The Apostles' Creed

I invite you to turn in your
Bibles to the book of Acts, chapter 15, verse 11. My subject today
is the Apostles' Creed, or what the Apostles believed about salvation. In the 15th chapter of Acts,
verse 11, Peter is speaking here, and he says, We believe, we believe
that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be
saved even as they. Now Paul and Barnabas had preached
the gospel of Christ among the Gentiles, and many of the Gentiles
had come to believe the gospel. They had received Christ in their
hearts and they were rejoicing in the salvation of Christ Jesus
our Lord. But certain men, the scripture
says there in the 15th chapter of Acts, if you'll read that
whole chapter, it says certain men came down from Judea and
tried to tell these Gentile believers, except you be circumcised after
the law of Moses, you cannot be saved. Now these people had
heard Paul preach the gospel of Christ, the gospel of substitution,
the gospel of the blood sacrifice, the gospel of Calvary, the gospel
of redemption by faith alone. They'd heard him preach this
and believed it and received Christ. And then these men came
down from Judea and began to preach among these Gentiles that
you can't be saved unless you, according to the law of Moses,
receive circumcision. Now the pulpit today is full
of these same legalists, these same ritualists, who say things
like this, except you belong to our particular denomination,
you can't be saved. You've heard them preach that,
I've heard them preach that. that unless you are Catholic,
unless you are Baptist, unless you are Church of Christ, unless
you are this, that, and the other, you can't be saved. And then
we hear them say this, unless you are baptized by us, it doesn't
matter if you are merged or however you are baptized, but you must
be baptized by us, they say, or you cannot be saved. And others
will come along with this type of preaching, unless your lifestyle
meaning your clothes and your behavior and your conduct, unless
your lifestyle is just like ours, and according to our church rules
and our church standard, you cannot be saved. And then others
say this, unless you hold our particular beliefs about prophecy
and about different parts of the scripture, you cannot be
saved. Now that's what these men were saying to the Gentiles,
these men who came down from Judea. They were saying to these
believers, You can't be saved just by believing on Christ.
You can't be saved by just receiving Christ Jesus as your Lord and
Savior. You've got to be circumcised
after the law of Moses. Now when these legalists put
forth these arguments, well, they had quite a stir up there
in the church, and the church decided to send Paul and Barnabas
and other men up to Jerusalem to confer with the apostles of
Christ. The church got together, there
was a big argument over this, there was a division, and so
they chose Paul and Barnabas and other men in the church and
sent them to Jerusalem directly, to Peter, James, and John, and
asked them about this. Now they wanted to find out,
is it true that these Gentiles cannot be saved only by believing
in Christ, only by receiving Christ? Is it true that these
Gentiles must be circumcised after the law of Moses in order
to be saved. Now, when they got to Jerusalem
and presented the problem, they had a conflict there, too. If you look at verse 5, it says,
in Jerusalem there arose certain Pharisees who had professed to
believe the gospel, who had professed to believe in Christ, and said,
that's right, they said the same thing. They said, that's right,
these people can't be saved. They can't be saved unless they
are circumcised and keep the law of Moses. And then Peter
arose, the Apostle of Christ. Peter arose and delivered a powerful
message. He delivered a powerful word.
He answered these legalists, he answered these ritualists,
once and for all. And this is my text today, what
Peter said. He delivered this, what I call,
the Apostle's Creed. He tells us in this verse of
scripture what the apostles believed about salvation. Now listen to
Peter as he speaks. You'll find it in Acts 15 beginning
about verse 9 or 10 in there. This is what he said. He stood
up and he said, Brethren, a good while ago God sent me to preach
the gospel to the Gentiles. You remember he went to the household
of Cornelius. And these people heard the gospel
of Christ from my mouth, and they believed, and God gave them
the Holy Spirit. God made no difference between
these Gentiles and us, but he cleansed their hearts by faith,
and he gave them the Holy Spirit. Now, brethren, why do you try
to test God or tempt God by putting a yoke on the necks of these
Gentiles, a yoke which our fathers couldn't bear? and a yoke which
we cannot bear. What are you trying to do? Mix
law and grace, works and grace? Now listen to this statement.
We believe, and this is why I call it the Apostles' Creed. We believe,
and this is the answer to every ritualist today and every legalist
today. We believe that through the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved even Now, this is an
important statement. It ought to be underlined in
your Bible. It ought to be studied carefully. This is an important
statement from the lips of our Lord's disciple, Simon Peter.
I call it the Apostles' Creed, what the Apostles believed, and
much can be learned from it. And if you let me divide it into
two categories, I think we can learn a great deal about what
they believed concerning salvation, concerning redemption. Now, first
of all, I want to deal with this, what the apostles did not believe.
