Let's be turning to Acts chapter 15. Acts 15. A dispute arose in the church whether men are saved by grace or by works, whether Christ's redemption alone was sufficient to save, or if his salvation was unfinished and depended upon man's works being added to Christ's works in order to make Christ's work effectual to man. And just think about that. Even then there were disputations while the apostles were alive, those who had been given authority by the Lord. to make disciples, baptizing the nations, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever Christ had taught us and commanded us.

But the gospel now was being tested by fire. And it was being tested by the teaching of great errors that would destroy men's souls. This was a critical key piece here. because men were beginning to put the teachings of man on the same level with, if not above, Christ, and making their teachings more important than Christ. And such was the case with regard to the law of Moses for righteousness. And though this case was settled then, right here at this congregation here, it still rages on in our day. Men still find a way to squirm out from it and to go back to the law, making their works just as important, if not more important, than Christ's work.

And so the issue is stated first in verse 1, Acts 15, 1. certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren and said except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses ye cannot be saved. And so these men had been given a platform and were teaching their hearers that they needed something more than Christ. They had to go back to the law. And they were telling them, you must be circumcised after the manner of Moses. And hearing this false teaching, Paul and Barnabas stood up, and they defended the gospel. They defended it because it was under attack to be destroyed right then and there at that early stage.

Look at verse two. When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain other of them should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question. Now I want you to understand that The false teaching to the Gentiles who were uncircumcised, telling them that they needed to get circumcised, was not restricted to circumcision alone. They were telling them to be circumcised and to keep the law of Moses. That circumcision was an entry, a doorway into keeping the whole law of Moses.

Now, some may argue with me whether or not they were just pushing for circumcision alone and not the law, but we cannot argue with Scripture, and the Scripture tells us that it was both, that it was both. Look down at verse 5, Acts 15, 5. But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed. So now they're in Jerusalem, in that congregation. And the Pharisees stand up, who believed, saying that it was needful to circumcise the Gentiles and and to command them to keep the law of Moses. They were arguing for the law as a rule for the believer, as a rule of life for the believer.

And the apostles being guided by the Holy Ghost stood opposed to this. They opposed adding anything to Christ for righteousness, anything to Christ and what he had accomplished for us. Look all the way down at verse 24, Acts 15, 24. Forasmuch as we have heard that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law, to whom we gave no such commandment. And so they're saying there that the turning of men back to the law of Moses is a subverting of their souls. a subverting of their souls, deceiving them. And I'll tell you why. Because it renders Christ's finished salvation an uncertainty. As soon as you bring in the law for righteousness, it now puts Christ's work, his finished work, as an uncertain thing. It's now on shaky ground because it's not finished. It's an unfinished work. It's yet waiting for the sinner to do his part. He must add his part to reveal whether Christ's sacrifice will prove beneficial to him or not, whether it'll prove beneficial to Christ's church or not. It puts that finished work on shaky ground, uncertain ground.

And so the man of faith shall live by his faith, Paul telling us that the just shall live by That's what God has ordained. The just, those who are just, have been justified by Christ, shall live by faith. But the man of flesh shall live by his works. Paul added to that verse that I just quoted in Galatians 3.11, he said it in the next verse, and the law is not of faith. The man that doeth them shall live in them. And it's either by grace, which means there's no more works, or if it be of works, then it's not of grace. It's one or the other, not both.

Faith is of the spirit. The law is of the flesh and for the flesh, to control the flesh, to bind it. So faith is the gift of God, which believes God, and it's wrought by the spirit in those who are purchased by the blood of Christ. That faith is wrought by the spirit in you. As part of his redeeming grace, he works that in us. He bears that fruit in us by his spirit.

