In his sermon titled 'Dealing with Dangers from Within the Church,' Trent Moody explores Acts 15:1-21, focusing on the early church's struggle with doctrinal disputes, particularly the issue of whether Gentile believers had to be circumcised according to the custom of Moses to be saved. Moody explains the conflict between Jewish believers and Gentile converts and how the Council of Jerusalem resolved the issue by affirming that salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ alone, without the need for adherence to Jewish ceremonial laws. He emphasizes the importance of distinguishing between justification by faith alone and the ongoing process of sanctification, warning against the dangers of adding works to the gospel. The sermon highlights the unity and wisdom required in church leadership to address doctrinal disputes and maintain theological integrity. Moody concludes by urging believers to trust solely in the finished work of Christ for salvation and warns against relying on any personal merit or good deeds.

Acts chapter 15 and we will be reading verses 1 through 21. Acts 15 and verse 1. Thus says the word of the Lord and certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders about this question. So being sent on their way by the church they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria describing the conversion of the Gentiles and they caused great joy to all the brethren.

And when they had come to Jerusalem they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders and they reported all things that God had done with them. But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up saying, it is necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses. Now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter. And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them, Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. So God who knows the heart acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us and made no distinction between us and them purifying their hearts by faith.

Now therefore why do you test God by putting a yoke on 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 in the same manner as they." Then all the multitude kept silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul declaring how many miracles and wonders God had worked through them among the Gentiles. And after they had become silent, James answered saying, men and brethren listen to me. Simon has declared how God at first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his name. And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written, After this I will return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David which has fallen down.

I will rebuild its ruins and I will set it up so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who does all of these things. Known to God from eternity are all his works. Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God, but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled and from blood. For Moses has had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath. Let us pray.

Our Heavenly Father we thank you oh Lord for your word this word of truth this infallible inerrant word that you have given us and Lord I pray today that your word would go forth. Father that the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ would be seen clearly today. Lord that you would remove any scales from eyes that you would take blinded eyes and shine the light of the gospel on them. Lord those who sit in darkness that they would see a great light today that they would see Jesus Christ as he is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Father I pray also that if there be any pretenders here today Lord any of those who are trusting in the works of their hands, in some good deed or in some attitude that they have, if they are trusting in anything, Lord, that is apart from Jesus Christ alone through faith, I pray, Lord, that you would tear this idol down.

They may see it for what it is as rubbish and dung and Lord that they would rest fully upon Jesus Christ and Lord I ask this in the name of Jesus our Lord and Savior amen. You may be seated. Dealing with dangers from within the church can be tricky business. You know the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ it seems has always been under threat of attack. We see it from the very beginning of the New Testament Church.

We see that threats from without, dangers from within. It's rare indeed throughout all of history that the church has ever had times of true and continued peace and I don't mean that in the spiritual sense but I'm talking about in the actual sense of things causing trouble to them whether it be physical attacks upon them or whether it be destructive doctrines that are being brought up. This is certainly the case with the early church in the book of Acts up into this point we see that most of the dangers that the early church faced that Peter and John and Paul and Barnabas and all of these apostles and disciples they faced continually threat of their very own lives. How often they were abused verbally, how they were thrown in prison, they had experienced stoning, they experienced being beaten, they experienced all sorts of troubles more than really could be understood by us in our context. But now we see not a cease of those attacks but actually an attack that is added to this attack but it comes in a way that is subtle.

The battle brings in something that is different. It is something that comes within that seems as if it's not a battle but it is a battle. And I found in looking at history and reading through the scriptures that sometimes the more dangerous attack is not that which comes physically with swords or stones or whips or crosses, but oftentimes the most dangerous enemy that we face is that which comes and grows up within the church in the form of some false teaching, some dangerous destructive doctrine of demons. And it can be subtle, most often it is subtle, most often it takes great wisdom and care to finely cut and divide the lines because it would be no temptation at all if the devil was to show up here as what we imagined him to look like and said, hey I'm the devil follow me. That would not really be a temptation for us.

However the scripture tells us that the devil himself disguises himself as an angel of light and that his ministers as ministers of righteousness. Now that becomes tricky. That is why I hope every one of you have the Word of God in your hand and that it's open this morning. You're not here just to hear me I hope. I hope that you're actually here to have the Word of God as your only standard for life and practice.

That this Word sitting before you is where we are all going to look. We're going to be good Bereans this morning. We're going to look to the very Word of God. So these dangers that have come in and we see them here, history tells us that these dangerous attacks against the church are those again that spring up in some form of doctrinal dispute. Wouldn't it be nice if we could just be done with all disputes within the church.

You know one of the things that most of the people outside the church is the reason that they don't want to come inside the church is because all of the many denominations and disputes and all such things that happen and it just seems like boy what a mess that is why would I want to be a part of something like that? But I hope to show you that throughout this text and unfortunately in a narrative like this you have so much information and I'm stopping right in the middle. There's more here that I read that I could preach in three Sundays but I'm going to do my best to get through this but I want you to realize that as we get through this that there are some battles worth fighting. There are some doctrines worth dividing over. That there are some things that are true and they must not be compromised and that is what we see in our passage this morning.

