Roger Phipps - Speaking and Living the Truth

[0:00] If you will, to Ephesians chapter 4, the children who would like to go to children's services, you're welcome to go now.

[0:16] The songs we sang this morning and the scripture that has already been read to introduce the music and Roger's gratitude for what Christ has done on the cross is a bit of the, is some of the conclusion, but that's quite all right.

[0:56] We are thankful for that. It is a trustworthy statement and fully acceptable. Jesus Christ did not come into the world to teach me how to be a better person.

[1:13] Jesus Christ did not hang on that cross to show me what an example of giving is. Jesus Christ came into the world to be my savior and to take my sin as his own.

[1:37] And it's that substitutionary atonement that is so vitally important to understand. It's vital to understand. Let's look in Ephesians chapter 4, please.

[1:50] Ephesians chapter 4, please. Ephesians chapter 4, please. That was, there are a couple of things I would like to go through in preparation.

[2:04] And, but I'm going to give the, the launching text first. Ephesians 4 verse 25.

[2:15] Therefore, I hear a page turning, so I'm going to wait until you get it. Therefore, laying aside falsehood, or if you have something along the lines of King James, it's going to say give up lying or quit lying.

[2:33] Speak truth, each of you, with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. So there are a couple of things that I need to look at in order to get the context for this, if I'm going to understand this verse and apply it correctly, aren't there?

[2:52] Number one, and you can, you don't have to actually voice your answers or do responsive, but think it in your mind nevertheless.

[3:07] Number one, I need to know who should quit lying. And number two, I need to know what is the lie. I need to know what is the truth for I'm to speak that.

[3:22] And then I need to know who's my neighbor. And so we're going to look at that a bit. And some of those are answered right in that verse. But in the greater context, we'll look at that.

[3:35] Then there are another couple of things, especially when we read Paul. Well, God chose the apostle Paul to bring the gospel of the grace of God by faith to the world so that we as Gentiles could join with the chosen people, with Israel, as the people of God.

[4:02] So in doing that, I need to pay attention for the marching orders. And in order to understand the marching orders, there are a couple of things that I might look at.

[4:15] Because Paul uses contrasts and conclusions heavily in all of his writing. But we're going to just look at a couple of examples or a couple.

[4:29] A few examples here in Ephesians. And you don't need to turn to them, but I'm just going to read down through a little bit. I'll give you the reference, but this is not really pertinent to the actual, how will I say it?

[4:51] It's not pertinent to the actual study, but it is helping. It will help me to understand. You remember Miles Coverdale?

[5:02] You've never heard his quote before, have you? But it will help me to understand what I'm reading.

[5:13] Because if I pull this verse right out of context, I'm going to say, well, no longer am I going to say, boy, you look well today. I'm going to say, boy, you look really lousy.

[5:24] That's not what he's talking about, about quit lying and speak truth, is it? He's not talking about that. And we're going to see or look for that. So one of the things is Paul's use of contrast and conclusions.

[5:41] He uses a lot of therefores and so thens. And for this reason or as a result, this is very much a line upon line, precept upon precept teaching.

[5:57] He gives this proposition. He states this proposition. Usually it's a revelation from God directly to the church.

[6:09] Then upon that he says, therefore, therefore. Now, this has gone therefore, therefore. He also uses a lot of contrasts.

[6:21] But, but now, but then. So I'm just going to give a few examples. In chapter 2, he starts off with verse 4.

[6:33] And he says, but God being rich in mercy. And in chapter 2, verse 7. So that in the ages to come. And you can check on, as you go home as a Berean and search the scriptures daily to, this is a response time, to.

[6:57] The Bereans search the scriptures daily to see if these things be true. And as you do that, you can check on them there.

[7:09] Chapter 2, verse 11. Therefore, remember that formerly you. And in verse 13. But now in Christ Jesus. You know, you were this.

[7:21] But now you're this. And he's reminding us. Down in verse 19. Still in chapter 2. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens.

[7:33] But you are fellow citizens. And in chapter 3, verse 1. For this reason, I was chosen. I, Paul. By revelation.

[7:45] And then in chapter 3, verse 14. For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father. So that, in verse 17.

