Now you turn again to the book
of Acts, chapter 15, and let's follow along in the Word. Last
week we learned a very important Bible issue. How does God save sinners? Works,
grace, or the combination of works and grace? Well, Peter
stood up and cleared the air in this matter. As it says in
Acts 15 verse 11, we believe, and every believer believes the
same thing, we believe through grace, through grace, through
Christ, through grace, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
by His grace that He came, it's by His grace that He died, and
it's by His grace that He saves us. God's sovereign merit, having
sovereign favor on whom He will. Through Jesus Christ we shall
be saved even, even as others. Remember the question that was
talked about in this conference here at Jerusalem was law-keeping
and circumcision needful for the Gentiles to be justified
before God. Well, we learned that lesson.
It is by the sovereign grace of God alone. It is through the
sacrifice of Jesus Christ that we have forgiveness. The blood
of bulls and goats puts away How many sins? The blood sacrifice
under the law put away how many sins? Zero. It's the blood sacrifice
of Jesus Christ. That blood offering under the
law simply pointed those to the Lord Jesus Christ. The fulfillment
of what that was a picture of, substitution and satisfaction. So when we talk about forgiveness,
there's no other forgiveness, no other pardon but through the
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. There remains no other sacrifice
for sin but Christ. Now we learned that lesson. It's
a lesson that we need to repeat over and over and over again.
Lest we think we're forgiven some other way. As some would
promote today that it's repentance that puts away sin. That's a
lie. It's the blood atonement of Christ
that cleanses from all sin. So we learn that salvation is
by His sacrifice. We learn that sinners are justified
with the righteousness that's provided. It's a justifying righteousness. That's what we have in the gospel.
Blessed is that man to whom God would give give to you a perfect,
justifying righteousness. The believer enjoys not only
all sin put away, well that's good news, but also he's given
to us a perfect righteousness to stand before God, holy, unblameable,
unreprovable in his sight. These are the things, the vital
lessons of the gospel. We also learn This message of
the gospel, His sacrifice is the only sacrifice that puts
away sin. His righteousness is the only
righteousness that justifies the ungodly before God. And His
resurrection is the guarantee of our resurrection. He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. His resurrection declares His
salvation is done. His resurrection declares His
salvation complete. His resurrection declares that
He's accepted of God. When He by Himself purged our
sin, what happened? He sat down on the right hand
of the throne of God. They put His body in the grave,
but on the third day He walked out. And forty days later, He
bodily ascended to glory and He is sitting on the throne of
glory, waiting. One day He's going to come back,
and we're going to see Him as He is. And you know what? He's
going to make us just like Him. This is the gospel of God's grace. And He also ever lives, He's
able to save to the uttermost because He ever lives to make
intercession for us. Now, we believe. How about you?
Is this your hope? We believe through the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be justified in Christ. Now, verse 12. Acts 15, verse
12. Then all the multitude. Well,
it silenced them. Silenced the opposition. Silenced
them. Grace. Grace alone. Then all the multitude hushed. God hushed them. God took out
the fight. And they gave the audience to
Barnabas and Paul. You know what they're going to
say? What are they going to say? Barnabas and Paul, here they're
given an opportunity, they're given an open door to preach
the gospel, declaring what miracles and wonders God had done among
them, among the Gentiles, through them. Once again, Paul declares
this same message. I believe he went over the same
ground. Acts 14, verse 27, when they came back to Antioch, they
said this, when they had come and had gathered the church together,
this is chapter 14, verse 27, they rehearsed all that God had
done with them, how He opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.
everything that God had done. You see, that's our message.
