The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy.
00:00:00 good morning brothers and sisters um today's scripture reading is taken from the book of Galatians chapter 2 verse 1 to 10 verse one then after 14 years I went up again to Jerusalem this time with Barnabas I took Titus along also I went in response to a revelation and meeting privately with those esteemed As Leaders I presented to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles I wanted to be sure I was not running and had not been running my race in vain yet not even Titus who was with me was compelled to
00:00:44 be circumcised even though he was a Greek this matter arose because some false Believers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves we did not give into them for a moment so that the truth of the Gospel might be preserved for you as for those who were held in high esteem whatever they were made no difference to me God does not show favoritism they added nothing to my message on the contrary they recognize that I have been entrusted with the task
00:01:23 of preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised just as Peter had been to the circumcised for God who was at work in Peter as an apostle to the circumcised was also at work in me as an apostle to the Gentiles James cus and John those esteemed as pillar gave me and Barnabas the right hand of Fellowship when they recognize the grace given to me they agreed that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised all they asked was that we should continue to remember remember the poor the very thing I have been eager to
00:02:04 do all along this is the word of God good morning church right uh next week we actually are very privileged to have a guest speaker from the United States Edward ster um please bring friends to come and hear uh this very very important Mission speaker who will be with us uh after that brother John Lee will continue Galatians Chapter 2 one on why they glorified god brother Brandon Wong will also preach an overlapping uh passage here with me today standing firm in the gospel truth right so today we're going
00:02:53 to look at the fellowship the gospel let's just pray father Lord we ask that you speak to us this morning and further imprint in our hearts what the gospel really is and how it should work within our hearts our church and our community for we ask for jesus' sake amen right so uh the structure of Galatians as we're going through uh in more detail than most years is uh three fold two chapters each time where on the first section the true gospel they include iive gospel and the liberating gospel uh and this is uh chapter 2 now
00:03:37 three points here about the fellowship the true gospel one the gospel is about truth truth leads to freedom and freedom enables love very very simple outline so that we won't get lost memory verse how many of you actually do memory verses wow very good Elder Arnold first one put a hand up now Arnold which verse would you choose chose out of this 10 to be a memory verse none yeah very difficult I would choose this one even Titus who was with me was not forced to be circumcised even though he was a
00:04:13 Greek you know why I choose this because this summarizes the entire battle over the law and Faith the bottom line if Fighters were circumcised the whole Christian faith would have been totally undermine you all will be circumcised you see that is the main issue here some men X5 came down from Judea were teaching the brothers unless you are circumcised according to custom of Moses you cannot be saved that was the first heresy coming into the church of galatia at that time they wanted levitical laws food law sacrifices
00:04:55 circumcision is the start of it all and Paul was opposing this you wanted all the Jews Gentiles to do this verse three even Titus who was with me was not forced to be circumcised though he was a Greek because of the false brother secretly brought in who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus so that they might bring us into slavery to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment so that the truth of the Gospel might be preserved for you the issue here is truth in the today's world truth
00:05:33 is the most precious commodity because everybody starting with politicians default mode is lying the second default mode is social network if you look into the internet most of that is lies people spreading their own truth as it were so now this is important because when you let go of the truth 167 I'm astonished you're so quickly deserting him who's called you into the grace of Christ turning to a different gospel not that there's another one but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the
00:06:06 gospel of Christ so early in the church within months they are now having people to come in to distort the Gospel of Jesus Christ and when you distort the Gospel of Jesus Christ you know what happens you abandon Jesus Christ it is not the same Faith anymore right now let's look at the background you very important for us to understand the background because we're not Jews all right uh circumcision instituted Genesis chapter 17 is a sign of the Covenant between man and Abraham as it were and the tribe of
00:06:46 Israel and for us now it's symbolic it's a permanent thing that you do once you join the people of God you cannot get out because it's permanent you cannot SW your forkin back although Paul does talk about uncircumcision it's intimate right at the core of your being you right you'll be cut off socially and spiritually from the rest of the world and you demonstrate to go that God is Holy and we teach uh it teaches us that we are naturally unclean you got ceremonial law moral law okay and the civil law it actually makes Israel