[7:56] So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And in chapter 4, verse 1. Therefore, I. And he goes. It goes on and on.

[8:11] And just a couple more then. Chapter 4, verse 14. Because we will be reading this section. As a result. And verse 15.

[8:22] But speaking the truth in love. Now this is. This is very related to our text. But speaking the truth in love. Verse 17.

[8:33] So then I say. Or so this I say and affirm. And in 20. He says. But you did not learn Christ this way. And in verse 25.

[8:44] There are texts. Therefore. Laying aside falsehood. And he goes on. And gives several others. And I quit marking them in chapter 5.

[8:59] Where he got into the families. Because it helps me though. When I look at that. To say. Okay. What's the antecedent?

[9:10] What did he build on? Why is he saying therefore? You've heard the old. The old saying. When you. When you. Are reading the scripture. And you come to therefore. Find out what therefore is therefore.

[9:23] Pardon the dangling preposition. For your teachers. But. It. It worked out well that way. I need to find the therefores. And.

[9:33] That will help me. So. If you would then. Look at verse 11.

[9:45] We're going to read. Our immediate context. Verses 11. Through 15. Ephesians chapter 4.

[9:56] Verses 11 through 15. And.

[10:10] I'm going to. Ask for some help. And so. When I stop reading. You fill it in. Would you please? I'm going to try that.

[10:22] And he. That is Christ. You see that up in verse 7. And he gave some as apostles. And some as prophets. And some as evangelists.

[10:37] And some as pastors and teachers. For. For what? For works of service.

[10:49] Or works of ministry. Now. Let's look at that. For he gave. Some of this. And some of those. If you go up to verse 7.

[11:01] To each of us. Was given a grace. Or a gift. It's the same. Root word. A grace.

[11:13] According to what? The measure of Christ's gift. Now what does he mean by that? What does that. Tell me. Is that.

[11:24] How much Christ. Is able to give. Or. Does that mean. That Christ. Decides. Who gets what. I would.

[11:37] Submit. What he's saying here. Is. According to the measure. Of Christ's gift. Christ decides. Who gets the gift. And how much they get. That is. What it's going to be. How good are they at it?

[11:48] Apollos was given a gift of. Oratory. He was a good. He was a good orator. And.

[12:02] On the first missionary journey. As Paul came. Stay at the mic. I'm. Okay. Don't wander about. Sorry Keith. Do you have some zip ties?

[12:17] I can. Paul. Apollos was an orator. He was rightly. Expounding. That Jesus was Messiah.

[12:29] From the Old Testament scriptures. And he was doing this to the Jews. Or with the Jews. Or before the Jews. But he knew. He did not know.

[12:41] The whole gospel. The gospel of the grace of God. Submitted by faith. And faith alone. And good for the Gentiles as well.

[12:53] He was teaching. Kingdom ministry. Wasn't he? But. It was expounded into him. By those who had sat under Paul. More fully.

[13:05] And he said. What wonderful news. And so. God. God. God. God. Gave him. The gift of oratory.

[13:16] So that when Paul. Go. Writes to the Corinthian church. Paul will say. I did not come to you. With great oratory. I came to you. And I reckon.

[13:27] Or I purpose. To know only one thing. Christ. And. Him. Crucify. Why? The point of it is.

[13:38] That Paul. Is saying. I didn't come to persuade you. With. With. Good oratory. I came to bring. The gospel. Of the substitutionary.

[13:51] Atonement. Of the Lord Jesus Christ. So that you. Roger. Don't have to go to hell. You don't have to. Suffer for your own sin. I've already done that for you.

[14:06] That. Is amazing grace. That is amazing grace. And what he says is. Look. You can have this. This can be yours.

[14:17] You can have eternal life. Jesus said. When he. In his earthly ministry. We call it that. Because he was in the physical body. On the earth. Walking about.

[14:28] He was preaching. The kingdom. But he did say. Some things. That are. That are. That span. Dispensation. And one. And one of them.

[14:39] That comes to mind. Is. I. Am. The. Way. The. And. And.

[14:50] The life. And no one. Comes to the father. Except through me. I. God. By the way. This is a. A small digression.

[15:01] But. God does not accept me. For who I am. God accepts me. For who Christ is. That's how I get to heaven.

