Now, in Acts 15, dissension and
disputation began when men came putting the emphasis on the believer. Accept ye, ye cannot. What's their message? And you
can fill in the blank with anything that's attainable by man. And
that's man's message. Except ye, ye cannot. Peace was given in this whole
situation through the Holy Spirit by God's faithful messengers
who stood up and declared what God has done, what He is doing,
and what He shall do. Look in Acts 15 verse 12. Then all the multitude kept silence
and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles
and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them. And then
after they held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and
brethren, hearken unto me. Simeon, Peter, hath declared
how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, and how God did
take out of them a people for his name. And then James says,
and to this agree the words of all the prophets, as it is written. After this, God said, 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 might seek after the Lord. And all the Gentiles,
upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all
these things." The one thing that made the difference between
the believing Jews and the believing Gentiles was the new spirit created
by the Holy Spirit, by Christ Jesus the King, through the preaching
of the gospel of Christ Jesus. that new spirit was created in
them through hearing the message of Christ and Him crucified.
And how was peace kept in the church during this time? By that
same message. By the same exact message. That's
how this peace was kept and how that old leaven of oppression
and legalism was put down. The gospel declares not what
sinners must do, but what Christ has done is doing and shall do. That's the gospel. Now Peter's
gospel, he declared that God through the Holy Spirit purifies
the heart when he brings a sinner to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and what the sinner actually believes and what is the purification
of his heart is he believes that Christ purged him of all his
sin and purified him by his one offering on the cross. And so
Peter preached salvation by the free, sovereign, unmerited grace
of God. And he said, and from that day
forward we're led of the Spirit of Christ. He said, we believe,
verse 11 there, he said, we believe through the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ we shall be saved. Us Jews who have been under the
Law of God, under the Old Covenant, under the Law of Moses, we shall
be saved even as these Gentiles who the Old Covenant never applied
to, these Gentiles who were never under the Law of Moses, these
Gentiles who don't even know who Moses is, whom God has saved
just like He saved Father Abraham before the Law ever came into
play in the parentheses in the middle. And he said, we're going
to be saved just like they were, by the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Then Paul and Barnabas declared all that God had done
in the places where they had preached to the Gentiles. And
we know Paul's gospel was this. He wrote to the Philippians and
he said, we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit. and rejoice in Christ Jesus and
have no confidence in the flesh at all. Now, verse 13. And after they had held their
peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto
me. And he says there, Simeon hath
declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles to take
out of them a people for his name. God's people are chosen
by grace. Jew or Gentile makes no difference. God's no respecter of persons.
If he doesn't respect race, he doesn't respect face, he doesn't
respect place, and he doesn't respect grace. God is no respecter
of persons. No matter what you take pride
in, God don't respect it. His grace is His own. And it
has no, it's irregardless of you or me whatsoever. And then
God's people are set apart in time by irresistible grace. He
said God at the first did visit the Gentiles and took out of
them a people. And God does it for one reason.
He does it for one reason. For His name. For His name. He don't save us for us. If He
didn't save me, it wouldn't alter His great name whatsoever. He
saves for His name. He saves because He's determined
to do so. And whosoever He's determined to save, He'll save.
And James says, And to this agree the words of the prophets as
it is written. The written Word of God is the
Word of the prophets, what he's referring to, the Old Testament.
And this is God's Word to us. This is God's Word to us. The
apostles, some call that verse in 11, the apostles' creed. Well,
their creed came from one place, as it is written. That's where it came from. And
then, He says, the words of the prophets agree upon this, and
that's what Paul said in Romans, the righteousness of God without
the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the
prophets. This is what the law of God said,
and still says as we read it today, and this is what the prophets
said. The righteousness of God is by
the fidelity of Jesus Christ. What he would accomplish because
by his faith, by his faithfulness, he would declare God just and
the justifier of all who believe. And that faithfulness is unto
all them that believe by His grace. And that scripture says
we're justified freely by that grace through redemption that's
in Christ Jesus. And it says that we're boasting
then. It's excluded. And it says we
conclude a man's justified by faith without the deeds of the
law. Is he the God of the Jews only? No. Is he not also of the
Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also. He's
got an elect people among the Jew and the Gentiles. And so
it's one God who justifies the circumcision of the Jews through
faith and the uncircumcision of the Gentiles by faith. And
so then, how do we conclude that the law of God is established? Is it made void then? No. The believer rejoices in it.
