Acts: Grace Alone

Well, it's good to see you all this morning. Welcome again.

If you every Bible's turned with me to Acts chapter fifteen.

We're going to start in verse one this morning, Acts

chapter fifteen, starting verse one, I've heard good news already.

Skip is doing well. His vitals are great. According to ems,

they are going to precautionary take him to the hospital.

But at this point his everything's looking his vitals are

looking good, so continue to pray for him. Acts fifteen.

This morning, the title of my sermon is Grace Alone.

Have you ever received a recall? You ever got a

letter in the mail about a recall that you have

a few weeks ago, we got a letter in the mail,

maybe a few months ago, and it was about we

had a recall on an instant pot that we had. So,

you know, I got the letter and the instant the

company we bought the insta pot, said hey you have

this you we think you may own one of these

and so. And there was a few things that were

really important about the letter. One it was wanted me

to understand what it was and that it was an

insta pot, and what part of the instapot was bad,

And it was like the pot inside of it or

something you could tell I paid a lot of attention.

We don't use it. That's why did paid a lot

of attention. The second part of the letters really like

what was not effected. That means like what instapods or

what other appliances that were not affected by the recall.

And then the third part was really the identification of it.

It was like helping me identify whether I had that

instapod or not. And so it would tell me had

a picture and if does this instapot look like yours?

And then it like you showed me where the serial

number was and helped me looking to see if match

the serial number the model number, make sure it was

the same model that I had. And so but you know,

identification for something that small as an instapot is very important,

right because by me finding out whether I have that

model helped me identify whether I have a problem or not.

But so it was very basic to understand identification is important. Really,

identification is important for all of us. It's something that

is elementary or kind of a huge principle of all

of our lives is to understand the basic identification of things.

You have a in your wallet, you have a license.

Why Because it's important that you be able to identify

yourself and on that license that has your address, it

identifies where you live. And it's so very basic information

that you live by every day as you just basic identification.

You know your name, you know where you live. Those

are things that how you identify yourself. There's things that

you you know in your life that you learn to understand.

That's a important. You identify what type of car you have.

There's a recall that came out a while back about

Mazdas and we have a Mazda car and it's on

Mazda certain years and certain models. It's important that you

know that. But you know it's important. It's so funny

that we will we know in our lives just basic

things of identification. We know our name, we know our address,

we know what kind of car we drive, we know

these there's just primary the things that we use in

our life. I mean, just as important that is. It's

it's so important that we know also the basic the

basic identification of Christianity. And one of the basics of

Christianity that we should know and be able to identify

is what is salvation? What is it? And how do

we know whether we possess her do we have it?

It's strange that you can talk to so many people,

and I've talked to so many people throughout ministry and

being a pastor, and they're able to identify very easily,

like where they live, and what car they drive, and

maybe what instanpot they have. Maybe, but they can identify

whether they have whether they understand or know what salvation is,

and for many of them are not able to identify

whether they possess salvation or not. To me, that's a

scary thing. If we live in a world that we

can identify our name, our address, where we live, we

know what kind of car we could drive, but we

don't know where our eternity might reside. One day, I

don't know whether we're saved. Someone would say, well, I

hope so I think so, or maybe so? Can I

tell you? Scripture tells us that God doesn't want a maybe.

God wants you to know that you're saved. He wants

you to know what salvation is. He wants to know

whether you possess it. As we come to this passage

of scripture, this is a very important part of Acts fifteen.

Acts fifteen tells us the story of the Church of Antioch.

And we've been studying the Book of Acts or sometime,

and the Church of Antioch, we're worshiping, and they were

praising God for all the things that God had done.

And there was a group that came to go visit

this church in Antioch, and there were Jewish Jewish Christians,

and they come and they say, you know what, this

is great, what's happening in the church. But you know,

I don't really think you guys are saved. And the

Apostles in this passage of Scripture lay out for us

what is salvation, and how do we know whether we

have salvation? What tests are done to verify whether we

have salvation? And lastly they identify what salvation is not.