00:07:23 different separate from all the nations Leviticus 10:3 Moses said to Aaron this is what the Lord has said among those who are near me I will be Sanctified and before all the people I will be glorified so God will be actually glorified when they are set aside and he's given all these instructions for them the manner which they will be set aside so therefore they'll be clean according to God they're in the Covenant they have God they've got law they've got the history with with with God the Gentiles are unclean they don't have
00:07:56 Covenant they have no God no law and no history with God right right then he told them you are to distinguish between the holy and the common and between unclean and the clean and you are to teach the people of Israel all the statutes that the Lord has spoken to them by Moses this is the way they were to conduct their relationship with God all right to be able to distinguish between what is Holy and common and between the unclean and clean and this is a very easy map for you to look at you divide the world into animal people
00:08:30 and space and what is unclean is animals are not eaten what unclean you don't mix them is Gentiles and the space is the Nations what is clean is eaten what is clean the people of Israel what is clean is the land what is Holy apart from the people who are clean really separate to worship God the ceremonial functions are special animals like the lamb priests to lead the worship and the temple right so that's what is unclean so you've got things which are unclean Foods certain foods crabs uh skin disease mold dead
00:09:13 bodies bodily fluids milw menstration ashes of a red cow if a black cow never mind uh Red Cow uh child birth cooking goat in goat's milk very funny isn't it right certain things God considers is unclean a lot of scientists when they read this they start to look into it and find exactly what's wrong with goats milk there is no scientific basis okay there's no scientific basis that tell you the crap that you eat is going to be bad for you I I know some uh Christian churches look at that but you must
00:09:47 understand what the concept is all right so they wash they go into ceremonial bath before they go to the Tabernacle and then they realize that they actually have sinned and when they have sinned they've got all sorts of offerings for their sin burnt offering grain offering peace offering sin offering guilt offering so when you get into this whole mess of the law and ceremon it's a very very involved thing which now the Jews were trying to get the Gentiles to get involved in this as well the thing is
00:10:19 that you have to understand uncleanliness was not sin it is a picture of sin but it is not sin and that's a very very important theological point for us to understand God just arbitrarily chose that you can't cook The Goat in goats milk and all that it's not necessarily dirty or cause you to have cancer but it is a picture of sin right so therefore when you got the food laws you got the circumcision and your ceremony shows you that you are in clean because certain things are unclean it shows us we are
00:10:57 unclean so therefore you to choose clean things it's impossible to make ourselves acceptable on our own therefore you got to cut off the forkin isn't it that means you're born unclean all right and then the ceremonial laws point to the fact that you to make sacrifices and each sacrifice points to the fact that one day there will be the perfect sacrifice that is the reason God instituted Old Testament law and ceremony into Israel at time if you fail to understand this then you will get all sorts of confusion today all right now
00:11:31 what happens is that before Faith came this going forward to chapter three before Faith came we were held captive under the law imprisoned until the coming Faith would be revealed so so then the law was our Guardian until Jesus Christ came in order that we might be justified by faith but now that the faith has come we're no longer under Guardians so in Christ Jesus you're all sons of God through faith look at the words that I outlin there we're held captive we're imprisoned we're like under a guardian so the law the rule of
00:12:07 the law is described by Paul in two metaphors that you can easily understand one in prison what do you do in prison where do you look you don't look at a toilet you look outside the people playing the field running the in in the Sun the worst thing is you can have a prison cell with no windows so you look out when you're under a guardian what is the first thing you think one day when I'm old enough I will drive the car so what the law does the metaphor of the law is that it captures you in so that
00:12:41 it focuses your interest and your vision directly outside to get out of the bars to get rid of the guardian and fully assume your inheritance that's what the law was supposed to do it's temporary and it looks forward to that coming of Jesus Christ so that the law is our garden until Christ came so that we might be justified by faith so when Christ comes you don't stay in prison you don't go back to the Old Testament laws anymore you are now justified by faith and now for the galatian church being totally liberated these Fellers
00:13:17 are coming in and say oh you better go back to the law go back to Guardians go back to prison and so what happens is that on the other side here is the LIE the lie is you got food laws to show you that if you are really careful you can be clean on your own don't eat crap every day eat veggie right it it tells you that you can make yourself acceptable it all all the ceremonial laws are something that you do so when you do something it actually points to the fact that you can make yourself acceptable to God that is