We take delight in the law of God, but we know we can't fulfill
it, else Christ wouldn't have had to come. We know we can't
do that work, else God wouldn't have sent His Son to do it. How
then can we be just? before that law. How can we be
righteous before that law? In the Lord our righteousness. And how are we justified, made
perfect before that law? In the Lord our substitute, our
righteousness. Isn't that right? And we fulfilled
it. The law got nothing to say to somebody who's perfectly righteous. You may have been stopped sometime
by a police officer when you did nothing wrong. And you felt
like Why are you stopping me? You've got nothing to stop me
about. You've got nothing to say to me. The law's got nothing
to say to me. I haven't broken the law." Well, in Christ, the
believer hasn't broken the law. Not in precept or penalty. Fulfilled
it in every jot and tittle. Established. Well, then James
says here, he quotes a prophecy. He says, after this, verse 16,
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 might
seek after the Lord and all the Gentiles upon whom my name is
called saith the Lord who doeth all these things. Now I want
you to notice some key words here. Return. Build again. Build again the
tabernacle of David which is fallen down. Build again the
ruins thereof. I will set it up. I will build
it as in the days of old. Three things are set forth here
in this prophecy. The prophets bore witness to
this as they bore witness to Christ and His work. First of
all, there's a fallen tabernacle. There's a fallen tabernacle.
If you're going to rebuild the tabernacle, it's because it's
fallen. David here is a type of Christ. You know that. If you want to
verify that, just go over and read Acts 2 sometime and see
what Peter said on the day of Pentecost about how David was
saying, he was saying, you've not suffered my soul to see corruption. And he said David wasn't speaking
about himself. He said David's speaking about
Christ. And he said, David said, unto my Lord, he's risen. This
is talking about David's Lord, David's King, Christ Jesus. David's
a type of Christ, and David's tabernacle is a type of Christ's
church. When Adam sinned, Christ's church
fell in the garden. And the fall of David's tabernacle,
which came to pass at the hands of the Babylonians, and when
the dispersion of the remnant of God's elect were dispersed
into the nations, this typified the fall in the garden when we
were separated from Christ and dispersed, His church, His people. And so, therefore, national Israel,
just as the old covenant, had served its purpose with God completely. And we read here, And he says,
I will return then after this. I will return. If God hadn't
turned to us, if Christ hadn't entered into a covenant before
the world began and returned to us, we'd have no hope. His
church would have no hope. And so you read in scripture
where it says, smite the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered.
And he says, and then I'll turn my hand on the little ones. I'll
return to them and call them out. Let me give you a couple
of scriptures. Ezekiel 34. Ezekiel 34, 23. Just
to verify this. The Lord said, I will set up
one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant
David. He shall feed them, and he shall
be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their
God, my servant David, a prince among them. I, the Lord, have
spoken. And David, my servant, shall
be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall
also walk in my judgments, and observe my statues, and do them. And they shall dwell in the land
that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers
have dwelt, and they shall dwell therein, even they and their
children, and their children's children for ever." What land
is that? Let me help you with that. It's
called the land of promise. The land of promise. You can't
see it. You can't see it. It's the land
of promise. That's what the Lord promised
them. I'll bring you into a land that I've promised. It's not
a physical, temporal land, it's the land of promise. No more
than David is that prince, the King David. It's not national
Israel, it's spiritual Israel. It's not a return to Jerusalem,
it's a return to the Lord. It's not to David, but to David's
Lord Christ our King. And all this would begin when
our Lord returned in the days called the latter days, or the
last days. You know when that was? That was when he came, and we
read there in Isaiah where it said, unto us a child is born
and a son is given. His name shall be Emmanuel. The
government shall be on his shoulders. And the increase of that government,
there shall be no end. The throne of David, the kingdom
of David. This is Christ, the son of David,
because Joseph was a son of David. He's called the son of David.
And to verify it even more, when Christ walked this earth in John
10, 16, He said, And other sheep I have, which are not of this
fold, they're not all of Israel, of this nation Israel, them also
I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall
be one fold and one shepherd. Isn't that what the prophet said?