And so as we look at this passage of Scripture,

I hope today, as you come and you're listening or

you're worshiping online or on TV, I hope you can

step away from this message today and have a clear

understanding what is salvation? Do I have salvation? Do I

possess it? And what are testing that I should do

to examine whether I have salvation? And then secondly, I

hope you can walk away from today and understand what

is salvation? Not what it is, what it's not, And

how do I know whether I possess it? So let's

stand unless read God's word, and let's see how the

apostles did this. In this passage of Scripture, Acts fifteen,

starting verse one, it says, but some men came down

from Judea, and we're teaching to brothers. Unless you've been circumcised,

according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.

And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension or

debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the

others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles,

to the elders about this question. So, being sent on

their sent I'm sorry. So, being on their way by

the Church, they passed through Phoenician Samiria, describing in detail

the great conversion of the Gentiles brought great joy to

all the brothers. And when they came to Jerusalem, they

were welcomed by the Church and the apostles and the elders,

and they declared all that God had done with them.

But verse file says, but some believers who belonged to

the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, it's

necessary to circumcize them, to order them to keep the

law of Moses. And the apostles and the elders were

gathered together to consider this matter. Verse seven says, and

there had been much debate. Peter stood up and said,

to them, brothers, you know that in early days God

made a choice among you by the mouth of the gentiles,

should hear the word of the Gospel and believe? And God,

who knows the heart, bore witness to them by giving

them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us.

And He made no distinction between us and them. Have

I cleanse their hearts by faith? Now? Therefore, why are

you putting God to tests by placing a yoke on

the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor

we have been able to bear. But we believe that

we'll be saved through the grace of our Lord Jesus,

just as they will. And all this symbly fell silent.

They listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what

signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.

And after they finished speaking, James replied, brothers, listen to me.

Simon has related how God first visited the Gentiles to

take from them a people for his name. And with

this the.

Words of the prophets agree, just as it is written.

After this, our return, and I will rebuild the tent

of David that has fallen. I will rebuild its ruins,

and I will restore it, that a remnant of mankind

may seek the Lord, and that all the gentiles who

are called by my name, says the Lord who makes

these things known. From therefore, my judgment is that we

should not trouble those gentiles to turn to God, but

should write them to abstain from the things that are

polluted from by idols, from sexual morality, from what has

been strangled from blood, and from ancient generations. Moses had

has had in every city those who proclaimed him, for

he is read every Sabbath in the sin of God.

Let's pray together, Father, we thank you Lord for this morning. Lord.

I pray, as we come together today, Lord, that you

would speak. Lord. I pray that today that people wouldn't

hear my voice, but God, they would hear the voice

of your spirit speaking to their hearts. Or I pray

today as we come together, that we as a body

together would pray to you and ask you God, that

you might open up our hearts in our minds to

understand your word, to be moved by your word. Lord.

That is something that we together cannot do of our

own accord. Is it's the work of your spirit that

opens up our hearts in our minds. So Lord, may

your spirit can us today move us, lead us, and Lord,

as you speak, may we surrender in your name? We pray. Amen,

You maybe seen them.

So the first question is what is salvation? What is salvation?

And the apostles come together and they declare.

Salvation is by grace alone?

What is salvation? Salvation is by grace alone. It's interesting,

as Luke tells us his pastor scriptures, we looked last

week here the Paul and Barnabus has been sent on

their first missionary journey. They come back and they come

back into church and they're worshiping. They're celebrating all that

God had done in Glacia and all the different churches

like Lystra and Iconium and Derby and Antiactysidia, and all

that God had done and save people, and people radically

changed and they're declaring all that, and the Bible says

in chapter fifteen that some group of Jews who had

come from Jerusalem came to visit the church in Antiox, Syria,

and there they begin declaring, Hey, this is great. What's happened.

Paul asked, great, you said, you go on Galatia and

you all these gentiles got saved, And it's great this

church is here and that all these people are worshiping.

But you know, I know you think you may be

saved here. But I'm just here to tell you it's

kind of like you ever heard of what the cold

water committee? You know what that is. Cold water committee

is a committee that is an undesignated committee in many

churches throughout the United States. And this committee takes upon

themselves when someone's really on fire for the Lord, just

pour water on them, just quench it. Right, And so

that's what happened in Acts here. This church was on fire.

