"Gospel" in Galatians

You have a Bible, turn please with me to the book of Galatians. I have some thoughts that the Lord was laying upon my heart. It's basically, I guess if you want a word, if you want the word gospel, we'll lift it out as Paul would and mention it many times, gospel, gospel, even in this here particular letter.

As in most all Paul's letters, he has a big, big emphasis on the gospel and the word gospel is a theme in this little book and it's mentioned some 12 different times, the gospel. Paul loved the gospel. As I look down this chapter, I thought you know in chapter 1, we'll read some verses in Galatians chapter 1, you know Paul had a, he had a past and there was a present and there was a future in Paul and in his great ministry and service.

The past he talks about here in verse number, just to move down here quickly to verse number 13 and verse number 14, he talks about, he says, I persecuted the church of God and wasted it. I thought you know that's Paul's past. We all have a past and remarkable Paul's conversion of course in Acts chapter, as recorded in Acts chapter 9, Paul's conversion, but the past of his life he was persecuting the Christians, seeing that they were imprisoned and even likely some of them, they would lay down their life, they would shed their blood and were killed, martyred for the namesake of the Lord Jesus.

So Paul was intent on that and persecuting the Christian Saul as he was known then. But there was a present and it seemed to me the present in Paul's life, the present shall I say, was to preach the gospel, was to reach souls with the gospel and to see the work of God and Christians established in the Christian faith. And so many times you have in this here chapter even the preaching of the gospel and we'll come to that, but let me just mention, for example, in verse number 16 he says, to reveal his son and me that I might preach him among the heathen, among the Gentiles.

And so this was the ambition, the present ambition of Paul was to preach the gospel. And there was a future and the future beloved, the future is glory, glory. And I think that Paul would mention something of that and he never got far away from these simple things and he talked about the glory here in this little doxology in verse number 5, to whom be glory forever and ever, amen.

So to God be all the glory. So again, let's relate. We're not removed from that are we? We have a past and a sinful past and Paul he could speak of himself as the chief of sinners, the chief of sinners, but saved.

And then there was the present, the grace of God and Paul reveled in that, didn't he? And he loved the gospel and he loved the Christians and he wanted their blessing and they're seeing them established and unified in the body of Christ. And then there was a glorious future and we all look for that, don't we? We look to them that look for him, shall he appear the second time apart from sin unto salvation. And so that'll be a great day when he takes these frail bodies of ours, Philippians 3, and fastens them like unto his own body of glory.

And so we're looking for that glory. Well let's read please. In Galatians chapter 1, let's read please, verses 1 to 10 please.

Verse number 1, Paul an apostle not of man neither by man but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead and all the brethren which are with me unto the churches of Galatia. Grace be to you and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world according to the will of God our Father and our Father to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you unto the grace of God on to another gospel which is not another but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

For do I now persuade man or God or do I speak to please man? For if I yet please man, I should not be the servant of Christ. Now we trust the Lord to bless and he will the reading and our meditation upon his word and I have some some further readings here in the chapter possibly as we proceed. So here you have the gospel and and I say overall again, Paul is going to defend the gospel especially in some of the verses we read.

He's going to stand in defense of the gospel and I'll try and explain that. You know in Romans, you're familiar the book of Romans most would be and there he gives a declaration of the gospel. He declares the gospel and and the contents and what the gospel is.

In fact it's well marked with the gospel. That's how Romans begins. Romans chapter 1 verse 1 he says it's the gospel of God and then you look down about verse number 3, verse number 9 rather, he says it's the gospel of his son and then you come down to Romans chapter 1 verse 16.

What does he say? I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation. So he speaks of the gospel in all these different ways. He says it's the gospel of God.

The whole plan of salvation from eternity originated in the heart of God and it's the gospel of his son, his beloved son. Oh that's the whole subject of the gospel is seen in the Lord Jesus Christ, isn't it? And he says I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Who's this divine person? He is the Christ.

He is the Christ. He is the Messiah. True.

