Most of you have before you a
document that was first produced in our church and read out in
a service not 10 years ago, but nearly 10 years ago. And the
big question that is before us in Acts chapter 15 And I'll just
read the first couple of verses. And then Acts 15 says, And 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. 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. It is. We've come to a very interesting
juncture in Acts chapter 15. The opposition to the Gospel
all the way through Acts has come from Jews, a little bit
from Herod who used the applause of the Jews to further his own
purposes. There is a little in Acts 14,
as we've seen just recently, of these people who were worshipping
Jupiter that they were stirred up by the Jews, and they formed
the persecution. But the great question of the
Gospel, the great question that in a sense consumes the rest
of the New Testament writings, is simply this question of the
believer's response to the law. And when we were in Colossians
all those years ago, it was the first book of the Bible we did,
I read these verses out that are before you in response to
people who thought that if we don't put people under the law,
then people will just live wicked lives. People need to have a
set of rules and boundaries that are laid out before them continually,
and then they'll live the Christian life. And without a set of rules
and boundaries, then people will just live as wickedly as they
want to live, and there'll be no restraints on them. We declare
a gospel. A gospel where God comes, the
Lord Jesus Christ comes, and indwells His people. And He compels
and He constrains His people by love. And God's people, because
of the perfect finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, have
a liberty, a liberty in this world. It's not a liberty to
sin, but they have a liberty from looking to those things.
In Colossians 2, there is that wonderful declaration that you
are complete in Him. complete in him. And then the verse that caused
us to have to write this was, this document was, and you being
dead in your sins and uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened
together with him, having forgiven you all your trespasses, all
of them, not just a few, forgiven you all of them. It's a description
of the blessed man of Romans 4, to whom the Lord would not
impute iniquity. But verse 14 says, "...blotting
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to the
cross." He took it out of the way. He nailed it to the cross. He blotted it out. He erased
it. So the believer, according to
the New Testament, simply looks to the Lord Jesus Christ. And
looking to Him, we are transformed and we are sanctified by the
operations of God. The Lord Jesus Christ, Coles
had it printed on our Bibles, the Lord Jesus Christ is made
of God unto us, in 1 Corinthians 1.30. He's made of God. made of God unto us. Wisdom and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption. All of the righteousness that
we ever have is the Lord Jesus Christ. All of the sanctification
that we ever have is the Lord Jesus Christ. Here we stand as this little
fellowship, standing on the basis of quite simply what the scriptures
say about the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and what
the scriptures say about the law of God. So I would like us
to take up this piece of paper. I've just modified it a bit from
all those days of nearly ten years ago. One of the reasons
for us doing ACTS is that we wanted to, in a sense, as we
celebrated our 10th year, and Alan will be here in a couple
of weeks and that will be the culmination of our visitors that
have come and celebrated with us, but we wanted to look back
on the things that caused us to be separated from the world. and separated from the religious
world. And as I read these verses out,
and I'm not going to read all of them, I'm just going to look
at the highlights as it were, but I'd like you to take them
away and read them in some depth and context and some understanding
if the Lord brings it. I read these out and I want you
to have consciously in your mind that this was the era that was
perpetrated throughout the rest of the New Testament. This is
the error, this idea that believers have to be under the law. This
error was the cause of the first and only council of the Christian
church in the apostolic time. And yet, if you go throughout
the Christian world today and try and find churches that simply
believe these words that we're going to read, and simply believe
the declarations that Peter and all the apostles made in Jerusalem,
you might, in all of this world, find a hundred churches. you will find tens of thousands
of churches and more that don't believe this. And yet the declarations
that we'll see in Acts 15 are as clear as you could ever wish
it to be. The testimony of Scripture is
as clear as you could ever wish it to be. And therefore, there is one source of this error, and it is simply
Satan lying to people. He's a liar and a murderer. He despises the magnification
of the Lord. It is the judgment of God upon
people who refuse to love the truth and are deluded. But our job as God's servants
is to separate the precious from the vile. Our job is simply to
hold up the Lord Jesus Christ in His glory before His people,
and His people will come and they will find, they will find
Him delightful, they'll find His promises, the glory of all
of their life here. They'll find His finished work,
their comfort and their joy. So let's just read. There is
a, I don't know who wrote the poem, but run John run the law
demands, but gives me neither feet nor hands. Better news the
gospel brings, bid me fly and gives me wings. I put in a couple
of verses there at the beginning that people want to say that
the scripture, the law and the scripture can be broken up into
various verses, various forms, and then you can choose which
ones you like. But never ever in any of the scriptures is it
allowed to be broken up like that. Galatians 3.10 says, For
as many as of the works of the law are under a curse, for it
is written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things
which are written in the book of the law to do them. Do you trace anything of your
origin? in your Christian life to law
keeping, you are under a curse. All things. James 2.10 says,
for whoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend at one point,
he is guilty of all. The law that we're speaking about
is the law of Moses. It's a package. It's a package. And fallen man has never kept
the law. None of Adam's children have
ever kept the law. Stephen, you might recall, incensed
the Jews so much in Jerusalem they stoned him to death. And
he made this statement before his death in Acts 7.53. You have received the law by
the disposition of angels and have not kept it. Acts 15.10
that we'll be looking at in the weeks to come. Paul Peter describes
