Good evening, and turn in your
Bibles to Acts chapter 15. While you're turning, let me
express my gratitude for having us here, Debbie and Aaron and
I, and several from Ashland, Kentucky, that we're just glad
to be here in the South. We haven't had that bad of weather
up north, really, but when we left yesterday morning, there
was about an inch of snow on the ground. We're glad to be
down south for that reason too, but especially to be in the fellowship
of our brethren here tonight, to be in the presence of the
Lord, to meet together, and then my dear, dear friends from Albany
that I love and that we love and think about every day. We're
just glad to be here tonight and hope and pray that the Lord
will give us a good start and continue on and let us finish
up in just the way that would honor and glorify Him. Because
that's what we're here for. Well, last year when I was here,
you all had put an ad in the paper. And you listed some questions. And I used that as an outline.
And I'm going to do the same thing tonight to start off. And
they're good questions. That's the number one thing.
But also, it's to keep you all from getting sued for false advertisement. Because if you say somebody is
going to answer these questions, somebody better answer them.
So I'm going to answer them tonight, but I feel sure that the other
preachers will answer those questions, too, in their messages, because
they are eternal questions. That's why I've entitled this
message, Eternal Questions. And I want us to begin with Acts
chapter 15, beginning at verse 1. Let me just begin by reading
some scripture. Now, the gospel is being preached
here out through all the world. The apostle Paul, Peter, And
all the other evangelists have been preaching the gospel to
Jew and Gentile alike. And there have been a great outpouring
of the Gentiles back in Acts chapter 12 and 13. God bringing
his people out of every tribe and nation to a saving knowledge
of Christ and him crucified. And of course, as men are bound
to do by nature, there always comes in the self-righteousness
of prejudices. the self-righteousness of religion
and works that have been drummed into our minds from day one. And I just about bet you that
every one of us have come through that in some form or another,
to some degree or another, until God met us literally on our Damascus
road, maybe not in the same place in the exact same way, but just
confronted us with the gospel of his free and sovereign grace
in Christ. concerning how God can be just
and justify the ungodly and brought us to submit to Christ and his
righteousness as that which alone saves us and keeps us and entitles
us to heaven and brings us to that repentance that we all need
to be brought to that repentance of dead works and idolatry. Well,
here are certain men, look at verse 1 of Acts 15, 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. So they introduced here to the
Gentiles the issue of circumcision in order to be saved. And it
says, when therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension. Now this was no small matter.
And I'll show you that. He says when they 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. Now this
is a question that must be answered. This is a question that we cannot
disagree on. This is a question that is not
a side issue. Now there are some foolish questions.
Religious people are full of foolish and vain questions. that
don't even deserve a moment's thought. There are some questions
that are intended to trap people, and those questions don't need
to be addressed. But now this question has to
be addressed. It has to be settled. This is
no small disputation, because this question at the heart of
it is not just over circumcision. Now, that's what they introduced.
But this question comes in many forms, in many ways. It comes
through every generation. It started out right after the
fall of man, this kind of question. And I'll tell you who the first
one who brought up this question was a man named Cain, when he
sought to come before God based upon the works of his own hands. And this question has come in
every generation. When the gospel of God's grace
is preached in its clarity, its purity, and in its simplicity,
this question will always be raised in some form or another.
This question goes to the very heart of the gospel. It's not
just about circumcision. Here's what it is. It's how is
a sinner justified before a holy God? That's the issue here. Up
on what ground? Does God save sinners? What is the issue here? Well,
look here at verse 3. It says, And being brought on
their way by the church, they passed through Pharnacia and
Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles, God saved 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. Now, do you know who the Pharisees
were? That was the most religious, determined, zealous sect of Judaism. These were the men who were the
most well-respected, listened to. Those who, anybody, everybody
who was anybody would say these men were saved. These were men
of God, the Pharisees. And it said they rose up and
they brought forth this question saying that it was needful, necessary
to circumcise them, these Gentile converts, and to command them
to keep the law of Moses. Now there's that question coming
up again. In other words, they say, well, now wait a minute.
You say these Gentiles were converted, that they're now children of
God, that they're saved, but they haven't been circumcised.
