Transcript for:
Galatians 2:1,10 -Only One Gospel- Pastor Rick Beaudry 2025-07-27

Galatians chapter two verses one through 10. Then fourteen years after, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also. And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run or had run-in vain. But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. And and that because of false brethren unaware brought in, who came in privately, despite our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage, to whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. But of these who seem to be somewhat, whosoever they were, it makes no matter to me, but God accepts no man's person. For they who seem to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me. But contrarwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter. For he that wrought effectually in Peter, to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles. And when James, Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship that we should go under the heathen and they under the circumcision. Only they would that we should remember the poor the same which I was, forward to do. So father, once again, we're just so thankful that we can be here and take this time out to sit at your feet and and learn, to be disciples. And Lord, we need to be equipped. We need to be strengthened because there's so many influences, so many misinformation and lies circulating, Lord. It's so easy to be deceived today. And so, Lord, help us more and more to know the truth, that the truth would keep us free. And that we have the help of your Holy Spirit given us discernment and a red flag being raised when with within our spirits, something doesn't quite sound right. And and, Lord, prompt us to dig into the scriptures and to study to show ourselves approved under God. Workmen that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. And and as Bereans, Lord, checking the scriptures out to to validate, to make sure that what we're hearing is actually biblical. Help us to think biblically. Help us to live and act biblically. And Lord, help us to, have our hope only in you, in your soon return, your coming kingdom. And, bless Lord, we pray. Pour out your Holy Spirit. Teach us now we ask in Jesus name. Amen. Would you please be seated? Paul continues to emphasize that God has revealed the one and only gospel unto him, that there's not two gospels. The gospel that Paul preaches is the same gospel that Peter and the other apostles preach. And so what was happening is Paul spent some time with Barnabas planting churches in Iconium, Lystra, Derby, and these areas. And then from the from Jerusalem, the parent, the mother church, so to speak, some Judaizers, those holding to Judaism, were trying to mix law with grace. So they were undermining the freedom that the the church had received, pretty much headquartered in Antioch and Pisidia. And, and so Paul says, you know, we gotta deal with this. These Judaizers are undermining the people. The people are thinking that, hey, I respond to the gospel that salvations by grace through faith alone, but now I'm gonna make myself perfect by keeping the law. So I'm going to add the law with grace and basically become a proselyte Jew and or a sect of of Judaism. So you have a sect of the Pharisees, a sect of the Sadducees, and now you're gonna have a sect of what? The Christians? And the Christians are gonna be no different or or very similar, if you will, to these other Jewish sects that emphasis being keep the Mosaic Law, the 613 precepts of the Mosaic Law. But Paul saying, no, no, no, no, no, no. You guys, you know, have you fallen from grace already? Who's bewitched you? Who's tricked you? How could this happen? So Paul wants to be able to defend the gospel that was given by revelation unto him. He wants to prove to people that Peter and him preach the same gospel. He'd previously spoke to Peter and spent fifteen days with them earlier. But, fourteen years since he'd been saved, and, so there's only one true gospel, salvation by grace through faith alone. So Paul defends his gospel by describing number one, his private visitation. Notice verse one, then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas and took Titus with me also. So Barnabas, he in chapter four, he's a, he's a Levi. He's a Jew from the island of Cyprus. And when, the church began to explode in the in the book of Acts with a 3,000 preaching, Peter preaching 3,005, well, Barnabas, whose name was Joseph, Joseph, He comes there to Jerusalem and he sold some land in Cyprus. And he brought the proceeds of which and laid at the apostles' feet and all. And he began to minister there and they loved him so much and they gave him a new name. They gave him the name from Joseph to Barnabas. Barnabas means son, son of consolation. He's an encourager, huge encouragement gifting. He's one of the apostles in that he's been sent. And he's he's, hearing about this guy named Saul of Tarsus, who's now Paul ministering during this course of time near the area of of Tarsus and and Syria and all that. And, and so Barnabas goes and seeks them out because there's so much work to do. And so they begin to work together. And as they're working together and they're planting churches and and watching the heathen, watching the Gentiles come to Christ and all, it's bothering them that as they leave an area of the area of Galatia, that the Judaizers swoop in, come in and try to undermine, the the grace of God, the true gospel, the freedom that the Christians could learn. So it says in Acts thirteen two that the, they were praying. The elders were together at Antioch, the pastors, and it said separate and they heard the Holy Spirit say they weren't casting dice anymore. Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work where unto I have called you. And so this is the first missionary journey that Paul and Barnabas were to go on. And, in Acts thirteen and fourteen, they went to Pisidia, which is the area of Galatia, Iconium, Lystra, and Derby. Lystra is the place that, the Apostle Paul was stoned and, left for dead. And when he got back up, he went right back into Lystra and Derby and and and tried to confirm, in the hearts of the people that believe that don't give up because of because of adversity that we through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. And then in Acts fourteen twenty seven, it says, when they were come and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them and how he had opened the door of faith under the Gentiles. And there they abode a long time with the disciples. So, Paul and Barnabas come back to Antioch Of Pisidia after their first missionary journey and they rehearsed. They gave a debriefing to everybody describing all the people that are that are getting saved and the gospel going forward. 14 of watching the open door of faith under the Gentiles. And so when word reached Jerusalem, what happens? Acts 15 verse one, and certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren and said, Except you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved. When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, and so they're they're boiling inside. When I hear heresy, I start to boil inside. When I was in school or even still, if I hear a heretical doctrine and ethical teaching, physic physically, I start to shake. I start to it starts to bother me so much. And sometimes, almost to the point of getting sick if it's if it's really bad of almost throwing up. It's it's a weird thing, but it it happens. It makes me sick to hear, demonic heresy. And so these guys are they're disputing. They're ready to argue. And it's okay to dispute. It's okay to argue for truth. It's okay to debate for truth. And don't say, oh, you're not loving. Oh, you're not loving. Stay with the scriptures. Stay with the scriptures. Let the scriptures be the sword that you pull out, the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, and and let it rip. Just let it rip. And, if they if they don't have a knowledge of the scriptures, they can't use the scriptures, then they're gonna they're going to lean toward fables and fairy tales. And here's here's a big one that's happening today. The Lord told me. How do I know if the Lord told you? How do I know if your dream is from God or not? Maybe you had some bad pizza last night. How do I know? You know? So all of a sudden now we're gonna establish truth in the church with guys that are saying, God told me? Well, he didn't tell me. Why would he tell you if he didn't tell me? You know? And how do I know? You know? So you'll you'll never hear me say, God told me. I don't do that. I don't try to manipulate people what God told me. I don't try to manipulate people that I'm more spiritual than you. And, oh, by the way, God told me. Oh, I had a dream. I had a vision. Now I may take If I did have a dream or a vision and I laid it out there, I would have to say, you know, I don't know what this is, but maybe some of you have gift of interpretation. I'm kinda like King Nebbe here. I don't know what's going on. But, you know, maybe you guys have the interpretation. But maybe maybe it