00:13:56 the lie all right now let's look at the context of this passage after 14 years I went again to Jerusalem with Barnabas taking Titus along with me I went up because of a revelation set before them through though privately before those who seem influential the gospel that I Proclaim among the Gentiles in order to make sure I was not running or had run in vain this is situation Paul didn't spend much time in Jerusalem at all he was converted in Damascus then after 3 years of being in the wild Wilderness he
00:14:30 came to Jerusalem for only 15 days so you can't say his gospel was copied from Jerusalem then only after 14 years he then goes with Barnabas to Jerusalem that's a long time so what you actually have is two spheres of influence right you've got the Jerusalem Apostles where Jesus was where Jesus was crucified they were the witness to His Life Ministry resurrection of Jesus Christ that is where the church comes from it's like the Catholics say Rome right on the other hand out in the wilderness in Antioch you've got Paul
00:15:11 separate revelation of the resurrected Jesus Christ right whoever heard of Christianity coming out of Damascus nobody will believe that right he didn't spend time with Jesus right but he had a revelation of the resurrected Christ and he starts a separate Ministry to the Gentiles so therefore you got two spheres of influence and you've got tension and what happens is that the Bible teaches from the main Church Jerusalem now go to Antioch and sayy you all second class you see who is this Paul never heard of him right how can
00:15:47 you follow him all the laws that we have the circumcision the levitical laws cannot e crab all you are breaking it and so therefore there's great tension and what the Paul do right Paul cannot compromise his gospel okay all right and he cannot grant that this is like the Catholic church only the pope from Rome can say every else is wrong he didn't allow that because he cannot compromise gospel by granting that the Jerusalem Apostles have ultimate Authority you know why because he has a separate revelation of the Lord Jesus
00:16:24 Christ on the Damascus Road it is a separate revelation of the risen Jesus Christ right and then if he did this Pander to them he would be pleasing man he needed to be faithful to the revelation God gave him directly now if he goes to Jerusalem if they Rectify his gospel it will be a powerful rebuttal of the Jews uh who tried to influence them but it will only make the gospel grow right so the gospel is not about whether you come from Jerusalem and anoch balinga New York City the gospel is about truth and truth
00:17:07 with our Lord Jesus Christ is always consistent and here we have the judaizers coming and making them obey all these laws and the question today for us when you apply why why is it that the the people of galatia so quickly you introduce them all these laws they're very happy most of us don't like laws right but they're very happy why do we persist in live legalism well Martin Luther actually says uses this word or called Incas he says that human beings are curved in on ourselves right and when you curved in
00:17:44 on ourselves we cannot really see our only need because we all looking inside we think we're the greatest okay we are all basically good and we just can get better how many of you walk around thinking you're basically bad very few most of us are curved in ourself we think we can achieve our own righteousness we're selfish self-centered self-absorbed it's a fact right so Adam leave sin first thing they did instead of confessing they put thick leaves whose idea was it must be Eve the latest fashion is fig Leaf why why not
00:18:16 use banana leaf fig Leaf all right and basically is I will be good I will reform and then Jesus Christ will have will actually have mercy on me but the problem with this lie is that you basically devalue God you think your fig leaves can please God per Leaf God prefer Banana Leaf but no Leaf you see I mean instead of instead of confessing before God they put up the leaves so therefore what we do is that in every Pagan religion and any other religion we actually devalue God as if God can be bribed all right so we IND Church even
00:18:59 we leverage obedience for blessing isn't that right things can go wrong I have a great business deal tomorrow today better do quiet time because if I don't do my quiet time today my deal will go south and better still I better pay some money to calino so that they don't sniff glue anymore and God will take note of my offering and five people will be saved from from glue and tomorrow my deal will go through or I have more grandchildren or can my son marri is a good person in our mind all of us leverage obedience for
00:19:43 blessing and you know what that does that means your BR your God can be bribed a bribable God is not a respected God and so when we think we can leverage our OB you know the most obedient person in the world anybody know give me an example most obedient person in the world huh Jesus what happened to him say most obedient person in the world they Hammer him on the cross what happened to you you see I mean it there's no correlation legalism also leads to what hypocrisy which didn't undermine the gospel truth you ask non-christians what
00:20:27 is the biggest problem with the Christian Church Hypocrites and by default if you a Christian you should be a hypocrite because you can never live up to the standards of Christianity isn't it we are there because we're Sinners and then that but that doesn't make it right Jesus says woe to you scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites for you shut the Kingdom of Heaven in people's face for you neither enter yourselves or allow those who would enter to go in woe to you scribes and Pharisees and hypocrites
