Scripture this morning. Acts
chapter 15. The title of this message will
be easy to remember. It has just one word. Grace. Grace. In Acts chapter 15, verse
11, we believe through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we
shall be saved. Grace. Grace alone. This is a message that Peter
delivered before all the elders that were assembled there in
Jerusalem. He plainly and boldly declares
that God saves all whom he wisely saves, Jew or Gentile, religious
or pagan, by the free sovereign grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
alone. Paul writes in another place,
in Corinthians, he says, For you know the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He
became poor, that you through His poverty, you through His
sacrifice, you through His redeeming blood, might be made whole, rich
in Christ Jesus. Now let me set the story here.
Paul and Barnabas had been preaching the gospel being sent out from
the church there in Antioch. And they declared how the Lord
had blessed their ministry when they came back from their preaching,
traveling and preaching. While they enjoyed the fellowship
in the church there in Antioch around the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ, they had a visit It says in Acts 15 verse 1, certain
men came down from Judea and interrupted their fellowship
around the gospel. Who were these men? when it says
in verse 5 that the Pharisees rose up and contended against
the gospel of God's grace. Who were these men? They were
Pharisees who professed to believe, but it was obvious by what they
said and what they promoted, they were still trying to gain
God's favor by the deeds of the law. For they declared unto the
church here at Antioch, and said to Paul and Barnabas, Except
ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, You can't really be
saved. They were trying to put the Gentiles
back under that law bondage, the curse of the law. They perverted
the gospel, didn't they? They perverted the gospel by
adding creature merit into the scheme of the gospel. Beware
of that ministry that declares that salvation depends on something
you must do, something that you must bring, something that you
must attain to. Beware of that preaching. Beware
of that ministry that would demand something of your hand or that
says the Lord Jesus Christ is not Enough. It's not surprising
then, is it? That Paul and Barnabas, when
they heard these Judaizers come down and declare unto the believers
there at Antioch that Gentiles must be put back under the law. It's not surprising then that
Paul and Barnabas went face-to-face with them, toe-to-toe, nose-to-nose,
as it says there, there was no small argument about the way
of salvation, how God saved sinners by grace or by works. They stood their ground and would
not budge an inch and demanded and declared salvation by grace. and grace alone. As Paul said
before, if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ is dead
in vain. After much debate, after much
argument, it was determined that Paul and Barnabas and Titus and
others should go to Jerusalem to make clear to make a bold
statement that salvation was by grace and grace alone. And after there had been much
debate, as they came to Jerusalem, notice verse 6, Acts 15 verse
6, and the apostles and elders came together 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 a choice among us
that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel
and believe. Now from verses 7 down to verse
11, we have these recorded words of Peter's sermon unto this conference
in Jerusalem. And Peter declares unto them
the same message that Paul and Barnabas had declared unto the
Gentiles. Salvation by grace and grace
alone. Now, in verse 7, he declares
this. He declares that God is sovereign
in salvation. God is sovereign in salvation.
That is, He'll have mercy on whom He will. It says there in
verse 7, God made a choice among us that the Gentiles should hear
the gospel and that the Gentiles should believe the gospel. You
remember from last week, turn back to Acts 13, verse 48. These Gentiles who heard and
believed the gospel did so because God ordained them to believe
the gospel. In Acts 13, verse 48, when the
Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of
the Lord, and as many as were ordained to eternal life, Believe. So Peter here is declaring the
sovereignty of God in salvation. Now I make no apology. None at
all. Don't need to. You don't need
to apologize for the truth, do you? I make no apology for declaring
the truth of God's elective sovereign grace. It's what we call unconditional
election. That is, God will have mercy
on whom he will have mercy. Believers have no problem with
that. They know apart from God choosing us from all eternity
that we would never have believed the gospel. Matter of fact, the
only reason any sinner does believe the gospel and does love the
Lord Jesus Christ is because He chose us. Our Lord said that
in John 15, didn't He? He said to those apostles, you
didn't choose me, I've chosen you. I've chosen you unto salvation. What does it mean when we say
that God is sovereign in salvation? What does that mean? Let me be
just as plain as I can. That means that God determines
who is saved. God determines who's justified. God determines who believes the
gospel. It's not the will of the creature
that makes the determination. Salvation is always dependent
and determined and accomplished by God. We were dead in sin if
God, by His own sovereign will and right, made a choice. of a covenant people and granted
them salvation in Christ Jesus. What does it mean that God is
sovereign in salvation? It means that God determined
by His own sovereign will and purpose who will receive salvation. And that determination was made
before Adam ever fell. Matter of fact, that determination
was predestined and predetermined from all eternity. He worketh
all things after the counsel of His own will." This is what
Peter is declaring. Salvation by the grace of God.
