Turn with me today to the book
of Acts. Acts chapter 15. And I'm going to read the first 31
verses in this chapter. Acts chapter 15. And certain men which came down
from Judea taught the brethren and said, except you be circumcised
after the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved. 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. Being brought on their way by
the church, they passed through Phenicia and Samaria, declaring
the conversion of the Gentiles. And they caused great joy unto
all the brethren. And when they were come to Jerusalem,
they were received of the church and of the apostles and elders,
and they declared all things that God had done with them.
But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees, which
believed, saying, that it was needful to circumcise them and
to command them to keep the law of Moses. And the apostles and
elders came together for to consider this matter. And when there had
been much disputing, Peter rose up and said unto them, men and
brethren, you 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 God, which knoweth
the hearts, bear them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even
as he did unto us, put no difference between us and them, purifying
their hearts by faith. Now, therefore, why tempt you
God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither
our fathers nor we were able to bear? but we believe that
through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved
even as they. Then all the multitude kept silence
and gave an audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles
and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them. And after
they had held their peace, James answered, saying, men and brethren,
hearken unto me. Simeon hath declared how God
at the first did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people
for his name. And to this agree the words of
the prophets, as it is written, after this I will return and
will build again the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down. And I will build again the ruins
thereof, and I will set it up, that the residue of men might
seek after the Lord. and all the Gentiles upon whom
my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things. 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. Then pleased it the apostles
and elders with the whole church to send chosen men of their own
company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, namely Judas named
Barsabbas and Silas, chief men among the brethren. And they
wrote letters by them after this manner, the apostles and elders
and brethren Send greeting unto the brethren which are of the
Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia 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 commandment and It seemed
good unto us being assembled with one accord to send chosen
men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men that have
hazarded their lives 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. For it seemed good to the Holy
Ghost and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these
necessary things. 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 ye well. So when they were dismissed,
they came to Antioch, and when they had gathered the multitude
together, they delivered the epistle, which when they had
read, they rejoiced for the consolation. In these verses, we have what
some have referred to as the first church council at which
a very, very important matter was settled. And I want to point
four things out to us today from these verses, four things that
I have for us to look at. First, look at what, or look
at how this council came together. Let's look at that first of all,
how this council came together. Paul and Barnabas had been ministering
in the city of Antioch, preaching the gospel, where the Lord Jesus
Christ saved many Gentiles. Then we are told certain men
came down from Judea. You see that in verse 1. Now
these certain men, they professed to believe the gospel of Christ,
which is the message of justification by faith. These men professed
to believe this message. But in reality, they didn't. They taught that circumcision
and the keeping of the law was also necessary in order for Gentiles
to be saved. The gospel, now here's the point,
the gospel is perverted when anything is added to faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ. If you had baptism, if you had
church membership, if you had tithing, if you had anything
but faith in Jesus Christ, this is what the scriptures declare
unto us. For by grace are you saved through
faith. The thief on the cross who was
saved in the last hours of his life. He never tithed. He never witnessed, other than
His witness there on the cross. He wasn't baptized. He wasn't
a member of any local church. And yet the Lord Jesus Christ
said unto him, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. In other
words, by faith, by looking to Christ alone, He was saved. And when men had anything, anything,
to faith in Christ, the gospel is perverted. And that's what
had taken place here. And we read there was much dissension. Paul and Barnabas were not going
to let this slide. This was all important, this
matter of how God saves sinners, how it is that we enjoy salvation. If we add any of our works to
His work, then God doesn't receive the glory. And my friends, if
you learn nothing else from the Word of God, learn this. God
will not share His glory with another. He will not do it. And when man add things to the
work of Christ that we must do in order to be saved. If you
are saved, if I'm saved, we're saved by faith in Jesus Christ,
in Him, His person, who He is, and His work, that work which
the Father gave Him to do. And He said when He prayed unto
