Go with me back to Acts 15. I have a message of truth tonight. Sometimes I feel like I come
with a message of comfort and I believe that all the gospel
is comforting. I was just comforted by the reading.
But this is a message of truth. Start with chapter 14, verse
26. Let's start reading that. Chapter
14, verse 26. And thence sailed to Antioch,
that's Paul and Barnabas, from whence they had been recommended
to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled. And when
they were come and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed
all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door
of faith unto the Gentiles, and there they abode long time with
the disciples. And certain men which came down
from Judea," now Jerusalem was in the region of Judea, all right,
the church where the apostles were. And certain men which came
down from Judea taught the brethren and said, except you be circumcised
after the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved." Now is that
true or false? Except you be circumcised after
the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved. It's a lie. It's just
not true. That's not true. Now we can look
at that and say, how foolish. Isn't that ridiculous? How foolish. They should have known better,
shouldn't they? Circumcision? Before we pass judgment on these
men too quickly, let me bring it a little closer to home. All
right? Let's bring it just a little
bit closer to home. Back then, they had circumcision. Do you
know what we have today? Baptism. That's what we have today, baptism.
Can a person be considered a believer who has not confessed the Lord
in believer's baptism? Can a person be considered safe? I mean, that's it, secure, saved, one of the fold, I mean
one of the fold. You are in God's fold without
confessing the Lord in believer's baptism. The answer is yes. A person can be a regenerated
child of God without ever stepping foot in the water of believer's
baptism. It sounds like you're trying
to encourage people not to be baptized. We're not talking about
the importance of baptism. The question here is, is it salvation? That's the question here. Is
it salvation? I'm trying to get the focus off
of baptism and on Christ, and that's what Paul and Barnabas
are doing right here. You know, somebody's going to
say, but baptism is commanded by God. Didn't God command Moses? You
tell all the people every male child has to be circumcised on
the eighth day. Didn't He tell them that? That
was a commandment of God. But I want to show you something
in Genesis 17. Go with me over to Genesis 17.
This applies to every ordinance, every single one. Genesis 17, look at verse 9. And God said unto Abraham, thou
shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou and thy seed after thee
and their generations. This is my covenant which you
shall keep between me and you and thy seed after thee. Every
man child among you shall be circumcised. And you shall circumcise
the flesh of your foreskin And it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and
you. It's not the covenant. It's a
token. That means it's a sign. It's
a mark of remembrance. That's what it means. That's
all it is. It's not salvation. It is not
salvation. It's something to remind us of
the Christ that saved us. That's what it is. Now go with
me over to Galatians chapter 2. Galatians chapter 2. We're going
to see as we get to the next chapter in Acts, if the Lord
allows us to keep on going through Acts, we're going to see where
Paul had Timothy circumcised. He met Timothy, and he immediately
had him circumcised. And he did that for the gospel's
sake. He did that so there would be
no hindrances in hearing Timothy preach the gospel. But look right
here in Galatians 2 verse 1 says, Then fourteen years after I went
up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, this is Paul speaking, and took
Titus with me also. And I went up by revelation and
communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles,
but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means
I should run or had run in vain. But neither Titus, who was with
me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. I was not
compelled to circumcise him, and he was not compelled to be
circumcised. And here's why, verse 4. And
that because of false brethren unawares, brought in, who came
in privately to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus,
that they might bring us into bondage, to whom we gave place
by subjection, no, not for an hour, that the truth of the gospel
might continue with you." They made it an issue of salvation.
That's what they did. Now I love our ordinances. I love them. We just had one
and I loved it. But they made it an issue of
salvation. God's spirit in a sinner is going
to cause that sinner to want to obey God. That's what he's
going to put in his heart. But they made it an issue of
salvation. They said, without this, you can't be saved. That's what they said. Without
this, you cannot be saved. And Paul and Titus said, we're
not doing it. He is not going to be circumcised.
We're just not doing it. And when somebody who believes
in their heart that baptism is salvation, when they're confronted
with the truth, the first thing they realize is, we're not doing
it. Not for that reason. Don't be
baptized. Don't get in the water. That's
not salvation. The truth of the gospel must
continue. It must continue. Go with me
back to Acts chapter 15. To bring verse 1 close to home,
it could read like this. Certain men which came down from
Judea taught the brethren and said, except you be baptized
after the manner of John, you cannot be saved. That's just
not true. It is just not true. I don't
care what we put in there. The minute we add anything to
the finished work of the blood of Jesus Christ, we've taken
the truth of the gospel and we've turned it into a lie. Verse 2
says, When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension,
that means they had a standoff, they stood their ground, and
disputation, they disputed 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. And being
brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phenicia
and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles, and they caused
great joy unto all the brethren. And when they were come to Jerusalem,
they were received of the church and of the apostles and elders,
and they declared all things that God had done with them.