[15:15] I'm not going to get to heaven. On my own merit. The best day I ever lived. With the best thought I've ever had. And the best intentions. I could muster.

[15:25] I could muster. Is not going to get me into heaven. The only. Person. Who can get me there. Is Jesus Christ. And him crucified. That's why Paul said that.

[15:38] Jesus Christ. And him crucified. So. Back to the reading. Verse. Verse 13.

[15:49] Now this is the conclusion. For. The equipping of the saints. For works of service. To the. Or. For this purpose. The building up.

[16:00] Or it may say. Or edification. Right. That's where we get. By the way. The. Our English term. The edifice. We. We build.

[16:12] So. The edification. Of. Whom. The body of Christ. Who's the body of Christ. The church. The church is the body of Christ.

[16:24] Okay. Until. And here's another. Conclusion. Or. This is the reason for that. Verse 13. Until we all attain.

[16:34] To the unity of the faith. And of the knowledge of the son of God. To a mature man. To the measure of the stature. Which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

[16:47] Verse 14. As a result. There that is. You see the. Conclusion. The therefores. As a result.

[16:59] We are no longer to be children. Tossed here and there. By waves. And carried about. By every. Wind of doctrine. Every teaching that comes along.

[17:11] By the trickery of men. By craftiness. And deceitful scheming. But. Verse 15. There's the contrast.

[17:22] I'm not to be carried about. By every wind of doctrine. Why? Because the whole. The whole body. Had. Fitting together. Providing everything.

[17:33] That God intended us to. Builds itself up. Edifies. Edifies. One another. By the way. My main.

[17:46] Purpose. For being. In the body of Christ. Is to edify. And to be edify. That's why. That's why the congregation meets.

[17:58] That's why the congregation meets. Isn't it? Otherwise you could. Always sit at home. Now. There are those of us. Who cannot go. But.

[18:09] In Hebrews. When he says. Forsake not the assembling. Of the saints. It's because. We need one another. And. When we look at the works of service. They're all for the edification.

[18:23] Of the body. There is one. Gift. That is given. That is exercised. Outside the body of Christ. It's evangelism.

[18:35] But even that. Provides for. A building up of the body. In terms of addition to. Right? So. All of this.

[18:45] Is for the edification. Of the saints. This is how God designed it. It was his purpose. And it's for his glory. But we won't digress that far.

[18:58] So. I won't be. I won't be tossed about. And this is like. The boat. On Lake Erie. When the wind comes up quick.

[19:10] Yeah. The wind comes up quickly. And the waves. Go from flat. To four and a half. Five feet. In the matter of a couple hours. Well.

[19:22] If you're in a light craft. You're. You're thinking. Man. I'm. A long way from shore. He says. It's. It's like that. Don't do that.

[19:33] That's not what you want. You want to be grounded. And how am I grounded? David. Speaking. Verse 15. Speaking the truth. In love.

[19:45] We are to grow up. In all aspects. Into him. Who is the head. Even. Christ. From whom. Verse 16. The whole body.

[19:56] The whole church. Being fitted. And held together. By whichever joint supplies. You see here. He's using this metaphor. Of the. Of the. Of your body. To represent the church.

[20:11] Every. Every joint. Now. Some of our joints. Aren't working as well as others. And. That's all right. Don't carry the metaphor too far.

[20:23] The metaphor though. Is for an illustration. Of what the body of Christ. Is to be like. So. From whom. The whole body. Being fitted. And held together.

[20:34] By what. Every joint supplies. According to the proper working. Of each individual part. Remember. He gave gifts. According to the measure. Of Christ. It causes the growth.

[20:47] Of the body. For the building up. Of itself. In love. Verse. 17. Chapter 4. 17. So. Here's another one.

[20:58] Okay. He's building. Building. Building. So this I say. And affirm together. With the Lord. That you what? Walk.

[21:10] No longer walk. As the Gentiles. Or. It's. The other Gentiles. He is speaking. To a Gentile church. Remember that. He's speaking. To Gentiles.

[21:20] But here. He's using Gentiles. In the sense of. In. In an allegorical sense. Gentiles.

