Acts 15:1-35 | Jerusalem Council

Welcome to King's Church.

Welcome, welcome.

You guys are meeting a lot of new people.

I love it.

Guys, welcome to King's Church.

My name is Drake.

I'm one of the pastors here.

Excited to be joining you guys this morning.

And hey, can I just celebrate last week?

Our year birthday, our birthday party last week.

How awesome was that baptism.

Man, celebrating a year of God's faithfulness.

Man, just incredible.

Some cupcakes, all those types of things.

But hey, I don't just want to celebrate what happened in this room last week, and I do want to celebrate what happened not just in this room, but really in our network of churches.

Okay, if you've been coming around King's Church for a while, you know that we're not just a local church, but we're a local church, a part of a network of churches called the Salt Network, that started back in 2016 with a with the goal of planting a church and a college ministry at every major university center in North America.

And started back in 2016 with just a handful of churches, mainly in Iowa, but now there are 44 churches all across the country.

And three of those kicked off last weekend.

Okay, we had uh uh yes, yes, exciting.

Uh we had Way Church down in uh Austin, Texas, uh One Kingdom Church in Kansas City, and then Christ City Church in Huntsville, Alabama.

So awesome.

Guys, I love being a part of this network of churches.

Amazing to see what God is doing among the next generation, and I feel blessed just to be uh a tiny part of it.

And so love what God's doing.

So glad that you guys are here.

And if you do have your Bibles, and now's the time that we do what we always do, going into the book of Acts.

Uh we are in about week 21 or so of our sermon series through the book of Acts, and so Acts chapter 15 is where we are going to be.

Acts 15 · chapter mention

And it's a crucial chapter in the book of Acts.

I feel like we say that every single uh week, but it's true.

Uh it's because this really after the conversion of Saul in chapter 9, the book of Acts speeds up considerably.

And what we see is uh a church planting movement, Paul is really trying to take the name and fame of Jesus all across the known world uh at the time.

And last week, if you guys were here, you remember we saw the very first missionary journey of the Apostle Paul, and then right after this uh section, we get to see the second missionary journey.

And so Luke 15 is kind of situated right in between the first and the second missionary journey.

But Paul, like this guy, he sees the urgency of the gospel, he senses the call on his life to plant churches.

I mean, he's writing letters to churches during this time, books like Galatians, right here around Acts chapter 15 that we still study today, like his plate is pretty full.

Acts 15 · chapter mention

And yet there's a debate that happens here in Acts chapter 15 that Luke, the author uh of Acts, think is so significant that he presses pause on all of these missionary journeys, and he wants to set up this entire debate for us.

Acts 15 · chapter mention

Okay, and we have silly debates all the time, uh, you know, like is a hot dog a sandwich?

Uh is uh soup really just or cereal a soup?

Uh will the Texas weather ever get below 90 degrees?

It's a fair question and a good debate.

Um, you know, is diehard a Christmas movie, which is just so obvious, yes, right?

Uh all those all those silly type of debates is pineapple belong on pizza?

Yeah, okay.

Goodness, canon, it does, uh, after I got married.

So uh that's what's happened.

Um but hey, Acts chapter 15.

Acts 15 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 15 isn't like those type of debates.

Acts 15 · chapter mention

No, Acts chapter 15 shows us a debate so significant and so important that Paul is willing to pause these church planting movements, and really what he does is he travels 250 miles from Antioch all the way back to Jerusalem just to make sure the church gets this chapter right.

Acts 15 · chapter mention

Gets this debate right for all time, and it's a debate all around how we are saved.

Okay, it's this idea of justification.

How are we justified, made right in God's sight?

And so, really, this debate is all around man, how do we enter into the kingdom of God?

Okay, and so this moment is crucial.

All right, Martin Luther would describe uh justification as the article on which the church rises or falls.

And so, simply put, if Acts chapter 15 isn't clarified, man, I'll say this you can get a lot of things wrong and still have a church.

Acts 15 · chapter mention

If you get the gospel wrong, you no longer have a church.

Okay, like you we gotta hear that.

Like, if we lose the gospel, we lose every single thing that matters.

Like, if we don't get the gospel right as a church here this morning, we are wasting our time here on a Sunday morning.

And so Acts chapter 15, what it does is it clarifies what the gospel is so that we can get it right and what the gospel truly is.