By the way, this is what we know understand and

Acts it is a gentile church. The two churches were

identified and Acts up to this point. It's a church

in Jerusalem. That's the first church. It's mainly most of Jews.

And then the second church is a church in Antioch, Syria.

That church is called the Gentile Church. And the reason

why is because that's when there were some believers who

had came into Antioch, Syria and evangelize, and that's where

Gentiles got saved. And there was a great group, so

much that the Church sent Barnabas from Jerusalem to see

what had happened in Antiox. Here he goes and finds

that they're believers there, and he shares the gospel, and

that explodes the thousands more so much he can't handle.

He goes and gets Barnabus and Barnabas coming up. Barnabus,

he goes against Paul, brings Paul in. Paul preaches in

this church and they disciple of these believers for a year,

and then after that's when they sent Paul and Barnabas

out on their missionary church. This church has been existence

for over a year or so or more, and now

here this committee, they're on fire. They're sending out missionaries,

they're evangelizing different regions of the of the a new

part of the world who've never heard of the gospel

yet to come back, and they're celebrating all what God

had done and here comes these Jews from Jerusalem, from

the church in Jerusalem. They say, well, that's not the

way we've done it before pre church, and they just

pour water on them and says, I don't think you're

really saved. And they say they're not really saved because well,

I know you say you're saved, and I know you

say you've all done this, but you've never been circumcised.

Y'll never actually become a Jew. And because of that,

you've got to become a Jew. You've got to follow

the law of Moses. You've got to be circumcised, and

you've got to take on the principles of Judaism. And

then once you do that, then yes, you'll be saved. Well,

the Bible says, you can imagine in verse two that

Paul and Barnabas are not too keen to this argument.

The Bible says, they have a great dissension or debate

that comes between these Jews and Paul and Barnabas. So

they decide as a church, they decide, I tell you

what we're gonna do. We're gonna settle this. I tell

you what you take a group, And the scripture says

they appointed men and that's Paul and Barnabus and probably

some other believers in the church, and we're going to

send you all to Jerusalem, to the main church there

where church everything started. We're going to send you to

the apostles, and we're gonna let the apostles decide on

what exactly is salvation. So the Bible says that Paul

and Barnabas they go, and I think Verse three tells

us that they go and that travel to Fenicia and

the different areas. It's in the areas of Samaria that

they had evangelized. You remember the Acts one eight says

you'll be my witnesses in Judea, Jerusalem, Samaria, and to

the ends of the earth. And it just traces back backwards.

This is all the different places they shared the gospel.

The Bible says they just stop on the way, and man,

they're just good ambassadors. I love Paul in Barnabas because

they just have praise on their lips. Everywhere they go.

They want to tell people what God is doing in

their life and what God is doing to others. I

tell you what a great principle we can learn from

that that everywhere we go, every place we stop may

people hear about what God is doing in our life

and the life of others. So that's what they do.

They're on their way, and the Bible says they when

they come into the church, and the passage as we

look here in verse four. Here when they came to Jerusalem,

they're welcomed by the church, and they tell all the apostles.

They tell all the church there, man, let me just

tell you what God has done. Let me tell you

what God didn't Iconia. Let me tell you about what

God did in life, Elistra, let me tell you about

the people who got set and livesa got changed. They

just declare what God has done, and people celebrate. And

then the Bible says in verse five, verse five, but

some of the believers who belonged to the party, the Pharisees,

rose ups. This is the same group that was in

verse one that started in in antiox Syria. They stand

up before the apostles and say, you know, I know

this is great, it sounds great, what's happening. But I'm

just telling you that these people really need to be circumcised.

They really need to become Jews in order to be saved.

And here the Bible says the apostles, and verse six,

look at it's very important. The apostles and others were

gathered together to consider this. It's very This is one

of the most critical passages in all of Acts. The

church was deciding for themselves what is salvation? And here

the Bible says, Peter stands up and Peter, and we're

going to look at it in just a minute. He declares,

if you're going to find out whether some whether what

is salvation, you've got to first understand it someone has

it or not. Right. So the big debate was for

the Jews or these what we understood by the way,

these are called judaizers. This is something you'll see later

on in the New Testament and other writings as to judaidders.

