In April of 1861, Charles Haddon
Spurgeon had been pastor of the church in London, England that
was started by Benjamin Keech in the 1600s. That pulpit was
filled for 57 years by Keech, for 53 years by John Gill, following
him, John Rippon, and then the church called Spurgeon as a young
man to be its pastor, and they had just finished the construction
of that building in London so famously named the Metropolitan
Tabernacle where Spurgeon continued his ministry in that same congregation. But in the inaugural services,
the opening of the tabernacle, Spurgeon had a Bible conference,
the first I know of in history, a sovereign grace Bible conference
to open the tabernacle. He wanted the world to know that
the message preached from that pulpit would be the gospel of
God's free sovereign grace in Jesus Christ. The message commonly
called or referred to as the five points of Calvinism. We're
not Calvinist and we're not reformed, but that's the label folks give
us. And the message of God's free grace is commonly summed
up in those five points. So Spurgeon had five different
men to preach five messages, each message on the five points
of Calvinism, total depravity, message on unconditional election,
message on limited atonement, message on irresistible grace,
and then a message on the perseverance of the saints. So far as I know,
there was not another conference of that kind or even similar
until 1954 when our friend, Brother Henry Mahan and the folks at
Ashland held the first Sovereign Grace Bible Conference in this
country. That first conference was remarkable in many, many
ways. It set a clarion declaration
of the gospel of God's grace by a group of men who were relatively
unknown. Brother A.D. Muse, Brother Rock
Barnard, Brother Henry Mahan himself preached there, Brother
B.B. Caldwell, George Fletcher, and Brother Clarence Walker from
over here in Lexington were all at that first conference. Brother
Mahan in the Ashland Church, maintain the conference annually
for 30 years to 1984. It was my privilege from the
time that Brother Mahan first took me under his wings, I think
1976, until the last conference in 84 to preach there every year
in the conference. These days, we have those conferences,
sovereign grace Bible conferences, all over the United States all
the time. I can't think of a month in the
calendar that I couldn't go to one or another somewhere in this
country. I preach in a number of them,
seven or eight every year. But that first Sovereign Grace
Conference was held in Ashland. But there was another held long
before the Ashland Conference. In fact, the very first Sovereign
Grace Bible Conference was held 2,000 years ago at Jerusalem,
and you can read about it in Acts chapter 15, verses 1 through
35. That will be my text this morning. Here in Acts 15, we have the
inspired record. Luke was inspired by God the
Holy Spirit. to tell us what took place at
that first Sovereign Grace Bible Conference. He's inspired to
tell us why the apostles met, why they came together as one
voice to declare what they did in the circular letter they sent
among the Gentile churches. The title of my message this
morning is The First Sovereign Grace Bible Conference. As we
prepare for our conference, I can't think of a better way to do so
than by recalling all that transpired during this first conference
at Jerusalem 2,000 years ago. So you just hold your Bibles
open at Acts chapter 15. Throughout the history of Christianity,
there have been numerous church councils. Some have been of monumental
significance. Most would have been better off
without them. Most have been of little consequence. Denominational churches to this
day have regular annual conferences, conferences for the purpose of
determining their doctrine and their practice as a denominational
church for the coming time. Involved in those conferences,
three things always take place, debate, negotiation, and compromise. Debate, negotiation, and compromise,
that's how denominations survive. If there were no compromise,
they could not survive. They have debates, to debate
these issues. I recall years ago, years ago,
Southern Baptist Convention down in Texas, they were ordaining
women and they were, various things they decided they'd compromise
on, ordaining women to be deacons, and then they were having a big
fight and squabble about the inspiration of the word of God.
