All right, well
It's me again. Go ahead and open your Bibles to Galatians chapter 2 this morning
We're going to be in verses 11 through 14 as we make our way through the book of Galatians
Let me ask you two questions
two questions number one, what is hypocrisy what is
Hypocrisy and number two who suffers from
Hypocrisy, those are my two questions number one. Let's go ahead and answer it. What is
hypocrisy
Well, Paul would define it for us in verse 14 as living out of step with the gospel
It's when we claim to believe one thing and our lives would demonstrate we actually
Think otherwise it's not living in alignment with what we profess and really who we are
Actually, the Greek word is a word used to describe someone acting apart
That's where that word comes from. It's playing a role. It's in the ancient Greek world
A an actor would wear a mask to play one part that same actor would wear another mask to play another part and another
Mask to play another part and the entire time they would not be revealing their true identity
It's it's not being who you really are that's hypocrisy
The harder question is this who suffers from hypocrisy?
The answer is all of us and
If you said not me you just proved my point
Didn't you all of us?
How does hypocrisy manifest itself in the life of a Christian well, I thought about this this week
Really? I came up with an extensive list and if I were to read that list, we'd be here all day
Let me just give you a few ways it does at least
At least in my life unforgiveness
You claim you know the gospel you've experienced the forgiveness
Of God he has covered and in a measurable debt that we could never pay
We know the Bible as forgiven people. We need to be forgiving people
But yet we harbor bitterness over a petty offense
That's hypocrisy
Hypocrisy is being the self-righteous Pharisee
We go around measuring ourselves
against someone else always looking at faults
Never once looking in the mirror to point out or to see should I say the log in our own eye while we
Constantly point out the speck and someone else's that's that's hypocrisy
That's hypocrisy or it's it's claiming to be a generous person because God is a generous God
Encouraging people to be generous with their time and their treasure and their talent. But but meanwhile behind the
Behind the scenes we put on another mask
And we're kind of greedy
Because our security is in our money and our stuff and our status
That's hypocrisy
Or hypocrisy is claiming to live in the freedom of the gospel
But meanwhile, you're not really living in the freedom of the gospel. You're really living in bondage thinking there's
There's something else you have to do to measure up to earn this thing that we call God's love. That's hypocrisy
And as we're going to see in our text this morning hypocrisy is not just dangerous because it distorts who we are
That's absolutely true
But hypocrisy is dangerous because it undermines the authority of the gospel
That's why hypocrisy is dangerous because if even peter the apostle
Struggled with hypocrisy guess who's going to struggle with hypocrisy
me
and you
and if
The gospel has authority over peter then the gospel has authority over
me and you
So our text this morning is going to address the an issue that we all
Have in common and that is our hypocrisy if I could title my sermon this morning. It would be this the realities of
hypocrisy
Let's read this confrontation between the apostle paul and the apostle peter in galatians beginning in verse 11
God's word to you this morning
but when sephus came to anti-october
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 their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel
I said to see this 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?
This is god's word. Let's pray
Father we come to you in worship
Now asking as we've communicated with you through the gospel
Now asking as we've communicated with you through song and prayers that you would communicate with us through your word. So would you
Speak to us and minister to our hearts revealing our inconsistency our incongruency our hypocrisy and showing us the cure
Applying the balm of the gospel to that area of our life so that we can
Live under the authority of the gospel as we declare the gospel our lives will display the gospel as you
As you long to see that in us for your glory and our good
So would you preach to your people this morning your word through me and jesus be magnified. It's in his powerful name
We pray these things amen
So why does paul include this?
Confrontation between he and the apostle peter in his letter to the galatians
This is nowhere else in the new testament. You're not going to find this in the book of acts. You guys do know that right?
Why is this?
colossal
confrontation in galatians
Now it's at this point in our series in galatians where I do not have time to go back and recap the entire book
We're five sermons in but I can briefly recap why that's our recap paul's argument to explain why this
Is where it's at remember paul has been trying to prove a point
He didn't get his gospel from man. He got it from
Jesus
And he proved in the end of chapter one that to be the case
The entire time after paul's conversion. He was independent of the other apostles
He didn't he didn't receive the gospel from them. He wasn't taught it from them
So therefore he didn't manipulate it or twist it as he's been accused of by the judiizers in the church churches of galatia
But though he's independent of the other apostles because he's been sent to the gentiles
His gospel has been affirmed by the other apostles
We saw that last week in chapter two verses one through ten
They extended to him the right hand of fellowship and they added nothing to his gospel
So it's not like paul's preaching a different gospel this law-free circumcision free gospel. This is the gospel
It's the same gospel that james and peter and john are preaching in jerusalem
And as we'll see today the gospel that's under attack in galatia that gospel has authority
over our lives
It has authority over the lives of the other apostles
How can they discredit paul and say you're not preaching the gospel?