He's the anointed of God. That's it. Christ.

He's the anointed of God and to especially to Jewish ears that would be something to acknowledge that that man who came born of a virgin, born into the world, was a son of God and he is the Christ of God, the anointed, and they would confess that Jesus is a Christ. Moreover, Paul says, and if you go over to Romans, I'm not in Romans yet, chapter 2 and verse number 16 again, I love that. He says it is my gospel.

It is my gospel. I think that Paul, he looked upon it as a special trust and possibly we'll pick up that in our reading as well. He looked upon the gospel as a special revelation to his soul.

Beloved, pause a moment. Would we value the gospel? What is the gospel? You understand what the gospel is, every one of us, you know. Paul says, I give a declaration.

First Corinthians 15 sums it up, doesn't it? First Corinthians 15, he says, I declare unto you the gospel. Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, was buried and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. There's the content.

What has brought this home to my soul, beloved, is that we might continue in the gospel. I can see in certain places, in certain areas, and I'm not referring to the assemblies, generally speaking. You know, if I go out in evangelism, most often you get into conversations with fellow Christians, and we value the Christian family and the body of Christ.

But many times it comes up, you know, get your Bible, and we'll start and we'll speak about the gospel. And saved, born again, well let's go over it. Let's tell them, tell us how it all happened, how it all, and you know, many times it's fragmented.

Many times you come away a little bit disappointed. So in the light of all that, and beloved, we got nothing to boast, we got nothing to boast. But if we're gonna, what does Paul say? God forbid that I should boast save in our Lord Jesus Christ.

We can boast in him and in the gospel. And I'm happy, I'm happy with the gospel that is going forth today from the assembly base, and generally speaking, our outreach, and maybe I'll get time just to speak of that at the end, outreach and the furtherance of the gospel. Tremendous thing today.

I'm glad, glad for the gospel. Glad that ever I was born into a home that loved the gospel. My father served the Lord.

Somebody was asking about that at the back. Yes, he served the Lord many, many years in the gospel, from place to place, and little companies of the Lord's people, and seeing souls saved and little testimonies established for the honor and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I shared with my father many years in his latter ministry in the gospel every summer, and I, those were happy, happy days.

Happy days to be born into a family, a Christian family. I work with a lot of people, a lot of precious souls, and that's not, that's not the background they have, and as I look out in the company, I'm not sure just what your roots might be and so on, but we have a very rich heritage. I have, speaking individually, personalized.

My father being saved, my father was saved as a young man into his teens, likely struggling for many, for a large period of time, many years over, over God's plan and God's way of salvation and trying to work it out. And away one day, one evening, he came to the complete end of himself, and he was reading the gospel verses again and going over such a verse like Romans 5 and verse 6. When we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. My father, in his latter teen years, related to that verse.

He was totally without strength. Not only that, he was an ungodly sinner. What's reminding me of these simple things, as I sat there in my seat, and I looked up at this here wall chart behind me, and the chart comes out in different, different descriptions, and my, my chart, my chart hasn't got something that this chart has on.

This chart has a lot of verses on, and this chart would be similar to the chart that my mother saw. My mother was brought up religiously, and in church, attended church, attended the services, and so on, was morally upright and good living woman, but when she went out to work, they had a chart like this posted on the wall in the home in which she worked, lived, boarded, and went out to work, and she would come home from work, and she would look up the verses on this chart here, and study them out, and there's something that appealed. Again, this wasn't in my chart, so this is what I wanted to point out.

It says down here at the bottom, it says, the clean footpath, the clean footpath. My mother, she looked at that, and she said, you know what, that's me. She says, a clean footpath.

I never did really wrong, hurt anybody, or harm in a way, and lived a morally upright, clean life. She looked at it, and she said, you know what, that's furthest from the door. She said to herself, that pathway is leading down to destruction.

It's leading down to the same place. She says, I'm lost, I'm lost. But you know what appealed to her? It was a word, and I see it on this chart.