[21:31] As unsaved. And. The body of Christ. As the saved. So. So that you no longer. He's not saying. That. You quit.

[21:42] Living. You quit. Eating pork. And you. Go to a kosher diet. That's not. That's not. What that phrase means.

[21:54] And we'll. We'll get to that illustration. At the end. So this I say. And affirm together. With the Lord. You know. Walk no longer. As the. Other Gentiles walk. In the.

[22:05] Futility. Of their. Mind. Why. Are they. Living. Like they do. Why did I once live.

[22:19] Like I once lived. Because my head was wrong. I was thinking wrong stuff. I was believing wrong things.

[22:30] We don't see any of that in our society. Do we? But you see how it progresses. Romans chapter one. We see unfolding.

[22:43] Almost. Almost. Thoroughly. In a decade. Don't we? And. Most of us here. Most of us here. Never dreamed.

[22:54] It was even possible. We never even thought that way. Those things never crossed our minds. We never. So. In the futility. Of their mind.

[23:08] Verse 18. Being darkened in their understanding. And excluded from the life of God. Because of. Ignorance that is in them. Now this is.

[23:20] The. This is the. Definitive use of ignorance. It is not. How. Sometimes we. Use ignorant. To mean.

[23:31] Foolish. Or. Stupid. Or something like that. It. This has to do with. A lack of knowledge. They are ignorant. Of. Well.

[23:42] We'll see that. Because. But. They're ignorant. For a reason. Verse 18. Because. The ignorance. That is in them. Because. Of the.

[23:53] Hardness. Of their heart. And they. Verse 19. Having become callous. Given themselves. Over. To sensuality. For.

[24:06] The practice. Of every. Kind. Of impurity. With a greediness. There's a progression there.

[24:17] Isn't there? Bad thinking. Produces. Bad behavior. Eventually. By the way.

[24:28] Sound doctrine. Should be producing. Good behavior. And we'll. He. He writes that in here.

[24:40] So. Verse 20. A big change. But you. Did not learn.

[24:51] Christ. This way. If indeed. You have heard of him. And been taught. In him. Just as. What's in Christ Jesus?

[25:02] Truth. Remember. Speaking the truth. That's going to be a key. That in reference. To your former manner of life. You lay aside. The old self.

[25:13] Which is being corrupted. In accordance. With the lust of deceit. Verse 23. And that you. Being renewed. In the spirit of your mind. See.

[25:24] I didn't learn Christ. In the old way. That was wrong. Being renewed. In the spirit of your mind. Church. Verse 24. And put on the new self.

[25:36] Which. In the likeness of God. Has been created. In. And. Holiness of.

[25:47] Boy. This is getting hard. I better. Give it up. No. The new self. Is. Producing. Right living. Righteousness.

[25:58] And holiness. And truth. I am not saved. Because of my behavior. My behavior. Changes. Because I am. Right.

[26:10] So. Now. He is not. Saying. That this is performance. Here. If you go back to.

[26:22] The famous verse. For up. For me. Is in chapter 2. Of this very book. For it is by. Grace.

[26:34] You are saved. And that. It is the. And it is of works. Not of works.

[26:46] Why. Right. It is for God's glory. And his alone. The reformers were right in this. The. It is for God's glory.

[26:57] It is for God's glory. That we are saved. It is not because. We're so good. In fact. I can't be good enough. Verse.

[27:14] 25. Now our text. Therefore. So he's built on this. He's laid all this foundation. And now he comes to this. Which is our.

[27:24] Our main text. Therefore. Laying aside the falsehood. Speak truth. Each one of you. With his neighbor. Because. One of another.

[27:37] So that. That answers. That answers. Two of them. Who's the neighbor. Immediate context.

[27:49] Is the fellow members of the body. That's the immediate context. Now. It. It can. Safely be spread out.

[28:01] But my neighbor. That he's talking about here. Is predominantly. The congregation. Right. Then.

[28:15] Who should quit lying. Go ahead. Say it. You should. Right. You can point your finger. You should quit lying.

[28:27] And you should. Speak the truth. Each one. To his neighbor. Because. We're all members of one body.

[28:40] Remember. He said. Jesus. Gave. The gifts. To the church. And he set aside people. To. For various. Purposes.