You know it's also to be expected that these things come about. The Apostle Paul writing later on in the book of Acts, and we'll get there in the weeks ahead or months ahead. He writes in Acts 20, 28, telling us, and telling specifically the elders of the church of Miletus that these things would be so. And this is what he says. He says, therefore, Take heed to yourself and to all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers To shepherd the Church of God which he purchased with his own blood For I know this that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you not sparing the flock.

Also from among yourselves men will rise up." So in other words what he's saying here is among the elders men will rise up because he's speaking specifically to elders here and speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after themselves Therefore watch and remember that for three years. I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears." Paul had great concern as a shepherd of that church and all these churches that he wrote letters to. He was so concerned that some doctrine would come in, Some wolf in sheep's clothing would come in among them and would woo them with his abilities and his smiles and his way of speaking that he would lead them away and notice what it says after themselves. And I just want to say to you don't follow me this morning unless I am imitating Christ. Imitate me as I imitate Christ.

I want you to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. That is your pastor's greatest desire. Follow the Lord Jesus Christ that is laid out in his word. You see the role of your elders is not only to pray for you and to preach the word of God to you, but part of our responsibility as is said here is that we would watch over and guard you from false teaching and part of guarding you and helping you to see that false teaching is to take the very word of God and not come with a multitude of opinions that one may have but my desire is to take you verse by verse through God's word and that we would ask God to help us and to teach us as we go. So that each of us would be fully mature, not tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine, but I want to see all of us, mature men and women, in the faith.

And so, let's jump into this and see. We have five things that we want to look at in a very large text, so we better get started. In verse 1, we see here this deadly doctrine. It comes right to us right at the beginning, verse one, and certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. I'll be honest with you, in all of my years of reading through the Bible and reading even through the book of Acts and this passage itself I don't know that it ever struck me as much as it has in studying this text at what a central doctrine is being attacked in this point.

It is the very doctrine, as I wrote to you in your email this week, it is the doctrine of justification by faith alone in Christ alone. And I think we need to understand that and see that. And as you see these things, It is very interesting how these certain men came down from Judea. They're coming from the very place in which the church was born. And they're bringing in these doctrines.

It's interesting here, he says, and certain men. These were not, I don't believe, just nobodies. I believe that they were to some extent somebodies. They were not apostles, they were not elders per se, but I do believe that they had some standing in the church of being seen of someone who had the gift and the ability to teach God's flock. God does gift teachers within the church.

And they had an opportunity here in this church at Antioch that here we have Paul and Barnabas here, we have apostles here, we have elders here, and yet these men are given opportunity to teach and it's not this word here that they're teaching. It does not mean that they just had one thing to say but it carries with it this idea that it is they began teaching the brethren and it implies something that was an ongoing doctrine that they were teaching. What they were teaching at face value may seem like it was a small matter. I mean you have Jews coming down from Judea and they're coming in they say hey you need to be circumcised and follow the law of Moses. What's wrong with the law of Moses?

Well nothing's wrong with the law of Moses if you use it lawfully. However when you begin to take the law of Moses and you begin to take the teachings of the law and you begin to say that you cannot be saved unless you obey them. Now we have a problem. The law of God was never intended to justify you or to save you. Some Jews taught that the Gentiles, and we know that the proselytes were Gentiles who came into Judaism and they were taught that they were to be circumcised, that they were to keep the law of Moses, that there are things that they were to abstain from, and they were brought in and they were seen as being clean at that time.

And so this was the same idea, you know, old habits die hard. Have you noticed this? In your Christian life there are things that seem to always follow you the entirety of your life and you're trying to kill that thing the whole time. This is the birth of the early church in the New Testament and in Jerusalem and these Jews were being saved. God graciously and wonderfully saved them.

However, I don't know if you've noticed this but when you were saved everything in your past, all of your memories, all of your experiences, all of the things that you've done, your rituals and rites, they don't disappear. And you have to begin to go through the process of determining the things that are okay to do and the things that are no longer okay to do. The things that would be in obedience and the things that are not in obedience to the Word of God. And brothers and sisters this can be a longer process than we wish. Sometimes it takes time.

Sometimes there are things in my early walk with the Lord that I did and I look back on now and think how in the world could I have thought that that was okay? And sometimes as mature Christians we could look upon young Christians and say how in the world could you be a Christian and do that? But if we would just be honest with ourselves just for a moment, we will look back at our early walk and we will see the same behaviors. However, the thing is is that we are putting to death the deeds of the body. This is not in order to be saved but it is because we are saved.

God is working in us both the will and to do of his good pleasure. And so as we see this thing coming it's easy just to get really upset with these these Jews who have come down and that they're teaching these things. I don't want to give them any slack in this because they are attacking the central doctrine of our faith. However, I just want you to see why this is something that they were trying to hold on to. They had these hangovers, if you will, these rollovers from their previous faith that they were bringing into their new faith and they saw the benefits of these things, they saw the testimonies of these things, but they misplaced it.

That is such the danger that we have in the church today is we do not understand the doctrine of justification by faith alone. We are accused of being hyper-grace and easy-belieavism. And then also understanding that we are to put off the deeds of the body and walk in holiness. Oh, you're a legalist. When in fact both of these things are actually true, we are justified made right with God by grace through faith alone in Jesus Christ apart from any works of the law.

And yet at the same time it is distinct but never separate. What comes with justification is the sanctification of our lives and our bodies. That we would put off the deeds of the flesh. That we would be killing the old man, that we would take off the stained garments and the soiled garments and we would put on new garments even though we have been declared righteous. Think of this, it is such a difficulty for so many people to understand this.