has some bearing. Maybe maybe there's some biblical, truth to this or whatever. And so I wanna be very careful that when I stand before God, I'm gonna give an account of everything I said and taught. And so be not many teachers because the judgment is even greater upon you. So stay with the word of God. So if I'm with somebody that's saying, hey, I had a dream or a vision or an experience, I'm gonna say, prove it with the word of God. Where's that in the word of God? Where is it prophetically? And if they can't do that, then, you know, the Christians will buy their books and they sell a lot of books and then the blood moon thing doesn't happen, but they don't give the money back. And everybody's gone on to a tangent. They've gone on a rabbit trail again, And they interpret 09:11 as this. And, oh, I see America at 09:11. And and then everybody buys the book again. And it doesn't happen. Stay with the word of God. And whether they're flat earthers or there is no millennium whatever, it's okay to debate. And don't lose your salvation over it. We still love them, but we're not gonna tolerate heresy. We're it's it's it's fighting words. It's time to fight. It's time to earnestly contend for the faith, to fight the good fight of faith. It's serious if people become religious and lose the liberty that's in Christ Jesus. It's serious when people undermine the word of God. That's a serious indictment. And so you have a responsibility to speak the truth and love and stand against them. And I know they're gonna say I'm a hater, that I'm a bigot, that I'm a homophobe, that I'm unloving. That's where they come back to. They come back to the messenger when they can't articulate, when they can't debate biblically, they fall back on, he's mean. He's mean. He hurt my feelings. Well, do you think Paul's concerned about the feelings of these guys up in Jerusalem? He's more concerned about people going to hell. He's more concerned about people undermining the word of God and people losing confidence in God's word. And following a religious effort, a religious system rather than the freedom that's ours, you know, in Christ Jesus. So Paul's making a private visitation. He's gonna do it privately, not to blow him out of the water, but he and Barnabas, when therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them. Now, when we get to Acts chapter 16, there's a very sad thing that happens there. Paul says, let's go on a missionary journey and let's go check on all the churches, Barnabas, that we planted. Let's go see how they do. And Barnabas has said, that's a great idea. Now, when you watch what Luke wrote, the writer of the book of acts and the Holy Spirit leading him, it starts out with Barnabas and Saul. Barnabas and Saul. In a little while here, it's gonna be Saul and Barnabas. Saul taking more of the leadership role. So in Acts 16, this is sad. Barnabas wants to bring John Mark. And Saul says, no. John Mark wimped out last time. He went back home. He didn't stay with us the whole time. So Paul's kind of little intense, little intense. Barnabas is the son of consolation. He's an encourager. So it breaks his heart that Paul doesn't lighten up, man. Lighten up. But he won't lighten up. So they had a disputation. They had a fight, a contention as two Christian leaders. Broke them apart. That's sad when that happens. That's what the devil wants to do. He wants to divide and conquer us. So don't let the sun go down on your wrath. You know, these guys got together later. John Mark was able to work with the apostle Paul later. Paul says he's really useful to me later. But at that time, he was he he was he was like, no. This it's pretty dangerous on these missionary journeys. I don't need a guy that's gonna wimp out. He's not ready yet. And Barnabas is like, yeah, he's gone. So then they had they broke apart and then Paul took who? Silas. He went with Silas. And they wound up in the Philippian Jail, didn't they? But, so don't think that that disputation or contention or arguments or disagreements are not part of the church. It's a part of being human beings in your marriage and all. Conflict resolution. How do we resolve these conflicts? One of the ways here is truth. Doesn't matter how you feel. What's the gospel? There's one gospel. Just one. It's non negotiable. It's not up for debate. You know, it's one gospel. And so salvation is by grace through faith alone. You don't add the law to it. You don't climb up the steps or knock on doors or gotta give or whatever. There's no work. There's no work. The work is done. Jesus said, it is finished. The Talist, I paid in full. So you're you're sanctified the same way as you're saved. It's by grace through faith, as you rely upon the holy spirit to transform and change us from within. The emphasis upon love, not upon the law. And so they're gonna go up there and they're gonna air it out, but they're gonna they're gonna use wisdom. So there's only one gospel. They determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem under the apostles and elders about this question. So Barnabas, as I said, is a Levite. He's a Jew. He's well versed in the Mosaic Law, obviously. And then they also bring a gentile with them. They wanna show a trophy of God's grace because the church in Jerusalem is primarily all Jewish. And it's real easy for them to stay with Judaism and add Jesus to the equation. That's a real slippery slope, but it's it's very easy. It's what they did. And James, the brother of our Lord, you know, he leaned that way. But thank God he recognized the importance of defining and establishing what the gospel is. And they had some fellowship kinda suggestions, you know, like four different things they said afterwards. After they concluded and made sure that the gospel is salvation by grace through faith alone, you don't have to keep the law or be circumcised. That's why they're bringing Titus. Titus is uncircumcised. So they're gonna impose upon the Gentiles that, hey, you guys have to be circumcised. And so when the Apostle Paul circumcises Timothy, Timothy had a mother who's a Jewess. So so Timothy is a Jew and for the means of fellowship to try and open more doors in sharing the gospel, Paul thought it wise that Timothy be circumcised. But Titus, full blown gentile. Titus doesn't wanna be circumcised. He doesn't need to be circumcised. Circumcision does not, prerequisite to be saved. And so the, Judaizers were imposing this upon the, cutting away the foreskin of the men as proof that you're a true Jew, that you're truly saved and all. And Paul's saying, no, no, no, no. So he purposely brings Titus, this uncircumcised Gentile with him. In verse two, and I went up by revelation. So he sent by God. God revealed to the Apostle Paul, this is what I need to do and I'm gonna be obedient to God's revealing this unto me. And and communicated unto them that gospel, which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately. But privately to them which were of reputation. Doesn't wanna blow everybody out of the water. Doesn't wanna start a big heated debate at this point. Let's see if we can do this, you know, in a room together without everybody else involved and and throwing in their thoughts. So he comes with the leadership quietly, lest by any means I should run or had run-in vain. So it could be that we just spin our wheels. We're just wasting our time, that we wouldn't get anywhere if the devil gets in there with the flesh and everybody's just fighting, you know, and all. So, wisdom is such in Proverbs eighteen thirteen. He that answers a matter before he hears it, it is folly and shame on him. So Paul's willing to go into a meeting like Matthew 18 and come to them and confront the issue, lay it on the table. Hey, let's search the scriptures. Let's look at this. Let's talk about this. This is what we've been seeing going on for fourteen years. Spent the first three years in the area of Arabia, the Lord teaching me the gospel. Then I ministered area of Tarsus and, for a number of years. And then Barnabas sought me out and then we began to go out there and went on mission. We saw scores and scores and scores of people, you know, being saved and all of the Gentiles. And, so and this is the gospel that the Lord gave me. This is what he revealed to me. This is the gospel that we have. Is there any other gospel we didn't hear about? You know? And the other thing is that Saul of Tarsus was a Pharisee of Pharisees. If anybody knew the Mosaic law or the intention of the Mosaic law, this guy knew the Mosaic law. And they knew that he had the he had the chops, so to speak. And, and he's gonna point out that the law in chapter four here, Galatians, that it was just a pedagogue. It was a tutor. It was a means of pushing you into a corner to stop every mouth that there be no boasting, that everyone would be guilty. Why? So God could be gracious. So that salvation would be a free gift. You're not gonna receive that free gift if you still think you can earn it and work for it and attain and believe harder, pray harder, give more, work more, knock on more doors. So the gospel, or excuse me, the the law, brings us to the place where we have to admit