But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees, which
believed, saying that it was needful to circumcise them, and
to command them to keep the law of Moses. So they went up to
Jerusalem and they told the apostles, this is everything that's going
on in Antioch. All right, verse six. And the apostles and elders
came together for to consider this matter. And when there had
been much disputing, Peter rose up and said unto them, men and
brethren, you know how that a good while ago God made choice among
us that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel
and believe. The Lord came to Peter, and he
said, ìDonít you call unclean what Iíve made clean. You go
preach the gospel to Cornelius.î And he did, and God sent His
Spirit, and the Jews said, ìThe Lord sent His Holy Ghost to the
Gentiles too.î Verse 8, ìAnd God, which knoweth the hearts,
bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as He did
unto us, and put no difference between us and them, purifying
their hearts by faith. Now, therefore, why tempt ye
God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither
our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that
through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved
even as they. Peter said salvation is by grace
alone. It's by grace alone. It's through the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ alone. We're going to see next time
as we continue in this chapter. that the apostles wrote a letter
to those disciples at Antioch. They talked about this, they
disputed about this. Peter stood up and said, this
thing is by grace alone. They said, we're going to write
a letter to those disciples. And in verse 24, they said, for
as much as we have heard that certain which went out from us
have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying
you must be circumcised and keep the law to whom we gave no such
commandment." They didn't hear that from us. We gave no such
commandment. Men have their opinions. We've all made them. I'm not
saying unbelievers, I said men and women. We have our opinions
and we have our assumptions on the Word of God. But that does
not make it the Word of God. Right? It just doesn't make it
the Word of God. They said, we gave no such commandment. The great error of man is he
attaches some condition to salvation. every man, every woman, every
denomination. I don't care what denomination
they are. I don't care what they believe. The great error of man
is he attaches some condition to salvation. The only condition for salvation
is the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's it. Now what does
that mean? What does it mean to say we're
saved by grace? Everybody says that. Those songs
we just sang, they're probably sung in almost every church in
Kingsport. Oh, grace, it's grace. Yeah,
you really need to hurry up and get baptized. What does it mean
to say we're saved by grace? There are true conditions for
salvation. There are some conditions for
salvation. I titled this message, God's
Conditions for Salvation. God put some conditions on salvation. And all of those conditions put
together, all of those conditions collectively are called grace. All of them together, they're
called grace. God's conditions, grace. Alright, now man has made his
own conditions, right? They said, except ye. That's
the question. What must I do to be saved? Except
ye. Man has made his own conditions,
but God is true. And every man is a liar, so they're
all false. If man makes it up, it's a lie.
Man's a liar. It's all false. All right, let
me show you God's conditions for salvation. Go with me to
Psalm 127. Psalm 127. Psalm 127 verse 1 says, except
the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. If the Lord Jesus Christ is not
the foundation, and if he is not the framework, and if he
is not the covering, and if he is not the builder, then the
spiritual house is not going to be built. It is just not going
to be built. Except the Lord build the house,
they labor in vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the
city, the watchman waketh but in vain. If Jesus Christ does
not do all the work, you cannot be saved. That's the truth. If Jesus Christ does not do all
the work, That's God's condition. Christ must do all the work. If a person is going to be saved,
men and women are going to go meet God. And they're going to
go meet God thinking in their minds, I have done enough. If they didn't think that, they'd
do more. I've done enough. I have gone to church. I've been
forgiving in my heart. I've loved people. I've tried
to be a good citizen. I've tried to watch my morals.
And God is going to be happy with me. And they're going to
go meet God and they're going to realize it was not enough. It was just not enough. Here's
what God required. Here's what you did. It's just
not enough. And then he's going to say, depart
from me. I never knew you. And they're going to say, what?
Here's the truth right now. It's not enough. It's just not
enough. Whatever work we think we need
to do to be saved, well, you better do that. You better not
do that so you can go to heaven. It's not enough. It will not
stand. If the Lord Jesus Christ does
not build the house, it's not going to be built. It's just
not going to be built. All of that work, everything
that was required, His work is called grace. Grace means Christ
did all the work. It's called grace. Except He,
that's grace. They said except ye, that's not
grace. He must do it all. In order for
it to be grace, He must do it all. All right, now go with me
to Isaiah chapter 1. Isaiah 1 verse 9 says, Except
the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should
have been as Sodom and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
Had the Lord Jesus Christ not chosen to put some sinners in
Christ. Had he not chosen to pull some
sinners out of the pit, out of that sinful, miry pit, then we would end up just like
Sodom and Gomorrah. At the end of this world, the same thing that happened
to Sodom and Gomorrah is going to happen to the earth. You know, people sing the song,
and my heart, I preach the gospel because my heart breaks for sinners.
That's why I preach the gospel. But people are everywhere singing,
when we all get to heaven. I love that song, when we all
get to heaven. And you're talking about everybody
here. No, I'm talking about all of God's people, everywhere, wherever
He has a people. But men and women sing, well,
it's just going to be great when we all get to heaven. Well, here's
the truth of the matter. He didn't choose everybody. He
chose a remnant. He said a very small remnant. Our Lord said straight is the
gate and narrow is the way that leads unto life and few there
be that find it. You mean everybody's not going
to heaven? No. A very small remnant. Which ones? The worthy ones?