There'll be one fold and one shepherd. He'd be the king. You
can, let me give you some, we're running late tonight, let me
give you some text you can look up on this. You can look at Isaiah
11, verses 10 through 12. And then, I better have you look
at this one, but Isaiah 28, 15. The first work in this rebuilding
of this temple is laying the foundation of the temple. Christ's
work that He came to do was that work. He is the foundation. Isaiah 28.15 says, Because ye
have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are
we at agreement? When the overflowing scourge
shall pass through, it shall not come unto us, for we have
made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves.
Therefore this saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for
a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone,
a sure foundation, righteous through and through, no sin in
him, within or without, this precious, sure, tried stone,
tried by the Satan himself, tried under the law of God, tried under
every temptation, every infirmity that you and I come into contact
with, felt the feelings of those infirmities, yet without sin,
this stone is tried and precious. Couldn't be found impure at all. He that believeth shall not make
haste. Judgment also will I lay to the lion, and righteousness
to the plummet. The hail shall sweep away the
refuge of lies, and the water shall overflow the hiding place."
You remember in Isaiah, whenever the waters of Shiloah that go
softly, The reason those waters go softly for the believer, that
was a pool where you could go and the fuller went and washed
the garments so that they were spotless in that pool, that upper
conduit by the fuller's field. He said, he'll come like fuller's
soap and he'll purge the sons of Levi. He purges all the stain. He purges out the iniquity and
the sin of his people. And because he bore the judgment
and because judgment was was carried to the plumb line, and
because He is that line of righteousness, brethren, because the scourge
swept over Him. the flood, just like the ark,
and that flood of judgment swept away all the sins of his people,
and it uncovered all the sins of all the people that reject
him, and it left them without a refuge. It left them uncovered,
without a hiding place. But now, because that judgment
poured over him, the waters of Shiloah go softly for you. If you are willing If one of
you are willing to come to Christ, if you feel in your heart that
you see your need of Christ, you see your need of a Savior,
and you've been made willing by Him to come to Christ alone,
empty-handed, Don't be fearful that God's going to turn you
away in judgment. Come to the pool of Shiloah. Come to Christ himself and you
will find washing. You will find a cool, soft water
where you can wash yourself and be clean. The Lord told a blind
man one time. He came to him and he put some
dirt on his eyes. He was blind. He put this ointment
on his eyes. And he said, now go wash in the
pool of Shiloah. Shiloah, which means sin. That's
this pool that we saw in Isaiah. And because Christ bore that
man's judgment, and God had no more wrath towards that man,
When he went to that pool, he came away completely whole. He could see his sins were purged
and he was clean. That's why that water is soft,
because judgment has been laid to the line. Now, if you come
to God without him, You come in that overflowing scourge of
wrath, that water of judgment. But this foundation is Christ. No other foundation can a man
lay than that which is laid, and that foundation is Christ
Jesus the Lord. Well, that's the first thing
that's declared here, is that there's a fallen tabernacle that
had to be rebuilt, and Christ came to rebuild it. The second
thing we see here in Acts is is that the whole of this work
is the making of a new creation. The first building's fallen.
That's the fall of man, the destruction of Israel. But we read here about
a recreation, a new creation, a new tabernacle which is built
by the Lord, as in the days of old. a new king, Christ our David,
a new kingdom made up of God's elect, Jew and Gentile, a new
tabernacle, a new house made of living stones, of believers,
a new nation with a new name. Christ made this creation from
the remnant of Jews and His elect Gentiles, and He gives this new
nation His name. He said, this is those upon whom
My name is called. and new life through the Holy
Spirit created anew in Christ Jesus. When a sinner hears the
law, Right now, you hear me preaching, and you hear about sin and rebellion
and all this stuff, and you hear about the law of Moses and what
the law said. And you hear it. And you think,
well, I'm not so bad. I don't do so bad. But when you
hear this law spiritually, when God sanctifies the hearing to
your heart, or you hear it spiritually, when He does this work, then
it's gonna become a law in the spirit. We're speaking to you
about not just that sin which is out here in the flesh, but
it's gonna be a sin of the heart. And when it becomes a sin of
the heart, then you become fearful. Then you become, you hear the
law screaming loud and clear to you that you are guilty, guilty,
guilty before this law. And if you ever hear that law,
scream that. And you're brought to the point
of trembling before this law to see that you don't have a
Savior. You don't have a Redeemer. You're open and naked before
God Almighty and the thrice holy God is about to deal with you. And then you hear Christ say,
Lo, this fire from off the altar has touched your tongue. And
your sins have been purged. I've put them away. And your
iniquity is forgiven. And your sins, I'll remember
no more. I guarantee you, I guarantee
you, the man that's gone through that and has discovered that
his sins have been purged, That fella deal with people a whole
new way. He'll treat his wife better.