that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There's none righteous, no, not one. And so we we deposit 100% of our trust in Jesus Christ, who fulfilled the law, kept it perfectly. And then the Father poured out his wrath upon his son, Jesus, as a substitute in place of us. So God's fully just and holy and punishing sin, and salvation's a free gift by grace through faith alone in Jesus Christ. The just shall live by faith, those who are justified. And that's the gospel that we have today. And thank God they battle this out in acts 15. And, that they that they, hash this out because otherwise, again, Christianity could have, devolved in just another sect of of Judaism and not flourished. And we saw the dark ages, bring Christianity to a neutral place. But under the radar, Christianity was still operative, but they were under attack from the Roman Catholic church. And we remember that a guy named Martin Luther, who was a monk and the most monkish of the monks, and also a lawyer, that he had a priest and a lawyer that, he knew the law and, and he knew, you know, you know, the Word of God to a certain degree. And it began to bother him as he's climbing up the Sistine Chapel on on his knees. It began to bother him as the Holy Spirit's ministering unto him with out of Galatians and and Habakkuk and Romans one. The just shall live by faith. The just shall live by faith. And it got through to him. And so he quit trying to be a religious Catholic priest. And he took his grievances against the church and nailed them to the Wittenberg door. And he came under attack from the authorities and threatening death onto him. And here I stand, I can do no other, unwilling to compromise. Now that was what's called the Protestant Reformation. As the Bible began to be printed into the hands of the common people. So only guys like Martin Luther, as they know Latin, they could read the Latin Vulgate. But the common people didn't learn Latin, didn't know Latin. So we needed all these different languages where the the English Bible, the sixteen eleven King James Bible, but even before that, that Tyndale and others trying to translate the Greek into various, you know, the European languages of of, German and French and and English and such. And there's a big battle going on, but once that Protestant Reformation hit, and now the people began to have the Bible in their hands. Do you cherish your Bible, the word of God? And they began to cherish it and read the word of God and it set them free from the domination, the control of the papacy in that they controlled information. Sound like AI. Sound like the control of information. Everything tracked and traced. If you've got your Bible with you and you hide your his word in your heart, you can be like one in Iran or in China. They even take your Bible away. Thy word have I hidden my my heart that it might not sin against thee. And so you're able to, stand firm no matter what they may bring or how twisted they may become. But the Protestant Reformation burst forth with the understanding the just, those justified shall live by faith. Salvation by grace through faith alone. And it, set the world ablaze once again. So the danger here was falling into a dark age like that where they would be neutralized with a works gospel instead of salvation by grace through faith alone. So there's only one gospel. And this is, this is the one that we've received. So he's being wise, concerned in the leadership. He's communicating unto them. So Paul defenses gospel by describing his private visitation. And secondly, his public verification. So he's going to go there publicly. He's going to present his gospel. It's gonna be verified by the leadership of the church in Jerusalem. So no longer will anybody be able to circumvent and get between Peter, James, and John, and Barnabas, and Saul, or Paul. Get between them and try to convince people that Paul's gospel's wrong. No. We got the same gospel. There's only one gospel. We may have a different mission field. Peter may go to the Jews, and Barnabas and I and Silas may go to the heathen, to the Gentiles. But there's one gospel. There's one church too. Just one church. This isn't a denomination with little faction, little groups. There's one church. The body of Christ. And we have a mission, been commission to go and make disciples, to preach the gospel to the lost and and discipleship. The word of God, teach the word of God, to feed the sheep with with, the word of God. And so his public verification, verse three, but neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek. Now some say that Titus quite possibly, and you know the the epistle to Titus that we have and the various times where Paul mentions Titus. Titus is a huge comfort, the Apostle Paul. A great workman in the field, brings him with him. But some say, some commentators say that Titus quite possibly, this isn't thus sayeth the Lord, could be the brother of Luke. And Luke the writer of the book of acts and the gospel of Luke. And so that's a that's a neat, sideline, but we don't we don't know that for sure. But Titus is is is very very useful and mightily used of the Lord, along with the apostle Paul. Co laboring together. Maybe you have people that co labor with you in the gospel, in the sharing of of the good news of the coming kingdom of our Lord. It's nice to work together with people in the body of Christ and not always be divided and fighting against each other. So he's a trophy of God's grace, a witness of the power of the gospel to change a man's life. And and so he's being a Greek was was compelled to be circumcised. And so they're saying to Titus, you need to be circumcised. And he's like, no, no, no, no. But neither Titus who is with me being a Greek was compelled to be circumcised. So he's not gonna follow under the compulsion of people trying to impose upon him, you know, to be circumcised. And so as I said, a trophy of God's grace, a witness of the power of the gospel to change a man's life from within. Now the gospel that the Lord had given to the apostle Paul directly in Acts twenty six sixteen, Paul, describes in his testimony, but rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose. So on the road to Damascus in chapter nine, the Lord shown, the Shekinah glory of God shown bright. The people that were with Paul saw that bright light. They heard a voice, but they couldn't make out what was being said. And it's a voice of Jesus saying, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Who art thou Lord? I'm Jesus whom you're persecuting. Can you continue to kick against the goads? So now he's saying stand upon your feet, you know. And he's gonna be blind for three days and Annas is gonna lay hands on him later on the street which is called Straight as he's as he's staying there in Damascus. But, for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make the a minister and a witness. A minister is a servant and a witness is one that testifies, of Jesus. Both of these things which thou has seen of those things in which I will appear unto thee. The Lord appeared unto him in Acts chapter 18 and said, Paul, I have much people in this city of Corinth. You know, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid, Paul. And he appeared unto him to give him the gospel in the beginning in those three years that he that he sat at the Lord's feet there in the deserts of Arabia, the Lord appeared under the Apostle Paul by direct revelation. And, and so he says, but rise and stand upon your feet for I've appeared under thee for this purpose. What purpose? To make thee a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and the things which in which I will appear unto thee. Verse 17, delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles. So Paul's gonna have a whole lot of people that are against him, especially the Jews. Everywhere Paul would go to plant churches and minister, the Judaizers would come in right after him trying to undermine and stir people up into riots and so that's what's happened at Lystra. At Lystra and Derby when they were there, Paul and Barnabas were on the verge of being worshiped as Jupiter and Mercurius, you know. And they're saying, no, no, no to these priests. We're men of like passions as ye. Don't do that. Worship God. So it kinda cooled them down a little bit. But then the Jews came in there and stirred them up, stirred these people up, these same people. And they stoned the apostle Paul and dragged them out of the city and left them for dead. And and what's he do? He's like that, ever Eddie bunny, take a lick and keep on ticking, man. He ain't gonna stop. Just went right back in there. Can't stop a guy like that. These that have turned the world upside down. There's the commentary. There's the witness. These that have turned the world upside down. Do you live in an upside down world? Maybe we are called of God to set it back right. But these that have turned the world upside down are here. We gotta get rid of them. We're gonna lose our our greatest Diana of the Ephesians. We're gonna lose our income. We're gonna lose our jobs. We're gonna lose our wealth because we sell a lot of