Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Acts chapter 15. The name of the message is Christ
preached. Christ preached. Paul said, we preach not ourselves,
but we preach Christ and Him crucified. I don't give you my
opinions. I don't give you my thoughts.
We look at what the Word of God says. Several people have said,
we like how you preach because you just preach what the Word
of God says. I have nothing else to preach. You don't want my
opinion. My opinion doesn't matter, does
it? But what matters? Thus saith the Lord. Thus saith
the Lord. People say against certain doctrines,
well, oh, I don't believe that. Well, you're saying you don't
believe what God's word says then. That's often the response
of election, right? But yet they can go and cast
a vote for a president and choose who they want to be president,
right? in this country, we can do that, right? But no one says,
well, that's not fair. See, God can choose whom he wills,
and he has in eternity. We just don't know who they are.
So as we saw in Sunday school, wasn't that wonderful in Sunday
school? We hold forth the word of life. We hold forth Christ
and offer him to a lost and dying world. That's what that holding
forth means, to offer, to hold forth, just to hold him forth.
Isn't that wonderful? So that's what we do when the
gospel is preached. We hold forth Christ. Say, hey,
this is the only savior of sinners. And we know that he's able to
save to the outermost all those who come to him, because I see
myself, and I would think you would too, as the chief of sinners. When Paul said, I always laugh
at that. Paul said, Paul said, I'm the chief of sinners. And
every believer looks at that and goes, no, I am. Gene Harmon used to say, Christianity
is the only place where there's a bunch of chiefs. The chiefs of sinners. And that's
so true, isn't it? That's what we are. Oh my. So the fact that Christ saves
us is absolutely amazing. And here we are reading in Acts
chapter 15. We're continuing our study in verse 19 and we're
going to go to verse 21. But we're going to read, we're
going to stand up together and read from verses 18 to 21. But
our text will be verses 19 to 21. So let's stand up and And read this verse, and remember
this as we're reading this, that nothing catches God by surprise.
Nothing. All things we found out last
week are known unto God, right? So let's look at verse 18. To
start reading there, we'll read to verse 21. Known unto God are
all his works from the beginning of the world. Wherefore, my sentence
is that we trouble not them which from among the Gentiles are turned
to God. but that we write unto them that
they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication,
and from things strangled, and from blood. For Moses of old
time hath in every city them that preach him been read in
the synagogues every Sabbath day. All mine. Now, some self-righteous, Jews
who claimed to be followers of Christ. Remember they were of
the Pharisees who believed, but they were claiming that one had
to be circumcised in order to be saved. So they were mixing
the law of Moses with the free grace of God in Christ. And we
know from our studies before, and from our studies just in
this chapter, starting in verse one, that Paul calls out in Galatians
another gospel, which is not another gospel. It's not good
news, is it? Anytime someone says there's something you have
to do to be saved, that is not good news, because we can't save
ourselves. That's why it's not good news.
But the good news, here's the good news. Christ saved sinners
such as we, right? You and I who believe. Here's
the good news. All by himself. Perfectly. Sister Marcia, it's
finished. It's perfect. In the Greek, it's
perfect. It's all done. We can rejoice
in that, can't we? We can delight in that as believers.
My oh my. So Brother Travis, when we stand
up and proclaim Christ's word, we're proclaiming a perfect work.