Salvation is what God had done. Did you notice in chapter 15,
verse 4, as they would travel to Jerusalem, they declared the
conversion of the Gentiles. This is what God had done. And
when they came to Jerusalem, they declared all things that
God had done. You see, it's a message that's
repeated all through Scripture. It's no new message. The salvations
of the Lord. Turn to Psalm 66. Look at this
here. It's no new message. Amos, Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Moses. Our Lord said, Moses wrote of
me. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, all
the writings of Moses. They all speak and teach us one
lesson. Salvation through Christ. Psalm
66, verse 16. Come! And hear, all ye that fear God,
and I will declare what He hath done for my soul." You see, it's
no new message. Turn to Psalm 98. Psalm 98 is
what God has done. This is the Lord's doing. Psalm
98, verse 1, sing. Oh, sing unto the Lord. A new
psalm, for He hath done marvelous things. What is this new song? That He has done marvelous things.
It's the song of redemption. It's the same song that's recorded
in the Revelation. Unto Him who loved us and washed
us from our sin in His own blood. Oh, sing this new song unto the
Lord. For He hath done marvelous things. His right hand, His holy arm
hath gotten Him the victory. You see, it's no new message.
It's a message of David, Isaiah, Amos, all the prophets. They're
in Psalm 118. And we could read many, many
other scriptures. Psalm 118, verse 21, I will praise
thee, for thou hast heard me and art become my salvation.
The stone which the builders refused has become the head of
the corner. This is the Lord's doing. This is marvelous in our eyes.
Is salvation by the grace of God marvelous in your eyes? Oh,
it is to the believer. This is the day, the day of salvation,
which the Lord hath made. We will rejoice and we will be
glad. I'm glad when they said to me,
let us go into the house of the Lord. The Gentiles, when they
heard that message, they were glad, and as many as were ordained
to eternal life believed this gospel. Now back to Acts 15. Here's what Peter and Paul and
Barnabas declared. Salvation is all by the grace
of God. Now, here we come to verse 13. James stands up. Now what's he
going to say? James is the Lord's chosen. James,
this James here is the one we have that little epistle. with
his name, James, the apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. This
is the James. This is not the brother of John.
What's James going to say? Is he going to have a different
message? Is he going to bring in something else? No, it's the
same message. Notice in verse 13. Verse 13
and 14. When Paul concluded his message,
James confirmed Peter and Paul's message. James answered and said,
You listen to me. You hearken to me. Men and brethren,
Peter, Simon Peter, has declared how God at first did visit the
Gentiles. God visited them sovereignly
and He chose a people to take out of them. Does He have a right
to do that? Did anybody question you when
you said, I'm going to take her to be my wife, my lawful wedded
wife? You made that choice. Are you
going to not allow God to make the choice of his own bride?
He said, I'm going to take them for my people. I'm going to choose
them, marry them, die for them, redeem them, and they're going
to be mine. You see, it's the same message.
Same message. To take out of them a people
for my name, for my glory. And to this, Not only does Peter,
do I agree with Peter and with Paul and Barnabas, but to this
agree the words of the prophets. All the prophets that wrote in
the past, you remember, turn back to chapter 10. To this agree,
all the prophets have one message. Acts chapter 10, verse 40, Him,
God raised up the third day, showed Him openly, Not to all
the people, but unto witnesses chosen. And you can't get away
from God's sovereign electing grace. Witnesses chosen before
God, even to us who did eat and drink with Him after He rose
from the dead. And He commanded us to preach
unto the people and to testify that it was He which was ordained
of God to be the judge of the living and the dead. To Him,
verse 43, give all the prophets witness. All the prophets talk
about who? They talk about salvation through
the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah said, God had laid in
Zion for foundation a stone, a tribestone, a precious cornerstone. He that believeth on Him shall
not make haste, shall never be forced off, shall have everlasting
salvation. That through His name, whosoever
believeth in Him shall receive the remission of sins. Those
who believe in Him. Now back to Acts 15. God did
sovereignly choose a people, and the scriptures declare this
in no uncertain terms. Look at verse 16 and verse 17.