We've got to stand for something. I had a survey here in the local
paper during that time among all the Southern Baptist preachers
locally, because we've got to look like we're standing for
something. We can't just let folks think
we don't stand for anything. So they debate, and then they negotiate. and then they compromise. I think
that's how they do things in Washington. I believe that's
what you see going on in the news all the time. But the fact
is, in the Church of God, there can't be such things with men
of principle and conviction. I'm talking about men of principle
and conviction. You will find few in the White
House or the Senate, and you will find few in the church house
or the pulpit. But with men of principle and
conviction, there can be no compromise, period. With men of principle and conviction,
there can be no compromise, period. The truth of God is not debatable. It's not possible for a person
or for a local church believing the gospel to cooperate with
people who do not believe the gospel as though we believe the
same thing. It is not possible. It is. It's
not possible for a man or for a local congregation who believes
the gospel of God's grace to cooperate in evangelistic work
and religious activity with people who do not believe the gospel
as if we believed and taught the same thing. You don't need
to turn there, but in 2 Chronicles chapter 19, we read about King
Jehoshaphat of Judah, who formed a compromising alliance with
the ungodly Ahab, the king of Israel. A compromise by which
Jehoshaphat hoped that he would be able to preserve the kingdom
of God. That's a good cause, isn't it?
That's a good cause. He calls on Ahaz and he makes
a compromise with him because he says, I want to preserve the
kingdom of God. When Jehu found out what he had
done, Jehu had a word with him. He said to Jehoshaphat the king,
shouldest thou help the ungodly? and love them that hate the Lord.
But wait a minute. I wanted to preserve God's kingdom
by compromising with A.S. Shouldest thou help the ungodly
and love them that hate the Lord? Therefore, is the wrath. Is wrath
upon the from before the Lord, I repeat, with men of principle
and conviction, compromise is not possible. The truth of God
is not debatable. With men and churches who believe
the gospel, cooperation is impossible with those who do not believe
the gospel. The conference at Jerusalem was not one of these
church councils. It was not anything like the
religious synods and councils and denominational conventions
we read about in history or those which take place in our present
day. The apostles and elders did not
come to Jerusalem to debate doctrine. That was not the reason they
gathered, but to declare the truth of God with one unified
voice. Peter and James and Paul and
Barnabas with the church at Jerusalem came together to declare the
grace of God with one clear unified voice so that the churches among
the Gentiles as well as those among the Jews would understand
this is what we believe. This is what God has taught us
in his word. This is the truth of God. In
that day, as in ours, there were legalists in the church. That
is, men who tried to mix law and grace. Men who tried to bring
God's elect under the yoke of legal bondage, subverting their
souls. Subverting their souls, Paul
said. That word means destroying their
souls. To teach that men are saved by
the grace of God, but your works have something to do with it.
To teach that you're saved by the grace of God, but really,
you have some part in it, is to destroy those who believe
it, subverting the souls of men. Therefore, the Church of Jerusalem
held a conference. There were many apostles and
preachers there at that first conference, but only three spoke,
Paul and Peter and James. They spoke as one voice. Now
remember, by the time this conference takes place, the passage we read
in Galatians chapter 2 informs us that Peter had already gone
through that dissimulation, and he and Paul had a confrontation
concerning it, and Peter now recognized his error, and he
repents of his error, and he gives a clear declaration with
Paul and with James concerning the gospel. They made a unified
denunciation of legalism, that is, of any form of works religion. Here in Acts 15, the Holy Spirit
gives us his inspired record of this conference. We read earlier
about the theological issues of the conference in Galatians
chapter two. Again, I repeat myself deliberately.
The conference at Jerusalem was not a church council to debate
doctrine. I urge my friends, preachers
especially, young preachers particularly, not to debate doctrine. Debate
is called the lust of the flesh. You say, well, I, I, I, it's
called the lust of the flesh. But I, it's called the lust of
the flesh. Just the lust of the flesh. Anytime
you get to arguing with folks about doctrine, it's like arguing
with folks about politics or arguing with folks about the
price of bread. You're going to prove your point by whatever
means you can and say now I'm satisfied Look what I proved
and you do no benefit to the person you're talking to We don't
debate doctrine with men. We simply declare God's truth
to man and leave it lay Declare the Word of God and leave it
alone Proclaim the word and leave it alone I try to encourage folks
to witness, and I want you to be zealous witnesses, zealous
witnesses to the cause of Christ, zealous witnesses to the Redeemer.
The best way I know of to do so is to look for God to open
a door. And when someone asks you a question
or some subject comes up, you know, last week, our pastor had
an article in the bulletin that addressed just that issue. If
you read it, I'll bring you a copy. Last month, our pastor preached
a message on that. Our brother Todd Diver of Lexington
preached a message on that. If you'll listen to it, I'll
bring it to you. And by doing so, you've enlisted from them
a commitment to listen or to read. And do you know what folks
have to do when they're listening or reading? Listen or read. They can't fuss. They can't argue. They can't say, no, wait a minute.