Judaizers are people who want to add works to salvation,

all right, works to grace. These Judaizers and Notorious were

doing this. But the big debate for them is that

these people in the church in Antioch or Syria and

throughout Glacia, they're not truly saved. Well, Peter goes against

the argument by defending that they are saved, and he

provides three tests, and we'll look at that in just

a minute that these believers in the Gentile Church, in

the antiox Syria, and also through Glatian and Paul's missionary journey,

they are saved. And these are the three tests that

prove they're saved. But after this test, I want you

to see what Paul says, and we'll come back to

this in just a minute. Look at what verse eleven

says after he gives all the tests. It's one of

the most important passage verses in all this passage. Paul

says this, but we believe that we will be saved

through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, just as

they will Paul. Peter's saying, there, that's we. There. He

didn't say ay, He's saying we. The apostles, the early

Apostles say we are saved by the grace alone. It's

not the grace of Jesus. It's not the grace of

God plus works. It's grace alone that saves. Now, as

you come to this, I think it's important as we

understand this, we understand what is salvation. Salvation is by

grace alone. But I think it's also important that we

ask ourselves, if we understand what is salvation salvation is

grace alone, and we're gonna look at this great details.

We'll continue on, but we also must ask ourselves, how

do we test whether someone has it or not? A

few years ago, I think I shared with you that

me and Brady, we're gonna sell some gold. We had

some extra gold hanging around, and so we went to

one of those gold dealers, you know, and we went

into that place and we had these old gold rings

and different things, and we weren't sure whether some of

them were real or not. And they took out this

I called it a gold gun. I don't know where

it was a gun or not. But if some tester,

big old, massive thing and they put that thing on

top of those rings and they would set and this

one's real. This was you know this ten caret or whatever.

This is fake, but it was a way to test, right.

That's what we do. If we want to know something's

real or not, we test it. And that's what Peter

says here. If you want to know whether these gentiles

are truly saved, let's test them, and let's show the

evidence from the tests that they are saved. And there's three.

Tests that tests that salvation is by grace alone.

The first test is history tests, Paul says, and Peter says,

in verse seven, look at we'll read verse seven. He

starts out, and he says, and after there there's been

much debate. Peter stubbs and said to them, brothers, you

know that in early days God made a choice among

you that by my mouth the gentiles shall hear the

words of the Gospel. And believe. Peter sends up. He says, fellas,

we've been here before, he says, And if you go

back to Acts chapter ten, you'll see. You remember Peter

was traveling away through Jappa, and the man sent a

message to him and said, hey, come to my house.

And his man named what Corneas. Corneas was a gentile

who was a god fear right, and he says, The

messenger says, Peter, come with me. God's has sent for you.

And you remember Peter had a vision that night, just

before the messengers came. And the vision was he was

sitting on the rooftop and he was hungry, and there

was a sheet that came with all kinds of different animals,

and the vision says, Peter, what don't call anything unclean

that I've cleaned right, he saw the vision three times,

and he understood that God was opening up his mind,

that the Gospel was not now going to the gentiles,

that gentiles were no longer unclean, but now the gentiles

were able to what receives salvation. And so Peter went.

You remember, he goes to Cornea's house and he says,

why did you send me? And Corneas tells him, and

the Bible says that Peter shared the Gospel with him, right,

and when he told them about Jesus what the Bible says,

they believe upon Jesus and what they received the Holy Spirit,

you remember, and it was amazing because that was the

first time a gentile ever came to know the Lord.

And so you remember, there was rumors and the Jerusalem.