And so the law is insufficient to save due to the infirmity of the flesh. The law itself is not bad, it's just that it's insufficient because of the infirmity of our flesh. But Christ prevailed, fulfilling the law, and he fulfilled all the law for his people. He is our righteousness, and he prevailed so that his people are saved by grace. Paul says it this way in Romans 5, 19 and 20, for as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. So by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. See, it's by his obedience, not yours, not mine. Our obedience is to the law of faith, what he works in us. That's what he accomplishes in us.

Moreover, Paul says, the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." Grace abounded. Grace abounded. So in Christ, we do not make a righteousness for ourselves by the works of the law. Christ is our righteousness. That's what faith lays hold of, is that He's the perfection of holy God, given for me, to save me, to stand me before the throne of God, righteous, perfect. God who knows the heart, who sees the heart and knows the thoughts of man and knows all things, sees us in Christ righteous, perfectly righteous in him.

1 Corinthians 1.30 saying, but of him, of God, are ye in Christ Jesus who has made unto us wisdom, righteousness. sanctification, and redemption, that according as it's written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Let us glory in the Lord. That's where we glory. That's the one whom we glory, not in ourselves, but in Christ. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. It's ceased. It's ended. We don't go to the law for righteousness. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. We live by faith, faith in and upon the Lord Jesus Christ. If a perfect, finished righteousness is what you seek, it's found in Jesus Christ alone. Go to him. If you would be righteous, go to the Lord Jesus Christ, believe him without the works of the law. There are many more verses that I could cite here, but let us go on to what Peter says. Let's see what Peter says there in that congregation.

Drop down to verse seven, Acts 15, verse seven. And when there had been much disputing, disputing over circumcision and the law and its place now in the church, Peter rose up and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. And so he's referring to Cornelius and those that were gathered in the house of Cornelius, right? And I think this was important, right? This isn't just Paul saying this, Paul and Barnabas, this is Peter too. Peter was there, he saw this happen, what the Lord did.

God which knoweth the hearts, bear them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us, and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith." God purified their hearts by by faith, not the works of the law. He didn't turn them back to the works of the law. And so what he's getting at is that those whom Christ redeemed, those whose sins are put away, washed away by the blood of Christ, he makes his people new creatures. He accomplishes, he works, he makes a new creation in his people.

So it's not just a matter of turning from one religion to another, from one idolatry to another idolatrous religion, doing things a little different. That's not what salvation is. We have no confidence in the flesh or what we do in the flesh. Christ has made us new creatures, living by faith, walking by his spirit given to us. What he's demonstrating is that Christ's redemption is sufficient. It's sufficient to save to the uttermost all that come unto him by faith. He's redeemed his people. And so, hearing this, hearing of Christ, as Peter's preaching this to Cornelius, the Spirit demonstrated that they live, demonstrated it by pouring out the Spirit on them, showing them that Christ is their Savior. They heard that word and they believed it. They believed that word.

And so when Peter said, he was preaching to Cornelius, and Peter said this to Cornelius and his household in Acts 10, 43 and 44, to him, give all the prophets witness, that through his name, whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but shall receive the remission, the forgiveness of sins. And while Peter yet spake these words, declaring that by Christ we are saved, while he yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. God revealing their hearts by faith. They hadn't turned to the law, they weren't circumcised, they hadn't done anything. God revealed that these were redeemed by Christ, simply through faith, simply through faith.

And so, man to this day strives, he spends, he labors, he sacrifices, he gives himself to make himself righteous by his works. He's laboring and doing all he can to make himself righteous to God, trying to make himself acceptable that he might come to God and call himself a Christian, because now he's fixed himself. He's straightened his life out, and he's striving so that he can rightly call himself a Christian. That man's not resting in Christ. He's still working for a righteousness. He's still stressed and laboring and sacrificing and doing all he can so that God would be pleased with him. And yet God isn't pleased with him because he's not trusting the Savior. He's not believing God who said, I've given my son for your righteousness. I've given him to put away your sin. You're not believing God's word. You're saying, forget what God said. I'm just going to go and do what I'm going to do. I'm going to go back to the law, and I'm going to do what the scriptures say I can't do. But I'm going to do it. I'm going to prove that God is wrong.