Done all by Christ in him alone. He don't need our help. Amen, brother. He don't need
our help at all. I love that. Nope, he don't need
our help. He don't need nobody's help,
does he? He did it all. He did it all. So the fact of
the law, what does the law do? It kills. It brings us to a point
where we see ourselves now as guilty before God and that there's
nothing we can do to save ourselves. And then the good news, the balm
of the gospel, Christ saves sinners. And we say, is it me? And God gives us faith to believe
we're born again. And we say, oh Christ, my King
died for me. This is wondrous. This is amazing. Oh, it's absolutely incredible. And it's all by the sovereign
grace of God, plus no works by man. The man Christ Jesus, who's
God in the flesh, accomplished that work perfectly. Perfectly. This is what we preach in sovereign
grace. This is what gospel preachers
do. We preach Christ's perfect work, that salvation is in Him
alone, with no works of man. But these Judaizers, they had
insisted As we saw in verse one, look at verse one. It's so, boy,
look what they say. In certain men, they came to
Antioch in Syria, they came to Antioch. In certain men, which
came down from Judea, taught the brethren and said, look what
they said, except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye
cannot be saved. They're not shy. Look at those
words, ye cannot be saved. I remember years ago there was
a preacher who was preaching sovereign grace, and he got up
and he said, if you don't believe in the flat earth, you're not
saved. Well, it wasn't long, he wasn't
in the pulpit anymore. Because what did he do? He did
the same thing the Judaizers did, didn't he? It's Christ alone
plus nothing. Now, if someone wants to believe
the earth's flat, that's their own opinion. Go ahead, believe
that if you want. What am I gonna say, right? If
you wanna believe it's a square, that's up to you, right? You
wanna believe it's a triangle, that's okay, whatever, but don't
add works to salvation. Don't add something that man
either has to believe or man has to do to the finished work
of Christ. And that's what these folks were
doing. Look at how clearly they say it. They're not afraid. Look
at this. I'll read it again. And said, except ye be circumcised
after the manner of Moses. So that's according to the law
of God. He cannot be saved. Whenever someone does ask, what
about the women? Only a man can be circumcised. You see how, my oh my. Oh my. So these self-righteous
Jews had added works to grace, and
Paul and Barnabas being filled with righteous indignation, righteous
anger. Righteous anger because these
men are attacking the perfect work of Christ. There is a time
when we can take a stand and you can say enough is enough. Those times happen sometimes
where you say, that's it, you crossed the line. And that's what Paul and Barnabas
were saying. And the other brethren sent them up to Jerusalem to
the apostles to resolve this matter. And again, they didn't
debate when they got there, they didn't debate, they just presented.
And Peter, first of all, presented. Then Paul and Barnabas presented.
And then James got up and spoke up. And that's what we're gonna
look at today, a little bit more of what James said. My oh my. And they were all unified. They were all unified in the
fact that salvation is by grace alone, through Christ alone,
through his perfect sin atoning work alone. according to the
glory of God alone and by the grace of God alone. There's the
five solas for you, right? It's true. Isn't it? That's all. It's through the
word of God alone. My oh my. So the fact that Peter, Barnabas,
Paul, and James were unified in the gospel The true gospel
of salvation in Christ alone, we saw last week, it put a stop
to the mouths of the gainsayers, didn't it? God shut their mouths. Oh, they got up there, they were
there to have a dispute and God just shut their mouths. Oh my. And Peter got up with a unified
voice with Paul and Barnabas. stated that God put no difference
between the Jews and Gentiles, purifying their hearts. Then
Paul and Barnabas got up and spoke. Same gospel, same fact,
that God saved the Gentiles. And then now here, James, the
pastor in Jerusalem, brings this conference to a close. Look at
verse 19. Wherefore, my sentence is that we trouble not them,
which from among the Gentiles are turned to God. Now we know
in our studies in Thessalonians, the scripture declares that the
Gentiles turned from idols to serve the living and true God. Who turned them? Amen. God turned them. Who turned us?
Who turned us from the idols of our lives? The idol of self. The idol of this and that, desiring
all these things. Who turned us? Who turned us
to serve the living and true God? God alone, didn't he? Glory to his name, beloved. This
is why it's vital for us to preach Christ and preach his perfect
work. We hold forth the word of God to this lost and dying
world, beloved. My oh my. See the word sentence
in the Greek there? Wherefore my sentence is that
we trouble not them. The word sentence in the Greek
means to judge, to form or give an opinion. And what he's giving
an opinion of is that they're united. We preach
Christ. We preach Christ and him crucified.
They're united in that fact. Oh my. It means also give an
opinion after separating and considering the particulars of
a case. So he didn't say what he said
until he had considered what Peter said and until he considered
what Paul and Barnabas said. That's called being a Berean,
isn't it? And after he considered what
they said, he said this. He said, wherefore my sentence
is that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles
are turned to God. So James gives his distinguishing
judgment here on this very important subject of law and grace. Man's work must not be tolerated
in the salvation of God's people. That's what we're seeing here. And we, by the grace of God,
we will not allow that to happen. Right? Salvation is by Christ
alone, by God's grace alone, through His perfect work alone.