As he proves today he is because that gospel has authority over everyone's life even the apostle peter
Peter's hypocrisy is glaring
And paul's going to confront it
And as paul confronts it what I want us to see are five realities of hypocrisy
Of our inconsistency of of saying the truths of the gospel believing them, but not living them
five realities
I'm just going to go ahead and tell you there's one perverse and then we're going to jump out of galatians and get the fifth one
the first
Hypocrisy warrants loving confrontation
But when sephas came to antioch I opposed him underline this please to his face
And paul tells us why
He stood condemned
paul records for us an event that took place after
His second visit to jerusalem. He just recorded for us in chapter 2 verses 1 through 10 his second visit to jerusalem
First visit he was only there 15 days only saw peter and only saw james. No one gave him a systematic theology class
No one gave him a a doctrinal class on on the new testament and the gospel that wasn't the case
He learned his gospel from jesus
but then remember we saw in acts 11 that that
That paul and barnabas and we know titus were sent to jerusalem by the churches of antioch
To go and deliver a gift to the poor churches in jerusalem and
He told us there was also this revelation that took place where he needed to lay his gospel before them
So he brought titus the gentile and barnabas the jew and titus wasn't forced to be circumcised
Well, he goes back to antioch with barnabas and with titus
Later we know the churches in antioch send him out as a missionary
That's when he goes to the churches of galatia and plants those churches and then he and barnabas come back in acts 14
The end of that text were told they come back and they minister for a long season
They're in antioch and antioch is kind of like paul's home base, especially the early part of his ministry
Now we don't know exactly when this took place, but we know it did take place peter the apostle sephas
That's his aramaic name goes and visits with paul and barnabas and ministers. Therefore
I would imagine we don't know how long but but an extensive amount of time
He goes to antioch
Will you put the map of anioch on the screen?
Antioch, uh, I have a slide. There you go. There's two aniochs in the new testament. There's anioch of pesidia
Well, that's in the territory of galatia. This anioch is the antoch of syria on the bottom of the screen
You'll notice jerusalem and then that's about 135 miles
north
Now remember it was barnabas that was sent to antioch. We saw last week in acts 11
To to support the the work that was happening there
Do you guys remember how steven was persecuted and the lord used persecution to spread the church and it was in anioch where?
There was a group of jews
That were being ministered to and there was also some greeks that were being ministered to so we have this revival
That starts in antoch barnabas is sent there by the church in jerusalem barnabas goes to tarsus
You see tarsus at the top left to get paul because he's heard of his reputation
Paul comes back and ministers in antoch for a season for a long extensive time. Now. What's so important about antoch
Antioch is primarily
Gentiles
Jerusalem was primarily
jews
Antioch is the first new testament church
That's really a diverse church
Yes, there's a sizable jewish population in antoch, but it's predominantly gentile
This city was the third largest city in the ancient roman empire the population was a quarter of a million people
It was a very cosmopolitan city and so god is doing a work amongst the gentiles in this city
So here we see this issue
raised how are jews
and gentiles
And gentiles supposed to fellowship with one another
That that was never a problem in jerusalem. Why because there were no gentiles
So now it's an issue that's on the table
How are jews and gentiles two polar opposite people groups, how are they to fellowship with one another and get along?
with one another
Through the gospel
So peter shows up and we see the problem
It doesn't take us long. I mean I read it for you. It's an easy problem to see he's a hypocrite
He knows the gospel at one minute. He's eating with the gentiles. He's eating the pork
He's eating the bacon right pass me the ribs and then when these men come along, what does he do?
