Walking Through Acts

Last week, we left off with the closing of Paul’s first missionary journey. He had

first been sent out by the Church at Antioch to share the gospel by which the first

stop was the island of Cyprus. There are a couple things here that I would like to

mention that will happen near the end of service today. If you can recall, the book

of Acts is not just a manual on what one must do to be saved, but it is also

doubles as a missionary manual. We not only see the means by which the gospel

be brought to the world (preaching the gospel), but also the method by which it is

brought. In Acts 13, we saw an ordination service take place. Let’s take a quick

look and observe what this entailed.

Acts 13:1-3

Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas,

Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod

the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the

Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have

called them.” 3 Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and

sent them off.

Today we will be holding an ordination service near the end. As many of you are

aware, you all had voted for this year’s leadership. And this ordination service will

be a show of support to those elected to their respective roles (deacons

and/elders). From our example found here in Acts 13, we are also appealing to

God for a blessing on these men as they are set apart for the work He has called

them to. We will have prayer and will have the laying on of hands as described to

us in Scripture. This is just one of many examples we can point directly to in the

Bible where we draw our ecclesiology from.

We will also have a prayer at the end for Janeece England. She is a missionary that

we have supported and will be continuing to support as she will be returning to

Zimbabwe to continue sharing the gospel and bringing the love of Christ there.This will also be a show of support from our congregation to her as she embarks

once again in the mission work she has been called to. It’s a very special day

indeed.

With that being said, let’s get started with what today’s message will be about.

We will be in Acts 15:1-21.

Earlier in our sermon series, I referenced this chapter to show that the Church is

not immune to disputes that arise. And one may say, “Well how can that be?” Isn’t

the Church a place where everyone gets along? Isn’t that what Church is supposed

to do? There are some who believe this to be true. There are those who will

reference Paul’s letter to the Corinthians for his desire to see unity amongst

diversity. That we bring all of our unique individual gifts to serve the life of the

whole. In this case, the body of Christ, the Church. While this is true, we cannot

overlook other parts of our Bibles where disputes and arguments are not

discouraged, but rather encouraged. But we must pay close attention to when a

dispute is called for. Let’s take a look at Paul’s letter to the Galatians.

Galatians 1:6-10

6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live

in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 which is really no

gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are

trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven

should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under

God’s curse! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching

to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!

10 Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying

to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of

Christ.

The people back in the first century and the same goes for people living today,

were and are inundated with multiple ideas of what the gospel is. And that my

friends is what today’s message is all about. What is the gospel? How does one

get saved? Is it by works of the law, or by faith in Christ? Yes, the Church ought to

be a unified body of believers all of whom contribute to its life. However in thecase where the gospel is at stake, the faithful Christian must take a stand no

matter the cost. This kind of faith is one that I like to call, a contentious faith. It is a

fighting for the truth in a world that would rather drift further and further into

spiritual apathy for the sake of avoiding confrontation.

Jude 1:3

3 Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation,

I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was

once for all delivered to the saints.

And this was Jude. Jesus’s half brother who, before the resurrection, did not

believe Jesus was the Messiah. And after witnessing the resurrection, Jude had

been changed from the inside out. One who was opposed to what his brother

taught, but being transformed by the vindicating power of God that raised Jesus

from the dead. I can imagine the fervor by which Jude is writing these words. He’s

saying you have received the gift of faith in Christ. Fight for it! Just as my half-

brother did even while he suffered under the beating and flogging of the Roman

soldiers remaining steadfast in the truth even to the point of death on a cross.

Let me remind us that the life of a Christian is not a life absent from trials, but one

that endures them counting our sufferings as joy.

1 Peter 2:20-21

20 For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if

when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight

of God. 21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you,

leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.

1 Peter 4:13

13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice

and be glad when his glory is revealed.

When it comes to the gospel, contend for it! Do not be swayed to the left or to the

right.In Paul’s letters to the Galatians, he saying, you are being taught false gospels. And

again, this is something that continues on even today.

When you are asked the question, how do you know you’re going to heaven, your

answer should be nothing but, “It is only by the blood of Christ that I am made

righteous. Not by works, but by grace through faith in Jesus.” And that is the

answer that we must give on the occasion that this question is asked.

Romans 3:23-25

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his

grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put

forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.

When we sing the hymns of old, it is not “Amazing works, how sweet the sound,

that save a wretch like me.” It is not O precious are our works that makes us white

as snow. No it is Amazing “Grace” how sweet the sound. It is the blood of Jesus

that cleanses us white as snow.

“What can wash away my sin?

Nothing but the Blood of Jesus

What can make me whole again?

Nothing but the Blood of Jesus.”

Yes these are the words penned in the 19th century by Robert Lowry but he is

merely echoing the words of the prophet Isaiah, Isaiah 1:18,

“though your sins are like scarlet,

they shall be as white as snow;

though they are red like crimson,

they shall become like wool.”

This is the basis for the gospel. Our culture has a difficult time accepting the free

gift of grace. One may say, “surely there must be something I must do to get into

heaven.” This is merely the position of a works-based faith. This would be

considered a false gospel. A religion that teaches universalism, that everyone canget to heaven, as long as they are earnestly seeking God, is a false gospel. A faith

that requires one to partake in sacraments in order to earn salvation is a false

gospel. Any belief system that teaches anything but the atoning blood of Jesus

Christ as our means of salvation is a false gospel and must eradicated from our

thoughts.