00:20:56 for you travel across the sea and land to make a single proelite and when he comes a proelite you make him twice as much as a child of hell as yourself that's a terrible indictment on the hypocrisy of the Pharisees third things that legalism diminishes Grace if you're legalistic you will never understand or appreciate Grace Martin Luther says it's very hard for a man to believe God is gracious to him the human heart can't grasp it see if you can't grasp legalism what's your default mode to look to
00:21:38 ourselves Grace if you don't understand Grace that's why they're saying Amazing Grace it's too amazing to understand and so therefore if you can't understand it you can't swallow it then you turn to yourselves it's Christ plus food law circumcision whatever you want to put there okay and then Christ gets diminished all right right it becomes a fake gospel the fourth most important point is that actions replace our hearts that's the problem with legalism legalism is our primary focus is what we do and there if we focus on what we do
00:22:13 there's very little to inspect our heart we let our actions stand as our justification before God heedless of the heart behind them it doesn't matter what you feel or say your attitude towards God do something and that something becomes my fig Le that something becomes my justification before God and we do that um this chap has a new theology there he's thinking about health through the Holy Communion I get this all from his website so I'm a fan as I partake I receive your Resurrection that's what he says life
00:22:50 health and strength by your grace I shall be completely strong and healthy all the days of my life my eyes shall not grow dim he doesn't wear glasses nor shall my strength be abated that's what exactly what he says whenever he takes the Lord's supper and then somebody takes him seriously from the United States of all places they're quite gullible there I I work in a very physically demanding job in a nursing home I start taking the Holy Communion every day sometimes three times a day before doing my rounds I would take the
00:23:21 Holy Communion and I would receive Supernatural strength wow this a nurse can fly uh taking communion also helps me with dieting wo that one will be good right all those of you are a little bit overweight Lots ofer there's some more uh extra ones that 50 cents a you can pick it up go home three times a day uh helps with dieting which I don't really practice but every time I take communion I meditate on the word and it fills me up and I get supercharged lately I started seeing some clothes that could
00:23:51 not fit starting to fit W the old wardrobe my skin and my complexion are changing day by day hey face on the internet no need Photoshop already uh it's like I'm getting younger and younger and more and more beautiful Isabelle muzina Nebraska USA friend of yours don't come from Nebraska right no okay this is testimony from the website this is what your your your your legalism leads you to where's the heart it's like the plague of serpents in Numbers chapter 21 people spoke against God you know why why do you take us out
00:24:32 here to Egypt to die no food water we don't like this uh you know every day you know P you know uh the people came to Moses they say you know they had this plague of snakes and they then repented we have sinned we have spoken against the Lord against you pray the Lord will take away the serpents and then the remedy was the Bronze Serpent and the Lord said to Moses make a fiery serpent set it on a pole everyone sees it when he sees it shall be liveed and Moses made a bronze serpent set it on a pole
00:25:04 and and if the serpent beat anybody he would look at the bronze Serpent and he would live fantastic isn't it but before that the people repented the people rep you understand that there's a heart there and then there's action you look at the serpent and later on you know what happened they started off making worshipping the serpent this is 2 Kings 18:4 under Hezekiah he removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Ashera he broke into pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made for unto
00:25:34 those days the people of Israel had been making offering to it isn't it easier to make an offering to a serpent than to repent of your sin you see the action replaces the heart it's a lot easier to do action so that's the truth that can be distorted the gospel is about truth second thing is that if you have the truth it will lead to Freedom yet because of the false Brothers secretly brought in they come in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus so they may bring us back to slavery if you don't
00:26:11 have the truth you will be enslaved if you have the truth you will be free to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment so that the truth of the Gospel might be preserved for you that is the most important thing truth preserves freedom I was been looking at very interesting laws in this legalism I heard that in Florida if you you can be arrested if you fall asleep under a hair dryer in Eureka there's a law that says that you mustache man cannot kiss a woman furthermore in Indiana if you eat
00:26:46 garlic you cannot ride in the bus in Illinois is even worse normal in a there a town there called normal all the people there are normal uh you cannot make a face at a dog the dog gets upset said all right funny stupid laws right because people just focus on the actions now what if this same woman Isabella muzina from Nebraska missed the Lord's Supper that day can covid enter Hospital didn't take the Lord's Supper three times she would be guilty you feel guilty right because you take three times a day now
00:27:26 you don't take you feel guilty you start to doubt oh my goodness does this work and then something happens she gained 20b my God what happened and then more better go back so when she comes at hospital take lot supper five times because then swing back in again it's stupid but it's real we all have our little nuances that we do isn't it if I don't oh very good to see Mark playing the guitar know he loves the Lord plays guitar one day he don't play guitar can what will Mark think I better go and