But what about this verse? They listen and read or they
don't. One of the two. They're confronted
with things authoritatively. And that's how we ought to confront
men with the gospel. And Paul went up to Jerusalem.
His mind was already made up concerning the issues at hand.
He refused to budge an inch. He wasn't going to give in. He
said in Galatians 2, he said, I didn't give in to them, not
for an hour. He says the doctrine is a frustration
of the grace of God. His only purpose in going up
to Jerusalem was that the doctrine of the believer's absolute freedom
in Christ from the law of Moses might be publicly avowed even
by those whose primary sphere of ministry was among the Jews,
the circumcision. At the Jerusalem conference,
the apostles and elders and church as a whole being led by the Spirit
of God, as we're told here in Acts 15 verse 28, They stripped
publicly and denounced publicly all legal doctrine and legal
preachers, stripping them of all credibility in any measure. All right, look at verses 1,
2, and 3, Acts 15. Here's the first thing. While Paul and Barnabas were
preaching the gospel at Antioch, there were some Pharisees. who
believed. That is Pharisees who remain
Pharisees but they profess to believe in the Lord Jesus. I
know that's an accurate interpretation because Paul in Galatians 2 calls
them false brethren. They came down to Antioch. They
weren't sent down. They weren't sent down. They
were freelance preachers. They decided, God's called me
to preach. I'm going to go preach. And the
church at Jerusalem had nothing to do with him going down there.
James said, we didn't send those fellas down. They went down of
their own accord. They came down to Antioch, and they came down
to spy out the liberty of God's saints at Antioch. Those fellas
were not circumcising their children. And they were eating pork barbecue. They weren't living by the law. And so they came down and told
the folks at Antioch, said, now we understand that you're saved
by God's grace, but if you're really going to be saved, you've
got to be circumcised. You've got to be circumcised.
You've got to keep the law. You've got to live by the law.
Look at Acts 15. Certain men, which came down
from Judea, from Jerusalem, taught the brethren and said, except
ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved. And Paul and Barnabas had no
small decision and disputation with them. I expect it was no
small decision and disputation. I've been there a few times.
how difficult to deal with public dissent, public disputes, public... Paul had denounced Peter publicly
because Peter had followed these fellows just by getting up and
walking away from the table from the Gentiles. Verse 3, they decided
to go up to Jerusalem and being brought on their way by the church,
that is, the church took care of their needs and expenses to
send them to Jerusalem. And there were some self-appointed
freelance preachers who came down then professing faith in
Christ. They claimed to believe the gospel
doctrine of salvation by grace, but they mixed works and grace. Unless you keep the law, you
can't be saved. Paul, Barnabas, and the Church
of Antioch, by their examples, demonstrate that the doctrine
and the spirit of legalism must not be tolerated. It must not
be tolerated. Folks, I know we want to get
along with folks. We want to live in peace. We
want to enjoy people. We want to embrace as many people
as we possibly can. And we open the doors to everybody.
That door is open to anybody who wants to walk in it. But
in this place, there is no room for freewill works religion,
period. It will not be tolerated. It
will not be tolerated. As a pastor, as a preacher, I
have had to on a few occasions, not many, but on a few, I've
been in Bible conferences, one place where the pastor himself
got up before me to preach, and he just preached works. I mean,
just, he won't mind me telling you, Brother Bob Harmon, he just
flat preached works. And I turned around and said
to Brother Gene Harmon, who's at my high mass, I'll give you a
hundred dollars if you'll preach instead of me. And how come? Because I've got to deal with
it. It was public. It's got to be dealt with. And
it's got to be clearly dealt with, just as Paul did with Peter. Difference being that Brother
Harmon will tell you God saved him as a result of dealing with
it. He wasn't just slightly errant.