the law as a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither
our fathers nor we were able to bear. There is. The law is a package. No one
has ever kept it. No one has ever been justified
by keeping the law. that verse that stirred up the
people in Iconium, in Acts 13.39, and by him all that believe are
justified from all things which he could not be justified by
the law of Moses. Romans 3.20, therefore by the
deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for
by the law is the knowledge of sin. So reading the law and trying
to obey it is just not hearing the voices of the prophets. because,
as Acts 13.27 says, they don't know Him, they don't know the
law's demands for holiness, for spiritual holiness, and they
don't know anything of the depth of the depravity of their own
heart. They were stirred up in anger
and sent Paul and Barnabas out of their coats. The accusations
that are levelled against us, levelled against gospel preachers,
levelled against the Lord Jesus Christ himself, is that they
are antinomians. They don't put people back under
the law. And that's the testimony of today,
and it was the testimony of Paul in Acts 18, saying, these people
that were dealing with him, this fellow persuadeth men to worship
God contrary to the law, that Paul says in Acts 24, 14. But
I confess, this I confess unto thee, that after the way which
they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers. The way of God's people in this
world is always going to be seen as a way of heresy. So let's
read some of these verses, Romans 3.19. Now we know that what things
soever the law sayeth, it sayeth to them who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world become guilty
before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For by
the law is the knowledge of sin. But now, but now, the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets. The Old Testament witnessed this.
Even the righteousness of God, which is by the faith of Jesus
Christ, unto all and upon all them that believe. Romans 4.8
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Paul answers the charge of antinomianism
in Romans 6. He said, let not sin reign, therefore
reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in the lust
thereof. Neither yield you your members
as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourself
unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members
as instruments of righteousness unto God. For, because, all this
is going to happen because, sin shall not have dominion over
you Why? For you are not under the law,
but under Christ. What then? Shall we sin because
we are not under the law, but under Christ? God forbid. God
forbid. Romans 7 is abundantly clear
in so many parts, you can read all of it. and see that it deals with this
issue directly and clearly. Wherefore, my brethren, you are
also become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that you
should be married to another, even to him who is raised from
the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. Verse 6. But now We are delivered from
the law, that being dead wherein we were held, that we should
serve in newness of spirit, not in the oldness of the letter.
But what shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid! Nay,
I had not known sin, but by the law. For I had not known lust,
except the law said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion
by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of computable sin. which means just inordinate lust.
For without the law, sin was dead. For I was alive without
the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment which was
ordained to life I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion
by the commandment, deceived me and it slew me. Romans 8. There is therefore now, right
now, as you sit here, believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, there
is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who
walk not after the flesh, and walking after the flesh is law-keeping. But after the Spirit, for the
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free
from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do,
in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in
the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us. who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. Brethren, Romans 10, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. For they bear them record, they have a zeal for God, but
not according to knowledge. For they, being ignorant of God's
righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
For Christ is the end, the terminus, as far as the law can go, Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. The sting, 1 Corinthians 15,
the sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 2 Corinthians 3.7 is as clear
a passage of scripture as you could wish to have about the
evils of putting God's people back under the law. But if the ministration of death
written and engraven in stones was glorious, so that the children
of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses, for
the glory of his countenance, which glory was done away, how
shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation
be glory, how much more does the ministration of righteousness
exceed in glory? For even that which was made
glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory
that excelleth. For if that which is done away
was glorious, how much more that which remaineth is glorious. Seeing them, we have such hope,
we use great plainness of speech. Not as Moses, which put a veil
over his face, and the children of Israel could not steadfastly
look to the end of that which was abolished, but their minds
were blinded. For until this day remaineth
the same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament,
which veil is done away with in Christ. But even under this
day, when Moses had read, the veil is upon their heart. Nevertheless,
when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit,
and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding
as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same
image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Galatians, the whole book of
Galatians is written in reference to this. 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 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. Verse 19, For I through the law
am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified
with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the
faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for
me. I do not frustrate the grace
of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ
is dead in vain. O foolish Galatians, who has
bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose
eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently set forth crucified among you?