And would you notice back in Acts chapter 13, when Paul preached
to the people there, the Gentiles, in verse 17 of Acts 13, he declares
the same truth. The God of this people of Israel,
He chose our fathers. God made a sovereign choice.
Salvation is by His doing. Salvation is by His choice, not
ours. We are bound to give thanks to
God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has
from the beginning chosen you unto salvation. This is recorded in 2 Thessalonians
2 verse 13. So He declares, first of all,
the sovereignty of God. Secondly, look at verse 8. Acts 15 verse 8, "...and God
which knoweth our hearts, bear them witness, giving them the
Holy Spirit, even as He did unto us." The second thing that Peter
declares is this, God has special, personal, intimate knowledge
who His elect are, where they are, what they need, and they
need Him. Salvation. God knows our hearts. He knows those who are His. The foundation of God standeth
sure. Does it? The foundation of God
standeth sure, having a seal. The Lord knoweth them that are
His. He knows His people. He knows
where they are. He's on the trail of His sheep.
His sheep are marked out, they have the blood mark upon them.
And God one day will cross their path with the gospel and call
them by His grace. What God says of Jeremiah is
true of all His elect. God says of Jeremiah, before
I formed thee in the belly, I knew you. And before you came forth from
the womb, I sanctified you, and I ordained you to be My chosen
prophet of God." What God said to Jeremiah is true of all His
elect. God has known His people from
eternity. God knows our heart. Notice something else He declares
in the second part of verse 8. God sovereignly gives the Holy
Spirit unto His elect. Notice what it says. He bears
them witness, giving them the Spirit, giving them the Holy
Spirit, even as He did unto the Jew. God sovereignly gives the
Holy Spirit unto His elect. This is the reason that we are
convicted of sin. That's the work of the Holy Spirit. When the Spirit of truth has
come, He will convict us of sin, what we are, of righteousness,
what we need, and of judgment, sin judged in my substitute,
the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the reason that we are
convicted of sin. This is the reason that we are
raised from the dead. Spiritually, because God the
Holy Spirit has been given unto us. He's given us life in Christ
Jesus. He's raised us from the dead
and caused us to see ourselves as centered and caused us to
see the Lord Jesus Christ as altogether lovely. The reason
we believe the gospel is because He has given to us God the Holy
Spirit. We don't believe of our own. Men love darkness, not light.
We love ourselves, not Christ. If you believe the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ, it is because God has sovereignly given
you God the Holy Spirit to enlighten you, to quicken you, to raise
you from the dead. Now look at verse 9, he goes
on and he says this, Peter declaring the gospel unto these, Brethren
in Jerusalem, at the first Bible conference that we read of here
in the New Testament in Acts, in the book of Acts. He said
that God put no difference between us and them, Jew or Gentile,
purifying their hearts by faith, not by the law, not by ceremony,
not by creature merit, not by doing. He declares unto them
that all men are sinners. There's no difference. Jew or
Gentile. There is no difference. We've
all sinned. Let's see if we can find that over here in Romans
chapter 3. All have sinned that come short
of the glory of God. God puts no difference between
Jew or Gentile. All men are sinners. It says
this in Romans chapter 3, the middle part of verse 9, he said,
God had before proved, both Jew and Gentile, that they are all
under sin. Verse 10, as it is written, there
is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that seeketh and
none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after
God. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become
unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. All are sinners, all men. Jew are Gentile are lost. Something else he says down there
in verse 9, Acts 15 verse 9, God purified their heart. God
sanctified their heart. God justified their heart by
faith. Faith. Faith alone. Salvation, my friend, is received
by God-given faith, not works. Salvation is not received by
doing. Salvation received by believing, and that is the gift
of God. Faith is not of ourselves. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that is not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of
works that any man should boast. If salvation were by works, we'd
boast, wouldn't we? Salvation is by grace, so we
boast about Him. God forbid we should glory save
in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. How does God purify the
heart by faith? How does God purify and sanctify
and cleanse the heart by faith? True saving faith, the faith
of God's elect, looks to the Lord Jesus Christ alone for all
cleansing. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us from all sin. Purifies our heart by faith.