One word, especially, what I can't see, the Bible reference that was on her chart, that she was looking at, and the word here is come, and now she can see it, I can't see it. See the word come, come, and the scripture, what was the scripture reference? You know it well. Matthew 11, verse 28.

Jesus said, come unto me, and I will give you rest. And that's what she did, just as she was. A sinner, truly, on that road that was leading to destruction, she came just as she was, and trusted the Lord Jesus.

And so I had the privilege of being brought in to a Christian home, and hearing the gospel at my mother's knee, and learning the courses. You know, beloved little children, young people here tonight, we have a great responsibility. You know our young people, our young people, you know what they're looking for, beloved? They're looking for reality.

Do these things mean anything to us? When it comes to the gospel, we're just staying with something simple tonight. Is it real? Is it real? Do they see souls saved? Do they see lives transformed? Do they see what Paul would speak of in Romans 6? And we'll come back to this, we'll come back to this, Romans 1 and 16. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation.

That's it. It is the power of God. Some relate it to dynamite, don't they? The dynamite power of God in transforming lives.

That's what Paul is speaking about. And that's the power of the gospel. And that's what our young people are looking at.

And then we've got such a responsibility, thinking about the children, thinking of the young people. I was reading the other day, maybe yesterday, I was reading back in Deuteronomy chapter 6. You know what it says? We've got such a great responsibility to communicate the message, to tell our children, to tell them, and when they ask, to have an answer for them. You know, I could just imagine the stories in the Old Testament there.

The children, they would ask about the Passover. They would say, what's the significance of getting a lamb and slaying and putting the blood on the door, keeping the Passover? Mom and Dad would tell them the story, how that they were slaves in Egypt and they were miraculously delivered by the blood of the lamb. When I see the blood, I will pass over you.

Stories that they would tell. Or they would look at the Jordan River there. They would see the Jordan and along the Jordan there somewhere on the bank and down in the Jordan as well.

There was a pillar. There was a pile of stones. And the children would ask the parents, what's the significance of that? And they would remind them, well, we passed over the Jordan.

We came through the waters. No, the waters were divided. They come through on dry land.

And they erected those pillars. And so when the children asked, they would have an answer. And so when our young people, and when our children and our, I'm looking at some older dear saints here tonight, and it's the grandchildren.

That's what I have too, grandchildren. And we're trying to relate to them the message, the message of the gospel. I never thought that I'd have two grandchildren staying in our home, but that's the way it worked out.

My son is in Africa, as you know, serving the gospel and the missions. And two of his older grandchildren have come back and they're staying with us in the home. So we got, my wife's busy, you know, and you're communicating to them the same message, seeing them saved and going on for the Lord and baptized and desiring Christian fellowship.

That's a wonderful, wonderful thing. The Lord has blessed in the gospel. Well, to get back to it, I said that the theme of this, the theme here is the gospel and it's mentioned some 12 times in the book.

Let me just say this again, that there's no salvation apart from faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that was what Paul was preaching. Over the page he says, he says in chapter 2 and verse number 16, I really think it's extremely important.

He says, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ or in Christ Jesus. You're not justified by the works of the law. And this was, and I'll maybe develop it a little bit later, but you know, they were being plagued by a law and those that were teaching law, you know, gospel was being plagued.

The gospel went here we have in verse number one, Paul, an apostle, not of men, but by neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and God, the father. Here's the, you know, the Trinity, the, the, the, the equality of the father and the son just stamped right there again as they're together in this here verse. Anyway, here is Paul, an apostle.

So he's one that is sent and commissioned as we shall see down, down the ways with, with the gospel. And, and he's writing in verse number two, I want to point this out again. He's writing to the churches of Galatia, the Galatians.

Where does that take you? Check in your map, check in your map. So on your map way up, way up north in what we think of as Asia minor or today, possibly Turkey, Turkey. And so that's where, that's where he had gone on his missionary voyage, voyage.