00:28:08 play the guitar so it's not about playing the guitar anymore it's not about loving Jesus and and serving it's about playing the guitar you see actions will take you away from your heart and then you become Enslaved the Greek word metan Noah meta means change no is your mind so repentance is just simply changing your mind and what what what Jerome uh uh did was very bad because uh in in the 500 years after Christ he actually translated metano in the in the Latin Vulgate as to do penants big problem one
00:28:47 Twist of the word will change your church because repentance they change your mind Penance the feeling or expressing humble Sorrows you should be pened for all your sin right the third one is penance an act that shows that you feel sorry about something that you have done okay and so what happened was that they started to say in the Catholic church that everybody to in order for your sins to be forgiven must confess must do Penance satisfaction and absolute four things before you get forgiven of your sins then you added an
00:29:17 extra layer I remember going to confessions a child and you know whatever sin I've done if it's a big sin 10 Hill marries or our father is the worst so 10 our father and 20 H Mary the worst sins get bigger number of prayer small prayer Hail Mary very good very fast you do do a few more of those it makes you do something all right if you don't do then you will not have be your sins forgiven and that's when Pope Urban II in 9 1095 said oh all of you who have to do penants right no need to do you know what you do you go and fight the
00:29:59 war in Crusades you see what he has done he has Twisted the whole thing it's not about changing your mind repenting now it's about fighting the war right so Martin Luther actually said one of his 95 thesis article 36 every Christian is truly contrite has complete remission of both Penance and guilt even without a letter of Pardon from the pope that's sorry because Martin Luther defended the gospel the gospel is based on the righteousness of Christ not what you do here's the Catholic dasis of Singapore
00:30:31 it says the obligation see word obligation must do right law to do penants every Friday remains an essential part of our Christian Life the season of Lent is viewed as a special particularly special time to focus on penants so therefore if you're a Catholic on Friday you don't eat meat right you eat garupa you know how expensive that is you up your budget so there's negative Penance you abstain from the most enjoyable food for me is ramen so no Ramen all right I would eat something I don't like abstain from
00:31:07 alcohol no problem I never drink abstain from smoking I don't smok give up your favorite TV program that's negative Penance positive pendence is giving arms spending time with someone who's sick and lonely Etc you get the idea it's something you do after a while something you do and slaves you because you already forgotten your heart and that slavery in the end leads to a action-based religion which leads to death so you're worried about the laws just keeping the law there's a spirit of the law for the benefit of man and the
00:31:39 letter of the law all right for example to keep the Sabbath day holy when Jesus went to the temple and he healed The Man With It hand they go all upset right the spirit of the law is for man right the letter law say you cannot do any work on Sabbath day so when he healed the man with a withered hand he got God condemn for that it's like imagine a road where the minimum speed is 40 kilm per hour you know why you need have minimum speed because if you go too slow you'll get an accident people bang you so you say I
00:32:15 drive this road it's got to be 40 press the cruise control it's 40 they raining like hell must still drive 40 doesn't matter flood can Mar Drive 40 crash is it see after a while your actions if you dis disconnect it from your heart when you disconnect it from the spirit of why the law was there you will crash and you enslaved I was a TV program I'm watching uh like uh I like this one what you know why like I don't know why I watch it because the whole day is medicine I still watch the show about medicine I know why
00:32:54 because my wife and I sit and then we criti ourselves stupid like that one that's not true and then if you watch this show every second person the heart stops every second person in ER well anyway in this particular episode there was a man who' come in and was very nasty man and what he did was he released poison in front of uh what of the doctors with the Chinese chap on the left called Brian T who is basically actor uh and then both the men because of the PO it was a cyanite type poison and the doctor both were very very sick
00:33:33 they were lying down in ER the whole ER was evacuated other people were dying and all that all over the place there's no doubt about it then they had antidote or or some special medicine one vile then they thinking who's uh the doctor is very sick the man who is the criminal who released the poison also very sick uh what do we do so they went to the administrator of the hospital who the worst person the give go to right and they ask him one vile antidote who do we give the doctor or the guy who
00:34:06 release it how many of you will give to the doctor put your hands up it's see Malaysian crowd nobody listening how many of you will give to the criminal one at the back I saw your face I yeah I won't forget you the next time I E my God and so what happened the administrator said let's look at the book sop the SOP says okay the sickest person shall get the antidote but the that's a criminal there a doctor so they gave the criminal who died anyway I mean bottom line is your sop so you become enslaved through your sop and you forget