[28:52] In the church. For the. Building up of the body. The edification of the body. And now he. Now he comes to this. And he says. Therefore.

[29:03] Start teaching the truth. Or. It's not as though. They weren't. Because. You know. Paul didn't correct. This is the one letter.

[29:14] Where Paul didn't correct. A. A big deal. Problem. Like. This is not the way. He begins. First Corinthians. Is it? What's going on there?

[29:27] This isn't the way. He begins Galatians. I'm so surprised. That you have. You've left the gospel. That's not what he's saying. But he's saying.

[29:38] Remember to do this. This is what you should do. Now. Let's go to. A little bit. If you would. To.

[29:50] What is. What is the truth? Well. Let me back up. I'm going to go to the lie. First. Quit lying. What is the lie?

[30:02] Verse 14. Look at that. A second. If you would please. Every wind of doctrine. Any doctrine. That is.

[30:15] Opposed to. Substitutionary atonement. Or detracts from. The work of Christ on the cross. Anything that shows that.

[30:26] I am to accept. Any kind of behavior in my life. Because.

[30:40] That's my truth. Is part of the lie. Isn't it? That's part of the lie. See. Pilate asked.

[30:52] The Lord Jesus. He may have. He may have asked it. Even. Mockingly. But I don't know.

[31:04] I have no idea. The scripture doesn't tell me. But he. He said to Jesus. What is truth? What is truth? Now. Those of your family.

[31:18] Who are. Thoroughly immersed in your culture. Are indoctrinated to believe.

[31:31] That there is no absolute truth. That. Truth is a social construct. And it's of your own making.

[31:44] Now. They never demonstrate it by flying. They never. You know. Some things can be imagined. But they cannot be lived. Not properly.

[31:57] And so. God says. I am the way. The truth. And the life. And no man comes to the father.

[32:10] But by me. So. Part of the truth. Is. Sound. Doc. Or the truth. Is. Sound doctrine. And.

[32:21] The lie. Is anything that. Contradicts. The sound doctrine. Or goes against it. If I try to. Add to.

[32:32] I need to trust. Jesus Christ. And his work on the cross. And. I need to. And fill in the blank. Anything that says that Jesus didn't complete it.

[32:48] So that when he was on the cross. And he said. It is. He didn't really mean it. Anything that says.

[33:00] Well. He said it's finished. But it wasn't quite finished. He said he did everything. But he didn't quite do everything.

[33:12] I know that he said through the apostle Paul. It is by grace that you're saved. That. That. Adherence to the law. No man is justified by works of the.

[33:25] Law. But by. Faith. We're justified in the Lord Jesus Christ. We. We are justified.

[33:35] Because Christ. Intercedes. On our behalf. With the father. So my justice is assured. Because of what Christ did.

[33:47] And it rests on. The veracity. And the character. Of God. Who cannot. Lie.

[33:58] Nor can he deny himself. So that. This. This wonderful plan of salvation. For God's glory. He says.

[34:11] Makes him able to be. Just. And. The justifier. To them that. Believe.

[34:23] So the Lord Jesus Christ. Has accomplished the work. On the cross. And it is only. His.

[34:35] Work. That will say. That is. The truth. So. He's saying basic. He's saying here. Look.

[34:46] In our. In our scripture. Lay aside falsehood. I'm to lay aside. Those things. Those doctrines. Which contradict. The doctrine. That is set forth.

[34:57] In the scripture. By. Both. Doctrine of belief. And doctrine of character. And doctrine of. Behavior. And so.

[35:08] While. What my behavior. Does not. Earn my salvation. If I'm growing. In Christ. My behavior. Should start. Reflecting.

[35:19] My salvation. That's why. Earlier on. In this. He says. Therefore. I ask you. I. I implore you. To walk worthily. Of the calling.

[35:31] That. He doesn't. Say. Make yourself. Worth. It's. It's like. The conduct. That becomes. A certain station.

[35:42] Right. If. If you. If you have occasion. To go before the Supreme Court. You're expected to.

[35:52] To dress and appear. And conduct yourself. In a certain way. Aren't you? Well. It's not because. Your. Your plea.