the Father before He went to the cross, Father, I have finished,
I have completed the work which thou gavest me to do. And there on the cross, you know,
just before he bowed his head and dismissed his spirit, he
said, it is finished. It is finished. Now let's be
clear to what is meant by the law. I want you to keep your
places here. These certain men came down and
said, except you be circumcised and keep the law of Moses, you
cannot be saved. Let's be clear this morning what
is meant by the law. I want you to turn back with
me to Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy chapter 31. In Deuteronomy, the law was given
a second time. The nation of Israel, after wandering
for 40 years in the wilderness, were at Kadesh Barnea a second
time. And before they went into the
promised land, God gave the law a second time. And what we read
here in this passage, and I chose this passage because it is so
concise. There's many other passages that
I could have chosen that point the same thing out. Verse 24
of chapter 31, And it came to pass, when Moses had made an
end, notice, of writing the words of this law in a book, until
they were finished, that Moses commanded the Levites, which
bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying, Take this
book of the law, this book of the law, and put it in the side
of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God. that it may
be there for a witness against thee. You see, the law was not
just the Ten Commandments. Some men, and I don't know when
this became popular, over a hundred years at least, but some men
have begun to divide the law into three elements. And they
say the law consists of the moral, the ceremonial, and the civil
part of the law of Moses. That would never have occurred
to these men in the New Testament. The law was the law. All the words, this is what we
read, all the words written in the book of the law. And something
else to keep in mind, now listen. The law had penalties attached
to it. If you disobeyed the law, there
were penalties attached to it. Someone said one time that a
law without a penalty is just good advice. And that's all it
could be. And remember this, to those especially
who want to divide the law into those three parts, The moral
law had penalties attached to it. And when people say, well,
we're not under the ceremonial law and we're not under the civil
law, but yes, believers are under the moral law as a rule of life. Well, remember this, the moral
law had penalties attached to it as well. And you cannot just
extricate those Ten Commandments out of that law and not take
the penalties with them. Let me show you that here, if
you turn back to Leviticus chapter 24. Leviticus chapter 24, and we see that, yes, the moral part of the law had
penalties attached to it. In Leviticus chapter 24 and verse
10, And the son of an Israelitish
woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of
Israel, And this son of the Israelitist woman and a man of Israel strove
together in the camp. And the Israelitist woman's son
blasphemed the name of the Lord. The third commandment is thou
shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. This man
did so. He blasphemed the name of the
Lord and cursed And they brought him unto Moses, and his mother's
name was Shalometh, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan. And they put him in ward, that
the mind of the Lord might be showed them. And the Lord spake
unto Moses, saying, Here's the penalty. He broke the law. He
broke the moral law. He took God's name in vain. Here's
the penalty. Bring forth him that hath cursed
without the count, and let all that heard him lay their hands
upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him. Here's the penalty. He was stoned. We have another example we could
look at, but we won't take the time, when a man was gathering
sticks on the Sabbath day. And again, what was the penalty?
He was stoned. He was put to death. He broke
the law, the moral law of God. So that's the first thing I wanted
us to see at how this council came about. That some were teaching
that these Gentile believers, they had to be circumcised and
keep the law of Moses. And let's be clear what the law
of Moses is. It's not just the Ten Commandments.
It's all the words that are written in the book of the law that was
put in the Ark of the Covenant. Second, look at two statements
back here in Acts chapter 15. Look at two statements about
the law that came out of this council. Two statements about
the law that came out of this council. I want you to look in
verse 10 at what Peter said. In verse 10, the apostle Peter
said, Now therefore why tempt you God to put a yoke What's
he talking about? He's talking about the law. Why
tempt you God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which
neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? So the first thing
I point out to us that came out of this council, what they said
about the law, Peter said, it's a yoke. It's a yoke. And it's a yoke that our fathers
nor we are able to bear. Everyone knows what a yoke is,
how they would yoke an ox to another ox to plow and things
like that. It's a yoke. It puts us to service,
to work. It produces bondage. And then
look down, if you will, in verse 28 in the letter that the council
wrote. It's called a burden. Notice in verse 28. For it seemed
good to the Holy Ghost. Now, this letter, it was penned
by the apostles and those in this council, but James says,
no, God the Holy Ghost, God the Holy Spirit, He's the one who
directed us and guided us in what is written here. For it
seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us, us apostles, to lay
upon you, now notice, no greater Do you see that this morning?