Acts 15 · chapter mention

And so we're gonna look at kind of three different movements in this section.

We're gonna see the gospel disputed, we're gonna see the gospel defended, and ultimately we're gonna see the gospel received and displayed.

But we're gonna start in verse one of chapter 15, which says this.

Now some men came down from Judea and began to teach the brothers, unless you are circumcised according to the custom prescribed by Moses, you cannot be saved.

After Paul and Barnabas had engaged them in serious argument and debate, Paul and Barnabas and some others were appointed to go up to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem about this issue.

When they had been sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and they brought great joy to all the brothers and sisters.

And when they arrived in Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church, the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them.

But some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, It is necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses.

Okay, so the gospel disputed.

Here's really what we see.

Like, what are these people saying to kind of uh distort and disrupt the gospel?

Well, well, simply is these Jewish individuals were going around, they were looking at all of these Gentiles coming to faith, and they're saying, Great, man, I'm so happy about that.

Um, but you still have to follow some of the laws of Moses.

Specifically, you have to be circumcised in order to become a believer, right?

Which, if you understand Christianity, like some red flags, some alarm bells should immediately be going off in your head as soon as you hear that idea, you cannot be a believer unless blank.

Like, so so some red flag should already be being brought up, but I think it's really easy, like as we're reading this, to just think of these guys as the bad guys.

Like, here come these Judaizers again, here come the Pharisees.

But honestly, like their logic isn't completely irrational when you think about the importance of circumcision in the Old Testament, how this is kind of a transitionary period in the book of Acts.

Like these people, they did not have the New Testament at the time.

In fact, on top of that, like a lot of the very first Christians that we see were Jews.

They were they were Jews who had been raised on the Old Testament law.

And one of the most significant pieces of the Old Testament law was that every male had to be circumcised.

It was like this idea of, hey, we are a part of the of the family of God.

This was their way to show it.

And so here's what kind of started is this idea began to rise up that they were saying, hey, if you are going to be a part of this church, if you want to be a believer in Jesus, a follower of Jesus, you must first become Jewish.

You have to follow the law.

And the dominant way to show that was to be circumcised.

Okay, I mean, some people think, you know, intro, and then our membership process might be rigorous.

I'll tell you what, we do not require a procedure to enter into our church, okay?

Like, that's just not a part of this church process.

But these people right here, they didn't want to change all of the history that the Jewish people were accustomed to.

I mean, they are relating all the way back to Genesis chapter 17 when Abraham had gotten this idea and this covenant around circumcision.

Genesis 17 · chapter mention

And we, I mean, in general, like we can relate, we know what this is like.

Like new people, new people can come into the family, but just don't change anything.

Like, if anybody knows what this is like, it's Texans.

Okay, like I know that a lot of you native Texans here, okay.

I'm I'm I'm not a native Texan.

A lot of the native Texans are looking around at all the California people.

It's like, all right, you guys have at least thought about, if you don't have it, you've at least thought about buying the bumper sticker that's like, um, hey, don't California, my Texas.

You know what I'm saying?

You've at least thought about it.

It's like you guys are welcome here.

I'm not totally sure.

You guys are welcome, don't change anything, right?

Like, that's how a lot of these people were feeling.

And that and that's kind of what's going on here.

They're like, hey, we are fine with some non-Jewish people, these Gentiles that come to know Jesus, but don't change our customs.

Okay, they have to be like us, they have to be circumcised, they have to follow the laws of Moses, the moral and the ritualistic laws.

And if you don't do these things, then you actually aren't saved.

Right?

And so here's the dispute at the beginning of Acts chapter 15 is does do Gentiles have to become Jewish in order to be true believers?

Acts 15 · chapter mention

All right, do Gentiles have to become Jewish in order to become true believers?

And since many of us were not asking the question this morning, I think it's helpful to look at the question underneath the question, and it's this is how are we saved?

Or even more simply, is Jesus enough?

Okay, is Jesus enough?

And you can see why this is such a significant issue.

I mean, it says that Paul and Barnabas engaged in some serious debate around this topic, right?

And I think, I mean, if we know anything about Barnabas, son of encouragement, I'm sure he's talking with these people, like, yes, hey, like, let's talk about this.

I don't know if you're right.

Paul's just like trying to punch them in the face with a truth bomb.

He's like, no chance are you guys right.

Let me talk about this.

And he wants to make sure that the church is going to get this right.