idolatrous statues of Diana, a fertility goddess. We sell pornography to a lot of people. And these guys are here turning the world upside down, saying these little these little statues aren't gods. Oh. Those are fighting words. They're gonna whoop on Timothy later and and kill him out of Ephesus. And for the space of two hours when Paul's there, they're shouting out, great is Diana of the Ephesians. Great is Diana of the Ephesians. You know, whipping people into a frenzy. So it wasn't always met with, you know, readily accepted. There was a lot of opposition delivering the, he says, from the people, and from the Gentiles on whom I'll send thee. And and what what's the gospel gonna do? To open their eyes. People are blinded, spiritually blinded. And Paul said, the gospel that Jesus gave me is the very means of helping them to see, helping the blind to see. All I know is I was blind and now I see. To open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, which speaks of repentance. You're living and walking in darkness as a as a way of life, as a fashion of your life. You're going with the world, the way of the world. And now as the Lord has opened your eyes to his love for you and the cross and his love in in sending his son to the cross to die for you, your heart is pricked and you no longer wanna resist the Holy Spirit. Now you're turning. You're exercising your will, yielding to the sovereignty of God in your life, not fighting against God anymore. And you're turning from darkness under the light. And from the power of Satan under God, Satan has blinded you. Satan has held you captive. You've become a drunk, an alcoholic, a a drug addict, a a promiscuous, ungodly, greedy person. And now the Lord is setting you free. He's taken the shackles that the devil had on you. The blindness that the devil had on you. The bondage that the devil kept you in. And he's got a greater power. There's a greater power from the power of Satan under God. We can't do that in and of our own strength. We can't fight the devil in and of our own strength. We need the help of the Holy Spirit. We need the Jesus said, you shall receive power when the Holy Ghost has come upon you. You're gonna be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the outermost parts of the world. Our sufficiency is of Christ. We're no match for the devil. But greater is he that's in me than he that's in the world. Since God's for me, who can be against me? So we, like Michael, when contending for the body of of Moses, we say to the devil, and I don't like to talk to the devil, but if it comes up, the Lord rebuke you. It's always in the name of the Lord. The Lord rebuke you. Michael the archangel, he's he's a he's an equal with the devil. When when the devil finally is grabbed hold, he's gonna be grabbed hold by an angel and and thrust into the abyss. You know? And so the Lord rebuke you. He knew the rank. He knew the head shift and all. He knew the devil was overstepping these bounds. And so in the name of Jesus, you and I, as weak as we are, in in the name of Jesus, in his name, the devil's gonna back down, isn't he? Because God's given us authority to get the gospel out in the name of Jesus. Calling upon the name of Jesus. That they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified. Sanctification, set apart, made holy, sanctified by faith that is in me. So not law. It's by faith. It's not law. And so as I said, Martin Luther understood that the just shall live by faith. And Paul, his gospel, he said in Romans one, the theme of Romans is the gospel. And he says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. Are you ashamed of the gospel? No, you're not ashamed of the gospel. You're bold with the gospel. You want people to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. You don't take your the light and hide it under a bushel. You're not trying to bury the investment he's made in your life. You wanna testify of the great things he's done for you And you want to describe how it happened. Well, I heard the gospel. I'm not ashamed the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God under salvation to everyone that believes. And the priority is to the Jew first and then the Gentile. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed. The righteousness is in the gospel. It's not in the Mosaic Law. The Mosaic Law condemns me. But within the gospel, there's justification. The just shall live by faith. For therein is righteous God revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the just shall live by faith. And so there's a justification emphasis in Romans one. In Galatians, we're gonna see the same verse from Habakkuk. The just shall live by faith. God told Habakkuk, hey, I'm gonna do something in your day that you wouldn't believe me if I told you. And it had to do with the Babylonians destroying, you know, Jerusalem. It was so over the top. And Habakkuk's like, how could you use someone that wicked to discipline us? And Habakkuk, your mind can't fathom. Your mind can't understand my ways. My ways are higher than the heavens. Are my ways from your ways? And my ways, you know, my reason reasoning past finding out. So you're gonna have to just shall live by faith. You're gonna have to walk by faith and trust me. Trust me, Abigail. And then Paul takes that verse and uses it there in Romans one sixteen and seventeen in regard to justification emphasis. Then the next part of it is shall live. And we'll see that as we study in Galatians. The problem is these guys were saying they were saved, but now they're living according to the law. No, the just shall live. You need the living part. You need to live out your Christianity by faith. And then in Hebrews, it's used again in chapter 10. Why? Because Christians, Jewish Christians, Hebrews, I believe Paul wrote this letter, they were falling into Judaism because of the persecution that was coming against them. The Jews were persecuting other Jews for walking in the liberty of salvation by grace through faith alone. So to way the way to avoid persecution was to incorporate, once again, the Mosaic law into their lives. So Paul's saying, no, no, no, no, no. In chapter 10 of Hebrews, the just shall live by faith. And then he gives an example, by faith, by faith, by faith in Hebrews 11. These are the ones that please God. For without faith, it's impossible to please God. For they that come to him must believe that he is and that he's a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. See how easy it is to get off, to get off track? And how important it is to have these epistles. These epistles that are written to help you and I stay on track. How quickly the church gets off track. How quickly the church is susceptible to believing lies from false prophets and such. And I'm thankful for the word of God. I'm thankful for those that went before me and laid this out for us so that we don't miss out on the beauty and the blessing, the full blessings of being saved. So Titus refused the outward circumcision. He didn't want the outward. How many people wanna be posers and have the outward from the outside? Pseudo Christians, poser Christians, who are one day gonna hear the Lord say, away from me, I never knew you, you that practice iniquity. We wanna be a genuine, real Christian. So the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew five, six, and seven, the Beatitudes. What's Jesus doing? He lays it out in chapter five verse 20, where he says, except your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you'll no wise enter the kingdom of God. And his disciples are here and there. They're masters at keeping the law. They keep it to the very jot and tittle. They keep it to the very, you know, tithing of their spices in their garden. These guys these guys, they they strain it a gnat. If a gnat gets in their throat, unclean, unclean, they'll strain it a gnat to get the gnat out. But Jesus said, they're such hypocrites, they swallow a camel. So Jesus points out that if you look upon a woman, you've already committed adultery. Because the law condemns the heart, not the outward. If you're angry with your brother, the law condemns you as a murderer. So again, everybody's guilty. So if you can't exceed the outward, their mastery, and change the inward, you're not gonna enter the kingdom of God. And nobody can change the inward. There's no steps. There's no pills. There's no drug. There's no therapy that can change the inward, only a transformation. No transhumanism, no chips, no technology is gonna change a person's heart. Only by the power of the Holy Spirit to transform a person from body and soul to body, soul and spirit. Nick, you must be born again. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. The old things have passed away. All things are become new. Now there's a whole new rule operative in my life. It's the rule of love. I'm being ruled by love, not law. I'm in love with Jesus. And he loves me and he saved me. Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? There's now therefore no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus. I'm in Christ Jesus now. I don't have to strive. I don't have to work. I don't have to knock on doors. I can rest. I can rest in his finished work. I can enjoy him forever. And I can ask him to change me. Change my heart, oh god. See if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Search me. Know me. Try me. God hears that prayer. And he sees the desire in your heart of repentance and turning from your sin and not playing games and yielding to the holy spirit and allowing God to change your heart. You reach a place where you realize, I can drink all the beer I want. I just don't want it anymore. They're doing my school's reunion yesterday. Have it on my phone and I'm looking at Marina High School and all the guys there, people that I went to school with, a lot of them. And, it made me sad because I I clicked on the noise, the sound. And they've got all the music that we're listened to when when I was in 1980, you know, in the seventies and eighties. And they were doing the same drinking that we did, and the same messing around that we did. And it's totally not a scene that I wanna be a part of. I'd love to go find some friends there and and reminisce. And and I did that a few years ago. But, there's just such a sadness. I I can't go back to that. God's given me something so much better. So much better. When I got saved, I didn't need parties anymore. I I I didn't need to go to bars and clubbing like everybody did because I got saved. I went to church and bible studies. I could have gone. I coulda I coulda argued and said, you know, there's a day coming up ahead where the pastors are gonna drink. My grandma would say, Ricky, no. It's it's one or the other. The pastors don't do that. So, yeah, grandma, they do today. They even brew the beer. And they make they mock and they say, rather than what would Jesus do, they mock and they say, what would Jesus brew? They're hipsters, man. They're really cool. This isn't their grandma's church. And these young kids are so influenced by these knuckleheads. And I'm sitting there going, you guys think you're so cool. I wrote the book on cool. You don't need to act like you're some why do you feel this need of using the pulpit to posture yourself like some cool guy from high school? People are smarter than that, aren't they? They gotta be. They gotta be smarter than that. It isn't about being cool. Jesus is the only cool one, you know? So you got these people just just parading, prancing, little Peter pans everywhere. It's ridiculous. And so Paul say, no. Titus wants the real deal. Titus doesn't want the outward show. He could do that and he'd have a whole other group of people maybe following. But in Romans two twenty eight, Paul says, for he is not a Jew. So what is a Jew? Hebrew, Judah. What's a real Jew? You have secular Jews and and you have Christians. Those who believe in Jesus. You have those who are born physically into a Jewish family and you have those who are born again, spiritually. For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God. And so God's saying, it's the circumcision of your hearts, the foreskin of your heart that needs to be cut away. It's that old fleshly nature that needs to be cut away. And he even says in Deuteronomy ten sixteen, circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff necked. So the Jews have a reputation of being rebellious and stubborn, resisting the Holy Spirit. Stephen Stephen brought that theme into the debate that he had them in Acts six and Acts seven. You do always resist the Holy Spirit. You're like your fathers, you're stiff necked. And and they picked up stones and stones, Stephen, to shut them up. So convicted. But it's the circumcision of the heart. The pseudo Christians. And that because of false brethren, that false brethren speaks of pseudo brethren, false brethren. The biggest obstacle I have faced in thirty years being here is division. Every time we build some momentum and start to move forward, division starts. People talking. And pastor Kelly one time came to me and said, your problem is you don't nip it in the bud. You let it go on too long. And it begins to permeate that poison, that backbiting, that gossip. I had a worship leader one time tell me, without me, all you got's a boom box. And he was he was really fighting against me. And I had to I had to let it go for a period of time. Without me, all you got's a boom box. Well, he doesn't know me now. I can sing now. I can sing. Don't make me. And so the I I was watching pastor Raul Rees talk with his Romaine, his assistant pastor. This morning, I saw it, and I told Kathy, I said, this is such a crucial lesson for me. I've never I've never been able to really implement this. I think I'm getting better at it now. But the guy said that when you see division developing, especially in your leadership or with any people starting to divide, starting to cut the pastor down, cut the church down, talk behind his back and all that, you nip it in the bud immediately. And you tell them go find another church. Lots of churches out there. But somehow people think they're gonna stay here till they crash the church. Till they bring it to the ground. And I've I've weathered many, many, many storms like that. I had one guy say to me, I had a board. Everybody's, you don't have a board. I had a board. You know what they did to me? Their kids were using f bombs. We had a youth group. The kids are using f bombs, cursing stuff. So I went to the these guys on my board. And I said, hey, your kids are using f bombs around my daughter and the kids in the youth group. I said, a little eleven eleven is a lump that's unbecoming of us to have a youth group that tolerates that. I understand it's pretty, you know, happens a lot, but it doesn't mean it needs to go unchecked. You're the dads. You need to talk these boys. Well, they didn't do it. And it got worse. And my daughter, Britney, come up to me on a Sunday morning and she's crying. And she named the two boys that were f bombing her and all that at church. And I went after him. And I scolded him. They went to their parents and their parents sided with them. Their parents made a big deal about it. Check this out. Check watch how far they went. Then my board member called his friend, a lawyer, talked to him about it, came back to me and said, Rick, you need to make a public apology. Heard that before? You need to make a public apology or we're going to lock the church up and take your kids away from you. And I'm like, I'm a brand new pastor. I've been a pastor like two years at this point. And I know that's not gonna work with me. And so I I had the other the other father of the kid came to me and said, you lost it. And now we're in control. And here are your options. So fortunately, I was able to contact a lawyer. And he told me, Rick, they're bluffing. They're lying to you. Had you hit the kids, that would have been criminal. But so far as a pastor in your position, you can scold, you know, children that are disobeying. They're lying to you. So I went back and I said, hey, you're lying. He said, yeah. Rick, I didn't know what to do. How about discipline your kid and then we hug and move on? Just discipline your kid. Let's work together. Let's not divide over this stuff. So we had to start over in a different location. A whole lot more to the story, but in any event, I've gone through this over and over and over and over and over again. And, I don't think it's ever gonna stop. So Titus refused the outward circumcision. He wasn't gonna go that route. Paul wasn't gonna give into the pressure to do this so that he could get along with everybody. So you got these pseudo brethren unaware brought in, who came in privately. So they're secret agents and they're coming in to spy out our liberty. Notice that's a key word there, liberty. Because you have the freedom and the liberty in Christ. Now they're trying to bring you back into bondage. Trying to steal, trying to take away the freedom that you have in Christ, which we have in Christ, that they might bring us into bondage. So the mind politics, the mind police, the people in The UK wondering if you're praying or not. You know, are you praying in the name of Jesus? You're you can pray in the name of Mohammed and the the sound will go out several times a day for you to drop down and pray for Mohammed or Allah, but, you can't pray in the name of Jesus, you know. You can't worship in Canada. Right? You Gonna get in trouble. Verse five, to whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour. Now, do you see that during COVID? It was a no brainer. It was we will not give subjection, not even for an hour. This is so outlandish, these mandates. There's no way we're gonna quit meeting at church. There's no way we're gonna force people to wear a mask. There's no way that we're going to try and incorporate giving people the jab outside with a little tent, you know, set up. There's no way we're gonna receive money from the state to shut the church down. Oh, what an incentive. Many churches did, didn't they? And there's no way, the biggest one for me was, there's no way we're gonna stop worshiping Jesus. You're telling me I'm not allowed, if I do meet, we gotta put six over here, six over