The Right Hand Of Fellowship

[0:00] the book of Galatians chapter 2 we're in our fourth message on the book of Galatians and this first part we're moving through quickly because it's telling a story it's giving evidence in a narrative fashion and so we're moving through this first part pretty quickly we will slow down as we go on further I think it's good to go through this quickly we really want to get the sense of what's going on and I think if we went too slow here we would not have the sense of what's going on we have looked at how Paul went to this area in Galatia to start these primarily four churches and he greets them and he almost immediately admonishes them for turning quickly away to a different gospel not something that's the same that's just a little different it's a different gospel it's a false gospel and so he's rebuking them and he then begins to start this argument this defense of who he is because as people have come and we'll talk today more about the Judaizers and who they are and I've been trying to hold off a lot on that today's the day we're going to end up talking about them but as these Judaizers we'll call them by that name now had gone around they had been preaching this false gospel and we'll get to what they were saying about the gospel in just a second but one of the things they did was they would go from place to place it looks like they followed Paul and they went from place to place and they would come behind Paul and they'd say we're sent from the true apostles we're sent from the pillars in Jerusalem the apostles in Jerusalem we're sent from the ones who have the real influence and so they would come in and they would do their best to discredit Paul and his ministry saying what he's teaching we don't know where he got it he wasn't in Jerusalem he didn't get it at Jerusalem and he didn't get it from these apostles and so let me tell you this would be what they say let me tell you what the apostles back in Jerusalem are saying and so they'd lay out this false gospel that we'll begin to talk about in more detail today and so anytime the topic was brought up

[3:02] Paul was looked at as a second class person as someone with not all the authority and so he in the last message we began to look at how he's beginning to defend himself not defend himself for his own sake defend himself for the gospel's sake he brought the gospel to him it was a true gospel and he needed to defend that again not for his own sake so that they trusted this true gospel and so last time we looked at how how he got that how he didn't get it from the apostles he got it from Christ himself now some might say well would it have been better if he got it from the other apostles no because if he had gotten it from the other apostles he wouldn't be an apostle he needed to get it from Christ and so he makes this whole argument with timeline in place saying this is how I got the gospel I got it directly by revelation from the resurrected Christ he met me on the road I spent some time in Arabia and however the Lord delivered it to him there

[4:02] I got my message from the Lord himself just like the other apostles so he makes this argument saying I got it from Christ himself so I am a true apostle and he goes on to talk about how you know if I wanted to stay popular I would have stayed a Pharisee because I was the worst persecutor of Christians there were and but God set his hand upon me I am God's choice for this job and so he's called by God and then eventually he does go see Peter he was with him 15 days didn't see anybody else and Peter was glad that he was doing what he was doing so he's defended that he's an apostle and now in this next section we're going to see how he defends that even though he got his gospel separately from the Lord himself the gospel that he preached is the exact same gospel that the apostles in Jerusalem preached he's going to prove that by the things that he

[5:18] God called him to do we'll look at that as we go through it alright let me read we're going to read Galatians chapter 2 and the first 10 verses now it starts out then after 14 years he's speaking about the things that he spoke about before how he had gone to Jerusalem once went back and was you know working for a good bit of time for the Lord as an apostle then after 14 years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas taking Titus along with me I went up because of a revelation and set before them though privately before those who seemed influential he set before them the gospel that I proclaimed among the Gentiles in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain but even Titus who was with me was not forced to be circumcised though he was a Greek yet because of false brothers secretly brought in who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus so that they may bring us into slavery those people who were slipped in to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you and from these who seemed to be influential what they were makes no difference to me

[6:50] God shows no partiality those who seem to be influential those I say who seemed influential added nothing to me on the contrary when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles and when James and Cephas and John who seemed to be pillars perceived the grace that was given to me they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised only they asked us to remember the poor the very thing I was eager to do let's pray together father I thank you for your word

[7:52] I thank you that in your wisdom you called Paul to do the things that he did that ended up being able to prove that he was an apostle and then the things that he did that proved that his message was directly from you and yet still exactly what the other apostles were preaching Lord I praise you in your love you met that need you did that wonderful thing I pray that you would be with us help us to understand the argument that's here help us to see you in it help us to see what you're doing for us in it help us to see what we need to be in guard against and I pray that you would bless be with us as we look at your word together may your name be exalted in Jesus name amen so I'm going to break this up into I'm going to say four it may be five I don't remember just now sections as we look at this passage the first section is the first five verses of the chapter verses one through five and I'm just going to call that to