These Pharisee parties started hearing about these gentiles, say that

there they're saved, and so they sent off to Peter,

and Peter's have been with the unclean gentiles. They send

for Peter because he was with Corneas, and they send

Dietrum and he comes to Jerusalem and they, hey, we

hear you're hanging out with the gentiles, and we hear

Jews say that some of the gentiles were saved. And

in Acts eleven, Peter declares just how Jesus had saved

the gentiles, and he says, listen, boys, we come here

again in the same group who questioned whether the salvation

that came to the gentiles before. Now it's ten years

later and you're questioning again what God had done. Hey,

ten years of history shows us that these gentiles have

been saved. Can I tell you there's a history test

when we're looking to know whether we have received salvation,

whether someone has received salvation, there's a history test of

whether there is a consistent life through a period of time,

that there is change an individual. There's a test is

there a difference? Is there change? Does a period of

time demonstrate there is a faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

You know one thing that we did with our girls,

and our girls made decisions when they were very young

and for Christ and made decisions and were baptized at

a very young age. And then when they got older,

at fourteen, that came and said, you know what, I thought,

I made a decision for the Lord, but it really

I was just really I really didn't know what I

was doing. And that fourteen that both received Jesus Christ

as the Lord Savior was the second time they came back.

You know what, we really cautioned our girls. We said,

we wanted you to wait on baptism. We want to

wait till you're an adult to be baptized. And you said,

why did you do that? Pastor? We because number one,

salvation is by grace alone, right, Baptism doesn't save them.

You understand that. And why did I want them to wait?

Because I wanted them to wait to when they were

an adult to be baptized, so they would show what

when I look back and I want to know whether

I'm a saved or not, We're going to look at

some other things I know, but also history shows me

that it's not just one time decision. I made it

as a child, but I have been living for the

last ten years. No, I made a decision at fourteen,

and for the last ten years, or last six years

or four years, I've been living for Jesus. You see,

there has been a change in me, and therefore I

want to declare publicly through baptism that Jesus has changed

my life. There's a history test, so can we examine

our history? Of our life that demonstrates that there has

been salvation. Peter says that late, Hey, history shows that

verse seventeen. Brothers, you know that in early days God

made a choice among you that by my mouth the

gentile should bear the word of the Gospel and belief.

We saw historically ten years ago they believed. Nothing's changed.

They have consistently believed in Jesus. Secondly, there's a spirit's test,

he says in verse eight. And God, who knows the heart,

bore witness to them by giving the Holy.

Spirit, just as he did to us.

How do we know that salvation is by grace alone?

There was a First there was a history test. Secondly,

history demonstrated. Secondly, there was a spirit's test. Peter says, listen,

how do we know that they are saved by grace alone?

We know because history shows us that many years ago

we met here and we saw how they have believed.

Now ten years later they're still believing in the same

way they did. Then. Now there's a spirits test. You remember,

as we've been walking through acts, we see there's a

there's different things we see in acts we don't see

in the church today. We see miracles, we see speaking

in tongues. And I've explained to you many times before

that speaking in tongues and miracles were given to authenticate

You remember what if I told you. I've told you

that speaking tones of miracles were given to authenticate what

the message. That this was the Apostles when they gave

the message, it was the word of God. And Jesus

really did raised from the dead, and he was truly

the messiah. Was to authenticate the message. But it's also

authenticate the messengers that Peter and the Apostles and those

who were speaking were truly sent from God. They were

truly men of God, anointed by God to declare the

message of God. You hear me. But not only was

the miracles and speaking in tongues were given to authenticate

the message and the messenger. They're also to authenticate salvation.

You remember the Ilbo says, when Peter spoke to Corneas

and he believed, what happened? The Bible said, the spirit

fell upon him, And what did Corneas do? He spoke

in tongues. Right when Peter got together with the council

at Jerusalem and they were asking the very first time

in Acts eleven, how do we know whether they're really saved?

Peter says, Listen, I preached the Gospel to them, and

they received the Holy Spirit. And listening to what Peter says,

they received it just like you and I. And Acts

chapter two, when the Holy Spirit came upon the Jews,

what happened? How did they show that it was really

this Holy Spirit working inside those Jews? They spoke in tongues,

by the way, it was an unknown tongue. It was

a known tongue. Right. They were speaking aknown language that

they did not know themselves. It'd be like me speaking

German and never spoke German in my life, Holy Spirit

coming upon me and I speaking in German. That's what

happened in Acts chapter two, where the Bible says, and

only did it happen in Acts chapter two to the Jews.