Like, there's probably some good cop, bad cop in this room happening.

But Paul and Barnabas are like, man, we got to get this settled.

Paul is having none of this nonsense.

And so what they do is they travel all the way back to Jerusalem, the 250 miles, they're stopping at different points along the way to tell all the people in these cities, guys, you wouldn't believe what God is doing.

Can you believe how many Gentiles he's saving?

Can you believe what's happening because of the gospel?

This city is turned upside down because of the gospel, and they're sharing their experience uh with all of these different people.

And then they get back to Jerusalem and they are welcome.

People are welcoming them.

Things are going amazing.

Guys, that's amazing, all that kind of stuff.

But then in verse 5, we still see some of that same opposition that they were experiencing, where some people are rising up and saying, Hey, that's great that you have faith in Jesus.

You still got to be circumcised.

Right?

Which again, some of us in the room might be thinking, like, man, I can't believe those fools.

Like, how could how could they think that?

Like, don't they just understand?

But listen, I mean, it wasn't like these people standing up saying, Hey, you must be circumcised.

It wasn't like they didn't care about the Bible.

It wasn't like they were like, man, no, forget the Bible, all that kind of stuff over there.

No, they would have been, these people especially would have been deeply aware of what the Bible was saying.

And so their air, it wasn't ignoring Scripture, it wasn't ignoring the Bible.

Their air was this.

It was, hey, let's take something that God has commanded and put it and make it a condition for salvation that God did not make a condition for salvation.

Okay, and there's a word for this, it's called legalism.

A legalism, and this is what legalism says.

Legal legalism says this is that Jesus is necessary, but he's not sufficient.

Okay, Jesus is absolutely necessary for my salvation, but he's not a sufficient gift.

I have to do something on top of it.

And that's what they did with circumcision.

And I'll tell you, I'll tell you guys this is that in many ways the human heart is still trying to smuggle circumcision back into the church.

All right, and we may not call that, we may not require it anymore, but we create new versions of it all the time.

I mean, you look closely at your own heart and you can do it too.

Where you think that you are made right with God, justified in God's sight according to some of the stuff that you do.

Where it's gonna be Jesus plus baptism, Jesus plus my church attendance drink, uh, Jesus plus not drinking, Jesus plus if I vote a certain way, Jesus plus reading your Bible every single morning.

And and I think, man, the dangerous thing about legalism, what we see here at the beginning of Acts 15, is that legalism in in general, it they're saying a lot of true things about a lot of good things, right?

Like circumcision, it was a good thing for these people.

This was a good and right thing for these people to show that they belong to the party of God.

But but legalism, what it does is it takes these good things and puts them in a place that only Jesus was meant to be in place of, right?

And so and so, man, we we start to examine even our own hearts, we start to examine church history, we start to examine some of the churches in the area, and we're gonna see pretty quickly that humans are experts at trying to add to the grace of God.

We're experts at trying to add to this.

Right?

And so, like two weeks ago, uh my wife and I we we go on a breakfast date morning because that's what you do with young kids.

You don't want to deal with all that.

So date morning, and uh, my wife is a big breakfast girl, okay?

Her favorite verse in all of scripture.

It's not like Ephesians 2, 8 through 9, it's not Romans 8.

It's uh in the Gospel of John when Jesus says, Come, let us have breakfast.

You know, like that's that's her favorite type of that's her favorite verse.

And so we're going on a breakfast date.

We got a gift card uh to Seven Mile, okay?

Uh not to be confused with 8 Mile.

I always get those confused.

That's in Detroit.

I don't know why I get those confused.

Um but we go to Seven Mile, we have this gift card, and there comes this moment where it's like, hey, we're ready to pay.

The the waitress, she's gonna bring our card, and we're like, oh my gosh, did we spend too much money?

Um will the gift card be sufficient?

And I'll tell you, that's where some marital problems will come out.

It's like, honey, I told you we did not have enough money for the latte.

Like the gift card, it's not gonna cover the triple pancake platter.

We shouldn't have gotten it.

But but the moment comes and the waitress lays down the bill, and guess what?

Gift card, so thankful for it, we wouldn't have gone out to eat without it.

Not sufficient, did not fully cover the cost, and so we're like, okay, do we have five dollars?

Where are some quarters?

And we're trying to trying to pull it out because what happened?

The gift card wasn't fully sufficient, so I had to put in, we had to put in some of our own money to cover the bill.