You see, there is a ditch on both sides of this road, and both of them are deadly and dangerous if you fall into them. And that's why I want to hold both of the doctrine of justification by faith alone, and also that when you are justified by faith alone you will seek to live a holy life. These things must go together. So brothers and sisters let's carry them together one in each hand and not let go of either one of them. You see this is This is a little bit of an interesting thing that we find here, that these persons come in and they're declaring, unless you are, you cannot be saved.

That's a serious statement. We need to watch that kind of statement very closely. Anyone that would ever say or proclaim unless you do this you cannot be saved. Now we would say unless you believe and some people want to say well let's make that a work and let's make that something that's more than what it is. What does it all mean to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ?

We would say you must repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Are we adding works here? Are we bringing in a form of circumcision, if you will, to add to the doctrine of justification? And I would say no, we are going to look at this more, we are not adding to or saying that repentance is a work. The Bible tells us that repentance is a grace.

Repentance is actually granted by God to those who believe. It is this work of God's spirit in the heart of a person to bring them to the point, because remember, repentance is a change of your mind that results in a change of your action. It's not saying I'm sorry. That's actually not repentance. Repentance is you come to an understanding of what you have done and then you stop doing it and you turn from it.

And that does not save you in itself, it is the faith in Jesus Christ that saves you. But we are called to turn from our old life and to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. But he is the one who enables all of this. It is the work of God who brings it about. You see this subject that we're dealing with here, There are certain things that a person may or may not do that could be an indicator that they are not truly saved.

But that is a different subject altogether from saying, if you don't do this, You cannot be saved. Did you pick that up? There are things that we could say, you're doing this thing, it causes me to question if you are saved. Okay? We're examining fruit.

We are fruit examiners to some degree, okay? We're looking at the fruit of a person's life. That's an entirely different matter than saying, you must do this to be saved. I want to see all of these good works so that you can be saved. That is heresy.

That's a false gospel. You see the former speaks of examining the fruit of someone's salvation. The latter speaks of the very heart and means of salvation. So this teaching is one of the most dangerous and damning doctrines that we face not only in our day but has been faced throughout the history of the church. We cannot compromise on this point.

This is a doctrine worth fighting for. Salvation is by faith alone in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Paul so clearly says this and teaches this in Ephesians two, eight, and nine. Most children here know these and have these verses memorized. If not, they should listen to what Paul says, for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

You see one of the key components of every other religion that we face every every month when we go out or every every day and every opportunity that you have when you are sharing the gospel with somebody you are you are coming face to face with someone who believes that their good works can outweigh their bad works. This is what we would call a works based religion. Even if they have no religion that they would hold to at all. They do believe that they are better than they are bad. Even atheists have moral standards to some degree that they hold to that are founded upon nothing but air.

I don't believe in atheists, how about that? They don't believe in God, I don't believe in them. They cannot exist because you cannot deny creation that is all around you. You cannot deny what God has done and there is coming a day when they're going to realize the foolishness of what they believe. They are going to stand face to face before Almighty God and they will give an account for what was done in the body and they will then know that what I have said is true.

Christianity, however, stands alone on this point. All other religions are what can you do to appease your God? Listen, we have the most fabulous good news ever created, ever thought of, because God does not say, what can you do to please me. In fact there is nothing we can do to please him. There is none good, no not one.

We have the poison of asp under our lips. There's nothing we can do to please God because everything we do is tainted by sin and selfishness and pride. We have a religion that says not what can you do for me but let me show you what I have done for you. This is what Jesus Christ did. God wanted to declare to us that he has come to save us from our sins and the work was his alone.

The only thing you add to your salvation brothers and sisters is the sin. That's the only work we provide in that part of that thing, the thing that needed to be atoned for. Jesus Christ paid it all. Christianity stands alone in this point. It is not what we do that will merit salvation for us, but rather our faith in the object of Jesus Christ and what he has already done on our behalf that saves us.

This seems so clear but I want us to understand the danger of falling into this heresy and that it is subtle. I fear that even today there are some here who believe that there is something that they are doing that is pleasing to God to such an extent that would merit them some favor with God regarding your salvation. Some good thing. Hey, from the outside it looks good, but what is the motive and purpose of your heart? You see, if you're resting upon that thing, However good it seems, you are seeking to diminish the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed for you.

And I want you to know this morning you are on dangerous ground. Not just dangerous, deadly. Not just deadly, I'm talking about eternal damnation if you are believing in anything but the finished work of Jesus Christ to save you from your sins. Please, please hear what I'm trying to say. You can gain no favor with God through keeping the law or through any good work that you seek to do.

Somehow that your presence among believers this morning you think might garner you some good graces with God. Lord I was with them. In fact Jesus himself says there will be some in that day whom he will cast out from his presence. And they will say, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and do good things and all of the stuff? And he will say, depart from me.

I never knew you. Why? Because they were trusting in themselves. They were trusting in their own good deeds no matter how good they are. They are tainted.