This only would I learn of you, received ye the Spirit by the
works of the law or by the hearing of faith. Are you so foolish,
having begun in the Spirit, are you now made perfect in by the
flesh? These are the people that we've
been reading about in Acts 13 and 14 in that region of Galatia. Verse 10, For as many as are
of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written,
Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God, it is evident. For the just shall
live by faith, and the law is not of faith. The man that doeth them shall
live in them. Christ has redeemed us from the
curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For as it is
written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree, that the blessing
of Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Jesus Christ,
that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ has
made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
Behold, I, Paul, say unto you, that if you be circumcised, Christ
shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every
man that is circumcised, he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect
unto you. Whosoever of you are justified
by the law, you are fallen from grace. For we, through the Spirit, wait
for the hope of righteousness by faith. Ephesians 2, for he
is our peace, who is made for the both one, and hath broken
down the middle wall of petition between us, having abolished
in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments, contained
in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain one new man
making peace, so that he might reconcile both unto God in one
body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, and came
and preached peace to you who were far off and to them that
were nigh. And through him we both have
access by one Spirit unto the Father." Philippians. Yea, doubtless I count all things
lost to the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my
Lord. You might recall earlier in Philippians he said that he
was blameless under that law. He looked at it and did it and
he was blameless. And then he met the Lord Jesus
Christ. He 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
done that I may win Christ and be found in him 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. that I may know Him and the power
of His resurrection and the fellowship of my sufferings being made conformable
unto His death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection
of the dead." We've already looked at Colossians. Let's go down
to 1 Timothy at the bottom of the page. But we know that the
law is good if a man uses it lawfully. Knowing this, that
the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and
the disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and
profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers and
manslayers. The book of Hebrews is an exposition
of the glories of the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work.
Hebrews 7, If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood,
for under it the people received the law, what further need was
there for another priest? That another priest should rise
after the order of Melchizedek, and not be called after the order
of Aaron. For the priesthood being changed,
there is made of necessity a change also of the law. For he of whom
these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, which no man
gave attendance at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord
sprang out of Judah, of which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning
priesthood. And it is yet far more evident
For that, after the similitude of Melchizedek, there arises
another priest, who is made, not after the law of a carnal
commandment, but after the power of an endless life. For he testifies,
Thou art a priest forever, ever, after the order of Melchizedek.
For there is verily a disinnulling of the commandment going before,
for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. For the law made nothing
perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did, by the
which we draw nigh unto God. But this man, because he continueth
forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able
to save them to the uttermost, to come unto God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for us. for them. And for such an High Priest became
us, who is wholly harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, made higher
than the heavens, who needeth not daily as those High Priests
to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins and then for
the people. For this he did once when he offered up himself. For
the law maketh men high priests which have an infirmity, but
the word of oath which was since the law maketh the Son, who is
consecrated for evermore. For if the blood of bulls and
goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling on the unclean sanctify
to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood
of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without
spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God. Verse 12 of chapter 10, But this
man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat
down on the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till
his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. We have an altar whereof they
have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle." Romans 8 talks
about the glorious work of our Saviour. Verse 33, who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation,
or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril,
or sword? As it is written, For thy sake
we are killed all day long, and we are accounted as sheep for
the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded
that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities,
nor powers nor things present nor things to come, nor height
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." That love compels and constrains