Actually, I think that this would relate specially to his first missionary journey as recorded in Acts chapter 13, chapter 14, possibly. And he would go up to Lystria, Derby, Antioch, and in the province there in that province in that area, he saw those churches established, souls saved, and, and brought to them the gospel. But here's a sad note, here's a sad note, as I understand it.

When Paul left, there would be those who would come in and they would teach error. The error would be either adding to the gospel or taking away from the gospel message. I think you can see that today already in a moment.

But you know, they dogged the path of Paul. Wherever he went, there were those that came up and they were teaching the believers, well you have to be circumcised and you have to go back under law. And Paul is saying, no, we're justified by alone and by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

He will even lift out that verse in chapter 3, is it verse number 9 or so? He will say, the just shall live by faith. Where does that come from? That comes way back from Habakkuk in the old, right? And then three mentions in the new, Romans and Galatians and Hebrews. The just shall live by faith.

That was what Paul was trying to establish. And he will talk about the faith of Abraham. Abraham believed, the word is believe or faith.

Abraham believed God and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness. Wonderful thing. Before ever circumcision came up or anything like that, Abraham had faith in God, believed God and it was reckoned to him for righteousness.

Oh, that's where in we stand beloved. What does Paul say? Galatians, I'm sorry, Philippians chapter 3, that little verse coming to my mind. Philippians chapter 3, he says that I might be found in Christ.

Not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that wonderful? It's not according to the law. Romans, he establishes that clearly in Romans.

We are dead to the law by the body of Christ that we should be married to another even to him that was raised up from the dead, our Lord Jesus Christ. So believers, you're not asked to keep the law in any shape or form. We belong to Christ and the indwelling spirit of God, Paul makes that clear again in Romans chapter 8. It's the spirit of God that will give us the ability to live the Christian life and to fulfill any requirements at the hand of God, by the grace of God.

Our righteousness is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul would say in 2 Corinthians 5 and 21, you know it well, he said he was made sin for us. He who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Sin, charged to the Lord Jesus, our sin, whose own self bear our sin and his own body upon the tree, that there might be a righteousness, come out of that, and a righteousness imputed to the believer on the Lord Jesus Christ. Beloved, we stand in perfect righteousness before our God tonight. All the blessings.

The gospel, I was going to say, there were those that add to it, whether it be traditions, whether it be ceremony. A number of families were reached recently in our city, Saskatoon. Middle East families, families that had come, I suppose that most of our gospel work at present is with international families and people that are hearing the gospel.

So there are families from Jordan, from Iraq, from Egypt, and not Muslims. I don't work with that. These were professing Christians.

Some of them were associated with the Chaldean Catholic Church and a very, very dark, very dark background, but respected the things of God and the scriptures. And so a number of them, quite a large number of them got saved in hearing the gospel. And they would say, they would say, what about our families? What about our friends? Pray for them.

Pray for our families, our refugees and coming through and in Turkey and so on in the camps and pray for them. And in a way, a number of precious souls reaching the gospel from that dark, dark community and background. The power of the gospel, I was going to say add to, add to.

You know, all their traditions. You know, I went in the homes, you know, you visit in the homes and sometimes you're stumbling. I remember one, one doorway that Mary, the figure of Mary, I think is as large as a being as you or I might be standing in the doorway.

All those, all those sorts of images and icons and so on. Lots of them just got rid of all those things. And it was a complete turnabout.

Cut off. Cut off from family and friends. And the real test, of course, as you know, when it comes to believers, baptism.

Anyway, I'm going to leave it. What I wanted to say is all the things that people are adding, adding, adding. And it only makes hurdles and difficulties, no, justified by faith alone and the Lord Jesus.

Sadly, for those that take away, those that take away from the gospel. I had somebody recently, you know, those early chapters in Genesis as to creation. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Questioning all that. Saying, you know, well, it's just kind of just a bit of a myth. If you want it, you're going to have it.

If you don't want it, listen, beloved, we got the whole text of scripture. And if you take away any, you lost it all. All scripture is given by inspiration of God.