He refrains
He cowers not only does he stop eating with them. He distances himself from the gentiles
And so this has to be confronted
Because here's the deal peter knew better
No, he didn't paul was the apostle to the peter knew better number one peter walked with jesus
Go read the gospels. How many times did jesus dine with the unclean?
a lot
How many times did he minister to gentiles?
a lot
Peter witnessed with his eyes the work of jesus jesus showing that the kingdom is not limited to jews
But god had always had a promise he made a promise to abraham at the beginning of the bible through you
All nations will be blessed
Not only that but he witnessed the holy spirit fall on the gentiles with his own eyes
Go to axe 10
So after paul becomes a christian we kind of what axe does is shift a little bit to peter and kind of show us what's happening with peter during this time
And in axe 10 we're told that peter has this vision
This jewish man
From israel has this vision about how gentiles are now made right solely based on the work of christ not their ethnicity
And that hodietary thing that was so big to the jews. Well in christ
That's not me
In christ that's not necessary
It's not that it's bad just like circumcision but it's not needed
So he has this vision right let's pick up in axe 11 verse 12
Uh verse 11 and I saw the heavens opened in something like a great sheet descending being let down by its four corners
upon the earth
So peter has this vision by the way
He's in japa a gentile city and he has this vision and here's what he sees
In it were all kinds of animals reptiles and birds of the air and there came a voice rise peter kill and eat
But peter said by no means lord
For i've never eaten anything that is common or unclean and the voice came to him again a second time
What god has made clean do not call common and this happened three times god was communicating that whole dietary thing that
Distance you from the gentiles
That's been abolished in jesus what god has called clean
You can't look and say that's common. That's unclean
Clean
And then what god is also doing is he's bringing this
Gentile corneal yes to peter and peter's gonna preach the gospel to him and then he's gonna preach the gospel to a lot of
Gentiles we see at the end of chapter 10 look while peter this is verse 44
While peter was still saying these things the holy spirit fell on all who heard
And the believers from among the circumcised that's the jews who were with peter were amazed because the holy spirit was poured out even on the
Gentiles
And then in acts 11 he goes and reports this to the church
At first they didn't like it. They they criticized and questioned him and he was like no listen
I saw with my own eyes and they all agree look at chapter 11 verses 17 and 18
If then god gave the same gift to them the gentiles as he gave to us the jews when we believed underline that
the lord jesus christ not when we
obeyed the dietary restrictions
not when we
Cirque were circumcised but when we believe the lord jesus christ who was i that i could stand in god's way and when they heard these things
They fell silent they glorified god and said then to the gentiles god has also granted repentance that leads to life peter knew better
He had experienced this and by implication
Peter knew that one was made right with god not based on their ethnicity
Not based on their dietary restrictions
Dietary restrictions, you don't get a closer seat to the table because there are certain foods you refrain from
Peter knew that
Peter knew the unity now
Between jew and gentile because of the finished work of christ he understood that as a result of jesus's death and resurrection
There was a new era that had been ushered in
But he's not living that way
And that's the problem
So paul confronts him now
Question why was this public?
Because i don't want you to think that every confrontation you're to have is you're to come up on stage and publicly humiliate
Another christian because they're walking inconsistently with the gospel right why was this public?
Well number one again this was a very very important time in redemptive history we have the first truly
Jewish
Slash gentile church in human history
So the the gospel for the church to come was on the line
Secondly, we're dealing with two public figures
paul and peter not just preachers, but
Apostles we've talked about that a lot in galatians
and thirdly
their behavior
Influences other people how do I know look at verse 13 because of peter's inconsistency
He influenced all of the people
Consistency he influenced all of the jews even barnabas
The republic implications
Now what we do need to see is paul's not doing this to shame barnabas humiliate barnabas
What there's like a lot of details we don't know
i'm led to believe that
Paul was probably gone and he comes back and he sees this because if this was a pattern of behavior that paul witnessed it
He probably would have stopped it pretty quickly now. I don't want to impose on the text what's not there. Okay, I don't know
But he does confront it
Why well number one he loves peter
Number two, he loves the people of the church the jews and the gentiles and number three he loves the gospel
So he has to
And as believers
Like if you when you say i'm a member of this church
Don't look at the pastors and say well, you're the ones that are responsible for confronting everybody and that's not true
In fact, we tell you all the time most of the time we shouldn't even know about it
Unless it's in our group unless it's around people that you know, we're in groups too and we see those things
But you're the ones that should handle it first
Because god has given and I know confrontation is such a negative word in the eyes of the world
But to a christian, it's a beautiful gift
He's given the gift of church discipline
And you hear discipline or immediately you think it's bad. Believe it or not every christian is being disciplined right now
You're being disciplined. That's called formative discipline
through the word
Through one another
Through preaching through i mean we're convicted by the spirit god's shaping us into the image of christ slowly. It's just part of sanctification
But there comes a time
And jesus has given this gift for the good of the church for the preservation of the good of the church
For the preservation of the gospel
A very gracious gift. I mean if you read it the world does not operate
The way that jesus get this way of confrontation you guys know that the world changes and humiliates jesus said no
We're going to keep this thing private. We're going to keep it in the family. We're going to deal with it lovingly
It's called church discipline go go to matthew 18. I don't have time read about it for your homework
The point of this is to really show you guys if you see someone out of step and they call themselves a believer
You have the privilege. It's a privilege of graciously and lovingly confronting them, but let me tell you this don't do it pridefully
Don't do it without first looking at your own self and saying is that in me too
Right jesus did say how dare you go and point out the speck in someone else's eye when you have a massive log sitting there
So don't put the police hat on and say it's my it's my job to keep the purity of the church in check when you can't even keep yourself in check
But do know that you do have a privilege and there's a way to handle it
And there's a way to handle it go to them privately one-on-one gently lovingly and if if they don't receive it if they don't repent then bring someone else that knows the situation
And it escalates the more non-repentant the person is I guess that's the best way to put it
But let me ask you this. Why do we not like confrontation?