Look at this. My sentence, His judgment, is
that we trouble them not. Don't trouble them. See, What
would trouble the Gentiles? Well, the fact that if they're
not circumcised, they're not saved. So they'd be going around
going, are we saved? Say it was you and I, brother.
Are we saved, brother? They started to doubt, right? Because these
people coming from Jerusalem, they must have some influence
from the church up there. They would be in trouble. So
much so that Paul wrote the letter to Galatians. to the Galatian
churches. They were being troubled by the
Judaizers. Right? And so James says, don't trouble
them. We believe they're saved the same way we are. How's that? By the grace of God in Christ.
Isn't that wonderful? Makes you rejoice, doesn't it,
Brother Jim? We're saved by grace alone through Christ alone. And James is just reiterating,
right, this fact that Peter preached and that Paul and Barnabas preached
too. Look at this. Trouble not which from among
the Gentiles. Oh, this is a people from among
the Gentiles. Do you know how wondrous that
would be to the Jewish believers? That God is saving Gentiles?
Gentile dogs? Look at this, he just says, from
among the Gentiles are turned to God. They're turned to the
true and living God. They used to bow down to wooden
statues and stones. We know what that's like, don't
we? To be turned to God. To be born again. And it's marvelous, I tell you,
it's marvelous. to marvel that God took us out
of the darkness of our sin that we were in and has translated
us to the kingdom of his dear son. He turned us, beloved. And we were turned by him. We
didn't know it. We willingly came to Christ,
didn't we? Because we were turned. See, it's marvelous. The unwilling
are made willing. The unturnable, by our own nature,
are turned by the power of God. Because we can't turn ourselves,
can we? And this isn't reformation, this
is transformation. That's what this is. We're transformed, beloved. We're
not conformed to the world anymore. There was a time when we were
conformed to the world. We're not anymore. You ever notice
the world doesn't have the same luster it used to have before
we were saved? I used to want to get stuff.
I'm quite content now. I'll be honest with you. I love
living here. I love being here with you guys. I'm very happy with what we have.
We don't have a lot, but we're very happy with what we have,
content. Because you know why? Like you, we desire to serve
the Lord. We desire to live our lives before the world, right? Holding forth the word of life,
holding forth Christ. And as we saw on Sunday school,
shining as lights in the world, luminaries, reflecting the light
of Christ. We're like the moon, right? The
moon has no light of its own. It reflects the light from the
sun. We reflect the light of Christ. That's what we do. And where's this world? It's
in darkness, isn't it? I was telling the folks in Sunday
school that I went out last night and it was bitter cold, right?
But the sky was so clear. I haven't seen it that clear
in a long time. It was so there wasn't nothing.
And the stars were just bright. And I was thinking about that
scripture, about shining in the darkness. That's what we do as
believers, beloved. We don't feel like we do, but
we do. Isn't that amazing? Holding forth the word of life.
Let's read verses 19 and 20 together. So James is bringing forth that
works of man will not be tolerated in grace, and it's important
in every generation for we as the born-again, blood-washed
children of God to be united in that fact, to unite together
and to be firmly fixed against any religious organization that
promotes man's works or any kind of salvation of the God's elect
by what we do, because it's not. It's all by grace. If it's not
by grace, then it's not salvation. If man's work are involved, it's
not salvation, beloved. No. Let's read this again, verses
19 and 20. After saying, my sentence is
that we trouble not them which from among Gentiles are turned
to God, verse 20, but that we write unto them that they abstain
from pollutions of idols and from fornication and from things
strangled and from blood. So James here knows how important
it is to Not to allow God's saints to
be placed in bondage to the law of Moses. Because the law brings
fear, doesn't it? The law brings fear. The law
kills. But life comes from the gospel,
beloved. Freedom, liberty. Paul says,
be not entangled again in the yoke of bondage. Don't be entangled
in that. But we're to stand fast in the
liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. That's freedom. That's freedom. We've been emancipated,
beloved, from our sins. We're set free. My, oh my. We were, think of
this, think of this. I was preparing one of the short
messages, I don't know if I'll preach it this week, called Prisoners
of Hope. Do you know we were once prisoners of sin? We were
held captive by sin. Do you know now we're prisoners
of hope in Christ? And I'm a willing prisoner in
Christ, are you? I don't feel like I'm in prison,
do you? It just means we're bond slaves for him. And we are so
free, beloved. We are set free from the shackles
of sin. We're set free from the law of God. We're set free from
the condemnation of the law, the judgment of God. We've been
set free, beloved. We're liberated. We're emancipated
from our sins by the precious blood of Christ. Right, Brian? redeemed, bought with a price,
the precious blood of Christ, God's blood, the blood of the
God-man, God incarnate in the flesh, who wove a perfect righteousness
for us that we're now clothed in. Praise his mighty, mighty
name. And I'll tell you what, I ain't
gonna let no one put me back under bondage, because I was
in bondage. And by the grace of God, I'm not gonna let anybody.