They haven't been taught to keep the law of Moses, and that's
necessary. That is necessary. Now, what
is necessary? That's the issue. That's the
question. Well, look at verse 6. It says,
And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this
matter. They were going to talk about
it. They had to settle it. And when there had been much
disputing, much arguing, 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." He's referring,
first of all, to his encounter with a man named Cornelius, you
remember, when God gave Peter that vision and gave Cornelius
that vision and brought the preacher to sow the word in the heart
of a sinner. And he says in verse 8, "...and
God which knoweth the hearts, bear them witness, giving them
the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us." And look here, verse
9 now. He put no difference between
us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. And 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? And that
yoke is salvation, justification before God by our works and our
efforts. That's a yoke that we nor our
fathers were able to bear. It's impossible. It cannot happen. And yet people all over this
world are trying to do just that and being promoted in that by
their pastors and their teachers and their denominations. He says
in verse 11, but we believe that through the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ, we shall be saved even as they salvation is by
grace. It's a free gift of God. Now these questions. As I said,
they go to the very heart of the gospel. How can a holy and
righteous and just God, how can such a God save a sinner like
me and you? How can he be just and justify
the ungodly? And I began to look at these
questions that you had listed in the newspaper, and I think
these answer the question very well. Let's take them one by
one. First of all, the question comes.
For whom did Christ die and what did his death accomplish? Now, that's a question of questions,
isn't it? In other words, if his death did not accomplish
the redemption and the justification of all for whom he died, then
what would accomplish it? Where would you go? To whom would
you look to? If what Christ did on the cross
of Calvary Almost 2000 years ago, if it did not fully seal
up and accomplish the redemption and the justification of his
people before a holy God, where would you go? To whom would you
look? What would you depend on? What
would you plead? For whom did Christ die? Well,
let's answer that question scripturally. Look at John chapter 10. Let's
let the Bible speak. That's the problem with most
people when they do confront good questions. They want to
give you their opinion. They're like Bill O'Reilly. They
want to opine. And you see, opining has no place
here. Not that I don't like Bill O'Reilly.
Don't get me wrong. But this is not an opinionated
thing here. If your answer is not based upon
the pure word of God, it's no good. It's for nothing. What good is it? Look at, what
did our Lord save? For whom did Christ die? He says
in verse 11 of John 10, he says, I am the good shepherd, the good
shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. Now you know he's
not talking about literal sheep. He's talking about men and women
whom he refers to and describes under that symbol of being sheep.
What is it about sheep that is so appropriate to those for whom
Christ died. Well, they say sheep are about
the dumbest animals you can find. They don't know where they go.
They don't know where they've been. They have to be led. The Bible
describes God's people, God's elect, before the Holy Spirit
enlightens their minds in the new birth as lost sheep. All
we like sheep have gone astray, gone our own way. Sheep without
a shepherd are lost sheep. And Christ referred to himself
as the good shepherd. Now, what does a good shepherd
do? He gives his life for the sheep. That's how much he loves
the sheep. He must give his life for the
sheep because they're sinners, and without the shedding of blood,
there is no forgiveness of sin. Somebody's life has to be brought
up before a holy God. You see, sin demands death. Righteousness
demands life. Our sin demands death, either
our death eternally or the death of a suitable, God-appointed,
willing substitute who is able to die in our place. The Scripture
says Christ alone meets the bill for all of those descriptions.
He is the only one appointed of God to be the substitute of
his sheep. He is the only one who was willing
to die for such wretches as us. He's the only one who's able
to get the job done. Justice must be satisfied. You
see, justice must be satisfied. The sentence is death. And Christ
says, the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. He says
in verse 15, look down here, or look at verse 14, rather.
He says, I'm the good shepherd and know my sheep and am known
of mine. He said, as the Father knoweth
me, even so know I the Father, and I laid down my life. Now,
for whom did Christ die? He said, I laid down my life
for the sheep. Huh? Now, isn't that plain? Somebody said, well, does that
mean the whole world without except every individual without
except? No, it doesn't. He said, for the sheep. Now,
hold on, look on. He said in verse 16, he said,
another sheep I have which are not of this folk. Christ has
sheep out of the Jewish fold and out of the Gentile fold.