God's people. We might sing again, Simon. That's as far as I am. Just as I am without one thing,
but that Thy blood was shed for me, and that Thou bidst me come
to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come. ? As I am waiting not ? ? To read
my soul a wonder plot ? ? To read this luck enchanting song
? ? Lamb of God, I run, I run ? With many a conflict, many a
doubt, I tease and tease with him. With thou, O Lamb of God,
I come, I come. O'er rich and blind, sight-reaching,
Seeing all the blind, Yea, all I need in Thee, To find O Lamb
of God, I come, I come. The Lord alone hath broken every
barrier, now to me Thine be Thine alone, O Lamb of God, I come,
I come to Thee. Father God, we just thank you
so much for your cause and your words. We pray, Lord, Father
God, as we see here, Lord, that our brothers and sisters at the
same time can do it, we pray for your love and blessing upon
them and preserve that you are holy in Christ. We pray, Lord,
that your glory be glorified here as well, Father God. But
I just think our heart's full of our worries and troubles that
continually focus each day, just fill us with the love of Christ
in our heart, and it fills us and gives us a lot of hope in
His love for us. We thank you Father God and we
just pray Lord that through your grace, and your spirit, and wisdom,
and the words and the charism, we go and speak with you in the
name of our Lord and Saviour. Amen. as you take it home and you will
say, well, dear, oh, dear, you missed out on these verses and
these verses and these verses and you missed out on this whole
book. Once again, I remind you that
this issue is is deep and serious and fundamental
and at the heart of this issue is the glory of God. The heart of this issue is the
glory of God the Father in His electing love, in giving a people
into the hands of His dear Son. It goes to the very glory of
the Lord Jesus Christ taking that gift to himself and becoming
purity for them in an eternal covenant, and him taking responsibility
for both their righteousness and their holiness before God,
and full responsibility to bear in his own body all their sins
on the tree. It goes to the very heart of
robbing the blessed Holy Spirit of the glory of fulfilling what
He had promised in eternity and what He had caused to be written
by all the prophets, which was the sufferings of Christ and
the glories which should follow. It robs the triune God of His
glory. And that Holy Spirit comes at
the time of love and creates life where there was no life.
And it's a new creation as we just read. It's a creation created
in righteousness and true holiness. It's the creation that lives
and dwells inside God's people. And that preserving, sanctifying,
purifying, electing work of our triune God is a work that goes
on and on and continues on through all of our days here and all
of heaven will be about the rejoicing and the glory of that. When we
get to see Him as He is, because we will be like Him, we will
see that the work is remarkable, the work is precious, and heaven's
glories are declaring that now. The saints in heaven are declaring
all of this now. And yet, and yet, Up to this
stage in action, as I said earlier, we've had this opposition from
all sorts, primarily stirred up by the Jews, who thought that
their legalistic law-keeping, that their activities somehow
commended themselves to God. But now, in Acts 15, and in the
letters of the rest of the New Testament, there's a far more
insidious and far more dangerous enemy of the Church. Because they come from within. See, the Church, up until this
stage, had dealt with opposition from outside. The Jews stood
opposed to the Church, stood outside the Church. The Gentiles
stood outside the Church. As the Church was gathered and
as it grew stronger and the numbers increased, the opposition increased,
and as the Gospel without the opposition continued. But there's
always an opposition from outside of the Church. We have to remember
that these men, these certain men we read about in Acts 15.1,
came down from Judea and taught the brethren. They came down
from Judea, they came down from Jerusalem, and they so much looked
like the brethren that they got themselves into positions where
they taught. And the word taught there, the
verb is in that continuous tense. They came and they taught and
they continued to teach. They came and they taught the
brethren and they said, except ye be circumcised after the manner
of Moses, you cannot be saved. Salvation, quite simply, salvation
is not entirely and completely the work of a sovereign God.
There is something in salvation that you must do. Now these people
weren't denying, they weren't denying the character of God
and they weren't denying the Lord Jesus Christ, so it seemed. Now what brethren, let's turn
to Galatians chapter 2 and let's have Paul's description of these
certain brethren. Galatians 2, he describes them.
He describes this very event and he describes these certain
men and he describes his activities of going up there. Verse 1, it says, then after
14 years, after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, I
think it's 14 years from his conversion, but let's go on.
Then I went up and I took Titus with me also. See, Titus was
a preacher. Titus was an uncircumcised Gentile
preacher. He took Titus with me also. And I went up by revelation.
Paul had a revelation from God the Holy Spirit. The disputation
was there in Antioch, as we read in that verse, in Acts 15. But he went up by revelation.
Paul, after the much disputation that we see in Acts 15, when
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 with the apostles and elders
about this question. But he also says that he went
up by revelation. So Paul communicated his revelation
to the church, and the church in Antioch says, by all means,
you obey the revelation of God. And of course the revelation
is about the fact that where was this problem coming from?