But I'll tell you, I don't want nothing to do with religion that
yokes the law on us. Do you? The law is wonderful. I look at the law of God and
go, this is amazing. It reflects the holy God. This is incredible.
But it kills me. It brings me guilty before God,
but prays me to God. Salvation's in Christ and him
alone. He's able to save to the uttermost all that come to God
through him. That's the call, right? Flee to Christ. He's the only hope of sinners.
Hold forth the word of life. Oh my. It's wonderful, beloved. The salvation in Christ alone
is wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. So James
knew, he knew He knew that he didn't want to yoke the believers
under the law, but he also knew that he didn't want them to fall
off into the ditch of antinomianism, which is lawlessness. Have you
ever had somebody say this to you? Well, if I believe like
you, I could do whatever I want. You ever hear that, sister? They're
basically calling you and I an antinomian. Your brother from Oregon, a friend
of mine named Rick, and we were talking about this very thing
that died for our sins. But see, people don't understand
that. They don't understand the liberty
and the freedom that we have. And it's absolutely wonderful.
I'll tell you why. Brother Brian Christ bled and
died for our sins. He cleansed us from all iniquity.
That's a fact, isn't it? That's a fact. And we hang our eternal souls
on that, don't we? Not by anything we do. We hang our eternal souls
on the fact that Christ has redeemed my eternal soul. Praise his mighty
name. Because I can't save myself.
or anyone else. So in order for them, you see
that he's putting two goalposts up, right? He's saying, you're
free in Christ. And then he's putting up, don't
do these things, though. See, we need guidelines, don't
we? What do sheep do? What do sheep do when they're
left to themselves? Yeah, they just wander off. Oh, what's over
here? Oh, this is interesting. There's
a hole in the fence, okay. And next thing you know, I've
never had sheep, but Dave told me that he had sheep at one time
and they just wander off like they're, just do whatever they
wanna do. You gotta keep your eye on them.
Oh my. And we're all that by nature,
aren't we? Even as born again believers, we still are flesh.
Oh yeah? Oh my. So what is this, that
they abstain from the pollutions of idols, and from fornication,
and from things strangled, and from blood? Well, God's preachers know that
grace doesn't give a believer in Christ a license to sin. It
just doesn't. Paul actually wrote this in Romans
6, verses 1 and 2, show we continue in sin that grace may abound.
God forbid. God forbid. But God's born-again bloodless
children are under the law of love. Do you know that? The law
of love to Christ. The love of Christ constrains
us from sin. The fact that Christ died, could
you imagine how we would be if God didn't constrain us? I know how we would be, just
look at the world. The only one who made us to differ
and the only one who keeps us is Christ in him alone. It's
wonderful. And think of this, the law of
Moses cannot give a hell-deserving sinner You know the Spirit of God will
lead us into all truth, right? And who's that? Christ. Your
point is to Christ. You ever think of this in our
unregenerate state before God was pleased to bestow his sovereign
mercy on us for Christ's sake? Our old sinful heart hated God. It did. We couldn't do anything that
was pleasing to God. So how can someone who can't
do anything pleasing to God think by an act of the law that they're going to be now
pleasing to God, now acceptable to God? The only way we can be
accepted by God is to be accepted in the beloved. And that's glorious. seated on the throne of glory
in heaven. That's where our King is, beloved. And we shall soon
be with him. Because our life's like a vapor. My, oh my. and marvel at the
miracle of God's grace in the hearts of his chosen people.