And then, in closing, what the apostles did believe. Now, first
of all, what they did not believe. It is clear from this statement.
It is clear from the discussion which these men conducted. It
is perfectly clear that these disciples did not believe in
salvation by ceremony or by ritual. They did not believe in salvation
by ceremony or ritual. Many people claim that Peter
was the first pope. You'll hear that everywhere.
Peter was the first pope. Peter was the head, the great
head of the great church that encompasses all religions. But
listen, when Peter declares what he believes about salvation,
when he declares in this text, we believe that we shall be saved,
or But through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be
saved even as they are. He didn't say a thing in the
world about the sprinkling of infants. He didn't say a thing
in the world about the sacraments. He didn't say a thing in the
world about holy days and feasts and ceremonies, did he? He didn't
say a thing in the world about priests and altars and robes
and candles and religious pop and ceremony. He said we believe
through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, not through the
church, not through the ceremony, not through the catechism, not
through the confirmation principle. We believe that through the grace
of God we shall be saved. No, these men did not believe
in ritualism, ceremonialism. They talked about salvation by
grace and grace alone. Christ was their message. Christ
was their message. Their theme was grace and Christ. That's the reason Paul said,
God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of Christ.
That's the reason Paul said, I'm determined to know nothing
among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. These men were
not willing to put a yoke of ritualism and a yoke of legalism
and a yoke of ceremonialism on the necks of people. A yoke that
their forefathers could not bear and a yoke they couldn't bear.
They didn't believe in ritualism. And secondly, They did not believe
in salvation by works. It's clear here. He said we believe
that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now grace
and works are opposite. Paul said if it's grace, it's
not works. And salvation by works is not
grace. You cannot mix the two. Now, I know what the creed of
the world is. I've been around a while. I've
preached for a few years. I know what the creed of this
world is. I know what the belief of most people listening to this
telecast is. Do the best you can. Do the best
you can, according to human standards, and you'll go to heaven when
you die. Now that's the creed of this world. We're born with
that in our hearts. We're all born Pharisees. We're
born self-righteous. We're born filled with human
pride. And this is what the average
person believes. Good people go to heaven, and
bad people go to hell. And if you do the best you can,
according to human standards, according to human moral laws,
then you'll go to heaven when you die, there's no doubt about
it. And to question this, to question this is treason against
human pride. You just don't question it. Every
person is born self-righteous. Every person is born seeing the
best in himself and the worst in everybody else. You know it's
so, and I know it's so. Nearly every one of us are like
the Pharisee in the temple who prayed with himself and said,
Lord, I sure thank you I'm not like other people. Why, Lord,
I tithe, and I go to church, and I give alms, and I'm not
an adulterer, and I'm not an extortioner, I'm not even like
that publican over there. I sure thank you, Lord, that
I'm not like other men. But the disciples didn't talk
that way. John said, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. and the truth is not in us. If
we say we have not sinned, John said, we make God a liar because
God said all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Paul was very explicit. Paul was very plain. He said
there's none good, no, not one. There's none righteous. There's
none that seeketh after God. These disciples did not believe
in salvation by work. They did not believe that the
way to heaven, the road to heaven, was by the way of self-righteousness
and human morality. They believed that the way of
the cross leads home. And there's no other way but
this. We'll never get sight of the gates of light if the way
of the cross we miss. That dying thief rejoiced to
see the fountain of blood in his day, and there may I, preacher
in the pulpit, pastor of a church, leader of believers, there may
I, though vile as he, wash my sins away." No, these men did
not believe in salvation by works, by the grace of God. That's what
they believed. And then these men did not have
any confidence, any faith, in their ancestors or in their heritage. That's right. They had no confidence
in their ancestors. Peter didn't say, now we believe
we shall be saved because we're Israelites. We believe that we
shall be saved because Abraham is our father. That's what the
Pharisees said. They got real angry with the
Master when he talked to them about salvation by grace, and
they said, we've got Abraham the father. Why, we're the sons
of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, people today. We're Baptists.
We're Methodists. We're Presbyterian. What are
you? We're Catholic. We're something else. We have
Christian parents. We were raised in a Christian
home. We have an unbroken line all the way back to John the
Baptist, or all the way back to Jesus Christ. Let me tell
you something. In Christ, there's neither Jew
nor Gentile. There's neither bond nor free.
There's neither male nor female. There's neither Baptist, or Methodist,
or Nazarene, or Presbyterian, or Catholic, or anything else.