[36:02] Is any better. It's because. There's a certain. Conduct. And decorum. That. That attends that. It's something. Like that. Here. It's. God says.

[36:13] Look Roger. I have saved you. I died for you. But when he says. You did not learn Christ. This way. He's juxtaposing that. To. This is the behavior.

[36:25] That you once did. This is how you once thought. This is how you once looked. Don't do that anymore. He said. Grow up. But. The point of it is.

[36:37] Sound doctrine is the truth. Faulty doctrine is the lie. And therefore. He says. He says. We are members one of another.

[36:49] So. Don't think like the world. Roger. Don't. The. The catchphrase now.

[36:59] Is worldview. Christian worldview. As opposed to. The secular worldview. Or the. The pagan worldview. And.

[37:10] Unfortunately. Many people. Who would. Say. Well. Yeah. I'm a Christian. They're really. They. They may not have actually trusted Christ.

[37:25] For salvation for their sins. Or. I can be a Christian. But I still. Like the Corinthian church.

[37:36] I still think. With a. Pagan worldview. I kind of. My practical life. My thinking.

[37:47] Might. Be influenced. By. The social. Situations. Around me. I need to guard against that.

[38:01] That. That's what he's saying. Now. He gives some. He gives some. Illustrations there. These are not. Total.

[38:12] But. If the lie is every wind of doctrine. And thinking like the Gentiles. Then. He gives. A couple of practical things. Of what that looks like.

[38:24] In verses 19. Through 21. And. Even into chapter 5. 6 through 11. He gives some. Some things about what those practices.

[38:35] Might look like. Or what they might result in. He does the same thing with. With the truth. As far as. What the truth looks like.

[38:47] As. How do I recognize it. Kind of thing. But. The truth of the gospel. In case I have not.

[38:59] Come to grips. With the Lord Jesus Christ. And his work on the cross. The truth of the gospel. Is. Important.

[39:09] And the primary truth. Is. My justification. By the grace of God. Through faith alone.

[39:20] And that. You would find that. Even in this book. In chapter. Two. Verses. Eight. Nine. We've already quoted them. Now. There is. A familiar. Illustration.

[39:32] That he gives. Historical. Illustration. That he gives. Of this. Lay aside. Falsehood. And speak the truth.

[39:45] We find it. It's familiar to us. It's in Galatians. Chapter two. If you want to. Go there. It's in chapter two. Beginning in verse 11.

[39:57] And you know it. Where. Paul. And Barnabas. Are in Antioch. The gospel. Of the grace. Of God.

[40:08] Is the gospel. Peter. And some other Jews. Have come from Jerusalem. To visit. And. And.

[40:21] And Peter. Well. We'll get. I think. We'll. We'll go ahead. And read that. Galatians.

[40:31] Chapter two. Verse 11. Is the beginning. When Cephas. Here he. In. He calls him Cephas. Peter. Came to Antioch.

[40:41] I opposed him. To his face. Because he stood. Contempt. If you have it open. Read responsibly. Because he stood.

[40:52] Condemned. That is guilty. Peter's guilty. Verse 12. For prior to the coming of certain men from James.

[41:03] He used to eat with the Gentiles. By the way. This is not just circumcision. Is it? He used to eat with the Gentiles. Remember Peter's vision.

[41:16] What was in the sheet? All kinds of animals. Were they all clean? No.

[41:27] In fact. That was the big issue. Wasn't it? And the Lord said to Peter. Kill any? No Lord. Because I've never touched any unclean thing.

[41:39] Any? That's going to be the illustration that God's going to present. Because through Peter he presented it.

[41:50] The gospel first. Or the gospel at that time. The gospel of the kingdom. He presented to Cornelius. Now. Without going too far afield there.

[42:02] This isn't foreign to Peter. Is it? In fact. In the Jerusalem council. Peter's going to call. This. His.

[42:12] His deal with Cornelius. He's going to call that to account. In order to defend. The Pauline. Doctrine. Of salvation by grace through faith. So.

[42:24] It's not new to Peter. But. So when Peter came to Jerusalem. He and the Jews that came with him. Were going to. Were eating freely with Gentiles.

[42:34] But when certain men came from James. He used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they came. And this is a lie.