He didn't know the gospel and didn't know God. And the fact
is this thing had to be dealt with publicly and it must continue
to be dealt with publicly. Paul declares these legalists
to be false brethren. It matters not whether men teach
obedience to the law as a basis for justification the measure
of sanctification, or the believer's rule of life, or a motive for
Christian service, or the ground of reward in heaven. All attempts
to put believers under the yoke of the law is intolerably evil
and must not be tolerated. The scriptures are as plain as
daylight. Nowhere in this book, in all
the New Testament, is a believer ever urged to do anything, be
motivated or inspired or threatened in any way by the law. Nowhere
in the New Testament. You are not under the law, but
under grace. How plain can language be? How
plain can language... Well, but Brother Don, don't
you think there's some sense in which we are under the law? No. You're
not under the law, but under grace. The preaching of the law
for the legalist, they say, is that which promotes holiness.
We've got to promote holiness, so we've got to preach the commandments.
But Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, 56, that the law is the strength
of sin. The law is the strength of sin.
Read history or your newspaper. Wherever religion takes hold,
that teaches salvation by something you do. Wherever that becomes
dominant, the land becomes morally decadent and corrupt. You find
any society in which papacy rules the day, any society, anywhere
in history, anytime in history, that society could not be more
morally corrupt. because they believe salvation
by something they do, and then they act like hell. Our own society. We are now in a society in the
United States of America, in Danville, Kentucky, in 2011. We're in a society that is completely
engulfed in the notion that salvation depends somehow on something
you do. Now, would you like to talk about
the morality of the age? The religious apostasy is the
cause of the divine judgment that brings about the corruption
of the entire society. Read Romans chapter 1. It's as
plain as it can be. All right, the legalists, then
they say you've got to preach law in order to promote holiness.
Paul says law is the strength of sin. Let no one be confused. The issue is not godliness or
ungodliness. The issue in Paul's day and James'
day, as in our day, was not what a believer does. That's not the
issue. The issue is the motive of the
heart. Legalists are motivated, guided,
and governed by fear of punishment or hope of reward. Believers
are motivated, guided, directed, and ruled by love for Christ. The love of Christ constraineth
us. That means, Claus Peterson, if you're God, you do what you
do for God because you love him and want to. Love him and want to. I don't pull out the whip of
the law, and I know folks do. Folks don't come to church like
they ought to. The giving drops off. Folks neglect this, that
other thing. Preachers start to, oh, now,
If you really were a believer, you would. And what that is,
that's just preaching law. That's just preaching law. Oh,
if you really were a believer, you'd read 10 chapters a day.
If you really love God, you'd get 50% of everything you make.
If you really love God, you would. That's just law. That's all on
earth it is. Oh, but these things are evidences of faith. No! Faith is evidenced by love for
Christ, love for one another. Faith in Christ is that which
works by love, not by law. Believers are motivated by the
love of Christ. All right, here's the second
thing. Look at verses four through 21. Here's the Holy Spirit's inspired
record of that conference in Jerusalem. The first spokesman
was the apostle Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles in verses four,
five, and six. I rather doubt that Barnabas
spoke, he may have, but though Barnabas and Paul are both used,
it's obvious that Paul was the one doing the speaking, as the
record in Galatians 2 indicates. We're told in verse 4, and when
they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church
and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things
God had done with them. But there rose up certain of
the sect of the Pharisees that believed, saying that it was
needful to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law."
Paul declares this is what we're going through down at Antioch.