And there are those that deny and take away from the Lord Jesus Christ as to his virgin birth in question, as to his spotless purity, as to his atonement at Calvary and the completion of that work. And so they're taken away, taken away from the gospel. No.

Paul says, no. He says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. We'll maintain it and preach it and so on.

What I want to leave you with, maybe three headings just to make it easier for myself, too. I was thinking, beloved, I was thinking of the power of the gospel, the perversion of the gospel, and I'll try and explain. That's a word that's used here.

And thirdly, the preaching of the gospel. Now, some of those things I already have kind of said something about. So, you think of the power of the gospel.

You know, when the gospel, when Paul brought the gospel to Thessalonica, 1 Thessalonians 1 verse 5, he says, our gospel came not unto you in word only, but in power. And you just read that opening chapter, the first chapter of Thessalonians 1, that short chapter, and you'll see the zeal of those Christians as they received the gospel. How they made them new.

It makes us all new. Any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. So, it makes new, doesn't it? And those Thessalonians turned to God from Isles to serve the living and true God.

Oh, beloved, beloved, where are we in all this? Is our commitment to the Lord Jesus? Do we live to serve Him? To serve others? And in so doing, to serve our blessed Lord? That's the purpose of being. That's why He saved us. That our light might shine.

Let your light so shine before men that they might see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Do the Christians, do the non-believers in the classroom, in the church, in the church community, in the workplace, do they look upon us and can they see a difference? Or maybe in the home. Well, let me just go to the last verse, the last verse.

And they glorified God in me. That's what Paul said in conclusion. They glorified God in me.

Can that be said of your testimony and of mine? That it's bringing glory to God and others are looking in on it. And in turn they're coming to glorify God as well. That should be our Christian testimony.

That is something of the power. The gospel came not just in word, talk, but it was seen in power as it come to Thessalonica and as it came up into the churches in Galatia up in the province there. Paul.

Verse number three, I really think that verse number three is very important as well. Because it gives us such content. Grace, I'm sorry, verse number four I'm looking at.

Verse number four. Who gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world. You know sometimes in the gospel maybe we don't get past that.

Who gave himself for our sins. The substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus. You know Christ died for our sins and you walk away.

What does it say here? That he might deliver us from this present evil age in which we're living. Again, it reflects upon our testimony beloved. God gave his son that he might deliver us from this corrupt evil world.

You know it fills our mind doesn't it? Or does it? Are our senses there? There's so much evil all about us. We need to be preserved and we need to come continually in confession for cleansing. To enjoy ongoing fellowship.

Fellowship with our father. You go to first John for that. First John chapter one.

Walk in the light as he is in the light. We have fellowship one with another. And the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.

He writes and he says that you might have fellowship with the father. And with us and with one another. The fellowship.

The fellowship on the vertical with the father. And the fellowship on the horizontal with one another. Sad thing when a brother or sister would say, you know I'm in happy fellowship with the father.

And they're at odds with their brother and sister. Wouldn't shake a hand. Wouldn't speak.

Come on now. That doesn't line up. If we enjoy fellowship with the father we'll enjoy fellowship with our fellow believers.

Whoever and wherever they are. Well the fellowship that we can enjoy. So here is the power of the gospel coming.

And Paul is thrilled by it. He says don't mix up. Don't mix up law and grace.

I'm going to leave that. I'm going to go to what I'm thinking as the perversion of the gospel. You have that word mentioned in verse number seven here at the end.

He says they would pervert the gospel of Christ. Now that word there simply means, it means to change the very character or the nature of the word spoken. Pervert there.

To change the nature of the word. Distort. To twist the message.

Is it possible? Is it possible? Yes the enemy is at work. Harry Ironside gives a very simple illustration of something, a story. If I can just recite if I can recall.

I'm not sure if I can recall the end of the story. But it involved a train trip. A train trip.

And on the train there was a couple of passengers. There was this passenger particularly very nervous. He had never been on the route before.