Well, we can read it this way. Because faith is so vitally connected
to Christ, He purifies and cleanses our hearts by Christ. By the Lord Jesus Christ. For
it says in Scripture, the justified shall live by faith. The just shall live by the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now look at verse 10. Peter goes
on in his preaching. Now therefore, he says, why would
you insult, discredit God Almighty? Why would you tempt? Why would
you sin against God? Why would you tempt God to put
a yoke, to put a bondage, to put a curse upon the neck of
believers which neither our fathers nor we are able to bear? Why
would you put believers back under the law Back under the
curse of the law. You know what the law says? The
law says, Cursed is everyone that continueeth not in all things
which are written in the book of the law to do them. But the good news of the gospel
is that the Lord Jesus Christ hath redeemed us from the curse
of the law, being made a curse for us. Peter rebukes the legalist
with a powerful question, why would you insult, disregard,
discredit the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ? And put believers
back under that curse when Christ has redeemed us. Remember what
we read in Galatians chapter 5 verse 1? Stand fast in the
liberty wherewith Christ has set us free, and be not entangled
again with the yoke of bondage, the yoke of the law, we've been
set free. The old songwriter put it this
way. It may have been Bunyan. Run, run, the law demands, but
gives me neither feet nor hands. The gospel bids a sweeter song,
it bids me fly and gives me wings. Which way are you going, my friend?
You still struggling under the curse of the law? Or has God
set you free by His grace? Here's what he's asking. Why
would you saddle believers with the bondage of law-keeping when
the Lord Jesus Christ has set them free? Our Lord said, you
shall know the truth, and the truth will liberate your soul. Set free. Oh, the freedom we
have in Christ to love Him and to serve Him. There's only one
reason any legalist and lost religionist would try to bring
believers back under the curse and bondage of the law. Why would
they do that? Why would anyone try to coerce
you to put you back under the law, under rules and regulations? Here's the reason. They don't
know the true gospel. of the Lord Jesus Christ. They
are not true believers. Nor have they been set free themselves. You remember that old saying?
Misery loves company. The legalist, the self-righteous
religious man living in bondage and misery will try to drag you
back into that misery when Christ has set us free. Oh, we're free,
my friend. Free in Christ Jesus. Now, the
last statement that he makes here in verse 11, this is Peter
preaching God-given, God-given words, God-inspired words, but
we believe. Here's the Apostles' Creed. You
want to know what it is? We believe that through the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved. even as God saved
those Gentile dogs the exact same way. Peter declares, the
gospel we believe and preach, it is nothing less than the gospel
of God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Because we believe it,
because we believe it, we must preach it. A man is going to
preach just what he believes. The apostle said this, We having
the same spirit of faith according as it is written, I believe therefore
have I spoken. We also believe and therefore
we speak. Now, he sets forth in verse 11
four things. Four things. I want to call your
attention to four things found in verse 11. The first thing
we see is this. Man is a lost sinner in need
of salvation. For it says, we believe through
the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved. Well, who
needs to be saved? Why do we need to be saved? Why
do we need to be justified? We need to be saved because by
nature we're lost. Peter declares unto these in
Jerusalem that in Adam all died. In Adam all have gone astray. In Adam all mankind are sinful,
depraved, and guilty before God. We need salvation. Man is lost in sin, dead in sin. Saved from what? What do we need
to be saved from? Myself. to be saved from my sin. I can't put away my sin. I can't
do anything with my sin. Man's a lost sinner. All have
sinned. All are born in sin with a nature
that's wicked, not capable to produce one ounce, one ounce
of righteousness. As a matter of fact, the best
we have, man in his best state is altogether vanity. My best righteousness that I
have. On the best Sunday I have. All my best I have. God sent
away with it his filthy rags. It's smoke in my nose. Peter
declares plainly that we're sinners. Need of salvation. Secondly,
this salvation we so desperately need is all of grace. We believe
that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall be
saved. The grace, grace, grace alone. Have you ever noticed how much
the word grace sounds like Christ? It does to me. Grace! Christ! The grace of God
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's where the love of God is
manifested in the Lord Jesus Christ. Every aspect of salvation. Election's election of grace.
