May I please the Lord to help
us as we consider his word again, turning to the 15th chapter of
the Acts of the Apostles, and we'll consider this evening the
first five verses. You may remember that last time
we left the Apostle Paul and Barnabas in Antioch, And now
we read, 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. Well, of course they were, they
knew the old ceremonial law, they'd been brought up with it,
and they knew how important it was to carry out that ceremonial
law. And so we can understand their
attitude here, as they came and they spoke and they said that
except there was that circumcision after the manner of Moses that
they could not be saved. And that was what they obviously
clearly and fundamentally believed to be true. And 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 and to the apostles and elders
about this question. It was, you see, a very important
question because quite clearly the old ceremonial law had passed
away. We understand that by God's grace
as we read the New Testament and we see how clearly that all
those necessary ceremonies were fulfilled through the death and
resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. But these
were the early Christians and therefore they were holding on,
we might say, to their old traditions. And it's a good lesson to learn
that it's good to have traditions but sometimes they're not to
be held on to if those situations have passed away and a new situation
exists. Here was a new situation and
yet they were holding on to their old traditions. They didn't understand
really what had happened, the real reason, and yet they decided
therefore that they would go to Jerusalem to have a decision. They would hold a synod there
in Jerusalem. We know that there The other
apostles were still at Jerusalem and therefore it was good and
right that Paul and Barnabas should therefore go to Jerusalem
to find out what the view was there. So it would be then a
consensus based upon the word of God and based upon those things
which had occurred. And being brought on their way
by the church They passed through Phoenicia
and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles, and they caused
great joy unto all the brethren." Well, it must have been a wonderful
journey, wasn't it, going back from Antioch to Jerusalem? And they were able to stop off
on their way to tell of the work of God. And how clear it is that
these apostles They were only concerned to bring honor and
glory to the Lord through preaching the gospel, through declaring
what he'd done. And it's a good example for us
to follow the pattern that we have set before us in the word
of God. And so there they were brought
in our way by the church and they passed through these places
and they caused great joy unto all the brethren. It is good
news, isn't it? It's wonderful good news when
we hear of God's work. And I'm sure if the Spirit of
God is working in our hearts, we will rejoice also as we hear
of the work of God being performed. How wonderful it is and how we
should indeed rejoice to see it and to be able to hear of
it. And so being brought on their way The disciples, they went
through Phoenicia and Samaria, declaring quite clearly the conversion
of the Gentiles, and they caused great joy unto all the brethren. And when they would come to Jerusalem,
they were received at the church and by the apostles and elders,
and they declared all things that God had done with them.
And so here they are back at Jerusalem. What are they doing? They're declaring what God has
done with them. It would seem that this was the
most important thing. They weren't worried really about
trivial things. They wanted to declare the great
things that God had done. And so may we always realize
these great truths. You know, as we may journey from
place to place, to think that our first concern should be to
declare what God has done. And may we have things to be
able to declare the evidence of God's work. We want to see
that, don't we? We don't want to just go from
day to day and year by year without any evidence of the work of God. We need to see the appearing
of the Blessed Spirit converting and moving hearts and blessing
people. And may this be our continued
and great concern. then we see but there rose up
certain of the sects of the pharisees which believed saying that it
was needful to circumcise them and to command them to keep the
law of Moses. So the Pharisees were very faithful
in what they were doing, they believed in the law of Moses,
they were believers, and yet they were trying to hold the
old ceremonial law and the gospel as it were in both hands, not
realizing that those ceremonies had now all been fulfilled. And
so they brought this situation to this synod in Jerusalem for
them to be able to view the whole case and to be able to come to
a right and God-honouring conclusion as to what was to be done and
what was to be left behind and what they were to truly believe
and what they were able to rest upon. And so we should be thankful
that we have here, as it were, a formula. We see these people
these apostles joining together to seek the will of God and to
seek what was right in all these things. And so may these things
be examples to us in a day and age in which we live. Amen.