Right?

And what legalism does is what is it puts that situation and applies it to Jesus.

Like, yes, Jesus, what a wonderful gift, right?

Like I wouldn't have gotten salvation without Jesus.

I'm so thankful that he paid the bill.

He he paid even most of it.

Right?

He he did so much, he covered the cost.

I just gotta add just a little bit.

I I gotta have some some some stake in the game, right?

Like I got I gotta put forth some of my own stuff in order to cover the cost of the bill.

And and here's the reality, guys, is when we do that, when we even think that and feel that in our own heart, is to say that Jesus needs to be added to is to say that Jesus' gift on the cross wasn't sufficient.

To say that Jesus needs to be added to is to say he's not a sufficient gift.

And guys, let me tell you, if you can hear anything, that's not the gospel.

Okay, the gospel, it doesn't say that Jesus makes salvation possible for those who believe.

It doesn't say that Jesus paid the bill mostly in full.

No, the gospel is that Jesus paid the bill in full for our sins, that we couldn't do anything to accomplish our salvation.

He did everything on our behalf, and the gift was sufficient on the cross.

That God the Father looked at God the Son and his payment for us, and he says, That can be credited to them.

The bill is paid in full, it is finished.

Some of the last words of Jesus on the cross.

It's not you guys have to try a little bit harder now that Jesus has done most of the work.

No, it's finished.

It's gospel math works like this, and you've probably heard this before, is that Jesus plus nothing equals everything.

Right?

Jesus plus nothing equals everything, or if we put it in the opposite way, Jesus plus anything ruins everything.

It's Jesus plus nothing equals everything.

And so the gospel right here is under attack.

And so Paul and Barnabas, they travel all the way back to Jerusalem just to make sure the church gets it right, because there are some things, obviously, there are some things that the church can kind of uh argue with and disagree with, but how a sinner is made right with God is not one of the things that we can disagree with.

And so Paul and Barnabas wanted to make sure that they had great clarity on this.

And one of the things I love about the Jerusalem Council, what we are about to see in this text, is like it is like the Avengers of the early church coming together to make sure that they defend the gospel.

It is the big hitters, it is the big Whigs of the early church, and they're coming together, and I'll just I'll tell you, they are all on the same team.

They're on team gospel here.

And so the first point is that the gospel was disputed.

We're about to see the gospel defended.

And so what we're gonna see is we're gonna see from three really three different groups.

We're gonna see Peter and he's going to defend the gospel theologically with some of his own experience.

We're gonna see Paul and Barnabas defend uh the gospel experientially, and then finally we're gonna see James defend the gospel biblically, and to no surprise at all, if you've read your Bible, if you've been with us in Acts, it's our boy Peter who speaks up first.

Look down in verse six.

It says the apostles and the elders gathered to consider this matter.

After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, Brothers, you are aware that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by the mouth the Gentiles would hear the gospel message and believe.

And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them by giving them the Holy Spirit just as He also did to us.

He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.

Now then, why are you testing God by putting a yoke on the disciples' necks that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear?

On the contrary, we believe that we are saved through the grace of our Lord Jesus in the same way they are.

Okay, so Peter speaks first here in the in this defense of the gospel.

I mean, we gotta give we gotta give Peter some props here.

Right?

Because just in general, if you look at Peter's life, he's like a shoot, aim, fire type of guy.

He doesn't really think before he speaks, he has to back up on his words.

Often his words have gotten him in trouble.

And yet here in Acts chapter 15, he presents the gospel with crystal clarity.

Acts 15 · chapter mention

And I want to I want to point out just a few things about it.

I want you to notice, notice all that Peter says and notice who he emphasizes here.

Okay, because here's here's the reality is that Peter he's drawing theological lines around some of his experiences.

It would have been really easy for Peter in this moment to kind of brag on himself.

All right, because what he does is he's actually relating back to his experience uh with the Gentile Cornelius, which would have happened 10 years ago, but he's not talking about himself in this moment.

And what happens is he's going back all the way to Acts chapter 10, 10 years ago with Cornelius, and he's remembering uh, hey, I had this vision, and this Gentile man named Cornelius had a vision, and my vision was about how these unclean animals, according to the Jewish people, descending upon a blanket from heaven.

Acts 10 · chapter mention

It was the original OG pigs in a blanket, and God says, Rise, kill, and eat.