Nope. All have sinned. Or what about then the better
ones? Nope. Verse 6 right here says they're
all wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. That's all we are in our
flesh. No one was owed salvation. No one deserves salvation. But God chose to have mercy on
some. He chose to have mercy. That
choosing, being chosen, is called grace. It's called grace. I thought it was called election.
It is. But that election was unconditional
on my part. And totally by the condition
of God's grace. Totally by God's grace. Those
Pharisees told those believers, accept ye. No, no. Except the Lord that's God's
condition except the Lord all right now go with me to John
chapter 3 John chapter 3 mm-hmm verse 3
I Jesus answered and said unto
him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God. That's God's condition. Now let me ask you this question.
When was it Think back, long time back in your own personal
life. When was it that you decided
to be born? How long did it take you before
that day, you know, the day that you were delivered into the world,
your birthday, how long before that day did it take you to decide
to be born? That's it. I'm going to be born.
Or, here's my question to you, what did you have to do in order
to please your parents, to cause them to have you. All right, we're going to have
you. Is that not the most ridiculous
thing you've ever heard in your life? Really, is that not the
most ridiculous thing? You don't decide to be born,
ever. You don't do anything in order
to be born. You just don't. Every soul on
this earth can see how foolish that is. Why can't men and women
see that that's not how it is in spiritual life? Why do men
and women believe with all of their hearts, I've got to make
my decision if I'm going to be born again. He decided to be
born again. He straightened up his life and
became born again. That doesn't even make sense. God gives life, right? Two people can decide we're gonna
have a baby. We've decided it's time, we've
been married for three years now, and we're ready, we're gonna
have a baby. Great! Maybe so, maybe no. God
gives life. Look right here in John 3 at
verse 27. John answered and said, A man
can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven. If God does not give life, then
a sinner cannot live. Can't be saved. Look at verse
5, John 3 verse 5. Jesus answered, Verily, verily,
I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit,
He cannot enter into the kingdom of God. God gives physical life. God gives spiritual life. And
that gift is called grace. It's called grace. And it's freely
given. God did a work. And then God
chose some to receive the work. And then God freely gave the
work. And it's called grace. It's all
grace. All right, now go with me to
Acts 27. Acts 27 verse 31 says, Paul said to the centurion and
to the soldiers, except these abide in the ship, you cannot
be saved. That ship is Christ. Our Lord
himself said in John 15, we just looked at it for a Bible study
Sunday morning. He said, except ye abide in me. except you stay in me." Because
he said, without me you can do nothing. If God does not keep
us in Christ, we're kept by the power of God. You know that?
A man cannot keep himself, but if God does not keep us in Christ,
we cannot be saved. That's God's condition. A sinner
must be in Christ. Being kept by the power of God
in Christ is called grace. It's called grace. "'Tis grace
that brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home."
It's called grace. All right, now go back to Acts
15. Now, after seeing all that, what
should be our resolve concerning the ordinances that our Lord
has given us? How should we respond to His
commandments? You know, this man brought up
a commandment of God. How should we respond to His
commandments? Here's the answer. We ought to
obey God. We ought to obey God. If God
has sent His Spirit to us, we want to obey God. We just do. And this word says
that He put away the first that He may establish the second.
He put away the first tokens. Our Lord gave us some tokens.
He gave us circumcision and He gave us sacrifices. And had He
not put those away, right now we would be standing around an
altar burning a lamb. That's what we would be doing.
Sacrificing to God. But He offered himself once. And when he did that, he said,
now I'm going to put away the first, that law and those, those
tokens of the law. And now I'm going to establish
the second, tokens of grace. He's given us baptism and he's
given us his table and it's just grace. It's all grace. He said,
baptize them, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you. So that's what we do. He said
at his own table, this do in remembrance of me. So that's
what we do. We must obey the commandments
of our God. There's no option there. We must
obey the commandments of our God. By his grace we will. While we obey Him, though, while
we're obeying Him, let's not lose sight of the one thing that
saves men's souls. Verse 11 in Acts 15 says, But
we believe that through the grace, through the work of Jesus Christ,
through the choice of Jesus Christ, through the gift, the blood,
the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, being kept in Jesus Christ by
the power of Jesus Christ, we shall be saved. We believe that. Christ has forever finished the
work, hasn't he? I mean, it's finished. It is
finished. When he said, it's finished,
what that meant is, it's finished. It's finished. And we don't need
to tempt God by putting a yoke of bondage on his disciples. God says it's free grace. It's
free grace. I love this. Look at verse 30.
Acts 15 verse 30. They were finished with this
meeting in Jerusalem with the apostles. So when they were dismissed,
Paul and Barnabas came to Antioch. They came right back to the place
they left from. And when they had gathered the multitude together,
they delivered the epistle. Which when they had read, they
rejoiced for the consolation. They stood up there and told
them, you know the truth, and the truth has made you free.
You're free. You are absolutely free. Free
through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. You are free through
God's condition. And we can come to God now. You
know that. We sinners can come to God now. but only through the grace of
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's God's condition. All right,
let's stand together.