And he said to the conductor, he said would you please tell me when we come to this little community. That's where I'm headed and that's where his ticket was for and so on. He said just tell me when we get near that town so I can get out, get ready and get out off.

The conductor went on his duty and a fellow passenger sitting by him said, oh he said I know, he says I travel this train route many times. He said I know the exact spot. I know the community.

I know where you went off, went off. The train went on. And Mr. Ironside records the train stopped for a difficulty in the storm.

And the fellow passenger he said yeah this is it, this is it. Okay. So he got off at that particular stop.

A little bit later the conductor came through. And he says we're coming to your stop. That man wasn't available.

He wasn't there. Now I don't know the total end of the story. But you know it was a wrong message.

It was a, there was a twist on it. There was a perverted message. And you know Satan and his demons are very active today in the perversion of the simple gospel message.

And that's what you have it here in the context of these verses 6 and 7. Paul says in verse number 7 he says it is a different gospel. He says it is another gospel. He says it is another of a different kind.

Another gospel of a different kind altogether. And then you've thought about this. He says in verse 7 which is not another.

Which is not another. And there's a little play. A there's a gospel out there and it's another of a different kind.

He says but he says there's really not another gospel. There's not another gospel. Because there's only one true gospel right? He had pronounced it.

He proclaimed it. And it is justification. Salvation by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

So he says really after all it's not another gospel at all. Or the New International version says which is really no gospel at all. So beloved let us be warned about those who would pervert the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

I sometimes think about this perversion in this way too. I can see in our world two things. I can see man's way and God's way.

Right? Man's way and God's way as to the gospel. What's man's way? Man's way is no matter the religion, no matter the place, it is do. Do.

Do. Whereas God's way is done. Done.

The work is done. That's what the Lord Jesus said at the cross in John 19.30. It is finished. Work done.

Work done. And salvation beloved is a gift. I often ask dear people and come into contact with them and bring them to gospel or try and see them established.

I would say to them, is salvation a gift or reward? Oh my. Oh my. The answers you get for that you would understand.

Salvation, a gift, a reward. Many of them would answer in our world in Christendom, they would say it's a reward. You got to do your part, put a little effort into it.

No it's not beloved. The word of God is clear isn't it? A gift. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Ephesians 2.8 and 9 that you know so well. By grace are you saved through faith that not of yourselves it is the gift of God. Not of works lest any man should boast.

Don't leave out verse 10. Don't leave out verse 10. We are his workmanship created unto good works.

Oh beloved the good works, any good works spring out, spring out of salvation. Not for salvation but they come out of salvation, the good works that should be seen by all around. Evidence.

So man's way is due and God's way is done. Very simply put. Okay I'm thinking finally, thirdly, I'm thinking of the preaching of the gospel.

We had the power of the gospel evident. We had the perversion of the gospel by the enemy. Paul, Paul was a little man.

You know Paul the little man, I think of him as a little man, Paul. But he had a big heart, he had a big heart. He was a big soul.

You know he could rejoice. I'm thinking, I'm thinking and you recall in Philippians. Philippians Paul is imprisoned for the sake of the gospel, same thing, gospel.

So he's in prison and he says but you know again the word of God is inbound. Paul might be chained to a Roman soldier or maybe two Roman soldiers. You know what he did? He gave them the message, he gave them the gospel.

So the gospel went up, different chains of guard and they too would hear the gospel. And it went right to the palace, right to the palace for those that were receiving the gospel. And Paul was rejoicing in that.

But what I was going to say, what I'm thinking, there were those outside the prison cell. You know what they were doing? They were rejoicing in Paul being imprisoned. And now they would go with the gospel, with the gospel.

Now Paul says whatever the motive, whatever their motive is, he said I'm just going to rejoice. I'm going to rejoice that they too, they too are caring and spreading the gospel. Oh the big hearted man Paul, imprisoned for the sake of the gospel and he's just rejoicing it in his prison circumstances.

He says I'm not a prisoner. I'm not a prisoner of Rome. I'm not a prisoner of Caesar, Nero.