[9:02] Jerusalem with a mission to Jerusalem with a mission so here's Paul after he explained how God had indeed made an apostle as he's going to defend his gospel he's sent on a mission to Jerusalem he was sent there by revelation we don't know when he got that revelation we don't know if it was something that was something he received himself we don't know if someone else gave it to him someone stood around saying I have this revelation Paul you need to go to Jerusalem to defend the verity of the gospel we don't know that but he was called by God to go to Jerusalem to set before the Jerusalem apostles the gospel that he proclaimed amongst the Gentiles so what was he doing he was going to Jerusalem he was going to meet with the Jerusalem apostles and he was going to let them know what he had been preaching as far as the gospel was concerned I want to clear up something here you can read this wrong and get the wrong conclusion from this and I want you to be careful not to do this

[10:08] Paul was not going there to present the gospel for the apostles in Jerusalem he was not going there to make sure his gospel was the correct gospel how could he be sure that he had the correct gospel Christ gave it to him and if you can't believe the Messiah himself there's nothing that could change anything but he wasn't going to make sure his gospel was the correct gospel he knew it was the correct gospel it came from Christ himself he was going to Jerusalem to make sure that the Jerusalem apostles and all the church knew that it was the correct gospel remember these Judaizers and again we'll talk more about them in just a minute they had gone around and said look this man he'd never even been here he'd never seen Christ while he walked on earth he'd never heard what Christ said in fact to our knowledge they would say Christ has never commissioned him to go out the gospel and so they said oh this guy is an imposter he's a wannabe guy and so Paul was going down to Jerusalem to let the apostles know and therefore the church that he indeed was bringing the exact same gospel that they knew he was going to make sure that they knew that it was the correct gospel and when those apostles in Jerusalem heard his gospel the acknowledgement of the Jerusalem apostles that

[11:44] Paul's gospel was the correct gospel would be helpful in refuting these Judaizers the false gospel of the Judaizers and would end up protecting the church so he's going down there because these men kept saying we came from the true apostles and this is what they said sadly though we're going to find that they were not saying what the true apostles said they were taking what the apostles said and added to it and made it a false gospel and Paul going down being able to share the gospel that he had preached with these people the apostles would have said yep that's what we're preaching and now he could go back to the churches he had been to and he could say to them I have met with Peter James and John I laid out my gospel and they themselves had said that is exactly what we have been preaching that's why he went to Jerusalem so he could have the agreement the proclamation of those apostles in Jerusalem that what he was preaching was exactly what they were preaching and it was that he could put these false teachers to silence now he goes on in this passage to say that he was going to Jerusalem to make sure that he was not running or had not run in vain what was what's that all about so if the apostles in

[13:12] Jerusalem did not see that Paul was preaching the gospel he had received from Christ the same gospel they had received from Christ then those perverting the gospel would have been able to continue to claim authority against Paul with supposed support from the apostles in Jerusalem so here's Paul if he hadn't gotten these people the apostles there in Jerusalem to agree then for all the rest of time there would have been this argument oh see Paul's a fraud as I mentioned the Judaizers did not have the support of the apostles in Jerusalem they simply claimed the support of the Jerusalem apostles without acknowledgement of the Jerusalem apostles to Paul's message all of Paul's work to the nations could have been ruined by these false preachers if Paul couldn't have come back and said I've met and they're wrong I have proof then these would have kept going they would have kept spreading their false gospel he would have run in vain because what would have happened these false teachers would have convinced some that Paul was not right and that they had to follow the

[14:31] Judaizers way of salvation a salvation that was no salvation remember he says it's not another gospel of the same kind it's another of a different kind it's not the true gospel Paul's work going through the whole area of Galatia and all the work he would have accomplished after that would have been ruined because people would have been saying Paul's not preaching the right gospel believers or people who were heading towards believing would have been turned to the wrong way and their lives would have been ruined they would have been people who would have been working for their salvation all their lives and that's that's not what provides salvation so what prompted the need for all this concern and Paul's visit to Jerusalem so I've shared some of it but let me put it in this more standardized way so we mentioned that Judaizers had visited the church probably there's dispute about this but it was probably the church in Antioch where these