[42:45] He began to. Withdraw from the Gentile brethren. And to hold himself aloof. Because he feared the party of the circumcision.

[42:56] Verse 13. Then the rest of the Jews. Joined him. In the hypocrisy. You notice this is called hypocrisy here. He's.

[43:09] He's going to say this three times. As though it's important. With the result that even Barnabas. Was carried away. By it.

[43:22] Verse 14. But when I saw. That they were not straightforward. About. The truth of the gospel.

[43:34] What was a lie. Withholding. From the Gentiles. They. They. They pulled back. They no longer ate. With the Gentiles.

[43:46] That was the lie. Because. The message is. You're not saved. By works of the law. You're saved.

[43:57] By faith. In Christ. And he said. And here. Paul says. They were not straightforward. About the truth. So.

[44:10] I said to Cephas. In the presence of all. If you. Being a Jew. Live like the Gentiles. You know. You could. You were living. Like a Gentile.

[44:21] You were living. No longer. According. To the Mosaic. Law. Then how is it.

[44:33] That now. You're trying. To make the Gentiles. Live like. Jews. Or conform. To the Mosaic. Law. This is an illustration.

[44:45] Of the. Of. Of what he's saying. To the church. And it's a vivid one. Because we're very familiar. With this one. Aren't we? The. The difference. In the.

[44:55] The gospel. Changes from. Kingdom message. Only to Israel. To. The gospel message. Of salvation.

[45:06] By grace. Through faith. To everyone. Who believes. That's why. Paul. Elsewhere. Is going to say. Henceforth. Know we know man.

[45:18] After the flesh. We knew Christ. That way. Once. But we don't know. Christ. That way. Any longer. There now. Is neither.

[45:30] Jew. Nor Gentile. Slave. Nor free. The point of it is. That we are all.

[45:43] Saved. Whether we're Jew. Or Gentile. At this. Time. In this dispensation. My only hope. Of salvation. Is the work.

[45:54] Is the work. Of Christ. On the cross. And I should always remember. That. In edifying. The saints.

[46:04] I need to remember. To be careful. Not to let. The world's philosophy. Cloud me.

[46:18] Jesus. Is. Truth. Truth. Doesn't change. Because. History. Changes. Truth. Does not. Change.

[46:28] Change. In fact. God says. Truth. Isn't going to change. Though. No one. On earth. Believed it. Every man.

[46:39] On earth. Could be a liar. But. That's not going to change it. It. That. You know. Someone. And this is. I know.

[46:49] This is a digression. But. You know. Someone. Who has said to you. Well. I don't believe that. Now.

[47:03] You probably. Don't say. Well. So what. And. You probably. Don't say. It's probably. With a heavy heart. That you appear. That you see it. But the fact.

[47:15] Remains. That I don't. Get to choose. What the truth is. God is truth. I don't. Get to choose. What.

[47:30] Matters. God has chosen. And I don't. Get to choose. My way of salvation. God has chosen. And that's the great. Amazing grace. That's what we sing about.

[47:41] This morning. About the work of Christ. On the cross. And his substitutionary atonement. If you have not. By chance. I doubt it.

[47:52] That anyone is here. But. If by chance. There is someone here. Who has not dealt with that. Please consider it.

[48:04] Today. Right now. You know. Peter said. Peter said. Today is the day of salvation. And I. I know I'm pulling it out of context. But the illustration really is.

[48:16] We don't know. I don't know if I'm going to make it home. Do I? I. I. Kind of assume I am. I'm going to function like I am. But.

[48:28] This. In the last day or two. Some teenagers were.

[48:40] I don't know where they were going. But at 68 and 41. They had every intention of making it. To their destination. But they didn't. And.

[48:56] They walked into eternity. And we don't know. Or I don't know. Whether they were saved or not. So. Do the business now.

[49:07] Lord. Thank you very much for this time. I pray that. Your word. Will go forth and accomplish all.

[49:18] That you send it to do. I. I thank you for the day. I thank you for your grace. And your mercy.

[49:30] And your promise. And I pray Lord. That you. You strengthen Nathan. And give him a good day. I pray in Jesus name.

[49:41] Amen.