I'm a prisoner of Jesus Christ. And in so doing he got out the gospel and rejoiced even if the enemy outside was proclaiming a gospel, shall I say another gospel. It kind of burns into Paul as well.

Over the page we haven't got time but I'll give you a quick reference, quick reference to Galatians chapter 2 where this really comes up. You see, Paul was at Antioch, Antioch. And a work of God was done at Antioch.

Souls were saved. Christian assembly testimony established. He gets some visitors.

Oh yeah, Peter had come up, Peter had come up. And Peter had enjoyed sweet fellowship with Paul at Antioch until, until some other visitors came. Likely from Jerusalem.

Some real legalists. I wonder what kind of fellowship you could have with them. Oh beloved, beloved.

Don't divide up fellowships. That has created all kinds of problems as you know through our land, through our fair land and your fair land. Every assembly fellowship stands in autonomy before God, answers to God as to their teaching, as to their order.

Having said that, inter-assembly fellowship, I'm talking about fellowship, inter-assembly fellowship is wonderful that I can come here and have fellowship with the saints. That to me is wonderful because they're things that, you know, as we walk in the light, okay, of God's Word. Where are we now? Well, when those brothers came from Jerusalem, what did they say? Oh, what about circumcision? What about law keeping? And you know what, Peter? Peter backed away.

Peter backed away. And you know, it was such an issue. It was such an issue.

What does Paul say? Let me just get a verse here. In chapter 2, now I'm not down into the story, but what I want to show you in verse number 5, he says, that the truth of the gospel may continue with you. That's what Paul is emphasizing.

That the truth of the gospel may continue with you. See, the gospel is out there. But is it the truth of the gospel? Anyway, when these legalists came up, it was no longer the truth of the gospel.

And what happened? Just quickly to end the story. Peter suffered a public, I take it to be a public rebuke by Paul. It was such an issue.

It was such an issue. It had to be put right. You know, Peter, dear Peter, it mustn't be too hard on Peter.

He loved the Lord and he served the Lord. You know, and here's something remarkable. Peter was the one.

Peter was the man that got the message about the sheep that came down from heaven. The vision, right? Clean on clean. Oh no.

Yeah, Peter, you go. You go. And you tell Cornelius.

Cornelius, a Gentile, tell him the gospel. Tell him the gospel. And he went.

He went. Why would he ever turn back? Oh, but that's upsetting to me because you think you're strong. You think you can stand it.

And yet some people are slipping away today. Some people are turning back. And they're not just the youth.

No, don't be too hard on the youth. I think there's another generation that's gone before. And I challenge my own heart.

Have I laid it out? Have I communicated the truth and the message to others that they might stand for the truth of the gospel and proclaim it? And so that is another example of the gospel being perverted over the page in chapter two. Anyway, enough of that story. I just conclude.

I was speaking about the power of the gospel, the perversion of the gospel, the preaching of the gospel, the preaching of the gospel. And in the last part of this chapter, there's a great emphasis on preaching. I already read, I'll just point these out, I already read verse number 16, to reveal his son in me that I might preach him among the heathen, preach the gospel.

Paul's whole goal in life was to preach the gospel. Verse number 23, I was unknown by faith until I went to the churches of Judah, which were in Christ. But they said, but they had heard only that he which persecuted us in time past now preaches the faith which once he destroyed.

This was Paul's whole goal, ambition in life, was to reach out and to preach the gospel. I wonder, beloved, have we got a share in that tonight, the preaching of the gospel? Again, I leave it with you. There are many, many opportunities.

I know that one thing I do know here at La Crosse is that you have contact with the youth. I remember that coming here before, and of course I miss our brother Kel being here, Erickson, but we went out and we worked with some youth, and maybe it's still ongoing. I see a van sitting there, load them up, bring them to Sunday school, whatever.

So your energies are going out and communicating the gospel in one way or another. Whatever means it is. I remember on the street corner a little town called Roblin, Manitoba, it's right near the border, Saskatchewan, preaching every Saturday night.