He'll treat his kids better. Somebody said he'll treat his
dog better. That man will find out something about forgiveness
and he'll treat everybody differently. And that's why this new creation,
that's why we read scriptures that says we're His workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in them. You know what those
good works are first and foremost? The works Christ accomplished.
We're led of the Spirit. We walk in the Spirit in the
works He accomplished. Perfectly righteous. And then
he says in Ephesians 4.24, "...put on the new man, which after God
is created in righteousness and true holiness." Peter talked
about purification by faith. Romans 2 tells us that circumcision
is circumcision of the heart. A man that's a true Jew, a true
child of Abraham, Paul said, we are the circumcision which
rejoices in the Spirit. walk, worship God in the spirit,
rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh, that's
because Christ has circumcised the heart. James is talking about
the same thing. He's saying the prophets been
saying this from the beginning. They've been saying that God's
got to make a new creation, a totally new creation. And then he says,
this is what I think Paul's getting at. Look at Galatians 6 with
me, Galatians 6. This is what I think that James,
I'm sorry, James is getting at here by quoting this prophecy
and saying, yep, exactly what Peter just said about God coming
and God making a new creation and God giving these sinners
a new heart and purifying their hearts by the sprinkling of the
blood of Christ Jesus to make them see what Christ had done
for them. This is what James is saying, Galatians 6.15. For
in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision,
but a new creature." That word there is creation. A brand new
creation. All together, a new creation.
Well, then thirdly, let me show you this. Those who are called
into this new creation make up this tabernacle. It says in 1
Peter 1.5, Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual
house. Look at Ephesians 2.19. Ephesians
2.19. Now therefore, he's talking to
Gentiles, you're no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens
with the saints and of the household of God. And you're built upon
the foundation of the apostles and prophets, That's how this
foundation was laid through God's prophets of old and his apostles.
Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone in whom all
the building, all these lively stones, all these redeemed, regenerated
sinners, believers, are fitly framed together and groweth unto
an holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also are builded together
for inhabitation of God through the Spirit. Now, all of this
was accomplished by God, in Christ Jesus, the Son of God, to whom
all power in heaven and earth is given, who has been the surety
of His people since He entered into the covenant before the
world began, and whom we're called into His rest by the Holy Spirit
when He gives life. That's what this prophecy said.
You're born again, created anew in the heart, Collectively, you've
built up a spiritual tabernacle, and over it all is King Jesus
reigning and ruling, just like King David did. Now, all things
are new. Ain't that right? All things
are new. Let me give you a few scriptures here. The Lord said
in Isaiah 65, 17, I create new heavens and a new earth, and
the former shall not be remembered nor come into mind. He says in
another place, we according to his promise look for new heavens
and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. You know what
dwells in this earth? Sin, because of the fall. He's
creating everything new. The inner man's created new already.
And the tabernacle he's building by gathering his sheep together
into one fold, Jew and Gentile from the four corners of the
earth, make up a new tabernacle. Not made of stones like that
old one, but a new tabernacle. And those saints that have gone
on before, they're in new Jerusalem right now, in Mount Zion, in
heavenly Jerusalem. They're in heaven's kingdom with
Christ the King. And He's creating us right now
anew. And when He returns, He said
to those that have died beforehand, and whose bodies are in the ground,
their bodies shall be raised first, so that we'll be with
Him in a new body and a new spirit and a new soul, perfectly sanctified
with Him in this new heavens and this new earth. And those
of us who remain, who are still alive when He comes, will be
raised to meet the saints in the air. And then those who are
not in Christ, Then they'll be raised and they'll be brought
before the judgment right throne of God to answer for themselves
Because their names are not written in the last book of life They
never believed on Christ by his grace and they have no advocate
with the father well, I Want to show you a few things here.
