Crucified With Christ

“CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST” Gal. 2:11-21

CWBC – 7/14/19

Jon Daniels

INTRO – Florence Chadwick – 1952 – attempted to swim from Catalina Island to the California mainland. Swam for 15 hours in thick fog. Begged to be taken out of water. Her mother urged her to keep going b/c she was so close. Finally, physical & emotional exhaustion set in & she was pulled out of water. Realized she was only about half a mile from shore. Later said, “All I could see was the fog.…I think if I could have seen the shore, I would have made it.”

Do you sometimes feel like you’re swimming in a thick fog?

- Fog of worry

- Fog of fear

- Fog of uncertainty

- Fog of depression

- Fog of confusion

The more we study the Scriptures, the more the fog will lift. Studying Galatians with its strong emphasis on the Gospel helps us see the “shore” – that destination we are living for as Christ-followers! We find ourselves more focused on that destination & the Gospel than on the fog we are in right now.

- We focus on the glorious truth of our salvation!

- We focus on the great privilege of living for the Lord!

- We focus on the grand promise of our eternal life & our eternal home what awaits us!

EXPLANATION – Open your Bibles to Gal. 2:11-21 (pg. 566 in pew Bible).

This section of Scripture opens w/ Paul addressing a problem he had w/ Peter. Paul had made it clear in Gal. 1:10 that he was not going to be a people-pleaser. Pretty obvious in v. 11 that he was standing by that statement. Wasn’t concerned w/ pleasing Peter, but was concerned w/ how Peter had been hypocritical & shown favoritism when it came to eating meals Jews & Gentiles. It was wrong for Peter to do this. It made the Gentile Christians feel like second-class citizens, & it also led others astray as we see in v. 13. This is serious business!

If Peter, who was a Jew by birth like Paul, ate w/ Gentiles, he would be breaking Jewish dietary laws, which were no longer necessary for Christians. Remember that it was the Judaizers who were causing problems in the church by saying that the Gospel was faith PLUS the keeping of the Jewish laws. Paul said that their distorted, perverted gospel was no gospel at all. He challenged Peter with his conduct that was “not in step w/ the truth of the Gospel” (v. 14).

His willingness to take his friend & fellow apostle to task for this hypocritical activity shows us just how serious Paul was about the Gospel. I wonder if we are that serious about the Gospel, too? Are we willing to lovingly stand up to a friend or family member whose conduct or lifestyle is “not in step” w/ the truth of the Gospel? Are we that serious about the Gospel?

Paul goes on in v. 15-19 to remind Peter & the Galatians about the foundational truth that we are saved by faith in Christ alone, not by keeping the Law (v. 15-16). The Law serves a purpose, & that is to show us just how sinful we really are, how helpless we really are, & how wonderful God’s offer of salvation really is. But salvation is by grace alone by faith alone in Christ alone!

Verse 20 is Paul’s testimony of the saving work of Christ in his life. And what a testimony it is!

- Correction to my sermon from last week – I read a tweet from Steve Gaines, pastor, Bellevue Baptist Church: “Don’t see how folks can say Paul was saved on the Damascus Road in light of this verse: ‘Now why do you wait? Rise & be baptized & wash away your sins, calling on His name.’ (Acts 22:16) He hadn’t yet called on the Lord; his sins hadn’t yet been washed away.”

- Got me to thinking. Came to realization that Paul was not saved at the moment that he encountered Jesus on the Road to Damascus as I have thought & preached all along. His salvation came a few days later when Ananias came to him & spoke these words to him. Then Paul did what he later wrote about in Rom. 10:13 – “Whosoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

- Jesus came to me in the backseat of my family station wagon as we were on our way to the Bill Glass crusade. But I wasn’t saved until I called on His name later on that night.

- You have to believe in Christ alone & call on His name to be saved.

o DO YOU NEED TO DO THAT RIGHT NOW? PRAY WITH ME!