You know why we don't like confrontation?
It's because we're like peter
No, i peter got himself into this mess because he was seeking the approval of man. We don't like confrontation because we want the approval of man
It's going to jeopardize a relationship
Or
We don't really believe that jesus is going to use this as a tool to restore and and renew
Which is what discipline is right? It is not a punitive tool. It is a resource to be used
A tool so to speak for the restoration and health of the body
We don't really believe that but we should
So so here's what we need to see hypocrisy
warrants
loving
Not abrasive loving confrontation and secondly hypocrisy has a deeper cause
Look at the next verse because what paul's going to do is I take my sip of water. He's going to explain in one verse the problem
Look at what he says
For before certain men came from james he was eating with the gentiles but when they came he drew back
Separated himself fearing the circumcision party
now
I know we live in a very fast-paced fast food culture
We probably all have door dash somewhere
On our phones right we can find it in an instant
Some of you're nodding no, but you guys know what i'm talking about right if we want food in an instant we can we can basically
get food
wherever whenever
That wasn't the case in the ancient world they really
really
Loved their table fellowship
It's a big deal
It showed unity it showed
It was a it was a sign of worship
To to to god by the jews so it was an intimate thing
So so the problem is peter is fellowshiping with the gentiles
Now why was this a big deal for a jew remember remember we talked about it last week
There were certain aspects of being a jew that were elevated during this time because of pressure from the helenized culture
You have greek influence and so how did the jews push back especially the Pharisees that are in leadership?
Well now i'm going to elevate everything and and push it even make it even more strict so circumcision
Well that was something that was pressed now you have these dietary laws and restrictions that god did give his people
We would say these were part of the ceremonial laws for a certain time and they were
To display his holiness to display their distinctness but ultimately we know we read the bible with a
Jesus lens that these were fulfilled in jesus
They were pointing to the fact that you can't be pure
But there's someone who can come and be pure for you and that was jesus, but obviously we know some of the jews missed it
So so they pushed it
And they pushed it and they pushed it and they pushed it and they pushed it and they pushed it and they pushed it
So so they pushed back with these strict rituals to distinguish themselves from the gentiles in fact
It was frowned upon
During this time if you were a jew to even eat with gentiles much less eat their food
Drink out of the same cup, but peter knew the freedom he had in the gospel
Peter knew that his dietary restrictions
Merited him no favor before god he knew they were fulfilled in jesus and that he had a freedom
That he could eat the pork
Not only that he could sit at a gentile's house and eat you guys do know
They didn't have a potluck like we had last sunday after church, right?
That's not how it works. They didn't have a big open building
They sat in each other's homes they fellowship and then after the fellowship they would take the lord's supper together
So peter was in their homes
eating their food
Sharing the same cup and utensils with them
Because he knew the freedom he had in the gospel and he wasn't going to impose his diet on them
That's not to say that peter didn't eat
A kosher when he was away maybe he did
But he knew it wasn't salvific
So he wasn't going to do that but when the the these men from james now who are they
Well, we're not exactly sure
But acts 15 verse 24 you can go write that down
That implies that these men claim to be sent from the jerusalem apostles
But they were not supported by the jerusalem apostles
remember
Jerusalem didn't have to deal with the issue of jew gentile
At least not to this level as the church in antioch
So so these men are elevating their jewishness
And they come and they're seeking out these gentile churches
Wearing their police hats
Wearing their police hats and they see peter
And they're pressuring peter peter. You can't give up your diet for these gentiles. You're a jew
You got to push back your jewishness means something
And so what does peter do he compromises?
