 1 and kind of grab those for context. He says, “for you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it, and I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my father.” 

So that was Saul's life in Judaism before his conversion. Now go down to verse 21. He says, “afterward, I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, and I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea, which were in Christ, but they were hearing only, ‘he who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy,’ and they glorified God in me.” 

We see this truth in Acts 9 as well. Paul was zealous for his religion. He was advancing beyond many of his contemporaries in Judaism. He was so zealous, he says, that he was persecuting the church, even traveling to other cities as he was going to Damascus to arrest Christians and bring them back bound, men and women. 

In fact, at the beginning of chapter 9, we see that after holding the coats of the men who stoned Stephen, he was tearing at the church as a wild beast, is what that word means. He was thus occupied, he told Agrippa when he was on the road to Damascus. He had letters that gave him authority to seize Christians. So this was Saul before his conversion. 

Let's look at 1 Timothy chapter 1, also where Paul describes this former life. 1 Timothy 1 at verse 12, “And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has enabled me, because he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. Although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering as a pattern to those who are going to believe on him for everlasting life.” 

Paul thought of himself as the chief of sinners because he had persecuted the church. And in fact, he had persecuted Jesus, as Jesus told him. “Why? Why are you persecuting me?” But on that road, Saul of Tarsus was transformed by the grace and power of Jesus Christ and his gospel. And my friends, this is a powerful piece of evidence that Paul gives for the validity of his gospel and his ministry. 

Let's look at Philippians 3.1, where he gives a testimony of his salvation. It's just a great passage, Philippians 3.1. He's got the same concern going on here about the Judaizers, the legalistic Jews, he calls them the mutilation here. Philippians 3.1, “finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but it is safe for you. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation. For we are the circumcision who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Though I also might have confidence in the flesh, if anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so.” 

“Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, concerning the law, a Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gained to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed, I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.” 

This is what it takes, my friends, to come to Jesus. To understand that all that you had been trusting in, if you were a religious man, all that you were involved in, all of those works and rites and rituals and sacraments, the things you were depending on, to cast them away, to turn from them, to turn from idols, to serve the living God. He said, “I've cast that, all that away. That was his life, that was his passion, as we saw in his zeal. I've thrown all that away as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.” 

Now look at verse 9, such a clear verse, “and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” 

Paul says, “you all knew me, you've heard of how zealous I was, but when Jesus called me, when he transformed me by his grace, I became a new creation, a new man. I went right into the city and started preaching Christ, proving from the scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah. This is the power of my gospel,” is what Paul is saying. And it wasn't just Paul who was transformed. He appeals also to the Galatian believers, we see that in the book of Corinthians, to remember how he had come to them, preaching the gospel, how they had believed, and how God by his grace had saved them and transformed them. 

Look at Galatians 4, just flip over a couple pages, Galatians 4:11. He says, “I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain. Brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you. You have not injured me at all. You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first, and my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. What then was the blessing you enjoyed? For I bear you witness that if possible you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me. Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth? They zealously court you but for no good. Yes, they want to exclude you that you may be zealous for them, but it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you. My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you, I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone, for I have doubts about you.” 

Amazing. The hardships, the difficulty that Paul had gone through to get there, the physical infirmities and problems with his eyes apparently, all those things, and his love for the people there in preaching the gospel, and they had believed and they'd been saved and they'd formed churches and Paul had taught them, and you can hear in his heart the pain to see that they're now being drawn away to another gospel. 

In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul said, “do we begin again to commend ourselves or do we need as some others epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you?” See, that was what the false teachers did. They brought letters, they had false letters that said it was from Jerusalem, from James, but Paul says, “you are our epistle, written in our hearts, known and read by all men.” 

“Clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart, and we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit, for the letter kills but the Spirit gives life.” 

You see, the believers in Corinth, the believers in Galatia, the believers in Philippi, everywhere he went, they were his epistle. They were his proof of the validity of the gospel by their transformed lives. The false teachers had sent letters, they brought letters of commendation. Paul says, “we don't need any letters. You believers, you're our epistles.” 