It is like offering unto God some sacrifice and because you have touched it, it is defiled. This is why the virgin birth of Jesus Christ is essential, because the sin nature of his father did not pass to him. Jesus Christ was perfectly holy in everything that he did, thoughts said, every motive of his heart, every dealing with his mother and father even as a child, sinless. I want to unequivocally say that if you are trusting in anything other than the finished work of Jesus Christ, for your justification or for your standing before God, you are lost and you are going to die in your sins if you do not turn. Humble yourselves and believe on the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This is not just for little children I'm talking to adults as well. You must believe on the gospel. You must believe in Jesus Christ. These certain men that we see here, if believers, which most likely they were at least professing to be believers, they were in danger if their beliefs were not corrected. It's interesting here, I believe that there is room for these men to be corrected in their doctrine and be set right.

I mean all of us need to be corrected at some point right? We have some things that we need to need to be corrected by the Word of God and this is the essential thing because until this one is corrected you may be believing a doctrine of demons and so they are corrected here that These apostles Paul and Barnabas spend time correcting them, disputing with them. The Bible says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. This will show proof of repentance. The Bible says repent and believe.

Again don't misunderstand repentance and faith. Repentance is not a work by which we garner favor with God but it is a gracious gift of God that he would grant us repentance and belief and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. So we see in this text here the heart of the gospel of grace coming under attack. These Judaizers were wanting to come in and notice the picture here They're coming from the church at Jerusalem and they're wanting to come into this Gentile church. They had heard what was going on among the Gentiles and they thought to themselves we need to go down there and correct some of this stuff.

We cannot allow this thing to grow. We can't, I mean think about how they felt about this situation. They had been much like what was read this morning in Philippians chapter 3. Paul, he laid it out there concerning the law blameless. He wasn't the only one that thought that.

All of the Pharisees were told in this text that they were Pharisees. They believe that they were blameless in keeping of the law and now you're telling me that these Gentiles can come in and they don't even have to keep it? That didn't seem fair. What's that about? I need to go down there and we need to tell them they need to be circumcised.

They need to become proselytes is what they need to become. Yes they need to have faith in Jesus. They need to believe in him but they also if they do not get circumcised and follow the law of Moses they cannot be saved. It cannot be that God would save someone apart from being circumcised in the keeping of the law. I cannot accept that.

That's what was in their heart. There was this battle going on within them and within the church and it was rising up and it was not something that was easily discernible or else we wouldn't have had all of this stuff come out and take place. This was serious business. This was worth fighting for. I want you to see the diligent response of the church in verses 2 through 5.

Look with me. Therefore when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders about this question. This was not a small issue. It may seem that way in our minds because we don't deal with these types of issues, but let me tell you something, we do deal with this type of issue. We deal with the issue of people wanting to put more weight upon your good deeds than it should be.

But yet we also deal with those who don't want to put any weight to your good deeds. You must hold them, Remember what I said, justification and sanctification, distinct doctrines but never separated. You can't say, well I just want to be justified, that sanctified stuff, I'll leave that for heaven. Because if you're not being sanctified, Let me tell you something, you've never been justified. These things go hand in hand.

These are Siamese twins. They're stuck together. You can't separate these two things and be a true believer. And you can't have this one sanctification without justification. You could do all the good deeds you want to, go to church a thousand times in a year, I don't care what you do, you be baptized if you want to.

It will not justify you before God. What are you trusting in this morning? Look, the diligent response of the church was, Paul and Barnabas, these apostles, they weren't about to stay silent about this situation. When they heard this, they had no small dissension and dispute. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Uh-uh, That's not true. You ever been confronted with something that you said before you think is true and somebody confronts you and says that's not true. Now do it in a whole public setting like this. Uh-uh. Imagine somebody standing up here teaching.

And Scott or I say uh-uh. That is a lie. That is heresy. You have just denied the gospel of Jesus Christ. You just counted as nothing the blood of Jesus Christ.

You're trampling under your foot the blood of Jesus Christ stop saying that and they're back and forth there's this dispute going on within this church and remember the church is full of Gentiles but you got these Jews coming down and wanting to correct and wanting to set things right and that is the situation that we find here. There was a diligent response though it was not something like well you know that's your opinion and we'll just consider that maybe at another time. I'll look into that. Now there are some things that are so plain and clear that you must confront it immediately. You must stand up and say no.

That is heresy. That is turning away from the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so there was this dispute and dissension going on and it came to a head, It came to such a point that it seems as if the matter was not going to be concluded here. Again, we have the context of a Gentile church at Antioch. We have the Apostle Paul and Barnabas who are Jews.

And they are dealing with this other Jews who are coming in saying that you must be circumcised and you're causing all kinds of uproar amongst all of these Gentiles. And they say you know what I think what we need to do, we need to go to Jerusalem. We need to take, if you will, use the sports illustration, we need to take the battle to their field just for a moment. Does that make sense? This was a Jewish issue.

This was a belief that the Jews held to so strongly that they crucified Christ over. So let's go right, you get home court advantage, we're going to go to your house and we're going to deal with this there. Why did they do this? We're going to talk about this in a little bit. They did this because of the confidence they had in what they were preaching.

So let's look. So the church sends a delegation and in the second part of verse two they determined they being the church, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the Apostles and elders about this question. So being sent on their way by the church, so we're told who sent them. And this is important for a few reasons and I just want to share with you what one commentator noted I think is I couldn't have said it any better so I'm just gonna read what he says he says they determined to send them there was no prospect that the controversy would be settled by the continual contention and argument there It would seem from this statement that those who came down from Judea were also willing that the whole matter should be referred to the apostles at Jerusalem. The reason for this may have been, number one, that Jerusalem would be regarded by them as the source of authority in the Christian church as it had been among the Jews.