It's important to note in private paul didn't compromise chapter 2 verses 1 through 10 in public. What does peter do?
He compromises over food
Over food over food
The text seems to indicate that this was a progression those verbs those verbs separated himself
Drew back those are in the imperfect which means that happened over a a period of time
So you gotta you gotta let's paint the picture you gotta understand like what was happening
Peter's showing up to the men's breakfast eating the bacon right eating the pancakes
The next week they have the men's breakfast peter's a guest speaker
I'll speak but I don't know if I can eat
What do you mean you can't eat peter?
The next week they got the men's breakfast or the next month they might have done it weekly in antioch, right?
He doesn't even show up
Peter where have you been you didn't come to small group haven't seen you where have you been and you start to notice peter's only hanging out with jews
You can imagine what the gentiles were thinking did we do do we have to be like you peter?
Like is there a a closer seat to jesus because we're a jew
The text doesn't tell us what the men from james said
But it does tell us why peter acted the way he did
He feared them
I believe the circumcision party
And the men from james are the same people i'm sure
And the men from james are the same people I think that's the best way to interpret this
And that word is actually used throughout the new testament sometimes good sometimes bad
But these men are exalting their jewishness putting pressure on peter
Peter you you can't eat with him. You can't you can't eat pork kosher bro kosher
And peter compromises
But paul's clear why he did he feared them my mom when I was writing this summer my mom was taken back to middle school
Recall your middle school days like the lunch room in middle school for me was a very anxious time
I would look at my clock and like when is the 30 minutes going to be over right because you're a middle schooler
I sat with the non-cool kids because I wasn't cool but if a cool kid came and asked me to sit with them guess what I would do
I would bounce on those friends in an instant because I wanted their approval. I wanted to sit with the cool kids
This is exactly what peter's doing. This is so childish
He is looking for approval when it says he feared the circumcision party he didn't fear for his life
What did he fear he feared that he would lose respect from them
He feared he would lose their influence. He feared he would lose his status. He feared he would he would lose their approval
That's what he feared
You peter's problem is this has been peter's problem the whole time his eyes are in the wrong place
Will you throw that slide up of peter's problems?
Think about peter in the new testament
The first time we see peter kind of with this problem of eyes in the wrong place
Is when he's walking on water right you guys remember that story?
And I'll put the references there and and jesus is walking on the water and he gets out he starts walking on the water
Until what his eyes do what?
Until his eyes are taken off of jesus
Right and then then the the next time is jesus tells him you're going to deny me three times
I'd never do that and all it takes is a little girl
To get peter's eyes off jesus and he denies jesus and then jesus lovingly restores peter
And I love this little story. It's in the end of john
It's at the end of john and jesus i'm sorry and jesus is talking to peter and he's talking to john and he's leaning back
And he's talking to john and peter's like what what did he tell you john like what?
Jesus what's gonna happen what's gonna happen with this guy
Jesus what's gonna happen what's gonna happen with this guy?
And jesus is like what does it matter what's gonna happen to him
You get your eyes on me he gets his eyes he's comparing himself worrying about about someone else instead of focusing
On jesus and then we see it here his eyes are off jesus his eyes are on
These these men and what does he do he shrinks back and he divides the church
Hypocrisy always has a deeper cause that's the symptom
And here it's the fear of man
What is that?
It's it's it's there's a simple way to define the fear of man that doesn't mean you're feared for your life
It means you're seeking validation in the approval of someone else other than god. That's the fear of man
You want to feel validated so you look out here instead of up there and the gospel says
You're already approved if you're in christ god doesn't have an approval meter on you
If you're in christ you couldn't be more approved or accepted even on your worst day
Why because jesus did the work you're in jesus and now his perfect righteousness has been accredited to you
So you couldn't be more approved or accepted the problem is when we forget that we start looking out here
That's when we start fearing man and walking inconsistently
Let me think about it
Let me think about it. How many times do you act one way around a certain group of people because you want their approval?