And being reminded of what Paul says in Galatians 1:8-9, 8 But even if we or an

angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached

to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If

anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be

accursed.

Paul does not mince his words.

Cottrell

“We must stress that Jesus is the ONLY source of saving grace. “And there is

salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been

given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Most religions have a

concept of “salvation,” but none of them can truly save.

This is because sinners can be saved only by grace, and grace comes only through

Jesus. Sects such as bhakti Hinduism and True Pure Land Buddhism CLAIM to

provide a gracious salvation, but they are deceiving themselves and others. Grace

is possible nowhere outside Christianity, because Christianity alone has the only

true source of grace: the sinless divine Redeemer, Jesus Christ.”

Now that we have a firm grasp on what the gospel is, let us go to Acts 15 and see

how the gospel is being contended for.

Acts 15:1-2

But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless

you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2

And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul

and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to

the apostles and the elders about this question.Here's the false gospel being presented by the Judaizers (those who converted to

Christianity but under false pretenses. They didn’t seek to change their old ways

of thinking. They sought to undermine what was being taught by Paul and

Barnabas. Instead of salvation being found in the saving blood of Jesus by grace

through faith, they instead insist that one must be circumcised in order to be

saved. This was a Jewish custom that was a relic of the past in light of the gospel,

yet they wanted to hold this requirement over anyone, especially the Gentiles to

follow as a requirement for salvation.

In verse two, we see this word, “dissension.” Again, is it wrong to debate and

discuss? Reece, “Not when the truth is in balance. It is Christlike to stand for the

truth.”

Here’s the thing, the Judaizers did not respect Paul’s apostolic authority for they

were probably better aquatinted with the twelve apostles that followed Jesus.

And so the decision is made. Let’s go to Jerusalem and see what they have to say

on the matter. This meeting that will take place is known as the Jerusalem

conference. And there Paul and Barnabas would be in the company of the other

Apostles and the elders. The elders. Why elders? Remember that Jerusalem was

where the Church began. And when it came to important doctrinal matters

especially on perhaps the most important doctrine regarding salvation, it is no

surprise that elders, who are the overseers of the Church are present. The issue at

hand being, what saves someone? The Law of Moses, or faith?

Acts 15:3-5

3 So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia

and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great

joy to all the brothers. 4 When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by

the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had

done with them. 5 But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees

rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep

the law of Moses.”

As Paul and Barnabas are on their way to settle this dispute, they passed through

Phoenicia and Samaria and what were they doing? They were presenting the

gospel! And it makes sense that there was much rejoicing because the door offaith had been opened to the Gentiles. It was not the door of the Law of Moses,

but the door of Faith.

McGarvey,

“The essential issue between Paul and the Pharisees had refence to the

perpetuation of the law of Moses in the church of God: and the same issue has

been in debate under different phases from that day to this. Paul defeated the

attempt to fasten circumcision on the church, but later Judaizers succeeded in

perpetuating it under the form of infant sprinkling. That which the Pharisees failed

to accomplish openly was thus accomplished under a thin disguise. The Pharisees

failed to consolidate the law and the Gospel, but their imitators have largely

succeeded in teaching men that the church of Christ originated in the family of

Abraham, and that the Jewish tribes and the Christian congregations constitute

one identical church. The Roman apostasy perpetuates the daily sacrifice and

pompous ritual of the Temple; religious zealots have slaughtered Canaanites in the

persons of modern heretics; professed Christians go to war under the old battle-

cry of the “sword of the Lord and of Gideon”; the “Latter-day Saints” emulate

Solomon in the multiplication of wives; and for all these corruptions authority is

found in the laws and customs of ancient Israel.”

Jesus didn’t come so we could hold onto the things of our past. The gospel of

Christ is far superior than any belief system that came before it. In light of

salvation, nothing but the blood of Christ will suffice.

Acts 15:6-11

6 The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter. 7

And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them,

“Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by

my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. 8 And

God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit

just as he did to us, 9 and he made no distinction between us and them, having

cleansed their hearts by faith. 10 Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the

test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we

have been able to bear? 11 But we believe that we will be saved through the

grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”A parallel Scripture can be found in Galatians 2 where Paul is recounting what had

happened at the Jerusalem conference.

Galatians 2:1-5

Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus

along with me. 2 I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though

privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among

the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. 3 But

even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a

Greek. 4 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 might bring us into

slavery— 5 to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the

truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.

Part of Paul’s strategy was this. He took Titus, a Greek who had not been

circumcised was brought before the Apostles. The question being, is this man

saved or not? And the answer to that is a resounding “yes.”

And so, when Peter’s response in Acts 15 was, “that we are saved through grace

rather than by the Law the Jew’s hope for salvation is exactly the same as the

Gentiles. That salvation is found in the death and resurrection of Christ, not in

their own efforts to earn or merit salvation by works of Law.”

And then there was silence.

Piano to play here.

Acts 15:12-17

12 And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they

related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.

13 After they finished speaking, James replied, “Brothers, listen to me. 14 Simeon

has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his

name. 15 And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written,

16 “‘After this I will return,and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen;

I will rebuild its ruins,

and I will restore it,

17 that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord,

and all the Gentiles who are called by my name,

says the Lord, who makes these things 18 known from of old.’

James is appealing to the prophets of old that the Jews present would be more

than familiar with. And here, James along with the other Apostles settled the

dispute which could not be refuted.

And this truth of the gospel would stand for all subsequent time. This is our hope.

John 1:17

17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus

Christ.