And eventually what happens is that Cornelius is also having a vision over here, and Peter goes all the way to Cornelius, shares the gospel with him, the Holy Spirit falls, all of these Gentiles come to faith, and Peter, in that moment, he realizes oh, that that vision, it wasn't just about animals going from unclean to clean.

No, that vision was actually about Gentiles coming to faith.

That God's mission has always been for the people.

There are no divisions, there are no distinctions among people.

God is coming after the Gentiles.

And you see, Peter gives some theological language for what he's experienced.

I mean, just like look at what he's saying.

He says, God made a choice for the Gentiles to believe.

God knows the heart, God gave them the Holy Spirit, God makes no distinction, God is the one who was cleansing their heart.

Peter's like, guys, this was all God.

Like that moment with Cornelius, all these Gentiles coming to faith, this is not us trying to creatively think through what's the next strategic place that we can reach for Christ.

No, he's saying this was all God.

God is the one going after these people, and you see it in verse 9.

Like, how does he cleanse their heart?

Like if I'm you, I'm I'm circling those two words, by faith.

By faith.

Peter's like, man, when I was there and I preached the gospel to Cornelius, again, I'll tell you, we did not have a procedure, we did not have a surgery done in that moment.

I preached the gospel, the Holy Spirit fell people came to faith by faith and faith alone.

And so, simply put, this is what Peter is saying is that Gentiles, they are not saved because of the circumcision of their flesh, they are saved because of the faith in their hearts.

They're not saved because of the circumcision of the flesh, they're saved by faith in their hearts.

And then once again, I mean, this is like a brilliant time for Peter, because we've got to give him props again.

He's not the most self-aware guy in history.

He does a great thing here in verse 10.

He said this.

Now then, why are you testing God?

It's like being an enemy against God.

Why are you testing God by putting a yoke on the disciples' necks that neither our ancestors nor we had been able to bear?

I mean, Peter is looking around at all these religious dudes who would have been at the Jerusalem Council, and he's like, guys, think about it.

Like it was us.

We were the type of, we were the people who God gave the Ten Commandments to, who we we actually added, so it's now 613 commandments, so we didn't break the Ten Commandments.

Guys, anybody doing well at that?

Looking around?

Anyone even close to that?

Right?

Like Peter, unbelievably self-aware, and he Peter realizes in this moment, man, the the law was just a guide and a mirror.

Right?

It's it's a guide so that if we follow after God's law, it brings flourishing in our life, but it's also a mirror to show us that we can't save ourselves.

Like that's what the law was really intended to do.

It wasn't so that we could keep it perfectly, it was so that we could know I can't keep it perfectly.

Right?

So even a few weeks ago, preaching at Salt Company, and one of the things that I said was just, man, nobody is going to be able to walk into the kingdom of God with a swagger.

Right?

Like nobody is going to be able to walk into heaven and look around and be like, hey, how did you get in here?

Nice.

I got in here because I'm awesome.

Right?

No, nobody's saying that.

Because no, nobody can keep the law perfectly.

The law, it wasn't designed so that we could save ourselves, it was designed so that we could see that we need a savior.

Right?

And it's on the backdrop of this that Peter he gives maybe the most important sentence of his life.

Peter just crushed it, which doesn't happen often.

Verse 11 On the contrary, we believe that we are saved.

Again, circle this through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way they are.

What is Peter saying?

Is that they are saved, and we are saved by grace, through faith alone.

It's something that we cannot do.

And one of the best sermon illustrations that I've heard on this is by a guy named Aleister Begg.

I feel like it on social media it's going to circulate a lot during the Easter season.

It's just incredible talking about the display of faith and how does that relate with works in the Christian life and everything.

And he's like, man, I just I want to talk to the thief on the cross when I get to heaven.

And he explains this hypothetical scenario of mean, I mean, the thief on the cross with Jesus.

I mean, he's like making fun of Jesus, he's blaspheming, he's doing all these things, and yet he eventually realizes, oh, that's the Son of God.

That's Jesus.

And Jesus, what does he say?

Hey, today you will be with me in paradise.

And so Alistair Begg comes up with this awesome scenario where it's uh the thief on the cross, he gets up to heaven and he arrives and there's an angel right there, and he's like, Hey, what's your name?

And it's like, well, I'm so and so.

And he's like, Okay, cool.