Or you don't want them to know certain things about you
So you hide them that's hypocrisy and then over here you act a totally different way
Look at social media social media for most of us in this room is is like our greatest hits album
I've heard a pastor say that before what we want everybody to think everything going on is so good today
It's so great. Look at everything that happened
But you don't show them the time that you argued with your wife in the car
You don't show them the time where you totally botched it disciplining your kid. You don't show them that why you're putting on a front
You're seeking likes that feels good
That's why
We are hypocrites because our eyes are in the wrong place just like peter
And don't miss this about peter don't miss this
If you're taking notes
The sins you may think are long gone
Can never be forgotten
We're years from that time that jesus restored peter
I mean peter's been crushing it for the gospel
Surely he's overcome this seeking the approval of man thing
But he hasn't
He's not a Christian in the room. Maybe it's lust or maybe it was your struggle with alcohol. Maybe it was your
battle with bitterness or discontentment and maybe for a season it seems like it's
Extinguished but as a christian you have to know the severity of indwelling sin that still remains and will remain
Until christ comes back and be vigilant vigilant to see to it that you constantly put it to death
Or just like peter it will rear its ugly head years down the road
thirdly
hypocrisy
Hypocrisy is contagious
dangerously contagious first 13
It spread to all the jews
and even
barnabas
So don't like we we public school our kids don't shame us
Okay
But we public school our kids and here's if you public school your kids, you know this
As soon as the note goes home and it says somebody in the class got the stomach bug today
It's just a matter of time, right?
You get the lysol can out and you just start going everywhere and you homeschool folks
It's the same in your house too because you're just closer, right? It's the same concept
Hypocrisy is like the stomach bug
It spreads
That word
that word
Hypocritically
It's it's mentioned two times hypocrisy
It means what I said at the beginning it means to play the part it was a word used for theater
One person played many roles. They'd wear wear a mask here play this role. They wear a mask here play this role
Well barn, that's that's what peter is doing
And what has peter done? He's divided the church
all the jews
So you've got the jewish people eating their meals over here and this looks like the church in corinth now antioch
Remember the church in corinth
But they're not they were divided over their favorite teachers. This church is divided over jews and gentiles over ethnicity
How dare we do that because of hypocrisy
Even barnabas
Why don't you say that even barnabas because didn't barnabas just go with paul to jerusalem?
And and he stood beside paul and and he he
Attested to what god had done through paul and said yes the gospel he's preaching the law free
Circumcision free dietary free gospel is the gospel i've seen it with my own eyes
He was sent to minister to the church in antioch. He was the first
Uh man from jerusalem that was sent really to support them from the jerusalem church
He knew just like peter and even he was led astray two eyes
No one is immune
No one is immune if peter and barnabas
If peter and barnabas can fall prey to hypocrisy
Don't think that you're above hypocrisy
Don't think you're immune to hypocrisy
There's always in in the life of a christian
We should always be evaluating our hearts. I would I would argue every day like am I living
Consistently with what I believe
That should probably be a regular habit either at the beginning of your day or the end of your day
and then secondly
influence
Your actions influence others
Here we see when you walk out of step with the gospel
Whether it's public and I would argue even in private
Didn't paul say to the church in corinth a little leaven leavens the whole lump
It doesn't just have private implications
It spreads
It will cause division
And you're saying well, that's a leader what
I would argue this all of us are
I would argue this all of us if we're a christian have some influence over someone parents
You have influence over your kids. You say i'm not a parent. You should have relationships with non-believers
You've got influence over them. You've got you've got influence in your work. You've got influence when you go serve our kids up
You've got influence
As a leader I like I have influence
This is why james said not many of you should want to be pastors
Yeah, of course because you got to guard what you say, but you have to also guard how you live
And every single one of us me tyler tony zack. This is a weighty text
Because my actions matter
If you're a leader in this church how you live actually matters
And even if you're not a leader you don't consider yourself a leader your actions do matter parents
Preach the gospel to your kids
Teach them god's word
But let me do warn you this and I don't say this because i'm the expert parent god has given us
Almost 20 years of parenting
experience
And I have failed so many times people say what did you do?
I didn't do anything
Right, if you want to if you want me to write a book, I'll write a book. This says how not to parent
But there's one thing that i've learned
That's the law will transform no one i'm not telling you not to discipline your kids. Of course you should
But when you tell your kids it's grace alone through faith alone and jesus is forgiving and all you do is hammer them hammer them
Hammer them hammer them hammer them. What are you teaching them?