It's not a result of our works, because we just saw, now they're
getting together and saying, no works of man can justify you
before God. So it's not by any works. It's
not the result of adhering to the law of Moses. It's not the
result of man's supposed free will, because our will is tied
to our nature. Right? Think of this. We couldn't
serve God in our natural state. We were dead. Now, as we saw
in Sunday School, we desire to serve Christ and to hold forth,
as Paul commanded, the Holy Spirit commands, to hold forth the Word
of Life, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. Who made a change in
us? God and God alone. To God be
the glory and honor and praise. It's amazing. Listen to this. For he saith to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I'll have mercy, and I'll have compassion
on whom I'll have compassion. This is God speaking. So then
it's not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth. That's
the will and works right there, right? But of God that showeth
mercy. For the scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I
might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth. Therefore, he hath mercy on whom
here have mercy, and whom he will, he hardeneth. Kion, hear of mercy on whom here
have mercy. We all deserve to be hardened. We all deserve to be left in
our sin. But God says, I'll have mercy
on whom I have mercy. Are you a born again, blood washed,
saint of God? You're one of those whom he's
had mercy upon. What do we say? We can't say
anything but praise his name, can we? Praise his mighty name. Oh my. So Paul and Barnabas,
just like all believers, had had the gospel revealed to them,
just like us. The gospel had been revealed to them. The fact
that Christ is the only Savior of sinners had been revealed
to them. And they, like all born-again
blood-washed believers, were delivered from the power of darkness
the same way, by the regenerating power of God the Holy Spirit,
under the preaching of the gospel. Someone said, well, who preached
to Paul? Stephen! Paul was there. He heard what Stephen said. Oh my. No doubt, some others
probably, he probably heard other preachers too. But we know for
a fact he heard Stephen. Because he consented at his death,
remember? My God works in mysterious ways,
doesn't he? His wonders to perform. Oh, it's
just amazing. It's just amazing. So they were taught the same
way we are. Same way we are. Remember Peter? Remember Peter?
The Lord said, whom say ye that I am? This is a good question
for all of us about Christ. Whom say ye that I am? And listen
to what Peter said. Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. Listen here closely to what the Lord said. And Jesus answered and said unto
them, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood
hath not revealed it unto thee. You can't learn it, you can't
earn it, you can't work it. Listen to this. But my Father,
which is in heaven. Isn't that amazing? I'll read
it again. Peter confesses, thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God. And Jesus answered, said unto him, blessed art thou.
We're blessed people who know Christ. Simon Bar-Jonah, for
flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which
is in heaven. That's Matthew, if you wanna
look at it. That's Matthew 16, verses 13 to 17. So if we believe
what our Lord Jesus Christ taught, if we believe what his apostles
taught, If we believe the word of God by God's grace, we will
be set for the defense of the gospel. So when someone comes
peddling works, we'll say, no, that's not right. Salvation's
by grace alone, through Christ alone. And consider the results
of that conference that took place in Jerusalem. These truths
we're studying in Acts 15 applies to all Christians in every generation. These faithful servants of God
stopped the mouths of the gainsayers, stopped the mouths of these self-righteous
Jews who dared to try to mix works with grace. Think of this. God's grace tells us about the
perfect, perfect redeeming work of the Lord Jesus Christ. If
it's perfect, you can't add anything to it. It's perfect. I remember Tim James preaching
one time, I was listening to him, and he said, when Christ
called, it is finished, it is perfect! Perfect! Oh, how sinful we are in our
natural state, thinking we have to do something to gain favor
and merit with God, and then we find out by the grace of God
that Christ did it all. And we never stop being amazed,
do we? Wondrous, beloved! Wondrous! So we see in verse
20 here that the saints are to abstain from pollution of idols,
and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.