That the law that these false teachers were saying that the
Gentiles had to submit to is called first a yoke and then
it is called a burden. Do you see that? Do you remember what the Lord
Jesus Christ said in Matthew chapter 11 and verse 28? He said,
come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest. Take my yoke. He didn't say take
the yoke of Moses. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. and you shall find
rest unto your souls, for my yoke is easy, and my burden,
not the burden of Moses, my burden is easy. In John chapter one, in verse
17, the apostle said, for the law was given by Moses, but grace
and truth came by Jesus Christ. In first Timothy, Chapter 1,
verses 8 through 11. Now listen, I'm going to read
these verses to us. I want you to hear this. This
is the Apostle Paul writing to Timothy, a preacher. You see, every generation has
had to face this same thing. as in the early church at this
first council, even so until today in the 21st century. This same subject has continuously
come up, to make believers subject to the law of Moses. Now, in
1st Timothy, here's the verses I wanted to read. But we know,
Paul said, we know that the law is good if a man use it lawfully. Now listen, knowing this, pause
it, we know this, that the law is not made for a righteous man. What? Isn't that what a child
of God is, a righteous man? A man who is declared righteous
by the imputed righteousness of Christ? Isn't that what justification
by faith is all about? Yes, absolutely. And Paul says
that the law is not made for a righteous man. But, well, who
is the law made for? for the lawless and disobedient,
for ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers
of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers,
for them that defile themselves with mankind, for men-stealers,
for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing
contrary to sound doctrine, to sound teaching, according to
the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my
trust." The law wasn't made for a righteous man. It was made
for the unrighteous, for the unlawful. It's a burden. It's a yoke, the
law of Moses. It was for those believers in
the Old Testament, and it is for anyone who would submit to
this law. How do we use the law lawfully? That's what Paul said. We know
that the law is good if a man use it lawfully. And we're talking
about the five books of the Old Testament, the Pentateuch, the
law. That's what Moses wrote and put into the Ark. How do we use it lawfully? Well,
we do so when we recognize that it is part Listen, it's part
of the all scripture which is given by inspiration of God and
is profitable for doctrine, for correction, for reproof, for
instruction in righteousness. When we think about the law,
think of all the prophecies. Think of that prophecy in Genesis
chapter three, the seed of the woman will bruise the head of
the serpent. This is how you use the law rightfully. You use that law as it gave prophecies
and types and pictures and promises of the Lord Jesus Christ and
his work for his people. When I think about the law, I
think about the prophecies, the promises, and the pictures of
Christ in the law, which are profitable for doctrine, for
teaching. What a wonderful picture is that,
that is found in the law, when the serpents, remember, the Israelites
were guilty of murmuring and complaining against God, and
God sent those serpents among them, fiery serpents, and to
be bitten was a death sentence. There was no cure. There was
no remedy. If you got bit with one of these
snakes, you might as well get your coffin ready because that's
where you were going to end up. But no, God gave a remedy, and
that remedy was to make a serpent just like it looked like, just
like the serpents that were biting them, that had the poison, and
put that serpent on a pole and declare through the camp, look
and live. And everyone who looked at that
serpent that was lifted up lived, was healed. And so the Lord Jesus
Christ, he used that, didn't he? He said, even as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted
up. And he was lifted up on the cross,
hanging there between heaven and earth as the one The one
atonement, the one and only sacrifice for sin, and whosoever believeth
in him, looketh unto him, shall have everlasting life. That's
a wonderful picture, isn't it? In the law. And that's how the
law is used lawfully. But it is never to be used for
justification. The apostle Paul in Romans 3
said, therefore, By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be
justified in his sight. For the law is the knowledge
of sin. Or by the law is the knowledge
of sin. There are principles in the law.
But just remember this, the law is part of the all scripture.
We agree and say most wholeheartedly with the Apostle Paul, the law
is holy, just, and good. He said that in Romans 7, it's
God's law. It has to be holy. It has to
be good. It has to be just. It's God's
law. But let's remember it's part
of the all scripture that's given by inspiration of God. And yes,
it's profitable if we use it lawfully. Now, the third thing
I want us to see, look at the Apostle Peter's words in verse
7 through 11. When there had been much disputing,
Peter rose up and said unto them, Men and brethren, you know how
that a good while ago, I think it was about 25 years, about
25 years ago, Peter says, a good while ago, God made choice among
us. There was 12 apostles. Peter
said, God chose me. They say Peter loved the doctrine
of election. God made a choice. I can't understand
how people who call themselves believers, children of God, hate
the doctrine of election and do everything they can to cast
dispersion upon this truth. You know, that's the first thing
that God told that man that he sent to baptize Saul of Tarsus. You tell him he's a chosen vessel. First thing he told, you are
a chosen vessel. Your salvation wasn't by chance. It wasn't by luck. You just happened
to be on the road to Damascus that day. No, it was determined
before the foundation of the world. Peter says, God made a choice
among us. And what a blessing it was. You
remember when the Lord told Peter and not Peter alone, but all
the disciples, he gave them the keys to the kingdom. And lost
men, you know what they've done. They've tried to say, well, Peter's
there at the gate, you know, of heaven and you've got to go
through Peter. That's a lie, my friends. Nothing
in the word of God, anything like that. The keys to the kingdom
is the gospel. That's what was given unto Peter.
That's the same was given to all the apostles and all of the
men that God calls to preach the keys. And Peter said, God,
made a choice among us, a good while ago made choice
among us that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word
of the gospel and believe. I want you to notice these points
as we go through this verse and the next few verse. What does
Peter say? Well he tells us Now first, they
heard the gospel. You cannot come back from a place
you've never been. And a person cannot believe the
gospel unless he hears the gospel. First of all, they heard. Go
into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature
whosoever believeth and is baptized shall be saved. How shall they
believe in Him of whom they have not heard? So that's the first
thing Peter said. They heard the word of the gospel,
then they believed. And God, which knoweth the hearts,
bare witness Now who did God bear witness to? He bore witness
to Peter and the other Jews who were with him. Here are these
Gentile believers, Cornelius and those in his house, they
heard the gospel, they believed, and God poured out his spirit
upon them just like he had done upon the apostles on the day
of Pentecost. And they spoke with languages
and glorified God. And God in that way bore witness
that what? He had purified their hearts
by faith. Notice that. And put no difference
between us and them, us Jews and the Gentiles. There's no
difference. There's no difference purifying
their hearts by faith. Now, therefore, why tempt you,
God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither
our fathers nor we were able to bear? And here's the crux
of the whole matter. If there's any verse in this
chapter you want to have underlined, it's this verse, this next verse.