I won't I want you to see here that when James is talking about
this in Acts 15 And I'll show you this quickly, but James concludes
all this and he says Verse 18, Known unto God are all His works
from the beginning of the world. This is James' comments on that
prophecy. He said, now obviously what Peter
has shown us here, what God has bore witness to, is that He's
returned. He's on His throne. He's reigning
and He's ruling. He's called out some Gentiles
now. He's bore witness through the Holy Ghost and He's showing
us that He is bringing His elect together just like He said He
would. He's keeping them obedient by His Spirit in them. They're
both willing to do His good pleasure and His good pleasure is being
performed by Him, by His Spirit in them through the preaching
of the Gospel. Now, He said all this was determined from the
beginning of the world. Go back with me to Genesis 1.1. Genesis 1.1. Let me show you
something. Genesis 1.1. Now where's the beginning let's
see Genesis chapter 1 verse 1 in the beginning God Created the
heaven and the earth now. This is the first creation What
he's telling us God Illustrated this when he made the first creation
God illustrated to us and showed us and declared to his elect
how he's making this new creation The earth was without form and
void. Now, what you go read here in
these next few verses, the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Corinthians
said, God, who spoke light out of darkness, who said, let there
be light, hath shined in our heart that we might behold the
glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus. It's all described right
here in the beginning. Because this is the first thing
that has to happen for a believer to behold the work of God and
what work God has done. We were without form and we were
void. Darkness was upon the face of
the deep. This is a description of the sinner, unregenerate sinner.
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, and God
said, Let there be light, and there was light. And God saw
the light, that it was good. And God divided the light from
the darkness. And God called the light day,
and the darkness He called night. And the evening and the morning
were the first day. Now, we go through six days like
this, and then we come to Genesis 2, verse 1. Thus the heavens and the earth
were finished, and all the host of them. Everything was accomplished. Everything was done. Everything
was finished. The new heaven and the new earth
was complete. It was done. It was finished.
And on the seventh day, Listen, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,
Friday, that only exists with God. That's pagan. That's heathen. He calls it 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
7. He don't call it Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. So therefore, we can't
tell if the Sabbath was on a Saturday, a Sunday, a Monday, a Tuesday,
a Wednesday, according to the pagan calendar. You can't tell
that. You can't prove that. Ain't nobody gonna prove that
to you. God don't call it that. That's a pagan superstition. He calls it one, two, three,
four, five. When did it begin? When God started
it. When did it end? When God ended it. That's when.
And he says here, And on the seventh day God ended his work
which he had made. Now seven is completion. Seven is the holy fullness. The holy completion. And he rested
on the seventh day from all his work which he had made and God
blessed the seventh day and he sanctified it. He separated it.
He consecrated it as his special day. His holy rest. Why? because that in it he rested
from all his work which God created and made. Now, when it says these
are the generations, that means this is the beginning, this is
the birth, this is the first birth. of the heavens and of
the earth when they were created in the day that the Lord God
made the earth and the heavens and every plant of the field
before it was in the earth and every herb of the field before
it grew for the Lord God..." You want to answer that? This
is just throwing this out there extra for you. You want to answer
that parable, what came first, the chicken or the egg? The chicken
did. Because God existed first. And the seed, Christ the seed,
came from Him. What does it say right there?
every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every
herb of the field before it grew. And if you'll read, it says,
and the seed came from the herb that was made before it was ever
in the earth. Chicken came before the seed.
So, but now here's what I want you to see. God worked six days,
and then you know what he said? He's finished. Done. Finished. And he separated the
seventh day. Completely separated that day.
And he said, this day is the day of rest. This is the Sabbath. This is the holy completion,
my holy fullness, because there remains nothing else whatsoever
to be done. Period. It's done. It's finished. It's complete. Now, the first
work he did, Paul said in Corinthians, he said the commentary on that
was that that's what God does in the new creation, in the new
birth, in the creating anew of the new man, of that man that's
created that didn't exist before. What did the book say here? These
are the generation. That was the first birth. Paul
said, now the second birth is God did it just like He did that
first day. And when God opened up Adam's eyes and breathed life
into him, just like He creates that new man and creates life
in that new man in the second birth, in the being born again,
being recreated after righteousness and true holiness, you know what
He does then when He opens up our eyes? He makes us to see
all the work is finished. That's what Adam saw when his
eyes were opened. All the work was finished. And
again, God calls us into His holy rest. The only other one
besides God who created the first creation, the only other time
that that word, it is finished, has ever been used in the same
regard that God used it in that first creation was when it was
used when the second creation was finished. And Christ on the
cross said, it is finished. And you know what God did when
it was finished? He separated Him. He raised Him to His right
hand and sat Him at His throne, and He said, this one is separated.