It was the transformed lives of the Gentiles everywhere Paul went that was the testimony to the truth and power of the gospel of grace by faith, and that's still true today. Let's look at 2 Corinthians 5, a great passage on this, 2 Corinthians 5, 11. Paul says, “knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. But we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences, for we do not commend ourselves again to you, but give you opportunity to boast on our behalf that you may have an answer for those who boast in appearance and not in heart.” 

See, he's fighting these guys all the time. “For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God, or if we are of sound mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus, that if one died for all, then all died, and he died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again. 

Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh, even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation. 

That is, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us. We implore you, on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.” 

Anyone who's in Christ is a new creation. Only Jesus can do that. Only the gospel can do that, can change a man. Only God can regenerate a man. I remember, I kind of had a, in my two brothers, I had a Romans 1 brother, you know, and then I had a Romans 2 brother. And I always thought, well, the Romans 1 brother would be a lot easier to convert, right? I mean, he surely must know he's a sinner. But my Romans 2 brother, self-righteous religious man, pillar of the community, business owner, and I remember trying to witness to him, and I remember standing, he had a big house, I used to joke I got lost looking for the gift shop, but we'd stand, we were standing in the stairwell, and he was at the top of the stairs, and I was at the bottom of stairs, and I'd been having a vigorous conversation with him, and I was trying to witness to him, and he looked down, and he said, “I'm doing all the same things you're doing, but with you it's all God, God, God.” 

Now all things are of God, right? The sun rises of God. My little friends, the little pigs that let me scratch their nose this morning, that's of God. Everything, when I meet a man, I no longer regard him according to the flesh, or I don't think about how nice his car is, and big his house is, what he can do for me. I wonder, is this guy saved? 

You see, the false gospel of faith plus works, religion can't transform you. You can try and shine up the outside a little bit, you can try and be good, you can go through the motions, but only the gospel that Paul preached, the gospel of grace through faith in Jesus alone, and what he accomplished in his one-time death on the cross, only by believing Jesus can we experience new life, a new creation, transformation. 

For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Transformation, the old is gone, the new has come, this is the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I love Ephesians 4, verse 17, Paul says, “this I say therefore and testify in the Lord that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling have given themselves over to lewdness to work all uncleanness with greediness. And then he says, ‘but you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus.’” 

What's the truth that is in Jesus? That you have put off concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lust, that you're being renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you have put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. 

These are truths. This is a transformation. Sometimes we hear preachers say you need to put on the new man or you need to put off the old man, but this text so clearly along with Colossians 3 says that in Christ, in our death, burial, and resurrection with him, we have put off the old man, we have put on the new man, and we are being renewed in the spirit of our minds. 

When we believe Jesus, we were changed, transformed. We died to sin, we died to the law, we died to the fear of death. Our old man was crucified with Jesus so that this body would no longer be controlled by indwelling sin. We no longer live by the letter but by the Spirit who imparts strength to our inner man. Jesus lives in us and through us as we abide in him. What a transformation. 

In verse 28 of Ephesians 4, Paul says, “let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, in order that he may have something to give him who has need.” Here you have a man in Adam who was a thief, stealing to satisfy his own desires, but in Christ he steals no longer, but rather labors, works with his hands what is good, in order that for the purpose that he may have something to give him who has a need. 

This is what the gospel can do, and it's what it did in the life of Saul of Tarsus. The Judaizers' no-good-bad-news message of law-keeping for salvation could never accomplish this transformation, could never accomplish fruit for the glory of God. 

Look at Romans 8.1 with me, please. Romans 8.1. “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” Look at verse 2. Just take this for yourself if you're a believer in Jesus Christ. “of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” Look at verse 3, “for what the law could not do, and that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law, which is love, might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” 

The law couldn't do it. You can't earn your own righteousness. You can't become good because indwelling sin controls you in Adam, and the law only gives rise to those passions inside of you. Galatians 3:21, Paul says, “is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not, for if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.” 