Like, um, I don't see your name on the list.

It's not here.

And it's like, okay, well, just tell us some good works uh that that you've done to prove that to that you belong in heaven.

It's like, uh, well, you know, uh, I don't have any.

I don't I don't know anything about a Bible study.

I've never been to a Bible study, uh, I've never been baptized, I don't know anything about a church membership process.

And so the angel goes, uh, okay, uh let me go get my angel supervisor really quick.

And so he goes and gets the angel supervisor.

Angel supervisor comes, talks to the thief on the cross.

He's like, okay, so what are you doing here?

He's like, I don't know.

And he's like, what do you mean you don't know?

And it's like, I don't know how I got here.

And so the angel supervisor just says, Okay, well, let's just make sure uh that we're we're on the same page.

Uh, are you clear on the doctrine uh on the doctrine of justification by faith alone?

And he's like, No, never heard of it, to be honest.

And it's like, okay, just let's talk about the inerrancy of scripture.

Surely you gotta know about the inerrancy of scripture.

No idea.

I have no idea what you're talking about.

And so, in frustration, the angel supervisor goes, Okay, you're here at the gates of heaven.

By what basis should we let you into heaven then?

And the thief on the cross just looks at him and he says, Because the man on the middle cross said I could come.

The man on the middle cross said I could come.

And guys, I'll tell you what, that is that is what we are as a church, is that we believe that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone.

We did nothing to accomplish our salvation but the sin that made it necessary.

And yet the man on the middle cross, Jesus Christ, said that I could come.

That's a picture of our salvation.

We did nothing to accomplish it, but we freely receive it as a grace and mercy.

And you see, the people in verse 12 were amazed.

It says this.

The whole assembly became silent and listened to Barnabas and Saul describe all the signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.

Okay, so now Paul and Barnabas enter into the ring.

They're on the witness stand, and basically what they do is they just recap everything that they saw in Acts 13 and 14.

And they're like, guys, again, you wouldn't believe it, but God is saving all of these Gentiles.

And again, they're they're putting the emphasis on God.

God's the one doing all of these things.

And even the signs and wonders, like this wasn't a Harry Potter type of sign, like, look at us.

No, the signs and wonders were basically God's stamp of approval.

Hey, I'm about this.

I'm coming after the Gentiles.

This is my doing.

Okay, and then the Gospel Defense has one more witness, and it's none other than James, the half-brother of Jesus.

Look down to verse 13.

It says, After they stopped speaking, James responded, Brothers, listen to me.

Simeon Peter has reported how God first intervened to take from the Gentiles a people for his name, and the words of the prophets agree with this.

Okay, it's Peter.

Peter has been talking theologically all about Cornelius and what God was doing in the moment.

Paul and Barnabas, they were talking about experientially.

Look at what God is doing among the Gentiles.

And then James, as every good preacher would do, opens up the Bible and he's saying, guys, look.

Like these people aren't just making up what is happening.

No, these people are going back to the Bible.

God has foretold all this was going to happen.

He's pointing back to some Old Testament prophets and saying, guys, this isn't a new thing.

God has always been about this.

This is exactly what God said he would do.

And they experience the experience of Peter and Paul and Barnabas and James is just backing up with the Word of God, that God has always intended to bring the nations into him as a family.

And so what I want to do just quickly is just three quick sentences.

What does the Jerusalem Council teach us about like soteriology, the study of salvation?

Three quick things.

Let me give you three sentences.

And the first one is this is that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone.

This is what the Jerusalem Council is teaching.

Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

That we don't achieve salvation, but we receive salvation.

That heaven is not a reward for the righteous, but it is a gift for the guilty.

That we just come empty-handed.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, that we come knowing, man, I'm empty-handed.

Nothing to the cross I bring, right?

Like nothing to Jesus can we bring that makes us earn our way to heaven, but we are saved by grace and grace alone.

And number two is this.

So if salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, number two thing that we see in the Jerusalem Council is this is that salvation is God's work, not ours.

Salvation is God's work, not ours.

Over and over and over again in this little section of scripture, what we see is that this was God's doing.

This was God's plan.

This was God who was reaching the Gentiles.

This was not human ingenuity, but this is always God's doing, and that salvation, it's not man's invention, it's God's initiative.

That's how it's always been.

God was coming after these people from the beginning.

And then number three is this is that salvation is available to everyone who believes.