And so hear what the scriptures are saying, that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to them that believe. to them that believe. Paul said it this way, knowing, this is Galatians 2.16, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ even we, even we Jews, even we people that have been in religion and the true religion for decades, for our whole lives, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. It's not gonna happen.

And this is exactly what Peter is now addressing the congregation with. So look back in Acts 15 verse 10. Now therefore, why tempt ye God? to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear." When you turn back to the law, you're slipping your neck back under that yoke, under that bondage. Looking to the law for righteousness is a yoking bondage that will wear you out. It'll drive you into the ground. It'll destroy you. It's subverting your souls because you cannot do it. If you think you're doing it, you're deceived. You've deceived yourself. You've not done it, and you've not heard the word.

If we're to go now back to the law for righteousness, then what did Christ mean when he said in Matthew 11, 28, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Right? makes known sin, the law aggravates sin in the flesh, the law stirs up sin and enmity and rebellion, so that you cannot hear the grace of God, you cannot hear the word of God because now you're focused on the flesh, and now you're aggravated and hurt and distraught by the law in the flesh, rather than hearing the grace of God revealed unto us through his son, Jesus Christ.

He said, take my yoke upon you and learn of me. All right, hear me. Hear of me of whom Moses spoke when he gave you the law. Who testified of me and wrote of me. Learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. And so our Lord is saying, If our Lord is saying, I did my part, now back you go to the law. Now you got to do your part. You got to make this thing work. There's no rest in that. There's only fear and doubting and worry and strife. It's just a constant stirring up and putting in your face what failures and sinners you are. Because you're never going to be able to do enough. You're never going to satisfy the perfection and holiness of the law by your works. Only Jesus Christ did that. He alone is the perfect man. He is Jesus Christ, the righteous, the righteous.

And so turning you back to the law, that's not the spirit of Christ speaking to you. That's another spirit turning you back to that law, telling you to go back to that law that's subverting your souls. as the Pharisees were doing. The Apostle John wrote it this way in 1 John 4, 16 through 18. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love. God is love. And he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect. that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world.

If you're looking to the law for your righteousness and you're going boldly, that's not a boldness in Christ, that's a boldness and confidence in your flesh, in your flesh. And so our boldness is Christ, he's all our righteousness, and as he is righteous, so are we in him. The scripture's declaring it. Your labor to work righteousness ceases, and we rest in Christ, trusting him, living upon him, feeding upon him, rejoicing in him, dwelling in that love, in God who is love. He is our hope and salvation, that we may love our brethren, that where love covereth a multitude of sins.

If you're under the law, there's no love. There's no covering sins. There's just bringing it up and trying to purge it out of you. But love covers a multitude of sins. We may walk in that love with one another, trusting Christ. And there's no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. If you're still looking to the law, and you're still thinking, if I don't do this, I'm going to hell, that's torment. That's fear and torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

Now go back to Acts 15, 11. Acts 15, 11. So Peter says, but we believe. that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved, even as they. Through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved. Jew and Gentile alike are both saved by the grace of God. We are both saved through the faith of Jesus Christ, and that faith revealed in us is the testimony of the Spirit that Christ laid down his life for us, and shed his blood for us to put away our sins.

So Peter here is saying something extraordinary, and this is what blessed my heart about this passage here. when he says, but we believe, and some manuscripts say that Peter added, and are sure, all right, because this is a definite article of our faith. We believe and are sure that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved. This is how sinners are saved, through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. The grace, the grace. We are saved. That's how we're saved. And so we're not saved through circumcision and we're not saved through the works of the law or serving any part of the law. We're saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Here's what Peter means when he declares that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's speaking of what our Lord undertook for us. by grace, to save us by grace. He's speaking of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done that God may be gracious to us and receive us who are imperfect before the law and cannot keep the law perfectly for a righteousness. He's speaking of that grace when our Lord came in the likeness of our flesh, when he came in the likeness of our nature in the flesh, robed them flesh like unto the sons of Abraham. And when he willingly went to the cross as a sacrifice, laying down his life, shedding his blood on that cross to make an atonement unto the Father to put away our sins forever. put them away forever. Him dying in the room instead of his people and washing us with his blood. Christ did that. And all through his redeeming, justifying, and pardoning grace so that salvation is all by the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the hope of the apostles. All Christ. Christ is all. He saves his people who are undeserving sinners and it's all by his grace. That's how we're saved.