And after this, he makes one reference to the prophet Amos,
Amos chapter 9. He says, to this the prophets
agree, He said, after this, I will return and will build again the
tabernacle of David, which is falling down. I will build again
the ruins thereof. I will set it up that the residue
of men might seek after the Lord. And all the Gentiles, upon whom
my name is called, saith the Lord. And here's this phrase
again, who doeth all these things. You see, it's the same message.
Salvation of the Lord. Now, James here, when he makes
reference to this Scripture in the book of Amos. He's not here
talking about a physical kingdom of David being resurrected again,
is he? Not talking about the physical
kingdom of David. He's talking here about the spiritual
kingdom of the greater David, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, our Lord talks about that
in Matthew 16. Turn over there. Matthew chapter
16. And notice again, it says, I
will return, I will build, I will set it up. You see, it gets right
back to salvation is His will, not ours. Matthew 16, whom do
men say that I am? Matthew 16, 13. Well, some men
say that you're John the Baptist, Elijah, some other prophet. But
he said to them, verse 15, whom do you say that I am? Simon Peter
answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God. And the Lord answered and said, You are a blessed man,
Simon, son of Jonah, for flesh and blood have not revealed this
unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also
unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build
my church." Now, he's not saying that the foundation of the church
is Peter. It was what Peter's confession was. Christ, Thou
art the Christ. I will build my church. And the gates of hell shall not
prevail against this kingdom." You see, it's the kingdom that
he builds up. Now, I want you to turn to 1
Peter 2. 1 Peter 2. Amos declared that salvation
is of the Lord. I will return. I will build. Speaking of the Lord, I will
set up. The same message all the way through Scripture. 1
Peter 2. Look at verse 3. If so be you tasted that the
Lord is gracious. 1 Peter 2. 3. To whom coming
as unto a living stone, disallowed in need of men, but chosen of
God and precious, you also are living stones, or build up a
spiritual house. Now here he's talking about a
spiritual kingdom. He's talking about his church. You are living
stones. What are we by nature? Dead stones. But we're His. He makes us and
He gives us life in Christ. He's begotten us again into a
living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
You are living stones. You build up a spiritual house.
We are made holy priests unto God to offer up spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God by and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore,
also it is contained in Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief
cornerstone, elect and precious. He that believeth on him shall
not be confounded unto you therefore which believe. He is precious. He is precious. Back to the text. Acts 15. To this one glorious purpose,
verse 17, that the residue of man might seek after the Lord. And all the Gentiles, upon whom
my name is called, sayeth the Lord, who doeth all these things."
This is the glorious purpose of God in the Gospel, that sinners
called by the Gospel, by His grace, would seek mercy where
mercy is found. Notice what it says in verse
17, that they might seek after the Lord. Whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved. Now notice this, sayeth
the Lord who doeth all these things. Our seeking the Lord
and our calling upon the Lord, is that something that is naturally
flowing out from this sinful man? No. It's the fruit of the
Spirit. It's the fruit of life. It's
the work of God in us that we would seek the Lord, that we
would call upon His name. Our Lord said, No man can come
to Me except the Father which sent Me draw him. Why can't we
come to Him? Because we're dead in sin. He
must give life. He must call. He must quicken.
and call us to himself, that we might seek mercy where mercy
is found. Sayeth the Lord. Who says so?
Look what it says there. Verse 17. Who says so? Did the
preacher say so? Well, yes, but God says so. Sayeth the Lord. Who doeth all
these things. All these things. Now find 2
Corinthians. Are seeking him? Are calling
upon him? 2 Corinthians 5. It's all of
God. It's the work of God. Faith is
not the product of the flesh, is it? Faith is a gift of God. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature. Now, how did you get in Christ? But of him are you in Christ?
We studied that this morning. It's the work of God, who doeth
all these things. He's a new creature. He's a new
creation, born of God. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things have become new. What did we read back here? All
things are of God. And all things are of God. Look
at verse 18, 2 Corinthians 5. All things are of God who has
reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ and has given to us this
ministry. That's the gospel of reconciliation.