But when the Gospel went to the Gentiles and they

were saved, guess what They received the Holy Spirit, and

they also spoke in a known language that they did

not known what to demonstrate salvation had come to the Jews.

The Holy Spirit had come to the Jews. But the

same working Holy Spirit also came and was evident in

the lives of the gentiles, salvation had come to the Gentiles,

and therefore, Peter says, listen, boys, do we want to

know whether we're truly saved? They received the Holy Spirit

just like you and I did, and the Holy Spirit

is evidence authenticating salvation has come to them. Can I

tell you when we're asking what is salvation? Salvation is

by grace the loan? And how do we know whether

we possess it? When we look at history? Has it

been a history of God working in our lives? But secondly,

is the Holy Spirit in me? It's the Holy Spirit

at work in me? Is it empowering me? Is it

convicting me of sin? Is it guiding me? What's it?

Fruits and spirit? Love, peace, patient, kindness, goodness, gentleness? Those

things are are those evidence of the fruits of the

Holy Spirit in me? Am I convicted of sin? And

if there's not the evidence of the Holy Spirit working

in my heart? Listen, something might be wrong? And so

for Peter, listen, what is salvation? Salvation is by grace alone?

How do we test it? We test it through history,

we test it by the Holy Spirit. But there's a

third test. And the third test. I love this one.

I wouldn't say there's a favorite, but I really like

this one. The Bible says and Acts fifteen. This's what

he says. And God, who knows the heart, bore witness

of them by giving the Holy Spirit, just as he

did to us. Listen that same language. It's the same thing,

he says in Acts eleven. And they receive the wholy

Spirit just like you and idea. It's no different. Verse

nine says, and he made no distinction between us and

them having cleansing their hearts by faith. What's the third evidence?

What's the third test? The third test is a heart test,

he says. If we really want to know whether they

really received it or not, I can tell history shows us.

Can I tell you that the Holy Spirit shows us?

But can I tell you their heart shows us? Not

only God shows us through history. Not only does the

Holy Spirit reveal to us, but listen, God cleans at

their hearts. There was a pastor and name was Reverend Newell,

and he was one day preaching in Saint Louis, and

he had this massive auditorium century theater, and he was speaking,

and he preached at a Romans four or five one day,

and those who as he was preaching the passage Romans

four or five says, this into the one who does

not work but believes in him, who justifies the ungodly,

his faith is counted as righteousness. He finished a sermon

and he was walking out and there was this really

nice dressed young man. He went up to him and

he's introduced himself. He says, I'm Captain G. He said,

what's nice to meet you, and he says, he says

I and Captain G says, I am the most ungodly

man in Saint Louis. The pastor says, well, thank God.

He said, what what do you mean thank God? He says, well,

it's nice to know someone that recognize or meets someone

that recognizes how that they are a center and how

bad they are a center. And he said, you don't

really know the half of it. Have been on Godly

for years and years and years. And he says, you know,

I've been coming here in the last six weeks and

I've not missed one of your speeches, one of your messages.

And he says, but I can't tell you a word

that you said today. He says, you don't understand. I

haven't slept for a few nights for really almost three weeks,

and I've been going to people after person trying to

find out what I can do to get rid of

the sin of my life. He says, they and everything

they tell me to do, I've done. I've read my Bible,

I prayed, I've given money away, and and I'm still

the most ungodly man in this town. And he said

to me, tell me what am I to do. The

pastor said to him, well, did you I want to

bring you back to the passage of scripture that I read.

So he took his Bible and he gave it to

Captain g and he says, I want you to read

that Romans four five passage. The man took the Bible

and he says, to the one who does not work,

and he says, but he says what, And he said

to how can this be from me? I'm the most

ungodly man in Saint Louis And he says he can't.

He says, but I want you to continue reading. So

he read and to the one who does not work

but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, the man says,

there there it is. And he says, ask me, I'm

the ungodly one, and he says, but tell me, pastor,

what am I to do? He says, finish the verse.

He says into the one who does not work, he says,

what are you to do? You're to do nothing? And

he says, what do he mean? I can't do anything.