Grace changes you no, I don't really believe that the law will change you
Just beware
Beware
And it's not just how we treat our kids
It's how we act with non-believers. It's our entire life. We influence others
Whether you want to know it or not or whether you believe it or not we do
Do you realize that?
Fourthly
It's a serious contradiction
verse 14
But when I saw
Their conduct was not in step underline that with the truth of the gospel
I said so he saw something and therefore he said something
What did he see misalignment
I saw you're not walking in accordance with the gospel. So listen to me that word
Not in step. That's where we get the word orthopedic
Orthopedic alignment walk straight
The gospel is something you believe it's something you profess it's something you declare
But you know that you know what else it is. It's something you live out
You do live out the gospel whether you want to believe it or not
It has authority over your life as a christian if you believe in the gospel that the only way to salvation is through
The finished work of of god in the person and work of christ that we're all bankrupt sinners at the foot of the cross
And the only way the only way to be made right with god is by his grace alone through faith alone in Jesus
Alone that changes everything
It changes the way you parent it changes the way you deal with non-believers
It changes the way you view your finances. It changes the way you engage with with your co-workers. It changes everything
And if it hasn't changed then maybe you didn't believe the gospel
So that's what he saw they he was walking out of step
And what did he say?
He goes to peter in front of them all because peter's
He's the leader
And he says how can you if you though a jew
Live like a gentile and not not like a jew. How can you force the gentiles to live like jews?
What is he saying? How can you peter?
A jewish man live in the freedom of the gospel knowing that your diet or your ethnicity
Your circumcision doesn't marry anything. How can you now force these gentiles?
To adopt these same practices and think there is a way that makes you want a better christian by living like a jew
In other words peter, how can you live in the freedom of the gospel?
But by your actions force these people to live under the bondage of the law
That is inconsistent
There are two things that peter is contradicting we saw him last week
The freedom of the gospel
the freedom of the gospel
and the unity
of the gospel
Peter might be not he might not be saying it
Not with his lips, but with his life. He's implying that jesus isn't enough
You got to have jesus and jewishness gentiles
I think you gotta be like me like a jew your food
You want a closer seat stop eating that
Circumcision
That's not freedom that's bound to the law and then
In addition
He's contradicting the unity that jesus purchased in ephesians 2
I don't have time to go there. You can write down verses 13 through 17. I was going to go there, but i'm running running short on time
After tony just read the first part go read the second part
There's a vertical reconciliation that we have because of the gospel
But there's also a horizontal reconciliation we have because of the gospel
Jesus broke down the barrier between jew and gentile
God shows no partiality based on ethnicity or skin color
Or gender socioeconomic status last name those don't matter
Peter knew that peter knew at the foot of the cross all humanity is headed for one place
rightly
But god did something
He condescended
He became a man. He lived where we failed
He'll he'll obey the law to the t and then he died for every
One who would look to him by faith all of our failures
He took on himself
Not just to make us right with god, but to make us one with one another so that those barriers don't divide us
He's contradicting that
He's like i'll use an illustration from sports because it's college football season now, right?
Think about the coach that you had that really preached teamwork and discipline
And fairness which all coaches should
And I won't throw any names out, but there's some scandalous coaches. We we know that they're coming to your minds now
But then that coach goes behind the scenes because there's a big gang coming up and he pays off
one of the referees
And the players find out
It's a serious contradiction
How do we contradict the gospel with our hypocrisy?
Number one how dare we say that jesus's cross
Reconciles the worst of sinners
His blood was so strong it covers the most heinous of sins
His work is sufficient
To make me right
Forgive me all my mistakes no matter how bad
they are
Not just my past mistakes
but my future mistakes
And we walk around
Under condemnation and guilt and shame thinking there's something we've got to do to manipulate god
Instead of resting in the freedom of the gospel. That's one way
Secondly how dare we
Say that god shows no partiality that jesus's cross forgives anyone from anywhere
No matter what they look like
No matter how much money's in their bank account no matter what last name they have
But yet there's still something in us that wants to look on somebody else and say I will never
Hang out with that type of person. I can't go near them
How dare we harbor prejudice towards someone for how they look
Or where they're from?
The gospel eradicates that that is inconsistent
We should never despise someone because of their skin color their last name their bank account their socioeconomics
None of that matters before god
Thirdly how dare we say god is sufficient we have all we need in christ, but we walk around
In constant anxiety wondering if he's going to provide for me today
How dare we say all humans are made in the image of god worthy of dignity value and respect
But we use another human being
selfishly
To fulfill our sin
To be the object of our sinful pleasure
How dare we
Do you see that that is a question
Do you see that that is a contradiction?