Every aspect of salvation is the sovereign free grace of God
alone, not of works. It's the gift of God. The wages
of sin is death. Salvation is by the gift of God.
It's not of works, lest any man should boast. It's not by works
of righteousness, which we have done. But according to God's
mercy, He saved us. Grace and grace alone. Now, what is grace? What is grace? How would you define the word
grace? Grace, which is usually defined as the free favor of
God, the unearned, the unsought, free, sovereign, unmerited favor,
kindness, and mercy of God, freely bestowed on whom He will. He said, I will be gracious to
whom I will be gracious. But you know the meaning is also
found in each letter of the word. Each letter of the Word declares
unto us what the Word means. It's much like the word faith. F-A-I-T-H. What does that stand
for? Forsaking all, I trust Him. Just like the word grace. Let
me give you what these letters stand for. And it defines what
grace is. What does G stand for? If you
were thinking of salvation, And thinking of how to define God's
grace, what would you say that the letter G would stand for? Gift. God's gift. It's God's gift unto us. James 1.17 says, every good gift
and every perfect gift comes from God. Grace is the gift of God. God so loved that He gave His
Son. So, G stands for giving. G stands for gift. Salvation is the free gift of
God. The R. What would the R stand
for? I can think of a lot of words. Righteousness. Regeneration. Reconciliation. resurrection, all these things. But chiefly, I think, in trying
to describe the grace of God, we're justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that's in His blood. So grace
stands for gift. R stands for redeemed. Redeemed by the blood of the
Lamb. Redeemed, how I love to proclaim
it, redeemed by His blood, I am. That's the song of glory. All
through that book we call the Revelation, the Lord Jesus Christ
is set forth in His redeeming character, His sacrificial character
as the Lamb of God. Twenty-one times in the Revelation,
it says, The Lamb! The Lamb! We're redeemed with
the blood of the Lamb. That's the song of glory. Worthy
is the Lamb that was slain to receive all honor, glory, and
blessing and power both now and forever. Gee! R? A. What would A stand for? Well, I can think of several.
Atonement. Advocate. But how about this? Accepted. Accepted. Accepted in the Beloved. Accepted
in the Beloved. We are accepted in Christ Jesus. Another word we have, access. We have access to God through
Christ Jesus. It says in Ephesians 3, verse
12, "...in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by
faith of Him, we are accepted in the Beloved." We have access
unto God through Christ Jesus. We have an atonement in Him.
C. G. R. A. C. Well, you're thinking, Christ. Christ. But here's another word
that describes the grace of God. Complete. Complete. We're complete in Christ. Believers
stand complete in Christ Jesus. For in Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and we are complete in Him. Everything
we need to stand before God justified is freely given. Here's what the Word says, Now
we have received, not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit
which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely
given to us of God. God who spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all, how shall we not with Him also
freely give us all things? Grace, the gift redeemed by His
blood, Accepted in the Beloved. Complete in Christ Jesus. E. What would E stand for? This
is maybe a little bit more difficult to think of. But I thought of
two words. I like both of them. How about
this one? Eternal. Eternal. Grace is eternal. Grace is eternal. Now here's a Scripture. Grace
is eternal. I quote this all the time. 2
Timothy 1.9. It's God who saved us and called us with a holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to His own
purpose, grace, given to us in Christ Jesus before the foundation
of the world. You see, that's eternal grace.