This is what we believe, us apostles. This is what we believe, that
through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, We shall be saved
even as they. And it's amazing, isn't it, the
way Peter said that? He didn't say, they shall be
saved even as we, but we, we Jews, we don't have a leg up
on God. We don't have anything above
the Gentiles, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. we will be saved even as they. And how is that? By grace. You know, in Romans chapter six
and verse 14, the apostle Paul makes this declaration. He tells us that one reason,
one reason that sin does not have dominion over a Christian. Now listen, He saves, the Lord Jesus saves
his people from their sins, from the penalty of sin and from the
power of sin. And yes, my friends, one day
from the very presence of sin. But Paul tells us in Romans chapter
six and verse 14, that one reason sin does not have dominion over
a Christian is because he's not under the law. Let me read the
verse. For sin shall not have dominion
over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace. Now the last thing I want us
to see, look at the Apostle James' scriptural proof in verse 13. He begins, and after they had
held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken
unto me. Simeon hath declared how God
at the first did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people
for his name. Notice what he says, and to this
agree the words of the prophets, plural. In other words, this
isn't something new. This isn't God changing His plan,
anything like that. This was God's purpose from the
beginning of the world. And He had prophesied and made
this known through the prophets. And then James quotes one prophet,
the prophet Amos. Amos. There he is. He quotes this prophet Amos. And this is what he said. After this, I will return and
will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down,
and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up,
that the residue of men, that is the Gentiles, the residue
of men, shall seek after the Lord. And all the Gentiles, upon
whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these
things. the tabernacle of David. What
is that? That's that kingdom that had
fallen down. And James, he found the fulfillment
of this prophecy in the resurrection and in the exaltation of Christ,
the son of David. God now builds and sets up Christ's
spiritual kingdom. That is the true Israel of God,
which includes both Jews and Gentiles. Don't, don't allow yourself to be put under
the law of Moses. It will only produce bondage. Yes, it's part of the all scripture. I had a man stand in this pulpit
years ago and he preached not this message, but this, he preached
this truth. And there was a preacher here.
And he told me later, he said, when I heard that preacher say
we are not under the law, I understood him to be saying that we're free
to commit adultery and blah, blah, blah. How in the world
could you understand that? No, we're not under the law,
but that doesn't mean that there's not scriptures that forbid adultery
and fornication. lying, all of the wickedness
and evil that men do. When we say we're not under the
law, it doesn't mean we're free from the precepts of the word
of God, but actually the word of Christ is more stringent than
the law. Because the law said, thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself. Do you know what Christ said? Thou shalt love thy brother even
as I have loved thee." A child of God doesn't want to
live a licentious life. If anything, we're not looking for freedom
and a license to sin. We're looking for the day when
we will be delivered from sin completely, from the very presence
of sin. Well, I pray that God will help
us with this message and teach us. Some of you are here today and
you say, I don't know what that preacher was talking about, the
law and Moses. I understand that. But remember the passage I read
at the beginning. John said, I write unto you children
because your sins are forgiven you for Christ's sake. That's
true of all God's children. We are forgiven. Our sins are
forgiven for Christ's sake. And then he goes on and says
he writes to fathers and to young men and to children. And we say
there is growth. We come into the kingdom of God
by the new birth, and we're born with all of our parts, just like
a baby that is born into this world, has all 10 fingers, 10
toes, and everything else, not gonna grow anymore. But that
little old finger that's about the size, not even as big as
the end of my finger now, it's gonna grow, isn't it? It's gonna
grow. And so when a child is born,
a child of God is born, we start off at zero. We're in the kindergarten and we grow and we grow and we
grow by God's grace. And we grow through the word
of God, through hearing and reading and praying and fellowship with
other believers. You're not a child of God. out
here by himself, most likely is not going to grow. We need
each other. I need you, you need me, we need
each other. And we hurt ourselves when we
neglect the opportunities to come together and to worship
the Lord, to fellowship one with another, to manifest our love
for each other, our concern for each other, to pray for one another. Well, I've got to stop. I just feel like I haven't said
what I need to say yet, but maybe it'll work out tonight. Come
back. Let's turn to number 337, hymn
number 337.