Salvation is available to everyone who believes.

I love it.

It's so easy to miss in Peter's defense of the gospel.

But he he doesn't say, hey, these Gentile people over here, they can be saved like we are.

No, what he says is we are saved in the same way they are.

Right?

Because what Peter knows is he's not elevating himself above the Gentiles.

He's saying, hey, I'm saved in the same way that those Gentile men over there are saved.

And it's because the ground is level at the foot of the cross, Jew or Gentile, religious or irreligious, nobody deserves salvation, but everyone can have salvation through the grace available in Jesus Christ.

All right, and so and so the debate here in the Jerusalem Council, essentially over.

We have the conclusion of it, but James throws in an important nuance.

Okay, and it's when we come to our final idea, and it's this is that the gospel is not just disputed, it's not just defended, but now we see the gospel received and displayed in this moment.

The gospel received and displayed.

I don't have much time, so let me let me quickly point out some things, but look down in verse 19.

It says this.

So the the conclusion of the Jerusalem Council is done, and that's why we see, therefore, therefore, in my judgment, we should not cause difficulties for those among the Gentiles who turn to God.

That should just be a thesis statement for our church, for your life.

We should not cause difficulties for those among the Gentiles who turn to God, verse 20.

But instead, we should write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from eating anything that has been strangled and from blood.

Okay, hold on.

Like we just spent a whole chapter talking about, hey, salvation is a free gift.

Jesus' work on the cross is sufficient.

We don't add anything to the gospel, right?

Like it's it's by faith alone.

But now James is saying, but just make sure you do these three things.

Make sure you don't eat any animals strangled, right?

Which I'm not gonna do anyways, you know.

Um, but he's saying all these things, and then it's like Paul and Barnabas, what happens in the next couple of verses is that Paul and Barnabas and a few of their friends, they're going now from Jerusalem.

They're gonna go all the way back towards Antioch to tell them, hey, here's the conclusion of the Jerusalem Council, just to make sure everyone's clear on the gospel, and here's how the letter ends.

Verse 28.

For it was the Holy Spirit's decision and ours not to place further burdens on you beyond these requirements, that you abstain from food offered to idols, from blood, from eating anything that has been strangled, and from sexual immorality.

You will do well if you keep yourselves from these things.

Farewell.

And then look how it ends, verse thirty.

So they were sent off and went down to Antioch.

They delivered the letter, and after gathering the assembly, they delivered the letter, and when they read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement.

Okay, the gospel here, delivered and received back here in Antioch.

And how was it received?

It says with joy.

With joy, they rejoice because of the gospel.

Listen, they would not have received the letter with joy if it would have said, Hey, you can come to faith in Jesus, but you gotta keep all of these rules.

They wouldn't have rejoiced in any of that.

Like, imagine waiting for this letter to arrive.

A bunch of things are happening in Antioch.

Your boys go all the way back to Jerusalem, try to figure some things out.

They're waiting for the conclusion.

They're waiting for this letter to come back to them.

They open up the letter, but the whole time they're wondering, man, are we a part of God's family?

Are we truly believers?

Is faith in Jesus actually enough for us?

And they open the letter and they hear the good news of the gospel by faith alone, by grace through faith, and they rejoice.

Why?

Because a right understanding of the gospel will always lead to rejoicing among his people.

But we gotta at least address the question, okay, why the list?

Like, like if the whole chapter was based on how we are saved by faith, and that's it, no burdens, no other requirements, then why does James end this section with, okay, just make sure you do this, this, and this?

Like, like what's going on here?

Well, I think what what James is doing in this moment, and what he'll do later in the book of James, is actually addressing the opposite ditch of legalism, and it's this it's license.

It's license.

See, legalism is gonna say this.

Because obedience matters, I need to be obedient in order to acquire my salvation.

Like my salvation is dependent upon my obedience, but license says this.

Because my obedience doesn't contribute to my salvation, I can live however I want.

It doesn't even matter.

And guys, I'll tell you, the gospel rejects both of those ideas.

Right?

The gospel completely rejects both of those ideas.

Why?

Because the same grace that saves us is also the same grace that is going to move us and transform us in how we live and how we love other people.

And so really, James is getting to this point.

Faith alone saves, but then he's saying, hey, these commands right here, they aren't given to try and earn God's love.

No, grace is supposed to change the way that we live now.