Where was this denial of the gospel coming from? It was coming
from Jerusalem. It was coming from the church
in Jerusalem. So he had a revelation and God
the Spirit said to him to go up and communicated unto them. So he went up by revelation,
he took Titus with him and he communicated unto them the gospel
which I preach among the Gentiles. See, he communicated. See, one
of the things that you might think is that Paul went up there
to get approval of the apostles in Jerusalem. Nothing could be
further from the truth. Because what he did to communicate
is to lay before, to declare, to set forth. Paul's going up
there as a triumphant missionary. He's going up there with the
Gospel so clearly embedded in his heart. He's going up there
because of the revelation of the Holy Spirit saying to him,
you go up there to Jerusalem and sort this out. He's going
up there triumphantly. He's going up there with deep
concern, but he doesn't go up there to seek approval. Please
don't think that he needed approval of the apostles in Jerusalem
for the Gospel he preached. He received the Gospel directly
from God. He says, if you have your Bible
open in Galatians 1, he didn't receive it, verse 15.
The Gospel that I preach, verse 11, the Gospel which was preached
to me is not after man. He didn't need any man to teach
him the Gospel. For I neither received it of
man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus
Christ." The Gospel is a man. The Gospel is the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The Gospel is the perfect finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He went up there to communicate
this. But I love what he did when he
went to Jerusalem. He went to Jerusalem and it says
He went there and he sat before them. He laid out before the
Jerusalem church the gospel. But what it says is that he went
there privately. And it means that he went there
separately, or he went there singly. And I can imagine Paul
getting to Jerusalem and then taking John and going for a long
walk out to Bethany, to where Lazarus was raised from the dead.
And he talked to John about the gospel that he preached. And
he talked to John privately about the message of the Lord Jesus
Christ and the wonders of redeeming love. That they were now, even
though he and Paul had been an enemy of the church, there they
were as dear brothers walking along together in the sweetest
fellowship around the Lord Jesus Christ. And then him taking Peter
aside. and having a meal with Peter,
and one topic filled their conversation, the Lord Jesus Christ and him
crucified, the glorious gospel that Peter preached, and the
wonderful things that Peter saw down in Cornelius' house, where
the Lord stopped his sermon and opened the hearts of those people
in Cornelius' house, and they believed the gospel, and the
Holy Spirit came upon them and validated the testimony of Peter. And he took James, and they walked
and they talked and they sat in the temple courts and they
recalled and remembered the things of the life of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He went there privately. Now he did two things which were
remarkable. He went there and he just preached
the gospel. This is my gospel. And he went and he took those
people aside privately to them which were of reputation. And
you might be wondering, lest by any means I should run or
had run in vain. We know very clearly from the
testimony of Scripture that our labours in the Lord are not in
vain ever. He was not in vain. He'd been
confirming the souls of people. The issue was going to be that
if the Jerusalem Church didn't agree with him and they commanded
Titus to be circumcised, it was simply that the Jerusalem Church
had apostatised and Paul wasn't going to move. There was now
going to be a division amongst the believers, the so-called
believers. And the wonder of what happened
in Jerusalem is that, of course, the Holy Spirit, who worked in
the lives of Peter and Paul and James and John, He caused them
all to speak with one voice and to declare that these men, we
were talking about these certain men, these certain men, if you
read in verse 4 of chapter 2 of Galatians, And that because, so Titus went
with him, Titus was with him in being a Greek, he wasn't compelled
to be circumcised. And this is because false brethren,
unawares brought in, came in privately to spy out our liberty
which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into
bondage. You see these men, these men
were deceitful, weren't they? They came in privately. They
came in looking like the believers. They came in with so much doctrine
that seemed so sound. And all they were doing All they
were doing is adding a little bit of something that you do. Something that you do to add
to the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Somehow by your activities
you can make it more effectual in your life. You can polish
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. You can apply it to your life
better than the promise of the Holy Spirit to do so. They were deceitful. They weren't
brethren at all. You see, these are the wolves
in sheep's clothing. These are Satan's ministers masquerading
as angels of light. And so close were they as angels
of light. If you look in verse 4, they
were unawares brought in. unawares brought in. So these
men so closely resembled the apostolic preachers of the Gospel
that they could get themselves a place and a hearing amongst
the believers. Satan is a great enemy of the
souls of people. We have seen him stirring up
enmity, but now he does this work which he will continue until
the Lord comes and takes his people out of this world, and
that is to rob the gospel of its glory and to take God's people
into captivity. They came to spy out our liberty
which we have in Christ Jesus. A liberty. He came, our glorious
Saviour, He came to set the captives free, to set them at liberty.