That question back in Acts chapter 15 arose over the salvation of
the Gentiles. There were no Jews saved by circumcision. There were no Jews saved by keeping
the law. The same for the Gentiles. Christ is the Savior. He's the
Good Shepherd. It's by His death and His death
alone that sinners are redeemed and justified before a holy God.
Their sins must be accounted, charged, imputed, transferred
to His person. And He must die that death that
we deserve for sins that He had no part in committing. That's
what the Good Shepherd does. And His righteousness must be
accounted, charged, imputed, transferred to us. And all that
happened on the cross of Calvary when He said, It's finished.
And He said, Other sheep I have which are not of this foal, this
Jewish foal. God has a people out of every tribe, kindred,
tongue, and nation. Who are they? They're his sheep.
And he says, now look at this. He says in verse 16, them also
I must bring. He didn't say I might bring them.
He didn't say I'll bring them if they're willing. He didn't
say, I'll bring them if they'll do their part, or I'll go 99%
and they'll do one. No, sir. He said, I must bring
them. That's the nature of a sheep.
The shepherd has to go out and get them and bring them. They're
not going to come home on their own. They won't do it. It's just
not in the nature of a sheep to do such a thing. But he said,
them I must bring. Why? Because he redeemed them. That's what he's talking about.
They're his. They belong to him. He owns them,
lock, stock, and barrel. He paid every part of the penalty
against them. You see, His sheep were condemned
in Adam under the law, but Christ on the cross of Calvary, He wiped
the slate clean. He paid the penalty in full.
He drank damnation dry. He paid our sin debt in full. The law has no matter against
His sheep. When he died on Calvary, the
veil was rent in two, signifying that the old covenant was finished,
that the law was satisfied, justice was satisfied, God was honored.
That's why he must bring the honor of his father's at stake.
I'm going to tell you something. If Christ would fail to bring
even one of his sheep to glory, I mean the final glory in heaven.
The father would be totally dishonored and discredited and the son would
be exposed as an imposter. That's right. Sin demands his
death. Our sin is imputed to him. His
righteousness demands our life. His righteousness imputed us.
So he said, I must bring them. And he said, and they shall hear
my voice. Now that's the work of the Spirit in the new birth
under the preaching of the gospel. when he lets those sheep in on
what the shepherd has already accomplished. You're going to
hear his voice. Hold on, he says, and there will
be one foal and one shepherd. Not 10,000 denominations. One
foal, one shepherd. All united in Christ. All founded
upon the rock. And he says in verse 17, Therefore
doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life that I may
take it again. Look over at verse 27. Now, how
do you know if you're somebody said, well, how do I know if
I'm one of his sheep? Well, look here. He says it very plainly, very
simply. Verse 26, my sheep hear my voice. Now, how are you going to hear
his voice, my friend, in the preaching of his word, in the
preaching of the gospel, in the preaching of the issues of how
God can be just and justify the ungodly? He said, I know them
and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal
life. It's a gift from God. You don't earn it. He says, and
they shall never perish. They can't perish because the
shepherd can't perish. He's on the throne. He ever lived
to intercede for us. He rules and disposes over this
whole world to make sure that all his sheep, all whom he justified
on Calvary, come into the fold, stay there and be brought And
he says, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. For
whom did Christ die? What did his death accomplish?
Look over at Romans chapter 3. What did it accomplish? And this
is, I'll tell you, that's what this question has to do with.
This thing about circumcision, I'll tell you what. And people
ask that question today in a thousand different ways, a thousand different
forms. For example, what about baptism? Church of Christ says you must
be baptized. Now, these Pharisees said you've
got to be circumcised. Church of Christ says you must
be baptized. Well, is that how God saves sinners?
Through water baptism? Is that how things are made right
with God when you go up here and get dunked in this water?