Now in verse 7, Peter speaks. We'll come back to Peter's message
here in a little bit, but there are two main points here. In
verse nine, Peter tells us, God purifies the hearts of all men
who believe by faith in Christ. And God put no difference between
us and them purifying their hearts by faith. How does that happen? Faith receives that which Christ
has done, receives Christ himself, and the conscience is purified,
purged from dead works when the blood of Christ is sprinkled
on the conscience by God the Holy Spirit. How is that? By
God giving us faith in the Lord Jesus. Believe on the Son of
God and guilt flees your conscience. I just read a brief biographical
sketch of Brownlow North. man who was in Scotland in the
1700s, and he went to school to be an Anglican priest, didn't
know God from a gourd, and he was quite a worldly man. And then God spoke to his heart,
and he said he laid down his Bible and leaped to his feet
and says that God says, if you believe on the Son of God, you
have life everlasting. I have life everlasting. That's
it. Faith in Christ purges the conscience
by God's gift of faith. Here's the second thing Peter
says in verse 11. Salvation, this purging of the conscience,
This purifying of the heart, this gift of faith is by the
grace of God. Now, look what Peter says. We
believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we
shall be saved even as they. Isn't that wonderful? Peter didn't say by the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, they shall be saved even as we, but
rather Peter now speaking by the spirit of God, understanding
that Paul's reproof was exactly right. He says concerning these
Gentiles, these men that were considered filthy dogs, these
Gentiles who were converted by God's grace. Peter says to the
circumcision, we shall be saved even as they are saved by the
grace of God. In verse 12, Paul rose up to
speak again and declared what wonders God had done through
him and Barnabas among the Gentiles. That is how God had saved multitudes
by the preaching of the gospel. And then James speaks in verse
13. James answered, saying, men and
brethren, hearken to me. Simeon hath declared how God
at the first did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people
for his name. And to this agree the words of
the prophets as it is written. After this, I will return and
will build again the tabernacle of David. You can find it in
Amos chapter 9. Which is fallen down and I will
build again the ruins thereof and I will set it up. that the
residue, that is the remnant of men, might seek after the
Lord and all the Gentiles, that is, men and women out of every
nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue, upon whom my name is called,
saith the Lord, who doeth all these things. Known unto God
are all his works from the beginning of the world. Verse 19. Wherefore,
my sentence is that we trouble not them which from among the
Gentiles are turned to God, but that we write unto them that
they abstain from pollutions of idols, from fornication, and
from things strangled, and from blood. For Moses of old time
hath in every city them that preach him being read in the
synagogues every Sabbath day." It was fitting that James, the
Lord's half-brother, the pastor of the church in Jerusalem, bring
the concluding message to the conference. He gave the opinion
here of all the apostles and of the church. That is, he gave
the opinion of God the Holy Spirit, that which was given by the Spirit
at this conference regarding the issue at hand, the relation
of the law to believers in this gospel age. Here are the four
things James teaches. Number one, the calling of the
Gentiles. And one body with the Jews was foretold by the prophets. This is what God said in the
prophets. He's going to build again the
house of David. What? Going to build the house of David?
But David was a Jew. That's talking about the Jews.
No. That's talking about those who
are Jews inwardly, not outwardly. That's talking about the Israel
of God, God's elect. The residue, the remnant of the
people gathered from among the Gentiles. Peter tells us the
same thing Paul does in Romans chapter 11, that the fall of
Israel and the calling of the Gentiles was according to God's
eternal purpose. This was foreknown of God, we're
told in verse 18. The falling of the Jews and the
calling of the Gentiles, this was exactly what God had in mind
all along. And then third, in verses 19,
Peter tells us, verses 9 and 10 rather, Peter tells us that
the Gentile world must never be troubled. with the yoke of
bondage. Never be troubled with the yoke
of bondage. Law and legality is bondage. Now most of you have had some
experience with it. Law and legality is bondage. I've had some myself. Law and legality is bondage. Go to about any church around
here you want to. It doesn't matter what brand it is. Whichever damn
store you want to go into, go into it and listen what goes
on. There's nothing about liberty or freedom in Christ. But bondage,
bondage, got to strap you down, tie you down, give you rules,
regulations. You must do this, must not do that. You can't be
at our church if you don't wear your sideburns a certain length
or if you wear your dress a certain length or if you go to the picture
show or if you have a television in your house or if you smoke
or drink or chew or eat sausage or observe Christmas days or
have a Christmas tree in your house. Rules and rules and rules
to bring folks in bondage. Christ said concerning Lazarus,
loose him and let him go. Loose him and let him go. You
mean folks down there at Grace Baptist Church are free to live
any way they want to? I wish you could. I wish you could. Oh, I wish you could. I say that
concerning every man and woman and child in this building who
knows God, Oh, how I wish you could live any way you want to.
Any way you want to. Well, don't you have rules for
them? No. Don't they have to sign anything? No. What good does it do to get a
fellow to sign something if he lies with his mouth, he'll lie
with his pen. That's nonsense. Well, how do you get folks to
give? I don't. How do you get folks to come to church? I don't.