We've read those verses in Acts 26 of Paul's commissioning. The
great words of the Lord Jesus Christ, they're lovely, aren't
they? He says to Paul, rise and stand
upon thy feet for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose. Acts
26.16, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things
which thou hast seen and those things in which I will appear
unto thee, delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles
unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes and to turn them
from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God,
that they may receive the forgiveness of sins and inherited among them
which are sanctified by faith that is in me." You see, these
believers were perfectly complete in the Lord Jesus Christ. They
were made holy by His work. He had purchased them. They were
a gift from His Father in eternity. They were His bride. He came. And he took that bride to himself
and she was one with him in all that he did in this world. They were circumcised with him. They were baptised with him.
They walked with him. They were crucified with him.
They were buried with him. They were raised with him. They
sit exalted in heaven with him. That's the reality of all of
these people. That's their reality. That's
their reality. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ
won and did and achieved for them. And then someone comes
along and says to them, you've got to be circumcised. You've
got to obey the law of Moses. You've got to do something to
add to that work. Brothers and sisters, The power of this lie lies in
the fact that it's a lie that's embedded in all of us. It's in the very DNA of all of
Adam's children. It is simply do this and live. It is simply, as Satan said in
the gardens, you will be as gods. You will know good and evil.
And the start of this lie, the start of this lie is just simply
what Satan said in the garden today. Hath God said. I've just read to you, we've
just read the things of the glorious work of the Lord Jesus Christ
and you've heard them yet again. And the question is again and
again, is that, has God really said? Did God really say? Is there something more to be
done? Has Satan insinuated to leave
in the garden that somehow God is withholding some good from
you? Let's turn to Genesis 3, because
unless we understand this is a satanic delusion, Unless we
understand it as a satanic delusion, we won't understand it. Unless
we understand it as something that's embedded in our DNA, in
all of Adam's children, we won't understand it. And if we don't
understand the depth of it, we won't understand the wonder of
the remedy of it in our saviour. Now the serpent was more subtle
than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he
said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said? Now listen to what
he did. Listen to the next words of Satan. The very first words of Satan
in the garden is to deny the Word of God or cause Eve to think
and question the Word of God. And the very next words of Satan
are pointing Eve to the law of God. There was one law, one law
that encompassed much You see, Satan does exactly the same thing
today, again and again and again. This is exactly the same situation
in Acts chapter 15. He points people to the law. He perverts the Word of God.
And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the
trees in the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in
the midst of the garden God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it,
neither shall ye touch it. God hath said nothing about touching
it. So now she's starting to pervert the word of God herself.
And once she started perverting the word of God, the serpent
in verse 4 can say, And the serpent said unto the woman, You shall
not surely die. And then he lies about God, for
God does know that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes
shall be open, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and
evil. And when the woman saw that the
tree was good to her, and that it was pleasant to the eyes,
and a tree to be desired." See, law-keeping in the hands of the
law-keepers does all of those things, doesn't it? She took of the fruit thereof
and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he
did eat. And the eyes of them both were
opened, and they knew that they were naked. And then they begin,
having begun there, they sewed fig leaves together and made
themselves open. Now, immediately having fallen,
they are stitching together their own works to cover their shame. stitching together their own
works to cover their shame before each other and to hide themselves
from God. And they heard the voice of the
Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day and Adam
and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God
amongst the trees of the garden. So the first lie The first lie
introduced into the world is exactly the same lie which is
being introduced into the church by Satan subtly. And it continues
to this day in so many forms. The worst of all, the worst of
all are the ones that look closest to the truth and tell the most
about the truth. It is most pervasive in places
which teach the most about the Bible and tell the most truth
about the Lord Jesus Christ. I remind you of Satan masquerading
as an angel of light. Imagine what it's like being
in one of those churches in Galatia or the church in Ephesus, and
you have Paul as your pastor, Timothy as your pastor, John
as your pastor, and yet, as promised, someone rises up out of that
congregation and takes such a position in that congregation that they
are accepted in that congregation as a teacher. My point is simply that you're
not going to find out what these people are like by the way they
live their lives. There would be no outward immorality
in what they did, and in nearly everything they say you would
find no doctrinal error in them. and you would be amazed at their
zeal. These people have travelled all