This is My holy completion. This is My holy fullness. And when He shines the light
in our hearts and causes us to behold this glory in the face
of Christ Jesus, you know what He does? He calls the believer
into His Sabbath rest, into Christ the Lord. And we just rest. There's nothing else to be done.
Nothing else to be done. Because it pleased the Father
that in Him should all fullness dwell. You know what that word
could just as well be? It pleased the Father that in
Him, seven. It pleased the Father that in
Him, Sabbath. It pleased the Father that in
Him, completion. Same word. And that's why you
read shortly after that same passage, you read, and ye are
complete. Amen. Finished. The holy fullness
that God requires is Christ the Lord. It's done. So when James
quotes this prophecy, and he says, the prophets have been
saying this forever. Just what Peter just said to
you, that God purifies the heart by faith, and He makes us a new
creation. He said, God's going to call
Gentiles and Jews. He's going to make a new man
in the inner man, circumcised by the purification of His power
and His grace in the heart. Just like He's making a new tabernacle
of Jew and Gentile. Just like when He's finished,
there'll be a new heavens and a new earth, and a new Jerusalem.
A new generation, a regeneration, a new creation, a second creation,
a new heavens and a new earth. All brand new because God did
it. Christ did it. Christ put all
the sin away and he did it. And he did all of that from the
beginning, knowing these works from the beginning, just simply
to show his people. I wish I could figure out a way
to illustrate this. I just don't know how to do it. It's like if you take out your
little, you fellows are about half grown now, you don't do
this anymore, but you used to take out your little figures,
your little army men or matchbox cars or whatever, and you'd set
up your little city and you'd play with them and move them
all around and all that. And you call your daddy and say,
Dad, come in here and look at this. And you set it all up and
you show him, you move it all around and show him how you did
it. And you set it all up and you moved it all just so and
did everything just so you could show him how wise you were and
how smart you were. Well, that's what God did. He made this world and everything
in it in that first creation. and allow sin to enter in, just
so his son could come forth. And it was all trusted to his
son from the beginning. His son came forth and worked
everything out in time, everything out in time, just so he could
sit back and say, Father, look what I've done. And his father
said, son, that's amazing. I love that. That's bringing
honor and glory to my name. And then his people, when he
shows it to them, they behold it and say, you mean we've been
that insignificant? Just like little matchbox cars
and little toy men, and yet you've had mercy and grace on us and
saved us and brought us to see your great and glorious name.
It's pretty much that simple. Pretty much that simple, and
that profound, and that mysterious, and that powerful, and that amazing.
And that's the mystery. That is the mystery that you'll
never believe until God makes that new creation in your heart,
to behold that new creation that He's created. So, here's where
Paul ends. And I'll give you this. You're
familiar with this, so I'm just going to give it to you. But
when He said none under God are all His works from the foundation
of the world, from the beginning of the world, you can go back
even a step further. In Ephesians 1, you can read
that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit
purposed the whole thing before He ever even made the first grain
of sand or made the first man. And He said He blessed them with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ before the foundation
of the world, according as He chose us in Christ Jesus. that
we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. When
we fell in the garden, when this church, this tabernacle of David,
the spiritual tabernacle, when Christ's church fell in Adam
before God in Christ, we were holy and without blame before
Him in love. In time, in ourselves, We were
under the wrath of God, under the condemnation of God. But
as with Christ is our surety, with Christ standing between
us and God, we were always holy and without blame before Him
in love. When you read Romans 8, when it tells whom He did
foreknow, He did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of His Son. Moreover, whom He did predestinate, whom He also
called, whom He called, whom He also justified, whom He justified,
whom He also glorified. They're all in past tense. You
can't get this with our finite mind, but every bit of that was
done in the mind and will of God, in the purpose of God before
the foundation of the world when He put us in Christ. That's the
all-spiritual blessings that were accomplished. You mean I
was even called? It says here, He's going to call the Gentiles
upon whom His name is called. That means who He's named. That don't mean who He's called
by the Spirit. That means whom He said, that one's mine. He
chose them, put them in Christ, and said, that one's called by
my name. That was called by my name. And then they're brought
in time, called by the Spirit to behold all these things and
behold this work of grace. And then they're called effectually,
experimentally, to see He called me from the foundation of the
world. He named me Him. And everybody else that hadn't
been named, these fellows that came and were saying, except
you, you cannot, unless you do this, whatever, they came as
angels of light saying, we're doing this sincerely. We love
you. We care for you. We're just doing this because
we're hoping that it'll make you want to just stay in the
church that much more. Those fellows, as we're going
to see before we get out of Acts 15, the saints that Jerusalem
said, they took the Lord's name in vain. They're not his. They weren't sent by us. We didn't
give them this commission to come tell you that. They took
his name without him calling them by his name. And anybody
that he doesn't call by his name, he's taking his name in vain. They're saying, I'm a Christian.