One more, Romans 9:30, “what shall we say then, that Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained a righteousness, even the righteousness of faith? But Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness.” Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. How clear are the Scriptures? 

We could today supply names in there, right? People who are trying to earn their own righteousness by keeping the Ten Commandments, by participating in sacraments, by going to church, by suffering, by giving, whatever will not find righteousness. Only those who seek it by faith in Jesus alone will be given as a gift the righteousness of God. They did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law, for they stumbled at that stumbling stone. My friends, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness for everyone who believes. 

And next we see in our text Paul's ministry, Galatians 1:21, he said, “afterward I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, and I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ, but they were hearing only, ‘he who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy, and they glorified God in me.’” 

We saw already as he testified to Agrippa that he was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, to Christ's call to him to go to the Jews, to go to the Gentiles, he immediately began to preach Christ, and he continued to preach Christ, to go first to Damascus, then to Arabia, then Syria, Cilicia, and he just kept going. Missionary journey after missionary journey, and he was on his way to Rome and then to Spain when he ended up in the hands of Nero. 

Paul's ministry was one of preaching Jesus Christ and him crucified, and the circumstances were no issue. The place, the travel, the difficulty, the persecution, good times, bad times, hungry, full, no matter. Paul just kept preaching Christ, even when he was arrested and sitting in prison. What's he tell us in Philippians 1? “All Caesar's household has heard the gospel.” Haddon Robinson said that he was chained to that Roman soldier, but that Roman soldier was chained to Paul. He gave him the gospel, he preached Christ. 

Philippians 4:11, Paul says, “not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned, I have learned in whatever state I am to be content, content in Christ. I know how to be abased, I know how to abound everywhere and in all things. I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” 

“I've learned, when a man learns to trust Jesus, to be a bond slave of Christ, to be obedient to his calling, he learns that his circumstances are irrelevant. He lives not for the things of this world, not for comfort and ease, but for Jesus, and Paul was our great example in this. Follow me,” he said, “as I follow Christ.” 

And even as we read in 2 Corinthians 11 of all his great sufferings, persecutions for faithfulness to Jesus, that his greatest concern that he carried daily was for all the churches, was indeed for the pure gospel to remain with them, to go forth from them. 

Look at chapter 2 again in our text, he says, “then after 14 years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas and also took Titus with me, and I went up by revelation and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those who have reputation lest by any means I might run or had run in vain. Yet not even Titus, who was with me being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.” 

And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus that they might bring us into bondage. Now here's the call to us, we've seen this already in chapter 1, here's the challenge to us. He says, “to whom,” to the false teachers, to the false gospel, “to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour, in order that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.” 

This is all that matters, my friends, and this is why Paul is so passionate, so clear, so emphatic, so concerned in this epistle. He's worried. He's worried as in Corinth that if someone comes preaching another Jesus, another gospel, they may well put up with it. And clearly this false gospel that is so consistently threatening the church in Paul's day and in ours of faith plus works was having an influence in Galatia so that the believers were confused. 

And I dare say it's so much worse today in the evangelical church. Confusion, a cloudy gospel, a focus on everything but the truth, and a spirit of fear to stand against error, to call out and mark those who condemn those who preach another gospel. But this is what Paul did. Romans 16:17, he tells us to call them out publicly by name, to warn the brethren, and this is his call to us, in order that the truth of the gospel may continue with us in this place, in these communities where we live, as we live and witness and seek to glorify God in all that we do. 

Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we're so thankful for the simplicity that is in Christ, for the gospel truth, so thankful that righteousness comes to us as a gift of grace through faith in Jesus, that our sins are imputed to Christ at the cross, and your righteousness imputed to us when we believe Jesus. And that changes everything. Help us, Lord, to be clear, to be studying your word, to be evaluating all things and all men by the gospel that they preach, and help us to have the courage to stand for the truth, Lord, and to speak the truth in love. In Jesus' name, amen.