The name of this message is Pleasing
to God and His People. Beloved God, today we'll look
at what is pleasing to God, and that which is pleasing to God
is pleasing to His people, His born-again, blood-washed people.
Now there was a time when the things of God weren't pleasing
to us, but after we'd been born again by the Holy Spirit of God,
oh my, The things that please God please us now. It's absolutely
amazing. So let's read. Open your Bibles,
if you would, to Acts chapter 15. We're going to read verses
22 to 29. And I know we've looked at this in our study in the book
of Acts recently, too. But this is right after Paul
and Barnabas were sent to Jerusalem to speak to the church at Jerusalem
because certain teachers had crept in. into the church at
Antioch and the churches around there. And we're telling, we
know the churches around there because also Galatia was dealing
with the Judaizers as well. And these false teachers had
crept in and they'd said, except you be circumcised and believe
on Christ, you can't be saved. And it looks like they'd been
telling people they were sent by the church at Jerusalem. Well,
we're gonna find out they weren't sent at all by the church at
Jerusalem, not at all. But they've come to Antioch,
these false teachers, and they're teaching you must be circumcised
and keep the law to be saved. You'll see that in, if you look
in Acts 15 verse one, you'll see that they're actually saying
that. Of which Paul and Barnabas right away said, no, that's a
false gospel. That's not right. Salvation's
by grace alone through Christ alone plus nothing. They were
strongly opposed to this. So what happened was The brethren
at Antioch sent Paul and Barnabas down to the church at Jerusalem,
and there was a conference. They got together, the whole
church got together, and they had a conference, and they had
come to an agreement that salvation was through Christ alone, by
grace alone, plus no works by man. No works by man. Oh my. And so Paul and Barnabas,
the conference had finished. They'd met with the brethren.
They all agreed that salvation is only in Christ, by Christ's
perfect sin atoning work, all by the grace of God in Christ. And so the brethren decided to
write letters to the churches in Antioch. Let's see what they
had to say. This is pretty amazing. Acts
chapter 15, starting in verse 22. the apostles and elders with
the whole church, so they were all in agreement. Look at that,
isn't that wonderful? To send chosen men of their own company
to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, namely Judas, surname Barnabas,
and Silas, a chief man among the brethren. So they did this
so that these two men could say, yes, these letters did come from
the apostles and from the elders at the Church of Jerusalem. And
they wrote letters by them after this manor. How many letters
there were, we don't know, but it looks like the apostles and
elders wrote these letters. The apostles and elders and brethren
sent greeting unto the brethren, which are of the Gentiles in
Antioch and Syria and Caecilia. For as much as we have heard
that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words
subverting your soul saying you must be circumcised and keep
the law to whom we gave no such commandments. So they're saying
we didn't send these men out. We didn't tell them to go down
there and tell you that. It seemed good unto us, being
assembled with one accord, look at that, they're all united,
Paul, Barnabas, the brethren at Jerusalem, the elders, the
apostles, they're all united, they're one accord, to send chosen
men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men that have
hazarded their lives for the name of, I'm sorry, for the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ. We have sent therefore Judas
and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth.
So they're gonna tell you the same things that we're gonna
write in these letters. So you've got double witnesses there, don't
you? It's wonderful. Now look at this. For it seemed
good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater
burden than these necessary, that you abstain from meats offered
to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from
fornication, from which, if you keep yourselves, you shall do
well, fare you well. Oh my. Notice that in verse 28
there. For it seemed good to the Holy
Ghost, My, oh, my. You know, the things that seem
good to the Holy Ghost, the things that are pleasing to God the
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are pleasing to God's people.
It's wonderful. So they sent letters out to the
churches telling them that salvation is by grace alone through Christ
alone. Well, how do we know that? Well, we just read what they
wrote in the letters there, but look in verses 7 to 11 in Acts
15. And look what Peter said here.
And when there had been much disputing, so there was a lot
of talk. The false teachers were trying
to put their point across and the elders and Paul and the rest
of the church were saying, no, you guys are wrong. Peter rose
up and said to the men and brethren, you know how that a good thing,
good while ago, God made choice among us that the Gentiles by
my mouth should hear the word of the gospel and believe. Remember,
that's when he went to Cornelius' house. It's amazing. All by the
providence of God. Look at this. And put no difference
between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. What he's
saying here, beloved, is that they're saved the same way we're
saved, by grace through faith in Christ Jesus and his perfect,
perfect finished work, his perfect sin atoning work. Now, therefore,
why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples,
which neither our fathers nor we are able to bear? So he's
saying, why are you putting them under the law? We couldn't bear
that. Our fathers couldn't bear that.
Why are you putting them under the law? Oh my. And I love this next verse. But
we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we
shall be saved, even as they. What a verse. What a wonderful
verse. Now that's pleasing to God, isn't
it? And that's pleasing to us. I'll tell you why it's pleasing
to us too, because we can't save ourselves. But this verse tells
us that we're saved the same way Peter was saved, same way
Paul was saved, Same way the church at Antioch was saved?
By grace. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We shall be saved even as they. So, what are some things that
please God and his people? The scriptures bring forth that
salvation by grace alone is pleasing to God. We saw that. We saw that
in verse 28 of Acts chapter 15, for it seemed good to the Holy
Ghost and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these
necessary things. My oh my, salvation by grace alone through Christ
alone is pleasing to God the Father, is pleasing to God the
Son, It's pleasing to God, the Holy Spirit, and hallelujah,
by God's grace, it's pleasing to we who are his born-again,
blood-washed people. It's wonderful. It's wonderful. My, oh my. So we see then the
brethren wrote letters to the church in Antioch, and they declared
this strong biblical principle, that the testimony of God plainly
sets forth, for it seemed good, pleasing, good there is pleasing
to the Holy Ghost, and to us. Salvation by grace alone through
Christ alone is pleasing to God, because there's no other salvation.