Eternal grace. And then the word effectual.
I like that word too, effectual. That describes the grace of God
too, doesn't it? Effectual grace. Effectual grace.
All the priestly work Christ accomplished for His covenant
people is effectual and satisfying. So much so, the blood atonement
of the Lord Jesus Christ so cleared our debt and so put away our
sins that God said their sin and their iniquity will I remember
no more. That's grace. G-R-A-C-E. Write it down. Commit it to your
memory. And next time someone asks you,
what do you mean by salvation is all of grace? Maybe it would
give you opportunity to declare unto them how God saves sinners
by His grace and grace alone. Now, here's the third thing that
Peter declares. Through our Lord Jesus Christ
we shall be saved. Through our Lord Jesus Christ,
we shall be saved. We shall be saved. Through our Lord Jesus Christ,
maybe salvation will happen for His elect, maybe it won't happen. Is salvation an if question? No, my friend, it's done. The
great transaction is done. I am my Lord and He is mine. Through our Lord Jesus Christ
we shall be saved. There is no possibility that
those given to the Lord Jesus Christ in that covenant of grace
shall perish. They can't perish. Do you remember the Scripture in
Matthew chapter 1? The messenger from heaven declared,
call His name Savior Jesus for He shall save His people from
their sin. You reckon He did when He said,
it's finished on Calvary's tree? He should and He shall give unto
His people eternal life. I want to show you something.
Turn to John 17. He gives His sheep eternal life
because of this eternal grace, because of this eternal covenant,
because of this eternal love. John 17. Point out something
here. Look at verse 2. As thou hast
given him power over all flesh, that he, and here's the key word,
should give eternal life to as many as the Father hath given
to him. Not that he might give. Not even
that he shall give. He should do it. That is, Obligated to give life to His
covenant people. He paid their debt. He obligated
Himself as a surety of the covenant to save those sheep given to
Him in that covenant of grace. Has to. His death demands our
salvation. His honoring the law demands
our salvation. That's right. He should. It's
right. It's just for Him to give salvation unto His covenant people.
Now, many debate this question. Can a man, a sinner, can a saved
sinner ever be lost again? Not if God saves him. Not until God ceases to be God. If the Lord God has saved by
His grace, it shall be forever. For He gives unto them eternal
life, and they can never perish. Here's the last thing in verse
11. Notice what Peter says here.
We shall be saved, and he's addressing those Jews. The Jews shall be
saved just as God saved the Gentiles. Same way. Grace alone. Faith alone. Christ alone. He's saying this. God saved sinners
only one way. Only one way. Peter had a real
rebuke for these self-righteous Jews. Instead of saying, well,
God will save the pagan Gentiles the same way he saved us, he
turns the table on them. He turns the table on them and
declares that God will have mercy on the Jews exactly the same
way he does on the Gentile dog. Free grace alone. we shall be saved even as they."
Circumcision was no advantage. Uncircumcision was no loss. But
grace doing all for both and for, and the same for each. Grace
and grace alone. Now this, my friend, is a message
of all Scripture. Grace alone, faith alone, Christ
alone, the Word of God alone, to the glory of God. This is
the message of all Scripture. This was the theme of the Reformation.
This is the heartbeat of the Gospel. And it's still our message
today. The message doesn't change. It
doesn't evolve. He doesn't change. He's the same
yesterday, and today, and forever. In closing, look at verse 12. Then all the multitude kept silence. and gave audience to Barnabas
and Paul declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among
them. Look at their response. They
kept silent. They kept silent. Before God is pleased to open
our heart, I'll tell you what He'll do. He'll shut our mouth. He'll shut our mouth. It says
that in Romans 3, let every mouth be stopped and all the world
become guilty before God. But no, stop your mouth. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. I heard a famous talk show host
say this. He said, I've never learned anything
by talking. Be eager to hear His Word. Be
eager to hear His Gospel. There's an article on the back
of the bulletin about hearing Him. And God said, there came
a voice. God said out of the cloud, this is My beloved Son.
Hear Him. Hear Him. We believe. Here's God's message. We believe
that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be
saved, even as they.