00:34:55 the principle this is a criminal attempted to kill this innocent person person shouldn't the innocent person get the antidote that is where your legalism enslaves you and me so we pass all sorts of laws not in this church but we unofficially you cannot drink I remember the first time in this church when we allow alcohol at our Christmas wow people had all the knickers in the N you know mean oh my God First Baptist Church having alcohol it's like the the the mortal we all going to be crushed by God tomorrow
00:35:30 or playing cards or dancing you know we had break dancing and people lost their minds when they break dancing and I remember Rachel had the dance with the ballet and all the women got upset because they can't dance right or they don't have a figure like H it's a fact all right or you play Billiards or you your swimsuit or you play the stock market you cannot partake in this uh you cannot read Harry Potter books you cannot watch the movies and and you must come to church every Sunday you must come at watch Night Service you must
00:36:05 come you know certain foods certain chch not our church our church we eat every food and sometime our previous Church in pantai you had to make sure all the pastors wear suits and you have to pay for it okay you have to pay for it their legalism but your money again very stupid uh you know obviously uh slavery produces spiritual blindness Isaiah says your new moons your appointed feasts my soul hates they become a burden to me I mean you offer all this God very upset already instead of loving it he hates it I'm weary of bearing them
00:36:45 when you spread out your hands I hide my eyes from you even though you make many prayers I will not listen that's what he said you know why your hands are full of blood you wash yourselves make yourself clean remove the evil of your Deeds from before my eyes cease to do evil learn to do good seek Justice correct oppression bring Justice to the fatherless plead the Widow's cause actions become your justification and you rely on that and God sees your heart he doesn't see your action it's good that your action and your heart
00:37:18 align but often if you focus in your actions in the end they will distract you from your heart the suffering servant Jesus came I give you as a covenant for the light of Nations to open the eyes that are blind to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon from the prison of those who sit in darkness who is in darkness the people under the law you go in the prison you look out and so therefore we need to be brought out you see gospel is Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sin to Deliver Us from the evil age of
00:37:54 Darkness right so the truth freezes also from the extern need for external validation I went up because of Revelation and set before them though privately before those who seem what he used seem influential the big bosses in Jerusalem right maybe they got authority to the gospel I Proclaim among the Gentiles in order to make sure I was not running it or had been had run in vain he wanted to make sure the gospels are the same right then very important verse which uh Brandon Wong will speak more on
00:38:27 and those who seem seem influential what they were makes no difference to me you know why God shows no partiality let's go in the very sometimes you to go into the Greek because they they've actually interpreted rather than translated it right if you really translate prop properly it means pruton which is face and lambano receive which means God does not receive a man's face you see so when you went to Jerusalem he didn't care oh Big Time Apostle 11 of them I mean only one 11: 1 he says God doesn't see a man's face if
00:39:09 God doesn't see a man's face you think I will see the man's face so God doesn't judge from externalities how many medals you have or whether car Verno actually is the chairman of the Baptist Convention of the whole of Sabah or whole of America who cares that's not why we look up to him we look up when God looks at him the God looks at his heart what he's doing to the people of bang Island that's what he sees he doesn't see your title whether your elder or your Deacon or your your your CER or it's your heart so so when
00:39:48 you walk into the room Paul doesn't care he's not he's not enslaved to what people think of you and so many of you you're so enslaved to what people think before you go out a put quickly put lipstick check the mirror and the boys will check their abs abs make sure that the ABS are there're not and I will tighten my belt to make sure I look good so we're enslaved to exell influences and what people think of us the gospel truly frees us for to the truth God doesn't accept a man's face God doesn't ex uh uh
00:40:24 uh basically judge your externality so so those who see seem influential added nothing to me you must be clear of the word of God and his Revelation to you directly and once you're free you got this Freedom right you're not afraid you come to church and then you take your your your your little champagne glass and you dram you're not afraid because Edan is not going to kick you right I hope not Edan will join you and so you become free once you the truth gives you Freedom then what happens is that you've
00:40:56 got Titus the Greek he was not forced to be circumcised yes but then again you look who is the guy standing next to Titus Timothy you know what he did for Timothy he circumcised him how come Titus not circumcised and Timothy circumcised what's wrong with Paul he's contradicting himself and Paul also came to Derby and lisra a disciple there named Timothy son of a Jewish woman who also a Believer his father was a Greek he was well spoken of by the brothers in lisra and Iconium Paul wanted Timothy to accompany