Think of this. God sent His Son. God sent God
the Father and the Holy Spirit. They sent, they sent the Word
of God to save us from our sins, to come to this sin-cursed world
to save us. And God the Son willingly came
to do that. It pleased Him. It pleased Him
to go to the cross and to be crucified for us. because of
the joy that was set before him. He's going to save his people
who can never save themselves. His bride whom he's he's loved
from eternity. That's you and I, beloved. That's
the elect of God. Oh, it's amazing. It's absolutely
amazing. So, beloved God, what's pleasing
to God in creation and providence and salvation is also pleasing
to his people. David says, but our God is in
the heaven, and he hath done whatsoever he pleased. Psalm
115.3. God's people say, hey, he does
whatever he wants, whatever he's pleased to do. And I thank God
he's pleased to save me. Do you? Oh, my. Not to leave
us where we were. My. And we also agree with Eli,
who said, it is the Lord. Let him do what seemeth good.
1 Samuel 3.18. God will do whatever he wants.
He can do whatever he wants. With the armies of heaven and
all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing to him.
He can do whatever he wants. It was most pleasing to God what
we read in the first message. I'm sorry. In Ephesians chapter
one, what we read in the first message, it was pleasing to God
to sovereignly and unconditionally choose his people in Christ before
the foundation of the world. Remember, according as he had
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him in love. My oh my. We thank God, don't we, that
he purposed our salvation, that he purposed to choose us in electing
love, because we never would have chosen him. We never would
have believed on him. Praise God, he chose us in Christ,
then he gives us faith to believe on Christ. It's absolutely amazing. God's grace, it's overwhelming,
isn't it? It's wonderful, beloved. Oh my,
so let us think of some things that it pleased God to do that
is pleasing to God's people. Well, number one, it pleased
God, it pleased the Lord to bruise the Lord Jesus Christ for our
sins. My oh my, just marvel at that.
It pleased God. Listen to this in Isaiah 53 10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put on him, he hath put
him to grief, when thou shalt make his soul an offering for
sin. My oh my, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days,
and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands. Remember,
God will see the travail of the soul and shall be satisfied. You ever get two things out of
every message? Substitution, Christ died as a substitute of
his people, and satisfaction, that God is absolutely, absolutely
satisfied with the sacrifice of Christ. There's nothing we
do to save ourselves. It's all by God's grace. And
we say, hallelujah, what a savior is Jesus Christ our Lord. Listen
to this, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God, you have taken him by wicked hands, have
crucified and slain, whom God has raised up, having loosed
the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should
be holding of it. Oh my, it's well-pleasing to
every believer to see that our sins are fully atoned for and
eternally put away in Christ, and that's pleasing to God too.
My oh my, listen to this in Isaiah 44 verses 22 and 23. This is
God speaking. I have blotted out as a thick
cloud thy transgressions. Let that sink into our hearts,
beloved. God says to his people through Christ, I have blotted
out as a thick cloud thy transgressions. A thick cloud, think of how many
sins each of us sin in a lifetime. Oh my gosh. He blotted them out,
thy transgressions. as a cloud, thy sins return unto
me, for I have redeemed thee. Oh, praise God, God redeemed
us, beloved. Sing, ye heavens, for the Lord
hath done it. Shout, ye lower parts of the
earth. Break forth into singing, ye mountains. Oh, forest and
every tree therein, for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob and glorified
himself in Israel. Praise his mighty name, beloved.
Now, that's a finished work, isn't it? God himself says, I've
redeemed you. Oh my, my, oh my. Then let's
listen to the New Testament. Here in His love, not that we
love God, but that He loved us. How long has He loved us for?
Eternity. That's pleasing to God, and it's sure pleasing to
us, isn't it? Oh, here in His love, not that
we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the
propitiation for our sins, to be the sacrifice for our sins,
to be the sin atoning sacrifice for our sins. And it's most pleasing
to our gracious Lord, that in the Lord Jesus Christ shall all
the fullness of the Godhead dwell bodily, and to place all spiritual
blessings in Christ Jesus our Lord. Listen to this. And the
Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. All John's rightness, the glory
is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Oh my, it's also well-pleasing
to every believer to rejoice, to receive by faith, and to rest
in the complete salvation in Christ. And that's pleasing to
God, because he sent his son to be a propitiation for our
sins. My, listen to this in Philippians chapter three, verses seven to
nine. But what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for
Christ. Paul's saying everything I had,
everything that was gained to me, I counted lost for Christ.
Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things, and do count them but dumb, that I may
win Christ. He says, everything I had, it
doesn't matter anymore. It's just like waste. Oh my. Oh, and be found in him, be found
in Christ, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the
law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith. Oh, when David was about to be
recognized and anointed as king over all the people of Israel,
they took notice of David's actions and attitude, and it pleased
them. They said, whatsoever the king did pleased all the people. Whatever God does pleases his
people. Whatever God the king, God the
father, the sovereign king over all, whatever he does, pleases
us as his people, doesn't it? Oh my, we might not understand
the situations we go through, and we don't, we don't, but oh
my, we look back, I was talking to someone, I was talking to
someone today, and they were saying something happened in
their life, and they look back now, and they say, oh my, look
what God did for me. Look what God did for me. And
I was talking to Brother Dan, going through the cancer treatments,
him and Sister Kathy. And he looks back now and says,
it's God who took me through it all. Isn't that wonderful?
Whatever we go through, God takes us through it. My, oh my. So
it is when the believer is bought to see the Lord Jesus Christ
as our King, our God, and our Savior, then we say, we say,
whatever he does is right. whatever he does is right and
pleasing unto us. Amen and amen.