[15:37] Judaizers made their first landing who were the Judaizers they were Jews who believed that to be saved you not only had to trust the work of Christ but that you had to keep the old covenant law also so all the feasts had to be kept all the sacrifices had to be kept and primarily their main concern was if you were going to be a Christian all the men in your family had to be circumcised you had to keep that law that was that was a sign of a person being a Jew it was not a sign of them being saved although they like to think so it was a sign of them being a Jew and so they carried that into the gospel and perverted the gospel by saying okay if you're going to be a real Christian you have to be circumcised and so they came to

[16:38] Antioch and spread this gospel this false gospel around Antioch we believe it was Antioch I believe it was Antioch and then from there went on to these churches in Galatia it's almost as if and probably more almost more than almost as if it's as if they followed Paul in his steps and said no we can't have this true gospel going out we can't have salvation to be by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone we need these people doing stuff we need them keeping the Old Testament law we need them taking action to show that they're really trusting or however they would have explained it and so they went on and traveled the same way that Paul did and went to these Galatian churches and they went in and said brothers this Paul he's a little off he doesn't have it quite the way the Jerusalem apostles do let me tell you the straight message of the gospel and something they might have said let me tell you how the people back in

[17:44] Jerusalem are saying what they're teaching they're teaching yes you need Jesus as savior but you got to keep this long and so he would have gone through those areas they would have gone through those areas and perverted the gospel and ruined many of the churches that Paul would have established they would have been claiming authority from the Jerusalem apostles and they would have preached this false gospel well in this passage Titus comes up he mentions him at the beginning and then mentions him about four verses five verses in he says Titus went with him there was a reason it says here that Titus was a Greek that means he was a Gentile but he wasn't just a Gentile traveling through Titus was a man Paul had set his sight on and said this man needs to serve and probably was already serving the church he eventually was pastor and I believe it was Crete serving at

[18:47] Paul's instruction the church in Crete but he was in training and he was serving he was preaching and he was teaching but he was a Gentile and it's interesting look back with me starting in verse three but even Titus who was with me was not forced to be circumcised though he's a Greek yet because a 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 stop there for just a second so Titus is brought up in this account he was brought with Paul on his trip to Jerusalem on purpose and he was to give testimony he was to be an example his very life was to be an example here's a man who had trusted Christ as savior received the benefits of salvation the proofs of salvation that all of them had and yet here he was a Gentile a Greek and he had never been circumcised but nothing was ever made of that no one went around saying this is my brother Titus and he's uncircumcised nothing was said of it he came with

[19:55] Paul to Jerusalem I think at the Lord's instruction he gets there and some of these Judaizers become wily and they were trying to see if this Gentile who claimed to be a Christian was circumcised as they thought so they secretly got people to come in and pretend to be Christians like they were false Christians to come in and to spy out the liberty that Gentiles had what was that liberty that they didn't need to be circumcised they didn't need to follow the law so they had this group of people who claimed to be Christian come in sneak in we don't know all the details of it probably best not to chase this whole rabbit trail as to how they might have found out all the details of it but somehow they found out Titus was not circumcised and so they began to make a stink of it and say Titus needs to be circumcised according to the gospel that we preach according to the gospel we preach that the apostles in

[20:58] Jerusalem are telling us we need to preach this is what they're saying this man needs to be circumcised so this is not something that I believe takes place in Jerusalem this is something I think takes place in Antioch they don't have the other apostles there at this point and so here they are serving in Antioch Titus is serving with him these Judaizing people had slipped people in tried to figure out the situation and there began to be this stink in the church did you hear about Titus he's a Gentile well that's alright but he's never been circumcised oh is he really a Christian and so there began to be this stink and so people were saying Titus needs to be circumcised and Paul stood his ground and said no he does not need to be circumcised why would Paul stand that ground because Christ had shared the gospel with him and there was no requirement in the gospel for people to be circumcised to be saved and he says no that is not according to the gospel we are saved by putting our trust in the work that Christ has done for us he did all the work