Is that how it's done? Well, if that's how it's done,
then the shepherd was a miserable failure. That's right, isn't
it? But that's not how it's done. What about some people, some
people even use faith. We'll look at that in just a
moment. Somebody says, well, he did his part, but you've got
to believe. No, he did it all. And you will believe. Now that's
the way it is in scripture. Those whom Christ justified on
Calvary will come to saving faith. They'll come to know him. But
what did his death accomplish? Well, look at, look at Romans
three, look at verse 19. He says, now we know. What thing
soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become
guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the
law there shall no flesh be justified, be declared righteous, or be
declared not guilty in God's sight. For by the law is the
knowledge of sin. But now, look here, verse 21,
but now the righteousness of God I'll tell you what, it'd
do you well to get into this book and find out what that means,
the righteousness of God. Without the law, now what is
he talking about? Without our deeds of the law, that's what
he's talking about, context. He said, it's manifested, being
witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness
of God, which is by, now listen to this, by faith of Jesus Christ. That's Christ's faithfulness
to keep the law. That's Christ's faithfulness
to die the dead. That's not your faithfulness,
you see. My faithfulness, that's his faithfulness. Listen to me
now. If salvation were conditioned upon our faithfulness, we'd be,
of all people, most miserable. That's right. Salvation is conditioned
upon Christ's faithfulness to keep the law, to satisfy justice. And that's what that's talking
about. Jesus Christ unto all. It's preached unto all. It's
upon all them that believe that righteousness is imputed, and
they come to saving faith, for there's no difference. And he
says, for all sin that comes short of the glory of God being
justified freely, that's unconditionally, without a cause, by his grace. How? Now look at it. Through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. You see, justification
and redemption came together, didn't they? We were justified
through the redemptive when he paid the price we were justified
we were declared before God not guilty. Declared righteous and
all that in Jesus Christ whom God had set forth had foreordained
to be a propitiation. That's a that's a bloody offering
that brings satisfaction that's what propitiation is it's a blood
it's the death offering of death that brings satisfaction. Now
let me tell you something. If Christ died and his death
did not accomplish the redemption and justification of his people,
if it only made us savable, then it is not a propitiation. In
order to have a propitiation, it has to be a satisfaction.
It has to be a debt paid. It has to be a work accomplished,
completed, or it's not a propitiation. So this propitiation speaks of
the bloody death of Christ which accomplished and satisfied God's
law and justice and accomplished our redemption. And he says,
through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for
the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God, which I believe is speaking of the Old Testament, God's elect
in the Old Testament, his sheep, whom God forbore with them throughout
the time until they had the promise. But until that time when Christ
would come and down on the cross And they were made perfect with
us. That's what the book of Hebrews
chapter 11 says. In other words, they were justified at the same
time we are. Right there. And he said to declare, I say
at this time his righteousness that God might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Now I spent a lot of
time on that first question. But you see that really answers
everything else that comes next. Right there. Listen to this. Here's the second question, did
he pay for all the sins of all men without exception? Well,
he couldn't have. If he did, all men without exception
would be saved. That's right. What did he accomplish
on Calvary? He redeemed his people from their
sins. He justified his elect, his sheep. He said, look at John
chapter 6. What did he say in verse 37 here? He said, All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven,
not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And
this is the Father's will which is sent me, that of all which
he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it
up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth
on him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up
at the last day. The third question you had was
this, if so, why aren't all men saved? Well, that's already been
answered. All for whom Christ died shall be saved. Somebody
says, well, where does that leave me? It leaves you in the same
boat you're in right now. You seek the Lord. You seek the
Lord. Look for him. Look to him. Question
number four says this, if unbelief is not a sin included in the
death of Christ, what hope is there for any sinner then, since
we're all born in unbelief? If Christ on the cross if he
didn't die for the sin of unbelief then weren't there's no salvation
for any of us. That's right. No salvation. The Bible says over in 1 John
look over there with me 1 John chapter 1 and I believe this
literally 1 John chapter 1 speaking of his death it says in verse
7. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have
fellowship one with another. And the blood of Jesus Christ,
his Son, cleanses us from what? From all sin. My friend, he died
for our sins. In fact, one of the Holy Spirit's
great works in our conviction is to convince us of unbelief,
the sin of unbelief, the wickedness of unbelief, and the fact that
Christ, who died on the cross, died for our sins. Paid the price. Bible teaches it very plainly.