So think about this. So the temple was in Jerusalem that's where they went to to do all of their disputing and all of their teaching and now they're saying because the church was born there in Jerusalem, they're also going to go back up there and deal with it there. That would at least satisfy these Judaizers to the extent that they were willing to hear and it would give it some authority. Most of the Apostles he goes on and says and most of the experienced Christians were there. They had listened to the instructions of Christ himself, had been long in the church, and were supposed to be the better acquainted with its design and its laws.

So remember you're dealing the church at Antioch was a lot of very young new believers. Imagine how easily new believers can be led astray. Think about this. They don't have great ability to argue and to defend the doctrine of the faith. Even the doctrine of justification by faith alone sometimes they struggle with.

And so they're saying, let's take it up here to the men that are respected, to the men who were there from the get-go, from the men who walked with Jesus himself and let them make this determination. The third thing he points out is those who came from Judea would not be likely to acknowledge the authority of Paul as an apostle. Remember Paul was an unusual apostle. He was one that that was born as he says out of due time. However the authority of those in Jerusalem they would recognize.

Paul was playing this really smart. He was not about to let it go unchecked but he also used spiritual discernment and wisdom. There's nothing wrong with that. We need to do that. Fourth, They said they might have had a very confident expectation that the decision there would be in their favor.

The question had not been agitated there. They had all been Jews and it is certain that they continued as yet to attend to the temple service and to conform to the Jewish customs. They might have expected therefore with great confidence that the decision would be in their favor and they were willing to refer it to those who resided in Jerusalem. Because remember The custom of the Jews was not the issue. It was believing that that custom would save you.

That was the issue. And they were about to get set straight. So we see this, and just as a side note here, sometimes in narratives there's these wonderful little things that are just dropped in for us and I'm going to run right through there and I'm going to bring it to you just briefly. It says in verse 3 they pass through Phoenicia and Samaria describing the conversion of the Gentiles and they cause great joy to all the brethren. What's the purpose of that?

I find it fascinating. They're going up to Jerusalem to deal with this really big doctrinal situation and they're not just me me me me me me along the way. They're not causing disruptions among the other believers and the other new churches along the way. They're actually waiting and they're holding this information till they get to Jerusalem. Why stir up a mess when you don't have to?

So what did they do? They went through describing the conversion of the Gentiles and it caused great joy among all the brethren. They're just saying, hey we're going up here to deal with this fight but we're gonna bless everybody along the way. Can we do that please? Let's bless everybody along the way.

Even though there may be issues we deal with here, you don't have to spread everything to everybody. We can actually deal with things here in a biblical way. We can get together and talk among the elders and the leaders and make good decisions without stirring up trouble along the way. So let's do as they did here. I think it was great in their diligence and their encouraging of those that they passed along the way.

And then they were received really joyfully by those at Jerusalem in verse four, and when they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all things that God had done with them. This is just a beautiful picture of the unity of the body of Christ even in the midst of dangerous disunity with false doctrine. And then in verse 5 this conflict arises. Some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up saying it is necessary to... This is how I hear it.

I might be wrong in my inflection. I hear it. It is necessary, that's how I hear it. It is necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses. I've been doing it my whole life, it hasn't hurt me.

That's how they're saying it. They knew they needed to do that. What could be wrong with being circumcised and keeping the law of Moses? The law is good. David meditated on it day and night.

What could be wrong with the law? Nothing's wrong with the law unless you use it unlawfully. If you're using the law to justify you, you're using the law unlawfully. If you're using the law to sanctify you, you're using it in a lawful way. That's the distinction and it's life or death.

That small distinction, life and death. You must use it lawfully. So the other issues, this issue revolves around this whole word necessary. In other words it was binding is what the Pharisees were saying these believing Pharisees they said it was binding it was something that must be done and the discourse and the discussion and what is described here as disputing would be cleared up regarding this issue. Remember in verse 1 you cannot be saved unless you do this and now the Pharisees in verse 5 it is necessary for them to do this.

But then we come to the council's discussion and we learn from their discussion. It's always good if you can sit in on somebody wiser than you having a discussion, you learn a lot. And God allows us to sit in here on this council. Isn't that great? We get to sit down.

How did they do these things in the early church? What did they talk about? How did they settle this thing? Now there's many other things that they said I'm sure. But man we get to hear what was said in this council meeting and it's going to be instructive for our souls.

Let's look at what they did. This discussion among the council in verse 6, now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter. These brothers came together with the point and with the focus of we need to talk wisely, we need to consider this matter seriously because they understood they were holding things and they were dealing with something that could blow the church to pieces. Their church was full of Jewish believers. Antioch was full of Gentile believers.

Are they going to drop a bomb on the Gentiles? Are they going to drop a bomb on the Jerusalem Church? What are they going to do? Or was there a way through the wisdom of God to bring truth that would also bring unity? That is the challenge of those who lead the Church of God.

We want God's people to come to unity of the truth. Not unity for unity's sake, not truth without love, but truth in love for the purpose of unity and edification of the body and glorification of Jesus Christ. And so this idea here of dispute, it kind of has the connotation in our ears as something that was ugly, that they were fighting back and forth with each other. I don't think that that's actually the reality of what was taking place here. The word means a mutual questioning.