How do you get folks to behave at home? I don't. God does. God does. God does. Believers live by the freedom
of the love of Christ constraining us. That lady there loves me. Y'all know that, don't you? Man,
she loves me. That means, as far as I'm concerned,
as her husband, she can just do anything she wants to. with
anything and anybody. You can't do that. Been doing
it for 42 years, got along pretty good. You mean you don't tell her where
she can go? No. You don't tell her what she
can wear? No. I tell her it looks pretty
and I'll tell her if it doesn't. Well, sort of sometimes. No. You mean you don't tell her who
her friends can be? No. You mean you don't tell her
how much money she can spend? No. You mean you don't tell her
what she can buy? No. You mean you don't tell her
what she can watch on television? No. You mean you don't have any
rules in your house? No. No. No rule but this. Love for Christ and love for
each other. And I would to God that I could live like I want
to in my house and in this world. and would to God you could as
well. Then James tells us that in matters of indifference, it was recommended that the Gentile
believers abstain from those things that might hinder the
preaching of the gospel and offend weaker brethren. Now included
in that list is fornication. Was James suggesting that fornication
was all right, not on your life. Fornication is as vile and filthy
as rape, pedophilia, or adultery. Just as vile and filthy. I don't
care who's involved in it. You mamas and daddies, teach
your children something about decency. It's filthy. But among the Gentiles, there
was a strange thing. There was a strange thing. It's
just almost unbelievable. Bill, do you know how Gentiles
thought about fornication? Well, I'm thirsty, I'll have
a drink of water. And that's just exactly what
they thought of it. They thought of it as a totally indifferent
thing. So much so that even in Gentile
pagan religion, fornication was often part of the religion itself. James is simply saying, The Gentiles
look upon these things as being common. We don't. We don't. Abstain from these things, lest
the cross of Christ be brought into shame and reproach before
men. We live in a generation much like the Gentiles of that
age. In our day, well, Whatever folks want to do is
all right. Fornication is all right. Drunkenness is all right.
Adultery is all right. As long as you consent and not
hurting anybody, you're hurting everybody around you. Everybody
around you. So James is not suggesting that
it's an indifferent matter. He's simply saying, now, brethren,
this we recommend, that those things that men commonly look
at as being contrary to the faith of Christ, abstain from that
for the gospel's sake. And then in verses 22 through
35, they sent a letter out, the circular letter going to the
Gentile churches. The church at Jerusalem drafted
a letter to be sent to the churches in the Gentile world to confirm
the truthfulness of the letter. They sent two pillars of the
church, Judas and Silas with Paul and Barnabas back to Antioch.
And the letter denounced the preachers of the law, all of
them as false prophets, verse 24. It commended Paul and Barnabas
as faithful servants of God. Look at verses 25 and 26. Those
faithful servants of God, look how the church describes them.
Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of the Lord
Jesus. Oh my God, make me such a man. And in this letter they assured
God's saints, verse 28 and 29, that their liberty in Christ
was approved of by God. When it was read in the churches,
We read in verse 31 that this letter was read that came just
like I might come to you and bring a letter here from Brother
Walter group and read it to you Only this came from God the Holy
Spirit by the inspiration of God from the church in Jerusalem
after this first conference by Paul and Barnabas by Silas and
and and who was it and Judas who came with him and They read
the letter said you're free. I You're free. You don't have
to be circumcised. You don't have to keep the law.
Salvation by free grace alone. Free grace alone. Which when
they read, they rejoiced. Watch this. For the consolation. Oh, what comfort. Christ obeyed
the law for me. Christ satisfied the law for
me. Christ is my righteousness. Christ is my redemption. Christ
is my sanctification. Christ is all. Now fourth, let's
go back to Peter's message, verses 7 through 11. And when there had been much
disputing, Peter rose up and said unto them, men and brethren,
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. You remember I reported to you
about Cornelius, that Gentile and his household, and how God
gave them faith. And God, which knoweth the hearts,
bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did
to us, and put no difference between them and us, or 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. These words being inspired of
God, we're told in verse 28, are recorded for our learning
and our admonition. When Peter stood up and said,
we believe, he spoke with bold, unbending, unyielding, uncompromising
dogmatism, speaking as the apostle of Christ Peter wasn't speaking
for himself, but for all the apostles, for all the Church
of God, for all true gospel preachers, for all true Christians. When
he said, we believe, that's what he's saying. This is the truth
of God. It must be believed by all. Anything
contrary to this is heresy, damnable, and destructive to men's souls.