00:41:41 him and he took him and circumcised him oh my goodness he didn't circumcise Titus but he circumcised very very biased right because of the Jews who were in the place for they all knew that his father was a Greek is you see if you know the truth the truth gives you freedom in the situation of the Gentile Church all Gentiles who are undergoing the siege of false doctrine of the need for circumcision Paul stood his ground to protect the vital truth no circumcision because Titus was a Greek you don't compel a Greek to be but in
00:42:19 Timothy Timothy also didn't have to be circumcised but he circumcised anyway because if he was not circumcised that would jeopardize his Ministry to the Jews in 1 Corinthians chapter 9 Paul says I will be all things to all men isn't it I know you go among Muslims okay don't tell me you go there and they say oh here's my hello to the Jew I will become a Jew to the Gentile I become Gentile you are actually respectful of their Traditions so that you earn the place to share the gospel one day and how can he be
00:43:00 circumcising one person one day and not circumcising another because he has the truth truth leads to Freedom if you have the truth then the word of God then you can apply it in different situation not that you're contradicting yourself but you understand what truth is what about Peter and Paul right Peter comes and and and he and he doesn't eat with the Gentiles Paul again confronts him in public how why does he do that well akang I weave it for Brandon Wong so God loves us he saves Us by grace through Christ Jesus and the word
00:43:42 the law doesn't become the criteria through which you enter the Kingdom of Heaven it is expression of who he is and obedience is a reflection of the relationship you obey the law in order to please God to glorify him legalism is cutting that part out okay now last uh but not great the truth frees us to have unity in the gospel all right so in the end and James and kefas and John SE pillars perceived the grace that was given to me they gave the right hand of Fellowship Paul came to Jerusalem and
00:44:14 they accepted his gospel even though it was completely different in a sense in the little sense but it was the same and there was Unity we have a movement in the world today with all the religions they called the acumenical movement they want to make Society better okay and and so everybody works together because you want flourishing you want Universal peace and love but the problem is the truth is what the truth is not about making Society better we're not here to make Society better galatian says Grace to be you and
00:44:48 peace from God Jesus uh God the father and our Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins to Deliver Us from the evil age that is the truth if you want to make Society better and work with people the first thing you do for acumenical meeting you stand there and say Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life no one goes to God except to me they will kick you out 100% they will kick you out anybody who goes anywhere say that but the point is the truth is not about making Society better the truth is about saving people
00:45:18 right so the truth is about the gospel the truth leads to freedom and freedom enables love here what happens when James and keas and John S pillar perceived the grace that was given to me he gave the right hand of Fellowship to Barnabas and me so they agreed this is an authentic Vision we should go to the Gentiles they should go to the circumcised so the gospel is useless if it's a theory the theory becomes practice when we Paul goes to the Gentiles and Peter goes to the circum side so therefore different missions
00:45:56 which is why Calver goes to bangi right you stay here well most of you anyway but some of you might be joining there different areas of mission so the it must be lived out because the gospel is global Isaiah says I will make you a light for the nation my salvation shall reach the ends of the Earth why should we bother about the children of bangi let the crocodiles have them you know why because God said you are the light for them you are the Light of the Nations my salvation shall go to them that is why
00:46:39 we contribute that is why we pray that is why we partner and if you have time please come at 2:00 and see what God is doing because this is a miracle lastly only that they ask us to remember the poor the very thing was eager to do so that everybody agree in the gospel you go to the circumcise I go to the the Gentiles the only thing they ask us to do remember the poor so therefore social action was very much part of it because we ministered to the whole man the gospel must be lived out you look in Jesus life wherever he went
00:47:19 the first thing he did was what heal people sick people they didn't necessarily have the gospel but they healed people wherever he went it shows you that God is interested in the whole man I was having dinner somebody very kind bought me dinner yesterday met me accidentally uh and he was in a gamma group and they were actually um discussing you and Gamma every 3 to four weeks instead of having the lesson only they will actually go and do a mission either old folks home children's saw something they will do right and then
00:47:54 they were having a discussion in that group oh let's go and the next Target would be to disable mentally reparted children and somebody say Y how how to go and talk to these people they're all mentally how to tell gospel but that's not the point isn't it you know what at the end of time when Jesus judges you remember the parable about the sheep and the goats the king will say to those on his right come you who are blessed by my father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world when I