Now these instructions were given to God's saints. Why? To promote
godliness for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. To instruct
the saints of God. Now I'm going to tell you straight,
I don't understand all these things. I don't, I can see the
view of it coming from their idol worshipers. And we're gonna
look at a few things that idol worshipers used to do, and then
I can understand. So basically, they're telling
them not to continue to practice what they did in idol worshiping.
That's what I gleaned from several commentators, but there's like
the strangle, things strangle, I don't understand that. I don't
know what the application of that is, except for pagan worship.
But I don't know, I can't, I'm gonna leave it. I was talking
to Zane. If we start speculating on stuff, we're gonna get in
trouble. I ain't gonna speculate. Just gonna read what the word
of God says, okay? Just to give you guys a little
heads up about that. Okay, so let's read verse 20
again. So he exhorts the saints of Antioch, remember, who are
Gentiles, who were pagans before, to abstain from pollutions of
idols, so I understand that, right? Stay away from the idols,
and from fornication, we're gonna look at that, that's just sexual
sin, and from things strangled and from blood. So first of all,
they're abstaining from pollutions of idols. This refers to eating
things offered to idols, the meat offered to idols. Now Paul
said, I can have liberty to eat meat offered to idols? That's
not what's being bought forth here. What's being bought forth
is you don't wanna make your brother and sister stumble. If
they just came out of idol worship and you're sitting there eating
a steak offered to some God, they may stumble over that. So
you don't do it in their presence, right? You just don't do it in
their presence. These converted Jews were turned
from worshiping idols And there was no danger of them returning
to it because they'd been saved and born again by the Holy Spirit
of God, and He's going to keep them. But eating meats offered
to idols could again have caused a stumbling block to a young
believer. So this is good instruction for us, isn't it? For us even
in our daily lives. There's things we can do, but
if, you know, a brother or sister struggled with that, then you
say, I won't do that. In their presence. No. So these young converts had not
yet grown in their understanding that eating these meats could
not make a true believer any more acceptable or less acceptable
on God's sight. So just because one ate a steak
offered to some false god, and say you and I sat there and ate
it, brother and sister, we started eating it, And then a young brother
or sister comes in that, oh my, what are you guys doing? You're
eating steaks, Alfred. Well, we know it's okay, it's just
meat. We know that it's not gonna make us any less acceptable before
God or more acceptable before God, see? But this is an expectation
for us to say, I won't do that in front of my brother and sister.
And I'll tell you what, if we considered that more and more,
We're blessed here, but there's trouble in certain places, certain
churches, because people get so fixated on what you do and
don't do, and boom, all of a sudden, there's this huge contentions
going on all the time. Now again, we are not licensed
to sin. Right? But see, Paul said, I
can eat a steak offered to somebody and it's not sin to me. But if
my brother or sister come in and it's sin to them, I'm not
gonna touch it. That's why sometimes I get a
little, I'm gonna tell you something here. I get a little, ugh. Sometimes
I see sovereign gracers that I'm friends with and they pitch
pictures of them out drinking. and having all this alcohol on
their table. Now, they feel like they have the freedom to do that.
I don't, for me. I don't want to do that. I don't
want to. But I'm looking at that going,
okay, I know I have the liberty to do that or not, right? But I look at that and go, what
if somebody who's a young convert and used to be an alcoholic sees
that? Oh, man. You see? We need to consider,
even though you have the liberty, we need to consider our brothers
and sisters in Christ. So that's why I'm careful what
I put on Facebook and stuff. I don't, you know, you just don't.
Yeah. Because I got friends from high
school that are unsaved, that are still in the life that I
used to be in. And I don't want them saying,
oh, look, there's no difference between Wayne and me. Well, yeah, there
is. Yeah, there is. It's Christ in
me, the hope of glory. Right? So just be, just be, just
be, let us be conscious of that. And that's what Peter's, or James
and, James is bringing forth here. That's what he's bringing
forth. You have the liberty to do that if you want, right? Whatever
it is that you feel like you have the liberty to do. But it's
not profitable all the time with our brothers and sisters. That's
all. So, okay. And then we see, so they're not, then we see they're
to abstain from fornication. Well, we know what that is. We're
instructed by the apostles here to abstain from any involvement
with ungodly sexual activity. See, in the minds of the unregenerate
Gentiles, it was fine for them to sleep around. It was fine to them. They saw
nothing criminal in any kind of sexual involvement. As far
as they were concerned, if both parties were consenting, it was
fine. And James is giving a little
warning here, saying, don't do that. Don't do that. And God's preachers have the
responsibility of telling their hearers not to follow a multitude
in the world who sinfully behave that anything goes. We came out
of that, didn't we? See, this is instructions for
us, isn't it? Just instructions for us how
to live before Christ. And so, We are to live for the glory
of our great majestic triune God. And then we see, we see
the James instructed the saints of God to abstain from things
strangled. Now this refers to meat from animals that have not
been properly or correctly had their blood drained from them.