To wit, that is namely, that God was in Christ, reconciling
the world unto himself. Now that's the world of his elect.
Look what it says, not imputing their trespasses unto them. And
hath committed unto us this word, this good news of forgiveness
of sin, reconciliation through the mediator Christ. Now then,
we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you
by us. We pray you in Christ steady. Now be you reconciled
to God. He's reconciled in Christ. Now
lay down your shotgun. Lay down your rebellion and submit
to Him. 4, verse 21, He has made Him
to be sin. He has made Him sin for us. That's what happened at Calvary.
He was made sin for us. The Lord laid on Him our iniquity. He knew no sin, did no sin, had
no sin. that we might be made the righteousness
of God. There's that righteousness of
God in the law. Oh, I misread that. What does
that say there? The righteousness of God in Him. I misread that on purpose. Wake you up. It's the righteousness of God
in Him. Now, look back at the text again. Who said to the Lord,
who doeth all these things. You see the message here? This
is the message. Now look at verse 18. Who doeth
all these things of him, through him, and to him are all things.
Romans 11, 6. Verse 18. No none to God. Now you get a hold of this right
here. Known unto God are all His doings, His works, from the beginning of the world. Known unto God. This is God's
foreknowledge, and His foreknowledge is based upon His eternal decree. Why does God know all things?
Did He look down through this mystic telescope of time and
see what the creature would do, and then His foreknowledge arises
upon seeing what we do? That's what the false prophet
says. This foreknowledge of God is based upon He knows all things
because God has decreed all things to come to pass. He knew it,
John Gill said, he knew it would be because he determined it should
be. Now don't term it. Let me just
read this to you. We're familiar with this. But in Isaiah 46,
9, he says this, Remember the former things of old. I am God,
there is none else. I am God, there is none like
me. Declaring the end from the beginning. From ancient times
of things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand,
I'll do all my pleasure. I've spoken it, I'll bring it
to pass, I've purposed it, I'm going to do it." Now this is
a God to whom we worship. He works all things after the
counsel of His own will. Ephesians 111. Now, when we talk
about the sovereignty of God, we talk about God's sovereignty
in election. It's His electing love. Back
to 1 Peter 1 this time. Known unto God are all His works
from the beginning. See, God is vast and infinite. What comes to pass in time, He
decreed from all eternity. When we talk about election,
election is according to God's foreknowledge. 1 Peter 1, look
at verse 2. He's writing to the strangers
scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia. Oh, but they're not
strange to God. Verse 2 said they're elect according
to the foreknowledge of God. According to the foreordination
of God. He knew them because He chose
them in eternity. Through sanctification of the
Spirit, that's the new birth, unto obedience and the sprinkling
of the blood of Jesus Christ, he ordained their salvation through
Christ. By the blood of Jesus Christ,
grace and peace be multiplied unto you. So when we talk about
God's electing love, it's his elections according to his foreknowledge. That's not God seeing that the
sinner would choose and then determining that he would. That
makes election according to what I do. Elections according to
God's coordination. God knows because He's decreed
all things. You see that? Known unto God,
and look back at the text again, known unto God are all His works
from the beginnings of the world. You see, He's Alpha and He's
Omega. He is the beginning. He is the
end. And he's everything in between.
He's the whole alphabet. He's everything. He's the A to
Z in salvation. He's the A, the author, and he's
the finisher of all salvation vested in him. I simply just
receive it as a gift, as a gift. He's made me an heir of grace,
a joint heir with Christ. When we talk about election,
It's according to God's decree. We talk about his sacrifice.
Now we've seen this in Acts chapter 2. Turn over there. Acts chapter
2. Acts chapter 2. We talk about
his sacrifice. Was his death an accident? Did he just get caught up in
the fury of the Jews and the Romans? Was he just a victim of circumstances? Or was something else going on
in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you remember
what Pilate said? He said, don't you know that
I have power over you to crucify you or to let you go? Do you
remember what the Lord said? You don't have any power over
me. None at all. Except that which is given to
you of my father." When they came to arrest him, they all
fell out like bowling pins. When they said, who do you think? We're seeking Jesus of Nazareth.