the way from Jerusalem to go up there to Judea, and they continue
travelling, and they've continued travelling for the last 2,000
years. So their outward behaviour is
remarkably moral. In fact, their outward behaviour
is so moral that when you see them, when you see them, you
think, wow, I'd like to be like that. When you see their Bible
reading and their devotions and their givings and all their other
things, that they'll make sure that in some subtle way you know
about, you would say, I'd like to be like that. I'd like to
be able to do that as well. Brothers and sisters, that's
what happened in the churches in the apostolic age. That's what happened in the churches
in the apostolic age. It is a lie. It is a lie. It is a lie. A lie that Satan sends to people
who have believed the truth, who have believed the truth and
who have been saved by the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm more and more convinced as
time goes on, that the scriptures are just written for God's people. And the only people who ever
hear and understand the warnings of scripture and the evil of
this pernicious doctrine which infiltrated the church and has
infiltrated the Christian world almost totally, is that people just won't hear,
and God's people do hear, because God's people are given ears to
hear. God's people have been circumcised
in heart. That's what happened in Acts
chapter 2. They were cut into the heart, that God cut away
that heart of flesh, that heart of flesh, that Adamic heart of
flesh that says, do this and leave. you will be as gods. Unless God takes that away from
you, you will be left, religious people are left in a delusion,
in a delusion. And they go through this world
being applauded by men, and they go to meet God. in the words of those men in
Matthew chapter 7 that the Lord Jesus declared that there be
many of, they go to meet God with their own works in their
hands. They go to meet God saying, look
what we have done. Many will say to me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name
cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works? Paul and Barnabas in Acts 15,
when they met with this error, and saw its subtlety, and it's
only ever seen in light of the Gospel. It won't be seen in light
of any religion, and it won't be seen in light of any wisdom
of man. It's only exposed by the revelation of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation
with them. We don't want to be disputing
and arguing with people. We don't want to be seen to be
divisive. But when it comes to the issue
of the Gospel, and when it comes to the issue of the Gospel in
the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, as Paul says in Galatians
2 verse 5, when he met these people, when he discovered that
they were false brethren, when he discovered the subtlety of
them sneaking in like a slimy serpent, When he realised that
they are there to bring people into bondage, he says in verse
5, to whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour. The Church, in the Church of
God, we can't control what happens outside of our bounds. We're not responsible for what
happens out there. But we are responsible for what
happens in here. And there is a need, there is
a need, there is a need to stand and contend for the Gospel. And
as I've reminded you often, that which magnifies the Lord Jesus
Christ and that which magnifies the triune God the most is what
gives the most comfort to believers. So this is an attack on the very
character of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a very attack on the Word
of God. It's a very attack on what he's done in the lives of
his people. He says he didn't give in, he
didn't give a place, he didn't give them an opportunity to express
it without there being small dissension and disputation. There
was no small dissension and disputation. But Galatians 5, the end of that
verse says that there's a reason for it, that the truth of the
gospel might continue with you. the truth of the gospel might
continue with you. If you're a sinner, made a sinner
by the operations of God, the Gospel is not just good news
once, it's good news all the time. You are in constant need
of the good news. That's why Paul, even in the
midst of all this, he goes down and the first thing he does in
Jerusalem, the first thing he does is preach to the people.
He goes to the apostles and he preaches to them. It might have
been in a group, but it may well have been just privately. We
might say, why is the church harassed by these things? And
it will continue to be so. There must be, 1 Corinthians
11, 19, there must be heresies, there must be heresies among
you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. That's why Paul went down to
Jerusalem. And I love, I love what happens
on his way. The church approved him to go.
He had a revelation from God. Verse 3, the church, and the
being brought on their way by the church, what did they do?
They passed through Phineas and Samaria, declaring the conversion
of the Gentiles. and they cause great joy unto
all the brethren." See, Paul wasn't going down there apologetic
or wondering what was going to happen. He was going down there
triumphant. He was going down there triumphant,
brothers and sisters. He was going down there to declare
what God had done among the Gentiles. and of course his great joy among
all the brethren. He went down there joyfully expecting
that God would do as he had promised, that God would promise to be
the teacher of his people, that God would promise to be the sanctifier
of his people, that God who has crushed Satan
under his feet will not allow for his children to remain entangled
in his bondage, and he'll use his servants and the activities
of his servants to remind them yet again of the glories of the
Lord Jesus Christ. But it's a finished work. that
it's a completed work. I love that verse, if you just,
in closing we'll turn down, he says in verse 9, Peter gets up in this conference.