And under the mosaic economy, here's something that I chuckle
that. Under the Mosaic economy, it was forbidden for Jews to
eat those animals that they strangled. But you know what? They had the
liberty to sell them to the Gentiles. I'm sorry. I started laughing
when I saw that. Here's the scripture. It's in
Deuteronomy. It's amazing. It says, you shall not eat of
anything that dieth of itself. Thou shalt give it to a stranger
that is at thy gates. that he may eat it, or may sell
it unto the alien. God says to the Jews, you can
sell it to the Gentiles, go ahead. They don't know any better. Oh my goodness. But they were
not to do that. For the Gentiles, it was just
what they did, right? See, think of this, think of
the instructions of God for us in the scriptures as we were
in the world, and it was natural for us to do these things. Now
we're called out of the world. So these instructions that God
gives, it's not burdensome, it's not loads that he's putting on
us, going, you can do this and you can't do that. It's not that
at all. It's for our benefit, beloved. Spiritually and physically. Spiritually more so. We don't
go around worshiping idols, do we? We worship the one true living
God. My oh my. My oh my. Now I can't explain
this, because we're not under the law of Moses, but eating
the flesh of animals strangled has something to do with the
blood being thickened, or I don't know, I don't know, the veins
of the animal, I have no idea. Neil, do you know anything about
that stuff? I don't know anything about it. But maybe you can talk
with me afterwards if you do know something. But I don't know
anything about that. But supposedly, it's not good. And if I speculate,
I'm going to get in trouble. So I don't want to speculate
on stuff. It just says it. OK. OK. And then we see here that
the saints of God were also instructed to abstain from blood. Now, I
understand a little bit about that because in the pagan worship
of the Gentiles, they would sometimes cut the throat of an animal and
catch the blood in the cup. And then they would sit around
and pass the cup and drink it. And it showed a connection of
their friendship. And I didn't know this. But John
Gill brings this forth, this drinking of blood was a practice
among the heathens who fancied the blood was food of their false
gods, which we know were demons, to whom they sacrificed. And
therefore, when they sacrificed to these false gods, they took
the blood of the beast and put it in a vessel and sat down by
it. And round about, so they passed
the cup around, ate the flesh, imagining that while they ate
the flesh, the demons ate the blood, or the false gods ate
the blood. And by this means, friendship and familiarity were
contracted between them. So they believed they were gaining
merit and favor with God. It's all works, isn't it? You
notice that? Even in our heathen ways, we're
still trying to do something. God says it's already done. And
the thought of anyone drinking blood is repulsive to us, isn't
it? But people did it. People did
it. Now let's read verse 21. Marvel
here. Marvel here at God's sovereign
will and purpose being worked out. Look at this. marvel that
that before christ came into the world the roman empire had
rosen up and made all these roads and and this the synagogues here
is talking about synagogues into gentile cities so it enabled
the jews to go out into gentile cities and and put up synagogues
right look at this but you know what's happening the scripture's
being proclaimed isn't it And then where did Paul and Barnabas
go? When they went and visited those cities, where did they
go? They went to the synagogues, beloved. And that's what this
is in reference to. Look at this. For Moses of old
time hath in every city them that preach him being read in
the synagogues every Sabbath day. So by God's sovereign will
and purpose in that area during the apostolic age, there were
Jewish synagogues in Gentile cities spread all throughout
the Roman Empire. And the law of Moses was read in the Jewish
synagogues every Sabbath day. And these synagogues are set
up, and then God's gospel preachers, Paul and Barnabas and others,
start traveling and going to these places and preaching Christ. Preaching lost sinners to Christ. Preaching the gospel of God's
sovereign grace. Alone, through faith alone, in
Christ alone. We saw that as Paul and Barnabas
were traveling. We saw them go to synagogues. Look at verse 22 of Acts chapter
15. Then pleased at the apostles
and elders and the whole church to send chosen men of their own
company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, namely Judas and
Silas, chief men among the brethren. Look at this, verse 22. The apostles
and elders, along with every member of the church in Jerusalem,
they were united. And now they're going to send
back some of their own with Paul and Barnabas. And note who it
is. It's Silas, who Paul mentions
in the epistles is with him. So what's going to happen is
Paul and Barnabas are going to have a contention, right? And
Barnabas is going to take John Mark, right? And Silas is now
going to go with Paul. Zane and I were talking, and
Zane brought something up that I'd never thought about. He believes
that Paul and Silas, before they even left, had already reconciled. I don't know if that's true.