If we've really experienced the gospel, it's going to change the way that we live.

And then in areas of Christian freedom, grace is going to also change the way I love other people.

Right?

And so this list, it's not about earning our salvation, but it is about expressing love.

Like this whole thing is about, okay, we're saved through faith, but now we need to work hard.

I mean, these are Jews and Gentiles coming together.

We need to work hard to experience fellowship and unity among people of God.

All right, so it's not about being accepted by God, but it is about fellowship with God's people.

Okay, it's the age-old illustration that really the Christian life is like a cross.

That vertically we are reconciled with God, but now horizontally, we are doing everything in our power to reconcile with other people, with our neighbors.

And so we should never compromise the gospel.

Absolutely not.

We should never compromise the gospel, but you should be willing to compromise your freedoms and preferences because of the gospel.

Right?

So never compromise the gospel, but we are called to compromise maybe some of our freedoms that we have in the gospel in order to acquire unity and fellowship among believers.

Okay, so this is a totally different sermon for another day, but I mean you can think about some examples that you would see in your own life of, okay, we're saved by faith.

What are some things in our life that's gonna maybe potentially cause disunity and distrust among other people?

I mean, you can you can think about alcohol, right?

Like alcohol in the Bible will speak a lot to alcohol, but in Christ, I have the freedom to drink alcohol, right?

According to the good design of Scripture, but I'll tell you what, if a brother in Christ comes and I know that he struggles with alcoholism, guess what's not coming out of dinner?

No alcohol, right?

Right, because I have a freedom, I have the freedom to drink, but because loving my brothers matters more to me, I'm not going to exercise that freedom.

Do you see the difference there?

You can think through a lot of different examples.

I mean, parenting.

There's gonna be some good and right things that you're gonna have to think through with different parenting, homeschool, public school, all of these types of things, screen times, bedtime rhythms, all those types of things.

But what legalism is going to say, legalism is gonna say you have to do these things in order to be belong to our fellowship.

And license is just gonna say, oh, I it doesn't matter to me.

No, we should think biblically about the morality around a bunch of different topics and all of these different things, and yet none of those things are a basis for salvation.

Okay, and that's what James is getting at here.

And so the general principle is this is that when the gospel, when the gospel is at stake, we want to be a people who draw a line in the sand.

But when my preference is at stake, I'm willing to lay it down for the fellowship of my brothers and sisters in Christ.

All right, and so Acts 15, really what it tells us is this is hold truth with conviction.

Be a convictional type of person, hold truth with conviction, but hold your preferences with an open hand in that way.

Lay down your liberties to love your neighbors.

Because yes, Jesus, absolutely, if Acts chapter 15 tells us anything, Jesus is enough.

Acts 15 · chapter mention

He's not a gift card that we also have to add on top of.

No, his work on the cross fit the bill perfectly.

It is finished on the cross, but now that we have uh received Jesus' love, now we can be a source of love to other people around us.

And oftentimes that's gonna lay look like laying down some of your preferences and some of your liberties to help reach those people for the name and sake of Christ.

Do you see it?

Acts chapter 15, that's what we see.

Acts 15 · chapter mention

Hold convictions with a closed hand and in areas of Christian freedom hold them loosely.

And to that end, let me pray for us.

Lord, I'm thankful for Acts chapter 15.

Acts 15 · chapter mention

And really I'm I'm I'm thinking about the gospel a lot.

I'm so thankful because if my salvation was dependent upon any scope of me doing enough good works, then I wouldn't make it.

And yet, Lord, I'm so thankful for the gospel, how it says that even someone like me can be saved.

And Lord, would you help us to be a people who understand that?

To know how beautiful the good news, would we be like the people in Antioch when they received the letter to receive the gospel with joy because of what it means for us that we can freely come to Christ?

So even in this moment, as we're about to take communion together, would you, even in this room, would you just think about some areas in your life where maybe some legalism is trying to take root in your heart?

Where it's Jesus plus something in our hearts, Jesus plus our good works, Jesus plus baptism, Jesus plus my Bible reading time.

And would you just lay that before Jesus to know that his love for you never changes?

Our experience of the love can change, but his love for us is steadfast, it's constant, it's immovable.

What do you think about the gospel?

To know the grace of Christ that was willing to be paid so that you can freely come to know him.

What do you think about some areas in your life that you're willing to hold open some of your preferences for the Sagan and fellowship among God?