There was a discussion. There was reasoning going on. It wasn't an argument, they were reasoning with one another. They knew the best thing that they could do is come together and let's hear what we all have to say about this situation. And so, again, I don't think it was a quarrel.

I think the Apostles and elders that they had come there for the purpose of finding truth not the purpose of lifting themselves up and not trying to appease either group but trying to please the Lord himself. And so they begin to ask questions among each among themselves. They begin to discuss, they begin to reason, they begin to think about the implications and outcomes of what was going to be the result. Scott and I do this all the time. He'll send me a text about something or he gives me a call on the phone or in our elders meeting on Tuesday mornings and we'll sit in there and we'll just talk about stuff and he'll bounce things off me and I bounce things off him and we we reason together.

We don't always agree on everything believe it or not But there is beautiful unity there. There is sweet fellowship there. Because we are coming together not to lift up one or the other. We're actually coming there to find the truth so that it would produce unity within the body of Christ. That's the role and responsibility of your elders.

That's what we desire to do so much and I'm so thankful that I get to elder with Scott. So Peter's defense now in verse 7 he comes and he wants to say something and it's interesting here this passage really does great damage to the to the Roman Church, the Roman Catholics because Peter was not the chief speaker he was not the one making all the decisions let's just ask Peter no they actually have a lot of other people had some really good things to say and so think about what is taking place here in verse 7. Peter gives his defense, and when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them, men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. Think about what he says. There are three things that are really important in this passage in verses the latter part of verse 7 down through verse 11.

Let me read the rest of it starting with verse 8. So God who knows the heart acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore, Why do you test God by putting a yoke on 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 in the same manner as they." There are a few things here that are very important, and I just wanna run across them for our attention. The first is this, the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.

They should hear the word of the gospel and believe. It's clear that the gospel was a gospel of faith. It was a faith in the good news that Jesus Christ paid the penalty of our sins. And that there's nothing you can do to add to that work. It is the finished work of Jesus Christ.

Secondly, in verses eight and nine, so God who knows the heart, listen, that is so important. So God who knows the heart. I want you to think about something just for a moment. You're sitting here and I can look out among this congregation and I see all of these beautiful faces that I know and love and I want you to know something. I know you.

I know your face. I know your voice but I don't know your heart. God knows your heart. I can see fruit, I can see attitudes, I can see all of these things on the outside, but I want you to know something. You're sitting here this morning and you are laid bare before God.

God knows your heart. I want you to take a moment and think about what's in your heart. Think about all the things that you're thinking about even now. All the things that you thought about last night, all the things that you've thought about throughout your life. This is what the testimony of Scripture is.

So God who knows the heart, The place that you thought was secret is wide open to him. There is nothing hidden from his sight and listen to what he says. He knows their heart. He acknowledged them, who? The Gentiles, by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us.

He made no distinction between us and them. Now he's talking specifically, I believe, about Pentecost when they received the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit testified that these are my people. He's testifying that he knew their hearts and that he gave them the Spirit of God and that they were true believers and here's what he's wanting them to understand. He's wanting them to understand that just like God acknowledged us, God has acknowledged the Gentiles.

He's not going to go back now and say, yeah, I gave you the Holy Spirit, but oh yeah, you need to go get circumcised so this thing will stick. You need to go back and keep all the ceremonial laws. You need to do all this stuff now because the Holy Spirit, brothers and sisters, He is the guarantee of our salvation. You are kept by the power of God unto salvation. The Holy Spirit has born you again and He has sealed you with the Holy Spirit of promise.

The Bible speaks of it in Ephesians chapter 1. He is the earnest of our inheritance. Some of you young folks don't know what earnest is. You ever had to put down earnest money for a property or something that you buy? This earnest money is something that you do, that you promise to do something.

And if you don't do it, what happens to the money? You lose your money. God never makes promises that he can't keep. He puts the earnest down and guess what? He never defaults.

He never defaults. He's not going to come back and say, oh yeah, let's change the conditions of the terms here. It's not $400, 000 for the house. It's $600, 000 for the house. No, he doesn't do that.

He does what he says he's going to do. He has given us the earnest of our inheritance, which is the Holy Spirit, and that's what Peter's laying out for them here. He says, look, we receive the Holy Spirit of God, they receive the Holy Spirit of God, what's the problem? You're gonna go back on them now? Add some things to it?

Peter would not have any of this. God acknowledged them. He acknowledged them and we should too. That is what he's saying. Verse 11 is the third thing that I think is extremely important that is said here.

He says, but we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved in the same manner as they." I don't know if you caught what he just did. Very interesting turn of objects. He's talking to Jewish believers and he says this, instead of Peter saying that the Gentiles will be saved like us Jews to make the point more clear he says us Jews will be saved just like the Gentiles. Whoa. You see Jews had this sense of spiritual pride.

We are God's chosen people. We are the ones that the scriptures came to. We have the prophets. We have Moses. We've got Abraham.

Remember what Jesus says, I'll raise up from these stones children of Abraham. He wanted them to realize that their salvation and the Gentile salvation was the same. There is no difference. The only way for a Jew to be saved is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ alone for their salvation. And the only way a Gentile can be saved is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ alone for their salvation.