And so Peter's saying that we Jews are saved just like these Gentiles, and just like our forefathers were saved. We're all saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Gentiles weren't saved by the law of nature that they had. nor were the Jews saved by circumcision and the law of Moses. The Gentiles weren't lost for want of circumcision, and the Jews weren't saved because they had circumcision. In Christ Jesus, neither circumcision avails anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creature, a new creature.

We are born again, born of a new seed, of an incorruptible seed, which only can believe Christ. All that the new man does is believe Christ, has no doubts in Him whatsoever. The flesh may doubt, the flesh may be unbelieving, the flesh may suffer under the lust of the flesh, but the new man always and only believes Christ and trusts Him for all our righteousness and salvation.

And so, our Lord, because of His redemption, God may be gracious to us. and save us by grace in the Lord Jesus Christ entirely. All are saved by the Lord Jesus Christ before he came and after he came. We're all saved one way because his coming was according to promise, made at the very beginning, at the foundation of the world, of what he should do and come and accomplish for his people in grace. And this was all established for us in the covenant of grace between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

All right, so let's consider As we wrap this up, let's consider first the Father's part, then the Son's part, and the Holy Spirit's part in establishing this covenant of grace so that you would know, as Peter knew, that we are certain. We know and are sure that we are saved by grace, by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and not try going back to the works in fear and doubts and worries, thinking that there's something you can or must add to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is all. He is all. And hearing that, you'll walk in love. You can walk in love. bearing with your brethren, being at peace and rejoicing in the Lord Jesus Christ because we are saved by his grace.

All right, so the Father's part in the covenant, and I'm just gonna step through these because there's a lot you can look at and go very deep in this, but I just want you to hear it. So the scriptures tell us that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. And here's the father's heart. He was reconciling his people scattered throughout the world in Christ. That's why he sent him. It's a blessed thing. He proposed this work to the son, saying to the son, They're gonna, let's save him by grace. We gotta save him by grace. I don't mean to make it sound like that, but he conditioned the whole covenant of grace whereby he may be gracious to us, resting entirely on Christ. It's all fulfilled by him. not us doing our part, right? It's the Lord did it in such a way so that it all rests on the Lord Jesus Christ. And the father gave his son charge over the chosen that the father chose and gave to him. The Father gave everything into the hand of Christ to accomplish, leaving nothing for you and I to accomplish to make this thing effectual unto us. Our Lord said it this way, this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. That means there's nothing left on you to do and complete. It's all resting in His hand. Otherwise, He'd lose us. We'd get away. We would. You that know your heart know you'd get away. It's only by His grace keeping us.

And it pleased the Lord to bruise him and put his son to grief, making his soul an offering for sin, so that he sent his son, and is pleased to send his son, to bruise his son in the room instead of his people, to purge us of our sins, to wash us of our sins, so that by his death he brought in everlasting righteousness for the justification of his people. All right, so that's some of what the father's part was.

Well, the son's part, he came in the flesh according to the will of his father. And we understand that he came as the federal head of his people. When he's called the last Adam, it's speaking of him coming as the head of his people, as Adam was a head over his people. In Adam, all that Adam represented, in Adam, all died. in Christ, all that he represented in Christ, all shall be made alive. And so all we see that he cannot fail. He is the head and representative of his people.