[22:11] I do nothing except trust him and he enables me to do that I do nothing to be saved and so for me Paul would make this argument for Titus to be circumcised in order to be saved is saying that Titus must do some work he must have some part in salvation he must help earn salvation and so Paul stands his ground and says no Titus nor any of the other Greek Gentile people need to be circumcised he stands his ground and says that it cannot be done he said Paul goes on to say that that their work to try to get Titus and other Greek or Gentile people circumcised would have brought them into slavery and that's the idea of slavery of obedience to the law for salvation a law that cannot save and I'll just

[23:18] Paul we're going to get into this this will be something we address directly in the book of Galatians Paul mentions at one point that the law can do nothing to save a person a person either has to be perfect not born with sin and have perfectly obeyed the law his whole life in order to be saved which fits none of us because we were born in sin we were sinners the moment we conceived and because we were born in sin we have been sinners all of our lives we've sinned because we're sinners and so the law can do nothing to save us it can't help us to be saved it can't help us to look good in God's eyes we're going to find later in the book of Galatians the law's purpose for a lost person is to simply show you're a sinner all the thou shalt and thou shalt not in the

[24:19] Decalogue and other commands in scripture are there to show the person who is not trusting Christ that they're a sinner and they're in a hopeless condition they can't earn their way to heaven and for these Judaizers to step in and say oh but Titus needs to be circumcised if he's going to be a Christian is to put on people this requirement of obeying in some way taking that one step that makes a difference that earning that one degree of goodness that would make some sort of difference and Paul says that's heresy that's wrong I will not abide it the law cannot save it only condemns and trying to earn to do anything to earn your salvation nullifies the grace of salvation obedience obedience to the Judaizers teaching would leave all men still condemned in their sin slaves to their sin and so

[25:23] Paul and Silas Paul and Timothy Titus I'll get it right here Paul and Titus would not submit to the Judaizers imposition of the requirement of the law they would not submit because Christ did not require submission to the law as anything necessary for salvation Titus was free not to be circumcised I'm going to stop here and I haven't included this anywhere in my notes I've already tripped upon a word that some of you are going to go pastor why did you say that word circumcision is it wrong as a Christian to be circumcised the answer is a qualified no okay it is fine to be circumcised as long as the circumcision was not done in order to help you earn salvation there are plenty of medical reasons could be other reasons but circumcision is fine as long as you didn't do it most boys are too young to have a decision in that but as long as you don't do it to earn salvation circumcision is fine that's why

[26:38] I put that statement like that Titus was free to be circumcised or free to be uncircumcised no change in your standing before God in one option or the other as long as you're not trying to earn anything so so Paul said no he's not going to be circumcised Titus is free not to be circumcised Christ not only did not require obedience to the law for salvation he said that any attempt at keeping the law for salvation negates the work of grace and condemns one to eternal hell that sounds strong doesn't it but the minute you add anything to grace anything to the work of Christ for you it's no longer the work of Christ it's your work and their work your work his work and it can't be that because we're sinners we have no goodness to earn anything we must have only

[27:48] Christ's goodness Christ's work for us so why was what was the goal of Paul's visit to Jerusalem now we've told you that he wants them to see that he's preaching the same gospel and be able to come back to the Judaizers and say they're preaching the same gospel I am but there's another thing and that is to protect the Gentiles freedom in Christ he wanted all the churches that he had or ever would plant to know their freedom in Christ that they did not have to submit to the law so any church that he went to oh Paul do we have to keep the feasts no you're free you don't have to keep the feasts do we have to do sacrifices no you're free you don't have to do sacrifices do we have to be circumcised no you're free you don't have to be circumcised the Gentiles are free from keeping all the

[28:50] Old Testament laws as a requirement for salvation and I worded it that way on purpose because we who are in Christ those who are trusting Christ are we free from the law we're free from keeping it for our salvation are we free from the law no it's a great standard it's the way we know how we can serve the Lord because we love him that's what the law is are we free from the law yes I'm free from its condemnation I'm free from its requirements for salvation am I free from the law the law is wonderful it's beautiful it's good it's how I know what God wants me to do again not to earn anything only because I love him only because we love him so Paul went to Jerusalem to set this heresy straight and he went to protect the freedom of the Gentiles he went also to protect the gospel of Christ now we've said this but it's the idea salvation is by faith in the work of