It's Christ and Christ alone. Now, you'd better quit trying
to trace your salvation back to an experience, or back to
a feeling, or back to a decision, or back to a denomination. Salvation's
in Christ. And these men, when they came
to them and they summed this whole thing up, what they believed,
they didn't say, we believe that we shall be saved because we're
loyal, faithful Jews. They said, we believe we shall
be saved by the grace of God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.
No, these disciples did not believe in salvation by ritualism, salvation
by ceremonialism, salvation by sacraments and ordinances. These
men did not believe in salvation by works, by morality, by self-righteousness. They did not believe in family
inheritance. What did they believe? Let me
give you four things. First of all, from this confession,
when Peter stood before these faithful men, and he said, men
and brethren, we believe we shall be saved. We believe we shall
be saved. I see in that the first thing
that he believed. He believed that man was lost
and needed to be saved. He believed in human ruin. He
said, we need to be saved. Peter viewed men as fallen creatures. not as dignified, noble creatures,
not as evolved creatures. He viewed them as fallen creatures
who needed to be saved, saved from sin, saved from the wrath
of God, saved from judgment, saved from the condemnation of
God's holy law. If the Apostle Peter was standing
here today and preaching to you He wouldn't flatter you talking
about human dignity. No, he would not. He would not
flatter you talking about human nobility and human goodness.
You know what he'd preach? All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. That's what he'd preach. He'd
preach what he said to Christ when he saw the power and wisdom
of our Lord. He said, Lord, depart from me.
I'm a sinful man. That's what he'd preach. He preached
this, what the law says, it says to those who are under the law
that every mouth may be stopped and all the world become guilty,
guilty, guilty before God Almighty. Have you ever faced the wrath
of God, the judgment of God? Have you ever faced God as a
guilty sinner? Not many people have, and you
know why? Because of the flattery that falls from the average pulpit
today. Because of the dissection that
is delivered today from the average pulpit, the preacher cries, peace,
peace, when there is no peace. Everybody's all right. Everybody's
doing the best they can. Everybody comes to church once
in a while, and gives a little offering, and wins a soul, and
does the best that he can, and everybody's all right. But this
is not what the apostles preached. Paul said, when we were without
strength, Christ died for the ungodly. Can you imagine what
would happen in the average Sunday morning congregation if the preacher
got up and called the people ungodly? Ungodly? And that's what Paul says, though.
He says Christ died for the ungodly. More than that, he said when
we were enemies of God, we were reconciled to God by the death
of His Son. Enemies. Enemies. And again he
says, you're without God, you're without Christ, you're without
hope, you're without help. That's the way the apostles preached.
They called men sinners. John the Baptist called them
a generation of vipers, who have warned you to flee from the Raftica. These disciples believed that
men were lost, and that men needed to be saved. Now, I don't know,
my friend, whether you have ever been, or will ever be, convinced
of your sins. I'm not just talking about an
outward act of murder, an outward act of adultery, an outward act
of lying. I'm talking about sin in the
heart, and sin in the imagination, and sin in the inward man. The
law of God reaches not only the actions of men, but the attitudes
of men. There are sins of commission,
but there are sins of omission. There are sins of deeds, and
there are sins also of motive. Sin is in the heart. Out of the
heart proceeds those things that defile a creature and damn a
creature. If we don't love God with a perfect
love, it's sin. If we don't love our neighbor
with a perfect love, as ourselves, it's sin. Anything short of the
glory of God is sin. Anything short of the absolute,
perfect, immaculate purity of God is sin. Can you see that?
These disciples did. They believed that they needed
to be saved. They believed they needed to
be saved because they were lost. Peter said, we shall be saved.
All right, secondly, they believed in salvation by grace, and grace
alone. He says, we believe that we shall
be saved through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. For by
grace are you saved through faith And that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Can
words be any plainer than that? Listen to this scripture. Titus
3, verse 5. Not by works of righteousness
which we've done, but according to his mercy hath he saved us. Listen to this scripture. The
wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord. What is the meaning of that word
grace? Well, somebody said grace is undeserved favor, unmerited
favor. Grace is God giving us what we
do not deserve. But I believe that the meaning
of the word grace is right in the word. Grace, G-R-A-C-E. G, salvation, is the gift of
God. He owed us nothing, but he was
pleased to give us life. This is the record John wrote.
God had given us eternal life. It's a free gift. Unmerited,
unsought, unearned, unbought. It's a gift. Grace, the gift
of God. Our redeemed. Redeemed by Christ's
death. He paid it all. All the debt
I owed. I contributed nothing to the
salvation of my soul. As far as my being legally justified
before the throne of a holy God, I was totally passive in it,
and am passive now in it, because it's all through Christ. He took my guilt, He took my
blame, He took my sin, and paid the debt. He redeemed me, He
ransomed me, He paid it all. The word grace, G-R-A, we are
accepted in the beloved. You know, the scripture tells
us in Hebrews 10 that we have access to the presence of God,
to the very throne of God. And we can come there, how? Through Christ. Because of the
sacrifice of Christ. Because Christ opened for us,
into the presence of God, a new and a living way, by his blood.