00:48:31 was hungry you gave me food I was thirsty you gave me drink I was a stranger you welcomed me I was naked and you clothed me I was sick and you visited me I was in prison and you came to me I was mentally and your GMA group visited me even though I couldn't understand the gospel you see what it means if you know the truth the truth is lived out you you love people Freedom leads to love love doesn't discriminate whether you understand the gospel or you don't if you don't understand the gospel I'll
00:49:11 wash your feet if you understand gospel I'll tell you the gospel you see I mean so therefore we've got programs that snack and chat and and you feed the poor and people question why you feed the poor bottomless pit well because they're poor they didn't food that's a very good reason if there's a gospel there that's that's fine if not just feed the poor that's what Paul and the Jerusalem Apostles agreed that they would feed the poor truth leads to Freedom all right Freedom leads to love but what gets you there you know
00:49:49 what gets you there Grace for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sake he became poor so that you by his poverty might become rich the horrible evil of the Prosperity Gospel Jesus became was rich and became poor so that you might become rich if you are poor you use Jesus to become rich that is an absolute evil and is practiced by so many churches who are in it they use legalism in order to get the blessing of God and we need to repent from that kind of
00:50:28 thing what really makes you happy studying the word of God or the things that really make you happy this see where the gospel in you is when your bank account grows your family grows get a good job get a good house are these the things that your emotions are tied to that will tell you whether Grace is at the center of your heart you know Tim Keller gave this beautiful example taken from CS Lewis you can actually look at a map in those days you got map and say I want to go to Strawberry Park anybody know where Strawberry Park is I
00:51:02 heard they got strawberries all over the place it's in Cameron Highlands how to go to St Strawberry Park you have to actually get a map in those days not ways so imagine you take the map and you basically want to go to Strawberry Park and have the strawberries there and then enjoy your time so what you do is that well I'm going to lay the map out I'm going to stand on where Strawberry Park is and I'm going to a picnic there I buy my my my strawberries from the G grer and then I have my picnic there so
00:51:34 are you having a picnic at Strawberry Park no that's what many of us are doing we hear the Bible versus the sermon and we go home we put the map on the floor we stand there and we never move there's a difference and there's some of us who go to Strawberry Park no need mman you happen to know where it is but once you get the strawberry po I bet you you w know how to go to talo you know why no map and these are Christians who like to do do do they plant Jes all over the place but they don't look at the world
00:52:15 through the lens of the Bible you need both you need both and the one thing that gets you there is Grace only by looking at the face of Jesus when he becomes more and more beautiful every day will then you be free to love other people and whatever you do anything in this church or outside this church ask yourself one question why am I doing it I'm doing it because Jesus was rich and he became poor that I would become rich it's always an expression of gratitude which is why and and and then more the more you love Jesus the more
00:52:58 you appreciate who he is the more you you you you look into the word and Be Touched By God's holy spirit it's the more energized that's why you come every Sunday to have a sermon perhaps or Bible study at GMA group that that the Holy Spirit Will energize you through the word so that you will get out and do don't stand on the map or just don't go to Strawberry Park without a map do it together which brings me to the last song The More Beautiful the savior is to you the more real your faith will become father Lord we come before you
00:53:35 it's not how obedient we've been it's not how clever we are it's not even about all the sin we have committed the failures in our life the broken dysfunctional families that we come from and we're Str struggling with it's about how beautiful you are and the more we look at your face the more we look at the cross and we realize that all our puny efforts we just look down on them we're appalled we they contribute nothing and we pray oh Lord in this church that when we look at each other it's not about how beautiful how talented how
00:54:24 distinguished how respected but it's about God who does not receive a man's face God looks at our hearts and father this morning we asked you fill our hearts with love when we sing the song that you are beautiful father Lord we don't want to be standing on the map we want to go we want to experience your love and we want your love to empower every action that we do whether we sing whether we play drums or we go to missions or we contribute to the poor children bang it is done not because of guilt not because of the fact that we
00:55:04 have to or sop but because you are beautiful and when we worship before a beautiful God we can do nothing but the fall at your feet and just worship you and offer up our lives as an offering for you amen May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and The Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all for those of you who want to be prayed for please come be welcome to we would like to pray with you that Jesus will become more beautiful in your life after a minute silence you are dismissed go in peace