This is what all true Christians believe. Those who do not believe
and teach this are not Christians. And then he tells us this is
the doctrine of God. With regard to this gospel doctrine
of salvation, by grace alone, we must be perfectly clear. Our
understanding, unhesitating witness, must declare an intolerance for
anything contrary to God's free grace. This is the apostolic
confession of faith. The apostles of Christ obviously
did not believe and teach anything of what's taught today concerning
salvation. As they send out this letter,
Peter gives his message. There's not one word in this
thing about baptism or the Lord's Supper or any ordinances or any
rituals. Well, isn't baptism important?
You know it is. You know it is. Baptism must be done the way
the Lord said, by immersion. There is no other form of baptism. It's important. We're not about
to budge on it. But it doesn't have anything to do with salvation.
Isn't the Lord's Supper important? We observe it every week, just
exactly as they did in the New Testament. Wine and unleavened
bread. Not going to budge an inch. I don't care what anybody
says. In this place, we eat unleavened
bread, drink wine with the Lord's Supper. And I won't have it any
other way. We won't have it any other way. But it's got nothing
to do with salvation. Not a word mentioned about rituals.
Salvation by grace. No mention is made of personal
obedience to the law of God. Don't you think obedience to
the Lord is important? Some of you have been listening
to me preach three times a week for 32 years. Is there anybody
who even thinks to think of such thing? Obedience is not important. God's people want to obey Him. They want to obey Him. But obedience
isn't the cause or the condition of grace. You see, God's grace
is free. It's unconditional. It's free. It's unconditional. Let me see if I can say that
again. It's free. It's unconditional. Unconditional. What's that mean?
That means good works do not attract it. And the lack of good works do
not repel it. Grace is free. And then Peter tells us that
there's no mention, or in his message, he makes no mention
of any kind of personal righteousness. We talk in our day a good bit
about that. But do you know something? In
the New Testament, Rex, it's never mentioned personal righteousness. Why do you reckon that is? How
come? Because you ain't got any. And
you can't do any personal righteousness. The creed of the world is do
the best you can and God will accept you. To deny that creed
is treasonous to the pride of man and to the religion of man.
Every child of Adam is born a Pharisee. Self-righteousness is bred in
us all by nature. It will manifest itself in time.
But those who promote self-righteousness are treasonous to the gospel
of God. Perish all thoughts of human
pride. Let God alone be magnified. And there's not a word in this
message of Peter's or in this letter sent out by James about
man's imaginary free will. This this is a message about
grace, God's free grace, this message about how God saves and
we believe that we shall be saved by the grace of God, even as
they. Wait a minute, wait a minute. But a man's got to make a choice.
A man's got to come to the Lord. A man's got to believe on Jesus. He does indeed. He does indeed. You must come to Christ. You
must choose Christ. You must believe on Christ if
you would be saved. But that's not your doing. That's
God's work in you. God's work of grace. Faith is
the gift of God. In fact, the word that Peter
uses, we shall be saved. is in the passive. Passive. Passive. Let's watch that thing
move. Oh, please move. I beg you to move. Don, you idiot. That's just a notebook. It can't
move. Oh, yes, it can. Watch. is moved when it's moved upon.
And dead sinners move to Christ when Christ moves them from within
by the power of His Spirit to Himself. Blessed is the man whom
thou choosest and causest to approach unto thee. Causest. Causest. To approach unto thee. This first conference was a conference
of God's free sovereign grace. When Paul and Silas, or Paul
and Barnabas, they went back to Antioch, and Silas and Judas
went with them, they went back proclaiming this same message.
This is what they'd been preaching. But they went back preaching
the same thing all over again. And they said to those fellas
down in Antioch, fellas, listen, we're messing fellas up in Jerusalem.
Oh, can't wait for you to hear. Can't wait for you to meet him.
Can't wait for you to hear the message. They're preaching the
same thing. They're preaching the same salvation, the same
savior, the same grace that you believe here in this Gentile
world where nobody believes anything. They're preaching the same thing.
It's my prayer. We've been hosting these conferences
now for 32 years. God meet with us. Send this word of your grace
by the power of your spirit. through these men you break and
cause it to go forth by the power of your grace to the hearts of
those whom you gather and make the word flourish from this place
into all the world by the grace of our God for the glory of Christ. Amen.