[29:55] Christ for sinners alone period full stop end of sentence nothing can be added it's sola fide it's sola gratia it's sola Christus by faith alone by grace alone by Christ alone not one thing that you and I can do to add to that all right down in verses six and seven there's a shared message Paul set his gospel before those who were influential and they were called pillars Paul probably used the term influential and pillars because they were the terms the Judaizers used to bolster their message I come from Jerusalem the pillars of the church are there and they're speaking of the apostles or those who are influential are there again speaking of the Jerusalem apostles but Paul says that those who were influential who were pillars actually they added nothing to

[31:04] Paul they didn't come along and say Paul we're glad you're here and we like what you say but you've got this little part wrong they didn't do that at all they added nothing to Paul they added nothing to his message he had the message from Christ it was the same message they were giving and so they added nothing to him they actually agreed with Paul when Paul said his gospel for the other apostles they acknowledged that it was the same gospel they didn't add anything to it because it was already the same both Jerusalem apostles and Paul had received their message from Christ the Jerusalem apostles acknowledged the same gospel sent to different groups Peter says Paul you have the same gospel as me and I can see that God has sent you to the Gentiles and Paul whether he said it or they just all acknowledged it Paul could have said to Peter Peter you have the same gospel as me

[32:05] I can see God has sent you to the Jews so they acknowledged each other's ministry acknowledged that each other had the same gospel and so they rejoiced in that and so they acknowledged they had a shared ministry Paul and Peter shared a common commissioner and co-empowerer for their ministry both of them had the same commissioner Christ is the one who called them Christ is the one who sent them Christ sent each to their respective fields they recognized that in each other Paul could forever go anywhere and say the apostles in Jerusalem recognized me as an apostle not because they made me one but because Christ made me one they recognized that the gospel that I preached is Christ's gospel it is the same as theirs in Jerusalem they had the same commissioner Christ they both had the same empowerer the spirit empowered each of them for their respective ministry so seeing the common gospel in the ministries they recognized each other's calling

[33:14] Peter James and John gave public testimony to the equality of authenticity Paul James and John gave public testimony to the equality of authenticity of Paul's apostolic ministry to the Gentiles they just said yes we see this is from God and they did this by I love this phrase extending the right hand of fellowship you ever wondered where that phrase came from sometimes we have people after they've been baptized and they become part of our church we have them stand in the front and we say come by and extend the right hand of fellowship to them now I always thought that that was just a good old Baptist term that somebody dreamed up that sounded like a good way to say come shake their hand but that's not what's going on here they extended the right hand of fellowship in that time period extending and shaking the right hand represented a vow of friendship and the mark of partnership you were joining together in something this act signified the apostles recognition of Paul as a teacher of the true gospel and partner in the ministry they recognized it and they made it public

[34:35] I don't know if they stood in front of the whole church at this point there's some dispute and I'm not getting into this whether this is exactly what takes place in Acts 15 or if it takes place in Acts 13 and it doesn't matter because Paul doesn't make it clear it doesn't matter but at some point publicly Paul and Peter and James and John shook hands and it wasn't just a hey it's good to see you today it was a this is a brother in Christ this is a fellow apostle this is a true preacher of the true gospel I recognize him as such I want everyone to notice I'm shaking Paul's hand because I agree with him I want everyone to notice I'm shaking Peter's hand so that I you know I agree with him and so they made this public and the passage finishes with a shared care for the poor he says in the end of verse 10 only they asked us to remember the poor the very thing I was eager to do there was a common commissioner and a common empower and they were encouraged to remember the poor people with the true gospel were glad to do this so getting at the fact that they both had the same reaction they both were people who wanted to keep obviously the first table of the law but here referring to the second table of the law love your neighbor as yourself remember the poor it was probably in fact we know that it was a pressing need at that point it may have been the reason Paul had gone to Jerusalem at this point at some point we know that it was so that's the gist of what's going on there why do these things matter to us why why is this section in the book of Galatians why is it important without the section of Galatians we have little evidence of Paul's equality with the other apostles without this section of Galatians we have little evidence that the other apostles acknowledged