There's no difference, there's no distinction based upon your ethnicity or your former religious beliefs. They did not carry anything in their hand to the throne of God as being some sort of extra that would help them. It's like the old hymn writer wrote in that beloved hymn Rock of Ages, not the labor of my hands can fulfill thy laws demands. Could my zeal, no respite, no. Could my tears forever flow, all for sin could not atone.

Thou must save and thou alone. Nothing in my hands I bring. Simply to the cross I cling. Naked come to thee for dress, helpless look to thee for grace, foul eye to the fountain fly, wash me Savior or I die." Isn't that wonderful? That's the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

That is the gospel. We have nothing to bring. Nothing. Our hands are filthy and vile. We have nothing.

And Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. We come now in this next section to the closing arguments that they're getting to the conclusion of. Two more things and then we'll be done. In verses 12-18, then all the multitude kept silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul declaring how many miracles and wonders that God had done and worked through them among the Gentiles.

And after they had become silent, James answers, Men and brethren, listen to me. Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his name. And with this the words of the prophets agree. So we have we have Paul and Barnabas coming in and saying we are giving testimony to what Peter had said regarding the testimony and the acknowledgement of God through the Holy Spirit being poured out upon the Gentiles and then James speaks up and says yes it's just like what Simon had said. He's declaring how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take them out of the world and make them a people unto himself.

And from the two, he was making one. And Listen, this was not just their opinion. James gives us some wonderfully helpful biblical hermeneutic here. He's helping us to understand and to interpret the scriptures rightly. Who would have ever come up with this interpretation of this word of the prophets, I should say.

Listen to what he says. He says, with this, the words of the prophets agree with what Peter said, with what Paul said, what Barbara said, and these other men said. Listen to how it agrees. Fascinating. After this, he says, the prophets say, after this I will return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down.

I will rebuild its ruins and I will set it up. Now in the Jews mind throughout all of history they were thinking we have a great building project coming along. We're gonna and they're still thinking the same thing by the way. There's a great building project coming along and we're going to rebuild this thing. What they did not realize is what the meaning of the prophets was.

Verse 17. So that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who are called by my name says the Lord who does all of these things known to God from eternity are all his works. You see what they were saying and what the prophets were saying is that the rebuilding of the tabernacle of David was God was going to take Jews and Gentiles and make what Peter calls in his epistle this holy priesthood, these living stones and he was going to build them up as the temple of God, a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God. Remember I said he's the guarantee of your inheritance. He lives in every believer and he is bringing us together as one building into God, a temple into God, and he dwells within us.

That's what God was doing. And when he brought the Gentiles in, he was shaping us and fitting us right into that most beautiful structure, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. Isn't it amazing? Have you ever read the Bible and think, man what's this got to say today? I am always fascinated with the beauty of God's word.

There's so much that is here and I'm barely scratching the surface of all this. The rebuilding of the temple is declared here to be the inclusion of the Gentiles into the church. That's what it is. This really gives us a great example again of Old Testament interpretation, how we interpret the scriptures of the Old Testament. You see, God describes this rebuilding of the Tabernacle of David as meaning a place where all the Gentiles and Jews can worship the Lord together.

Together. All he says, who are called by my name. All who are called by my name. All who are called by my name. And then lastly this determined conclusion what was going to be their answer to all of this.

Verses 20 and 21. Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God, but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood, for Moses has had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city, being read in the synagogue every Sabbath. I'll do my best to get through this in a timely manner. There's a lot here and I may pick up some of it next time. But I want you to understand, he says there's no need to trouble the Gentiles.

They don't need to be troubled with our ceremonies and our rituals and our rites. And Paul showed later on in his own life it was not wicked or evil to do a lot of those things. He went to the temple, he paid to have the men shave their heads and offer, yet he did these things. He had Timothy circumcised. So don't be confused, but it's not a contradiction.

He was not resting upon those externals as his means of justification. Okay, that's the difference. And so, note why trouble the Gentiles with this stuff. It's no benefit to them. So, the apostles and elders saw no need to add more to the Gentiles to distress them more than they already were.

They had turned to God and he had approved them and proved them that they had had their sins forgiven. They had received the Holy Spirit just as the Jews. However, there's more here than simply not troubling the Gentiles. You see in these four particulars, the Apostles and elders also wanted not to put a stumbling block or a cause of offense before the Jews. So we see here, salvation is by grace alone through faith alone and then we come to the end of this section here and he says, oh yeah, tell them to abstain from these four things.

Wait a minute, I thought you said salvation was by faith. He's not undoing that. This is that balance that I said that the church leaders have, that we want to speak the truth in such a way that brings unity to the body of Christ. Okay, and it uplifts the body. It builds us up.

And so he's working here to bring these things out because think about who you're dealing with. You were dealing with Gentiles, you're dealing with those in this Roman world who had been given over to idolatry. They had practiced their idolatry in every form and fashion that you can't even imagine most of you. It would be horrific to think of the things. There's actually books written and one commentator said I don't recommend reading it.

That's how bad it was. So he's dealing with something here. You see, Paul writes in Galatians, but even if we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you, then what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. He was saying, it was anathema. Don't bring any other gospel into them.

Only the gospel of grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. This passage is so important because we see that the Apostles and elders do not stop at their doctrine of justification, but they take it a step further and they bring in their doctrine of sanctification as well. And they want to bring this healthy balance to the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. For justification, there must never be anything added to the finished work of Christ. But for their sanctification there are things that Christians, especially Gentile Christians, are commanded to avoid not only for their sake but also for the sake of others.