No, you're not. You're still trusting in what
you've done. You're not a Christian. You're
taking his name in vain. So here's the end. Wherefore
my sentence is, verse 19, that we trouble not them which from
among the Gentiles are turned to God, but that we write unto
them that they abstain from pollution of idols, and fornication, and
things strangled, and blood. For Moses of old time hath in
every city them that preach him being read in the synagogues
every Sabbath day. Real quick, we're going to look
at this mostly next time, but I'll give you just something
real quick. Verse 20, abstained from pollution of idols, from
fornication, from things strangled, and from blood, describes a worship
service that the Gentiles were accustomed to in false religion. You mean they had idols and they
ate animals strangled and they drank blood? and they committed fornication.
Yep, that's what they did. That was part of their worship
service, every bit of that. And verse 21 describes the worship
service of the Jews, namely the reading of Moses. Moses' Law
of Moses being read every Sabbath day. And the Law of Moses forbid
those things which the Gentiles had done in their worship service
for years. The Law of Moses said, you can't
have idols. The Law of Moses said, you can't
commit fornication. The Law of Moses said, you can't
eat things strangled. You can't drink blood. And so
what James is saying is, we're not going to make these Gentiles
be circumcised according to the Law of Moses. So we don't want
to put a stumbling block in their way because they're at liberty
with Christ. And by the same token, these
babes, these Jews who do believe and are yet in the synagogue
where the Law of Moses is being read, this is dying out and they're
going to be taught. But we don't want to put a stumbling
block in front of those either by these Gentiles being at liberty
and eating meat offered to idols and these things like that. The
point is, it's not about the actual circumcision or uncircumcision,
about the idols or eating meat strangled or those things. It's
about the spirit of graciousness. It's about the spirit of being
born of God and about not putting a stumbling block. It's about
not doing anything that would prohibit your brethren from worshiping
Christ and Him alone, and growing in the knowledge and understanding
of Him. Now, fellows who take those things like that, and they
say, now, except ye abstain from those things, you cannot. They're
either weak brethren, or they don't know God at all. They're
either weak brethren or they don't know God, and they're putting
a stumbling block in the way. They're using those things. We'll
deal with that next time. We'll look at it next time. It's about being gracious. Now,
let me say this. If we've ever come into this
realization of what we are, of the sin that we are, and of the
forgiveness and what God has done to make us a new creation,
and how that He's revealed Christ in us and made all things new,
We'll stop looking at the flesh. Let me give you something here.
Do you realize that when Christ came the first time, when He
came the first time, those same scriptures we just looked at,
the prophets that James talked about, the Jews used those very
scriptures. and looked for a physical restoration
of national Israel and a national kingdom and a national government
over the world by those scriptures. And likewise, that's why these
Judaizers came saying, except you be circumcised, you can't
enter in the kingdom of God, because they only saw the flesh
is all they saw in those days. Did you know that there are people
in this day and time using the same exact scriptures, the same
exact way as the Jews did, looking at the law the same exact way
as a letter, and saying, except you, you cannot. And unless God's
merciful, just like the Jews missed him the first time he
came, they'll miss him the second time he came. Now that tells
us something about our need for God's grace and his mercy in
this new creation, this purging of the heart by faith. And it
tells us brethren, circumcision avails nothing. The law avails
nothing, or if you don't have the law, it avails nothing. What
avails something is a new creature made so by God the Father, God
the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.