there, and plexiglass me, and we can't worship or have communion? They actually said that in the state of Washington. You're out of your mind. That that It takes me a second to say no to that. There's no way we're gonna obey God rather than the men. So Paul's saying this is a nonnegotiable. It's nonnegotiable. There's only one gospel. We're not gonna mix the law back in there. There's no way, not even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. So let freedom reign. Jesus is the greatest emancipator of all time. It's the Christians, the emancipation, you know, of slavery in Europe. And then later in The United States, Christians standing up against the mistreatment of people and trying to abolish slavery. Jesus, the greatest emancipator. Let me read you something. See if you remember where it's from. We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal. That they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights. That among them are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of the, of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it and to initiate a new government. These are people fleeing Great Britain, fleeing state run churches to America for religious freedom. And they're establishing a constitutional republic where their government would be representatives of the people and they'd be chained to the government. And this declaration of independence with Thomas Jefferson and and others, the five guys wrote this. And notice these aren't privileges that you get from your government. These are God given unalienable rights. And so I like the Jack Hibbs and the Tony Perkins and people that are trying to teach civics in the churches involving politics to try and educate US Christians of the freedom and the backing of the constitution that ensures our freedom along with, you know, the bill of rights here. I I I I love it. It emboldens us. And, and I hope and pray that more and more people become aware that, these are, this is according to natural law. This is natural law. You have you have, given from God unalienable rights. And when Hitler tries to use Romans 13 to lie to you and say you're to obey those powers, remember, that power that's put there of government is for the preservation of good, not evil. And when you get the chance, you fight a war if need be to break the shackles and just over taxation without representation. I mean, but the real issue is religious freedom. So then what happens is a Baptist pastor says to Thomas Jefferson, sends him a letter, you know, is there gonna be a separation of church and state? Now, what's that mean? In our lifetime, it meant that you can't talk about Jesus anywhere in public. So for his church to state, that isn't what it meant. And it's not in the constitution. You were lied to. It was a a letter that the Baptist pastor had. He's asking the question, are we gonna be state run churches again? That's what he's asking. And Thomas Jefferson, no. There's gonna be a wall of separation from the government and the church. And it didn't mean that the church couldn't be a part of the government and run for office. Christians. And so the Lyndon Baines Johnson, in the fifties, he almost lost the senatorial race in the state of Texas. And so he worked with the IRS in the Senate. IRS was a whole new thing after World War two with the with the Rockefellers and all. And, a graduated income tax, a means of control and breaking down of the family and make it so that out of the fifties, you could survive on one income. Into the sixties, you need two. And so they passed the separation of church and state, and they gave a tax exempt status to the churches which were already tax exempt. And now they get the privilege of being tax exempt if they don't talk about the government because Lyndon Baines Johnson almost lost a race in the state of Texas because the churches were involved. So the churches went asleep because I can be very prosperous, make lots of money if I just keep my head down. And then you'd hear the pastors, my pastor said the same thing. You can't legislate morality. Just preach the gospel. Just preach the gospel. Well, where we at now today? You certainly have to legislate morality for the lawless. You have to outlaw abortion. You can't give into that. And on and on and on it goes. And so in first Timothy one nine, the law is not made for a righteous man. So yeah, if they're Christians, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and for profane, for murders of fathers, murders of mothers, for manslayers. Yeah. We need the law. We need the law to as a boundary, as a check, to stop the lawless, who don't operate according to love, who don't know God, and are gonna follow their own sinful nature to the degree they think they can get away with it. That's what the law is, but we don't operate according to law. We have a higher standard that we operate, which is love. So we, like Joseph, say, nobody's watching. I could go into Potiphar's wife. And I could justify and rationalize and say, you know, God, you gave me the sexual urge. You gave me these hormones and they're raging, baby. I'm in the prime of my life. No. He didn't think that way. He thought biblically. He had a vertical relationship with God. And he said to Potiphar's wife, how could I do this great evil against God? David recognized as he sinned with Bathsheba and murdered Uriah, he confessed against thee and thee only have I sinned. When we sin, it's a sin against God. It means it means if we love God, Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments. My obedience isn't predicated on law, positive and negative. Oh, God will bless me if I if I if I live according to the law. I'll get more blessings. God, you owe me. Now now I'm making God my debtor. He owes me. Now you've gone away from grace again. You're thinking that godliness is a means of gain. No. Godliness with contentment is great gain for it certainly brought nothing into the world. We're not gonna take anything out. Your portion is the Lord. That's our portion. We don't work God. For we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Do you have confidence in the flesh? Are you still working? Are you religious? Are you adding to the equation? The equation is, it is finished. The Talos died paid in full. Why are you trying to add to perfection? Jesus is our righteousness. We are motivated by love to live lives that honor him. We're heading into an age of the AI revolution. The technocratic tyranny that's coming. The facial recognition. Check this out. Churches today with their cameras are working with the governments for facial recognition. When you come into many of the churches today, there's cameras. They call security teams, the whole thing. That whole security apparatus with all the cameras out in the parking lot, cameras in the church are working in tandem with the facial biometric system. Churches are signing you up digitally, getting ready for it, gonna go along with it. Then your vaccine certificates, you know, everything, every privilege, everything that you do is gonna be based upon as Robert Kennedy junior wants you to have a wearable. Amazon's buying a thing called b, which is those wearables. We're being betrayed. The real ID you have, you can fly without it. You don't need that to fly and you don't need a passport to fly from state to state. You're being lied to again. But people are complying because they wanna go on vacation. They wanna fly. And it's gonna escalate more and more and more and more. A greater and greater move in the direction of a technocratic tyranny. Catherine Austin Fiz said, it's a concentration camp without walls. They can shut you off at any time. Track and trace your purchases and say, hey, you're buying too much meat, Rick. Too much meat. You need to buy that those those groceries. You need to buy those vegetables that Bill Gates got permission to spray with the RNA vaccine. You need to buy the the food that's gonna put nanoparticles in your body. So the five gs technology will light you up, baby. Population reduction, track and tracing, an operating system, Catherine Austin Fizz calls it, a computer operating system within us. I just can't imagine churches giving into that kind of stuff. State run churches, stable coins. I don't know what we're gonna do with that. I don't know. Legalism. Apostasy leads to bondage. Moses keeping the law of Moses leads to bondage. Jesus said, if you know the truth, the truth will set you free or keep you free. So stay with the truth. Stay with the one gospel. Don't let anybody infringe upon your liberty, your freedom. We as Americans should be fierce. That's why you have the Second Amendment, to preserve the First Amendment. Freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, freedom of speech. And, you know, I've gone down this road in conversation with a lot of guys. I know a weapon. There's a guy that stabbed 11 or 13 people in a Walmart the other day and somebody with a weapon was able to subdue him. That's great. Wonderful. I don't wanna be the guy unarmed in a crisis. I wanna be able to protect my children, my grandchildren, my wife, my family. Right? If any man