How do you live your life? Do you live for your sake or for the sake of others? In the decisions you make, is it just what offends me? That's kind of the baseline here. Or is it what might offend someone else?

He's telling them that they need to stop doing certain things that would be a tremendous stumbling block for the Jews. And here's the good thing, it was highly beneficial for the Gentiles as well. They needed to get away from these things. Not for their salvation, but because of it. Because how you live matters.

Involvement with idols and idolatry, even the association they say is clearly forbidden. As we will see, this demanded some clear lifestyle and relationship changes. This is really big and I don't know that I'm gonna be able to properly handle it here. But I want you to understand that when God calls people out of idolatry, out of sexual immorality, and out of other things that are very offensive to God, you're going to have, especially a culture, you're living, you're immersed in this culture that does all of these wicked things involved in idolatry, you're going to have to realize that when Jesus Christ calls you out of darkness into his light, you're going to not participate with a lot of the things that you used to participate with. And if you'll remember in 1 Peter, I think it's in 1 Peter, He mentions this, how they speak evil of you.

You used to run around in all the evils and wickedness that they did and now they speak evil of you because you don't do it anymore. The Gentile believers were going to have to make hard decisions. Think about this, their idolatry was huge. He says have no association with this. The things polluted by idols.

It is written primarily, the primary idea is that of wallowing in blood and mire and so incurring pollution upon yourself. So just like if you slipped and fell in the mud, guess what? You can't be running around in the muck and mire anymore. You actually need to be removed from that situation. You need to be holy as God is holy.

Come out from among them God says and be separate says the Lord. You don't participate with those unholy and ungodly alliances that you used to and think about it. I mean one commentator mentioned that this dealt with birthdays and marriage feasts and celebrations and family gatherings and all the such because remember you're dealing with with idolatry in the sense that they had little statues everywhere and these gentile believers, no doubt they're going through their house now and they're like, that's got to go and that's got to go. That's an idol to Zeus or that's an idol to whoever. They're getting rid of these things.

He says you need to be done abstain from the pollution of idols. Let your mind go in all that that would entail. Think about all the idolatry that you've had to get rid of or maybe some that you still need to get rid of. Let's be honest, there's probably still a lot of idolatry we need to get rid of. Maybe you're not bowing down to it, but it is lockstep with idolatry in the world.

Take a serious look. Sexual immorality, again I'm going to get on some of these things next time, sexual immorality was involved in their idolatrous worship and so he's telling them you abstain from that, that seems obvious. He says also that you abstain from things strangled that had to do with the law early on. It's way before the law actually. It was God gave this to Noah after the flood in Genesis 9, 4, but you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is its blood.

You don't eat things strangled because the blood was not drained. This was a mixture, if you would. And then also blood, it seems like he's saying the same thing again, but he's dealing with this prohibition because blood was often used in their feast and in making compacts with other idolaters and they were not to have any participation in those things not to save them but they were destructive to their faith and that's why he told them this and remember he wrote this letter specifically to Gentiles Now I'll address more of this later but I want you to know why this last statement, for Moses has had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city being read in the synagogues every Sabbath. That seemed odd to me when I first heard it. I even think I said it on Tuesday.

I'm not exactly sure what he's talking about here. I'm not sure what he means by that. In my study, I think what he's getting to is that this situation here with the Jews, the Jews didn't need to be taught to abstain from idolatry or to abstain from sexual immorality. They didn't need to be told, hey don't eat blood, don't eat things that are strange. They didn't need to be told that.

Moses is preached every Lord's Day, every Sabbath Day in the in a synagogue. They didn't need to hear this, but boy the Gentiles sure did. They needed to hear it and that's why the letter is specifically written. He says in verse 23, to the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia. He was writing to Gentiles.

Now a couple thoughts in closing I want you to think about and examine your heart on. Number one, upon what are you trusting to be made right and justified in the sight of God. Examine yourself. Are there things that you maybe you got a little crutch you're carrying around with you and you're leaning on it and you think somehow this is going to make me right with God. You need to examine this.

Examine your confidence in that thing. Or are you trusting in the finished work of Christ alone? Our brother took one of my last application points. He read Philippians chapter three for me. Thank you brother, that was perfect.

Think about Philippians chapter three. Paul says all of these things are rubbish. Everything that I held to, everything that I thought was going to somehow earn me favor, rubbish. Dung. It's the dung heap is what he's saying.

It does nothing for me. And then lastly, I want you to realize as difficult as they are not all disputes are pointless. There are some things worth fighting for and the doctrine of justification by faith alone is one of those things. But above all things, I want you to know something. I want every one of you here today to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

For the Word of God says this, that if you will but believe upon Jesus Christ, by the authority of God's word, you shall be saved. That's glorious news, brothers and sisters. Glorious news. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your great grace.

We thank you for the power of your word. Lord this word I feel has gone out and your word is like a sharp two-edged sword. It will pierce even to the division of soul and spirit. There is nothing hidden from your sight. God who knows the heart.

Lord take your word. Pierce every heart this morning I pray. Oh Lord I pray that no one would leave here without the wonderful, joy-filled, peace-filled confidence that our righteousness is in Jesus Christ alone. When we stand before you, we stand forgiven. We stand as if we were perfect because you have substituted your son for us.

Oh Lord would you do this great work that only you can do and I ask it In Christ's name, Amen.