[36:50] Paul's equality as an apostle and therefore given him the credibility to write thirteen epistles of the New Testament the argument of Galatians would have been no good if we didn't have these proofs in the verses we've read last time and the verses we've read here if we didn't have these proofs how could we look at any of the rest of the book of Galatians and say is that real is that right is Sarah is is I read Sarah in the page here is Paul speaking the right thing well we know that he is because he gave evidence that his apostleship was from God we know that it's right because the other apostles in Jerusalem recognize the same thing and so we can look at the book of Galatians and say this is authoritative this is the true gospel where rebukes us we need to be rebuked where it encourages we need to we need to be encouraged and not only the book of Galatians all the other New

[37:58] Testament epistles that Paul wrote we can know they're authentic by the evidence the argument that's put forth in these verses so we have this evidence that his his gospel is authentic his apostleship was authentic we have evidence that the the Jerusalem apostles did not believe that you needed to be circumcised to be saved and we have without this section we have little evidence to recognize Paul's apostleship to the Gentiles all right just some quick application praise God that this passage begins the refutation that I can do anything to help my salvation praise God that this passage begins the refutation that I can do anything with my salvation how hopeless would I be if I instead of this being like this I looked at this and found I indeed instead had to keep the law how hopeless would I be because I look at myself and all I see is failure upon failure in keeping the law of God I mean on my best days I can find abundant failure praise

[39:23] God I find here a God who says no you don't have a part in it I did it and for you to try to have a part in it perverts it ruins it praise God that he's done that I need someone else to provide salvation for me and praise God he's done it and said you can't do anything different you can't add to it and I'm glad I'm glad didn't set the proper way down and never say anything and wait till we get to the judgment and all of a sudden says oh by the way what you tried to do that's no good ha ha ha you can't get in God didn't do that God let me know let us know right up front it's the gospel of Christ and what he did only now in our everyday lives we are often trying to add the need of obedience to God's law or some law of our own to try to merit salvation when you sin it's easy to feel like you can't be right with God and to do something to earn God's favor you ever done that you ever sin in a way that you're just so embarrassed you just feel so bad and and you say to yourself I can't pray until I beat this temptation for three days or a week what's that that's law-keeping that's me trying to earn my way back to God the book of Galatians is going to prove we cannot do that we cannot in our sin when we fall cannot say God I'll be back when I do better we will never do better and God says it's not a matter of you doing better

[41:05] I've done it all trust in me you don't when you sin you don't earn your way back to God you cannot earn there's nothing we can do to earn our way back to God it's all the work of Christ a friend if you're hearing you don't know Christ is Savior what are you doing to make you feel like you can finally be good enough for God to save you and this is going to be discouraging to you but it's the truth you can't do a thing to make God want to save you or to merit it you can't add to it you can't help with it friend if you're here and you're trying to keep the law so that in the end everything balances at least one percent in your favor and God will take you into heaven that won't work he doesn't accept if you had ninety nine percent good works which you can't it would never be enough to let you into heaven and so if you're here today and you don't know Christ the best things that you do are nothing but filthy rags instead God sent his son and his son lived a perfect life for you he took the sins of his people upon himself and died for those sins all requires is that you trust the work he's done for you as payment for your sins you don't have to be good enough or keep any laws you just have to trust what he did so if you're here today and you don't know Christ the amazing out of this world unbelievable news is that

[42:46] Christ did it for you just trust him just trust him you just need to want his work to be what pays for your sin and not anything you to do for yourself I want to just close with two statements and then we'll close brothers and sisters we must make sure our gospel aligns with the gospel Christ gave to Peter Paul and the other apostles we cannot allow others to mandate anything outside of the gospel as a requirement for our salvation and we're going to get into a lot more of this as we look at the book of Galatians but we need to be on guard the gospel needs to be the gospel alone and nothing more Christian again I call you to be on guard in relation to what you hear people teach any teaching of any requirement beyond the gospel that the apostles taught is another gospel do not accept it do not listen to it if someone tells you that you must keep the Saturday Sabbath to be a good

[44:00] Christian they're just like the Judaizers are teaching a false gospel someone may have a conscience to keep a Saturday Sabbath they are allowed to do that as long as it has nothing to do with their salvation the scripture is clear that the apostles and early church and the church since then has kept the first day of the week and Romans allowed men with a conscience to to follow those consciences but it can never be a part of their salvation so be careful in our daily lives let nothing be added to the gospel be those who trust Christ alone let's pray father I pray that you would be with us I pray that you would help us to understand and remember these things help us supply them rightly we pray in Jesus name amen our closing hymn is hymn 461 you