Some of us sort of divide our lives up and we say, well, the gospel was what I had dealings with when I was a little child and walked the aisle or when I was humbled by the Lord and converted.

And now my battles are something else. That's not true. It's all in the gospel.

And every day, the walk of faith is a battle to believe the gospel that God is for you and not against you, as was declared in Jesus Christ when he died on the cross.

It's one thing to look back and see particular times when the gospel really came home to us.

But sometimes we can forget that we need it just as much now as we did in the past. I'm Dan Kroover. In this episode

of Light and Truth, John Piper turns to Galatians 2 verses 11 to 14 to help us see that

the gospel isn't just a memory, it's the mercy we stand in every day. And when Peter stopped living like that was true,

pulling back from the Gentiles, Paul knew that he had to confront him. And this is the moment that

Piper presses into because it shows just how much is at stake when we drift from the gospel

in our everyday lives. This message was originally

delivered at Bethlehem Baptist Church on February 27, 1983. I think we do well now to go back and look

at these four verses carefully so that we can ask,

how can we avoid doing what Peter did? That is, stepping out of line with the gospel.

Okay? Let's do that. There are seven simple stages in the Antioch affair.

One, Peter comes to Antioch, probably from Jerusalem, and he begins to eat with Gentiles.

This is a great thing in itself.

We'll come back to that.

Second, certain men come from Antioch, from James, I mean, to Antioch.

Third, Peter is afraid of those men.

Fourth, his fear moves him to draw back and cut off Gentile believers from fellowship.

Fifth, the rest of the Jews follow suit, and even Barnabas is carried away by the hypocrisy.

Sixth, Peter stands condemned. He's wrong. He's guilty. And seventh, Paul rebukes him to his face.

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