doesn't provide for his own, he's as bad as an infidel. It's my responsibility to lay my life down for him. But I want you to know that the people you're dealing with are cowards. They're just gonna bug spray you. They don't wanna be shot back at. They're gonna fly drones over where you live. And they're gonna say, you've got three weeks to get out of there, one week to get out of there and come into these smart cities. We're evacuating this. Or over in Sebec where we live, we're noticing the fires are starting. The fires are raging. These fires that are being set everywhere all over our country. When in my lifetime has this ever happened before? They don't even try to put them out, you know. But I believe they're gonna take their drones and airplanes, whatever they need, and just fly over and bug spray you. Just a biometric that that that they follow with the Chinese have these incinerators, trash trucks, and they just load the bodies into these incinerators and burn those bodies right up. But meanwhile, have a nice scope, you know? Do what you can with what you have to work with. So Paul defends his gospel by describing his private visitation, secondly, his public verification, And thirdly and finally, his personal vindication. Verse six, But of these who seem to be somewhat, whatever they were, it makes no matter to me. God accepts no man's person. For they who seem to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me. Paul's not impressed. He doesn't have any Christian celebrities. Now, if any of you need your Bible signed, I'll sign it. I'll sign it for you. But people do that. And they get handkerchiefs. And they get all sorts of this guy's bible, that guy's bible. I mean, you're following a celebrity. You need to be careful of that. I'm told that Donald Trump has a bible. Can you imagine that? A Donald Trump Bible. What he do to earn that sort of reverence? The Trumper Bible. He says he's no respecter of persons. Paul was never intimidated by any of the detractors. So we would say, fear God, not man. In Acts chapter four when the hierarchy, and that's what everybody wants, a hierarchy. Paul saying, I don't recognize a hierarchy. I recognize Jesus as the head. And for me, what authority do I have? The only authority I have is the Word of God. What authority do you have? The Word of God. If I'm wrong, you use the Word of God to correct me. If you're wrong, I use the word of God. But we don't have everyone around here as I'm deacon so and so, and you will, you know. No. We're all the same. We're all servants. It's servanthood. And we all follow the Lord. And that was a huge thing for me to I'm a self starter. I've always been a self starter. I've I've And so I don't understand people that need an overt amount of supervision. Just do what you're supposed to do, what God's called you to do. Don't worry about anybody else. You do what you're supposed to do. If everybody did what they're supposed to do, man, we get a lot done. So God's no respecter of persons. Paul was never intimidated by any of the detractors. So in acts four, when the hierarchy, when the leadership said, don't speak in this man's name anymore, they prayed about it. They went to a prayer meeting and they asked God for boldness. You need boldness. Yeah, you're gonna be afraid. Why are they gonna beat you? Take your jobs away. Why do you think the poverty spread so far in Jerusalem, it was because of Saul of Tarsus and the other henchmen beating people and causing them to lose their jobs and such? There was a lot of persecution there against Christians. And so the early church, they said, we're gonna obey God rather than men. They weren't impressed by the heavies. They weren't impressed by the religious leaders, the Pharisees, and the high priest and all that anymore. And nor was Paul or Barnabas or Titus impressed with James, the brother of our Lord, or Peter, Pope Peter. Don't you know that I'm a Pope? That I'm Pope Peter? No. I don't know that you're a Pope Peter. I don't know that. You're just a man. So the Jerusalem Council sent a letter back to Antioch vindicating Paul. So he goes there to meet personally, to verify. Now he gets a letter sent back to Antioch to vindicate him. In Acts 15 verse 24, it says, Forasmuch as we have heard that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words subverting your souls, saying you must be circumcised and keep the law, to whom we gave no such commandment. So these guys were solo. They were rogue. They were on their own. They weren't representatives of the leadership, the church leadership in Jerusalem. And so Paul's getting that that vindication, personal vindication here. There's only one gospel, salvation by grace through faith alone. Verse seven. But contrarwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me as the gospel of the circumcision was under Peter. So Paul to the Gentiles, Peter to the Jews. And again, no pope Peter. Both with the same gospel. Peter stood up at this meeting, this council in Acts chapter 15 verse 10. When they're analyzing, should we put the Gentiles under the law? Should we have them be circumcised and and put the 613 precepts upon them? Peter stood up and said, why should we put a burden upon them that neither we nor our fathers were able to bear? Why? The burden of the law. That's why Jesus in Matthew eleven twenty eight and thirty through 30 said, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden. Peter knew that law is a burden. That's a big burden. It's always condemning me. It's always finding fault and pointing out where I'm wrong. And you don't want the law on your marriage destroy your marriage. You wanna be in first Corinthians 13. Love covers a multitude of sins. Right? Love doesn't keep score. Love doesn't even notice those wrongs. So operate in love, that agape love, the love of the spirit. So why put a burden upon them that neither we nor our fathers were able to bear? Come into me all you that labor and are heavy laden. You're working, you're religious. You're laboring. It's a duty. I gotta do this. If you don't wanna come to church on Sunday, you're sinning, but you're free to sin. Because Hebrews 10 says, neglect not the assembling yourselves together, men of submit, especially see the day of the Lord approaching. So you miss Sunday, well, come on Monday. You miss Sunday, Monday, find a Bible study online. Make sure you're fed. But people that say, I'm not going to church anymore. I'm a have my own church at home. That's unbiblical. That's not the design. That's not what God intended. Well, I can't find a church that teaches the Bible. Hello? That's why we're so small. People don't want the Bible. People want apostasy. They want the falling away from the truth. That's why the church is flourished. That's why they're full. But we're here as a witness to stand strong and not give in, not compromise. And we believe that God will send the sheep that he wants fed to a place where they can get fed. But there's no constraint. We don't own you. We don't call you up if you miss or not here, but don't don't try to act that grace means I don't respond to the body of Christ and operate with the gifts that God's given me within the body out of love, not law. It's not a have to. And I I when people tell me, oh, I'm sorry. I've been missing church. I can't well, why? What are you doing? It's one word. It's priority. It's just simply priority. Your priorities are different. Your priorities are wrong. When you're a renter, you were here at every time the doors are open. Somehow buying a house, accumulating stuff, the cares of this life and cares of this life and the seedfulness of riches, it takes a lot of time. But when when you're a renter, it's a landlord's fault. It's a landlord's job. I don't need to do all these projects so my house looks real good for the Chinese when they take over America. I mean, put the Lord first. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. All these other things be added unto you. You got holes in your pockets. You're never gonna be able to pay for all those projects and all that stuff you're doing. Because, again, priorities. You're not giving your best, the first fruits, under the Lord. You're in charge. You're in control. And you're trying to manage it. In the arm of the flesh, you're working, sweating. Enjoy the Lord, then go home and build the deck. Do what you gotta do, but put the Lord first. Just priorities. The priorities will bear out of what you love. That which you love most, you make time for. You're gonna make time for her, for him, for the Lord. So take my yoke upon you, learn to me for I'm meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest under your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Don't let it be a grind, a burden. There's only one gospel, salvation by grace through faith alone. Verse eight, for he, person, a person, he, the Holy Spirit, for he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles. So the Holy Spirit uses different men and women, but there's only one gospel, one gospel. And when James and Cephas, Cephas is the name for Peter, And John, the beloved, his brother, John's brother James, was killed in Acts 12 by Herod, who seemed to be pillars. So these are these are the leaders. Perceive the grace, God's unmerited favor that was given unto me. They gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship. So there is fruit. They're able to let them know all the fruit of all the Gentiles that are getting saved. Just as Peter in Acts 10 when he went to the house of Cornelius and they saw Peter being used to the Lord to bring forth, salvation under the Gentiles. But, Peter's primary region, primary ministry, was to the Jews and Paul to the to the Gentiles. Who seemed to be pillars perceived that the grace was given unto me. They gave to me in Barnabas of right hands of fellowship that we should go in under the heathen and they under the circumcision. Are we competing? Are churches competing in our community? Are we competing? Some think they are. I heard pastor Chuck say, I don't see myself as competing with a church. Rather, I see myself competing with a bar. When I drive to church, there's a whole lot of people at the bar on Sunday morning. It's a meeting place. It's a religion for people. It's a place where they hang out, minster, and develop friendships and all that. And so, Chuck say, no, I I wanna get the drunk sober. Not competing with other churches. That's why he deflects when people find fault with Calvary Chapel. We agree with them. And we say, you know, this might not be the right place for you. Now if you came to me and you said, pastor Rick, the bible says that you're not have a woman pastor. I would I would quit wearing a dress. I I wouldn't wear a dress anymore. All over the place, the churches are having women pastors. You have a responsibility to confront that leadership and to say, hey, this isn't biblical. And any other thing they're doing that's unbiblical, you confront them. And Arthur, who used to attend here, I saw him and he said he did that over at New Life. You know what New Life did? You know what the leadership said? You may not like it, but this is New Life. And this is what we do here at New Life. So when I hear something like that, I'm like, so you're above the word of God. You have your own brand of Christianity. You've made your own brand that supersedes the word of God. You're unaccountable to the word of God. That's a pretty scary place to be. We've got one gospel. And we don't water that gospel down by removing sin or repentance and make unbelievers feel comfortable in a church so we can get more nickels and noses and turn it into church incorporated business. Only they would that we, Barnabas, the right hands of fellowship, that we should go into the heathen, they under the circumcision. So united in purpose, one gospel for one church, verse 10. Only they would that we should remember the poor, the same which I also was forward to do. And so Rick Warren coined the phrase, it's not creeds. Don't worry about the Bible. It's deeds. Let's take the Protestant church and make a purpose driven to feed all the homeless, to alleviate suffering. So now what? Thirty years later, we got these dumbed down churches that don't know the word of God, that are easily controlled, that needs psychotherapy and pills and all other sorts of rudimentary methodology to try and make a person whole. Because the emphasis was on making them feel good by doing good deeds. You know what? It's both. Faith without works is dead. You gotta do both. You gotta feed the poor, but you gotta be a student, a disciple of God's word. It's deeds and creeds. We teach doctrine. If we don't understand doctrine, then we're not gonna be free. Here's here's how they take away your freedom. They cause a false flag to happen. A false flag makes you fearful. A building gets bombed. Something bad happens. Another Bill Gates released project agenda two zero one or whatever it is. You know, they they release another COVID two or three or whatever. Everybody's getting afraid. Adolf Hitler, he has his own men attack the Reichstag Building, which is a government building. And he blames it on the communist. It's the communist. Then the people are filled with fear. And Goebbels said, once you get the people afraid, you can get them to do anything. So once they're filled with fear, you get them to give up their freedom for security. So you change the constitution. You remove the freedom they have guaranteed to them in their constitution. And now that tyranny ensues. And you lie to the church. And how could you possibly be a German Lutheran Christian and know that trains are being filled with Jews? Isn't that an oxymoron? Isn't that just insanity? That type of Christianity? A dead Christianity? There's no way. Your blood would boil. There's no way. And so as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead. So definitely remember the poor. There's only one duty, only one law. It means to love. Paul says in Romans thirteen ten, love is the fulfilling of the law. All six thirteen precepts are fulfilled by one word, love. Jesus said, love the Lord thy God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, all your strength. And love your neighbor as yourself, which means you feed the poor, clothe the poor, help the poor. But doesn't mean you're Christian imbecile, attending an imbecilic church that doesn't teach the Bible. Because the truth will set set you free and keep you free. You gotta have the knowledge, the understanding of of not only what the constitution says, let's say, from a political standpoint, but from natural law, you're God given unalienable rights. And as a Christian, you gotta know the gospel. And you gotta know that sanctification is the same as salvation. It's by grace through faith alone. That if somebody tries to put a trip on you and bring you into a cult mentality, that you say, no, no, no. I'm not drinking the Kool Aid. That's heretical teaching. That's bondage. And I can't exchange good deeds for salvation. I can't purchase my family out of purgatory. I can't purchase indulgences as the Roman Catholic church once did. No. I have to stick with salvation by grace through faith alone. And, of course, I want to do good things, so, for people. Only one gospel, the purpose of which is to reach the lost. And Paul said, I'm not ashamed by the gospel of Christ. Think of the pressure against him. Think of the cowering, the the hiding the truth from people so you're not persecuted. No. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes. Barbarian, Scythian, bonder, female, all. We all come by grace through faith alone. We all come the same way. It's the power of God under the salvation. Everyone that believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein is the right to God revealed from faith to faith. The just shall live by faith. Keep walking by faith. This book's gonna be fun to see our liberty as Paul expresses that liberty, that freedom that we have, and how the subtlety of religiousness can quench that freedom. Becoming religious. Father, we thank you. We thank you for your love, Lord. And we pray this morning, if there's anybody here that doesn't know that liberty, that freedom, that joy, that blessing of being set free, of being lost and now found, being blind but now seeing. The joy and the blessing of experiencing the forgiveness of their sins. Lord, we pray that they would yield a fresh to you, Lord. That they yield to your Holy Spirit as you remind them of the cross and the finished work of Jesus upon the cross where he said to Talistai, paid in full. Anyone here this morning, you don't have a relationship with Jesus. Not religion, relationship. Jesus wants to come and dwell within your heart. He wants to transform and change you from within. The circumcision of the heart, the cutting away of that that rebellious nature that fights against God as you're surrendering in your heart, turning from your sins, crying out to God, God, be merciful to me a sinner. Just lift your hand up. Let me know. Let us know. We wanna pray with you. Anyone here this morning? And father, when I see that, when I see that that nobody lifting their hand, Lord, I I I rejoice in knowing that each and every person here is saved this morning. That they know they're secure. That they're not living according to the law, thinking that they committed the unpardonable sin this week and they need to get saved again this week. They got saved last week, but now they gotta get saved again because they they committed a bad sin. Thank you, Lord, that they're better taught than that. And that they know, that they know, that they know, that the work is finished. That you see us, Lord, as justified, glorified. And so we thank you, Lord, for that standing that we have, that position that we have in Christ, that nobody can ever pluck us from your hand, that nobody can ever lose their salvation. Lord, you're keeping us. So we thank you for the eternal security. We thank you for the rest that we can have in you and knowing our sins past, present, and future have already been paid for upon the cross of Calvary. Thank you, Lord. May we experience your peace today, enjoying our relationship with you, your finished work. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.