So he puts no difference, Peter declares to them at this conference,
no difference between us and them purifying their hearts by
faith. I want us also, in closing, just
to remember how pervasive this is today. I have read those verses
that we had printed out all those years ago, we read them again,
and you couldn't, and there are hundreds more in the Old Testament
and the New, hundreds more. You couldn't have a clearer testimony
from God about the fact that believers are free from the law
and at the same time we delight in the law of God. We delight
in the law of God because we see it in the hand of our Saviour.
We see it completed and finished and perfectly magnified and honoured
as He promised. We love the law of God. We see
it where it really belongs, in the one place where it's been
kept perfectly, we see it in Him. We love the finished work of
the Lord Jesus Christ. But this error, this error, After
the Jerusalem Council, you couldn't wish for a clearer declaration,
as we'll read in Acts chapter 15. You couldn't wish for more
clear evidence of scriptures. And yet, that error This error
that was dealt with so conclusively and clearly remained a problem
in all the churches of God throughout the apostolic age and is around
and is active today as it ever was and has pervaded the church. It's all free will works religion. It's all religion that says that
something you do is going to initiate the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ in your life, is going to continue it, or is going
to reward you at the end of your life. It's the principle that
makes man's obedience a basis for his acceptance with God.
That's the principle. And then it comes out in so many
forms, doesn't it? People want to say that God's
election of grace is due to what he sees in the merits of people
in time as they choose him. It's the same principle that
allows man to glory in himself because he's given himself spiritual
life. It's the same principle that
says that the work of God, a work which God has begun, can be forfeited
by the activities of man, that you can either choose or reject
the Saviour. It is the lie It's a lie that
says that by believing on Christ, the sinner makes Christ's blood
effectual for him, which is the position of every conservative
church in this country, that the Lord Jesus Christ has just
put out an offer. and you can accept or reject
that offer. The offering of the Lord Jesus
Christ was to God, and God accepted it, and He accepted everyone
in it, and therefore there is no more offering for sin. But
you somehow can make Christ's blood effectual, rather than
declaring that Christ's work was particular, was successful. It's the error Sierra, this lie,
still continues by saying that somehow your perseverance in
the faith is on the basis of the strength of your will and
your power, rather than your being kept by the power of God. It's anything that denies that
all the spiritual blessings that are won and earned by the Lord
Jesus Christ flow to us inexorably because of the work of the Spirit
in our lives. It all comes by free and sovereign
grace rather than by mercy, by merit of man. The vessel of mercy
has absolutely nothing of which to take credit from. but the
sin from which Christ alone can save. There is no merit in the
sin. Paul says in Galatians 5, I say
unto you that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. The Lord Jesus Christ will have
his bride The Lord Jesus Christ will rescue his people from that
lie of Satan. The Lord Jesus Christ will come
and come continually and the tossings and turnings and all
that turns us in this life away from any confidence in our flesh
and exposes the depth of our weakness is something that we
might He's struggling with, as the Lord chastens us, but His
chastening hand upon us is always to drive that lie out and to
leave His people like everyone who was healed in the New Testament. They came as beggars with nothing
and they went away made whole. May God keep us beggars and debtors
to sovereign grace. May he keep us just looking to
the Lord Jesus Christ. May he keep reminding us that
what he did in eternity, he does forever. That God's people were
saved from before the foundation of the world. God's people are
saved because of an eternal covenant engagements and nothing in this
world can undo what God has promised in eternity. What a glorious
Saviour we have. What a glorious Gospel we have
to proclaim. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
we do thank you for the trials and tribulations that the Church
went through that we might In our day, Heavenly Father, be
led of you to stand as they stood for the glory of your dear and
precious Son, the wonder of His finished work, the wonder of
what it was for Him to bear the sins of His people in His own
body on Calvary's tree, and for the sword of justice to strike
the very heart of the Son of God, and for Him to die that
we may live with you forever, that you would be unto us a God,
and that we might be unto you a people, our Father. We pray
that you'd bless our studies in this chapter of your word,
heavenly Father, that we might be reminded again of the glories
of redeeming love. the wonder of that precious blood
being shed for us, that body being broken for us, that we
Heavenly Father might simply remember Him and continually
remember Him. May you use us, Heavenly Father,
and use our short time in this world that we might contend for
the faith that was once delivered to the saints, and that we might
do it in your power and with the grace that you might allow
us to have, our Father, as we do with our erring brothers and
sisters in this world. We pray for your mercy and your
grace upon us, our Father, and we commit ourselves into your
hands. In Jesus' name, amen.