If I don't do something, I'm going to spend eternity

in hell. I've got to do something. And he explained

to him there is something that must be done, but

it has already been done. He told him how Jesus

so loved him, that he God so loved him, that

his sin is only son. Jesus done across for his sins,

and that Christ died for all the ungodly, just like

he died for him, and the judgment that he deserved

had fallen on Christ, and that Christ had been forsaken

for his sin, his ungodliness, and that his sin was

on the cross of Christ. He said, God raised up

Christ and sent him as a pastor to tell him

the good news of Jesus, and.

That all those who believe on Jesus, Jesus would forgive

them of their sins and clean them from all their unrighteousness.

Captain Jesus said, I will accept that, and he took

off out of the house that took I tell you

that many times we are a lot like Captain g g.

We believe we must do something to cleanse ourselves from

our sins. The good news of the Gospel is that

salvation is by grace alone. And when we receive Jesus

as Lord and savior, it changes the course of our history. Listen,

it puts a change in our spirit, and that spirit

within us cleanses us from all unrighteousness. And so as

we look at the gospel, Peter says, Listen, as we

look at these gentiles, history shows that God's changed them.

Can I tell you only history shows the Spirit has

demonstrated that they are a child of God. Third, the

Spirit had cleansed their hearts. And so therefore, Peter says, Therefore, verse.

Eleven, we believe that.

We will be saved through the grace of the Lord

Jesus Christ, just as they will. Can I tell you

today what is salvation. Salvation is by grace alone. It

changes our history. It puts a new spirit within us,

and that spirit, by the Lord Jesus Christ, cleanses our hearts. Lastly,

and I want to finish up here quickly. Is what

is salvation? Not? Salvation is not by works. Salvation is

not by works. You see that. There's Jews that came

to Antioch. They were trying to say, yes, you can

have Jesus, but Jesus plus works equal salvation. And the

Apostle says, no, no, no, no no, it's not Jesus

plus anything. It's Jesus through grace alone that saves us.

It's not Jesus plus anything. It's not grace plus anything.

It's grace alone. I tell you that because there's really

throughout our whole lives we really struggle with this free gift.

It's the same thing that Captain Gee was struggling with.

We struggle with this free gift of salvation, this free grace.

And therefore throughout history we want to add things to

the gospel. We want to add things to salvation. Yes,

salvation is by grace, but grace plus this, No, it's

grace alone. There's even we see this in Glatians too.

And I don't have time as Judaizers do the same

thing as Paul had went through out Glatian shared the gospel.

Gudiazer's just following him there into those areas, and they

were telling the gentiles that they must be circucised and

follow the laws, the same thing that was happening in

Acts fifteen, and Paul says in Acts fifteen and verse

twenty one, he says, but for him, if we add

works to grace, this is what he says, I do

not nullify the grace of God. For if righteousness was

through the law, then Christ died for nothing. Do you

understand what Paul's saying there? He says, if we add

anything to the grace of God, we nullify it. You

can imagine you remember back in when you were a

kid and you worked at school and you were writing

a paper. You're writing something with a pencil, and you

wrote the wrong word, and you know you didn't what

you do? You get the race, or if it was

in pen you got white out and you marked over

the word and you put something on top of it. Right,

That's what he's saying. When you add Listen, when you

add works to grace or to the Gospel, you mark

out grace and you put works in its place. You

may think you may be adding something, but you're actually

deleting something else, and you're deleting the power of the Cross.

Can I tell you throughout our world we struggle with

this free gift? And history has showed us that all

different religious groups have added works into salvation. The Roman

Catholics say, yes, you are saved by faith and grace

that saves you, but grace is mediated through the sacrament,

so you've got to mass tate the sacraments in order

to be saved. What is that saying grace plus works?

Can I tell you that the Mormon Church, in so

many cults and false religions that are out there today,

that says, yes, you must be you can be saved

through grace, but you're also through works of having a

celestial wedding and going on missions. Right, there's even a

group that's now an event Evangelical World or the pental

cost of Pentecostal group. It's a it's a segment off

of the Pentecostal called New Aspathought. Aspathought like I can

even get it out Reformation. And this group says that yes,

you can be saved by by grace, but it's through baptism,

and it must be baptism in Jesus' name, and it

must be under one of their churches, or you're not saved.