It was quite a few years ago. The townsfolk would come. Townsfolk from the farm, rural folk, would come into town to do their business on a Saturday night.

I remember a family standing. First of all, they sat in the car. So after, you would go around and give them a little paper in the car.

A few weeks later, they were standing out in front of the car. A few weeks later, as you preached the gospel on the street, they were standing a little bit near. You know, that whole family, that whole family was reached and saved.

The brother became an elder in the local assembly. It was a wonderful thing to see in my youth, that family reached with the gospel. So there are different ways, whether it be ESL sometimes, you know, English Second Language, having classes with them and reaching them.

I know I have a daughter, son-in-law in Halifax on the east coast, and they have maybe two large meetings every week with ESL. Personally in Saskatoon, we did have it, but it's changed, especially we worked with the Chinese people. You know, the Chinese people that come now, it seems to me that they feel that they have English already.

They don't need any help. So they're coming, but you know they're being reached in one way or another. Let me tell you how one way they're being reached.

Every summer at the end of our gospel meetings and end of the gospel work and children's work and so on, we have what we speak of as a Bible camp. I want you to understand that in a very good light. We had it for over 30 years, and there's about 150 or so children, young people and families that you work with, and they come together for one week, one week at a nice site all laid out for us.

We just rent it, walk in, walk out, run it, but they're hearing the gospel, leaving their toys behind, all their electronics, none of that. So they're hearing the gospel morning through the day and all together. In the morning they divide up, but all together in the evening.

You know what? There were some Chinese families that got coming, and then they told us, they said, you know, we'd like to send our children because that's where they hear the gospel. And a number of them got saved. And this past year, I'm just using this as an example, please don't need to think of me and all this, but this past year, they said to us, they said, there was a Christian, a young Christian woman, Chinese woman.

She said, I'm trying to teach these children Sunday school. She says, but it's nothing like this. They're not hearing the messages that they're hearing at the little camp out there.

And she says, number two, she says, there's all those songs, kids' songs, you know, from Jesus Loves Me Right Up, Twinkling Stars, all the songs. She's not hearing that. She said, would you come and tell these children, these young people, the gospel on Sunday afternoon at 1.30? Well, I couldn't say no.

Our meetings are over in the morning, gospel meeting at night, but, you know, Sunday afternoon, something else to do. Anyway, so I missed it last Sunday. I missed it last Sunday.

But there's about 25, you can pray about it and pray for it, Chinese students that are hearing the gospel. A number of them have been saved by the grace of God. So what I'm trying to say, beloved, there's all kinds of ways to reach out.

I know it's difficult. If it's anything like Saskatoon, it's difficult to see them drawn in, unless you really have some special, special contact and special, build a relationship with them to see them come in to hear the gospel on a Sunday night. Remember, I don't know who it was, now some of you, some of you can update me on this.

The first time I was at La Crosse, on a Sunday night gospel meeting, we preached the gospel. There was a man sitting, he's sitting right over there, in tears. And he wouldn't, didn't want to leave this building until things were settled and right.

Anyway, continue, beloved, continue in the gospel. God has promised to bless his word. Do it with weeping.

You know, there's a whole ministry of weeping. One of it is, that psalm has come into my mind, 126. You know, when you go forth with weeping, bearing precious seed, and then come with rejoicing.

All the weeping and the rejoicing. Jesus wept, wept over the city three times over. He wept over the city of Jerusalem, didn't he? How often he would have gathered them together.

And yet they refused, they refused the Lord Jesus. He wept at the tomb, didn't he? Lazarus, he saw the havoc, the havoc of sin, the wages of sin is death. He saw it all.

He wept, Jesus wept. And he wept in the garden, he wept in the garden. As he thought about the cross, as he thought about the cup and the content of the cup, who threw strong crying and tears onto him that was able to save him, and was hurt, and that he feared.

He came through it. A whole ministry of tears. Let us go forth with that precious seed, in tears, and come with rejoicing.

Let us pray.