Now the letter C, complete. God's gift redeemed by Christ,
accepted in the Beloved, and we're complete in Christ. That's
what Colossians says. Paul wrote in Colossians, we
are complete in him. And then in 1 Corinthians 1.30
he said this, Of God are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made
unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
All I need. The little song that our young
people sing, Jesus Christ is made to me. All I need. All I
need. Wisdom, righteousness, holiness
forevermore. My redemption, full and sure.
He's all I need. He. I'm enriched by Christ. I have an inheritance, the scripture
says, that's undefiled, that's reserved in heaven, that faded
not away. I'm an heir of God and a joint
heir of Jesus Christ. That's grace. And that's how
we're saved. That's what Peter said. We are
saved by the grace of God, the gift of God, not by works. If
you're one of God's children, it's by his grace. It's by his
grace. Now, thirdly, what did these
men believe about salvation? Well, they believed that men
were lost and needed to be saved. We believe we shall be saved.
They believed that men were saved not by works, but by grace, by
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, they believed in perseverance. They believed in an effectual
salvation. They believed in an eternal salvation. Peter said, we believe we shall
be saved. He didn't say we might be. Perhaps
we could be. Or if things go right, we might
be. He said we shall be saved. We
believe we shall be saved. My friends, I love the shalls
and the wills of God's Word. You ought to take your Bible
sometimes. and read the shalls and the wills of God's promises.
God never says, I might do anything. No, he does not. He says things
like this, All that my Father giveth me shall come to me, and
him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. I shall, I will. He says things
like this, He that believeth on him shall not come into condemnation,
shall not come into condemnation. He said, other sheep I have which
are not of this foal, them I must bring, and they shall hear my
voice, and they shall be one foal. Oh, I know, if we depend
on ourselves, we'll fall. I know that, and you know that.
But I'm not depending on myself. I didn't come to Christ depending
on myself. I don't remain in Christ depending
on myself, and I'm not depending on myself to finish the journey.
I'm depending on him, who is not only the author, but the
finisher of my faith. I'm depending on him. We shall
be saved because we shall be kept, and we shall never perish. That's what he said. And we shall
never perish because the purpose of God will not change. He said,
I'm the Lord, I change nothing. And because the sacrifice of
Christ cannot fail, he shall not fail. That's what it says.
And because the love of Christ is everlasting. He said, I've
drawn you with an everlasting love. Christ's love is not like
yours. It's here today and gone tomorrow.
It's as a fervent pitch today and it's at rock bottom tomorrow.
That's not Christ. His is an everlasting love. It
never changes. Having loved his own, he loved
them to the end, even to the death of the cross. And then
we shall not perish because the Spirit's regeneration. is called
eternal life, not temporary life, not life for five months, or
five years, or fifty. Eternal life. I give unto them
eternal life, and they shall never perish. And then last of
all, and I want you to listen very carefully. Peter said, we
believe. We shall be saved, because we're
lost, because we're sinners. Through the grace of my works,
God's grace, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. We shall be
saved. There's no might about it. We shall be saved, even as
they. You see that? Even as they. We
shall be saved, even as they. Now, I like the way he said that.
Peter didn't say, now we know that God has shown mercy to these
Gentiles. We don't like them. We never
have liked them, but God's shown them mercy. And we admit that
they're going to be saved just like we are. He didn't say that.
He says, we're going to be saved like they are. You know, some
of us, we might say with a little compassion, a little affection,
now I believe the drunkard in the heart will get saved just
like we get saved. You got it wrong, friend. You're
going to be saved just like they are saved. That's what the scripture
says. Can you say with these disciples,
I believe that the outcast, that the poor sinner, that the most
wicked person on earth, I believe I'll be saved like he saved,
like he said. You know, Charles Wesley wrote
a great hymn, Can it be that I should gain an interest in
the Savior's blood? Died he for me, who him to death
pursued? Amazing love, how can it be that
thou, my God, should die for the Gentiles. No. For the Methodists,
no. For me. For the Israelites, no. For me. The power of my God should
die for me. Friend, you better come down,
just like old Naaman, come down, so that you might find mercy.
Join us next week at this same time over this station, and until
then I bid you a very pleasant good day.

The Apostles' Creed

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The Apostles' Creed

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