And basically that's grace plus works. And can I tell you,

I'm not here to pick on the Roman Catholic. It's

not here to pick on the Mormons. I'm not here

to pick on this gnar group of Pentecostals, because we

is Southern Baptists are just as guilty. I can't tell

you how many times I have been in a home

of someone who's on their deathbed and I asked them

whether they know Jesus as the Lord Savior. There are

maybe weeks or days away from dying and spending an

attorney in somewhere, and I said, sir, how do you know?

Will you know today whether you're saved? And they said, well, Preacher,

I'm glad you asked. And I just want to tell

you I was baptized as a child. I just want

to tell you that I was church member growing up.

I just want to tell you, preacher, I remember a

time when I was so faithful to Sunday School that

I got a Sunday School pen that told me I

didn't miss one whole year in Sunday School. And based

upon my Baptists, based upon my church membership, based upon

my Sunday school attendance. I know I'm going to eternity.

And all that is saying is that if we do this, this,

and this in the world, okay with God. And that's

just saying I need grace, but I need the works

of a good Southern Baptist, and then I know I'm saved. No,

you're not saved based upon your church membership at BUTTHESSA.

You're not saved to based upon your baptism mat BUTTHESSA.

You're not saved on your attendants. You're saved by the

grace of God. It's not grace plus anything, it is

grace alone. I think it's important to us us today

as we just close up this morning, what is your

understanding of salvation? Has it been, Yes, I'm saved, but

this plus something else? Or you just recognize to day

just like that man Captain g No, I'm a regisentor

this is nothing good in me, nothing good in me.

It's none of the good things I've done. It's only

by the grace of God that he saved me and

has showed what he's done in my life histories. The

Spirit has been working in me, convicted me of sin,

leading me to be more like a child of God,

man of God, woman of God. Also, Pastor, I can

tell you He's been cleaning me up, changing me from

the inside out. I remember the story of the Titanic.

You know. The story of the Titanic was everybody got

on the ship. Everybody was identified by their ticket. The

ticket identified what class of room they had. There were

three different cabins classes of cabins. There were the lower cabins,

they were moderate cabins, and then there was elite cabins.

But when the boats sink, there was really only two classes.

There were those who died in those who were alive.

At the headquarters at Liverpool, they had a bulletin board

and they put on the bulletin board those two classes.

On one of the side of the office door, it

said none saved. On the other side it said none lost.

He said, they may have got on that ship and

they may have been the upper class or lower class

or moderate craft class. But when death came listen, in

the end, there were only two classes, those who knew

they were saved and those who knew that they were lost.

Can I tell you, when Jesus comes back, you may

know your address. You may know your car, you may

have all these different identification markers in your life. But

in the end, the only thing matters is do you

know you're saved? Or today do you know you're lost?

Can I tell you today Jesus wants to save you

and it's nothing that you can do. It's already what

He's done for you. Will you, like Captain g say,

today today I accept you're a free gifts of salvation

by gracel On. Will you save me? Lord? Lord? May're

you come and take over my life? God? Will you

put your spirit within me? And today, Father, would you

cleanse my heart? Will you pray with me? Lord? We

love you, We thank you Lord for this morning. God,

I thank you that you have given us your word,

that we might know that we're saved, that we might

know salvation, we might know whether we have it, we

might know what it's not. And Lord, I pray the

deep people in this room and watching online on TV today,

some who would say, Lord, I don't have it. I

didn't know it. But today I do know that you

died on the cross for my sins, and today it

is a free gift of grace. It's nothing I can do.

Is all what you've done for me, Jesus, and I

pray there be some today that would put their faith

in you for salvation and accept your free gift of

salvation today. And Lord, may your spirit come upon them

today and may you cleanse their heart. Father Lord, I

pray you lead us in this time of imptation. We

need to come to this altar and pray for a

lost loved one that we know of, or maybe it

is today a day for you. I pray the give

you something that would come and I could share with

them how they can accept you or receive you or

gift of salvation. Today. Lord, however you lead people today,

I pray people will respond Lord your message today. In

your name, we pray Jesus paid and all to him