All spiritual blessings flow to us through our head, the Lord Jesus Christ. The scripture is saying that God hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings. in heavenly places in Christ. Everything we have is through Christ. Moreover, Christ is the mediator of the covenant. He's the mediator of the covenant between God and men, and he's so much better a mediator than Moses was with his covenant. Christ is a better mediator because he actually interposes his blood between us and the wrath of holy God. He interposed himself, his blood there. He accomplishes reconciliation between us, restoring that fellowship and that friendship which we lost with God and Adam in the garden.

For him to reconcile us, It means that there was a time when we had that friendship and fellowship with God. We did in Adam in the garden, and then Adam fell, and all that was lost. Christ has come and he's reconciled his people unto the Father, so that we now hear God, believe God, rejoice in him, and worship him in spirit and in truth. As a mediator, he works a perfect righteousness in us, and establishes peace in our hearts. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He's our righteousness and acceptance with God.

And so Christ came as a surety for his people to pay in full the debt that we owe to God of perfect righteousness. Christ did that, and he paid that debt that we owed in full, declaring from the cross it is finished. It's finished. All that was necessary, all that was needful, our Lord Jesus Christ finished the work of redemption. He accomplished that which the Father gave into his hand to do for his people, to ensure our salvation established in the covenant of grace, whereby God may be gracious to us. All right, not leaving it undone to send us back to the law to finish it up. It's finished, finished by Christ.

And then the Holy Ghost, approving of all that the Father and Son would do and had done, formed Christ in the womb of Mary, just as He forms, well, not just as, but there in the flesh, but He forms Christ in our hearts. All right, by faith, by faith, so that that new man which is born in us is born of the seed of Christ, of his seed. And that's why it's incorruptible. It's not born of Adam's corrupt seed, it's not of the flesh. It's of the incorruptible seed of Christ, so that we have a new birth in him. We're born sinners in Adam, we are born again in Christ. And the Holy Ghost takes the things of Christ and shows them unto us.

In the time of our grace, in the time of our calling, in the appointment of our coming to know the Lord Jesus Christ and what he's done for us, the Spirit gives us life and faith and understanding and knowledge of what Christ has done.

Our Lord saying, when the comforter has come, whom I will send unto you from the father, even the spirit of truth, which proceeded from the father, he shall testify of me. And so all the righteous fruits, which we bear, brethren, all these righteous fruits are of the spirit. They're not of this flesh. They're of the spirit in you, whereby you hope in God and love God. and rejoice in him, whereby you are generous and gracious to your brethren, at peace with your brethren, kind and gentle to them. Those are fruits of the spirit of his righteousness in us.

And so there's many, many things that we could say about this salvation by grace, of which Peter said, we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved. But what it's all testifying to you is that you cannot be saved by your works. Don't look to Christ and Moses. Look to Christ. Trust Him.

If you see failures and failings in your own heart, it's to drive you to Christ. To cry out to Him, Lord, save me. Lord, I'm sinking in these waves. Lord, I'm looking to the flesh. Lord, I'm trusting the flesh. Save me. It's to keep you, driving you to Christ. To keep you stayed upon Him. To confess your sins to Him. To ask Him for grace. and help in time of need to keep your heart, to keep you steadfast on Him, He's able. He's able. He says, look to me, all the ends of the earth, and I'll save you. You trust me.

And so we look to Him and rejoice in Him and don't want to look anywhere else. What things, Paul said, were gained to me, those things I could have rejoiced in, according to the flesh, I counted loss for Christ. Goodbye. Goodbye with those things. I don't need those things. I have Christ. And I believe that he is able to save me to the uttermost and make me pleasing to the Father, all by his grace.

So Paul's saying, and that's what we say, I want to be found in Christ, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law. but be found in Christ, under his blood alone, in his covenant of grace alone. And so that's the grace whereby we are saved, brethren. That's how God can be gracious to us. Rest in him, believe him, trust him for that, and pray to him according to that promise of his grace in Christ.