He says, think of it, they're godly men. They're men who love
the Lord. And now you've got two teams
of missionaries going at it. I don't know. We were just talking
about it. We were just throwing it up in the air. I thought it
was interesting, though. Because the scriptures doesn't tell us
when they reconciled. But we know they did, because
Paul says, John Mark, he's profitable to me. Send him to me. Send him
to me. Oh my. Just a little something
to think about. So they're of one mind. They
rejoiced in the truth of salvation by grace alone. Let's read that
verse again. Then it pleased the apostles and elders and the
whole church to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch
with Paul and Barnabas, namely Judas and Silas, chief men among
the brethren. Now, this has been amazing, looking
at this alone. They've solidified the fact that
salvation is by grace alone, through Christ alone. And let
we who are the born-again, blood-washed saints of God rejoice. Let us
rejoice. Let's leave here today rejoicing, rejoicing in the fact
that salvation is only through Christ in him alone, by his perfect
redeeming work alone. and that we've been redeemed,
we who truly are born again, have been redeemed by the Lord
Jesus Christ. And marvel at the fact that our
salvation is in and through the complete finished work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. by His precious blood alone.
I was pondering this fact this week. I walk in the mornings,
on like Monday morning, my day off, I walk from the house to
cross the road, and then go cross the road to McDonald's, right,
and meet with some friends there. So I'm walking, I'm walking from,
I'm walking up the ramp, and in my mind, all I'm thinking
of is when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. When I see the
blood, and man, I started having a revival walking up that ramp. I was praising God, and I was
praising God. You would have thought I was
crazy. I was praising him out loud. Thank you, Lord. Oh, when you
see the blood, all my sins are gone. You pass over me. I was getting all excited. And
I got to the road and was waiting for the traffic to go, and then
I went across the road. And you know what came in my mind
after that? New Testament scripture. and their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. Let me read you Exodus chapter
12, verse 13. The Lord says, and the blood
shall be for you a token upon the houses where you are. And
when I see the blood, are you covered under the blood of Christ?
When I see the blood, I'll pass over you, and the plague shall
not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt."
Do you see God's distinguishing grace? Who was smitten? The Egyptians and all who were
not under the blood. Who was safe? When I see the
blood, I'll pass over you. God says to his people, God says
to his people who are under the person's blood of the Lamb, who
are under the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and this is amazing. We're saved from the wrath of
God because we're under the blood of God. Hebrews 10, 17, and their
sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Think of this. Now, when we remember things
that happened in our lives, good times and bad, we remember when
someone was kind to us or evil to us, don't we? Even if we've
forgiven them, we still remember it sometimes. We sinned against God. We broke
His law. We're hell-deserving sinners.
And because we're under the blood sister, he says, I'll remember
your sin no more. I don't even remember them. God knows everything, doesn't
he? I don't remember them. He looks at us and sees Christ. Oh my. When I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. Their sins and iniquities will
I remember no more. This is grace, isn't it? Isn't
that grace? That is grace beyond measure. We can't even fathom
that grace, can we? But it's been bestowed upon us
in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Brother Neil, can you
close us in prayer?