But i'm not going to leave us there
Because I don't think that paul left peter there. There's a lot that's not said
I want to leave us with a cure because there is a cure
What is the cure?
It's the fifth reality
There's a merciful cure
The only cure for hypocrisy can be found in someone who wasn't a hypocrite
I've proven we're all hypocrites and i'm the chief of hypocrites so if you came to church thinking
I'm not going to find any hypocrites here. You're wrong
But we worship one who was not a hypocrite
Go to mark 2
His name's jesus mark at the beginning of his gospel records this story
Verse 13 jesus went out beside the sea and the crowds were coming to them and he was teaching them and as he passed by
He saw levi that's matthew sitting at a tax booth and he called to him and he said
Follow me and he did and so they go to matthew's house and he's reclining at the table. He's fellowshiping over a meal
With many tax collectors and sinners reclining with jesus and there were many who followed him in the scribes of the pharisees
They took note
They saw that he was eating with the sinners and the tax collectors and they said to jesus his disciples
Why does he eat with them? Why does he eat with sinners and tax collectors?
He's defiling himself a similar message to what the circumcision party was saying to peter
And jesus when he heard it said to them those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick
Did not come to call the righteous, but I came to the sinners
The pharisees how could you do that jesus?
Jesus said don't you know who I came for?
And jesus was showing it through the intimacy of a meal
That's why it was scandalous to the pharisees how could you dine with gentiles and the unclean and the tax collectors and the sinners and the hypocrites
But what mark was doing at the beginning of his gospel
Was pointing us forward to something so much more scandalous that jesus would do at the end of mark's gospel
Yes, jesus would eat with sinners and tax collectors and he would fellowship in an intimate way with hypocrites
But what would he do at the end of the gospel of mark
He would become one with them
The one who was without hypocrisy or sin became sin
In love and in mercy he did the unthinkable
He didn't just eat with us he took our sins on himself. He became
Us to a degree and the father right the father poured out his wrath towards sin on jesus
So it was the it was unthinkable that jesus would even swallow a cup that a gentile had put his lips on
What's even more unthinkable is that jesus would swallow the cup of the father's wrath that he didn't deserve
That's what he did. He didn't deserve
The father's wrath that he didn't deserve that's what's unthinkable for hypocrites
And then what would he do he would die he would go into the ground and he would rise securing our freedom
You know what peter is searching for he wants freedom. You know our freedom is found
It's found in jesus. The main point of the sermon is this we're all hypocrites, but freedom from hypocrisy is found in one place
jesus
Jesus he doesn't leave us in our hypocrisy
The band will come up i'm running out of time
I've shown you plenty of application. Hopefully let me leave you with this if the gospel is what frees us from hypocrisy
And we're constantly living in hypocrisy
What do we do?
What did peter and paul do what did paul do to peter he confronted him
We need constant confrontation with the cross and the word of god to realign us
I go and take my car in what once every three years to get it aligned we need more than that
Every day because we're tempted every day we go to god's word through his spirit
He confronts us we remind ourselves of the truth of the gospel and we readjust our step to walk in consistency
Instead of walking in hypocrisy
That's what you do
That's what you do. So this is what we're going to do, right?
We're going to close we're going to do something a little different number one. We're going to confess our sin of hypocrisy
I'm going to give you a moment
Right your hypocrisy might look different than my hypocrisy, but it's still what hypocrisy and it undermines the gospel
You're going to take a moment to confess it and then we're going to pray a prayer of sanctification
The holy spirit would realign us to walk inconsistently our inconsistency
Should I say inconsistency with the gospel? Let's pray father
Father forgive us. Just take a minute and confess our sins of hypocrisy to you
Maybe it's unforgiveness. Maybe it's
Not walking in freedom. Maybe it maybe it's prejudice
those sins are not too deep for jesus's blood to
To cover
We thank you for the mercy
Found in jesus that just as we are we can approach him and throw our sins on him and he forgives us
So thank you for that we confess those
To you
We pray this morning your spirit would do a readjustment a realignment in our heart so that we can be a people
That not only declare the gospel, but we live out the gospel and our lives align with what we say
We love you. We thank you for the gospels in jesus name. Amen