He said, I am. And they just hit the floor.
You see, he said, no man takes my life from me. I lay it down
on myself. I have power to lay it down.
I have power to take it up again. This commandment have I received
of my Father. His death was no accident, my
friend. He died on purpose. God's purpose. He's a lamb slain
before the foundation of the world. Now we read that in Acts
chapter 2. Remember when we studied through
chapter 2? A little verse 22. You men of Israel, Hear these
words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man, the God-man, approved of God. This is God's sacrifice. This
is God's Lamb. Behold the Lamb of God. He's
approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs.
They declared His works, declared Him to be the Messiah, which
God did by Him in the midst of you as yourselves also know Him
being delivered. by the determinate counsel, foreknowledge,
foreordination of God, known unto God are all his works from
the beginning. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ
was not an accident. He died on purpose. You have
taken by wicked hand and crucified and slain. God used the wicked
motives of men to accomplish his purpose in his death. Now
find chapter 4, Acts chapter 4. Do you remember this? The kings of the earth stood
up, verse 26, and the rulers were gathered together against
the Lord and against his Christ, for of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus whom thou hast anointed, both Harry and Pontius Pilate. You know, they were enemies.
They hated each other. But to accomplish God's purpose,
they became allies in His death. How about the Jews and Gentiles?
The Romans? The Jews didn't like the Romans,
did they? But they became allies in putting Him to death, that
the purpose of God not be accomplished. Both Herod and Pontius Pilate,
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together
for to do. Now look at this carefully. Underscore
this. Whatsoever Thy hand, thy counsel,
God's full ordination, determined before to be done." Any of that
in your mind now? God is God who works all things
in salvation and mercy according to His own purpose. Election and sacrifice and the
sinner's salvation Known unto God are all his works from the
beginning. You see what I'm saying now? This is the message. This is
the message of God. The sinner's salvation is all
of God. Now, we've seen this before.
In Acts chapter 13, turn back over there, when Peter, rather
Paul, in Acts chapter 13, when he first came to Antioch there,
his first sermon that he preached, He preached salvation through
this man, Acts 13, verse 38. Only one sacrifice for sin, verse
38. I think this is a key verse in
the whole book of Acts. Be it known unto you therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you
the forgiveness of sins. It goes right back to we believe
through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved.
And by Him all that believe are justified. from all things which
you could not be justified by the law of Moses." Now, I want
to show you here that salvation is by the sovereign decree of
God. Stay right there in the book of Acts. Look at verse 44. The next day, the whole city, almost the whole city, came together
to hear the word of God. They came to hear this message.
But when the Jews saw the multitude, They were filled with envy, and
they spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting
and blaspheming, speaking evil. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed
bold and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first
have been spoken unto you. But seeing that you put it from
you, and you judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life,
lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded
us, now look at verse 47, saying, I have set thee to be a light
of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation to the ends
of the earth. God said, the Lord commanded
us, I have set thee to be a light. Christ is that light. That's
who they set forth. Thou shouldest be for salvation
to the ends, whoever is saved in the ends of the earth. It's
in Christ. Now look at verse 48. When the
Gentiles heard this, They were glad. And as many as walked in
Isle, as many as went to the mourner's bench, as many as made
a decision, as many as accepted Jesus as my personal Savior. That's commie rock, what that
is. Look what it says there. As many as were ordained to eternal
life believed the gospel. You see, salvation, my friend,
is all of God. It's all of grace. Back to the
text, and I've got to quit. Verse 18, known unto God are
all His works from the beginning of the world. Salvation is of
the Lord, of God, and God only. Well, we'll pick up there next
week, and we'll consider the rest of that chapter. Lord willing.