Here's the next question. Question number five. What part
does faith play in the salvation of sinners? We'll look over at
Ephesians chapter two. Must a sinner believe the gospel? Yes, he must. That's exactly
right. He that believeth not shall be
damned, but believing doesn't doesn't justify us before God. Believing doesn't redeem us. Faith is not our Savior. Christ
is our Savior. Our faith is in Him and what
He accomplished on Calvary. Some might say, well, what about
believing? It's not just believing. It's what do you believe? In
whom do you believe? He says in verse 8 of Ephesians
chapter 2, For by grace are you saved through faith, and that
not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any
man should boast. Faith is a means by which we
come to a knowledge of what Christ accomplished on Calvary. It's
a means, it's a God-given gift whereby we lay hold of it, grab
hold of it in our understanding, in our minds, affections, and
will concerning who we are by nature, by practice, sinners
who cannot be justified before God by our And what Christ accomplished
on our behalf to save us from our sins, and I'll tell you a
good illustration of it, is this. Saving faith like hearing a will
read. You're met together and the administrator
of the estate, he gets everybody together and he pulls out and
he starts reading. Now somebody's grandfather died.
Your grandfather worked hard all his life, and he amassed
a wealth untold. And then he died, and here's
what you get, and it's given to you. And that's what faith
is. Faith hears the gospel, and it's
like the reading of a will concerning the death of our Savior, who
amassed a wealth of spiritual blessings that we haven't even
begun to tap yet. And he earned him, he worked
for him, he earned him for us, and he freely gives him to us,
and we receive it by God-given faith. You see, our faith is
not in our faith. Our faith is in Christ, who already
did the work. Here's question six. Is it our
believing or Christ's dying that makes the difference between
saved and lost, heaven and hell? Well, let me tell you this. If our believing makes the difference
between heaven and hell, then stop talking about salvation
by grace. Just stop it. You believe salvation
by works. You believe God saved you because
you're a better sinner than other sinners. If believing makes the
difference, because you're saying God saved me because I believed
and he's going to send somebody to hell because they didn't,
well, what makes you better than them? What was the difference
between the thief on the right hand of our Savior and the thief
on the left hand? Was it their believing? No, sir.
It was the one on the middle cross. That's who made the difference,
the grace of God. So it's not our believing that
makes the difference. It's Christ's obedience unto
death on the cross that makes the difference. Well, that brings
us to the last one. How can God be merciful to sinners
without compromising his justice? Well, as I said, it's already
been answered. Not but one way. And see, here's the issue of
that question. Job asked it. Job's friend asked it. How can
a man, how can a sinner, how can a man be justified with God? How can he be clean that's born
of woman? You see, God cannot ignore, deny,
or suspend his justice. in order to save a sinner. If
he did, he wouldn't be God. He must be just when he justifies. Isaiah said it this way. He must
be both a just God and a Savior. Our God is a holy God, and His
holiness must be honored. His righteousness, His justice,
His truth must be honored. God always judges according to
truth, the Scripture says. He cannot lie. He cannot act
unjustly. or unlawfully. He cannot do it,
or he's not God. So here's the issue. Our God
is a righteous judge. How can he be both a righteous
judge as well as a loving, merciful, compassionate Father, Redeemer? How can that happen? There's
not but one way, and that is by the obedience and death of
our Savior on the cross of Here's where we see how God's love and
mercy and grace provided what His justice and His holiness
and His truth demanded. Here's how He can justly punish
all the sins of all of His elect and still show mercy and love
and grace. This is how. Not but one way.
It can't be based on anything in us, of us, through us, by
us, or to us. It has to be that which Christ
did alone as our representative and our substitute. There's no
other way. I'll tell you what, when I first
come to hear the gospel, before I heard it, I thought I knew
all the answers. But I found out when I heard
the gospel, I didn't even know the question. But that's the
question, isn't it? That's the question of grace.
That's the question of the gospel. And people aren't even asking
it, let alone answering it today, in churches today and call themselves
Christian, where the gospel of God's grace is not preached,
and people just go on their merry way and talk about how they've
been blessed. But they haven't even dealt with
the question. But I'll tell you what, back
in the book of Acts, chapter 15, they dealt with it. They
dealt with it. When the gospel of Christ was
preached, justification before a holy God based on His shed
blood and His imputed righteousness alone, men began to challenge
it. The Pharisees with their circumcision,
men today challenge it with their baptism, their tithing, their
works, whatever it is. My friend, we must stand firm
in the gospel of our Savior, the gospel of God's grace in
Christ.