Guard against other efforts as a substitute faith

📷 The back story

- Now Paul and Barnabas visited many cities in roman province of Galatia, present day Turkey preaching the good news

- When he returned to Antioch, he was accused by Jewish Christians of diluting Christianity to make it more appealing to the gentiles

- Now, the problem the Jews had with Paul was that Paul was telling the Gentiles that they did not have to follow many laws that the Jews obeyed for centuries

- They disagreed with Paul so much that they followed him to the different cities to tell the gentiles that in order to be saved they had to follow all the Jewish laws

- The Jewish Christians felt as though they were better than the Gentiles, so in order to be saved the Gentiles had to first become Jews in order to become Christians

In response to the Jews, Paul wrote a letter to the churches of Galatia to tell them that

- Salvation, for Jew and Gentiles alike, is through faith in Jesus Christ alone.

14 years later after his initial visit

Paul is commanded to return to Jerusalem by God, so he goes. He meets with several church leaders and tells them of the message that he is preaching to the gentiles (Just to make sure that they agreed with him) they agreed.

One might ask, how does this relate to me?

📷 Sometimes we avoid consulting others because we fear that it may create tension or cause arguments,

📷 instead we should openly discuss our plans and actions

📷 practicing this will bring to fruition Good communication and helps everyone understand a situation better

Please turn to 11:21

📷 The clash between Paul and Peter

Begin by Reading verses 11- 14

📷 Here Paul has seen the Jewish Christians ignoring the truth of the good news because they decided to add conditions to it such as circumcision in order to be saved

· he decides that he has to clear the issue up publicly by confronting Peter

· he confronts Peter because although he is a leader of the church, he was acting like a hypocrite

NOW -Peter was made aware of the Good news by God himself in Acts

When he fell into a trance and saw the sky open with all sorts of animals, reptiles, and birds

& a voice came to him and told him to kill and eat them.

And Peter said oh no! I will not eat anything Jewish laws had deemed unclean, But the voice replied to him and said “DON’T CALL SOMETHING UNCLEAN IF GOD HAS MADE IT CLEAN”

BEFORE this vision, Peter thought that the gentiles could NOT become followers of Christ.

AFTER the vision, Peter realized that God didn’t show favoritism, so he knew it was his responsibility to spread the Good news to all the people of Israel

WHILE CONFRONTING PETER, Paul ultimately clears up some confusion that the Jewish Christians behavior’s might have caused

Is salvation through faith in Christ alone?

Or is salvation through Christ and following the Jewish laws?

He answers: If the law could give us new life, we could be made right with God by obeying it. BUT the scriptures declare that we are all prisoners of sin, so we receive Gods promise of freedom only by believing in Jesus Christ

📷 Paul charged Peter’s actions because they violated the gospel message

· he compromised his beliefs because he feared what his fellow Jews would think about him fellowshipping with the gentiles

· Today’s Christians are guilty of the same HYOCRISY

- People are told if they comply with created rules that they will be saved

- Instead, there should be a Paul amongst the group, one should have courage just as Paul did so that their behavior does not affect the rest

tells us that fearing man is a dangerous trap

📷 The law and commandments can serve as moral and ethical guidelines

Read verses 15-19

📷 Paul also tells us in another letter he wrote that “the law itself is holy, and it’s commands are holy and right and Good”

So, one might ask, do we have to follow the laws and commandments or not?

Observing the Jewish laws and obeying the ten commandments cannot justify us, BUT theycommandments provide:

Standards for behavior (Morally and ethically)

They convict us of sin, but by God’s grace we are given the opportunity to ask for forgiveness

& because we cannot keep the ten commandments perfectly, we are driven to trust in the Lord.

📷 God’s plan of salvation

Read verses 20-21

Paul tells the gentiles and Jews that when they became Christians, they became ONE with Christ.

Read Colossians 20-23

& the same goes for us today!

Because Jesus died for us and our sins, our sins have died, and we are no longer condemned by the law. We are under the new promise, the promise of eternal inheritance!

Conclusion: I encourage you to fully trust in God, believe and know that salvation comes from faith in Christ alone. I challenge you to GUARD AGAINST OTHER EFFORTS AS A SUBSTITUTE FAITH!